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A49801 Theo-politica, or, A body of divinity containing the rules of the special government of God, according to which, he orders the immortal and intellectual creatures, angels, and men, to their final and eternal estate : being a method of those saving truths, which are contained in the Canon of the Holy Scripture, and abridged in those words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which were the ground and foundation of those apostolical creeds and forms of confessions, related by the ancients, and, in particular, by Irenæus, and Tertullian / by George Lawson ... Lawson, George, d. 1678. 1659 (1659) Wing L712; ESTC R17886 441,775 362

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and the other parts no matter immediately capable of a ●orm to be either introduced into it or educed out of it by any agent but by God So that God supplyed wholly all the causes And when we say that God Created all things either mediately or immediately of nothing the word Nothing doth neither signifie the matter nor properly the term of that act but is a Negative and denyes all pre-existent matter in the first part of Creation Neither doth the word Create in Ancient authors signifie to make a thing of nothing as some think it doth Therefore we must learn what Creation is from the Scripture not from this or that word God by this Act did so clearly manifest his eternall power and God-head that it 's evident that he alone is the efficient cause and Maker of the World and that without the advice or assistance of any others and also without any tool or instrument It was a fr●e act of God For he was no wayes necessitated to make the World or to make it before or after or at that time when he did make it or to produce it in this or that order or manner rather then another For he Created all things and for his pleasure they are and were Created Rev. 4. 11. He Created Heaven and Earth in the beginning The word may signifie the Beginning of time as its the measure of things existing and standing out of their causes in their proper entity Or it may referr to the first part of the Creation teaching us That in the beginning and first of all God created Heaven and Earth which was voyd and without form and afterwards he made Light the Firmament and other things or it may referr unto the whole Creation and signifyes unto us that the first Work of God was the Creation of the World in six dayes And in this sense Creation was the first issuing-forth of his Almighty Power to make and do some things out of Himself This was the Act of Creation § XI and the Effects were all things Created All things joyntly taken together are the World and the principall parts thereof are Heaven and Earth And because Heaven and Earth are not Vacant places as it is written that the Heavens and the Earth were finished with all the Host of them Gen. 2. ● Where the word Host signifies all things in Heaven and Earth And these are called The Host of them 1. Because they are Many 2. Because they were all Created in an excellent order So Paraeus on the place 3. Because they were the Ornament and beauty of Heaven and Earth Thus the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u●ed by the Sepruaguit doth signifie By Heaven and Earth some understand by a Metonymie and Synechdoche all things Created as though these first words of the Scripture were an abridgement of the first Chapter of Genesis Others and upon better grounds do interpret Heaven to be the Heaven of Heavens and the Host thereof which is the innumerable multitude of Angells And Earth to be the Masse which was voyd and without form and the first rudiment and Seminary of all things Created-afterwards The first works of Creation therefore were Heaven and Angels The Scriptures tells us that there is an Heaven of Heavens which is sometimes called the Throne and Temple of God the third Heaven the place into which Christ ascended and where he will keep his residence till he come to judge the World No doubt its a Stately Glorious piece a place of Beauty and incomparable delight and therfore called Paradise In it are many Mansions where the Saints of God shall ever rest and enjoy their most excellent Inheritance Yet this highest place which is the Circumference of the World was not Created without the Host thereof which is the innumerable company of Angels These were concreated with the Heavens and are called the Angells of Heaven and by Creation as the Heavens so they are incorruptible and immortall Spirits which once began but shall never cease to live They are endued with a most piercing understanding free-Will and an admirable executive and active Power They were all at first righteous and holy like unto their God and had been for ever blessed as now the Holy Angels he if they had continued subject and obedient to the everlasting King who made them They were made and that in the Beginning as appeares from Psal. 104. 4. They were made before the foundation and Corner-stone of the earth was ●ay'd Job 38. 