infused and supernaturall vertues and graces to which therefore humane nature is not inclined are as Vasquez truly and strongly maintaines in some sense naturall and good in themselves not because humane nature is inclined to them but because they are very congruous and consentaneous thereunto and perfecting humane nature as such and consequently sutable thereunto A good is said to be utile delectabile in respect of some profit or delight which comes to man by it but bonum honestum in genere moris as Suarez and his fellowes call it consists in a kinde of decency comlinesse and sweet proportion between such an act and such a nature as acts by right reason to which nature it is exceeding comely and suitable whether any profit or delight come thereby yea or no. As now in the divine nature it 's exceeding beautifull and comely for it and therefore good in it selfe to bee bountifull and mercifull and to doe good unto the creature although no profit could come to him thereby It is Gods nature as I may so say so to doe so 't is in humane nature it 's a comely thing to honour parents reverence Gods Name to bee loving and mercifull to all men in heart word and deed to give God a fit and the most meet proportion of time for solemne service of him who allowes us many dayes to serve our owne good this is good nature and being thus seemly and suitable to it this and such like things are therefore good in themselves though perhaps neither profit or pleasure should come unto man hereby And hence it 's well observed by some of the Schoolemen that right reason doth not make a thing morall but only judgeth and discerneth what is morall for right reason doth not make a thing suitable but onely seeth whether it be so or no a thing may bee suitable before right reason see it yet when 't is presented to reason it sees it suitable as the wall is white before the eye see it yet when the eye doth see it it appeares white also It may bee a meet and comely thing to give God a seventh part of our time though no mans reason can of it selfe find out such a meet proportion yet when reason sees it it 's forced to acknowledge a comlinesse of equity and suitablenesse therein as shall hereafter appeare Thesis 22. But here let it bee observed that although all morall lawes are thus suitable to mans nature yet they are not all alike suitable thereunto and consequently not equally good in themselves for some lawes are more immediately suitable and good others mediately And as Wallaeus well observes out of Scotus that there is a double morality the first is de lege naturae strictè sumpta i. e. such laws as are so deeply engraven upon nature as that these principles cannot bee blotted out but by abolishing of nature The second is de lege naturae latè sumpta and these lawes doe much depend upon the will of the Law-giver but yet they are very congruous and suitable to humane nature even from the light of those principles of nature And hence I suppose it will follow that the law for a seventh part of time to be dedicated to God may well bee a morall law although it depends much upon the will of the Law-giver and is not so immediately written upon mans heart nor so equally suitable to humane nature as the law of love and thankfulnesse to God our Creator is For as Cameron well observes that some things which are good in themselves have more of Gods Image stamped upon them some have lesse of it and hence it is that though all morall lawes are good in themselves yet not equally so there is more unsuitablenesse to hate and curse God than to lust after another mans house or servant and yet both are evill in themselves and breaches of morall rules Thesis 23. Hence therefore it followes that because morall precepts are of such things as are good in themselves they are therefore perpetuall and unchangeable and because they are in this respect good in themselves to wit because they are suitable and comely to mans nature as rationall hence also they are universall so that perpetuity and universality seem to be the inseperable adjuncts rather than the essence of a morall law yet when they are called perpetuall and unchangeable wee must understand them in respect of Gods ordinary dispensation for hee who is the great Law-giver may and doth sometime extraordinarily dispense with morall lawes Abraham might have kill'd his Sonne by extraordinary dispensation Adams Sonnes and Daughters did marry one another by speciall Commission which now to doe ordinarily would bee incestuous and consequently against a mâ—â—â—ll Law as is evident Leviticus 18. Onely let it bee here remembred that when I call morall Lawes perpetuall and universall that I speake of such lawes as are primarily morall which doe firstly and originally suit with humane nature for lawes as are at second hand morall and as it were accidentally so may be changeable as hereafter shall appeare Thesis 24. How these things may evince the morality of a seventh part of time will be difficult to conceive unlesse further enquiry be made to wit when and by what rules may it be knowne that any law is sutable and agreeable unto humane nature and consequently good in it selfe For resolution of which doubt there is great silence generally in most Writers Bishop White endeavours it by giving three rules to cleare up this mist but pace tanti viri I much feare that he much darkens and obscures the truth herein and muds the streames For 1. Because the Sabbath is not simply morall but hath something positive in it he therefore makes it temporary as appeares in his conclusion of that discourse when as 't is evident by his own confession that some lawes positively morall are generall and universall For lawes positively morall he saith are either personall onely as was Abrahams comming out of his owne Countrey Gen. 12.1 Some are for one Nation or Republick onely Exod. 22.1 3â—7 Some are common and generall for all mankinde as the law of Polygamy 2. Hee seemes to make lawes simply and intirely morall to bee such as are in their inward nature morally good before and without any exâ—ernall imposition of the Law-giver Now if by externall imposition he meanes the externall manner of Mosaicall administration of the law there is then some truth in what he affirmes for doubtlesse before Moses time the Patriarchs had the law revealed after another manner but if by externall imposition bee meant externall Revelation whether immediately by God himselfe unto mans conscience or mediately by man then it 's most false that any thing can be morally good or evill much lesse entirely and simply so before and without some such law for though it may be good and sutable to man before a law pasâ—e upon it yet nothing can be morally good
