Bates - BT775 B274 1675

14 TACpannortyof theZíúítte 2ittritttto13, Chap. I. thou art my fervant, I have formed thee. From hence _iv' he bath a fupreme Right to impofe any Law, for the performance of which Man had an original power. Uni'erfal Obedience is the juft confequent of our ob- ligations to the Divine Goodnefs. Suppofe that Man were not the work of God's hands, yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us, than Man bath upon the account of his reafon to govern thofe Creatures that are inferiour to him. Or fuppofe that God had Si plus fit pre- not created the matter of which the Body is com- tii in opere pos'd, but only infpir'd it with a living Soul, yet his quarn in mate- right over us had been unqueftionable. The Civil ria, dominium Law determines, That when an Artificer works on rich eß a¡us qui fpeciem fecif- materials, and the engraving be not of extraordinary feo ; quonis value that the whole belongs to him who is the el, idpprava- owner of the materials : But if the matter be mean, 'mináfua quad and the workmanfhip excellent , in which the price ad fe trahat. wholly lies; as if a Painter fhoulddraw an admirable caftan, Pi&ureon a piece of Canvas, thePi&ure of right be- 7nfli:ut.Juffin. longs to him that drew it. So if according to the er- Plato. rour of fotne Philofophers, the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal, yet God having infufed a reafonable Soul into a piece of clay which is the principle of its life, and gives it a tranfcendent va- lue above all other beings which were made of the fame element, it is molt juft he fhould have a property in him, and dominion over him. TheLawofNature towhich Man was fubje& upon his Creation, contains thofe moral Principles concern- ing good and evil which have an effential equity in them, and are themeafures of his duty to God, to himfelf, and to his fellow creatures. This was pub- kn. 7. 12, lifht by thevoice of Reafon, and is holy,ju.ft andgood : Holy, as it enjoins thofe things wherein there is a con- formity

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