The Reasons of the Christian Religion Part 1, Part 1 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Of GOD as RELATED to his Creatures: eſpecially to Man. And I. as his OWNER.
PAſſing by all that is doubtfull, and controverted among men truly Rational, and taking before me only that which is certain, undenyable, and clear, and wherein my own Soul is paſt all doubt, I ſhall proceed in the ſame method ſecundum ordinem cognoſcendi, non eſſendi. The word [GOD] doth not only ſignifie all that I have been proving, viz. Read the proofs of the Deity, and of Providence at large in Cicer. de nat. Deor. lib. 2. by Balbus.The perfect nature of the firſt Cauſe, but alſo his Relations to us his Creatures: And therefore till I have opened and proved thoſe Relations, I have done but part of my work, to prove that THERE IS A GOD.
§. 1. GOD having produced Man (and all the World) by his Power, Ʋnderſtanding and Will, is by immediate reſultancy Related to him as his CREATOR.
Though he made his Body of pre-exiſtent Matter, yet was that Matter made of nothing; and therefore God is properly Mans CREATOR, and not his Fabricator only. And a CREATURE is a Relation, which inferreth the Correlate, a CREATOR, as a Son doth a Father. This therefore is Gods firſt grand Relation unto Man, which hath no cauſe to produce it, but his actual Creation, which is its fundamentum.
§. 2. This Grand prime Relation, inferreth a Trinity of Grand Relations, viz. That God is our OWNER, our RƲLER, and our BENEFACTOR, of which we are now to ſpeak in order.
That theſe Three are juſtly diſtinguiſhed from each other, is paſt doubt to all that underſtand what is meant by the terms. An Owner as ſuch is not a Ruler or Benefactor, a Ruler as ſuch is not an Owner or a Benefactor. A Benefactor as ſuch is neither an Owner nor a Ruler. And the enumeration is ſufficient: All humane affairs, or actions of converſe and ſociety, belong to Man in one of theſe three Relations, or ſuch as are ſubordinate to them, and meer dependents on them, or compounded of them. They are in ſome reſpect the Genera, and in ſome as it were the Elements of all other Relations. And from the manner of men, they are applyed to God, with as much propriety of ſpeech, as any terms that man can uſe concerning him. And he that could draw a true ſcheme or method of the Body of Morality (or Theology, for all is one with me) would reduce all the dealings of God with Man, which are ſubſequent to the fundamental Act of Creation, to theſe three Relations; and accordingly diſtinguiſh of them all: Yet in the Mixt acts, (as moſt are ſuch) diſtinguiſhing only of the compounding Elements (I mean, the intereſt of theſe three Relations, as making up the ſeveral acts.)
§. 3. A full Owner or Proprietor, is called Dominus in the ſtricteſt ſenſe, and is one that hath a Jus poſſidendi, diſponendi, & utendi; a right of having or poſſeſſing, diſpoſing and uſing, without any copartner, or ſuperior Proprietor, to reſtrain him.
The meaning is better known by the bare terms of denomination, through common uſe, than by definition. We know what it meaneth, when a man ſaith of any thing, It is mine own: There are defective half-proprieties, of Co-partners, and ſubordinate Proprietors, which belong not to our preſent caſe. The word Dominus, & Dominuim, is ſometime taken laxely, as comprehending both Propriety and Rule; and ſometime improperly, for Government or Command it ſelf: But among Lawyers it is moſt commonly taken properly and ſtrictly for an OWNER as ſuch: But leſt any be contentious about the uſe of the word, I here put inſtead of it, the word Owner and Proprietor, as being more free from ambiguity.
Thoſe writers who confound Propriety and Government under the word Dominion, and then beſtow long and ſharp diſputes on the queſtion, what is the fundamentum of Gods dominion, do but delude the ignorant, and exerciſe the patience or contempt of the intelligent,§. 4. GOD is jure Creationis & Conſervationis, the moſt abſolute Owner or Proprietor of Man, and the whole Creation.
