degree Materter◠magna and is compared with the Sisters nephew Matertera major 3. The great Aunt or great Grandmothers sister is the fifth degree and is compared with the Sisters nephews son Matertera maxima 4. The greatest Aunt or great Grandmothers mothers sister is the sixth degree and is compared with the Sisters nephews nephew The CONTENTS Affinity Instances Stemma Affinitatis Conclusion Tables of Consanguinity and Affinity TITLE XI Of the Degrees of Affinity or Alliance by Marriage Affinity AFFINITY is grounded upon Law and Marriage as Consanguinity is grounded upon Blood and Birth And therefore there is a near resemblance between them And though in Affinity there be properly no Degrees yet Degrees are assigned to it and are computed according to the degrees of Consanguinity 1. Degree The first degree of Affinity is in the right Line ascending and descending where as in Consanguinity all Degrees are forbidden in infinitum So that upwards I may not marry my Fathers wife and so higher for ever and downwards I may not marry my Sons wife and so lower for ever Reason The Reason is because in all these cases the party married is a Parent or a Child by marriage to the party marrying that is the woman is either a Mother in law or a Daughter in law to the man As in Consanguinity the Woman was either a mother in nature or a daughter in nature to the Man Instances Gen. 38.18 1 Cor. 5.1 2. Degree This was Juda's Incest with Tamar his Sons wife and this was the Corinthians Incest with his Fathers wife The second degree of Affinity is in the Side-line or Collateral-line equal So that in the second Degree sideward I may not marry my Brothers wife or my Sister in law nor my wives Sister or my Sister in law Reason The Reason is Because in all these cases the woman is still Sister in law to the man or the parties married are Brothers and Sisters in law as in Consanguinity the parties are brothers and sisters by Nature This was Jacobs Incest in marrying with Rachel his Sister in law for she was one sister to Leah his first wife Instances This was Herods Incest who married with Herodias his brother Philips wife And this was Henry the Eight his case who married Katherine his brother Arthur's wife v. Gen. 29.30 Lev. 18.9 11 16. Lev. 20.17.21 2 Sam. 13.10 11. Math. 14.3 4. 3. Degree The third degree of Affinity is in the Side-line unequal So that in the third degree upward I may not marry my Uncles wife or my Aunt in law nor downwards I may not marry my Nephews wife nor my Neece in law The Reason is Because in all these Cases Reason the woman is still either Aunt or Neece in law to the man by marriage and so vice versâ or the parties married are Uncle or Aunt or Nephew or Neece in law as in Consanguinity they are Uncles Nephews and Neeces in nature Now Affinity ariseth to me two waies First by my own kindred i. e. Kinsmen or kinswomen when they are married or by my wives kindred or kinswomen when I my self am married I. By my own kindred as 1. By the wives of my Male-kindred therefore the wives of my kinsmen by consanguinity are my affairs or allies in the same degree of affinity wherein my several kinsmen and I stood by consanguinity or kindred So upwards my Fathers second wife or my Step-mother or Mother in law is my Affinis or Ally in the first degree of affinity or alliance because my Father and I are in the first degree of Consanguinity or kindred And downwards my Sons wife or my Daughter in law is my Affinis or Ally in the first degree of affinity or alliance Because my Son and I are in the first degree of consanguinity or kindred And Sideward my Brothers wife or Sister in law is my Affinis or Ally in the second degree because my brother and I are in the second degree of consanguinity or kindred And so farther sideward in the third degree my Uncles wife or my Aunt in law is my Affinis or Ally in the third degree of affinity because my Uncle and my Nephew their husbands are my kinsmen in the third degree of affinity 2. In like manner vice versâ the Husbands of my kinswomen i. e. of my Female kindred by consanguinity are my Affines or Allies in the same degree of affinity wherein my several kinswomen and I stood by consanguinity or kindred So upwards my Mothers second husband or my Father in law is my Affinis or Ally in the first degree of affinity or alliance because my Mother is my kinswoman in the first degree of consanguinity or kindred And downwards my daughters husband or my Son in law is my Affinis or Ally in the first degree of affinity because my Daughter is my kinswoman in the first degree of consanguinity And Sideward my Sisters husband or my Brother in law is my Affinis or Ally in the second degree of affinity or alliance because my Sister is my kinswoman in the second degree of consanguinity So likewise farther Sideward in the third degree my Aunts husband or my Uncle by marriage is my Affinis or Ally in the third degree of affinity and my Neeces husband or my Nephew in law is my Affinis or Ally in the third degree of affinity because correspondently my Aunt and my Neece are kinswomen in the third degree of consanguinity or kindred II. By my Wives kindred For Besides the affinity arising unto me by my own kindred i. e. my kinsmen and kinswomen there accrues to me if I be married a great stock of affinity by my wife Yet a man and his wife are properly of no kin at all neither by consanguinity nor affinity in any degree of propinquity or nearness neither before marriage nor after Not before marriage because their consanguinity or affinity in any degree of propinquity would be so just an impediment against their marriage that thereupon they might not marry at all or if they did marry their marriage would be accounted unlawful and incestuous Nor after Marriage because Consanguinity and Affinity lie necessarily between two persons who make the distinct terms of those Relations But a man and his wife though naturally and sensibly they are two distinct persons yet Jurally and Legally in the estimation of Law they are no more two but one person or as the Scripture phraseth it They two are no more two Matth. 19.6 but one flesh Again after marriage a man is nearer to his Wife than to his Father and Mother for he must leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife But a mans Consanguinity with his father and mother is in the first degree and therefore there can be no degree of Consanguinity with his wife because there can be no Degree before the first The marriage therefore of Man and Wife effecteth neither Consanguinity nor
Affinity but an Unity which is a conjunction more entire more perfect more eminent or more transcendent than any Consanguinity or Affinity can possibly be And though this Union by marriage be neither Consanguinity nor Affinity yet without marriage there is no lawful Consanguinity nor Affinity but Bastardy For Marriage is the ground and cause of both those Relations it is the seed and root from whence they spring and it is the term or point from whence their degrees are measured And consequently a man and his wife are neither Affines nor Consanguinei but Conjuges that is neither of Alliance nor Blood but conjoyned in one person in Law and yoke-fellows in one sacred band of wedlock And though in some passages of the Civil Law they be called Affines yet that appellation must be construed for a Metaphor and an Impropriety Now the Affinity that ariseth unto me by my Wife is easily computed thus My Wives Consanguinei or Cousins are Affines or Allies to me and are in the same degree of affinity to me as they stand in degree of Consanguinity to her And therefore my wives own Father and Mother are my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law which to me is affinity in the first degree So my wives own Brothers and Sisters are my brothers and sisters in law which is affinity in the second degree So my wives own Uncles and Aunts are my uncles in law and aunts in law which is affinity in the third degree And vice versâ my Consanguinei or Cousins are Affines or Allies to my wife in the same degrees of affinity as they are to me of consanguinity And therefore my own Father and Mother are my wives Father in law and Mother in law which is affinity in the first degree So my own Brothers and Sisters are Brothers in law and Sisters in law to my wife which is affinity in the second degree And so my own Uncles and Aunts are Uncles in law and Aunts in law to my wife which is affinity in the third degree In Affinity therefore as to the point of Marriage so many degrees are forbidden as there are restrained in consanguinity by blood As therefore in Consanguinity I may not marry any of my kindred or Cousins in the first second or third degree So in affinity I may not marry any of my Affines or Allies in the first second or third degree whether that affinity arise to me from my own kindred or from my wives kindred SECT I. But it must be considered that though Consanguinity by the means of marriage breed Affinity yet affinity so bred begets no farther affinity As in this case A man may not marry his own Mother in law because she is his affinis or his Fathers wife but I see no reason but that a man may marry his wives Mother in law because though she be affinis to his wife as being her Fathers wife and therefore her Mother in law yet she is no affinis to him whose Mother in law she is not And therefore though my wifes kindred or Cousins are Allies to me yet they are not allies to my kindred or Cousins So that though my wives Father and Mother are allies to me yet they are not allies to my own Father and Mother nor to my own Brothers and Sisters nor to my own Sons and Daughters if I had any by my former wife So likewise my wives own Brothers and Sisters though they be allied to me yet they are not allied to my own father and mother nor to my own brothers and sisters nor to my own sons and daughters if I had any by my former wife So again my wives own Children if she had any by a former husband though they be allies to me yet they are not allies to my own father and mother nor to my own brothers and sisters nor to my own sons and daughters if I had any by a former wife Hereupon as to the point of Marriage it will follow that respectively to me and my wife three sorts of Marriages may be lawful 1. First upward That my own father and my wives mother their respective Comings being dead may marry Because though my own father be allied to my wife Reason yet he is no way allied to my wives own mother and my wives own mother though she be allied to me yet she is no way allied to my own father 2. Secondly it will follow Sideward That my own brother and my wives own sister may marry Because though my wives own sister be allied to me Reason yet she is no way allied to my own brother So likewise my own sister and my wives own brother may marry for the same reason because though my wives own brother be allied to me yet he is no way allied to my own sister 3. Thirdly it will follow downward That my own son by a former wife and my wives own daughter by a former husband may marry Because my wives own daughter by another husband Reason though she be allied to me yet she is not allied to my own son by another wife And for the same reason my daughter by a former wife may marry my wives own son by a former husband because my wives own son by another husband though he be allied to me yet he is not allied to my own daughter by a former wife In several Instances the practice of these three kinds of Marriages hath been and is known in the world 1. First upward between the Parents of a man and his wife 2. Secondly sideward between the brothers and sisters of a man and his wife 3. Thirdly downward between the Children of a man and his wife which they had by their former Comings SECT II. Stemma Affinitatis Parentes Liberi Socer 1. A Father in law is the father of the wife or of the husband upward and is referred to the Son in law downward Socrus A Mother in law is the mother of the husband or of the wife upward and is referred to the Daughter in law downward Pro-Socer Progener 2. A Grandfather in law is the Grandfather of the wife or of the husband upward and is referred to the Neeces husband downward Pro-Socrus Pro-nurus A Grandmother in law is the Grandmother of the wife or the husband upward and is referred to the Nephews wife downward The Sons wife and Daughters husband are compared with the Father in law or with the Mother in law Vitricus 3. A Step-father is the Mothers other husband and is compared with the Son in law to the second husband or wife A Step-mother is the Fathers other wife and is compared with the Daughter in law to the second husband or wife A Son of a wife by another husband and the Daughter of a husband by another wife are compared with a Step-father or a Step-mother SECT III. Brethren and Kindred Feigned names must be used instead of Latin Fratria 1. The Brothers wife Sororius 2. The
Sisters husband Laevir 3. The Husbands brother Pro-frater 4. The Wives brother Glos. 5. The Husbands sister Pro-soror 6. The Wives sister In the degrees of Uncles and Aunts by the Fathers or Mothers side no Latin names of Affinity are extant therefore they are thus expressed Patrui vel Avunculi uxor Amitae vel Materterae Maritus The wife of the Fathers brother or of the Mothers brother The husband of the Fathers sister or of the Mothers sister Idem de Patruis Pro-avunculis Pro-amitis Pro-materteris coeterisque Superioribus intelligendum est SECT IV. The Church of England in case of Marriage forbids no more Degrees of Consanguinity or Affinity than are forbidden in the Civil Law Yet she numbers and computes the Degrees somewhat otherwise following therein the account of the Canon Law For she accounts Brothers and Sisters to be in the first degree of the side-line whereas the Civil Law accounts them in the second degree of the side-line and makes no first degree in that line at all But the matter comes all to one pass as some Players at Gleek reckon their games differently and yet accord well enough in the sum of the account For if we consider the Side-line alone by it self as there are several persons in it then some of those persons must needs make the First degree of the side-line in respect of the persons following therein But if we look upon the standard of the Pedigree or the person whose Consanguinity is required and from whom the degrees thereof are measured and numbred upward downward and sideward then the persons of the first degree in the side-line must needs make the second degree of Consanguinity in respect of the standard or person supposed whose Consanguinity is required and from whom the Degrees are to be measured according to the course whereby the blood is derived which doth constitute Consanguinity as before hath been intimated The Levitical Laws for Marriage do now bind us of the Church of England yet this truth is to be understood with some caution For albeit these Laws do bind us yet they bind us not by divine Authority because their obligation by divine Authority ceased expired and died at the death of Christ And thereupon all Christian Churches were left to their several liberties to follow such rules orders measures and degrees as by right Reason and Christian prudence should be established For the determination whereof the Church of England conceived it the most prudent course to make the Levitical Law her President and pattern and at last assumed them and adopted them into her own Canons and Statutes reviving unto them an obligation not of Divine authority as once they had from God but of Humane authority by the Secular and Ecclesiastical power of our Princes and Clergy after the Reformation Thus these very Levitical Laws for Marriage whose obligation by Divine authority was expired long since were afterwards revived unto a New obligation upon us by Humane authority In like manner divers of the Civil Laws do now oblige us here in England yet not by their original Constitution nor by the Imperial authority either of Justinian or any other Emperour but by the authority of our own State which hath assumed and confirmed them into Laws obligatory here in England as they were in the Roman Empire SECT V. Thus the Children of the Fee are to be lawful and pure Conclusion as genuine Sons of their heavenly Father and loving Brethren to each other to make up a holy Seed the true Church and kingdom of Christ Not to exclude Bastards from being the true Sons of God by Faith and Regeneration though they are not the true Sons of men by birth and lawful generation because God is no respecter of persons and they are innocent and shall not suffer for their Parents crimes Thus Whoremongers and Adulterers and all incestuous persons that defile the Marriage bed and all Fornicators Sodomites and unclean Persons cannot enter into the kingdom of God They never were admitted to the Fee and Homage of that kingdom or if they were admitted by Faith in Baptism they fell from it in not performing the Homage sworn to be performed by them As these men defile their own bodies and the bodies of others so they cannot be the Temples of the Holy Ghost As they pollute the World and the generations of Mankind so they pollute the Church and the generations of the Children of God As they confound and destroy the Successions and Inheritances of Temporal estates So they overthrew the estate of Heaven and cannot hold of Christ in God for the Heavenly Inheritance of eternal life They that will not be faithful in a little cannot be intrusted with much They that will not be faithful to their own wives and to their own house how shall they be faithful to their God and to the Church of God They that are unfaithful in the unrighteous Mammon who shall commit unto them the true Riches In a word without Faith it is impossible to please God and into the kingdom of heaven no unclean thing shall ever enter SECT VI. Tables of Consanguinity and Affinity The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bar to keep of from Parents are Uncles and Aunts by Gods Law The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bar to keep of from Brothers and Sisters are Nephews and Neeces or Cousin germans by Mans Law not General but Particular at some times to some Nations forbidden to restrain them from breaking in upon nearer Relations where they were more prone than other civil People were The Jews say Fac Legi Tuae Sepem Ascending Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great Grandfathers Great Grandmothers 3 Degree Grandfathers Grandmothers Fathers Mothers Quasi Parents Great Uncles Great Aunts Uncles Aunts Right Line 1 Degree Side-Line equal 2 Degree Brothers Sisters Side-Line unequal Descending Children Sons Daughters Grandson Grandaughters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 Degree Great Grandson Great Grandaughters Quasi Children Nephews Neeces Grand Nephews Grand Neeces The first second and third Degrees 1. Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters Uncles and Aunts are propinquous or near and are forbidden to marry by Divine Law The fourth Degree and so forward Nephews and Neeces or Cousin Germans of the first Degree and so to the second third c. are all remote and are permitted to marry by Divine and Humane Law The Table of Consanguinity and Affinity A Man may not marry in the Right Line Upward in the First Degree Mothers Mother Cons Stepmother Aff. Wives Mother Aff. Second Deg. Grandmothers Grandmother Cons Grandfathers Wife Aff. Wives Grandmother Aff. Downward in the First Degree Daughters Daughters Cons Wives Daughter Aff. Sons Wife Aff. Second Deg. Grand-daughters Sons Daughter Cons Daughters Daugh. Cons Sons Sons Wife Aff. Daughters Sons Wife Aff. Wives Sons Daugh. Aff. Wives Daughters D. Aff. Side Line Forward in the Sisters Sister Cons Wives Sister Aff. Brothers Wife Aff. Upward Aunts
