A Treatise of the Laws of Nature. Richard Cumberland
than according to natural Revelation. And, because they were not so far his Believers and Religionists, the Apostle looketh upon them as inexcusable, Rom. 1. 20. for nothing hindred them from being such, but their own Wickedness, wicked Unwillingness, or Averseness from Godliness, nor could they pretend any other Impotency but the Moral Impotency, which is not an Excuse, but an Aggravation. “Else how shall God Judge the World?” Rom. 3. 6. If the Existence of the one true God be fairly notic’d to all Mankind; if they do, or may easily, know, that his being God consisteth, in having the Rights and Dues of his God-head, (as the being King consisteth in having his Rights and Dues, which to bereave him of, is a making him no King;) if they are oblig’d to be Virtuous, Good, Just, and Grateful; and cannot but know, that of Right, and by Obligation, they are his Liege-People, Subjects, and Servants: Mankind must necessarily be in excusable, if they do not serve and glorify him as God, and, if they become not his Believers and Religionists, which is a relinquishing their Heathenism. The Heathen could not plead that they were so destitute of Means, that it was naturally impossible, for them to be God’s Believers and Religionists, OF that their becoming such would be in vain; for his Parental Providence towards them demonstrated, that he had not abandon’d all Care and Concern for their Welfare. Act. 14. 16, 17. “In times past he suffer’d all Nations to walk in their own Ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness,” (a Testimony of his Care for their Welfare, and that he had not abandoned all Concern for it, altho’ he suffer’d all Nations to walk in their own Ways,) “in that he did Good, and gave us Rain from Heaven, and fruitful Seasons, filling our Hearts with Food and Gladness.” and 1 Tim. 9. 10. “He is the Saviour of all Men,” (taketh care of their Welfare,) “especially of those that believe.” Rom. 2. 4. His Goodness and Patience, toward the World of Mankind, hath a mighty Tendency to their Repentance, and is design’d to induce them to it; which is an Assurance, that their Repentance, if not illegitimate, shall not be ineffectual; and, if God commandeth them the Practice of the Duties of Religion in order to that End, that so they may obtain a future Happiness, they are bound to believe, that such Practice will not be in vain. Act. 17. 26, 27. “They are planted on the Face of the Earth, that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him.” Which demonstrateth God’s Will and Intention to be found of them, if they did faithfully seek him, and his Willingness to be a God to them: Nor is it possible, that God should disown and damn any, that is a faithful Religionist towards him; “But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness, is accepted with him.” (Act. 10. 35.) “Glory, Honour, and Peace to every Man that worketh Good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” Rom. 2. 10. That is such Gentiles, as Melchizedeck, Job, the Ninevites and Cornelius. Touching the Salvation of the Heathens, and the Method of obtaining it, I will only add a wise and good Saying of a Divine of our own. “If any amongst Heathens had done what he could, in seeking and serving God, he should either for Christ’s Sake have been accepted with that little Knowledge he could attain; or else, as Calvin saith in his Comment on Acts 8. 13. Rather than he should have perish’d, God would have sent an Angel to reveal further Things to him.”307
In our Heathen State we were Subjects of Satan’s Kingdom.