7. That they were Created long before the World was Jeroms groundlesse conceit And it was Austins fancy to think God made them when he said Let there be Light The Heaven of Heavens with their Host § XII was Created in the Beginning and with them the earth as co-aeval and concreated By Earth as appeares from the Text Gen. 1 2. was not meant this lowest part and Basis of the World as now it is for that was Created the third day but if we may so speak that first draught and imperfect Beeing which was as it were the rudiment and Seminary of this Lower world as distinct from the Heaven of Heavens and all things therein And if any thing may be called the first matter this surely is it which was so imperfect that only the skill and power of God could inform it And he did inform it and out of it made first the Elements and out of them all Mixt bodyes The first Elements was light which may be called the fire which is the purest the most subtil and active of all the rest and soared aloft into the highest place and the nature of it such that it hath great affinity with a Spirit and is next unto it The next was the Firmament which we call the Ayr And it was spread like a Curtain round about the Globe of the Earth and Water and takes up the space between them an the Aethereal light or fire a fit receptacle or subject to receive the Beames of light and being transparent to transmit them to the earth The third was the Water which first covered the earth and stood above the Mountaines but afterwards by the mighty power of God was reduced to the fluid substance which now we see it to be and gathered together into deep and Vast Channels of the earth whence the main Ocean and the narrow Seas and it s diffused into every part of the Earth through secret subterraneal Passages as through so many veines And hence our Springs Rivers Lakes The last the lowest and the dullest Element was the Earth And with it were created Minerals and Vegetables as Grasse Hearbs Plants and all Manner of Trees And with these he first furnished and beautified the earth the third day The Fourth he returns unto the Aetherial Part and creates the Sun Moon and Stars The two first as greater Lights the one for the Day the other for the Night together with the Stars These are the Lights and Lamps placed under the
for an Act of Divine Power as it is a cause of subjection which must ●o before admission To understand this we must consider the Subject of it and that is Man as sub alienâ potestate under the power of Sin and Sathan and so out of God's King●om and as an Alien to this Heavenly Common-wealth and such is every one by Nature as he is out of Jesus Christ. Yet there are degrees of this distance some are further off some nearer to this Kingdom This is evident from the condition of Jews and Gentiles in former times and always especially since the times of the Gospel Because all men are either in the visible Church or out of it And men may be out of the Church two ways 1. As never admitted into the same Or 2. Such as being in the Church prove Apostates The Gentiles once were not Gentiles For their first Apostate Fathers were in the Church and the Jews in former times were God's people but for their unbelief are cast out and continue LO-AMMI none of God's people and this shall be their condition till such time as the fulness of the Gentiles be come in And we must distinguish of such as are in the visible Church for some are sincerely subjected unto God-Redeemer according to their Allegiance Some are Subjects onely by Name and Profession and by their ignorance unbelief disobedience are little better then Heathens and Aliens Some are subject in some measure but come short of that degree which is required to admission All these excepting one sort are out of this Kingdome as it consists of reall Saints and living members of Christ. Apostates shall never be called much lesse admitted if they be personally and wilfully such For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins Heb. 10. 26. and if no more Sacrifice then calling is in vain and to no purpose Yet the posterity of Apostates may be and have been called And if once God vouchsafe the meanes of conversion to Idolators who have forsaken not only God as their Redeemer but as Creatour and Preserver he requires of them to renounce the Devil and turn from their Idols to the living God first and then unto him as Redeemer by Jesus Christ. They which have forsaken Jesus Christ or deny him as their Saviour and yet acknowledge and worship God alone as the Creatour of Heaven and Earth the Preserver and Governour of the World as Turks all Mahumetans and the unbelieving Jews do at this day are bound to acknowledge Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer and sure his incarnation and glorification as already come into the World The case of the Jew in the times of Christ and the Apostles was singular For the sincere Proselyte and Jew had onely this to do to believe in Christ already come as before they believed in him to come and so they became compleat members of the Church Christian and perfectly subjects of the Kingdome of Christ glorified The Ignorant and Prophane as also the Hypocrits must forsake their wicked wayes and sincerely submit themselves Yet none of these things can be done without a power from Heaven and a Vocation which is a gracious work of God Redeemer wherein he by his Word and Spirit reduceth man to subjection so that he is fitted to be a subject of his Blessed Kingdome For by Calling we are delivered from the power of darknesse and translated into the Kingdome of His Dear Son Col. 1. 