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
efficacious Cause of Mans Eternal Felicity the truth of which shall hereafter God assisting be shown in particular as it hath already been in general 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 in compleat Righteousness Perfect Charity formally expells all Sin and is therefore perfect formal Righteousness or the absolute fulfilling of the Divine Law. 1. SInce it is clear by Sect. 8. Solut. of Object 1. that God created Man and gave him a Law not in expectation of any Profit or Pleasure to be acquired to himself but altogether for the Benefit and Delight of Man and that it is likewise proved in Sect. 4. that the End for which Man was created and had a Law given him is the full Fruition of God by perfect Love it necessarily follows in regard the End cannot be obtain'd but by Means available for procuring of it that the Knowledge of the Means available thereto no less than of the End it self is requisite to be had in order to the Acquisition of the perfect Love of God or that full Enjoyment of him which is Mans Ultimate End and eternal Felicity 2. And because Men arrive not at the certain Knowledg of things but either by Demonstration which begets Science or by an inerrable Testimony which creates an infallible Belief 't is clear seeing a Demonstration wherein Felicity consists tho it be a thing in it self demonstrable as appears by Sect. 4. cannot by the generality of Mankind be attained unto much less wherein all the Means available to the obtaining of Felicity some of them being positive and supernatural are placed that a Revelation from God who alone is inerrable was necessary for the Discovery both of the Means of Bliss and of Bliss it self to the World in order to Man's acquiring of Beatitude 3. And forasmuch as that Knowledg which proceeds from and is caused by Divine Revelation is Divine Belief or Faith 't is plain that Divine Faith is required on Man's part towards the obtaining of Felicity 4. And in regard it is ineffectual to the obtaining of Felicity to have firm Belief only wherein it truly consists and what the Means available to procure it are without some farther Progress made towards the getting possession of it which will never be unless a man have Hope by reason of the Divine Promise that in the due use of the means of Bliss he shall acquire the same 't is plain that Divine Hope is likewise requisite as well as Faith for every one that shall eternally be saved 5. And forasmuch as he that has a right Belief both of Bliss and the Means available to it and withal an Assurance that in the due use of the Means Felicity will be attainable by him shall reap no Benefit thereby if he never enter upon a resolved serious Course of making a constant diligent use of those Means which he most certainly will not do unless he first have an unfeigned ardent desire to enjoy the End whereto they tend the eternal Fruition of God 't is evident that the sincere and hearty love of God or Charity proceeding from Faith and Hope for no good Man stedfastly desires what he believes not to be true or has no Hope to obtain is moreover necessary for the acquirment of Felicity 6. And seeing the habitual Love of God above all things is utterly inconsistent with the habitual Love of the World above God 't is manifest that by the accession of the habitual Love of God above all things into the Soul the habitual Love of the World above God is necessarily expelled and consequently that Sin whether taken privatively as an Aversion from God or positively for a Conversion to the Creature which brings everlasting Death and Damnation Sect. 7. whence it is called mortal and damnable Sin. 7. Hence in regard as well Paena sensus as Paena damni are the natural and necessary Result of the perpetual Continuance in sin in the manner before shown Sect. 7. it is manifest that Charity possessing the Soul and thereby freeing it from mortal Sin by formally expelling it out of the same Par. 6. secures it from the Danger both of the loss of Heaven and of incurring the Pains of Hell. 8. And forasmuch as he that is secured from the Danger of Damnation and the Pains of Hell is freed from the Guilt of mortal Sin which is a liableness to be eternally damned and tormented for Sin and that he who is freed from the Guilt of mortal Sin is blameless and innocent in respect of the mortal Breach of the Law which alone creates a mortal Guilt and that he who is blameless and innocent in respect of the mortal Breach of the Law is a righteous Person or acquit by the Law from the Punishment due in respect of such Breach it necessarily follows that Charity in regard it formally expells mortal Sin the mortal Breach of the Law is formal Righteousness or the formal Cause of Justification being that which formally justifies and makes Righteous 9. And as every degree of sincere habitual Charity formally expells mortal Sin and thereby frees the Soul from mortal Guilt and the Consequent of it eternal Pain as well that of the Torments of Hell as of the loss of Heaven so doth perfect Charity formally expel all Sin and consequently remove all Guilt and thence exempt from all Pain and Misery whatsoever For he that loves God with all the Might and Power of his Soul hath thereby of necessity totally rooted out of it all the love of the World and so hath no Sin but is perfectly Righteous and hath fulfilled the Great Commandment or Royal Law Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind which to do is compleat Righteousness the highest Act of glorifying God and eternal Felicity Object 1. When the Act whereby the Law of God is transgressed be it Adultery Theft or any other Enormity is over the Sin is past and yet the Guilt remains which is contrary to what hath been said Solut. The Sin is not past when the Act of Adultery Theft or any other Enormity is over For since Sin formally taken is a Want or Privation of that sincere hearty Affection which the Soul ought to have unto God as its Sovereign Good Sect. 8. Par. 3 4 't is evident that the Sin still remains tho the materially sinful Act be over so long as there is a Want of the due Love of God in the Soul which there always is till it be habitually endued with Charity And while the Sin remains the Guilt must needs do so but no longer for 't is only while a Man is in the State of mortal Sin that he is obnoxious to eternal Misery and not when he is in the State of Grace or ready Way to Bliss as he evermore is when he has an habitual
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
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
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