Fathers Sister Cons Mothers Sister Cons Fathers Brothers Wife Aff. Mothers Brothers Wife Aff. Wives Fathers sister Aff. Wives Mothers Sisters Aff. Downward Neeces Brothers Daughter Cons Sisters Daughter Cons Brothers Sons Wife Aff. Sisters Sons Wife Aff. Wives brothers Daugh. Aff. Wives Sisters Daugh. Aff. A Man may not marry Upwards his Mothers Grandmothers Great Grandmothers In Nature In Law Forwards his Brothers Neeces In Nature In Law Sidewards his Aunts Great Aunts In Nature In Law Downwards his Daughters Grandaughters Great Grandaughters In Nature In Law A Woman may not Marry in the Right Line Upward in the First Degree Fathers Father Cons Stepfather Aff. Husbands Father Aff. Second Deg. Grandfathers Grandfather Cons Grandmothers Husb. Aff. Husbands Grandfather Aff. Downward in the First Degree Sons Son Cons Husbands Son Aff. Daughters Husb. Aff. Second Deg. Grandsons Sons Son Cons Daughters Son Cons Sons Daught. Husb. Aff. Daughters Daug. Husb. Aff. Husbands Sons Son Aff. Husbands Daugh. Son Aff. Side Line Forward Brothers Brother Cons Husbands Brother Aff. Sisters Husband Aff. Upward Uncles Fathers Brother Cons Mothers Brother Cons Fathers Sisters Husb. Aff. Mothers Sisters Husb. Aff. Husb. Fathers Brother Aff. Husb. Mothers Brother Aff. Downward Nephews Brothers Son Cons Sisters Son Cons Brothers Daugh. Husb. Aff. Sisters Daughters Husb. Aff. Husbands Brothers Son Aff. Husbands Sisters Son Aff. A Woman may not marry Upwards her Fathers Grandfathers Great Grandfathers In Nature In Law Forwards her Brothers Nephews In Nature In Law Sidewards her Aunts Great Aunts In Nature In Law Downwards her Sons Grandsons Great Grandsons In Nature In Law Prohibitions to the Third Degree inclusively A Man may not marry his 1. Mothers 2. Sisters 3. Aunts in Blood or Nature in Marriage or Law A Woman may not Marry her 1. Fathers 2. Brothers 3. Uncles in Blood or Nature in Marriage or Law Permissions of Cousins beyond the Third Degree Briefly A Man may not marry in the Right Line any of his Mothers Grandmothers Daughters Grandaughters Side Line any of her Sisters Aunts Neeces Persons forbidden in the Right Line 15 in all 30. Side Line 15 in all 30. Briefly A Woman may not marry in the Right Line any of her Fathers Grandfathers Sons Grandsons Side Line any of her Brothers Uncles Nephews Persons forbidden in the Right Line 15 in all 30. Side Line 15 in all 30. A Postscript THose that have had the patience hitherto let them favour me a little farther for their satisfaction to read the Testimonies of some Ancient and Modern Divines who have either said the same things with me or else very like them or have given me hints at least to enlarge upon them Authorities I know by custome sound high and prevail much to vulgar perswasion But solid reason is of much more force in it self and prevails much more with intelligent and unbiassed Souls Examine well the scope of all and without prejudice and let the Learned correct qualifie expunge or add as their wisdoms shall prompt them with all Candour Hear therefore next to the Holy Scriptures what these Learned men do say Testimonia Laciniata The CONTENTS Peccatum Originale Lex Fides Duo Testamenta Fides Scripturae Nature Grace Absolute Decree Spirituale Sacrificium Superstitio Promissa Adamo Praedestinatio Meritum Perseverantia Satisfactio Praedestinatio Peccatum Originale Imputatio Labes Originalis Controversies Ceremonies Definitions and Determinations Scoffing and Railing Atheism Gravity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Covenants Testament New Covenant Correspondence of Covenants Sacrifices Decalogue Baptism Natural Law Law and Gospel Resurrectio Justitia Imputatio Fides Justificatio Remissio Imputatio Justification Imputed Righteousness Justification Original sin Weakness Generousness Elements Nonage of the Church Fanaticks Terrible representations of God Popular errors Fathers not all pure OEconomy of Moses decaying Signs Some jealous conceits of God's indifferency to the World Jewish Nation a Pattern for others Votum pro Pace Christian Religion Immanation of God Emanations of God Appetites of Man's Happiness Recovery Doctrines troubled Vulgar errours Discerning Party Primitive Terms Reformation A Postscript Old Covenant Gen. 2.17 IN that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are in the Law to do them Deot 27.26 If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandments and his statutes then shall all these curses come upon thee and overtake thee Deut. 23. Lev. 26.23 c. And if you will not be reformed by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins New Covenant 2 Cor. 3.6 Who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life 1 Cor. 10.1 c. I will not have you to be ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same Spiritual meat and did all drink the same Spiritual Drink for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that follow'd them and that Rock was Christ Job 8.17 Luc. 10.24 The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ For I tell you many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye have heard and have not heard them Matth. 11 1◠Verily I say unto you Among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Hebr. 7.19 For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God Hebr. 8.6 Now he hath obtain'd a more excellent Ministery by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better Promises Hebr. 9.15 And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first Covenant they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator c. 2 Tim. 1.9 10. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Act. 13.38 39. Be it known unto you therefore Men and Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from
natural Son of Jacob. Luk. 3. â—3 Matth. 1. Now Heli and Jacob were Brethren the Sons of Matthan who was Grandfather to Joseph and Mary 2. The Christian Law or the Gospel no where forbids these Marriages Christian Law Christ saith A man shall leave his Father and his Mother and cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh By Father and Mother are forbidden the marriage of Parents and Children By cleaving to his wife are forbidden adultery with another mans wife and Extra-nuptial pollutions and Concubitus Masculorum By they two shall be one flesh is forbidden Polygamy and the mixture of several species of flesh as bestiality c. 3. As for Publick Honesty and good Report Publick Honesty and good Report which is required in all things especially in Marriages there is nothing contrary to those in the marriage of Cousins german I do not mean false Love or weak fancies and estimations of Vulgar People concerning publick fame or honesty But I hold that the Laws of God and of Men and the universal judgments of the best part of Mankind are the measures of publick honesty Sp. Ligustinus in Livy saith Pater mihi uxorem dedit fratris sui filiam Instances Cicero pro Cluent saies that his Sister married Melinus her Cousin German Augustus Caesar gave his daughter Julia to Marcellus the Son of his Sister Octavia The brave Brutus was married to Portia the daughter of his wise Uncle Cato Marcus Antoninus the Philosopher was married to his Cousin german Annia Faustina Constantius the Emperour gave his Sister to her Cousin Julianus L. 1. § duorum Inst de Nuptiis L. 3. L. non solum § 1. ff de Ritu Nuptiarum L. si Nepot 3. de Ritu Nupt. L. Conditioni 2. C. de Inst Theodosius Obj. being perswaded by St. Ambrose was the first that forbad these Marriages Tantum pudori tribuens continentiae ut consobrinarum nuptias vetuerit tanquam Sororum This Law was abrogated by Arcadius and Honorius his Sons Sol. v. Justin L. Celebrandis C. de Nuptiis Revocatâ prisci Juris Authoritate restinctisque calumniarum fomentis Matrimonium inter Consobrinos habeatur In the Theodosian Code the Law seems to say otherwise in the Titles Obj. Si Nuptiae ex Rescripto petantur T. de Incestis Nuptiis Alarick King of the Goths Sol. commanded Arrianus to make a Breviary of the Code and he corrupted this Law fitting it to the custome of his own Country So did he in the Epitome of Caius his Institutions So did Theophilus till Curtius his Latin Interpreter mended him And Trebonian the great compiler of the Pandects and Code made as bold with Justinian as Arrianus did with Theodosius and sometimes great Lawyers and Statesmen will do what they list for all Princes The Canon Law 4. As for the Canon Law that doth now forbid it of old it was not so In the Canons of the Apostles there are these Instances He that marries two Sisters or his Brothers widow or daughter may not be received into holy Orders and no more But about St. Augustines time it is said concerning the marriages of Cousin germans Nondum prohibuerat Lex humana Divina nunquam In the Synod of Paris almost six hundred years after Christ these are called unlawful Marriages Quae contrà praeceptum Domini contrahuntur none else In the old Canons all the prohibited Instances are in this Table C. Extr. de Rest Spons Nata Soror Neptis Matertera Fratris Uxor Et Patris Conjux Mater Privigna Novercae Uxorisque Soror Privigni Nata Nurusque Atque soror Patris conjungi lege vetantur But about this time were sad Assemblies of Bishops because the Nations were corrupted with the Goths and Vandals that subdued them And the Clergy especially were willing to comply with the Conquerors whose Laws did not allow this practice And at such a troublesom time as that was they judged it expedient to prevent incestuous Marriages of brothers and sister to make this Bar or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of forbidding Cousins german to marry though it were never forbidden before These Prohibitions of Popes began at first with the first degree of Cousins called German then they crept farther to the second degree then to the third and fourth degrees of Cousins so often removed then they came to seven degrees at last and then back to six and four again as in the Caballian Synod Sometimes they went out of sight Usque dum generatio agnoscitur aut memoria retinetur Their Reasons are like their Laws bald enough For four degrees the reasons are because there are but four Humors in the body but four Elements in the World and but four fingers and a thumb upon a mans hand So the Thumb is the Stirps or Common parent And the life of Man is but a span long and there are but four Quarters of the World Ergo c. Quod erat demonstrandum For seven degrees their Reasons are because there are but three Faculties of the Soul which being joyned to the four Humors of the body make seven and therefore we must abstain to the seventh Generation that is to Cousins seven times removed Oh rare Also because by the Civil Law Inheritances descended but to the seventh degree therefore marriages of Cousins must be forbid to the seventh degree A false ground this is if good that they go upon because Inheritances descend unto the tenth degree But if not they reckon their degrees otherwise than the Civil Law doth and consequently forbid marriages of Cousins to the fifth degree exclusively because by them those Cousins are reckoned but in the second degree which by the Civil Law are in the fourth degree For by that Law there are so many degrees as there are persons one excepted which is the Common stock But by the Canon Law so far as either of the persons is distant from the common Parent so far he is distant from the other in the Equal line Besides it is evident That sometimes that which is lawful hath been prohibited lest men should run into that which is unlawful Not to come too near the hedge least they should get over the hedge And this is matter of prudence and caution only not of what is lawful or unlawful And farther yet It is apparent that such laws as these are Draines and Decoys to get mony for Gold will purchase Leaden dispensations at any time And just so it was in this change of the Law concerning Cousins german That the Civil Law was tuned to the Key of the Canon Law and both to the Air of the Goths and Vandals Second Cousins are forbid to marry Ergo First Cousins much more Obj. though they be not expresly named None ever forbad second Cousins to marry Sol. but they that forbad first Cousins to marry Besides it is a groundless fancy and a vulgar errour and I could never find any reasons for it Isaack
not Daughters except those who 25 Annum egressae inconsultis Parentibus rectè nubant Generally all these Marriages are unlawful 1. Fathers and Mothers and all above in the right Line 2. Sons and Daughters and all below in the right Line 3. Brothers and Sisters forward but no farther in the side-line equal 4. Uncles and Aunts and all above in the side-line unequal 5. Nephews and Neeces and all below in the side-line unequal SECT III. Stemma Cognationis Linea recta Ascendens 1. The Father and Mother are the first degree upward Right line Ascending Pater Mater L. 1. §. 3. L. ult §. primo gradu ff de Grad Avus Avia Proavus Proavia and are compared with the Son and Daughter which are the first degree downward 2. The Grandfather and Grandmother are the second degree upward and are compared with the Nephew and Neece which are the second degree downward 3. The great Grandfather and great Grandmother or Grandfathers father and Grandmothers mother are the third degree upward and are compared with the Grandnephew or Grandneece or with the Nephew or Neeces son or daughter which are the third degree downward Abavus Abavia 4. The great Grandfathers or great Grandmothers father and mother are the fourth degree upward and are compared with the Nephews and Neeces Nephew and Neece which are the fourth degree downward or with the Grandnephew or Grandneeces son and daughter Atavus Atavia 5. The great Grandfathers Grandfather or great Grandmothers Grandmother are the fifth degree upward and are compared with the Nepheros Neropheros or Neeces Neeces son or daughter which are the fifth degree downward or with the grand Nephews nephew or grand Neeces neece Yritavus Tritavia 6. The great Grandfathers grandfathers Father or the great Grandmothers grandmothers Mother are the sixth degree upward and are compared with the Nephews nephews nephew or Neeces neeces neece with the grand Nephews nephews son or daughter or the grand Neeces neeces son or daughter These are called Parents or Majores SECT IV. Linea recta Descendens Right line Descending Filius Filia Nepos Neptis 1. The Son and Daughter are the first degree downward and are compared with the Father and Mother which are the first degree upward 2. The Nephew and Neece are the second degree downward and are compared with the Grandfather and Grandmother which are the second degree upward Pronepos Proneptis 3. The grand Nephew and grand Neece are the third degree downward and are compared with the great Grandfather and great Grandmother which are the third degree upward Abnepos Abneptis 4. The grand Nephew and grand Neeces son and daughter are the fourth degree below and are compared with the great Grandfathers father and great Grandmothers mother which are the fourth degree above Atnepos Atneptis 5. The grand Nephews nephew and grand Neeces neece are the fifth degree below and are compared with the great Grandfathers grandfather and great Grandmothers grandmother which are the fifth degree above Trinepos Trineptis 6. The grand Nephews nephews son and daughter and the grand Neeces neeces son and daughter are the sixth degree below and are compared with the great Grandfathers grandfathers father and the great Grandmothers grandmothers mother which are the sixth degree above These are called Liberi Minores Posteri SECT V. Linea transversa Aequalis Line transverse equal Frater Soror Fratris filius Sororis filius filia 1. The Brother and Sister are the second degree forward for there is no first degree at all 2. The Brothers and Sisters son and daughter are the third degree forward answering to the Uncle or Aunt upward which are corruptly called Nephews and Neeces 3. Fratris Sororis Nepâ— Neptis Fratris Sâ—roris Pronepâ—â— Proneptis The Brother and