wrath contentions envy malice covetousness injustice oppression wars uncharitableness and all the iniquity of the world And how self is the grand enemy of God and Man and of the Publick good and peace and contrary to the love of God and our neighbour and the Common-wealth It giveth us so many precepts for self-denial as no other Religion did ever mention and such an example against it in Jesus Christ as is the astonishment of Men and Angels And therefore all other Religions did in vain attempt the true purifying of heart and life or the pacifying of the divided minds of men while they let alone this sin of selfishness or lightly touch'd it which is the root and heart of all the rest § 5. No Religion doth so much reveal to us the Nature of God and his works for Man and Relations to him as the Christian Religion doth And doubtless that is the most excellent doctrine which maketh known God most to mans mind and that is the best Religion which bringeth man nearest to his Creator in love and purity Few of the Heathens knew God in his Unity and fewer in the Trinity of his Essential Primalities many question'd his particular Providence and Government they knew not man's relation or duty to him while they were distracted with the observance of a multitude of Gods they indeed had none Though God be incomprehensible to us all yet is there a great deal of the glory of his perfections revealed to us in the light of Christianity which we may seek in vain with any other sort of men § 6. No Religion doth so wonderfully open and magnifie and reconcile God's Justice and Mercy to Mankind as Christianity doth It sheweth how his Justice is founded in his Holiness and his governing Relation it justifieth it by opening the purity of his Nature the evil of sin and the use of punishment to the right government of the world and it magnifieth it by opening the dreadfulness and certainty of his penalties and the sufferings of our Redeemer when he made himself a Sacrifice for our sins By the revelation of justice sin and misery it revealeth the wonderful greatness of Gods mercy it openeth those operations and effects of it which Heathenism and Mahometanism are utter strangers to they speak diminutively both of Mercy and Justice and cannot tell how to make God merciful without making him vnjust nor to make him just without obscuring the glory of his mercy which is peculiarly set forth in the work of Redemption and the Covenant of Grace and promise of everlasting Blessedness § 7. The Christian Religion openeth many other parts of holy doctrine which are unknown to men that learned them not from thence Such as the doctrin of the Creation and the Fall and of original sin and of Justification Sanctification Adoption and the right worshipping of God of which mention is made before more distinctly § 8. No Religion can be more Charitable for it wholly consisteth in the love of God and one another and in the means to kindle and maintain this love The whole Law of Christ is fulfilled in love even in loving God for himself above all and our neighbours as our selves for the sake of God yea our enemies so far as there is any thing amiable in them The end of all the Commandments is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith And all Christians are obliged to love each other with a pure heart and fervently yea to shew that love which they profess to Christ himself by the loving of one another How frequently and earnestly is this great duty pressed by Christ and his Apostles how great a stress doth he lay upon it He maketh it the evidence of our love to God He promiseth salvation to it He forbiddeth selfishness that it may not hinder it He commandeth us to live in the constant expression of it and to provoke one another to love and to good works He hath made himself the most matchless and wonderful example of it He hath told us that according to mens charity he will judge them at the last day How dry and barren are all Religions and Writings that we have ever come to the knowledge of in the world in the point of love and the fruits of love in comparison of the Gospel of Jesus Christ § 9. I find that the Christian Religion is most for Vnity and Peace of any Religion in the world most vehemently commanding them and appointing the fittest means for the attaining of them 1. All Christians are commanded to be of one mind to think the same things and speak the same things and discord and division and contention is earnestly forbidden them and condemned and all occasions which may lead them thereunto 2. And they have one Head and Centre one God and Saviour who is their common Governour End and Interest in whom therefore they may all unite when most others in the world do shew a man no further end than self-preservation and so while self is each mans end and interest there are as many ends as men and how then is it possible that such should have any true unity and concord But to every true Christian the pleasing and glorifying of God and the promoting of his Kingdom for the salvation of the world is above all self-interest whatsoever and therefore in this they are all united And though they all seek their own felicity and salvation it is only in the seeking of this higher end which is finis amantis sed creaturae amantis creatorem the end of a lover which desireth unity and respecteth both the lover and the beloved but it is not the end of the love of equals but of the creature to the Creator who therefore preferreth his beloved before himself in his intentions So that it is only this holy centring in God that can ever make men all of a mind and agree the disagreeing world While Self is every mans end they will have such constant contrariety of interests that it will be impossible for them to agree but covetousness ambition and sensuality will keep them in factions contentions and wars continually Moreover it is Christianity that most urgeth and effectually giveth a hearty love to one another and teacheth them to love their neighbours as themselves and to do as they would have others to do by them and this is the true root and spring of concord And it is Christianity which most teacheth the forgiving of wrongs and loving of enemies and forbearing that revenge which Heathens were wont to account an honour And it is Christianity which teacheth men to contemn all the riches and honours of the world which is the bone that worldly dogs do fight for and the great occasion of their strife and it teacheth them to mortifie all those vices which feed mens divisions and contentions So that if any man live as a Christian he must needs be a man of unity
