LIBRARY 

OF THE 

University of California. 

Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 

Received October, 1894. 
Accessions No.^ 'YO JS^. 'Class No. 



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AN 



EXPOSITION 



TEI COMMANDIEITS 



BY THE RT. REV. EZEKIBL HOPKINS, D. D., 

SUCCESSIVELY BISHOP OF RAPHOE AND DERRY, WHO DIED IN LONDONj 
A.D. 1690. 



REVISED AND SIjIflBSii^^BEIDGED. 



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PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK. 



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In the present edition this work has been revised, with changes in 
obsolete or defective forms of expression, and ilie omission of some pas- 
sages having a more immediate reference to the Government or Church 
of KnfflanJ. 



^ 



NOTICE OF BISHOP HOPKINS. 



Ezekiel Hopkins was born at Sanford, county of Devon, 
England, about tbe year 1633, where his father was many years 
a laborious minister. He was educated at Oxford, where he 
was some time chaplain of Magdalen College. From Oxford he 
went to London, where he was assistant to Dr. WilHam Spur- 
stow till the act of uniformity. After this he was preacher at 
St. Edmunds, Lombard-street, and subsequently was chosen 
minister of St. Mary Arches, in Exeter, where he was much ad- 
mired. From Exeter he was transferred to the deanery of Ra- 
phoe, Ireland, and from the deanery was promoted to the bishop- 
ric, which he occupied about ten years, when he was transfer- 
red to the bishopric of Derry. Here he continued about seven 
years, till the papists got the sword into their hands, when he 
fled for his life to England, and became minister of St. Mary, 
Aldermanbury, in London, 1689, where he died, about seven 
months only after his establishment there. 

As di preacher, Bishop Hopkins was esteemed one of the first 
of the age in which he lived, being much admired and followed 
after in all the places where he preached. 

As a writer, he was eminent above most authors for the com- 
bination of clear statements of doctrinal and practical truth, 
with an eloquent apphcation of it to the heart and conscience. ^ 
Scarcely any other writer has, within an equal compass, so ably 
discussed, and applied with such energy the whole range of 
christian truth. His works are published in four volumes, edited 
by the late Rev. Josiah Pratt, of London, who in his dedication 
\l the volumes to William Wilberforce, Esq. says, " That 



4 NOTICE OP BISHOP HOPKINS. 

author is of special value whose works supply, within a mod**- 
rate compass» the most complete refutation of whatever can be 
urged against true religion, by exhibiting her in her most beauti- 
ful proportions. Such an author is Bishop Hopkins." His works 
embrace the following subjects : Vanity of the World, Exposi- 
tions of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, Dis- 
courses on the Law, Discourses concerning Sin, The Doctrine 
of the Two Covenants, Doctrine of the Two Sacraments, The 
All-Sufficiency of Christ to save Sinners, Excellency of Heaven • 
ly Treasures, Practical Christianity, Assurance of Heaven and 
Salvation a principal motive to serve God with fear, On Glori- 
fying God in his Attributes, Almost Christian, Conscience, Great 
Duty of Mortification, Death Disanned, Miscellaneous Sermons. 
As a divine^ Bishop Hopkins was one of the sound theologians 
to which the Reformation gave birth, and he unequivocally and 
openly held and inculcated the pure doctrines of the Reformers, 
opposed as they are to the pride and passions of unsanctified 
men. On the difficult questions concerning the grace of God and 
the obligation of man, he adopted those views which most natu- 
rally reconcile with one another the declarations and exhortations 
of Scripture. Few writers have entered so unequivocally into 
the extent of man'? responsibility, and at the same time so strong- 
ly insisted on the sovereignty, and so graphically described the 
operations of the grace of God. 



CONTENTS. 



Pagk, 

Introduction . *. • «► 7 

The time of the delivery of the Ten Commandments 9 

The Reason 10 

The Manner 11 

Are they abrogated ? 19 

General Rules for rightly understanding them . 29 

Their order 48 

Preface to the Commandments 50 

FIRST TABLE. 

The First Commandment 58 

Requires the love, fear, and praise of God . . 61 

Forbids Atheism — proofs of the being of God . 68 

Ignorance of the true God .... 92 

Profaning his name, attributes, time, ordinances 101 

Idolatry 120 

The Second Commandment 126 

The Prohibition, As to the worship of God, exter- 
nal and internal .... 127 

As to the sins here forbidden — Superstition . 139 
The threatening, Visiting the iniquities of the fa- 
thers upon the children . . . 148 
The Third Commandment . . . . . .165 

Profaning the name of God — Oaths . . . 166 
The folly of this sin — Directions . . . .186 

The Fourth Commandment 192 

Primitive Institution of the Sabbath . : . 195 

Its morality and perpetual obligation . . 196 

Change to the first day of the week . . . 201 

The manner in which it is to be observed . 204 



6 CONTENTS. 

SECOND TABLE. 

• PAGE 

Introdnction to the Second Table . . . 225 

The Fifth Commandment 228 

Duties of parents and cMldren .... 233 

Magistrates and those subject to them . 251 

Husbands and wives ..... 261 

Masters and servants . . . 279 

Ministers and their people .... 301 
Superiors and inferiors, or those who differ in 
the gifts of God's grdce, or his common 

bounty 316 

The promise, That thy days may be long . 328 

[The-^ixth Commandment 332 

Tfe^ sin of murder 333 

Causes and occasions leading to it . . . 345 

Rules for restraining and governing anger . 352 

The Seventh Commandment 359 

The sin forbidden ...... 359 

Its heinousness . . . . . . .365 

Cautions and directions 370 

The Eighth Commandment ...... 373 

Of theft in general 376 

Many kinds of theft 379 

The duties here required . . . . 389 

The Ninth Commandment 395 

The value of a good name .... 397 

The sin of lying 399 

Aggravations of this sin 406 

The sin of slander — rules and directions . .409 

The Tenth Commandment 430 

The sin of concupiscence 431 

The whole practically applied . . . 437 



EXPOSITION 

OP 

THE COMMANDMENTS 



THE INTRODUCTION. 



Two things in general are required to perfect a chris- 
tian ; the one a clear and distinct knowledge of his duty, 
the other, a conscientious practice of it, correspondent to 
his knowledge ; and both are equally necessary. For, as we 
can have no solid or well-grounded hope of eternal salva 
tion, without obedience ; so we can have no sure established 
rule for our obedience, vdthout knowledge. Therefore, out 
work and office is, not only to exhort, but to instruct; 
not only to excite the affections, but to inform the judg 
ment : we must as well illuminate as warm. 

Knowledge, indeed, may be found vnthout practice; 
and our age abounds with speculative christians, whose 
religion is but like the rickets, that makes them grow 
large in the head, but narrow in the breast ; whose 
brains are replenished with notions, but their hearts strait- 
ened towards God, and their lives black and deforaied. I 
confess, indeed, their knowledge may be beneficial to 
others ; yet, where it is thus overborne by unruly lusts, 
and contradicted by a licentious conversation, to them- 
selves it is most fatal : like a light shut up in a lantern, 
which may serve to guide others, but only soots, and at 
last bums that which contained it. 

But, although knowledge may be without practice, yet 



8 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the practice of godliness cannot be without knowledge. 
For, if we know not the limits of sin and duty, what is re- 
quired and what is forbidden, it cannot be supposed but 
that, in this corrupted state of our natures, we shall una- 
voidably run into many heinous miscarriages. 

Therefore, that we might be informed what we ought 
to do and what to avoid, it hath pleased God, the great 
Governor and righteous Judge of all, to prescribe laws 
for the regulating of our actions ; and, that we might not 
be ignorant what they are, he hath openly promulgated 
them in his word. For when we had miserably defaced 
the law of nature originally written in our hearts, bo that 
many of its commands were no longer legible, it seemed 
good to his infinite wisdom and mercy to transcribe and 
copy out that law in the sacred tables of the Scriptures ; 
and to superadd many positive precepts and injunctions 
not before imposed. Hence the Bible is the statute-book 
of God's kingdom, wherein is comprised the whole body 
of the heavenly law, the perfect rules of a holy life, and 
the sure promises of a glorious one. 

And the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, is a 
summary, or brief epitome of the law, vmtten by the 
immediate finger of God, and contracted into an abridg- 
ment not only to ease our memories but to gain our 
veneration; for sententious commands best befit ma- 
jesty. And, indeed, if we consider the paucity of the ex- 
pressions, and yet the copiousness and variety of the mat- 
ter contained in them, we must needs acknowledge not 
only their authority to be divine, but likewise the skill 
and art in reducing the wliole duty of man to so brief a 
compendium. The words are but few, called therefore 
the Words of the Covenant, or the Ten Words Ex, 



THE INTRODUCTION. 9 

34:28; but the sense and matter contained in them is 
vast and infinite : the rest of Scripture is but a commen- 
tary upon them, either exhorting us to obedience by ar- 
guments, or alluring us to it by promises ; warning us 
against transgression by threatenings, or exciting us to the 
one, and restraining us from the other, by examples re- 
corded in the historical part of it. 

But before I speak of the Commandments themselves, 
it will be necessary to premise something concerning, 1. 
the /me, 2. the reason^ and 3. the manner of their deli- 
very ; 4. how far the laws given by Moses are abrogated; 
5. some rules for rightly understanding the Ten Com- 
mandments ; and 6. a few words respecting their order 

I. The TIME. According to the best chronology it 
was about 2,460 years after the creation, 220 after Israel's 
descent into Egypt, and the third month after their de- 
parture out of Egypt, Exod. 19 : 1 ; before the birth of 
Christ almost 1,500 years, and therefore above 3,000 be- 
fore our days. God now first selected to himself a national 
church ; and therefore it seemed expedient to his wisdom 
to prescribe them laws and rules, how to order both their 
demeanor and his worship. Before this the law of nature 
was the rule ; but because it was blotted and razed by 
the first transgression, it was supplied in many particulars 
by traditions delivered down from one to another. And 
those of the patriarchs who, according to the precepts 
of this law, endeavored to please God, were accepted 
of him, and frequently obtained especial revelations, either 
by dreams or visions, or heavenly voices, concerning those 
things wherein they were more particularly to obey his 

1* 



10 TUE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

will. Then, too, God made no distinction of people or 
nations ; but, as it is since tlie wall of partition is broken 
down, and the Jewish economy abrogated by the death of 
Christ, so was it before, that, in every nation, he that 
feared God and wrought righteousness was accepted of 
him. Acts, 10 : 35. 

II. The REASON. This was because the world was now 
so totally degenerated into vile superstitions and idola- 
tries, that the knowledge and fear of the true God was 
scarcely to be found but only in the family and posterity 
of Abraham ; and even among them we have reason to 
suspect a great decay and corruption, especially in their 
long abode among the idolatrous Egyptians ; yea, the 
Scripture expressly charges them with it. Josh. 24 : 14 ; 
Ezek. 20 : 7, 8 ; and probably they took the pattern of 
their golden calf from the Egyptian Apis. God, there- 
fore, justly rejects all the rest of the world ; but, being 
mindful of his promise to their father, the father of the 
faithful, he appropriates this people to himself as his pe- 
culiar inheritance. And hecause it was manifest by ex- 
perience that neither the law of nature nor oral tradition 
was sufficient to preserve alive the knowledge and wor- 
ship of the true God, but the whole earth was become 
wicked and idolatrous ; therefore that this people whom 
God had now taken to himself might have all possible ad- 
vantages to continue in his fear and service, and that they 
might not degenerate as the rest of the world had done, 
he himself proclaims to them that law by which he would 
govern them, vmtes it on tables of stone, commits these 
into the hands of Moses, whom he had constituted his 
lieutenant, and commands them to be laid up in the ark 



THE INTRODUCTION. II 

as a perpetual monument of his authority and their duty. 
How wretchedly depraved are our natures, when even 
that which is the very light and law of them is so oblite- 
rated and defaced that God would rather entrust its pre- 
servation to stones than to us, and thought it more secure 
when engraven on senseless tables, than when vmtten on 
our hearts ! 

III. The MANNER in which this law was delivered is de- 
scribed to have been very terrible and astonishing. God de- 
signed it so, on purpose to possess the people with the 
greater reverence of it, and to awaken in their souls a due 
respect to those old despised dictates of their nature, when 
they should see the same laws revived and invigorated with 
so much circumstance and terror ; for, indeed, the Deca- 
logue is not so much the enacting of any new law, as a revi- 
ving of the old by a more solemn proclamation. And mark 
the circumstances of majesty and solemnity in the action: 

1. The 'jicojjJe were commanded to prejjare themselves 
two days together ^ hy a typical cleansing of themselves 
from all external and hodily follutions hefore they were to 
stand in the presence of God. So we find it enjoined : 
they were to be sanctified, and to wash their clothes, and 
he ready against the third day, when tJie Lord would come 
down in the sight of all the people, upon Mount Sinai. 
Exod. 19 : 10, 11. This teaches us, — 

That we ought to be seriously prepared when we come 
to wait before God in his ordinances, and to receive a law 
at his mouth. 

The dispensation of the Gospel is not indeed such a 
ministry of terror as that of the Law was. God doth not 
now speak to us immediately by his own voice — which 



12 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

they that heard it were not able to endure : he doth not 
pronounce his law in thunder, nor wrap it up in flame and 
smoke ; but he speaks to us in a still voice, by men like 
ourselves ; and conveys the rich treasure of his will to us in 
earthen vessels of the same mould and frailty with our- 
selves. He treats with us by his messengers and ambas- 
sadors ; whose errand, though it be delivered with less 
teiTor, yet ought not to be received with less reverence ; 
for it is God himself who speaks to us in them and by 
them ; and every word of truth which they deliver in his 
name and by his authority, ought to be received with as 
much prostrate veneration and affection as though God 
did himself speak it immediately firom heaven. 

Think, then, how solicitous the Israelites were in fitting 
themselves for that groEit and dreadful day of hearing the 
law ; a day more great and dreadful than ever any shall 
be except that of judging men according to the law. 
Think how their hearts throbbed and thrilled when they 
heard the clang of the heavenly trumpets blended with 
loud and terrible thunder, both giving a signal of the near 
approach of God. Think, if you can, what thoughts they 
had, when they saw the mountain burning with fire and 
enveloped with clouds and smoke, out of which on every 
side shot fearful lightnings. Think how they trembled 
when they saw the mountain tremble and totter under the 
weight and greatness of God descending upon it. And 
bring with you the same affections — if not so terrified, yet 
as much overawed — whensoever you come to wait upon 
his holy ordinances ; for it is the same God that speaks to 
you ; and he speaks the same things as then he did : not 
indeed with such amazing circumstances, yet with the 
very same authority and majesty. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 13 

Were God now to come down among you in his tem- 
Dle majesty, or should a thick cloud fill this place and 
lightnings flash out of it ; should you hear the thunder of 
his voice, 1 am the Lord : iJiou sJialt have no other go de 
before me ; certainly such a dreadful glory would make 
your hearts tremble within you and the very earth trem- 
ble under you. And could you then give way to sloth 
and drowsiness] Could your hearts run gadding after 
vanities and trifles % Or could any earthly object divert 
your thoughts and affections fi'om so terrible a glory? 
Believe it then ; God is as really present here as when he 
thus manifested himself to the Israelites; and present 
upon the very same occasion too. He is now delivering 
his law to us ; pronouncing his high and sovereign com- 
mands : and if he so far consults our weakness as not to 
do it in such an astonishing manner ; yet far be that disin- 
genuousness from us, that we should be either the less 
careful to prepare for or the less reverent in attending on 
the declarations of his high will and pleasure, though he 
makes them known to us by men of the same temper 
with ourselves. 

And if the Israelites were to sanctify and prepare them- 
selves ta appear before God at Mount Sinai, how much 
more ought we to sanctify ourselves that we may be meet 
to appear before God in heaven ! That glory which God 
manifested when he delivered the law is not comparable 
to the infinite glory which he always reveals to the saints 
in heaven : and yet if the people of the Jews were not 
allowed to see God, though veiled with a cloud and thick 
darkness, without being first carefully prepared for such a 
glorious discovery ; how much more carefully ought we to 
prepare ourselves, to wash our filthy garments, and to 



14 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

cleanse our souls from all defilements both of flesh and 
sph'it, that we may bo prepared to stand before God, and 
see him there where he darts forth the full rays of his 
brightness, and causeth his glory for ever to appear with- 
out any check or restraint, without any cloud or veil. 

2. The mount on which God appeared was to he fenced 
and railed in ! This was with a strict prohibition that 
none should presume to pass the bounds there set, nor 
approach to touch the holy mount, under the penalty of 
death. So we have it Exod. 19 : 12, which intimates the 
due distance we ought to keep from God ; and teaches us 
to observe all that reverence and respect which belong to 
him as being infinitely our superior. Certainly the very 
places where God manifests himself, at least while he 
doth so, are venerable and awful : therefore, when God 
revealed himself to Jacob in a dream, and gave him the 
representation of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven — 
angels on every round of it, and God on the top — we find 
with what awe he reflects upon it, in his waking thoughts : 
"^.Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And 
he was afraid, and said. How dreadful is this place ! this 
is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate 
of heaven." Gen. 28 : 16, 17. 

This setting bounds and limits to the mount, signified 
also, as in a type, the strictness and exactness of the law 
of God. His law is our boundary, a boundary set on 
purpose to keep us from rushing in upon his neck, and 
upon the thick bosses of his buckler : and that soul that 
shall presume so to break these bounds and commit a 
trespass on the Almighty, shall surely die the death ; even 
that eternal death which he hath threatered against all 
violators of his law. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 15 

3. God appeared to pronounce Ms law in thunders, and 
lightnings, and earthquakes, and fire, arid darkness : these 
were the introduction to it ; and so dreadful ^vere they 
that they caused not only the people to remove and stand 
afar off, as not able to endure such terrible majesty, Exod. 
20 : 18, but even affrighted Moses himself, who was to be 
Internuncius Dei, " the messenger and herald of God." 
This we find intimated, Exod. 19 : 19, " When the voice 
of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and loud- 
er, Moses spake." What he said is not mentioned ; but 
probably he then spake those words recorded by the 
Apostle, " So teiTible was the sight, that Moses said, I 
exceedingly fear and quake." Heb. 12 : 21. 

This dreadful appearance of God in the delivering of 
the law served to affect them with a reverent esteem of 
those commands which he should impose upon them ; for, 
certainly, unless they were most grossly stupid, they must 
think those things to be of vast concern which were at- 
tended with such a train of amazing circumstances ; and 
it is natural for men to be awed by pomp and solemnity, 
the majesty of the commander adding a kind of authority 
to the command. 

Again, it served to put them in mind, as it should us 
also, that if God were so terrible only in delivering the 
law, how much more terrible he will be when he shall 
come to judge us for transgressing the law. 

Indeed the whole apparatus of this day seems to be 
typical of the Last Day : only (as is true of all types) it 
shall be far outdone by its antitype. Here were voices, 
and fire, and smoke, and the noise of a trumpet; and 
these struck terror into the hearts of the people, who 
came only to receive the law : but, oh, think what con 



16 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

stemation will seize the hearts of sinners, when "the 
Lord shall descend from heaven," at the last day, " with 
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God," as the apostle describes it, 1 Thess. 
4 : 16 ; when, not a mountain only, but the whole world 
shall be burning ; heaven and earth all on a light flame 
about them ; when they shall hear the terrible voice of 
the Majesty on high calling to them, " Awake, ye dead, 
and come to judgment :" when the earth shall be univer- 
sally shaken, and the dead shaken out of their graves : 
when whole crowds of naked nations shall throng and 
cluster about the Great Tribunal, not to receive a law but 
a sentence, a sentence that shall determine their final and 
eternal estate ! Certainly if the giving of the law were so 
full of terror, much more teiTible shall be our being 
judged according to that law. 

4. When God himself had, with his dread voice, spoken 
to them these ten words, their affright and astonishment 
was so great that they entreated Moses to he a mediator^ 
or interpreter between God and them : they said to Moses, 
" Speak thou with us, and we will hear ; but let not God 
speak with us, lest we die." Exod. 20 : 19. 

This may intimate how the law, as dispensed to us only 
from God, is in itself the ministration of death and con- 
demnation ; but, as delivered by a Mediator, our Lord 
Jesus Christ, of whom Moses here was a type, it may be 
the means of our obtaining eternal life, not fur, but through 
our obedience to it. 

Therefore the law is said to be " ordained by angels, 
in the hand of a mediator;" Gal. 3 : 19 ; that is, it was 
solemnly dispensed by the ministry of angels, and then 
delivered into the hand of Moses, to.be by hira com- 



VttE INTRODUCTION. 17 

municated to the people; which intimates how the se- 
verity and terrors of the law were intended to drive us to 
Christ, as here they drove the Israelites to Moses, the 
type^f Christ ; from whose mouth the law spake not so 
dreadfully as it did from God's. 

5. Upon this intercession and request of the people, 
Moses is called up into the mount, and the law deposited 
in his hands, engraven in two tables of stone, by the 
finger and impression of God himself: the most sacred 
relic the world ever enjoyed ; but at length lost, together 
with the ark that contained it, in the frequent removes 
and captivities of that people. 

This, too, may intimate how our hearts are naturally so 
hard and stony, that it is only the finger of God that can 
make any impression of his laws upon them. The ark 
was a famous type of Christ : and the keeping of the 
tables of the law in the ark, what doth it mean, but to 
prefigure to us how the law was to be kept and observed 
in him who fulfilled all righteousness % And when God 
again writes his laws on our hearts, we also keep them in 
Christ our ark, whose complete obedience supplies all 
our imperfections and defects. 

6. Whereas this law of the Ten Commandments was 
twice written hy God himself, once before and again after 
the tables were in a holy zeal broken by Moses : this also 
may intimate the twice writing of the law on the hearts 
of men ; first, by the creating finger of God, when he 
made us perfectly like himself; and then again, by his 
regenerating power, when he creates us anew in Christ 
Jesus, giving us a new impression, and as it were setting 
us forth in a new edition, but yet containing the same for 
substance as when we came forth at first out of the crea- 



18 ' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

ting hand of God : for regeneration and the new birth ifi 
but a re&toring us to the image of God, which we defaced 
hj our fall in Adam ; and, as it were, a new stamping )f 
those characters of himself in righteousness and loiow- 
ledge, which were obliterated. 

7. When Moses came down from the mount after his 
long converse with God, Jiis face slione with such a divine 
and heavenly lustre that the Israelites were dazzled with the 
brightness, and could not steadfastly look upon him : there- 
fore he was forced to put a veil over his face, to allay and 
temper those beams which the reflection of God's face and 
presence had cast upon him ; but this veil he laid aside 
when he turned into the tabernacle to speak with God. 
Exod. 34 : 29, &c. 

The significancy of this the Apostle expressly gives us, 
2 Cor. 3 : 13-15, that there was a veil on the heart of the 
Jews, so that they could not see to the end of the law, 
which is Christ Jesus, who was the end of the ceremonial 
law, in that he put an end to it in its abrogation ; and 
who is the end of the moral law, because in him it attains 
its end, which is by convincing us of our own weakness 
and inability to perform it, to lead us to Christ, by whose 
righteousness alone, and not by the works of the law, we 
are to expect justification before God. Yet there was so 
thick a veil cast over the law, that the Jews could not 
look through it upon the glory that shone in Christ, of 
whom Moses was still the type : but, when they shall 
turn to the Lord this veil shall be taken away ; and then 
shall they discern the significancy of all those ritual ob- 
servances, and perceive spiritual things after a more sub- 
lime and spiritual manner. 

Thus I have shown the time, the reason and the man 



THE INTRODUCTION. 19 

Tier of the deliveiy of this epitome of the law in the Ten 
Commandments ; wherein are deUneated and shadowed 
out many excellent gospel truths. 

IV. And now if any one ask, " What need all this long 
discourse about the law ] Is it not fully abrogated by the 
coming of Christ 1 Shall we be again brought under that 
heavy yoke of bondage, which neither we nor our fathers 
were able to bear ] Doth not the Scripture frequently tes- 
tify that we are not now under the law, but under gi'ace ] 
that Christ was made under the law, to free those who 
were under the law 1 and, therefore, to terrify and over- 
awe men's consciences by the authority of the law ; what 
is it but to make the Gospel a legal dispensation, unworthy 
of that christian liberty into which our Savior hath vindi- 
cated us, who has by his obedience fulfilled the law, and 
by his death abolished it ]" 

To this I answer : Far be it from every christian to in- 
dulge himself in any licentiousness, from such a corrupt 
and rotten notion of the law's abrogation ; for, so far is it 
from being abolished by the coming of Christ, that he 
himself expressly tells us, he came not to destroy the latv, 
but to fulfil it, Mat. 5:17; that is, either to perform or 
else to perfect and fill up the law ; and, v. 18, he avers that 
" till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in 
no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled,^ that is, till 
the consummation and fulfilling of all things ; and then 
the law which was our rule .on earth shall become our na- 
ture in heaven. 

When therefore St. Paul spealcs, as he frequently does, 
of the abrogation and disannulling of the law, we must 
carefiilly discern and distinguish both what is taught us 



^0 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

respecting the law, and what is tauglit us respecting the 
abrogation of the law, or any part of it. 

The law, which God delivered by Moses, was of three 
kinds : Ceremonial, Judicial, and Moral. 

The Ceremonial Law was wholly taken up in enjoining 
those observances of sacrifices and offerings, and various 
methods of purification and cleansmg, which were typical 
of Christ, and that sacrifice of his, which alone was able 
to take away isin. 

The Judicial Law consisted of those constitutions which 
God prescribed the Jews for their civil government, and 
was the standing law of their nation. For their state was 
a theocracy ; and, as in other commonwealths the chief 
magistrates give laws to the people, so in this, the laws 
for their religion and for their civil government were both 
immediately fi:om God. By this law were to be tried and 
determined all actions and suits between party and party : 
as in all other nations, there are particular laws and sta- 
tutes for the decision of controversies that may arise 
among them. 

But the ikZbraZ Law is a body of precepts, which carry 
a universal and natural equity in them ; being so con- 
formable to the light of reason and the dictates of every 
man's conscience, that as soon as ever they are declared 
and understood, they must needs be subscribed to as just 
and right. 

These are the three sorts of laws which commonly go 
under the name of the Law of. Moses : all of which had re- 
spect, either to those things which prefigured the Messias 
to come, or to those which concerned their political and 
civil government as a distinct nation from others, or to 
such natural virtues and duties of piety towards God and 



THE INTRODUCTION. 21 

righteousness towards men, as were common to them 
with all the rest of mankind. 

And now as to the abrogation or continued obligation 
of these several laws, I desire you heedfully to attend to 
the following propositions. 

1. The CEREMONIAL LAW is, OS to the JewSf properly ah- 
't'ogated^ and its obligation and authority utterly taken 
away and repealed ; for so the apostle is to be under- 
stood, when, in his epistles, he so often speaks of the ab- 
rogation and disannulling of the law : he speaks, I say, 
of the ceremonial law and Aaronical observances ; which, 
indeed, were so fulfilled by Christ as to be abolished. For 
this law was given to be only an adumbration or faint repre- 
sentation of Christ. As in the night, while the sun is in 
the other hemisphere, yet we see its light in the planets 
and moons which shine with a borrowed and derived 
brightness; but when the sun is risen and displays its 
beams abroad, it drowns and extinguishes all those petty 
lights ; so, while Christ the Sun of Righteousness was yet 
in the other hemisphere of time, before he was risen with 
healing under his wings, the Jews saw some glimmering 
of his light in their ceremonies and observances; but, 
now that the day of the Gospel is fully sprung, and that 
light which before was but blooming is fully spread, those 
dimmer lights are quite drovvnied and extinguished in his 
clear rays, and an utter end is put to all those rites and cere- 
monies which both intimated, and in a kind supplie(J the ab- 
sence of the substance. So that, to maintain now a necessity 
of legal sacrifices, and purifyings, and sprinklings, is no less 
than to evacuate the death of Christ; and to deny the shed- 
ding of that blood that alone can purify us from all pollutions : 
which is but to catch at the shadow and lose the substance. 



22 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

And as to us, wlio ure the posterity and descendants 
of the Gentiles, it is more proper to affirm that the cere- 
monial laio icas never in force, than that it is truly ab- 
rogated ; for the ceremonial law was national to the 
Jews, and, in a sort, peculiar to them only ; neither did 
God intend that the observance of it should be imposed 
upon any other people, as a thing necessary for their 
future happiness, even though they should be proselyted. 
And this appears, both because God expressly com- 
mands all those who were to be subject to the ceremo- 
nial law, that they should appear at Jerusalem, thrice 
in the year, before the Lord, Exod. 34 : 23, 24, which 
would have been impossible for those in countries far 
remote from Jerusalem ; and because all their sacrifices 
and oblations, in which consisted the chiefest part of the 
r^eremonial worship, were to be offei'ed up only at Je- 
rusalem ; which would have been alike impossible, if this 
command of sacrificing had been intended by God to be 
obligatory on all the world. Therefore, doubtless, that 
command, even whilst it was in force, obliged none but 
the Jewish nation. 

We find also that, even before Christ's coming, the 
Jews themselves did not impose the observance of the 
ceremonial law alike upon all proselytes ; but their pro- 
selytes were of two sorts. Some, indeed, as the Prose- 
lyti Legis, became perfect Jews in religion, lived among 
them, and engaged themselves to the full observance of the 
whole law ; yet some, called Proselyti Fortce, were only 
so far converted as to acknowledge and worship the only 
true God, but obliged not themselves to the perfomiance 
of what the Levitical law required. These the Jews ad- 
nitted into participation of the same common hope and 



THE INTRODUCTION. 23 

salvation with themselves, when they professed their faith 
in God the Creator, and their obedience to the law of na- 
ture, together with the seven traditional precepts of Noah * 

For the farther clearing of this matter, moreover, we 
must know, that, in the very beginning of the church, 
there arose great dissension between the believing Jews 
and the believing Gentiles, concerning the necessity of 
obsei-ving the Levitical law. For we find. Acts, 15 : 5, 
that certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, 
affiraied that it was needful to ckcumcise the Gentiles, 
and to command them to keep the law of Moses : which 
yet was greater rigor than was fonnerly used to tho pro- 
selyte party. 

To determine this question, the apostles and eldere 
meeting in a council at Jerusalem, decided in brief; That 
the believing Jews might still, without offence, observe 
the rites and ceremonies of the law : though the necessity 
of them were now abrogated, the use of them might, for 
a season, be lawfully continued : " dead " they were ; 
but, hitherto, not ** deadly :" they were expired ; yet 
some time was thought expedient for their decent burial. 
Hence we find St. Paul himself, who so earnestly in all 
his epistles opposes the observance of the ceremonial law, 
yet submits to the use of those rites, Acts, 21 : 26, and 
16 : 3, by which he evidently declares that those believers 
who were of that nation, though they were freed from the 



• These precepts were: 1. The administration of justice upon 
offenders. 2, Renouncing of idolatry. 3. Worshipping the true 
God, and keeping the Sabbath. 4. Abstaining from murder. 5. 
Prom fornication. 6. From robbery. 7. From eating of blood, 
or any member of a beast taken from it alive. 



24 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

necessity, yet they might lawfully, as yet, observe the 
Aaronical constitutions ; especially, when, to avoid giving 
offence, it might be expedient so to do. So tender a thing 
is the peace of the church ! 

But then, concerning the Gentiles ; although, before 
the coming of Christ, they might become perfect prose- 
lytes to the whole law of Moses, and receive the seal of 
circumcision, as many of them did : yet, after the evan- 
gelical doctrine was consummate, and the Apostles sent 
into all the world to preach it to every creature, they, by 
the Holy Ghost, determine, in that first council of the 
church, that the Gentiles should by no means be bur- 
dened with any of those impositions, that they should 
not subject themselves to the dogmatizing commands of 
false teachers, who required them to be circumcised and 
to keep the ceremonial law ; but that they be required 
only to abstain "from meat offered to idols, and from 
blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication," 
that is, as judicious Mr. Hooker very probably interprets 
it, fi'om incestuous marriages within prohibited degi^ees. 
And all those commands, laid upon them by the apostles, 
are the very precepts of Noah. But circumcision and 
other obsei'vances of the ceremonial law they were not 
obliged to : yea, they were obliged not to observe them, 
as being subversions of their souls. Acts, 15 : 24. And 
therefore we find that the same holy apostle, who him- 
self circumcised Timothy because he was the son of a 
Jewess, when he writes to the Gentiles, tells them ex- 
pressly, that if they be circumcised Christ shall profit 
them nothing. Gal. 5 : 2. 

Thus we see how far and in what sense the ceremo- 
nial law is abrogated. 



THE INTRODUCTION. 25 

2. As to the JUDICIAL law, and those precepts which 
were given to the Jews for the government of their ci- 
vil state, that law is not at aH abrogated. 

Not to us, for it was never intended to oblige uo. Nei- 
ther, indeed, is it at all necessary that the laws of every 
nation should be conformed to the laws which the Jews 
lived under ; for, doubtless, each state has its liberty to 
frame such constitutions as may best serve to obtain the 
ends of government. 

Neither is the judicial law abrogated to the Jews : for 
though now, in their scattered state, the laws cease to be 
of force, because the Jews cease to be a body politic ; yet, 
were their dispersion again collected into one republic, 
most probably the same national laws would bind them 
nOw, as did in former times, when they were a happy and 
flourishino^ kinordom. 

3. Concerning the moral law, of which I am now to 
treat more especially, that is partly abrogated and partly 
not : abrogated, as to some of its circumstances j but not 
as to any thing of its substance, authority and obligation. 

(1.) The Moral Law is abrogated to believers, as it was 
a Covenant of Works. 

For God, in man's first creation, wi'ote this law in his 
heart ; and added this sanction to it, Iftliou doest this, thou 
shalt live ; if not, thou shalt die the death. Now, all man- 
kind sinning in Adam, and thereby contracting an utter 
impotency of obeying that law, that we might not all pe- 
rish accordmg to the rigorous sentence of it, God was 
graciously pleased to enter into another covenant with us ; 
promising a Savior to repair our lost condition, and eter- 
nal life upon the easier terms of faith and evangelical obe- 
dience. Indeed, all those, who either never heard of Jesus 

Conimitndraents. 2 



26 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Christ, or who reject him, are still under the law as a 
covenant, and therefore their estate is most wretched and 
deplorable ; for, being transgressors of the law, there re- 
maineth nothing for them but a certain fearfiil looking- 
for of wrath and fiery indignation to devour them as the 
adversaries of God. But those who are true believers are 
under a better covenant, even the Covenant of Grace ; 
wherein God hath promised to them eternal life, upon 
condition of their faith; and they may, with full assurance 
of hope, to their unspeakable joy and comfort, expect the 
performance of it. Therefore, 

(2.) To believers the Moral Law is also abrogated as 
to its condemning power. 

Though it sentenceth every sinner to death, and curseth 
every one who continueth not in all things written therein 
to do them ; yet, through the intervention of Christ's sa- 
tisfaction and obedience, the sins of a believer are gra- 
ciously pardoned, and the curse abolished, it being dis- 
charged wholly upon Christ, and received all into his 
body on the cross. Gal. 3 : 13. ** Christ hath redeemed 
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;" 
so that we may thei'efore triumphantly exult with the 
apostle, Rom. 8:1, " There is now no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus." 

In these two respects believers are indeed freed from 
the moral law ; as it hath the obligation of a covenant, and 
as it hath a power of condemnation. 

(3.) But, as it hath a power of obliging the conscience 
as a standing rule for our obedience, it remains still in its 
full vigor and authority. 

It still directs us what we ought to do ; binds the con- 
science to the performance of it ; brings guilt upon the 



THE INTRODUCTION. 27 

soul, if we transgress it ; and reduces us to the necessity 
either of bitter repentance, or of eternal condemnation . 
for, in this sense, heaven and earth shall sooner pass away 
than one jot or tittle shall pass from the law. 

Therefore Antinomianism is to be abominated, which 
derogates from the value and validity of the law, and con- 
tends that it is to all purposes extinct to believers, even 
as to its preceptive and regulating power; and that no 
other obligation to duty lies upon them who are in Christ 
Jesus, but only from the law of gratitude : that God re- 
quires not obedience from them upon sO low and sordid 
an account as the fear of his wrrath and dread severity ; 
but all is to flow only from the principle of love and the 
sweet temper of a gratefril arid ingenuous spirit. 

This is a most pestilent doctrine, which plucks down 
the fence of the law, and opens a gap for all manner of 
licentiousness and libertinism to rush in upon the chris- 
tian world ; for, seeing that the Moral Law is no other 
than the Law of Nature written upon man's heart at the 
first, some positives only being superadded; upon the 
same account as we are men, upon the Same we owe obe- 
dience to the dictates of it. 

And, indeed, we may find every part of this law en- 
forced in the Gospel; charged upon us with the same 
threatenings, and recommended to us by the same pro- 
raises ; and all intei*preted to us by our Savior himself, to 
the greatest advantage of strictness and severity. We 
find the same rules for our actioris, the same duties re 
quired, the same sins forbidden in the Gospel as in 
the law. • ' ' 

Only, in the Gospel we have these mitigations, which 
were not in the Covenant of Works : 



28 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

That God accepts of our obedience, if it be sincere, in 
earnest desires and endeavors. Although we cannot at- 
tain that perfect exactness and spotless purity which the 
law requires, yet we are accepted through Christ, accord- 
ing to what we have, and not according to what we have 
not, if so be we indulge not ourselves in a wilful sloth 
and contempt of the law. 

That the Gospel admits of repentance after our falls, 
and restores us again to the favor of God, upon our true 
humiliation : while the law, as a Covenant of Works, left 
no room for repentance, but required perfect obedience 
without the least failure ; and, in case of non-performance, 
notliing was to be expected but the execution of that 
death which it threatened. 

Yet, withal, a higher degree of obedience is now re- 
quired from us under the dispensation of the Gospel than 
was expected under the more obscure and shadowy ex- 
hibitions of gospel-grace by legal types and figures. We 
confess that the Israelites, before the coming of Christ, 
were no more under a Covenant of Works than we are 
now ; but yet the Covenant of Grace was more darkly ad- 
ministered to them : and therefore, we having now re- 
ceived both a clearer light to discover what is our duty, 
and a more plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost to enable 
us to perform it, and better promises, more express and 
significant testimonies of God's acceptance, and more full 
assurance of our own reward, it lies upon us, and we are 
under obligation, having all these helps and advanta- 
ges above them, to endeavor that our holiness and obedi- 
ence should be much superior to theirs ; and that we should 
serve God with more readiness and alacrity, since now by 
Jesus Christ oui- yoke is made easy and our burden light 



THE INTRODUCTION. 29 

So that you see we are far from being released from 
our obligation to obedience ; but rather, that obligation is 
made the stricter by Christ's coming into the world : and 
every transgression against the Moral Law is enhanced to 
an excess of sin and guilt, not only by the authority of 
God's injunction, which still continues inviolable; but 
likewise from the sanction of our Mediator and Redeemer 
who hath invigorated the precepts of the law by his ex- 
press command, and promised us the assistance of his 
Spirit to obseiTe and perform them. 

V. But before I come particularly to treat of the words 
of the Decalogue, I think it requisite to propound some 

GENERAL RULES FOR THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING AND EX- 
POUNDING OP THE COMMANDMENTS, which will be of great 
use to us for our right apprehending the full latitude and 
extent of them. 

The Psalmist tells us, the commandments of God are 
exceeding hroad, Psalm 119 : 96. And so indeed they are 
in the comprehensiveness of their injunctions, extend- 
ing their authority over all the actions of our lives ; but 
they ai-e also exceeding strait, as to any toleration or in- 
dulgence given to the unruly lusts and appetites of men. 

Now that we may conceive somewhat of this breadth and 
reach of the law of God, observe these following rules : 

1. All those precepts which are dispersed in the holy 
ScriptureSy and which concern the regulating of our lives 
and actions, although not found expressly mentioned in the 
Decalogue, may yet very aptly he reduced under one oj 
these ten commands. 

There is no duty required nor sin forbidden by God 
but it falls under one, at least, of these Ten Words, and 



30 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 

sometimes under more than one ; and therefore, to the 
right and genuine interpretation of this law we must 
take in whatsoever the prophets, apostles, or our Lord 
himself hath taught, as comments and expositions upoii 
it ; for the Decalogue is a compendium of all they have 
taught concerning moral worship and justice. 

Yea, our Savior epitomizes this very epitome itself, 
and reduces these ten words to two : love to God, which 
comprehendeth all the duties of the first table ; and love to 
our neighbor f which comprehendeth all the duties of the 
second table : and he tells us, that " upon these two hang 
all the law and the prophets," Mat. 22 : 37-40. And cer- 
tainly, a due love of God and of our neighbor will make 
us careful to perform all the duties of religion to the one, 
and of justice to the other ; and keep us from attempting 
any violation to his honor, or violence to their right : there- 
fore the Apostle tells us that " love is the fulfilling of the 
law," Rom. 13 : 10 ; and, 1 Tim. 1 : 5, that " the end of 
the commandment is charity," or love : the end, that is 
the completion or the consummation of the commandment, 
is love, both to God and to one another. But con- 
cerning this I shall have occasion to speak more largely 
hereafter. 

2. Since most of the commandments are delivered in 
negative or prohibiting terms, and only the fourth and 
fifth in affirmative or enjoining, we may observe this 
rule : that the affirmative commands include the prohibition 
of the contrary sin ; and the negative commands include 
the injunction of the contrary duty. 

That the contrary to what is forbidden must be com- 
manded, and the contrary to what is commanded be for- 
bidden, is manifest. As, for instance, God in the third 



THE INTRODUGJION. 31 

Commandment forbids the taking of his name in vain : 
therefore, by consequence, the hallowing and sanctifying 
his name is therein commanded. The fourth requires the 
sanctifying of the Sabbath-day : therefore it surely follows 
that the profanation of it is thereby forbidden. The Mi\ 
commands us to honor our parents : therefore it forbids us 
to be disobedient or injurious to them. And so of the rest. 

3. Observe, also, that every negative command hinds 
alwai/& and to every moment of time ; hut the affirmative 
yrecci)Zs, though they hind always^ yet they do not hind to 
every moment ; that is. sLs to the habit of obedience, they 
do ; but not as to the acts. 

To make this plain by instance. 

The first commandment, " Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me," bindeth always, and to every moment 
of time ; so that he is guilty of idolatry whosoever shall 
at any time set up any other god to worship besides the 
Lord Jehovah. But the affirmative precept, which is in- 
cluded in this negative, namely, to worship, to love, to in- 
voke, to depend on God, though it obligeth us always^ 
(for we must never act contrary hereunto,) and likewise 
obligeth us to every moment of time, in respect to the 
hahits of divine love, and faith, and worship ; yet it doth not 
oblige us to every moment in respect of the acts of these 
habits ; for it is impossible to be always actually praying, 
praising, and worshipping God, neither is it required, for 
this would make one duty shock and interfere with another. 

So, likewise, the fourth commandment, which is affir- 
mative, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath- 
day," obligeth always ; and whosoever at any time pro- 
fanes the Sabbath, is guilty of the violation of this law 
but it doth not, it cannot oblige to every moment of time.. 



32 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

siiice this day only makes its weekly returns, and every 
parcel of time is not a Sabbath-day. 

So, likewise, the fifth commandment is positive, " Honor 
thy father and thy mother," and binds always ; sothatwesin 
if at any time we are refi-actory and disobedient unto their 
lawful commands : but it doth not oblige to the acts of honor 
and reverence in eveiy moment of time, for that is impos- 
sible ; or were it not, it would be but mimical and ridiculous. 

But now the negative precepts oblige us to every mo- 
ment of time ; and whosoever ceaseth the observance of 
them for any one moment, is thereby involved in sin, and 
becomes guilty, and a transgressor before God : such are, 
" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou 
shalt not commit adultery," &c. Now there is no mo- 
ment of time whatsoever that can render the non-obser- 
vance of these commands allowable, nor are there any 
circumstances that can excuse it from guilt. Whosoever 
profanes the name of God by rash swearing or trivial or 
impertinent uttering of it, whosoever sheds innocent 
blood, whosoever purloins from another what is rightly 
his, whosoever is guilty of any uncleanness ; let it be at 
what time, in what place, after what manner soever, let 
it be done passionately or deliberately, whether he be 
tempted to it or not ; yet he is a transgi'essor of the 
law, and liable to that curse and death which God hath 
txireatened to inflict upon every soul of man that doetn 
evil. Whereas, in the affirmative precepts, there are 
some times and seasons to which we are not bound, so as 
actually to perform the duties enjoined us. This I sup- 
pose is clear, and without exception. 

4. Obsei-ve this rule also : that tJie same frer.ept which 



THE INTRODUCTION. , 33 

forbids the external and outward acts of sin, forbids like- 
wise the inward desires and motions of sin in the heart ; 
and the same precept which requires the extcriial dcts oj 
duty, requires likewise those holy affections of the soul ihut 
are suitahle thereunto. 

As, for instance, the same command that requires me 
to worship God, exacts from me not only the outward 
service of the lip or of the knee, but much more the in- 
ward reverence and affection of my soul : that I shoujd 
prostrate, not my body only, but my vei*y heart at his feet ; 
fearing him as the great God, and loving him as the 
greatest good, and with all the tenderness and deamess of 
a ravished soul cleaving to him and clasping about him as 
my only joy and happiness. Therefore, those are highly 
guilty of the violation of this command who worship God 
only with their bodies, when their hearts are far estranged 
from him ; offering up only the shell and husk of a duty, 
when the pith and substance which should fill it is given 
either to the world or to their lusts : such as these are 
guilty of idolatry even in serving and worshipping the 
true God; for they set up their idols in their hearts 
when they come to inquire of him, as the prophet com- 
plains, Ezek. 14:7. So, likewise, that positive command, 
"Honor thy father and thy mother," not only requires 
from us the external acts of obedience to all the lawfid 
commands of our parents and magistrates, and those 
whom God hath set in authority over us ; but requires 
farther, an inward love, veneration and esteem for them 
in our hearts. For, though men can take no farther cog- 
nizance of us than by our overt-acts ; and if those be re- 
gular, they are likewdse satisfactory to all human laws : 
yet this is not sufficient satisfaction to the law of God, 



34 - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

for God is the discemer and judge of the heart and soul ; 
and his law hath this special prerogative above all others, 
that it can yvixh authority prescribe to ovir very thoughts, 
desires and affections. - ' ' - - ' 

And then, as for negative commands, they forbid not 
only the external acts of sin but the inward motions of 
lust, sinful desires, and evil concupiscence. Thus we find 
it at large. Mat. 5, where our Savior makes it a great 
part of his object in his sermon on the mount, to clear 
and vindicate the moral law from the corrupt glosses and 
interpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees ; and to 
show that the authority of the law reached to prohibit, 
not only sinful actions, as that corrupt generation thought, 
but sinful affections tool v. 21, "Ye have heard that it 
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill ; and 
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment." 
Here they stopped in the very bark and rind of the com- 
mand, and thought it no offence, though they suffered 
their hearts to bum with wrath, and malice, and revenge, 
so long as they pent it up there, and did not suffer it 
to break forth into bloody murder. But what saith our 
Savior, v. 22 1 " But I say unto you, that whosoever is 
angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger 
of the judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, 
Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever 
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." You 
see here, that not only the horrid sin of murder is forbid- 
den by the law, but all the incentives to it and degrees 
of it ; as anger conceived inwardly in the heart, or ex- 
pressed outwardly in words. 

I cannot pass this. place without giving you some light 
for the right understanding of it. ,(.:■ 



THE mtRODUCTION. 35 

Here are three degrees of sin short of murder; yet 
all forbidden by the same precept which forbids that. 
Causeless anger against thy brother ; calling him Raca ; 
and calling him, Thou fool : whereof the one still exceeds 
the other in guilt, Raca signifies a simple witless fellow, 
commonly used to upbraid such as were weak and igno- 
rant. Thou fooly signifies one that is not only ignorant, 
out wicked and ungodly, as the Scripture frequently useth 
the word in that sense, which is a far gi'eater reproach 
than merely to call him weak or silly. Now, according 
to these three degrees of sins our Savior proportions 
three degress of punishment to be inflicted on those that 
are guilty of them, each severer than the other. Causeless 
anger shall bring them in danger of the judgment; Raca, 
in danger of the council ; and Thou Fool, in danger of hell 
fire : that is, they shall make them liable to the punish- 
ments inflicted by these. 

But, to understand the full scope and meaning of our 
Sivior in these allusions, we must have recourse to the 
history of the Jewish commonwealth ; and there we find 
that they had two courts of judicature, the lesser and the 
greater sanhedrim. 

The lesser consisted of twenty-three persons ; and was 
erected, not only in Jerusalem, but in every considerable 
city among the Jews where there were six score house- 
holders. These had authority to inflict capital punish- 
ments on malefactors ; but yet, as the highest crimes fell 
not under their cognizance, so neither were the severest 
punishments under their award. And this consistoiy our 
Savior calls here the Judgment; and tells us, that who- 
soever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be 
liable* to a punishment correspondent to that which this 



3t» THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Baiihediim was empowered to inflict ; still applying tem- 
porals to spirituals, that is, he shall be liable to eternal 
death, though not so severely executed as it would be for 
crimes of a more heinous nature. , " . .. c - "■■ 

Their greater sanhedrim was their supreme court ox 
judicature, and consisted of seventy elders, besides their 
chief speaker or moderator. You will find their first in- 
stitution to have been by divine authority. Num. 11 : 16. 
They sat only in Jerusalem. Their sentence was decisive 
and determining, from which there lay no appeal. They 
were to judge of all harder matters which could not be 
determined by other courts: as causes concerning a 
whole tribe or the whole nation; causes of war and 
peace j causes concerning the high-priest, and the mission 
and authority of prophets that spake unto them in the 
name of the Lord : and this may be the occasion of that 
speech of our Savior, " It cannot be that a prophet perish 
out of Jerusalem," Luke, 13 : 33, because in Jerusalem 
alone was this sanhedrim constituted which was to judge 
of the prophets whether they were true or false. This 
sanhedrim our Savior here calls the Council. And they 
had power, not only of life and death, as the other had ; 
but likewise of inflicting death in a more severe and 
tormenting manner than the other: and therefore our 
Savior saith. Whosoever shall call his brother Racay a 
vain witless fellow, shall be in danger of the council. 
Wherein he still brings the degrees of punishment 
among the Jews to allude to the punishment of sins in 
hell : and so the meaning is, that as he who shall cause- 
lessly be angry with his brother exposeth himself to the 
danger of eternal death ; so he that shall suffer his anger 
to break forth into any reproachful or reviling lang\iage, 



- ^ THE INTRODUCTION. ' ^7 

althougli his taunts be not very bitter nor biting, only u. 
call bim a weak silly person, yet hereby he incurs the 
danger of a severer sentence, and execution of it upon 
him for ever. 

But the severest sentence which this sanhedrim could 
pronounce against the greatest malefactors was that they 
should be burnt alive with fire. This execution was 
always performed in the Valley of Hinnom, joining to 
Jerusalem : which being a place wherein were frequent 
fires made, both in idolatrous times for the sacrificing of 
tiieir children to Moloch, and in their purer times for con- 
suming the filth of their city, and that which was as bad, 
their malefactors ; it is not unfrequent in the Scripture to 
denote hell by this Tophet, this valley of Hinnom ; which, 
for its continual fires, was a lively type and representation 
of it : yea, the very scripture name for hell, Gehenna^ 
seems to be derived from the valley of Hinnom. Now, 
as burning of malefactors in Gehenna, or the^ valley of 
Hinnom, was among the Jews one of their highest and 
severest punishments, and never inflicted but where the 
crime was very gross and flagitious ; so, saith our Savior, 
he that saith to his brother. Thou fool ^ shall be in danger 
of Gehenna, of hell-fire ; that is, of a severer punishment 
in the true hell than those who were either causelessly 
angry or expressed their anger in more tolerable re- 
proaches ; although even they also shall, wdthout repent- 
ance, be eternally punished. 

So that the sense of our Savior in all this allusion 

seems to be this : that whereas the Scribes and Pharisees 

had restrained that command, Tliou shalt not kill, only to 

actual murder, as if nothing else were forbidden besides 

"open violen<?e and blood; our Savior, contrariwise, teach- 



38 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

eth, that not only that furious and barbarous sin of mur- 
der, but also rash and causeless anger, though it only boil 
in the heart, much more if it cast forth its foam at the 
mouth in reviling speeches, falls under that prohibition, 
" Thou shalt not kill." All these degrees deserve to be 
punished w^ith eternal death ; but, as among the Jews, 
some were punished with lighter, others with more griev- 
ous penalties, so shall it be at the Great Judgment: 
anger in our hearts shall be condemned with eternal pun- 
ishment; but, if it break forth into reviling expressions 
the condemnation shall be more intolerable, and by so 
much more, by how much the reproaches are more bitter 
and sarcastical. 

This, in brief, I take to be the true meaning of this 
difficult speech of our Savior : the whole scope whereof 
shows, that not only the gross acts of sin, but also the 
inward dispositions and corrupt affections unto sin, and 
every degree arid tendency towai-ds it, are forbidden and 
threatened by the holy law of God. 

So, likewise, verse 27 of this 5th chapter : " Ye have 
heard that it was said by them of old time. Thou shalt not 
commit adultery ; but I say unto you, that whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed 
adultery with her already in his heart." Here our Savior 
brings inward concupiscence to the bar ; and makes the 
heart and 6ye plead guilty, although shame or fear might 
restrain grosser acts. 

Thus it appears that the same precept which forbids 
the outward acts of sin, forbids likewise the inward de- 
sires and motions of sin in the heart. 

And, indeed, there is a gi-eat deal of reason for it. For 
God, who is our lawgiver, is a spirit. He seeth and con- 



THE INTRODUCTION. 39 

verseth with our spirits, There is not the least thought 
that flits in thy soul, not the least shadow of an imagina- 
tion cast upon thy fancy, not the stillest breathing of a 
desire in thy heart but God is privy to it : he sees to 
the very bottom of that deep spring and source of 
thoughts that is in thy heart : he beholds them in their 
causes and occasions ; and knows our thoughts, as the 
Psalmist speaks, afar off: he beholds our souls more 
clearly and distinctly than we can behold one another's 
faces ; and therefore it is but fit and i^ational that his laws 
should reach as far as his knowledge ; and that he should 
prescribe rules to that, the irregularity of which he can 
observe and punish. * 

Hence it is that the apostle, considering what an energy 
the law has upon that part of man which seems most free 
and uncontrolled, his mind and spirit, calls it a spiritual 
law : " We know," saith he, " that the law is spiritual,'* 
Rom. 7 : 14 ; and that, because the searching and con- 
vincing power of it enters into our spirits, cites our 
thoughts, accuses our desires, condemns our affections : 
which no other law in the world besides this can do. 
For how justly ridiculous would nxQW be, who should 
command us not to think dishonorably of them, not to 
desire any thing to their detriment and prejudice; and 
should threaten us with punishment in case of disobe- 
dience ; but the law of Qod comes into our consciences 
with authority ; and, in the name of the great God, re- 
quires his peace to be kept among our tumultuous and 
seditious affections, beats down their carnal weapons, 
and gives conscience a power either to suppress all re- 
bellious insuiTections against the majesty of heaven, or 
else to indite, accuse, and torment men for them. And 



40 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

therefore "the Word of God is" by the apostle said 
to be " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul 
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discemer 
of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4 : 12. 

