When that stated Order of Things, whereby the Actions even of inanimate Creatures are regulated according to the Appointment of the great Creator's Will, (when he first framed them, and pushed them into Motion) is called the Law of Nature; we cannot apprehend it as a Precept, or Rule of Duty established with a Sanction to those things, which being without Sense or Life, know nothing of the Matter. This Law is not a Precept given to such Creaturesb, but the Power of God ⟨p. 6⟩working in them, and acting them to move according to that Order which he hath set for the Administration of all things in the Universe. Who will say, that the Sun doth its Duty in performing its constant laborious Course, or that a Reward is due when it hath done its Work? And yet it is by a Law, tho not any Precept, that it moves so orderly; and a Law it is, without any promise of Recompense for observing and keeping duly the marked-out Course, or threatening a Penalty for deviating from it. It is by the same Law of Nature that the Fire always burns, the Planets perpetually move, the Earth never totters from its Centre, and yet they are not to be recompensed for such their exact Observance. And if on the contrary, the Fire should freeze us, the Planets stop their orderly Dance, or march so irregularly as to break all their Ranks, and the Earth shake and fall from its placed Foundation, they would not be liable to undergo any Punishment. And now, Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, and the Heavenly Bodies, are well enough said to act by a Law, tho they have no Rule of Duty given them, nor are obnoxious either to Rewards or Punishments. Well then, as the settled Order of the Universe is called a Law, the Gospel may obtain the same Name in that Sense. It is without doubt a most certain established Orderc of our Salvation by Christ alone, and this more unchangeable and irreversible than all the Laws of the Creation, since it is more impossible to be pardoned and justified in any other Method, than that set by God of applying Christ's Blood, and having his Righteousness imputed, than for all the Heavenly Bodies to move contrary to their stated Courses. In this sense the Gospel is a Law, without being a Rule of Duty, since it only tells us the Order God hath set of our being saved purely by his Grace:
When that stated Order of Things, whereby the Actions even of inanimate Creatures are regulated according to the Appointment of the great Creator's Will, (when he first framed them, and push'd them into Motion) is called the Law of Nature; we cannot apprehend it as a Precept, or Rule of Duty establish'd with a Sanction to those things, which being without Sense or Life, know nothing of the Matter. This Law is not a Precept given to such Creaturesb, but the Power of God ⟨p. 6⟩working in them, and acting them to move according to that Order which he hath set for the Administration of all things in the Universe. Who will say, that the Sun doth its Duty in performing its constant laborious Course, or that a Reward is due when it hath done its Work? And yet it is by a Law, tho not any Precept, that it moves so orderly; and a Law it is, without any promise of Recompence for observing and keeping duly the mark'd-out Course, or threatning a Penalty for deviating from it. It is by the same Law of Nature that the Fire always burns, the Planets perpetually move, the Earth never totters from its Centre, and yet they are not to be recompenc'd for such their exact Observance. And if on the contrary, the Fire should freeze us, the Planets stop their orderly Dance, or march so irregularly as to break all their Ranks, and the Earth shake and fall from its plac'd Foundation, they would not be liable to undergo any Punishment. And now, Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, and the Heavenly Bodies, are well enough said to act by a Law, tho they have no Rule of Duty given them, nor are obnoxious either to Rewards or Punishments. Well then, as the settled Order of the Universe is called a Law, the Gospel may obtain the same Name in that Sense. It is without doubt a most certain establish'd Orderc of our Salvation by Christ alone, and this more unchangeable and irreversible than all the Laws of the Creation, since it is more impossible to be pardon'd and justify'd in any other Method, than that set by God of applying Christ's Blood, and having his Righteousness imputed, than for all the Heavenly Bodies to move contrary to their stated Courses. In this sense the Gospel is a Law, without being a Rule of Duty, since it only tells us the Order God hath set of our being saved purely by his Grace:
- b[Greek or Hebrew]. […] Declam. 18. Pag. 483. Tom. 1. Oper. Ed. Morelli, Paris. 1606.〈non-Latin alphabet〉. 〈…〉 Declam. 18. Pag. 483. Tom. 1. Oper. Ed. Morelli, Paris. 1606.
- cThe Hebrew word [Greek or Hebrew] Tor, which in the Feminine Gender is [Greek or Hebrew] Torah, signifies a fix'd and dispos'd Order of things, as Esth. 2. 12. and Ver. 15. Schindler in Lex. Pentaglot. and Cocceius in Lexic. Heb. remark in voce [Greek or Hebrew].The Hebrew word 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 Tor, which in the Feminine Gender is 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 Torah, signifies a fix'd and dispos'd Order of things, as Esth. 2. 12. and Ver. 15. Schindler in Lex. Pentaglot. and Cocceius in Lexic. Heb. remark in voce 〈non-Latin alphabet〉.
