man stands and unto what relation or state any man is called of God 6. Where the divine rule or law of God hath prescribed a special way of entring into any estate and constituting one in it there providence cannot be understood to call or lead into it another way or in a course crosse or subversive to that order 7. Providence may call a man without the act or concurrence of his own wil into this or that estate that is make it his duty by virtue of the divine rule to enter into it as he is thereby called to be a servant who hath not either wealth or skill whereby to subsist in and manage a free estate He is called to marry whose temperament or complexion leaves him not that power over himself as to contain when neverthelesse it doth not without his own will constitute him in that estate Where therefore to the being of a man in any estate or relation is prerequired the act or assent of the party there Providence though it invite order or give occasion to enter into that estate doth not anticipate the persons consent Providence may of it self without the said act of will be directive to but is not constitutive of such an estate It is I conceive no otherwise in the subject matter of this Treatise in civil policie and Magistracy Providence by virtue of that need many wayes that particular emergencies of Providence may invite lead or call a Nation to make choice of this form of Magistracy before another or of this or these persons to rule over them rather then others but neverthelesse people are not incorporate into distinct societies nor societies reduced into a moral relation or subjection unto any particular Magistracy or Magistrates without their own transaction or agreement their own I mean transacted either by themselves or those whom they may be involved in 8. Where Providence presents with any urging necessity whether of sin or of harm to be avoided there we must not think Providence to call either for the shunning of a harm to commit a sin or for the avoiding of one sin to run into another They that thus understand it in stead of making a virtue of necessity they make a vice of it and they do not follow Providence but falsifie it 9. There is a superseding as well as a leading a suspending as well as a moving a recalling as well as a calling Providence Where to a work or end in it self good necessary or desireable all prescribed or warranted means all honest and justifiable ways of advancing or compassing the same are wanting Providence there must be understâ—od to give a stop to our prosecutions and to determine during the incumbency of that defect a surcease of proceedings There Providence if we will understand it aright bids stand go not forward There we may apprehend Providence meeting us in the way as the Angel of the Lord in Balaams way with a drawn sword in his hand Thus much shall serve to be spoken of the use of Providence which is determining or applicative of the rule to its particular cases in the general the particular conceâ—nments of it unto civil Government the subject we are upon will be spoken to in the nexâ— Chapter I have thus endevoured to take a particular view of that guidance light or instruction that is in Providence and how far it goes what of God and of his will it doth discover to us and what it doth not The sum of all that I have gone over is Providence is the image or index of Gods decree or counsel that is as to things that are or have been not concerning future things It makes known that God is and what he is and that he is to be honored served and in all he commands obeyed The will of God extraordinarily revealed it doth sometime by special appointment confirm and that which is known by the ordinary means it doth constantly and of ordinary course second and set home upon the conscience yea in some casâ—s by extraordinary designation it hath revealed the will of God de novo or not otherwise made known And it doth continually determine or apply the will of God in general rules laid down in Scripture to particular times and persons or the obligation which the law of God hath in it by it self considered in actu signato it brings to be binding in actu exercito or pro hic and nunc But on the other hand it doth not of it self either enact or annul a divine law or dispense with the breach of or contrary act to it neither doth it alone or by it self declare or reveal the will of God or what Gods approving or disapproving minde or pleasure is either in the things of God that are instituted and of positive precept or in the rights and relative duties that are morall or of humane concernment CHAP. III. SECT III. Subsect 6. whether they be of the law of nature or of positive sanction So that the negative part of our resolution is this Where the law of God either written in the heart of man or in the book of God is silent or prescribes not any thing either in the matters of God that are institutive or in any humane rights whatsoever there Providence regulates not or is not either institutive or declarative of Gods will to be done by us And where the said law of God doth ordain or deliver a rule to us there providence gives no relaxation allowance or countermand to the contrary Subsection 6. That Dominion is not founded in Eventual Providence IN opposition to the negative part of this resolution of the Question about the use of Providence there are two positions or opinions now on foot both which would make out a wider or larger sense or use of Providence then is here allowed They are 1. That Providence of it self may without extraordinary appointment in the matters above specified and specially in humane rights dues or transactions deliver and declare what the will of God is or may justifie or condemn a way or where Scripture evidence is wanting or a warrant out of the word of God cannot be produced there we may collect or infer Gods approval or disapprovall of an humane action course or proceeding by Providence 2. That dominion is or may be founded meerly in eventual Providence or that a person or persons attainment and occupiation by whatever means of sway or command over a people makes him or them the Sovereign or higher power which is of God the ordinance of God the minister of God For the latter that Dominion is or may be founded in eventual Providence or which is all one in a persons being in place of rule or actual command the confutation of it and the vindication of this Text from admitting it is a main drift and subject of this whole discourse and therefore I refer the Reader for his satisfaction about it to that which is before and will be