It is therefore a fourth rule for the right understanding 
of the extent and latitude of the commands, that the 
same precept which forbids the outward acts of sin, for- 
bids also the inward desires and motions of sin in the 
heart. 

•' 5, Another general rule is this : that the command not 
only forbids the sin that is expressly mentioned^ hut all 
occasions and inducements leading to that sin. 

And therefore we may observe that there are many 
sins that are not expressly forbidden in any one com- 
mandment, but yet are reductively forbidden in every 
one towards the violation of which they may prove occa- 
sions. And as some one sin may be an occasion to all 
others, so it may be well said to be forbidden in every 
precept of the Decalogue. 

I shall instance only two of this kind : and they are — 
familiarity with evil persons, or keeping evil company j 
and the sin of drunkenness. 

As for evil company, it is evident that though it be not 
expressly forbidden in any one commandment, yet, as it 
is a strong temptation and inducement to the violation of 
all of them, so it is a sin against them all. There are no 
such sure factors for the devil as wdcked company, who 
will strive to rub their vices upon as many as they can 
infect. And therefore, thou, who delightest in the com- 
pany either of atheists, or idolaters, or swearers, or sab- 
bath-breakei;s, or disobedient rebels, or murderers, or 



THE INTRODUCTION. 41 

whoremongers, or thieves, or perjured persons, or cove- 
tous muck- worms, thou art guilty of the breach of each ot 
these commandments ; for thou runnest thyself into the 
very snare of the devil, and takest the same course to 
make thyself so which made them such. And therefore 
we are all forbidden to keep company with such profane 
and profligate wretches by the very same commandment 
which forbids their impieties, whatsoever they be. 

And as for drunkenness, whereas in the apostle's days, 
even among the heathen themselves, shame so far pre- 
vailed upon vice and debauchery, that it left sobriety the 
day, and took only the night to itself, 1 Thess. 5:7; 
yet now among us christian^ wickedness is grown so pro- 
fligate that we meet the drunkard reeling and staggering 
even at noon-day, ready to discharge his vomit in our 
faces or our bosoms. 

Possibly, some who are besotted vvdth this loathsome 
vice may think it no great wickedness, because it is not 
expressly forbidden in the summary of the law ; and so 
they cry Peace, peace, to themselves, although they go 
on to add drunkenness to thirst. 

But of this sin I say that it is not against any one par- 
ticular commandment of the law, but against all ; for since 
the moral law is the law and rule of right reason, the 
whole of it must needs be broken when reason itself is 
perverted by riot and intemperance, the man turned out 
of doors, and the beast taken in. So that, indeed, drunk- 
enness is not so much any one sin, as it is all. The drunk- 
ard hath put off" the man and hath put on the swine ; and 
into such swine it is that the devil enters, as surely as 
ever he entered into the herd of the Gadarenes, and 
drives them furiously dovni the precipices of all manner 



42 THii: TEN COMMANDMEI>JTS. 

of sins- and vices, till at length lie plungeth and drowneth 
them in the lake of fire and brimstone. 

Therefore, whatsoever is commanded, or. whatsoever is 
forbidden, drunkenness is forbidden, as being the greatest 
advantage the devil hath to prompt men to those abomina- 
tions, that, were they in their right senses, they would ab- 
hor and detest. Is he, think you, fit to worship God, and 
to take him for his own God, who is not himself his own 
man 1 Is not he guilty of idolatry who makes Bacchus his 
deity, giving him the libations of his vomits, and falling 
prostrate before him ] Can he forbear taking the name of 
God in vain who hath taken the creatures of God to his 
bane ] whose tongue is set afloat with his excessive cups, 
and whose mouth the devil taps to let his blasphemies, 
and oaths, and curses, and feai-ful execrations run out the 
more fluently ] Can he keep holy the Sabbath-day whose 
last night's drunkenness and excess rocks him asleep 
either in his own house or in the house of God ] Is he fit 
to honor his parents who dishonoreth his own body] Can 
he abstain from murder who first takes the ready way to 
destroy his own body and damn his own soul ; and then, 
through the rage of wine, is ready upon every slight pro- 
vocation to mingle his vomit with the blood of others 1 
Can he keep himself from uncleanness whose riotous ta- 
ble doth but prepare him for a polluted bed 1 Shall not 
he assever that which is false whose reason is so blinded 
by the fumes of his intemperance that he knows no longer 
the difference between truth and falsehood] And, finally, 
what bounds can be set to his concupiscence, who by thus 
blinding the eyes of his reason hath only left him fancy 
and appetite, both which the devil rules and governs ? 

Thus you see there are some sins which though not ex 



THE INTRODUCTION. . 43 

pressly forbidden in the Decalogue, yet are virtually and 
reductively forbidden, as being the fomenlers and occa- 
sions of others; and among these, dmnkenness especially, 
which strikes at every law that God hath enjoined us, the 
guilt whereof is universal as well as the sin epidemical. 

6. Another rule for the understanding of the Decalogue 
is, that ike commands of the first table are not to he kept 
for the sake of the second ; hut the commands of the second 
are to he kept for the sake of the first. 

The first table commands those duties which imme- 
diately respect the service and worship of God ; the se- 
cond, those which respect our demeanor towards men. 
Now the worship and service of God is not to be per- 
formed out of respect to men ; but our duty towards 
men is to be obsei-ved out of respect to God. For he that 
worships God that he might thereby recommend himself 
ta men, is but a hypocrite and formalist ; and he that per- 
forms his duty towards men without respecting G od in it, 
is but a mere civil moralist. The first table commands us 
not to worship idols, not to swear, not to profane the 
Sabbath. The laws of the magistrate command the very 
same ; and those who are guilty of the breach of them arer 
liable to human punishments. But if we abstain from 
these sins solely because they will expose us to shame or 
luffering among men ; if we worship G od merely that 
men may respect and venerate us, all the pomp and os- 
tentation of our religion is but hypocrisy, and as such 
shall have its reward ; for God requireth to be served not 
for man's sake, but for his own. 

The second table prescribes the right ordering of our 
conversation towards men ; that we should be dutiful and 
obedient to our superiors, loving and kind to our equals, 



44 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

charitable and beneficial to our inferiors, and just ana 
righteous towards all. These duties are not to be done 
only for man's sake, but for God's ; and those who per- 
form them without respecting him in them, lose both 
their acceptance and reward. And therefore our Savior 
condemns that love and beneficence which proceeds 
merely upon human and prudential accounts. Matt. 

5 : 46. "If ye love them which love you, what reward 
have ye? do not even the publicans the same V And Luke, 

6 : 33, 34, "If ye do good to them which do good to you, 
what thank have yel for sinners also do even the same. 
And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what 
thank have ye 1 for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive 
as much again." 

We ought not therefore to serve God for man's sake ; 
but we ought to love man for God's sake, and to perform 
the duties of the second table out of conscience and re- 
spect to God. We ought to do this in obedience to his 
authority; for what we do for men is an acceptable 
w'ork and service when we do it out of a sincere principle 
of obeying the will and command of God. We ought to 
do it in conformity to his example ; and this our Sa- 
vior urgeth. Matt. 5 : 45, " That ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and pn the unjust." We ought to do it, in view 
of a comfortable hope and expectation of his eternal 
reward. Luke, 6 : 35. " Love your enemies, and do 
good, and your reward shall be great." And this is the 
way to exalt morality to be truly divine; and to make 
whatsoever we do towards men, to be an acceptable ser- 
vice to God. By thig means we interest him in all th© 



THE INTiiODUCtlON. 45 

acts of our charity, justice ^nd temperance ; and we may 
be assured that what we thus do for his sake, shall in the 
end be graciously rewarded by his bounty. 

7. Another rule is, that the commands of the first tahle, 
so far forth as they are purely moral, supersede our obe- 
dience to the commands of the second tahle, when they are 
not both consistent. • -,> " . '• • , • . • 

As, for instance : we are in the second table required 
to obey our parents, and to maintain and preserve our 
own lives ; yet, if we are brought into such circumstances 
as that we must necessarily disobey either God or them — 
either prostitute our souls to guilt, or our lives to execu- 
tion — in such a case our Savior hath instructed us, Luke, 
14 : 26, " If any man come to me, and hate not his father, 
and mother, and wife, and children, yea, and his own 
life also, he cannot be my disciple." Indeed, a positive 
hatred of these is unnatural and impious ; but the hatred 
which our Savior here intends is comparative ; that is, a 
loving them less than Christ, less than religion and piety. 
And if the commands of the one or the concerns of the 
other are at any time to be violated or neglected, it must 
only be when we are sure that they are incompatible 
with a good conscience and true godliness. 
. •' 8. Again, whereas, in the first table, there is one com- 
mand partly moral and natural, partly positive and insti- 
tuted, and that is our observation of the Sabbath, we 
may observe that our obligation to the duties of the second 
table often supersedes our obedience to that command of the 
first table. 

It frequently happens that works of necessity and 
mercy will not permit us to be employed in works of 
piety, nor to sanctify the Sabbath after such a manner as 



46 ' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

else we ought ; for the Lord requireth mercy rather than 
sacrifice. Hosea, 6:6. And this our Savior allege th, Matt. 
9 : 13. In which sense it holds true, that " The Sabbath was 
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark, 2 : 27. 
Whatsoever therefore is a work of necessity, or a work 
of charity and mercy, and that not only towards man, but 
even towards bnite beasts themselves, may lawfully be 
done on the Sabbath-day, without bringing upon us the 
guilt of profanation ; for that which is purely moral in 
the second table doth in a sort derogate from what is but 
positive and instituted in the first. . . - 

9. Another rule is, whatsoever is forbidden in any 
command, hath all the signs and symptoms of it, and 
likeivise all the effects and consequents of it, are forhidden 
in the same. 

Thus, under the prohibition of idolatry, falls the pro 
hibition of feasting in the idol-temples, and eating meats 
sacrificed to them, as being too evident a sign of otir 
communion with them. 

So, in the commands in which pride is forbidden, 
(which are chiefly the first and second, for a proud man 
sets up himself for his god, is his own idol, and is his 
own idolater,) in the same are forbidden all the signs and 
effects of pride ; as a lofty look and a mincing gait, an 
affected behavior and vain fantastic apparel, against 
which the prophet largely declaims, Isa. 3: 16-26; be- 
cause, although pride doth not formally consist in these 
things, yet they are signs and effects of pride, and con- 
trary to that modesty and decency which God requires. 

10. The last rule is this: The connection between the 
commands is so close and intimate, and they are so linked 
together, 4hat whosoever hreaketh one of them is guilty 
of all. 



- _ THE INTRODUCTION. 47 

Now that bond which runs through them and knits 
them thus together, is the authority and sovereignty of 
God enjoining their observance : so that whosoever fails 
in his due obedience to any one, doth virtually and inter- 
pretatively transgress them all. 

Thus we find it expressly affirmed, James, 2 : 10, 
" Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in 
one point, he is guilty of all." Not as though the vio- 
lation of one precept were actually the violation of an- 
other ; for many may steal, and yet not actually murder^ 
many again may murder, and yet not actually commit 
adultery : but this place of the apostle must be under- 
stood of violating that authority which passeth through 
them all, and by which all the commandments have their 
sanction. For since the^ authority of the gi-eat God is 
one and the same in all these laws, he that shall so far 
disrespect .this authority as wilfiilly to break one of them, 
evidently declares that he owns it not in any. And al- 
though other considerations may restrain such a one 
from those crimes which are forbidden by some com- 
mandments, yet his observance of them is no part of 
obedience, nor can it be interpreted to be perfoimed out 
of conscience and respect towards God ; for were it so, 
the same authority which withheld him from murder, or 
theft, or adultery, would likewise restrain him from lying, 
or taking the name of God in vain ; and he that is guilty 
of these offences, is likewise guilty of all, because the 
same authority is stamped upon them all alike, and is 
alike violated in the transgression of each. And this 
very reason the apostle subjoins to his assertion, verse 11, 
" He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do 
not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou 



48 THE TEN C0MMANDME1^^TS. 

kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law: yea, 
of the whole law, as breaking that fence which God had 
set about his law, even his sovereign and absolute au- 
thority. ^ 

These are the rules which may direct your under- 
standings to a right knowledge of the latitude and com- 
prehensiveness of the law. The application of them to 
23articular cases I must leave to the judgment of christian 
prudence, except as various illustrative examples may be 
given in the ensuing treatise. 

VI. Before entering upon the consideration of the com- 
mandments in particular, it only remains to speak briefly 
— and that chiefly because others have spoken so much — 
concerning the order of these commands. 

The number of them is no way questioned ; for God 
himself hath determined them to be ten^ Exod. 34 : 28 ; 
but the method and disposition of them is much contro- 
verted, and I think with more heat and contention than 
the cause deserves ; for if all that God hath spoken be 
entirely delivered to us, what great concern is it whether 
this or that command be reckoned the second, third, or 
fourth ? This certainly tends but little to piety ; and we 
had need rather to employ our care how to keep them, 
than how to reckon them. 

Therefore, waiving all other differences, (as that of He- 
sychius, making the first command to be this, " I am the 
Lord thy God," which we, with good reason, affirm to 
be only a part of the preface; — and the leaving out of the 
fourth, concerning the sanctification of the Sabbath ;— 
and^ the placing of " Thou shalt not kill " after " Thou 



THE INTRODirCTION. 49 

shalt not commit adultery, Thou slialt not steal," whereas 
we, according to the Hebrew verity, place it before ;) all 
that I shall remark is, the difference between the Papists 
and us in the enumeration of the Ten Commandments.. 

They generally hold that there are but three commands 
in the first table, and therefore make seven in the second : 
and so, to complete this number, they join the first and 
second into one, and divide the tenth into two. 

Concerning this division or union we would not be 
much contentious wdth them, were there not a sacrile- 
gious and idolatrous design couched under it, as mani- 
festly there is : for finding the second commandment to 
strike so directly at their image worship, they think it 
expedient to deny it to be any distinct precept of itself; 
and reckon it but only an appendix or exposition of the 
former, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me j'* 
that so they might with the better color omit it ; as ge- 
nerally they have done in all their books of devotion and 
of instruction for the people. So that. of those few among 
them that can rehearse the Decalogue, you shall find none 
that will repeat, ** Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image : thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 
them, nor serve them ;" they not knowing that any such 
thing is forbidden them by God. And yet, that they may 
make up the full number of the commandments, they di- 
vide the tenth into two : one, forbidding the coveting of 
our neighbor's wife; and the other, the coveting of any 
oJ.her of his possessions. 

The only authority they produce from antiquity for 
this order of the Decalogue, is that of St. Austin : and it 
is true, he doth in many places of his works so conjoin 
and divide them ; yet not fi'om any design of promoting 

Commandments. 3 



t 



bO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

idolatry, or keeping the people in ignorauce, that th< 
worshipping of images was forhidden. But in this par 
ticular he went contrary to the current of all former an 
l.iquity ; yea, contrary to the very order of the Scripture 
for whereas they say that the ninth commandment is 
Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife; and the tenth 
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, 7ior his servant 
^c. if we consult Exod. 20 : 17, we shall find that the 
command runs thus : Thou shalt "not covet thy neighhor\ 
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighhor's wife, Sfc. fron 
which it certainly follows that they cannot make twc 
precepts, but appertain to one. — But enough of this : 
which I had not mentioned, had it not been conceived 
out of such an impious design. 

We now proceed to the commandments themselves, ii 
which we have the preface and the 'precepts, - ' . ' .-^ , 



PREFACE TO THE COMMANDMENTS. 
I AM THE Lord thy God, which have brougft 

THEE OUT OF THE LAND OP EgYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE 
OP BONDAGE. 

This preface caiTies an equal respect and reverence tn 
all the commandments ; and contains a strong argument 
to enforce obedience to them. As kings and princes 
usually prefix their names and titles to the laws and 
edicts they set forth, to gain the more attention and the 



PREFACE TO THE COMMANl>»jfiNTS. 61 

greater veneration to what they publish ; so here the 
great God, the King of kings, being about to proclaim a 
law to his people Israel, that he might affect them with 
the deeper reverence of his authority, and make them the 
more afraid to transgress, displays and blazons his name 
and his style before them— J am the Lord thy God^ which 
have hrought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of 
the house of bondage — that they might learn to fear his 
glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God. So we 
find it, Deut. 28 : 58. '^^^V 

And here, as all the arguments which are most pre- 
valent and cogent are adapted to work upon one of these 
two passions by which we are swayed in all the actions 
of our lives, either our fear or our love, so God accommo- 
dates himself to our temper and proclaims, first, his au- 
thority, to beget ye«r: "1 am the Lord thy God;" and 
then, seco7idly, his benefits and ?nercies, to engage love: 
" The Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land 
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And both these 
he proclaims, that, having so Strong an obligatioii on our 
very natures as the motives of love and fear, he might 
the more readily work us to obedience. For what mo- 
tives can be urged more enforcing than these, which are 
drawn both from power and goodness ; the one obliging, 
us to subjection, the other to gratitude ? 

1. He is the Lord God, the great creator, the only pro- 
frietor, the absolute governor and disposer of all things ; 
therefore on this account we owe an awful observance to 
all his laws and injunctions. It is but fit and just that we 
should be subject to him that created us, and who hath 
infinite power, for our contumacies and rebellions, eter- 
nally to destroy us. ; 



52 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

He is the Lord God, the great and glorious One, whose 
kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting, and whose do- 
minion bath no bounds, either of time or place. " Be- 
hold," saith the prophet, " the nations are as a drop of a 
bucket, and are counted but as the small dust of the ba- 
lance : behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little 
thing. All nations before him are as nothing ; and they 
are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." Isa. 
40 : 15, 17. His voice shakes the heavens, and removes 
the earth out of its place. His way is in the whirlwind. 
Storms und tempests are his harbingers; and the clouds 
are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake at his 
presence ; at his displeasure the hills melt away ; the 
world and all the inhabitants of it are dissolved. His 
fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are throvm 
down by him. His hand spans the heavens, and he holds 
all the waters of the sea in the hollow of it. Heaven is 
the throne of his glory, and the earth his footstool : his 
pavilion round about himi, dark waters and thick clouds 
of the sky. Ten thousand times ten thousand glorious 
spirits stand alway ministering before him : they fly on 
his errands, and are ready to execute his sovereign will 
and pleasure. " Who is like unto thee, O Lord, gloiious 
m holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders V and 
therefore, who would not fear thee, O King of nations ; 
and tremble and be astonished, when once thou ait 
angry? 

"Wilt thou then, O vile and wretched sinner, despise 
the authority and majesty of the great God, before whom 
all the powers of heaven and earth lie prostrate ] Darest 
thou infringe his laws a^d violate his commands, who is 
so great and terrible a God that he can destroy thee by 



PREFACE TO THE COMMANDMENTS. 53 

the very breath of his nostrils ? "By the breath of his 
nostrils are they consumed." Job, 4 : 9. Yea, he can 
look thee to death, " They perish at the rebuke of thy 
countenance.'* Psalm 80 : 16. Art thou able to contend 
with this God 1 Art thou a fit match for the Almighty 1 
Can I ly heart endure, or thy hands be strong in the day 
when the Lord shall deal with thee, and come to recom- 
pense vengeance upon thee for all thy transgi-essions 1 
Who among you can dwell with the devouring fire 1 who 
among you can dwell wdth everlasting burnings 1 

Certainly, did we but frequently thus ovei-awe our 
hearts with the serious consideration of the dread majesty 
and supreme authority of the great God, we should not 
dare so presumptuously to provoke him as we do. Fear 
is a most excellent preservative firom sin, and a sti'ong 
fence that God hath set about his law to keep us from 
breaking those bounds which he hath prescribed us. 
Therefore the wise man gives us this advice, Eccl. 12 : 13, 
"Fear God and keep his commandments;" and the 
Psalmist, Ps. 4 ; 4, " Stand in awe and sin not." 

2. As the authority of God is set forth to move us to 
obedience by working on our fear, so his henejits and 
mercies are declared to win us to it from a principle of 
love and gratitude: "The Lord thy God, who hath 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
of bondage." And indeed this, though a soft, is yet a 
most powerful and effectual argument. 

Hath God surrounded thee with blessings, and loaded 
thee every day with his -benefits 1 Hast thou received thy 
life, thy being from him ; and so many comforts in which 
thou takest delight, and he allows thee so to do % Hast 
thou been delivered by his watchful providence from 



64 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

many deaths and dangers; restored from sickness, or 
preserved in health 1 Doth he feed thee at his table, and 
clothe thee out of his wardrobe 1 Nay, what is infinitely 
more, hath he given thee his only Son, and his Son given 
thee his life and most precious blood 1 Hath he sent thee 
his Gospel ; and in it the exceeding great and precious 
promises of eternal glory, a glory which hope durst not 
be bold enough to expect, iiOr is imagination large enough 
to conceive 1 Hath he sent thee his Spirit to seal and ra- 
tify all these promises to thee 1 Hath he crowned thy 
head with many rich blessings here, and will he crown it 
with joy and blessedness hereafter 1 And canst thou, O 
soul, be so unkind and disingenuous as to deny any thing 
to that God who hath denied nothing to thee 1 Canst thou 
refuse him the only thing he requires of thee, the only 
testimony which thou canst give that thou hast any sense 
of his favor 1 and especially considering he requires it 
only that he may reward it with farther blessings 1 

Canst thou wrong that God who hath been so kind and 
gracious unto thee, and is continually doing thee good ] 
Canst thou despise his precepts, who hath regarded thy 
prayers'? Wilt not thou hear him speaking unto thee, 
who hath often heard thee when thou hast cried unto 
him, and hath helped and saved thee ? Certainly, the 
ingenuousness of human nature forbids it : the love of 
God constraineth otherwise; especially since he hath 
required obedience from us as the evidence and ex- 
pression of our love to him: John, 14:21, "He that 
hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that 
loyeth me ; and in 2 John, 5:6, •• This is love, that we 
walk after his commandments.'* And that, which is a most 
cogent motive, thine own interest and eternal concern- 



PREFACE fO THE GOMMAND-MENTS. 6G 

ments engage thee' to it; for, " what doth the Lord thy 
God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God — and 
to love him — and to keep his commandments — which I 
command thee this day for thy good ?" Deut. 10 : 12, 13. 

God might have required from us the very same obedi- 
ence which now he doth, ' without promising us any re- 
ward for it ; for we owe him all that we can possibly do, 
as he is the author of our beings, and every power and 
faculty of our souls ought to be employed for him who 
gave them unto us. But when the gi-eat God hath been 
so far pleased to condescend from his prerogative as to 
command us nothing but what hath already brought us 
very great advantages, and will for the future hving us 
far greater, when his hands shall be as full of blessings as 
his niouth is of commands ; when he enjoins us a work 
that in itself is wages, and yet promiseth us wages for 
doing that work ; when the mercies he hath already given 
us do oblige us, and the mercies he hath promised yet to 
give do allure us, certainly we must needs be the most 
disingenuous of all creatures, and the gi-eatest enemies to 
our own happiness, if these considerations do not win us 
to yield him that obedience which redounds not at all to 
his profit and advantage, but to our own. 

Thus you see how God hath enforced the obser^'ance 
of his law upon us, both by his authority and by his 
mercy : the one to work upon our fear, the other upon 
our love ; and both to engage us to obedience. 

Here it is observable, that, in the rehearsal of those 
mercies which should oblige to duty, mention is made 
only of those which seem to concern the Israelites, and 
no other people : I am the Lord thy God, which brought 



5Q : ' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. "^ ' 

thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 
From which some would infer that the Decalogue only 
respects them ; and that the commands then given do not 
at all appertain to us any more than the benefits com- 
memorated. ;j 'v^i.%^j ; ,>vn u rmfi-a.'^v 

But the answer is easy. For this mercy here mention 
ed, of deliverance from E gypt and the house of bondage, 
is to be understood as well typically as literally. If wc 
understand it literally, it indeed refers only to the people 
of Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt with a mighty 
hand and a stretched-out arm, and by such a series of 
miracles that they were almost as ordinary as the common 
effects of his providence, ^ut if we understand it typi- 
cally and mystically, it is' tme^ that God hath brought 
us also out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage ; 
and therefore the enforcement of the commandments on 
this account belongs to us christians as much as it did 
belong to the church of the Jews ; for, if we run up the 
allegory to the spiritual sense of it, we shall find a won- 
derful agi-eement betwixt them and a near representation 
of our state in the state of the Israelites. Let it suffice to 
compare them together only in a few remarkable in- 
stances. 

Thus as they were kept iri^l)ondage under the rigorous 
tyranny of Pharaoh, who sought both by policy and power 
to destroy them ; so were we kept in bondage under the 
tyranny of the devil, of whom Pharaoh was a black type 
and shadow. And as God delivered them fi-om his hand 
by a temporal salvation, so hath he delivered us from tlie 
power of the devil by a spiritual salvation ; redeeming 
us from the slavish bondage of sin through the blood of 
bis Son, by whom all our spiritual enemies are destroyed; 



PREFACE TO THE COMMANDMENTS. 67 

and conducting us through the wilderness of this world 
unto the promised Canaan, that land that floweth with 
milk and honey, the seat of reftt and eternal joy and 
fehcity, even heaven itself : and, therefore, if the consi- 
deration of a temporal deliverance were so powerful a 
motive to engage the Israelites unto obedience, how much 
more effectually should we be obliged unto it whose de- 
liverance is far greater than theirs was ; for God *' hath 
delivered us from the power of darkness^ and hath trans- 
lated us into the kingdom of his dear Son," Col, 1 : 13; 
he hath " delivered us from the "svrath to come," 1 Thes. 
1 : 10 ; he " hath fibolished death, and hath brought life 
and immortality to light through the Gospel," 2 Tim. 
1 : 10. And therefore as our deliverance is spiritual, so 
ought our obedience to be ; that being delivered from the 
justice of God, the condemning power of the law, the 
reigning power of sin, the sting of an accusing con- 
science, the rage and malice of the devil, and the intoler' 
able torments of hell, we might, with all love and thank- 
fulness, cheei-fuUy serve that God whose mercy hath been 
extended towards us in those things which are of highest 
and most precious concernment. 

Thus you see the reason of this preface, ** I am the 
Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of 
Egypt;" and how it is both applicable and obligatory to 
us Christians as well as to the Jews ; containing a decla- 
ration of God's authority to enforce and of his mercy to 
oblige us to the obedience of those laws which he delivers, 

But I come now to the preccjfts themselves. 



THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 



TIioii Shalt have no other gods before me. 

This first and chiefest of the ten commands is nega 
tive ; and as all negatives depend upon and must be mea- 
sured by the tnith of their contrary affinnative, I shall 
first consider what duties are here required, and then 
what sins are here forbidden. 

This command has respect to 2vorship , and requires 
four things : > , - 

1. That loe must have a God; which, of course, is 
against atheism. 

2. That we must have the Lord Jehovah for our God ; 
which is against idolatry. 

3. That we must have the only true God, the Lord Jehovah 
alone, for our God ; and this is against polytheism, or the 
worshipping of many gods. It is opposed also to Samaii- 
tanism, or the worshipping of false gods together with the 
true, like those Samaritans spoken of, 2 Kings, 17 : 33, 
who feared the Lord and yet served their own gods; 
mak'ng a strange medley in religion, and blending those 
ching-8 together that were utterly irreconcilable : as if 
they intended not only to be partakers themselves with 
devils, but to make God so too ; which is the greatest 
gratification that can be given to that proud and wicked 
spirit whose ambition it is to emulate and rival God in 
worship: for so the apostle tells us, that those "things 
which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and 
not to God," 1 Cor. 10 : 20. Thus to join any other thing 
with God as the object of our worship, is infinitely to 
debase and disparage him ; since it intimates that some- 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 59 

thing besifies God is excellent and perfect as himself. 
Therefore, in Zeph. 1 : 5, God severely threatens to cut 
off' and to destroy those *' that worship and that swear 
by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham." 

4. It requires that aZZ owr services and acts of worship 
to the true and only God be performed with sincerity and 
true devotion. This is implied in that expression before 
me or in my sight. 

And this is opposed both to profaneness on the one 
hand and hypocrisy on the other. For, since the most se- 
cret and retired apartments of the heart are all naked and 
bare in the sight of God, and our very spirits are as it 
were dissected and thus exposed . to his view j it folio v^^s 
that to have no other god before him, denotes that our 
serving and worshipping him ought to be sincere and 
affectionate. 

It is not enough to have no other god before men ; not 
to fall down prostrate before any visible idol set up in a 
temple ; but the law is spiritual, and searcheth the very 
thoughts and inward parts of the soul ; and if there be 
any idol set up in the heart, although it be in the darkest 
comer of it ; any secret lust or hidden sin, which is the 
soul's idol, and keeps it from being chaste and true to 
Its God ; any crooked ends and sinister respects in the 
worship of God; this is to have another god in the 
sight of Jehovah, and before him. 

Indeed, we are very apt to rest contented if we can 
but approve ourselves before men, and carry a fair show 
of religion and godliness. But consider how weak and 
foolish this is ; for, first, we deceive them with our ap- 
pearances ; and then we deceive ourselves with their 
opinions of us. It is not only before men, whose sight is 



60 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 

terminated in the bark and outside of things, that we 
offer up our services; but before that God who is the 
searcher of the heart and the trier of the reins, who 
looks quite through us, and judgeth not according to 
outward appearance, but judgeth righteous judgment. 
For us to i-egard men, and seek to commend ourselves 
to them in the service of GJ-od, is as great a folly and 
irreverence as it would be for one who is to treat with 
a mighty prince, to regard and reverence only the images 
in the tapestry and hangings. Alas ! men are but as so 
many blind images in respect to God ; they cannot see 
the heart nor the affections ; and those outward acts of 
woi'ship which they do see and commend without the 
heart, are despised by God. He requireth truth in the 
inward parts ; and is not delighted with the ostentation 
of performance, but with the sincerity of intention ; for 
every one is delighted with that which doth most of all 
declare some singular excellency that is in himself; but 
it is God's excellency and prerogative to contemplate 
the heart, to weigh and consider the spirits of men • 
and therefore he is chiefly delighted in the unfeigned 
desires and breathings of the heart after him, because 
by these we own him to be an all-knowing God. But 
when we perform duties of religion only to be seen and 
applauded of men, we make God only our pretence, but 
men our idols ; and set up as many gods before him as 
we have spectators and observers. 

Thus we see what positive duties are required of us in 
this precept : that we should worship a God, and him the 
true God, and the true God only, and that in truth and 
sincerity, as doing all our services before him. So this 
first command respects worship. 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 61 

It would be too long, and indeed almost endless, to in- 
sist particularly on all the duties included in the true 
and sincere worship of the true and only God. I shall 
therefore speak only of the three principal, and these 
are, the love of God, the fear of God, and the invocation 
and praise of God. In these three especially doth con- 
sist the having the Lord for our God. " 

I. This command requires of us the most supreme and 
endeared love of God. 

Yea, indeed, the love of God is not only the sum of 
this command, but of all the commands of the first table ; 
and therefore, as I have already said, when our Savior 
would give an abridgment of the law, he comprises all 
the ten under two great commands. Matt. 2^ : 37-39,^ 
** Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and v^dth all thy mind. This is the 
first and great commandment. And the second is like 
unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." From 
whence the apostle deduces that great conclusion, Rom. 
13 : 10, that love is the fulfilling of ihelaid. It is so, if 
not formally, yet virtually and effectively ; for it will 
powerfully and sweetly sway us to yield a ready submis- 
sion and obedience to what is required of us ; and that 
not only as it is the dictate of divine and sovereign au- 
thority, but from the free spontaneous tendency of the 
soul itself, which, when it is once touched with this ce- 
lestial and serene flame, must rebel against its own in- 
clinations as well as against God^s commands if it be not 
carried out towards that object in which alone it can find 
full acquiescence and satisfaction. 

This love of God hath in it three acts or degrees ; de- 
sire, joy, and zeal. ** • ; ' • • 



62 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

1. An earnest and panting Je^iVe after God. ** As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after 
thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living 
God :" oh, " when shall I come and appear before God 1" 
Psalm 42 : 1, 2. As the poor imbossed deer that is 
closely pursued faints and melts with the heat of the 
chase, and hasteth to the known river where it was wont 
to quench its thirst, to find both safety and refreshment 
there, so doth the holy, amorous soul reach and breathe 
after God. He thirsteth after the water-hrooks, the 
streams of his ordinances, wherein God doth pour out his 
grace and his Spirit to refresh the longing desires of his 
holy impatience ; but, not being satisfied with this, he 
BtUl makes up to -the fountain, and never rests contented 
till he hath engulfed and plunged himself into God, and 
is swallowed up in beatitude. 

2. From the fruition of the beloved object springeth joy; 
for joy is nothing else but the r6st and acquiescence of 
desire; therefore, according to the measures of God's 
communicating himself to our souls, such proportionably 
will be the increase of our joy. Something we enjoy of 
God in this life, whilst we are absent from him in the 
body. He is pleased to give us transient glances of him- 
self when he fills his ordinances and our duties with his 
Spirit; and yet these reserved communications are so 
ravishing that the soul is often forced by the agony of 
sweetness to cry out with holy Simeon, '' Now, Lord, let 
thy servant depart in peaces for mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation." How overflowing then will our joy be when 
we come to heaven, where our fi'uition of God shall bo 
entire and eternal ! where we shall see him as he is, 
and know him as we are known by him ! where the un- 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 63 

veiled glories of tlie Deity shall beat full upon us, and we 
forever sun oui-selves in the smiles of God! Certainly 
the joy of such a state would be inore than we could en- 
dure, but only that God who fills us will tlien likewise 
enlarge and support us. 

3. If our fruition of God be hindered and obstructed, 
our love to him will then express itself in a holy ztal. 

Zeal is the indignation of the soul, and a revenge that 
it takes upon whatsoever is an impediment to the obtain- 
ing of its desires. The earnest desire of a tnie saint is 
the enjoyment of God and the glory of God ; of both 
which, sin is the only hinderance. Therefore a soul 
that is passionate for God, hath not so great an in- 
dignation against any thing as against sin. Can he en- 
dure to see that God, whom he loves dearer than his life, 
daily provoked and injured 1 to hear his name blas- 
phemed ] to see his ordinances despised, his worship ne- 
glected, his servants abused, and the most sacred truths 
of religion denied, and its sacred mysteries derided ] He 
is the most meek and patient man on earth in his own 
concerns; unwilling to observe the wrgngs that are done 
him, and much more to revenge them : but when God is 
injured, the dear object of his love and joy, he can no 
longer refrain : whatsoever may befall him, he rises up 
to vindicate his honor, and thi*usts himself between, to 
receive those strokes that were aimed at God ; and what 
he cannot prevent or reform, that he bitterly bewails. 
This is true zeal ; and he that saith he loves God, and 
yet is not thus zealous for him, is a liar. 

Try, therefore, your love to God by these three things. 
Are your desires fervent and affectionate after him 1 Do 
you find a holy impatience in your spirit till you enjoy 



64 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

him 1 "Will nothing else satisfy you but God ] Can you 
say that there is none in heaven nor in earth that you 
desire in comparison with him ; and if the whole world 
were thrown into your bosom for your portion, you would 
t>luck it thence and cast it at your feet, resolving that you 
will not be put off with such trifles ] Do you find a joy 
springing and diffusing itself through your hearts when 
you are engaged in communion with him 1 a sweet and 
T^otent dehght, to which all the pleasures of sin are but 
flat and insipid ] Are you jealous for the Lord of hosts 1 
Are your anger and grief never so much kindled for any 
wrongs that are done unto yourself, as they are for the 
provocations that are daily committed against the great 
Majesty of heaven] Canst thou mourn and weep for 
these in secret ; and if thou hast power and authority to do 
it, punish and avenge them openly 1 Then thou mayest for 
thy comfort conclude that certainly God hath kindled this» 
heavenly flame of love in thy breast ; a flame that aspires 
heaven- ward, and will at last carry up thy soul with it, 
and lodge it there, where the desire of love shall be satis- 
fied, the joy of love perfected, and the 2eal of love eter- 
nally rewarded. 

So much for the love of God, the first principal duty 
required in this first command. 

II. This command requires also the fear of God. 

For certainly we cannot have the Lord for our God 
unless "we supremely fear and reverence him. Yea, as 
the love, so the fear of God is made the sum of all the 
commandments, and indeed the substance of all religion : 
for, although it be but one pax'ticular branch and member 
of that worship and service which we owe to God, yet 
it is such a remarkable one, and hath such a mighty in- 



FIRST COWfSTANDMENT. ^5 ' 

fluence upon all the rest, that oftentimes in Scripture it 
is put for the whole ; and generally, the character of a 
true worshipper and obedient servant of God is given by 
this periphrasis, that he is a man Jearing God. 

Now the fear of God is either servile or Jilial ; and 
both are a strong bond to duty and obedience. 

Those who are actuated only by a slavish fear, will 
beware how they stir up the dread wrath and severe jus- 
tice of God against themselves by any wilful neglects or 
known transgressions. 

And how much more those who are actuated by a 
principle of filial and reverential fear of God ; who fear 
as much to oifend as to suffer for it ; and to whom mercy 
and goodness prove as powerful motives of fear, as vnrath 
and fury ! Yea, there is no attribute nor perfection in 
God but i& very justly the object of our fear, for where 
this grace is true and genuine, it works in us rather a se- 
date awe and respect of God, a profound reverence of 
the soul, than any turbulent and tempestuous passions of 
affright and horror. And certainly if we acknowledge 
that there is a God, it is but reason that we should thus 
fear him according to his essential greatness and glory ; 
for take away the fear of a Deity and a supreme power 
which is able to reward and punish the actions of men, 
and you open a floodgate for all villany and wickedness 
to rush out and overflow the whole world. And where 
this restraint of fear is taken off from the spirits of men, 
all laws given to curb their licentiousness are of no more 
force than fetters of air to chain up madmen ,• and there- 
fore very fitly doth God enjoin the fear of himself in this 
first command, as that which will season and dispose the 
heart to obey him in all the rest. 



66 inja ten commandments. 

III. Another principal part of worship required in this 
first command is the invocation of the name of God in our 
'prayers and praises. 

The two foraier, love and fear, respect the inward 
worship of God in our hearts ; but this appertains to 
his outward worship, for by it ^e give express testi- 
monies that w« both love and fear him. It has respect 
to our prayers and praises, and they are the tribute 
and homage of religion. By the, one we acknowledge 
our dependance upon him ; by the other we own all 
our blessing and comforts to be from him ; and to one 
of these two all external worship may be referred. Cer- 
tainly such as neither ^;r<7y to God nor praise him, can- 
not be said to have a God ; for they acknowledge none, 
but are gods to themselves. For wherefore do we affirm 
that there is a God, if we make no addresses to him 1 
If we have recourse only to our own power or policy to 
accomplish our designs, and when they succeed ascribe 
the success of them only to our own wisdom and con- 
duct, we make these our idols and give them the honor 
which is due to God only. , Therefore the prophet speaks 
of those who " sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense 
unto their drag ; because by them their portion is fat, 
and their meat plenteous." Hab. 1 : 16. « 

Now as the love and fear of God are often used in 
Scripture for his whole worship and service, so likewise 
is this invocation and praise of his name. So we find it, 
Gen. 4 : 26, "then began men to call upon the name of 
the Lord:" that is, (as many learned expositors under- 
stand it, although some take it -another way,) then began 
men solemnly and publicly to worship God in their as- 
semblies ; and Jerem. 10 : 25, " Pour out thy fury upon 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 67 

the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families 
that call not on thy name :" that is, those who do not 
worship nor serve thee. And the like we may observe 
in very many other places. 

One thing more only I shall remark here; namely, 
that as this first command requires, in the general,- that 
the true God should be truly worshipped, so the three 
next following commands prescribe tlie means and 
hranches of Jds worship, and the way and manner how 
liQ would have it perfonned. The second commandment 
requires us to worship God, who is a spirit, without any 
visible image or representation of the Deity; for as it 
is impossible that there should be any true resemblaiice 
made of a spirit, so it is most impious to give any part 
of divine honor and reverence unto dumb idols : which, 
as to their materials, are but the creatures of God : as 
they ciTe statues, but the creatures of art ; and as they 
are images, but the creatures of fancy and superstition. 
The third commandment requires that we should never 
mention the name of the great God slightly and imper- 
tinently, but whensoever we have occasion to utter it 
we should do it with all prostrate veneration and serious 
affection. The fourth prescribes the time which God 
hath set apart and sanctified for his solemn worship. So 
you see each command of the first table is concerned in 
giving rules for divine worship ; but the first, which en- 
joins it in the general, is^ the ground and foundation of 
the other three. 

Thus nauch shall suffice concerning the duties required 
in this first command, thou shalt have no other godh 

BEFORE ME. 



68 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

, • Next let us se^ what is forbidden in this command. 
As it requires, so it forbids four things. Thus it for- 
bids atheism, or the belief and acknowledgment of no 
God ; ignorance of the true God ; profaneness, or the 
neglect of the worship and service of God ; and idolatry, 
%:v the setting up and worshipping of false gods. 
~ I. Atheism, or tJie acJcnowl edging of no god, is for- 
bidden and coiidemned by this command. 

And well may this be reckoned the first sin forbidden ; 
for certainly religion and worship will be found to. be 
one of the most foppish vanities ever imposed on the 
credulous world, if either there be no God to whom wo 
might direct our devotions; or only a god of Epicurus' 
and Lucretius* stamp, that sits unconcerned in heaven 
and loathes the fatigue of business, taking no thought nor 
care of human affairs. For if there be no god, or only 
such a one, what difference is there whether we pray or 
blaspheme? whether we lead holy and pious lives, or 
let loose the reins to all manner of lewdness and riot, 
and wallow in all the impure delights that vice and sen- 
suality can recommend to our coiTupted appetites ] for 
if there be no God, there can be no future cognisance 
taken of either, no rewards nor punishments propor- 
tioned to either. Therefore it will be necessary here 
to show the folly and unreasonableness of atheism, and 
to convince men that there is a God, without which all 
religion and worship are but folly and madness. 

Some perhaps may judge it altogether needless to in- 
sist upon such a subject as this among those who all ac- 
knowledge and worship the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom he hath sent. I heartily wish it were both 
unnecessary and impertinent ; but truly, if we consider 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 69 

that usually the practices of men are guided and influ- 
enced by their principles, we shall find reason enough to 
suspect that there are some notions of speculative athe- 
ism that lie at the bottom of all that practical atheism 
which we may observe so generally to prevail in the 
world ; for any considerate person would think it impos- 
sible that men should so daringly rush into all those pro- 
digious crimes and villanies that every where rage and 
reign, were it not that they entertain loose and wavering 
apprehensions of the existence of a Deity, and encou- 
rage themselves in their vices by some unformed and 
vague thoughts that perchance all those truths which re- 
ligion teaches concerning God and a future state are 
only politic devices and fictions. 

Nay, indeed, our age, has too maijiy who, not only with 
the fool say in their hearts, but in desperate impudence 
even avow in express words, yea, dispute and argue it, 
that " there is no God." 

I shall therefore confirm this great and primary truth, 
upon which depend all our religion and all our hopes, by 
some convincing and demonstrative arguments which I 
intend to make as plain and obvious as the matter will 
permit. - r ,-.vif^' 'Humilr's 

1. The univei'sal consent of all nations strongly proves 
the being of a Deity. 

For that which all agree in, must needs be accounted 
a dictate of nature ; and what is such must needs be ac- 
knowledged to be a maxim of truth. 

Next to the report of our senses we may credit the 
reports that nature and all mankind give concerning the 
truth and existence of things. Now if we should impan- 
uel all the nations of the world upon this trial, not only 



70 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. ^ 

the more civilized, where custom or the authority of laws 
might be suspected to introduce this belief, but those 
that are the most rude and savage, they would all with 
one consent return this verdict, that ihtre is a God. 

Nay, although one part of mankind hath so strangely 
dissented from another about all other things, as concern- 
ing their laws, government and customs, yea, and manner 
of worship, yet those that differ in all things else, seem 
only to agree in these two ; human nature and the belief 
of a Deity. Never was there any nation so wild and bar 
barous that acknowledged no God,* but their great fault 
and folly was that they acknowledged too many. And it 
is strange to think that the whole race of mankind in so 
many generations as have successively followed one an- 
other since the beginning of the world, (yea, and if there 
were no God, from all eternity,) should not have grown 
wise enough to free themselves from so troublesome an 
opinion as that of the existence of a God : ah opinion 
that crosses their worldly interests, contradicts their sen- 
sual desil-es, damps their joys, torments their natural con- 
sciences, and which those who are wicked would give 
whatsoever is dearest to them to have utterly rooted out 
of their minds : it is strange, I say, that they should not 
all this while be able to deliver themselves from the ty- 
ranny and fettei's of this fancy, were it only imposed 
upon them by false reports and surmises. 

How could the world be so easily drawn into such se- 
veral shapes and forms of religion, which among the hea- 
then are almost infinite, and among others too various 

* Nulla gens est, neque tarn immansncta nee tamfera, qua;, eiiamsi 
ignoret vel earn habere Deum deceat, tanjen habendum sciat, Cicero. 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 71 

and different, were there not a natural inclination in the 
souls of men to embrace some religion or other, and an 
indelible character of a Deity imprinted on their minds 1 
Insomuch, that in the times of darkness, when the truth 
was not clearly revealed to the world, because they 
knew neither the tine object nor the right way of wor- 
ship, this restless notion of a Deity put them upon invent- 
ing divers vile, uncouth and ridiculous superstitions. But 
yet this is so far from invalidating, that it strongly confirms- 
to us their belief of a Deity; in that they submitted them- 
selves to obsei'vances, not only unreasonable, but many 
times barbarous and inhuman, if they thought them ac- 
ceptable to the gods whom they worshipped. Yea, 
rather than they would be without a Deity, they would 
dig them gods out of their gardens ; or consecrate dogs 
and serpents, and any vermin that first met them in the 
morning, and had the good luck thereby to creep into honor. 

What then ! is it likely that the world received this 
notion first by tradition ; whereas, before, men generally 
believed there was no God 1 This cannot be ; for would 
they in reason quit their former persuasion to receive this 
new false one, especially when it is the only thing that 
fills them with fears and torments, and a thousand affrights 
and horrors 1 Yea, those who would fain wear off* this 
notion of a God, and persuade themselves to be atheists 
if they could, what violence have they offered to them- 
selves to do it ! And when they thought they had pre- 
vailed, yet this impression hath still returned when they 
have been startled with thunder, or earthquakes, or sick- 
ness, and the dreadful apprehensions of approaching death. 

Possibly, some few may have been found in the world, 
who have dissented from the rest of mankind in this belief 



72 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

of a Deity ; yet their dissent is not sufficient ground for 
us to conclude, that therefore it is not a dictate of nature. 
For how many are there that violate the laws of nature, 
and do those things which the innate light and reason of a 
man abhor and abominate ! Yet none will from thence in- 
fer that there are no such things as natural laws ; so 
neither, though, some miglit have utterly razed out of 
their minds the notion and belief of a God, will it thence 
follow that this belief of a Supreme Being is not an im- 
pression of nature. 

But suppose the number of atheists had been never so 
great, is it not far more probable that it shoul 1 rather be 
a dictate of nature that there is a God, than that there is 
not ; since the disbelief of his being would open a wide 
gap to all manner of licentiousness, yea, and to the bold 
commission even of those sins which are against nature 
itself 1 Shall men be thought to speak the sense of 
nature, whose opinion so directly tends to bring in sins 
contrary to the light and laws of nature 1 For, take away 
the belief of a Deity, and it is as much to be doubted 
whether the refined discourses of .reason, and the con- 
sidera,tion of decency, and the intrinsical rewards of vir- 
tue, will be of force sufficient to restrain men from the 
most enormous imcf unnatural vices. That, therefore, 
must needs be a dictate of nature, which is almost the 
only thing which gives authority to the law of nature ; and 
such is the belief of a God. 

2. 'Another convincing demonstration of the existence 
of a Deity, is taken from the serious consideration and re- 
view of the frame and order of the universe; in which there 
are as many wonders as there are creatures. 

Certainly he must needs be very blind and stupid that 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 73 

reads not God in every creature. Cast but your eyes up- 
wards and contemplate the vast expanse of the heavens, 
which are the canopy of the world, the roof of this great 
house, the universe, the lid or cover put over all the works 
of nature. Behold how gloriously this canopy is studded ! 
How many glittering lights are hung up in this roof to 
illuminate our inferior world, and to discover to our 
eyes all visible objects, and to our mind the invisible 
God ! Who hath gilded the rays of the sun, or silvered 
the face of the moon ] Wlio hath marshalled the huge 
host of heaven ; and set the stars in such array, that not 
one of them hath broken its rank nor strayed out of its 
course and prder ] Whose hand is it that turns the great 
wheels of heaven ; and makes them spin out days, and 
months, and years, and time, and life to us 1 Who hath 
ordered the vicissitudes of day and night, summer and 
winter, that these run not into one another and blend 
themselves and the whole world in confiision ; but with 
a perpetual variety, observe their just seasons and inter- 
changes ] Do not all these wonderful works proclaim aloud, 
that certainly there is a great and glorious God who sits 
enthroned on high ; and who hath thus paved the bottom 
of heaven with stars, and adorned the inner parts of it vsdth 
glories yet to us unknown 1 Upon this very reflection the 
psalmist tells us, " The heavens declare the glory of God, 
and the firmament showeth his handy- work." Psalm 19 : 1. 
But not to carry the atheist up to heaven, let us de- 
scend lower, through the vast ocean of liquid air, and there 
observe how the grosser vapors are bound together in 
clouds, which when the drought and thirst of the earth 
call for refreshment, dissolve themselves into small 
drops, and are as it were sifted into rain. How comes 

Coramandmepts. 4 



74 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

it to pass, and whose wisdom and providence hath so 
ordered it, that there should not fall whole clouds and 
cataracts, but drops and showers ] that they should not 
tumble upon us, but distil 1 an effect so wonderful that 
there is scarce any other work of nature that the Scripture 
more frequently ascribes to God, as a demonstration of his 
power and government, than that he sendeth rain upon 
the earth. Yea, and these clouds, how often are they 
charged with thunder and lightnings ; as though it were 
so ordered of purpose, that if their contexture cannot con- 
vince, yet their terror might affright the atheist ! Who can 
give any satisfactory account how that artillery came there 
planted ] or how those terrors of mankind are there ge- 
nerated 1 Let the atheist tell me how it comes to pass 
that such contraries meet together in one ; and that the 
same cloud should be both a fountain of water and yet 
a furnace of fire, a wonder the prophet ascribeth parti- 
cularly to God's almighty providence, Jer. 10: 13, "He 
maketh lightnings with rain;" and accounteth it such 
a remarkable instance of the divine operation that he 
repeateth it again, chap. 51 : 16. 

If we descend into the lowest story of this great 
building, the earth, what a shop of wonders shall we find 
there ! That the whole mass and globe of it should hang 
pendulous in the air, without any thing to support it ; and 
whereas small bodies of little weight fall through the air, 
yet tliat this great and ponderous body should be fixed 
for ever in its place, having no foundation, no support but 
that air which every mote and fly doth easily cut through ; 
that this round ball of earth should be inhabited on every 
part ; that the feet of other men should be opposite to 
ours, and yet they walk as erect and be as much upon the 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 75 

face of the earth as we are ; that the middle point of the 
earth should be the lowest part of it and of the universe, 
and whatsoever is beyond that be upwards : these and many 
others are such unaccountable mysteries to our compre- 
hension, and yet are found so infallibly certain by expe- 
rience and manifold proofs, that he must be an atheist out 
of mere spite, who shall seriously consider them and not 
be induced by that consideration to adore the infinite 
power and wisdom of their Author. 

It would be too long to instance in the various sorts of 
creatures that we behold, how artificially they are framed, 
what an excellent configuration there may be observed in 
their several parts, what subserviency of one to another, 
and how all are suited to the offices of nature ; what secret 
channels and conveyances for life and spirits, what springs 
of various motions are included even in the small body of a 
fly or of a mite. Certainly there is not the least thing that 
an atheist can cast his eye upon but it confutes him ; but 
especially, if he shall seriously consider the wonderful 
structure of a human body, the excellent contrivance and 
use of all the parts, he cannot but, after he hath admired 
the artifice of the work, admire also the infinite wisdom 
of the Maker, and cry out with holy David, "I am fear- 
fully and wonderfully made — and curiously wrought in 
the lowest parts of the earth." Psalm 139 : 14, 15. Yea, 
not only a David, but Galen, a heathen^ one who it is 
thought was not over-credulous in matters of religion ; 
yet when he had minutely inspected the many wonders 
and miracles that are contained in the frame of our body, 
he could not forbear composing a hymn to the praise of 
our all-wdse Creator. 

And therefore, as lord Bacon observes, (Essay of Atho- 



76 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

ism,) God never wrought a miracle to convince an atheist, 
because his ordinary works may convince him ; and un- 
less men will he wilfully and stubbornly blind, they must 
needs subscribe to that of St. Paul, Acts, 14 : 17, God 
hath " not left himself without witness, in that he doeth 
good, and giveth us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, 
filling our hearts with food and gladness ;" and, Rom, 1 : 
20, " The invisible things of God are clearly seen from the 
creation of the world, being understood by the things that 
are made, even his eternal power and godhead : so that 
they are without excuse." When we see footsteps evident- 
ly imprinted on the earth, shall we not easily collect that 
certainly some one hath passed that way 1 When we see 
a stately fabric built according to all the rules of art, and 
adorned with all the riches and beauty that magnificence 
can expend upon it, must we not presently conclude that 
certainly there was some skilful architect that built iti 
Truly every creature is quoddam vestigium Dei, some 
sign or evidence of Deity: we may observe his foot- 
steps in it ; and see how his attributes, his wisdom, his 
goodness and his power have passed along that way. 
And the whole world is a stately fabric ; a house that 
God hath erected for himself: the magnificence and splen- 
dor of it are suitable to the state of the great King : it is 
his palace, built for the house of his kingdom and the 
honor of his majesty : and we may easily conclude that so 
excellent a structure must have an excellent architect, 
and that the builder and maker of it is God. 

Now that which makes some proud spirits backward 
to acknowledge God in the works of nature is, that they 
think they can, by their reason alone, give a plausible ac- 
count of those effects and tihenomena which we see in 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 77 

the world, by deducing them from second and natural 
causes. And therefore many of those who are of an inqui- 
sitive and searching genius, when they find such effects 
depend upon and flow from such and such natural causes, 
applaud themselves in the discovery ; and look no further 
nor higher, but neglect the first and chief cause of all, 
even God. 

Hence some have thought that reason and philosophy 
are great enemies to reli^on, and patrons of atheism ; but, 
in truth, it is far otherwise ; and the atheist hath not a 
more smart and keen adversary, since he will not submit 
his cause to be tiied by Scripture, than true reason and 
profound philosophy. 

