as for the People so also for himself to offer for Sins And no Man taketh this honour to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee Christ the Great and True High-Priest Reason Heb. 5.1 Christ therefore is the Great and True High-Priest in all Respects 1. Because he is Man in all things like unto Man Sin only excepted and therefore ordained and separated from other men and most holy that we might be made holy and therefore Compassionate of the Infirmities of Men as of their Ignorances and Errors not only in respect of Fact but of Law also because of weak capacities and slippery memories and weak performances having respect to their Wills which if earnest and honest to do what they can shall be accepted according to what abilities of knowledge and remembrance and doing they have and not according to what they have not As Man also he is compassed with Infirmity The Infirmity of the Legal High-Priest as of all men was Sin and therefore might and did fall into Ignorances and Errors frail Actions like other men But Christ's Infirmity is his Sufferings and not his Sin for he knew not sin He was subject to Afflictions and Trials as other men The Legal High-Priest therefore was fain to offer often for his own Infirmities in falling into Ignorance and Error and frail Actions often as also for the frequent failings of the People much more Lev. 16.6 c. So Christ in the daies of his Flesh Heb. 5.7 which is the subject of his Infirmity and Sufferings offered up for himself Prayers and Supplications unto him that was able to save him from death This Christ in his Agony chiefly requested to have that bitter Cup removed from him And when he was upon the Cross he lamentably complained saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He prayed therefore that because he must die he might be delivered from death and therefore in dying commended his Spirit to God to receive it into his hands and keep it for him and restore it to him who would not leave his Soul in Hell nor suffer his Holy One to see Corruption And these were strong Cries accompanied with many Tears in so great extremities Seeing then that Christ was exercised with the experience of unexpressible Pains he cannot but be moved at the Miseries and Pains of his Servants and must needs readily bow down his ear to hear their doleful Cries and stretch out his hand to save them before the Pit of ruine shut her mouth upon them Thus did Christ offer his Prayers for himself while he was on Earth Christ offered Self that he might save himself from death for when he was restored to life and had so overcome Death as to die no more He then being in heaven offered himself immaculate and immortal as he was not for himself as before when he bore our Sins and carried our Sorrows for he hath no need to offer for himself there Christ therefore offered up his Prayers on Earth for himself but he offered up himself in Heaven for us For himself he offered when he was mortal in the daies of his Flesh for us he offered when he was an immortal and eternal Spirit And in all his Prayers our great High-Priest is heard first for himself on Earth that he might be saved from the Death which he feared that is out of Death unto Eternal life and secondly for us in Heaven that we might be saved from the power of Death and brought to Eternal life as he was In the daies of his Flesh Christ was not yet perfect had not finished his work was not gone to his Father but when he had overcome Death and Ascended into Heaven and sat on the Throne of the Majesty on high he being made perfect through Sufferings became the Author and Minister of Eternal Salvation Then was he fully invested and installed into his Royal Priesthood there he presented himself to God for us in the Temple of God eternal in the Heavens 2. Because CHRIST is the Great and True High-Priest Reason 2 because he is called to that Office by God after the order of Melchisedec Heb. 5.10 Gen. 14.18 Psal 110.4 Who was King of Salem and Priest of the most High God The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec That is a King and a Priest both for so were Kings of old as springing from the Princes of Families who were all Priests who afterwards being called to Rule many Families or a City were the Priests as well as the Princes of that City or Commonwealth Praying and Sacrificing for the People as well as Ruling them The most honourable Person was fittest to minister in the most honourable Service The CONTENTS A Priest A Singular Priest A Perpetual Priest Greater than Abraham Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedec Melchisedec not of Aaron's Tribe Abraham blessed of Melchisedec Sacerdotal Blessing Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedec Actions of Fathers transmitted to Children Levi Blessed of Melchisedec Melchisedec Immortal TITLE V. Of the Dignity of Melchisedec MELCHISEDEC was a Priest of greatest Dignity 1. Because he Blessed men Sacerdotally as he did Abraham saying Gen. 14.11 Blessed be Abraham of the Most High God Possessour of Heaven and Earth A Priest 2. Because he received Tithes of Abraham i. e. A Tenth part of the Spoils Melchisedec was a Singular Priest A singular Priest 1. Because there were no more Priests of his Order no Predecessor nor Successor in the Priesthood as other Priests had who must be of the Family of Aaron and of the Tribe of Levi to whom the Priesthood was designed A perpetual Priest 2. Because he was a perpetual High-Priest having neither beginning nor end of life remaining a Priest as Christ doth so long as there is need of any Priest And there shall be no need of a Priest when the People of God have their sins throughly expiated and are translated to Heaven SECTION I. Melchisedec was greater than Abraham Greater than Abraham 1. Because Abraham gave him Tithes a Token of subjection as Tribute is from Subjects to Princes 2. Because Abraham was blessed by him a Token of subjection also for the Inferior praies a Blessing of the Superior not of the Equal or Inferior for he is not able to do it 3. Because he was in a manner an Eternal Person so was not Abraham SECTION II. The Dignity therefore of Melchisedec appears in that 1. Even Abraham so great a Patriarch as he was was his Subject and acknowledged himself so to be By paying him a Tenth which was no Vulgar Present Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedec but a Present for a Priest a solemn and sacred Portion not to be enjoyed but by the Priest alone as God's
proper rule Restraint from proper state Restraint from proper right Constraint to base actions p. 83 Title 11. Of the Subject of slavery The Sinner habitual p. 87 Title 12. Of the Reasons of slavery Restraint from proper end Restraint from proper guide Restraint from proper act Restraint from proper rule Restraint from proper state Restraint from proper right Captivity Constraint to base actions p. 88 Title 13. Of the Lord of slavery Sin Satan p. 91 Title 14. Of the Innocency of the Law Grace cannot deceive p. 92 Title 15. Of the Mystery of the Law Mystical Precepts Mystical Providences p. 96 Title 16. Of the History of the Law Writing in Tables Law lost Law found Law lost again Law restored Septuagints Translation Law burnt Maccabes Sects of Jews Christ's coming Law on Mount Sinai the same with that of Adam in Paradise The renewal of the Covenant of Works The equivocal word Law p. 99 The Fourth Book Of the Gospel or New Testament Title 1. Of the Reformation Law changed Priesthood changed Sacrifices Gospel a Covenant of Faith God may change the law Law advanced to Spirit Types Secret of Christ understood by degrees Divine Dispensations Creation Fall Promise Faithful Vnfaithful Gentiles feared God Law written Rites why commanded Civil law Rule Outward service trusted in Prophets sent Christ sent Jews Idolaters before Christ's time Jews destroyed Gentiles called Old Religion antiquated Aaron's Priesthood Christ's Priesthood Typical Redemption from typical sins Real redemption from real sins Salvation of all men No more Changes p. 105 Title 2. Of the Nature of the Gospel Few Disciples in Christ's time Resipicence True Wisdom p. 115 Title 3. Of the Gospel a Testament What the Old Testament contains What the New Testament contains Gospel a Testament rather than a Covenant p. 117 Title 4. Of a Testament the best Deed. Evidences Promises Earnest Oath Security Donation Testament a single Will A last Will. In force alone Confirmed by death Testament the Noblest deed Solemn Nuncupative Declarative Witnesses Plainness Heir Finishing by Hand and Seal In giving all In dying Testament most solemn Most liberal Marriage A near Vnion Acquisition of goods Love of God Love of Saints Communion Adoption Heir the most beloved Definition of the Gospel Definition of a Testament Testatour Appellative name of Believers Consent Testament of Father to Children Testamentum ad pias Causas No Praeterition No inofficious Testament p. 120 Title 5. Of the Grace of the New Testament Definition of Grace Nature Free-grace Right Nature Law Throne of Grace Wrath. Works Free grace Rich grace Assurance Jews loth to leave the law p. 128 Title 6. Of the Confirmation of the New Testament Writing Testimony Confirmation Execution Christ the Executor Executorship conditional Flesh and Blood Christ's Ascension Spirit 's Mission p. 132 Title 7. Of the Testament compared Spiritual Lively In force for ever Literal Deadly Abrogated for ever Consequences Cautions Instructions Exhortations p. 136 Title 8. Of Liberty Nature of Liberty Form Loosness from all Incumbrances Largeness p. 142 Title 9. Of the Seat of Liberty Soul p. 143 Title 10. Of the Terms of Liberty Recess from Evil. Access to Good p. 145 Title 11. Of the Cases of Liberty Loosness to proper end Loosness to proper guide Loosness to proper act Loosness to proper rule Loosness to proper state Loosness to proper right p. 146 Title 12. Of the Subject of Liberty God Christ Faithful Term of recess Bondage Term of access Sonship p. 149 Title 13. Of the Allegory of the two Covenants Ismael Isaac But two eminent Covenants State of Christian liberty p. 153 Title 14. Of the Minority and Majority of the Church Fulness of time Jews a childish people Time of Minority Redemption Adoption Plenage Gentiles exempted from Minority Popery Administration of both Testaments Idolatry Remedy against Idolatry p. 159 The Fifth Book Of a Mediatour Title 1. Of the Name and Thing Transition Mediatour Reconciliation Moses p. 167 Title 2. Of the Person of Christ Two Natures Vnion Incarnation p. 170 Title 3. Of the Mediatorship of Christ Christ sole