will of God unto the voice of Providence is very obvious For before we can gather or draw inferences from Providences we must be able to understand their meaning and to make an interpretation of them We must first know for what they come ere we can say what they direct us unto but now the word of God and the conscience in formed thereby are the interpreters of Providence It was that sentence of the Apostles Epistle which expounded the hand of God upon the Corinthians unto them For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11.30 their own sense could tell them of the event that many were weak and sickly and many dyed among them And their Religion and conscience touched by it would tell them these evils were of God and perhaps it might suggest to them that they came for sin but that they might discern it was for that sin in particular viz. their eating and drinking unworthily at the Lords-table and consequently infer that for this sin they must judge themselves this they must reform the word of God must be the expositer of that providence and therefore did the Apostle write that saying to them Having insisted here on the extent of the use of Providence in dictating to man his duty by way of secondary testimony to the word and of the necessity of a conjuction of the word or law of God written or otherwise made known with Providence that so the voice of Providence in moral humane and positive duties may be particularly applyed and understood It will not be impertinent here to note the different wayes wherein Providence is or hath been added to the word as confirmative thereof 1. This hath been sometimes in a way extrordinary and that 1. Either when an ordinary act of Providence hath been by an extraordinary and immediate direction from God appointed to such use viz. to back and second his word as Ezekiels removing his goods out of his house to another place in the peoples sight was a sign to them to confirm his predictions of their captivity And the Potters disposal of his clay to one mould first then to another was an emblem set up by God of his power to order and alter the conditions of Israel and of all other Nations as he should see good and as he had declared he would do concerning that people Ezek. 12.11 Jer. 18.5 6 c. 2. Or when a Providence extraordinary or miraculous for nature hath been by expresse assignation of God given unto the ratification of his word So was unto Moses the turning of his rod into a serpent and of the Serpent into a rod again and his hand being made leprous and whole again by putting it once and again into his bosom So was unto Gideon his wet and dry Fleece and the Angels consuming his meat by fire out of the rock So was unto Hezekiah the return back of the shadow of the Sun upon the Dial of Ahaz And so were unto the world in the primitive age of Christianity the miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost given unto the Apostles Exod. 4.1 c. Judg. 6.17 36 c. 2 King 20.10 c. Heb. 2.4 2. This is more often in a way of ordinary dispensation that is without any either miraculousness of the act of Providence or immediate particular pointing out of it by an express word to such or such a use And this is 1. Either when Providence is given us for a pattâ—â—n or â—opâ—y and we are required to imiâ—aâ—e it iâ— the same kinde Thus Mercy Love Beneficience unto the evill and to our enemies are recommended to our practice by the example of Gods own proceedings Ephes 5.1 Luk. 6.36 Mat. 5.44 c. 2. Or when Providence is imployed to give a hint unto some duty sutable to it for us to practise but not of the same nature as iâ— the act of Providence which speaketh to us For instance In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider Is any among you afflicted let him pray iâ— any merâ—y let him sing Psalms In that day viz. in the day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning c. Eccl. 7.14 Jam. 5.13 Isa 22.12 When Providence disposeth these conditions into act it doth call for the respective duties appropriate to them at their hands whose conditions at any time they are But this distinction must be kept for some acts of Providence are shewed us to imitate them in their very kinde Some again by reason of the Lords transcendency and absolute power over us may not be paralleld by us God may do that to man and make that use of him which man may not do either to God again or to another man Only such unimitableâ— providences may yet be not unuseful but may dictate respective duties correspondent and seasonable though not identical in kinde to the act of God The difference also must not be confounded betwixt the two members of the former distinction viz. the extraordinary and the ordinary use of Providence in point of backing or reinforcing the will of God already made known which is that the latter way God dayly and continually makes use of Providences as memorials and testimonials to assure and bring to minde his will in matters vulgarly known and of a moral and ordinary use and importance The former he hath taken up to illustrate or enforce some commandement of an extraordinary nature or some doctrine or prophesie new and strange to them to whom the sign is given and therefore standing more in need thereof to prove its divine authority In reference also to the secondariness of the Testimony of Providence and the necessity of the antecedency of the words light to it in the matters whereof this proposition speaketh this let me add Some that have long stood upon the argument of Providence now begin to say The Spirit makes out by Providence the minde of God without the word Unto this I shall only here interpose this 1. I see not how this differeth from Quakerism in the opinion of a sufficiency of light from Christ which every man hath in him 2. But I aske Is not every spirit that is every dictate or doctrine fathered on the Spirit or apprehended by the conceiver thereof to come from the Spirit of God to be tryed and is not the word of God in Scripture the rule of Tryall If any motion come then without expresse direction from Scripture it is not made out that is cleared as necessary or safe for us to follow or to be of God untill it be examined or warranted by the word 3. We usually distinguish of the Spirits speaking to man viz. 1. Ordinarily 2. Extraordinarly The former is by the word the latter is without it solitary or by revelation And we say the latter is not now afforded to any on eaâ—th but he that will