But if any, who seem to be knowing and learned men, 
are less inclined to the belief of a Deity, it is not their 
learning but their ignorance that makes them so. The same 
lord Bacon has well observed, that a little philosophy in- 
clines a man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy 
brings it about again to religion. And I dare challenge 
the most learned men in the world to give a satisfac- 
tory account of the most common appearances in nature 
without resolving them at last into the will and dis- 
posal of the God of Nature. If I should ask them what 
makes the grass green, or a stone to fall downwards, or 
the fire to aspire upwards, or the sun to enlighten and 
warm the world ] What answer can they give, but that it 
is the property of their natures ; or what is altogether as 
insignificant and unintelligible 1 But, if I should question 
farther, how came their natures to be distinguished with 
such properties 1 they must either here be silent, or con- 
fess a First Cause, which endowed their natures with 
such properties and actions j for, although a man may, for 



?'8 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

some few successions of causes and effects, find one to 
depend upon another, yet they must all, at last, be re- 
solved into and terminate in God. . 

3. Unless the being of a God be presupposed, no tote- 
rahle account can he given of the heing of any thing. 

We see innumerable beings in the world, different 
from each other both in kind and particulars. Now what 
rational account can the atheist give how these things 
came to have a being ] There are but two ways imagin- 
able : either that the world was formed by chance ; or 
else, that it had its being from all eternity. And ac- 
cordingly, as if it were still fatal for them to encounter 
the same inconsistencies for which they disavow religion, 
atheists are divided into two sects. 

(1.) One is the Epicurean atheist, who affirms that the 
world indeed had once a beginning, but it was merely by 
chance : for, there having been from all eternity infinite 
particles of matter moving to and fro in an infinite space ; 
these at last, meeting casually, linked one in another, and 
so, by mere- chance, formed this world which we now see. 
A fancy so grossly ridiculous, that, were it not now again 
taken up by some who pretend to be great lights in rea- 
son and philosophy, I would not condescend so much as 
to mention it. 

But, as Cicero saith, both judiciously and ingeniously, 
as soon shall they persuade me that an innumerable com- 
pany of loose and disordered letters, being often shaken 
together and afterwards thrown out upon the ground, 
should fall into such exquisite order as to frame a most 
ingenious and heroic poem ; as that atoms, straying to and 
fro at random, should ever casually meet together to 
make a world consisting of heaven, and of air, and sea, 



I 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 79 

and earth, and so many sorts and species of living crea- 
tures, in the frame and structure of which we see such 
wonderful and inimitable skill. 

Had Archimedes' or Posidonius' sphere, in which wer*^ 
imitated all the motions and changes of the sun, moon 
and planets, been presented to the most ignomnt or illite- 
rate nations under heaven, they could not be so grossly 
stupid as to think such a pie6e a work of mere chance, 
and not of accurate art and study. And shall any doubt, 
when he sees, in the gi*eat machine of the world, the same 
and many other phenomena exhibited in a more perfect 
manner than they can be represented in any such type, 
whether it be a work of uncertain chance, or the product 
of a most perfect mind and comprehensive understanding 1 
For, certainly, if a strong and mastering reason be te- 
quired only to imitate the works of nature; much more, 
tlien, to produce them. Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. ii. 37, 34. 

And why had not those atoms, that could thus fortui- 
tously fi-ame a world, why had they not built houses too, 
and cities, and woven us garments ; that so, by very good 
chance, we might have found these necessaries ready pro- 
vided to our hands, and been saved the trouble and labor 
of making theml Did ever any atoms fall into such exact 
order, and knit so artificially together, as to frame a clock, 
or a watch, or any other piece of ingenious mechanism 1 
And will the atheist then be so silly as to believe that 
these little dusts of being should, by mere hazard, meet 
and join together to frame the whole world ; and bestow 
such various forms and motions upon creatures as we 
daily see and admire 1 Look but upon the most contemp- 
tible worm that crawls, we shall find it a far more excel- 
lent piece of mechanism, a far more curious engine, than 



80 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

any that ever the art or wit of man could frame. And 
shall chance make tliese, yea, creatures of a more wonder- 
ful contexture, which yet could never make a watch, or a 
clock, or any of those engines which we have contrived 
for the use and service of life 1 

And what will they say to the accurate operations of 
sense and reason*? Is it possible that one small dust 
should see or feel another ] and, if not one, then not ten 
thousand put together. Shall their configuration give them 
this faculty, which their being and substance doth not 1 
Which I shall then believe, when I shall be convinced 
that a statue, carved the most exquisitely that art can per- 
form, can any more see, or taste, or feel, than it could 
whilst it was rude and unformed wood. 

But, suppose that sense could be caused by mere mat- 
ter put in motion ; yet, what shall we say to the refined 
speculations and profound discourses of reason] Is it 
likely, or indeed possible, that little corpuscles should re- 
flect and argue ] that atoms should make syllogisms, or 
draw up parties between pro and con ] Or will the atheist 
grant that there is no other difference between himself 
and a mere senseless block but only configuration of 
parts 1 and that when he disputes most subtilely for his 
cause, all his reasons and arguments are but a little dust 
that flies up and down in his brains 1 That the agitation 
of material particles should produce any sprightly acts of 
wit and discourse, is so monstrously abhorrent to true rea- 
son, that I doubt I shall never be persuaded to believe it, un- 
til some cunning man convince me that the highway too is 
in a deep speculation, and teeming with some notable dis- 
course, whensoever the dust is stirred and flies about in it. 

And yet, forsooth, men must now-a-days be atheists 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 81 

that they may be rational ; and think it a high demonstra- 
tion of their parts and ingenuity to doubt of a Deity, and 
call all religion into question. Whereas, were there any 
thing in the belief of a God and the most mysterious points 
of our religion half so absurd and ridiculous as there is in 
atheism, I should most readily explode it and count it al- 
together unworthy to be entertained by any man that is 
ingenuous and rational. 

(2.) Hence the other sect of atheists alluded to, the 
Aristotelian, being pressed with the huge and mon- 
strous absurdities of this way of giving an account of 
the appearances of nature, hold that the world is from 
eteraity, and never had any beginning at all. But, 

It is altogether unreasonable to deny a God, and yet 
gi-ant that very thing for which alone they deny him. The 
only reason that tempts atheists to deny a Deity, is be^^ 
cause they cannot conceive a Being infinite and eternal. 
But when they yield the world to be so, what do they 
else but run into the same inconveniency which they 
would avoid ; and, that they may not grant one eternal 
being, gi-ant innumerable % So fatal it is for en'or to be 
inconsitent with itself and to confound its own principles. 

If the world be eternal, there must of necessity have 
been passed an infinite succession of ages. Now, our un- 
derstanding is as much non-plussed to conceive this, as it 
is to conceive an Infinite Being that should create the 
world ; for, if the world had no beginning, then an infinite 
number of days and years, yea, of millions of years and 
generations of men are already actually passed and gone. 
And if they are passed, then they are come to an end ; and 
so we shall have both a number that is actually infinite, and 
likewise something infinite and eternal that is come to an 

4* 

X 



82 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

end : a very proper consequence for one that avoids the 
belief of a Deity because he vrould be rational and cannot 
conceive a being that is infinite ! 

If there have already been infinite successions of gene- 
rations in the world, certainly those w^hich are yet to 
come will make them more; and so we shall find a num- 
ber greater than that which is allowed to be actually infi- 
nite. Or if, to avoid this contradiction, the atheist should 
affirm that the generations to Abraham and the genera- 
tions to David were both equal because both infinite, he 
will thereby fall into two other gross contradictions : the 
one, that a number added to a number should make no 
addition ; the other, that since the generations to Abraham 
were but a part of the generations to David, the part 
should be equal to the whole. 

There is no one moment in succession which was not 
once present; and consequently, imagine a duration as 
long as you please, yet in it of necessity there must be 
some one moment which, when it was present, all the rest 
were future ; and if all the rest were future, this moment 
was then the beginning. So that it is impossible there 
should be a successive duration without a beginning, and 
therefore impossible it should be from eternity. 

In all the revolutions of generation and corruption that 
can be imagined, yet the life of animals must necessarily 
be hefore their death : for none can die till he hath lived ; 
and none can live but he must pass some time before he 
dies. There was therefore a time before any animal died : 
consequently their corruption and death were not from 
eternity : neither before their death had they lived on in- 
finite time, but only some few days or years ; and there- 
fore their generation and life were not from eternity. 




FIRST COMMANDMENT* 

These things I do but cursorily mention, to give you a 
taste of the folly and unreasonableness of atheism ; nor 
perhaps, would it be proper to insist on them at large : 
but by these few arguments you may see how unreason 
able it is for an atheist to boggle at the belief of a Deity ; 
whereas, let him lay down whatsoever principles he will, 
he shall find his reason more puzzled and entangled by 
these absurdities that will necessarily follow upon them, 
than he shall by any difficulties that are consequent upon 
the belief of a God : which belief unless we entertain, we 
can give no tolerable account at all of the various beings 
that are in the world, for neither are they eternal, neither, 
have they happened by chance, as I have demonstrated. 

It is therefore absolutely necessary that there be some 
First Cause of all things which we behold, which is not 
itself caused, nor produced by any other : for if every 
thing were caused by some pre-existent being, then there 
never was a being before which there was not another; 
and so this gross absurdity will follow. That before there 
was a being, there was a being : a fit consequence for 
atheists, who pretend only to rational speculations, to 
swallow! Therefore we must necessarily rest in some 
First Cause, from which all other things have their origin, 
and which is itself caused by none : and that is the great 
God, whom we adore ; the great Creator and Governor 
both of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and 
invisible. 

And here I would add the argument of Bradwardine, 
which perhaps it would shrewdly puzzle the metaphysics 
of an atheist to answer, namely : It is possible that there 
should be such a being as should exist necessarily ; since 
it is no more a contradiction to exist necessarily than to 



84 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

exist contingently, and a far higher and more absolute 
perfection. But if it be possible that there might be such 
a being, then it is certain that there is ; because necessity 
of existence is included in the very essential conception 
of it, or else this contradiction would follow, that it is 
possible for that not to be, which yet is necessary to be. 
This being, therefore, must needs be eternal, indepen- 
dent, and self-sufficient ; and that is the God whom we 
adore, De Causa Dei. 

4. But, to leave these more abstruse and scholastic no- 
tions. If there be no God, then neither have there been 
any miracles 2)Grformed in the world, nor any prophecies 
or predictions oj" future events. 

(1.) There can be no miracles performed without a di- 
vine and infinite power. 

For, certainly, if there be no being above nature, there 
can be no effects either above or contrary to the course ^f 
nature ; for nature, when it is left to itself, cannot act 
contrary to its own laws. 

Now that there have been miraculous works performed 
the atheist cannot deny, unless he will deny the ti'uth of 
all records, and think it reasonable to make all faith and 
credit among mankind a sacrifice to his opiniativeness. 
. AH heathen authors, as well as the Scriptures, give abun- 
dant testimony to this ; and although they deny the doc- 
trine of the Scripture, yet there is no reason why they 
should disbelieve it when it only relates matter of fact. In 
this behalf we desire they would give it as much credit as 
they give to the histories of Livy or Tacitus, or any othei 
author of approved honesty. And certainly it is but rea- 
sonable to credit the consonant depositions of several 
plain men, who all profess themselves to have been eye- 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 85 

witnesses of those things which they write. Yea, the 
Jews and heathens who lived in those very times, and 
were most inveterate and cankered enemies against the 
name of Christ, would have given whatsoever was dear- 
est to them in the world, could they have proved any for- 
gery in those miracles, or deceit in the relators of them : 
but the evidence w£is so clear that they were forced to 
confess, even in spite of their own malice, that such 
strange works were done and really effected; and yet 
their spleen against the truth was such that they imputed 
them only to the power of magic and the operation of evil 
spirits. But will our atheist do so too ] If so, he must 
needs acknowledge a God, by acknowledging a devil ; if 
not, he hath as little reason to believe any thing in the 
world which he himself hath not seen, as to believe the 
truth of those reports which we have received from un- 
doubted hands, delivered to us by the unquestionable tes- 
timony of those who have known and seen what they 
have reported. 

Therefore, if ever there have been any such extraordi- 
nary effects as restoring sight to the blind, and feet to the 
lame, and life itself to the dead, and that by no other ap- 
plication than only a word's speaking, there must certain- 
ly be a God. For these things are not within the power 
of second causes, being so conti'ary to the course of nature, 
and therefore must be ascribed to a Supreme Deity, an in- 
finite power, who is the author and great controller of 
nature. 

(2.) As there could have been no miracles performed, 
so neither could there be any prophecies or predictions 
made of contingent events, unless we acknowledge a God 
who, in his infinite wisdom and counsel, foresees whatso- 



86 THE TK^N COMMANDMENTS. 

ever shall come to pass, and " revealeth his seci'et unto 
his servants the prophets." Amos, 3 : 7. 

We have many prophecies recorded w^hich have alrea- 
dy had their undoubted fulfilment. Not to instance all, I 
shall only mention two. The one is the prophecy of our 
Lord Jesus Christ concerning the final destruction of Je- 
rusalem, Matt. 24 : 2, which received its full accomplish- 
ment about forty years after they had crucified the Lord 
of life and glory. And the other, the prediction concerning 
Cyrus, that he should rebuild Jerusalem, after it had been 
destroyed by the Babylonians, Isa. 44 : 28 ; and, to make 
this prophecy the more remarkable, it is said, chap. 
45 : 4, that for Israel's sake God had called him by his 
name. This was a famous and very particular prophecy 
of a person named near two hundred years before he was 
born ; and those things distinctly foretold of him which 
he should afterwards perform. The like we have, 1 
Kings, 13 : 2, where the prophet declaims against the 
idolatrous altar and worship of Bethel, and foretells that 
Josiah should destroy it — calling him by his very name, 
three hundred and forty years before he was born : "0 
altar, altar ! thus saith the Lord, Behold, a child shall be 
bora unto the house of David, Josiah by name ; and up- 
on thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that 
burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt 
upon thee ;" which we read was exactly fulfilled by 
the same Josiah, 2 Kings, 23 : 20, for "he slew all 
the priests of the high places which were there upon 
the altars, and burnt men's bones upon them." Now let 
any atheist give a rational account how these future con- 
tingencies could be thus certainly and circumstantially 
foreknovvni and predicted, were there not " a God in hea- 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 87 

ven tliat revealeth secrets." Dan. 2 : 28. They could not 
certainly see such free and contingent events in the stars, 
especially so long before they were to be produced ; or, 
i£ they might, yet certainly they could not read names 
there, nor spell the constellations into words and sylla- 
bles. There is, therefore, a God who giveth knowledge, 
and declai'eth things to come, according as it pleaseth 
him to illuminate the minds of his servants the prophets, 
to whom and by whom he spake. 

5. The fifth and last demonstration of the being of a 
God is this. There is a conscience in7nan; therefore there 
is a God in heaven. 

Conscience could have no power at all unless it were 
given it from above. How comes it to pass that wicked 
wretches are still haunted with pale fears and ghastly hor- 
rors ; that they are sometimes a teiTor to themselves and 
to all that are about them] They would, if possible, 
abandon themselves and run away from their own being, 
but only that they have a witness and a judge within 
them of all their crimes and impieties, and feel such secret 
stings and unseen whips lashing their souls, that the tor- 
tures they endure and inflict on themselves make them 
sometimes weary of their lives, and put them upon the 
desperate course of choking both themselves and their 
consciences too with a halter. Whence, I say, should 
this proceed, were there not a God, a just and holy Deity 
whom conscience reveres ? These torments and reo-rets 
do not always proceed from fear of shame or punishment 
from men. No ; but conscience hath a power to put 
them upon the rack for their most secret sins, which no 
eye ever saw, no heart ever knew but their own. Yea, 
and it forceth them sometimes themselves to confess and 



88 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

divulge their own infamy, and voluntarily to deliver up 
themselves to human justice. And vrhence is this, but 
only from that secret influence of a Supreme Being, that 
hath an awe and authority over conscience, and makes it 
review the sins of a man's life with horror, because it 
knows that the just and holy God will at last review them 
with vengeance. 

So we find that those who in their prosperity have 
lived most regardless of a Deity, yet when their con- 
science hath been awakened by dangers, or sickness, or 
any surprising event, the apprehensions of a God have 
then strongly returned upon them, and filled them with 
amazement and confusion. Thus Suetonius, the historian, 
reports of the mad, wicked emperor, Caligula, who made 
an open mock and scorn of religion, that when it thun- 
dered he would creep under his bed to hide himself from 
the vengeance of that Jupiter whom at other times he 
would not spare to deride and threaten. And therefore, 
certainly, if there be any such thing as natural conscience 
in all men, it will necessarily follow that there must be a 
God ; for, were there no God there would be no con- 
science. 

Thus I have given you these several rational demon- 
strations that there is such a supreme and infinite being 
as a Deity. Many others might be added ; but these I 
account sufficient to convince any atheist, who will indeed 
be swayed by that reason which he so much deifies and 
adores, that there is another God besides and above reason. 

Well, then, what remains but that, as we have evinced 
the folly and unreasonableness of speculative atheism, so 
we condemn the impiety of practical atheism — the pro- 
faneness and irreligion of those, that, as the apostle speaks, 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 89 

live " without God in the world ;" that live as though 
there were no God, nor devil, nor heaven, nor hell, nor 
future state, nor any distribution of rewards in it. 

Indeed, every wicked man is, in this sense, an atheist ; 
and such the apostle hath condemned. Tit. 1 : 16. " They 
profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, 
being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good 
work reprobate." Pid they really and cordially believe 
that there is a just and holy God that takes notice of all 
their actions ; a great and teri'ible Majesty who will call 
them to a strict account for all their cogitations, all their 
discourses, and all their works ; an almighty God, who 
hath prepared wrath and vengeance to inflict on all those 
who despise his authority and transgi'ess his law ; would 
they darq to profane his glorious and reverend name by 
impertinently using it in their trivial talk? would they 
dare to rend and tear it by their oaths and blasphemies, 
and hellish execrations and curses ] Did they believe that 
he hath prepared " Tophet of old," that " the pile thereof 
is fire and much wood," and that all the wicked of the 
world shall be cast into it, and there be made an ever- 
lasting bumt-sacrifice to the incensed wrath of the great 
God ; did men believe the horrors and torments, the 
woes and anguish of the damned in hell, which are as far 
from being utterable as they are from being tolerable ; 
did they but as certainly believe these things, as it is cer- 
tain that, if they believe them not, they shall eternally 
feel them, would they dare still venture on to treasure up 
to themselves wrath against the day of wrath ] Would 
swearing, and lying, and stealing, and drunkenness, and 
uncleanness so generally reign among us as they do ? 

Indeed, we persuade ourselves that we do believe 



90 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

these tilings : we profess that there is a God, and that 
God infinitely holy and infinitely just ; and that he will 
recompense tribulation, anguish, and wrath upon every 
soul of man that doeth evil. But, alas, this is only a ver- 
bal belief, contradicted and borne down by a practical 
atheism ! The little influence that the belief of a holy and 
just God hath upon us, to regulate our actions and to 
cause us to walk in a holy awe and dread of liis Divine 
Majesty, clearly evinceth that we may possibly fancy 
these things, but do not believe them ; for, if thou didst 
seriously and heartily believe that there is a great and a 
jealous God, who hath said " Vengeance is mine, I wdll 
repay," what is there in the world that could persuade 
thee to offend him 1 

Possibly, though thou believest that there is a God, yet 
thou art not fully persuaded that he is so holy or so just 
as his word declares him to be : not so holy in hating thy 
sins, nor so just in punishing them. 

But if thou reliest on this confidence, yet know that 
this is only to hope in his mercy in spite of his truth. He 
hath sworn that he will take vengeance on all impenitent 
wretches, and " wound the hairy scalp of such a one as 
goetli on still in his trespasses." Ps. 68 : 21. And God 
will be true to his threatenings as well as to his promises, 
although thou, and ten thousand others like thyself, eter- 
nally perish. 

Nay, if thou believest there is a God, and yet thinkest 
that this God will spare thee, though thou go on in the 
presumption of thy heart to add iniquity unto sin, tiiou 
art far worse thari an atheist ; for it is better to have no 
opinion of God at all, than to have such an opinion as is 
unworthy of him j for the one is but infidelity, the other 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 91 

is contumely. Even Plutarch, a heathen, could say 
that it were far less injurious to him if any should deny 
that there is such a man in the world as Plutarch, than if 
he should grant that such a one indeed there is, but that 
he is faithless, inconstant, cruel, or revengeful. So it is 
not so heinous an affront against the Divine Majesty to 
deny that there is any such Supreme Being, as to ac- 
knowledge that there is indeed a God, but that this God 
is not either infinitely holy in hating thy sins, or infinitely 
true to his threatenings, or infinitely just in punishing 
men's impenitency and disobedience. This is a degree of 
impiety worse than atheism ; and yet of this are all un- 
godly sinners guilty. ^ ■ 
Know then, O sinner, and tremble, that there is a God 
who sees and observes all thy actions ; who writes them 
down in the book of his remembrance, and will call thee 
to a strict account for them. God will then judge thee 
out of thine own mouth, thou wicked servant. Thou be- 
lievest that there is a God ; why dost thou not then fear 
and serve him 1 Thou believest that there is a heaven 
and a hell, and an eternity to come ; why then dost thou 
not live answerably to this belief? Either blot it out of 
your creed, and avow that you do not believe in God the 
Father Almighty, or else live as those should do who 
own so great and terrible, so pure and holy a God. For a 
speculative atheist to be profane and wicked is but conso- 
nant to his principles ; for wherefore should not he gi*a- 
tify all his lusts and sensual desires, whose only hope is 
in this life, and who doth not look upon himself as ac- 
countable for any thing hereafter 1 But for thee, who ac- 
knowledgest a Deity, to live as without God in the world, 
to break his laws, to slight his promises, to despise his 



92 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

threatenings, is the greatest and most desperate madness : 
thou showest thyself hereby to be worse not only than an 
atheist, but worse than a devil ; for the very devils be- 
lieve and tremble ; and yet thou, who professest thyself 
to believe, dost not tremble. 

If therefore we would not be inexcusable, since we 
know God let us glorify him as God, yielding all holy 
obedience to his laws, and humble submission to his will ; 
conforming ourselves to his purity, depending upon his 
power and providence, and trusting in his infinite mercy 
and goodness, till we, at last, amve unto that state of 
perfect bliss and felicity where we shall fully know the 
ineffable mystery of the Deity, see him that is now invi- 
sible, and live there as much by sense and sight as here 
we do by faith and expectation. 

Thus much for the first sin forbidden in this first com- 
mandment, which is atheism. 

II. The second sin forbidden is, ignorance of the 
TRUE God. 

For this precept, which requires us to have the Lord 
Jehovah for our God, as well includes the having- of him 
in our understandings, by knowing him aright, as in our 
wills and affections, by loving, fearing, and worshipping 
him. The right worship of God must, of necessity, pre- 
suppose the knowledge of the object to which we direct 
that worship ; or, otherwise, we do but erect an altar to 
the Unknown God, and all our adoration is but supersti- 
tion; yea, and we ourselves are but idolaters, although 
we worship the true Deity ; for all that service which is 
not directed to the Supreme Essence, whom we conceive 
to be the infinitely and eternally holy, just, merciful and 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 93 

glorious beyond what we can conceive, is not tendered to 
the true God, but to an idol of our own making, shaped 
out in the ignorance and blindness of our minds. And 
therefore our Savior Christ lays this as a black brand 
upon the Samaritan worship, John, 4 : 22, "Ye \ror- 
ship ye know not what;" and that because with other 
gods they worshipped the true God under a confused 
notion of " the God of the land," without any di^inct 
knowledge of his nature, will, and attributes. 2 Kings, 
17:26. 

It hath been a proverbial speech, that ignorance is the 
mother of devotion ; but certainly such a blind mother 
must needs bring forth a blind and deformed daughter, a 
devotion more rightly called superstition than devotion, 
a devotion shaped only by the fancy, and imposed by ir- 
rational fear or humor. 

Now because the being and existence of a Deity is a 
notion so common and natural to mankind, as I have 
already demonstrated — and we are strongly inclined to 
the worship of a God — it will be necessary rightly to 
know that God, to whom this homage of our souls and 
all our affection and veneration is due ; for, while we re- 
main ignorant of this, it is impossible but that we should 
be idolaters, giving that which is due to God alone to 
some vain created fiction of our ovvti deluded under- 
standings. 

Idolatry, therefore, is a sin more common among us 
than we imagine ; for as many ignorant persons as there 
are, so many idolaters there are, who, though they fall 
not dovni before stocks and stones, yet form in their 
minds uncouth ideas and strange images of God, that no 
more represent his infinite perfections and excelien- 



94' THE TEN COlilMANDMENTS. 

cies than those dumb idols that the heathens worship. 

In prosecution of this general view I shall lay down 
these following propositions : 

1. It is very hard and difficult to have right and genuine 
conce2)tions of the Divine Majesty, when we address our- 
selves to him to worship him. 

I think I may here appeal to the common experience 
of christians, whether the most difficult part of tlieu' 
duties be not rightly to apprehend the object of them. 
Our fancy is bold and busy, and still ready to make too 
much use of its pencil, and to delineate a God in some 
shape or other, before whom we present our services : so 
that when we should be wholly intent upon our adoration 
we must necessarily be engaged in reformation, to pull 
down and break in pieces those false images that we had 
set up ; and yet as soon as we have done this our imagi- 
nation falls to work again, makes new pictures of a God, 
and sets them full before our eyes as so many idols for us 
to worship. And though both reason and religion endea- 
vor to correct these bold attempts of fancy, yet it is a 
mighty distraction in our duty to be then disputing the 
object when we should be adoring it. 

I shall instance this in one duty only, and that is prayer. 
How few are there that do not fashion God in some 
bodily shape when they come to pray to him ! We are 
too apt to figure out his limbs, and to conceive him a man 
like ourselves. All the proportions that fancy hath to draw 
with are coi-poreal ; and whensoever we frame a notion of 
angels, or God, or any spiritual substance, we do it by 
sensible resemblances. But this is infinitely derogatory 
to God, who is a spirit, and therefore cannot be repre- 
sented in any form without a vast incongruity ; and he is 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 95 

the Father of Spirits, infinitely more spiritual than spirits 
themselves, in comparison with whom angels and the souls 
of men are but drossy and feculent beings, and therefore 
cannot be worshipped under any form without idolatiy ; 
for that is not God which we can shape and mould in 
our imaginations. 

We read how jealous God is lest any resemblance 
should be made of him. " Take ye therefore good heed 
unto yourselves (for ye saw no manner of similitude on 
the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the 
midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make 
you a graven image, the similitude of any figure." Deut. 
4 : 15, 16. And certainly if the erecting of a visible image 
of God be gross idolatry, it is no less than a mental and 
spiritual idolatry to frame an invisible image of God in 
our fancy and conceptions. 

Therefore, although the Scripture frequently ascribes 
to God the members and lineaments of a man, as (yes, 
mouth, ears, hands, feet, &c. yet we must not be so stu- 
pidly ignorant as to believe that these are properly apper- 
taining to the divine essence, (which was the old exploded 
heresy of the Anthropomorphitge ;) but these descriptions 
are given us only in condescension to our weaknesses and 
infirmities, and though they are spoken after the manner 
of men, yet they must be understood alter such a manner 
as becomes the majesty of the divine nature. And by 
such expressions the Scripture only means, that all those 
powers and faculties which are in us are likewise to be 
found, although in an infinite and transcendent eminency, 
in the being of God. He heai-s and sees, and is able to 
effect whatsoever he pleaseth, and that without any con- 
figuration of parts- or organs, which are utterly repugnant 



96 THE T^N COMMANDMENTS. 

to the simplicity and spirituality of his essence. And 
therefore to shape and fashion out such a God in our 
thoughts when we pray unto him, is but to make and 
worship an idol ; and unless faith and religion demolish 
such images which we set up in our fancy, the worship 
which we direct to them is hardly to be esteemed the 
worship of the true God, but rather worshipping the 
work of our own making and a creature of our own 
imagination. 

And yet, unless we do represent God to ourselves when 
we worship him, it is very hard, if not altogether impossi- 
ble to keep up the intentness of our spirit and to hinder 
our mind from straying. Therefore, 

2. The right way to attain to a true notion and a sound 
understanding of the Divine Nature, is by a serious consi- 
deration of Ms attributes, for these are his very nature ; 
and when we know them we know as much of God as 
can be known by us in this our weak and imperfect 
state. 

These attributes of the Divine Nature are manifold ; 
and commonly are distinguished into negative, relative, 
and positive. I shall enumerate only the chief of them, 
simplicity, eternity, unchangeableness, immensity, domi- 
nion, all-sufiiciency, holiness, truth, omnipotence, omnis- 
cience, justice, and mercy. Of these the principal, and 
those which most respect us, are mercy and justice : all 
the others are declared in order to illustrate these. For 
the glory of these hath God created the world and all 
things in it, especially those two capital kinds of creatures, 
angels and men. For these hath he permitted sin, which 
is so odious and detestable to his infinite purity. For 
these hath he sent his Son into the world to taste of leath 



\ 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 97 

for every man. For these hath he proclaimed his law and 
declared his Gospel j the threatenings of the one and the 
promises of the other. For these hath he appointed a day 
and will erect a tribunal of judgment, that he may make 
the glory of his mercy and of his justice conspicuous : 
his justice, in the eternal damnation of impenitent wretch- 
es, who are vessels of wrath fitted by their own sins for 
destruction; his mercy, in the salvation of penitent and 
believing souls, who are vessels of mercy fitted by his 
grace for eternal glory. All his other attributes, I say, 
serve to illustrate these two ; and as we conjoin them 
either to mercy or justice, so they are most enforcing 
motives, either of hope or fear. It is a mighty support to 
our hope, when we reflect upon the mercy of God, ac- 
companied with the attributes of eternity, immutability, 
truth, and omnipotence ; and again it will affect us with 
a profound fear and dread of this great and glorious God, 
to consider that the same attributes attend on his justice ; 
so that both are almighty, the one to save, the other to 
destroy. 

If then we would conceive aright of God when we 
come to worship him, let us not frame any idea of him in 
our imaginations, for all such representations are false and 
foolish; but let us labor to possess our hearts v^th an 
awful esteem of his attributes ; and when we have, with 
all possible reverence, collected our thoughts and fixed 
them upon the contemplation of Infinite Justice, Infinite 
Mercy, Infinite Truth, Infinite Power, and the rest, let 
us then fall prostrate and adore, for this is oui* God. 
So the apostle tells us, 1 John, 4 : 8, God is Love : not 
only loving, but love itself in the abstract. And, 1 John, 
1 : 5, God u Light. 



98 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

3. All the knowledge we have Or can have of God 
here, is collected from what he hath been pleased to dis- 
cover of himself, either in his works or i?i his word. We 
have but two books to instruct us ; the book of the crea- 
tion and the book of the Scriptures. 

From the works of creation and providence we raaj 
come to know much of God ; even his eternal being and 
godhead: and the lectures which are read out of this 
book are so convincing and demonstrative of many of the 
glorious attributes of God, that the apostle tells us the 
very heathen themselves were left without excuse because 
they did not worship him as God, when by the things 
which they saw they knew him to be God. Rom. 1:21. 

But to us God hath vouchsafed more clear and lively 
discoveries of himself; declaring to us those attributes 
by his word, the knowledge of which we could never 
have attained by his works alone. Therefore the. Scrip- 
tures are called the lively oracles of God, Acts, 7 : 38 ; 
and they are the glass wherein, with open face, we be- 
hold tJie gJori/ of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3 : 18. 

4. When we have improved and strengthened our un- 
derstandings in the highest degree, it will still be utterly 
impossible for us to know God as he is in himself. He dwell- 
eth in that light to which no mortal eye can approach. He 
hides and veils himself with light and glory. It is his sole 
privilege and prerogative, as to love, so to know himself; 
for nothing better can be loved, nothing greater can be 
knowp. God is incomprehensible to all his creatures, but 
is comprehended by himself; and that ever-blessed Es- 
sence, which is infinite to all others, is yet finite to its own 
view and measure. 

All the discoveries we receive of God ai'e not so much 



FIRST COlMMANDMENT. 99 

to satisfy an inquisitive curiosity as to excite pious affec- 
tions and devotion ; for reason, w^hich is the eye of the in- 
tellectual soul, glimmers and is dazzled w^hen it attempts 
to look steadfastly on him who is " the Father of Lights ;" 
and its weakness is such, that that light which makes it see 
doth also strike it blind. Yea, our faith, which is a strong- 
er eye than that of reason, and given us that we might see 
" him who is invisible," yet here in this life it hath so 
much dust and ashes in it that it discerns but imperfectly, 
and receives the discoveries of a Deity refracted through 
the glass of the Scriptures, so allayed and attempered, 
that though they are not most expressive of his glory, yet 
they ar\^ fittest for our capacity. 

The full manifestation of his brightness is reserved for 
heaven. This beatifical vision is the happiness and per- 
fection of saints and angels on whom the Godliead dis- 
plays itself in its clearest rays.^ There we shall see him 
as he is, and know him as we are known by him. Here 
we could not subsist, if G od should let down upon us 
the full beams of his excessive light and glory. 

Hence we read in Scripture what dreadful apprehen- 
sions the best of God's saints have had, after some extra- 
ordinary discoveries that God had made of himself to 
them. Thus Isaiah cries out, chap. 6:5, " Wo is me ! for 
I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips — for 
mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And 
wlien our Savior Christ put forth his divine power only 
in the working of a miracle, the glory of it was so terrible 
and insupportable, even to holy Peter, that he cries out, 
*' Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
Luke, 5:8. 

Though God be the very life of our souls, and the ma* 



100 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

nifestations of his love and favor better than life itself, yet 
such is our limited state here in this world, that we can- 
not see God and live. Frail nature is too weak to con- 
tain its own happiness, until heaven and eternal glory- 
enlarge it ; and then it shall see those inconceivable mys- 
teries of the Trinity in Unity, the hypostatical union of 
the human nature with the divine : then it shall view and 
surround the incomprehensible God, and be able to bear 
the unchecked rays of the Deity beating full upon it. In 
the mean time we must humbly content ourselves with 
those imperfect discoveries that God is pleased to allow 
us ; still breathing after that state where we shall enjoy 
perfect vision ; and, in it, an entire satisfaction and hap- 
piness. 

" Let us then most earnestly covet the knowledge of 
God^ and endeavor to make ourselves here, as like to 
what we hope to be hereafter, as the frailty of human 
condition will permit. This is the chief glory of a rilan ; 
one of the highest ornaments and perfections of a rational 
soul ; that which doth, in some sort, repair the decays of 
a fallen state, and renew those primitive characters which 
ignorance and error have obliterated in our souls. And, 
indeed, without the knowledge of God, we can never be 
brought to love him, to trust and confide in him, nor to 
serve him as we ought. And, though there may be a 
great deal of zeal in ignorant persons, yet zeal without 
knowledge is but a religious frenzy ; it is religion fright- 
ed out of its wits. A man that knows not the bounds of 
81H and duty, is a fit subject for the devil to work upon, 
who will be sure so to manage him, that he shall do a 
great deal of mischief very honestly and with very good 
intenti(^n3. 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 101 

III. A third heinous violation of this first command is 

by PROFANENESS. 

Profaneness may be taken either in a more large and 
general, or in a more proper and restrained sense. 

If we take it properly, it signifies only the neglect or 
despising of spiritual things ; for, in a strict acceptation, 
he is a profane person who either slights the duties o£ 
God's service, or the privileges of God's servants. 

But, in the larger and more common sense of the word, 
every ungodly sinner who gives up himself to work wick- 
edness, and lives in a course of infamous and flagitious 
crimes, is a profane person. Indeed, he is profane in the 
highest degree, who not only neglects the more spiritual 
duties of religion, but the natural duties of moral honesty, 
temperance and sobriety; for, as there are but two 
things which practically make an excellent and accom- 
plished christian, namely, religion and virtue, the one di- 
recting our worship towards God, the other our conver- 
sation towards men ; so, on the contrary, the despising 
of religion and the neglect of virtue make up that con- 
summate and accomplished profaneness which we see so 
common and prevalent in the world. 

But, concerning the wickednesses which usually meet 
together, and are concerned in this sort of profane per- 
sons, I shall not now speak, reserving them to be treated 
in their proper place, when I come to insist on those 
commands which each of their sins transgresseth. 

At present, I shall notice that only which is properly 
called profaneness, and speak of it as a distinct sin, dis- 
tinctly prohibited in this precept. And here I shall first 
give you some account of the name, and then of the 
tliinof. 



102 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

The word j/rqfane is supposed to have its etymology 
from j)rocul afano, which signifies *• far from the temple."* 

Now because their temples were the usual places 
wherein they solemnly worshipped, therefore the word 
profane is transferred to denote those who neglect and 
put far from them the worship of God. And so, accord- 
ing to this sense of the word, many others, besides lewd 
and debauched wretches, will be found to be profane. 
For, not only those who let loose the reins to all manner 
of villanies, but even those whose morality is unblame- 
able, and perhaps exemplary ; who lead a sober and ra- 
tional life, and scorn a vicious action as a baseness below 
the nature and unworthy the spirit of a man ; yet such 
grave, prudent, and honest persons do, too many of 
them, especially, in these our days, deserve the censure 
and black brand of being profane. And therefore, that 
we may the better judge who are the profane, and on 
whom that imputation justly lies, let us consider what 
the sin of profaneness is, and what are the true and pro- 
per characters of a profane person. 

1. What profaneness is. 

In general, profaneness is the slighting tmd negleding 
of things holy and sacred; undervaluing and condemning 
those things that are spiritual and excellent. And who- 
soever is guilty of this, let his outward demeanor in the 
world be as fair and plausible as morality or hypocrisy 
can adorn it, yet he is a profane person ; and heinously 
violates this first command, which enjoins us to worship, 
reverence, and honor the most high God, whom we pro- 
fess to own. Now spiritual and sacred things are, 

(1.) God himself^ in his nature and essence, whom we 
* So Macrob. Saturnal. lib. iii. cap. 3. 



I 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 103 

profane whensoever we entertain any blasphemous or 
unworthy thoughts of him derogatory to his infinite per- 
fections. 

(2.) God, in his name, which we profane when, in 
our trivial and impertinent discourses, we rashly bolt out 
that great and terrible name at which all the powers of 
heaven and hell tremble. And how much more do we 
profane it by oaths and execrations, which are now 
grown the famihar dialect of so many, and are looked on 
only as a grace and ornament of speaking! Scarce can 
we hear any discourse from them but these flowers are 
sprinkled among it; and the name of God must be 
brought in, either as an expletive or an oath. And what 
doth sadly forebode the growing profaneness of the next 
age, how many children are taught, or suffered, to call 
upon God in their play, before they are taught to call 
upon him in their prayers ! 

(3.) God, in his attributes, which we profane when 
our affections or actions are opposite or unsuitable to 
them. We profane his holiness by our impurity; his 
omnipotence by our despondency; his omniscience by 
our hypocrisy ; his mercy by our despair ; his justice by 
our presumption ; his wisdom by our sinful policy ; his 
truth, by our security notwithstanding his threatenings, 
and our slothfulness notwithstanding his promises. And 
in this sense, every sin that we commit is a kind of pro- 
faneness, as it manifests a contempt of the infinite per- 
fections and excellencies of the Deity ; for there is no 
man whose heart is possessed with a reverential and due 
esteem of the great God, that can be induced by any 
temptations to sin against him and provoke him. Every 
sin is a slighting of God, either a slighting of his justice, 



104 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

or mercy, or holiness, or power, or all of them; for 
what doest thou else when thou sinnest, but prefer some 
base pleasure or some sordid advantage before the great 
God of heaven 1 The devil represents the delights of 
sin or the profits of the world to thee, to entice thee ; 
but thy conscience represents to thee the everlasting 
wrath of the great God if thou conser '-jest, his justice 
ready to sentence thee to everlasting t jrments, and his 
power armed to inflict them : now if thou yieldest, what 
dost thou but vilify and de ^.pise the Almighty God ; as if 
his dread power and severe justice were not so consider- 
able as to outweigh either the impure pleasures of a vile 
lust, or the sordid gain and advantage of a little transi- 
tory pelf ] 

Nay, couldst thou by one act of sin make all the trea- 
sures and delights of the whole world tributary to thee ; 
should the devil take thee when he tempts, as he took 
Christ, and show thee all the kingdoms of the world, and 
the glory of them, and promise to instate it all upon thee 
— yet, to prefer the whole world before the authority of 
God, who hath strictly forbidden thee to think any thing 
in it worth the venturing upon his displeasure and the 
hazarding his wrath and vengeance, is a most notorious 
slighting and contemning the great God, and argues a 
profane spirit : how much more then, when we sin against 
God for nothing, and defy his vnrath and justice without 
being provoked to it by any temptation ! We find how 
heinously God takes it, and speaks of it as a mighty affront 
and indignity, that our Lord Christ should be so under- 
valued as to be sold for thirty pieces of silver ; for it 
argued not only treason but contempt. Zech. 11:13. 
" A goodly price that I was prized at of them." And yet, 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 105 

ti-uly, Judas was a very thrifty sinner in comparison 
with many among us, who not only betray Christ to the 
mocks and injuries of others, but crucify him daily, and 
put him to an open shame for far less. 

Yea, there are many that would not suffer so much as 
a hair of their heads to be twitched off for that for which 
they will not stick to lie, and swear, and blaspheme. 
What should tempt the impious buffoon to deride reli- 
gion, travest the Holy Scriptures, and turn whatsoever 
is sacred and venerable into burlesque and drollery, but 
only that he may gain a little gi'inning and sneering ap- 
plause to his wit from a company of mad fools like him- 
self ? or what should tempt the cheap swearer to open 
his black throat as wide as hell, and to belch out his blas- 
phemies against heaven and the God of heaven, but only 
that he fancies that a well-mouthed oath vdll make his 
speech the more stately and genteel 1 And are these mat- 
ters of such consequence as to be called or accounted 
temptations 1 Certainly there can be nothing else in these 
sins besides a mere mad humor of sinning ; which de- 
clares a most wretched contempt of God when we do 
that for nothing which his soul hates and his law forbids, 
and a most profane spirit in making that common and 
trivial which is infinitely holy and sacred. 

Thus you see how God is profaned in his nature, in his 
name, and in his attributes. He is profaned alsOi, J^^ .j^^, ?v' ..' 

(4.) In the time he hath set apart and consecrated Jbr 
his own worship and service. This we profane when we 
employ any part of it in the unnecessary affairs of this 
life, but much more in the service of sin. This is a sacri- 
legious robbing God of what is dedicated entirely to him; 
and that either by his immediate appointment, as the 

5* - --■ '' . 



106 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



Sabbath, or by the appointment of those whom God hath 
set over us, and intrusted not only to preserve our rights 
and property, but also his worship inviolate, as special 
days of joy or mourning, thanksgiving or humiliation. 

(5.) In the ordinances of Jesus Christ. These we pro- 
fane when we either neglect them, or are remiss and 
careless in our attendance on them. But of this I shall 
speak more anon. 

Thus I have shown you what profaneness is. It is a 
slighting and despising of spiritual and sacred things : 
such as are holy originally, as God, his name and attri- 
butes; and such as are holy by institution, as his Sabbaths 
and ordinances. But we were to consider, 

2. What are the true and proper characteristics of a 
profarie person ; and this, thai we may the better look 
into our own hearts and lives, and both obsers^e and cor- 
rect that profaneness which resides there. 

(1.) He then is a profane person who thinks and speaks 
dightly of religion. 

Religion is the highest perfection of human nature. By 
it man differs more from brute beasts than he doth by 
his reason. For brute creatures have some notable re- 
semblance and hints of reason ; but none at all of reli- 
gion : they glorify God as all the works of the creation 
do, by showing forth in their frame and production hia 
infinite attributes, but they cannot adore nor worship 
him. This is a pre-eminence peculiar to the most perfect 
pieces of the creation, men and angels. For as it is a 
perfection of the Deity to be the object of worship, to 
whom all adoration both in heaven and earth ought to be 
directed, so it is the perfection of rational creatures to 
ascribe honor, and glory, and praise, and worship to Him 



FIRST COMMANDMENf. 107 

who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever 
and ever. And therefore they who despise religion, de- 
spise that which is their own chiefest excellency, and 
profane that which is the very crowti of their nature 
and being. 

But alas, have we not many such profane persons 
among us, who deride piety and make a scoff of reli- 
gion; who look upon it only as a politic invention to 
keep the rude and ignorant vulgar in awe1 

Yea, and those who take up their religion, not by 
choice, but merely by chance ; either as a patrimony left 
them by their fathers, or as a received custom of the 
country wherein they were bom : never , troubling them- 
selves to examine the reasonableness and certainty of it. 
These likewise are profane-spirited men, who do not 
believe religion to be a matter of such concern as to 
require their exactest study and industry in searching 
into its grounds and principles, but think that any may 
suffice, whatsoever it be. 

Again, those who secretly despise the holiness and 
strictness of others, and think they are too precise and 
make needless ado to get to heaven. But indeed they 
are not too precise ; but these are too profane who thus 
contemn religion as unnecessary and superfluous. 

(2.) He is a profane person who neglects the public 
worship and service of God when he hath opportunity and 
ability to frequent it. 

And alas, how many such there are who yet think .'t 
foul scorn to have this black name fixed upon themj 
yea, and are the readiest in the world to brand others 
with it that are not of their way and sentiments ! But 
let them be who they will that despise and forsake the 



108 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

solemn assemblies, they do thus despise and forsake God. 

Now these are of two sorts : some absent themselves 
out of a wretched sloth and contempt of the word and 
^ ordinances of Jesus Christ j others out of a pretended 
dissatisfaction and scruple of conscience. Both are pro- 
fane ; but the one strangely mingles profaneness and hy- 
pocrisy, and the other is profane out of ignorance or 
atheism. 

Some are negligently ^^ro/a?^e. These absent them- 
selves from the ordinances of Jesus Christ and the so- 
lemn worship of God through mere sloth and' reckless 
contempt. And how many there are of this sort, the 
thinness of many congregations doth too evidently de- 
clare. If we should search for them, should we not find 
theih sleeping in bed, or idly lolling about the house, or 
walking or riding abroad for pleasure % spending their 
time in vain chat, eating and drinking, and sacrificing to 
their god, their belly, while they should be worshipping 
the great God of heaven. Possibly, a fair day, or want 
of other diversion, may sometimes bring them to church, 
yet this is so seldom that we may well suspect they 
come, not indeed for custom's sake, but rather out of no- 
velty than devotion. But if it prove a wet or lowering 
day, these tender people, whom neither rain nor cold can 
prejudice at a fair or market, dare not stir out of their 
doors, nor step over their own threshold to go into God's 
house, lest they should hazard their health instead of 
gaining their salvation. What shall I say to such brutes 
and heathens, who not only deny the power, but the very 
form of godliness % Some of them may perhaps read 
what I here present, and may my word, nay, not mine, 
but the word of the living God strike them ! God will 



I 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 109 

pour out his wrath "upon the heathen, and upon the 
families that call not on his name." 

But some again are humorsomely projane ; and these 
are they who withdraw themselves from the public woi 
ship of God merely upon pretended scruple and dissa- 
lisfaction as to the mode of worship practiced by those 
with whom they might most, naturally be expected to 
worship. Concerning such, I think it is no uncharitable- 
ness to say, t]iat where scruple at the administration of 
ordinances is only pretended to color contempt of the 
ordinances, there religion is only made a mask and vizor 
for hypocrisy. And I would beseech them to account of 
all who preach the ti-uth in Christ, that they are minis- 
ters of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, 
although all do not observe the same form of worship ; 
and if they cannot deny that they are such with whom 
they might be expected to worship, will they deny them 
audience when they come as amb*assadors from the great 
Kiiig of heaven, to deliver his message to them in his 
name 1 Do not all who truly preach Christ, preach the 
same truths, and exhort to the practice of the same ho- 
liness 1 Do they not administer the same ordinances, 
wherei^ are represented to all believing partakers the 
benefits of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ % 

(3.) He is also a profane person who neglects the pex'- 
formance of religious duties in private. .^ ^.^ j 

Every house ought to be a temple dedicated to God, 
nnd every master a priest, who should offer unto God 
the daily sacrifices of prayer and praise. But, alas, how 
many profane persons have we, and how many profane 
families, who scarce ever make mention of God but in an 
oath, nor ever call upon his name but when they impre- 



110 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

culc some curse upon others ! How many who wholly 
neglect the duty of prayer, and think they sufficiently 
discharge their trust if they provide for the temporal sub 
sistence of their families, though they utterly neglect the 
care of their souls and their spiritual concerns ! Such pro 
fa .13 families as these God ranks with infidels and hea- 
thens, and devotes them to the same common destruction. 
Jer. 10 : 25. 

Nor ought our family duties to be more seldom per- 
formed by us than morning and evening. In the morning, 
prayer is the key that opens to us the treasury of God's 
mercies and blessings ; in the evening, it is the key that 
shuts us up'under his protection and safeguard. God is 
the great Lord of the whole family both in heaven and 
earth : other masters are but, under him, intmsted to see 
that those who belong to their charge perform their du- 
ties both to him and themselves. One of the greatest ser- 
vices we can do for God, is to pray unto him and praise 
him. And how unjust and tyrannical is it for a master of 
a family to exact service to himself, when he takes no 
care to do service to his great Lord and Master, to whom 
it is infinitely more due ! 

Neither is there any excuse that can prevail to take off 
your obligation from this duty. 

Not that thou art ignorant, and knowest ncrt Tibw' ; o 
pray; for many are the helps that God hath afforded 
thee. Do but bring breath and holy affections; others 
have already brought to thy hands words and expressions 
proper enough for the concerns of most families. And 
besides, use and common practice vdll facilitate this duty ; 
and, by an incessant conscientious performance of it, thou 
wilt, through the promised assistance of the Holy Ghost, 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. Ill 

be soon able to suit thy affections with pertinent expres- 
sions and to present both in a becoming manner unto the 
throne of grace. 

Not the multipHcity and encumbrance of thine affairs. 
For the more and the weightier they are, the more need 
hast thou to ask counsel and direction of God, and to 
beg his blessing upon thee in them, without which thou 
wilt but labor in the fire and weary thyself for very vanity. 

Not thy bashfulness and modesty. For will it not be a 
far greater shame to thee, that those whom thou goveni- 
est and perhaps overawest even by thy rash and unreason- 
able passions, should be able to overawe thee from so ex- 
cellent and necessary a duty 1 Be ashamed to sin before 
them ; be ashamed to talk loosely, to profane the name of 
God, to be intemperate or unjust before them, to defile 
it thy mouth and their ears with unclean and scurrilous dis- 
course ; be ashamed to neglect thy duty ; but be not 
ashamed to pray, for our Savior hath told us, Mark, 8 : 
38, that " whosoever shall be ashamed of him in this 
adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the 
Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of 
his Father, with the holy angels." 

And therefore, since there is no just reason why thou 
shouldst refrain prayer from the Almighty, whosoever thou 
art that doest so, be thy conversation in all other respects 
never so blameless (which yet it is not very probable that 
it should be when thou beggest not grace from God to di- 
rect it,) thou art a profane person ; and declarest thyself 
to be so, by the neglect of the most holy and spiritual of aH 
those duties wherein we are to draw nigh unto God. 

(4.) He is a profane person that performs holy duties 
tlightly and superficially. 



112 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

All our duties ought to be warmed with zeal, winged 
with affection, and shot up to heaven from the whole bent 
of the soul. Our whole hearts must go into them, and the 
strength and vigor of our spirits must diffuse themselves 
into every part of them to animate and quicken them. 

Hence the apostle commands us, Rom. 12 : 11, to be 
" fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Sacrifices, which 
under the Jewish economy were the greatest part of 
God's solemn worship, were commanded to be offered up 
with fire; and no other fire could sanctify them but that 
miraculously sent down from heaven, or from the pre 
sence of God in the sanctuary, which was ever after kept 
burning for that very use. Lev. 9 : 24 ; 6 : 9. So, truly, all 
our christian sacrifices both of praise and of prayer must 
be offered up to God with fire ; and that fire which alone 
can sanctify them, must be darted dovni from heaven : the 
celestial flame of zeal and love which comes down from 
heaven and hath a natural tendency to ascend thither 
again, and to carry up our hearts and souls upon its wings 
with it. 

But indeed too often our duties are — 

Offered up loith strange unhallowed fire. They are fired 
by some unruly passion of hatred, or self-love, or pride and 
vain-glory. Like those choleric disciples that presently 
would command fire to come down from heaven to con- 
sume those who had affronted them by refusing to give 
them entertainment, only that God by such a severe mi- 
racle might vindicate their reputation and revenge the 
contumely that was done them. But this is a fire kindled 
from beneath, and therefore our Savior himself sharply 
checks their furious zeal, " Ye know not what manner of 
spirit ye are of." Luke, 9 : b^i. And certainly, whenso- 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 113 

ever we pray thus in the bitterness of our spirits, devot- 
ing our enemies to destruction, and-that because they are 
ours rather than God's ; v^hen we pour out a great deal of 
gall mingled with our petitions ; such a prayer cannot be 
from the dove-like spirit of God, which is meek and gentle, 
and makes those so who are led and inspii'ed by him. Every 
party and persuasion of men is very ready boldly to pre- 
scribe unto God those ways and methods by which he 
ought to be glorified ; and if any shall but question their 
principles or oppose their rasii and unwarrantable pro- 
ceedings, their touchy zeal is straight kindled, and nothing 
less than solemn prayers must be made to devote such a 
one to ruin and destruction, as an enemy to God and to 
religion. Here is fire indeed ! but it is wild-fire kindled 
from beneath ; the fiiel of it is faction, popularity, pride, 
contention, and vain-glory; and it sends forth a great 
deal of smoke from corrupt and inordinate passions. 

Again, if there be none of the former incentives to heat 
them, then our duties are commonly very cold and 
heartless. 

Our prayers are dull and yawning, and drop over our 
lips without any spirit or life in them : how often do we 
beg God to hear us when we scarce hear ourselves ! and 
to grant us an answer when we scarce know what it is 
that we have asked ! We make our requests so coldly and 
indifferently, as if we only begged a denial. 

So likewise in our hearing of the word, we bring with 
us very slight and profane spirits to those holy and lively 
oracles. What else mean the vagrancy and wanderings of 
oiir thoughts ; our lazy and unbeseeming postures, which 
would be counted rude and unmannerly to be used in the 
presence of some of those that are with us in our Wor- 



114 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

ship, were they any where else but in the church ? What 
means our weariness ; our watching every sand that 
runs ; our despising the simplicity of the Gospel ; ' our 
prizing the sound of words more than the weight of 
things ; but especially our indulged sloth and drowsiness 1 
a sin that I have observed is too common. What, cannot 
you watch with God one hour ] Do we speak poppy and 
opium to you 1 Or do you expect that God will now re- 
veal himself to you in dreams 1 Have ye not houses, have 
ye not beds to sleep in ; or do you despise the church of 
Christ ] Certainly God requires our most wakeful and vi- 
gilant attention when he delivers to us the most important 
things of his law and of our salvation. These, and many 
other things, which to particularize would perhaps be to 
descend below the majesty of this work, do too evidently 
declare that the precious truths of the Gospel are grown 
vile among us ; that we have taken a surfeit of this hea- 
venly manna, this bread of life, and now begin to loathe it. 
Beware lest this surfeit bring after it a famine. 

