The Harmony rf the Divine .Attrihutes ~ and Authority. Upon tHis account Man, who derives his Life and Felicity fi·om God is ~ under a natural and Hrong Obligation to comply with his Will. From this Righ~ of · Cre~uon God affcrts hts umverfal Dormmon : 1 have made th~ Earth, and creattd Man ttJon tt_, even my Hands have ftr.etch'd out the Heavens, and all tlmr Hofls have I commanded, ·Jra. 41· 12. And 'the Pfalmift tells us, Pfal. 100. 3· /(porv ye thntthe Lord ht is God, it is ~~~~tdfcli~~: ;;s,g;~t~n~~d ~~n°~~s4~~;rte;; ~;e~~~~e?~d cl~~ ~~~if~~er;;~ '!;(s ~r~~~;· B~~ to h~tn, Ifa. 44· 21. Remember,O lfrael, for thou art ~J Servant, I have formed thee. From hence he hath a fupreme Right to impofe any Law, for the Performance 'of which Man had an original Power. Univerfal Obedience is the juft confcquent of our ObligationS to the Divine Goodaefs. Suppofc that Man were not the Work of God's Hands, yet the infinite Excellency of h~s Nature gives lmn a better Title to ·command us, than Man bath upon the account of Jus Rcafon to govern thofe Creatures that arc inferiour to him. Or fuppofe that God had not created rhc Matter of which the Body is compofcd, but only infpir'd it with a hvmg Soul, yet Ius Right over us had been unqucftionable. (c) The Civil Law determmes, That when an Arnficcr works on rich Materials, and the engraving be not of ex:. traordi nary Value, that the whole belongs to hi~ who is the Owner of the Materials: But if the maner be mean, and the Workmaofhi\' cxccllem, i~ which rhe Price wholly l1es; as if a Painter fbould draw an adm1r~b~c P1c?:ure on a p1ece of c~nvas the Piaure of right belongs ro him that drew it, lnfht. 'Jt~jftn. So, if according to :he Error of feme Fhi!ojop!Jers, [ Plato] the Matter of which the World was made had been Eternal yet God havingintilfed a rcafonableSoul into a piece of Clay, which is the Prineiple of it ~ Life, and gives it a tranfccndent Value above all other Bcmgs wbtch were made of the fame Element, it -is moft juft he fhould have a Property in him, and Dominion over him. The Law of Nature, to ·which Man was fubjetl: upon his Creation, contains thofe moral Principles conccrning .Good and Evil, which, have an elfcntial Equity in them, and ar~ ~lli.dh~u;~~~~~.~r1~r~~~n~i~~~&~1j;,jf~»~0 ;:z~~:-~~~~~""Iioli,h:S ~~~fa~~; ~:~r~~!'i~~,;:~ri~u:~:~i~~onr~~~~i' ~x:~~f\t:1~i~~t~:h!y~?si~~~ of, 1~ ,wPni<]a manner of Converfation, I Pet. I. IS· And this !s moll: honourable to the human Nature, 'Tis juft, that is exatl:ly agreeable to rbe Frame of Man's Faculties, and moll: fuit' itb;e1!o,~~~.~o:/J~io1?"~ ~~eg;;'a~rl~;,..~~dpf;;oo;;~~tiis, ~e~~fi~~~ ~b1;ti~~r~~~~ ?! eternal ; it being the unchangeable Will of God, grounded on the Natural and unvariable Relations between God aAd Man, and between Man and the Creatures. Befides the particular Diretl:ions of the Law of Nature, this general Principle was planted in the reafonablc Soul, to obey God in any Inll:ance wherein he did prefcribe his Pleafure. . Moreover, God was pleafcd to enter into a Covenant with Adam, and with all his Poficrity naturally dcfccnding from him.. And this was the effetl:, . . 1. Of admirable Goodnefs , For by his Supremacy over Man, be might have f.gmfied his Will mccrly by the way of Empire, and requir'd Obedience; but he was pleafed to ... condefcend fo far as to deal w1th Man m a fwccter manner, as w1th a Creature capabl~ of his Love, and to work upon him by rewards and punifhments congruouOy to the reafonable Nature. 2. Of Wifdom, to fecure Maa's obedience ' For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man, as it gave him infallible affurance of the reward eo ll:rcngthcn his Faith, fo it was the furcft bond to prcferve his Fidelity. 'Tis true, the Precept alone binds, by virtue of the Authonry that impofcs it, but the confent of the Creature increafes the Obhgation; it twijls the cords of rhe Law? ~nd bm~s more firongly to O_bcdience. Thus Adam was God's fer:'ant, as by the condmon ?f Ius nacure~ fo by his cho1ce, accepting the CO\·enant, from whiCh he could not recede Without the Gmlt and Infamy of the worlt l'erfidioufnefs. The Terms of the Covenant were becoming the Varties co~cern'd, ~ad and Man ; ~t ellablifhed an infeparablc Connexion between Duty and Fclimy . This appears by the ~~:~~~~~;. ~;::j,~ ~1si~n :t~ ~~h~T~~a:~ti:~;~;~i~t:~;~o;.;i~~~ ;;o;;rf"J;o};:.~ ~~;~fi: tton, GaL 3· 10. Cur{ed JS every one that doth not .contz~ue m all the H 101ks of the LaJV to do them. '"] he threatning of Dc:ath w~s expreft , 1t. bctng more ddficu!t to ~c concciv'd : The Promifc of Life upon Ius Obedstnce was in1phed, and ta fi ly fuggeflcd it fclf to the rattoaal
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