A principal Branch of the Deadliness of our Heathen State, is, our being the Subjects of Satan’s Kingdom; which implieth, that the Heathen World of Mankind were under the Imperial Rule and Domination of Satan, (several ways the Subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness,) constituting his Mundan Empire. His usual Names denote him an Imperial Potentate; for he is styled “the God of this World, the Prince of this World.” Himself and his Angels are called ἀρχαὶ καὶ ’δξουσίαι, which Names denote them, Principalities and Powers of a mundan Empire, κοσμοκράτορες the Rulers of this World. Being fallen from Heaven, their Residence is now in the Air, where they constitute amongst themselves a Kingdom, or Empire, consisting of lower and higher Orders, some being of inferior, and others of superior, Rank and Condition; but all of them subjected to, and united in, one Imperial Head, their great Lord and Master, “the Prince of Devils, the Prince of the Power” (or Powers) “of the Air.” The Wisdom and Justice of Providence, by banishing them out of Heaven, hath placed them in the Air, in a Region of Vicinity to, and a Station of Superiority above, Mankind; and, accordingly, maketh use of them, to do the work of Publick Officers, in the Polity of our System. But this Power, which the Evil Demons exercise over Mankind, (by divine Concession, by a probational, or penal Tradition of Men into their Hands, and sometimes by divine Mandate and Appointment,) is rather Ministerial than Imperial. 2 Chron. 18. 20, 21. Job 1. 12. and 2. 6. Psal. 78. 49. Matt. 5. 25. and 18. 34. Luk. 22. 31. 1 Cor. 5. 5. and 10. 10. 1 Tim. 1. 20. Rev. 12. 10. Besides this Power of mere Officers and Executioners, they have acquir’d a Power of Empire and Sovereignty over Mankind; which Power is, morally speaking, in great degree unavoidable, supposing their evil Neighbourhood to degenerate Mankind. For, as these Aerial Powers are, in Place and Station, superior to Mankind; so their Spiritual Nature, Angelical Order, Policy, and Strength, is superior to the Human; (spiritual unbody’d Wickedness is paramount to weak Flesh and Blood, Ephes. 6. 12. they are also vastly numerous and closely united amongst themselves, which addeth to their Power; and, therefore, if not confin’d by a higher Power, they can domineer and lord it over Mankind; and, doubtless, they want not Will to do it, seeing Empire and Dominion is their great Interest, Design, and Business; Strength with them is the Law of Justice, and, therefore, as amongst the Brute-Animals, the Stronger beareth Rule over the Weaker, so the Stronger Wicked Angels will have the Mastery, and bear Rule, over the Weaker Wicked Men. They are, also, the most accomplish’d Tempters imaginable, and have the greatest Advantages to make Men Wicked, (of themselves prevalently prone to be Wicked;) for they are not wanting in depth of Malice, in great intellectual Abilities, in knowledge of us and our Affairs, in large Experience, Cunning, and Dexterity, Activity and assiduous Diligence, Hypocrisy, Imposture, Closeness, and Secrecy, in variety of Methods and Artifices; they are furnish’d with all sorts of Agents and Instruments, assisted with the World’s tempting Objects, and with the many and great Weaknesses and vicious Inclinations of Man’s Nature; in their Temptations they are mighty in Operation, (“working efficaciously, with strong Delusions, carrying Captive,” Ephes. 2.2. 2 Thess. 2. 11. 2 Tim. 3. 26.) sometimes acting the Fox, and sometimes the roaring Lion, sometimes the old Serpent, and sometimes the bloody red Dragon; upon all which accounts, what can be reasonably imagin’d, but that they will inveigle and vanquish the World of Mankind, and subject them to live under their Domination? As the Holy Ghost saith, Rev. 12. 9. “The old Serpent, called the Devil and Satan, deceiveth the whole World.” The Heathen World, therefore, must be considered, as Satan’s mundan Empire, which he reigneth over as an Imperial Potentate, and which was subject to his Rule and Domination; whence it is plain, that his magnificent Pretension to our Saviour, was not al together groundless, or devoid of Truth, “That the Kingdoms of the World, the Power and Glory of them was his, and at his disposal.” Luke 4. 5, 6. The Devil and his Angels are styled, Ephes. 6. 12. “The Rulers of the Darkness of this World,” to signify, that they are the Rulers of that Darkness which Heathenism is, and, consequently, of the dark benighted Heathen World. Agreeably whereunto, the Doctor of the Gentiles is sent to them upon this Errand, “to open their Eyes, and to turn them from Darkness to Light, and from the Power of Satan unto God,” Act. 26. 18. So the Converts to Christianity, that were translated into the Kingdom of God’s Son, are said to “be deliver’d from the Power of Darkness,” to which they were Subject, Col. 1. 13. But this subjection to the Power of Darkness, is not to be confin’d to Heathens, commonly so called, it is the common Condition of Mankind in general, antecedently to the State and Life of true and saving Religion, as will appear from an Enumeration of the several Ways, whereby Mankind are subject to Satan’s Kingdom and Domination, which are these three. 1. By way of Penal Subjection. 2. By way of criminal Subjection. 3. By way of criminal-religious Subjection.
1. All Mankind, antecedently to their being in a State of true Religion, belong to