It plainly argues much profaneness in our spirits when^ 
we bring only our outward man, our dull and heavy car- 
casses to attend upon God, while our hearts and minds are 
straying and wandering from him. This is a sign that we 
despise God, and account any thing good enough, the 
lame and the blind, to be offered to him. Against such 
God hath thundered out a most dreadful curse, Mai. 
1:14, ** Cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a 
male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt 
thing ; for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, 
and my name is dreadful." Thou, who sufferest thy 
thoughts, or thine eyes which are the index of them, to 
rove in prayer, or to be sealed up with sleep in hearing, 



f^IRST COMMANDMENT. 115 

thou despisest the gi-eat God before whom thou appear- 
est, and thinkest it enough if thou affordest knu thy bodily 
presence, although thy heart be with the eyes of the fool 
in the ends of the earth ; for such a service is but mock- 
ery, and it is less reproachful to tender God no service 
than to perform it slightly and ceremoniously : the one is 
disobedience, but the other is contempt. 

(5.) He is a profane person that performs holy duties 
for worldly ends and advantage. 

For what greater contempt of God can there be than 
to make his service truckle under the base and low de- 
signs of this present life 1 This is to make religion tribu- 
tary to interest, and God himself a homage to mammv»n. 
And this all hypocrites are guilty of: though they mask 
their designs with specious pretences, and draw the veil 
of religion over their sordid and wicked contrivances ; 
yet they cry out, with Jehu, " Come, see my zeal for 
the Lord," when he drove on so furiously only for the 
kingdom. 

Indeed, a hypocrite, though he be not commonly so 
esteemed, is the most profane wretch that lives. The 
gross, profligate sinner offers not half so much indignity 
to religion as he doth. For, 

The hypocrite calls in God to he an accomplice and par- 
taker with him in his crimes ; and so makes God to be the 
patron of sin, who will be the judge and condemnor of 
sinners. 

All his injustice, rapine and rebellion are colored over 
with the fair pretence of the glory of God, the interest 
of the kingdom of Christ, the advancement of the power 
of godliness, reformation of idolatry and superstition, &c. 
9nd there is no act of fraud or violence, faction or sedi- 



116 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

tion but he thinks it justified and hallowed by these glo- 
rious names : which is nothing else but to rob men and 
make God the receiver, who is the detester, and will be 
the punisher of such crimes. Now the open and flagi- 
tious wretch, although he hates God as much as the hypo- 
crite, yet he doth not so much deride him : his wicked- 
nesses are plain and avowed, and every one may see 
from whence they proceed and whither they tend; that 
they come from hell, and directly tend thither : religion 
is not at all concerned to color but only to condemn 
them. And judge ye which doth most despise God and 
godliness ; he who professeth it not at all, or he who pro- 
fesseth it only that he may abuse and abase it, and make 
it subservient to vile and sordid ends infinitely unwor- 
thy of it. 

Again, the wound religion receives from hypocrites is far 
more dangerous and incurable than that inflicted on it by 
the open and scandalous sinner. 

For religion is never brought into question by the enor- 
mous vices of an infamous person ; all see and all abhoi 
his sin. But when a man shall have his mouth full of 
piety and his hands full of wickedness, when he shall 
speak scripture and live devilism, profess strictly and 
walk loosely, this lays a grievous stumbling-block in the 
way of others ; and tempts them to think that all religion 
is but mockery, and that the professors of it are but hypo- 
crites ; and so imbitters their hearts against it as a so- 
lemn cheat put upon the credulous world. Certainly such 
men are the causes of all that contempt which is cast 
upon the ways and ordinances of G od ; and their secret 
profaneness hath given occasion to the gross and open 
profaneness that now abounds . in the world, and the 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 117 

hypocrisy of former years hath too fatally introduced the 
atheism of these. 

Nay, a hypocrite must needs be an atheist ; and in his 
heart deny many of God's glorious attributes, but espe 
cially his omniscience ; and say within himself^ as those, 
Psalm 73: 11, "How doth God know, and is there 
knowledge in the Most High ?" For did they but believe 
that God looks through all their disguises ; and tbat his 
eye, which is light unto itself, pierceth into their very 
souls : did they but seriously consider that all things are 
naked and open before him ; that he knows our thoughts 
afar off, and is privy to our closest designs, they would 
not certainly be either so daringly wicked or so childishly 
foolish as to plot upon God, and seek to deceive and 
delude Omniscience. 

This profaneness of the hypocrite, in seeking temporal 
things by spiritual pretences, is much more abominable 
than the profaneness of others who seek them by unjust 
and unlawful means ; for the one only makes impiety, but 
the other piety itself an instmment of his vile and sordid 
profit, than which there cannot be a greater scorn and 
contempt put upon religion. 

(6.) He is a profane person who makes what God hath 
sanctified common a7id unhallowed. 

And have we not many such profane persons among 
us 1 Many that abuse the holy and reverend name of 
God, which ought to be had in the highest esteem and 
veneration, about light and frivolous matters ] who only 
make mention of him in their idle chat, but are mute and 
dumb when any thing should be spoken to his praise ] 
Many that profane his Sabbaths ; and although God hath 
liberally allowed them six days for the affairs of earth. 



118 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

yet will not spare the seventh for the affairs of heaven, 
but injpiously inva^de what he hath set apart and conse- 
crated for himself and his own immediate worship and 
service ] Many that never speak scripture but when 
they abuse it ; making the Bible their jest-book, and 
prostituting those phrases and expressions which God 
hath sanctified to convey unto us the knowledge of him- 
self and eternal life, to the laughter and mirth of their 
loose companions 1 So that those very words which the 
Holy Ghost inspired into the penmen of the Sacred 
Scriptui"e§ for the edification of the church, the devil 
inspires into these wretches for their own damnation and 
the damnation of those that have pleasure in such horrid 
profaneness. 

(7.) He is a profane person who despiseth spiritual pri- 
vileges and enjoyments. 

Upon this very account the Scripture sets that black 
and indelible brand upon Esau: "Lest there be any 
profane person among you, as Esau, who for one morsel 
of meat sold his birthright." Heb. 12 : 16. And why is 
Esau stigmatized as profane for selling his birthright, but 
because in those first ages of the world the first-born or 
eldest of the family was a priest, and that sacred function 
by right of primogeniture belonged unto him 1 and there- 
fore we read that the tribe of Levi were taken by God to 
be his priests and ministers, in exchange for the first- 
born. Now, to slight and undervalue an office so holy 
and sacred, a privilege so eminent, a dignity so sublime 
and spiritual — to part with it only for the satisfying of 
his hunger — was a sign of a profane spirit ; in preferring 
the god, his belly, before the God of heaven ; and for 
ever renouncing his right of sacrificing to the true God, 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. V r'" " H^ 

only that he might sacrifice one pleasant morsel to his 
impatient appetite. 

And certainly, if it were so profane in Esau to slight 
and contemn the priesthood in himself, they are also pro- 
fane who vilify it in others, and make those the objects 
of their lowest scorn and contempt whose office it is to 
stand and minister before God and Christ. Certainly, if a 
'dishonor done to an ambassador reflects upon the prince that 
sent him, will not Christ account it as an affront and injury 
done to him, when you affront and injure those his messen- 
gers and ambassadors whom he hath sent to treat with you 
in his name, and about the concerns of his kingdom ] 

But, not to speak more of this, lest we should be thoughl 
to plead for ourselves ; are not those profane who despise 
and contemn the high privileges and dignity of the chil- 
dren of God ] who despise those whom God so highly 
honors as to adopt them into his own family, to admit 
them into near communion and endearment with himself, 
to make them his own sons, and give them th^ privilege 
of heirs of eternal glcry T Doubtless, he who despiseth 
him that is begotten, despiseth him likewise that beget- 
teth ; and the common disrespect which is shown to the 
sei'vants and children of God, argues a secret contempt 
of him who is their Master and their Father. 

-Now lay these things to your own hearts, and bring 
them home to your owoi consciences, and see whether you 
are in none of these particulars guilty of profaneness. Do 
none of you think slightly of religion ; accounting it either 
a politic design or a needless preciseness ] Are none of 
you negligent in the public worship and service of God, 
nor yet in private and family duties ; or, if you perform 
them, is it not very carelessly and formally ; or, if you 



120 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Beem zealous in them, is not your zeal excited by some 
temporal advantages, and low, base, worldly ends and de- 
signs ] Do you not make that common and unhallowed 
which God hath made holy ; either by abusing his name, 
polluting his Sabbaths, or vilifying his word in your ordi- 
nary raillery ] And lastly, do none of you despise spiritual 
privileges and enjoyments, and those likewise who are in 
vested with them ] If so, how fair and specious soever 
your lives and actions may be, although you may think 
the rude debauched sinner at a vast distance from your- 
selves, and account him the only profane person ; yet, cer- 
tainly, this black style belongs as properly to you ; and 
you are profane violators of this first command, which 
requires you to take the Lord for your God, and accord- 
ingly to honor and reverence him and whatsoever apper- 
tains to him. 

IV. The fourth and last breach of this command is by 
Idolatry : Thou sTialt have no other gods before mej 
which they are guilty of who set up any other god be- 
sides the Lord Jehovah. 

Idolatry, according to its etymology and use, signifies a 
serving of images or idols. Now, an idol, though it pro- 
perly signifies an artificial effigy or resemblance made to 
represent any thing or person ; yet, in divinity, it signifies 
any thing besides the true God, unto vdiich we ascribe 
divine honor and worship. 

And, as an idol is twofold ; one internal, in the fiction 
and imagination of the mind ; another, external and visible, 
either the work of men's hands, as statues and images, or 
else the work of God's hands, as the sun, moon, and stars, 
or any other creature : so there is a twofold idolatry ; the 



FIRST COMMANDWTBNT. 121 

one internal, when in our minds and affections we honor 
and venerate that as 'God which indeed is not so, but is 
either a creature of the true God, or a fiction of a deluded 
fancy ; the other external^ which we are then guilty of, 
when we express the inward veneration of our souls by 
outward act« of adoration. As> for instance, whosoever 
shall believe the consecrated bread in the sacrament to be 
transubstantiated and changed into the true and proper 
body of Jesus Christ, and, upon this belief, shall in his 
mind revere and honor it as his God, as the papists do, he 
is guilty of internal idolatry : but if, to this internal vene- 
ration he add any external rites of worship, as prostra- 
tion, invocation, &c. he is then likewise guilty of extern 
nal idolatry. 

It is the former of these two kinds of idolatry which is 
here prohibited in this first commandment, Tkou shalt 
have no other gods before me : that is, thou shalt not give 
to any thing, either in heaven or earth, that inward 
heart-worship of affiance, love, fear, veneration, and de- 
pendance, which is due only to the true God, the Lord 
Jehovah. 

The imperate acts, or outward expressions of this in- 
ward worship, are that which we call external idolatry, 
which is specially forbidden in the second commandment • 
of which I shall treat in its place and ordei'. 

Now concerning this internal idolatry^ obsen^e these 
following propositions : 

1: Whosoever acknowledgeth, and in his heart worship- 
peth another God, different from that God who hath rer 
vcaled hirnsejf to us in his holy Scriptures, is guilty of' 
this internal idolatry, and the breach of this first com- 
mandment. 

Commandments. 



128 THfi TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

' And therefore, not only are those idolaters who wor- 
ship the devil ; or those that have recourse to diabo- 
lical arts and charms ; or those who worship men, whose 
vices were their apotheosis, and their crimes their con- 
secration ; as Bacchus, and Venus, and others of the 
heathenish gods ; or those who worshipped men famous 
for their virtues, as the heathens did their heroes, and 
the papists do their saints; or those who worship any 
of the creatures of God, as the host of heaven, fire a^ the 
Persians, or water as the Egyptians, or the creatures of 
art, as statues and images, as if possessed and animated 
by their deities ; in which respect Trismegistus called im- 
ages the bbdies of the gods ;* (and with the same madness 
are the papists possessed, who are persuaded that God, 
and Christ, and the saints dwell in certain images made 
to represent them, and by those images give answers to 
their votaries, and perform many wonderful and miracu- 
lous works ; whereas, if there be any spirit that possess- 
eth them, as perhaps there may, we have reason to be- 
lieve that, since their worship of them is the very same 
with the heathens, those spirits are likewise the same, 
viz. not God, nor saints, but devils and damned spirits ;) 
I say, not only these are idolaters and transgressors 
of this first command, but those also who compound a 
God partly out of the figment of their own erroneous 
minis, and partly out of his own infinite attributes : and 
thus are all Arians, Socinians and Antitrinitarians guilty 
of idolatry; for they acknowledge one infinite and eter- 
na^ Being, but, denying the persons of the Son and the 
Holy Ghost, they worship an idol, and not the true God, 

• Aug. de Civ, Dei. 1. viii. Cr 23. 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 123 

for the only true God is the Father, the Son, iand the 
Holy Ghost. 

2. Whosoever acknowledgeth, and in his heart wor- 
shippeth more gods than the only Lord Jehovah, is guilty 
of idolatry, and the violation of this first commandment. 

Thus v\^as the idolatry of those nations which the king 
of Assyria planted in Israel, after he had carried away 
the ten tribes into captivity; for it is said " that they 
feared the Lord, and served their own gods," 2 Kings, 
17 : 33. And upon this account also aie all Arians and 
Socinians, who deny the natural divinity of Jesus Christ, 
justly charged with idolatry; for since they say that 
Christ is God, and worship him as God, and yet deny that 
he is of the same nature and substance with the Lord 
Jehovah, they must of necessity make more gods than 
one, and those of a diverse essence and being; and there- 
fore they are not only guilty of blasphemy, but idolatry : 
of blasphemy, in robbing Christ of his eternal Sonship 
and the Divine nature ; of idolatry, in attributing divine 
honor and worship unto him whom they believe to be 
but a creature, and not God by nature. 

3. Whosoever doth ascribe or render to any creature 
that which is proper and due only unto God, is an idolater, 
and guilty of the transgression of this first commandpaent. 

Now this attributing of the divine properties to crea- 
tures is either explicit or implied; explicit, when we 
avow the attributes of the divine nature to be in those 
things which are not capable of them, as those who hold 
the body of Christ to be omnipresent ; implied, when wo 
render unto any creature that inward worship, esteem 
and affection which is due only to the infinite perfections 
of the Deity; . - \ 



124 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

And although our reformed religion be very well 
purged from the former idolatry, yet certainly the pro 
fessors of it are not well purged from this latter idolatry ; 
for, even among Protestants themselves, we shall find 
very many that are in this sense idolaters. For, 

(1.) Whosoever cliiefly and supremely loves any area 
tiere, is an idolater; because our chiefest love is due only 
to God. 

Hence the covetous person is expressly called an idola- 
ter ; and covetousness, idolatry. Col. 3:5. " Mortify your" 
earthly " members ; uncleanness, evil concupiscence, and 
covetousness, which is idolatry." Likewise the sensual 
epicure is an idolater ; his helly, saith the apostle, is his 
god. Phil. 3 : 19. The proud person is an idolater; for 
he loves himself supremely, sets up himself for his 
own idol, and falls prostrate before that image which he 
hath portrayed of his own perfections, in his own fancy 
and imagination. And generally all who love and ad- 
mire any thing above God, or esteem any thing so dear 
that they would not willingly part with it for his sake, 
have set up another god before him, to which they give 
that service and respect which is due only to the great 
God of heaven. 

(2.) Whosoever puts his trust a?td confidence in any creature 
more than i?i God, is guilty of this inward heart-idolatry. 

As when we depend on interest, or power, or policy 
for our safeguard and success, more than on that God 
who is able both with and without created helps and 
means to relieve ^s. And that we do so, appears when 
we are secure and confident in the enjoyment of such 
created comforts and supports, but altogether diffident 
and dejected when we are deprived of them ; for since 



FIRST COMMANDMENT. 125 

God is always the same, we should likewise have the 
same courage and spirit, did we place our whole trust 
in him. 

(3.) He is an idolater, and a very gross one, who sets 
,iip any creature in his hearty whether saint or angels to 
pray to it, and to betake himself to it as a refuge in hi% 
straits and necessities. 

For invocation properly belongs to God alone, as an 
act of worship which he hath challenged to himself, and 
the highest glory that we can give to his Divine Majesty. 
And therefore he hath commanded us. Psalm 50 : 15, 
" Call upon me," not upon any saint or angel, " in the 
time of trouble, and I vdll deliver thee." And therefore 
papists are most gross and stupid idolaters, who direct 
their petitions, not to God, but to saints and angels : 
which is nothing else but to advance them into his throne, 
and to ascribe to them his infinite perfections; for prayer 
and adoration suppose the object of it to be omnipresent 
and omnipotent; omnipresent to hear, and omnipotent to 
save, or else they are in vain. 



N 



/^ 



THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 

•*Tliou slialt not make unto tliee any graven image, or any 
likeness of any tiling wliicti is inkeaven above, or tliat 
is in tlie eartli beneatti, or tbat is in the irvater under tlie 
earth.* Tlion shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor 
serve them ; for I the Lord thy God am a Jealous God, 
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
me : and show^ing mercy unto thousands of them that 
love me, and keep my commandments." 

Idolatry is twofold, either spiritual and internal, re- 
siding in the affections and disposition of the soul ; or 
more gross and external, consisting in a visible adoration 
of any thing besides God. The former is forbidden in the 
First Commandment, as we have already seen ; and the 
latter is particularly forbidden in this Second Command- 
ment, to which our attention will now be directed. 

In this Commandment we have two parts : the Pre- 
cept itself, and the Sanction of the precept, each of which 
is twofold. 

The precept runs negatively in two several prohibi- 
tions, both tending to the same end and effect; the one 
forbidding images to be made, " Thou shalt not make to 
thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing ;" the 
other forbidding them to be worshipped, " Thou shalt not 
bow down thyself before them, nor serve them." 

The sanction contains a severe comminatio7i or threat- 
eriing against those that shall presume to violate this 
command: *'I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, vi- 
siting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto 



s 

SECOND COMMANDMENT. 127 

the third and fourth generation;" and also for the encou- 
ragement of obedience, a gracious promise, of ''showing 
mercy unto thousands that love God and keep his com- 
mandments." 

I shall begin with the command, or prohibition. And 
this, as I said, is twofold : Thou shalt not make images : 
Thou shalt not worship them. Not that the carver's or 
printer's art, but only the people's idolatry — not that the 
ingenuity in making, but the stupidity in worshipping 
those dumb representations — is here forbidden. The 
brazen serpent in the wilderness, the cherubim, and 
other resemblances in the temple, ai'e a sufficient proof 
and evidence of this. 

This prohibition, therefore, must be interpreted ac- 
cording to the subject matter here spoken of, and that 
being only divine worship, it is plain that it is not unlaw- 
ful to represent to the eye any visible thing by an arti- 
ficial image of it, but only when God saith. Thou shalt 
not make, and Thou shalt not worship, the meaning is, 
Thou shalt not make any thing with an intention of wor- 
ship ; and, Thou shalt not worship any thing which thou 
or others have made. But, concerning the prohibition of 
this command, I shall speak more hereafter. 

For the more fiill and clear understanding of this pre- 
cept, I must desire you to recall to mind one of those sev- 
eral general rules mentioned in the Introduction as help- 
ful to instruct you in the due extent and latitude of the 
Commandments, namely, that the negative commands all 
include the injunction of the contrary positive duties : as, 
when God forbids the taking of his name in vain, oy 
consequence he commands the hallo wiug and sanctifying 



■ ■ * 

5^8 THE TEN COBtMANDMENTS. 

of liis name j where he forbids murder, he commands all 
lawful care and endeavor to preserve our own and the 
life of others ; where, in the First Precept, he forbids the 
owning and cleaving to any other god besides himself, 
he enjoins us to acknowledge him as our God, to love, 
fear, and hope in him only. So, here in this Second 
Command, where he forbids the worshipping of images, 
by consequence he requires us to worship him according 
to the rules he hath prescribed us. Therefore, as under 
the First Command is comprehended whatsoever apper- 
tains to the internal worship of God; so, under this 
Second is comprehended whatsoever appertains to the 
external and visible worship of God. 

. Here I shall first speak of the external and visible 
worship of God ; and then of those sins which are con- 
trary to it, and condemned in this Commandment. 

I. Concerning the worship op God I shall lay down 
the six following propositions : 

1. The true and spiritual worship of God in general, 
is an action of a pious soul, wrought and excited in us by 
the Holy Ghost; whereby, with godly love and fear, we 
serve God acceptably, according to his will revealed in his 
Word ; by faith embracing his promises, and in obedience 
performing his commands ; to his glory, the edification of 
others, and our own eternal salvation. 

This is the true spiritual worship of the time God, 
who is a spirit : and it comprehends in it, both the in- 
ward worship of our hearts and souls, and likewise the 
outward worship of holy and religious performances ; of 
which I am now particularly to treat. 

2. Therefore, this external worship of God is a sacred 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 129 

action of a pious soul, wi-ouglit and excited hy the Holy 
Ghost J whereby, with all reverence, we serve God both in 
words and deeds, according to his revealed mill, in partaking 
of his sacraments, attending on his^ ordinances, and perform- 
ing those holy duties which he hath required from us ; to his 
glory, the edification of others, and our own eternal salvation. 
This worship of God, although external, is nevertheless 
spiritual ; for it proceeds from the Spirit of God exciting 
our spirits to the performance of it ; and is directed by a 
spiritual rule, unto a spiritual end, the glory of God and 
our own salvation. 

3. The parts of this external worship) are divers and 
manifold ; lohereof the most p^rincipal and essential are the 
celebration of the sacraments, solemn fi'ayer, and solemn 
praise and thanksgiving. , 

But, besides these, there are many other things which be- 
long to the service of God ; yea, as many as there are 
duties of religion and piety : such as a free, open, and un- 
daunted profession of the truth ; a religious vowing unto 
God things that are lawful, and in our own power ; an 
invoking of the testimony of God to the truth of what we 
assert, or to the faithful discharge of what we promise, 
when we are duly called to do ;t by lawful authority ; a 
diligent reading of the word of God, and a constant and 
reverent attendance on it when it is read and preached ; 
and divers other duties, too numerous to be here particu- 
' larly enumerated : some of which belong to the proper 
worship of God, immediately as parts of it ; others, medi- 
ately, as means and helps to it. - /^ ~ 

4. Although God doth especially delight in the acts of 
our internal worship, and principally regards the esteem 
and veneration that we have for his great and glorious 

6* 



130 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Majesty in our hearts; yet this alone suficeth not, without 
the performance of those parts of external worship and vis- 
ible acts of piety and, religion, which may to the glory of 
God express the devout dispositions of our souls. 

The inward acts of piety are those of faith in behev- 
ing ; of hope, in expecting our reward ; of charity, in 
loving both God and our neighbor ; of fear, in reverenc- 
ing him ; of patience, in a contented bearing whatsoe'vei 
burdens it shall please the all-wise providence of God 
to lay upon us ; and of a cheerful willingness to perform 
all the duties of obedience which he enjoins Us. These 
belong to the internal worship and service of God, and 
are especially pleasing and acceptable to him. And, in- 
deed, without these, all outward acts of worship are both 
dead and unsavory : for, as the spirit of a man is his 
life, so the internal and spiritual piety of the heart, our 
love, fear, and reverence of God, is the life of all our 
duties, without which they are but as a dead carcass ; so 
far from being a sweet-smelling savor, that they are noi- 
some and offensive to that God to whom we offer them. 

Of this internal worship I have already spoken ; and 
what we are now to consider, is the external worship of 
God ; which also he hath absolutely required as we have 
ability and opportunity : for though there need be no overt 
actions to make the sincerity of our affections and inten- 
tions knovni to God ; yet it is necessary, for his glory 
aipd a good example to others, to declare that to the 
world, by visible signs and expressions, which was be- 
fore known to him in the secret purposes and thoughts 
of our hearts. And here I would remark, 

(1.) God hath no less strictly enjohied external worship, 
than internal. 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 131 

What can be more external than the ceremonial part 
of the evangelical law, the participation of Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper 1 Both of which are yet most expi^ess- 
ly commanded. Matt. 28 : 19. ** Go, teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." Acts, 2 : 38. " Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ." 
And for the communion of the body and blood of Christ, 
see Luke, 22 : 19. " Do this in remembrance of me :" 
which command they violate, and refuse to give the most 
evident sign that they are christians, who either totally 
neglect, or else very seldom attend this most holy and 
spiritual ordinance. 

(2.) God doth severely both threaten and punish such as 
give external worship unto any other hut himself. 

How often are the Israelites reproved for bowing the 
knee to Baal, for baking cakes to the Queen of Heaven ! 
Yea, and very usually idolatry is set forth in Scripture 
by some of those visible actions by which some of these 
false worshippers used to express their devotion towards 
their false deities, as bowing the body to them. Josh. 
23 : 16. "Served other gods, and bowed yourselves to 
them." Judges, 2 : 12, 17, &c. Kissing the hand unto 
them, in token of reverence. Job, 31 : 26, 27. "If I 
beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in 
brightness ; and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my 
mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to 
be punished by the judge ; for I should have denied the 
God that is above." So, likewise, bowing the knee to any 
idol, and kissing it. Hos. 13 : 2. " Let the men that sacri- 
fice, kiss the calves." And so, when Elijah complained of 
the total defection of the Israelites from the service of the 



132 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

true God unto idolatry, God, to comfoit and encourage 
him, tells him that he was not alone, but that there 
were " seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that had 
not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which had not 
kissed him." 1 Kings, 19 : 18. And therefore, certainly, 
since he makes so punctual a computation of those who liad 
not alienated their bodily worship to the service of an idol, 
he doth respect and accept those who in faith and sin- 
cerity tender it to himself. 

(3.) God hath created the whole man, both soul and 
body, for himself, and he sustains both in their being, 
therefore he expects homage and sei'vice from both : 
from the soul, as the chief seat of worship ; from the 
body, as the best testimony of it. ^ \ 

(4.) Not only our souls, but our bodies too are redeemed 
by Christ, therefore, both should be employed in his 
worship and service. . . •' , 

The whole man is bought with a price ; the whole is 
justified ; the whole is sanctified. Yea, our very bodies 
are said to be the temples of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 
6 : 19. And where should God be worshipped, or that 
worship appear, if not in his temple 1 And, therefore, on 
account of the purchase which Christ hath made of us 
to himself, the apostle draws this inference in the fore- 
mentioned place : " Ye are not your ovni ; for ye are 
bought with a price : wherefore glorify God in your body, 
and in your spirit, which are God's." ^ ^ 

(5.) The body as well as the soul is likewise to partake 
of the blessings of obedience ; and therefore it is but rea 
sonable it should partake of the service of obedience. 

Many blessings are promised to our outward man, here 
in this life ; and hereafter it is to be made a glorious and 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 133 

iTTcorruptible body, like unto the glorious bocly of our 
Lord Jesus Christ: it is to be clothed with light and 
crowned with rays ; never more to suffer injuries without 
or diseases within ; and therefore certainly duty belongs 
to it, siilce so many great and unspeakable privileges be- 
long to it. 

Thus you see how reasonably God requires from qs 
the service not only of the inward but of the outward 
man ; and therefore we are not to slight that outward 
reverence which is necessary to testify a due sense of his 
glorious presence when we come before him : neither 
must we rob him of any part, either of his sei-\'ice or of 
his servant, but sacrifice ourselves entirely to him ; our 
bodies on the altar of our souls, hearts and affections ; 
and both soul and body on that altar which alone can 
make both acceptable, even the Lord Jesus Christ. So 
much for this fourth proposition. 

5. Jill that outward reverence which, we show towards 
God in his worship and service, must he measured and esti- 
mated according to the customs and usage of places and 
countries; so that what they use as a sign and expression 
of honor to their superiors, they ought much more to use 
in the presence of the great God, the King of kings and 
Lord of lords. And, therefore, uncovering of the head, 
bowing of the body, an humble attitude and settled com- 
posure of the whole man, which among us are but fitting 
signs of respect and reverence when we appear in the 
presence of those who are much our superiors, ought 
likevrise to be used by us in the presence of God, who is 
infinitely such : not indeed that they are essential parts 
of worship, but signs and testimonies of it. 

6. We ought not to worship God with any other external 



134 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

worship than^ what he himself hath commanded and ap- 
pointed us in his holy word. 

The Scripture hath set us our bounds for worship, to 
which we must not add, and from which we ought not to 
diminish; for whosoever doth either the one or the other, 
must needs accuse the rule, either of defect in things ne- 
cessary, or of superfluity in things unnecessary ; which is 
a high affront to the wisdom of God, who, as he is the 
object, so he is the prescriber of all that worship which 
he will accept and reward. 

I well know that this rule hath given (I cannot say 
cause, but) occasion to many hot disputes about ecclesias- 
tical rites and constitutions : some condemning whatso- 
ever is prescribed or used in the service of God besides 
things expressly commanded in Scripture, as encroach- 
ments on the authority of God and additions to his wor- 
ship, which he requires to be performed according to the 
pattern in the mount and the model he hath delineated 
for it ; others again, maintaining the privilege and autho- 
rity of the church, in ordaining some things for the more 
decent and reverent performing of the service of God, 
which are not particularly required in the holy Scriptures. 
I shall not plunge myself into this controversy : only 
give me leave to say, and sadly to lament, that the seam- 
less coat of Christ is rent in pieces among them, whilst 
some think it more decent to sew on loops and fringes to 
it, and others will have none. And truly I think our dif- 
ferences are of no greater importance in themselves, 
though too woful in their consequences. I shall clearly 
express my sense of this matter in a few words, without 
any reflection or bitterness, and so leave it to the judg- 
ment ^nd discretion of all. 



SEC0NI5» COMMANDMENT. ' 135 

' THings which belong to the worship of God maybe 
considered either as parts of that worship, or only as 
circumstances and modifications of it. 

Therefore whatsoever is imposed on us as a substantial 
part of the worship of God, if it be not expressly requir- 
ed of us in the Holy Scriptures, is to be not only refus- 
ed but abominated ; for this is a plain addition to what 
God hath commanded ; and by it we lay an imputation 
upon him as though he wanted wisdom to ordain what is 
necessary for his own sei-vice. 

Then, and then only, is any constitution of man im 
posed for a part of divine worship, when obedience to it 
is urged upon us not only from the authority enjoining it, 
but also from the necessity of the thing considered simply 
and nakedly in its own nature. For as it is with God's 
laws, some things are commanded because they are good, 
and some things are good only because they are com- 
manded ; so it is with laws and impositions of men about 
matters of religion and worship. Some things men com- 
mand because they are in themselves necessary antece- 
dently to their command, as enjoined before by God; 
and therefore this is no ordinance or doctrine of man, but 
of God, to which the magistrate, who is the guardian of 
both tables, doth well to add the sanction of secular re- 
wards and punishments : other things are necessary only 
because they are commanded by the authority of those 
to whom we owe conscientious obedience in things lawful 
and indifferent. But we utterly deny that the imposition 
of any such things makes them any parts of worship, of 
which they are only circumstances ; or that these obser- 
vances are necessary to us, or acceptable to God antece- 
dently to the command of authority ; or that the worship 



136 • THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

of Grod would be imperfect, defective, unacceptable and in- 
valid to the ends for which it is appointed, were not these 
observances commanded and performed. 

Thus you see we put a vast difference between that 
which is a part of worship and that which is but a circum- 
stance of worship : if any thing be commanded us by 
men as a part of worship which is not commanded us by 
God, we ought not to submit to it. And certainly, did 
We but rightly weigh what is required as a part of wor- 
ship, and what only as a circumstance of worship, a 
great deal of heat, and contention, and uncharitable 
prejudice would be removed and prevented. It is true, 
our Savior, Matt. 15 : 9, condemns the Scribes and Pha- 
risees, that taught ybr doctrines the commandments of men: 
that is, they taught those things which were but the tra- 
ditions and ordinances of their elders, to be in themselves 
absolutely necessary to the serving and worshipping of 
God. But, certainly, this reproof falls not upon thbse who, 
though they do enjoin what they judge fit for order, yet 
do not teach them for doctrines, and are so far from 
thinking their commandments an essential part of wor- 
ship, that they would abhor and anathematize all those 
that do so. Necessary they are to be submitted to and 
practised, because enjoined by that authority to which 
God hath committed the care of the first table as well as 
the second ; but not necessary in themselves as any part 
of the worship and service of God, without which, al- 
though they were not imposed by men, it would be unac- 
ceptable to him. 

And, now that I have delivered my judgment without 
bitterness, give me leave to make some few lamentations 
in the grief and bitterness of my soul. Is it not to be 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. ' 137 

bitterly lamented, that in a reformed and orthodox 
church there should be such schisms, rents and divisions : 
altar against altar, pulpit against pulpit, and one congre- 
gation against another 1 And what is all this contention and 
separation for ] Oh, they will tell you it is for the purity 
of religion; for the true and sincere worship of God; that 
they may serve him purely without human additions or 
inventions. Thus goes the cry, and well-meaning souls 
take it up and join with it, neve?, examining the grounds 
of it ; but conclude that those must be in the right who 
complain of corruptions and pretend to a happy and glo- 
rious reformation. Alas, my brethren, was there ever 
any schism in the world that did not plead the same 1 
Do not others separate from their communion upon the 
same pretences on which they now separate from ours 1 
And may not the same argument serve to crumble them 
into infinite fractions and subdivisions ; till, at last, we 
come to have almost as many churches as men, and 
scarce a man constant and coherent to himself? 

Is it then that we differ about mere accidents and 
circumstances 1 I confess we do ; but assert, withal, 
that these things are not a just cause of separation and 
division. 

If we look back upon the primitive times, we shall find 
that almost every church had its different rites and obser- 
vances ; and, yet, under that diversity they maintained 
unity and communion. Yea, and at this day the reform- 
ed churches observe different customs one fi'om another, 
and yet they inviolably hold communion together. The 
Galilean, Belgic, Helvetian and German churches reject 
us not, nor we them ; although we differ in rites and dis- 
cipline, and in those things which are left to the^ pru- 



138 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

dence of every church to constitute as they shall judge 
most necessary for order and edification. 

Now, certainly, if these different rites and observances 
be no ground for one national church to separate from the 
communion of another, they can be no ground for private 
persons to separate from the communion of the church to 
Vi^hich they belong. Nay, although they might v^^ith rea- 
son dislike many usages either as frivolous or incongru- 
ous, yet it becomes the temper and modesty of a pious 
christian, in things merely circumstantial, to submit his 
practice to the judgment of those w^ith whom and under 
whose watch he lives ; and not to separate from the com- 
munion of the church, to forsake its assemblies, to dis- 
own its administration, only because he thinks some 
things might be more conveniently ordered, according to 
the model of his own or other men's apprehensions; 
w^hich, in the folly and sad consequences of it, would be 
to act like him who took up a beetle and struck with all 
his force to kill a fly that he saw on his friend's forehead. 
What else were this but to rend the body of Christ by 
an angry contending about the fashion of its garments ; 
and to tear away its limbs by a violent striving to strip 
off those clothes which they think indecent 1 

For my part, I freely profess that were my lot cast 
among any of the reformed churches beyond the seas, I 
would presently join in their communion, and not at all 
scruple to conform myself to their received customs ; 
although, perhaps, in my own private persuasions I may 
judge some of them to be less serious atid less reverent 
than those of the church to which I belong. I have ever 
venerated the advice of St. Ambrose to St. Austin : "If 
thou wilt neither give offence nOr take offence, conform 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 139 

thyself to all the lawful customs of the churches where 
thou comest." Aug. adJan. Ep. 118. 

But I will not farther enlarge on this subject : only I pray 
that our wanton dissensions about these less important 
matters may not provoke God to deprive us of the sub- 
stance ^nd essentials of ou^ religion ; and reduce us to a 
condition wherein we should be heartily glad could we 
enjoy the liberty of the Gospel and the ordinances of our 
Lord Jesus Christ under any form of administration. It 
were just with God to extinguish the light of his Gospel, 
when we use it not to work by, but all our study and 
strife is how to snuff it. — Thus much in general, touching 
the esdernal toorsMp of God required in this commandment. 

^ U. As to the SINS forbidden by it, they are two : con- 
tempt of the worship of God, and superstition in per- , 
forming it. 

Of the former I have already spoken largely in giving 
the characters of a profane person. I shall therefore 
here speak only of superstition. 

Concerning the etymology of the word, both TuUy an4 
Lactantius are agreed that it is derived from super stites^ 
" survivors :" but about the reason of the notion they 
much differ. Tully saith, " They were called supersti- 
tious who immoderately prayed and sacrificed that their 
children might survive them." But Lactantius, not con- 
tent with this reason, gives another : " TJiey were called 
superstitious, not who desired that their children might 
survive them, for all desire this, but they who celebrated 
the surviving memory of the dead, or who surviving their 
parents, worshipped theii- images as their household gods." 
Cicero de Nat. Deor. lib. ii ; Lactant. Instit. lib. ivc c. 28. 



140 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

But, whatever be the etymology of the word, we may 
take this short description of it: that it is a Jiecdless and 
erroneous fear in matters of religion. And this is two- 
fold, either negative or positive. 

Negative superstition is, when men fearfully abstain 
from and abhor those things as wicked and abominable 
which God hath not forbidden, and which therefore are 
in themselves lawful and harmless. And they who are 
bigoted with this superstition, will be sure )to cry out 
against all who observe such things as they condemn, as 
miserably seduced and superstitious souls. Like Diogenes, 
who is said to have trampled on Plato's pride wdth far 
greater pride, so these exclaim against superstition with 
far greater superstition. For superstition is not either the 
observing or not observing of such things ; but the doing 
of eithpr vnth an erroneous fear, lest God should be dis- 
pleased and provoked if we did otherwise. He is, there- 
fore, negatively superstitious who makes the not doing of 
that which is lawful and harmless, a matter of conscience 
and of religion. 

positive superstition is when men do fearfully observe 
and perform those things which either are forbidden or 
at least no where commanded by God. Or, if you will, 
it is a restless fear of the mind, putting men upon acts 
of religion which are not due or not convenient. 

This positive superstition shows itself two ways : some- 
times in giving divine honors to that which is not God ; 
and sometimes in performing needless and superfluous 
services to the true God. Both are the effects of super- 
stition, though commonly known by their proper names 
— the one being idolatry and the other will-worship, — 
and both are forbidden in this commandment. 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 141 

1. Idolatry is a species of superstition. , ' 

So we find it expressly, Acts, 17 : 16, compared with 
verse 22. In verse 16, it is said t^iat Paul's " spirit was 
stirred in him when he saw the city [Athens] whplly given 
to idolatry.'' And in verse 22 it is said that Paul reprov- 
ed them as being ^o superstitious. Therefore, though all 
superstition be not idolatry, yet all idolatry is superstition j 
yea, and the blackest kind of it. 

Now idolatry is nothing else but the giving of religious 
worship to an idol. And an idol is not only an artificial 
image or representation of any thing, whether real or fic- 
titious, set up to be worshipped; but any creature of 
God, whether angels or men, sun or moon, or stars, &c. 
to which we give any religious honor and service, becomes 
to us an idol. The worshipping of any creuture, whether 
in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water 
under the earth, is idolatry ; which is particularly and 
by name forbidden in this commandment. 

And indeed this is a sin so absurd and stupid, that it is 
a wonder it should ever be so bewitching as to inveigle 
the far greater part of the world. The prophet Isaiah 
very frequently derides the folly and madness of idolaters : 
especially chap. 44 : 16, 17. " He bumeth part " of his 
wooden god "in the fire ; he roasteth " his meat with it, 
" and is satisfied : he warmeth himself; and the residue 
thereof he maketh a god : he falleth do^vn unto it, and 
worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith. Deliver 
me, for thou art my god." A most gross and bestial stu- 
pidity ! as if there were more divinity in one end of a 
stick than the other. And yet a sin most strangely be- 
witching ; after which all the heathen world ran a whor- 
inf^; and from which all the remonstrances and threat- 



142 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

enings which God makes to his own people of Israel 
could not restrain them. Yea, and so strangely besotting 
is it, that a very great part, even of those who profess the 
name and doctrine of Jesus Christ, are most foully guilty 
of it : I mean the papists ; who, to hide their shame 
in this particular from the notice of the people, have 
covered it with a greater ; and thought fit rather to ex- 
punge this second commandment than to leave their 
image-worship to be censured and condemned by it. 
For, in all their catechisms and books of devotion which 
they have published for the use of the vulgar, they have 
sacrilegiously omitted this second commandment ; as 
fearing that the evidence of it would convict and con- 
demn them of idolatry in the consciences of the most ig- 
norant and illiterate that should but hear it rehearsed. 

Let us now proceed to consider who may be justly 
condemned of idolatry, in the violation of this precept. 

(1.) He is an idolater that prays to any saint or angel; 
for in doing this he ascribes that to the creature which is 
an honor due only to God the Creator. Our faith and 
our invocation ought to be terminated in the same object. 
Rom. 10:14. " How shall they call on him in whom they 
have not believed ]" Therefore, if we cannot, without blas- 
phemy, say that we believe in such a saint or angel ; nei- 
ther can we, without idolatry, pray to that saint or angel. 

(2.) But the most execrable idolatry is that of entering 
into league and correspondence with the devil; to consult 
and invoke hina ; and by any wicked arts implore or make 
use of his help and assistance. Of this are those guilty in 
the highest degree who enter into any express compact 
with the devil ; which is always ratified with some ho- 
mage of worship given to him. And in a secondary and 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 143 

lower degree are those guilty of it who apply themselves 
to seek help from such forlorn wretches as use tradition- 
ary charms and incantations, or any vain observances to 
free them from pains and diseases, or other troubles that 
molest them. For all those things which have not a na- 
tural efficiency to produce that effect for which they are 
used, may very reasonably be suspected to Imve been 
agreed on formerly between the devil and some of his 
especial servants, and that all the virtue they retain is , 
only from that compact ; which as it was explicit in those 
that made it, so it is implicit in those that use them ; for 
they still act in the power of that first stipulation and 
agreement. 

(3.) Whosoever bows down his body in religious adora- 
tion of any image, or other creature, is guilty of idolatry / 
and doth most expressly transgress the very letter of this 
command, " Thou shalt not bow down before them, nor 
worship them." 

And here is but a vain refuge, to which the Papists be- 
take themselves when they excuse themselves from being 
guilty of idolatry, because, although they worship images, 
yet they worship the true God by them. For, in fact, they 
worship the images of very many creatures, both men and 
angels ; nor is their evasion concerning latreidouleia, and 
uperdouleia,^nj other than a vain and frivolous distinction* 

And whereas they pretend to worship the true God 
by an image, we reply, that it is most impious to at- 
tempt to represent God by any visible resemblance ; and 
therefore much more to worship him, could he be so repre- 
sented. For God, who is infinite, cannot be circumscribed 
by lines and lineaments ; and, being invisible, cannot be 
resembled. Hence he again and again inculcates it up- 



144 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

on the Israelites, that when he delivered the law to 
theni, he appeared not in any shape, that they might not 
audaciously attempt to delineate him, and so be enticed 
to idolatry. ** Ye heard the voice of words, but saw no. 
similitude ; only ye heard a voice." Dent. 4 : 12. ** Tctke 
ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw* no 
manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto 
you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye cor- 
rupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the si- 
militude of any figure." v. 15. When therefore the 
Papists plead that they worship the only true God by 
images, this is no better than to excuse. one horrid sin 
by the commission of another. ^ .:- 

To worsJiip the true cmd only God hy an image, is gross 
idolatry. This the Papists deny, and place idolatry in 
the worshipping of images set up to represent false and 
fictitious gods ; or else in worshipping them with a be- 
lief that they themselves are gods. 

But if this be so, then upon the same account the Israel- 
ites were not idolaters in worshipping the golden calf. 
They were not so brutish as to believe that calf itself to 
be their God. Nay, it is most evident that they intended to 
worship the true God under that representation. See 
Exod. 32 : 4. " These he thy gods, O Israel, which hr ought 
thee up out of the land of Egypt." They could not be so 
stupid as to think that that very calf which they them- 
selves had made, had delivered them from Egypt ; but 
they pretended to worship the true God who had given 
them that great deliverance, under this hieroglyphic sign 
and resemblance : which appears, verse 5. ''Aaron made 
proclamation^ and said. To-morrow is a feast to the 
Lord :" in the original it is Jehovah, the pr oper a nd iu- 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 145 

communicable name of the true God. And yet, that 
this worship of theirs, although thus professedly directed 
to the true God, was hoiTid idolatry, the Scripture 
abundantly testifies. " Oh, this people have sinned a great 
sin." verse 31. "Neither be ye idolaters, as were some 
of them ; as it is vsrritten, The people sat down to eat and 
drink, and rose up to play." 1 Cor. 10 : 7. "They made 
a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol." 
Acts, 7 ; 41. 

And how was it with Micah and his mother 1 They 
were certainly guilty of idolatry in making and worship- 
ping their images ; and, yet, that their images were made 
to be symbolical representations of the true God, and 
erected to this very purpose that he might be wor- 
shipped by them, appears clearly fi'om the history. 
Judges, 17 : 3. "I had wholly dedicated," saith she, " the 
silver unto the Lord, (Jehovah, Heb.) for my son to 
make a graven image and a molten image." Which 
when he had done, he hired a Levite to be his priest. 
And, in confidence of the reward of so much piety, he 
concludes, v. 13, that certainly now the Lord Jehovah 
would bless him, and do him good. Nothing can be 
clearer than that all this worship was professedly offer- 
ed by him to the time and only God ; yet, be i g per- 
formed by images, it was no better than rank idolutj y. 

And fiirther. If the Papists, in worshippiJig the true 
God by images, be not idolaters ; then neither was Jero- 
boam, who made Israel to sin, an idolater, in setting up his 
calves at Dan and Bethel. For whoever rationally consid- 
ers the occasion and political grounds of this innovation 
must conclude that Jeroboam intended not to introduce 
a new God, which would have made the people to fall 

Commandments. 7 



146 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

faster from him than tyranny and oppression did from 
Rehoboam ; but only to set up some visible signs and re- 
presentations of the true God ; and to persuade the peo- 
ple that they need not go to Jerusalem to seek his pre- 
sence and to offer their gifts and sacrifices, for the same 
God was as much present with them in those figures as 
he was at the temple of Jerusalem between the cheru- 
bims,* And therefore we find that the idolatry of Jero- 
boam is distinguished from the idolatry of those who 
worshipped Baal and other false gods : see 1 Kings, 16 : 
31, where God speaks concerning Ahab, "as if it had 
been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam 
the son of Nebat, he went and served Baal, and worship- 
ped him." 

Nay, once more, although some among the heathen 
might be so grossly stupid as to suppose the images 
themselves to be gods, and so to worship them ; yet their 
wise and learned philosophers were far enough from 
such a senseless error : yea, they were forced to use aS 
many distinctions and subtle evasions concerning their 
worshipping of images as now the papists do ; and truly 
most of those the papists use are the very same, and seem 
but borrowed out of the schools of the heathen. 

But especially do the philosophers insist on this : that 
they venerated not their statues, as they were made of 
such or such materials, but only as they were the houses 
and bodies of God, where his presence resided, and by 
which his power was manifested : that they worshipped 
not the visible sign, but the invisible Deity by it.f 

* Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. 8. c. 3. 

t Non hoc visibile colo ; sed numen, quod in illis invisihiliter habitat* 
Ki qui videhantur sibi purgatioris esse religionis, dicebant : Nee «• 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 147 

And what do papists say more than this, viz. that they 
worship the images of God, not as if they were themselves 
God, but only as they are the visible signs and symbols of 
the divine presence : and so all their worship is directed 
unto God through them. 

In respect to idolatry, therefore, I profess I can find no 
difference at all between heathens and papists : for, as the 
more learned papists do profess that they worship the 
true God by the image, so likewise did the more learned 
heathens.* And, for the ignorant and vulgar papists, I am 
very apt to suspect that they do, as the ignorant heathen, 
terminate and limit their worship in the very images be- 
fore which they fall prostrate ; esteeming^ them to have 
divine power and virtue of their own : for they are most 
grossly blinded and infatuated in this their image-worship, 
and may as well take a stone or a block to be a God as 
the great dragon to be a saint, as the poor woman did, 
who offered one candle to St. Michael and another to his 
dragon, that is, the devil.f And therefore, certainly, if the 
heathen world were ever guilty of idolatry, so is now the 
Popish Church ; their worship, and all the reasons of it, 
being so exactly parallel. — Thus much concerning the 
first branch o! superstition, which is idolatry. 

2. The second is will-worship, of which I shall speak 

mulachrum, nee dcemonium colo ; sed, per effigiem corporalem, ejus rei 
signum intueor quant colere debeo. Amob. lib. vi. 

* Dio Chrysostoni. Orat. 12 de Prima Dei Notitia. — T«f yap ufxH ttuvth 
VilTTl®^ TAVTA iiytt T»? Ss^f ctAXst ^iuv rtVst9«^stTJt AcLl etydKfjidir u.. 
Celsus : Orig. Cont. Cels. lib. vii. Where he likewise proves that it is 
lawful to make images of God, because, according to the doctrine of chris- 
tians themselves, God made man according to his own image: the very 
argument urged by the Papists, and made use of by the Second Council ol 
Nice. 

t Estienne Apol. pour Herodote. 



148 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

but very little,, having already anticipated myself. 

Will-worsliip is nothing else but the inventing and as- 
cribing any other w^orship to God besides what he hath 
been pleased to command and institute. 

God will not be worshipped according to our fancies, 
but according to his own appointment ; for as we must 
have no other God besides the true, so that God must 
have no other service performed to him besides what him- 
self hath required and prescribed : for this were to impute 
folly and weakness to him, as if, indeed, he would have 
servants, but knew not what service to enjoin them. Thus 
we have finished the prohibition, " Thou shalt not make 

UNTO thee any graven IMAGE," &C. 

Let us now consider the sanction of this precept ; con 
sisting, first, of a severe and fearful threatening against 
all those who should presume to violate it : For I the Lord 
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 
fatJicrs upon the children^ unto the third and fourth gene- 
ration of them that hate me; and, next, of a gracious j^ro- 
mise of mercy to the careful and conscientious observers 
of this precept : showing mercy unto thousands of them 
that love me, and keep my commandments. 

In the threatening we have these several particulars : 
Who it is that denounces it : " I, the Lord thy God." 
What it is that he denounces and threatens : "To visit 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children." The per- 
sons against whom this threatening is directed : ** Those 
that hate him;" and the duration and continuance of that 
vengeance which he will take upon them : It shall be to 
" the third and fourth generation." His wrath shall ex- 
tend to their children, and their children's children. 



SECQJSJD COMMANDMENT. 149 

I. Let us consider who it is that denounceth this 
threatening: "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God :" 
so most read the words as our English translation renders 
them. But others no less rightly read them thus : For I, 
the Lord thy God, am strong and jealous ; for the word 
El, which is here used, signifies the mighty God. 

And according to this acceptation, the words contain in 
them a description of God. 

1. By ^25 relation to us: The Lord thy God; a God 
who hath separated thee from all people of the earth, to 
be his peculiar treasure ; who hath brought thee near unto 
himself, even into the bond of the covenant ; who hath 
betrothed thee in righteousness, and is not only thy Maker, 
but thy Hushand, as the prophet speaks. Isaiah, 54 : 5. 

This God it is who commands thee faithfully to per- 
form the marriage-vow that is between thee and him, 
and not to go a whoring after the vanities of the gentiles, 
nor to expose thy shame and nakedness before any false 
or idol-god ; for idolatry is spiritual adultery, and is most 
frequently set forth under that name and notion in the 
holy Scriptures. 

2. Thy God is described by the mightiness of his power. 
He is £Z kana, a strong and jealous God ; able to revenge 
any dishonor that is done him by thy unchaste lewdness. 

3. He is described by that violent passion which in 
men is called jealousy : I, the Lord thy God, am strong 
and jealous. 

Jealousy is an affection or passion of the mind, by 
which we are stirred up and provoked against whatsoever 
hinders the enjoyment of that which we love and desire. 
The cause and origin of it is love ; the effect of it is 
revenge. 



150 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Now God, to deter the Israelites from idolatry, sets 
forth himself as a strong and jealous God, that they might 
be assured not to escape punishment ; for he is strong, 
and therefore can inflict it ; and he is jealous, and there- 
fore will inflict it if they shall dare to abuse and injure 
that love which he nath placed upon them 

This jealousy is not to be ascribed to God, as if theie 
were properly any such weak and disturbing passion in 
him ; but only by way of accommodation and similitude, 
speaking after the manner of men. So is it to be under- 
stood, when God is said to be angry, to be grieved, to re- 
pent, &;c. that is, his actions towards Us are like the actions 
of one that is angry, or grieved, or repents : although the 
infinite serenity of the Divine essence is not liable to be 
discomposed or ruflSed by the tempests of any such like 
passions as are incident to us mutable creatures. 

Now the reason why God calls himself here a jealous 
God you will find in these following characteristics of 
jealousy : 

(1.) Jealousy is distrustful and suspicious. It dares not 
rely upon the truth and fidelity of the person of whom 
we are jealous, but is full of misgiving doubts and fears. 
And so God (although, in propriety of speech, he can 
doubt nothing, nor fear any thing, yet) is pleased to ex- 
press his jealousy by such language as intimates distrust 
and diffidence. And therefore, when the Israelites made 
that solemn promise to the Lord, Deut. 5 : 27, " All that 
the Lord our God shall speak unto us, we will hear it 
and do it," God returns answer as one that doubted the 
real performance of so fair a promise, ver. 28, 29, " I 
have heard the voice of the words of this people — they 
have well said all that they have spoken. O that there 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. ^«-^lL.. 

were such a heart in them, that they would fcafrnfeVana " 
keep all my commandments always, that it might pe weH" . 
with them and with their children for ever !" 

(2.) Jealousy is searching and inquisitive. It is hard 
to escape the discoveiy of a jealous eye; which is still 
prying and seeking after that which it would be loth 
to find. So the eye of the all-seeing and all-knowing God 
is continually upon us : he critically observes every look 
and every kind of glance that we cast upon ourselves : 
not the least motion of our hearts, not the least twinkling 
of our thoughts can escape his notice and censure. And, 
of all sins, there is none that God doth more jealously ob- 
serve than that of idolatry ; for this is the violation of that 
marriage-faith which we have plighted to him. There- 
fore we find that the idolatrous Israelites, as though they 
were conscious of the great abuse they offered to their 
Maker ^ their Husband^ (as the prophet styles God, Isa. 
54 : 5,) sought out dark and obscure groves to act their 
vdckedness in ; that, although they were not chaste, yet 
they might seem to be cautious. But in vain is it to 
draw the curtains of a thin shade about them : a few leaves 
could not cover their shame nor their nakedness from 
Him who is all eye every where, and whose eye is every 
where light to itself: " God is light, and in him is no 
darkness at all." 1 John, 1:5. It is not possible to con- 
ceal firom him the prostitution of an unchaste and impu- 
dent idolatry. And therefore saith the Psalmist, "If we 
have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched forth 
our hands to a false god j shall not God search this out 1 
for he knoweth the secrets of the heart," Psalm 44 : 20, 21. 