and he may be sure that it is no sin because he hath done it for if God forbid it not it is no sin nay he may make it an effect of God's government But this consequence is so false and horrid that no Nation on earth receiveth it and Cannibals themselves abhor it who eat not their friends but strangers and enemies § 11. VIII If God be not the Governour of the world by Laws then no man need to fear or avoid any thing forbidden by the Laws of Man who can either keep it secret by Wit or keep himself from humane revenge by Power But the consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The reason of the consequence is evident because where no humane revenge is to be feared there no punishment at all is to be feared if God be no Governour of the world but those that can hide their actions by craft or make them good by power need not fear any humane revenge therefore they need to fear none at all upon the Atheists grounds And if that be so 1. How easie is it for cunning malice to burn a Town to kill a King to poison wife or children and to defraud a neighbour and never be discovered If this be so then Thieves Adulterers Traitors when they are detected have failed only in point of wit that they concealed it not and not in point of honesty and duty 2. And then any Rebel that can get enow to follow him hath as good a cause as the King that he rebelleth against and if he conquer he need not accuse himself of doing any wrong And then there will be nothing for conscience to blame any man for nor for one man to accuse another of but witlesness or impotency And then the Thief must suffer only for want of strength or cunning and not because he did any wrong § 12. IX If there be no Government by God there can be no true Propriety but Strength and he that is strongest hath right to all that he can lay hold on But the Consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent The consequence is undeniable for if there be no Divine Government there is no Law but Humane and no man can have any Right besides Strength to make Laws for any other whomsoever For if God have no Government and Law he constituteth no Debitum vel Jus no Dueness or Right And man can have no Right to govern others if he have no Governour to give any If God do give Right to Govern he thereby maketh obedience to that Governour a duty and he that constituteth or instituteth Right and Duty governeth And if God give men No Right to Govern they can have none And then if Strength be all their Title any man that can get as much Strength doth get as good a Title and may seize upon the Lives the Lands and Estates of Prince or People and give Laws to the weaker as others before gave Laws to him And so there will utter confusion and misery be let in upon the world As in the Poet's description of the degenerate Age Vivitur ex raptu non hospes ab hospite tutus c. Reason would have nothing to say against strength the great Dog would have the best title to the bone Melior mihi dextera lingua est Dummodo pugnando superem tu vince loquendo Ovid. Met. The honest poor and peaceable would have such a peace with thieves and strong ones Cum pecore infirmo quae solet esse lupis Ovid. § 13. If God govern not the world then meer Communities are uncapable of Right or Wrong and no man is bound in duty to spare his brother's life or state But the Consequent is false therefore so is the Antecedent By a Community I mean a company of men that have yet set up no Government among them If God be not their Governour such have none at all and so are under no moral obligation for Covenants themselves cannot bind if there be no superiour obligation requiring man to stand to his Covenants Obj. Then God's Covenants to man do not bind him Answ Not at all by proper obligation as if it were his Duty to keep them and his Sin to break them for God is not capable of duty or sin But yet improperly they may be called Obligations because they are the demonstrations of his Will which the perfection of his Nature will not let him violate It would be an imperfection if God should break promise though not a sin or crime And therefore it is impossible for God to lie Obj. But suppose we say that Man is under no other obligations than a Beast and that among men there is no proper right or wrong duty or fault yet men by confederacies without any other Government would settle Rules for the safety of cohabitation and converse and for love of themselves would forbear wronging others And this is all the Law of Nature that Man hath above Bruits Answ Those Confederacies would no further oblige them than their Interest required them to observe them Still by this rule a man is left free to kill wife and children if he be weary of them which no neighbour being wronged by none will seem obliged to revenge still he that is the stronger is left to do his worst without fault to seize upon other mens estates and to depose Kings and destroy them and all the world would be in a state of war Or if self-interest keep some quiet for a time it would be but till they had strength and opportunity to do otherwise He is not fit for humane society who would tell all about him I take my self free to defraud and murder any of you as soon as my own safety and interest will allow it me And no man that thus taketh a man for a beast can expect any better usage than a beast himself any further than self-love shall restrain others from abusing him nor can he plead any better title to his estate nor exemption from the violence of the stronger And it will also follow that honesty is nothing but self-preserving policy and that blasphemy and impiety against God need not be feared or avoided nor any thing as a fault but only as a folly exposing the person himself to danger Incest Perjury Lying might be impudencies but not any crimes Obj. If you supposed them in God they would be but imperfections and not crimes and why should you judge othewise of them in Man Answ Because the absolute perfection of his Nature is instead of a Law to God who hath no Superiour But man hath a Superiour and hath an imperfect nature which is therefore to be regulated by the wisdom and will of that perfect Superiour And moreover if Man have reason and wisdom above a Beast which maketh him capable of knowing Right and Wrong and of being moved by the things that are evident to reason though not to sense and if he
