the Seventh is determined from whence we begin Fifthly As God is to have the Supream Honours and Worship as our Cause infinitely above us so even those Creatures God hath made the Instruments of our Being or before us in Excellency and and Dignity should be acknowledged as such and so more worthy than our selves and being honour'd by us this Honour should be shewn and testified by proper Submission to them with other Testimonies whereby we may shew our due esteem Those that we are immediately beholding to tho' but as Instruments for our being or well being those we have been necessitated to depend upon tho' but as means for the continuance of our Being in this life have in all reason due to them from us a debt of Honour Esteem and Regard and those that in any respect are better and more excellent than us can with no Justice be denied the Acknowledgment as we find occasion of what they really are Nor is the giving all our Betters especially those we have had our Dependance on as Parents their due Regard without a natural Tendency to our long and happy Continuance in this Life as they are thereby farther encouraged and provoked to contribute the more to our Felicity and we may also hope for as our Desert the like Honour from our Off-spring or bear the contrary with the less Regret Sixthly And as God has made us all the means of manifesting his Excellencies to one another the Representations or Images of himself it is the highest Presumption and Boldness that we should attempt to put an end to or spoil or put out of sight so excellent an Image of God as he hath made Man And this is first most unreasonable and culpable if practis'd on Self it being every Man's Duty and Interest to be as God would have him and a high Affront and Rebellion to refuse the Gift of Life and Duties thereof and as it were a bold revenging the Crosses of our foolish Wills on the Author of our Life spoiling as much as we can his Work And tho' we may be perswaded that possibly there may not be so much Excellency in some others as in our selves yet we should have so great a Love and Respect to the meanest Man as he is the Image of God an Epitome of the Creation a Lord of the Corporal and a Bond of Corporal and Spiritual Nature wherein God may be seen as in a Map of all his Works that we should not desire or presume to blot out so great a draught of the Divine Painter or deface so great a Representative of his Majesty And as Man is a Lord over the inferiour Creatures under God to put him as much as possible out of his Office his Stewardship or Viceroyalty is an Affront to his Sovereign for which he that does so ought himself to be put so far out of the same capacity tho' he ought not to put himself out which he himself vertually acknowledgeth since doing as one would be done by is a most apparently equitable Rule For if a Man loves Life as a Good as every man in his right mind does and would not that another should take that from him on which as well or ill used depends so much of Happiness or Misery consequently he ought not to take it from another whom God has made a living Man as well as he capable of as much Good as another and in this at least better than he that would break this Rule that he does not purpose like him to be a declared Enemy to his Kind and thereby adjudge his own Life ought rightly and also necessarily to be taken away to prevent a greater Mischief viz. the loss of another Life more valuable than the Life of this declared Despiser and Enemy of God and Man which Reasons do not only convince us that we should do nothing tending to hurt the Life of another but that we should do what in us lies to preserve it as well as our own Seventhly As it is most reasonable we should Esteem and Honour particularly and in especial manner those that have been the means of our Being and not slight and despise them that we should do as we would be done by and do nothing tending to destroy any of our Fellow-rational Creatures but labour to preserve them So also that we may avoid the said Mischiefs and perform the opposite Duties it is reasonable and necessary that in the business of the Propagation of Mankind Man should observe the Laws of Order and Conveniency that is that one Man and one Woman should be joyn'd together in free Love and Constancy and become one in that matter never leaving one the other to joyn with a third That one Man should not use more Women than such a one as a Wife while she lives nor one Woman more Men than her Husband before he is dead is most reasonable from many Considerations tho' Men are so inclinable to Disorders in this Matter and so willing to be blind and not see them As if the promiscuous use of Men or Women be practised it will be the unavoidable Confusion of Relations and Cause of the many evil Consequences thereof Relative Duties cannot be perform'd where Relations are not known As for instance A Child will be sometimes ignorant of his Parents and so will not only omit the Honour Gratitude and Reverence due to them but may sometimes be liable to slight despise contemn or even abuse them or do those things to them which tho' lawful to others not at all to be done to Parents which if ever they come to be known might cause great disquiet of Mind Again By the promiscuous use of Men or Women the Right of Inheritances will often be perverted and confounded one Man's Child will enjoy another Man's Land or Goods the true Heir being unknown a Man shall labour for another's Children and not for his own Again As all Children of Men are more helpless than any other Animals if both parents are not concern'd for them they will many ways be expos'd to Misery in the want of that Care and Love and all the Effects thereof which orderly Parents have for their Children And the Women who are not able to go through their Bringings forth and Breeding up of their Children alone as other Animals would be often exposed with their Children to great Miseries without the constant Help and Care of such a Relation as a Husband and Father ought to be Again if one Man should have divers Women tho' he were as a Husband to them all divers Inconveniencies would follow The Man would love one better than another and so not be equally just to them all for which cause they would not agree or live in Love and Content together they would have Jealousies and Strifes against one another and have many Temptations to Inconstancy when one Man is not enough ordinarily to satisfie the natural Desire of more Women some must be defrauded so on