Sisters nephew and neece are the fourth degree forward answering to the great Uncle and great Aunt upward 4. The Brothers and Sisters nephews and neeces son or daughter are the fifth degree forward answering to the great Uncles and great Aunts father upward 1. Patrueles The Sons and Daughters of two brothers are the fourth degree forward and are compared one with another The Sons and Daughters of two sisters are of the fourth degree Consobrini and are compared one with another That is all the Sons and Daughters of Uncles and Aunts by the fathers or mothers side are Cousin germans of the fourth degree 2. Sobrini The Sons and Daughters of two Uncles and Aunts are the fifth degree and are compared one with another 3. Propiores Sobrini The Sons and Daughters of two great Uncles and Aunts are of the sixth degree and are compared one with another In sobrinorum gradibus Cognationis nomina desinunt 4. Carent nominibus The Sons and Daughters of two greater Uncles and two greater Aunts are of the seventh degree and are compared one with another 5. The Sons and Daughters of two greatest Uncles and two greatest Aunts are of the eighth degree and are compared one with another SECT VI. Linea transversa Inaequalis The Uncle or Fathers brother is the third degree Line transverse unequal Patruus Pro-patruus vel Patruns Magnus Patruns Major and is compared with the Brothers son 2. The great Uncle or Grandfathers brother is the fourth degree and is compared with the Brothers nephew 3. The greater Uncle or great Grandfathers brother is the fifth degree and is compared with the Brothers nephews son 4. Patruus Maximus Abpatruus Amita The greatest Uncle or the great Grandfathers fathers brother is the sixth degree and is compared with the Brothers nephews nephew 1. The Aunt or Fathers sister is the third degree and is compared with the Brothers son 2. The great Aunt or Grandfathers sister is the fourth degree Pro-amita vel Amita magna and is compared with the Brothers nephew 3. The greater Aunt or great Grandfathers sister is the fifth degree Amita major and is compared with the Brothers nephews son 4. Amita maxima The greatest Aunt or great Grandfathers fathers sister is the sixth degree and is compared with the Brothers nephews nephew 1. The Uncle or Mothers brother is the third degree Avunculus and is compared with the Sisters son 2. The great Uncle or Grandmothers brother is the fourth degree Avunculus magnus and is compared with the Sisters nephew 3. Avunculus major The greater Uncle or great Grandmothers brother is the fifth degree and is compared with the Sisters nephews Son 4. Avunculus maximus The greatest Uncle or great Grandmothers mothers brother is the sixth degree and is compared with the Sisters nephews nephew 1. The Aunt or Mothers sister is the third degree Matertera and is compared with the Sisters son 2. The great Aunt or Grandmothers sister is the fourth
Words Berith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew and Greek are sometimes used for a Covenant to which as to Laws a Sanction doth belong but Testamentum in the Latin never but only for a Last Will. And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New Testament ought to be interpreted a Testament and it is to be admired that it is so frequently translated Covenant Sanction It is vulgarly asserted That the Word Covenant is most proper in the Gospel sense Because as in Laws that Part is called a Sanction which consecrates the Blood of the Offender to the Law for his Transgression so in Covenants especially Publick as Leagues and Truces between Nation and Nation The Establishment of old was by the slaying of some beast which is called a Sanction from Sanguis or Blood and Foedus a League â ferendo and foedus percutere to strike a League because they used to strike a Hog or other beast to death at the time of the making of the League with a solemn asseveration of both Parties Confederate That if either of them should offer to violate the Articles of the Peace or War agreed upon between them then Jupiter should so or more destroy those Covenant-breakers as they did then and there destroy that beast and more also The old Form runs thus Si prior defecit Tu illum Jupiter sic ferito ut Ego hunc Porcum nunc feriam tantóque magis quantò magis potes pollesque Not much unlike the Hebrew Form God do so to me and more also Asseveration 1 Sam. 25 22. As David threatned Nabal for denying relief to his men saying God do so and more also unto the enemies of David if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the Wall As Abner threatned Ishbosheth the Son of Saul So do God to Abner and more also except 2 Sam. 3.9 as the Lord hath sworn to David even so I do to him to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David c. As Ruth Covenanted with Naomi Ruth 1.17 The Lord do so to me and more if ought but Death part thee and me As Cushi answered David concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18.32 The enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt be as that young man is As David promised Amasa God do so to me and more also 2 Sam. 19.13 if thou be not Captain of the Host before me continually in the room of Joab 1 Sam. 20.13 As Jonathan Covenanted with David saying If there be good toward David and I then send not unto thee and shew it thee The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan 1 Sam. 20.16 and let the Lord even require it at the hand of David 's Enemies The like Imprecation is in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So for the confirmation of the Old Testament Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said Exod. 24.8 Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Hence that severe threatning on those that count the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing Heb. 10 29. So that of the Prophet alludes to this As for thee also by the Blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners c. Zech. 9.11 So in the Covenant between God and Abraham Gen. 15.10 the Beasts and the Birds were divided in the midst c. So that these Words Berith and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are so large that they denote a Law Covenant and Testament but principally a Testament These three Significations agreeing well together in this great Disposition of God in the Gospel which is his Testament Law and Covenant because every Testament absolute is a Law but this Testament of Gods is conditional which makes it a Covenant as well as a Law Therefore the Word Testament is and hath Title of the Scriptures ever been the Common Title of the Scriptures of the Law and Gospel and the ancient Christians chose rather to call the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.2 Jac. 2.8 Jac. 1.25 Ro. 3.27 though it be the New and Royal Law of Jesus Christ and the Law of liberty and the Law of Faith Because Christ himself hath given it that Name this is my Blood of the New Testament and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews doth most accurately describe the Nature of it saying Heb. 9.15 He is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by the means of Death for the Transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance for where a a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the Testator liveth c. The Apostles also observing the true Idiome of this Word call themselves accordingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3 6. God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life Neither can there be any just Exceptions made against this Title of the Old and New Testament for who dares call the Gospel by any other Name than Christ hath given it at his solemn Supper and than the Apostles have given and all the antient Christians both Greek and Latine There were many other Testaments or Covenants of God in Scriptures Other Covenants Jer. 33.20 Gen. 6.18 so called or rather Ordinances Laws and Decrees as the Covenant made with Adam for the Revolution of the day and of the night and the Covenant with Noah in the Ark for his coming into the Ark with his Sons his Wife and his Sons Wives with him and also Gen. 9.9 That the Earth should never be destroyed with a flood any more there is besides Acts 7.8 the Covenant of Circumcision and the Covenant of the Sabbath Exod. 16.19 Exod. 31.16 And besides these Promises many and Covenants many But the main Covenant Old Covenant which for the Promises thereof was made to Abraham and for the Precepts thereof to Moses in Mount Sinai and began to be executed when the Children of Israel departed out of Egypt and was fully performed when Joshua in Moses stead put the people in actual Possession of the Land of Canaan I say this main Covenant swallowed up all other Covenants and took in Sabbath and Circumcision and carried away the Name of the Covenant of God from all the rest New Covenant But when the Gospel came which was the New Covenant or Testament made by God to Christ this being the last and most perfect that ever God did make it carries away
necessary material circumstances which should make it ponderous and by a shew of falling even with the scale of some general Law I pronounce that for weight which is not if I had the skill or the honesty to poize it Judgment by likelyhood II. I judge of my Action by any likelyhood of Law as Idiots do of Coyn by the general stamp and colour without regard to the mettal I consider not that as all Rules have their exceptions all Topick Axioms their fallacies so all Laws have their limitations Ampliations and limitations of Law III. The naked Law it self being a plain and familiar Principle doth easily sink into my dull brain and prevails with my popular capacity but her ampliations and limitations are so various and intricate that it requires more than ordinary sharpness of wit to conceive aright of them For it is the Crown or Masterpiece of wisdom to set out fairly the true bounds of a Law how far it takes effect and when and where and with whom and why it fails Again because I would have my fuller swing and career of Liberty I will not learn nor believe that my life is subject to the controll of many and diverse Laws or to the Will of one or more uncontrollable Men and that several of those Laws at once may have their several force in one and the same Action Weighing my action by one Law IV. Upon this heedlessness of Understanding or hastiness of Will I weigh mine Action but against one Law when I should counterpoize it with many Yea to deal exactly I should examine it by every particular Law of the whole body to any whereof my repugnancy makes my Action quite unlawful For as in Speculation nothing can be truth that contradicts another truth so in Practice nothing is lawful which any Law forbids And when I have canvased all the respective Laws and got their consent yet I never follow the Rule of my private Reason when the publick should prevail Rather learn by the wary Usurer who in receiving mony hath a peering eye to the mettal and stamp and tries it alwaies by the Touch-stone V. Lastly Suspense between two Laws If I have some knowledge in the variety and opposition of Laws when I find it hang so level between two Laws if I can discover no difference Then my Sin hath the casting voice so which way soever she takes Sin hath the casting voice she gives the scale a twitch and I rest satisfied and my Action is down-weight and very lawful Herein I look not to the Rules that should lead me to the fairest interpretation To follow in doubtful cases the safest in obscure the likeliest in penal the mildest and the largest in favourable But if my sin be driven with Passion or Custome she presently cries down that Law for unreasonable I consider not that where a Law hath no reason annexed Reason of Law it is hard to find it out and that some Laws have no original reason at all Good reason there was for some final determination one way or other but upon deliberation no prevalent reason appearing why this way rather than that way The last Resolution was from the will and pleasure of the Legislator as a matter only indifferent which way but necessary as far as might be guessed to pitch upon this way Thus Law or no Law good Law or bad Law my sin deceives me though differently Without the Law she is liveless but by the Law lawless Let me then no more blame the Casuists that they teach Sin least the like aspersion fall upon all Law All Law may be casual any so infortunate that thence I may take leave to sin For my Lust is so lawless that by learning the Law it will learn to sin and yet my Lust so legal that for any sin it will pretend a law So that as it is true on Sin 's part Ex malis moribus nascuntur bonae Leges Good Laws spring from evil manners so it is true on the Law 's part Ex bonis Legibus nascuntur mali mores Evil manners arise from good Laws In a word Sin gives occasion to some Laws but takes occasion from any Laws The CONTENTS Transition Nature of Slavery Tye of Slavery TITLE VIII Of Slavery under the Law Transition HItherto I have treated of the great and strange Question How we are deceived by the Law In the next place I proceed to another of as strange a nature How we are in bondage or slavery under the Law To the Subject of Slavery there belong these three points Nature of Slavery 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Lord of it which is Servitude the Sinner Sin and Satan The Nature of Slavery consists in three things 1. The Tye of it 2. The Seat of it 3. The Cases of it Tye of Slavery 1. The Tye of Slavery Slavery is a state of servitude the Tenure whereby it holds is Bondage bond service whence such as are under that yoke are called Bond servants or Bond slaves The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Servus are equivocal and signifie two degrees of Servants not kinds 1. A Free servant that lets out his service by contract freely 2. A Bond servant whose service is constrained and forced from him The offices of a Wife to a Husband a Son to a Father a Servant to a Master are not only services but free services 1. Because they are all temporary and expire as the service of the Wise by the Husband's death for then she is free from the Law of her Husband As the Son in full Age is no longer under Tutours and Governours As the Servant after the time of Contract is expired is free from the Law of his Master 2. Because they are certain and have limited and distinct offices as the duties of a Wife Son and Servant are distinct one from another 3. Because they are meritorious and have several rewards for their services as the Wife hath her Dower the Son his Portion the Servant his Wages But the service of the Slave is a bondage a miserable service contrary to the former 1. Because it is perpetual the time thereof is timeless for Bondage is a mutual Inheritance entailed to the Lord and the Slave and to their Heirs for ever The Lord being lord to the Slave and his heirs for ever and the Slave being slave to the Lord and his heirs for ever 2. Because it is arbitrary for the works and services thereof are uncertain pro libitu Domini according to the will of the Lord. 3. Because it is unprofitable no reward for the Slave but his labour for his pains and stripes to boot or pains for his pains All profits that arise by the Slave or his Wife and Children and his and their gains accrue to the Lord of them all and all they have or do Therefore Bondage is a barren or fruitless service Thus the Israelites