From the specifick nature of Man as a Rational free sociaile Creature he is by immediate Resultancy Gubernandus and being such his Creator remotely for his Infinite Perfections and sole aptitude and proximately because he is Mans absolute Owner is by Resultancy his rightfull Governour And that he neglecteth not this his Right but actually Governeth him appeareth in the very making man such and continuing him such as is made to be Governed as also in his actual Laws and Judgements This is the true and plain resolution of the Question of the Title of God to his Kingdom or fundamentum of the Relation of Universal King § 19. Humane Government is an Ordinance of God and Humane Governours are his Officers as he is supream And he hath not left it free to the World whether they will live in governed Societies or not That Humane Government is appointed by God appeareth thus 1. In that the light of Nature teacheth it all the World 2. In that God hath put into mans Nature a necessity of it and therefore signified his will concerning it It is needfull to the very lives of men and to their highest perfections order and attainments If Parents did not govern Children and Teachers their Scholars and Masters their Servants and Princes their Subjects the World would be as a Wilderness of wilde beasts and men would not live like men according to their natural capacities I deny not but some one or few by necessity or some extraordinary circumstances may be exempted from this obligation by being uncapable of the benefit being cast into a Wilderness or such like place where the benefit of Government is not to be had But that 's nothing to the commoner case of Mankinde As Marriage is indifferent to those individuals that need not the benefits of it but it is not lawfull for the World of Mankinde to forbear procreation to the extinction of it self § 20. Therefore as all Rulers receive their Power from him and hold it in dependance on him so must they finally use it for him even for his will and interest which they must principally intend He that is the Original of Power must needs be the End He that giveth it to man doth give it for the accomplishment of his own Will It is held in pure subordination to him and so it must be used or it is abused § 21. Therefore no man can have any Power against God or his Laws or Interest For he giveth not Power against Himself That is he giveth no man Right authority or commission to displease him by the breaking of his Laws for that is a contradiction or chargeth his Laws with contradiction Yet must not any Subjects make this a pretence to deny any just obedience to their Rulers or to rebell against them on supposition that their Government is against God For as private men are not made Publick Judges of the interest of God but only private discerners in order to their own obedience to him so may that Government be for God in the main which is against him in some few particulars § 22. The Highest Duty of Man is to Him who is the Highest And the greatest Crime is that which is committed against the greatest Authority This is suâ luce so evident that it needs no proof formally the chief obedience is due to the chief Governour To a King rather than to a Justice of Peace or Constable And consequently the greatest sin is against him If God be above man so is duty to God and sin against God the greatest in both kinds § 23. Therefore there is Good and Evil which respecteth God and are called Holiness and Sin which are incomparably greater than Good and Evil so called from respect to any Creatures whether Individuals or Societies Therefore they that know no Good but that which is so called from its respect to mans commodity or benefit nor no Evil but that which is so called from its respect to the hurt of Creatures do not know God nor his Relation to his works but make Gods of themselves and accordingly judge of Good and Evil. § 24. The Consciences of men do secretly accuse them or excuse them according to this sort of Good or Evil. When men have wrangled against Religion never so long there are very few so blinde and bad in whom God hath not a resident witness called Conscience which secretly telleth a man that he doth well or ill as he keepeth or breaketh the Laws of Nature and that with respect to the Soveraign Law-giver and not only to the good or hurt of man As Conscience doth not accuse a man for being poor or sick or wronged by another though about these we may have also inward trouble so it doth not justifie him for his Prosperity in the World though it may be laid asleep and quieted by such means But it is for Morall Good or Evil that Conscience doth accuse or justifie If I make my self poor wilfully my Conscience will trouble me for the wilful fault and breed in me repentance and remorse And so it will if I hurt or impoverish my neighbour But if I hurt my self or neighbour unavoidably without any fault of mine I am sorry for it but my Conscience will not accuse or condemn me for it § 25. This power of Conscience causeth all the World to praise or dispraise men according to this Moral Good or Evil. Mark but the Infidels themselves or any whom Vice hath turned into Monsters and they will commend men upon the account of that inward sincerity and honesty which God only can make Laws for and dispraise men for the contrary If you say that they do this only because such virtues make men fit for humane converse and profitable or not hurtfull to one another I answer we are not enquiring of the final cause but the formal Though they praise sincere and honest men and those that are loving compassionate kinde and dispraise dissemblers malicious and men of hurtfull dispositions yet you may observe that they speak not of these only as usefull or hurtfull qualities but as morall good or evil as things that men ought or ought not to do which they are bound to do or not do by some obligation And what Obligation can make it any mans duty if there be no Law of God in Nature for it when it is out of the reach of the Laws of men Mark Heathens and Infidels and Atheists in their talk and you shall hear them praise or dispraise men for some things which intimate a Divine Obligation which sheweth that the Conscience of the World beareth witness to the supream universal Government of God No man who believeth that there is a God can believe that the actions of his rational creatures have no relation to him or that the good or evil of them which is the result of their relation to God can be of less or lower consideration than their relation to themselves or one
