it comes to pass that the external Act conceived to be prohibited by the Divine Law is no real Breach thereof save only when and as it impedes or diminisheth the Souls due Affection or Love which of right it ought to have to God in order to its own Felicity as shall hereafter in the explication of the seventh and Eighth Commandments Sect. 19. be made appear 7. In the greatest Alienation therefore of the Heart from God is the greatest sin which Alienation because it befalls the Damned in that their Aversion from God is perpetual the Damned are the greatest Sinners Object 1. Sin is the Transgression of the Law of God. 1 John 3. 4. and the Transgression of the Law is therefore sinful because it is repugnant to the Divine Will and an Offence to God. Solut. The Definition of Sin given by the Blessed Apostle must needs be infallibly true but the reason offered why the Transgression of the Law is sinful is none of the Apostles and its truth may very well be questioned For in case Gods Will had been absolutely set against Sin rather than it should have been ever in the World neither the Author nor Actors of it had received a Being since he was the Maker and Creator of them both And therefore it is not in respect of any Injury Harm or Inconvenience whatsoever that can befall the Almighty who is infinitely above the reach of any Displeasure or Annoyance possible to be done unto him by the committing of Sin that he forbids it but because it is mischievous and hurtful to the Creature in many respects as hath been set forth in the three preceding Sections last past So that the Reason why the Creator gave Man a Law to observe was not simply this that he required Obedience should be given to whatsoever he commanded but that Man through Obedience to the Law which is a Rule that if rightly observed will make him happy might reap the Benefit of the due Observance of it as from this subsequent Argument will I think be evinced Tho Obedience is due to be performed but in respect of some Command given to be obeyed no Command is to be given to be obeyed but in respect of some good End whereunto it tends for to command a thing either to no End at all or to a bad End would be irrational since to do the former would be an impertinent Vanity and to do the latter would be plain Perversness both which since they are infinitely remote and estranged from the Nature of God 't is impossible he should command any thing but for a good End. And forasmuch as he is utterly incapable of receiving any manner or measure of Good by reason of his infinite Self-perfection he cannot possibly require Obedience from his Creature for any Good either of Profit or Pleasure expected to redound thereby to himself And therefore whenever he gives a Law or Command to his Creature he does it for this sole End that the Creature may be benefited thereby in case a sincere and cordial Obedience be performed unto it Object 2. If God cannot possibly give a Command but such only as tends to the Good of the Creature it will not be in his Power to command a thing of that nature that simple Disobedience to his Will without respect had to some or other definite Good to be obtained by fulfilling the Command should be a sin Solut. That God cannot possibly give a Command but for some good End and Purpose and that he himself is incapable of receiving any good hath been proved before But it doth not thence follow that he cannot command a thing to be done without respect had to some or other express definite Good because he may command a thing purely indifferent in it self to the intent that men by yielding Obedience to his Command for the Commands sake may be inured to submit with readiness and chearfulness to his Will in all things which whosoever doth cannot fail of being at length eternally happy because the most of his Precepts at least as in Sect. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20. will be seen are proper means in themselves for procuring mans Felicity which the performing of things wholly indifferent in their Nature when enjoyned by God if any such there be by facilitating of Obedience will be apt to further in that a pliableness to observe Commands in things necessary will be promoted thereby But if it were so that Obedience were good for the meer Commands sake without respect had to the benefit intended to accrue to the sincere Observers of it Disobedience would be equally sinful in every sinful Act whatsoever whence a small stroke given in wrath would be as great a Crime as Parricide or Treason to rob a poor Man of all he has would be a Fault as small as to steal a Penny from the richest Person and to commit Adultery or Incest would be no greater a sin than a lascivious Thought or Word since all sin without exception is absolutely forbidden by God and not one single Crime whatsoeever allowed to be committed But if Disobedience to Gods Commands be therefore sinful in that it causes a Want or Privation of some good or degree thereof which is a Means conducible to Felicity then is every sin greater or less than other by how much the good whereof it deprives the Soul is more or less available then other for bringing it to Bliss And therefore although every Sin be a Transgression of the Law yet inasmuch as every Branch and Title of the Law is not of equal Virtue to further Mans Felicity 't is clear that all Acts whereby the Law is transgressed are not equally bad or sinful Object 3. God by the sole Act of Creation or making Man out of nothing to have an Existence or Being obtained a Sovereignty over him by virtue of which he has a Right of Dominion or a just Power to lay what Commands he pleases upon him Whence it must needs be that every Act of Disobedience to Gods Commands is a Wrong and Injury done unto him although the Performance of the Command would neither do him good nor the omitting to do it procure him any harm Solut. That God has a Right of Dominion over Man or a just Power to command him whatever he pleases is an undeniable Truth but the Ground thereof is not solely as the Objection would make it because Man was created by God and received his Being from him but by reason also that such is the unerrable Rectitude of his Understanding and the absolute Goodness of his Will that he cannot possibly command him any thing but what if duly observed will infallibly procure his Good. For if God by the sole Act of Creation abstracting from this that he created Man from an end agreeable to his Nature certainly to be obtain'd if he obeyed the Law of his Maker had a Right to dispose of him after any manner whatsoever without
for Breach of Laws were purely vindicative and intended as satisfaction or just recompeuce for the violation of them For since in strictness there 's no equality or proportion between the Member of a Man's Body and the Goods of Fortune it were unequal and unâ—â—â— to recompense the loss of any Limb with a pecuniary Mulct and yet we see 't is generally so done by Christians who nevertheless maintain the perpetual obligation of the Law of Nature Yea the Learned Bodin tells us upon no slight ground that the Lex Talionis in the commonly received Notion of it was never in practice among the very Jews his Words in the English Translation are these To requite like with like is indeed nothing else but to punish Offences with Punishments answerable to them that is to say great Offences with great Punishments mean with mean and so little Offences also lightly which they also meant when they said a Hand for a Hand a Tooth for a Tooth and an Eye for an Eye And so the ancient Hebrews the best Interpreters of God's Law have understood it expounded it practised it as it is in their Pandects to be seen in the Title of Penalties Yea Rabbi Kanan denieth the Law of like Punishment to have any where in the Cities of the Hebrews taken place in such sort as that he should have an Eye put out who had put out another man's Eye but the estimation of an Eye put out was usually by the discretion of the Judges in money valued For proof whereof let it be that before the Law of like Punishment there was a Law viz. Exod. 21. whereby it was ordained that if two men fighting one of them should hurt the other but not yet unto Death he which had done the hurt should pay the Physician for healing thereof But to what end should he so pay the Physician if he which did the hurt were in like sort to be himself wounded It should also thereof follow more absurdly that many delicate and tender Persons in receiving of such Wounds as they had given to others should thereof themselves die and perish Besides that also he who had the harm done him having lost his I Hand where with he should get his Living if the others Hand were also for the same cut off he so wanting his Hand wherewith he should get his his Living might haply so starve Wherefore such literal Exposition of the Law of like Punishment by Aristotle and Favorine is but vain and deceitful Bodin of a Common-weal Book 6. page 781. 9. I 'le conclude this Point with one only Argument more for the confirmation of what has been said which is this to inflict Punishment as dolorous and painful without regard had to a farther End to be obtained by the doing of it is to do direct Evil because that Punishment which has no Tendency to the procuring of something which has as much or more good in it than the pain has harm for Pain simply in it self considered is Evil as being offensive to Nature and a thing occasioned by Sin is purum putum Malum meer Evil which for any Law to design would argue the Makers of it to be void of Reason and Humanity Obj. 1. If the Breach of a Law be not an Offence and punishable as it only stands in opposition to the Will of the Law-giver without regard had to the Public Good presumed to be included in it then are not men obliged in Conscience to obey a bad Law or which tends not to the Common Good But men are obliged in Conscience to obey the Laws of the Land where they live although in that respect bad as not tending at all to the Public Good Ergo the Breach of the Law is an Offence and punishable as it only stands in opposition to the Will of the Law-giver without regard had to the public Good presumed to be included in it Solut. In answer first to the Major I return that if it were so that a private Person could certainly know that a certain Law had no manner of Tendency to the Public Weal yet would he be obliged in Conscience to give Obedience to it provided it were not against the Moral or some Positive Divine Law because in disobeying he might be an occasion to others of slighting or contemning the Governour and Government which is a Mischief of most dangerous Consequence to a Nation But Secondly I answer to the Minor that no Law which is not repugnant to some part of the Law of God who by reason of his inerrable Wisdom never commands but what is good ought by private Persons to be judge bad For every Legislator among Men whatever way he acquires a Right to the Legislative Power doth necessarily receive with it the Sovereign or Supreme Judgment and Will both these being so inseparable Ingredients of the Legislative Power that it cannot subsist without them For whoso has not the Supreme Judgment or a Right invested in him to give final Judgment and Determination what is requisite and convenient to be enacted for procuring the Publick Good he wants the Knowing part of a Law-giver or that which legally enables one finally to judge and determine what will be a proper Means for the Consecution of the Common Good. And whoever has not the Supreme Will or a Right appropriated to him of enacting what is finally adjudged and determined to be good for the Common-weal he is destitute of the commanding part of a Law-giver or that which legally empowers one to pass what is determinately adjudged requisite for procuring the general Good into a Law. Which things being presupposed to be true the Inference from them will be necessarily this That no Law enacted by a Sovereign Power can in Reason be said by any private Person to be bad or not tending to the Public Good if it be not manifestly contrary to his Law whose Judgment is infallible For in that he has the Legislative Power he is of necessity supposed to have the Supreme Judgment so that no inferior Judgment as the Judgment of every Subject there being but one Supreme in one Government necessarily is can without manifest Contradiction to Reason judge that he judges amiss Object 2. If Laws be therefore obliging because presumed to be good since it is certain that no Command can be good which is opposite to Gods Law it would follow that no manner of Obedience either Active or Passive is due to the Commands of Sovereigns which are against the Moral or a Divine Positive Law. Solut. If to do a thing commanded because commanded to be done be to obey a Command then to refuse to do a thing commanded is to disobey a Command and how a Man should at the same time both obey and disobey the same Command I understand not Actively you 'l say he cannot do both at once but may he not refuse to give an active Obedience to an unjust Command and yet at the same Instant be
