in his Propriety, his Wifdom in his Rule, and his Goodness or Love in his benefits given us. Therefore Propriety refulteth immediately from Creation, as producing the Creature as a Creature; but fo doth not Government, as we fhall fee anon. And as Omnipotency is the most eminent Attribute in the Creation, fo is it in that Alfolute Propriety of the Creator, acquired by it. CHAP. VII. I. Of Man's Relation to God his OWNER.`` Prima pictat's ma. 9.1.G follow th undeniably that we are His own. OD being our undoubted, alfolute OWNER, it giftra natura eft. Cic. we The Relations are mutual, and the thing necdeth no proof, On nis eft Deorum 6.2. Therefore Man being an intelligent Creature, that can vita beata, hominum know this bis Relation to his Maker, is bound by Nature to conautem quatenus in ea lucet quoddam fent to it, and at folutely refign himself to the will, difpofe and use ejus a&ionis exem- of his Creator. ca plar. Ariftot. Eth.10. tur Platoni affentior: For there is nothing more reafonable, than that every one fhould have his own: And the Understanding of man fhould conceive of things as they are, and the Will of man fhould confent to his Makers Intereft and right, or elfe it were moft crooked, irregular and unjuft. Therefore it muft needs be the duty of every reasonable Creature to bethink him, that GOD is his abfolute Owner, and thereupon to make a deliberate refolved RESIGNATION of himself to GOD, without any exceptions or referves. may Agri ne confecren qui his fere verbis. .3. Therefore man should labour to know wherein be be utitur: Terra igitur, most useful to his Maker's Interest, (which is his Pleasure in our ut focus, domicilium perfection) and therein he should willingly and joyfuliy lay facrum omnium Deo- out himself. nequis iterum idem rum eft: Quocirca For it is undeniable that God should be ferved with his confecrato. Aurum Own, and that entirely without dividing: for we are not autem & argentum in part, but wholly his. in urbibus & privatim & in fanis, invi diofa res eft: Cicer. de leg. 1.2. p. 2.4.5, . 4. Therefore no man can have any propriety in himself, but what is derived from his Abfolute Lord, and standeth in full subordination to his propriety.. For For there can be but one full and abfolute Proprietor. I can have no other propriety in my felf, but by derivation and truft from my Creator. 1.5. Therefore also no creature can have any Propriety in another creature, but onely derivatively, fubordinate, & fecundum quid. No Parent hath any propriety in his Children, nor the molt abfolute and potent Prince in his People, but as God's Stewards under him; no not in themselves, and therefore not in others. And a Steward hath no propriety in his Master's goods, but derivative, dependent, fubordinate and improper, and onely the ufum, fructuum, and fuch poffeffion as is neceffary thereto, and such an imperfect propriety as will justifie that poffeflion. .6. And as I am not my Own, fo nothing is properly my own which I poffeß, but all that I have is God's as well as I. For no man can have more title to any thing else than to himself. He that is not Owner of himself, is Owner of Nothing. And we have not any thing, nor can have, which is not as much from God as we, and therefore is not as much his. 0.7. Therefore no man should repine at God's difpoful of him, but all men should acquiefce in the difpofing-will of God. For it is unreasonable and unjust to murmur at God, for doing as he lift with his own, and ufing any thing to his ends. 6. 8. And therefore all men should avoid all feltish affections, and partiality, and be more affected with God's interest than their own. For we are not so much our Own as his, and our interest is not confiderable in comparison of his. 0.9. Therefore no man should do any thing for felfish ends, which is injurious to the will and intereft of God, our abfolute Owner. 1. 10. And therefore no man should difpofe of his Eftate, or any thing he bath, in any way, but for the intereft of his abfo lute Lord. . 11. And therefore all men should make it the very care and labour of their lives, to ferve the will and intereft of this their abfolute Owner. 0.12. Andtherefore no man should prefer the will or intereft Stoici dicunt Mundum regi & adminiftrari fecundum mentem & provi of the greatest mortal man, or the dearest friend, before the will and interest of God. . 13. Nor should the publick intereft of States or Kingdoms be pleaded against his will and interest. But yet we muft take heed how we oppofe or neglect this laft efpecially, because the will of God doth take most pleasure in the publick or common benefit of his creatures; and therefore thefe two are very feldom feparated: nor ever at all as to their real good, though as to carnal, lower good, it may fo fall out. All these are so plain, that to stand to prove or illustrate them, were but to be unneceffarily and unprofitably tedious. 9. 14. It being a God of infinite Wisdom and Goodness, as well as power, who is our Owner, his Title to us is a great confolation to the upright. For as he hath taught men (and bruits too) to love their Own, it intimateth that he will not defpife his Own: and therefore his intereft in us is our comfort. . 15. No man is capable of giving any thing properly to God, but onely by obediential reddition of his own: no nor to man, but as God's Steward, and according to our propriety, fecundum quid, in respect to other Claimers. CHAP. VIII. II. of GOD's Relation to Man as his Governour. 