natural Image on the Will of Man The Will cannot determine it self without the conduct of an Intellect and without an Object in esse cognito nor without Divine sustentation and universal influx But it can determine it self to the moral species which is but the mode of action to this rather than that in the comparative proposal without any pre-determining efficient for such none of the former are And God having made such a self-determining creature took delight to govern him according to his nature by the sapiential moral means of Laws of what he doth more to cause Good than Evil and other such incident questions I must now put them off to a fitter place § 2. God planted in man's mind a natural inclination to Truth and Goodness and to his own felicity and an averseness to falshood and to evil and to his own misery and hurt that these lying deeper than his liberty of choice might be a pondus to his motions and help him the more easily and stedfastly to obey and to adhere to and prosecute his proposed happiness and end § 3. Accordingly God formed his holy Law with a perfect fitness to these faculties and inclinations furnishing it wholly with truth and goodness and fitting all things in it to the benefit of man as is proved before § 4. This Law had a sufficient promulgation being legible on the face of the whole Creation within our view and specially on the nature of man himself from whence his duty did result § 5. And God was pleased to make as legible the most rational powerful motives to love and obedience that can be imagined by man that no tempter might possibly bid the ten thousandth part so much for our love and obedience as he had bid and assured us of himself § 6. From all this it is most evident that God made us not sinners though he made us men but that man being defectible abused his liberty and turned from God and brought corruption and misery upon himself § 7. He that will understand God's Justice aright must consider of these forty intrinsick evils that are in sin which nature it self declareth 1. In its formal nature it is the violation of a perfect righteous Law 2. It is a contempt or denial of God's governing authority over us 3. It is the usurping of the government of our selves which we denied to God 4. It is a denial or contempt of the wisdom of God as if he had erred in the making of his Laws and knew not so well what is just and meet and good for us as we our selves and were not wise enough to govern a lump of animated clay 5. It is an exalting of our folly into the Throne of the Divine Wisdom as if we had more wisdom than he that made us and knew better what is just and meet and what is fit or good for our selves and could correct God's Laws and make our selves a better Rule 6. It is a denial or contempt of the Goodness of God as if he had ensnared us by his Law and envied our happiness and forbad us that which would do us good and put us upon that which will do us hurt and so would seduce us into calamity and were an enemy to our welfare 7. It is a preferring our naughtiness before His Goodness as if we could do better in regulating our selves than God and could make a better choice for our selves than his Laws have made And as if our wills were fitter than God's to be the Rule of good and evil 8. It is a denial or contempt of his Holiness and Purity which is contrary to sin as health to sickness as if by our deeds we would perswade the world that God is as Satan a lover of sin and an enemy to Himself and Holiness 9. It is a denial or contempt of God's propriety as if we were not his own and he had not power to dispose of us as be list or it is a robbing him of the use and service of that which is absolutely his own 10. It is a claiming of propriety in our selves as if we were at our own disposal and might do with our selves and our faculties as we list 11. It is a belying or contempt of the great and gracious Promises of God and of the wonderfull mercy which he manifesteth in them by which he doth binde and allure us to Obedience As if he did not mean as he speaketh or would not make good his Word to the Obedient 12. It is a falsifying or contempt of his dreadfull Threatnings as if he did not intend any execution of them but made them only as a deceitfull terror to frighten men from sin for want of better means 13. It is a denyal or contempt of the dreadfull future Judgement of God as if he would never call men to any account nor judge them according to his Laws 14. It is a denying the Veracity of God as if he were a Lyar and Deceiver and did not intend the things which he speaketh As if his Precepts were but a false pretension and he were indeed indifferent what we did and were not to be believed in his predictions promises or threats 15. It is a contempt of all the Mercies even of this life which flesh it self doth overvalue As if protection provision deliverances comforts were not so much to be regarded as our Concupiscence nor were not of weight enough to bind us to obey so mercifull a God and as if Ingratitude were no Crime 16. It is a contempt of those Castigatory Afflictions by which God driveth men from sin by giving them a taste of the bitterness of its fruits 17. It is a contempt of all the examples of his Mercy and his Judgements upon others by which he hath shewed us how good he is and how just a punisher of sin 18. It is a contempt of all the inward motions and strivings of God which sinners oft feel perswading them to forbear their sin and to seek after God 19. It is a contempt of Conscience which beareth witness for God against their sins 20. It is a contempt of all the Instructions and advise of wise and good men who are required by God and Nature to warn men and perswade them from their sins 21. It is a contempt of the Example of all Obedient Virtuous Persons whose Lives instruct them and reprove them 22. It is a contempt of Virtue it self which is contrary to sin and whose proper worth commandeth Love 23. It is a contempt of Gods Omnipresence when we will sin in his very presence and of his Omniscience when we will sin when we know that he seeth it 24. It is a contempt of the Greatness and Almightiness of God when a silly Worm dare sin against him who upholdeth the World and can do Justice on him in a moment as if we could make good our part against him 25. It is a contempt of the attractive Goodness of God by