and standing in the roome of all mankinde Hence as nothing was writ then but what was common to all men so such things thus writ were good for all men and suitable to all men it being most injurious to God to think that any thing evill should be imprinted there if therefore it bee proved that the law of the Sabbath was then writ upon mans heart then it undenyably followes that it is meet and suitable to all men still to observe a Sabbath day and indeed to the right understanding of what is suitable to man as man and consequently morall there is nothing more helpfull than to consider of our primitive estate and what was suitable to our nature then for if that which is morall in marriage is to be searched for in the first and ancient records of our first creation by the appointment of our Saviour I then know no reason whatever others object but morality in all other lawes and duties is there to bee sought also for although our originall perfection is now defaced and lost and in that respect is a merum non ens as some call it yet it had once a being and therefore in this controversie we may lawfully enquire after it considering especially that this being which once it had may be suffiently knowne by the contrary being of universall corruption that is in us now as also by the light of the Scriptures in which the searcher and maker of all hearts declares it unto us and indeed there are many morall duties which will never appeare good and suitable to man but rather hard and unreasonable because impossible untill we see and remember from whence we are fallen and what once we had Thesis 26. If therefore a morall law command that which is suitable to humane nature and good in it selfe then it followes from hence which was toucht before that divine determination of something in a law doth not alway take away morality from a law for divine determination is many times no more but a plain and positive declaration of that which is suitable just and good and equall for man to observe now that which points out and declares unto us the morality of a law cannot possibly abolish and destroy such a law For a morall law commanding that which is suitable and good as hath been shewne it is impossible that the Commandment which determineth and directeth to that which is good that by this determination it should overthrow the being of such a good law nay verily particular determination and positivenesse as some call it is so farre from abolishing as that it rather addes to the being as well as to the clearing up and manifestation of such a law For if it be not sufficient to make a morall law that the thing be good in it selfe but that also it must be commanded then the Commandment which many times onely detemines to that which is good and consequently determination doth adde unto the being of a morall law Thesis 27. There is scarce any thing but it is morally indifferent untill it falls under some divine determination but divine determination of twofold 1. Of such things which are not good fit or needfull for man to observe without a command as Sacrifices and Sacraments and such likes now herein in such lawes positive determination may be very well inconsistent with morality and it may bee safely said that such a law is not morall but rather positive and thus the learned sometimes speak 2. Of such things as are equall good in themselves needfull and suitable for man and here particular determination and morality may kisse each other and are not to be opposed one to another and hence it is that if Gods Commandment positively determines us to observe any part of instituted worship suppose Sacraments or Sacrifices yet such lawes are not morall although it bee morall in generall to worship God after his owne will because the things themselves are not good in themselves nor needfull but if God shall determine us to observe a Sabbath day this determination doth not take away the morality of the command because it being good in it selfe to give God the meetest and fittest proportion of time for holy Rest and the commandment declaring that this seventh part or so is such a time hence it comes to passe that this time is good in it selfe and therefore determination by the commandment in this case doth not abolish the morality hereof It is a morall duty to pay tribute to Caesar to give to Caesar that which is Caesars hence because a man may give too much or too little to him that determination which directs us to that particular which is Caesars due and most meet for him to receive and us to give that is best in it selfe and is therefore morall so prayer is a morall duty but because a man may bee tempted to pray too oft or else too seldome hence determination of the fittest and this fittest season makes this or that morall So 't is here in the Sabbath I doe willingly and freely professe thus farre with our Adversaries of the morality of the Sabbath that it is a morall duty to give God some time and day of holy Rest and worship as 't is morall to give Caesar his due and to pray to God but because we may give God too many dayes or too few hence the determination of the most meet and fittest proportion of time and particularly of this time makes this and that to be also morall If no day at all in generall was good and fit for man to give to God and God should notwithstanding command a seventh day then the commandment of such a day with such positive determination could not bee morall any more then the determination of sacrrifices and such like But every day say some of our Adversaries some day say others of them being acknowledged to be equall just and good and most meet to give to God hence it is that determination of a seventh day doth not abolish but clear up that which is morall because it points out unto man that which is most meet and equall Hence therefore it follows that a seventh day is therefore commanded because it is good and not good meerly because commanded Determination also declaring what is most meet declareth hereby that this commandment is also morall and not meerly positive and ceremoniall which not being well considered by some this fourth commandment having some more positivenesse and determination then divers of the rest hath therefore been the chiefe stumbling stone and rock of offence to many against the morality of it by which they have miserably bruised themselves while they have endeavoured to destroy it upon so grosse a mistake Thesis 28. It is true that God out of his absolute soveraignty and good pleasure of his will might have determined us to observe a fourth a ninth a twentieth part of our time in holy rest more or lesse as well as to
if speciall light in them they shall then have more speciall and saving light Thesis 194. As it is no argument that that Law is according to the light of nature which the Gentiles generally practised for then Polytheisme and Sacrificing of beasts yea wil-worship should be according to the light of nature because these sins were generally practised so it is no argument that that Law is not according to the light of nature which they generally neglected and therefore suppose the Gentiles never observed a Sabbath yet this is no argument that it is therefore no morall Law I know M. Primrose thinks that the Sacrifices were by an instinct of nature Because it dictates that all sinnes whereof mortall men are guilty are to be expiated by Sacrifice and Offerings to God offended Which assertion hath some truth in it if those words By Sacrifices and Offerings be left out for what light of nature could make men think that an infinite Deity offended could be pacified by such carnall observances as the Sacrifices of brute beasts and their blood which never offended This custome the Gentiles might retain as a Relique of former instruction and institution by their first Fathers after the flood which being matters meerly ceremonious might be retained more firmly then other morall duties of great consequence however we see that the practice of the Gentiles is no fit guide to direct that which is according to the law and light of nature Thesis 195. If more narrow enquiry be made what the Law of nature is these distinctions must be