An Elegant and Learned Discourse of the Light of Nature. Nathaniel Culverwell

       Of the Eternal Law

      [34] Having thus lookt upon the being of a Law in general, we now come to the spring and original of all Lawes, 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 does very well tell us, the Law of Nature is nothing but participatio Legis aeternae in Rationali creatura,¹ the copying 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 Nil est ab aeterno nisi ipse Deus² [nothing exists eternally except God himself], so that ’tis much of the same nature with those decrees of his, and that Providence which was awake from everlasting. For as God from all eternity by the hand of infinite wisdome 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 compasse as he meant to set them; and said to every thing, Hither shalt thou go, and no farther.³

      This the Platonists⁴ would call ἰδέαν τω̑ν νόμων [the ideal of laws], and would willingly heap such honourable titles as these upon it, ὁ νόμος ἀρχηγὸς, πρωτουργὸς, αὐτοδίκαιος, αὐτόκαλος, αὐτοάγαθος, ὁ ὄντως νόμος, ὁ νόμος σπερματικός [the archetypal law, primary, intrinsically just, beautiful and good, the essential law, the seminal law]. And the greatest happinesse the other Lawes can arrive unto, is this, that they be Νόμοι δουλεύοντες, καὶ ὑπηρετου̑ντες, ministring and subservient Lawes; waiting upon this their Royal Law. Σκιαὶ νόμων; Or as they would choose to stile them, Νομοειδει̑ς, some shadows & appearances of this bright and glorious Law, or at the best, they would be esteemed by them but Νόμοι ἔκγονοι, the noble off-spring and progeny of Lawes; blessing this womb that bare them, and this breast that gave them suck.⁵

      And thus the Law of Nature would have a double portion as being Lex primogenita, the first-born of this eternal Law, and the beginning of its strength.⁶ Now as God himself shews somewhat of his face in the glasse of creatures, so the beauty of this Law gives some representations of it self in those pure derivations of inferiour Lawes that stream from it. And as we ascend to the first and [35] supreme being, by the steps of second causes; so we may climb up to a sight of this eternal Law, by those fruitful branches of secondary Lawes, 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 Lawes which do appear;⁷ so that τὸ γνωστὸν του̑ νόμου [the knowledge of the law] is manifested in them, God having shown it to them. Thus, as the Schoolmen say very well, Omnis lex participata supponit legem per essentiam⁸ [every derivative law supposes a self-existent law], every impression supposes a seal from whence it came; every ray of light puts you in minde of a Sun from which it shines. Wisdome and power, these are the chief ingredients into a Law; now where does Wisdome dwell, but in the head of a Deity? and where does power triumph, but in the arme of Omnipotency?

      A Law is borne ex cerebro Jovis [from the brain of Jove], and it is not brachium seculare [a worldly arm], but Coeleste [a heavenly one] that must maintain it, even humane Lawes have their vertue radicaliter, & remote [fundamentally and ultimately] (as the Schooles speak) from this eternal Law. Thus that famous and most renowned Orator and Patriot (Tully I mean) does most admirably expresse the lineage and descent of Lawes in this golden manner. Hanc video sapientissimorum fuisse sententiam, Legem neque hominum ingeniis excogitatam, neque scitum aliquod esse Populorum, sed aeternum quiddam quod universum mundum regeret, imperandi prohibendique sapientia. Ita principem illam Legem & ultimam mentem dicebant omnia ratione aut cogentis, aut vetantis Dei.⁹ Which I shall thus render, Wise men did ever look upon a Law, not as on a spark struck from humane intellectuals, not blown up or kindled with popular breath, but they thought it an eternal light shining from God himself irradiating, guiding and ruling the whole Universe; most sweetly and powerfully discovering what wayes were to be chosen, and what to be refused. And the minde of God himself is the centre of Lawes, from which they were drawn, and into which they must return.

      Thus also that florid Moralist Plutarch resolves all Law and Justice into that Primitive and eternal Law, even God himself, for even thus he tells us. Justice (saies he) does not only sit like a Queen at the right hand of Jupiter when he is upon his throne, but she is alwayes in his bosome, and one with himself; and he closes it up with this, that God himself is τω̑ν νόμων πρεσβύτατος, καὶ τελειότατος.¹⁰ As he is the most ancient of dayes,¹¹ so also is he the most ancient of lawes; as he is the perfection of beings, so is he also the rule of operations.

      Nor must I let slip that passage of Plato, where he calls a law Ζη̑νος σκη̑πτρον,¹² the golden Scepter by which God himself rules and commands; [36] for as all true Government has a bright stamp of divine Sovereignty, so every true Law has a plain superscription of his Justice. Lawes are anoynted by God himself, and most precious oile drops down upon them to the skirts of a Nation; and the Law of Nature had the oile of gladnesse poured out upon it above its fellowes.¹³

      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 faine to put a veile upon his face, and upon his expressions too, lest otherwise he might too much dazzle inferiour understandings;¹⁴ but if the Schoolmen will satisfie you, (and you know some of them are stiled Angelical, and Seraphical)¹⁵ you shall hear, if you will, what they’l say to it.

      Now this Law according to them is Aeterna quaedam ratio practica totius dispositionis, & gubernationis Universi.¹⁶ ’Tis an eternal Ordinance made in the depth of Gods