a Testament is the most Noble of all Deeds or Conveyances And that Because it is most Solemn Nuncupative 1. For Nuncupation if by word of mouth Declarative 2. For Declaration if it be written Witnesses 3. For Witnesses seven of old amongst the Romans at least and those all rightly qualified Citizens honest and of good report Plainness 4. For clear expression of mind For if at any time a Wise man will declare his meaning more than ordinary it must be in his last Will before his death because after that he can never interpret if he have left any doubts or flaws therein Heir 5. For Institution of an Heir to succeed the Testatour in all his Rights and to fulfil all his Will as if he himself were alive to do it Finishing by Hand and Seal 6. For exact finishing signing and sealing of his Will at the time of the Declaration thereof to be his true last Will and Testament Death 7. For Death sadly ensuing upon it to ratifie all that was Willed Testament most Gracious Because it is most Gracious In giving all 1. In giving all universitatem bonorum For the Heir succeeds into all the Rights and Priviledges of the Testator all is the Heirs originally as it was the Testator's though some Legacies be taken out of the Inheritance and sprinkled upon the Legataries by the hand of the heir as the Testator might have done while he was alive This is delibatio Hereditatis but a Taste of the Inheritance the main body is the Heirs In dying 2. In leaving all by dying Goods and Life together greater Love than this can no Man shew than to lay down his life to give all to his Heir And there can be no Person more dear than he whom a Man doth make his sole Heir and Successor to live as it were in his stead and to enjoy use and act for him to all intents and purposes as if he were still alive The Form of old expressed this Love quando ego ex rebus humanis excessero tunc tu charissime Haeres meus esto Loe here I dye and leave thee my most beloved Heir to represent my person still and to possess immediately after my decease my Honour and Estate and to do every thing therein which I would or should have done and especially what I have enjoyned to be done according to my quality and degree as if I were alive my self to do it And moreover in particular it is the most noble and gracious Deed above a Covenant SECTION V. Because a Covenant is not so solemn an Act as a Testament is Reason 1 Testament most solemn For Covenants may be made and are made in Mirth and Jollity at a Market or a Tavern without any sad Consideration of Death ensuing But a Testament is alwaies upon most serious Consideration either in a Closet or on a Man's Death-bed or upon any dangerous Adventure or Travel or in acie or when a man is at the point to dye and then is no dallying when Death is before our face Thus Christ a little before his Death declares his last Will to his Disciples and took the solemn Symbols of Bread and Wine that by them they might remember the last Will of their dying Saviour viz. What gifts he gave unto them My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you c. And what Duty he required at their hands to do or suffer for the Gospel's sake saying Take eat this is my Body which was given for you do this in remembrance of me and this is my Blood of the new Testament which was shed for you drink you all of this and by this they were to shew the Lords Death until his second coming for the full Performance of the Will of God which then he dyed to confirm when he shall give actual possession of the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers SECTION VI. Because a Covenant is not so liberal as a Testament is Reason 2 Most Liberal it is more penurious strict and covetous tying men up oftentimes to hard Conditions and is without pure Love the Parties covenanting not daring to trust one another without Bonds and Securities double and treble and desperate Forfeitures and Penalties But a Testament is a bountiful Donation of all to the Heir in whom he puts full trust and confidence and whom he most dearly loves above all the World besides And if he do require Conditions they are sutable to the Love of him that dyes to give him all and to the condition of him to whom all is given that he would no more hurt or dishonour him by these Conditions than he would hurt or dishonour himself if he were to live to perform them SECTION VII I know Marriage there are other Contracts and Covenants of great excellency and vertue as between Man and Wife Friend and Friend of rare Endearments to each other but nothing like this of a Testament In Marriages there are gifts mutual the Wife brings her Dowry to her Husband and he gives his gifts ad sustinenda onera Matrimonii and settles a Joynture upon her there is one for the other yea there is a Communion of all things divine and humane between them yea they give their own Bodies to each other for life and when the Husband dies he leaves her part of his honour and third Part of the Estate and by the Imperial Law she goes away with her Dowry that she brought him SECTION VIII A near Union It is a very near and intimate Union I do confess both in Law making but one Person and by Copulation but one Flesh and a Man and Woman must forsake Father and Mother and they two must cohabit and become one Flesh And besides the resignation of Bodies to each other so that they are not their own but have power over each other they may and ought to give their minds and affections mutually and thereby they are not only one Flesh which may be with Harlots but one Spirit also All which things agree most rarely well with the spiritual Mariage which is between Christ and his Church But this Notion is not shut out of the Testament of God but comes in very well under it For we that are by Faith the Sons and Heirs of God are also his Allies and Friends yea his Spouse and Wife and all the intimate Relations that can be imagined Matrimonial Love is of great concernment as to Procreation being the Fountain of all Societies and the enlargement of Mankind but still it makes but one Flesh as it may be with Harlots but the main thing is a harmony of Humours and Conditions and this makes them more one Soul and one Spirit as friends are and they may not be Conjugal Benefits are great to Wives for Honour and Estate but Paternal Benefits are greater to Sons and Heirs for Honour and Estate And for Law
no Comparison A man's Heir is himself in all Successions and with himself still represented goes along the Possession of all his Honours and Goods for ever A man's Wife is part of himself and carrieth part of his Estate and Honour with her as a Wife should do But his Heir hath all himself and his Estate and Honour too as an Heir should have SECTION IX Acquisition of Goods Other ways of acquiring Goods there are but only in part as first Ocupation Invention Accretion Donation c. But this is in full to go away with all by right of Testamental Inheritance Let every comfortable and benefical Relation therefore be taken in especially that of a Father which is Christ's own Relation by Nature and ours by Grace and Adoption in Christ the principal Son of God and Heir of all things this hinders not but includes the Love-respects of Wife Spouse Sister Brother Friend or Allies Love of God All Love in God is great towards all his Creatures but chiefly to Mankind and more especially to his Church Love of Souls This Love of God to the Soul passeth all knowledge to express the height and length and depth and breadth thereof And again the Love of the Soul to God is unexpressible Stay me with flagons and comfort me with apples for I am sick of Love It is the Soul's ravishment and admiration to an Extasie to see it self thus beloved of God and not know how nor why and to feel what she is not able to conceive or express The blessed Cherubims and Seraphims burn with this Love But for the description of God's Love that kindles all other Love we must draw a Curtain Silence best expresses what we are not able to understand The Communion and fellowship with God Communion proceeding from the mutual love between God and the Soul and the influences of the Spirit is the great mystery of Christ and his Church Behold what manner of Love this is Adoption that we should be called the Sons of God! And we know that we are now the Sons of God but we know not hereafter what we shall be but this we know that when he appeareth we shall appear with him in glory and of Carnal be made Spiritual of Corruptible Incorruptible of Mortal Immortal A man may have many Friends very near and dear unto him Heir the most Beloved and which may bestow upon him many and great gifts and to whom he may give many and great gifts also but the Son and Heir of his Body lawfully begotten or the Son and Heir of his Love lawfully adopted receives most favour and profit by him because he is himself represented and his Off-spring forever So Christ is the beloved Son and Heir of God in whom he is well pleased and in whom we are the beloved Sons and Heirs and Coheirs with Christ The rest go away with their several gifts and honours from him and set up several houses and families of their own but the Son and Heir is full and continual Successor to his Father in all his Honour and Estate as Lord Earl or King with all the Lands and Revenues for ever entailed upon him by his Father who thus never dies But a Wife after her Husband's departure is a Widow free for another man loses a great part of her Lustre and Priviledges and enjoys only her Dowry which she had before from her Father or her Joynture which she received from her Husband so that her Widowhood by her Husbands death is a diminution to her head But it is the augmentation of an Heir by his Father's decease And thus God would have it be in the manner of the conveyance of his Estate to us by way of Testament that we should be his Heirs Thus Love is contained in God's Promises Laws Constitutions Decrees and Testaments at large wherein is the Royal Charter of God's great Donation to his Church and faithful People instituted to be his Heirs and Co-heirs with Christ in toto solido every one of them without any diminution of happiness though there be degrees thereof And under this Grant they claim their Right by their Faith or Promise or Covenant with God to accept of his Love and to obey his Laws An high honour to be the Friends and Allies of God but a far higher to be his Sons and Heirs in all Honours and Inheritances entailed and never to be cut off by God but only by their own Refusal or Apostacy else the Promise of God standeth sure and they remain spiritual Prophets Priests and Kings for evermore This is the only difference between earthly and heavenly Heirs that the Earthly succeed in Flesh and Blood Honour and Estate and in all things but only Vertues and great Parts but the Heirs of God succeed not only to the Inheritance of Glory but to the Vertues Gifts and Graces and Likeness of God To conclude in a word there are many and great acts of Grace in the World but none of them nor all together are so gracious as that of a Testament And such is the Gospel the New Testament of God's Grace SECTION X. Definition of the Gospel This is a Definition of the Gospel so large in extent that we can reach nothing beyond it to prove it by Not because it is no true Definition but because it is so highly true that there is no cause or reason above it wherewith to prove it A prime Verity an Axiom a Principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Causa Postulatum ut Triangulum est rectilinium Trilaterum A Demonstration so of reason so true that no body in his right wits can deny A Nominal or Grammatical Cause may be given for the words Gospel Testament or Covenant but no Rational or Real Cause because it is a Definition Nevertheless though it cannot so properly be proved because granted and a Principle yet it may well be illustrated or declared more to the understanding thereof Definition of a Testament And so a Testament is a just Decree of things to be had or done after the Testators death according to that of Justinian Testamentum est voluntatis justa Sententia de eo quod quis post mortem suam fieri velit Called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Disposition or Decree of the Will and by the Latins Testamentum or solemn Testation of witnessing of the Testator's mind declared to fit persons And in this the Wisdom and Goodness of God to us appears in condescending to our shallow Capacities by setling the Inheritance of Eternal life upon mortal Men by an Immutable Testament after the manner of Men more impossible after the Death of Christ to be revoked than all the Laws by the Medes and Persians that by this way and means all Believers might be assured that they are Instituted the Sons and Heirs of God by Jesus Christ in his last Will and Testament because it is so ratified by the Death
Ro. 5.13 sin is not to be imputed where there is no Law In this Term of Recess there is some difference between the Jewish and the Gentile Christians Because the Jewish Christians are free from being Children and Servants under God's Law but the Gentile Christians are free from being Aliens and Strangers unto God's Kingdom for they never served under that written Law SECTION V. Term of Access Sonship The Term of Access whereto we are freed is a state of Son-hood unto God to be Filiifamilias Deo Free-men of the Heavenly Jerusalem Free in the Family and Policy of God To this state of Son-hood are consequent two Rights 1. Of Maintenance to be nourished and educated as the Sons of God by the Spirit of God called the Comforter 2. Of Inheritance to be Heirs of all Blessings promised in their mystical spiritual and divine intendment to Abraham For though God be free to Adopt whom he will to be his Sons yet after Adoption he is bound by the Law of Adoption to justifie them or give them a Right to Maintenance and then to a Right of Inheritance Because by the Law of Nature both these are due to the Native Son therefore by the Law of Adoption they are due also to the Adoptive Son But in this Term of Access there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile Christian but both are equally the Sons of God in equal Right to Maintenance and Inheritance No difference of Persons with God Jew or Gentile Bond or Free Male or Female all are alike to him Because the Manumission of the Jew from being a Servant and the Denisation of the Gentile from being an Alien concur into one and the same state of Christian Liberty The Author whereof is God the Mediator and Collator Christ 1. In all this Christian Liberty it is to be noted that there is a Loosness from the Rigor Bondage and Curse of the Law but not from the Rule of the Law of God which is the Light of Nature and the Revealed Light of Grace in the Scripture and from the Laws of Men derived from them both it being the Nature of true Liberty alwaies to consist with true Obedience to Laws and the more obedient the more free for the Service of God is perfect freedom And when we are free only to good without Indifferency then are we in the true resemblance of God and Angels who will Good only without all reluctancy or inclination to Evil. 2. In this Christian Liberty also it is to be noted that God's free Grace and Man's free Will do very excellently well consist together And the more Man 's free Will follows God's free Grace the more free it is because God's free Grace doth free the Will by loosing it from all Evil and leading it into all Good In which condition when the Will is so fixed without hovering to and fro trembling as the Needle in the Compass but freely and undoubtingly pointing in its first motion to God and all Goodness then is our Absolute Perfection come upon us which we aspire unto in this life In the mean time till we attain to this full Freedom as they that search for the Philosopher's Stone which though they find not yet they discover excellent Rarities so we meet with admirable Experiences of breaking through the revocations of a sensitive Will in the tendencies of the Rational desire to the Coelestial Objects of Love Most things have their Counterfeits and whatsoever is in deed may be in outward shew As there is Christianity in deed and in shew so there is Liberty in truth and Liberty in appearance Slavery in truth and Slavery in appearance And these Counterfeits that would seem to be the same with the Real are quite Contraries As the Devil appears to be an Angel of Light but is the Prince of Darkness so Licentiousness would be called Christian Liberty but is Antichristian Bondage The True Freedom is from the Son of God and the True Slavery is from the Devil The CONTENTS Ismael Isaac But two Eminent Covenants State of Christian Liberty TITLE XIII Of the Allegory of the two Covenants THE Bondage of the Law and Liberty of the Gospel whereby the Two Covenants are exactly distinguished one from the other is accurately described by St. Paul by the Allegory of the Two Mothers Agar and Sarah the Bond-woman and the Free-woman and of their two Sons Ismael and Isaac For these saith he Gal. 4.24 are the Two Covenants By these two Women Abraham had two Sons principally named Ismael and Isaac For Abraham had took Keturah and by her had six Sons after Sarah's death when he was past ordinary Generation at one hundred and forty years of age for the abundant fulfilling of the Promise of a Numerous Off-spring Gen. 25. SECTION I. I. Ismael the Eldest Son was by a Bondmaid his Natural Son Ismael not Legitimate For Agar by Nation was an Egyptian by State and Condition Sarah's Bondmaid by Use and Service her Waiting-woman or Hand-maid probably bought by Sarah when she was in Egypt and by an Act of Priviledge given by Sarah her Mistress to be Abraham's Concubine or Wife quasily and usually Gen. 16.3 for she had neither the Dower nor Power from Abraham in his house as a True VVife but remained still a Bond-woman to her Master and Mistris and when she had served both and done her work was fairly turned out of doors SECTION II. Isaac II. Isaac the youngest Son was by a Free-woman his Legitimate Son by a lawful Wife For Sarah was Free-born and lived free a Matron had the true Right of Bed and Board of Dower and Power dignity of Rule under Abraham over the Family For Liber est qui Jus habet sui ipsius Servus qui nullum Jus habet sed est alterius He or she is free that hath Right but a Servant hath none but is another man's Right And as the two Mothers Conditions were contrary one to another so were their two Sons For Partus sequitur ventrem the one therefore was a Bond-man as his Mother was a Bond-woman and the other a Free-man as his Mother was a Free-woman The one therefore had no Right to the Inheritance because he was no Right Son but a Bastard and the other had Right because he was a True Son and Legitimate So the Law and the Gospel are contrary the one to another because their states and conditions are contrary The Law is a Bond-woman and the Gospel is a Free-woman and the Sons of the Law and of the Gospel follow the state and condition of their Mothers for the Sons of the Law are as Ismael who though a Son had neither the state of a Person nor the Right of a Son but was a Bastard and Bond-child because he came from a Woman who had not the state of a Woman nor the Right of a Wife but was a Bond-maid and a Concubine And the Sons of the Gospel