observed 1. The Law of nature is either of pure or corrupt nature The Law of pure nature was the Law of God writ on Adams heart in innocency which was nothing else but that holy bent and inclination of the heart within to act according to the holy Law of God revealed or Covenant made with him without and thus Aquinas places the law of nature in this inclination The Law of corrupt nature is that dimme light left in the minde and morall inclination left in the will in respect of some things contained in the Law of God which the Apostle cals Conscience Rom. 2.15 which naturall conscience is nothing but the remnants and generall principles of the law of pure nature left in all men since the fall which may be increased by more knowledge of the Law of God or more diminished and defaced by the wickednesse of man Titus 1.15 2. The Law of corrupt nature is taken either more largely or strictly As it is taken more largely so it comprehends all that which is agreeable and sutable to naturall reason and that from a naturall innate equity in the thing when it is made known either by divine instruction or humane wisdom although it be not immediatly known by the light of nature and thus many judiciall laws are naturall and morall though positive and of binding nature unto this day As it is taken strictly so it comprehends no more but what nature immediatly knows or may know without externall instruction as parents to be honoured mans life to be preserved 3. The Law of nature strictly taken are either principles of nature or conclusions from such principles The principles of the law of nature are in some respect many yet may be reduced to this one head viz. That good is to be followed evill to be avoided Conclusions are deductions from those principles like severall streames from the same spring which though lesse evident then the principles yet may be readily found out by discourse and sad search 4. Conclusions arising from these principles are more immediate or mediate Immediate are made by Aquinas to be two 1. Love God with all thy heart 2. Love thy neighbour as thy selfe Mediate are such as arise from the former principles by means of those two more immediate conclusions and of this kinde are some as he thinks yea all the laws of the Decalogue if right reason may be judge Now to apply these Thesis 196. If the question be whether the Sabbath be known by the light of pure nature the answer is yea for Adams minde knew of it and his heart was inclined and bent to the keeping of it although it be true that now this light in corrupt nature as in many other morall duties is almost wholly extinct and worn out as hath been formerly shewn And to speak plainly this great and first impression left on mans heart in pure nature is the first rule according to which we are now to judge of what is the law of nature and it serves to dash to peeces and grinde to powder and dust most effectually and strongly the dreams and devices of such as would make the Sabbath not morall because not naturall or not easily known by the present light of corrupt nature when as corrupt nature is no perfect copy but a blotted discovery of some part of the light of nature which was fully imprinted at large in pure nature and therefore it is no wonder if our adversaries so much oppose the Commandment of the Sabbath in the state of innocency such therefore as are otherwise Orthodox in this point and yet make this description of the Law of nature viz. which was written on mans heart in his first first Creation to be both uncertain and impertinent doe unwarily pull down one of the strongest bulwarks and the first that ever God made to defend the morality of the Sabbath there is indeed no expresse Scripture which makes this description of the Law of nature as they object and so it is of many other things which are virtually and for substance contained in the Scripture although there be no formall description set down of the same and the like I say of this description here Thesis 197. If we speak of the Law of nature strictly taken for that which is immediatly and readily known by the common light of nature in all men then it may be safely affirmed that although the Sabbath should not be in this sence naturall yet it will not follow that it is not therefore morall for the moral law once writ on mans heart in pure nature is almost blotted out only some rudera and old rubbish is left of it in a perverse minde and a corrupt heart Eph. 4.18 we see the wisest of the heathens making those things to be morall vertues Iunius instanceth in the Law of private revenge and we know they magnified will-worship which the Scripture condemns as morall vices and sins God would have common-wealths preserved in all places of the world from the inundation and deluge of mans wickednesse and therefore he hath generally printed the notions of the second Table upon mens hearts to set bounds as by sea-banks unto the overflowings thereof and hence it is that they are generally known but he would not have Churches every where and therefore there is but little known concerning matters of the first Table and consequently about this Law of the Sabbath
is proved to make every morall law good and therefore to command it rather than to make it good by a meer commanding of it Thesis 19. The will of God is indeed the rule of all goodnesse and consequently of all morall lawes but we know there is voluntas decreti and voluntas mandati the first of which viz. the will of Gods decree as it appeares in the execution of it makes a thing to be good whether it bee creature or law the second of these viz. the will of Gods command enjoynes the practise of such a duty the rule and law to guide which is first made good if it bee a morall law by the wisdome and power of the will of Gods decree so that the will of God appearing in both these viz. Gods decreeing and commanding will is the compleat rule of every morall law So that as no law is morally good meerly because it is commanded so neither is it thus good unlesse also it be commanded Gods will in all morall laws is first to make them good and then to command them when they are thus far made good both which together make up a morall law Thesis 20. T is true that sin is the transgression of Gods law there is nothing therefore sinfull but it is the transgression of some law and hence there is no obedience good but what is conformable unto some law But wee must know that as transgression of any law doth not make a thing morally sinfull for then to breake a ceremoniall law would be a morall sinne so also obedience to every law doth not make a duty morally lawfull and good for then obedience to a ceremoniall law must be a morall obedience morall transgression therefore is a breach of such a law which forbids a thing because it is evill as morall obedience is our conformity to such a law which commands a thing because it is good not that anything is morally evill in it selfe before it be forbidden for then there should bee a morall sinne before and without any law to forbid it which is most absurd but because a thing is evill in it selfe and is therefore forbidden it is therefore morally evill God may and doth make it fundamentally evill before it be forbidden but it is not morally evill untill it be forbidden The like may be said concerning moral obedience according to any morall law No man should therefore thinke that this description given of a morall law should give