say it is and that he hath it as the layeth claim to a very strange and high thing immediate and extraordinary revelation so he must evidence iâ—tâ— others very plainly ere they can credit him in it * Thus Luther answered the Seditious Boars of Germany of Muncers and Phifers raising Si mandatum aliquod habetis a Deo vestri facti necesse est hoc Ipsâ—â—â—n a vobis aliquo illustri miraculo demonstrari Apud â—leid Comment lib. 5. pag. 120. 2. Besides the use or significancy of Providence which it hath to confirm and second a rule or duty before enacted and declared it is found even in matters of a moral or positive nature sometimes in a further use viz. to declare the will of God by it self alone but then it must be withall said this is not the general common or naturall but a particular extraordinary and institutive use of it this is never but in case and by virtue of a previous special warrant or appointment of God This is not common to all or usuall in many but proper to some Providences unto which it hath pleased God to annex such a use Where God hath given out his warrant concerning one sort or one single act of providence and one singular and circumstantiated case that in this case such an event or act of Providence shall declare what the minde of God is there this use of providence obtains and there alone as far as my observation can go Some few such dispensations of God to some persons in some special cases I finde in Scripture and but some few yet for distinctions sake I thought it necessary to take notice of this use of Providence When God would have the Land of Canaan divided among the Tribes Num. 6.55 and Families of the Israelitish nation he appointed the distribution to be made by Lot When therefore Joshua and the heads of the Fathers cast lots upon the several portions of that land the coming forth of those several Lots to this or that tribe family or person severally was the signification of Gods will concerning such or such a parcel of the Land and the making over of the property thereof by donation from him unto such persons The same way was appointed and of the same use was the Providence of God in the disposall of the lots at the election of an Apostle in the place of Judas Act. 1.24 2â— By a Providence of this sort was the congregation of Israel guided in their journies and stations in the wilderness God appointed them for their motions and pitchings to attend the setling or moving over them of the cloudy and fiery pillar hence it is said Num. 9.18 20 23. that they observing that course of the cloud at the commandement of the Lord they journeyed and at the commandement of the Lord they pitched A like resolution did Abrahams servant obtain of God when he went by his Masters command and with his assurance of extraordinary divine conduct to seek a wife for Isaac When he was come to the City of Nahor he prayed and the Lord granted him to know what damsell he should choose and have for that marriage by the token of her granting him water out of the well for himself and for his Camels which sign therefore being accomplished in Rebecca not only he but Laban and Bethnel her brother and father when they heard the servants relation of it and of the event acknowledge the thing or word proceeded from the Lord and that in it the Lord had spoken * Gen. â—4 27 50 51. 1 Sam. 14.10 Such a sign had Jonathan to go by in his otherwise desperate attempt upon the Garrison the Philistines Luk. 22.10 And a token of this nature had Peter and John from Christ to guide them in pitching upon the place where he would have them prepare for his and their eating of the Passeover And as the minde of God for mens practice so his meaning in matter of faith when there hath been ambiguity or obscurity in the apprehending thereof hath this way been discovered The Shepherds at the birth of Christ being told by the Angel of the good tidings of great joy Luk. 2.10 11 12. viz. the birth of a Saviour Christ the Lord that day in Bethlehem God gave them by the Angel moreover a providential sign to know him by to wit the special place and posture they should then finde him in In his swadling cloathes and lying in a manger So did he point out to the wisemen which came from the east to seek him that was born King of the Jews Mat. 2.9 10. how and where they should finde him by a Star But this way of resolution concerning either the will or meaning of God was even then extraordinary and out of course and but rarely afforded much more is it so now and besides the significancy which Providence had in these extraordinary cases was not by virtue of it self but from the institution or special word given forth for it When God gives no such particular warrant as in those cases he did and as now for any thing I know he doth not at all we may not expect or attempt to finde out Gods will by such means If we do it will not be an allowed enquiring but a tempting of God * Vide Ames medul Theol. lib. 2. cap. 11. Sect. 18 cap. 12. Sect. 17 18 19. De conscient lib. 4. cap. 23. Sect. 1 â— 5. And lastly there is yet another use of Providence to be noted We before distinguished betwixt the delivery of a rule or law and the determining of it to this or that particular We have said before Providence is not originally institutive or preceptive yet it may deliver us the law or the will of God already enacted by way of declaration index or remembrance and this in some things solitarily and in some only joyntly and concurrently with other means Besides all this Providence hath another use in promoting our knowledge and obedience to the will of God and that is by way of application or determination of the obligation or authority of the Law of God unto particulars And this use of Providence together with the way and divers manners of its tending thereunto will here require a distinct discovery that it may neither lie under a confused notion nor fall under mistake First That Providence hath this use to determine general rules to particulars is very obvious and evident It brings home the law which in it self runs in terms universal or indefinite to its singular matter by applying it to particular persons things and times and by that means that commandement or direction which is delivered generally to all of the like case and condition it gives occasion or call to this or that man in particular to put in practice For instance the law of God commands suum cuique tribuere to do right to every man now Providence comes with