Mediator God is one All Nations sinners Jews and Gentiles made one Christ a Soveraign Mediator Testament includes a Covenant Wherein Christ's Mediatorship consists Mediator and Testator how concurring p. 177 Title 4. Of Christ's Priesthood Christ's offering One God to mediate to One Man to mediate for One God and Man to mediate One Ransom to mediate by Christ a Man Christ the greatest and truest High Priest Christ offered Self p. 180 Title 5. Of the Dignity of Melchisedec A Priest A singular Priest A perpetual Priest Greater than Abraham Abraham paid Tithes to Melchisedec Melchisedec not of Aaron's Tribe Abraham blessed of Melchisedec Sacerdotal Blessing Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedec Actions of Fathers transmitted to Children Levi blessed of Melchisedec Melchisedec immortal p. 184 Title 6. Of the Order of Melchisedec Christ of that order Christ's pedigree Joseph's pedigree Maries pedigree Christ no Priest by birth Christ made a Priest by oath Christ a Royal Priest Christ Priest and Sacrifice Christ ministers in Heaven Tabernacle imperfect Sanctuary a worldly manufacture Ordinances arbitrary Way to Holiest not made Christ first enters the Holy place Faithful enter at the last day Services imperfect Christ's blood dedicates the Holy of Holies One offering Christ offers Self in heaven Christ reigns in heaven Melchisedec a type of Christ Of the offering of Christ Through the spirit Without spot Once In Heaven p. 189 Title 7. Of Christ's Humiliation Extent of Christ's obedience To all Law Above all Law Against all Law Extremity of Christ's obedience Rarity Shame Curse Reasons of Christ's obedience To confirm Testament To expiate sin and misery p. 202 Title 8. Of Christ's Exaltation Victory over sin Imputation of righteousness Jural righteousness Reasons of victory over sin Light conquers darkness Sin no native Propension in Nature to its proper state Genuine nature of the Spirit Superiour faculties predominate Active cooperation Christ's victory over Law Outward Covenant of Works Inward state of Mind Alive to sin Dead to Law Carnal liberty to sin Legal perfection Our victory over Law Grace stronger than Law Spirit of Grace stronger than spirit of Law God delights more in mercy than vengeance Man object of Gods love Christ's pleading undeniable to God Christ's victory over death Victory procured meritoriously by Christ's death Victory obtained by the spirit of Faith Our victory over death Sin conquered Law conquered Devil conquered Christ entred into the Holy of Holies p. 210 Title 9. Of mistakes of the effects of Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation Nothing for us to do Trust to outward Mortifications Superstition Natural complexion for Divine grace Rhetoricating Consequences of Christ's death and resurrection Material Cross Spiritual Cross Material resurrection Spiritual resurrection Material ascension Spiritual Ascension No oblation pleased God but Christ's Every one that comes to God must offer Christian Religion most spiritual and glorious No Mediatour but Christ End of
of him that was substituted as Man to die for God who could not die And thus we are made by the best of Testators God himself by the best of Testaments the Gospel the best of Heirs next unto Christ to the best of Inheritances Everlasting Life by the best of Mediators Jesus Christ to whom the Inheritance is first given and in whom it is sure to all the Seed Therefore Believers are stiled God's Beloved as Christ is God's Beloved and with them God is well pleased as with Christ he is well pleased and they are partakers of the same priviledges with Christ for likeness and trueness though not for degree and greatness Testator Amongst men a Testator is bound to institute his lawful children to be his Heirs or to shew just Cause why he doth it not and they must also be instituted or disinherited in his written Testament by Name SECTION XI Appellative 〈◊〉 of Beâ—â—â—â— So doth God institute his Elect Children by the Appellative Name of Believers which is sufficient in such kind of Wills as God's is and in good Men's Wills that are ad pias causas and disinherits the Reprobate by the common Name of Unbelievers shewing the just Cause of their being disinherited because of their Unbelief Thus all the Children of Israel were by the Will of God ordained to enter into the Rest of the Land of Canaan by the common name of God's obedient People but were disinherited and fell in the Wilderness and could not enter into that Rest because of their Disobedience or Unbelief Amongst men Children that are instituted Heirs Consent must adire Hereditatem animo voluntate i. e. enter upon the Inheritance willingly So God's Children must consent and embrace the Promises or else they can have no Right or Title to them and so by refusing they make themselves uncapable and disinherit themselves And such a Testament is God's Testamentum Patris inter Liberos A Testament of Father to Children A Testament of a Father to his Children A Testament for pious Causes Testamentum ad pias causas not inofficious or unkind in giving the Children's part unto strangers without shewing a just Cause For can a Father forget his Child Yes he may No Preterition but God cannot forget his own to make any disinheriting or Preterition of such who of Right were capable to be his Heirs if they did not refuse it for in so doing they made themselves utterly uncapable So that there is no Cause to find fault with God's Will No inofficious Testament as unjust or unnatural as is often amongst men Querela inofficiosi Testamenti a Complaint of an inofficious Testament made unto the Praetor or Chancellor to relieve them with a Child's part from which the Father had excluded them without shewing a just Cause or any Cause at all No no it is not so with God O Israel thy destruction is from thy self but in me is thy help God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth God's waies are alwaies equal but our waies are unequal for the Judge of the World must needs do right God's Will was rightly made as a Father's Will should be and rightly confirmed by the Death of Christ in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen so that the foundation of the Lord standeth sure more sure than Heaven and Earth which shall pass away but not the least title of God's Will shall ever fail His Mercies are sure in him there is no change nor shadow of turning he hath done all that a Father should do And to shew that the immutability of his Purpose according to Election must stand he confirmed his Will by Death in the nature of a Testament whereby he hath given us to understand after the manner of men that he hath left himself no more power or possibility than a Dead man hath to disannul or revoke his own last Will and Testament The CONTENTS Definition of Grace Nature Free-Grace Right Nature Law Throne of Grace Wrath. Works Free Grace Rich Grace Assurance Jews loth to leave the Law TITLE V. Of the Grace of the New Testament THE Gospel is the best of Testaments as those are amongst Men which are made by Fathers to their Children or by Benefactors to miserable Persons by Free Grace without any Petition Mediation or Merit from themselves or others A Testament of Grace Definition of Grace Grace therefore is the act of God's Will spontaneously or mero motu making us his Sons and Heirs in Christ Jesus Here is nothing of Nature or Merit or Mediation in the case here is the mere Motion of the Adopter and unto this to make it complete here is nothing required but the full and free consent of the Adopted to make them as perfect Sons and Heirs by Grace of Adoption as if they had been made so by Nature or Generation Nature 'T is Nature makes us Men and Heirs of Earth but 't is Grace makes us Christians and Heirs of Heaven 'T is Nature makes us the Sons of Men but 't is Grace makes us the Sons of God Free Grace Every Testament is an act of Grace but this is the greatest Grace that ever was even Grace for Grace purely without any motive from the Object to whom it is directed or from any other for him It hath its rise wholly from the Will of the Donor and not at all from the Will of the Receiver So God gave Abraham the Land of Canaan and the Kingdom of Israel to Saul and David It is an independent and unlimited Grace solely issuing from his mere bounty without all bounds of Law Right This with God and Man creates Jus pingue the best Right A Paternal Grace to his Children the Grace of a Patron to his Beneficiary Such a Grace was fittest for God's Grace and Glory fittest for God to give and for his Children to receive Nature stands at a great distance and in a very low sphere from Grace for it makes us no more but barely the Sons of Men that which is born of the Flesh is but flesh but it is Grace only that makes us the Sons of God for that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit 1. Hence Grace is opposed to Nature whereby we are made Men Nature to have an Earthly Inheritance and Dominion after the Image and likeness of God in our Creation but Grace is that whereby we are made Christians to an Heavenly Inheritance and Dominion after the Image and likeness of Christ who was the Natural Son of God born to that Inheritance whereto we after his likeness are called by the Grace of Adoption 2. So God's Grace is opposed to Law not in extremes Law Law gives just that good which is due and no more Grace gives more good than is due yea Grace gives good where none at all is due yea Grace gives good where evil is