occasion to any to imagine that some things are morally good or evill before any law passe upon them and that therefore there are some duties and some sinnes which are so without and before any law of God For wee see that things good in themselves must be commanded else they are not morall duties yet withall they are therefore commanded because they are good in themselves It s true that by the verdict of some of the Schoolemen some duties are morally good before any law commands them as to love and magnifie God and that some sinnes as to curse and blaspheme God are morally evill before any law forbids them but to omit other answers if such suppositions may bee rationally made which some deny yet it may bee upon good grounds denyed that any duty can be morally good or any sinne morally evill untill some law passe upon them either to command or forbid the same 'T is indeed sutable and meet in nature for man to love God and unsutable and unmeet to blaspheme and hate God but such sutablenesse or unsutablenesse as they make things fundamentally good or evill so they cannot make any thing morally good or evill unlesse we suppose some Law for it would be in this case with man as 't is in brute creatures who doe many things unnaturall as to eate up and destroy their owne young which yet are not morally sinfull because they are not under any morall law and one of the most ancient and best of the Schoolemen though he thinks that the observance of the Sabbath before Moses time was not secundâ—m rationem praecepti or debitè fieri i. was not actually commanded yet that it was secundum rationem honesti hoc est dignè steri i. It was congruous and a thing meet and worthy to bee observed even from the first creation But will any of our Adversaries hence say that because it was meet and worthy to bee observed that therefore it was a morall law from the beginning of the world while it had no command as is by them supposed to be observed For it must be something meet and congruous and worthy to be observed of man which when it is commanded makes it to be a morall law for then the Law commands a thing that is good and because 't is good iâ— is therefore commanded which goodnesse wee must a little more narrowly now enquire into Thesis 21. If it be demanded therefore What is that goodnesse in a morall law for which it is therefore commanded The Answer is given by Vasques Suarez Smifinga and most of the Schoolemen and sundry of our owne Writers that it is nothing else but That comely sutablenesse and meetnesse in the thing commanded unto humane nature as rationall or unto man as rationall and consequently unto every man When I say as Rationall I understand as Master Ironside doth viz. as right reason neither blinded nor corrupted doth require When I say as sutable to man and consequently to every man I hereby exclude all lawes meerely Judiciall and Evangelicall from being morall the first of which are sutable to some men onely the other are not sutable to men as men but to man as corrupt and fallen and therefore binde not all men but onely those among whom they are sufficiently and actually promulgated as is evident Rom. 10.14 Iohn 15.22 But morall lawes are sutable to all men and have an inward meetnesse and congruity to be observed of all men For look as when the Lord gives Laws to any particular nation whether immediately by himself or mediately by man he ever makes them sutable to the peoples peace and good of that nation so when he makes lawes binding all mankinde in all Nations he makes them sutable to humane nature or all mankinde therein And look as nationall Lawes binde not meerly by the meere will of the Law-giver but from the goodnesse and sutablenesse in the thing unto their common good so here morall lawes which concerne all Nations bind not meerly because of the will of God which of it selfe is sufficient to binde all men if he had pleased to put no more in morall lawes but also because of some goodnesse in the things commanded which is nothing else but such sutablenes as is mentioned unto the common good of man What this sutablenesse to humane nature is we shall shew in due place meane while I doe not understand by sutablenesse to humane nature the inclination of humane nature now corrupted by sinne for
or evill without some law for then there should bee some sinne which is not the transgression of a law and some obedience which is not directed by any law both which are impossible and abominable 3. He makes morall lawes by externall imposition and constitution onely to be such as before the externall imposition of them are a diaphorous and good or evill onely by reason of some circumstance When as we know that some such lawes as are most entirely morall yet in respect of their inward nature generally considered they are indifferent also for not to kill and take away mans life is a morall law intirely so yet in the generall nature of it it is indifferent and by circumstance may become either lawfull or unlawfull lawfull in case of warre or publick execution of justice unlawfull out of a private spirit and personall revenge In one word the whole drift of his discourse herein is to shew that the Sabbath is not morall and this he would prove because the Sabbath is not simply and entirely morall which is a most feeble and weake consequence and this hee proves because the Sabbath day hath in respect of its inward nature no more holines and goodnes than any other day all the dayes of the week being equally good by creation But he might well know that the day is not the law of the fourth Commandment but the keeping holy of the Sabbath day which is a thing inwardly good and entirely morall if wee speak of some day Nay saith the Bishop the law of nature teacheth that some sufficient and convenient time bee set apart for Gods worship if therefore some day be morall although all dayes by creation be indifferent and equall according to his owne confession what then should hinder the quota pars or the seventh part of time from being morall will he say because all dayes are equally holy and good by creation then why should hee grant any day at all to bee entirely morall in respect of a sufficient and convenient time to bee set apart for God If hee saith the will and imposition of the Law-giver abolisheth its morality because he bindes to a seventh part of time then we shall shew that this is most false and feeble in the sequell Thesis 25. There are therefore four rules to guide our judgments aright herein whereby we may know when a law is sutable and agreeable to humane nature and consequently good in it selfe which will bee sufficient to cleare up the Law of the Sabbath to be truely morall whether in a higher or lower degree of morality it makes no matter and that it is not a law meerly temporary and ceremoniall 1. Such lawes as necessarily flow from naturall relation both between God and man as well as between man and man these are good in themselves because sutable and congruous to humane nature for there is a decency and sweet comlinesse to attend to those rules to which our relations binde us For from this ground the Prophet Malachy cals for feare and honour of God as morall duties because they are so comely and seemly for us in respect of the relation between us If I be your Lord and Master and Father where is my feare where is my honour Mal. 1.6 Love also between man and wife is pressed as a comely duty by the Apostle from that near relation betweene them being made one flesh Ephes. 