that did he Psal 115.3.136.6 First that is from all eternity his Will of good pleasure determineth and then in the foreset time his Providence effecteth things Only here we are to beware we stretch not this discovery beyond its own line that is beyond the past and present time We must not conceit or pretend to understand from is that of the purpose of God which it tels us not or to see by it that which it shewes us not Some there are that will proceed fuâ—ther then this mark and meerly out of their own airy imagination presume by it to divine of things to come I mean of moral and contingent futurities for where experience hath discovered a natural connexion of causes and effects there a probable conjecture and expectation of future events neer at hand by the intuition of their particular and immediate causes may be gathered as that a pregnant woman will bring forth a childe that the evening or morning face of the skie will be followed with such or such weather the day next ensuing thus the Aâ—â—rologer and the self-interested Statist â—oully overlash and exceed their bounds in interpreting the providences of God The Astrologer pretends a cunning to read in the great Ordinances of the heavens whose huge volums in regard of variety distinction and distribuâ—ion of influences as to this use doubtless are to them as the hand writing of the wall before Belshazzar was to the Caldean Astrologers altogether illegible and unintelligible yet they pretend I say to read and to be able to draw out from them a map of the disposition of the aire of every day for whole moneths and years to come and of the temper of living bodies of the successes of Husbandry Trade-adventurers and political-enterprises yea and of the very propensions contrivements counsels of mens mindes about Civill Church and spiritual affairs with the revolutions that will attend mens lives estates names and societies temporal and ecclesiastical yea what will passe not only betwixt man and man but betwixt God and man and which is very strange this map to be every year new and for every Countrey Nation City yea for every distinct sort or condition of men whether they live far dispersed from one another or promiscuously intermixt with others yea for each single person different The self-interested statist from Gods present proceedings either in punishing or prospering a way person family profession or Nation will needs fancy and confidently conclude that he doth foresee and can presage what God hath determined and will do with the same hereafter Forgetting with what reason Solomon hath cautioned us against boasting of to morrow to wit for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth and not minding that men and Nations even in regard of their visible worldly condition are in the hands of God as the clay is in the Potters hand soon made and soon marred now moulded into this frame and quickly turned into another and that as the grace of God may suddenly unexpectedly and wonderfully change mens hearts CHAP. III. SECT III. Subsect 3. or men deprived thereof may strangely alter themselves so God hath reserved out of what he hath clearly threatned in his word concerning mens temporal punishments much more out of what his Providence at present dispenseth a power to alter his proceeding in an instant Subsection 3. That Providence doth declare to us that God is and what he is 2. PRovidence is the Index or Character of the Divine Nature and so it is Doctrinal or delivers to us matter of faith or what we are to know and believe concerning the Divine Essence to wit as it is absolutely considered or abstracted from distinction of personal relations God is made known by his works as the workeman is by his artifice the cause by its effect Jer. 32.20 Rom. 1.19 20. Psal 19.1 c. Act. 14.17 Hence we finde that so frequently added in the prophets to the comminations and promises of God as the end of the execution of them and so of his providences And they shall know that I am the Lord. CHAP. III. SECT III. Subsect 4. Subsection 4. Certain distinctions premised for the discovery how far Providence is declarative of the will of God which we are to do 3 BUt to come neerer to the thing in question Providence is in some sort preceptive and directive in matter of practice Now for the opening of this use of Providence we must distinguish 1. Of preceptiveness or the delivery of Divine precepts to us This may be 1. Either by way of original institution 2. Or by way of abrogation of what is already in force 3. Or by way of declaration remembrance or monition of that which is already ordained And again this third may be 1. Either solitarily 2. Or joyntly and by way of concurrence with other means or the delivery of them otherwayes 2. Of divine precepts 1. Some are of the law of nature 2. Others are positive or subsequently instituted And of both those whether natural or positive 1. Some contain our duty to God 2. Some our duty to man 3. Distinguish of the use of Providence This is 1. Either ordinary which the general rules of the word of God allow and dirâ—ct us in 2. Or extraordinary the which special â—arrants in the word given on special occasions have allowed or prescribed 4. Distinguish betwixt the giving of a rule or law and the determining of it to this or that particular matter or case Subsection 5. CHAP. III. SECT III. Subsect 5. Five Propositions explaining wherein Providence is and wherein it is not declarative of Gods will to be done by us I Shall apply these distinctions and make use of them to our purpose in these following propositions 1. Providence as I understand câ—nnot be said to deliver us the will or precepts of God for our practise by way of original institution neither can it of it self abolish or make void any rule or law of God before ordained or draw a warrant for us to proceed contrary to the same Suspend it may or disenable from doing in point of affirmaâ—ive precepts but to the doing of the contrary it cannot dispense nor can it dissolve a law 2. Providence may by it self without the help of any other Index or Law-book deliver to us somewhat of the law of nature that is so much of our duty to God as is contained therein Divines distinguish betwixt cultum naturalem voluntarium Ames Medul Theol. lib 2. cap. 5. 13. seu institutum the natural worship of God and that which is voluntary or instituted The natural is that which belongs to him as Gods or by virtue of what he is or the consideration of his nature and this is taught by the law of nature The instituted is that which is given him by virtue of his own voluntary appointment The former is simply necessary and immutable one and the same in all ages and to all persons The
