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Show ThePRErACE. lei _ The PREFACE. xlvii T1" mac" _ So the prevarication of the prime Laws of Nature, is like of God's He that debaucheth himfelf to a high degree of Intempe‘v The punifh- Law freaks a Limb out of joynt , a Palate out of talle, and giz'eth an range) is punillied with folly and madnefs For a time, and af- merit of hi- Sgtihgiiiaiirc- uneafinels of fpirit, horror and amazement , .even in our $121me great privacies and retirements; .So that the gmlt of our in, ordinate defires affafinates us, linking us in the face With fie; quent blufhes and horrid afpects, our dilloyalty to our Maker woundeth our very hearts and Ihuketh a Dart in our Souls, and terrifieth our Spirit, haunting us like a cruel Ghol't that is ever ready to iiifli€t a fevere revenge upon us. This fecret puniihment is attended With a Divme Hand lifted up high and hanging over our heads ready to dc; Ptroy us. Hethata: The breach of the natural Law hath a peculiar Penalty, lilieliéilbiiiir befide the great anguifh of a troubled ConICience; The gilihtiiiiiic Man that oflereth 3. Violence to. his Neighbor, mutt look $31.1;ng to find levere rencounters from him, fleeing there is~an.equa- ' lity of Right and Power according to the Law or Nature, every Man having an equal priviledge in Nature to defend his Peace and Property by the dil'turbance of another Man, and when he hath been firf't aggrieved by opprefion of ano- ther, every man is apt to vindicate himIélf by the lame me» thod of Jultice: He that offers a Violation to another Man's Intereit, mufl expect to have the order of his own happy life perverted. Tlicbrcach The law of Retaliation is a Sanction founded in Nature, terwfll‘d when he cometh to himfelf, may ferioufly reflect up, on his Error in the glafs of his puniihment, which at once giveth him a light of the Law and the Sin. And when the hrll Law in Nature was prevaricated in our difloyalty to our Maker, in {peaking the violation of his Ho; not, and when the greatelt of natural evils was offered to our Neighbour, the Oeconomy of Nature was wholly perverted, and Death became the inftance of the highelt puniihment, the leis of the oflenders being upon earth. And thus Death {lepped into the World, as inflié'ted by a Divine hand upon account of a great prevarication, when the head of Mankind, broke the firft pofitive Law, and then ren' der himfelf liable to the lots of the greatefi natural good to the deprivation of Life it felf ; which was not brought in up; temperance Death the piiniflimenr of the firll: prevarication in Adam. The penalty holdeth Analogy with the prevarica- tion of the Law,' on a {mall prevarication of the Law, but in fuch a high in» {lance as the evil of the aétion held an Analogy with the evil of the Penalty, elfe every cafe of Injultice, every circuinllance of Intemperance would betray us to the greatefi: of natural Evils; Some things are rendred evil by the breach of a pofitive com, wand, and they are morally fl); others are naturally evil by a deficiency from the rule of Nature , in cafe of an irregular Appetite in point of Intemperance. The firfi thered in Death by violating the Signature of the God may julfly claim prime fuperinduced Law. The fecond Ptepped in by many our obedi- unnatural and inordinate acts, which by degrees cut off the pofitive ence to any :ifilhifilv whereupon if I unreafimably prolecute another Man by undue $333139 methods, I become the infirument or my own unhappinefs, thread of our lives; for God in that firft prohibition of cat; Jail at the hight of infeliCity, the lofs of Lite. ing fuch a particular Fruit, did jultly claim our obedience to his commands, in {peaking his Honor, in whole breach we violated that bond which linked us to our Maker, the flipera For it is reafonable that one Infolency ihould be puniflied by another of the fame kind ; and if I cut off another Man's Were juflly rendered liable to the greatelt natural evil, the {ca i-‘inillifhcd and f0 by leveral Reps and periods of Iiiiiiftice, I arrive at , , . , ‘ wtthdcath. Head, I mult look in )roportion to left: my own ; and if Ifeizc my Neighbors Pitate, I mui't expec't by the flame natural iullice to be deprived of my own. natural and fupreme Good 5 and for our difobedience we paration of Body and Soul,- which did occur to us not by a mul- tiplicity of acts, but by one fingle aft of high difloyalty flowing from the prevarication of the firll fuperinduced Sanétion in Paradife, which giveth us juil fear and {hame in the darker For every man is as obnoxious to as great mifchief .35 he ofiers, and the offended Perfon is not naturally guilty of Injuftice, when he is his own Carver in inflicting the punilh» inent heretofore when no provifion was made by pofitive LaWs. e I lhades of Guilt, and thereupon God fpeaketh his jultice, in making us obnoxious to Death, the highelt of natural pué nifhments, becaufe we have been f0 unworthy as to break the Commands of the Lord of Life ; to which death we pals Rep 1y gift), by committing iinreafonable aéts of Intemperance and Injullice ,- Law. |