sect 13 14. which perfected is Felicity it evidently follows that there is not any Vice mortally vicious or finally prejudicial to Man's Felicity save only by reason of Charity 's inconsistency with it But it is impossible that those who either through Infidelity never believe or through Apostasie fall from the belief that there is an eternal Being which ought to be belov'd above all things should place their Affections on God and equally impossible that they who either through Presumption or Despair will not make use of the necessary Means should attain to the End to be acquired by them Whence it is manifest that every one of these Vices are Mortal Sins and necessarily if not forsaken destructive of Salvation If it be replied that every Sin is a Transgression of the Law and every Transgression of the Law a Mortal Sin no less than Infidelity Apostasie Presumption and Despair and therefore destructive of Salvation as well as they I grant it to be true in every one abiding in the State of sinful Nature for since such a Man's Will is habitually vitiated with the Love of the World above the Love of God every Act proceeding from that Source or Principle will partake of its Nature and Disposition and all such Love is Mortal Sin Sect. 8. par 5. But to him that is in the State of Grace or endued with the Habit of Charity which is Formal Righteousness sect 11. pa. 6 7 8. I deny that any single sinful Act or Transgression of the Law is Mortal unless it be such as either by the grossness of it or else by the perverse wilfulness of committing it destroys the Habit of Charity in the Soul for it is impossible that that Man should suffer the Pains of Hell who habitually loves God above the World and prefers the enjoyment of him before all Terrestrial Pleasures sect 11. pa. 6 7. albeit thro' infirmity and the frailty of human Nature he sometimes transgress in smaller Matters some part of the Law of God. Object 2. Faith and Hope seem very excellent Virtues in themselves Faith in that it owns the Truth of God in readily assenting and firmly adhering to those mysterious Truths revealed in the Scripture which wholly transcend all our Reason and Apprehension And Hope in that it owns the infinite Power and Goodness of God such Faith and Hope being required as Conditions of our Salvation and that God may be righteous in absolving and saving Sinners Rom. 3. v. 24 25 26 27. Whence it appears that they are on these accounts abstracting from this that they are Ministerial to Charity necessary to Salvation Solut. That the owning the Truth of God by readily assenting and firmly adhering to the Mysterious Truths revealed in the Scripture and the owning the infinite Power and Goodness of God are any Virtues when they are not accompanied with Charity besides for the reason shewn sect 13. par 1. therefore deny because the Devil not only gives a most firm assent to every Divine Truth revealed in the Scripture as knowing it to be the Word of God and therefore infallibly true but also owns upon the same account the infinite Power and Goodness of God as they are there in every respect declared and set forth and yet he is not at all virtuous in doing of either yea the stronger his Assent is to their Truth the more wicked he is because he has not Charity answerable to his Knowledg in that he loves not God as the only Sovereign Good of all rational and intelligent Creatures when he most certainly knows that he ought to be so beloved by them If it be alledged that Faith in the Objection is to be understood of a Divine Faith I return that if an Assent given to a Divine Truth upon the Credit of a Divine Testimony be Divine Faith the Devil's Belief of the Truths revealed in the Scripture is a Divine Faith But if by Faith be meant a Saving Faith then I grant the Devil is void thereof because his Faith is not accompanied with Charity for all Faith without Charity is nothing worth in reference to Salvation 1 Cor. 13. 2. 7. As the principal Aim and Drift of the Precepts of the former Table of the Decalogue is the Love of God as Mans chiefest Good Par. 6. so hath the Loving of our Neighbour likewise its Consummation therein For since Rational Nature is the same in all men and consequently the same End appointed for all Mankind 't is clear that every Man in that he is a Man is obliged to wish and further the same final Good and the Necessary Means conducible to it to every one and this is that which is truly loving a Mans Neighbour as himself whilst every other good one man ought to do to another is a thing extrinsecal to man as man and depends as to the Obligation thereto on prudential Motives or mutual Consent explicit or implicit or formal Contracts for the Preservation or Comfort of the animal Life and is not so much as to be absolutely prayed for even for our selves Sect. 15. Par. 3. and then certainly not of necessity to be absolutely wished or done to others as their final good Estate and what necessarily conduceth to the obtaining of it evermore are 8. Seeing then to love a mans Neighbour as himself is heartily to wish and desire that he may enjoy the same necessary good with himself and to contribute his Assistance when occasion requires to the furthering thereof and that eternal Felicity is that necessary good consisting in the perfect Love of God Sect. 4. Par. 13. it is plain that in heartily wishing and endeavouring also when occasion serves that our Neighbour may attain to the sincere Love of God here and the perfect Love of God hereafter We love our Neighbour as our selves and thereby keep all the six last Commandments 9. And forasmuch as no man can possibly heartily wish to another either Grace or Glory but because of his own real desire thereto for himself first had it is manifest that he who loves his Neighbour as himself doth evermore first at least in order of nature love God as his chiefest Good. 10. And because the sincere Love of God or Charity is formal Righteousness and that formal Righteousness doth formally justifie Sect. 11. Par. 8. it directly follows that a man is formally Righteous or justified before in order of Nature at least he love his Neighbour as himself and consequently that the Love of our Neighbour is not any part of formal Righteousness but a necessary Effect and Consequent thereof which will farther appear to be a Truth from hence that as on the one side he who desires and endeavours by his Council and Prayers his Neighbours Felicity though he never attain thereto performs his Duty to him and thereby fulfils the Precepts of the latter Table if so be he did them for the Love he bears to God because such Love doth justifie so on the other side
other World will by being eternally separated from its Pleasures convert into a hopeless desire and upon that account grow more furious impatient For of all the torments of the Mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious desire joyn'd with despair of satisfaction which is just the case of sensual worldly-minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated desires and like starved men that are shut up between two dead Walls are tormented with a fierce but hopeless hunger which having nothing else to feed on preys and quarries on themselves and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro tormented with a restlefs Rage and Hunger and unsatisfied desire oraving Food but neither finding nor expecting any and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity And though they might find Content and Satisfaction could they but diver their affections another way and reconcile them to the heavenly Enjoyments yet being irrecoverably pre-engaged to sensual Goods they have no Savour nor Relish of any thing else but are like Feverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own over flowing Gall. Lastly if in any thing I have writ about Christ's meritorious Satisfaction I peradventure fully accord not with some Divines the difference when the Matter is duly weigh'd will prove I hope to be only verbal For I assert sect 11. First That Christ's death on the Cross was of infinite value and merit Secondly That by and through the same Remission of Sin Justification and every other Good whether of Grace or Glory are obtain'd Thirdly That Christ's Crucifixion was as real and proper an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin as any under the Law of Moses but of infinitely more value ever was Fourthly That God's Justice is de jure prevented thereby from being exerted agaist Sinners in their everlasting Destruction The only difference then if any remaining is in this That I cannot apprehend what some others perchance think viz. That Christ's Merits operate upon God and work an Effect of Mercy and Favour in his Will whereas I humbly conceive them to be a secondary efficient Cause subservient to God's Love to Man for conveying and applying the same unto him by being an effectual Means of converting his Affections from the Vanities of the World unto God that he may be eternally saved for which I offer to serious consideration these following Reasons inducing me thereto 1. That Christ's most gracious doings and sufferings for Man are held by all Christians to be a Meritorious Cause 2ly That a Meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause 3ly That it is the Property of an Efficient Cause to work some real Effect 4ly That it seems plainly impossible that any real Effect should be wrought in God who is impassible and immutable sect 1. par 8 9. for otherwise seeing whatsoever is in God is God sect 1. par 11. such an Effect would be God himself and so the Merits of Christ would be the efficient Cause of the Deity 5ly That Christ's Merits therefore are not an antecedent but a subsequent Cause to the merciful-lovingkindness of God to Man by which the eternal Goodness actually confers all the happy Effects of divine Favour and Grace on him whereby he is delivered from Sathan Sin and Damnation and brought to everlasting Bliss If it be replied that however plausible yea certainly true this arguing be yet there is something more in Christ's Suffering for the Sin of Man than what hath hitherto been said namely the satisfying Divine Justice I answer that strictly speaking neither Justice nor Mercy nor other Attributes of God are formally distinct either from one another or from the very Essence of the Deity Sect. 1. Par. 11. and therefore albeit I willingly grant that Christ died for all men even the Reprobate as to me seems plain from these Words of the Apostle But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Damnation 2 Pet. 2. 