latter is arbitrary and variable as he pleaseth to order and hath been diversified It was appointed to be one wâ—y under the Law another way uâ—dâ—r the Gospel The former we say Providence my lead to or as it were dictate to us For in as much as of it self it reveals that there is a God and of what nature and perfections he is it hence infers or by force of that principle of faith teacheth us that he is to be worshipped and in particular that he is to be feared loved trusted in called upon praised and obeyed and to receive from us whatsoever else may be deemed an act of his natural worship And this is all I conceive which Providence can of it self or taken alone and apart teach or inculcate There being nothing else of duty which can be imagined necessary and immediately to follow upon that knowledge of God which Providence reveals That it goes thus far will need little proof The Apostle Paul told the Lystriaâ—s that the living God left not himself without witness Acts 14.7 in that he did good c. that is by his good and merciful Providences he testified against the Idolatry of the Heathen and called for their service to be yeelded to himself alone And he informs the Romans Rom. 1.20 that the same persons are left without excuse for their sins and therefore they must needs be taught somewhat of their duty by the discovery of the God-head in the creation 3. For other duties besides the forementioned general rules which immediately refer to God whether of the law of nature to wit those which respect man or of positive institution Providence doth not by it self dictate or declare them to us Observe here 1. I say it doth not declare Gods mind to us in these things It was before said the works of God in as much as they discover the Divine nature they of themselves tell us thus much that God is to be obeyed in all his commandments but what his will or commands are in particular as touching the posiâ—tives of his own worship or concerning either the natural or positive rights and relations which may be between man and man and what our own concernments are the particulars of these it doth not dictate or deliver to us 2. I say this it doth not solitarily or apart or by it self or by its own single light or voice For this must be acknowledged though it doth not declare or promulgate yet it doth confirm and though it doth nor of it self discover yet it doth second and set on that which is before discovered of the mind of God In reference to the whole revealed will of God Providence hath the use of a Testimony that is by way of association or concurrence See Dr. Sclater Serm. on 2 Kin. 93.1 pag. 25. though it be not Nomotherick or Legislative nor yet in the matters limitted in this proposition the original or primary dictator of the will of God yet where a declaration thereof is made and the same is actually known understood end apprehended there Providence comes in and gives a secondary sanctioâ— Let the light of nature or book of God written in the heart or his word in the Scriptures first tell a man thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal then if the hand of God remarkeably break out in some notable curse or punishment upon a murderer or thief this Providence seen and noted doth by way of Item or Second in that it holds forth the displeasure of God against theft or murder prohibite admonish and warn him and others from those sins But in matters of this natuâ—e Providence solitarily or by it self alone is not significant or declarative of Gods approving or disapproving will Where both the law of nature and the Scriptures are either silent or which is all one as to this not understood or apprehended there providence as to these things is dumb or if it must be said to speak its language cannot be undeâ—stood Providence in these matters may be resembled unto consonants as these without vowels make not any words or speech but compounded with them are vocal and significative so Providence in concurrence and concomitancy with the written law speaks out to us backing and confirming what the word declares but of it self or apart from this it cannot do that office in these things of moral or positive precept Providence is in this respect like an echo which reiteraâ—es and resounds to what the word of God in Scripture or Conscience saith before it doth rather consignificate then signifie Gods will to us When God hath made known to us by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or enunciative word what his mind or commandement is in this or that particulars then the providence of God which before and of it self could only tell us that God is to be obeyed in all his commandements now bespeaks our obedience in these particulars and addes its stampe or sanction to the commands of God so revealed In things which the conscience is already informed of to be either agreeable or repugnant to the law of God providence coming in with any remarkable either crosses or blessings beareth witness to that law and exciteth the conscience by way of Memento to take special notice of it And thus it is a good second though not a solitary testimony It hath vocem tonantem an awakening or startling efficacy to rouze up the dowzie consolence to attend to the rule already received See Deut. 4.3 4. 2 Chron. 30.7 Mal. 3.18 But this office holdeth only in concurrence with the word We cannot simply and singly conclude from any providence thus God crosseth men in this blesseth them in that way therefore he disallows that approves this But having a precedent light in the conscience from the testimony of Gods law of what he allowes and disallowes his so crossing or blessing may be an accumulative witnessâ— Thus David argues By this I know thou favorest me because mine enemy doth not triumph over me Psal 41.11 He know before from the written word and from the particular messages that he had received by the Prophets Samuel and Gad both what God had promised and what he willed him to do and thereupon this mentioned Providence of God toward him was an additional testimony And thus Josephs brethen metting with a shrewd and sudden crosse were prompted out of the light and sentences of their own consciences cleared and called forth by that crosse Providence as they took it in Egypt to say we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distresse come upon us And Reuben sureably was enabled to say Spake I not unto you saying Do not sin against the childe and ye would not hear therefore behold also his bloud is required Gen. 42.21 22. And the reason of the necessity of the antecedency of the knowledge of the