13. Therefore said to be called out of darknesse into his marveylous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. And upon this they who were not a people are made the people of God verse 10. For God will put his lawes into their mind and write them in their hearts and thereupon He will be their God and they shall be to him a People Heb. 8. 10. In all these Passages and many more it 's evident 1. That by nature and as born of sinfull Adam we are in darknesse out of Gods Kingdome none of Gods People 2. That we passe out of darknesse into light and into Christs Kingdom 3. This is not a work of our own merit or power For it 's God that delivers us translates us writes his lawes in our hearts and this of his free mercy and by his great and wonderfull power 4. By this we become Gods people and subjects of Christ's Kingdom And all this is said to be by calling For he called us out of darknesse into his marvaylous light All these particulars are expressed or implyed in those words of the Apostle who signifies that God would send him to the Gentiles to open their eves and to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and as inheritance among them which are sanctifyed by saith in Christ Act. 26. 17 18. This Vocation § VII as it is an act of power and great mercy and free grace for by grace we are saved so it s a work which is effected by the Word and Spirit For as we are regenerate so we are called and we are regenerate 1. By the Word 2. By the Spirit By the Word For of his own will he begat us with the word of truth Jam. 1. 18. By the Spirit For except a man be born again of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God Joh. 3. 5. In the Word God commands and promiseth The command binds man to submit The promise is a motive to enforce the performance of the precept This we ma● understand and observe in the Call of Abraham For 1. He is commanded to get him out of his Countrey and from his kindred and from his Fathers house unto a land that God would shew him and to perswade him God promiseth to make him a great nation and to blesse him c. But the principall promise was that in him all the familyes of the earth should be blessed Gen. 12. 1. 2 3. This precept implyes that man is under the domi●ion of sin and Sathan and therefore commands him to forsake his sin and Sathan and turn from Satan unto God In this God makes use of the Doctrine of the fall of Adam and the Morall Law as given unto him and binding him to perfect and perpetual obedience and upon disobedience threatning Death And by the precept is discovered mans sin and by threatning his misery to humble him break his heart make him weary of sin and desirous of deliverance and willing upon any termes to accept a Saviour Yet this gives him no Comfort nor any Power to do that which is his duty though God make use of it to prepare mans heart The first dutyes commanded are 1. A sight of sin as sin in our selves whereby we are miserable The 2. Is saith whereby we believe that God being satisfyed and attoned by the blood of Christ will be mercifull and pardon sin This faith
congregation in particular From hence ariseth a relation of Pastour and People The Duty of the people is to esteem their Pastours and Teachers highly in love for their works sake 1 Thes. 5. 13. To obey them and submit unto them Obey them saith the Apostle who have rule over you and submit unto them for they watch over your Souls Heb. 13. 17. They must atttend unto their Doctrine and follow their good example Heb. 13. 7. They must maintain them and provide for them For Christ hath ordained that they who preach the Gospell should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 14. And let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all his goods Gal. 6. 6. The Duty of Ministers and Pastours amongst others are these To be rightly qualified and also called to their places binding themselves to do Christ service in that Office They must plant and water preach catechize and edifie the people wholly in the saving Doctrine of the Gospel and though they cannot confirm their Doctrine by Miracles yet let them do it by good example They must administer the Sacraments according to Christ's institution pray for the People perform all publick services of Religion and do all things that tend to the conversion confirmation and Salvation of the People The Sins of the People § XIX as subject to their Pastours are many amongst the rest these They neglect and contemn their persons places doctrines reproo●s admonitions good example They deny them maintainance have itching ears affect novel opinions are carried away with strange Doctrine They prove schismaticall desert their faithfull Pastours vex them persecute them Ministers offend when not rightly qualified enter upon the place without a