1.1.GODhaving made Man a rational free Agent, and fociable, among fenfible Objects, and out of fight of his dentiam. Laert. in invifible Creator, and fo infirm and defeciille, it followeth neceffarily, that he is a creature which must be governed by moral means, and not only moved by natural neceffitation as inanimates and bruits. Note,that all Cicero's Hanfwerable reasons for the Law of Nature, lib. de Leg. prove, that God governeth us by Laws: a For the Lw of Na ture is God's Law, who is the Miker of Nature. The thing that I am firft to prove, is, That Man's Creator hath made him fuch a creature, whofe nature requireth Government; that he hath a neceffity of Government, and an aptitude to it. By Government I mean, the exercife of the moral means of Laws Laws and Execution, by a Ruler, for the right ordering of Omnium quæ in ho the Subjects actions, to the good of the Society, and the ho- minum doctorum dis nour of the Governour. fputatione verfantur, nihil eft profecto 221. I diftinguish Laws from all meer natural motions and ne- præftabilius, quàm ceffitation for though analogically the Shepherd is faid to plane intelligi nos rule his Sheep, and the Rider his Horse, yea, and the Pilot ad juftitiam effe nahis Ship, and the Plow-man his Plow, and the Archer his tos; neque opinione fed naturâ, conftituArrow: yet this is but equivocally called Government, and tumeffe jus. Id jam is not that which we here mean, which is the propofal of patebit, fi hominum duty, feconded with rewards or punishment for the ne- inter ipfos focietaglects, by those in authority, for the right governing of tem conjun&tionemthofe that are committed to their care and truft. So that it is Cicer. de Leg. 1. pag. que profpexeris, &c. not all moral means neither which is called Government, for the inftruction or perfwafion of an Equal is not fuch. Laws, and Judgment, and Execution are the conftitutive parts of Government. But by Laws I mean the whole kind, and not only written Laws, nor thofe only which are made by Sovereign Rulers of Common-wealths, which by excellency are called Laws: but I mean, The fignification of the mill of a Governour, making the ful je&is duty, and determining of Rewards to the obedient, and punishments to the disobedient. Or, [An authoritative conftitution de debito officii, præmii & pœnæ, For the ends of Government.] So that as Parents, and Tutors, and Mafters, do truly govern as well as Kings; fo they have truly Laws, though not in fuch eminency as the Laws of Republicks. The will of a Parent, a Tutor, or Mafter, manifefted concerning duty, is truly a Law to a Child, a Scholar, or a Servant. If any diflike the ufe of the word [Law ] in fo large a sense, it fufficeth now for me to tell them in what fenfe I ufe it, and so it will serve to the understanding of my mind. I take it for fuch an Inftrument of Government. The parts of it are, 1. The conftituting of the debitum officii, or what fhall be due from the Subje&t. 2. The conftituting the debitum præmii vel pane, or what fhall be due to the Subject, which is in order to the promoting of obedience, though as to the performances obedience may be in order to the reward. Now that man is a creature made to be governed, by fuch a proper moral Government, I prove. 1. The feveral parts of Government are neceffary, therefore Government is neceffary. From all the parts of Govern ment Si leges abregantur ment to the whole, is an unquestionable confequence. It is & cuivis licentia fa- neceffary that man have Duty prefcribed and impofed; elfe ciendi quicquid voluerit data fit, non man fhall have nothing which he ought to do: Take away folum Refpub, ref- Duty, and we are good for nothing, nor have any employYum ibit, fed nec ment fit for reafon: And take away all Reward and Punishquicquam intererit ment, and you take away Duty in effect; experience teachinter noftram & fe- eth us that it will not be done, for a rational agent will have rarum vitam, Demust. ends and motives for what he doth. Or. 2. cont. Arilog. 2. From the imbccility of our younger state: so weak is Bonis legibus, hone- our infant understanding, and so ftrong our fenfitive incliforum ftudiorum nation, that if Parents fhould leave all their Children unæmulatione pia, tem& governed, abufed Reafon would make man worse than re bellica præftans beasts. perans, jufta, Dion. Hal c. 1. 4. civitas redditur. 3. From the common infirmity and badnefs of all the world. The wife are fo few, and the ignorant fo many, that Modeftiam quandam if all the ignorant were left ungoverned to do what they lift, they would be like an Army of blind men in a fight, or like cognitio rerum cœJeit um affert iis, qui a world of men bewildred in the dark. What a confused videant quanta fit loathfome fpcctacle would the world be? and the rather etiam apud Deos mo becaufe men are bad as well as foolish. Would all the fenfual deratio, quantus ordo; & magnitudinem vitious perfons in the world be ordered like men, without animi, Deorum ope- any Government, by fuch as are wifer than themselves? am, cum cognitum ra & fafta cernen. 4. From the power of fenfitive objects: The baits of fenfe tibus. Juftitiam eti- are fo numerous, fo near and fo powerful, that they would habeas, quid fit fum- bear down reafon in the moft, without the help of Laws: mi RECTORIS & nay, Laws themselves, even of God and Man, do fo little DOMINI numen, with the mott, as tell us what they would be without them. quod confilium, que 5. The variety of mens minds and intercfts and difpofibe_utturam apta ratio vera tions is fuch, as that the world ungoverned would be utilla & fumma Lex à tcrly in confufion: as many minds and ways as men. No two Philofophis dicitur. men are in all things of the fame apprehentions. voluntas,cujus ad na Cicer. de Finib. 1. 4. 6. From the nature of mans powers: He is a noble creature, and therefore hath anfwerable ends to be attain'd, and therefore must have the conduct of anfwerable means. He is a rational frce Agent, and therefore must have his End and Means propofed to his Reafon, and is not to be moved by Senfe alone; his chicfeft End as well as his chief Governour, being out of his fight. 7. The experience of all mankind conftraineth them to confent to this, that Man is a creature made for Govern ment. |