Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT770 .B39 1670

40o The Life of them ; when furely they cannot &del it they would. a ¿The very phrafe of theirquell.o, is non- fcnfe,or.very un- fit.Confcienceis but a mans kn wiedge or judgment of himfelfas he is obligi:d to his duty and the eflfeits; and confequently, of theobligations, which lieupan him. It isafirange gaettion, whether I am bound in knawledgeof tit) felf: But it were a reafonable qu(iioa, whether I be bound to Knorr ; or whether I know that I am bound. It is. the whole man, and molt eminently the bill, which isbound by Laws, or any Moral Objaigations. The man is bound. But it by confcience, they mean the ¡d, it is a ridiculous queft,on : For no bands can lie upoi the body immediately, but Cords or Iron, or fueh like ma.eriala. The foul is the firft obliged, or elfe the man is not morally obliged at all. If the fence ofthe qu:ftionbe, whether it be a Divine or a Religions obiigation,.which rncns commands do lay upon us : The anfwer is eafie : r. That &Zen is not God; and therefore or bumaneit is not Divine. ì. That Mans Government it Gods inffitution, andMen are Gads Officers ; and therefore the ob- ligation is Religious, and Ltffrumentaiy or Mediately Divine. Either mens Laws and Commands do bind us or not : If not, they are no Laws, nor authoritative Ads : If they do bind, either it is primarily by an authority originally in themfelves that made them (and then theyare all gods And then there is no God.) Or elfe it is by derived auskority. If fo, God muff be the Original (or Rill the Original mull be God.) And then is the high way any plainer than the true anfwer of this que- Ilion, viz That Princes, Parents, &c. have a governing or Law-giving power from God, in fubordinarion to him and that they are his OulLcrs in governing : And that all thole Laws which he hath authorized them to make do bind the foul, that is, the man, immediately as humane, and irffrùmertapj or mediately as Divine, or as the bonds of God. As my Covenant bind my fell to confcience, (if you will fo (peak, rather than that they bind my confcience) fo do ta.cna Laws altobind me, You may as well ask whether the writing ofmy pen, be its ac`tionor mine and be an animate, ®r inanimate ad ; which is coon refolved. 53. To conclude theft Rules, as the juft imprefs ofthe Spirit,

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