1. yet it was not to this very intent and purpose that he should undergo those Pains and Punishments which were allotted for Sin the everlasting Torments of Hell but to put Mankind thereby into a Way State and Condition that not any one should finally perish save only such as embraced not the Mercy of God in Christ manifested to the World in his Holy Gospel for what Justice is it that the Damned should suffer the Pains of Hell in case Christ had as truly and fully satisfied for them as if they had already undergone them themselves If it be answered that the actual Benefit of Christ's Satisfaction only reaches to those who believe in him and obey his Word so as that they shall not perish but have everlasting Life I readily own that Christ's Merits and more especially his bloody Death and Passion did in this sense abundantly satisfie Divine Justice for by these he really affected that none can justly be damned to whom they are applied by a lively and efficacious Faith Sect. 11. so that at the last day it will be equally just for God to render some for and through the Merits of Christ eternally blessed as it will be to give up others for their Sins to be for ever miserably afflicted and contrariwise it would be alike unjust to save the Wicked in that day who do not believe in Christ and obey him as to destroy the Godly who believe and put their Trust and Confidence in him whose Death on the Cross was as real a propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin but of infinitely more value as the annual expiatory Sacrifice under the Law as by the explanation of the Nature and Efficacy of it will appear The Sacrifice of Expiation was never compleat and perfect nor had the designed and due Effect of its Institution by the sole slaying and offering of the Beast however rightly and solemnly performed both by the Priest and People unless they added thereto the afflicting of themselves as is plain by Levit. 16. ver 29 30 31. In the seventh Month in the tenth Day of the Month ye shall afflict your Souls and do no Work at all whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD It shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls by a Statute for ever And again Chapt. 23. ver 27 28 29 30 31 32. On the tenth Day of this seventh Month there shall be a Day of Atonement it shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls and offer an Offering made by Fire unto the LORD And ye shall do no work in that
same day for it is a day of Atonement to make an Atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day he shall be cut off from among his People And whatsoever Soul it be that doth any Work in that same day the same Soul will I destroy from among his People Ye shall do no manner of Work it shall be a Statute for ever throughout your Generations in all your Dwellings It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest and ye shall afflict your Souls on the ninth day of the Month at Even from Even unto Even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath Lo how strictly it was commanded by God that every one should afflict himself to wit with Fasting and other pious Signs of Sorrow as Interpreters agree and to what end but that their afflicting themselves should work Contrition in them for their sins that the Lord might be propitious to them for without Contrition the inward Sacrifice of the Heart and a real turning from Sin unto God to which the very External Rite of Sacrificing did contribute something I say something for the Law made nothing perfect Hebr. 7. 19. whensoever it was seriously perform'd with calling to mind and detesting their Sin which the Institution necessarily required the offering of the Victim was not at all grateful to God but rather an Abomination to him though in the sight of the People who are not privy to the thoughts of the Heart the Law was fulfilled thereby and Offenders freed from Judicial Punishment as diverse Places of Holy Writ plainly shew To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the LORD I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams and the Fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an Abomination to me new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn Meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a Trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your Hands I will hide my Eyes from you yea and when ye make many Prayers I will not hear your Hands are full of Blood. Wash ye make ye clean put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil Isa 1. ver 11 12 13 14 15 16. To what purpose cometh there to me Incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your Burnt-offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me Jerem. 6. 20. I hate I despise your Feast-days and I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies Though ye offer me Burnt-offerings and your Meat-Offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the Peace-offerings of your fat Beasts Amos 5. 21 22. But of the inward Sacrifice of the Heart Contrition thus saith the Royal Prophet The Sacrifice of God is a troubled Spirit a broken and contrite Heart O God shalt thou not despise Psal 51. 17. And in all sincere Contrition a renouncing of Sin is always necessarily implied for whoever in good earnest bewails his sin cannot while so doing continue in a voluntary course of sinning There was then no Remission of Sin before God even under the Law of Moses but that Transgressors notwithstanding their observance of its external Ordinances were liable to Punishment yea and that Temporal also as well as Eternal as is evident from the Almighties afflicting the Jewish Nation with Plagues Famines and Captivity for their sins to prevent the sinning still anew and consequently the Aggravation of the Pain of such as he knew would never be reclaim'd and to be a Motive to the rest to leave their wicked ways in this World and transmitting those that continued obstinate and impenitent to everlasting Misery in the World to come for no Repentance no Pardon He that covereth his Sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have Mercy Prov. 28. 13. Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous Man his Thoughts and let him return unto the LORD and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. It may be that the House of Judah will hear all the Evil which I purpose to do unto them that they may return every Man from his evil Way that I may forgive their Iniquity and their Sin Jerem. 36. 8. If the Wicked will turn from all his Sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his Transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness that he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18. 21 22. Neither are Sins remitted in the time of the Gospel any more than they were in the time of the Law unless forsaken as might be proved from many Texts of the New Testament of which for brevities sake I will produce some few plain ones Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13. 3. 5. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3. 19. But shewed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn unto God and do works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. as if the Apostle had said Let no Man presume that Christ will save any one who is a Christian unless by virtue of his Christianity he depart from iniquity Since then it is apparent that there is no Pardon of sin without Repentance and Conversion unto God and that the design of the Sacrifice of Expiation in Moses's Law was to be a Motive and Cause to incline Men to call their sins to remembrance to be sorry for them and to forsake them without doing of which that Sacrifice had not the Effect intended by its Institution as is clear from the Scriptures above recited it remains only to make it manifest that Christ's Crucifixion was a proper Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin to shew these two things First That he purposely came to suffer Death upon the Cross to the end that he might convert men thereby from their sins to God. And Secondly That there is no Condemnation to those that are so converted First That Christ came on purpose into this World to die the Death of the Cross for this very end that he might turn Mens Hearts from Sin unto God these following Texts of Sacred Writ will irrefragably I doubt not evince When our Blessed Saviour told his Disciples of his Death near at hand he said Now is my Soul
it hinders the same and not as it meerly crosses the Will of the Legislator Every Breach of them is more or less Evil as it is more or less prejudicial to the General Good and has in that respect a greater or less Penalty assigned thereunto Penal Laws are made for preventing of Evils that might happen for want of them and not to take Revenge on the Transgressor of the Law for neglecting to observe or for opposing the Law-givers Mind p. 111 SECT XI Faith Hope and Charity are necessary Means for procuring everlasting Bliss Sincere habitual Charity formally expels Mortal Sin and is therefore formal but incompleat Righteousness Perfect Charity formally expels all Sin and is therefore compleat formal Righteousness or the absolute falfilling of the Divine Law. p. 128 SECT XII Neither by the Light of Nature nor by the Law of Moses without Christ could ever any either Jew or Gentile be eternally saved and come to Glory but through him both of them might The Christiam Religion is in many respects preferable to the Law of Nature and the Law of Moses The Injunction of the Judaical Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies had a farther Tendency than than the exacting of bare Obedience p. 163 SECT XIII Nothing is available to Felicity but as it contributes to Charity The Nature of the two Theological Virtues Faith and Hope and how they become useful to the obtaining and augmenting the Habit of Charity p. 176 SECT XIV The Moral Habits Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance are truly Virtues in that respect only as they promote Charity What the Office of each of them in particular is in the way of subserviency unto Charity p. 184 SECT XV. Prayer offered to God for all things absolutely necessary to Salvation whether the Theological or Moral Virtues or Remission of Sins is evermore effectual if it be made aright and it is then made aright when it is unfeigned fervent and frequently performed p. 194 SECT XVI Praise and Thanksgiving to God are proper and efficatious Means whereby to get and increase Charity Vocal Prayer Music and Gestures of Body betokening