lex be oculata , for Nós ogão , Nõs exów, and the Will is to follow the ultimum nutum capitis, the meaning of the Law in all circumAtances,

1. In a Law.giver there is to be judicium, & prudentia Architectonica ad ferend.is leges , the Ægyptian Hieroglyphick for Legislative power was Oculus in sceptro ; and it had need be such an eye, that can see both rear rjómiaw. It had need have a full, and open prospe& into publick affairs, and to put all advantages into one scale, and all inconveniences into another.

Ta be sure the Laws of God,they flow from a fountain of wirdom, and the Laws of men are to be lighted at this Candle of the Lord, which he ha’s set up in them, and those Laws are moft poient, and prevalent, that are founded in light; ó noysouw apagal x suoñ, rj iregó

. Other Laws are stanegi, rij didnegi, they may have an iron, and adamantine necessity; buc the others have a Soft, and downy perswasion going along with them, and therefore as he goes on, το λογισμι καλύ μ όντΘ,πεεε δε, και βιάιε, Reafon is so beautiful, as that it wins, and allures, and thus conítrains to obedience,

11!. There is to be figillum legis, I mean, Eleftio, & Determinatio Legis, after a sincere aim at publick good, and a clear discovery of the best means to promote ic, there comes then a fix'd, and sacred resolution ; Volumus, by statuimus, this speaks the will of the Law giver, and breaths life into the Law, it adds vigour, and efficacy to it. But yet notwithstanding,

IV. There must be vox tube, that is, primulgatio, da insinuatio Legis. The Law, 'is for a publick good, and is to be made known in a publick manner : for as nope can desire an unknown goodslo none can obey an unknown Law; and therefore invincible Ignorance do 3 excuse ; for else men should be bound to absolute impossibilities. But whether it be required to the publishing of a Law, that it should be in way of Writing, which is more fix’d, and durable, or whether the manifestation of it in a Vocal, and Oral manner will fuffice, which yet is more tranfient, and uncerrain ) I leave the Lawyers, and Scholemen to dispute it. This I am sure, that all the Laws of God are proclaimed in a moft fufficient, and emphatical manner.

СНАР,

CHAP. V.

of the Eternal Law.

HAB

Aving thus look'l upon the being of a Law in general, we

now come to the Tpring, and original of all Laws, to the eternal Law, that fountain of Law, out of which you may see the Law of Nature bubbling, and flowing forth to the sons of men, For, as Aquinas do’s very well tell us, the Law of nature is nothing but participatio Legis æterne in Rationali creatura,che copya ing out of the eternal Law, and the imprinting of it upon the breast of a Rational Being , that eternal Law was in a manner incarnated in the Law of Nature,

Now this eternal Law, it is not really distinguished from God himself. For Nileft ab æterno, nisi ipse Deus , ro that 'tis much of the fame nature with those Decrees of his, and that Providence, which was awake from everlasting. For, as God, from all eternity, by the hand of infinit wisdom, did draw the several faces, and lineaments of Being, which he meant to shew in time: So he did then also contrive their several frames with such limits, and compass, as he meant to set them; and said to every things Hither shalt thou go, and no farther.

This the Platonists would call isian As rónews, and would willingly head such honourable Titles as these upon it, 'O réu d'so χηγός, πρωτεργός, αυτοδίκαια, αυτόκαλΘ , απάγαθο, και όντως Vouc, årbu ong untixés. and the greatest happiness the other Laws can arrive unto is this, that they be Nóuor sentúortes, Otientutis, ministring, and fubfervient Laws, waiting upon this their Royal Law Erich vom Or, as they would choose to ftise them, Noondas, some madons, and appearances of this bright and glorious Law; Orgai the best,they would be esteemed by them but Nóver Wysoros, the noble off-spring , and progeny of Laws ; bleffing this womb, that bare them, and this breast, that gave them suck.

And thus the Law of Nature would have a double portion as being Lex primogenita, the first born of this eternal Law, and tbe beginning of it's strength. Now, as God himself thews fome

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what of his face in the glass of Creatures; so the beauty of this Law gives some representations of it self in those pure derivations of inferiour Laws, that ftream from it. And, as we ascend to the first, and Supreme Being by the steps of Second Causes; so we may climb up to a light of this eternal Lamp by those fruita ful branches of secondary Laws, which seem to have their root in earth, when as indeed it is in Heaven ; and that I may vary a little that of the Apostle to the Romanes, The invisible Law of God, long before the creation of the World, is now

clearly seen, being understood by those Laws, which do appear; so that to yra sdy vous, is manifested in them, God having showo it to them. Thus, as the Scholemen say very well, Oninis lex particia pata supponit legem per effentiam. Every impresion supposes a S'eal, from whence it came; every ray of light put you in minde of a Sun, from which it shines. Wisdom, and Power, these are the chief Ingredients into a Lawinow where do's Wisdom dwell, but in the head of a Deity ? and where doo power triumph,buc in the arm of Omnipotency?