earthly things as is necessary to them that will attain it For few men will seek with their utmost labour or let go all other things to attain a happiness which they are not well perswaded of the reality of And though sound reason might well perswade them of it yet reason is now become so blind and unsound and partial and enslaved to the flesh that it is not fit for such an office according to our necessity without some heavenly Revelation § 9. And it is exceeding congruous to mans necessity who is faln under the power and fears of death as well as the doubts and estrangedness to the other world that he that will save and heal us do himself in our nature rise from the dead and ascend up into heaven to give us thereby a visible demonstration that indeed there is a Resurrection and a life to come for us to look for Though God was not obliged to do thus much for us yet Reason telleth us that if he will do it it is very suitable to our necessities For all the reasonings in the world do not satisfie in such things so much as ocular demonstration when we either see a man that is risen from the dead or have certain testimony of it it facilitateth the belief of our own resurrection and he that is gone into Heaven before us assureth us that a Heaven there is § 10. When God in mercy would forgive and save a sinful people it was very congruous to reason that there should be some fit means provided to demonstrate his holiness in his justice and to vindicate the honour of his Laws and Government and so to secure the ends of both For if God make a penal Law and execute it not but let man sin with impunity and do nothing which may deter him nor demonstrate his Justice as much as the sinners sufferings would do it would tell the world that he that gave them the Law and thereby told them that he would rule and judge them by it did but deceive them and meant not as he spake And it would bring both the Law and Governour into contempt and perswade men to sin without any fear and he that was question'd for the second crime would say I ventured because I suffered not for the first It was the devils first way of tempting men to sin to perswade mankind that God meant not as he spake in his threatning of their death but that they should not die though God had threatned it And if God himself should by his actions say the same it would tempt them more to sin than Sathan could as his credibility is greater Therefore he that is a Governour must be just as well as merciful and if God should have pardoned sinners without such a sacrifice or substitute means as might preserve the honour of his Law and Government and the future innocency of his Subjects as well as their punishment in the full sense of the Law would have done the consequents would have been such as I will leave to your own judgements § 11. And it was very congruous to reason that so odious a thing as sin should be publickly condemned and put to shame although the sinner be forgiven As it was done in the life and death of Christ For the purity of God is irreconcileable to sin though not to the sinner and therefore it was meet that the sin have all the publick shame though the sinner escape and that God be not like weak imperfect man who cannot do good without doing or encouraging evil § 12. It is congruous to our condition that seeing even the upright do renew their sins their consciences should have some remedy for the renewal of their peace and comfort that it sink them not into desperation which is most suitably provided for them in Jesus Christ For when we were pardoned once and again and oft and yet shall sin he that knoweth the desert of sin and purity of God will have need also to know of some stated certain course of remedy § 13. It was meet that the sinful world have not only a certain Teacher but also a perfect pattern before them of righteousness love self-denial meekness patience contempt of lower things c. which is given us by Jesus Christ alone And therefore the Gospel is written Historically with Doctrins intermixt that we might have both perfect Precepts and Pattern § 14. It was very congruous to a world universally lapsed that God should make with it a new Law and Covenant of Grace and that this Covenant should tender us the pardon of our sins and be a conditional act of oblivion And that sinners be not left to the meer Law of perfect Nature which was to preserve that innocency which they have already lost To say Thou shalt perfectly obey to a man that hath already disobeyed and is unfitted for perfect obedience is no sufficient direction for his pardon and recovery Perhaps you 'l say That God's gracious Nature is instead of a Law of Grace or Promise But though that be the spring of all our hopes yet that cannot justly quiet the sinner of it self alone because he is just as well as merciful and Justice hath its objects and pardon dependeth on the free-will of God which cannot be known to us without its proper signs The Devils may say that the Nature of God is good and gracious and so may any condemned malefactor say of a good and gracious Judge and King and yet that is but a slender reason to prove his impunity or pardon All will confess that absolute pardon of all men would be unbeseeming a wise and righteous Governour And if it must be conditional who but God can tell what must be the condition If you say That Nature telleth us That converting Repentance is the condition I answer 1 Nature telleth us That God cannot damn a holy loving Soul that hath his Image but yet it telleth us not That this is the only or whole condition 2. It is not such a Repentance as lieth but in a frightned wish that the sin had not been done but such a one as consisteth in the change of the mind and heart and life and containeth a hatred to the sin repented of and a love to God and Holiness and we have as much need of a Saviour to help us to this repentance as to help us to a pardon § 15. It is very congruous to our miserable state that the Condition of this Covenant of Grace should be on our part the acknowledgment of our Benefactor and the thankful acceptance of the benefit and a hearty consent for the future to follow his conduct and use his appointed means in order to our full recovery which is the condition of the Christian Covenant § 16. Seeing man's fall was from his God unto himself especially in point of love and his real recovery must be by bringing up his soul to the love of God again