are as Isaac who was a True Son and had the State of the Person and the Right of a Son because he came from a Woman who had the state of a Woman and the Right of a Wife and was no Bond-woman nor Concubine So it is plain from this way of Argumentation used by the Apostle That the Sons of the Law that trust to the Law only shall be as little justified or have as little Right to the Inheritance of heaven as Ismael had to Abraham's Inheritance which was none at all because he was born of a Woman who had Works enough for she was a Bond-maid but those could create unto her no Right nor to her Son to inherit But the Sons of the Gospel that trust to the Gospel only shall be thereby as much justified and have as much right to the Inheritance of heaven as Isaac had to Abraham's Inheritance which mas a complete Right because he was born of a Woman who had Faith to conceive when past Child-bearing which did create to her a full Right to be a Mother and to her Son to be an Heir This was the first Difference between the two Mothers and the two Sons on the Mother's side The second Difference is between the two Sons only by the Father's side For though they had one and the same Father yet they were begotten from different principles and operations in Abraham enabling him to beget them Gen. 16.2 1. Ismael came from Abraham as from a natural Father born after the flesh by Abraham's natural power and strength of Generation as also from Agar's natural force of Conception For Abraham was not restrained by Nature from begetting being then but eighty five years old though Sarah was restrained from bearing though not by Nature as being the younger yet by God's will 2. Isaac came from Abraham as from a supernatural Father born after the Spirit by Abraham's supernatural power and strength of Generation from God as also from Sarah's supernatural virtue of Conception by God For Abraham was restrained by Nature from begetting Ro. 10.7 being then Ninety nine years old and Sarah had a double deadness for besides that she was barren she was Ninety years old yet conceived by virtue of God's Promise Ro. 9.8 9. or by the Spirit and power of God upon her Faith So they that will be under the Law which is a Bond-woman and engendring to Bondage though thereby they be the Children of God yet they are but his natural and carnal Children because born after a more natural and carnal way by Works under the Law Heb. 9.10 consisting in carnal and fleshly Ordinances But they that are under Grace or under the Gospel which is a Free-woman and engendring to Liberty they are the True Divine and Spiritual Sons of God because they are born after a more supernatural and Spiritual way by Faith under the Gospel consisting of Spiritual Precepts Thus that which is born of the Law or Flesh is flesh Joh. 3.3 according to the nature of the Law but that which is born of the Gospel or Spirit is Spirit according to the nature of the Gospel And the Sons of God by Faith are Sons by Adoption and Grace Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ Jesus Eph. 1.13 and are sealed with that Spirit of Promise which is the Earnest of their Inheritance SECTION III. Many more Covenants God made But two Eminent Covenants but these two of the Law and Gospel were the most eminent 1. Because they were National The Law was a Covenant with the Nation of the Jews and the Gospel was a Covenant with all Nations The rest of the Covenants of God were Personal God was one Party and the Counterparty to him was some single Person as Adam Noah Abraham David c. 2. Because these two were Mediatory Covenants made by the Intervention of two solemn Mediators Moses and Christ the rest were immediately proposed by God and had no Interlocutor or Mediator Yet though these two Covenants disagree from all the rest yet are they different and contrary the one to the other Hagar and Sarah and the Children of the Covenant as contrary the one to the other as Ismael and Isaac The Apostle addeth to the Nature of the two Covenants the adjuncts of Place and Effect 1. For the Law the Place it was from Mount Sinai in Arabia Gal. 4.25 the Country of Hagar's Posterity called Hagarens though they would be thought to be of Sarah and called Saracens Exod. 19. Gen. 2â— And Hagar her self was originally of Egypt the house of Bondage 2. The Effect of the Law was Bondage engendred thereby For according to the Nature of the Law so are the Spirits and Manners of men under it The Law of Moses burthensom for its Rites and contains only outward Precepts and Temporal Promises and Curses And therefore it self begets a Spirit or Genius correspondent to it of servile drudgery and slavish fear under a Curst Mistress II. For the Gospel 1. The Place it was from Mount Sion in Jerusalem the Country of Sarah and her Posterity which though free in comparison of Arabia yet is in bondage being compared with the heavenly Jerusalem which is absolutely and truly free Gal. 4.26 Heb. 11.10 Heb. 11.16 and is the Mother of us all A City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God in a better Country than Canaan that is the Heavenly Canaan where God hath prepared this City For we are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 11.22 and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect This is the holy City Apoc. 21.2 3. the New Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband The Tabernacle of God with Men. So the Seat of the Gospel is above whence it was delivered to Christ and from whence Christ brought it to the World below 2. The Effect of the Gospel is Liberty engendred thereby For according to the Nature of the Gospel so are the Spirits and Manners of Men under it The Gospel of Christ is easie and light for its Rites which are but two Baptism and the Lord's Supper and for its Precepts and Promises and Threatnings pure spiritual and eternal And therefore it begets a Spirit or Genius correspondent to it self of Son-like Diligence and filial Love under a kind and tender Mother The Mothers differ so do the Children The Children resemble their several Mothers The Children of their several Mothers resemble one another and are all in a like state of the same Spirit The Children of the Law are chiefly for the Letter The Children of the Gospel are chiefly for the Spirit The Children of the Law are chiefly for Temporals The Children of the
have already passed and had their Being SECTION I. I. When the First Person brought forth the Second the Second Person was God the Son He was of God because he proceeded from God the Father God of God Light of Light very God of very God He was the Son of God because he was begotten of the Father The Brightness of his Glory Heb. 1.2 Col. 1.15 and the Express Image of his Person The Image of the invisible God the first Born of every Creature SECTION II. II. When the whole Trinity brought forth Adam then Man was the Son of God Luk. 3. ult as Adam is called the Son of God Gen. 1.26 Gen. 5.1 1. Because God created him 2. Because he was after God's own likeness SECTION III. III. When Adam brought forth his Sons and they bring forth their Sons to this day and shall to the Worlds end then Man is the Son of Man 1. Because Man begets him Gen. 5.3 2. Because he is after Man 's own Likeness SECTION IV. IV. When the Blessed Virgin Mary brought forth our Blessed Saviour then God was the Son of Man 1. Because conceived and born of a Woman 2. Because he is after her own Likeness Phil. 2.7 He was made in the Likeness of Man God sent his own Son in the Likeness of Sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 In all things like unto Man Sin only excepted The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Thus it pleased God to interchange himself with Man and each to beget the other As the Plant first brings forth the Seed Sim. and then that Seed brings forth the Plant so God first brought forth Man and after Man brought forth God Thus God and Man are each others Father and Son Man the Son and Father of God and God the Father and Son of Man By two of these four Generations our Saviour was a Son viz. by the first and the last When God broughth forth God Christ was the Son of God And When Man brought forth God Christ was the Son of Man So Christ is the First and the Last the First Son of God Rev. 1.17 and the Last Son of Man The First by whom Man had his beginning and the Last in whom he hath his ending I am Alpha and Omega Rev. 1.8 the Beginning and the Ending But especially of his Church whose Beginning is Election and End Salvation For in him our Election begins and in him our Salvation ends Note that though our Saviour had these two Births and two Fathers yet he is not two Sons no more than he that hath two Sons is two Fathers A Curious Picture being first drawn out in Colours Sim. and after put into Frame hath two works done unto it yet it is but one Picture so the Son of God who was first the Picture of his Father's Image and the brightness of his Glory is after put into a Frame of Flesh hath thereby two Births yet is but one Son The Reason is because these two Births had but one Person to sustain them for the Person of the Godhead supported both The Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily Therefore these two Births being after several Images Christ must needs have two several Natures The Nature of a God as he was the Son and of God and the Nature of a Man as he was the Son of Man 1. As God he was a Son only Begotten not made 2. As Man he was a Son only Made and not begotten The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory Joh. 1.14 the Glory as of the only Begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth As he was the Son of Man no Man begat him but the Woman conceived him by the Power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her a Virgin yet he was not the Son of the Holy Ghost Lord help me in this deep Mystery and save me from sin all this while Because he was not begotten from the substance of the Holy Ghost Reason as Natural Sons are generated from their Fathers substance but by the Power of the Holy Ghost And being born Man he had not the Image of the Holy Ghost therefore was not his Son seeing every Son must be like his Father in Nature and Essence But he was properly the Son of the Virgin therefore the True Son of Mankind with indifferency to either Sex In the Virgins Womb he was conceived and cherished essentiated with the Parts of a Man Body and Soul perfectly united Had Infirmities natural to all Mankind not Personal of this or that Man nor Poenal for this or that Sin but for all sins And these defects did Man him most A Passive Mortal Man Vir dolorum A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs Man in all things except Man's Sin Is 53.6 yet he bore the Punishment of that For the Lord laid upon him the Iniquity of us all But why the Son of God all this VVhy Christ became the Son of Man rather than the Father or the Holy Ghost A Mediator The Father or the Holy Ghost might either have been the Son of Man had they been so pleased but had either of them been the Son of Man then the name of Son would have belonged to two Persons of the Trinity Therefore it was most convenient for that Person that was the Son to become the Son of Man Reasons 1. In respect of the whole Trinity 2. On the Father's Part. 3. On the Son's Part. 4. On Man's Part. SECTION V. I. In respect of the whole Trinity VVhen things of a different Nature are united they are best combined by a Third Mean Sim. that is of a middle Complexion to them both so the Body and Soul are combined by the Spirits that are of a middle Nature between both VVhen Man and VVife are at odds the best way to reconcile them is their Son Because he is a Middle Party between both the one is his Father the other is his Mother From all Eternity God loved us in his Son He before our Fall was as the Spirits to maintain our Union with God But when we were fallen at odds and God would be reconciled God mediated between Himself and Us by his Son Because he being the Middle Person of the Trinity and being both God and Man was the fitter to make a Mediator between God and Man That having God to his Father and Man to his Mother he might make a full Reconciliation between God and his Spouse as the Son doth between Man and VVife 2 Cor. 5.18 God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given unto us the Ministery of Reconciliation to wit That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them and hath cemmitted unto us the Word of
Children that descend from him and what he then ordereth or doth as concerning his Goods the same in a manner his Heirs are accounted to do and may be bound to do as his Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns Hence may easily be understood that which together with the Author of the Hebrews we affirm That such external Acts of the Parents concerning their Honours or Estates not their Manners or Conversation good or evil must be extended or imputed to their Children whether by Nature Law or Adoption it is all one or Posterity that succeed in their Estates or Honours otherwise if the Estate or Honour be spent or forfeited or the Children disinherited or otherwise that the Inheritance fall and is not conveyed as in a stream or line of Succession Then whatsoever any man orders or disposes as to his Estate and all that belongs thereunto cannot be attributed or imputed at all to his Posterity SECTION VII Levi Blessed of Melchisedec Because Levi received a Blessing from Melchisedec Levi was a Blesser of others but here Levi himself is Blessed by another Levi did not Bless others in his own Person because he was not then in being but in his Posterity neither did he receive a Blessing properly in his own Person because he was not subsisting but in his Father's Person If at that time Levi had been a Person separated from Abraham his Father then he had been capable by the consent of his own Will to have received the Blessings from another's Will and so this Act of Abraham's Reception of the Blessing from Melchisedec had been nothing to him But because Levi was so united and joyned to Abraham as that he was part of him and one Person with him as fast asleep in his Causes and close locked up in his Loyns therefore also he is justly reckoned or imputed to have received a Blessing from Melchisedec in or from or through Abraham his Father Melchisedec Immortal 3. Because Levi was Mortal but Melchisedec Immortal He that blesseth and receiveth Tithes dieth and another comes in his place and dies also and so the Priests still die one after another But Melchisedec both Blesseth and receiveth Tithes and never dies having no Successor Heb. 7.8 but abideth for ever Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Psal 110.4 The CONTENTS Christ of that Order Christ's Pedigree Joseph's Pedigree Maries Pedigree Christ no Priest by Birth Christ made a Priest by Oath Christ a Royal Priest Christ Priest and Sacrifice Christ Ministers in Heaven Tabernacle Imperfect Sanctuary a Worldly Manufacture Ordinances Arbitrary Way to Holiest not made Christ first enters the Holy place Faithful enter at the Last day Services Imperfect Christ's Blood dedicates the Holy of Holies One Offering Christ offers Self in Heaven Christ reigns in Heaven Melchisedec a Type of Christ Of the offering of Christ Through the Spirit Without Spot Once In Heaven TITLE VI. Of the Order of Melchisedec CHRIST a Priest of the Order of Melchisedec Christ of that Order Christ was not a Priest after the Order of Aaron Because Christ came of the Princely Tribe of Judah Christ's Pedigree which by Law had no right to the Priesthood nor never gave any attendance on the Altar as Priests For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah Heb. 7.14 of which Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood Judah was the Tribe Royal the Kings of that Tribe were called the Kings of Judah of this Tribe was the Virgin Mother of Christ and by Family of the House of David the Family Royal Luk. 1.24 c. for the Kings of Judah were all of that Family Joseph also was of the same Tribe and Family but in Line different from Maries Joseph's Pedigree Luk. 3. For Joseph descended from David by his Son Solomon in whom ran the Line of the Kings who ruled before the Captivity Maries Pedigree But the Virgin descended from David by his Son Nathan from whom ran the Line of the Dukes who ruled after the Captivity So Joseph came from the Line of the Kings and Mary from the Line of the Dukes 1 Chr 3.16 Jer. 22.30 who were the Princes of the Blood and possessed the Government when the Line of the Kings failed in the Issue of Jeconiah Math. 1.11 Luk. 3.31 St. Luke describes this Pedigree of Mary from the Tribe of Judah and Family of David Luk. 3.23 descending by his Son Nathan to her natural Father Eli or Eliakim the Father-in-law of Joseph Heb. 7.14 The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews supposes this for granted because he wrote to the Jews that believed that Jesus was the Christ who by the Scriptures was to come from David Judah and Abraham and did come accordingly by being born of the Virgin Mary the Wife of Joseph who was of the Seed of David Judah and Abraham For any Son that is born of the Body of a Man's Wife whose Body is accounted the Husband's Body though he be not begotten by the Husband so it be not begotten by another Man that is not her Husband is and must be his Son who is the true Husband to the Woman Because God hath free Power to give a man a Son which way he pleaseth that is either naturally by generation of the Husband or supernaturally without the generation of the Husband or Wife either as in the case of Isaac by Abraham and Sarah both dead as to Generation So by the Law of God it was ordained that when the Husband died without Issue his Brother should marry the Widow and if he had any Child by her it should be called the Seed of the Husband that was deceased to whom his Brother was to raise up Seed by his Widow With how much more reason may Christ be called the Son of Joseph and therefore of David Judah or Abraham though conceived and begotten of the Holy Ghost upon Mary the espoused Wife of Joseph after a supernatural manner SECTION I. Christ no Priest by Birth 2. Because not a Priest by Carnal Law or Birth as Aaron and his Sons were For The Priesthood was bound to the Tribe of Levi and to the Family of Aaron in that Tribe but Christ's Priesthood was clear another thing not after a Carnal Commandment but after the Power of an endless Life Christ made a Priest by Oath Heb. 7.10 3. Because Christ was made with an Oath to make his Priesthood immutable but Aaron without an Oath An Oath declares the truth and strength of a thing Now the things which God will have to be firm strong and unchangeable must needs be better than those that are weak and mutable such as the things are to which no Oath is added but God will have them to depend only upon his will and pleasure to retain or remove as it shall seem good unto him For those Priests were made without an Oath but this with an Oath Heb.