part whom the Priest represented And this did even Abraham do so great a Man so great a Patriarch yea the Prince of Patriarchs the very Root and foundation of God's People Now he that receiveth Tithes is greater than he that give them as he that receiveth Tribute or Taxes is greater than he that paies them and he that receiveth Rents is greater than he that paies them This was the Dignity and Prerogative of the Title of Levi that all the other Tribes who though his Brethren yet were to pay Tithes of all to him and in special to the Priests of the Line of Aaron that came from him which Family only had right to the Priesthood Numb 3. and the rest of that Tribe did minister unto them in and about the Holy things of the Ark and Temple of the Lord. Numb 18. And first the People must give Tithes to the Levites Numb 18.21 then the Levites must give Tithes of their Tithes to the Priests Numb 18.28 which declares the Dignity of the Priests above the Levites as the Clergy receive Tithes of the People of England and then pay the Tithes of their Tithes to the King which shews the Dignity of the King above the Clergy SECTION III. 2. Melchisedec not of Aaron's Tribe And yet farther is demonstrated the Dignity of Melchisedec above the Levitical Priests in that Melchisedec came not from their Tribe nor from the stock of Aaron at all yet he received Tithes and that from Abraham too of whose Loyns Levi was So that Abraham himself became Tributary and therefore subject to Melchisedec which is Christ which is much more honour than for those only to pay Tribute who came from the loyns of Abraham Therefore the Levitical Priests have no cause to boast as that their Line alone had the Priviledge and Prerogative above the rest to take Tithe of the People seeing here is one here greater than they that takes Tithes of them themselves who were then in the loyns of their Father Abraham and yet he neither belongs to their Line nor accounts himself of their stock at all and is bold to Decimate even Abraham himself the Prince and Father of them and of their whole Nation SECTION IV. Abraham Blessed of Melchisedec Gen. 12.23 Secondly Abraham acknowledgeth himself subject to Melchisedec 2. By Receiving a Blessing from Melchisedec For he blessed him that had the Promises i. e. Melchisedec blessed him whom God had promised to Bless so eminently and comprehensively that in him and by him all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed A greater Blessing than this could not be and yet he that had this great Blessing was blessed of Melchisedec and therefore Inferior unto him What honour is this to Bless such a Man Surely a Greater than Abraham is here For without all contradiction the Less is blessed of the Greater Sacerdotal Blessing Every kind of Blessing cannot here be understood for even the least and meanest Persons may humbly wish and pray for a Blessing upon the greatest that are But this must be a Singular and Royal Sacerdotal Blessing which is of great Efficacy and Power and those that are blessed therewith shall be Blessed God seconds the Blessing of the Priest to whom he hath given Authority to Bless in his Name Thus we read Numb 6.27 that God commanded Aaron and his Sons to Bless the People and prescribed them a Form for that Blessing on this wise The Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up his Countenance upon thee and give thee peace After all this the Lord professes there that He will second the Blessing and confirm it upon the People saying They shall put my Name upon the Children of Israel and I will bless them And elsewhere In Blessing I will bless And the Son of Syrach praies God to hear the Prayers of his Servants Eccles 36.17 according to the Blessing of Aaron over his People SECTION V. Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedec III. The Dignity of Melchisedec appears in that Melchisedec was Greater than Levi and Aaron Because Levi paid Tithes to Melchisedec For in tithing Abraham he tithed Levi who then was in Abraham's loyns and so Aaron so great a Priest as he was the Prince of Priests of whose Loyns the Priests were all descended payeth Tithes himself to a Greater Priest than he And as I may say Heb. 7.9 Levi also who receiveth Tithes paid Tithes in Abraham For when Melchisedec took Tithes of Abraham he tithed Levi also and all the Priests Abraham took not Tithes but Levi did and yet Melchisedec took Tithes of him Levi did not receive Tithes in his own Person because he was not then but in his Posterity neither did he give Tithes to Melchisedec in his own Person but in his Father's Person If at that time Levi had been a Person separated from Abraham and had enjoyed his Estate apart by himself then this act of Abraham in paying Tithes to Melchisedec had nothing concerned him but because Levi was then so united and joyned with Abraham that he was one Person with him lying conched in Abraham's Loyns so the Embrio in the Womb is part of the Mother therefore also he is justly accounted to have given Tithes to Melchisedec in or through Abraham his Father SECTION VI. Yet all the Actions of a Father's Will Actions of Fathers transmitted to Children with the regularities or irregularities thereof must not be transferred or imputed to be the Actions of the Childrens Will But only those Acts which properly concern the Augmentation or Diminution of the Father's estate which is of right to descend to his Children do as they descend from him by way of Inheritance still the Father or his enjoying what was his outwardly in Estate as they do inwardly in Flesh and Blood And the payment of Tithes is such an Action for as to a Tenth part it decreaseth the Father's Estate which therefore is properly but nine Parts of Ten For the Tithes are paid out of the Father's Goods though they are not his Goods but his to whom they are due which Goods of the Fathers are thus far already the Childrens in that the right of Inheritance of what is their Father's belongs unto the Children when their Father dies Who in the mean time are Lords though Servants even lesser Lords in Reversion to their Father's Estate when it falls For as the Son and Heir after his Father's Decease doth in a manner represent his Father's Person being Flesh of his Flesh and of his Form and Resemblance and by his Succession and Possession of all that was his Father's honour and Estate So likewise the Father before his Children spring from his Loyns and become distinct persons from himself having right to dispose of his Goods as their own doth in a manner also represent the Person of his Son and Heir and of the
Correction Work Payment Church Elders Bishops Priests Deacons High Priest Altar Sacrifice Tithes Oblations First fruits Dedication Consecration Expiation Propitiation Excommunication Idol Faith Vow Covenant Contract Promise Oath Stipulation Sacrament Seal Intercession Hand-writing Mediator Obligation Assurance Evidence Conveyance Alliance Affinity Consanguinity Tribe Stock Familie Degrees Line Birthright Succession Dominion Lordship These and other learned Titles of the Law with the profound judgments of renowned Antecessors upon each of them serve more to the enrichment of the treasury of wisdom for the furnishing of apt Interpretations and Glosses upon the Laws divine than all the Arts or Learning of the World Besides the aptitude of resolving cases and doing business with prudence honesty and gallantry is created by them after the rellish of those equitable and brave Souls that made them The CONTENTS Of the Laitie's Calling AND as to the Laity I say consider your Calling we may not speak the mind of God in learned and unknown Tongues to the high ones only that Pearch on the Towers but in Vulgar language to the meanest that sit on the wall Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debet That which concerns all ought to be understood by all We will not hoodwink you to make your Ignorance the Mother of your as blind devotion we will not captivate your minds by Magisterial dictates of us men and hide from you the Royal Commandments of your God TITLE VI. Of the Laitie's Doctrine I. I Say then boldly Consider your Calling For Doctrine 1. From beyond the lowest Law of Nature 2. From beyond any Laws written upon Tables 1. To the Law of the Spirit and of Grace 2. To the Law written upon the Heart To the best of Precepts of Evangelical perfection taught by Christ in his famous Sermon upon the Mount and other occasional Discourses and by the Apostles and other holy Men of God that had the same treasure in earthen vessels To the best of Promises Viz. Forgiveness of sins Liberty Adoption Spirit Resurrection eternal life These are the Laws that are so high and yet so easie few favourable and pleasant for the wayes of Wisdom are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace I exhort them therefore to a high belief and full assurance of Heaven by the seal and earnest of the Spirit to be partakers of the holy Unction of Wisdom and Perfection to be a Royal Priesthood and a peculiar people by vertue of the promises that belong to you and to your Children of high exemptions and priviledges of great honour and estate TITLE VII Of the Laitie's Persons II. FOR your Persons Look therefore to your selves that ye walk worthy of so great Salvation and having such an hope in you so full of a glorious and blessed Immortality see that ye purifie your selves even as God is pure and become a people altogether zealous of good Works perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord that at last you may obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus Fear not therefore little Flock for it is your Father's good Will and pleasure to give you a kingdom Your hope is laid up for you in heaven And neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath laid up for those that fear him When Christ the favourable Mediatour and Executor of God's Testament shall put the Faithful into actual possession of Eternal Glory saying Come ye Blessed Children of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Aim therefore at a Gospel-Spirit 1. Care not for unnecessary Disputes God's Testament is a plain Testament of Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ As Men's Testaments are to be seen and read by all that are concerned so is God's Will to be seen and read by all Col. 2.6 c. As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ 2 Tim. 2.23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strifes also Genealogies and contentions and strivings about the Law for they are unprofitable and vain 1 Tim. 1.4 Neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in Faith If any man teach otherwise 1 Tim 6.3 c. and consent not to wholsome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is proud knowing nothing but doating about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness Jude 27 c. from such turn away Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly Lusts these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit But ye Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garments spotted by the flesh Let the Clergy exhort and teach these things and whatsoever else belongeth unto sound doctrine with all long suffering and patience as the stout Soldiers of Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 6.20 And let them be sure to keep that which is committed to their Trust avoiding profane and vain bablings and oppositions of Sciences falsly so called which some professing have erred concerning the Faith Tit. 1.14 Let them not give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth nor yet to endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edification 1 Cor. 2.4 Let not your speech nor your preaching be with the entising words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power Speak Wisdom among them that are perfect the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our Glory For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid 1 Cor. 3.11 c which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this foundation Gold Silver Pretious stones Wood Hay Stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall trie every man's work whatsoever it is If any