that he hath deceiv'd himself but also the Unreasonableness of his Disbelief slighting disbelieving and affronting his Maker in not studying but rejecting his most wise Order and Direction So that if a Man wills that which is good but impossible to him or what belongs not to him that which is but little good and takes away more good hinders good to another is but an appearance of good his Will is evil He that desires his Neighbour's Wife wills Evil tho' she be the best Woman in the World for tho' she be good she is not his he invades another's Property and so wills an Injustice nor can he have his desire without abating the Happiness of his Neighbour and the Woman 's too in her becoming Evil and finding its Consequences And here I cannot but take notice of the a foolish Abuse common among Mankind that is they confidently call the Desire One Man has to Another's Wife or a Woman to Another's Husband with all such disorderly Desires by the name of Love meaning Love to the Person desired when it is nothing less being always that which so far as it is satisfied divers ways effects the Unhappiness of the Person said to be beloved which such a Lover can hardly be so blind as not to see Yea farther that it is but a Self-love if it can be call'd Love at all and a grosly mistaken one too rendering the Lover himself more unhappy than he would have been had he never so affected tho' he enjoy the Object of his Love I would say his Lust for that is the proper name on 't But to draw towards a Conclusion of this matter I say whatever a Man desires the Act of desire is free to suppose otherwise would be all one as to suppose Volition not to be Volition or a Will not a Will A Will cannot be said to be compell'd for tho' it cannot but Act or Be it is freely or willing Compulsion and Volition are contrary and incompatible But the Will is led by Arguments and at least Appearances of Good If there could be suppos'd but one Object of the Will it could not but apply to that yet it would be freely but where there are many Objects it chooses by appearance But Man having the Faculty of Reasoning as well as Desiring ought to suspend the Acts of his Will by a kind of Indifferency at least as to their Effects till he is sure his choice will be good The Will is led by Arguments I say whether the Act of Will be according to God's Will or no and Volition is Volition or to be willing is to be willing And a Man is in short more properly said to will or desire Evilly than to desire an Evil I mean to himself for that a Man may be so wicked as often to will and consequently freely yea and knowingly an Evil to another Man and sometimes effects it and would also affect God with an Evil or a real Displeasure if it were possible that Man's foolish Will could be so done is daily apparent and true beyond all dispute And that Sinners may be said to will Evil continually is not to be understood as if they never desired any thing that is good but that every act of their desire tho' they desire Good hath some Evil Circumstance or other as an Evil Manner Evil Means or Evil Ends c. Now God as abovesaid cannot will either an Evil or Evilly his Will being the Rule of Good and to suppose God to will Evil would be all one as to suppose him to will what he don't will Nor is it for want of Power or Freedom that God can't will or do Evil but it is rather a Note of Power that he cannot be deceived but can know all things as they are and cannot be suppos'd ignorant of any Truth because he is the Exemplar and Cause of all Truths He cannot be suppos'd to do amiss because he is All-perfect He cannot will one thing now another anon because he is unchangeable always knowing what is best And as God in whose Being is no now and then cannot will contrary to his own Will so he cannot be suppos'd without the height of Contradiction to will that the Creature should will contrary to his Maker's Will this would be to suppose God to will contrary to his own Will or will a thing and yet not will it Besides if God please to make known his Will which he must be suppos'd to do one way or other or the Creature cannot well obey it or be determined to its Duty when the Creature knows it or has reason to believe God wills so and so he can have no reason to suppose God can have a Secret Will or Determination that the Creature should do the contrary This would be to suppose God a Lyer and to deceive his Creature yea to deny God to be either true or good I have the greatest reason to believe God would have me do what he commands me that is any way causes me to take for his Will and that he commands me what is best for me to do I cannot err here if I am sure he commands If God could be suppos'd to will one thing and command the contrary he would contradict himself for the Commands of God can be nothing but his Will made known to the Creature and he cannot be supposed to frustrate his own Will Such an Absurdity foolish Man would hardly be capable of as to will his Child to do what he commands him not to do or to command him to do that which he wills he should not do Yet I have known some so bold or inconsiderate or displeas'd with the good Will of God as to affirm in plain words so unreasonable a thing of God as that he will'd Man should do what he commanded him not to do But God has done very great things both within us and without us and will do to vindicate his Wisdom Truth and Goodness against all those that are so hardy or foolish as to deny them either plainly or in consequence 26. And tho' God may oblige his Creature to a thing for a time especially in that which seems an Arbitrary Command which he may not will him to do always but afterwards something else it is no Contradiction or Change in God's Will who wills that which is first and last in respect to the Creature altogether but the Creature being changeable what is best for him or his Duty under one Circumstance is not so under another Which Will of God the Creature comes to know part now part anon As for instance God wills me to do that when I am a Child or a Servant which is not my Duty when a Father or a Master and that when I am a Father or Master which is not or ceaseth to be my Duty when I am in no such relation An Arbitrary Command of God I call that which Man sees not or not clearly the reason of to himself nor
