The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption…

1. No man hath absolute Power over his own life. 'Tis a depositum consigned to him for a time, and must be preserved till God, or the Public good, calls for it.

1. No man hath absolute Power over his own life. 'Tis a depositum consigned to him for a time, and must be preserv'd till God, or the Publick good, calls for it.

2. The Public would suffer prejudice by the loss of a good Subject. Therefore the Rule of the Law is just, Non auditur perire volens. The desire of one that devotes himself to ruin is not to be heard. And the guilty person who is spared might grow ⟨p. 246⟩worse by impunity, and cause great disorders by his evil example. But these considerations are of no force in the case of our Saviour: For,

2. The Publick would suffer prejudice by the loss of a good Subject. Therefore the Rule of the Law is just, Non auditur perire volens. The desire of one that devotes himself to ruine is not to be heard. And the guilty person who is spared might grow ⟨p. 246⟩worse by impunity, and cause great disorders by his evil example. But these considerations are of no force in the case of our Saviour: For,

1. He had full Power to dispose of his life: I have power to lay it down, ¹and I have power to take it again: this Commandment have I received of my Father. He declares his Power as God, that his life entirely depended on his will, to preserve it, or part with it: and his subjection as Mediator to the order of his Father.