Humility and Reverence towards the Divine Majesty are beneficial for the obtaining of everlasting Felicity p. 219 SECT XVII The two great Sacraments instituted by Christ for the Benefit of his Church Baptism and the Lords Supper were ordained to be serviceable to Charity the one in procuring it the other in preserving it Yea and all other Divine Institutions and Ordinances whatsoever are only so many designed ministerial Helps and Furtherances thereunto p. 225 SECT XVIII In the Exercise of the hearty Love of God or Charity consists the sincere Observance of every Precept of the Decalogue But the absolute entire fulfilling of the Moral Law is not accomplished till Charity have attained its ultimate Perfection in Heaven p. 235 SECT XIX There is not any one Precept of the latter Table of the Decalogue truly kept but when it is observed out of Love to God nor is there a real Breach of any of them but when the Soul is either deprived of the Love of God or has the same abated and weakned in it by the Omission of something which is required or by the Commission of something which is forbidden in the Precept p. 247 SECT XX. Charity or the unfeigned fervent Love of God above all things proved by Scripture to be Righteousness or the sincere keeping of the whole Law of God. p. 265 RELIGION AND REASON Adjusted and Accorded OR A Discourse wherein Divine Revelation is made appear to be a congruous and con-natural Way of affording proper Means for making Man eternally Happy through the perfecting of his Rational Nature SECTION I. There is an absolute perfect Being which is self-existent Eternal only One Infinite Immutable a pure Act entirely Simple one Formality and a Spirit 1. WHatsoever has Perception the same has a Being for what is not can have no Perception And that there is Perception the very Denyer of it if there be any one so vain as to contradict the rest of Mankind may be convinced from his own denyal For the denyal of it if the denyer be serious must proceed from this that he thinks there is no such thing as Perception which Thought of his he cannot otherwise chuse but grant to be either true or false if he grant it to be false he owns in effect there is Perception But in case he will have his Thought to be true he must yield that his very Thought it self is a right Perception and so either way he 'll be necessitated to acknowledg that there is for certain Perception 2. Perception then most certainly there is and consequently something that perceives or that has an actual Being which is the Subject of Perception And whatsoever has an actual Being or doth Exist the same must have it's existence either intrinsecal of it self or from some other thing that is extrinsecal to it Whatsoever receives its existence from any thing that is extrinsecal to it that same it not the perfectest Being that is because it depends upon another for its existence provided there be any Being at all which has nothing of Existence from another 3. And that there is some Being which has nothing of existence from another is clear from hence that since the reason of a things existing by virtue of another is because there is some other thing which causes it to exist and that an endless Series or infinite number of things causing others to exist is impossible to have been because a by-past Series of things may be encreased by a new addition made unto it and a Series of things which may be encreased is not infinite for otherwise there might be something that would be more or greater than infinite which questionless cannot be there must of necessity be some first cause which receives nothing from another but exists wholly of it self and is thereupon the most perfect Being 4. That which is the most perfect Being or first Cause must of necessity have always existed or been from Eternity because if there had been a time when it was not it must of nothing have become something seeing it self was first And in case it should of nothing have become something it would have been or existed before it had a Being or Existence and consequently have been and not have been or existed and not existed at once which is impossible For being supposed to be the first Being if ever it had a Beginning it must have been as well the Producer as the thing to be produced and so as it was the Producer must be supposed to have had a Being and as it was the thing to be produced to have had no Being and both at the same Instant which is a manifest Contradiction 5. The prime or first Being then is necessarily eternal à parte antè and what is necessarily Eternal à parte antè is likewise so à parte pòst because having nothing of
regard had to his Wisdom and Goodness which always determine his Will to command that which is good for the Creature seeing nothing can be so extrase to himself the Almighty would have been as Benign and merciful being ever of necessity the same Sect. 1. Par. 8. as he now is if so be he had inflicted on all Mankind without any Demerit of theirs the most exquisite and endless Torments because he would have been no less their Creator by doing that then in shewing the greatest Kindness imaginable The truth of this Assertion that God obtain'd not a Sovereignty over Man to command him any thing whatsoever pleaseth him upon the bare account of the Creation may be somewhat illustrated if we take into consideration the Right which Parents have to command their Children who doubtless are not obliged to Obedience upon this sole account that they were begotten by them for otherwise Obedience from Children to Parents would be due to be performed to them however qualified insomuch that neither extream Folly nor raging Madness nor any other thing whatsoever could incapacitate them justly to exact at all times and in all things an entire Observance of all their Commands whatever they should be because their Parental Right of Dominion and Authority over them would be in all Conditions the same if it only arose and grew from this that they were the Issue of their Bodies but who ever was known to assert the Duty of such Obedience The truth is in whomsoever a Regular Power of commanding or giving Precepts to others according to the Principles and Dictates of Reason justly resides there are those three things previously required and presumed to be in him First A Will and Desire to do them good Secondly An Understanding sufficient to judge what will at least in probability procure their good Thirdly A Power enabling him to encourage them to Obedience by proposing a Benefit to be rationally expected by their observance of what he commands and on the contrary to deter them from Disobedience by threatning Harm to befal them if they refuse or neglect to do what is enjoyned Whence appears a manifest Reason why God is always actively to be obeyed but Human Powers are not so For God through the absolute Purity of his Nature has a stedfast unchangeable Mind and Will to do good and by reason of his infallible Wisdom a constant Ability to know what is good and in virtue of his Omnipotency a lasting indeficient Power to benefit the due Observers of his Commands and to denuntiate Evil which will infallibly befall the Violaters of them whereas all Human Powers are at one time or other or at least may be destitute of some one or more of the mentioned Qualifications and thereupon may command what is repugnant to some Moral Precept and so are not necessarily to be actively complied with in every thing they give in Command to some Moral Precept I say because though all Positive Divine Precepts as well as Moral are to be actively obeyed yet the Reason of that is founded on the Morality of this Truth that it is contradictory to the Wisdom and Goodness of God to command any thing that will not certainly be good for him who is required to do what is commanded if he yield a chearful Obedience thereunto Here some might probably interpose and say that Slaves and Servants are bound to obey their Lords and Masters and yet they do not do the things commanded for their own but for their Lords and Masters Profit To this I answer that Masters of Servants and Owners of Slaves are not truly speaking their Governours nor is the Duty these owe them properly a Duty of Obedience but of Commutative Justice arising from a mutual Contract express or tacite Servants selling their Work either all of it or half of it or some part of it only as their Masters and they agree for Hire and Slaves parting with the Property of their Bodies and Goods for the saving of their Lives in their Enemies power to have been taken away so that it is upon the account of Compact and Bargain that Servants and Slaves are obliged to perform their Masters and Lords Wills and Pleasures and not from strict Obedience which is properly a Duty tending to the Advantage of those who are obliged to it If it be replied that Subjects however owe Obedience to their Sovereigns in a proper sense and yet These seek their own as well as their Peoples Benefit I rejoyn that since Sovereign Princes cannot without the Aid and Help of others maintain their Authority as the Almighty can do his which makes a difference in that respect between him and all other Governours for the Preservation of the People they are to rule unless They themselves be preserved in Person Power and Wealth agreeable to their Office it is absolutely requisite that They should reap such Benefit by the Obedience of their Subjects as is necessary to preserve Themselves and their Government no less then the People committed to their Charge If it be yet still further urged that admitting God cannot give a Command but only such as tends to the Good of the Creature yet it does not follow thence that this End is the Ratio formalis the very Reason of the goodness of the Command but a necessary Consequent only of it for whatsoever is agreeable to the eternal Rectitude of the Divine Wisdom to be made a Law Obedience thereunto must of necessity be good to Man but such a Law however is good in it self of which sort are all the Precepts of the Moral Law. I answer it is an uncontroulable Maxim that Cessante ratione Legis cessat Lex i. e. as to the Equity of it or the reasonableness of its being put in execution for a Legislator may sometimes prudently forbear the direct express Repealing of a Law tho it be not for the present beneficial or fit to be made use of and the Reason of a Law evermore then ceaseth when it becomes unserviceable to the End or unuseful to procure or further the Good for which it was made so that if it were possible that the Moral Law could cease to be serviceable to as many as use it aright to the End for which it was given namely to advance Humane Nature towards its Perfection by the Fruition of Mans Chief Good it would cease to be a Law. For let Aquinas be in the right that Scientia Dei est causa scitorum ab ipso 1 ma. par Quaest 14. Art. 9. 3 m. and consequently that Gods seeing a Law to be perpetually good makes it to be really so yet it is no otherwise then by seeing it to be a perpetual fit apt and proper means to further the procuring of the End designed to be obtained by the true Observers of it thereby From which consideration it is apparent why a perpetual Obligation lies upon all Men to keep the Moral Law namely because it is at all times
