The reasons of the Christian religion the first part, of godliness, proving by natural…

The meaning is better known by the bare terms of denomination, through common use, than by definition. We know what it meaneth, when a man saith of any thing, It is mine own: There are defective half-proprieties, of Co-partners, ⟨p. 34⟩and subordinate Proprietors, which belong not to our present case. The word Dominus, & Dominuim, is sometime taken laxly, as comprehending both Propriety and Rule; and sometime improperly, for Government or Command it self: But among Lawyers it is most commonly taken properly and strictly for an OWNER as such: But lest any be contentious about the use of the word, I here put instead of it, the word Owner and Proprietor, as being more free from ambiguity.

The meaning is better known by the bare terms of denomination, through common use, than by definition. We know what it meaneth, when a man saith of any thing, It is mine own: There are defective half-proprieties, of Co-partners, ⟨p. 34⟩and subordinate Proprietors, which belong not to our present case. The word Dominus, & Dominuim, is sometime taken laxely, as comprehending both Propriety and Rule; and sometime improperly, for Government or Command it self: But among Lawyers it is most commonly taken properly and strictly for an OWNER as such: But lest any be contentious about the use of the word, I here put instead of it, the word Owner and Proprietor, as being more free from ambiguity.

¹§. 4. GOD is jure Creationis & Conservationis, the most absolute Owner or Proprietor of Man, and the whole Creation.

1. 1Those writers who confound Propriety and Government under the word Dominion, and then bestow long and sharp disputes on the question, what is the fundamentum of Gods dominion, do but delude the ignorant, and exercise the patience or contempt of the intelligent,