evil to good a license and ability to do a mans own Will or rather a better will even the Will and pleasure of God This is a State of Grace an high noble and blessed condition transcending the proper nature and quality of man SECT V. Burden 1. Now the State from which a man is justified is the base condition of Spiritual Bondage and the miseries consequent thereunto This is the Terme of recesse or Terminus à quo from whence Iustification commenceth a great Burden A Burden vulgarly signifies a heavy weight but legally it signifies some Charge Penalty Disability or Service Hence Isaiah calls Gods Iudgments Burdens as the Burden of Babylon Egypt Damascus c. In all kingdomes there are Burdens as Infamy is a Burden of Disgrace restraining a man from all Honours and Offices as Outlary is a Burden restraining a man from the benefit of Law hindring a man from being Plaintiff and having audience in a Court of Iustice to be a Stranger and Alien is a Burden hindring a man from purchasing or possessing Lands of Inheritance In all families there are Burdens as Bastardy is a Burden of Disinheritance laid upon a child unlawfully begotten Slavery is a Burden of Bondage laid upon some servant hindring him from getting possessing or suing for any thing Divorce is a Burden of Expulsion laid upon a Wife disloial hindring her from the Society of bed and board and marrying to another man Thus in Abraham's family Ishmael sustained the Burden of Bastardy and Hagar the Burden of Slavery hence Sarah required of Abraham that he would disinherit Ishmael Gen. 21.10 and be divorced from Hagar Cast out this Bondwoman and her son for the son of the Bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the Freewoman 2. The state to which a man is Justified is the stately condition of spiritual freedome and the miseries consequent thereunto This is the Access or Terminus ad quem to which we are advanced As Bondage was Capitis Diminutio the lessening of the head or Degrading of a man So Freedome is the Capitis Exaltatio or the raising or lifting up the head of a man or advancing of a man Gen. 40.20 2 King 25.27 As the heads of Pharaohs cheif Butler and Baker were lifted up and Jehojakin's head was lifted up out of Prison by Evilmerodach King of Babylon This state of Divine Freedome drawes into it Forgiveness of sins Resurrection from the dead and Life everlasting Thus the Term or bound of Recess from which we are justified is some Burden and the Term or bound of Access to which we are justified is some Right A Right vulgarly is a thing which is true and good and honest but legally it is a thing which is due to have and to hold some benefit and good which the Law owes us and settles upon us This is opposed to some burden Penalty or Charge which signifies to have and to hold some sufferance or grievance which the Law owes us and settles upon us SECT VI. There are in the world many Corporations where diverse persons are united into one body And in these Corporations there are diverse Rights Corporation some of them are Burdens and some Benefits as in a Kingdom there are Rights of Liberty to be a free-man born or to be made free to be a Member of some Corporation to have suffrage or vote in Elections to be heir in a Family to succeed to the Inheritance and Honour to be a Judg to give Judgment and to do Justice The burdens contrary to these are Slavery that deprives a man of Liberty Banishment that deprives of some Corporation Bastardy that deprives a man of his family Infamy that deprives a man of Honour and Preferment For the true rule is though not kept in the world Portae dignitatum non patent infamibus Personis The Gates of Honour are fast shut against scandalous Persons In a Family there are diverse Rights as Matrimony a state of Right whereby the Husband and the Wife have Right to each others bodies The Wife hath not power or Right over her own body but the Husband 1 Cor. 7.4 and the Husband hath not power or Right over his own body but the Wife For each have given to other a power or Right over their bodies respectively Primogeniture is the Right to succeed to the Inheritance of the Father under the Law Cleanness was a State of Right to enter into the Congregation and to partake of the Sacrifice Ministery is a Right to preach the Word and apply the Sacraments The Husband and Wife are no more two but one Flesh more united than the Father and Son For for the cause of a Wife the Son shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one Flesh they are partakers of all Rights together The good and evil of the Husband is the good and evil of the Wife and the good and evil of the Wife is the good and evil of the Husband his Honour and Wealth is hers and her Honour and Wealth is his if he suffers she suffers if he prosper she rejoyceth The King and his Subjects are one Body The Honour and Welfare of the King is the Honour and Welfare of the Subjects and the Honour and Welfare of the Subjects is the Honour and Welfare of the King his wrong is theirs and their wrong is his The Church is a Corporation in which Christ and his Subjects or Members are one Body they are Members of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5. Christ and the Faithful are more united than Man and Wife for Man and Wife are but one Flesh but Christ and the Faithful are one Spirit A man for Christ his sake must forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children and he that doth so shall receive an hundred fold and in the end everlasting life The honour of Christ is the honour of the Faithful and the honour of the Faithful is the honour of Christ and the welfare of one is the welfare of the other and è contra Christ is a Party in all the conditions of his Subjects Saul Saul why persecutest thou me All charity that is done to them is done to Christ In as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me and in as much as ye have not done it to one of these little ones ye have not done it to me Thus he whose Right is created that had none before is justified And he whose Right is restored that had Right but lost it is justified unto it again All restitution is justification all in-lawing is justification for thereby the Party outlawed is restored to the Benefit of the Law SECT VII Other Names There are other Names of the same thing or other Words whereby the nature of justification is farther illustrated 1. As by such words which do create or constitute a Right as
we shall be saved from wrath c. Do we then make voyd the Law Rom. 8.32 through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law In all the letter and scope of Scriptures upon this point the form of our Justification appears to be the Imputation or Accounting of our Faith for our right or Justification to the rights promised Ro. 5.17 8. There is mention made of Abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness And that by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all Men unto justification of life And that by one Man's obedience many were made righteous Phil. 3.9 St. Paul also desires That he may be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith No Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God for the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the Man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And the promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World Ro. 4.13 was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith SECT III. But in all those places or any other Christ's Righteousness I cannot find any imputation of Christ's Righteousness The Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith I find but no other By the Righteousness of Christ must be meant his personal obedience to the moral Law which cannot be made ours or translated to us or accounted to us and reckoned as ours for diverse and weighty reasons First because Christ's obedience was the obedience of a Mediator fitted exactly for such a Person and Office and no other A High Priest harmless undefiled separated from sinners c. Hebr. 7.26 one that makes all Men just and righteous and is made unto them righteousness sanctification and Redemption and is God our Righteousness That hath the Spirit of Righteousness without measure that is anointed above all his Fellows with that fulness from which we all receive Grace for grace whose Glory is the Glory of the only Begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth and much more than the Tongue of Men or Angels can express Now for a Man to be clothed with the Robes of this Righteousness as they speak is to appear before God not in the habit of a righteous and justified Man but of the justifier of the Sons of Men whose righteousness is too excellent and glorious for our condition of a Mediator God and Man We are the better for his active and passive obedience for it is the cause of our Righteousness by Faith The Members partake of the benefit of the Head The Wife is endow'd by Marriage with all her Husband's goods but the virtue of the Head is not appropriated though communicated nor made over to the Members nor is the estate of the Husband past away or made over to his Wife The Endowment of the Wife is no formal cause nor ingredient of Marriage but a fruit or consequent thereof So our justification or our right to the Righteousness of Christ that is to his Rights and Priviledges accrues to us by our Marriage with Christ which is by Faith the formal cause thereof The Estate Wisdom and Righteousness is Christ's but the benefit of them and of all that is Christ's is ours as is the Wealth and Wisdom and Honour of the Husband to the Wife In a word Christ's Righteousness is that for which Faith is accounted to us for Righteousness Ergo the Personal righteousness of Christ himself is not accounted to us Secondly Because Personal moral virtues cannot be past over to others by act of Nature or Law as by Descent Donation Succession Cession Dereliction Degradation Deprivation or any other way or means Because they are inherent habits of the Mind and therefore inseparable from the Mind and if separable altogether inconveyable to the Mind of another by deed of gift Descent of Blood or any other conveyance whatsoever during life or after death But Jural Rights are of that nature as that they may be derived by act of Law not Nature from Parents to their Children from Predecessors to their Successors or Alienated from the Proprietary to any other Person not only to be reckoned but to be really his or theirs to whom the alienation reversion or derivation is made by any act or deed according unto Law to take place in life or after death Also some act of mine may be accounted for a right to my self as my labour for my wages my purchase for my Estate my Faith for my justification Thus Moral Righteousness is inseparable from the Person to which it doth belong and cannot be reckoned to another but Jural Rights are separable and may be accounted to another I may possibly be respected and saved for another's Virtue and Worth but his Virtue and Worth can no waies be made mine Virtue Learning Vice and Ignorance are habits and qualities which are a Man 's own without accounting but Riches and Honours we have as rights accounted unto us or else we cannot have or hold them My Health or Sickness of Body may be propagated to me and from me to another but not the Health or Sickness of my Soul Who can be healthy by another Man's health while he possesseth it Who can be sick by another Man's sickness while he possesseth it Who can be rich by another Man's riches while he enjoyeth them Who can be honourable by another Man's honour while he enjoyes it Who can be disgraced by another Man's disgrace while he suffereth it Who can be poor by another Man's poverty while he endures it Who can be learned by another Man's Learning while he hath it Who can be virtuous by another Man's virtues or vicious by another Man's vice These Virtues or Vices are really his who hath them not really mine whose they are not or how can these things in another be so much as reckoned or accounted to be mine I may be reckoned guilty of another Man's sin and so of his punishment by consenting or helping c. but not for his acting or suffering I cannot be reckoned virtuous by another Man's virtue or sinful by another Man's sin or miserable by another Man's misery If I have many virtues others may have as many virtues or more than I and I have no less than I have but if I have many rights to such or such things others can have no rights to the same things If they be taken away from me in part I have the less if in full I have none at all but others
are in the Corporation but not of it As the Bastard is in the Family not of it he is disabled from inheriting because he is a Person unlawful and unright He is not right himself and therefore he can have no right he is not born as he should be therefore not born to what he should be As the Slave is in the Family but not of the Family he is uncapable of possessing any thing because he himself is possessed he can be no Master of any goods because he is his Master's goods All his acts are nothing because he is dead in Law As the Alien is in the City but not of the City he hath no right there he is not Homo legalis because he is not born there as he should be As an unbeliever is in the Church but not of the Church he hath no right he is not Homo fidelis because he is not born again as he should be Contrarily some Persons have right they are in the Corporation and of it they have title to claim the benefit and power to sue for it As a Son hath right in the Family to succeed his Father if he dies intestate As a Wife hath right of Dower for her joynture or her Thirds As a native Subject in a Kingdom is free to enjoy and dispose and hath a suffrage in Elections and other Priviledges to which he is born As a Believer is in the Church and of the Church he hath right to Christ and to the ordinances of Christ the Word and Sacraments because he is Homo fidelis and born again as he should be Now when he that had no right is made to have a right he is said to be justified to it or he that is absolved and released from some burden is justified from it All Legitimation is a justifying for therein a Child is released from the burden of Bastardy All Absolution is justifying for the party is released from the burden of some Bond. All Purifying and cleansing under the Law was justifying for therein the party was released from the burden of uncleanness And so Men were justified in the Law of Moses in some things but not in all Acts 13.39 But Faith justifies from all things from which the Law of Moses could not justifie All Pardoning is justifying for therein a Sinner is released from the burden of punishment The Romish Writers quarrel with our Divines when they place Justification partly in the Remission of sins for indeed that is a part or branch of it for all pardoning or remitting of sin is justifying but all justifying is not pardoning He whose right is declared is justified the Judg justifies the party whose right was controverted and doubtful The Matter of right the Judg creates not but only declares what was concealed He whose right is restored is justified All restitution is justifying for thereby the party hath his right again and repossesseth that which was his own before All In-lawing is justifying for thereby the party out-lawed is restored to his former right So as Legitimation is to a Bastard as Manumission is to a Slave as Naturalization and Enfranchisement is to an Alien so is Justification to a Sinner The Reasons are these 1. From the Names that are given to Persons justified before justification We are Bastards not born right but born in sin And God was our Natural Father not our Legitimate not our Spiritual Father For except a Man be born again he can never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3.3 Bastards are not born as they should be We are Aliens and Forreigners we should be born in Paradise where our first Parents dwelt in Innocency and Immortality but we are born in the World a place of banishment to them and us where God is our Ruler only Eph. 2.12 not our King Without Christ we are Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers to the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the World That is having no right in Christ nor hope of Inheritance in Glory but dead Men as Slaves are in Law i. e. morally dead in trespasses and sins and therefore jurally dead as to the capacity to any right For the dead loose all other rights save only that of Burial we are not born where we should be 2. From the Names that are given to the acts of justification As Joh. 17.20 1. Uniting or making us one with God and Christ That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Ro. 12.17 2. Grafting Christ is the true Olive stock the Jews the natural branches the Gentiles wild branches till ingrafted into Christ 3. Marrying while we were in the Flesh we were married to the Law but when justified by the Spirit we are dead unto the Law and married unto Christ Ro. 7.4 4. Adopting Redeemed from being under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons Gal. 4.4 5. The Spirit of the Son sent forth into our hearts crying Rom. 8. Abba Father We have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father As many as have received him i. e. have believed on him to them gave he power i. e. a right Joh. 1.12 as in the Margin to be called the Sons of God which is their justification by Faith For we are all the Sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus 5. From the Names given to our state in Christ after justification as 1. Our being in Christ As the Wife is in the Husband the Child in the Parents Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Our Fellowship with Christ the first born and heir So we are born again die with him rise with him Co-heirs with him shall co-rule with him Reign together with him in Heavenly places God hath called us to the Fellowship of his Son 1 Cor. 1.9 And we have fellowship with the Father and the Son 3. Our Corporation with Christ Our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Heaven Our Bodies are the Members of Christ Phil. 3.10 1 Cor. 6.15 Eph. 5.3 we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones not naturally but jurally The matter of our Justification being our right of Incorporation into God and Christ in general from thence may follow these three principal rights in particular 1. A right to things present 2. A right to things in future 3. The degrees of our Right to both these things in present and in future SECT II. 1. A right to things in present As 1. A right of Impunity or Pardon of sins Impunity That all his sins whatsoever he hath committed or shall commit hereafter are forgiven God may correct his Children in this Life otherwise they should not be his true Children but Bastards but he will not punish them in the Life to