to be ascribed unto God This is it then the Power is ordained of God that is CHAP. V. SECT IV. Subsect 1. whatsoever is effective or productive of a Magistrate is derived from God Subsection 1. Ordination contains Institution and Constitution and what each of these signifies THis ordination or creation of the power must needs I conceive have in it two things The first is institution or the ordaining of Magistracy to be in the state or civil society It is Gods preceptive ordinance that men in every politique body should have and live under a Government In this act of institution may be contained not only the simple appointment of Magistracy to be but the defining also of the office or the prescribing what shall be the end and what the measure compass or bounds of its authority how the Soveraign power shall rule and be obeyed what shall be necessary or allowable for him to do and what to have The other is Constitution which is the bringing of that Institution into act and execution in particular states And this may have ascribed to it two parts 1. Specification or the determining of the special kind of Government comprehensible under that general institution or the setting down which shall be the formâ— of policy pro bic nunc or here and now in this or that state whether Monarchy Aristocracy or another And unto this Specification may be reducible the designment of the proportion or latitude which this or that magistrate shall have I shall not here enter into the dispute whether the supreme power be limitable otherwise then the general institution it self confines him But I will suppose the which is to me the more probable opinion that there is a latitude in the allotment of power by that general institution and as some things are necessary and of the essence of supreme power so other things are allowable or lawful and being so are left arbitrary and referred to the choice and agreement of the parties concerned in the constitution and these may be the subject of that designation or apportionating as may be also the several shares or measures of power which each party shall have where the supreme power is either mixt or compounded of several simple formes or is distributed into several hands 2. Individuation or the investure of the power or the assignation of it to the person or persons that shall sustain it or the concrediting and committing of it to this or that man or number of men or to one living or stock of persons in whom the designed fram of Government shall reside That these acts must necessarily go to the creating or putting of the particular power in being I think will not be questioned It remains then to shew that they are and how they are every one of them from God and by his ordination understanding ordination in this sense in which we have before construed it Subsection 2. CHAP. V. SECT IV. Subsect 2. That Institution of the Power is of God and whether by the law of Nature in mans Innocency FIrst The institution of the Power the ordaining in general that Magistracy shall be and what shall be the office power and preeminencies of the Magistrate this is with one consent acknowledged to be of God Whether its institution by God was in mans innocency or it was since his whether Magistracy be of God by the law of nature or by a positive or postnate law is not agreed upon by all learned men but most Divines as far as I observe both antient and modern Protestants and of the Scools conclude it to have been instituted of God in the state of mans innocency and to be from the light and law of nature * Vide Aquin. part 1. qu. 97 art 4. Durand in Sentent lib. 2. Dist 44. qu. 2. fol. 157. A. P. Martyr loc com clas 4. cap. 13. Sect. 5. Bucan loc 49. qu. 16. Pareus in hunc loc Scharp Symph Epo 1. pag. 39. Estium Willet in loc Aristot pol. lib. 1. num 8 17. And to their authority I may add that of the Prince of Philosophers and also that of the Jewish Doctors These as Mr. Selden tels us †Selden de Jure Natur. lib. 1. cap. 10. p. 118 119 127. lib. 7. cap. 4. p. 804. Dr. Hammond of Resol centrov Quaer 1. Sect. 7. pag. 6. deliver seven principal heads of the law of nature which they call the seven precepts of the Noachidae and the sixth of them is concerning the being of Civill Government and of obedience to it and this tenent of the original of the law of Magistracy may be confirmed 1. By this that we finde the duty of all inferiors to their superiors injoyned in the Fifth commandement of the moral law as it is generally expounded by which it must needs be presupposed that the being of superiority in every state is enacted 2. In that all nations and people that are or have been and have owned reason and morality as they have inclined to entertain civill society and communion so they have been guided to esteem it necessary to have a Government in every society and accordingly have erected and submitted to it 3. God hath as is evident by Scripture by his law of creation set other reasonable creatures as spirits in a distinction of order and superiority of some over others and there can be no reason given why it should not be so in mankind by the same original law 4. Though there appear not what use the state of integrity could have of punishment or a coercive sword yet it is not to me conceivable how there could be either distinction or communion in humane societies or actions without the commanding and leading power of some over others Subsection 3. That constitution of the Power or putting in of the particular Magistrate is of God and how or by what means he doth it SEcondly The constitution of Magistracy this both as to the determination of the form and composure of the Government and as to the individuation or investure of the person is from God Yet not alwayes and in every state after the same manner 1. We read God did sometime CHAP. V. SECT IV. Subsect 3. unto the Common-wealth of Israel ordain both the special form of Government and the particular persons in whom it should reside by peculiar revelation So it was in the government of Israel by Moses Josuah Gideon Deborah Saul David and his posterity 2. But besides that way of peculiar Revelation proper to that people and those persons and such other as are in like manner mentioned in Scripture God hath another which is his ordinary and constant way of determining the special form of Goveâ—nment and designing the persons for it to wit by giving order and direction to men how to proceed in their vacancy of Magistracy and by leading and steering men according to that his order unto the constitution of it among them