due call and in an undue manner when their end is gain not the good of the peoples souls when they neglect their calling or are carelesse or remisse in the discharge of the Ministery preach false or unprofitable Doctrine give bad example corrupt Religion are Authors of Schism Faction Rebellion and so disgrace their calling dishonour Christ and drive multitudes to Hell Many of these are ambitious and insolent domineering over men's Consciences Christians may associate for Discipline § XX and the outward Government of their Society and that in greater and lesser Associations and for this end declare and constitute Canons and Orders chuse and ordain Officers erect several Courts of Jurisdiction Spiritual In these Ecclesiastical States the Supream Power of the Keys or Church-Government is in the whole Combination the delegated Power is in their Officers and in their Representatives This Constitution finished the Superiours and Governours are the Officers and Representatives whereby the whole Church doth exercise her Power and every particular member whether Officer or any other is subject This Constitution should be agreeable to Christ's Institution and it 's no ways safe that the Association should be of too little or too great extent And most certain it is that Christ did never ordain that there should be one Universal Supream Court in any part of the World to which all Christian of all Nations should submit or make Appeals The Duty of the People and Members of this Spiritual Common-wealth and every particular Person Officer or any other is to submit to this Order once established according to the Laws and Rules of Christ obey the Canons acknowledge the Officers receive their Jurisdiction The Duty of the Governours is to consider whether the Constitution be according to the Gospel to have a special care to make good Canons and to constitute able prudent pious and sit Officers to inform the Ignorant reform the Scandalous reprove admonish suspend or excommunicate absolve and in such a manner that Doctrine and Discipline may be preserved pure the People reformed the Church edifyed and Christ glorified And the Civil Magistrate should countenance protect assist them so far as his Civil Power in this particular may be useful The Discipline is easily corrupted hardly reformed the Primitive and Apostolical Order little known And in this point many are our Divisions Men have their several conceits of it Every Party fancy their own way to be the Pattern in the Mount and few are impartial and unprejudiced and though a good Discipline may be proposed yet the greatest part cannot endure it Schools § XXI Colledges Vniversities are a kind of little Common-Wealth wherein we have Ordinem Imperii Subjectionis wherein the Governours have power the governed are subject according to their Charters and Statutes and as there be Duties so there are contrary Offences in both There be also Superiours and Inferiours in respect of excellency and age yet without any power Those who for Wisdom Parts Experience rare Exploits do excel others should according to their eminency benefit others and others should honour them Yet Pride is the usual sinne of the one and Envy of the other Age and the gray-head if accompanied with Wisdom and Vertue should be reverenced and it 's a bad sign of a declining State when the Child shall behave himself proudly against the Ancient and the Base against the Honourable Esa. 3. 5. CHAP. XII The Sixth Commandement GOD § I by the former Commandement determined the right of Persons and in this He begins to define man's right in things which He commands to be observed The first and principal thing which a man hath right unto is his life and therefore after the duty to be performed to our Parents by whom we receive life from Him he takes care and provides for the safety of man's person and the preservation of his life by prohibiting Murder This Commandement presupposeth that God alone according to his absolute propriety hath the absolute power to dispose of man's life and can take it away and that justly at will and pleasure and that no man can do without Warrant extraordinary or ordinary from him Man hath no absolute right to dispose of his own life whereof he hath onely the possession and use but not the propriety and therefore he must not so much as hazard it without Divine Warrant The subject therefore of this Commandement § II is this mortal and bodily life of man which we receive by Conception and Birth and part with by Death It consists in the union of Soul and Body which is not so firm since that sin entred into the World but that it easily may be dissolved For man consists of two parts Soul and Body The Soul in it self is incorruptible and immortal and no man can kill it though man and many things else may separate it from the Body and the Body from it Therefore in the profession of the Gospel we need not fear men who kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul Math. 10. 28. The malice and violence of man may make the Body an unfit Habitation for the Soul to dwell in and no fit Instrument for the Soul to act by and then the Soul no ways able to animate the