another Therefore if it be laudable to perform duty to Kings and Parents and Neighbours Conscience will tell the World that it is incomparably more necessary to perform our duty to God And it cannot be that the World should stand related to God as their Creator Proprietor Governour and end and yet owe him no duty § 26. Gods Government as Mans consisteth of three parts Legislation Judgement and Execution Without Laws the Subject can neither know his Duty nor his Rewards and Punishments Without Judgement laws will be uneffectual and without execution judgement is a deceitfull ludicrous thing § 27. By a Law I mean An Authoritative Institution what shall be due from and to the Subject for the ends of Government Or A sign of the Rulers Will instituting what shall be Due to and from the Subject for the ends of Government The fuller reasons of this Definition of a Law I have given in another Writing Signum is the Genus of it The will of a Ruler being no otherwise to be known to Subjects but by signs The Relations of Ruler and Subjects is presupposed It is therefore only an Authoritative sign or the sign of a Rulers will because a Ruler only hath the Power of Government I say of his Will as that which is the neerest perfective Efficient or Imperant faculty including the understandings conduct I call it an institution or instituting sign to signifie its efficiency de debito and to distinguish it from the judicial decisive determination of the Ruler It is only to Subjects that this signification is made he being not a Ruler to any others The product of the Institution or Statutum is only Debitum which is the immediate full effect of Laws This Debitum is twofold 1. Officii what shall be Due from the Subject or what shall be the Subjects duty 2. What shall be due to him 1. If he keep the Law which is the Debitum praemii 2. If he break it which is the Debitum poenae I say to the ends of Government For it is a Relation which must have the end in the definition and seeing I only define a Law in genere I mention but the ends of Government in genere For several Governments have several ends The Government of single persons only as of a scholar a son a servant by a Tutor Parent Master intendeth proximately but the good of the individual subject The mandates of such Rulers have the true nature of a Law though it be of the lower sort as is the Government And Custom hath appropriated the word Law to a nobler species only The Government of Societies is always immediately for the Order of the Society But not always for their good much less chiefly The Government of a society of Slaves as the Spaniards over the Peruvians and Mexicans in digging their Mines is for the Order of those Slaves but for the benefit of the Lords The Government of some Armies is for the Order of the Armies but for the good of those they fight for The Government of a true Common-wealth is for the Bonum publicum the common good which includeth the happiness of the Rulers with the Subjects The universal Government of the World is proximately for the Order of the World and for its good but ultimately and principally for the fulfilling and pleasing the Will of God in the said Order and good and in the glory or operations of his own Power Wisdom and Goodness therein As shall be further proved afterward § 28. Any signification of the will of God that man shall be benefited on condition of his obedience is the praemiant part of his Law And any signification of his will that man shall be punished if he sin or that punishment shall be his due is the penal part of his Law If it only foretold that in a way of Physical efficiency obedience will produce good and disobedience hurt to himself this were not properly praemiant or penal But when the Good is promised upon the condition of obedience and the hurt threatned upon condition of sin as means to move a rational free Agent to obey this is truly a praemiant and penal act of Law And this is fulfilled also in a physical way of production the Law-giver being also the Creator and Disposer of all the World doth wisely order it that Morall good shall be attended with Physical good and Moral evil with Physical evil first or last § 29. The Immensity or Omnipresence the Omnipotency Omniscience and infinite goodness of God with his total Causation in the support of all his Creatures do most undoubtedly prove his particular Providence in observing and regarding all the actions of his Subjects in the World and so declare his actual government It is the gross ignorance of the Divine perfections which ever made any one question the particular Providence of God as extending to the smallest things and actions 1. It is proved by his Immensity conceived of as without corporeal extension of parts as before said He that made and upholdeth all the World did never make that which is greater than himself and excludeth his presence Though being a Spirit he hath not Corporeal quantity yet analogically and in a way of eminency and transcendency we must say that he is Greater and Immense And it is his perfection which denyeth extension and dimensions and therefore in a nobler kinde he is every where present And if he be here as certainly as I am and in a more excellent manner he cannot but observe all things and actions which are here 2. He is Omnipotent and All sufficient and therefore as Able to observe and govern every the smallest Thing and action as if he had but that one to look after in the world And I think if God had but one man at all to mind and govern in all the world the Adversary himself that now denieth his particular providence would confess that God doth observe and regard that one individual It is mens Atheistical or Blasphemous diminutive thoughts of God who conceive of him as finite though they call him infinite which is the cause of all such kind of errors 3. His Omniscience infallibly proveth also his particular observance of all things and actions in the world for His Knowledge being his natural perfection is necessary He cannot be ignorant of any thing that is If I had but one thing just before my eyes to see in the open light I must needs see it if it have the necessaries of a visible object unless I wink If the Sun's illumination were an act of vision as its like it is nothing more ignoble how easily would it at once discern all that is upon one half of the earth at once All things are naked and open before the eye of the Omniscient being He cannot but behold or know them and therefore observe them and regard them 4. His Creation Causation and Manutetency also prove that he both