5.28 29. there are scarce any who question the morality of the duties of the second Table because they are so evidently comely suitable and agreeable to humane nature considered relatively as man stands in relation to those who are or should bee unto him as his owne flesh and therefore he is to honour superiors and therefore must not kill nor steale nor lye nor covet nor defile the flesh c. but the morality of all the rules of the first Table is not seen so evidently because the relation between God and man which makes them comely and suitable to man is not so well considered for if there be a God and this God be our God according to the first Commandement then it 's very comely and meet for man to honour love feare him delight trust in him c. and if this God must be worshipped of man in respect of the mutuall relation between them then 't is comely and meet to worship him with his owne worhsip according to the second Commandment and to worship him with all holy reverence according to the third Commandment and if he must be thus worshipped and yet at all times in respect of our necessary worldly imploiments cannot be so solemnly honoured and worshipped as is comely and meet for so great a God then 't is very fit and comely for all men to have some set and stated time of worship according to some fit proportion which the Lord of time onely can best make and therefore a seventh part of time which he doth make according to the fourth Commandment 2. Such lawes are drawne from the imitable Attributes and Works of God are congruous and suitable to mans nature For what greater comelinesse can there be or what can be more suitable to that nature which is immediately made for God then to be like unto God and to attend unto those rules which guide thereunto Hence to be mercifull to men in misery to forgive our enemies and those that doe us wrong to be bountifull to those that be in want to be patient when we suffer evill are all morall duties because they are comely and suitable to man and that because herein hee resembles and is made like unto God Hence to labour six dayes and rest a leventh is a morall because a comely and suitable duty that because herein man followes the example of God and becomes most like unto him And hence it is that a seventh yeare of rest cannot be urged upon man to be as much morall as a seventh day of rest because man hath Gods example and patterne in resting a seventh day but not in resting any seventh yeare God never made himselfe an example of any ceremoniall duty it being unsuitable to his glorious excellency so to doe but onely of morall and spirituall holinesse and therefore there is somewhat else in a seventh day that is not in a seventh yeare and it is utterly false to thinke as some doe that there is as much equity for the observation of the one as there is of the other And here by the way may bee seen a grosse mistake of Mr. Primrose who would make Gods example herein not to be morally imitable of us nor man necessarily bound thereunto it being not naturally and in respect of it selfe imitable but onely because it pleased God to command man so to doe as also because this action of God did not flow from such attributes of God as are in their nature imitable as mercy bounty c. but from one of those attributes as is not imitable
and which wee ought not to imitate viz. his omnipotency But suppose it did flow from his omnipotency and that wee ought not to imitate his omnipotency and that wee who are weaknesse it selfe cannot imitate omnipotent actions yet its obvious to common sense that such acts which arise from such attributes as cannot be imitated of us in respect of the particular effects which are produced by them yet in the actings of such attributes there may be something morally good which is imitable of us As for example though wee are not to imitate God in his miraculous works as in the burning of Sodome and such like yet there may bee that justice and wisedome of God shining therein which wee ought to imitate for wee ought to see before we censure and condemne as God did in proceeding against Sodome So 't is in this extraordinary worke of making the Word wherein although we are not to goe about to make another world within that time as God did yet therein the labour and rest of God was seene which is imitable of man which labour and rest as they are morall duties so they are confirmed by a morall example and therefore most seemly and comely for man to imitate from such an example And whereas hee affirmes that this example was not morall because it was not it self imitable being grounded onely upon Gods free will The reason is weake for to labour in ones Calling is without controversie a morall duty as idlenesse is a morall sin yet if one would aske why man is to labour here and not rather to lead a contemplative life in the vision and fruition of God immediately I suppose no reason can be given but the good pleasure of God who in his deepe wisdome saw it most meet for man to spend some proportionable time in labour for himselfe and some in rest for God whereunto he gave man such an eminent example from the beginning of the world Master Primrose cannot deny but that a convenient time for labour and rest in generall is morall But saith he if God had not declared his will by a Commandment particularly to labour six dayes and rest the seventh the Jewes would not have thought themselves bound to this observation from Gods example onely which shewes that there is no morality in it to bind the conscience for ever But it may be as well doubted whether acts of bounty and mercy to which hee thinks wee are bound meerely from Gods example in respect of the particular application of these acts to enemies of God and of our selves as well as to friends be of binding vertue meerly by Gods example unlesse we had a commandment thereunto for in morall precepts as the thing is commanded because it is good so 't is not morally good unlesse it be commanded but suppose that Gods example of labour six dayes and rest the seventh should not have been binding as other examples unlesse there had been a commandment for so doing yet this is no argument that this example is not morall at all but onely that it is not so equally morall and knowne to be so as some other duties bee for man may spend too much time in labour and give God too short or too little time for rest if therefore hee wants the light of a commandment or rule to direct and guide him to the fittest and most meet proportion of time for both is hee not apt hereby to break the rule of morality which consists as hath been shewne in that which is most suitable comely and convenient for man to give to God or man The commandment therefore in this case measuring out and declaring such a proportion and what time is most convenient and comely for man to take to himselfe for labour or to give to God for rest it doth not abolish the morality of the example but doth rather establish and make it It sets out the most comely and meet proportion of time for labour and rest and therefore such a time as is most good in it selfe because most comely and proportionable which being therefore commanded is a morall duty in man and the example hereof morally binding in God 3. Such lawes which mans reason may see either by innate light or by any other externall helpe and light to bee just and good and fit for man to observe such