(3.) Jealousy, as it is searching and inquisitive, so it is 
angry and revengeful. Solomon calls it "the rage of a 



152 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

man," Pro v. 6 : 34, *' therefore he will not spare in the 
day of vengeance." And, Cant. 8:6," Jealousy is cruel as 
ihe grave ; the coals thereof are as coals of fire, w^hich 
have a most vehement flame." For as love is the most sofl 
and tender affection of human nature, so jealousy, which 
is the sowering of love and turning it into vinegar, is the 
most wild and furious. 

God is pleased to style himself a jealous God to ex 
press the heat of his wrath and indignation against sin- 
ners. So Deut. ^9 : 20, " The Lord will not spare him, 
but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke 
against that man, and all the curses that are written in 
this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out 
his name from under heaven." See what dreadful effects 
this smoking jealousy hath when it breaks forth into a 
flame, Zeph. 1 : 18. " Neither their silver nor their gold 
shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's 
wrath ; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire 
of his jealousy, for he shall make even a speedy riddance 
of all them that dwell in the land." 

And of the signal revenge this devouring jealousy of the 
Almighty God hath taken upon sinners the whole world 
is full of sad instances. This fire hath kindled the eteraal 
and unquenchable flames of hell. When the proud and 
rebellious angels aspired to be gods, God turned them 
into devils, and these devils into hell ; for his jealousy 
could not endure to have rivals in his glory. All the ruins 
and calamities that have ever happened to persons or 
nations are but the effects of God's jealousy against sin. 
And of all other sins his jealousy takes most remarkable 
vengeance against idolatry, for this is spiritual whoredom, 
a provocation which the jealous God can least enduie. 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 153 

See Deut. 32 : 16, ]7, 19, '* They provoked him to jea- 
lousy with strange gods. They sacrificed unto devils, not 
to God ; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that 
came newly up. And when the Lord saw it he abhon-ed 
them, because of the provoking of his sons and of his 
daughters." And verse 21, " They have moved me to 
jealousy with that which is not God : they have provoked 
me to anger with their vanities. A fire is kindled in mine 
anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall con- 
sume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foun- 
dations of the mountains." And so in the following vers- 
es God exaggerates thpse sore and heavy judgments 
which he would bring upon them in the fuiy of his jea- 
lousy, because of this heinous sin of idolatry. Thus we 
have seen in what respects God is said to be a jealous God. 
What remains now but that expostulation of the apos- 
tle, 1 Cor. 10 : 22, "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy 1 
Are we stronger than he ?" We, who are but as dust be- 
fore the whirlwind, and as dry stubble before the con- 
suming fire, shall we dare by our sins to affront and chal- 
lenge that God who hath said, " Vengeance is mine, and 
I will repay" it] And yet such is the madness of every 
desperate sinner, that he rushes upon God's neck and 
upon the thick bosses of his buckler ; and daily provokes 
him who is infinitely able to destroy both body and soul 
in hell-fire. Indeed jealousy of itself, without powei to 
wreak vengeance, is but a weak and contemptible pas- 
sion ; but when it is armed with Almighty strength it is 
justly terrible. Now the Lord thy God is (Hebrew) a strong 
and jealous God. Every sin thou committest is a horrid 
wrong done unto him ; and a violation of that faith which 
thou owest him. He hath wooed thy affections, sought 

7* 



154 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 

thy consent, and yet thou perfidiously followest other 
lovers, and givest thy heart unto the world and the devil, 
which are God's greatest co-rivals. The highest indignity 
that can be done against love is to contemn and slight it, 
and to embrace those who are far more base and sordid : 
h jw notoriously then dost thou affront God, when thou 
despisest his love and thy own faith, to cast thyself into 
the embraces of every vile lust which now pollutes thy 
soul and will hereafter damn it ! O foolish and unkind 
that thou art, to neglect the love of the great King of 
heaven and earth, and to make choice of the devil, who is 
but the slave of God, and solicits thee only to make thee 
his slave ! Yet might it avail somewhat if thou couldst 
defend thyself, and maintain thy choice against the jea- 
lousy and wrath of the great God whom thou thus des- 
pisest and provokest : but assure thyself his wrath and 
his jealousy will smoke against thee; yea, kindle upon 
thee, till it hath burned thee down to the lowest hell : and 
that day is coming wherein he will expose thy nakedness 
and thy shame before men and angels, and upbraid thee 
with the folly as well as wickedness of thy choice ; and 
then condemn thee to be an eternal companion with those 
devils whom thou hast preferred before himself. Believe 
it, it is a sad and fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God ; for he is " a jealous God," and " a consuming 
fire," as Moses speaks, Deut. 4 : 24. 

II. The next particular is, what judgment this 

STRONG AND JEALOUS GoD THREATENS TO INFLICT : and 

that is to "visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
children." 

Visiting is a figurative expression : in the general, God 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 155 

is said to visit, when, after a long space of time, in wliich 
he seemed to have forgotten or taken no notice of men, 
he declares by his providence that he hath still observed 
their ways and doings. ' 

And this word visiting vii3.y be taken either in a good 
or in an evil part. In a good part, when God bestows 
gi'eat mercies and salvation upon his people, he is said to 
visit them : and thus it is frequently used in the Scrip- 
ture. Exod. 3:16; Luke, 1 : 68, 28, &c. In an evil part, 
God is said to visit, when he rewards those sins at which 
he seemed to connive with deserved punishments. So 
Psalm 89 : 32, " I will visit their transgression with the 
rod, and their iniquity with stripes." And Jer. 5 : 9, 
" Shall I not visit for these things % saith the Lord : and 
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ]" 

And in this sense is the word to be taken here : Visit- 
ing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children y that is, 
punishing the fathers' iniquity in their children and pos- 
terity. And thus we have it interpreted, Jer. 32 : 18. 
*' Thou recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the 
bosom of their children after them." 

Now here arise two important inquiries to be resolved : 
v\^hether it be just with God, and consistent with the di- 
vine veracity, to punish the sins of the fathers upon the 
children ; and whether God doth always observe this me- 
thod of revenging the fathers' crimes upon their poste- 
rity and offspring. 

As to the former inquiiy there seems to be some 
difficulty in reconciling Scripture to itself in this par- 
ticular, and in reconciling such a proceeding to justice 
and equity. 

For sometimes the Scriptures do expressly mention the 



156 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

punishment of parents' sins to be inflicted on theii chil 
dren. Exod. 34 : 7 ; Jer. 32 : 18, &c. And when Goa 
commands Saul utterly to destroy Amalek, he gives this 
reason of his injunction, 1 Sam. 15 : 2, ** I remember 
that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him 
in the way when he came up from Egypt." And yet 
almost four hundred years were passed between the 
journey of the Israelites from Egypt and the issuing of 
this command : so that none of those Amalekites who op- 
posed them in their way could then have been alive to 
bear the punishment of that offence. Yea, and our Savior 
threatens the Jews of his time. Mat. 23 : 35, " That upon 
them should come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of 
Zacharias son of Barachias, whom they slew between the 
temple and the altar." That is, the sins of the progeni- 
tors, from the beginning of the world unto that very age 
when they murdered Zachary, the father of John the 
Baptist, in the court of the temple, shall be punished in 
this generation. Vide Baron. Annal. An. 1, Sect. 52, &c. 
And yet again we read as expressly, Ezek. 18 : 20, 
" The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not 
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father 
bear the iniquity of the son ; the righteousness of the 
righteous shall be upon him, and the iniquity of the wick- 
ed shall be upon him." And again, Jer. 31 : 29, 30, " In 
those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten 
a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. 
But every one shall die for his own iniquity." And in- 
deed this seems most agreeable to the rules of justice, 
that the innocent should not be punished for the sms ot 
the nocent and guilty. 



SECOND COMMANDBfENT. 157 

To solve this difficulty therefore, and reconcile this 
seeming contradiction, I shall premise some distinctions ; 
and then draw fi'om them some conclusions satisfactory 
to the question propounded. 

Punishments are either temporal — such as befall in this 
present life ; or else eternal — such as are reserved to be 
inflicted on all impenitent and disobedient sinners in the 
world to come. 

Again, children may be considered either as imitating 
the crimes and transgressions of their parents, or as re- 
penting of them, and reforming from them, and so not 
walking in their fathers' steps, but in the ways of God's 
commandments. , 

1. Certain it is, God never visits the iniquity of the 
fathers upon repenting and reforming children with eter- 
nal punishment. And in this sense it is everlastingly 
true, that " the son shall not bear the iniquity of his 
father ,•" but " the soul that sinneth, it shall die ;" and 
** every man shall bear his own burthen." 

But some may say, " Are we not made liable even to 
eternal death by the sin of another ] Hath not the sin of 
our first father brought condemnation upon all his pos- 
terity ] And therefore how is it true that the son sjball 
not, in this respect, bear the iniquity of his father 1" 

To this I answer. It is not his sin, considered per- 
sonally as his, that hath made us obnoxious unto eternal 
death ; but it was our sin as well as his ; for in him we 
all sinned and fell. Adam was our federal head and com- 
mon representative, and his sin was legally ours ; even as 
his obedience would have been, had he persevered in it. 
But now the case of Adam is singular and much different 
from that of intermediate parents. They, indeed, are our 



158 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

natural heads ; but not our federal heads, as Adam was. 
Their actions are only their own, and not ours, and have 
no influence at all upon the determining of our eternal 
state and condition ; and therefore we shall not be ac- 
countable to God at the last day for what they have done, 
but only for what we ourselves have done in the body, 
whether it be good or evil. Yet, 

2. If the children imitate the wicJcedness and crimes of 
their fathers , it is but just and righteous with God to punish 
them with eternal death and damnation for them. It is but 
fit that they should inherit their fathers' damnation, who 
inherit their fathers' transgressions. But in this case it 
must be observed that God punisheth them, not because 
they are their fathers' sins, but because they are their own. 

3. God may, and often doth, visit the iniquity of the fa- 
thers upon, the children with temporal punishments, whethei 
the children imitate the offences of the fathers or reform 
from them. 

And these temporal punishments are many times very 
sore and heavy : languishing diseases ; racking and tor- 
menting pains ; loss of estate, sometimes ravished from 
them by violence, sometimes melting away insensibly. 
The fathbr, possibly by his unjust oppression and extor- 
tion, entails a curse upon his estate ; which, like a canker, 
eats it out and consumes it in his son's days; so that no- 
thing is left in his hands but shame and poverty ; al- 
though, perhaps, he might never know the sins for which 
God blasts him. Yea, we find that God doth inflict tem- 
poral death on the child for the offence of the parent : 
thus, 2 Samuel, 12 : 14, in Nathan's message to David, 
" Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion 
to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also 
that is bom unto thee shall surely die." 



SECOND COMMANDMENT.. 159 

Thus God doth very frequently inflict temporaV punish- 
ments upon the children for the fathers' transgressions. 

Nor is it at all hard to reconcile this with the measures 
of justice and equity, because of the near relation which 
they bear to their parents : for certainly it is just with 
God to punish a sinner in all that is related to him. Chil- 
dren are part of their parenjts ; yea, their parents live and 
survive in them ; and therefore certainly God, in punish- 
ing them, may justly strike what part of them he pleaseth. 
And this even Plutarch, a heathen, could observe : speak- 
ing how God often inflicted grievous judgments on the 
posterity of lewd and wicked men, he tells us : " It is 
nothing strange and absurd for those who are theirs to 
suffer what belongs to them." De Sero Punitis. 

But then another question is, Whether God doth al- 
ways observe this method of revenging the offences of fa- 
thers upon their children in temporal punishments. 

To which I answer, no, he doth not. Neither doth this 
threatening in the commandment oblige him to do it, 
but only shows what their sins deserve, and what he 
might justly do if he pleased to use his power and pre- 
rogative. Hence we read of the children of wicked pa- 
rents who yet were both pious and prosperous : such 
were Hezekiali and Josiah, the one the son of Ahaz, the 
other of Amon. But most commonly we may observe 
in *the course of Divine providence, that this posterity 
of wicked parents pay off* their fathers' scores to divine 
Justice in the temporal evils and calamities that are 
brought upon them. Yet, if they themselves be pious 
and holy, this may be for their comfort, that whatever 
afflictions ihey lie under shall be for their benefit and ad- 
vantage ; and they are not punishments to them, but only 



160 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

fatherly corrections and chastisements : for the very things 
which they suffer may be intended by God as a punish- 
ment to their ancestors, but a fatherly correction to them- 
selves ; and what to the one is threatened as a curse, to 
the other may prove a blessing and an advantage, as it 
gives them occasion of exercising more grace, and so of 
receiving the greater glory. 

Suffer me to close up this with one or two practical mC' 
ditations. 

1. If it be the usual method of Divine Providence to 
visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, see then 
what great reason parents have to beware that they do not 
lay up a stock of plagues and curses for their posterity ; 
nor clog the estate which they leave them, with so many 
debts to be paid to the justice of God as will certainly undo 
them. 

Thou who, by fraud and cozenage, heapest together 
ill-gotten wealth, thinkest perhaps of leaving so many hun- 
dreds or thousands to thy children ; but considerest not 
withal how many curses thou puttest into the bag, curses 
that, in time, will rot and eat out the very bottom of it. 
Thou who, by this or by any other way of wickedness, 
either swearing, or drunkenness, or uncleanness, provokest 
the holy and the jealous God, doth it nothing grieve thee 
to think that thy sins shall be punished upon thy poor 
children's back 1 Possibly thou art so fondly tender of 
them that thou art loth to chastise them when they really 
deserve it for their own faults ; yet art thou so cruel to 
them as to abandon them over to the justice of God, to 
be severely scourged for faults which are not their own, 
but thine. Whose heart would not yearn, and whose 
Dowels would not be turned within him, to go into a hos- 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 161 

pital and there view over all those scenes of human 
misery and wretchedness which are presented to us ; the 
blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed^ the dis- 
tracted, the ulcerated and loathsome leper, and those se- 
veral maps of man's woes and torments that are there ex- 
hibited] Think then with thyself, ''This is the inheri- 
tance, this is the portion bequeathed them by their ac- 
cursed parents :" and as thou wouldst have thine own 
children to be made the same sad spectacles of Divine 
wrath and vengeance, so go and sin them into the same 
condition. Certainly wolves and tigers are more merci- 
ful to their offspring than wretched man ! It is thou thy- 
self, O cruel man ! who hast crippled, and maimed, and 
tormented, and beggared and undone thine own children : 
and perhaps every sin thou committest either murders 
or tortures a poor helpless infant, one whose greatest 
misery it is that ever he was bom of thee. I beseech 
you, christians, think seriously of this thing; and as ever 
you would wish well to those dear pledges which are as 
your own bowels, so beware how ever you provoke the 
holy and jealous God by any known and wilful sin; 
who will be sure to repay it home, either in your own 
persons by his immediate judgments on yourselves, or 
that which will go as near the heart of every tender and 
compassionate parent, by his sore judgments on thy poor 
children and posterity. 

2. See here what great reason thouhast to render thanks 
and praise to God that thou art born of godly and pious 
parents ; such as treasure not up wrath for thee^hut prayers. 

Possibly they were but poor and low iii the world ; but 
yet they have bequeathed thee a rich patrimony ; and 
made God executor, who will faithfully discharge his 



162 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

trust if thou discharge thy duty, and give thee a blessing 
possibly in this life, but certainly in the life to come. Let 
others boast their blood and their parentage, and reckon 
up a long row of monuments and ancestors : if they have 
been wicked, lewd and ungodly, but thine virtuous and 
the sincere servants of God, they possibly may be the last 
of their family, and thou the first of thine : howsoever 
know that it is far more noble to be born of those that 
have been born of God, than to be the grandchildren of 
the devil. Thou hast better blood running in thy veins, 
even the blood of them whom Christ hath judged worthy 
to be redeemed and washed with his own blood, whose 
names are written in heaven in the Lamb's book of life : 
a greater honor and dignity than if they were written in 
the worm-eaten pages of idle heraldry. And if thou fol- 
lowest their good examples, thy relations and portion too 
are greater and richer, for thou hast God for thy father, 
Christ for thy brother, and the whole heaven of stars for 
thine inheritance. — Thus much for the second particular, 
what is threatened in the commandment : viz. " visiting 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.'' I shall be 
more brief in the two remaining. 

III. Let us consider the persons against whom this 
threatening is denounced. " Visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the children of those that hate me." And 
who those are is explained in the antithesis subjoined : 
" Keeping mercy for thousands of those that love me 
and keep my commandments." 

If then those that keep God's commandments are 
lovers of God, (which our Savior expressly affirms, John 
14 : 21, " He that hath my commandments, and keepeth 



SECOND COMMANDMENT. 163 

them, he H is that loveth me ;") by direct consequence it 
"follows, that those who transgress the commandments of 
God are liaters of God. And what worse can be said of 
the very devil himself? Let them pretend never so fair, 
and speak words full of respect and reverence, yet bring 
them to this trial, do they observe and keep the com- 
mandments of God 1 If not, they are haters of God 
and goodness. 

And indeed it is impossible that those who are dis- 
obedient and rebellious should love God. For can they 
love him who hath required from them what they do so 
extremely loath] Can they love him whom they must 
needs apprehend to be armed with wrath and vengeai.ce 
to punish and torment them everlastingly for their sins 1 
Can they love him who, if they have any conscience in 
them, they must needs know, hates them with a perfect 
hatred, and will be avenged on them in their eternal ruin 
and destruction 1 Certainly, if we love God because he 
first loved us, these cannot but hate him to whom their 
ovm consciences must needs attest that God hates both 
them and their ways. 

IV. Consider the duration and continuance of that ven- 
geance which God will take upon those who thus hate him. 

On their own persons he will revenge himself eternally, 
and be ever satisfying his wronged justice in their insuf- 
ferable torments ; but on their posterity he will be aveng 
ed unto the third and fourth generation. 

And yet, even in this very threatening, there is mercy 
contained. Mercy it is that such a wicked and accursed 
race are not cut off, and cast out of his sight and grace 
for ever ; and that, where once the wrath of G od hath 



164 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

seized on any family, it doth not bum down and consume 
the whole before it ; but he graciously stops its course, 
and gives not way to all his fury. And, in this, mercy 
glorifies itself against judgment ; in that he showeth mer- 
cy unto thousands^ but visiteth iniquity only unto the third, 
2Jidi fourth generation. 



THE THIRD COMMANDMENT, 



*' TIiou slialt not take the name of tlie Lord tliy God in 
vain ; for tlie liord will not hold him guiltless that tak- 
eth hig name in -vain." 

It is well known that all the precepts of the law re- 
spect either those duties which we owe immediately to 
God, or those which we owe immediately to man. The 
former constitute the First, the latter the Second Table. 

The commands of the First Table are prescribed to 
regulate our worship of God ; which is either internal 
and more spiritual, or external and more visible. 

The internal worship of God, with the humblest vene- 
ration of our souls and most sincere affections of our 
hearts, is required in the First Commandment ; as I have 
already shown. 

The external, which we also entered upon in the Second, 
we are to consider still further here in the Third. And 
it consists of three parts : Prostration of the body ; 
'profession of the mouth; and the observance of prefixed 
titne. Each of these hath a particular command to en- 
join them. The first is required in the Second Command- 
ment, of which I have spoken. The second, profession 
of the mouth, comes next to be considered. And to guide 
and regulate this, we have our rule prescribed in this 
third precept of this table : Thou shalt not take the name 
of the Lord thy God in vain, &c. 



166 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 

In these words we have both a prohibition^ " Thou 
shalt not take," &c. and a commination or threatening^ 
** For the Lord will not hold him guiltless," &c. 

In the prohibition two things are to be inquired into : 
What is meant by the name of God, and what it is to take 
God's name in vain. Let us first inquire, 

What is meant by the name of God. This hath sun- 
dry acceptations in the Scripture. 

Sometimes it is taken for the nature and heing of the 
Deity itself. Nor is it an unusual figure to put name for 
the thing or person that is expressed by it. As, Rev. 3 : 
4, " Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, that have not 
.defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in 
white :" that is, thou hast a few persons in Sardis. So, 
likewise, we may observe it to be frequently used when 
the Scripture speaks of God and Christ. Psalm 20 : 1, 
'* The name of the God of Jacob defend thee :" that is, 
let the God of Jacob himself, who is the only true and 
almighty potentate, be thy shield and thy defence. Psalm 
135 : 3, " Sing praises unto his name :" that is, offer 
your returns of thanks and praises unto that God from 
whom you have received your mercies and salvation. So, 
Psalm 115 : 1, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
unto thy name give glory :" that is, let the glory which 
is due unto thee be entirely ascribed unto thyself And 
so concerning Christ, Luke, 24 : 47, " Repentance and 
remission of sins are to be preached to all nations in his 
name : that is, through him ; and John, 1 : 12, " He gave 
power to become the sons of God, to as many as believed 
in his name :" that is, to as many as believed in him. And 
thus it is used in innumerable places. 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 167 

Agai7i : Sometimes the name of God is- taken for the 
whole system of divine and heavenly doctrine revealed to 
us in the Scriptures. 

Thus the Psalmist, " I will declare thy name unto my 
brethren," Psalm 22 : 22, which the Apostle cites as 
spoken in the person of Christ, Heb. 2 : 12 ; and the 
meaning is, that Christ should declare and make known 
to the world a true spiritual doctrine and way of worship, 
and teach them a religion which should both perfect their 
reason and save their souls. And, as a testimony of the 
accomplishment of this prophecy, our Savior himself tells 
us, John, 17 : 6, "I have manifested thy name unto the 
men which thou gavest me." And ver. 26, " I have de- 
clared unto them thy name, and will declare it ;" that is, 
1 have instructed them in the true religion and right wor- 
ship of the great God. And so it is taken likewise, Micah, 
4:5, " All people will walk every one in the name of his 
god ; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God 
for ever and ever :" that is, we will walk in that way of 
worship and religion which is appointed and approved 
by the Lord our God. 

And once more: The name of God is taken for that 
whereby God is called^ and by which his nature ahd per- 
factions are made known to men. 

For names are imposed to this veiy intent, that they 
might declare what the thing is to which the name be- 
longs. Thus, when God had created Adam and made him 
the lord of this visible world, he caused the beasts of the 
field and the fowls of the air to pass before him, both to 
do homage to their new sovereign and likewise to receive 
names from him ; which, according to the perfection of 



168 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

nig kr.icwledge, did then aptly serve to express their seve- 
ral natures, and were not only names but definitions too. 
And so, when we read of the names of G od in Scripture, 
they all signify some expressions of his infinite essence, 
in which he is pleased to spell out himself unto us, some- 
times by one perfection and sometimes by another. 

Now these names of God are either his titles or his 
attributes, concemiiig which I have fonnerly treated at 
large in expounding the first petition of the Lord's prayer, 
Hallowed he thy name; and therefore I shall here only 
mention them, and so proceed. 

1 . His titles are his name. , 

And these are some of them absolute : as those glorious 
titles of Jah, Jehovah, God, I am. I s.^Tiat'k sent thee, 
saith God to Moses. And these are names altogether in- 
comprehensible and stupendous. 

Others are relative, and have respect to us. So his 
name of Creator denotes his infinite power in giving be 
ing to all things. Lord and King signify his dominion 
and authority in disposing and governing all that he hath 
made. Father signifies his care and goodness in provid- 
ing for us his offspring : Redeemer, his mercy in delivering 
us from temporal evils and calamities, but especially from 
eternal death and destruction. 

These, and other such-like titles, God assumes to him- 
self, to express in some measure, as we are able to bear, 
what he is in himself. 

2. His attributes also are his name. 

Some of these are incommunicable ; as his eternity, im- 
mensity, immutability, simplicity, &c. whicb are so pro- 
per to the divine nature that they belong to no created 
oeing. 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 169 

Others are communicable : as his mercy, goodness, ho-, 
liness and truth. These are communicable, because some 
rays of them may be found in created beings : but yet, in 
the infinite degree and excellency which they have in God, 
they are incommunicable, and proper only to the Deity. 
Therefore, though angels or men may be said to be holy, 
or just, or good, yet none of them are so originally: none 
are so, infinitely and unchangeably ; none are so, simply 
and in the abstract, but only God himself. 

These then are the names op God. And here in the 
text. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain, we must understand it concerning the name of 
God in this last acceptation ; that is, for any name of his 
whereby he is pleased to reveal himself unto us, whether 
it appertain to his titles or to his attributes : neither of 
these must be taken in vain. 

But we must now consider what it is to take the 
NAME OP God in vain. And, first, to take the name of God 
is no other than briefly to make use of it either as the ob- 
ject of our thoughts or the subject of our discourse. And 
so we find this phrase used. Psalm 16 : 4, "I will not 
take up their names into my lips." And Psalm 50 : 16, 
" What hast thou to do — that thou shouldst take my co- 
venant in thy mouth 1" that is, that thou shouldst speak, 
or make mention of it. So that, to take God's name, is to 
speak or mention it. 

And now, as to taking God^s name in vain, we do so 
when we use it vdthout propounding to ourselves a due 
end ; or without due consideration and reverence ; or in 
an undue and unlawful action. 

CommanrlinpTifs. 8 



170 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

I. When we use it without propounding to our- 
selves A due end. 

The end characterizes the action : if the end be vain, 
the action must be so too. There are but two ends that 
can justify and warrant the use of any of God's names— 
either his titles or his attributes — and they are, the glo- 
ry of God, and the edification of ourselves and others. 
Whatsoever is besides these is light and frivolous, and 
can be no good ground to us to make any mention of his 
great and terrible name, which is so full of glory and ma- 
jesty, that it should never be uttered but where the sub- 
ject of our discourse is serious and weighty. 

I will not now speak of those who vend the holy and 
reverend name of God with oaths and blasphemies ; a sin 
by so much the more heinous and abominable, by how 
much less temptation there is to it, either of pleasure or 
profit. This is an iniquity to he punished by the judge. 
And, would to God laws were put in severe execution to 
cramp the black tongues of all such profane wretches, 
whose number so abounds and swarms that we can no 
where walk the streets without being assaulted with 
whole volleys of oaths and curses. 

But for others who are of more blameless conversation, 
may it not be observed how their discourse and familiar 
tattle are filled up with the name of God and Lord? I 
beseech you, consider what end do you propound to your 
selves in thus using the great and terrible name of God ? 
Are all your discourses so serious as to bear the bur- 
den of that great name '? Are they all immediately direct- 
ed to the advancement of his glory 1 Or do they all pro- 
mote the benefit and welfare of those who hear them 1 
If so, then indeed the name of God can never be more 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 171 

seasonably used. But if you make the name of the highest 
Lord serve only to express some small wonderment, or 
that of the great God only an expletive to fill up a gap in 
your speeches, certainly these are such low and mean 
ends that God will not hold thee guiltless. He accounts 
himself contemned when you mention his name to such 
idle purposes, and will revenge the dishonor that you do 
him by it. 

II. The name of God is taken in vain, when we use 

IT WITHOUT DUE CONSIDERATION AND REVERENCE. 

Whensoever we make mention of him we ought serious- 
ly to ponder his infinite greatness and glory, and to bow 
our hearts in the deepest prostration before that name to 
which all the powers in heaven and earth bow down with 
most humble veneration. 

But is it possible for those who speak of God promis- 
cuously and at random, is it possible that they should 
utter his name with reverence, when all the rest of the 
discourse is nothing but froth and levity ] Nay, if they be 
reproved for it, will they not allege for their excuse that 
which is their very sin, that they did not consider it 1 And 
what ! will you dare to bolt out the great name of the 
great God without cojisidering it ? Is that a name to be 
sported with and to be tossed to and fro upon every light 
and vain tongue 1 The tongue of man is called his glory, 
Psalm 57 : 8, " Awake up, my glory." And shall the 
glory of man be the dishonor of God ] Shall that, which 
was created to be a principal instrument of magnifying 
and exalting God's name, run it over without affection or 
reverence 1 

Those things which we most of all contemn and ^ie 



172 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

spise we use as by-words, and lay no great stress nor 
sense upon them. And truly when we speak of God, 
without considering how great, how glorious and excel- 
lent a being he is — ^how holy, just and powerful — we do 
but make him a by-word ; which is the highest contempt 
and indignity that can be cast upon him. 

And therefore the best means that can be used to secure 
us from the wicked habit many have of taking God's name 
in vain, is seriously to consider whose name it is, even the 
name of the great God, who is present with thee, and 
hears thee pronounce it ; that God, to whom the greatest 
and most glorious things compared, are base and vile no- 
things ; that God, who is jealous of his honor and will 
dreadfully revenge himself upon the contemners of it. 
And if thou hast but wrought these considerations into 
thy heart, and habituated them to thy thoughts, thou wilt 
for ever be afraid to speak of his majesty vainly and ir- 
reverently. 

III. The name of God is taken in vain, when we 

USE IT TO AN UNDUE AND UNLAWFUL END ; especially 

when it is brought to confirm a falsehood, either in perju- 
ry or heresy ; which is a most horrid impiety. 

Therefore it is observed that the same word which is 
here rendered vain, signifies also false or deceitful. So 
that this precept. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord 
thy God in vain, may be rendered also. Thou shalt not 
take the name of the Lord thy God in falsehood. Not that 
this is the only unlawful way of using it, but that this is 
the chief and most notorious abusing of it. And indeed 
what greater sin can there be than to bring God to be a 
witness to our lie 1 to make him, who is truth itself, 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 173 

attest that which is falsehood and deceit 1 Therefore Agur 
prays against pinching poverty as well as superfluous 
liches : " Lest," saith he, "I be poor, and steal, and take 
the name of my God in vain." Prov. 30 : 9. That is, lest 
poverty compel me to steal, and fear of shame or punish- 
ment tempt me to swear by the name of the great God 
that I have not done it. This indeed is to take God's 
name in vain in the worst and highest sense. 

Suffer me now to close this part of our subject with 
some practical application to your consciences. 

1. Let your minds be convinced of the greatness and 
heinousness of this sin, and he deeply humbled that you 
have been guilty of it. 

I well know that the commonness not only of God's 
mercies towards us, but of our sins against him, takes off 
much from our observation, and abates them both in our 
estimate. And because this is so common a sin, our ears 
are so beaten to it that we too little regard it. Possibly, 
should we hear a devil incarnate belch out some direful 
oath, we should start and tremble at it ; but when we 
hear the name of the great God, and our only Lord, slip 
along in some trifling and impertinent discourse, this per- 
haps we take no notice of, and the commonness of the 
sin hath almost stifled all reproofs. 

I beseech you, therefore, to consider, 

1. That we are not to weigh sins by the opinion of men ^ 
but by the censure and se?itence of God. 

He hath no more allowed you to take his name in vain, 
than he hath to blaspheme it. The irreverent using of it is 
as expressly forbidden, as the abjuring and cursing of it. 
And when the law of G od hath not given us liberty, it is 



174 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

most intolerable presumption that we should dare to take 
liberties ourselves. 

2. Consider, also, thou that sportest away the name of 
God in thy ordinaiy prattle, wJiat wilt thou have to rely 
upon in thy greatest distresses 1 

The Wise Man tells us, " The name of the Lord is a 
strong tower; the righteous runneth unto it, and is saved." 
Prov. 18 : 10. But, alas, what comfort canst thou find in 
the name of God in thy greatest necessities, since it is 
the. same name that thou hast used and worn out before 
in the meanest and most trivial concerns] Thou hast 
already talked away the strength and virtue of it, and 
wilt hardly find more support from it in thy tribulation 
than thou gavest reverence to it in thy conversation. Let us 
then be more cautious than to spend so excellent a re- 
medy against all fears, and sorrows, and afflictions, vainly 
and unprofitably. ** Thy name," saith the spouse, " is as 
ointment poured forth." Cant. 1:3. But certainly, if, up- 
on every slight occasion, we break the box and expose 
the name of God to common air, it will in time lose its 
fragrance and virtue ; and when we have most need of it, 
we shall find no refreshment, no comfort in it. 

3. This common and irreverent using of the name of 
God will insensibly overspread us with a spirit of profane- 
ness. We shall by degrees arrive to a plain contempt of 
God, when we thus hourly and unnecessarily talie his 
name into our mouths. 

For what else is this, but to make ourselves rude and 
familiar with that infinite Majesty, towards whom the 
profoundest testimonies of respect and reverence must 
fall infinitely short of expressing our due distance % But 
by using his name vulgarly and promiscuously, what 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 175 

do we else but make it our sport, and blow it up and 
down with every idle breath, as children do bubbles in 
the air ? ' 

4. Again : canst thou, in duty, easily compose thyself to 
reverence the holy and dreadful name of God, when thou 
hast thus accustomed thyself to name him without any 
veneration or respect in thy common discourse 1 

Certainly it is the hardest thing imaginable to make 
the heart fall down prostrate before that God whom thou 
invokest in prayer, when once thou art used to invoke 
him slightly in thy ordinary converse. 

Let me therefore beseech you, reader, as you regard 
his glory, of which he is jealous, that whensoever you 
speak of God, or but mention his name, you will do it with 
a holy awe and dread of his Divine Majesty ; that you will 
seriously consider that that name, to which every knee 
bows, both of things in heaven, and things on earth, and 
things under the earth, whether they be angels or devils, 
requires from you more respect and honor than to be 
idly blurted out with every rash and foolish expression. 

And you who are masters of families and have children 
and sei-vants committed to your care, beware that, if they 
are addicted to it, you stop this growing sin in them be- 
times. It is the sin and shame of parents that they suf- 
fer little ones to lisp the name of God irreverently, and 
to learn the first syllables and rudiments of oaths and 
curses before they can well speak : whereby they lay a 
deep foundation for their future impiety, and thereby 
bring the guilt of the next generation upon us, who, by 
indulging them in these young sins, do but introduce 
those habits of wickedness in them which perhaps can 
never afterwards be rooted out. 



176 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

TV. But there is also another kind of taking the name 
of God in vain, and that is in our duties and holy per- 
formances. 

One way this is done, is when in our prayers we ask 
those things of God which are unlawful or unwarrantable. 
As when we pray on the behalf of our lusts, to obtair 
provision to fiilfil them : " Ye ask amiss, that ye may 
consume it upon your lusts." James, 4 : 3. When we 
pray out of envy, malice and revenge, that God would 
make himself a party in our unreasonable and angry 
quarrels j such prayers as these are vain ; for what we 
thus desire either shall not be granted unto us, or, if it 
be, shall be granted unto us in wrath. 

Another way is, when we perform holy duties slightly 
and without affection : whenever we do this we then like- 
wise take the name of God in vain. Therefore, all hypo- 
critical services, all heartless repetitions are vain, and 
God's name is not sanctified but abused in them. For, 
whatever we do in such a manner as we may be certain 
God will not accept it, is done in vain. God wdll accept 
of no performance which is not accompanied with the 
heart, and filled with most devout affections ; and there- 
fore they are perfonned in vain, and to no other effect 
but to increase our guilt and our condemnation. Such in- 
vocations are but scoffings of God ; and all the motions 
of our lips, vdthout the correspondent motion of our 
hearts, is no better than making mouths at God. 

V. Beware also especially of another kind of profaning 
the name of God and taking it in vain, which is of a far 
higher and more heinous nature ; and that is, by unlaw- 
ful OATHS AND EXECRATIONS. 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 177 

An oath, in the general, is a confirmation of our speech 
es, by calling in God to witness and attest the truth of 
them; called therefore by TuUy, a religious affirmation 
De Offic. 1. iii. It is of two kinds, assertory and pro- 
missory : the former, when we assert that such a thing 
either hath been or is, the latter, when we engage that 
for the future it shall be, and be performed by us, which 
oath we do sufficiently and with a good conscience keep, 
if we use our utmost endeavors to accomplish what we 
have thus sworn, although the effect may be impeded by 
many invincible obstacles intervening. 

Now because an unjustifiable scrupulousness hath seized 
on some persons, who think that every oath is unlawful, 
and the taking of the holy and reverent name of God in 
vain, and so a violation of this commandment ; I shall 
therefore briefly allude to that much controverted ques- 
tion. Whether at any time or in any circumstances it he 
lawful for a christian to assume the name of God in an 
oath ; and then I shall proceed to show what oaths art 
unlawful and execrable si?is. 

For the first, I assert, 

1, That an oath is so far from being always sinful^ that 
it is sometimes a duty, yea, an act of religion and part of 
the service and worship of God ; and, therefore, not only 
lawful but necessary. 

This we find, Deut. 6 : 13, " Thou shalt fear the Lord 
thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name." 
Yea, the psalmist mentions it as a matter of exultation, 
as if some notable service were done by it unto God : 
" Every one that sweareth by him shall glory." Psalm 
63 : 11. And if we consult the approved examples of holy 
men in Scripture, we shall firequently find them either ex 
. 8-^ 



178 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

acting oaths from others, or else themselves invoking the 
testimony of the most high God to confirm the truth of 
what they speak. The places are too numerous to be 
cited, and too well known to need it. 

But because the great objection against these is, that 
ihey are only authorities produced out of the Old Testa- 
ment, and we are now obliged by the precepts of a su- 
perior Lawgiver, the Lord Jesus Christ ; therefore I say 
in answer, that the objection argues too great a vilifying 
and contempt of those sacred oracles which were given 
to the church by the hand of Moses ; and that things of a 
moral nature, as an oath is, cannot in one age of the 
world be a duty, and in another a sin, when it is attended 
with the same circumstances. 

And yet further, for their satisfaction, let us see what 
is spoken concerning oaths in the New Testament, or in 
the Old relating to it. In the Old we have a prophecy of 
what should be hereafter in the times of the Gospel : Isa. 
45 : 23, " I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out 
of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That 
unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall 
swear." And again, Jer. 12 : 16, " And it shall come to 
pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, 
to swear by my name — then shall they be built in the midst 
of my people." But yet, if neither of these will suffice, 
let us see some more immediate confirmation of this out 
of the New Testament itself. We find St. Paul himself 
more that once attesting the truth of those grave and 
weighty matters which he delivers in his Epistles, by 
calling God to witness, which is the very form and na- 
ture of an oath : so 2 Cor. 1 : 23, " I call God for a re- 
ccwd upon my soul, that, to spare you I came not as y^t 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 179 

unto Corinth;" and so again, Phil. 1:8, "God is my 
record, how greatly I long after you all ;" and what other 
than a kind of oath is that vehement asseveration of the 
same Apostle, 1 Cor. 15: 31, "I protest by your re- 
joicing, which I have in Christ Jesus, I die daily." And 
again, Rom. 9 : 1, " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not." 
And if you would yet have an example somewhat more 
perfect, we may see it in the practice of a holy angel t 
Kev. 10 : 5, 6, " The angel stood upon the sea and upon 
the earth, and lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by 
Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven — 
and the earth, and the things in them — that there should 
be time.no longer." So that you do abundantly see, by 
all these instances, that it is not simply and universally 
unlawful to assume the holy name of God in an oath, 
and to call him in to be a witness to the truth of what 
we affinn. 

The grand objection that lies against this, is taken 
from two places of Scripture. One is. Matt. 5 : 34-37, 
** But I say unto you, swear not at all : neither by hea- 
ven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is 
his footstool : neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of 
the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, 
because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 
But let your communication be, yea, yea ; and nay, nay : 
for -whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil." Can 
any thing be more express against all manner of oaths 
than this ; where we have a cautious enumeration of 
many of them which were most vulgar and common ] 

The other place is James, 5 : 12. '' But above all 
things, my brethren, swear not ; neither by heaven, neither 
^y (th.e «arth, neither by any otfe/©r oath; but let your yea 



180 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

be yea, and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemna- 
tion." Can any thing be more express, or more com- 
manding than this, "above all things, my brethren]" 
and, "lest you fall into condemnation?" 

But, for answer to this, we must know that our Savior 
and his Apostle do not here simply and absolutely con- 
demn all oaths, but only that common and profuse swear- 
ing which the scribes and pharisees taught con^uptly to 
be no sin. For in this point of oaths they had divulged 
among the people three false traditions. 

One was, that it was lawful for them to swear common- 
ly, and without restraint, by any creature. Another was, 
that there was no binding oath wherein the name of G od 
was not expressly used; and therefore, though they 
should swear by creatures, yet they were not perjured, 
although they should not perform what they thus uttered, 
except some few cases, wherein interest made them con- 
scientious. This we have. Matt. 23 : 16, 18, " Wo unto 
you, ye blind guides ! which say, whosoever shall swear 
by the temple, it is nothing. And whosoever shall swear 
by the altar, it is nothing." That is, they taught that such 
an oath was not obligatory, because it was only by crea- 
tures. And yet, even here, they excepted such oaths as 
were conceived and uttered by the gold of the temple, or 
the gifts on the altar, out of a politic covetousness, that 
by so great a reverence shown to the gifts that were of- 
fered the people might be induced to offer more freely, 
and by that means their share of them might be the larger. 

A third false doctrine that they taught was, that common 
swearing was no sin, although it were by the great God, 
if what they sware were true. And by this they gave 
scope and liberty to confirm all that they said with an 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 181 

oath, if they only took care to utter nothing that was false. 

Against these three corrupt traditions are our Savior's 
and the apostle's words directed. 

(1.) For it is perjui-y to violate an oath conceived by 
creatures, and that because of the near relation that all 
creatures have to God, the great Creator. This reason our 
Savior mentions in the fore-named place : " Swear not — 
by heaven, for it is God's throne ; nor by the earth, for 
it is his footstool ; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of 
the great King." And, more expressly, Matt. 23 : 21, 22, 
** He that shall swear by heaven, SAveareth by the throne 
of God, and by him that sitteth thereon," even as he who 
" shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that 
dwelleth therein." And so, by the same proportion of rea- 
son, whoever shall swear by any creature doth also vir- 
tually swear by the Almighty Creator of it ; and therefore 
it is as much perjuiy to falsify an oath made by any crea- 
ture as if it were made by the great God himself; because 
creatures are all of and from God. And, 

(2.) Although it be perjury to falsify an oath taken by 
any creature, yet it is a sin likewise, and utterly unlaw- 
ful, to make any such oath, insomuch as it is an idola- 
ti'ous ascribing of religious worship unto the creature 
which is due to God only. And in this sense, especially, 
I understand these words of our Savior, Swear not at all; 
that is, not hy any creature. And this, the following enu- 
meration of heaven, and earth, and Jerusalem, and their 
head, which were the usual forms of their oaths, and by 
which our Savior forbids them to swear, doth clearly 
prove to be his true meaning. 

(3.) These places teach that it is a sin to swear at any 
time, or by any thing, although the great God himself, un- 



182 THE TEN COaiMANDMENTS. 

necessarily and arbitrarily: therefore swear not at all 
unless some just reason and cogent necessity constrain 
you to call in so great a testimony to confirm the truth 
of what you speak; for common and daily swearing is a 
iiigh contempt and irreverence shown to the majesty of 
that God whom we bring in to attest to every trifle and 
frivolous thing we utter. 

And this I take to be the true sense and meaning of 
these places of Scripture ; and that they do not simply 
and absolutely condemn all manner of oaths, but the cor- 
rupt doctrine of the scribes and pharisees, and the cor- 
rupt practice of their disciples, who thought it no sin to 
swear familiarly if they did not swear falsely. So that the 
meaning of Swear not at all, is, swear not unnecessarily 
and voluntarily. 

2. To make an oath lawful it must have these three 
qualifications mentioned by the prpphet, Jer. 4:2. " Thou 
shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and 
in righteousness.''^ 

A warrantable oath must be accompanied wdth truth. 
For it is taken in the name of the God of truth. Isaiah, 
69 : 15. He that swear eth in the earth shall swear by the 
God of truth. Therefore it behoves him to consider whe- 
ther what he deposeth be truth or not. Yea, moreover, 
we must be fully certain that the thing is as we attest it ; 
for a man may be guilty of perjury in swearing that which 
is true, if he either believe it otherwise, or be doubtful of it. 
Hence he that is called to give his oath must look to these 
two things : that his words agree with his mind, and that 
the thing agrees with his words. H« who fails in the second 
is a false swearer : he who fails in the first ie a fors'ipear- 
er ; and in both is a perjured person. 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 183 

A lawful oath must be taken in judgment ; discreetly 
and deliberately ; advising and pondering with ourselves 
before we swear. And here we must consider both the 
mattery whether that be right and good; and the endsy 
whether they are duly propounded by us. Now there are 
but two ends that can wairant an oath : one is the benefit 
of ourselves or others, the other is the glory of God. And 
whosoever shall swear without a due consideration of 
these ends, and a holy and sincere desire to accomplish 
them by his oath, he swears rashly and unwarrantably. 

A lawful oath must be taken in righteousness ond. justice. 
Hence it is very wicked to bind ourselves by an oath or 
vow to do things that are either impossible or sinful. 

1. The matter of a just oath ought to be possible. Thus 
we see how cautious Abraham's servant ^was when his 
master made him swear to take a wife for hie son Isaac 
of his kindred, Gen. 24 : 5. Peradventiire the woman will 
not be willing to follow me unto this land. And so should 
we, in all our promissory oaths, caution and limit them 
with those reasonable exceptions, of as far as We know, 
and can lawfully endeavor. 

2. The matter of a just oath must be not only possi 
ble but lawful and honest too. For if it be unlawrCul we 
are necessarily ensnared in sin : for either we must violate 
God's command or our own oath. Thus it was a most 
wicked oath in the Jews who combined together against 
Paul, and bound themselves under a curse that they 
would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him. And 
so every oath which engageth men to sedition, disturb- 
ance of goveniraent, and rebellion, is in itself an unlaw- 
ful oath, and obligeth them to nothing but to repent of it 
and renounce it. 



184 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

According to these three qualifications therefore must 
every oath be regulated, else it is not a lawful oath, but a 
horrid contempt of God and taking of his name in vain. 

But, to speak no more concerning lawful oaths, let 
us now consider those which arp but too common among 
us : I mean unlawful and sinful oaths. 

Two things make an oath unlawful : falsehood and 
rashness. 

1. When it is falsehood. 

This, indeed, is a most desperate sin, to vouch a lie 
upon God's credit, and to father a falsehood upon him 
who is the God of truth, yea, truth itself. This manifests 
the highest contempt of God, when we call him to witness 
that which the devil prompted us to speak. Should not 
we ourselves take it for a high affront and indignity, to 
be made vouchers of other men's lies to put off their 
falsehoods "? How much more, then, is it a most hellish 
wickedness committed against the great God, to assert a 
kiiown lie and then call in God to attest it for a truth! 
which is no other but to father a brat of the devil, who is 
a liar and the father of lies, upon God, who hates liars, 
and hath appointed severe torments for them. See how 
dreadfully God is incensed by this sin, Jer. 7 : 9, 15, 16, 
where he speaks of it as almost an unpardonable offence : 
" Will ye steal, and murder — and swear falsely 1 There- 
fore I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out your 
brethren. Pray not thou for this people ; neither lift up a 
cry nor prayer for them ; neither make intercession to me, 
for I will not hear thee." And so, Zech. 5 : 4, speaking 
of the curse that should go forth over the face of the whole 
earth : " I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of Hosts, and 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 185 

it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house 
of him that sweareth falsely by my name ; and it shall re- 
main in the midst of his house, and it shall consume it, 
with the timber thereof, and with the stones thereof." 

2. As false swearing is a notorious profaning of the 
name of God, so likewise is rask swearing in our com- 
mon and ordinary discourse. 

This is a sin that greatly abounds and prevails, and 
often we may see the very soot of hell hang about men's 
lips. Nay, this is the sin not only of more lewd and pro- 
fligate wretches, who mouth their oaths with sound and 
cadence ; but of those, too, who would be thought to be 
of better character. And indeed all oaths which are con- 
ceived by any other thing besides the great God, how 
modest soever they may be in their sound, yet are more 
impious in effect than those louder ones which immedi- 
ately call God himself to witness ; and therefore the pro- 
phet speaks of it as a most heinous and almost unpardon- 
able sin, Jer. 5:7, " How shall I pardon thee for this % 
Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that 
are no gods." For since an oath is sacred, and a part 
of divine worship, those that swear by any created thing, 
as i}iiQ\£ faith, and truth, and conscience, are guilty not only 
of V?iin swearing, but of idolatiy too. 

But some will say. What so great evil can there he in 
an oath so long as it is truth which they assert hy it? This 
I know is the common reply and excuse of those who are 
guilty of this sin and reproved for it. To this I answer, 

1. Although what they speak may be true, yet it is a 
most provoking sin so far to debase the holy and reverend 
name of God as to bring it to attest every trivial and im- 



186 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

pertinent thing they utter ; and if they swear by any crea- 
ture, it is by so much the worse. No oath is in itself sim- 
ply good and voluntarily to be used, but only as medi- 
cines are, in case of necessity. But to use oaths ordinari- 
ly and indifferently without being constrained by any co- 
gent necessity, or called to it by any lawful authority, is 
such a . sin as wears off all reverence and dread of the 
great God ; and we have very great cause to suspect that 
where his name is so much upon the tongue there his fear 
is but little in the heart. 

2. Though thou swearest what is true, yet customary 
swearing to truths will insensibly bring thee to swear 
falsehoods. For when once thou art habituated to it, an 
oath will be more ready to thee than a truth ; and so when 
thou rashly boltest out somewhat that is either doubtful 
or false, thou wilt seal it up and confirm it with an oath 
before thou hast had time to consider what thou hast said 
or what thou art swearing ; for those who accustom them- 
selves to this vice lose the observation of it in the fre- 
quency ; and if you reprove them for swearing, they will 
be ready to swear again that they did not swear. And 
therefore it is well observed by Augustine, " We ought to 
forbear swearing that which is truth, for by the custom 
of swearing men oftentimes fall into perjury, and axe al- 
ways in danger of it." 

But now further to dehort you from this sin of common 

swearing, consider, 

1. It is a sin which hath very little or no temptation to 
commit it. 

The two great baits by which the devil allunes men to 

A'ickedness, are profit and pleasure. 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 187 

But this common rash swearing is the most unprofitable, 
barren sin in the world. What fruits brings it forth, but 
only the abhorrence and detestation of all serious per- 
sons, and the tremendous judgment of Grod ? The swear- 
er gains nothing by it at present, but only the reputation 
of being a devil incarnate; and, for the future, his gains 
shall be only the torments of those devils and damned 
spirits whose language he hath learned and speaks. He 
that sows the wind of an oath, shall reap the whirlwind 
of God's fury. 

Again: what pleasure is there in it? Which of his 
senses doth it please and gratify"? " Were I an epicure," 
saith one, ** I would hate swearing." Were tten resolved 
to give themselves up to all manner of sensual delights, 
yet there is so Httle that can be strained from this com- 
mon sin, that certainly unless they intend to do the devil 
a pleasure rather than themselves, they would never set 
their black mouths against heaven, nor blaspheme the 
great God who sits enthroned there. 

Ask them why they indulge themselves in such a pro- 
voking sin : some cannot forbear out of mere custom ; and 
others are pleased with the lofty sound and genteel phrase 
of an oath, and count it a special grace and ornament 
of speaking. And, what ! Are these temptations ? Are 
these such strong and mighty provocations that you can- 
not forbear ] Shall the holy name of the great God be 
torn in pieces by you, only to patch and fill up the rents 
of your idle talk % If this be the motive and inducement 
that makes you commit so great a sin, as commonly there 
is no other, know that you perish as fools perish, and 
sell your souls to damnation and eternal perdition for 
very nothing. 



188 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Others, perhaps, will plead for their excuse, that they 
never use to swear but when they are vexed and put into 
a passion. But what a madness is this, when men anger 
thee, to strike at God, and to provoke him far more than 
others can provoke thee ! If thou art never so highly in- 
censed, why shouldst thou throw thy poisonous foam in 
God's face % Hast thou no other way of venting thy pas- 
sion, but to fly in God's face and to revenge thyself on 
him when men have injured thee % Certainly thy passion 
can be no more a temptation to do this, than it would be 
to stab thy father because thine enemy hath struck thee. 

2. It is a most foolish sin, because it contradicts the 
very end for which they commit it. 

The common swearer perhaps thinks that he shall be 
much the sooner believed for his oaths ; whereas, with all 
serious and judicious persons, there is nothing that doth 
more lighten the credit of his speeches than his rash 
binding and confirming the truth of them by swearing. 
For what reason have I to think that man speaks truth 
who doth so far suspect himself as to think what he re- 
lates is not credible unless he swear to it ; and certain- 
ly, he that owes God no more respect than to violate tho 
sanctity and reverence of his name upon every trifling 
occasion, cannot easily be thought to owe the truth so 
much respect as not to violate it ; especially considering 
that there are far stronger temptations unto lying than 
unto swearing. 

3. Consider that the devil is the author and father, not 
of lying only, hut of swearing also. "Let your yea be yea, 
and your nay, nay," saith our Savior ; " for whatsoever 
is more than these,. cometh of evil," Mat. 5 : 37, ek ton 
ponerou esti, that is, cometh of the evil one, who is still 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 



189 



prompting the swearer and putting oaths upon the tip of 
his tongue. ' - 

And now to conclude this subject, I shall give you some 
rules and directions, by the observance of which you may 
avoid this too common sin. 

1. Beware of the first rudiments and beginnings of baths. 

And such are a company of idle words frequently used 
in the mouths of many, which formerly were bloody oaths, 
but are now worn to rags and disguised into imperfect 
sounds and nonsense. Few that speak them know what 
they mean ; but if they did, certainly they would tremble 
at such execrable words that hide and dissemble the 
most horrid oaths that can be uttered : some of them 
being blasphemous, as those that are conceived by the 
limbs of God ; and others being idolatrous, as those which 
are conceived by creatures ; as in that ordinary by- word 
of " Marry," which is no less than swearing by the Virgin 
Mary. And it is a notable artifice of the devil to bring 
such foolish and masked words into common use, that 
both they may swear that use them, although they know 
it not, and that, by using themselves to unknown oaths, 
they may be brought in time to take up those that are 
known. 

So also all vehement asseverations have in them some- 
what of the nature and are dangerous beginnings of 
oaths ; and those who accustom themselves to them will 
in time think them not forcible enough to confirm their 
speeches, and so be brought to attest them by oaths. 
Make nothing, therefore, the pawn and pledge of a truth, 
but speak it out simply and nakedly as it is in itself; and 
this will sooner conciliate belief than the most strong 



190 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

and binding asseverations that thou canst invent. This 
sin of swearing is strangely growing and thriving ; for, by 
a customary using of asseverations, we shall insensibly 
upon every occasion be tripping upon an oath; and a 
custom of swearing will at length bring in perjury ; and 
a custom of perjury, blasphemy ; and make them deny 
that God by whom they have so often forsworn them- 
selves, and yet gone unpunished. Beware, therefore, that 
you allow not yourselves any form of asseveration; 
but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay : proceed no 
further, for Christ hath allowed you no more. 

2. Subdue, as much as you can, all inordinate passion 
and anger. 

For anger is, usually, the cause and provocation of 
oaths and blasphemies. Anger is a fire in the heart; and 
swearing is the smoke of this fire, that breaks forth at the 
mouth ; and those who are violently hurried with this 
passion usually find nothing so ready at hand as an oath ; 
which, if they cannot be revenged on him whom they con- 
ceit to have done them the injury, they fling against hea- 
ven itself, and thereby seem to take an impious revenge 
upon the Almighty God. 