it can no otherwise act or operate Not to meddle with the controversie whether it take with it hence the material sensitive Soul as a body afterward to act by or whether it fabricate to it self an aethereal body or remain without any body of it self It is certain that it was not the Body that was the Principle of Intellection and Volition here but it was the Soul which did all in the body but according to the mode of its present coexistence seeing then that it was the Soul that did it here why may it not also do it hereafter If the Candle shine in the Lanthorn It can shine out of it though with some difference He is scarce rational that doubteth whether there be such things as incorporeal invisible intelligences minds or spirits And if they can act without bodies why may not our minds Though the Egge would die if the shell were broken or the Hen did not sit upon it it doth not follow that therefore the Chicken cannot live without a shell or sitting on Though the Embrio and Infant must have a continuity with the mother and be nourished by her nourishment it doth not follow that therefore it must be so with him when he is born and grown up to ripeness of age And when there is full proof that Souls have a future life to live it is a folly to doubt of it meerly because we cannot conceive of the manner of their acting without a body For he that is not desirous to be deceived must reduce things uncertain and dark to those that are clear and certain and not contrarily All good arguing is à notioribus and not à minùs notis The neerer any Being is in excellency unto God the more there is in it which is hard to be comprehended Spirits and Minds are excellent Beings and therefore very imperfectly known even by themselves while they are in the Lanthorn the Shell the Womb of flesh The Eye is not made to see its own sight though it may see in a Glass the Organ of its sight And as sight seeth not sight nor hearing heareth not hearing nor taste tasteth not tasting c. the act being not its own object But yet by seeing other things I am most certain that I see and by hearing tasting smelling c. I am certain that I hear taste and smell so is not the Intellect here fitted intuitively to understand its own act of understanding but by understanding other objects it understandeth that it doth understand Though I confess some learned men in this think otherwise viz. that the Intellect intuitively knoweth it self If a man have a Watch which is kept in order to tell him the hour of the day though he know not the reason of the frame the parts and motions nor how to take it into pieces and set it again together yet it serveth his turn to the use he bought it for And a Ship may carry him who is unacquainted with the workmanship that 's in it And so if a mans Soul know how to love and please its Maker and know it self morally it attaineth its end though it know not it self physically so far as to be able to anatomize its faculties and acts Argue not therefore from obscurities against the Light And that man doth not differ from a bruit only in degree but specifically he that is indeed a man doth know Considering what operations the minde of man hath above Bruits not only in all the most abstruse and wonderful Arts and Sciences Astronomy Geometry Musick Physick Navigation Legislation Logick Rhetorick c. but also his knowledge of a Creator a love and fear of him an obedience to him and a care for an Everlasting Life Whether Bruits have Analogical Ratiocination or not it is certain that these things are far above them 2. If by the Eternity of our felicity were meant only an Aevum of very long duration it would be so strong a motive to Godliness and Christianity as with any rational man as to weigh down all the counter-pleasures of this world 3. But as long as there is no want of Power in God to perpetuate our blessedness nor any proof that it is disagreeable to his Wisdom or his Will why should that seem incredible to us which is sealed and attested so fully by supernatural revelation as I have proved If once the revelation be proved to be Divine there is nothing in this which reason will not believe 4. And all they that confess the immortality and perpetuity of the soul must confess the perpetuity of its pleasure or pain 5. And why should it be hard for the Peripatetick to believe the perpetuity of the soul who will needs believe the eternity of the world it self both as à parte ante and à parte post Surely it should seem no difficulty to any of that opinion Object VI. Who can believe that God will torment his creatures in the flames of hell for ever Is this agreeable to infinite Goodness Answ 1. I have fully answered this already chap. 15. part 1. and therefore I must intreat the Objector to peruse his Answer there Only I shall now say that it is not incredible that God is the Governour of the world nor that he hath given man a Law nor that his Law hath penalties to the disobedient nor that he is just and will judge the world according to that Law and make good his threatnings nor is it incredible that those who chose sin when they were fore-told of the punishment and refused Godliness when they were fore-told of the blessed reward and fruits and this with obstinacy to the last should have no better than they chose It is not incredible that unholy enemies of God and Holiness should not live hereafter in the blessed sight and love and holy delightful fruition of God no more than that a Swine is not made a King nor that an immortal Soul who is excluded immortal happiness by his wilful refusal should know his folly and know what he hath lost by it nor that such knowledge should be his continual torment nor is it incredible that God will not continue to him the pleasures of whoredom and gluttony and drunkenness and sports and worldly wealth or tyrannical domination to quiet him in his loss of heaven nor that he will deprive him of the temporal mercies which now content him or may afford him any delight hereafter nor is it incredible if his body rise again that it shall be partaker with his soul nor that God who might deprive him of his being if he had been innocent may make him worse or bring him into a condition to which he would prefer annihilation when he is an obstinate impenitent sinner It is not incredible that a good King or Judge may hang a Felon or Traitor for a crime against man and humane society Nor is it any goodness in them to be unjust or to cherish murderers by impunity none of