lawes are congruous and suitable to humane nature I say by any external helpe as well as by innate light for neither internall nor externall light doe make a thing just and suitable to man no more than the light of the Sun or the light of a Lanthorne doe make the Kings high-way to the City but they onely declare and manifest the way or that which was so in it selfe before Hence it comes to passe that although mans reason cannot see the equity of some lawes antecedenter by innate light before it bee illuminated by some externall light yet if by this externall light the minde sees the equity justice and holinesse of such a law this may sufficiently argue the morality of such a law which was just and good before any light discovered it and is now discovered onely not made to be so whether by internall or externall light And hence Aquinas well observes that morall lawes which hee makes to be such as are congruous to right reason sometimes are such as not onely command such things which reason doth readily see to bee comely and meet but also such lawes about which mans reason may readily and easily erre and go astray from that which is comely and meet And hence it is that although no reason or wit of man could ever have found out the most just and equall proportion of time or what proportion is most comely and suitable or that a seventh part of time should have been universally observed as holy to God yet if any externall light and teaching from above shall reveale this time and the equity and suitableness of it so that reason shall acknowledge it equall and good that if we have sixe dayes for our selves God should have one for himselfe this is a strong argument that such a command is morall because reason thus illuminated cannot but acknowledge it most meet and equall For though reason may not by any naturall or innate light readily see that such a division of time is most suitable and yet may readily erre and misconceive the most suitable and convenient proportion and division of time it 's then a sufficient proof of the morality of such a command if the congruity and equity of it be discerned consequenter only as we lay and by externall light 4. What ever law was once writ upon mans heart in pure nature is still suitable and congruous and convenient to humane nature and consequently good in it selfe and morall For whatever was so writ upon Adams heart was not writ there as upon a private person but as a common person having the common nature of man
a sevenâ—h yet let us consider of God as acting by counsell and weighing and considering with himselfe what is most meet and equall and what proportion of time is most fit for himselfe and then with leave of better thoughts when I see better reason I suppose no man can prove unlesse hee bee made privy to the unknowne secrets of the wisdome of God that any other proportion had been as meet as this now made by the actuall determination of God there was not therefore the meer and soveraigne will of God which thus determined of this seventh part of time but also the wisedome of God which considering all things saw it most meeâ— and suitable for man to give and God to receive from man and therefore being commanded and thus particularly determined becomes morall Thesis 29. If that commandment be morall which is therefore commanded because it is good then hence it followes in the second place that such lawes onely are not morall lawes which are known to all men by the light of corrupt nature For as hath been already said a law may bee holy just good suitable and meet for all men to observe whether the light of corrupt nature by awakening or sleeping principles as some call them know it or no and such a comelinesse and suitablenesse in such a law is sufficient to make it morall There were many secret morall sinnes in Paul which he never saw nor could have seene by the light of corrupt nature untill the law fell upon him with mighty efficacy and power Romans 7. for God is not bound to crook his morall lawes to what our corrupt mindes are actually able of themselves to see any more than to what our corrupt wils are actually able to doe If the light of nature be imperfect in us since the fall which no wise man doubts of then there may be many things truely morall which the light of nature now sees not because 't is imperfect which in its perfection it did see and this consideration of the great imperfection of the light of nature is alone sufficient for ever to stop their mouthes and silence their hearts who goe about to make an imperfect light and law of nature the perfect rule and onely measure of morall duties and who make so narrow a limitation of that which is morall to that which is thus imperfectly naturall 't is not now lex nata but lex data which is the rule of morall duties The holy Scriptures containe the perfect rule of all morall actions whether mans corrupted and imperfect light of nature see them or no. It is a common but a most perilous and almost groundlesse mistake of many in this controversie who when they would know what is morall and what is not so of such things as are set downe in the Scriptures they then â—lye to the light of corrupt nature making it to bee the supream Judge hereof and there fall to examining of them whether they are seen by the light of nature or no which is no lesse folly than to set up a corrupt and blinde Judge to determine and declare that which is morall to make the perfect rule of morality in Scripture to bow downe its back to the imperfection and weaknesse of nature to pull out the Sunne in heaven from giving light and to walke by the light of a dim candle and a stinking snuffe in the socket almost gone out to make the horne-book of naturall light the perfection of learning of the deepest matters in morall duties to make Aristotles Ethicks as compleat a teacher of true morality as Adams heart in innocency and in a word to make man fallen and in a manner perfectly corrupt and miserable to bee as sufficiently furnished with knowledge of morall duties as man standing when he was perfectly holy and happy Imagine therefore that the light of nature could never have found out one day in seven to bee comely and most meet for man to give unto God yet if such a proportion of time be most meet for man to give to God and it appeares so to be when God reveales it it may and should then be accounted a morall law although the light of nature left in all men could never discerne it The Schoolmen and most of the popish generation not considering these things which notwithstanding are some of their owne principles have digged pits for themselves and made snares for some of their followers in abolishing the fourth Commandment from being in the true sense of it morall because they could not see how such a speciall part of time viz. a seventh part could be naturall or by the light of corrupt nature discernable which things so discernable they sometimes conclude to be onely morall But how farre the light of corrupt nature may discerne this proportion shall be spoken to in its proper place Thesis 30. If lastly those things which are thus commanded because they are good be morall then the whole Decalogue may hence appeare to be the morall law of God because there is no one law in it which is therefore good onely because 't is commanded but is therefore commanded because it is good and suitable to humane nature When I say suitable to humane nature I doe not meane