3. Labor to possess thy heart, and overawe it with the 
most serious considerations and apprehensions of the great- 
ness and majesty of God. 

This will be a good preservative to keep thee from 
abusing and profaning his name in common and rash 
swearing. Is he the great and terrible God of heaven 
and earth ] and shall I put such indignity upon him as 
to Call him from his throne to witness every vanity and 
trifle that I utter 1 Would I serve any mortal man so, 
whom I respect 1 or would not he account it an affront 



THIRD COMMANDMENT. 19] 

and injury done him 1 How much more, then, will tht 
great God be provoked, who is so great and glorious 
that it tires the conceptions of angels to apprehend his 
majesty ! How much more will he be provoked to have his 
name, which he hath commanded to be sacred and re- 
verend, daily rubbed and worn out between those lips 
that talk so many light, foolish and impertinent vanities ! 
There are several other violations of this Third Com- 
mandment : as hlaspliemy^ rash vows, unnecessary lots, 
&c. which being chiefly to be condemned upon the 
same account as swearing and a vain irreverent invoking 
the name of God, I shall not here treat of particularly, but 
leave the sin and guilt of them to be estimated in connec- 
tion with a due consideration of the several circumstances 
that attend them. Indeed the great positive duty required 
in this command, is, the reverencing and sanctifying the 
name of God whensoever we make mention of him, or 
of any thing that relates unto him. But because I have 
in a former treatise* spoken concerning that subject, I 
shall therefore wave it at present, and here close the ex- 
position of this Third Commandment. 

* On the Second Petition of the Lord's Prayer 



THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 



^(Remember tlie Sabbatli-day^, to keep it lioly. Six days 
sbalt thou labor, and do all tby work. But the seventh 
day is the Sabbath of the liord thy God : in it thou shalt 
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, 
nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy 
stranger that is w^ithin thy gates. For in six days the 
liord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in 
them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord 
blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallow^cd it." 

We are now arrived to the Fourth and last Command- 
ment of the First Table, and with the exposition of this 
I shall finish the consideration of those duties which im- 
mediately concern the worship and service of God. 

We have already observed, as a great deal of wisdom 
and excellency in the matter of each command, so a great 
deal of heavenly art in the method and digestion of them. 
And, upon serious reflection on both, we may very well 
conclude that they are as well the contrivance of the di- 
vine understanding as the engraving of his finger. 

The first requires that which is first and principally to 
be regarded, the inward veneration of the true God, in 
the dearest love and highest esteem and choicest affec- 
tions of a pious soul. 

The second enjoins the external expression of this re- 
verence, in the prostration of the body and other acts of 
nsible worship. For although God chiefly regards the 
heart and the frame and disposition of the inward man, 
yet he neglects not to observe the due composure of the 
body as a testimony of the soul's sincerity. 

And as this requires us to honor the majesty of God in 



r FOURTlJ COMMANDMENT. 193 

our gestures, so the third requires us to glorify the holy 
and reverend name of God in all our speeches and dis- 
courses : never to make mention of it but vdth that pre- 
possession of holy awe and dread that might compose us 
into all possible gravity and seriousness. 

And because every thing is beautiful in its season, 
therefore w^e have subjoined to all these a particular com- 
mand concerning the time wherein God prescribes all 
these to be more especially tendered unto him. And this 
is the precept which we have now under consideration : 
Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. 

In these words we have a command^ and the enforce- 
ment ot it. 

The command is, to sanctify the Sabbath. And hero 
this is justly observable : that, whereas all the i-est are 
simply either positive or negative, this is both. Remember 
to keep it holy : and, in it thou shalt not do any work. As 
if God took an especial care to fence us in on all sides 
to the observance of this precept. . 

The enforcement also is more particular, and vdth great- 
er care and instance than we find in any other command. 
For God hath here condescended to use three cogent ar- 
guments to press the observance of this law upon us. 

The first is taken from his own example, whom cer- 
tainly it is our glory as well as our duty to imitate in all 
things in which he hath propounded himself to be our 
pattern : The Lord rested the seventh day, and theiefore 
rest ye also. 

The second, from that bountiful and liberal portion of 
time that he hath allowed us for the affairs and business 
of this present life : Six days shalt thou labor, and do all 
thy work ; and therefore it is but fit and equitable that 

Commandments. C) 



194 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the seventh should be given to God, w^ho hath so freely 
given the rest to thee. 

The third, from the dedication of this day to his own 
immediate worship and service : The Lord blessed the 
Sabbath-day, and hallowed it. So that it is no less a sin 
than sacrilege, and stealing of that which is holy, to purloin 
any part of that time which God hath thus consecrated to 
himself, and to employ it about either sinful or secular 
actions. 

I shall begin with the command, Remebiber the Sab- * 

BATH-DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. 

The word Sabbath signifies rest and cessation from la- 
bor, and is applied to several things. 

Thus it signifies the temporal Sabbath, or the recur- 
ring seventh day or year, which we are now treating of. 
And because this was the principal day of the weekj 
therefore we find that the whole week is denominated 
from it a Sabbatli. Luke, 10 : 12 ; Mat. 28 : 1. 

It signifies also a spiritual rest, a rest from the slavery 
and drudgery of sin, and those sordid labors which the 
devil, our grievous taskmaster, exacts of us. And of this 
spiritual Sabbath the temporal one is a sign and type. So 
Exod. 31 : 13, "■ My Sabbaths ye shall keep ; for it is a 
sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am 
the Lord that doth sanctify you." 

Again : it is used likewise to signify the eternal rest of 
the blessed in heaven, v/here they rest from all their la- 
bors and from all their soitows, in the full fruition of the 
ever-blessed God and of all blessedness in him. So the 
apostle, Heb. 4:9, " There remaineth a rest unto the 
people of God.'* The word is trctSCATta-iuot, there remain- 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 195 

«th a SahbatJi, or the celebration of a Sahhatli, unto the 
people of God. 

It is only of the first of these, the temporal Sabbath j 
that I am now speaking. 

And here neither shall I speak of the Sabbath of years ^ 
when the land was every seventh year to rest from the 
labor of tillage and husbandly, as we find, Lev. 25 : 4, 
" The seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the 
land;'' nor yet. of the greater Sabbath of the jubilee, ob- 
served every fiftieth year, at the period of seven sabbati- 
cal years, wherein all possessions and inheritances which 
had been sold or mortgaged were again to return to the 
first owneirs, which Sabbath you have described. Lev- 
25 : 8, &c. But I shall only treat of the Sabbath of days^ 
which this commandment doth principally respect. 

And the general heads upon which I shall proceed are 
these four : its primitive institution ; its morality and per- 
petual obligation ; its change from the last to the first day 
of the week ; and the manner how God hath required it 
to be sanctified by us. ~ ^ 

I. Its primitive institution. 

When the Sabbath was instituted there is some differ- 
ence between learned men. 

Some date it late, and refer its beginning to the promul- 
gation of the law, or at farthest to the sending of manna 
to the Israelites. And they ground their assertion on this : 
that before that time we read not in all the history of the 
patriarchs and first ages of the world of any Sabbath that 
was observed and sanctified by the holy fathers who then 
lived, which doubtless they would not have neglected had 
any such command been given them. 



196 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Others, who I believe concur with the truth, date its 
original as high as the creation of the world ; grounding 
their opinion upon that unanswerable testimony, Gen. 
2:2, 3, " On the seventh day God ended his work, 
which he had made ; and God blessed the seventh day, 
and sanctified it." Now, that there cannot in these words 
be understood any prolepsis, or anticipation, declaring 
that as done then which was done many ages after, ap- 
pears plainly, because God is said to sanctify the Sabbath 
then, when he rested : but he rested precisely on the sev- 
enth day after the creation; therefore that very seventh 
day did God sanctify, and made it the beginning of all 
ensuing Sabbaths. So that you see the Sabbath is but one 
day younger than man ; ordained for him in the state of 
his uprightness and innocence, that his faculties being 
then holy and excellent, he might employ them, especially 
on that day, in the singular and most spiritual worship of 
God his Creator. And although we find no more mention 
of the Sabbath until Moses had conducted the children of 
Israel into the wilderness, which was about two thousand 
four hundred and fifty years after the creation ; yet it is 
not to be supposed that among the people of God, who 
were very cai-eful, as in observing the law of God them- 
selves, so in delivering it likewise to their posterity, that 
the observance of this law or of this day utterly failed; 
but it was doubtless continued among those that feared 
God, till it was again invigorated with new authority by 
the promulgation of it from Mount Sinai — Thus much for 
the institution. 

II. The MORALITY of the Sabbath. Concerning this 
there is a greater controversy, and of far greater moment. 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. ,' 197 

Some loose spirits contend that it is wholly ceremo7iial, 
and so was utterly abolished at the coming of Christ ; and 
therefore they will not be under the restriction of tV-cir 
liberty in observing any days or times. Others again make 
it wholly moral ; and affirm that the observance of the 
very seventh day from the creation is a law of nature and 
of perpetual obligation ; and therefore think themselves 
bound to keep the Jewish Sabbath. 

That I may clearly state this obscure and difficult 
question, I shall only premise, that those things are said 
to be moral and of the law of nature which are in them- 
selves rational and fit to be done, although there were no 
express command to enjoin them. So that where th6re is 
a great equity in the thing itself, enough to sway a ra- 
tional and honest man to the doing of it, that is to be ac- 
counted moral and authorized by the law of nature. That 
is of positive right which is observed only because it is 
commanded, and hath no intrinsical goodness or reason in 
itself to commend it to our practice, but obligeth only 
upon the injunction and authority of another. As for in- 
stance : it is naturally good to obey our parents, to ab- 
stain from murder, theft, adultery, &c. to do to others as 
we would be content to be dealt with ; these things we 
are obliged to by the very light of reason and the princi- 
ples of nature, although there had been no written law of 
God to impose them. But then there were other things to 
which God obliged some of his people, that had nothing 
to commend them besides the authority of his command ; 
and such were the various ceremonies under the law ; 
yea, and in innocence itself, the prohibition given to Ad- 
am not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil. The farmer sort are moral and natural commands : 



398 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

the latter positive and instituted. The former are com- 
manded, because good ; the latter are good, because cora 
manded. 

1. Certain it is that a convenient portion of our time is 
due to tilt service and worship of God hy natural and moral 
Hght. For certainly it is but fit and just that he should 
have a large share of our life and time, vv^ho hath given us 
life and time here upon earth, and hath created us to this 
very end, that we might serve and glorify him. Yea, had 
it been propounded to ourselves how much we would 
have allowed for God, could we, without shame and blush- 
ing, have set apart less time for his service from whom 
we have all, than himself hath done ] Tliis I think is by 
•all agreed to. 

2. The law of nature doth not dictate to us any pai 
ticular stated days to he set apart for the worship of God, 
one more than another: indeed there is no evident na- 
tural reason why this day more than that; why every 
seventh day rather than every sixth, or fifth, or fourth ; 
for all days being in their own nature alike, reason can 
find no advantage to prefer one day before another. But 
that which is obligatory by the law of nature, ought to 
be plain and evident to all men, or else evidently de- 
ducible from some natural principles. Now, if we lay 
aside the positive command of God, there is no one day 
in itself better than another ; and therefore there is a me- 
mento prefixed to the command, Remember that thou heejp 
holy tlie Sahhath-day, which is not added to any other 
precept • intimating to us that the observance of a special 
day is not a dictate of nature, but only an imposition of 
God, which he requires us to remember and bear in mind. 

3. That the seventh day should be especially consecrated 



rOURTH COMMANDMENT. 199 

to the service and worship of God is from his positive will 
and commandj and therefore is as binding and forcible as 
if it weie a law of nature engraven on our hearts j un- 
less the same authority alter it that did first enjoin it. 
For this being a positive law, is therefore good and neces- 
sary, because commanded. And if it had not been re- 
vealed to us, we should never have been obliged to this 
observance, nor made obnoxious to punishment for fail- 
ing in it. Yet again, 

4. This declaration ^f the will of God concerning the 
sanctijication of the Sahbath is attended with a moral rea- 
son ; and therefore is not merely and barely positive, as 
ceremonial laws are. The reason is, that God rested on 
the seventh day ; and therefore we ought so to do. 
Now, although this reason carries not such a natural evi- 
dence in it as to have obliged us unless it had been re- 
vealed; yet, being revealed, we may discern a certain 
aptitude and fitness in it to oblige us to the observance of 
the seventh day rather than any other ; since piety and 
religion require that we should imitate God in those 
things wherein he would have us imitate him. So that T 
account this command to be moral-positive : moral, in 
that it requires a due portion of our time to be dedicated 
to the service and worship of God : positive, in that it pre- 
scribes the seventh day for that especial service which 
the light and law of nature did not prefix ; and mixed 
of both, in that it gives a reason of this prescription, which 
hath somewhat of natural equity in it, but yet such as 
could not have been discovered without special and divine 
revelation. 

Now, because the observance of a Sabbath hath thus 
much x)f morality and of the law of nature in it, it is 



200 THE TElsr COMMANDMENTS. 

most certain that we are bound to keep a Sahhat/i as mucli 
as the Jews were : although not to the circumstance of the 
duty. For, 

(1.) T/iis command was obligatory, eve7i in paradise it- 
self, in the state of innocency; and therefore contains 
nothing in it unworthy the state of a christian. It is no 
ceremonial command, nor to be reckoned amongst those 
tilings which were typical, and prefigured Christ to come 
in the flesh, and therefore, neither was it abolished at his 
coming; but still there lies a strict and indispensable obli- 
gation upon us to observe a Sabbath holy unto the Lord. 

(2.) The reasons of this command are all moral and 
perpetual ; and therefore such is the obligation of it to us 
christians. The equity is the same to us that it was to 
thehi ; namely, that we should allow one day in seven to 
the worship of that God who so liberally allows us six for 
our ordinary affairs : the ease and refreshment of our bo- 
dies from the labors of our callings is as necesary as then 
it was ; and we are still as much obliged with thankful- 
ness to remember and meditate upon the great mercy of 
our creation as they were. And, therefore, if these were 
sufficient reasons why the Jews should observe a particu- 
lar Sabbath, they are still as forcible and cogent with us. 
Again, ' ' '.-' ~ > ' • > . 

(3.) Our Savior, foretelling the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, bids his disciples ^^ pray that their flight might not 
he in the winter, nor on the Sahhath-day^ Mat., 24 : 20: 
And yet the destruction of that city happened about forty 
years after the death of Christ ; and therefore, certainly 
those who were his disciples lay under an obligation of 
observing a Sabbath-day; because our Savior intimates 
that it would prove a heavy addition to their affliction if 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 201 

they should be forced to take their flight on the Sabbath, 
when they ought and desired to be employed in the spirit- 
ual exercise of devotion an<J holy duties proper to that day. 
But although the sanctifying of a Sabbath be thus obli- 
gatory to christians, yet it is not the same Sabbath-day 
to the observance of which the Jews and the people of 
God, before Christ's coming into the world were bound. 
But it is, with good ground and upon good authority, 
changed fi"om the last to the first day of the week ; from 
Saturday to Sunday ; called now the Lord's day, because 
it was that day of the week on which our Lord and 
Savior rose from the dead : in memory of which, and in a 
thankful acknowledgment of the great mercy of our re- 
demption fully completed by his resurrection, the Sab 
bath has been translated to this day ; and is now rightly 
celebrated on this day by all the churches of Christ 
throughout the world. , i 

III. This CHANGE of the Sabbath is the third head 
which I promised to speak of. 

As the first institution of the Sabbath was by divine 
authority ; so likewise is the change of it. For as God 
rested from his labor on the last day of the week ; so 
Christ rested from all his labor, sorrows and afflictions on 
this day, in which he fully completed the work of our re- 
demption, and manifested it to be perfected by his resur- 
rection from the dead. Therefore, as the Jewish Sahhath 
was sanctified because of the finishing of the work of cre- 
ation; so was the christian Sabbath because of the finish- 
ing of the work of redemption ; which is of far greater im- 
portance, and therefore deserves more to be celebrated 
tlian the other. Christ sanctified this day by his resun'ec- 

9* 



202 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

tion ; , and the Apostles confirmed the obsiervance of it, 
both by their writings and uniform practice; and it hath 
Buch an inviolable stamp of divinity upon it, that now it is 
no more alterable to the end of the world. 

Nor is it needful that an express command of Christ 
should be brought for this change out of the New Testa- 
ment. It is sufficient, if, by necessary consequence, it may 
be deduced from Scripture. And yet, 

1. We have express places of the Scripture thus far ^ 
that the first day of the week is mentianed as the stated 
time for christians to meet together, to preach, to hear, to 
break bread in the Lord's supper, and to perform other 
duties of religion. So, Acts, 20 : 7j "Upon the first 
day of the week, when the disciples came together to 
break bread, Paul preached unto them :" which plain 
ly declares that the solemn meetings and assemblies 
of christians were then on this day; the Jewish Sab- 
bath beginning to wear out, and the christian Sab- 
bath, or the Lord's day, coming into its place and 
stead. 

Again: The public collections for the poorer saints 
were ordained by the apostle to be made on this day. 
" Now concerning the collection for the saints— upon the 
first day of the week lel^ every one of you lay by him in 
store, as God hath prospered him." 1 Coi. 16 : 1, 2. And 
this very rule and custom the apostle says he had before 
established in the church of the Galatians. And why 
should this day be chosen for their collections, but only 
because the assemblies of christians Were held on this 
day; and so gave a better conveniency to gather their 
chai*ity than at any other time % 

Again ; St John saith of himself, that he was in the 



Ij-OURTU COMMANDMENT. 203 

Spirit on the Lord's day ; Rev. 1 : 10; which is no other but 
Uiis our christian Sabbath that hath received this title and 
denomination from our Lord Christ. For what some say, 
that St. John by the Lord's day means no more than the 
day of the Lord's appearing to him and reveaHng those 
many mysterious visions, is vain and scarce agreeable to 
the sense and gravity of Scripture expression. It sig- 
nifies, tlierefore, this day ; wherein the apostle being, in all 
likelihood, taken up with spiritual meditations, God was 
pleased to gratify him with the revelation of those great 
things which were afterwards to take their effect and ac- 
complishment. 

Put the force of these Scriptures together, and they 
will certainly amount to the full proof of the institution of 
this first day Sabbath. It is called the Lord's day : it was 
appointed and used for the assemblies of the saints ; for 
the preaching and hearing of the word, and the adminis- 
tration of the Lord's supper ; for the collection of alms 
for the relief of the poor ; and this not in one church only, 
but in other churches of the saints ; and that likewise not 
at some solemn times only, but weekly. Put these to- 
gether, and what more plain and evident proof can a thing 
of this nature admit of? :. . 

2. A second argument to prove this change is, tJie con- 
stant and uninterrupted practice of the church in all ages^ 
from the time of man' s redemption by the death and resur- 
rection of Christ to this very present day. 

Christ himself began the sanctification of it by his 
resun-ection ; on the same day he appeared to his dis- 
ciples ; and he himself infomis them of his resurrection, 
John, 20 : 19. 

I have already spoken of the practice of the Apostles ; 



204 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

and for the practice of the primitive church immediately 
after the Apostles, all ecclesiastical histories with one con- 
sent testify that the solemn assemblies of christians were 
held on this day : which unvaried custom and observance 
of the church of Christ ought to be of great weight with 
all solid and serious christians. And if we add to this 
likewise the unanimous consent of the most holy and spi- 
ritual men, who are generally found to be the most strict 
observers of the Lord's day; and lastly, the great bless- 
ing that God hath poured out upon his people in the plen- 
tiful effusion of his grace and Spirit on them in his holy 
ordinances celebrated on this day; it will be past all 
question that "this is the day that the Lord hath made '' 
for himself, and therefore " let us be glad and rejoice 
therein." 

We have thus considered the institution, morality and 
cliange of the Sabbath. 

IV. It remains now only to consider the sanctipica 

TION OF THE SaBBATH. 

In treating this I shall observe the same method as 
above, and satisfy myself in laying down positively what 
Scripture and reason dictate, without engaging in those 
tedious disputes about it which might make this dis- 
course both unpleasing and unprofitable. 

This commandment speaks of a twofold sanctijication 
of this day ; the one, which it hath already received from 
God; the other, which it ought to receive from man; 
and the former is given as a reason of and motive for the 
latter. 

1. God hath sanctified the Sahbath-day. • 

So we have it, verse 11, " Tlie Lord blessed the seventh 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 205 

day and hallowed it ; where these two words blessed and 
hallowed are only exegetical one of the other, and carry- 
in them the same sense common to both. 

Now God blessed and hallowed the Sabbath-day, not 
by infusing any inherent quality of holiness into it ; for 
neither days, nor places, nor any inanimate things are 
subjects capable of real holiness ; but, by separating that 
day from others, bestowing a higher dignity and privilege 
upon it, as the day whereon both himself chose to rest 
from the works of creation, and the day whereon he re- 
quires that we also should rest from the works of our or- 
dmary vocations. 

For, to hallaw and sanctify, is to set any thing apart 
from profane and common to sacred and spiritual uses. 
God therefore sanctified the Sabbath, when he selected it 
out of the course of other days, and set it apart from the 
common employments and services of life ; ordaining 
that the spiritual concernments of his glory and our sal- 
vation .should be therein especially transacted. And this 
is the blessing which God hath conferred upon this day ; 
for what other benefit is a day capable of, but only that 
when the other six days, like the unregarded vulgar of 
the year, were to be employed in the low and sordid 
drudgery of earthly affairs ; this seventh day God hath 
raised from the dunghill and set upon the throne, ap- 
pointing it, according to Ignatius' phrase, ten basilida, ten 
upaton ton emeron, " The prince and sovereign of days :'* 
exempting it from all servile works ; and designing it for 
such spiritual and celestial employments, that were it ob- 
served according to God's' command, eternity itself would 
not have much advantage above it, but only that it is 
longer. So that in the ring and circle of the week the 



206 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Sabbath is the jewel, the most excellent and precious of 
days. 

Again : God hath blessed and sanctified it, not only in 
this relative but also in an eiFective sense, as he hath ap- 
pointed it to he the day whereon he doth es^pecially bless and 
sanctify us. Yea, and possibly he makes the means of 
our sanctification to be more effectual on this day than 
when they are dispensed on any other common days. 
God doth then especially give out plentiful effusions of 
his Spirit, fills his ordinances with his grace and presence; 
and we may with a more confident faith expect a great- 
er portion of spiritual blessings fi-om him when both the 
ordinances and the day too are his, than when, though 
the ordinances be his, yet the day is ours. In this sense 
God may be said to bless and sanctify the Sabbath-day> 
because he blesseth and sanctifieth us on that day. As the 
Psalmist most elegantly and in a high strain of poetry 
saith that God ** crowneth the year with his goodness," 
Psalm 65 : 11 ; not that the plenty and fruitfulness.of the 
year is any blessing unto it ; but it is a blessing unto men,' 
whose hearts God then filleth with food and gladness. In 
both these senses God may be said to bless and sanctify 
the Sabbath. 

2. As God sanctified the Sabbath, so man is command- 
ed to sanctify it also ; verse 8, " Remember the Sabbath- 
day to keep it holy." We sanctify and hallow a day when 
we observe it holy to the Lord ; sequestering ourselves 
from common affairs to those spiritual exercises which he 
hath required us to be conversant about on that day. God 
sanctifies it by consecration^ we sanctify it by devotion. He 
hath set it apart for his worship, and on it we ought to 
set ourselvep apart for his worship, and to be taken up 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 207 

only wath those things which he hath either allowed or 
prescribed us. And therefore God doth lay an especial 
claim to this day. For although he be the Supreme Lord 
of all, and doth dispense and as it were draw out the 
thread of time, and days, and years for us, out of the infi- 
nite bottom of his eternity, yet he doth not so particu- 
larly challenge any part of it to himself as he doth this 
seventh day. Whence it is said, verse 10, The seventh day 
is the Sahbath of the Lord thy God. The six foregoing 
days of the week are thine, and thou mayest dispose of 
them in the honest works of thy calling, as prudence and 
convenience shall direct ; but this day God challengeth to 
himself, as his peculiar portion of our time, because he 
hath ordained it for his worship and service, and there- 
fore it is called his. And when we devote ourselves to his 
service aiid worship, meditating on his excellency, magni- 
fying and praising his mercy, and invoking his holy name, 
we then hallow this day, and give unto God that which 
is God's. 

Thus you see what it is to sanctify the Sabbath ; both 
as God hath done it by dedication, and as man ought to 
do it by observance. 

But the great question is in what manner the Sab- 
bath ought to be sanctified and kept holy : whether we 
are bound to the same strict and rigorous observance of 
our christian Sabbath as the Jews were of theirs under 
the economy of Moses. 

And on this I observe in general, that as our Sabbath 
is not the very same with theirs, but only the same ana- 
logically, bearing a fit proportion to it ; so likewise our 
eanctification of the Lord's day, (for thus I would rather 



20S THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

call it than the Sabbath) is not, in all particulars, the same 
that was required from the Jews, but bears a proportion 
to it in those things which are not ceremonial nor burden- 
some to our christian Jiberty. • . 

But more particularly : the sanctifying of this day con- 
sists partly in abstaining from those things whereby it 
would be profaned ; and partly in the performance of 
those things which are required of us, and tend to pro- 
mote the sanctity and holiness of it. And, 

1. Here I shall lay down this : that, in order to our due 
sanctifying of the Sabbath, we ought to abstain f torn the com- 
mon and servile works of our ordinary callings and vocations. 

So we have it expressly, verse 10, In it thou shalt not 
do any work. And this God prohibits, not that rest and 
cessation is in itself acceptable to him, or any part of his 
worship and service, but only because earthly employ- 
ments are an impediment and distraction to that heavenly 
frame of spirit which we ought to maintain in all the 
parts and duties of this day. The works of our callings 
arc not evil in themselves, but lawful and good ; and such 
wherein on other days we serve God, and whereon we 
may expect a blessing from him j but yet our mind is so 
narrow and stinted, that we cannot at once attend them 
and the service of God with the zeal and fei-vor that he 
i-equires j and therefore, that we may be wholly employ- 
ed in his work, he hath taken us off from our own. 

This prohibition of working on the Sabbath is strongly 
enforced by the concession of six days for our ordinary 
labor: a concession, I call it, considering the indulgence 
granted to us. But yet it is not merely a concession, but 
a command too : Six days shalt thou lahor, and do all thv 
work J hut the seventh day is the Sahhath of the Lord. The' 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 209 

exceptive particle hut^ intimates that none of that work 
which is lawful to be done on ordinary days ought to be 
jperformed by us on the Sabbath. 

I know it is a question whether these words *'■ Six days 
fihalt thou labor," be a precept or a permission only. To 
me they seem preceptive, requiring us diligently to attend 
that vocation and state of life in which the Divine provi- 
dence hath set us, and to perform the offices of it with 
care and conscience ; for it is said thou shalt labor, not 
only thou mayest labor. And those who contend that the 
words merely signify a permission of the daily works of 
our callings, open too wdde a gap for sloth and idleness to 
creep in, vvdthout violating any commandment, or being 
censured and condemned as sin. 

But I shall not trouble you with the disputes about this. 
Only let me notice the weakness and inconsequence of 
one inference commorily drawn from it: that if it be a 
divine precept that we ought six days to labor, then we 
cannot by any constitution whatsoever be taken off from 
the lawftd works of our callings, nor be obliged religious- 
ly to observe any other days besides the Sabbath; for 
God's laws do not contradict themselves, and whereinso- 
ever human laws contradict the divine, they are of no force 
nor validity. 

But this argument fails in its deduction. For the com 
mand, " Six days shalt thou labor," is not to be under- 
stood absolutely and unlimitedly^ but with a just restraint 
and exception : that is. Thou shalt labor six days ordina- 
rily, unless any of them be set apai-t, either by thine 
own private devotion or by public authority, for the im- 
mediate worship and service of God. 

And that this is of necessity to be so understood, ap 



210 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

pearsi if we consider how many days in the week God 
himself dedicated in those feasts which he commanded the 
Jews strictly to observe, notwithstanding that they were 
enjoined six days' labor. Besides every new moon, there 
was the passover, in remembrance of their deliverance 
from the bondage of Egypt, and a type of Christ, who, 
as a lamb without spot, was offered up to God for us. 
Then the pentecost or the feast of weeks, fifty days after 
the passover ; a memorial that the law was given to them 
from Mount ^inai fifty days after their departure out of 
Egypt; typifying likewise the sending of the Holy Ghost 
to inspire the apostles with heavenly truth, and to enable 
them to preach the Gospel, which is the law of Jesus 
Christ, which was accordingly fulfilled fifty days after 
Christ our great Passover was sacrificed for us. Then, 
thirdly, the feast of atonement or expiation, which was 
celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month, where- 
on the high-priest was solemnly to confess unto God both 
his own sins and the sins of the people, and to make 
atonement for them ; typifying thereby the full expiation 
and atonement of our sins made by our High-priest Jesus 
Christ. And lastly, there was ordained likewise the feast 
of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the same month ; 
and this was to last not only one day, but a whole week 
together, and was instituted to be a memorial to them of 
their journey through the wilderness, wherein for forty 
years they lived in tents and tabernacles. All these feasts 
we find appointed by God himself, and imposed upon the 
Israelites. Lev. 23. 

And not only did they account themselves obliged to 
keep these days holy which were enjoined by the divine 
command, but those also which were appointed by human 



PDURTU xjommandMent. 213 

authority. Such were the feast of purim, to be kept two 
days successively, in remembrance of their deUverance 
from the malicious and bloody designs of Haman, Esther, 
9:21; and the feast of the dedication of the temple, first ob- 
served at the rebuilding of their temple after their return 
from the Babylonish captivity, as you may read, Ezra, 
6 : 16 ; and from that time perpetuated unto the days of 
our Savior Christ ; who, though it were but of human and 
ecclesiastical institution, yet was pleased to honor that so- 
lemnity vsdth his presence. John, 10 : 22. Besides, we 
frequently read of fasts, both personal and national, ap- 
pointed upon some emergent occasions, to appease and 
divert the wrath of God ; as the fast of the fifth and the 
seventh month for seventy years together. Zech. 7 : 5. 
And the like to these, without doubt, either our own pri-- 
vate devotion or the public authority of the nation may, 
in the like circumstances, impose on us without violating 
this command of six days* labor. 

But although this six days* labor was not so strictly re- 
quired as not sometimes to admit the intervention of a 
holy rest, yet the seventh day's rest was so exactly to be 
observed as not to admit any bodily labor or secular em- 
ployment- God would not have this holy rest disturbed 
by the tumultuous affairs and business of life ; and we find 
this command strictly enforced by the double sanction 
both of a promise and threatening, Jer. 17, from verse 24 
to the end : " If ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the 
Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city 
on the Sabbath-day, but hallow the Sabbath-day, to do no 
work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this 
city, kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David— 
and this city shall remain for ever. But if you will not 



312 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-day — then will I 
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the 
palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Yea, 
God was so accurate about this, that he descends to a par- 
ticular prohibition of several sorts of work which he 
would not have to be done'on the Sabbath-day. On that 
day the Israelites were not to gather manna, Exod. 16 %' 
26 ; nor to gather in their harvest, Exod. 34 : 21 ; nor to 
buy or sell, Neh. 10 : 31 ; nor to tread the wine-press, 
Neh. 13 : 15; nor so much as to gather sticks, Numb. 
15 : 32 ; nor to go from their places of abode to provide 
themselves food, Exod. 16 : 29 ; yea, so strictly were they 
tied to the observance of this Sabbath, that they might 
not so much as kindle a fire, Exod. 35 : 3, " Ye shall kin- 
dle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath- 
day." Unto all these prohibitions from God the Jews 
added many superstitious and ridiculous ones of their 
own, not grave enough to be here mentioned ; whereby 
they made that burden which was before heavy, to be al- 
together insupportable by their foolish and vain traditions. 
. Now the great question is. How far these prohibitions 
concern us, and whether we are obliged to the punctual ob- 
servance of them, as the Jews were. 

To this I answer in the negative, that we are not, for 
we are bound to nothing by the law of Moses, but only 
what was of moral and natural right in that law. As for 
other ordinances which were positive, we are set free from, 
them by that liberty which Jesus Christ hath purchased 
for and confeiTed upon his church. We do not celebrate 
the Lord*s day itself upon any obligation laid upon us by 
the letter of this fourth commandment, (for that expressly 
enjoins the seventh day from the creation, whereas ours is 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 213 

the eighth,) but only from the analogy and proportion of 
moral reason, which requires that a due and convenient 
portion of our time should be separated to the service and 
worship of God. But for the fixing of the very day, why 
it should be this rather than any other, we acknowledge 
It to proceed from the consecration of it by our Savior's 
resurrection, the institution of the apostles, and the con- 
sequent practice of the universal church of Christ in all 
ages, as I have already declared. And therefore should 
we as scrupulously and nicely observe it in all circumr 
stances as the Jews did their Sabbath, possibly it would 
not be a sanctification of the Sabbath, but a fond and 
groundless superstition. / dv^.i. 

The Lord's day is therefore to be observed only in 
things that are in themselves moral and rational. Nor will 
this give any scope to the libertinism of those who would 
wrillingly indulge themselves either in worldly affairs or 
loose recreations on this day. For it is moral and rational 
that the whole of that day which is set apart for the wor- 
ship of God should be employed in his worship. This 
likewise is moral and of spiritual obligation, that we do 
not our own pleasure nor speak our own words on his holy 
day, as the prophet expresseth it, Isaiah, 58 : 13. 

This obligeth us christians as well as the Jews. For if 
a day be dedicated to God, certainly every part and par- 
cel of it belongs to him, and we ought to rest from all our 
worldly employments that might steal away our thoughts 
and affections from God, or indispose us to his spiritual 
worship and service. 

But yet this extends not to those small punctilios of 
gathering sticks, kindling a fire and preparing food for our- 
selves, for these things doubtless may be done without being 



214 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

any moral impediments to our piety and devotion on this 
day. Yea, they may be moral helps and furtherances to it. 

For notwithstanding this rest and cessation from labor 
which is required on the Lord's day, yet three sorts of 
works may and ought to be performed on that day, how 
great soever our bodily labor may be in doing them. And 
these are works of piety, works of necessity, and works 
of charity. '■^- " •'- '-^ , . - 

(1.) Works o£ piety are to be performed on the Lord's 
day; yea, on this day especially, as being the proper 
work of the day. "^^ '}^ . ^ 

And such are not only those which consist in the inter- 
nal operations of the soul, as heavenly meditations and 
spiritual affections ; but such also as consist in the ex- 
ternal actions of the body, as oral prayer, reading the 
Scriptures, and preaching the word. Yea, on this day 
are ministers chiefly employed in their bodily labor and 
spending of their spirits : yet it is far from being a profa- 
nation of the Lord's day ; for holy works are most proper 
for holy days. And not only are such works to be per- 
s formed on the Lord's day, but they were enjoined also 
on the Jewish Sabbath. Therefore saith our Savior, 
Mat. 12 : 5, " Have ye not read in the law, how that on 
the Sabbath-days the priests in the temple profane the 
Sabbath, and yet are blameless ?" This word, therefore, of 
profaning the Sabbath, is not to be understood as if they 
did what was unlawful to be done on that day ; but 
only of the hard labor they had in killing and jlaying, and 
dividing and boiling and burning the sacrifices in the 
temple ; which, had they not been instituted parts of God's 
worship, had been jh-ofanations of the Sabbath ; but, 
being commanded by God, were so far from being profa- 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 215 

nations, that they were a sanctification of that day, and 
therefore the priests were blameless. On this account 
likewise were Sabbath-days' journeys permitted to the 
JeAvs : which though they were not actions of piety in 
themselves, yet were they actions tending towards piety, 
that those who were remote from the places of worship 
might assemble themselves together to hear the Scrip- 
tures read and expounded to them. This appears, 2 
Kings, 4 : 23, where the husband of the Shunamitish wo- 
man expostulates with her : ** Wherefore wilt thou go to 
. the prophet to-day 1 It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." 
Whence it may be clearly collected, that they were per- 
mitted to travel a certain space to attend upon the wor- 
ship and service of God. This Sabbath-day's journey 
some limit to a mile ; others to two, the distance of the 
utmost part of the camp of Israel from the tabernacle of 
■the congregation. But with very good reason it may be 
thought that the Sabbath-day's journey was any distance 
from the place of their abode to the next synagogue ; 
which commonly not being above a mile or two, that dis- 
tance was called a Sabbath-day's journey. 

So that it appears that works of piety, or works imme- 
diately tending to piety, may lawfully be performed with 
the strictest observance of the Lord's day. 

(2.) Not only works of piety, but works of necessity and 
of great convenience may also be done on the Lord's day. 

And they are such without which we cannot subsist, or 
not well subsist; therefore we may quench a ra,ging fire, 
prevent any great and notable damage that would happen 
either to our persons or estates, fight for our own de- 
fence or the defence of our country, without being guilty 
of the violation of this day : concerning the last of which 



216 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

iistory informs us that the Jews were so scrupulous as 
to suffer themselves to be assaulted and slain by their 
enemies, rather than they would on this day lift up a wea- 
pon to repel them, till Matthias persuaded them out of 
this superstition. 1 Maccabees, 2 : 40. And not only 
those works which are of absolute necessity, but those 
likewise which are of great conveniency may lawfully be 
done on the Lord's day, such as kindling a fire, prepar- 
ing food, and many other particulars too numerous to 
be mentioned. We find our Savior defending his disciples 
against the exceptions of the pharisees for plucking the 
ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands, and eating 
them on the Sabbath-day. Mat. 12 : 1, &c. Only let us 
take this caution, that we neglect not the doing of those 
things till the Lord's day, which might well he done before, 
and then plead necessity or convenience for it ; for if the 
necessity or convenience were such as might have been 
foreseen, our christian prudence and piety ought to have 
provided for it before this holy day ; so that we might 
wholly attend on the immediate service of God in it with 
as few avocations and impediments as are possible. 

(3.) Another sort of works that may and ought to be 
done on the Lord's day, are the works of charity and 
mercy. ' •. . ■ •••■•-.■ ''.:■:... r, 

Foi indeed this day is instituted for a memorial of 
God's great mercy towards us ; therefore in it we are 
obliged to show charity and mercy : charity towards men, 
and mercy to the very beasts themselves. Hence, although 
the observance of the Sabbath was so strictly enjoined the 
Jews, yet was it to give place to the works of mercy 
whensoever a poor beast did but stand in need of it. So 
Mat. 12 : 11, " What man shall there be among you, that 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 217 

shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sab- 
bath-day, will not lay hold on it and lift it out ?" And so 
again, Luke, 13 : 15, "Doth not each one of you on the 
Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and load 
him away to watering ]" Yea, and this the very heathens 
observed on their festivals ; when other works were for- 
bidden, yet works of mercy were expressly allowed, and 
by name the helping of an ox out of a pit.* Works ot 
mercy therefore are to be done even to beasts themselves, 
whatsoever labor may be required to do them ; and how 
much more then works of charity to men like ourselves ! 
which charity is to be shown either to their souls or theii 
bodies ; for both many times are extremely miserable 
To their souls, in instructing, advising, exhorting, reprov- 
ing, comforting and counselling, and praying for them ; 
and if in any thing they have offended us, freely forgiving 
them : this indeed is a work of charity proper for the 
Lord's day, a work highly acceptable to God, and the 
best way that can be to sanctify it. Neither are we to 
forbear any work of charity to their bodies and outward 
man ; hence our Savior severely rebukes the superstitious 
hypocrisy of the pharisees, who murmured against him as 
a Sabbath-breaker because he had healed some of theii 
infirmities on the Sabbath-day. Luke, 13 : 14-lG. "The 
ruler of the synagogue said unto the people with in- 
dignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sab- 
bath-day, there are six days in which men ought to work i 
in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the 
Sabbath-day." See how our Lord takes him up. *^ Thou 
hypocrite ! doth not each one of you, on the Sabbath, 

■* Macrob. Saturn, lib. 1. cap. 16. 
GommandmeTrta. , 1 



218 . THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

loose his ox ? &c. And ought not this woman, who is a 
daughter of Abraham, to be loosed from this bond on the 
Sabbath-day V And so again. Mat. 12 : 10, Christ healeth 
a man that had a withered hand, and justifieth this work 
of charity to this man by their works of mercy to their 
beasts; and asserts, verse 12, " It is lawful to do well on 
the Sabbath-days." Yea, he appeals to their very con- 
sciences in this, whether a benefit done to a poor helpless 
creature could be counted a breach and violation of the 
Sabbath, Mark, 3 : 4, "Is it lawful to do good on the 
Sabbath-days, or to do evil ] to save life, or to kill ?" 
Certainly it is a right Sabbath-day's work to do good ; 
and to put ourselves to any work and labor that may tend 
to the saving of life or easing of pain, or healing the 
diseases and sickness of our brother. And our Savior 
hath told us, Mark, 2 : 27, ** That the Sabbath was made 
for man, and not man for the Sabbath." The strict and 
punctual observance of the Sabbath is to give place 
whensoever the exigence or good of our neighbor doth 
require it ; for God prefers mercy before sacrifice. - • 

Thus you see what rest is required from us on the 
Lord's day, and what works may be done on it without 
any violation of the law or profanation of the day. And 
this is the first thing in order to our sanctifying the Sab- 
oath, to rest from the common and servile works of our 
ordinary callings and vocations. But, 

2. Another thing in which the sanctification of the Sab- 
Datli doth especially consist, is a diligent and conscientious 
attendance upon all the ordinances of God and the duties of 
his worship appointed to he performed on this day, and that 
whether in public, or in private, or in secret. 

(1.) Consider what duties you are to be engaged in in tlie 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 219 

public and solemn worship of God on this day y for in them 
a great and principal part of the sanctification of it doth 
consist. ' • , ^ 

This I mention, in the first place, as of prime import- 
ance. For certainly as long as, through the mercy of God, 
we have the public and free dispensation of the Gospel, 
we ought not to slight or turn our backs upon this visible 
communion of the church ; but to honor and own the 
freedom of the Gospel by our constant attendance on the 
dispensation of it ; lest, despising the mercy of God in 
giving them to us so publicly, we provoke him, at length, 
most justly to necessitate us to those retirements which 
now so very many, out of sloth or faction, do so much af- 
fect. I pray God that this prove not the sad and direful 
consequence of the contempt that is cast upon public 
worship by some persons, whose only study and business 
it is to divide Christ, and make rents and schisms in his 
body the church. 

The public duties which are necessary to the right sanc- 
tifying of the Lord's day are these : 

Affectionate prayer ^ in joining with the minister, who is 
our inouth to God^ as well as God's mouth to us. 

For as he is intrusted to deliver his sovereign will and 
commands, so likewise is he to present our requests to 
the throne of his grace. We ought heedfuUy to attend to 
every petition, to dart it up to heaven with our most 
earnest desires, and to close and seal it up with oui 
atfectionate Amen, so be it. For though it be the minister 
alone that speaks, yet it is not the minister alone that 
prays, but the whole congregation by him, and with him ; 
and whatsoever petition is not accompanied with thy most 
sincere and cordial affections, it is as much mocking of 



220 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

God as if thine own mouth had uttered it without the 
concurrence of thy heart, which is most gross hypocrisy. 
Consider what promises are made to particular christians 
when they pray singly and By themselves : " Whatsoever 
ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will grant it 
you." John, 15 : 16, and 16 : 23. What great preva- 
lency then must the united prayers of the saints have, 
when they join interests, and put all the favor that each 
of them hath at the throne of gi-ace into one common 
stock ! When we come to public prayer, we are not to 
come as auditors but as actors : we have our part in it, 
and every petition that is spread before God ought to be 
breathed from out very hearts and souls ; which if we 
affectionately perform, we may have good assurance that 
what is ratified by so many votes and suffrages here on 
earth shall likewise be confirmed in heaven. For our 
Savior hath told us, Matt. 18 : 19, that " if two shall agree 
together on earth as touching any thing that they shall 
ask, it shall be done for them by his Father which is in 
heaven." 

Our reverent and attentive hearing of the word of God, 
either read or preached, is another public duty necessary 
to the sanctification of the Sabbath. 

This was observed also in the times of the law, before 
Christ's coming into the world. Acts, 15:21, " Mosea 
of old time hath in every city them that preach him, be- 
ing read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day." Their 
synagogues were built for this very purpose; and as 
their temple was the great place of their legal and cere- 
monial worship, so these were for their moral and natu- 
ral worship. In the temple they chiefly sacrificed ; and 
hi their synagogues they prayed, read, and heard. And 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. ' 221 

every town, and almost every village, had one erected in 
it, as now our churches are, where the people on the 
Sabbath day assembled together, and had some portion of 
the law read and expounded to them. Much more ought 
we to give our attendance on this holy ordinance, now in 
the times of the Gospel, since a greater measure of 
spiritual knowledge is required from us, and the myste- 
ries of salvation are more clearly declared to us., And 
shall not that tongue wither and that mouth be silenc- 
ed which shall dare to utter any thing in contempt 
and vilifying of this holy ordinance ! For such excellent 
things are spoken of the preaching of the Gospel, as ^* the 
power of God," 1 Cor. 1 : IS ; the salvation of those who 
believe, v. 21 ; the sweet savor of the knowledge of God, 2 
Cor. 2 : 14 ; that certainly whosoever disparageth it, rejects 
against himself the counsel of God, and neglects the only 
appointed means for the begetting of faith, and so for 
the obtaining of eternal salvation; for ** faith cometh 
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 
10 : 17. 

Another public duty pertaining to the sanctifying of 
the Lord's day, is singing of psalms. 

For this day being a festival unto God, a day of spiritual 
joy and gladness, how can we better testify our joy than 
by our melody 1 "Is any man meiTy ]" saith St. James, 
chap. 5 : 13, " let him sing psalms." And therefore, let 
men object to this as they please, yet certainly it is a 
most heavenly and spiritual duty. The holy angels and 
the spirits of just men in heaven ar6 said to sing eternal 
hallelujahs unto the great King ; and if our Sabbath be 
typical of heaven, and the work of the Sabbath represents 
to us the everlasting work of these blessed spirits, how 



S22 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

can. it be better done than when we are singing forth the 

praises of Him that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb 

our Redeemer ? This is to join with the heavenly choir 

in their heavenly work ; and to observe a Sabbath here, 

as like that eternal Sabbath there, as the imperfection 

of earth can resemble the glory and imperfection of 

heaven. . h r; \:::^ r;A.> :-% - 
.f- . . 

Another public duty belonging to the sanctifying of the 
Lord's day, is the administration of the sacraments, espe- 
cially that of the hordes supper. 

And therefore it is mentioned, Acts, 20 : 7, "Upon 
the first day of the week, when the disciples came togeth- 
er to break bread," that is, to partake of the holy com- 
munion of the body and blood of Christ, *' Paul preached 
unto them:" which intimates that the primary intent 
of their assemblies was to receive the Lord's supper ; 
and that upon occasion of this the Apostle instructed 
them by preaching. It is most evident by all the records 
of the church, that it was the apostolic and primitive 
custom to partake of this most holy ordinance every 
Lord's dayi and that their meetings were chiefly design- 
ed for this ; to which were annexed prayer and preach- 
ing. I am afraid, sirs, that one of the great sins of our 
age is not only the neglect and contempt of this ordinance 
by some, but the seldom celebrating it by all. The apos- 
tle, where he speaks of this holy institution, intimates 
that it should be frequently dispensed and participated, I 
Cor. 11 : 26, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
this cup." Let us consider, then, what dishonor they re- 
flect on Christ, who, although this ordinance be too seldom 
administered, yet either totally withdraw themselves from 
it, or very rarely partake of it. I shall no longer insist 



FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 223 

on this, but leave it to God and your own consciences. 

Thus much concerning the sanctification of the Lord's 
day in the public duties of his worship and service. 

But what ! hast thou no Sabbath-work to do after thou 
retumest from the congregation and public assemblies ? 
Yes, certainly, the day is not done when the public as- 
sembly disperses : the whole of it is holy to the Lord. 
Therefore, 

When you return every one to your families, there are 
private and family duties to be performed. 

Walks and visits are not to be the evening-work of the 
Sabbath; but holy and spiritual conferences are then 
proper, either to bring to your remembrance the truths 
you before have heard, or to engage your own hearts, or 
the hearts of others, to admire and magnify God for all 
his great wonders of providence and redemption. Indeed, 
if a walk be thus improved, it may be a walk to heaven. 
So we find the two disciples, who on this day were walk- 
ing to Emmaus, how they entertained themselves and 
shortened their way with spiritual and holy discourse. 
Luke, 24 : 13, 15. But they who have families to look 
after, will be best employed in sec ing that those who are 
under their charge spend the vacant time of the Sabbath 
in holy exercises ; either reading the Scripture, or giving 
an account of what truths they have been taught, or join- 
ing with them in praise and prayer to G od ; or, indeed, 
in all of these, in their several courses and order, till 
night calls for repose, and delivers them over, with a 
sweet seasoning and blessing, to the labor and employ- 
ments of the ensuing day and week. And, 

If there be any spare time from these public and pru 
vate duties, then sanctify it by entering into thy closet, 



224 ' THE tEiV COMMANDMENTS. 

and there unbosom thy soul before God in secret prayer, 
spread thy requests before hhn, lay open thy wants and 
desires. And though, perhaps, thou art not gifted to word 
a prayer, yet sigh and groan out a prayer ; for thy God 
hears thee, and he understands the language of sighs, and 
knows the meaning of his Spirit in the inarticulate gi'oans 
of his children. Here likewise in secret meditate on 
what thou hast heard; admire the glory of God in his 
works, the goodness of God in his providences, the in- 
finite mercy of God in his promises. Certainly, medita- 
tion is one great duty of a Sabbath, without which, to 
hear the word of God only, is but to swallow our meat 
without chewing it. It is meditation that makes it fit 
for nourishment ; this sucks the juice and sweetness out 
of it, incorporates it into us, and turns it into life and 
substance. 

Thus if we endeavor to sanctify the Lord's day, the 
Lord will sanctify his day and his ordinances to us, and 
by them convey so much joy and comfort into our souls 
that they shall be a temporary heaven unto us, and fit us 
for that eternal Sabbath, where w« shall continually give 
praise and glory unto Him that sitteth upon the tlironej 
and to the Lamb for ever and ever. 



^4 



INTRODUCTION 



TO 



THE SECOND TABLE 



The whole sum of practical religion consists either in 
those duties which immediately concern the worship and 
service of God, or those which immediately concern oui 
converse with and demeanor towards men. Both are com- 
pendiously prescribed in the Decalogue : the former in the 
first, the latter in the second table of the law. 

I have already finished the exposition of the four pre- 
cepts of the first table, and have discoursed both concern- 
ing the internal and also the external worship of God. 

It remains now to consider the duties and precepts of 
the Second Table; all which concern man as their primary 
and immediate object. . ' - 

But here, by the way, let us observe the distance that 
God puts between himself and us. We are, as it were, 
set at another table from him, as being infinitely inferior to 
his great and glorious majesty. 

First, he prescribes what concerns himself; and then 
what concerns us : which teacheth us, 

1. That in all our actions, wJieiher civil or sacred^ God 

ought principally to be regarded — ^his glory ought to be our 
10* 



226 iNfRODUCTION TO THE SECOND TABLE. 

highest aim and end. This we are to seek in the first 
place ; and, for the sake and interest of this, we are to pro- 
mote as far as possible the good and benefit of men. This, 
therefore, condemns those who disturb and pervert the or- 
der of the law ; and instead of serving men out of respect 
to God, serve God merely out of respeet to men. 

2. This teacheth us to observe our due distance from God. 
lie challengeth all possible reverence from us, insomuch 
that he will not permit so great a disparagement to his 
honor as to have his concerns intermingled and blended 
with ours, no, not in the same table. And this checks the 
rashness of those who dare to rush in upon God with 
that insolence which is too common among some brain- 
sick people, who think that communion with God consists 
in a familiar rudeness, and that they never draw near 
enough to him unless they run upon his very neck. But 
this only by the way. 

In this Second Table are contained six precepts, all en- 
joining our duty towards man ; who may be considered 
either as our superior, our equal, or our inferior. Our du- 
ty towards our superiors and inferiors is prescribed in the 
first of these six, and our duty towards our equals in the 
other five, all which respect our neighbor, either in his 
person or in the exterior gifts of wealth and credit. 

His person is to be considered, either naturally or mys- 
tically. Naturally, as he is in himself and his own person • 
and so the sixth commandment provides for his secu- 
rity. Thou shall not kill. Mystically, as he is in the state 



INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND TABLE. 227 

of marriage, which of two makes one flesh; and so care is 
taken for him in the seventh commandment, Thou sJialt 
not commit adultery. - . ' 

If we considet him in respect to his external gifts of 
wealth and good name, we shall find that the first is fenced 
about and secured by t^e eighth commandment. Thou 
shall not steal. And his credit and good name is Secured 
by the ninth, Thou shalt not hear false witness against 
ihy neiglibor. 

And, because the violation of these laws by outward 
and flagitious acts proceeds from the latent wickedness 
and concupiscence of the heart, therefore God, who is a 
Spirit, and whose law and authority can reach even to the 
soul and spirit, hath not only prohibited the gross perpe- 
tration of these crimes, but hath strictly forbidden the in- 
ward and secret intention of them, charging us not to har- 
bor so much as a thought or desire towards them j and 
this we have in the tenth commandment. Thou shall 
not covet. 

In the due performance of all these consists the ob- 
servance of that second great command, Mat. 22 : 39, 
Thou shalt love thy neiglibor as thyself. 



u.,^ y 



'■^:^'fii\*^*' 



mir- • ■ '. />.,h; .V ■.vii 



THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 



"Honor tliy father and thy mother, that thy days may b« 
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
tUee." t . - - ' . 

This command respects the mutual duties of superiors 
and inferiors : and here we have a precept and a promise. 
The precept is, Honor thy father and thy mother; tlie 
promise, That thy days may he long in the land which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee. 

Here we may, as formerly we have done, observe a 
ray of the infinite wisdom of God in the order and method 
of this commandment. For after he had prescribed laws 
for his own honor, his next care is for the honor of our pa- 
rents ; because they are, next under God, the authors and 
original of our life and being. 

God, indeed, is properly and primarily our Father ; and 
of him is the whole family in heaven and earth wa/weJ, 
that is, of him they are and subsist: "In him we" all 
"live, and move, and have our being." Earthly parents 
do but convey to us that being which God had beforehand 
laid up in store for us. 

Hence, when our Savior bids us " call no man father 
upon the earth ; for one is our Father, which is in heaven," 
Mat. 23 : 9, this must not be understood as though we 
ought not to give the name and title o^ father to those 
who are our earthly parents, the "fathers of our flesh," 
as the apostle styles them, Heb. 12 : 9 j but only that their 



FIFTH COMMANDMENTi " , 22S; 

paternity is not so original nor so absolute as Good's, who 
is "tlie Father of our spirits:" who not only forms the 
mass of our bodies by his secret and wonderful power 
and skill, but creates our souls, and by his breath kin- 
dles in us such sparks of ethereal fire as shall never be 
quenched nor extinct to all eternity. And therefore, though 
we owe to the fathers of our flesh honor and reverence, as 
they are the instruments of our being ; yet we owe much 
more, even unlimited and boundless respect and obedience 
to God, who is the prime cause and author of them. 