It is not poſſible that there ſhould be a more full and certain title to propriety, than Creation, and total conſervation is. He that giveth the World all its Being, and that of nothing, and continueth that being, and was beholden to no pre-exiſtent matter, nor to any co-ordinate concauſe, nor dependent on any ſuperiour cauſe in his cauſation, but is himſelf the firſt independent, efficient, total cauſe of being and well-being, and all the means thereto, muſt needs be the abſolute Owner of all, without the leaſt limitation or exception.
It is not the ſupereminency of Gods nature, excelling all created beings, that is the foundation of this his Propriety in the creature. For Excellency is no title to Propriety. And yet he that is unicus in capacitate poſſidendi, that is ſo tranſcendently excellent as to have no Copartner in a claim, might by Occupation be ſole Proprietor, in that kinde of Propriety ſecundum quid, which Man is capable of: Becauſe there is no other whom he can be ſaid to wrong. But GOD hath a more plenary title by Creation, to Abſolute Propriety.
§. 5. Therefore it belongeth to GOD to be the Abſolute Diſpoſer of all things: To do with them what he pleaſe: and to uſe them to the pleaſure of his will.
Every one may do with his own what he liſt, except the propriety be but limited, and dependent on another, or but ſecundum quid. Who ſhould interpoſe and any way hinder God, from the free diſpoſall of his own? Not any Copartner, for there is none. Nor the Creature it ſelf, becauſe it is abſolutely His.
§. 6. Therefore alſo (in hoc inſtanti, antecedently to any further Relation or Covenant) it is not poſſible for God to do wrong to his Creature, howſoever he ſhall uſe it: Becauſe it is abſolutely his own, and he oweth it nothing: And where there is no Debitum, there is no Jus, and can be no Injuria.
It is to be remembred that I ſpeak not here of God as now related to the Rational creature as a Rector and a Benefactor, and as having declared his own will in his Laws or Promiſes, to the contrary. But I ſpeak of God only in the Relation of a Proprietor ſimply in it ſelf conſidered, and ſo of his Abſolute right, and not his Ordinate will (as it is commonly called). No man need to fear leſt God ſhould deal unequally with him, or contrary to that which true Reaſon calleth Juſtice. For God having made himſelf Rector of the World, hath, as it were, obliged himſelf, that is, declared his will, to deal equally with all men, and judge them according to their works: And ſo hath created a Debitum, & Jus to man, which inferreth a certain Juſtice on Gods part. But conſidering him only in this firſt Relation, meerly, ut Dominus abſolutus, or Proprietor, it is not poſſible for any thing that he can do, to be an injury: A meer corporal pain (including no contradiction or error, as conſciences accuſation of the innocent, doth) could be no wrong: There being leſs appearance of reaſon to call it wrong, than for my burning my Wood, or plucking a Roſe to be a wrong: For it is not the Pain of one that can make it an injury, any more than the deſtruction of the other: where there is no Jus, there can be no Injuria: And where there is no Debitum there is no Jus. My Roſe hath poſſeſſion of its life, but no Right to it: Therefore it is no wrong to deſtroy it. And yet in this, and in the killing of Birds, and Beaſts and Fiſhes, and labouring my Horſe and Oxe in continual wearineſs and pain, my borrowed half-propriety ſecundum quid, excuſeth me from doing them any wrong: Which Gods Abſolute Propriety will do much more unqueſtionably by him.
§. 7. Though all Gods Three Eſſential Principles or Faculties, Power, Wiſdom and Goodneſs, appear in each of his Three grand Relations, Owner, Ruler, and Benefactor; yet each one of theſe hath moſt eminently ſome one of Gods Eſſential principles or faculties appearing in it: viz. His Power moſt appeareth in his Propriety, his Wiſdom in his Rule, and his Goodneſs or Love in his benefits given us.
Therefore Propriety reſulteth immediately from Creation, as producing the Creature as a Creature; but ſo doth not Government, as we ſhall ſee anon. And as Omnipotency is the moſt eminent Attribute in the Creation, ſo is it in that Abſolute Propriety of the Creator, acquired by it.