all this is at all incredible But it is indeed incredible till conscience have humbled him that the Thief or Murderer should like this penalty or think well of the Judge or that a sinner who judgeth of good and evil in others as Dogs do by the interest of his throat or flesh and thinks them good only that love him and bad that hurt him and are against him should ever believe that it is the amiable goodness of God which causeth him in justice to condemn the wicked 2. But yet let not misunderstanding make this seem harder to you than indeed it is Do not think that souls in hell are hanged up in flames as beasts are hanged in a butchers shambles or that souls have any pain but what is suitable to souls and that 's more than bodies bear It is an affliction in rational ways which falls on rational spirits Devils are now in torment and yet have a malignant kingdom and order and rule in the children of disobedience and go up and down seeking whom they may devour We know not the particular manner of their sufferings but that they are forsaken of God and deprived of his complacential love and mercy and have the rational misery before described and such also as shall be suitable to such kind of bodies as they shall have And while they are immortal no wonder if their misery be so Object VII Who can believe that the damned shall be far more than the saved and the devil have more than God How will this stand with the infinite goodness of God Answ I have fully answered this before in Part 1. chap. 11. and should now adde but this 1. In our enquiries we must begin with the primum cognita or notissima as aforesaid that God is most good and also just and punisheth sinners is before proved to be among the notissima or primum cognita and therefore it is most certain that these are no way contradictory to each other 2. And if it be no contradiction to God's goodness to punish and cast off for ever the lesser part of the world then it is none to punish or cast off the greater part The inequality of number will not alter the case 3. It is no way against the goodness of humane Governours in some cases to punish even the greater number according to their deserts 4. Can any man that openeth his eyes deny it in matter of fact that the far greater part of the world is actually ungodly worldly sensual and disobedient Or that such are meet for punishment and unmeet for the love and holy fruition of God When I see that most men are ungodly and uncapable of Heaven is it not harder to reason to believe that these shall have that joy and employment of which they are uncapable than that they shall have the punishment which agreeth with their capacity desert and choice Must I believe that God's enemies shall love him for ever meerly because they are the greater number If one man that dieth unrenewed be capable of heaven another is so and all are so Therefore I must either believe that no impenitent ungodly person is saved or that all be saved The number therefore is nothing to the deciding of the case 5. Can any man in his wits deny that it is as sure that God permitteth sin in the world as that the Sun shineth on us yea that he permitteth that universal enormous deluge of wickedness which the world groaneth under at this day And that this sin is the souls calamity and to a right judgment is much worse than punishment what ever beastly sensuality may gainsay If then the visible wickedness of the world be permitted by God without any impeachment of his goodness then certainly his goodness may consist with punishment which as such is good when sin is evil And much of this punishment also is but materially permitted by God and executed by sinners upon themselves 6. The wisdom and goodness of God saw it meet for the right government of this world to put the threatnings of an everlasting punishment in his Law and how can that man have the face to say it was needless or too much in the Law with whom it proved not enough to weigh down the trifling interests of the flesh And if it was meet to put that penalty in the Law it is just and meet to put that Law into execution how many soever fall under the penalty of it as hath been proved 7. The goodness of God consisteth not in a Will to make all his creatures as great or good and happy as he can but it is essentially in his infinite perfections and expressively in the communication of so much to his creatures as he seeth meet and in the accomplishment of his own pleasure by such ways of Benignity and Justice as are most suitable to his Wisdom and Holiness Man's personal interest is an unfit rule and measure of God's goodness 8. To recite what I said and speak it plainlier I confess it greatly quieteth my mind against this great objection of the numbers that are damned and cast off for ever to consider how small a part this earth is of God's creation as well as how sinful and impenitent Ask any Astronomer that hath considered the innumerable number of the fixed Stars and Planets with their distances and magnitude and glory and the uncertainty that we have whether there be not as many more or an hundred or thousand times as many unseen to man as all those which we see considering the defectiveness of man's sight and the Planets about Jupiter with the innumerable Stars in the Milky way which the Tube hath lately discovered which man's eyes without it could not see I say ask any man who knoweth these things whether all this earth be any more in comparison of the whole creation than one Prison is to a Kingdom or Empire or the paring of one nail or a little mole or wart or a hair in comparison of the whole body And if God should cast off all this earth and use all the sinners in it as they deserve it is no more sign of a want of benignity or mercy in him than it is for a King to cast one subject of a million into a Jail and to hang him for his murder or treason or rebellion or for a man to kill one louse which is but a molestation to the body which beareth it or than it is to pare a mans nails or cut off a wart or a hair or to pull out a rotten aking tooth I know it is a thing uncertain and unrevealed to us whether all these Globes be inhabited or not but he that considereth that there is scarce any uninhabitable place on earth or in the water or air but men or beasts or birds or fishes or flies or worms and moles do take up almost all will think it a probability so near a certainty as not to be