But this word father hath also another sense in our 
Savior's speech. For the Jews were wont to call their 
doctors and instructors by the name of fathers ; and gave 
up themselves, without hesitation or contradiction, to be- 
lieve and follow their dictates. 

When our Savior bids us call no man father on earth, 
his meaning is, that we must not so bind ourselves either 
to the commands or doctrines of any man, as to prejudice 
the authority which God, the great and universal Pa- 
rent of all things, challengeth over us ; but our obedi- 
ence to their injunctions, and our belief of their instruc- 
tions, ought to be cautioned with a subordination to the 
commands and notices of the Divine will : yet we may call 
and honor others as fathers, by yielding them a secondary 
respect, subservient to the honor and glory of God. 

This command of honoring our parents is very large 
and comprehensive, and is not to be limited only to the 
gi'ammatical signification of the word, but extends itself 
to all that are our superiors. And that appears, because 
honor belongs principally only to God ; but, secondanly, 
and by way of derivation, to those also whom God, ihe 
great King, hath dignified, and made as it were nobles in 



230 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

his kingdom. For as the king is the fountain of honor 
within his dominions ; so God, who is the universal mo 
naj-ch of all the worlds is the true fountain of honor among 
mankind, ennobling some above others by titles and pre- 
eminence which he bestows upon them ; and all such su- 
periors whom he hath been pleased thus to raise, are to be 
honored by us as omv fathers. 

Hence our governors and magistrates are our fathers ^ 
and are so to be accounted and reverenced by us. Indeed, 
they are patres patria, " the fathers of their country;" for 
all government being at the first domestic and paternal, 
the father or chief of the family having power of life and 
death over his children, necessity at last taught them to 
devolve both the care and the authority of this charge on 
some selected persons, to whom they committed the go- 
vernment both of themselves and theirs : so that magis- 
trates succeeding in the place and office of parents, are 
now the public fathers, having the same power de- 
volved on them which formerly resided in the fathers of 
families. Hence we read that common and successive 
name of the kings of the Philistines, Ahimelech; which 
signifies, the king, my father. 

The master of a private family is likewise a father ; 
and that not only with respect to his children, but to his 
very servants. Hence we find Naaman is called father by 
his servants : " My father, if the prophet had bid thee do 
some great thing." 2 Kings, 5 : 13. 

A teacher in any art, science or invention, is also 
dialled a father. Tims, Gen. 4 : 20, 21, Jabal is said to be 
** the father of such as dwell in tents ;" and Jubal to be 
>' the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." 

So likewise a superior in wisdom and counsel is called 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. ' 231 

a, futher. So Joseph in his speech, Gen. 45 : 8, says, 
** God hath made me a father to Pharaoh." 

Ministers of the Gospel have hkewise the honorable 
title of fathers conferred upon them. And that both be- 
cause indeed they are superior to the^people in things ap- 
pertaining to God, having the dispensation of the grace of 
the Gospel committed to them ; and because, through the 
concurrence of the Spirit's operation with their ministry, 
they beget souls unto Jesus Christ. Thus Paul tells the 
church, 1 Cor. 4 : 15, that he vtras their father, having 
" begotten them through the Gospel." And therefore we 
have great reason to magnify our office, in the execution 
and performance of which we ought to demean ourselves 
as fathers, with all gravity and authority ; and to let those 
knoWj whose affronts and scorn tend to the vilifying both 
of our persons and functions, that they despise not us only, 
but Jesus Christ who hath sent us, and the eternal Father 
who hath sent him. So he himself hath told us, Luke, 
10 : 16, " He that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and he 
that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." 

Superiors in any gift of Divine Providence, whether of 
riches, or of age, or of knowledge, and the like, are to be 
reverenced and honored by us as fathers. So, 1 Tim. 
5 : 1, 2, ** The elders entreat as fathers, and the elder 
women as mothers." 

Thus you see how large and copious this word father 
is, taking in many other relations and states of men be- 
sides those to whom it is now commonly applied. 

Here then, in opening to you the sura of this com- 
mandment, I shall endeavor to show what are the mutual 
and reciprocal duties of these several relation? which I 
have now stated. 



23^ THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

1. Of natural parents and their children ; 

2. Of magistrates supreme and subordinate, and those 
subject to them ; 

3. Of husband and wife, for there likewise is a supe- 
riority resident in the one and obedience due from the 
other ; 

' 4. Of masters and servants ; •> ' ->y ■■ 

5. Of ministers, and the people committed to their 
charge ; and, 

^ 6. The duties of those who have a superiority, either in 
the gifts of God's grace or of his bounty, towards thoso 
that are inferior to them, and theirs reciprocally towards 
those that excel. 

All these are here included, and honor is required to be 
given them accordingly by virtue of this command. 

I know that, as there is nothing wherein the truth and 
power of godliness, and the very life of religion is more 
concerned than a conscientious performance of relative 
duties; so there is nothing that grates more upon the 
spirits of men than to be put in mind of and reproved 
about these duties which are of such common and daily 
occurrence in the whole course of our lives. Yet, I be- 
seech you, lay your prejudices and affections under the 
authority of God's word, and be persuaded to believe 
these things to be exceeding weighty and momentous, 
how plain soever they may be, which not only the h'ght 
and law of nature dictates to us, but the Spirit of God 
hath been pleased frequently to recommend in the Holy 
Scriptures, yea, more frequently and more expressly 
than any other duties whatsoever. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 233 

I begin with the mutual duties of tauents and 

CHILDREN/ .^ - ' ,^^^A^-: -V '^>> : 

And here I shall speak first of the honor due to parents 
from their children; and then of what parents are obliged 
to do for their children. 

I. For Reformer of these the command saith, Honor 
thy father and thy mother. And this honor to parents con« 
sists in these four things, reverence, obedience, retribution 
and imitation. 

X. Children are to reverericc their parents. / 
«■ Heverence is nothing but a love connected with awe; 
a fearfiilness to offend, out of the respect we bear them. 
It is not such a fear as terrifies and drives Us from the 
presence and company of those whom we dread, for that 
is slavish and tormenting; but a genuine, sw^eet and 
obliging fear; a fearful esteem and veneration; a fear 
that will eno^ao^e us to attend on them, to observe and 
imitate them, and to abstain from doing any thing that 
might grieve or trouble them. 

This reverence which we owe our parents is wont 
to express itself outwardly by two things, speech and 
gestures. 

Our speech must be full of respect and honor to our 
parents ; giving them the highest titles that their quality 
and condition will admit. Our language should likewise be 
humble and submissive. Talkativeness is an argument of 
disrespect ; and by the answers of the lips the heart is 
tried and sounded. Therefore we find how mildly and re- 
verently Jonathan speaks to his father Saul : although he 
were then pleading for his David, and managing the con- 
cern of his friend's life, which was fai- dearer to him than 



234 ' . THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

his own ; yet see with what modesty he urgeth it, 1 Sam. 
19 : 4, 5, " Let not the king sin against his servant, against 
David ; for he did put his life in his hand, and slew the 
Philistine." And God blessed a speech so well tempered, 
and so full of soft and melting oratory, with success. 
Yea, we find an instance of a disobedient son in the para- 
ble of our Savior, Mat. 21, who, though he obeyed not 
the commands of his father, yet thought it too shameful a 
crime not to give him good words and reverend titles : 
verse 30, ** I go, sir." And certainly it is but fit and meet 
that we should give them the best and the most obliging 
language who have taught us to speak, and please them 
with our words who have instructed us how to form them. 
Yea, that rude and boisterous language which many of 
the son^ of Belial use towards their parents, is so odious 
and detestable to God that he hath in his law threaten- 
ed to punish it with the same punishment as blasphemy 
against himself, Exod. 21:17, " He that curseth his fa- 
ther or his mother shall surely be put to death;" and, 
Prov. 20 ; 20, ** He that curseth his father or his mother, 
his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness." 

,We nlust likewise show our parents reverence in our 
gestures, and deport ourselves with all lowliness and mo- 
desty before them, in bowing the body and showing all 
other external signs of respect. So we find. Gen, 48 : 12, 
that Joseph, as highly exalted as he was in the court of 
Pharaoh, when he brought out his sons to receive the 
blessing of Jacob his father, " he bowed himself with his 
face to the earth." And on the contrary, that an ill-con- 
ditioned iook towards a parent is severely threatened: 
Prov. 30 : 17, " The eye that mocketh at his father, and 
despiseth to obey his mother, ^he ravens of th^ val- 



FIFTH commandment: • V 23-5 

ley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." 

2. But as we must honor our parents with reverence, so 
we must especially with c»Z>c^u'/«;e, without which all ex 
ternal reverence is but mere formality, if not mere mock- 
ery. See that large charter which God has given to pa- 
rents. Col. 3 I 20, ** Children, obey your parents in all 
things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." 

Our obedience to them may be considered either as 
active ov paissivc; and we are obliged by God's command 
to yield them both : active obedience, in whatsoever is not 
contrary to the will and law of God ; passive, in whatso- 
ever they impose upon us that is so. 

Hence we are to obey our parents in whatsoever ho- 
nest calling and employment they will set us. David, 
though destined to a kingdom, is yet by his father Jesse 
appointed to keep the sheep. 1 Sam. 16 : 11. We ought 
not, till at last we are emancipated and set free by their 
consent, to enter into wedlock without their knowledge or 
against their consent ; for we find that godly fathers havq 
still taken the care of the disposal of their children in this 
affair, and the apostle, 1 Cor. 7 : 36, 37, declares that it 
is in the parents' power either to marry their children or 
to keep them in a single estate ; but yet, no question, so 
as that children have still a negative vote, and ought not 
to be forced against their own will and consent. Yea, 
so far doth the authority of a parent extend, that it reach- 
eth also to the very garb and apparel of their children, . 
who ought to conform themselves therein according to 
tlieir allowance and direction. Gen. 37 : 3. ' •' 

But if parents shall abuse their authority, by command- 
ing what is sinful, and what God hath contravened by his 
law and command j yet children are not hereby disobliged 



226 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

or freed from obedience, but only directed to choose tne 
passive part of it, and to bear their wrath and choler, yea, 
and their punishments too, with all patience and submis- 
sion. For, as the apostle speaks, Heb. 12 : 10, they often- 
times chasten us after their own pleasure ; and yet we 
are to give them reverence. We ought to bear with their 
infirmities, whether they be natural or vicious, and en- 
deavor to hide and cover them from others ; and there- 
fore we rea,d what a curse was laid upon Ham for dis- 
closing the nakedness of his father, Gen. 9 \2^\ and in- 
deed it is a cursed thing to expose the nakedness and 
weakness of our parents to the scorn and derision of others. 

3. As we must honor our parents by reverence and 
obedience, so we must likewise by remuneration and retri- 
hution, requiting the benefits we have received from them, 
so far as we are able and they need. This the apostle ex- 
pressly enjoins, 1 Tim. 5:4, " If any widow have chil- 
dren or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at 
home and to requite their parents:" that is, when they 
are fallen to poVeity or decay, or otherwise require as- 
sistance from us, we are obliged liberally, according to our 
proportion, to afford it. And he affirms that this is good 
and acceptable before God. 

And therefore we find our Savior sharply reprehend- 
ing that unnatural doctrine among the Scribes and Phari- 
sees which taught that children were freed from obliga- 
tion to relieve their parents: *' Ye say, whosoever sha,ll 
say to his father or his mother. It is a gift, by whatsoever 
thou mayest be profited by me, and honor not his father 
or his mother, he shall be free." Mai. 15 : 5, 6. This 
place, as it is obscure and intricate, admits of divers ex 
positions. 



riPTH COMMANDMENT. . 237 

Some say it was the doctrine of the scribes and phari- 
sees, that although a man did not honor nor support his 
parents, yet he should be guiltless if he should tell them 
that he had offered in the temple a gift for his and theii, 
good, and that therefore they could require no more re- 
lief from him. 

Others, that it was a solemn oath among the Jews, to 
swear by the gift or offering which was brought into the 
temple, and presented there as a sacrifice before God : 
which oath was obligatory in the highest degree, whatso- 
ever the matter of it might be. Mat. 23 : 18. And the 
scribes taught, that if a man had sworn thus to his parents, 
"By the gift thou shalthave no profit by me," then he was 
for ever disobliged or freed fi'om relieving them, were their 
necessities never so great and urgent. And according to 
this exposition the words should be thus translated: "But 
ye say, whosoever saith to his father or mother, by the gift 
if thou have any profit by me, (where must be understood 
some curse or imprecation upon themselves, which they 
did usually express, as, let me die, or the like) then he shall 
be free from the obligation of honoring, (that is, of reliev- 
ing and maintaining) his father or mother." 

Whichsoever interpretation be most consonant to the 
corrupt doctrine of the scribes, and the cori-upt practice 
3f the Jews, (as I suppose the latter is) our Savior con- 
demns it for a most vile hypocrisy ; making the command- 
ments of God of none effect, through their traditions. 

Certainly it is one of the most unnatural sins in the 
world, for children, who have ability and opportunity to 
relieve their necessitous parents, to suffer them to want a 
livelihood and comfortable subsistence who are the cause 
and authors of life and being unta their children. 



'f^ 



238 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

4. But we must honor our parents by hearkening to 
their good mstructions and m^^a/i?^^§• their godly practices. 

So, Prov. 6 : 20, ** My son, keep thy father's command- 
ment, and forsake not the law of thy mother." For al- 
though good instruction be, for the matter of it, always to 
be embraced from whomsoever it shall proceed, yet when 
it shall come from a parent it obligeth us not only because 
it is good, but because it is authoritative. Neither are we 
only to hearken to their counsel, but also to imitate the 
holy example of our parents; and therefore it is com- 
mended in Solomon, that he walked in the steps of his 
fa,ther David. 

Suffer me only, in a word, to set home this upon the con- 
sciences of stubborn and disobedient children. Consider 
what your demeanor hath been toward your parents, to 
whom you owe yourselves, your lives, your education : 
benefits that can never be repaid them, although you 
should undergo all the hardships imaginable to make an 
acknowledgment of them. Can you imagine the cares, 
the parching thoughts, the perplexing fears which your 
tender parents are continually distracted with for your 
good % And will you so requite their love as to despise 
their persons, of whom you yourselves are a part, and 
make their very bowels rebel against theml Certainly, 
were there any ingenuousness of nature, or were not the 
principles of reason and equity quite spent and extin- 
guished in you, the love and solicitude they have express- 
ed for you would again return unto them, if not in equal 
measures, yet in the most ample and acceptaole that is pos- 
sible for you to render. And if there be any of you who, 
by your stubbornness and disobedience, have brought 
dowm th^ grey hairs of your parents with sorrow to the 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 239 

grave, consider seriously what an unnatural sin you have 
been guilty of: and because you cannot now beg pardon 
of them, beg pardon of God, the great and universal Father 
of all ; beg that he would not revenge your disobedience 
to your parents, by the disobedience of your children to- 
wards you. — Thus you have seen what duties children 
owe to their parents. 

II. Let us now see what are the reciprocal duties of 
PARENTS towards THEIR CHILDREN; for in all uucqual re- 
lations the superiority rests only in one part, yet the duty 
is divided between both. 

The duty, therefore, of parents respects either the /<?/»- 
poral or spiritual good of their children, for both are 
given them in charge. ^ 

1. As for their temporal good, two duties are incum- 
bent on theta, p?'Qtection and provision. And both of these 
are taught by the law of nature. Do we not see, even 
in brute creatures themselves, that a strong parental affec- 
tion makes them dare unequal dangers, and expose their 
own lives to the greatest hazard, only to defend their 
young 1 We see with what indefatigable industry they 
either lead them to or bring in to them their food and 
nourishment, till they have taught them the art and me- 
thod of providing for themselves, and living at theil* own 
finding. And if the instinct and impulse of nature be so 
powerful in irrational creatures, how much more should it 
prevail in us in whom reason should perfect nature ; and 
we be the more careful, inasmuch as the charge com- 
mitted to us is more noble: it is not a sparrow or a 
chicken that we are to look after, but a man, a king of the 
universe, designed for great employments and to gi'eat 
ends, an heir of the world ; and, if we fail not in edu* 



240 THE TEN COMMANDMEN^. 

eating him, one who may be an heir of eternal glory! 

Parents owe their children protection. This their weak- 
ness and helplessness often call for. How many diseases 
and dangers is their feeble infancy exposed to ! and in 
their growing childhood, want of care and experience 
runs them daily into more. Now parents are to be their 
guards, and by their skill and strength fence off those 
Wrongs and injuries that threaten them ; and in bo doing 
they perform not only a parental but an angelical work. 
" Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; 
for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always 
behold the f^ce of my Father which is in heaven." M at. 18 : 
10. And if God, the great Father of the whole family both 
in heaven and earth, hath out of his infinite tenderness and 
compassion appointed his holy angels to be the guardians 
of children — if it be so that they who attend the throne of 
his -'glorious Majesty, should . likewise attend the cradles, 
and beds, and wandering steps of little ones — it is not on- 
ly inhuman for parents to neglect the care of their chil- 
dren, but devilish to do them hurt, or destroy them them- 
selves : the, too common practice of many wretches, who, 
to hide and cover their shame, either abandon or murder 
the fruit of their bowels. ♦ • . . . 

But as parents owe their children protection from inci- 
dent evils, so likewise they owe them provision of neces- 
saries and conveniences, according to the rank and degree 
in which. the Divine providence hath set them. This the 
Scripture often inculcates. Mat. 7 : 9, 10, '* What man 
is there among you, whom, if his son ask bread, will he 
give him a stone 1 or, if he ask a fish, will he give him a 
scorpion 1" intimating that we are bound to give our 
children what is fit for the sustenance of that life which 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 241 

they have received from us. And, indeed, they are our 
flesh and our bone ; they are ourselves multiplied. Now 
nature teaches us to cherish and nourish our own flesh, as 
the apostle speaketh, Eph. 5 : 29. Nay, the apostle hath 
laid this charge exceeding high, 1 Tim. 5 ; 8, "If any 
man provide not for his own, especially for those of his 
own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an 
infidel:" and that because even infidels and heathens are 
taught by the light and law of nature to make provision 
for their own. And this provision is not only for the pre- 
sent, but our care is to extend farther, and according to 
our ability, bating the expenses of decency and charity, 
we are to take care for their future subsistence; and if 
we cannot leave them a patrimony, we are to leave them 
a trade and calling, whereby, through the blessing of God, 
they may procure their own livelihood. So the apostle, 2 
Cor. 12 : 14, " The children ought not to lay up for the 
parents, but the parents for the children." And if we 
must place them out to a vocation,, we must endeavor with 
all our prudence to fit it to their genius and inclina- 
tion ; for otherwise it will not be a vocation, but a vexa- 
tion to them all their days : still remembering that if we 
piously design any to the work of the Lord, it should be 
those whom God hath endowed with the greatest gifts for 
so high a ministration. For it is a sin very like to that of 
Jeroboam who made Israel to sin, to consecrate priests 
unto the Lord of the refuse and vilest of the people, and 
to think those fit enough for the temple, who, through the 
deformity of their body or the defects of their minds, are 
not fit for a shop or for any other employment. So much 
tor those duties of parents which concern the temporal 
good of their children. 

Ten. Tom. ^ ^ 



242 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

2. But then they are obhged to others of a higher and 
nobler nature, which concern their spiritual good and 
have an influence on their eternal happiness. 

(1.) A great duty which parents owe their children is 
to instruct and admonish them, to educate them in the fear 
and knowledge of God. This the apostle expressly enjoins, 
Eph. 6 : 4, Ye fathers^ bring up your children "in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord." And so, Deut. 
4:9, Forget not "the things which thine eyes have 
seen — but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons." We 
find that God gives an honorable testimony concerning 
Abraham, and confides in him upon this account, Gen. 
18 : 19, " I know Abraham, that he will command his 
children and his household after him, and they shall keep 
the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." And 
Solomon extols his father David for his care in instructing 
him, Prov. 4:3, '^, "I was my father's son — and he 
taught me also, and said unto me, let thy heart retain ray 
words ; keep my commandments and live." 

This instruction must not be nice and critical, but fami- 
liar and obvious ; teaching them such fundamental truths 
and principles of christian doctrine as are of absolute ne- 
cessity to be known, and in such a manner as may be 
most suitable to their capacity and discretion. 

And if parents would be but careful and conscientious 
in the performance of this duty, instilling into their minds, 
before they are filled with vanity, the knowledge of God, 
and of Christ, and of religion ; and forming their wills, 
whilst they are flexible, to the love of piety and virtue, 
the next generation would not generally see so much de- 
Dauchery in youth, nor so much obduracy in old age, as is 
now every where too apparent. By this means the minis- 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 243 

ter's work would be half done to his hands. It would be 
needful only to feed his flock with strong meat, and to 
press them only to a vigorous and cheerful performance 
of those duties of holiness to which their pious education 
made them before inclined. 

One method of this ' instruction is to read to them or 
cause them to read the Holy Scriptures^ and 'point out 
to them those things therein which are most agreeable to 
their age and apprehension. Thus Timothy is said from a 
child to have known the Holy Scriptures. 2 Tim. 3 : 15. 
And doubtless he was trained up in that knowledge by 
the care of his mother and gi^andmother, whom the apos- 
tle honorably commends, chap. 1:5. " 

Another way is to catechise and instruct them in the 
grounds and principal doctrines of religion. Indeed a con- 
tinued discourse is not so informing, nor doth it fasten and 
rivet instruction into young minds so well as where it is 
diversified by questions and answers. This makes them 
masters of their own ideas, and able to wield and manage 
them afterwards to their better advantage. And truly this 
I take to be the very reason why so many sit grossly igno- 
rant under many years' preaching of the word to them, 
scarce able to give any tolerable account of the very first 
principles of the oracles of God, because they were never 
educated in this way of catechising : they were never tried 
nor searched, nor the strength of their memories and ca- 
pacities exercised by questions. For running and conti- 
nued discourses are like the falling of rain upon a smooth 
rock, where it trickles off as it descends ; but questions 
and examinations are like digging it, and ^making it fit 
to retain what is poured upon it. 

But whatsoever method you may judge moSt profitable, 



244 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

yet certainly instruction in their tender years is absolutely 
necessary to season them betimes with the knowledge of 
the grounds of religion and a love and veneration of piety, 
which will afterwai-ds have a mighty influence to keep 
them from being led away either with the errors or un- 
godly practices of unprincipled men. "Train up a child 
in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not 
depart from it." Prov. 22 : 6. For when the reluctance of 
corrupted nature is thus early mastered, and virtue habi- 
tuated in them, as there must be strong conviction and 
almighty grace to break off the long-accustomed habits of 
sin, so there must be very powerful and prevalent temp- 
tations that shall induce such a one, whose^ knowledge of 
God and love of virtue have grown up with him from his 
childhood, to turn a recreant to his former profession and 
practice, and to forget that before which he can hardly re- 
member any thing ; or if, through the violence of tempta- 
tion, he should be hurried into any extravagance and ex- 
cess, his conscience hath a greater advantage to reduce 
him again than it hath upon others who are trained up ig- 
nolrantly and barbarously. It vsdll still pursue him and dis- 
turb him in his sins, and his early notions of piety and re- 
ligion will imbitter the sweets which he fancied and others 
perhaps find in them ; and his conscience will never leave 
crying, and clamoring, and threatening, till it bring hira 
back, with tears in his eyes, and sorrow in his heart, and 
shame in his face, to his former regular and unblameable 
conversation. 

3. Another duty parents owe their children, is to give 
them good examples^ to set before them the copies and pat' 
tern of those virtues which they teach. 

And this indeed is the most lively and the most effec- 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 245 

tual way to profit them. Thou who before thy child blas- 
phemest the name of God by swearing or cursing, thou 
who abusest thyself and others by riot and intemperance, 
dost thou expect that ever he should reverence that holy 
and dreadful name which thou profanest ; or love that so 
briety and temperance which thou possibly mayest com- 
mend to him in words, but dost much more forbid him by 
thy deeds 1 For it is the glory and boast of children to be 
and to do like their parents. And although there be few 
so forlornly wdcked and utterly abandoned to vice but that 
they would have their children love and practise virtue, 
and may perhaps sometimes exhort them thereunto ; yet, 
alas, what effect can empty words have when they are con- 
ti^dicted and overborne by deeds ] When the corrupt 
nature thou hast given them shall be improved by the ill 
examples thou daily givest them, what avail all thy exhor- 
tations and admonitions, unless it be to upbraid and re- 
proach thyself, and increase both thine own condemnation 
and theirs too 1 

Even the heathen satirist (Juvenal) could say, "We 
ought to reverence and stand in awe of children ;" that 
they see nothing vicious or dishonest in us, not so much 
for the shame of it as the example. For there is no pest 
so contagious as vice, the least converse will serve to rub 
it upon others, especially parents' vices upon their chil- 
dren, who, if they think it not obedience and a part of duty 
to imitate them, yet cannot but conclude themselves, se- 
cure both jfrom reproofs and corrections. 

The practice of superiors hath certainly a mighty influ 
ence in forming the manners of those who are subject to 
them ; for let them prescribe what rules and enact what 
laws they please, let their authority be as great as can be. 



246 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

yet their example will be far gi'eater than their authority ; 
and inferiors will be encouraged by it boldly to transgi'ess 
when shame and consciousness of sin shall tie up the hands 
of those who should punish them. But now, when a godly 
parent shall not only, with the most tender and afiection- 
ate words that love can dictate, instruct his children in the 
ways of holiness, but walk before them in those ways ; not 
only by admonitions show it to be most rational, but by 
constant practice show it to be most pleasant and delight • 
ful ; certainly that nature must needs be most deplorably 
vicious which can in this case be refractory, and will not 
go whither both wind and tide lead him ; whereas others 
possibly, who have only the breath of good instructions, 
are carried away headlong and drowned in perdition by 
the stronger cun-ent of evil examples. 

4. If neither instructions nor good examples will pre- 
vail, then correction and discipline is necessary, and be- 
comes a duty, though perhaps it may be as grievous to 
the parent to inflict it as it is to the child to suffer it. 

I know there may be and often is excess in discipline, 
when choler and passion prescribe the measures of pun- 
ishment. This is fierce and inhuman tyranny, and argues 
such parents to be devoid of natural affection. And this 
immoderate, ungoverned correction, is so far from profit- 
ing children, that it oftentimes exasperates them, and 
makes them the more stubborn and untractable ; or else 
it only dispirits and stupifies them. And therefore the 
apostle hath twice cautioned parents against this provok- 
ing way of discipline. Eph. 6:4. "Ye fathers, provoke 
not your children to wrath." And again, Col. 3 : 21. 
" Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they 
be discouraged." 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 247 

Yet notwithstanding, where age and decency will allow 
it and prudence doth require it, it is sometimes necessary 
to use the severity of discipline. 

And let not a foolish fondness here interpose, for cer- 
tainly God loves his children with a much more parental 
affection than you can love yours ; and yet he tells us. 
Rev. 3 : 19, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." 
And the apostle tells us, Heb. 12 : 6, " Whom the Lord 
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he 
receiveth." If there be not a due exercise of discipline 
and correction, nothing else can be expected but that our 
children will wax wanton with us, and next rebellious 
against us. 

This severity must be used betimes, before age and 
spirit have hardened them against the fear or smart of 
correction. The wise man hath told us. Pro v. 13 : 24, 
" He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth 
him chasteneth him betimes." 

By faithful correction and discipline the pai'ent may 
deliver the child Jro?n greater sufferings and mischiefs that 
else will follow. Better the rod than the tree. Thou 
mayst, for aught thou knowest, redeem his life by it ; de- 
liver him from the hand of justice and the eternal wrath 
of God ; and mayst save his soul from everlasting smart 
and torment. So, Prov. 23 : 13, 14, " Withhold not cor- 
rection from the child, for if thou beatest him with the 
rod he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, 
and shalt deliver his soul from hell." 

By this course too thou shalt bring thyself much com- 
fort ; most likely in his reformation ; or if not in that, 
yet at least in the consciousness of having performed thy 
duty and done all that lay in thy power for his good. But 



248 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

what support and comfort can that parent have, who, 
when his children grow lewd and debauched, shall sadly 
reflect upon it that it was only his fondness and foolish 
pity which ruined them 1 Take this for certain, that as 
many deserved stripes as you spare from the child, you 
do but lay upon your own backs ; and those whom you 
have refused to chastise, God will make severe scourges 
to afflict and chastise you. 

5. There is another and a very principal duty which 
respects both the temporal and spiritual good of children, 
fervent and earnest prayer to God for them; without 
which all the rest will be ineffectual. 

Whenever therefore thou comest to the throne of 
grace, bring these thy dear pledges on thy heart with 
thee. E amestly implore of God that he would own them 
and provide for them as his own children ; that he would 
adopt them into the family of heaven, make them heirs of 
glory and co-heirs with Jesus Christ ; that he would give 
them a convenient portion of good things for this life, that 
they may serve him with the more cheerfulness and ala- 
crity, and a large portion of spiritual blessings in heavenly 
things in Christ Jesus, and at length bring them to the 
heavenly inheritance. And know assuredly that the prayers 
of parents are very effectual, and have a kind of authority 
in them to imperate and obtain what they sue for. 

This is the benediction or blessing which holy fathers 
in Scripture have bestowed on their children, and we find 
that their blessing was their destiny. Thus Jacob blessed 
liis sons the patriarchs, and as it were divided among them 
the treasures of God's blessings ; and God, the great Fa- 
ther, would not have the blessings of a father pronounced 
in vain, but ratified and fulfilled them in the success. 



FIFTH COMMANDMECJT. 249 

And as parents' blessings have great influence on their 
children, so likewise have their curses ; therefore they 
should beware what they wish or pray against them. A 
rash and passione^te curse is oftentimes direfully fulfilled, 
not only to the ruin of the children, but to the sorrow and 
repentance of the parents too late. We know how deep 
the curse of Noah stuck in Ham and all his posterity. 
For the words of a father are weighty and authoritative, 
even with God himself; and he will not lightly sufier 
them to fall to the ground when they are spoken either 
for or against those over whom he himself hath given 
them power and authority. 

I shall close this topic with one word to those who, are 
parents. Consider what a great charge God hath intrust- 
ed you vv^ith. In your hands are deposited the hope and 
blessing, or else the curse and plague of the next age. 
Your families are the nurseries both of church and state, 
and according to the care of them now, such will their 
fruits be hereafter. Consider, I beseech you, how you 
have managed this great trust. Are your children like 
olive-branches round about your table, each promising to 
bring forth good fruit in due season] Have you taken 
care, by your geod instructions and good examples, to 
form the Lord Jesus in them % Have you taken care, by 
correction and discipline, to cut off all excrescences and 
superfluities of naughtiness from them? Or do they re- 
main still sons of Belial ; wild, rude, unnurtured, and dis- 
obedient ] Certainly God will require an account of them 
at your hands ; for they are his, and only left in your 
keeping and to your education. But alas, the lewd prac- 
tices and the too ripe sins of youth do clearly convict 
parents rather of having encouraged w^ickedness in them 
11* 



250 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

than curbed it. And the wit and forwardness of their 
wickedness, beyond their years, make it evident that they 
have but borrowed it from your examples. Beware lest 
God punish you in them, and punish them for what they 
have learnt of you, and you in hell for not better instruct- 
ing and admonishing them. 

And if any of you have reason sadly to complain of the 
stubbornness and disobedience of your children, I be- 
seech you seriously to reflect upon the cause of it, and 
consider whether it may not be justly imputed to thy want 
of care in their education, or to the bad examples thou 
hast given them ; or possibly, by their rebellion and undu- 
tifulness towards thee, God justly punisheth thy rebellion 
and undutifulness towards thy father. I remember a story 
of a graceless and desperate young wretch, who, being 
thwarted by his aged father in some of his pranks, invaded 
his grey hairs, and dragged him by them along the 
gi'ound, to the very threshold of his door. His poor old 
father suffered it silently till then ; but then, looking piti- 
fully upon him, he said, *' Son, forbear now, and let me 
go ; for I remember I dragged my father to this very 
place, and there left him : he acknowledged the righteous 
judgment of God in so just a requital. But whatsoever 
thy conscience shall suggest to thee to have been a provo- 
cation unto God thus to punish thee, (and certainly it is 
one of the greatest punishments that can befall a man in 
this world,) humbly crave pardon of him who is thy Fa- 
ther, and beg him that he would be pleased to turn the 
hearts of the children unto their fathers, and the hearts of 
all unto himself. 

Thus we have considered the duties of parents towards 
their children, and the duties of children reciprocally 
towards their parents. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 251 

But I come now, secondly, to another class of fathers to 
whom we owe honor and reverence by the obligation of 
this command. And these are F aires Patrice, " the fathers 
of their country," the magistrates and goyebnor? 
that God hath set over us. 

They are his deputies and vicegerents upon earth, 
and the authority with which they stand invested is ori- 
ginally in and derivatively from the supreme King of 
kings, and Lord of all lords. Their kingdoms are but the 
several provinces of his universal empire. He hath given 
them their patent to be his lieutenants and viceroys ; for 
by him " kings reign and princes decree justice," Prov. 8 : 
15, not by his permission only, but by his ordinance and 
appointment. And whereas a great and conspicuous part of 
the image of God consists in his sovereignty and domin- 
ion, he hath so expressly stamped this image of his upon 
them, that for their likeness to him in it he gives them 
the same glorious name by which himself is known, Ps. 
82 : 6, "I have said, ye are gods j" and Exod. 22 : 28, 
" Thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of 
thy people." And our Savior tells us, John, 10 : 35, 
that they are called gods, because the word of God came 
unto them : the word of God, that is the appointment 
and commission which they have received from God. 

It is observable that as other inferior creatures revere 
the very countenance of a man and those few strictures 
of the defaced image of God which are still remaining 
there, and, although they far exceed in strength, yet 
they dare not, unless em-aged, make use of it against their 
natural though weaker lords, so also God hath spread 
such an awe upon the face of authority, that a look or a 
word from lawful magistrates shall more daunt and terri- 



252 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

fy than the armed force of an enemy. There is some 
secret character that God hath imprinted on them which 
makes them venerable; and although their subjects as 
far exceed them in strength as they do in number, yet 
strength alone was never made to command, but rather 
to obey and execute ; and power ought to be the servant 
of authority. 

\ Nor hath God ordained magistracy only out of respect 
to some few whom he hath ennobled, that they might en- 
loy a privilege and prerogative above the common and 
vulgar sort of men ; but he hath ordained it for the general 
good of mankind.'^ Yea, and I have often and seriously 
thought that, next to the invaluable gift of Jesus Christ, 
the best and the greatest good that God ever gave to the 
world was this appointment of magistracy ; for were it 
not for this, the whole world would be turned into a wil- 
derness, and men into savage beasts, preying one upon 
another. Did not the fear of man restrain them when 
they have cast off the fear of God, did they not dread the 
infliction of temporal punishments when they slight the 
threatenings of eternal, we might be as safe among lions 
and tigers as among men, and find better refuge and 
better society in solitudes than in cities : within would 
be fears, without violence, and every where tumult, 
uproar, and destruction ; our dwellings, our persons, 
our possessions, all exposed to the fury of bloody and 
merciless invaders ; and, as the prophet speaks, Hosea, 
4:2, " By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, 
and committing adultery," they would break out until 
blood touched blood ; and there would be no more peace 
nor agreement on earth than jthere is in hell. But the 
all-wise God, who hath subdued the beasts of the earth 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 253 

to man, hath likewise subdued man (who else would be- 
come more wild and brutish than they) unto man. So 
that those who stand not in any awe of the God of hea- 
ven, yet are awed by the gods of the earth ; and those 
whom the thoughts of hell and eternal wrath cannot scare 
from wickedness, yet many times are driven from it by 
the thoughts of a prison or a gibbet. 

Magistracy, then, being an institution of such great 
eminency and absolute necessity, let us see what are the 
duties of those who are invested with it, towards those 
under their authority ; and then the duties of those for 
whose good they rule, reciprocally towards them. 

I. Of THE DUTIES OP MAGISTRATEg I shall Spcak but 

briefly, since we are chiefly concerned in the knowledge 
and practice of duties towards magistrates. 

1. One duty of magistrates is to appoint men of approved 
ability and integrity to he in authority under them. For, 
since those high in authority cannot be omnipresent or 
omniscient, it is therefore necessary that they should 
hear with other men's ears, and see with other men's 
eyes, and act with other men's hands ; and therefore 
they ought to make choice of such as are men of known 
fidelity and wisdom to commit so great a charge unto : 
for, be the fountain never so clear, yet the streams must 
needs be polluted if they run through filthy channels. 
Those high in authority therefore should do according 
to the counsel of Jethro, Exod. 18 : 21, "Provide out 
of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of 
truth, hating covetousness ; and place such as these over 
them." Where this course is not taken, but those are 
intrusted with command and authority who either ne- 
glect the government of the people or oppress them in 



S54 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

it, what doth the prince but give away the half or more 
of his kingdom ] for what is not ruled is lost. Neither 
should these subordinate magistrates be too numerous ; 
for the Very multitude of them may possibly be more 
burdensome to the people than helpful to the ruler. 

2. Magistrates ought to distribute justice impartially, to 
maintain the cause of the poor oppressed, and to restrain the 
insolence of their proud oppressors. This is a truly royal 
and princely virtue, which will prove not only an orna- 
ment to the crown but a safety to the throne. " For the 
throne is established by righteousness," saith the wise 
man/Prov. 16 : 12. 

3. Princes and magistrates ought to he most exemplary 
for virtue and piety. The eyes of all the people are upon 
them, and their actions have as great an influence on 
their subjects as their laws. "A good prince," said P^- 
terculus, " teacheth his subjects to live well, by living 
well himself; and although he be greatest in command, 
is yet still greater in example." Therefore he is doubly 
bound to virtuous actions, both by his conscience and by 
his condition : the one as he respects his own personal 
good, the other as he regards^ the good of his people, who 
commonly take their measure from their superiors, and 
think imitation of their practices to be a more acceptable 
service than obedience to their laws. 

But I cannot insist on every particular duty of magis- 
trates, neither perhaps would it be here very proper. 

In a word, therefore, they ought to fear God above all; 
to seek his honor and glojy who hath raised them to ho- 
nor ; to be prudent in their designs, courageous in their 
performances, faithful in their promises,^ wise in their coun- 
sels, observant of their own laws, careful of the people's 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. . 255 

welfare, merciful to the oppressed, favorable to the good, 
ten'ible to the evil, ^nd just tov^^ards all. Let them re- 
member these two things : that they are gods, and there- 
fore should rule and govern as they judge God himself 
would do were he visible here upon earth ; and that they 
are men, and therefore must give an account unto the 
great God of all that trust which he hath reposed in them. 
And certainly if they be careful to perform every part of 
their duty, though we may look only at the splendor and 
glory of their state, yet the cares and troubles that attend 
it will be found so great and weighty that we shall find 
all reason in the world to make the burden of their 
crowns lighter by our ready and cheerful obedience. It 
was well observed by Lord Verulam, that princes are 
like the heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times ; 
and which have much veneration, but no rest. Essay of 
Empire. 

It is the duty of all magistrates, of whatever grade, to 
see that the laws be executed according to their full in- 
tent, without respect of persons ; neither fearing to pun- 
ish the rich, nor sparing to punish the poor ; making no 
difference between one person and another where the 
cause makes none. For whoever are thus partial want the 
courage and firmness that ought to be in a magistrate; 
and should make him as inflexible as the rule of justice 
itself; neither being frightened by the power or threats 
of those who are great, nor melted or softened with the 
cries of the mean ; for the Scripture hath expressly forbid- 
den them, Exod. 23 : 3, to ** countenance' a poor man in 
his cause ;" and pity may sometimes as much bribe and 
corrupt judgment, as rewards. They ought to divest them- 
selves of all passions, private interests and affections j to 



256 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

be impartial in the execution of justice upon the mighti- 
est offender as well as the meanest ; upon their dearest 
friends and relations as well as upon strangers or ene- 
mies. This will give strength and authority to the laws ; 
which else are but cobwebs made to catch the smaller 
flies, while the great and strong ones break easily through. 
This is the way to conciliate reverence and veneration to 
the laws and government; and by this course "judgment 
shall run down our streets as water, and righteousness as 
a, mighty stream.'* 

In brief, because I would not too long insist upon this 
subject, though it be large and various, let magistrates, of 
what rank soever they be, seriously consider the weighty 
charge given them by God himself, 2 Sam. 23 : 3, " The 
God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, he 
that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of 
God." 

II. Let us consider the duties we owe towards magis- 
trates and rulers. These are in general three : lionor, obe- 
dience, and prayer to God for them. 

1. We must honor and reverence them. This is the 
apostle's command, 1 Pet. 2 : 17, " Fear God : Honor 
the king." We must give to them a threefold honor ; in 
our thoughts, in our words, and with our substance. 

We must honor and reverence them in our thoughts, 
looking upon them as the lively and visible images of God 
upon earth. Indeed the Divine perfections are the highest 
object of our reverence ; and therefore as you would es- 
teem and honor any for their wisdom or for their holiness, 
because these are some lineaments and draughts of the 
image of God ; so you ought to reverenc^ those to whom 
the Almighty God hath communicated authority ; for this 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 257 

also is the image of God in them. Yea, and though it 
should so happen that they bear no other resemblance to 
God, neither in his wisdom, nor justice, nor holiness, but 
are wicked, cruel, tyrannicaJ and unwise ; yet that pow- 
er and authority alone, with which they stand invested, 
challengeth our respect and reverence : for in this at least 
they are like unto God ; and whosoever slighteth and de- 
spiseth them, slighteth and despiseth one of God's glorious 
attributes shining forth in them : we ought not to harbor any 
undervaluing or ill thoughts of them. But where a people 
are so happy as to be governed by those magistrates who 
have a whole constellation of Divine attributes shining in 
them ; magistrates that are just and merciful, wise and 
holy ; they ought to give them the greatest reverence that 
can belong to creatures, and to esteem and respect them 
next to God- himself; and although all these should be 
wanting, yet that power and authority which God hath de- 
legated to them is truly reverend and awful ; and the wise 
man hath commanded us not to curse the king, not in our 
thought. Eccl. 10 : 2. 

(2.) We ought to honor and reverence them in our 
words, speaking what good of them we know, and pru- 
dently concealing their vices or their infirmities. For to 
what else can it tend when we blaze abroad the faults of 
our rulers, but only to loosen the affections of the people 
from them ] And how much more horrid a wickedness is 
it then falsely to calumniate them, and by little arts, and 
suspicious intimations, and half-sentences, to insinuate 
politic jealousies into the minds of the people, and to pos- 
sess them with nothing but fears and sad apprehensions 
of what miseries and sufferings are coming upon them 
through the mal-administration of affairs, and either the 



258 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

design or neglect of their rulers ! all which tends to no- 
thing but to make the people either disdain or hate them. 
I beseech you, beware that you do not, by misinterpreta- 
tions, traduce the actions of your lawful rulers, nor heark- 
en to those who do ; whose words and whose breath serve 
only to blow up the coals of civil dissension, which, if 
mercy prevent not, will break forth again into a raging and 
-devouring war. Beware that you suffer none of those leech- 
es to fasten upon you whose very mouths will draw blood. 
We have seen the sad experience of it already ; and may 
justly fear, when we see them use the same methods, that 
they intend the same effects. The apostle gives such a 
black brand, 2 Pet. 2 : 10, " Presumptuous are they, 
self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." 
(3.) We ought to honor them with our substance when 
the necessity of their affairs and public concerns calls for 
supply. And indeed this is but a debt we owe them ; for 
we have somewhat of theirs in our hands, and it is no 
unjust demand for them to require their own. Tributes 
and public payments are theirs when made so bylaw; 
for the rest is ours no otherwise than by the same law ; 
and therefore to withhold what is thus legally bestowed 
on them is no other than theft and an unjust detaining of 
what is none of our own. Hence our Savior commands 
us to " render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." 
Mat. 22 : 21. And the apostle, Rom. 13 : 7, ** Render to 
all their dues : tribute, to whom tribute is due ; custom, 
to whom custom ; fear, to whom fear ; honor, to whom 
honor." And although possibly sometimes the burden may 
fall heavy, yet we ought freely and cheerfully to con- 
tribute ; partly considering that such is the privilege of 
mr nation that nothing is imposed upon us by violence, 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 259 

but it is given by ourselves and is our ovi^n act ; and partly 
that whatsoever we possess we owe the enjoyment of it 
to the blessing of government. 

2. Another general duty we owe to magistrates is ohe- 
dience. And for this we have as express and frequent 
commands as for any duty that belongs to christian con- 
versation. Rom. 13 : 1, "Let every soul be subject unto 
the higher powers. For there is no power but of God ; 
the powers that be are ordained of God." 1 Pet. 2 : IS- 
IS, " Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for 
the Lord's sakej whether it be to the king as supreme, 
or unto governors as sent by him, for so is the will of 
God." Neither is there any cause whatsoever that can ou- 
persede our obedience ; for if their commands be lawful, 
we are to obey them by performing what they require ; if 
they be never so wicked and unlawful, we are taobey 
them by suffering what they threaten. But I shall not now 
further prosecute this topic. 

3. Another great duty towards our rulers i^ fervent and 
earnest prayer for them. So the apostle, 1 Tim. S ; 1, "I 
exhort therefore, that) first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men ; 
for kingg and all that are in authority ; that we may lead 
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." 
The charge laid on those in authority is greater, and the 
burdens pressing them are heavier than what lie on other 
men, and therefore they should be. eased and helped by 
our prayers. The account they must render at the last 
day is greater ; their temptations are more ; and there- 
fore they more need our prayers than other men. Let us 
therefore heartily perform this duty of praying for those 
whom God has placed over usj a duty not more benefi- 



260 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

cial to them than to ourselves and the whole nation ; for, 
if we can prevail for a blessing upon our rulers, we our- 
selves shall certainly share in it. ^ 

Having spoken of the mutual duties of parents and 
children, of magistrates and subjects, I shall now, thirdly, 
proceed to consider the duties of husband and wife ; 
for in this relation also, though it come nearer to an equa- 
lity than the former, there is a superiority on the man's 
part, and subjection due to him from the woman. ■ 

And here whilst I am treating of this subject I beseech 
you give not way to any levity of mind or vanity of 
thoughts. Think it not a light, jocular tiling, as too often 
the marriage-relation and the offices that appertain to it 
are accounted ; for it is matter of duty that I am now 
propounding to you ; and matter of duty is no less than 
matter of life and death eternal. And therefore I charge 
you that you attend to it ; not to get advantages of sport 
and merriment one with another, and to object them to each 
other in a ludicrous and jesting way, as is every where 
too common a custom ; but attend to it as a matter of as 
great seriousness and weight as any that belongs to the 
right ordering of your christian conversation: a matter 
that presseth your consciences to the due observance and 
practice of it ; and if despised or neglected, will press 
your souls under guilt and sink them under wrath. And 
certainly they who are so vain as to think the duties of 
this relation to be of no great concern, must needs like- 
wise be so impious as to impute trifling to the Holy Spirit 
of Grod, who hath so frequently and with so much earnest- 
ness and instance recommended them to us. There is 
scarce any oije epistle wherein the apostles do not par- 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 261 

dcularly insist on these things ; and certainly what was 
worthy their care to write and teach, is worthy our care 
to learn and practise. 

The duties therefore of married persons are either spe- 
cial or common ; the special are those which are the duties 
only of one party to the other, either of the husband to the 
wife or of the wife to the husband; the common are those 
which belong to both, and are by both to be mutually per- 
foitned. 

I. I shall first cdnsider the duties of a husband to^ 
WARDS HIS WIFE. And they are, 

1. Conjugal love. Indeed love is a beautiful ornament 
to all relations, but of this it is the foundation and first 
principle. It is love which ought at first to tie the mar- 
riage-knot ; and it is love aldne that can afterwards make 
it easy. No other respect whatsoever can keep it from 
vmnging and galling us. And although want of love can- 
not dissolve the bond, yet it doth the joy and comfort of a 
married state. Now, of all the objects that are allowed us 
to love here on earth, a wife is the chiefest ; yea, to be 
loved above parents, children, and friends, and the dear- 
est of all other relations. Gen. 2 : 24, ** Therefore shall 
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave 
unto his wife." And if you would know the full measure 
of this love, the apostle hath prescribed it, Eph. 5 : 28, 
" So ought men to love their wives as their ovm bodies ;" 
and verse 33, " Let every one of you in particular so 
love his wife even as himself :" you must be as careful 
and tender of their good as of your own, and resent any 
injury done to them as much as if it were done to your- 
selves. And indeed there is great reason for it j for mar 



262 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

riage makes of two, one mystical person ; it doth but com- 
pensate our damage and restore the rib to our side again. 
And therefore by marriage two are said to be made one 
flesli, Mark, 10 : 8, " They twain shall be one flesh ; so 
then they are no more twain, but one flesh." And there- 
fore all violence and outrage against a wife, into which 
the rude and boisterous fury of some brutish men doth 
too often break, is as unnatural as if you should see a 
man beat, and wound, and gash himself. And certainly 
they are mad and distracted passions which take revenge 
on themselves. " No man ever yet hated his own flesh, 
(that is, no man acting rationally and as becomes a man,) 
but loveth and cherisheth it." Eph. 5 : 29. So that we are 
to love our wives with the same tenderness and natural- 
ness of affection as our own beings, and they should be as 
dear to us as ourselves. And if you would have this high 
affection mounted a degree higher, see verse 25, " Hus- 
bands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
church, and gave himself for it." If a natural affection will 
not suffice, behold here a supernatural one, and the great- 
est instance of love that ever was expressed or conceived 
brought to be the rule and pattern of ours. Christ loved 
the church, his spouse, although there were many spots, 
blemishes and imperfections in her ; he loved her so as to 
leave his Father and cleave to his wife ; he loved her bet- 
ter than himself and his own life, and shed his most pre- 
cious blood for her ; and rather than the wrath of God 
should fall upon his beloved spouse, he thrusts himself 
between and receives those heavy blows on his own per- 
son. So ought men also to love their wives ; so infinitely, 
if it were possible ; but, because it is not so, sincerely. 
Therefore, 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 263 

(1.) They must 'love them, though they often he tray 
many weaknesses and imperfections : these they ought 
meekly to bear with, though they must not countoiance 
nor encourage them. Love will cover a multitude of 
faults ; and so long as they are but faults and not crimes, 
we ouo-ht no more to divorce our affections than our per- 
sons from them. There is indeed a touchy love, which 
will cause great wrath for very small offences ; but usually 
such kind of love turns into bitterness and exasperation ; 
therefore offences of this nature should prudently be 
passed by only with a glancing reproof, or with a silence 
that shall be more instructive than noise and clamor. 
Here the apostle exhorts husbands, Col. 3 : 19, "Hus- 
bands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them." 

(2.) We should so love them as not to upbraid them with 
the necessities or incumbrances of a married life, but be 
content to abridge ourselves of our former freedom, and 
to forego our former privileges, either of plenty or plea- 
sure, which we enjoyed in a single condition, ^thout re- 
proaching them with it. Many fools there are who fancy 
nothing but joys and delights in a married life ; but when 
they enter into it, and find many unexpected troubles, 
and that they cannot live either at so much ease or with 
so much splendor as before, think to right themselves by 
perpetual brawls with their wives ; imputing the cause to 
them, and charging on them all the burdens and inconve- 
niences under which they both labor and of which com- 
monly the woman hath the greater share. Now this is not 
to love as Christ loved the church ; who, for her sake, 
stripped himself of his glory, and voluntarily humbled 
himself, first to the dust, and then to death, the cruel and 
cursed deatli of the cross. 



264 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

(3.) We ought so to love tliem as to interpose and step tn 
between them and danger, and rather suffer it to fall on our- 
selves than on them ; for so Christ loved the church, and 
gave himself for it ; redeeming it from the wrath of God 
by his own undergoing it, and delivering it from death jy 
suffering death for it. • 

(4'.) We ought so to love them as to endeavor to promote 
the spiritual good of their souls ; and by good counsels 
and instructions insinuate into them the love of piety and 
holiness; that so, as Christ sanctifieth the church his 
spouse, Yfe may also sanctify purs, and present them unto 
God without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. 

Thus much of the first duty, which is love ; on which 
I have insisted the longer, because it comprehends all 
other duties in it ; for where there is this sincere and 
conjugal affection, although it may have different methods 
of expressing itself, according to the different tempers of 
men, yet it will certainly in this, as in all other cases, 
command the whole train and retinue of other affections 
to wait upon it, and see that nothing be wanting to the 
good of the object on which it is fixed. I shall therefore 
be the briefer in the rest. 

2. Another duty of the husband is provident care for his 
wife. He ought, saith the apostle, " to nourish and cherish 
her, as Christ doth the church." He must therefore impart 
to her, according to his rank and ability, whatsoever may 
be for her necessity or comfort ; and not waste that in 
riot and excess among his lewd and wicked companions, 
companions that the devil hath given him, which ought to 
be for the support of her whom God hath given him for 
his companion, and who in the meanwhile hath nothing 
to feed on but her sorrows, nothing to drink but her tears 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 265 

See how deeply the apostle hath stigmatized such wretch- 
es, 1 Tim.-5 : 8, " If any man provide not for his own, 
and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied 
the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 

3. Another duty husbands owe their wives is protection 
from danger when they are in jeopardy: 

See how it was with David. When the Amalekites had 
burnt Ziklag, and with the rest of the prey had taken 
David's wives, he pursues them with no more than six 
hundred, men, though they were a great host, and rescues 
his wives from their captivity. 1 Sam. 30 : 18. And in- 
deed the weakness and feebleness of that sex, being more 
helpless in dangers than ours, and less able to relieve 
themselves, calls for this ready aid and succor from us ; 
and he who is so churlish as not to afford it, is so unnatu- 
ral also as to suffer a part of himself to perish. A wife is 
compared in Scripture to a fruitful xnne : now a vine is 
a weak tender plant and requires support, and the husband 
should be as the house-side for her stay and support. So 
the woman was at first made of a rib taken from under the 
man's arm ; the office of the arm is to repel and keep off 
injuries; which signifies to us that the husband ought 
to defend his wife from all wrongs and injuries to which 
t he may be exposed. 

4. Another duty is i^istruction and direction. 
Therefore the husband is called her head, the seat and 

fountain of knowledge and wisdom, Eph. 5 : 23, " The 
husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the 
head of the church." And therefore as all direction and 
consolation is derived from Christ, so should the husband 
likewise communicate knowledge, and comfort, and 
guidance to the wife ; hence he is called her guide. 

