2. Neither doth God give it away by bestowing gifts upon the crea- ture ; for he hath given us only dispensationem, the employment of these things, not dominium, the sovereign power over them. Man hath nothing that is his own. As to life, it is clear man is not dominus vitce, but custos ; which is true not only of our life, but of our time, wealth, strength, parts, yea, of all that we have. Still we are subject to a higher lord, who hath an absolute uncontrollable right. All our owning is but a stewardship, Luke xvi. 2. We have a right to pre- vent the encroachment of our fellow-creatures. We have a right by way of charge and trust, as a steward to things committed to him, or as a workman hath a right to his tools or instruments to do his work, or a factor in the estates committed to him ; but an absolute inde- pendent right we have not. They are not ours to use as we think meet. They were rebels that said, ' Our tongues are our own,' Ps. xii. 4. Well, then, when God dispersed his gifts, he did not dispossess himself. As the husbandman doth not intend to throw away his seed when he scattereth it in the furrows, but soweth it to receive it again with increase, so God.
3. I will add this, that God cannot give this absolute right to another that is not God, no more than he can cut off the creature from depend- ing upon himself. In our way of owning our petty interests it may be permitted, as a lord may make his vassal and slave free, or a prince his subjects ; as Saul proclaimed that whosoever should overcome Goliath, he would make his house free in Israel ; that is, free from
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taxes, imposts, service in war, 1 Sam. xvii. 25. But now no creature can be exempted from duty to God ; for dependence upon God and subjection to him are so twisted together, that the one cannot be with- out the other. We wholly depend upon him for being, and all things else, and therefore must be wholly subject to him. We still continue in our being ; now the continuance of our very duty and being doth still depend upon God.
Fifthly, God's sovereign dominion over us, and interest in us, may be set forth by these three things, at least to our present purpose : —
1. A right of making or framing anything as he willeth, in any manner as it pleaseth him : ' As the potter hath power over his own clay to form what vessel he pleaseth, either of honour or dishonour,' Rom. ix. 21 ; and Jer. viii. 16, ' As clay in the hand of the potter, so are ye in my hand, saith the Lord of hosts.' Nothing before it had a being had a right to dispose of itself, neither did God make it what it was by necessity of nature, nor by the command, counsel, or will of any superior, or the direction of any coadjutor ; neither is there any to whom he should render an account of his work ; but merely produced all things by the act of his own will, as an absolute owner and sovereign lord of all his actions : Eph. i. 11, ' He worketh all things according to the counsel of his will ;' and Rev. iv. 11, ' Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' Such was God's absolute power. This should be thought of by us, because whatever was given us in creation is not a matter of right, but the mere effect of God's good-will and good pleasure. He might have made us stocks and stones, and not living creatures, or, among living creatures, plants only, with a life of vegetation and growth ; or if a sensitive life, in the lowest rank, toads and vipers, or at best, but as horse or mule, without understanding, and not men. Among men, all the blessings and privileges we were born to might have been with- held without any injustice. The various constitutions and complexions of men, all their gifts and natural capacities, are the fruits of his sovereign will.
2. A right of having and possessing all things so made and framed by him. Amongst men, whosoever maketh anything by his own proper art and labour, and of his own stuff, must needs have a full right to it, and a full power to dispose of it ; yet no workman ever made any- thing without some matter ; but God made all things without matter pre-existing, and therefore surely his right is greater. Wherefore God is called not only the maker of heaven and earth, but the possessor, Gen. xiv. 19. God is the great proprietor, and in a sense the only proprietor that hath dominium proprie dictum : ' Gold and silver are mine,' Hag. ii. 8 ; and Hosea ii. 9, ' I will return, and take away my corn and my wine in the season thereof ; ' Ps. 1. 10, ' His are the cattle upon a thousand hills ; ' yea, ' The whole earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,' Ps. xxix. 1, 16. All is God's, in whatsoever hands it be : ' The Lord hath need of him,' is argument enough. Now this doth mightily increase our confidence, check our usurpations, quicken us to faithfulness, that the great owner may not be deprived of his right.