should have been translated as Enoch or Elias were But of this let others judg while we hold with the wise Hebrew Wisd 2.24 Eccles 25.24 that by the envy of the Devil death came into the world and with the son of Sirach By a Woman was the beginning of sin and from thence we all die For God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living for he created all things that they might have their Being and the Generations of the World were healthfull and there is no poison of destruction in them Wisd 1.13 c. nor the kingdom of death upon the Earth for Righteousness is immortal and ungodly Men with their works and words have called it to them Thus death came upon all the posterity of Adam by the Law of his original by which the Bodies that were extracted from him could not but be obnoxius to the same evils to which his Body was subject from whence for their substance and qualities they were derived For the benefit that might come to the Bodies of Men from the Tree of Life being taken away they remained fading and frail as Potsheards made of earth just like the Bodies of other Creatures Thus say the Rabbies and St. Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they yet stick I say farther it is no strange Metonymie among the Hebrews and those that do hebraize to use the word sin for Punishment and therefore by a Metalepsis they are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sin who suffer any evill though without their fault as Gen. 31.36 Jacob answer'd and said to Laban What is my trespass what is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me And Job 6.24 Teach me and I will hold my tongue cause me to understand wherein I have erred where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is interpreted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by whom as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Luke 5.5 Act. 3.16 1 Cor. 8.2 Heb. 9.17 Rightly therefore St. Chrysostome speakes upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Paul in the next verse renders the reason of this assertion That all Men therefore die because they are all descended from Adam Because they had no Law given them which for the breach thereof did threaten the punishment of death upon the transgressors He denyeth not but that sin was in the world from Adam till the Law was given as the sin of Cain and of those before the Flood of Cham Noah Sodom the Brethren of Joseph Pharaoh and others after the Flood but never no death menaced till Moses by his Law did inflict death for the more hainous offences because sin is not imputed and consequently not punished where there is no Law that is sin was not therefore imputed to any that it should be to them the cause of death to wit to every particular Man For God then did not punish each particular Man with death for their sin but he punished all Mankind and amongst them Infants and Children that were never guilty of any sin But the Law speaks to every person that sins saying That Soul shall die the death that is God him-himself would cut him off by death if either the Judges were ignorant of his crime that had deserved it or if they neglected to do their duty Nevertheless death reigned all that while strongly even from Adam to Moses which was a long time even two thousand five hundred Years and spared none no not those that never sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression that is that had committed no sin like unto that which Adam committed such as Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph And because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ambiguous and in some sense may be attributed to all therefore the Apostle distinctly explains himself concerning what kind of sin he speakes to wit of that sin which may be esteemed equal with that sin which Adam had committed for great sins use to be compared to the sin of Adam Hos 6.7 The judgment given upon Adam for his offence was Banishment from Paradise A curse upon the ground for his sake a miserable painful life and at last an everlasting death and this judgment was not personal only to determine with him but it was reall and hereditary to him and to his heirs for ever For as by his offence his innocency was corrupted so by his judgment his Posterity was tainted and his Blood stained For first none of his Children shall be heirs to that immortality and Blessedness which he once was to enjoy in Paradise Secondly all his Children shall be blemished and tainted to inherit the curse of Banishment misery and mortality which he incurred Thirdly this corruption shall not be remedied but by the extraordinary Mediation of Jesus Christ Recapitulation Thus the Jural or calamitous sinners are of four sorts The oppressed the blemished the distressed and the tainted And the word Sinner doth sometimes carry all these senses for sometimes one and the same person may be oppressed blemished distressed and tainted And the three first sort of sinners Legal Moral and Jural are not essentially different but that one and the same person may be a transgressor unkind and calamitous as the Gentiles were transgressors and improbous or unmerciful Rom. 1.29 being Filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness Full of envy murder debate malignity wisperers back-biters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventers of evill things disobedient to Parents without understanding Covenant-breakers without natural aflection implacable unmerciful And they were calamitous and blemished being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the world The Jews in the sight of God generally were as great sinners as the Gentiles but legally and morally What then are we better than they No in no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin Yet jurally they were not such sinners nor so calamitous as the Gentiles because they were not such aliens and strangers from God but had many reall rights and priviledges peculiar unto them as the Peculiar People of God Yet the right which the Jew had in God was but a puerile or servile right to be as Children in the condition of Servants under age in hardship under the Law From which state Christ came to emancipate and deliver them that he might advance them and invest them into a filial right of being the Sons of God In a plenage and fulness of years Gal. 4.2 3. Thus Men are sinners three several waies Most Men generally are transgressors and improbous or unkind and all Men universally are calamitous oppressed blemished distressed and tainted wherefore this last way Man as he is a Man is a sinner and over and above legally and morally sinful being actually transgressors
and improbous as well as originally miserable and calamitous that is oppressed blemished distressed and especially tainted or corrupted from the womb Eccles 25.24 This is the Original sin with which all Men are defiled Rom. 5.12 for which death entred into the world Of the Woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die By one Man sin entred into the world Chrys and death by sin so death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisd 1.12.16 All the Generations of Men were healthful and there is no poyson in them nor the kingdom of death but ungodly Men by their wicked works and words have called it to them Contractio Causae SECT I. This cause of original sin may be thus contracted into these Corollaries or Aphorisms Accounting Corol. 1. All are made sinners in Adam as all are made righteous in Christ so accounted but both are really sinners and really righteous in their own actions 1. Because Adam had our Nature and we his but his Will was not ours Reason Adam's Will not ours nor ours his We were as to our Bodies in his loyns but not as to our Souls nor actually our Bodies neither but seminally causally and virtually But which way can any Man imagine that our Souls were propagated from him or that our Souls were in his Soul as our Bodies were in his Body Did not he judg for himself and choose for himself and do not we judg for our selves and choose for our selves for his Will was his own and our Wills are our own How can we imagine it otherwise He was deceived not we Reason He eat the forbidden fruit not we He was thrust out of Paradise not we 2. Because as it is just in Men to account the Sons of Traitors sinners Reason and punish them accordingly so it is much more just in God to account the Sons of Adam sinners and to punish them accordingly Adam sinned for himself and was punished for himself so that neither his sin was ours nor his punishment ours really but by imputation We are by Nature the Children of wrath Object Because we are Children of sin and of a sinner Solut. Adam a Representative of all Mankind as a Parliament is of a whole Kingdom If a Parliament err the Kingdom erres if they suffer the Kingdom suffers A Representative Will is a real Will in Law not in Nature Parliament's Wills are our Wills their Decrees oblige us because of our consent given to choose them to act for us How did we make such a Compact with Adam Yet Adam was a Corporation and we in him are included so as to stand or fall by him Adam was obliged to obey not to sin but he was obliged to suffer because he sinned We are obliged to obey not to sin but we are obliged to suffer because we sin And we are obliged to suffer because he sinned but how we are obliged to sin because he sinned I cannot understand SECT II. Object Solut. Levi's paying of Tithes Levi pay'd Tithes in Abraham's loyns A token of subjection in the Father which is derived to the Children If the Head yielded the Members must So they pay'd Tithes virtually in their Father before they were born but they must pay them actually in their own persons and for themselves after they are born As heirs have rights to Honours and Estates in their Father's Honours and Estates and also in their shames and Debts while they live but after their death they enjoy the profits and bear the burdens and shames of their Fathers How were our Persons in Adam Seminally as the plant in the root