has any evident Argument to perswade the doing or not doing of it but because God commands That which is not evidently a Natural Duty but some Express Command God may please to give the Creature without giving him the reason of it Such a thing also God may oblige his Creature to if he please only for a time But those Duties that result from the very notion of our being God's Creatures as Love Reverence Trust Dependance c. are unchangeable while God is God and the Creatures are Creatures whether God expresly command them or no. But if God shall expresly command his Creature a thing and yet not give the Creature the Reason of it as good to the Creature it must nevertheless necessarily be suppos'd to be good and must so far at least appear to him as that he sees it is not evil or contrary to a natural Duty or former Command And if we consider we shall find it most reasonable and convenient for Man to obey the Will of God not only in things that are apparently agreeable to Man's relation to his Maker and for Man's Benefit but in things he may not readily see the Agreeableness or Benefit of if first he be sure God commands them tho' therein God may seem for the present to limit or abridge Man's Happiness concluding God is wiser and better than the Creature For the Creature is beholden to God for all he has and if God deny him something that he may now fancy a Good he has no more reason to be displeased with God who arbitrarily gave him his Being than because he made him a Man and did not make him an Angel As a Man who should have the Gift of a good Estate from a Person who was no way obliged to him would be thought most unreasonable to deny a small quit Rent as an Acknowledgment to his Benefactor from whence he received the Estate Such a Reservation of at least a Seeming Good from Man was very suitable in his first Creation Make and Excellency as he was in the Likeness of God Lord of all the Inferiour Creatures that he might thereby acknowledge his Subjection and Dependance on God and God's Sovereignty and Dominion over him And yet it must also be affirm'd most for Man's Profit to part with this Acknowledgment tho' the thing he fore-go should be suppos'd a Real and not a Fancied Good for him because he would have kept a vastly greater Good than can be suppos'd in any one particular Creature that is the Satisfaction comes to a dependent Mind in obedience to his beloved Maker and Sustainer with the most pleasing sense of his Love and Favour to him the Sweet Familiarity Presence or Converse with his God which was consequently interrupted or destroyed by Disobedience Yet it may be a question whether what-ever God may be supposed to will Man to abstain from is not in it self inconvenient for him and whether it may not be thought a sufficient tryal of Man's Submission and Acknowledgment when only the Reason of the Command is reserved from him Whatever God has created is certainly Good and for some wise End Those things we call Poysons or which eaten or applied in a small quantity will destroy the Frame of Man's Body are good some way or other but it is not always necessary Man should know the Uses of them If a loving and wise Father a Physician should thus warn his beloved Son Meddle not with that Drugg tho' it hath a pleasant Taste if you eat it 't will kill you giving him no farther account of it or for what use he keeps it Yet this Son would not believe it or be satisfied tell he had tryed the Experiment would he not be highly to blame as discrediting his Father's Truth and Goodness and disobeying his Will How could he come without Shame to his Father for a Remedy So much more is Man blame-worthy if he refuse the Direction of God in the use of the Creatures what way soever he gives it 27. But the keeping all the Commands of God or whatsoever he can be known to will certainly tends to Man's Happiness and tho' he be obliged to abstain from many things good in themselves or rather from the use of them according to his own hasty inconsiderate Fancy yet a general Conformity to the Will of God is so far from being an unpleasant Burthen or Yoak that it is the only way of the greatest Happiness and Pleasure The more obedient the more easie the more joyous a Man is or will soon be And that Man is not perpetually and as much as may be so is because in some thing or other he has disobeyed or yet disobeys or the Disobedience of some other Creature affects him But to be fully obedient is the height of the Creatures Felicity The life of Obedience even at present is not a way of Unpleasantness Sadness and Thraldom but a Path of Pleasure Joy and Liberty There is nothing in doing the Will of God that in it self tends to make a Man uneasie or that hinders his being pleas'd or happy as much as possible and whoever fancieth there is it is from some Mistake as either a Supposition of that to be the Will of God which really is not or that the Actions of the Creature tend to one thing when indeed they tend to another I cannot forbear not only to assert this as that of which I have a most clear Rational Conviction but also to witness it as having here had something of unquestionable Experience And that short Pleasure which a Sinner may take in an unduly enjoy'd Sensual Good in stealing or snatching as it were from God what he would in better Time and Order have given him I have found more than equall'd by the bare Satisfaction in the Thoughts of not having transgress'd were the pleasure of Innocency no longer than the pleasure in Transgressing But in obeying are sometimes even in this life Joys unspeakable as Fore tastes of Joys future full and perpetual accompanying a State of perfect and perpetual Obedience Those that know nothing of these Felicities that are greater than can be in the disorderly Enjoyment or abuse of God's Creatures let them but try the Experiment as I have done of God's Goodness of the pleasure of Divine Love as they easily and freely may and they will be for ever convinced Neither let any think they loose any thing even of the good of the Creatures themselves by being restrain'd or rather directed by whatever Rule God gives us how to use them no he envies us not the greatest Pleasure we are capable of taking in them We cannot be suppos'd while Creatures to be capable of all Pleasure or of full Satisfaction in Creatures God has indeed given Man a quick Sense of Good or Delight even in the use of Bodily things and that not that it should be unsatisfied but the Creatures design'd for Man's use are so numerous that they cannot all be used