assumed Man's Nature on purpose to make up the Breach between God and Man and that his great and gracious Merits were in their Nature considering the infinite Dignity of the Person sufficient to have fully satisfied for an infinite Offence if God had been infinitely offended but to bring them from the Pulpit to the Schools as if the Law given by God to Man had been really intended not for Man's good alone but his own also for all Laws as was shewn sect 8. must of necessity tend to some good is nothing scholastically done For that even the Breach of human Laws from whence the Allegories in the Objection were occasioned is esteemed an Offence against the Maker of them more commonly than cautiously shall in the following Section which for illustration rather than necessity is here inserted be made appear SECT X. The End of Human Laws is the Good of the Community The Breach of them is evil as it hinders the same and not as it meerly opposes the Will of the Legislator Every Breach of them is more or less evil as it is more or less prejudicial to the general Good and has in that respect a greater or less Penalty assigned thereunto Penal Laws are made for preventing of Evils that might happen for want of them and not to take revenge on the Transgressor of the Law for neglecting or crossing the Legislator's Will. 1. 'T Would be wholly frivolous and pertinent for men to make Laws if the end for which they are made could be had and enjoyed without the making of them and therefore some End or other is designed in the making of all human Laws 2. And forasmuch as the End designed in the making of them must if the Institution of Government which is the Ordinance of God be not deserted but kept to be something that is intended for good 't is plain since Laws generally respect the whole City Province or Nation where they are made that the good of the Community consisting of the governour and governed is the general End designed according to the Institution of Government by God in the making of human Laws 3. For if to have the Legislator's Will obeyed otherwise than with regard had to the general good were the End aimed at in the constituting of human Laws then might the Law-giver of right enact any thing for Law though known as well by himself as the People to be destructive of the common good provided it were the Legislator's mind to be obeyed in the observance of it because he would act therein what directly tended to the End of Government to wit Obedience whereas in truth Obedience performed to the Command of the Law-giver is a means by which the End of Government the Public Weal or Good is to be obtained and not the End it self 4. Laws then ought of right to design the common Good and therefore every Law as it contributes more or less to the benefit of the Community is more or less good and by consequence likewise the Breach of every Law is a greater or less Evil Fault or Crime by how much the observance of the Law whereof it is a violation is more or less conducible to the public Commodity 5. Hence it follows that Penalties inserted in Laws are not intended as pure Revenge for offending the Law-giver in the breaking of his Laws but are real Branches of the several Laws wherein they are found tending to enforce through fear of the Penalty to be inflicted the performance of the thing commanded to be done or abstained from when the Laws directive part shall fall short of attaining its End. 6. For since there will be in all places where there 's need of Government some good and some bad people 't is requisite that convenient provision be made by Laws that the good designed to be obtained by Government should be effected and brought to pass as much as may be by both sorts And the way to do it in respect of good men is to direct them but in respect of bad men to awe them and through the fear of Chastisement Amercement or other Penalty to affright them into their Duty or to do what is beneficial to the Public or in case their Malignity be such as that there 's no hope of Amendment to remove them either by perpetual Imprisonment or Exile or Death out of the way that they may not for the future obstruct the good which the Government labours for and that others by their example may be deterred from committing the like Crimes for which they undergo the Penalty of the Law. 7. For that the true intent of the Law in punishing Offenders is that which hath been said will farther appear from this that the Law authorizeth the supream Magistrate to dispense with Penalties in Criminals which of right it could not do if meer Revenge or Satisfaction by way of condign Punishment for the Offence committed were the thing aimed at in the enjoyning of Penalties For to free an Offender without Satisfaction when the Law requires Satisfaction is to do Injustice which the Law that requires Justice to be done could not without contradicting it self empower him to do But if by commanding of Punishment to be inflicted on the Transgressors of the Law the Security of the public Peace be aimed at then is it not only equitable that the Penalty of a Law in such case should be remitted when the inflicting of it is adjudged by the supream Governour to be less beneficial to himself and his Subjects than the omitting the execution thereof would be but even Justice requires that it should be actually omitted and that the person liable by the Letter of the Law to be punished should be freed and delivered from the Penalty which was never intended by the Law-giver to be executed on any one to the prejudice of the Commonweal For to dispense with Penalties is not so truly an Act of meer Grace as of distributive Justice forasmuch as no Dispensation ought of â—â—ght to be given save only to such as the Law it self would have exempted from Punishment in case the Lawgiver had foreseen the Circumstances which render their indemnity better for the Public than their being punished So that whenever a Dispensation to free from the Penalty of the Law is rightly granted the intent of that very Law is more truly fulfilled than if the Penalty were inflicted yea in truth it is only in so doing rightly fulfilled the very ground and reason of granting Dispensations being this that Penal Laws might have their due effect viz. the Good of the Community which in some Cases and Circumstances would by the executing them in their literal sense be prejudiced instead of being promoted 8. The Truth of this Assertion that punitive Justice is not vindicative will yet farther appear from this that Lex Talionis Eye for Eye Tooth for Tooth c. is no part of the Law of Nature as it would of necessity be in case Penalties
willing and ready to suffer for that his Refusal in case it be required that he should either actively obey or undergo the Penalty enjoyned for not so obeying I answer that there is no Law can oblige a Man to be willing to suffer for not actively obeying what is unlawful to be done for by what Law is it possible he should be obliged Not by the Law of God for that commanding him not to yield an Active Obedience cannot also enjoyn him to be willing to suffer for no other Cause but that he observes what is commands Nor by the Law of Reason for how should this oblige him to be willing to be punished for Nor-observance of that which it tells him he ought not to observe Some of the Roman Emperors set forth Edicts that the Christians should either Sacrifice to their Idol-gods or be put to Death the Active fulfilling of which unjust Commands was to do Sacrifice the Passive to be put to Death and yet divers good and godly Christians fled on purpose to avoid both and doubtless did no wrong therein being warranted by Christ himself saying When they persecute you in this City flee ye into another Matth. 10. 23. albeit they neither answered the Letter of the Edicts nor the Intention of the Emperors which was that one of the two either sacrificing or suffering Death for not sacrificing should be done And by the way this is a remarkable Instance that Disobedience to a Command is not an Offence as it meerly contradicts the Will of the Legislator But there is not however the least Encouragement to be gathered from hence for Resisting or forcibly opposing the Higher Powers for tho there be no manner of Obedience due to an unjust Command for that Command which is unjust has no obligatory Virtue in it but is unlawful that is truly speaking no Law. Yet in that a Sovereign looses not by commanding something which is unjust his Legislative Power or a Right to command whatsoever he deliberately thinks to be for the general Good which is not against the Divine Law Moral or Positive he ought not to be forcibly withstood For whosoever has by Law the Supreme Judgment and Will which together constitute the Supreme Power the same Law presumes that the common Safety depends on his Government and therefore without violating of the Law and through that the Common Safety the Sovereign is not even in the Abuse of Government to be opposed by Arms because it is more convement in respect of the Whole that some Part suffer unjustly than that the Government it self should be rendred useless or so obstructed that it could not protect and secure the Laws which it is always presumed by the Law will fall out when Subjects with Violence oppose the Supreme Governour Object 3. Albeit the Lex Talioni be no part of the Law of Nature yet seeing it is not disagreeable thereunto as 't is evident by the Instance of Adonibezek Judges 1. 6 7. that it is not does it not rightly follow that Punishments may be justly Vindicative though they are not necessarily so Answ No it does not for notwithstanding that it may be reasonable at sometimes to take an Eye for an Eye a Hand for a Hand c. yet will not Vindicative Punishment be found thereupon to be lawful for if the taking Eye for Eye Hand for Hand c. be at any time prudently thought by a Law-giver to be the best Expedient either for reclaiming Offenders or for terrifying others or for both as it may peradventure on occasion fall out to be the exercise of that Strictness will be just yet not Vindicative For that which Men will have to be Vindicative Justice looks not at all forward but wholly backward being purely design'd and intended for Recompense or Satisfaction for a presumed Injury or Contempt done to the Law-giver in disobeying his Will and violating his Law whence Vengeance executed upon a Transgressor of the Law is the very End and Scope which Vindicative Punishment aims at and therefore the Punishment of Adonibezek was not vindicative unless it was inflicted on him for no other end save only to repay like for like without any intention that it should be a Motive to him of Repentance or that others might be warned to abstain from such Cruelty as he had used by the remarkable manner of his being plagued himself as he had plagued others which cannot in reason be thought to be true because Adonibezek saith As I have done so God hath requited me which shews that the manner of his Punishment proved a Motive of bringing his Sin to remembrance and was either so intended to be or elso to deter others from the like Wickedness or rather for both and not barely for strict Retaliation or executing of Vengeance upon him for his Crime 10. In fine then it appears from what has been said of Human Laws and Law-givers First That Sovereign Powers make not Laws out of meer design to have their Wills obeyed but to procure their own and their Subjects Good. Secondly That Laws therefore are more or less good as they contribute more or less to the general Good. Thirdly That hence again the Breach of any Law is a greater or less Offence as it is more or less prejudicial to the Common-weal Fourthly That from this it moreover follows that Penalties inserted in Laws are not intended as pure Revenge for the Breach of them but to be a means to enforce the observing the directive Part of the Law. Fifthly That Laws duly executed are proper Ways or real Causes of advancing the Public Good. 11. From the Consideration of all which concerning Human Laws compared with what was writ before Sect. 8. of the Divine Laws the Analogy between them is obvious and the Certainty of these following Truths apparent First That God gave Man a Law to observe not that he sought to be obeyed for the meer Obedience sake but that Man by obeying it might benefit himself in obtaining the Possession of his chiefest Good. Secondly That because of this the several Branches of that Law are of more or less virtue and value as they are more or less serviceable for procuring the Fruition of the same Sovereign Good. Thirdly That from hence again it must be that the Breach of any part of the Divine Law is a greater or less Evil or in the Language of Divines a greater or less Sin as the keeping of it is more or less available towards the Enjoyment of God. Fourthly That it will hereupon follow that the Punishment of Sin is not vindicative but always either corrective for the Amendment of the Offender or exemplary for a Terror to others or for both as in this World it perpetually is or else a necessary and natural Product and Consequent of Sin as it is ever in the World to come Fifthly That the keeping of Gods Law or the pious Practice of Virtue and Holiness is a proper effective Means or an