and seed potentially not actually But where were our Wills even where our Souls were with God that gives us them when he frames us in the womb Yet a Jural will we had in Adam to have a right in him and by him or else a wrong as people have in their Knights and Burgesses who nevertheless have distinct wills for themselves in other things as they have in whose wills for their election only their wills are included So Adam was for us all to stand or fall for us all not to do good or bad for us all and now we must all suffer by him though we did not act actually sin in him but virtually We have the same natural Body and inclinations thereof as Adam had But as his Body and his inclinations were personal to himself so our Bodies and our inclinations are personal to our selves If Adam in nature had been created a Child he could not have sinned because he as a Child could have no use of his will When I am born into the world I cannot sin in the world till I come to the use of my reason and will in the world how then could I sin before I was born or had a being in the world any more than as I was as the fruit is in the winter fast asleep in my causes How then say some we were sinners before we were and how indeed not so as they mean let them prove it if they can Corruption of Bodies is manifest and so Health is by weak or strong Progenitors Diseases and Health are much hereditary in Nature but virtues or vices of Souls I could never apprehend any descent or conveyance of them from Parents to their Children Estates Honours and Shames are convey'd and pass upon posterity but not by the passage of Nature but of Law We are all concluded by Adam's will yet how If he had done good altogether his goodness was personally his own nor is it or ever was or ever will be ours but we should be the better for it But being he did evil his evil was personally his own nor is it or ever was or ever will be ours but we shall fare the worse for it Adam was obliged to do good so are we Adam was not obliged to sin no more are we We are as free to good or bad as Adam and Eve were How is a Traitor's blood that runs in his veins or his Son's blood tainted the Wise can tell We put a great stress upon many things as upon this of Original sin and upon Hoc est corpus meum and upon Tu es Petrus and of being born in sin and of the power of the Keyes and of the Free-will and of Imputed Righteousness as also of Predestination Election Reprobation and of a Judg in matters of Faith of Infallibility and Universal Supremacy Heresy c. It was the custom then to speak yea think so as they declare in these matters Who can hinder or blame us justly for labouring to understand the meaning of these things and not be abused as our Fathers were We all agree concerning these matters of Original sin Election Reprobation Free-will Imputed righteousness the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist the washing of Baptism but we cannot agree concerning the manner If we would leave
we shall be saved from wrath c. Do we then make voyd the Law Rom. 8.32 through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law In all the letter and scope of Scriptures upon this point the form of our Justification appears to be the Imputation or Accounting of our Faith for our right or Justification to the rights promised Ro. 5.17 8. There is mention made of Abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness And that by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all Men unto justification of life And that by one Man's obedience many were made righteous Phil. 3.9 St. Paul also desires That he may be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith No Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God for the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the Man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And the promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World Ro. 4.13 was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith SECT III. But in all those places or any other Christ's Righteousness I cannot find any imputation of Christ's Righteousness The Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith I find but no other By the Righteousness of Christ must be meant his personal obedience to the moral Law which cannot be made ours or translated to us or accounted to us and reckoned as ours for diverse and weighty reasons First because Christ's obedience was the obedience of a Mediator fitted exactly for such a Person and Office and no other A High Priest harmless undefiled separated from sinners c. Hebr. 7.26 one that makes all Men just and righteous and is made unto them righteousness sanctification and Redemption and is God our Righteousness That hath the Spirit of Righteousness without measure that is anointed above all his Fellows with that fulness from which we all receive Grace for grace whose Glory is the Glory of the only Begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth and much more than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express Now for a Man to be clothed with the Robes of this Righteousness as they speak is to appear before God not in the habit of a righteous and justified Man but of the justifier of the Sons of Men whose righteousness is too excellent and glorious for our condition of a Mediator God and Man We are the better for his active and passive obedience for it is the cause of our Righteousness by Faith The Members partake of the benefit of the Head The Wife is endow'd by Marriage with all her Husband's goods but the virtue of the Head is not appropriated though communicated nor made over to the Members nor is the estate of the Husband past away or made over to his Wife The Endowment of the Wife is no formal cause nor ingredient of Marriage but a fruit or consequent thereof So our justification or our right to the Righteousness of Christ that is to his Rights and Priviledges accrues to us by our Marriage with Christ which is by Faith the formal cause thereof The Estate Wisdom and Righteousness is Christ's but the benefit of them and of all that is Christ's is ours as is the Wealth and Wisdom and Honour of the Husband to the Wife In a word Christ's Righteousness is that for which Faith is accounted to us for Righteousness Ergo the Personal righteousness of Christ himself is not accounted to us Secondly Because Personal moral virtues cannot be past over to others by act of Nature or Law as by Descent Donation Succession Cession Dereliction Degradation Deprivation or any other way or means Because they are inherent habits of the Mind and therefore inseparable from the Mind and if separable altogether inconveyable to the Mind of another by deed of gift Descent of Blood or any other conveyance whatsoever during life or after death But Jural Rights are of that nature as that they may be derived by act of Law not Nature from Parents to their Children from Predecessors to their Successors or Alienated from the Proprietary to any other Person not only to be reckoned but to be really his or theirs to whom the alienation reversion or derivation is made by any act or deed according unto Law to take place in life or after death Also some act of mine may be accounted for a right to my self as my labour for my wages my purchase for my Estate my Faith for my justification Thus Moral Righteousness is inseparable from the Person to which it doth belong and cannot be reckoned to another but Jural Rights are separable and may be accounted to another I may possibly be respected and saved for another's Virtue and Worth but his Virtue and Worth can no waies be made mine Virtue Learning Vice and Ignorance are habits and qualities which are a Man 's own without accounting but Riches and Honours we have as rights accounted unto us or else we cannot have or hold them My Health or Sickness of Body may be propagated to me and from me to another but not the Health or Sickness of my Soul Who can be healthy by another Man's health while he possesseth it Who can be sick by another Man's sickness while he possesseth it Who can be rich by another Man's riches while he enjoyeth them Who can be honourable by another Man's honour while he enjoyes it Who can be disgraced by another Man's disgrace while he suffereth it Who can be poor by another Man's poverty while he endures it Who can be learned by another Man's Learning while he hath it Who can be virtuous by another Man's virtues or vicious by another Man's vice These Virtues or Vices are really his who hath them not really mine whose they are not or how can these things in another be so much as reckoned or accounted to be mine I may be reckoned guilty of another Man's sin and so of his punishment by consenting or helping c. but not for his acting or suffering I cannot be reckoned virtuous by another Man's virtue or sinful by another Man's sin or miserable by another Man's misery If I have many virtues others may have as many virtues or more than I and I have no less than I have but if I have many rights to such or such things others can have no rights to the same things If they be taken away from me in part I have the less if in full I have none at all but others
