[1.] His being a creator maketh him an owner. We have nothing but what we have from God ; nothing that we ourselves can keep one moment without God ; and therefore we have nothing but what is for God ; for we hold it at his will and pleasure : Ezek. xviii. 4. ' All souls are mine ; ' and Prov. xvi. 4, ' God hath made all things for himself ; ' and Kora. xi. 36, ' For of him, and to him, and through him are all things.' Among men, whosoever maketh anything by hi.s own proper art and labour, and that of his own stuff, must needs have a full right to it, and a full power to dispose of it. No man ever made anything but of matter pre-existing, but God made all things out of nothing ; and therefore if he that planteth a vineyard hath right to eat of the fruit thereof, certainly he that gave us life and being, and made us after his own image to serve and worship him, hath a full right in man, to dispose of man and all the rest of his creatures, as being the work of his hands. He that gave them their being when they were not, and still supporteth them now they are, hath an un- doubted just right to order them according to his own will and pleasure.
[2.] His being an owner qualifieth him for being a ruler. For the dominion of jurisdiction is founded in the dominion of property ; we are his own, therefore we are his subjects : Mat. xx. 15, ' Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own ? ' Surely he that possesseth all things, hath full right to govern all things ; as parents have an authority over their children, who are a means under God to give them life and education. The most barbarous nations have acknowledged the authority of parents ; how mucli greater then is the authority of God, who hath given us life and breath, being and well-being, and all things ? He created us out of nothing ; and being created, he pre- serve th us, and giveth us all the good things which we enjoy, and therefore we are obliged to him to be subject to him, and to obey all his holy laws, and to be accountable to him for the breach thereof. The supereminent excellency of his nature giveth him a sufficiency for the government of mankind ; and creation and preservation give him a full right to make what laws he pleaseth, and to call man to an account whether he hath kept them, yea or nay. The right of God is greater than the right of parents ; for in natural generation they are but instruments of his providence, acting only by the power which God giveth them ; and the parents propagate to the children nothing but the matter of the body, and such things as belong to the body, called therefore the ' fathers of our flesh : ' Heb, xii. 9. Yea, in framing the
30 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeK. XV,
body, God hath a greater hand than they, for they cannot tell whether the child will be male or female, beautiful or deformed ; know not the number and posture of the bones, and nerves, and arteries and sinews ; God formeth these things in the womb: Zech. xii. 1, 'And formed the spiiit of man within iiim.' All that they can do, cometh to nothing without God's blessing ; so that God is the governor of all creatures, visible and invisible, from whose empire and jurisdiction they neither can nor ought to exempt themselves.
[3.] There are two parts of government or jurisdiction — legislation and judgment — as the Lord is called, Isa. xxxiii. 22, 'Our king, our lawgiver, our judge.' First, as the lawgiver, he by his precepts showeth what is due from man to God: Micah vi. 8, ' He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good, and what the Lord thy God requireth of thee.' The way of pleasing God is clearly revealed. Many things the light of natural conscience calleth for (Rom. ii. 14) ; but the light of the holy scripture much more : Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20, ' He hath showed his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgments to Israel ; he hath not dealt so with any nation.' If we are contentious and obey not the truth, and against the light of scripture and reason gratify our brutish lusts, we disclaim God's authority, and do not carry ourselves as debtors to the Spirit, but the flesh. Secondly, judgment or execution. God's laws are not a vain scare-crow ; we are accountable for our obedience or disobedience to them. Two things come into the judgment ; the laws, the benefits and advantages given us to keep them. First, the laws : 2 Thes. i, 8, ' In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel ; ' and Eom. ii. 12, ' For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law ; and as many as have sinned iu the law, shall be judged by the law.' Secondly, benefits and abilities given us to keep them : Luke xix. 23, ' Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at ray coming I might have required my own with usury ? ' Every benefit we receive from God, increaseth the debt ; we are accountable for all these gifts of grace we have received from God ; they are bona, things good in their own nature ; they are dona, things freely given and delivered to us ; and talenta, a trust for which we are to be accountable ; not as money is given to a beggar, but as an estate put into the hands of a factor. As bona, we must esteem them according to their just value ; as dona, with thank- fulness ; as talenta, with faithfulness. Well then, since we have received our whole being from God, with all the appendant benefits, and since we have it for his use and service, we have all that we have upon these terms, to use it for his glory ; it clearly followeth that we are debtors not to the flesh, which iuclineth us to please ourselves, but to the Spirit, which inclinetli us to please God.