the positive transaction of men to be disposed according to certain general rules of justice and prudence given by him It is not imaginable how God should impose or require any distinct state or special relation and order to be amongst a multitude of men or other his creatures but be must be said either immediately by himself to create it or to set down from what causes or out of what principles it shall arise 3. For the distinct understanding of the manner or how many wayes God interposeth and concurreth in the constitution of particular Magistrates in regard of which interposal the individual or particular power may be ascribed to Gods ordination I shall note Some things God doth herein immediately and some things mediately 1. Immediately and by himself he doth declare such and such formes of Government to be lawfull and eligible and he doth order where and in whom the interest shall be to make choice which of those forms in particular and who the person or persons shall be that shall be placed over this or that state respectively 2. Mediately and by men he doth enstate every special kind of Government and every particular Magistrate that is he doth set them up according to those rules which we say are immediately given by him And this his mediate concurrence is two ways 1. The authority or warrant of his word rule or law goeth along with those that act therein according to the same And this is his moral concurrence 2. His work or hand of Providence guideth the wils and exterior actions of them that proceed according to those rules and this is his physical concourse We do not therefore exclude the Providence of God from the ordination of the powers that be but we attribute to it its proper place and use which is to persue and execute the authority and rule of his word from which in the production of Magistracy we cannot neither ought by any means to separate or disjoyn it so as to make it constitutive of a Magistrate And this act of Providence is far different from that which some would confound with it and so put as the whole of sole basis of Civill government as to constitution to wit a persons meer possession or occupation of the seat of Majesty or a bare physical predominancy for this may be and yet no Magistracy and this though it be due to the Civil Magistrate yet it is separable from it as this discourse I hope will manifest The act of Providence which as far as I can apprehend may be productive of Civill power is that which disposeth of the title or right and not of the meer possession of the throne that which guideth mens wils to consent or give a call or confer on the one part and to accept of it on the other and not that which only swayeth mens hands on the one side lifting up an arme of force as a punishment over a people on the other binding the hands and leading away captive Princes and people that however disagreeing or relucting they can make no effectual resistance 4. Though God do not by immediate revelation assign to every particular State what shall be the special model of their government and who the persons to sustain it yet where men do act in the assignation of these for substance according to the prescript or rule given out by God unto all there is a power ordained of God and unless when a special revelation comes from God determining these particulars there only or not otherwise This Proposition hath two parts a positive and a negative 1. The positive is when men do act according to divine rule in the moulding of government and advancing of persons to wield it there the constitution may be said according to this text to be of God and the particular Government and Governors to be ordained of God Immediety of designation from God either of platform or person is not necessary to the bestowing of this style of God ordained of God upon the particular Magistracy It is in this case as it is in the point of any ordinary right or property God hath ordained a perpetual law of justice among men thou shalt not steal by which every mans property in his goods is required to be reserved to him and he hath given either in his word or by the light and law of nature a sufficient rule to determine what shall be right what wrong and how property in any possessibles shall be acquirable yet all this by it self invests no man in any right to any goods in particular it is a humane qualification or transaction which supervening and being bona fide passed now enstates men in an actual right to any goods and when this is emergent this or that mans title or property in these particular goods is asserted by God and then it may be said it is Gods ordinance that this man have and injoy these goods and a transgression against the same it is for another man without like warrant from God to disseise him of them The truth is the most if not all the moral precepts of God and perpetual laws of nature are so made and delivered to man as that to the putting of them in practise or the bringing of their obligation into act there must intervene some positive constitution either from God or man and most commonly it is from the latter The Schools tell us that humane positive constitutions do determine the law of nature as the form specificates the matter or the particular matter determines the generall * Vide Cajetan in Aquin. 1. 2ae qu. 95. art 2. Widdingtons Rejoynder cap. 8. num 20. Selden de Jure Nat. lib. 1. cap. 8. pag. 106. Hooker Eccles polit lib. 6. pag. 151 152. Grotius de Jure lib. 1. cap. 1. Sect. 10. That wives children servants subjects own their respective superiors and pay them their duties is the law of God but there are certain humane acts which are the immediate foundation and rise of these relations and so of persons lying under the duties which severally belong to them which acts once passed the bounds of relation and duty do take hold of the persons respectively by virtue of the divine ordination Our Saviour saith of marryed persons What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder Marriage then in all marryed couples is a conjunction made by God but how comes that seeing most that marry have no recourse to or particular direction from God when whom or how to marry probably never think of any ordinance of God about it but only to follow their own or others counsels and wils in it Why thus it is God in the beginning authorized marriage to be betwixt man and woman and appointed how it should be transacted to wit by the mutual consent or cleaving together of each party and enacted other rules concerning it as touching proximity of bloud c. And now by virtue of this his ordinance