Deified made one with God and he one with them 2 Pet. 1.4 God hath given unto us exceeding Grace and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature They that hear the word of God and do it are my Brother Mat. 12. ult and Sister and Mother SECT VIII 2. A right to things in future 1. A right of Resurrection The wicked shall rise again but theirs is not of Right but to wrath Resurrection a curse as malefactors have right to Execution But the Justified have a right to the Resurrection as a mercy which God hath promised them for a farther right to Immortality and Glory Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.54 Man's promise gives a right to the Benefit promised much more doth God's Joh. 11.15 I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live c. SECT IX 2. A right of Jurisdiction or Judicature Jurisdiction to sit as Judges at the day of Judgment There the wicked shall be condemned and the Justified shall judg them 1. By assisting Christ in the Judgment 2. By approving the justice of it 3. By testifying against the wicked and for the Godly Make you Friends of the unrighteous Mammon Luc. 16.9 that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations Make the Godly poor thy Friends for at the Great Judgment they shall be thy Judges and if thy cause go hard there they shall testifie of thy charity and so thou shalt be received St. Paul forbids the Justified to go to Law before unjustified Judges 1 Cor. 6.2 but rather before the Saints Because they have a right of Judicature at the day of Judgment Know you not that the Saints shall judg the World The Queen of the South and Men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment against the Generation of the Jews and shall condemn them SECT X. Glory 3. A right of Glory or Inheritance of God's Kingdom That is an Universal right to all God's Estate to all his Kingdoms and Blessedness which he himself enjoyes As the only Son and Heir hath a right to his Father's whole Estate For if God do justifie thee and incorporate thee into himself he doth thereby estate thee in all that he hath And God hath given thee Christ and his Spirit as an Earnest and Seal of this Inheritance And Christ himself as Executor of God's Will shall admit thee and put thee in possession at the last day who is gone before to prepare a place for us that where he is there we might also be Fear not little flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom Come ye Blessed Children of my Father Mat. 25.34 receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World 4. A right to the Righteousness of Christ i. e. to have all the benefit of it imputed to them For as by their Generation they have the burden of Adam's sin i. e. the guilt and pain of it cast upon them so by their Regeneration or Justification they have a right to Christ's Righteousness and the benefit and reward of it accrues to them i. e. All his active Righteousness whereby he suffered the Law and all his passive Righteousness whereby he suffered death is theirs done for them and in their stead to as full effect as if they had fulfilled all the Law in their own persons and had died for their own sins SECT XI Rights of Christ 5. A Right to all the Rights of Christ And they are so many and so great that neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither can it enter into the heart of Man to conceive them We may touch one or two Hath Christ the right of a Son so hath a Christian to be the Son of God he by Generation thou by Adoption Christ thy Elder Brother the First born among many Brethren Hath Christ the right of a King is the Kingdom of Heaven his and doth he reign there Thou hast also the right of a King the Kingdom of Heaven is thine Math. 5. 2 Tim. 2.12 and thou also shalt reign there Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Col. 3.4 Hath Christ the right of Glory so hast thou When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory He shall change our vile Bodies Phil. 3. ult and make them like to his glorious Body And all because we are the Sons of God and if Sons then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ And all Joynt-heirs have equal Rights 1 Joh. 3.2 Is Christ like God we are not so yet but we shall be like him When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is He a partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 so we not yet but shall be Like a Fee-feminine where all the Daughters are Co-heirs Like Land in Gavel-kind where all the Sons are Co-heirs SECT XII 3. The Degrees of Rights to these things The right of the Righteous is not equal all alike at all times but gradual SECT XIII 1. A right of Expectation of future things Expectation Acts 7.5 as Abraham had a right to Canaan Yet he had not so much in possession as to set his foot on no inheritance in it yet God promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his Seed after him when as yet he had no Child This possession was to be four hundred and thirty years after So the Heir in his Minority hath right but he must stay for the possession till the time appointed of his Father This is our Hope that through the Spirit we wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith Gal. 5.5 Job 14.14 All the daies of mine appointed time will I wait till my change come SECT XIV 2. A right of Supplication for future things Supplication for seeing these rights come not to us by Law but only by Grace we have no right of Petition to sue for them and claim them by Law because matters of Grace are not sued for and pleaded for as Dues of Law but pray'd for and stay'd for as Rights of Grace due only upon Grace So the Israelites after four hundred years were expired supplicated for their right to Canaan sighed cryed and groaned and God heard and remembred his Covenant with Abraham Ex. 223. So Students in Arts after the expiration of the time appointed and Exercises performed do humbly supplicate for Grace to obtain their Degrees The whole Creation groaneth and travelleth for their redemption from bondage and we also our selves that have the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.22 even we our selves groan
Dower nor power from Abraham in his House as a Wife but was still a Bondmaid to her Mistress and when she had served both and done her work as a slave she was fairly turned out of doors 2. Isaak the younger by a Free-Woman his Legitimate Son by a lawful Wife Sarah free born and free living a Matron that had right of Bed and Board Dower and Dignity Power and Rule under her Husband over the Family As the two Mothers conditions were quite contrary the one to the other so were the two Sons for Partus sequitur ventrem one therefore a Bondman the other a Freeman one had no right to the Inheritance because a Bastard the other had right because a lawful Son So those under the Law unjustified are in the condition of Ishmael who though a Son had neither the state of a Person nor the right of a Son but was a Bondchild and Bastard because he came from a Woman who had not the state of a Woman nor the right of a Wife but was a Bond-maid and a Concubine So the Sons of the Law that trust to their Mother Bondwoman shall be as little justified or have as little right to the inheritance of Heaven as the Law can afford them which is none at all for Righteousness comes not by the Law and by the Law no flesh can be justified even as little right as Ishmael could have to Abraham's inheritance who was born of a Woman who had works enough for she was a Bondmaid yet no right by them for she had no right in her Person But they that are under the Gospel are justified are in the same condition of Isaak who had the state of a Person and the right of a Son because he was born of a Free-Woman who had the state of a Woman and the right of a Wife So the Sons of the Gospel that trust to their Mother Free-Woman shall be as much justified or have as much right to the Kingdom of Heaven as the Gospel can afford which is All right Even as much right as Isaak had to Abraham's inheritance who was born of the Free-Woman who had Faith enough for she was free and therefore All right by her Faith for she had all right in her Person This was the first difference between these two Sons on the Mother side because born of several venters The second difference is on the Father's side For though they had one and the same Father yet they were begot from different principles operating in Abraham and enabling him to beget them Gen. 16.2 1. For Ishmael came from Abraham as a Natural Father born after the Flesh by Abraham's natural power and strength for though Sarah was restrained from bearing yet Abraham was not restrained from begetting at eighty five years old 2. For Isaak came from Abraham as a Supernatural Father born after the Spirit by a Supernatural power of God when he was ninety and nine years old and Sarah ninety years old and was ever barren which was a double deadness of age and custom This Generation and Conception was by God's promise Rom. 9.8 9. or by the Spirit and power of God So they that will be under the Law which is a Bondwoman and therefore engendreth bondage though thereby they be the Children of God yet they are but his Natural and Carnal Children because born after a meer natural and carnal way Heb. 9.10 and live under a Law consisting of carnal and fleshly ordinances But they that are of the Gospel which is a Free-Woman that engendreth Liberty and Freedom one of the Divine and Spiritual Sons of God because by means of their Faith they are born of the Spirit For that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Joh. 3.3 Ephes 1.13 And because after that Faith they are sealed with that Spirit which is the Spirit of Promise SECT XXIX Many more Covenants God made but these two of the Law and the Gospel were the most eminent Because 1. National and OEcumenical Covenants 1. The Law was National to the Jews only 2. The Gospel was OEcumenical to all the World The other Covenants that were made were but personal or famular to one single Person or Family as to Adam Noah Abraham David c. 2. Mediatory and Testamentary Covenants by the intervention and execution of two solemn Mediators and Executors Moses and Christ The rest were immediately proposed and executed by God and had no Interlocutor nor Performer beside Though these two Covenants and Testaments do disagree from all other Covenants and Testaments yet they are as different and contrary one to the other as was Hagar and Sarah SECT XXX 1. The Law was a Covenant of Bondage 1. From the adjunct of place from Mount Sinai Law a Covenant of Bondage Exod. 19. Gen. 25.18 the place in which the Law was given and the Country of Hagar Gal. 4.25 2. From the adjunct of Bondage engendred according to the nature of Law so are the Spirits the Genius and manners of Men. The Law of Moses is carnal and burdensom for its rights and contains only Temporal promises and curses accordingly therefore it begets servile labour and servile fear a hard Mother a curst Mistress SECT XXXI 2. The Gospel is a Covenant of Liberty 1. From the adjunct of place from Mount Sion Gospel a Covenant of Liberty the place in which the Gospel was given and the Country of Sarah Jerusalem which yet is in a kind of bondage too compared with Jerusalem which is above which is free and the mother of us all Hebr. 12.20 Hebr. 11.10 Rev. 21.2 3. 1. The Seat is above 2. The State is free 3. The Issue general Because the mother of us all the true Spouse of God by whom he begets Children by his Promise and Spirit John 3.8 Gal. 4.29 He that is born of the Flesh persecuted him that was born of the Spirit Law published on Earth by an Angel Gospel published in Heaven to Christ and from Heaven to the World Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Sarah Mother but of one Nation Jerusalem the Mother of all Nations Is 54.1 Glorious then but after the Captivity more glorious So will the Gospel be after many Ages of barrenness Isaak's Posterity double to Ishmael's New Covenant more large and more lasting than the Old The Jew persecuted the Christians as Ishmael persecuted Isaak by mocking him The carnal Christian who persecutes his Brother learnt it of the infidel and carnal Jew But the Son of the Bond-Woman shall be cast out for he shall not be heir with the Son of the Free-Woman 2. From the Adjunct of Liberty As is the Gospel so are the Spirits of Men. The Gospel Spiritual and easie a
out the pure Channels that refresh the World into divers muddy streams that sterilize as well as bastardize the race of Mankind Virginity Not disparaging Virginity that sister of Angels and resemblance of the glorified Spirits who neither marry nor are given in marriage nor those that are innocently blemished by unlawful conceptions and births because they could not help it Why Marriage was ordained But still Marriage is what it ever was and ever will be a most honourable estate instituted of God in Paradise in the time of Man's innocency signifying the Mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church Which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence and first Miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galile and is commended of St. Paul to be honourable among all men and therefore is not to be enterprized or taken in hand unadvisedly lightly or wantonly to satisfie mens carnal lusts and appetites like brute beasts which have no understanding but reverently discreetly advisedly soberly and in the fear of God duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained First it was ordained for the procreation of Children to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. Secondly it was ordained a Remedy against sin and to avoid fornication that such persons as have not the gift of Continency might marry and keep themselves undefiled Members of Christ's Body Thirdly for the mutual Society help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other both in prosperity and adversity This so honourable Estate makes not only Flesh of our Flesh and bone of our bone but Spirit of our Spirit and that two are one Flesh and one Spirit So God and Man Christ and his Church Man and Wife Fathers and Children Fathers and Mothers Sons and Daughters Brothers and Sisters Husbands and Wives and all Relations are mutually each others Christ the King is the Betrothed and Husband as well as Father of his Church and Kingdom And Christ's Church is the Subje ct the Spouse and Wife of Christ her Husband Therefore SECT V. Were it but for a bare civil respect it stands the Kingdom of the World in very great stead carefully to look after the right ordering of Marriages And surely there are weighty reasons for it It keepeth the purity of the Bloud from commixtion of base Seed Benefits of Marriage It gives a right to the true Sons and Daughters to take comfort in them and receive help from them to honour and enrich our own and not anothers Issue It preserves from the greatest usurpation of Natural rights to each Man's Body to each Man's Wife to eat the Fruit of my own Tree and drink the Waters of mine own Cistern not to own and feed anothers Cattel in my proper