within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification for that were to count our selves to be justified by some Act or Vertue within our selves The Act or Vertue here mentioned being set in opposition to the Merits of Christ which are an efficient Cause 't is in effect as if it were said The Merit of Christ only and not any Act or Virtue of our own whatsoever is the efficient Cause of our Justification But the true understanding and meaning hereof is that although we hear Gods Word and believe it and although we have Faith Hope and Charity Repentance Dread and Fear of God within and do never so many Works thereunto yet we must renounce the merit of all our said Virtues of Faith Hope and Charity and all other Vertues and good Works which we either have done shall do or can do as things that be far too weak and unsufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of our Sins and our Justification and therefore we must trust only in Gods Mercy and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour offered upon the Cross Lo here again Christs Merits and Mans are set one against the other which would be impertinent if they were not spoken of the same sort of Causes but of Causes different in kind and a meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause as was seen above The Merit of Christ then in the 11th Article of our Religion is not to be understood of the Formal Cause of Mans Justification or Righteousness but of the efficient Cause thereof in respect of which I assert it to be most truly said that We are justified by Faith only because by it alone Christs Merits are applied to us SECT XII Neither by the Light of Nature nor by the Law of Moses without Christ could ever any either Jew or Gentile be eternally saved and come to Glory but through him both of them might The Christian Religion is in many respects preferable to the Law of Nature and the Law of Moses The Injunction of the Judaical Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies had a farther Tendency then the exacting of meer Obedience 1. SInce the ultimate End of creating Man was that he might be eternally happy through the perfect Love of God for ever Sect. 4. it plainly follows that inasmuch as no man since Adams Fall can attain to the perfect Love of God but through Christ Sect. 9. and 11. There is none other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Acts 4. 12. 2. For though some few do by nature i. e. the Light of natural Reason the things contained in the Law viz. the Moral for the Gentiles could not by the Law of Nature observe the Ceremonial Law of the Jews Rom. 2. 14. by being brought through a serious Consideration of the glorious Structure of the World more especially of Man himself and of Gods Providence in preserving and governing all things to adore the Divine Majesty to pray to him and to praise him as the Author of all Good and thence contract an habitual Love to him above the Enjoyment of the vain Pleasures of the World. And albeit many by the Law of Moses have not only obtained the habit of Charity but have also acquired an high degree and measure thereof yet in that neither Jew nor Gentile could ever without Christ attain to the perfect Love of God Sect. 9. and 11. 't is clear that through Christ they must do it if ever they arrive at eternal Bliss 3. Which most blessed State forasmuch as God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10. 34 35. and that he who habitually loves God above all things is Righteous Sect. 11. every one who departs this Life with an habitual Love to God shall at length obtain For seeing all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. 't is plain that every righteous man whatsoever shall receive a righteous mans Reward at the last day which Reward is everlasting Bliss 4. For since nothing is wanting to one endued with sincere Charity but something to perfect the same in him to make him for ever happy and that the glorious appearance of Christ coming to Judgment will throughly purge out of the Soul of every one habitually possessed of Charity all the Relicks of worldly Affections Sect. 11. Solut. of Object 4. and thereby entirely disposed and ultimately and immediately prepared to obtain the Beatific Vision 't is evident that the Reward which every righteous man shall have at the last day is everlasting Bliss Object 1. If every one of all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end thereof that habitually loves God above all things and consequently his Neighbour as himself Sect. 11. Solut. of Object 2. when he leaves this World shall at length be eternally blessed through Christ what need men concern themselves so much as they do what Religion they be of Solut. It concerns every one so much as his Salvation is worth to be solicitous to be a Member of the Catholic Christian Religion not only because there 's small hopes that he who is not desirous to take the best course he can to be saved will in sincerity of heart observe the Rules of any Law whatever but also because if notwithstanding the Divine Excellency of the Precepts Motives and Discipline of the Gospel-Dispensation thousands perish within the Bosom of Christ's Visible Church through the strong Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil wherewith they are overcome the perdition of Souls will be certainly much greater and more general where those potent Adversaries of man's Bliss find small Resistance made against them Wherefore since no man ever attain'd to live a virtuous Life in order to the End for which he was created but in regard he was directed and inclined thereunto either by the Law of Nature or by some Revealed Law of which later sort there are only two the Jewish and the Christian 't is apparent that if the Christian Religion be in many respects highly preferable for the obtaining of Felicity by it to them both it alone where it can be had is to be chosen and embraced And that the Christian Religion is in many respects highly preferable to them both for that End is evident For First It doth exceedingly much more fully and clearly reveal to the World the Nature of God the Immortality of the Soul the Excellency of the Fruit of a virtuous godly Life after Death and the intolerable Torments of the Wicked in the World to come Secondly It gives far more perfect Rules and shews abundantly more efficacious Helps and Means of leading such a Life as must bring men to Felicity if ever they attain thereto Thirdly It propounds infinitely more convincing and powerful Arguments
and Motives for inducing men to despise the Vanities of the World and to fix their Affections on God and to pursue with diligence the Means available to the full enjoyment of him Lastly It affords far more endearing Considerations of Encouragement to bear with patience Reproches Injuries and all manner of Afflictions which befalmen in the whole course of this miserable Life Object 2. If the Design of Religion be to cause men to forsake the Love of the World and the vain and false Allurements of it what Rational Account can be given of the Temporal Ordinances Rites and Cercmonies of the Jewish Law which in appearance have small or no Tendency thereto Solut. That the Moral Law which directly requires the Love of God and of a man's Neighbour was the principal part of the Mosaical Dispensation is clear by our Saviour's Answer to the Scribe who said that to love God with all the Heart and with all the Vnderstanding and with all the Soul and with all the Strength and to love a man's Neighbour as himself was more than all whole burnt Offerings and Sacrifices which is this Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven Mark 12. 33 34. And therefore although there be peradventure some Precepts in Mose's Law which are so purely arbitrary as to be fulfilled in the meer willing observance of them yet God's Design in inuring the Jews to Acts of simple Obedience was questionless this that they might be the more willing and ready to obey him in those things which directly made for their eternal Good. For to give a Command without an intention of Good in some respect or other to man by the performance of it is repugnant to Reason and contradictory to the wisdom and goodness of God Sect. 8. Sol. of Object 1 2 3. But besides it is not a thing easily to be granted that the Temporal Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies of the Judaical Law were so purely arbitrary as they seem upon a slight view to be For since all good Laws respect man's Good that his chief Good is the perfect Love of God and that every thing besides is only for good to him as it contributes in some respect or other thereunto Sect. 5. Par. 1. it necessarily follows that all Laws given by God to Man were intended to be a means of bringing him by the observance of them to the love of himself as his sole sovereign good and by consequence that the Mosaical Law was given to the Jews to win that People by ways convenient and agreeable to their Tempers to set their Affections on God. For though the Motives which it proposed were Promises and Threats of temporal Rewards and Punishments and the Ordinances of it mostly certain Rites and Ceremonies yet were they truly suitable to that Nation whose Hearts were generally gross and childish as the Apostle Paul not obscurely hints saying Till the fulness of time was come the Jews were as Children in Bondage under the Rudiments of the World Gal. 4. 