it is antecedaneous previous and preparatory to his title but is not productive or constitutive of it Of this latter way of conquests leading to a title to dominion I have spoken before and refer my Reader thither * Chap. 3. Sect. 3. Subsect 5. Proposition 5. Only whereas some object that the title of the Sword or Conquest hath been the usuall beginning of the Kingdoms and principalities which now are or have been in the world I answer 1. A facto ad jus non valet argumentum We do not ask neither is it to the puâ—pose what hath been done in the getting of rule but what ought to be and what is the rise of that power which can truly derive from God as his ordinance 2. I take this assertion to be too broad that this hath been the usuall beginning of Dominions Though many unjust invâ—sions have been yet that hath not been the constant birth of Soverainty I have before alledged humane testimony of the best authority to the contrary 3. And where unlicentiate intrusion into the throne hath been it hath commonly not continued but the dominion hath been shortly either dispossessed or setled upon a better ground-work by the consent of the interested sufficiently valid in point of conscience to such an act 3. But if the sword by it self cannot create a title Let us see what the third fore-named way will help Non enim si quid alicui est utile id statim mihi licet ei per vim imponere Nam his qui Rationis habent usum libera debet esse utilium inutilium electio nisi alâ—â—ri jus quoddam in eos quaesitum sit Gâ—otius de Jure lib. 2. cap. 22. Sect. 12. either added to it or alone viz. that of voluntary beneficialness by protection There are some who would build a kinde of claim to rule upon the consideration of the good or benefit which the Governing may be said to bring to the governed which they will suppose it equal for him to obtrude upon them though against their wils and in recompence of it to exact their obedience to him But such pretences of benefit besides that they are often withouâ— reality and are made the visour of proceedings of a qâ—ite contrary tenor were they never so real cannot reach to such an effect The intention promise or actual collation of a good â—urn doth not create a right in the promiser over him or any thing of his to whom the same is done withoâ—t his consent or acceptance of it with such a condition To bring some colour for this claim of Dominion there are by an Author alledged some cases out of the Civill law they are contained under that head of obligations which they call ex quasi contracta and particularly they are of those ex negotiis gestis There is saith that law an obligation debt or duty upon a man when ones business is done without his consent to his benefit In this case the obligation is upon the owner of the business done unto the Gestor or doer of it The said Author 1. Urges the case de negâ—tiorum gestione in general 2. Insists on that particular one of the minor to his guardian which saith he is the case of the Common-wealth according to that maxim Res publica semper est in curâ tutelâ * A R ply to Dr. Sandersons Letter pag. 5. 1. To the case in general ex negotiis gestis I say there is a wide disparity betwixt it as stated by the Civilian and this for which it is alledged 1. In that case the ground of the obligation and compensation awarded is because the thing done is behooveful for the party obliged to be done and yet no consent can be possibly given the person whose business it is being supposed by reason of absence death nonage madness or such like impediment incapable of giving consent There is no such ground here where the parties he would have obâ—iged are extant present and of age to declare their minde and do either declare their dissent or not declare their assent 2. What is the extent or matter of the obligation in that ex negotiis gestis not the passing of the beneficiary into the dominion of the benefactor but only an obligation of debt to the repayment of such necessary charges as the gestor hath been at it being all reason that in doing anothers business commodiously to that other the doer should be indemnified But no obligation here to a new personal state of subjection By the law a Tutor or Curator may oblige them under his charge without their consent in their goods to defray his layings out for them but he cannot without their consent oblige them in a personal relation as in marriage or servitude which are obligations of state 3. The law acknowledgeth such an obligation as is specified but under those cautions as do exclude and contradict the conclusion for which they are here brought As 1. It denies that obligation if a man handle another mans business as his own 2. If a man act anothers occasions after that other hath forbidden or disclaimed his acting 3. If they be acted no necessity requiring it * Vide Greg. Tholâ— saâ—i Syntag. â—uâ—iâ— lib. â—9 cap. â— Sect. 〈…〉 2. Sect. 8 9 11. 2. To that of the Minor or Pupil in particular 1. Though the Law allowes the Guardian his charges out of the Minor yet it allwes not any one to be a Curator that will undertake it That 's against the very nature and end of Curatorship which is to defend the minor from invasors He that is a Tutor that is a Guardian of one under the age of 14. years must be either jure civili datus or permissus he must either be Tâ—stamentary that is assigned by the decaseds will or Dative that is appointed by the law or magistrate And he that is a Curator that is over one above 14 but under 25 years old must be chosen by the Minor and constituted by the Law The Civill Law expresly provides that they shall not be Tutors of Pupils who put themselves upon or offer to buy or make suit for the employment and lest this office should seem arbitrarily taken up or by force put upon the Pupil or Minor it ordains that military men be excepted from it It gives both the Pupil and the right Guardian an action against him that takes upon him that charge being not lawfully ordained to it yea and against those that assist him in possessing or exercising that place and condemnes the false Guardian in as much as the value of that wherein he deals amounts unto †Idem cap. 7. Sect. 2. lib. 13. cap. 1. Sect. 4. cap. 3. Sect. 1. cap. 10. Sect. 6 16 37 38 39. lib. 12. cap. 4. Sect 6. Let these rules of the saw about Tutorship to a Pupil take place in the case of the Common-wealth and its Guardian and this title by arbitrary beneficialness