2. The coagulation and coagmentation of those feparated parts, according to the various natures of things. 3. The tranfpofition and location of them in their moft fuitable places and stations. 4. The accommodating them with thofe various accidents that were convenient and fuitable to them, and to the universe. 5. The moulding and fashioning of the various furniture of the feveral greater bodies, as by particles of matter and form, or fpirit, affumed and fitted for their individual and specifical natures. 6. The conftitution of man, and deriving into him a reasonable foul, of a higher and more noble allay than that spiritus mundanus, which was, as it were, the common fpirit of the mundus aspectabilis. And in this whole procefs, not only of the creatio prima, but of the creatio secunda, or the eduction of particular things out of that mass of common provifion, which was fubminiftred by the creatio prima, we muft, of neceffity, acknowledge thefe enfuing truths: 1. That they were not the productions of fecond caufes, but the immediate production of Almighty God, by his will and power; and we need go no farther for an evidence of it than this: if the temperature of the matter, the natural influx of the heavens, the energy of firft qualities, were the caufes of these productions, why, in all the experience that the world hath had these four thoufand years and more; why, in all this time, hath not any part of the world yielded a man, or fo much as a horfe, or a fheep, of fuch a production, without the ordinary courfe of generation? 2. That yet it may be probable that the immediate inftrument which the Divine Power ufed in the external formation of creatures, may be the formation of that fubftantial form, or fpirit, and uniting it to matter, fo that the formation of the external fhape of things might be the ideal impreffion of that form upon the prepared matter. This poffibly may be, because we fee the formation of the externals of bodies is still immediately effected by the feminal ideal energy of the fubftantial form. But poffibly it might be otherwife, for poffibly the first conftitution of things might be of another nature than what now appears. 3. That as they were the immediate production of the Divine Power, fo it was a production not ex necessitate naturæ, but ex intentione intendentis. 4. That as it was the production of Almighty God, not as a neceffary, but as a free agent, fo it was a production of infinite wisdom, and admirable contrivance, This is the fubject of fome of the precedent tracts, OF OF DOING AS WE WOULD BE DONE UNTO, MATTHEW vii. 12. THEREFORE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU, DO YE EVEN SO TO THEM; FOR THIS IS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS. LUKE vi. S1. AND AS YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU, DO YE ALSO TO THEM LIKEWISE. ALMIGHTY God, in his giving out the moral law unto the Jews (which is, indeed, little elfe than a repetition, or recapitulation, of the law of nature), included, or infcribed, it in two tables; the firft importing the natural duties that a man owes to God; the fecond importing the duties a man owes to man, or (which is all one) to his neighbour. * Our Redeemer made a fhorter abftract of both these tables, yet taken out of the ancient writings of the law: The first and great commandment,' or the abftract of the first table, Thou fhalt love the Lord thy 'God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind;' which is the fame in fubftance with that of Deut. vi. 5. The fecond commandment, or the abstract of the fecond table, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyfelf,' being the fame with that of Lev. xix. 18. On thefe two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;' that is, the feveral precepts, prohibitions, and counfels contained in the law and Matth. xxii. 87, &c. the the prophets, are, as it were, fo many commentaries, or explications, of these two great commandments. And the apostle, Rom. xiii. 9, 10. having occafion to commend this great habit of love, which he elfewhere, viz. 1 Cor. xiii. calls by the name of Charity, follows his Mafter's doctrine, and refolves the whole duty of the fecond table into the fame great command, Thou fhalt love thy neighbour as thyfelf.' In this text of Matth. vii. 12. and Luke vi. 31. our Lord gives us an explication of this fecond great commandment, of loving our neighbour as ourself, in a brief, but more clear propofition or precept. And the excellency of this precept confifts in these particulars, among many others: 1. It is compendious and fhort: the volumes of morality that have been written, both by Christian and heathen philofophers, though they contain many excellent precepts, yet they are very large, and fuch as every man hath not opportunity to read; and those that have read them, or fome of them, cannot easily remember the many particulars contained in them. Our Lord, therefore, hath given us this brief and compendious precept, which is eafy and familiar to be remembred. 2. Though it be a compendious precept, yet it is a comprehenfive precept, and fuch as contains the whole duty of man in relation to others. There was well known, not only among the Jews, but among the heathens, the prohibitory part of this precept; namely, quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris. We find it among the ancient Jews, Tobit iv. 15. and among the ancient heathens; infomuch, that one of the Roman emperors caufed it to be written in letters of gold, as his choice motto, in feveral parts of his palace. And, indeed, that negative precept contains very much of moral righteoufnefs, because it extends to the prohibition of all acts of injuftice or unrighteoufnefs; but this precept of the Gofpel doth not only What you would not have done to thyself, do not to another. virtually |