the good will of the Imputer that bestows it and our own good will who accept it The want of this distinction makes many run aside first into confusion and then into contention but the clear understanding and application thereof settles the controversie into peace and quietness So Righteousness is imputed and Sin is imputed and Reward is imputed and punishment is imputed so Works are imputed for Righteousness and for a Reward of debt and Faith is imputed for Righteousness and for a Reward of Grace In a word as for imputation of sin it comes by the Law through works and for imputation of Righteousness it comes by the Gospel through Faith The Law curses and condemns the Sinner the Gospel blesses and justifies the ungodly No Law was ever made to justifie that must be grace nor Grace was ever made to condemn that must be Law Moses's yoke is intolerable for condemnation to death Christ's yoke is easie for justification to Life Let Christ therefore live that we may live also in him and by him But let Moses die and be buried and his Sepulchre never be found The CONTENTS Right Corporation Impunity Liberty Provision Protection Audience Alliance Resurrection Jurisdiction Glory Rights of Christ Expectation Supplication Possession TITLE III. Of the matter of Justification THe matter of Justification is Rights A Right is whereby some benefit is made ours Matter of Justification Right There is a difference between Right and Righteousness Righteousness is a moral word signifying a virtue or habit to do that good and right which Law prescribes and it is opposed to unrighteousness and sinfulness which is a vice and habit of doing that evil and wrong which Law forbids But Right is a Jural word signifying the having holding and enjoying of some benefit and good which some Law settles upon us and makes to be ours And this is opposed to a Burthen or charge signifying the having holding and suffering of some grievance and evil which some Law also settles upon us and makes ours In every Kingdom there are diverse rights as the right of Liberty to be a Free-man a Member of a Corporation of suffrage to have a voice in Elections of Family to succeed to an Inheritance of Honour to have a precedency and take place of Power to give Judgment and do justice of Office to perform some function and service of Benefice to have and enjoy some profits and generally all Capacities Abilities Augmentations Honours Degrees Rewards c. are Benefits and Rights There are also in every Kingdom diverse wrongs and burthens quite contrary and privative to those As the burthen of slavery that deprives a Man of liberty of Banishment that deprives a Man of some Corporation of Bastardy that deprives him of his Family of Infamy that deprives him of Honour c. and generally all Incapacities Disabilities Diminutions Degradations and Penalties are Burthens and Wrongs In every Family there are diverse Rights Matrimony a state of right whereby the Husband and the Wife have a right to each others Bed and Board and over each others Bodies Children and Estates 1 Cor. 7.4 Primogeniture is a state of right to succeed to the whole inheritance of the Father Cleanness was a state of right to enter into the Congregation and partake of the Sacrifice Ministery a state of right to preach the word and apply the Sacraments Righteousness in Scripture many times is put for a right As Abraham believed in God Rom. 4.3 and it was accounted to him for righteousness i. e. for a right For God promised Abraham a Blessing that Eliezer his servant should not be his heir but that he should have a Son and Heir of his own Body and that his Seed should be as the stars of Heaven for multitude Abraham believed in God for this Promise and Blessing and his Faith was counted for righteousness or gave him a right and title to this Blessing Had not Abraham believed God i. e. had he not accepted of God's promise God's promise had been a dead offer to him and Abraham had had no right at all unto it But his Faith i e. his acceptance of the promise gave him a right to claim and enjoy the Blessing And Abraham received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised i. e. of the right of Faith for Seals are not signs of moral righteousness but of jural rights for Seals are put to conveyances and evidences and other writings to testifie matters of right So by Circumcision he had now God's Seal to that Grant which God had formerly made to him And v. 13. The promise that Abraham should be the heir of the World was not to him through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith i. e. through the right by faith That is the right of inheritance promised came not to him by any right that the Law gave him but by the right which his faith gave him Contrarily the word unrighteousness in Scripture many times is put for wrong Luc. 16.8 The Lord commended the unjust Steward in the Original the Steward of unrighteousness i. e. the Steward that was not right vers 9. The Mammon of unrighteousness Luc. 18.6 i. e. the Mammon that is not the right riches Hear what the unjust Judg saith in the Original the Judg of unrighteousness Gen. 18.25 i. e. Judg that did not do right but wrong Shall not the Judg of all the World do right in the Original shall he not do righteousness Ps 4.1 Hear me O God of my righteousness i. e. my true and right God for other gods were false and wrong gods And ver 5. Offer the Sacrifices of righteousness i. e. the right Sacrifices what those Sacrifices are he specifies afterwards as the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and of a broken heart Oblations and Burnt-offerings were not the right Sacrifices but Thanksgiving and Contrition Thou satest in the Throne of judging right Ps 9.4 Math. 21.32 in the Original in the Throne of judging righteousness John came unto you in the way of righteousness i. e. in the right way SECT I. Corporation The matter of our Justification is a right of Incorporation into God A Corporation is a Body in Law As besides Natural Parents there are Parents in Law so besides Natural Bodies there are Bodies in Law Diverse Persons united into one and communicating in good or evil are one Body and prosper or suffer together If one member suffer all the members suffer with it or if one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12.26 A Family is a Corporation Husband and Wife are one Body Father and Children are one Body A Kingdom is one Body A Church is one Body These partake of wealth and honour Sin or punishment Their Heads are mutually augmented or diminished because they are one Body In a Corporation some Persons have no right because they
amongst Men are Quasi-Gods and their Estates Quasi-Allodial Faith is properly in all that hold of God None but the Godly have Faith properly Faith is God's due from all Men. Soveraigns only have Right in Allodium Subjects or Faithful only have right to a Fee because Fidelity is the substance of a Fee All hold of Grace They that acknowledg not this Tenure are ungracious Usurpers Rebels Revolters We all hold as Beneficiaries to Soveraign Princes and they are Beneficiaries to God The Persons that are owners and possessors of Allodium are Lords that have absolute Signorie Domination Rule Puissance and sole power to use bestow order or employ persons or things The things that are owned and possessed in Allodium are Persons Lands or other Goods These Persons and things that are thus Allodial are absolute independent the rest conditional and subordinate according to the principles of the Feudal Law By the Civil Law Propriety and Lordship absolute is publick to use or dispose of only as the exigencies and necessities of the Common-wealth shall require and then to leave them or what is left of them to the private owners under them which have private Lordship or Propriety otherwise Allodial to dispose of as they please according to Law This Publick Lordship is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imperium Majestas Principality Soveraignty Absolute Domination Private is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominion Hence Lawyers express themselves as well as they can Ad Caesarem potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos proprietas Caesar omnia imperio possidet singuli Dominio The power of all things belongs unto Caesar the propriety to every Subject Caesar possesseth all things by Command the rest by Dominion Private Dominion is at the discretion of every one to do withal as they please unless restrained by Laws And so Quilibet est arbiter moderator Rei suae i. e. Every one is the Disposer and Governour of his own goods Publick Domination consists in Jure publico to tax and command every one in subsidium Belli i. e. To command Men Beasts Arms Waggons Houses Lands Bridges High-waies Churches Schools Hospitals Walls c. to use even to wasting and consumption in cases of necessity to preserve the whole As Pilots and Masters throw Merchants and Passengers goods overboard and command all Persons to labour in a storm to save the Ship The Eastern Monarchs of the World had this absolute Supremacy in their sole Persons The Roman Kings had the same The Roman People after they had expelled their King kept this absolute Liberty and Majesty to themselves which they called Jus vitae mortis Jus Imperii Jus Libertatis Jus Quiritium Mancipìum i. e. Supreme Domination in the Republick over Persons and Goods in all their Provinces and this Majesty they say was in the Body of the People collectively if we can imagine it so to be for every one to be absolute to rule and obey themselves But truly and properly the Tribunes only were the Absolute Men and the rest boasting of the Freedom which they had not They called themselves Cives Sui mancipii And those that were in the Provinces were in Mancipio Reipublicae Mancipia Manû capta and their Goods Res mancipii Census or Taxe was the mark of publick Domination as Propriety of private Demaine Hence Tributa Census and they that pay'd them were called Tributarii Censiti Ascriptitii Coloni Glebae addicti Gens de mort-main i. e. Mortuae potestatis Gens de potè i. e. alienae Potestatis Demiserfs Gens de Suitte or Serf de suitte constrained to stay in the Territory or else were pursued as fugitives SECT II. The Original of Lordships was Lordship 1. Fathers that were Lords of all both Children and goods 2. Conquerors that were Lords of all Persons and things Jure Belli or Jure Allodii All the Lands in a Military Kingdom were the Conquerors the Conqueror kept some of the Lands and Goods in his own demaine the rest he distributed to his Chieftains according to his own love or their merit reserving the Optimum jus the direct and perfect Dominion to himself A Province to a Duke A Frontier to a Marquess A Ville with its Territory to a Count. Castles and Villages to Barons These they possessed Jure precario benè segerentibus durante Domini beneplacito an utile Dominium Thus the Prince gives his Captains a Title of Fee to use and enjoy Lands to do justice and service in Peace and War Justinian in his Novels calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The antient Clienteles allude somewhat unto them SECT III. An Invention a little hinted at and begun by the Romans woose Emperours to assure their Frontiers gave those Lands that were upon their Marches or Borders to their Captains and Souldiers as a Benefice to hold and use durante Militia ut attentiùs militarent propria jura defendentes See the 11th Book of the Code De Fundis Linotrophis Model from the Goths But this Model and Platform was clearly finished and perfected by the Goths and Vandales c. whom we commonly style Lombards and such Dispositions were by them called Feoda Feuda Fiefs or Fees The Captains held in fee to the Prince their Title Vassals the Chief Valvasours that held in Frank-fee The Souldiers held in fee to their Captains their Title Soldati from their Pay The Natural Inhabitants hold for Labourage not fee are not suffer'd to have the use of Arms their Title Censiti or Tributarïi The Chief Feudataries were called Capitanei Regis aut Regni they had Feuda Nobiliora Dignitates Feudales Offices to execute publick Power but no propriety or Soveraignty as Princes they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use not Possession Thus Lordship and Domination is 1. Over things I am Lord of the things I possess they are my goods they serve me 2. Over Persons I am Lord over the Persons I possess they are my Vassals they serve me Quaedam Res retinent pristinam libertatem quam Domini in primâ rerum divisione habuerunt ut sint solius Domini Allodiales dictae Aliae per Homagia aut Censûs praestationem alium quoque quà m possidentem ostendunt Quasi-dominum illae Feuda istae Censuales Emphytenciariae Superficiatae dictae That is Some things retain their antient Liberty which their owners had in the first division of things that they should be the owners own called therefore Allodial things Other things by Homages or Payments of Taxes declared another besides the owner to be the Quasi Lord or owner of them those were called Feuds and these Censual Emphyteuciary and Superficiary Qui praedia optimo jure possidet i. e. Qui plenam habet absolutamque proprietatem is integrum Dominium directum censetur habere Francum Allodium extrà mancipium servitutemque dominicam positum i. e. He that possesseth any thing by the best right that is who hath full and absolute propriety