3. that is I conceive as Children are first taught their Rudiments because not capable of better Learning till of riper years so were the Jews instructed by weak and poor means till the World was grown to an Age fit for higher Documents And why mens minds were more gross and terrene towards the Infancy of the World Thomas Albius in his Appendix to Institut Peripâ—tet gives a very probable account However that de facto it was so at least as to the Jews doth appear by their frequent murmuring and revolting even after they had often tasted of the extraordinary goodness of God whenever they disgusted their present Temporal State and Condition For we may infer from thence that if God had told them by his Servant Moses of Spiritual Joys they should have after this life instead of the good Land of Canaan flowing with Milk and Honey if they would obey and keep his Commandments and Statutes such Doctrin would have found small Acceptance the Truth of which if perchance questioned because of the Constancy of the Babylonish Captives in their Religion this I think may well suffice for Answer that part of the Prophecy which told of their carrying to Babylon being fulfilled gave them assurance that as the violation of the Law had occasioned their bringing into Captivity so their close adherence to it for the future would procure their own or their Posterities Restorement to their Native Countrey and Freedom Seeing then the Hearts of the Jewish People were such as that the most connatural way to bring them to love God was by delivering them from Servitude and bodily Dangers and by Promises of temporal Good and Threats of temporal Evil 't is plain the love of worldly good things was so setled in their Minds that the Almighty sought not to be beloved by excluding the love of them out of their Hearts but by gaining their Affections through them whilst he endeavoured to manifest that the whole Earth was his and the fulness thereof to the end they might depend on his Bounty and love him for the same which whosoever of them really did God acquired thereby a Pre-eminence in their Affections forasmuch as the due Consideration thereof would beget a greater love of the Giver than of the Gift For whose seriously reflects that all Good comes from God and that the possession and enjoyment of it proceeds from his bountiful Kindness without any precedent Merit on man's part must needs acknowledg his Gracious Goodness to be such as that he ought to relie thereon as the Sovereign Good and Fountain from which whatsoever he enjoys flows and in so doing his Affections will be carried thereto accordingly that is chiefly and above all Earthly things Thus we see the Reason of the Motives to the Love of God peculiar to the Jews The Temporal Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies of whose Law also however they may seem at first sight to have been Commands relating only to a bare Obedience required in the performance of them were in very deed proper and fit Means to keep the Jewish Nation from Idolatry and to make them observe the substantial part of the Law which was to love God above all things and their Neighbour as themselves Hence the Ordinances of the Paschal Lamb and of unleavened Bread were instituted for Helps to keep God's wonderful Mercy and Kindness to them in freeing them from the Egyptian Bondage in perpetual remembrance that they might ever be reminded to praise laud and magnifie him and consequently to love him for the same Hence their Purifications and Oblations for Sin were ordained to bring their Transgressions to mind that they should acknowledg them and turn from them by Repentance to God. Yea and the seemingly insignificant Ceremonious rites were appointed as things useful for walls of separation between the Jews and Gentiles round about them to withold them from their Idolatries wicked practices of Magical Superstitions and Whoredoms frequent among them for they stood in
and slight those Benefits which God by them tenders to him and in so doing not only sets slight of the Author of them but also rejects the End at which they ultimately aim Felicity No man therefore possibly can deliberately dishonour his Parents or other his Superiors but his Heart will be thereby estranged from God. But much more in wilfully disobeying their just Commands is there an Aversion from their Sovereign Good for therein is a direct Refusal of God's Goodness offered by them whilst every thing they lawfully command is some way more or less directly or by consequence advantageous to the acquisition of Bliss if right use be made thereof The 6th Commandment which is Non occides Thou shalt not kill or Thou shalt do no Murther is not kept by a meer abstaining from desiring contriving or attempting the Death or bodily Harm of our Neighbour but in wishing and doing likewise our Endeavour to preserve his Life and Health in order to the eternal Welfare of his Soul which we cannot do save only as we are excited thereto by the Love we bear to our own Life and good Estate of our Bodies as serviceable to the End for which Life and all the Helps and Attendants of it were given For neither Health nor Life ought to be desired if such Circumstances occur as that the Preservation of them is inconsistent with the everlasting Welfare of the Soul which because it is placed in the Fruition of God the Love we have thereto is the principal reason and motive why we ought to desire to continue in Life and Health our selves or wish the like to our Neighbour for making preparation towards the full Enjoyment of him after this Life is ended And on the contrary the bare doing of bodily Harm to our Neighbour or even the taking away of his Life is no sin simply in it self considered but in this respect only that he who does it has not that due regard for want of the Love of God to the preservation of it which the importance thereof in order to the end whereunto it was given requires For who is ignorant that the Execution of the Penalties in Laws for capital Crimes is no Sin either in the Judge who gives Sentence of Death or in him that executes the same provided they have no personal Malice to the Offender but solely have an Eye to the satisfying of the Law which intends not any Mischief to the Malefactor but Good to the Weal-public by removing an incorrigible Member from among the People But if the Judg or Executioner desire his Death out of hatred to him albeit he deserve to die and be justly condemned and executed there is Murther committed notwithstanding that the Party suffering has no more Torment inflicted on him than if no Malice had been towards him whence it is apparent that the Breach of this Commandment lies in that depraved Disposition of Mind which is opposite to the sound desire of wishing a Man's Neighbour's bodily Welfare in order to the Health of his Soul which because none ever heartily doth but in virtue of his own Love of Bliss the Want of that Love is the formal Reason why the bereaving any one of Life or working his bodily harm is a sin or hinderance to Felicity The 7th Commandment is Thou shalt not commit Adultery the Breach of which doth not consist in the material Act of carnal copulation with anothers Wife but in forsaking the Love of God for an unlawful Pleasure For suppose a Wife should leave her Husband and be married to another Man inculpably ignorant of her former Marriage the Woman alone would offend against this Precept albeit the Man also transgressed the Letter of the Law in carnally knowing anothers Wife Or in case a Man should have his Neighbours Consort put into his Bed thinking her to be his own he offended not although he should commit the external Act of Adultery with her And on the contrary if an Husband lay with his own Wife thinking her to be his Neighbours he would in so doing sin against this Precept and yet no Transgression of it would thereby be made as to the external Act prohibited Hence it is plain that the Violation of the Seventh Comandment is in the depraved Affection of the Will in turning the Heart away from the Love of God to unchast Pleasures and that it is kept by having a Mind undefiled with fleshly Lusts which every one so long hath as Charity or the Love of God above all things is predominant in the Soul. If it be objected that simple Fornication also alienates the Heart from God through the desire of unlawful Venereal Pleasures whence it should be a sin no less grievous then Adultery I answer that he who attempts to pollute his Neighbours Bed knows that he ought upon a double account not to do it First because his Neighbours Wife is not tied in a Matrimonial Bond to him Secondly because she is bound to another and therefore he will have his Heart more hardned in sin or farther estranged from God than if he only desired to satisfie his Lust with one from whom upon the former account alone he holds himself to be restrained and so the sin of Adultery all Circumstances being equal is a more heinous Transgression of the Law of God than the Sin of simple Fornication is The 8th Commandment is Thou shalt not steal by which we are obliged not only to abstain from taking by Force or Fraud whatsoever temporal Good our Neighbour has a Right to but also to employ our Endeavours if just occasion require to help to secure him in the lawful Possession of the same yet with this intent that he use it as a Means to further him in the pursuit of his Eternal Good the fruition of which is the Vltimate End of all Laws whether Divine Moral Canonical or Civil in the sincere Desire whereof they are only truly kept and for want of which they are solely broken as to their principal and Grand Design albeit not as to their particular respective ends which they more immediately but less beneficially look at And therefore even this Precept which more obviously regards and enjoyns the doing Justice may be violated as to the letter of it without a formal Breach thereof as will appear by shewing that in some Case one Man may without violating this Precept take from another without his Consent what the Municipal Laws of the Land where they both live entitle him to which I thus undertake to do No Man by the primary Law of Nature or Reason can or ever could except Adam who was Lord of the whole Earth claim Propriety in any thing without himself Propriety came by a latter Law namely either by Distribution of Lands and Goods made by Adam or else by Division or Occupancy after Adams Decease of what he had not disposed of immediately or mediately in his Life time to which purpose Grotius in his Second Book