humane nature considered absolutely but relatively either in relation to God or relation unto man for not onely the light of nature but of common sense also beare witnesse that every precept of the second Table wherein man is considered in relation to man is thus farre good for how comely and good is it to honour Parents to be tender of other mens lives and comforts to preserve ones selfe and others from filthy pollutions to doe no wrong but all the good we can to other mens estates c. Nor doe I thinke that any will question any one Commandment of this Table to bee good and suitable to humane nature unlesse it be some Nimrod or Brennus that professed he knew no greater justice than for the stronger like the bigger fishes of the Sea to swallow up the lesser in case they bee hungry or some Turkish Tartar or Caniball or some surfetted Professor transformed into some licentious opinionist and so growne Master of his owne Conscience and that can audaciously out-face the very light of nature and common sense through the righteous judgement of God blinding and hardning his heart And if the Commandments of the second Table be thus farre good in themselves are not those of the first Table much more Is love to man when drawne out into all the six streames of the second Table good in it selfe and shall not love to God drawn out in the foure precepts of the first Table as the Spring from whence all our love to man should flow much more Are the streams morally sweet and is not the spring it self of the same nature Love to God and love to man are the common principles saith Aquinas truely of the law of nature and all
particular precepts saith hee perhaps unawares are conclusions flowing from these principles out of Matth. 22. And are the principles good in themselves and suitable to humane nature and doe not all the conclusions participate of their nature For what are all particular precepts but particular unfoldings of love to God and love to man If all the precepts of the second Table be morall which doe onely concerne man why should any of the first fall short of that glory which doe immediately concerne God Shall man have six and all of them morally good and God have but foure and some one or more of them not so Is it comely and good to have God to be our God in the first Commandment to worship him after his owne minde in the second to give him his worship with all the highest respect and reverence of his Name in the third and is it not as comely good and suitable that this great God and King should have some magnificent day of state to be attended on by his poore servants and creatures both publikely and privately with speciall respect and service as oft as himselfe sees meer and which we cannot but see and confesse to be most equall and just according to the fourth Commandment If mans life must bee divided into labour and rest is it not equall and good if wee have six dayes that God should have a seventh If the bruit beasts could speake they would say that a seventh dayes rest is good for them Exod. 23.12 and shall man who hath more cause and more need of rest even of holy rest say that it is not good for him even to rest in the bosome of God himselfe to which he is called this day Take away a Sabbath who can defend us from Atheisme Barbarisme and all manner of Devilisme and prophanesse And is it evill thus to want it and shall it not be good to have it I confesse if God had commanded a perpetuall Sabbath it had not then been good but sinfull to observe any set Sabbath but if God will have man to labour for himselfe six dayes and this labour be morally good being now commanded why is it not then as good to observe a seventh in rest to God being also commanded of him Thesis 31. It is therefore at least an indigested assertion of those who affirme that the Decalogue sets out the precepts of the law of Nature and yet withall doth superad certaine precepts proper to the Jewish people in which last respect they say all men are not bound to the observance thereof and they produce the fourth Commandment for proof but in respect of the first they are But although in the application of a law something may bee proper to the Jewish people yet with leave of the learned there is never a law in it but it is morall and common to all for to make any law in the Decalogue proper is an assertion springing from a false and blinde principle viz. That that law onely is morall which is naturall not naturall as suitable to humane nature but which is seene and knowne by the common light of corrupt nature without the helpe of any externall usher or teacher If also any lawes in the Decalogue be proper how will any finde out and discerne morall lawes which concerne all from proper laws which appertaine onely to some For if God hath made such a mingling and not severed morall lawes by themselves then man hath no law or revelation by any dictinct and severed lawes left unto him to discerne lawes proper and peculiar from laws morall and common which how pernicious it may bee to mens soules to bee left to such uncertainty as also how injurious to God and crosse to his maine ends in discovering morall lawes let the wise consider for if they say that wee must flye for help herein to the light of corrupt nature then as hath been shewn an imperfect light and a blinde guide and a corrupt judge must be the chief rule of discerning that which is morall from that which is peculiar and proper for doubtlesse such a kinde of light is the light of corrupt nature Thesis 32. Some thinke that those commandments onely are morally good which the Gospel hath declared and confirmed to be so and by this shift they thinke to avoid the absurdity of flying to the blinde guide of corrupt nature to judge of these colours viz. what is morall and what is not Mr. Primrose therefore excludes the fourth Commandment from being morall the other nine being ratified by the light of the Gospell which this he saith is not but if his meaning be that there must be a generall ratification of lawes morall by the verdict of the Gospell then the fourth Commandment cannot be excluded from being morall because it hath a ratification in generall from the Gospell for therein wee read that the morall law is holy just and good Rom. 7. and that Christ came not to destroy the least jot or tittle of the law Matth. 5. much lesse a whole law of the fourth Commandment In the Gospel also God promiseth to write his Law upon our hearts wherein the fourth Commandment is not excepted But if his meaning beâ— this that the Gospell must particularly mention and so make a particular ratification as it were by name of every morall law then his assertion is unsound there being many judiciall lawes of Moses of which some are wholly morall others containing in them something of common and morall equity which we have no expresse mention of in the blessed Gospell and let him turne over al the leaves of the Gospell hee shall not finde that proportion of time which himselfe affirmes to be morall in the fourth Commandment to bee expressely and particularly mentioned in the Gospell and therefore that also must be excluded from being morall upon his owne principles as well as what we contend for in this Commandment so to bee Thesis 33. Some of those who maintaine the law of the Sabbath to be ceremoniall affirme that every Law in the Decalogue is not morall upon this ground to wit because the Law is called Gods Covenant which Covenant they shew from sundry instances not only to comprehend moralls but also ceremonialls for they make it the excellency of the Decalogue to comprehend as a short epitome all Gods Ordinances both morall and ceremoniall which epitome is more largely opened in the writings of Moses where not onely morall but also ceremoniall lawes are expressed and dispersed And hence they thinke that as the other nine are the summary and epitome of all morall Ordinances so the fourth Commandment which was kept with the practise of Ceremonies was the summary and epitome of all the ceremoniall ordinances and hence the fourth Commandment becomes ceremoniall But for answer to this wily notion unjustly father'd upon Austin and Calvin by some it may thus farre be granted that as the word Law is sometimes taken more strictly for