up I will draw all men after me Where the Carkass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Ye shall sit on twelve Thrones Ro. 6.5 judging the twelve Tribes of Israel The Saints shall judge the World If we have been planted with him in the likeness of his Death we shall also be planted with him in the likeness of his Resurrection Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the Baptism that I shall be baptized with Math. 20.22 Ye shall indeed drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and ye shall be baptized with the Baptism that I shall be baptized with and so they shall sit on his right and on his left in his kingdom for whom it shall be prepared SECT VI. Great mistakes about the two Covenants of God 1. The Law of Innocency or Works was made with Adam to do Gods will if not upon the least breach to die without hope of pardon upon Repentance 2. The Law of Grace was made with Adam to do Gods will if not to obtain pardon upon Faith and Repentance by Christ in whom God rendred himself reconcileable to deliver from death due by the law of Works This Covenant of Grace was renewed to the Patriarchs especially to Abraham David and the Prophets but especially manifested by Christ to all men The Errour of the Jewish Christians was to hope for Justification by the Covenant of Works without Faith Christ was the head Party in this Covenant made with Adam and all Mankind who are or may be the seed of Christ by believing and Christ by being born under the Law answers the Law by fulfilling it for all his Seed and takes away the Curse and brings in Blessedness by the Covenant of Grace SECT VII Covenant of Grace made with all men And that this Covenant of Grace was made with all men is demonstrated by these Reasons 1. Because the Parties of a Covenant must needs be certainly known who they are Parties of Covenants must be certainly known 1. God is known who promiseth the Reward 2. Mankind is known to whom the Reward is promised and who stipulate with God for it But if the Covenant was made with some of Mankind only and the rest excluded it cannot be certainly known who those are that are contained in the Covenant and who not Now it is most contrary to the nature of a Covenant to be struck with persons that are unknown or not certainly known because the Parties interested must certainly know themselves to be interested and others that have the same interest must certainly know their fellows that are parties with them in the same Covenant because all together they make but one party and God is the other And both these must know one another and understand one another and agree one with another and know the Terms of their agreement and be discernable from all others Therefore in all Covenants the names of the Covenantees are exprest Appellative names in Covenants that is either their Proper names or else Common names sufficient to express every individual by so that they may as plainly be understood who they are as if they were particularly named So in the Testamentary Covenant of God all with whom God Covenants and that do mutually covenant with God are expressed by the Appellative name of the Faithful in Christ These persons Adam and his Posterity did not understand what Covenant Christ their Head procured to be made for them nor what the condition was which they were to perform till they had a Being and the use of a Rational understanding But when they came to Adult age it was revealed unto them and they found not their proper but their appellative Names in the Bond and thereby had a determinate knowledge and were able to ensure themselves and each others that they were the true Parties that were to covenant with God and that they were bound so to do or else to forfeit their Blessing And from their understanding it came to their Wills to choose whether they would covenant with God or no and that it was their own fault if they did not because the terms were indifferently offered to them all And that if they did perform the Condition which Christ their Head had undertaken to make them capable to perform they should obtain the benefits purchased by him for them if not they must of necessity lose it and suffer the punishment expressed in the Bond. So in the Covenants and Testaments of men when there are many persons to covenant with one single person and those either in present or future being it is impossible to particularize every single person that is now alive or are yet for to come nor can any Will or Covenant contain them nor is it rational to set them down if they could but it is very sufficient to comprehend them all that are or shall be the Parties by some common name as of Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns or of all honest painful and miserable persons in such or such a City or Country whereby they that are so qualified are undoubtedly the persons meant by the Testator or Covenanter in his said Will and Covenant and may lawfully claim the Legacies or Benefits intended for them and promised unto them SECT VIII A Publick person may stipulate for himself and all under his power Publick stipulation at present and that shall be when they come to be As a King for all his Subjects born or to be born A Head of a Corporation or Syndick for all the Citizens A Father for all his Children If this Publick person break the Covenant for himself and by himself he only is guilty for himself and by himself properly and really as to the sin but improperly and quasily and by act of Law his heirs or successors are guilty that is so accounted and therefore they really suffer the loss and penalty by their Fathers sin not enjoying the benefit which they should have had if he had not broken the Covenant for himself by act of Nature nor they with him by act of Law So that they suffer the shame and loss by being Sons to such a Father and are so far tainted in their blood and lessened in their heads but yet they may stipulate for themselves and be faithful and recover the honour and estate which they lost by their Father so far as in him lay If this Publick person keep the Covenant for himself he is only rewardable for himself properly and really as to the virtue of his keeping it and his heirs and successors are not really nor properly rewardable but quasily and by act of Law and therefore they are really rewarded and enjoy the benefit only by such act and constitution and have the honour of being Sons to such a Father are pure in blood and advanced in their heads If the heirs to those Publick persons actually break the Covenant
out the pure Channels that refresh the World into divers muddy streams that sterilize as well as bastardize the race of Mankind Virginity Not disparaging Virginity that sister of Angels and resemblance of the glorified Spirits who neither marry nor are given in marriage nor those that are innocently blemished by unlawful conceptions and births because they could not help it Why Marriage was ordained But still Marriage is what it ever was and ever will be a most honourable estate instituted of God in Paradise in the time of Man's innocency signifying the Mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church Which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence and first Miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galile and is commended of St. Paul to be honourable among all men and therefore is not to be enterprized or taken in hand unadvisedly lightly or wantonly to satisfie mens carnal lusts and appetites like brute beasts which have no understanding but reverently discreetly advisedly soberly and in the fear of God duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained First it was ordained for the procreation of Children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. Secondly it was ordained a Remedy against sin and to avoid fornication that such persons as have not the gift of Continency might marry and keep themselves undefiled Members of Christ's Body Thirdly for the mutual Society help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other both in prosperity and adversity This so honourable Estate makes not only Flesh of our Flesh and bone of our bone but Spirit of our Spirit and that two are one Flesh and one Spirit So God and Man Christ and his Church Man and Wife Fathers and Children Fathers and Mothers Sons and Daughters Brothers and Sisters Husbands and Wives and all Relations are mutually each others Christ the King is the Betrothed and Husband as well as Father of his Church and Kingdom And Christ's Church is the Subje ct the Spouse and Wife of Christ her Husband Therefore SECT V. Were it but for a bare civil respect it stands the Kingdom of the World in very great stead carefully to look after the right ordering of Marriages And surely there are weighty reasons for it It keepeth the purity of the Bloud from commixtion of base Seed Benefits of Marriage It gives a right to the true Sons and Daughters to take comfort in them and receive help from them to honour and enrich our own and not anothers Issue It preserves from the greatest usurpation of Natural rights to each Man's Body to each Man's Wife to eat