A Law is born ex cerebro Jovis and it is not brachium secue lare, but cæleste, that must maintain it, even humane Laws have theic virtue radicaliter, & remoté ( as the Scholes speak) from his eternal Law. Thus that famous, and most renowned Oratour, and Patriot ( Tully I mean ) do's most admirably express the linage, and descent of Laws in this golden manner. Hanc vedio sapieniilJimorum fuisse sententiam, Legem neque hominum ingeniis excogitatam, neque fcitum aliquod eje Populorum ; fed æternuna quiddam,

j quod universum mundum regeret, imperandi, prohibendique sapien. tiâ. Ità principem illam Legem, e ultimam mentem, dicebant omnia ratione aut cogentis, ant vetantis Dei. which I shall thus render; Wise men did ever look upon a Law, not as on a spark Struck from humane Intellectuals, not blowe up, or kindled with pon pular breath; but they thought it an eternal light shining from God himself

, irradiating, guiding, and ruling the whole Universe ; moji sweetly, and powerfully discovering what ways were to be chosen, and what to be refused. And the mind of God himself is the centre of Laws, from which they were drawn, and into which they must return,

Thus allo that florid Moralist, Plutarch, resolves all Law and Juftice, into that Primitive, and eternal Law, even God himself, E

for

a

for even thus he tells us, Justice laies he)do's not onely fit like a Queen at the right hand of Jupiter, when he is upon his Throne; but me is always in his bofom, and one with himself; and he closes it up with this, That God himself is a test rópewn agerBÚTato, si TERMÉ. Tal@.As he is the most Antient of Days, so also he is the molt an. tient of Laws, as he is the perfection of Beings, so is he also the Rule of operations

Nor muft I let slip that Paffage of Plato , where he calls a Law zřva oxñilkov, the golden Scepter, by which God himself rules, and commands ; for, as all true Government has a bright stamp of divine Sovereignty,so every true Law ha's a plain superscription of his Justice. Laws are anointed by God himself, and most precious Oil drops down upon them to the skirts of a Nation and the Law of Nature had the Oil of gladness poured out upon it above its felloos.

So then, that there is such a prime, and supreme Law is clear, and unquestionable ; but who is worthy to unseal, and open this Law? and who can sufficiently display the glory of it? We had need of a Moses, that could ascend up into the Mount, and converse with God himself, and yet when he came down, he would be fain to put a veil upon his face, and upon his expreffrons too, left otherwise he might too much dazle inferiour underftandings : but, if the Schoolemen will satisfie you, ( and you

: know some of them are stiled Angelical, and Seraphical) you shall hear, if you will, what they'l say to it.

Now this Law, according to them, is Æterna quedam ratio. practica totius difpfitionis, & gubernationis Universi. 'Tis an eternal Ordinance made in the depth of God's infinite wisdom, and coun.. fell, for regulating, and governing of the whole World; which:yec had not its binding virtue in resped of God himself, who ha's always the full, and unrestrained liberty of his own efence, which is so infinite, as that it cannot binde it self, and which needs no Law; all goodness,and perfe&ion being so intrinfecal, and effential to it:but it was a binding determination in reference to the crezture, which yet,in respe& of all irrational Beings,did onely fortis ter inclinare;buc,in respe& of Rationals,it do's formaliter obligare;

By this great, and glorious Law every good a&tion was commanded, and all evil was discountenanc'd, add forbidden from everlafting. According to this righteous Law all rewards, and

funishments

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punilhments were distributed in the eternal thoughts of God. At the command of this Law all created Beings took their several ranks, and ftations and put themselves in such operations, as were belt agreeable, and conformable to their Beings. By this Law all effences were ordained to their ends by moft happy, and conveni, ent means. The life, and vigour of this Law (prang from the Will of God himself, from the voluntary decree of that eterna! Law-giver, minding the publick Welfare of Being; who, when there were heaps of varieties, and poffibilicies in his own mos glorious thoughes, when he could have made such, or luch Worlds, in this, or the manner, in this, or that time, with such, and such Species that should have had more or fewer individuals,

, as he pleased with such operations as he would allow unto them; he did ihen sele&,and pitch upon this way,and method, in which we see things now consticuted, and did binde all things according to their several capacities, to an exa&, and accurate observation of it.

So that by this you see how those eternal Ideas in the minde of God, and this eternal Law do differ. I speak now of Ideas not in a Platonical sence, but in a Scholastical,(unless they both agree, as some would have then.)For Idea eft poffibilium, Lex taniùm futurorum. God had before him the piðure of every possibility, yet he did not intend to binde a possibility, but onely a futurity. Besides , Ideas, they were situated onely in the under/tanding of God; whereas a Law ha's force, and efficacy from his will; according to that much commended Saying, In Cælești e Angelica curia voluntas Dei Lex ejt. And then an Idea do's niagis respice. re artificem, it ftays there where first it was; but a Law, do's potiùs respicere subditum, it calls for the obedience of another; as Suarez do's very well difference them.

Neither yer is this eternal Lap the same with the Providence of God, though that be eternal also. But, as Aquinas speaks, Lex se habet ad Providentiam, ficut principium generale ad particulares conclusiones ; or, if you will,Sicut principia prima practica ad pru-. dentiam ; his meaning is this, that Providence is a more pin&tual, and particular application of his binding rule, and is not the Lan it self, but the superintending power, which looks to the execution, and accomplidhment of it ; or, as the moft acute Suarez ha's it, Lex dicit jus in communi constitutun : Providentia di.

cit

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