being shusted into the Decalogue and so might ceremonialls also Thesis 38. There were three sorts of laws which are commonly knowne and which were most eminently appearing among the Jewes 1. Morall 2. Ceremoniall 3. Judiciall Thesis 39. The morall respected their manners as they were men and are therefore called morall The ceremoniall respected them as a Church and as such a kinde of Church The judicial as a Common wealth and as that particular Common-wealth Morall laws were to govern them as an human society Ceremoniall as a sacred society Judiciall as a civill society Thus the Learned speak and being candidly understood are true Thesis 40. The morall law contained in the Decalogue is nothing else but the law of nature revived or a second edition and impression of that primitive and perfect law of nature which in the state of innocency was engraven upon mans heart but now againe written upon Tables of stone by the finger of God For man being made in the Image of God he had therefore the law of holines and righteousnes in which Gods Image consisted written in his heart but having by his fall broken this Table and lost this Image neither knowing or doing the will of God through the law of sinne now engraven on it Hence the Lord hath in much pitty made knowne his law again and given us a faire copy of it in the two Tables of stone which are the copy of that which was writ upon mans heart at first because the first Table containes Love to God in holinesse the second Love to man in righteousnesse which holinesse and righteousnesse are the two parts of Gods Image which was once engraven upon mans soule in his primitive and perfect estate Ephes. 4.24 Nor indeed doe I see how that popish Argument will be otherwise answered pleading for a possibility in man to keep the law perfectly in his lapsed and fallen estate in this life for say they God makes no lawes of impossible things it being unjust for God to require and exact that of a man which hee is not able to doe to which it is commonly and truely answered That man had once power to keep the law in his innocent estate and hence though man be not able to keep it now yet God may require it because hee once gave him power to keep it and that therefore it is no more unjust to exact such obedience which hee cannot performe than for a creditor to require his money of his broken debtor or spend-thrift who is now failed as they say and not able to repay Man therefore having once power to keep the law and now having no power this argues strongly that the law of the Decalogue contains nothing but what was once written as a law of life upon his heart in his innocent estate for I see not how Gods justice can be cleared if he exacts such obedience in the Decalogue which is impossible for man to give unlesse the very same law and power of obedience was written upon his heart at first and therefore it is a wilde notion of theirs who thinke that the Covenant of works which God made with Adam is not the same for matter with the Covenant of works exprest in the morall law for wee see that there is the same Image of holinesse and righteousnesse required in the Tables of stone as the condition of this Covenant which was once written upon mans heart and required in the same manner of him Now this law thus revived and reprinted is the Decalogue because most naturall and suitable to humane nature when it was made most perfect therefore it is universall and perpetuall the substance also of this law being love to God and man holinesse toward God and righteousnesse toward man Matt. 22.37 39. Luke 1. Hence also this law must needs bee morall universall and perpetuall unlesse any should bee so wicked as to imagine it to be no duty of universall or perpetuall equity either to love God or to love man to performe duties of holinesse toward the one or duties of righteousnesse toward the other Hence again the things commanded in this law are therefore commanded because they are good and are therefore morall unlesse any shall think that it is not good in it selfe to love God or man to be holy or righteous and which is still observable there is such a love required herein and such a lovelinesse put upon these lawes as that by vertue of these all our obedience in other things which are not moral becomes lovely for there were many ceremoniall observances in which and by which the people of God exprest their love to God as Mr. Primrose truely concludes from Deut. 6.1 2 3 4 5 6. and Matth. 22.37 38 40. but yet this love did arise by vertue of a morall rule for therefore it was love to worship God in ceremoniall duties because it was lovely to worship God with his own worship of which these were parts which is the moral rule of the second Commandment And hence Master Primrose may see his grosse mistake in making one law of the Decalogue ceremoniall because the summary of the Decalogue being love to God and love to man and our love to God being shewne in ceremoniall as well as in morall duties because our love is seen shewn in our obedience to all the Commandments of God ceremonial as well as moral For though there be love in ceremonial dutys it is not so much in respect of themselves as in respect of some morall rule by vertue of which such duties are attended Thesis 41. The ceremoniall law consisting chiefly of types and shadowes of things to come Heb. 8.5 and therefore being to cease when the body was come Col. 2.17 was not therefore perpetuall as the law morall but temporary and of binding power onely to the nation of the Jewes and their proselytes and not putting any tie upon all Nations as the morall law did Every ceremoniall law was temporary but every temporary law was not ceremoniall as some say as is demonstrable from sundry judicials which in their determinations were proper to that Nation while that Jewish polity continued and are not therefore now to be observed Thesis 42. The Iudiciall lawes some of them being hedges and fences to safeguard both morall and ceremoniall precepts their binding power was therefore mixt and various for those which did safeguard any morall law which is perpetuall whether by just punishments or otherwise doe still morally binde all Nations For as Piscator argues a morall law is as good and as precious now in these times as then and there is as much need of the preservation of these fences to preserve these lawes in these times and at all times as well as then there being as much danger of the treading downe of those lawes by the wilde beasts of the world and brutish men sometimes even in Churches now as then and hence God would have all Nations preserve these fences for