the Fruit of my own Tree and drink the Waters of mine own Cistern not to own and feed anothers Cattel in my proper Ground It prevents the greatest cheat in the World Abuses of Marriage to be cosened in my own Progeny and not be able to distinguish it from anothers What is more entirely mine own than the off-spring of my own loyns and she that is next to me and one Flesh with me It is the greatest dishonour imaginable to be thus chouced it is a wonder it is no more regarded nor stood upon I would gladly eat my own Bread and till my own Land I am nearest and dearest to my self and all the Love Honour and Estate I have I would willingly reserve to me and mine and my virtue wisdom and wit too if it were in my power Bastardy But contrary to Nature all that I have must flow from my genuine Breed to a spurious generation This misconveyes all Inheritances and breaks the bonds of Nature love and descent The Brood may be fair hopeful and wise for their parts of Body and Mind but they are none of mine and yet all that is mine must be theirs This distroies all the great Priviledges of Wills and Testaments so direct a part of the Law and so much useful to Mankind it jumbles together the Bloud of Mankind it befools the Labourers of Mankind Nobility is dasht and quite destroy'd by it Virtue and Honesty Religion and Laws are quite destroy'd by it It infatuates all the labours and studies of Mankind which should do good first to their own private Families and then to the publick state In a word it confounds all rihgts of Persons things and actions It lays all in common and wastes all and no body can express the mischief that redounds to the World by it To engraft wild plants into a natural stock To puddle pure Fountains to poyson wholsom waters to defile every nest and throw dung upon every clean place SECT VI. Rights by Marriage My chiefest right of Soul and Body and all that I have is to my God whose they are the next is to my self the next is to my second self or my Wife the next is to my Children and their Children Friends and Allies and mine for all these God hath given me Now all these are lost by my giving my right to the Devil and to harlots this is my own act and deed But some of these are lost by being torn from me by Extortioners and Adulterers this is their act and deed I must have a Father or else I could not be but he may be such a one as I never knew or never shall and this is not only a loss but a shame and misery to me but no sin because I could not help it I am in the condition of a Slave to possess nothing at all and Slaves usurp possession of all that is mine In Christ's Church and Kingdom there must be Chastity In Christ's Church and Kingdom there must be Fidelity in Families and Kingdoms Christ's Church consists of Families Therefore the solemn Covenant of Marriage must be kept inviolable in all Families because they are altogether married unto Christ their Husband Lord and King and not go a whoring from under their God Laws about Marriage For this purpose the good Laws of Men especially of the Romans are carefully to be observed who have taken a very strict course in every particular for the pure undertaking and performing of this great Business of Life that so much concernes the happy condition of Men in this World and in the World to come It is profitable therefore for Christians to take a survey of all those wholsom Constitutions set down in the Body of the Civil Law concerning Marriage Age of Persons 1. As first for the age of the Persons that are to marry The Law allowes of twelve in Females and fourteen in Males to be ripeness of years to contract for themselves Quality of Persons 2. The Persons condition that are to marry is considered that they be Liberi Cives Romani as hath been spoken of before Infamous 3. The Roman Law greatly abhorred Scenicos Lenones c. i. e. all ludicrous histrionical and mimical Persons that came upon the Stage as commonly most unchast and all pimps
father and mother downward to their son and daughter which is sideward to me which are my brother and sister is two degrees and from my brother and sister downwards again to their son and daughter is three degrees And the son or daughter of my brother and sister is my Nephew or Neece or rather my Cousins german Sideward in the side-line or linage no more degrees are forbidden for marriage beyond the third degree either by the Law of Moses or by the Civil Law or by the Law of our Church Because in these lines the Degrees only of propinquity or nearness are forbidden and propinquity or nearness consisteth but in three degrees Reason determining in the third And therefore persons in the fourth Degree sideward and much more in the fifth or sixth degree c. may lawfully marry Because such persons are in no degree of propinquity or nearness seeing propinquity or nearness comprehendeth only but three degrees and consequently first Cousins or Cousins german or brothers and sisters Children may lawfully marry and many times do so and therefore a man may marry his Uncles daughter or his Aunts daughter for my Uncles or my Aunts daughter is my Cousin german The fourth degree sideward between brothers and sisters Children or Degree 4 Cousins german is thus From me upward to my father or mother is one degree from my father or mother to their father or mother or my Grandfather or Grandmother is two degrees then from my Grandfather or Grandmother which are the common stock downwards to their son or daughter which is sideward to my father and mother which are their brother and sister which are my Uncle and Aunt is three degrees and from my Uncle and Aunt downwards to their son and daughter which are my Cousins german is four degrees This computation of degrees is according to the Civil Law whose Rule is this Tot sunt gradus Cognationis quot sunt Generationes i. e. So many Generations so many Degrees The computation of the Canon Law is Quoto gradu unusquisque eorum distat à communi stipite eodem gradu distant inter se i. e. In what degrees the parties are distant from the Common stock in the same degree they are distant between themselves So that brothers and sisters Children that by the computation of the Civil Law differ four degrees from each other by the Canon Law differ but two degrees from each other So that the Civil Law considereth degrees especially for Successions of Inheritances from person to person numbring the degrees according to single persons only by one degree at once according to the next or nearest common Stock or Parent and thence descending to the person whose degree is required but the Canon Law considereth rather the degrees of Marriage made by the consent of two persons and for that reason joyneth two persons together in the numbring of degrees As to Cousins german therefore to conclude though some Divines and some Lawyers here in England do scruple at the lawfulness of their marriage yet they scruple it without alledging any sound reason but relying only upon Tradition and the long practice of the Canonists who have forbidden those marriages for meer lucre to gain mony for the Licensing of them by Dispensations which are denied to none but are granted of course for mony to all that desire them But from the beginning it was not so neither ought it to be so because the Rule holds good Quod ab initio non valuit illud tractû temporis convalescere non potest That which was invalid from the beginning cannot be made valid by length of time SECT II. Of Unjust marriages Unjust Marriages L. orat 10. §. 1. ff de Ritu Nupt. L. Nuptae 53. ff de Ritu Nupt. §. Ergo Instit de Nupt. §. Item Animam Inst de Nuptiis As for Unjust marriages they are those which are forbidden by natural Reason and the law of Blood it being a firm Principle That in the right Line of ascending and descending degrees as Parents and Children wives are forbidden in infinitum 2. Unjust marriages are those also which are forbidden by the same natural Reason and law of Blood in the transverse or collateral Line unequal of ascending and descending degrees as Uncles and Aunts wives are forbidden in infinitum because they are quasi-Parentes and do sustain the places of Parents Claudius for the lust he had to Agrippina the daughter of his brother Germanicus came into the Senate to make such Marriages lawful but it was refused by all save one knight Taledius Severus Nerva forbad this and Anastasius and Zeno. It matters not at all whether such Conjunction descend from the just marriages of persons so related or not For it is not granted to the Sire to marry his daughter by his bondmaid or any of the multitude And Servile cognations are so strictly observed in this Nuptial Law that it is accounted contrary to natural right and modesty that the daughter any waies begotten should be married to her own Father that begot her L. Fratris L. ult C. de Iâ—cestis Nupt. L. Nemini C. de Nup. L. licâ— C. de Incest Nupt. For this is Incest by the Laws of Nature and Nations The like Prohibition extends to the daughter of a brother or a sisters daughter The wives of Brethren deceased may not be married to their brethren that are alive 3. A man may not marry his wives sister L. fratris C. de Incest Nupâ— L. Liberi 4. C. de Nuptiis Unjust marriages in like manner are those which are forbidden in the like degrees of Affinity contrary to the legal Reason and law of Marriage and Alliance Yea so modest were the Romans that they extended their Prohibitions to the Spouses of Parents or Children but especially to Concubines as Alexander religiously ordained Prudent men have ranked Adoptions also among the rest out of reverence to any thing that had any resemblance to blood or kindred Antonius Caracalla is the only noted Roman for this Incest 4. Unjust marriages are those which are forbidden by the natural Reason and law of Blood in the side-line equal as brothers and sisters by the same father or mother or by either of them Caligula was counted a Monster rather than a Prince for defiling all his sisters Papirius got his sister Coemilia with child for which her Father Papilius Tolucer sent her a sword with which she let out her own life as Papirius did his afterward So Juno was Uxor conjux Jovis 5. Unjust Marriages are those which want a due consent as of Fools and Mad people and those under age which have no Will in Law And those that have not the consent of their Parents or Curators But Mutes may consent by signs in sickness or lameness not Inst de Nuptiis nor furor superveniens or madness that comes after a Contract Yet Sons emancipated do rightly contract without their Parents consent but