Ver.'< 2. the 8th Chapter of the ROMANS. t ß i in framing the body,God bath a greater hand than they, for they cannot tell whether the Child will be MaleorFemale, beautiful or. deformed ; know not tl.e number and pofture of the Bones,andNerves, and Arteries,and Sinews; God formeth thefe things in the Womb; Zech. 12. 1. And formed the fpirit of man within him. All that they can do, cometh to nothing without Gods ble[iing ; fo that God is the governour of all c; eatunes vifible and invifible, from whore Empire and Jurifdi &ion they nest her can nor ought to exempt themfelves. 3 There are two parts of Government or rifdi &ion, Legiflation and yndgment, as the Lord is called, Ira. 33. 22. Our King, our our judge Firfl,as the Lawgiver: He by his Precepts thewetb what is due from man to God, Micah' 6. 8. He bath [hewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord thy Gad regrsireth of thee. The way of plea- ting God is clearly revealed : Many things the light of natural confcience calleth for; Rom. a. 14. But thelightof the Holy Scripture much more,Pfal. 147. t9, ao. He hats /hewed his word to Jacob, his flatutes and judgments to Ifrael ; he loth not dealt fo with any nation: If we arecontentious,and obey not the truth ,and again(} the light of Scripture and reafon gratifie our brutilh tufts, we difclaim Gods Authority, and do not carry our felves as debtors to the fpirit, but the fleth. Secondly, judgment or Execution : Gods Laws are not a vain fcare.crow, we are accountable for our obedience or difobedierce to them : Two things come into the judgment, the Laws, the Benefits and advantages gi- ven us to keep them ; fsrfi, the laws, 2 Thef. i. 8. inflaming/re, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Go el; and Rom. 2. r 2. For as many as have finned .without law, /hall a fo perifh without law; and as many as have finned in the law, /hall be judged by the law. Secondly, 'Benefits and Abilities given us to keep them, Luke 19. 23. Wherefore thengavefi not thou my money into the,bank,that at my coming I might have required my own with of ry ? Every benefit we receive from God, increafeth the debt ; we are accounta- ble for all thefe gifts of Graçe we have received from God ; they are bona, things good in their own nature ; they Are dona, things freely given and delivered to us; and to/eh- to, a truft for which we are to be accountable; not as money is given to a beggar, but a; an efiate put into the hands of a Faftor; as bona, we mutt efleem them according to their juft value; as dona, with thankfulnefs; as talents, with faith£ulnefs. Well then; Once we have received our whole being from God, with all the appendant benefits, and Once we have it for his ufe and fervice; we have all that we have upon thefe terms,to ufe it for his glory ; it clearly followeth,tbat we are debtors not to the flelh, whichinclineth us to pleafe our felves; but to the fpirit,which inclineth us to pleafe God. 4. I jtall add one propopofition more, that this debt and obligation cannot be diffalved for as long as we depend upon God in being and operation,fo long we are bound to God s Man hath principium (57,. finem, a principle upon which he dependeth, and an end to which he is appointed; a fuperior to whom he is fubjebt, and to whom he mull give an account. i. Thispawer and right cannot be alienated by us, or vacated and made void by our fin ; we indeed fold our felves for nought, but that was to our own lofs, not to Gods, Ira., 52. 3. He hath a full right to command us to keep the law: Whether we be faulty or innocent ; a drunken fervant is a ferrant, tho difabled to do his matters work ; no Mans right can be vacated without his confent, for the default of another doth not make void our right, efpecially if inferiors 5 as the rebellion of the fubjebl doth not exempt him from the power of his Prince. a. God doth not make it away, by bellowing his gifts on the creature ; for he bath gi- ven us only difpenfationem, the imployment of thefe things; not dominium, the foveraign power over them ; man bath nothing that is his own, but as he hash it from God, fo for God; as to life,man is not domen .r vit &, but coons; this is true not Only of life, but of time, wealth, ftrength, parts, yea, oì all that we have and are; there is an higher Lord, to whom by the law of our creation we owe the debt of duty, love and obedience; and to whom we are accountable for the mercies of his daily Providence, and who bath an abfolute and uncontroulable right in all that we have and are ; all our owning, is but a Oewardfhip,Luke 16.2. We have a right to prevent the incroachment of our fellow creatures,but not a right to exclude our accountablenefs and obligation toGod ;we have a right by way of charge and trufl, as a fleward in things committed to him, or a factor in the eflate configned to his hands, or a workman in his Tools and Inftrumentswhich the Matter giveth him to do his work withal; but not an abfolute independent right ; they are not ours to ufe as we think meet : When GoVifpofed his gifts, he did not difpoffef himfelf as the Husbandman did not intend tot hrow away his feed, when he fcattereth it in the
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