and Second Chapter De Jure belli ac pacis rationally writeth Cum non contenti homines vesci sponte natis antra habitare corpore aut nudo agere aut corticibus arborum ferarumve pellibus vestito vitae genus exquisitius delegissent industria opus fuit quam singuli rebus singulis adhiberent Quo minus autem fructus in commune conferrentur primum obstitit locorum in quae homines discesserunt distantia deinde justitiae amoris defectus per quem fiebat ut nec in labore nec in consumptione fructuum quae debebat aequalitas servaretur When Men not content to feed on things which grew naturally to live in Caves to go either naked or clad with the Bark of Trees or the Skins of wild Beasts chose a more delicate way of living there was need of industry for particular Persons to use in particular things And that the Fruits of the Earth could not be laid up in Common first the distance of Places whither Men departed was an hindrance then the want of Justice and Love by which it fell out that a due equality neither in their Labour nor Consumption of the Fruits could be observed This the learned Man tells us was the occasion of introducing Property and the manner of doing it he adds as follows Res in proprietatem iverunt non animi actu solo neque enim scire alii poterant quid alii suum esse vellent ut co abstinerent idem velle plures poterant sed Pacto quodam aut expresso ut per Divisionem aut tacito ut per occupationem simulatque enim Communio displicuit nec instituta est Divisio senseri debet inter omnes convenisse ut quod quisque occupasset id proprium haberet Property came in not by the sole act of the Mind for none could know what others would be desirous to have that they might abstain from it and several Men might desire the same thing but by some Compact either express as by Division or tacite as by Occupancy for when to have all in common disliked Men and yet no division was made it ought to be held that it was the general Consent of all that what any one possessed he should enjoy it as his own Occupancy by this Discourse is made to be a tacit Division and confers Propriety by virtue of an implicit Consent no less then Division doth by an express Agreement the design and end of both which being a general Convenience if in a particular case it happen that an inevitable Necessity renders the intended Convenience absolutely inconvenient Propriety there upon a natural account of it self ceases and expires for since it came in only for Convenience by consent it cannot be presumed that the first Introducers of it intended that it should stand in force where the End for which they introduced it would unavoidably be destroyed accordingly as Grotius in the before cited Book and Chapter asserteth In gravissima necessitate reviviscit Jus illud pristinum rebus utendi tanquam si communes mansissent quia in omnibus Legibus humanis ac proinde in Lege Domini summa necessitas videtur excepta Si quis igitur quod ad victum suum necessarium est sumat aliunde furtum non committit non quod rei dominus ex Charitatis regula rem egenti dare tenetur ut quidam volunt sed quod res omnes in dominos distinctae cum benigna quadam receptione primitivi Juris videantur nam si primi Divisores interrogati fuissent quid de ea re sentirent respondissent quod dicimus In case of extream Necessity the Primitive Right to the use of things revives as if they had remained in Common because in all Humane Laws and therefore in the Law of Dominion Extream Necessity seems to be excepted If then any one take from another what is necessary to preserve his Life he commits no Theft not that he who is the Owner is obliged by the Law of Charity to give to him that is in Want as some men hold but that the Law of Propriety ought to admit of such a favourable Construction for if the first Dividers had been asked what they thought of that thing they would have given the same Answer that we do But admit the first Dividers had intended otherwise their Intention would have been manifestly injurious for since Victuals are by God and Nature designed to preserve Life whensoever it falls out that it cannot be preserved without taking from another what is not at the same time necessary to preserve his own Life there it is Right to do it and the Necessitous Person has in that condition a truer Property to the Victuals then the Possessor to whom at most they are only convenient for his better Being whereas to the other they are of absolute necessity to preserve him in Being and Being is by nature antecedent to Well-being the former being a thing essential the latter accidental and therefore by the Dictate of Natural Reason to be preserved before the other be cared for It is not then the sole taking away of Goods by any Man and converting them to his own use whereof another is seized by Law without his Consent which formally breaks the Eighth Commandment but the perverse desire of despoiling one of that which Reason tells him he ought not to deprive him of and whosoever deliberately acts against Right Reason which in every thing principally designs the Fruition of God as hath been often shown he deprives himself thereby of Charity or the Love of God as his Sovereign Good or at least weakens his Desire and Affection thereunto Object Man by the pure Law of Nature has an innate Freedom by which he is made Master of his own Actions so that without his own free consent he cannot be justly subjected to another's Will and therefore it seems to be even against the Primitive Law of Nature to take in any case whatever from another what he is unwilling to part with Solut. I grant that every man by Nature is Master of his own Actions but yet according to right Reason only and therefore whenever it tells any one that his Neighbour is in imminet hazard to lose his Life if he presently afford him not Relief out of what he possesses and can spare without endangering his own Life he offends against his own Nature if he relieve him not and therefore as to use arguments of Perswasion to such an one is only to go about to set his Mind aright so likewise to use Force to compel him to do his Duty is no more but to attempt to guide his external Action and direct it to its due End and that so necessary as Nature would for want thereof be frustrated in part of her prime intention thereby whilst as well he that ought to have given as he that stood in need to receive would be in a worse estate in relation to their final Condition
the former for that he was void of Charity the latter because he wanted what was necessary for conservation of that I mean Life which according to Natures Prescript is chiefly to be employed for the procurement of Felicity The Ninth Commandment which is Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour is expressed in such Words that the transgressing it in any respect is sinful But it makes nothing against my Assertion which is that the Commandments of neither Table are truly kept but by reason of Charity as it is taken for the sincere love of God nor ever really broken except for want thereof that it is so but for it because these words False Witness and against thy Neighbour imply a defect of a right Disposition in the Will towards God seeing that man's Mind whose sincere Affections are placed on God will be far from acting against his own knowledg to his Neighbour's harm By the Tenth Commandment Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House c. is forbidden to entertain or harbour desires tending to a man 's own advantage by another's harm or loss which whoso doth hath not certainly the love of God dwelling in his Heart and therefore formally breaks the Precept Object Religion and Reason do not here seem to accord for what Rational Account can be given why a very indigent man though not reduced to the ut most extremity might not silch from his rich hard-hearted Neighbour something which he could well spare save only because it is forbidden that we should not so much as covet that which is another man's Solut. Nature is content with a few things and requires not Superfluities and therefore Necessaries being had no man doth really benefit himself in taking any thing from his Neighbour so that albeit men were not bound by any other Law than of natural and inbred Reason only yet could no convincing Argument be brought to prove it reasonable to dispossess another of that whereof the Spoiler has no absolute need much less where there is a Society of men governed by certain Laws prohibiting all manner of Rapine would it be justifiable to do it For whatever thing any man requires a Property in by virtue of such Laws all the rest of the Community ought of right to permit him quickly to possess the same Wherefore if a poor man rob his rich Neighbour when the necessity is not so urgent as to restore him to the pure state of Nature he acts against his own either explicit or implicit Agreement and disturbs the Tranquility sought after by himself as well as by others in joyning in society together the Benefit whereof is intended by God who is the prime Author of Government for a farther End than any temporal and transitory Commodity to wit the Eternal Welfare of Mens Souls as is plain from the Words of the Apostle exhorting that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2. v. 1 2 3. He therefore who through a perverse Mind violates the Laws of Justice whether instituted by God or Man despises the Means which the Almighty and Omniscient hath ordered to conduce in some respect or other to his Everlasting Good which he would not do but for want of sincere and hearty Affection to God which is the Formal Reason of the Breach of every Precept of the Decalogue and of all other just Commands whatsoever in that respect as the violation of them is prejudicial to the obtaining of Felicity SECT XX. Charity or the unfeigned fervent Love of God above all things proved by Scripture to be Righteousness or the sincere keeping of the whole Law of God. TO the Reasons formerly given Sect. 11. why Charity is Righteousness or the sincere keeping and fulfilling of the Law of God I shall add the Testimony of Scripture for a full Confirmation of the Truth thereof When a certain Lawyer asked Christ saying Master What shall I do to inherit eternal life He said unto him What is written in the Law how readest thou And he answering said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy Neighbour as thy self And he said unto him thou hast answered right this do and thou shalt live Luke 10. 25 26 27 28. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him John 14. 23. Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 10. All things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. All Gifts how excellent soever the best of Doings and the worst of Sufferings are nothing worth without Charity 1 Cor. 13. 1 2 3. Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13. 6 7. Charity is the Bond of perfectness Col. 3. 14. It is evident saith Dr. Hammond in his Paraphrase on 1 Cor. 13. 13. that as Faith Hope and Charity are far to be preferred before all other Gifts of the Spirit which are given men for the benefit of others vers 2. so of those three Graces or Divine Virtues Charity is the most excellent whether considered in it self or in the duration of it In it self it is the most necessary Grace here v. 1 c. and all the other whether Graces or Virtues are but Means for the working of this our Faith teacheth it and our Hope excites it and Charity is the End of the Commandment and Faith must be perfected by it and without it all the Gifts mentioned v. 1 2. are nothing worth and are given men for the working of that in others and so likewise in respect of duration the Gifts were soon to vanish and are now vanished long since the Gift of Miracles of Languages c. and Faith and Hope will vanish with this Life for Faith is of things not seen and therefore ceaseth when Vision cometh and so Hope if it be seen is not Hope but Charity shall never be out-dated but last and flourish when we come to Heaven and be then a special Ingredient in our Happiness which indeed consists in loving God and having common Desires with him and loving all whom he loves not the Damned who are Vessels of Wrath and that eternally If what this excellent Person here saith be a true Comment on the Text my Discourse on Charity is sufficiently avouched by it as being but as it were an enlargement of his Paraphrase on the Place Object 1. The mentioned Quotations from Scripture comprehend Man's Love both to God and his Neighbour at least some of them yea there is an express Text that he that loveth another á½