Ground It prevents the greatest cheat in the World Abuses of Marriage to be cosened in my own Progeny and not be able to distinguish it from anothers What is more entirely mine own than the off-spring of my own loyns and she that is next to me and one Flesh with me It is the greatest dishonour imaginable to be thus chouced it is a wonder it is no more regarded nor stood upon I would gladly eat my own Bread and till my own Land I am nearest and dearest to my self and all the Love Honour and Estate I have I would willingly reserve to me and mine and my virtue wisdom and wit too if it were in my power Bastardy But contrary to Nature all that I have must flow from my genuine Breed to a spurious generation This misconveyes all Inheritances and breaks the bonds of Nature love and descent The Brood may be fair hopeful and wise for their parts of Body and Mind but they are none of mine and yet all that is mine must be theirs This distroies all the great Priviledges of Wills and Testaments so direct a part of the Law and so much useful to Mankind it jumbles together the Bloud of Mankind it befools the Labourers of Mankind Nobility is dasht and quite destroy'd by it Virtue and Honesty Religion and Laws are quite destroy'd by it It infatuates all the labours and studies of Mankind which should do good first to their own private Families and then to the publick state In a word it confounds all rihgts of Persons things and actions It lays all in common and wastes all and no body can express the mischief that redounds to the World by it To engraft wild plants into a natural stock To puddle pure Fountains to poyson wholsom waters to defile every nest and throw dung upon every clean place SECT VI. Rights by Marriage My chiefest right of Soul and Body and all that I have is to my God whose they are the next is to my self the next is to my second self or my Wife the next is to my Children and their Children Friends and Allies and mine for all these God hath given me Now all these are lost by my giving my right to the Devil and to harlots this is my own act and deed But some of these are lost by being torn from me by Extortioners and Adulterers this is their act and deed I must have a Father or else I could not be but he may be such a one as I never knew or never shall and this is not only a loss but a shame and misery to me but no sin because I could not help it I am in the condition of a Slave to possess nothing at all and Slaves usurp possession of all that is mine In Christ's Church and Kingdom there must be Chastity In Christ's Church and Kingdom there must be Fidelity in Families and Kingdoms Christ's Church consists of Families Therefore the solemn Covenant of Marriage must be kept inviolable in all Families because they are altogether married unto Christ their Husband Lord and King and not go a whoring from under their God Laws about Marriage For this purpose the good Laws of Men especially of the Romans are carefully to be observed who have taken a very strict course in every particular for the pure undertaking and performing of this great Business of Life that so much concernes the happy condition of Men in this World and in the World to come It is profitable therefore for Christians to take a survey of all those wholsom Constitutions set down in the Body of the Civil Law concerning Marriage Age of Persons 1. As first for the age of the Persons that are to marry The Law allowes of twelve in Females and fourteen in Males to be ripeness of years to contract for themselves Quality of Persons 2. The Persons condition that are to marry is considered that they be Liberi Cives Romani as hath been spoken of before Infamous 3. The Roman Law greatly abhorred Scenicos Lenones c. i. e. all ludicrous histrionical and mimical Persons that came upon the Stage as commonly most unchast and all pimps
Lawyers agreed about them and God knows when they will be among such varieties of Laws and opinions are as there concerning such and such like matters SECT VIII Coelibate The contrary state to Marriage is a single Life Coelibate or a single Life without vow is a free state resolved upon during pleasure upon the convenience thereof during persecution or otherwise Coelibate or a single Life with vow is a restraint unnecessarily put by a Mans self upon himself under pretence of serving God more purely in Mind and Body in hopes of a greater portion of glory in Virginity or Viduity Coelibate or a single Life upon conceit of the uncleanness of a married Life as if it were a sinful Life as the Eucratitae or Misogamists vainly suppose All which are superstitious in offering to do more than God commands at our hands If Men can contein let them contein but if they cannot contain let them marry For it is better to marry than to burn It is God's command to increase and multiply to be fruitful and replenish the Earth but in the way of lawful Marriage not otherwise Every one is free to marry or not to marry Some are Eunuchs by Nature and some have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake they that can receive it let them receive it But still Marriage is a holy and pure state full of chastity and honour Marriage fits all estates and degrees of men Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge And it befits all estates and degrees of men as well those that wait at the Altars of Religion and Justice as those that grind at the Mill. Some well meaning men out of overmuch Religion have thought they did God good service in refusing this condition themselves and denying it to others till they were made to understand better things by Paphnutius Spiridion Gregory Nazianzen Aeneas Sylvius and others Let therefore all that are entred or intend to enter into the holy estate of Matrimony take heed of defiling themselves and it by committing Adultery Incest Concubinate and Polygamy contrary to the Rules and Laws prescribed in the degrees of Consanguinity and Affinity which come now seasonably to be described and delineated as followeth And first The CONTENTS Consanguinity Cousins German Levitical Law of Cousins German Christian Law Publick Honesty and good Report Instances The Canon Law TITLE IX Of Consanguinity or kindred by Blood COnsanguinity is grounded upon Blood and Birth and all Mankind are naturally kindred so Therefore meer Consanguinity or kindred by blood cannot be forbidden for then none should marry but nearness of Flesh and blood is that which is prohibited by the Laws of God and man As Levit. 18.6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him The Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Latin Vir Vir non accedet ad propinquitatem carnis suae i. e. To her that is so near of kin as that they may dwell in the same house as Parents Children Brothers and Sisters or the Parents Brothers and Sisters or Uncles and Aunts Nearness of flesh above me is my Mother below me is my Daughter on my side is my Sister These may not be approached for their own sakes Lev. 22.2 being immediate Relations and all those that are forbidden are forbidden for the sakes of these And that this is properly nearness of kin or flesh may appear by the Prohibition to the High Priest that he may not be defiled for the dead among his people but for his kin that is near unto him he may For his Mother and Father for his Son and Daughter for his Brother and virgin Sister So that Nearness of flesh is Brother 1. She out of whose flesh I am born Daughter 2. She that is born out of my flesh Sister 3. She that is immediately born of the same flesh that I am born of Now to keep men from this Nearness God hath set this Bar or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Uncles and Aunts whose marriages therefore are forbidden to keep men farther off from Father and Mother Son and Daughter And because they are Quasi Parentes loco Parentum SECT I. Of Cousins German Cousins german So have some men not God made a Bar of Cousins german to keep men off from Brother and Sister So the Jews were forbidden to make an Image as a Bar to keep them from Idolatry In the Levitical Law there are forbidden these nearnesses 1. In the Ascending and Descending right Line Fathers and their Children and their Allies 2. In the Equal side Line forward Brothers and Sisters and their Allies 3. In the Unequal side Line upwards and downwards Uncles and Aunts and their Allies No Cousins german at all By the Civil Law the same Nearnesses are forbidden and no farther excepting as Ulpian in his Rules observes In quarto gradu permittitur connubium extrà eas personas quae Parentum Liberorumque locum habent Therefore says he The great Aunt by the Fathers and by the Mothers side and the Sisters neece may not be married quamvis quarto gradu sunt Because the Prohibition is not alwaies for the nearness or for the degree but for the proper reason aforesaid of being Veri parentes or Quasi parentes Therefore supposing a woman to live to see six degrees of the Line yet it is unlawful for her to marry that sixth degree of her Nephews In Cousins in the Equal side line the farther off the less reason they should be forbidden but in Uncles and Aunts in the Descending and Ascending unequal side lines the farther off the greater reason they should be forbidden Therefore there is no comparison between the cognation of Uncles and Aunts and their Nephews or Neeces in the unequal descending side lines and the cognation of Cousins in the equal side lines It is true In pari Cognationis gradu par idemque jus statuatur that is when the Cognation is the same the Law is the same too meaning if it be measured in the same kind of Cognation Ascending compared to ascending Equal Collateral to Equal Collateral Unequal to unequal For when the Comparison is of things in the same order then not only the degree but the reason for the most part is the same too 1. The Case of Cousin germans is no waies reached at Levitical Law of Cousin germans as to all Prohibition in the Levitical Law because there is no Degree equally near unto it that is forbidden except as before of such persons as are as it were Parents or in the place of Parents There are Instances of the marriage of Cousin germans in Scripture Instances as Jacob married his Cousin german Rachel the daughter of his Uncle Laban Zelophehads daughters married their Fathers brothers Sons The Virgin Mary was married to her Cousin german Joseph who was the legal Son of Heli but the
father and mother downward to their son and daughter which is sideward to me which are my brother and sister is two degrees and from my brother and sister downwards again to their son and daughter is three degrees And the son or daughter of my brother and sister is my Nephew or Neece or rather my Cousins german Sideward in the side-line or linage no more degrees are forbidden for marriage beyond the third degree either by the Law of Moses or by the Civil Law or by the Law of our Church Because in these lines the Degrees only of propinquity or nearness are forbidden and propinquity or nearness consisteth but in three degrees Reason determining in the third And therefore persons in the fourth Degree sideward and much more in the fifth or sixth degree c. may lawfully marry Because such persons are in no degree of propinquity or nearness seeing propinquity or nearness comprehendeth only but three degrees and consequently first Cousins or Cousins german or brothers and sisters Children may lawfully marry and many times do so and therefore a man may marry his Uncles daughter or his Aunts daughter for my Uncles or my Aunts daughter is my Cousin german The fourth degree sideward between brothers and sisters Children or Degree 4 Cousins german is thus From me upward to my father or mother is one degree from my father or mother to their father or mother or my Grandfather or Grandmother is two degrees then from my Grandfather or Grandmother which are the common stock downwards to their son or daughter which is sideward to my father and mother which are their brother and sister which are my Uncle and Aunt is three degrees and from my Uncle and Aunt downwards to their son and daughter which are my Cousins german is four degrees This computation of degrees is according to the Civil Law whose Rule is this Tot sunt gradus Cognationis quot sunt Generationes i. e. So many Generations so many Degrees The computation of the Canon Law is Quoto gradu unusquisque eorum distat à communi stipite eodem gradu distant inter se i. e. In what degrees the parties are distant from the Common stock in the same degree they are distant between themselves So that brothers and sisters Children that by the computation of the Civil Law differ four degrees from each other by the Canon Law differ but two degrees from each other So that the Civil Law considereth degrees especially for Successions of Inheritances from person to person numbring the degrees according to single persons only by one degree at once according to the next or nearest common Stock or Parent and thence descending to the person whose degree is required but the Canon Law considereth rather the degrees of Marriage made by the consent of two persons and for that reason joyneth two persons together in the numbring of degrees As to Cousins german therefore to conclude though some Divines and some Lawyers here in England do scruple at the lawfulness of their marriage yet they scruple it without alledging any sound reason but relying only upon Tradition and the long practice of the Canonists who have forbidden those marriages for meer lucre to gain mony for the Licensing of them by Dispensations which are denied to none but are granted of course for mony to all that desire them But from the beginning it was not so neither ought it to be so because the Rule holds good Quod ab initio non valuit illud tractû temporis convalescere non potest That which was invalid from the beginning cannot be made valid by length of time SECT II. Of Unjust marriages Unjust Marriages L. orat 10. §. 1. ff de Ritu Nupt. L. Nuptae 53. ff de Ritu Nupt. §. Ergo Instit de Nupt. §. Item Animam Inst de Nuptiis As for Unjust marriages they are those which are forbidden by natural Reason and the law of Blood it being a firm Principle That in the right Line of ascending and descending degrees as Parents and Children wives are forbidden in infinitum 2. Unjust marriages are those also which are forbidden by the same natural Reason and law of Blood in the transverse or collateral Line unequal of ascending and descending degrees as Uncles and Aunts wives are forbidden in infinitum because they are quasi-Parentes and do sustain the places of Parents Claudius for the lust he had to Agrippina the daughter of his brother Germanicus came into the Senate to make such Marriages lawful but it was refused by all save one knight Taledius Severus Nerva forbad this and Anastasius and Zeno. It matters not at all whether such Conjunction descend from the just marriages of persons so related or not For it is not granted to the Sire to marry his daughter by his bondmaid or any of the multitude And Servile cognations are so strictly observed in this Nuptial Law that it is accounted contrary to natural right and modesty that the daughter any waies begotten should be married to her own Father that begot her L. Fratris L. ult C. de Iâ—cestis Nupt. L. Nemini C. de Nup. L. licâ— C. de Incest Nupt. For this is Incest by the Laws of Nature and Nations The like Prohibition extends to the daughter of a brother or a sisters daughter The wives of Brethren deceased may not be married to their brethren that are alive 3. A man may not marry his wives sister L. fratris C. de Incest Nupâ— L. Liberi 4. C. de Nuptiis Unjust marriages in like manner are those which are forbidden in the like degrees of Affinity contrary to the legal Reason and law of Marriage and Alliance Yea so modest were the Romans that they extended their Prohibitions to the Spouses of Parents or Children but especially to Concubines as Alexander religiously ordained Prudent men have ranked Adoptions also among the rest out of reverence to any thing that had any resemblance to blood or kindred Antonius Caracalla is the only noted Roman for this Incest 4. Unjust marriages are those which are forbidden by the natural Reason and law of Blood in the side-line equal as brothers and sisters by the same father or mother or by either of them Caligula was counted a Monster rather than a Prince for defiling all his sisters Papirius got his sister Coemilia with child for which her Father Papilius Tolucer sent her a sword with which she let out her own life as Papirius did his afterward So Juno was Uxor conjux Jovis 5. Unjust Marriages are those which want a due consent as of Fools and Mad people and those under age which have no Will in Law And those that have not the consent of their Parents or Curators But Mutes may consent by signs in sickness or lameness not Inst de Nuptiis nor furor superveniens or madness that comes after a Contract Yet Sons emancipated do rightly contract without their Parents consent but