Commandments. 12 



266 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Prov. 2 : 17. And St. Peter requires of husbands tliat they 
snouid dwell with their wives according to knowledge, and 
oe able to advise and inform them in all emergent cases, 
especially concerning God and their souls. Whence St. 
Paul enjoins wives, 1 Cor. 14 : 35, that " if they wil] 
lean: any thing, they ask their husbands at home j" and 
therefore much more is it required of the husband that ho 
should have laid up a good stock of knowledge, and be 
able to teach them ; lest such as creep into houses, and 
lead captive silly women, ensnare their wives. For such 
is the subtlety of deceivers, following therein the method 
of the Old Serpent, that they first begin with the woman, 
and then make use of her to seduce the man ; for heresy, 
as all other sins, does first inveigle the affections, and then 
by them corrupts the reason. And therefore the husband 
should be well grounded and principled with knowledge, 
that he may keep his wife from being led away by the 
crafty subtlety of those who lie in wait to deceive ; and 
who by good words and fair speeches, affected phrases 
and jingling expressions that have nothing in them but 
sound and error, pervert the hearts of the simple. But if, 
as it sometimes happens, God hath endowed the wife 
with a gi'eater measure of prudence and solid and sub- 
stantial knowledge than the husband, it is then his part to 
hearken to her advice, and to yield, not indeed to the au- 
thority of the counsellor as she is bound to do, but to the 
authority of the counsel ; and this she ought to tender him 
with all respect and submission, not having power to en- 
oin what she knows td be best and fittest, but only witJi 
modesty propounding it, and with meekness persuading 
him to embrace it. 

5. Another duty of the husbdnd is tenderness and mild' 



FIFTH COMMANDMENl 2G7 

ness toicards his wife; not causelessly giieving her eithei 
by speeches or actions. 

That is a wretched family where those who are joined 
m the same yoke spurn and kick at one another. If th« 
wife be careful in performing her duty, there belongs tc 
her a kind and loving acceptation of it, and praise and 
commendation for it ; or if she sometimes should fail, she 
ought not to be rebuked with bitterness, but with meek- 
ness, and in such a way that the reproof shall show more 
of soiTOw than of anger. But perpetual brawlings and 
contentions, besides that they wholly embitter this state of 
life and eat out all the comfort of it, instead of preventing 
offences for the future, do usually provoke and exasperate 
to more, and are perhaps a greater fault in the husband 
than that which he exclaims at in hi3 wife. Besides, it will 
certainly indispose theni both to the performance of those 
duties which belong to them in their general and particu- 
lar callings. It will hinder their prayers; for how can 
they lift up their hands without wrath, as the apostle com- 
mands, 1 Tim. 2 : 8, when they burn in choler one against 
the other ? How can they pray to God for blessings upon 
each other, when they have been cursing and reviling each 
other] And as for the duties of their particular callings, 
do we not see that in those families where this baneful 
contention reigns they are commonly neglected, and all 
runs to wreck and ruin out of a kind of revenge that one 
party thinks to take upon the other : the husband out of 
discontent will not provide nor the vdfe manage, and so 
nothing is cared for but only how they may quarrel and 
rail at each other ; a misery that many families fall in- 
to through the indiscreet heats and fierceness of the 
husband upon every trivial offence of the wife, though 



?68 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

perhaps it was sometimes untliouglit of and sometimes 
unavoidable. 

G. Another duty of the husband is to give due respect 
and honor to his wife. 

Give *' honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel,"^ 
1 Pet. 3 : 7 ; for, being weak, she ought to be used with 
moie respect and gentleness. Think honorably of her as . 
the person whom God saw best and fittest for you in all 
the world ; and be not tempted, so much as in a thought, 
to believe that any other could have been either so proper 
or so beneficial to you. Speak honorably of her, not di 
vulging any of her failings and imperfections to her dis- 
credit, but giving her the due praise of those virtues- and 
graces that are in her ; for he that disgraceth his wife dis- 
parageth himself, and every one will censure him as guil- 
ty of folly either in choosing or in governing her. Treat * 
her honorably j neither making thyself a sei'vant to her 
humor, for that will dishonor thee, nor making her a slave 
to thine, for that is to dishonor her ; but use her as thy 
bosom-friend, thy endeared companion, and, in every 
thing but authority, equal to thyself. , 

7. The last duty of a husband is the prudent maintain' 
ing and managing of his authority. 

His authority over his wife is God's, who hath intrusted 
him with it ; and our Savior illustrates his own authority 
over the church by the authority of a husband over his 
wife. Eph. 5. And therefore it is not basely to be be- 
trayed, nor to be maintained with rigor and a tyrannical 
\i;ienee. But the right and most effectual way of keep- 
ing up this authority is by prudence and gravity, by sober- 
ness and piety, and a staid, exemplary, and strict life. 
This will cause a reverent esteem and veneration in the 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 26^ 

wife and in the whole family ; whereas a humorsome light- 
ness at one time, and as humorsome severity at anothei-, 
will but expose us to contempt for the one and hatred 
for the other. It is a hard matter for him to be reverenced 
l^ others, who doth not first reverence himself; for he 
that will prostitute himself by foolish and ridiculous hu' 
mors, or by vile and wicked actions, either injustice, or in- 
temperance, or lying, &c. it is impossible but that he must 
fall under the scorn of his nearest relations. So Nabal's 
churlishness and drunkenness made even wise Abigail to 
call him fool: *' Nabal is his name, and folly is with him." 
But where there is an excellent mixture of prudence and 
jriety together, the one to be a guide and the other to be 
an example, these will make a man truly reverend, and 
induce the wife and the whole family to esteem and to 
imitate him. — Thus much for the duties of the husband to- 
wards the wife. 

II. Let us next consider the duties op the wife to- 
wards THE HUSBAND. Thcso are, 

1. Subjection and obedience. And this is required from 
them as absolutely and peremptorily as unto Christ him- 
self, Eph. 5 : 22, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your 
own husbands, as unto the' Lord." And again, ver. 24, 
** Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let 
the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." 

And not only doth the apostle give authority and ccm- 
mand for it, but he enforceth it by sundry reasons. 

(1.) The woman was made out of the man, and there- 
fore ought to be subject unto him. 1 Cor. 11 : 3, 8, " The 
head of the woman is the man. For the man is not of the 
woman, but the woman of the man." She is bone of his 



270 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

bone and flesh of his flesh, and therefore ought to pay hun 
the homage of obedience and subjection for those materi- 
als of her being which she first received of him. 

(2.) Because the woman was made for the man, Piid 
therefore ought to be subject to him. So, in the next 
verse, " Neither was the man created for the woman, but 
the woman for the man." She owes her being to the 
man's necessities and convenience ; and the great end of 
her creation, next to the glory of God, was that she might 
be helpful and profitable to man. Gen. 2 : 18, " It is not 
good that man should be alone : I will make him a help 
meet for him :" therefore, having received their being for 
the sake, of man, they ought to be subject unto him. 

(3.) Another reason the apostle gives, is the prioriiy of 
the man's creation, 1 Tim. 2 : 12, 13, " I suffer not a 
woman to usurp authority over the man. For Adam was 
first formed, thein Eve :" therefore, in the same rank of 
creatures, it is but fit that he should be first in dignity 
who was first in nature. And, 

(4.) Because by the occasion of the woman sin entered into 
the world. So verse 14, "Adam was not deceived ; but the 
woman, being deceived, was in the transgression :" there- 
fore it is but fit and just that she who made all mankind 
disobedient against God, should herself be made subject 
and obedient to man. And this sentence we find inflicted 
upon her as a punishment for her transgression. Gen. 3 : 
16, " Thy dfesire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule 
ov(T thee." Not as though there would have been no sub- 
jection due from her to man if sin had not entered into the 
world by her means, for the reasons before alleged do mani- 
festly prove the contrary ; butthat now her subjection is a 
curse ; and whereas before it would have been easy and 



FIFTH COJIMANDMENT. 271 

pleasing to her, now it is become burdensome and giiev- 
ous : man being by sin made tijore humorsome and hardei 
to be pleased, and she being made less able and willing to 
bear it, God justly and righteously punishing her by impos- 
ing on her a work which she herself hath made irksome and 
difficult. And let me add to these reasons of the apostle, 

(5.) That the marCs titled imply superiority artd autliori- 
ty over the wife. Such as lord, \ Pet. 3 : 6, "Sarah 
obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." He is likewise called 
the head and guide of his wife. 1 Cor. 11:3; Prov. 2 : 17. 

(6.) The husband represents Christ, the wife the church, 
and that in this very paiticular of superiority and subjec- 
tion ; therefore, " as the church is subject unto Christ, so 
let the wife be to her own husband." 

And here I shall consider what the apostle tells us, 1 
Cor. 11 : 10, that the woman was to have power over her 
head because of the angels ; which place, especially the 
latter clause of it, is diversely interpreted. But I think 
all agree in this, that this power which women were to 
have over their heads, was a veil or covering, which at 
other times, but most especially in the congregation, they 
ought to wear on their heads ; and which, in the primitive 
times, covered not only their heads but all their face, as 
a guard to their modesty and a screen to keep off loose 
and wanton eyes. And this veil is called ^oz^;^/-, to signify 
that they were under the power and authority of their 
husbands. But the men were uncovered in their assem- 
blies, as the apostle tells us, ver. 4, to signify that they had 
nothing over them, but were superior to all visible crea- 
tures, and subject only to God. This power, or veil, avo- 
men were to wear because of the angels; not (as Tertulli- 
an did grossly conceive fi'om that mistaken text, Gen. 6 : 2,) 



272 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

to hide their beauty from the, sight and inspection of an- 
gels (for what veil could do that, or how can angels be 
affected with corporeal beauty ]) but either by angels are 
meant the ministers of the church, before whom they are 
to sliow modesty and bashfulness, or else perhaps the ce- 
lestial angels, who are always present and attending in 
the assemblies and congregations of the faithful; and 
therefore women should not do any thing unbecoming and 
unseemly before them ; or lastly, because the angels them- 
selves do reverence Christ who is their head, and in to- 
ken of their subjection to him are said to veil and cover 
their faces, Isa. 6:2; and therefore women also, in token 
of their subjection to their husbands, who are their heads 
as Christ is of the church, should likewise cover their 
heads and faces with a veil. So we find, Gen. 24 : 65, that 
when Rebekah saw Isaac coming towards her " she took 
a veil and covered herself," as a sign of her subjection 
to him. 

And this subjection is recommended to them by the ex- 
ample of holy women, to whose practice they ought tc 
conform their own. So, 1 Pet. 3:5, " Holy women who 
trusted in God, being in subjection unto their own hus- 
bands." And St. Paul gives it in charge to Titus, to ex- 
hort wives that they " be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, 
good, obedient to their own husbands." Tit. 2 : 5. And 
himself exhorts them to the same duty. Col. 3 : 18, 
" Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
it is fit in the Lord." 

These commands are so many and so express, that 
there is scarce any other duty which the Scripture doth 
urge with so much instance and earnestness, with such 
pressing reasons and enforcing motives, as this of tho 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 273 

V. ives' obedience. The duty is frequently expressed, 
submit yourselves; and the manner of performing it, ht 
subject, as to the Lord : submit, in the Lord ; a phrase 
which carries in it three things : a motive, a direction, end 
a notation. 

The motive to obedience is, doing it ^o the Lord. And 
though, through the fi'oward and peevish humors of the 
husband, they may have no other encouragement to ob- 
serve and obey him ; yet to the conscientious wife this' 
will be encouragement enough, that the Lord wiir accept 
and reward her obedience : her heavenly husband, Jesus 
Ghrist,. will account it as a service done tohim. For mar- 
riage being a type of our mystical union to Christ, he es- 
pecially is concerned that the duties of that relation be 
performed so as to bear some proportion to that spiritual 
mystery. 

The direction how to perform it is, that it be done an to 
the Lord. She must obey her husband, not only wdth a 
design of pleasing him, but the Lord Christ. For were 
it not that God commands it from them as part of their 
duty and obedience to him, it might sometimes seem very 
fit that humorsome and self-willed men should be crossed ; 
and that those who have no other reason but their, will, 
should fail of that obsei'vance and obsequiousness which 
they tyrannically expect. But then consider, it is not the 
husband only that commands, but the Lord ; and the wife 
must eye his sovereign authority through the authority of 
her husband; and then it will appear that though there 
be no necessity in what is required, yet there is a necessi- 
ty she should perform what is required. 

But the words import likewise a limitation of her obe- 
dience. The wife must submit and obev, but 2?* the Lord, 
12* 



274 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

and as to the Lord ; that is, only in lawful things, where* 
in, by her obedience to her husband, she may not offend 
against God. 

Excepting this, in all other cases the wife is absolutely 
bound to obey the will and commands of her husband to 
the utmost of her power. It is true, he abusethhis authori- 
ty if he command things unnecessary and unfit; but yet, 
neither her unwillingness to perform them, nor her judg- 
ing them inconvenient to be done, can excuse her or ex- 
empt her from the obligation that lies upon her of a ready 
obedience : nothing can do this but the unlawfulness or 
impossibility of what is enjoined. In all other things, al- 
though they be never so contraiy to her humor and incli- 
nation, she is bound by the law of God and nature to 
obey, and to submit, if not her judgment, yet at least her 
practice to the will of her husband, whether she think it 
fit or unfit to be done, so long as it is not unlawfiil : unless 
she can meekly persuade her husband to revoke his com- 
mand, she is obliged to perform it. Otherwise, when the 
apostle commands wives to be subject to their husbands 
in every thing, it would signify no more than in every 
thing which they think fit ; and this, certainly, is no greater 
a subjection than every husband would readily yield to his 
wife^ and falls much short of the apostle's intent, who 
requires this subjection of the wife to the husband in every 
thing, as the church is subject unto Christ, which certain- 
ly is not in every thing she thinks fit, neither ought she to 
take upon her to judge or reject his laws, but to fulfil them 

2. Another duty of the wife towards her husband is 
rcs-pect and reference. Eph. 5 ; 33, Let " the wife see that 
she reverence her husband." Reverence consists m two 
things, cj^ec/w. andyi'^n ..^^^ .^ :>;■ ■ r .. t,., >;!" ' ,\. .. • 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 275 

(1.) She ought to cherish a high esteem of him, if not 
fur his gifts and graces, yet at least for that relation in 
which he stands to her as her lord and her head, supe- 
rior to her by God's appointment and ordinance. Yea, 
she must look upon him as that person whom God, out of 
all the numerous millions of mankind, hath particularly 
chosen and selected for her, and one whoiti he saw fittest- 
and best to be her head and guide. 

(2.) Anothel*part of reverence isfiar; not a servile, slav- 
ish fear, for that is inconsistent with love ; but a respect- 
ful and loving fear, which will show itself in two things : 
' In her care to please Mm j endeavoring to conform her 
actions to his inclinations, so far forth as they are not, repug- 
nant to the supreme duty which she owes to God. 1 Cor. 
7 : 34, "She that is manied careth for the things of this 
world, how she may please her husband;" and therefore 
she will endeavor to comport herself in her speeches 
and in her gestures and in her whole demeanor, so as 
may render her most grateful and most amiable to him. 

In her joy in pleasing him and grief in offending him. 
Indeed, a good wife should be like a mirror. A mirror, 
you know, hath no image of its own, but receives its stamp 
and image from _the face that looks iiito it ; so should a 
good wife endeavor to frame her outward deportment and 
her inward aifections according to her husband ; to rejoice 
when he rejoiceth, to be sad when he mourns, and to 
grieve when he is offended. This is that reverence which 
wives owe to their husbands ; thinking highly and honor- 
ably of them for their place sake, and endeavoring to 
avoid and shun whatever may offend them ; and therefore, 
those who are cross and vexatious, and either by clamors 
and contentious speeches, or by thwarting and peevish ac- 



276 THE TEN CCMMANDxMENTS. 

lions grieve and sadden the hearts of their husbands, let 
them know that they highly provoke the Lord, who hath 
commanded reverence and respect to be paid to the hus- 
band as his type, and as part of that reverence and respect 
which is^ due to himself. 

3. Another duty of a wife is helpfulness to her hushand. 
She ought, indeed, to be a help to him in every thing. 
To his soul ; in furthering his graces and wisely and op- 
portui^ely admonishing him to his duty at least by a holy 
and blameless conversation, so commending the Gospel, 
of Christ to her husband that at length he may begin to 
esteem and reverence that piety which hath so adorned 
and qualified his wife ; and " what knowest thou, O wife, 
whether," by such an exemplary life as this, thou mayest 
" save thy husband 1" as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 7 : 16. 
To his hoily ; by cherishing and being tender of it. To 
his^ofltZ name; by endeavoring to augment and preserve 
it ; reporting well of him, and silencing and convincing 
any scandalous rumours that may be spread abroad con- 
cerning him. To his estate: if she cannot bring in and 
get any thing to increase the stock, yet she ought prudent- 
ly and frugally to manage what her husband intrusts her 
withal, and not to waste it vainly and profusely; for let 
her know that whatsoever is so spent or wasted is but 
stolen ; and if she shall alienate any thing from her hus* 
barid contrary to his consent, either expressly declared 
or else upon good grounds supposed to be tacitly granted 
and allowed, it is no better than theft ; and therefore 
when we read that Abigail, without the consent of he? 
husband, took a considerable present to bestow upon Da 
vid to divert his ireful intentions, it may very well be sup 
posed that if Nabal had known as well as she the dange 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 277 

wherein he stood, he would have been as forwaitl to en- 
courage her to do it as. she was ready and willing; and 
therefore, here were good grounds to suppose a tacit and 
implicit consent unto the action. The husband is the true 
and only proprietor of all, and though the wife hath a 
right to all, yet it is only a right of use and not of do- 
minion : she ought not to dispose of his estate, or any 
part of it, contrary to his mind and consent. Her proper 
office is providently and faithfully to manage the affairs 
of the family that are committed to her oversight and care ; 
and therefore, in the description of a good wife given us 
at large, Frov. 31, from verse 10 to the end. We find the 
whole of it taken up in showing her industry and care in 
ordering the affslirs of the fkmily. 

4. Another duty of the wife is modesty; and that both 
in apparel and hehavior. 

(1.) In apparel; that it be according to her place and 
rank, not affecting gaudiness or strange fashions, nor yet 
affecting, on the contrary, a singularity of obsoleteness 
and outworn antiquity ; for pride may be equally shown 
either way. The best temper is for them not to wear gar- 
ments to be taken notice of. The apostle gives them this 
rule, 1 Pet. 3 : 3, 4, Let not the woman's " adorning be 
that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing 
of gold, or of putting on of apparel ; but let it be the hid- 
den man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, 
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is 
in the sight of God of gi'eat price." And so St. Paul, 
1 Tim. 2 : 9, 10, ** I will that women adorn themselves with 
modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not 
with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, 
but (which becometh women professing godliness) with 



278 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

good wox'ks.'"* This indeed is the best ornament, that 
which makes them lovely in the sight of God, and that too 
which makes them esteemed by all sober and serious per- 
sons. Indeed, I do not think that costly array is in either 
of these places absolutely forbidden ; doubtless gold and 
jewels may lawfully be worn if we keep ourselves within 
our rank and quality, and fashion Ourselves to those who 
are most sober in that rank, rather than to those who are 
most light and vain. But the prohibition is to be inter- 
preted either by the degree, that is, be not excessive nor 
vain in your apparel, which happens when the habit ex- 
ceeds either the quality or the ability of those that wear 
it ; or else it is to be interpreted by a comparison : let not 
the adorning be the outward adorning of wearing of gold 
or of putting on of apparel; that is, study not so much how 
to set off yourselves in your garments, as how to adorn 
yourselves with a meek and quiet spirit, with sobriety, 
modesty and good works, which is the richest and most 
beautiful robe you can wear. 

(2.) As she must be modest in her apparel, so she must 
be in her hehavior and deportment. Her countenance, 
gestures and speeches must be all fitted ta show the in- 
ward calmness and serenity of her mind ; and, therefore, 
imperious, clamorous and turbulent women are a torment 
and vexation to themselves, and more to their husbands. 
" The contentions of a wife," saith the wise man, " are a 
continual dropping." Prov. 19 : 13. And it is such a 
dropping as will at last eat and fret through his very 
heart, though it were made of stone. 

III. There are likewise common duties to he performed 

hy both THE HUSBAND AND WIFE MUTUALLY. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 279 

I shall only name them briefly. Such are fervent prayers 
to Gody both severally and together, that he would be 
pleased to pour down his blessings and his gi-aces on 
them, and give them wisdom to demean themselves 
towards each other aright;- conjugal love; communion of 
themselves, of their estates, of their habitations; a mu- 
tual bearing of one another's weaknesses, with prudent 
and pious endeavors to heal and remove them ; the nur- 
ture and education of children ; the government of their 
family committed to their charge, for whom they are to 
provide not only what is requisite for their temporal 
good, but much more for their spiritual, inasmuch as their 
souls are much more worth than their bodies ; and there- 
fore they ought to observe constant family duties, and 
make choice of honest and religious domestics, and so far 
as in tliem lies keep out the infection of evil company 
from entering within their doors as carefully as they 
would the plague. And whi .it they thus live and thus 
love, they have gocd reason to believe that, as they are 
joined in a near relation each to other, so they are both 
joined in a near relation to the Lord Jesus, who is the 
husband of his church and all the faithful in it ; and when 
death shall dissolve their marriage-union and separate 
them one from the other, it is only to bring theni to live 
for ever with that husband from whom they can never be 
separated nor divxjrced. — Thus much for the duties of 
husbands and wives. 

Let us now, in the fourth, place, proceed to consider 
the duties of another family relation, and that is betweeu 
MASTERS and their servants. 

For these also are comprehended undei this command- 



280 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

ment, Honor thy father and thy mother^ since there is a 
confessed superiority of the one over the other; and on 
that account servants have honored their masters with 
the style and compellation of father. Thus, 2 Kings, 5:13, 
when those prudent servants sought to mitigate the rage 
of proud Naaman, who thought his^ greatness too much 
slighted Ly the prophet, in that he would only cure and not 
compliment him, they reverently call \nm father ; his ser- 
vants came near and spake unto him, and said. My 
father^ Sfc. - 

And here not to discourse of dominion and servitude, 
whether the original and foundation of either be in nature 
and institution, nor of the difference of servants by war, 
purchase or compact ; I shall only speak of what is more 
immediately pertinent to my subject, and what may be 
more instructive and profitable to you, viz. the mutual and 
reciprocal duties of masters and servants. 

The duties that equally concern them both consist, in 
general, either in the right choosing or in the right using 
of one another. 

I. I shall begin with the servant's duty, and that, 
1. As to the choice of Ms master. He ought, where his 
choice is left him free, to choose a faithful master, such a 
one as fears God and will be willing to promote the spi- 
ritual good and salvation of his soul; with such certainly 
he shall best serve, who do themselves ' serve God ; where 
he shall have nothing but reasonable and lawful com- 
mands to obey and pious examples to imitate. Many poor 
ignorant souls have had cause for, ever to bless God that 
his providence hath cast them into such families, where 
they have received the first knowledge and the first savor 



jnrFTH COMMANDMENT. 281 

of godliness. But if the servant be beforehand knowing 
and religious, what comfort can it be to him to live where 
there is a constant neglect of holy duties ; nothing but 
excess and riot, and profaneness, and abusing of the name 
of God, and scoffing at his service and servants ] Cer- 
tainly necessity should hardly induce him, much less 
choice lead him to be a servant in a family whei'e the 
devii is the master of it. The Psalmist sorely complains 
that he was forced to take up his abode among wicked 
and ungodly men. Psalm 120 : 5, ** Wo is me that I so- 
journ in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar !" 

And as it cannot but be exceedingly burdensome and 
tedious to thee, and cut thy soul to the very quick, to be 
at the command of those who rebel against thy God, to 
hear his holy name blasphemed, his ways and worship 
and people derided, which are dearer to thee than thy 
very life, so is it very dangerous and full of hazard. It is 
hard to keep zeal and the sparks of grace and divine love 
alive when thoi* hast the greatest helps to it that can be - 
administered; how wilt thou then preserve them alive 
when thou hast so many quench-coals about thee ; when 
the floods < of ungodliness shall compass thee about and 
sutround thee^ Either thou must dissemble thy piety, 
and that is the ready way to lose it, (for grace is like fire, 
stifle and keep it close and it will certainly die,) or else 
thou must put thyself upon the sore temptation of being 
mocked and scorned for it. Thou knowest not how far thou 
raayest forsake God and thy first ways for compliance 
sake. It is the hardest thing in the world to be religious 
alone, and to keep up zeal and affection for God when 
all that we converse with are wicked and ungodly. Vice 
is the most contagious plague, and it will be a very 



282 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

great wonder if those with whom thou familiarly con- 
versest, with whom thou eatest and drinkest and sleepest, 
do not at last infect thee. We see holy Joseph, by living 
long in the Egyptian court, had learned some of the 
court fashions, and could readily swear ** by the life of 
Pharaoh." 

Venture not thyself therefore into those families where 
the governors are either coiTupt and erroneous in their 
principles, or lewd and dissolute in their conversation ; for 
it will be hard for thee to swim against the stream both 
of example and authority ; or if thou shouldst be able to 
bear up against both, it will cost thee more pains and 
struggling (to do it than all the temporal advantages thou 
canst there reap will be worth to thee. 

2. After thou hast made thy choice and art entertained, 
consider Iww tJiou oughtest to demean thyself towards thy 
employer. 

And here if by what shall be said thy duty seem very- 
hard to thee, yet it is no harder than it hath pleased God 
to make it ; yea, and possibly not so hard as thy master's, 
for he is bound to give an account for thee to God, but 
so art not thou for him. Thy miscarriages shall be severe- 
ly revenged on him if they have been through his default 
of needful instruction, or of care and discipline ; but so 
shall not his upon thee. And therefore in this respect all 
inferiors haVe a mighty advantage to sweeten the lowness 
of their condition, that they shall not be punished for the 
sins of their superiors, but superiors may be for the sins of 
their inferiors, yea, and sometimes for their due obedi- 
ence too, when they command them things though not 
unlawful yet unfit ; for that may be a sin in a superior to 
command, which is a duty for an inferior to obey when 



I 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT, 283 

commanded ; and certainly in the end his task will be 
found easiest who is to obey, rather than his who com- 
mands. Here I remark, 

(1.; The chief and comprehensive duty of a servant is 
obedience to the commands of his master. For this is abso- 
lutely enjoined them, Col. 3 : 22, *'■ Servants, obey in all 
things your masters according to the flesh." And again, 
Eph. 6:5, " Servants, be obedient to them that are your 
masters according to the flesh." In all things that are not 
dishonest and contrary to the laws of God there obedi- 
ence is required ; yea, although in many things their com- 
mands should be impertinent or too imperious and tyran- 
nical, yet sei*vants in such cases are no more exempted 
from obedience than their masters shall be from punish- 
ment ; for the unreasonableness of their commands they 
shall give an account to God their master; and thou, for 
withholding thy obedience, both to them and him. 

(2.) Another duty is, a patient suffering of reproofs and 
corrections. Yea, and so patient are servants to be as not 
so much as to answer again, Tit. 2:9, " Exhort ser- 
vants — to please their masters well in all things, not 
answering again." So strictly hath religion tied them up 
to obedience that they ought not to reply against a re- 
buke, nor to derogate so much from the authority of their 
masters as to murmur at it ; and therefore to use violence 
against them is so high a degree of disobedience that it 
approacheth near to sacrilege. 

Yea, and this quiet and silent submission is required 
also, not only where the servant hath given just cause for 
reproof and correction, but although he suffer from the 
groundless rage and passion of his master. See 1 Vet. 
2 : 18-20, " Servants, be subject to your own mas- 



284 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



ters, with all fear ; not only to the good and gentle, but 
also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for 
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrong- 
fully. For what glory is it if, when ye be buffeted foi 
your faults, ye shall ta,ke it patiently 1 But if, when ye do 
well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable 
with God." See here how urgently the apostle enjoins on 
them this duty. And indeed a duty so hard, so contrary 
to flesh and blood, had need to be pressed home upon 
your consciences. You ought to be patient, not only 
when you are justly reproved and corrected for your 
faults ; but if the distempered rage of a master should 
break forth without any reason, or contrary to all reason; 
if he should reprove and buffet you, not for your faults 
but for your duty, you ought to take it patiently and not 
to strike again, po not so much as to answer again : that is, 
not to answer with taunts and invectives, but calmly and 
at fit and convenient seasons to present to him the justice 
of your actions and the reasons that naoved you to them. 
I must confess- that of all things which belong to the 
duty of servants this is the most difficult ; and there is 
nothing that can sweeten and facilitate it but only con- 
science of their duty and the acceptance and reward 
which they shall find with God for it ; and therefore they 
had need to pray for a great measure of self-denial and 
mortification of those passions which will be apt to strug- 
gle in them on this occasion, and by an eye of faith look 
up to God to support them, esteeming it a chastisement 
inflicted on them by their heavenly Master ; and that he, 
be their spirits never so high, will enable them to undergo 
it without any more murmuring than tl)ey would use 
against God himself, when he immediately afflicts them. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. ' 285 

(3.) Another duty of servants is a reverential fear of 
their masters, '* A son honoreth his father, and a servant 
his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honor 1 
and if I be a master, vs^here is my fear ]" Mai. 1 : 6. And 
1 lie apostle hath commanded servants to " be obedient to 
their mastei-s, with fear and trembling." Eph. G : 5. And 
;!^ain, 1 Pet, 2 : 18, *' Servants, be subject to your masters 
\\ ith all fear." This fear is to be expressed by them in 
:isir speeches and actions. 

In their speeches^ by forbearing any clamors or irrever- 
ent muttering in their presence. Their words must be 
few and humble, giving them all those respectful titles 
that belong justly to their place and quality. Yea, and 
they must not Only speak fair to them whilst they are pre- 
sent, but speak well of them when absent ; begetting in 
others as good an opinion of them as they may ; conceal- 
ing their infirmities, and what they cannot speak truly of 
them to their credit, therein to be silent. 

Likewise in their actions they ought to testify their ro- 
^rence, conducting themselves with all the expressions 
of modesty and respect before them, and readily doing 
not only what their masters shall expressly command, 
but what they judge will be pleasing and acceptable 
to them ; and therefore we have that expression. Psalm 
123 : 2, *' The eyes of servants look unto the hand of 
their masters; and the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of 
her mistress," intimating to us that good servants will 
not only readily obey when they have a verbal and oral 
command, but will be ready to take the least sign, the 
least beck fi'om their masters, and strive not only to ful- 
' fil but even to prevent their commands by the readiness - 
and respect of their obedience. . . ~ 



286 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

(4.) Another duly of a servant is diligence in his mas 
ter\s affairs. He ought to set his mind to them, and em- 
ploy his time in them. For he is not faithful who is ne- 
fjliofent ; and he steals from his master who doth not use 

DO ' 

his strength and spend his time in his service. Every 
slothful servant is a thief; and so much advantage as he 
liinders his master of by his negligence and idleness, of 
so much he doth but rob him. And therefore in the Pa- 
rable of the Talents, when the master takes an account 
of every man's improvements, he calls that servant who 
had not used his talent nor been industrious in his service, 
not only slothful, but wicked, *' Thou wicked and slothful 
servant." Mat. 25 : 26. 

(5.) Another duty is fidelity and trust in what is com- 
mitted to their charge ; not defrauding their masters, noi 
purloining from them the least value, but serving them 
with all faithfulness and integrity. So, Tit. 2 : 9, 10, 
"Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own mas- 
ters— -not purloining, but showing all good fidelity." And 
unto this appertains carefulness in preserving their mas- 
ter's estate ; not wasting or consuming it either by riotous 
living or negligence. Doubtless many men have sunk and 
decayed under the unfaithfulness or carelessness of their 
servants, either stealing from them or prodigally wasting 
what was theirs. Let such know that every farthing stands 
upon account in God's debt-book : unless they make 
amends to their masters, if ever Providence shall enable 
them to do it, they must make a punctual payment to di- 
vine justice, which is infinitely the more dreadful creditor. 

(6.) As trust in affairs, so likewise truth in speech is 
another duty of a servant. They ought to approve them- 
selves such that their masters may. repose themselves on 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 287 

their word. And as servants are the hands and the eyes 
of their masters, so they ought to make no other report 
to them than what is as certain as though they had touch- 
ed it and seen it themselves. We read of Gehazi, that 
when he was returned from taking a bribe of Naaman, ho 
stood very demurely before his master with a lie ready 
prej^ared in his moi»th. " Whence comest thou, Gehazi V* 
" Thy servant," saithhe, " went no whither." But this lie 
cost him a leprosy that stuck incurably to him and to 
all his posterity. I am loth to be uncharitable, but I much 
fear that if the same judgment were inflicted on every 
servant that come s to his master with a lying excuse, many 
families would be infected, and very few in this relation 
escape that loathsome contagion. Certainly it is only a 
cowardly, base, slavish fear that induceth one to this vile 
sin of lying. And, what ! wilt thou be more afraid to offend 
thy master by confessing a fault, than to offend thy God 
by committing another to conceal it 1 What else is this 
but to heap up sin upon sin, and to make a single trans- 
gression become two . thereby I A sin the most odious 
to God, who is truth itself; and usually most detestable 
to men, and with difficulty pardonable by them ; for it im- 
putes folly and ignorance to them, as being so weak that 
they cannot find out the matter. And therefore the Psalm- 
ist saith, *' He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." 
Psalm 101 : 7. 

(7.) Another duty of servants, and it is the last I shall 
mention, is to serve their masters witk good will, and in 
singleness of their hearts ; not grudgingly, as of constraint, 
for that is slavish, but readily and cheerfully, as unto the 
JjOtS.', ** not as men-pleasers," only " with eye-service," 
being no longer diligent than their master's eye is upon 



?S8 THE ten: commandments 

tliem, but careless and negligent as soon as his back la 
turned; " but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of 
God from the heart;" as the apostle commands and di- 
rects them, Eph. 6 : 5-7. 

Now to perform service to their masters as unto God 
and Christ, imports. these two things : 

A serious consideration that God is concerned in every 
thing they do, as the object of it. So, Coh 3 : 23, 
" Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord." And 
therefore servants are commanded to have respect, not so 
much unto men as unto God. This is the way to er^noble 
thy service, be it never so mean ; it is God whom thou 
ser^'^st in them, that God whom the greatest princes and 
potentates of the earth ought to serve. And be the em- 
ployment what it will, yet the greatness and glory of that 
Master to whom thou doest it put an honor and dignity 
upon it. 

To do service as unto the Lord, implies thy doing it 
on this very account, because God hath commanded it. 
Be the action what it will, yet if you can truly say that 
you do it not only because your master hath commanded 
it, but because God, his Master and yours, hath laid the 
authority of his command and injunction on you to obey 
him, this commends the service to God, and makes it an 
action done truly unto him. 

And this may Ije a great encouragement to servants, 
(far indeed their condition generally wants encourage- 
ment) that though their employment may be the drudge- 
ries of this life, and those possibly not very well accepted 
by their harsh and froward masters ; yet, be their work 
never so painful and laborious, whilst they perform it out 
of conscience to God's command, it is accounted as done 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 289 

to him, and not to them ; they are his servants more than 
theirs, and he will kindly accept and bountifully reward 
them. 

II. Let us now proceed to those duties which mas- 
ters OWE RECIPROCALLY TO THEIR SERVANTS. And those 

consist, as before I noted, either in the right choosing or 
in the right using of them. 

(1.) The master's first duty is a prudent care and cir- 
cumspection in the choice of his servants. This is a mat- 
ter of great moment, and that whereon the happiness 
and comfort, or else the misery and trouble of a family do 
very much depend. 

Two qualifications in a servam ought chiefly to be re- 
garded in the making choice of him. The one is ability 
to Jill his place and manage those affairs which you com- 
mit to his care and trust. The other is conscientiousness 
and piety in doing faithful service not to thee only, but to 
God, the common Master of you both^ 

And indeed this latter is of more importance and c^ 
greater concern to thee than the former. For when thou 
entertainest a godly person, though possibly not so suffi- 
cient for thy employment as some others, it will be a com- 
mendation of thy charity that thou maintainest one of 
God's servants in thy family. But when thou entertainest 
a lewd profane vn'etch only because he is able to despatch 
his work, thou maintainest one of the devil's slaves, and 
takest into thy house a sworn servant to the deadliest 
enemy thou hast, which is justly reproachable both with 
folly and impiety. . ' ^ 

Yet how little is this usually regarded ! I know it is 
the custom of too many, that if they can light on those 

Ten Com. 10 



290 THE TfeN COMMANDMEl^TS, 

wiiom they think proper for their affairs, they never in- 
quire what their principles or what their practices be as 
to religion, whether popish or factious, whether for the 
mass or the meeting ; but choose them as they would 
beasts of burden, the most strong and able, and account 
it the only property of good servants to be able to per- 
form their office and willing tu drudge as much as they 
would have them. .''... -' " 

But let them know that they ittake a V^f y uiiwise ahd a 
very sinful choice. For such servants will assuredly make 
much more work than they despatch, and leave more filth 
in the house than they cleanse out. Though they be never 
so able and fit for their employments, yet think not such 
a one fit for thee who refuseth to serve that G-od whom 
thou thyself art bound to serve, and believe it to be a de- 
sign of the devil to help thee to onevi^ho shall do thy work 
but undo thy family. One vile and wdcked servant is 
enough to corrupt a Aivhole household ; for assure your- 
selves they come there to do the devil more service than 
you, and their examples and presumptions v^dll seduce 
and -draw others into the same excess with themselves. 

For to this I impute the rise and growth of that general 
profatieness that is too reigning in most families, espe- 
cially in those whose quality or estates require a nume- 
rous attendance. They are cornmonly too careless what 
mffian and debauched servants they entertain ; and their 
children, which else might be the ornament and glory of 
the nation, conversing with these, learn from them those 
first rudiments of vice which afl;erward their condition 
and wealtn enable them to perfect into consummate vil- 
laity. Here they learned the first taste of excess and in- 
temperance j here they were taught the first syllables of 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 99l 

oaths, and instnicted how to lisp out curses and obscenity, 
and according to their proficiency were applauded by 
these impious wretches for their genteel docility ^nd apt- 
ness. Such serv^ants as these should be rooted out ; not 
only are they the pests of particular families, but their in- 
fluence reaches farther, even to corrupt those who may 
hereafter have an influence on the state and common- 
wealth ; for they serve only to give youth the first relish<^i 
of sloth, and pleasure, and vice, which, by wofu! im- 
provements, grow at last to be inveterate habits, and 
make them only a shame to their families and a curse to 
the state. 

. So it is proportionably in all humbler families : where 
the servants are wicked, the children ordinarily will be 
more ruled by their examples and flatteries than by their 
parents* authority and commands. 

And therefore it highly concerns you to make a pru- 
dent choice at first, or, if therein you have been mistaken, 
as soon as you can to rid your houses of those vermin and 
caterpillars, which else will destroy the^ verdant and bud- 
ding hopes of your children ; and to bring in those who 
are sober, stayed and godly, who will make it their gi-eat 
care first to serve God and then you. Take the resolution 
of the royal Psalmist for your pattern and direction, 
" Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they 
may dwell with me ; he that walketh in a perfect way, he 
shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell 
within my house ; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my 
sight." Psalm 101 : 6, 7. Certainly those will be the Lest 
servants to us who are faithful servants to God ; or if tney 
should be less fit for thy occasions, yet they will suffi- 
ciently earn their wages, though they only pray for thee. 



298 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

It is said of Joseph, Gren. 39 : 5, when he was hroughl 
into Potiphar's house to be his servant, " that the Lord 
blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the 
blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, in the 
house and in the field." Godly servants bring a bless- 
ing along with them to the families where they reside : 
having such a servant thou hast a flriend in court, one that 
can do thee kind offices in heaven through his interest at 
the throne of grace. And therefore, as it is thy duty, so it 
is thy wisdom and thy concqm to make choice of such ; 
these best know their duty ; these will make most con- 
science of performing it ; in their integrity and faithful 
ness thy heart may repose, and they will entitle thee and 
thy family to those blessings which attend them. - 

2. Another general duty of masters in relation to ser 
vants is, rightly to use them when they are chosen. And 
this consists likewise in two things, government and pjv- 
vision. 

(1.) This government ought to he prudent and discreet, 
such as may maintain authority, and yet not be sonred 
into tyranny. Therefore it should be a master's care to 
demean himself gravely before his servants ; "bis very 
countenance and deportment should be enough to beget 
reverence in them. For when the master is vain and light, 
the servants will grow first familiar and then contemp- 
tuous. 

Government consists in two things, command and cor- 
rection. But that which doth most of all tend to make 
both effectual, is good example. 

A master ought wisely to command and enjoin his ser- 
vants what they should do. And herein is required much 
skill and prudence. For though servants ought not to in- 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 293 

quire into the reasons of all that their masters bid them 
do, yet doubtless it is a very difficult matter for them to 
bring themselves to do that which is apparently vain and 
ridiculous ; and by imposing such things upon them the 
master will much hazard the loss or diminution of his au- 
thority : therefore in laying his commands upon them he 
ought to have regard bpth to the manner and matter of 
them. 

As to the manner y he ought not to command with rigor, 
with ill language and revilings, as is the custom of too 
many, who when they enjoin their servants any thing pre- 
face their commands with a reproach, which tends to no- 
thing but to discourage them, to make them hate the em- 
ployment and him that setteth them about it ; and by this 
means we make our servants to become our enemies 
The apostle therefore hath given this caution, Eph. 6 : 9^ 
" Ye masters, do the same things to your servants, for-" 
bearing threatening." Nor yet should they prostitute 
their authority by any submiss entreaties, for it is an evil 
which the earth itself cannot bear, when a servant rei^eth 
and bears sway over his master, as the wise man observes, 
Prov. 30 : 22 ; but there should be such an equal mixture 
of mildness with gravity, and love with authority, that the 
servant should not only be compelled but inclined by it 
unto obedience. Indeed there is required much evenness 
of temper in him that would make a good master ; not to 
be hurried with violent and causeless passions, nor to be 
fiwayed by irrational humors ; for nothing doth more de- 
tract from authority than humorsomeness, "because ser- 
vants not having any standing measure of what will please 
auch a master, will at last grow careless of it, and despise 
the commands of him who is as much a servant as they 



2^4 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

are servants, yea, a very slave to his passions and humors, 
than which there cannot be a baser and a viler slavery; 
and therefore those who are servants to fickle and capri- 
cious masters, though they raay seem very obsequious to 
them, yet cannot but secretly despise them ; for power 
may indeed make their commands to be obeyed, but it is 
reason only and gravity that can make them venerable 
and reverend. 

As to matter also, a master ought to command nothing 
hut what is laicfdl to he performed. For both he and his 
servant have a supreme Lord and Master in the highest 
heaven, whom they both ought to fear and obey. And to 
every master let me say, thy servant's service is no far- 
ther due to thee than as it is consistent with the service 
of Grod ; and when thou commandest any thing contrary 
thereimto, thou art not a master but a tempter. It is true, 
he is bound in conscience to obey thee, yet it is only in 
those things wherein the law of God hath left his con- 
science free ; and therefore where the great and universal 
Lord hath laid a prohibition on him, his obedience is su- 
perseded, and thy commands do only bind thyself to guilt, 
not him to observance. He is bound to work for thee, but 
^ot tc lie, nor to steal, nor to cheat for thee ; and if thou 
art^so wicked as to enjoin him any such thing, it is no un- 
civil answer to say to thee, as the apostle did. Acts, 5 : 29, 
" We ought to obey God rather than men." And further, 

A master's commands must be not only lawful hxxt possi- 
ble. To command things impossible is the height of folly. 
And therefore when Abraham commanded his servant to 
procure a wife for his son, the servant prudently answers, 
What if she will not come 1 upon which supposition his 
master acquits him from the oath of God that was betwixt 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 29§ 

them. " If the woman will not be willing to follow thee, 
then thou shalt be cle^r from this oath." Gen. 24 : 8. To 
command things impossible to be effected will but detract 
from the master's authority and lessen his esteem, and 
cause the servant to think his own discretion to be a bet- 
ter guide for his actions thqn his master's : yea, although 
the thing be not simply impossible in itself, but only to 
the servant, considering either his inability or employ- 
ments ; or if it be hugely inconvenient, or prejudicial, or 
unseasonable, the master ought not in conscience or pru- 
dence to exact it. For as to command things unlawful is 
impiety, and things impossible, folly ; so to require things 
unreasonable and prejudicial is mere tyranny; and as such 
it is recorded of Pharaoh and his task-masters, who, to 
weary and wear out the Israelites, exacted the whole tale 
of bricks, but would not allow straw to make them. 

Moreover, a master's commands ought not to be vain 
and imjjertinent, but he should have some swaying reason, , 
though perhaps not always fit to be communicated to the 
servant, why he commands such things from him, area- 
son sufficient to satisfy his own judgment and his own 
conscience. 

Again, it is the master's duty to correct those s&rvants 
that are stubborn and disobedient. The wise man tells us, . 
" There is a servant who will not be coiTOcted by words, 
for although he understand he will not answer." Prov. 
29 : 19. Yet here prudence must be the measure of what 
discipline is fit for them, according to their age, disposi- 
tion and the nature of their offence. A reproof will work 
more effectually with some than stripes, and those who 
have ingenuous spirits wil] either be discouraged or exas- 
perated by a too-rigorous usage. And Grod hath express,ly 



-896 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

interposed his will in this particular. " Thou shalt not 
rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God." Lev. 
25:43. 

Indeed no correction is to be inflicted on them out of 
passion and revenge; but either for reformation and 
amendment, that they may be the more wary for the fu- 
ture ; or for example's sake, to terrify others from the 
same or the like offences. Even a heathen could say, 
" No wise man doth punish because the offence is already 
committed, ^^ for then it comes unseasonably and too late, 
** hut that it may not he committed again^ Plato apud 
Lactant. de Ira Dei. c. 18. 

But still be sure that the corrections be not immo- 
derate and too severe : neither exceeding the proportion 
of the fault, for that is cruelty ; nor unbeseeming thee to 
inflict, or the age and character of thy servant to suffer, 
for that will be reproachful to both. Generally reproof is 
the best discipline. 

Now, to move you to mercy and lenity towards them, 
consider, . ■ ' . ' 

That you yourselves have a Master, the great and glorious 
God. This the apostle urges, Eph. 6:9," Masters— for- 
bear threatening, knowing that your Master also is in 
heaven." Think with yourselves how often you provoke 
him, and yet he bears with you although you are infinite- 
ly more inferior to him than any servant can be to you : 
this will calm your passions and cause you, if not alto- 
gether to wave, yet at least to allay and mitigate the 
rigor and severity of your chastisements. 

Consider that they are equal with you in respect to God. 
It is true, they are your servants ; but both you and they 
are fellow-servants to the great Lord and Master. And 



FIFTH commandment: " 297 

if thou in a rage shouldst take thy fellow-servant by the 
throat and imperiously abuse him, fear lest thy Lord may 
require it and vindicate his wrongs in the punishnuent of 
thy tyranny. " There is no respect of persons with him ; 
but he that hath done wrong, shall receive for the wrong 
that he hath done." Arid what art thou, O vile worm, 
that thou shouldst domineer over thy. fellow, who is 
moulded of as good earth and hath as precious and im- 
mortal a soul in him as thyself? For, 

Consider that thou art equal likewise in nature : Divine 
providence only hath made the difference. Whence then 
such a supercilious disdain of servants, " as if," says Ma- 
crobius, "they did not consist of the same materials nor 
draw the same breath with thyself?" "They are ser- 
vants, but yet they are men; they are servants, yea, 
rather, they are thy fellow-servants." And it is in the 
power of the same providence who hath subjected them 
to thee, to change the scene, to exalt them and bring thee 
into bondage. Why then shouldst thou despise them % 
whereas thou knowest not how soon thou mayest be 
brought under a more miserable servitude. They are 
servants out of necessity ; when, perhaps, their masters 
are voluntary slaves. Some are slaves to their lustSj 
others to covetousness, others to ambition, and all to 
hope, all to fear. And there is no servitude so justly con- 
temptible as that which is voluntary and wilful. 

Consider again, that lie wJio is a servant to men may be 
the Loj'd's freeman ; whereas he that is :free among men 
may be a slave to his lusts, and by them to the devil ; 
and therefore we ought neither to think despicably of 
servants nor to use them severely, but to treat them with 
love, as our fellow-creatures, our fellow-servants, yea, and 

13* 



298 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

fellow-heirs of the same inheritance of life and glory. — 
Thus much concerning the master's duty in government. 

(2.) The other particular, under the general duty of mas- 
ters in relation to servants, is provision ; and this ought 
to be both for their temporal and spiritual good, for the 
welfare both of their bodies and of their souls. 

As for temporal provision, the master is bound tw 
supply his servants with things necessary for them, ac- 
cording to the tenor of the agreement and compact made 
between him and them : " Masters, give unto your ser- 
vants that which is just and equal." Col. 4 : 1. He ought 
to provide for them food and raiment ; or else, in lieu of 
any of these, faithfully to pay them their agreed vy^ages. 
** The wages of him that is hired shall not abide all night 
with thee until the morning." Lev. 19 : 13. And again, 
" Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor 
and needy — -at his day thou shalt give him his hire: 
neither shall the sun go down upon it, lest he cry against 
thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.^' Deut. 24 : 
14, 15. This oppression of servants, in withholding from 
thern the covenanted reward of their labor, is a crying and 
provoking sin. So the apostle : " The hire of the labor- 
ers which have reaped down the fields, (so likewise of 
those who have done any other work and service for you,) 
which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth y and the cries 
of them that have reaped are entered into the ears of 
the Lord of sabbaoth." James, 5:4. 

And as the master is to make temporal provision for 
their bodies, so much more is he to provide for their 
spiritual welfare and the good of their souls, inasmuch 
as their souls are incomparably to be preferred before 
their bodies- ■ , 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 299 

Every master is to be both d, priest and a prophet with- 
in his own family as well as a king. He is to instinct them 
in the will and laws of God; to inform their ignorance, 
resolve their doubts, excite and quicken them to the ser- 
vice of God ; to rectify their errors and mistakes, to pray 
with them and for them, to direct them in the way that 
leads to heaven and happiness ; and, above all, to walk 
before them in it by his holy and pious example. 

But how few masters are there who conscientiously 
perform this duty ! Do not the most think it enough if 
they provide necessaries and conveniences for the body, 
the dull, outward and earthly part of man 1 and, indeed, 
it were enough, if they had only beasts to look after; ,*;j#^r 

But remember, thy servants and those who belong to 
thy charge have precious and immortal souls, capable of 
eternal glory and happiness, but liable to eternal misery 
and torments ; and God hath intrusted thee with these 
souls of theirs, and will require them at thy hands. What 
a heavy and tremendous doom will pass upon thee when 
God shall demand at thy hands the souls of thy servants, 
or of thy children, which have perished through thy de- 
fault! Will it be enough then to plead, " Lord, I fed 
and clothed them, and was careful of their health and 
welfare ]" Yea, indeed, if their bodies only were com- 
mitted to thy care, this were enough ; but see, there they 
stand condemned and ready for eternal flames for the 
ignorance which thou oughtest to have informed, for the 
profaneness which thou oughtest to have chastised and 
hindered, for diose neglects of holy duties in which thou 
oughtest to have gone before them ; and therefore, though 
they shall die and perish in their sins, yet their blood will 
God require at thy hands, whose carelessness or evil ex-? 



300 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

ample hath hardened them in wickedness and led then, 
on securely to destruction. 

Let me therefore warn you who are masters and heads 
of families, that as you regard the welfare of the souls of 
those under your charge, yea, of your own souls, which 
are deeply engaged and concerned in theirs, you will use 
all diligence and industry in promoting their spiritual 
good, that you may at the last day present them with joy 
before the tribunal of God : ** Lo, here I am, and the 
children and servants that thou hast given me." That 
you may with joy and triumph present them before the 
throne of justice then, be frequent in presenting them be- 
fore the throne of grace now. Let not a day pass with- 
out its stated hours of prayer in your family. Instruct 
those that are ignorant; reduce those that are en'oneous ; 
admonish and rebuke with all authority those that are 
faulty; discard those that are contumacious and incorri- 
gible; let not a scoffing Ishmael, a scomer and derider 
of piety and holiness remain within your doors ; and es- 
pecially be careful that both you and ydur family, do^ 
strictly observe and sanctify the Lord's day, for therein 
consists a great part of the life and strength of religion, 
and this day usually gives a seasoning to all the days of 
the week. Prepare your families by private duties for 
public ; let none of them stay at home from the ordinances 
but upon great and urgent necessity ; suflfer them not to 
wander, some to one pastor and some to another, but where 
the ordinances of God are duly dispensed; and whither 
thou thyself art called, thither do thou lead thine, that as 
they receive their bodily food in thy house, so they may 
receive their spiritual food in the house of God ; take 
an account of their profiting by what they hear; be as 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 301 

careful to see thy family well employed in the service of 
God upon the Lord's day, as to see them employed in thine 
own service and affairs the other days of the week ; and 
therefore be not long nor unnecessarily from them ; for God 
hath made thee his overseer, and if his work go not for- 
ward in private family duties, especially on the Lord's 
day, thou canst never expect a blessing upon what they 
do for thee. — Thus much concerning the mutual duties of 
masters and servants. 

ll\iQJifth class of relative duties that I shall treat of, is 

that of PASTORS AND THEIR FLOCKS, MINISTERS AND 

THEIR PEOPLE. For between them also is such a rela- 
tion of superiority and inferiority as brings them under 
the direction of this commandment. 

We do not arrogate too much to ourselves nor take too 
much upon us when we affirm that we are superior to 
the people, and have an authority over them in things 
spiritual and appertaining unto God. And although, 
through the vices and defects of some who are dignified 
with this high honor, and partly through the meanness 
of their outward state and condition, not only their per- 
sons but their office be sunk into scorn and contempt ; 
yet I cannot but, with the apostle, magnify mine office, 
which is truly excellent and venerable; and it is the 
great sin of the people to despise this calling, although 
the follies and indiscretions of ministers themselves may 
not only occasion but invite them to do it. 

Here I shall plainly set down the reciprocal duties 
which they ought mutually to perform to each other. 

I. The DUTIES OF MINISTERS either respect their call 



302 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

to that office, or their management and discharge of it. 

1. The great duty that respects their call, is to look to 
it that they be rightly called; that they do not rashly 
thrust themselves into so sacred a function unless they 
be duly set apart thereto. 

For, as the priests under the law were ''taken from 
among men, and ordained for men in things pertaining to 
God, to offer gifts and sacrifices," as the apostle speaks, 
Heb. 5 : 1, so likewise the ministers of the Gospel are to 
be duly sanctified and set apart for this high employment, 
to stand before the Lord, and to minister in things that 
appertain to his worship ; and it is an intolerable pre- 
sumption for any to intrude themselves into this lot with- 
out being selected thereunto or duly authorized by that 
order which God himself hath appointed and left unto his 
church. ** For no man taketh this honor unto himself but 
he that is called of God," as the apostle subjoins, verse 4. 
And therefore God complains of those prophets whom he 
had " not sent," and " yet they ran ;" and to whom he had 
"not spoken," and " yet they prophesied." Jer. 23 : 21 
Audacious-undertaking men it seems they "were : like some 
of late days, who thought their forwardness alone a suf- 
ficient consecration, and the seal of whose commission 
bears only the stamp of their own impudence. , "; 

Now to the d.ue constitution of a minister there is re~ 
quisite a twofold call. 

(1.) He must have an inward call', which consists both 
in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and also in the inclination 
of his will to use them for God's glory in this holy minis- 
tration. 

He must be endowed with a competent knowledge of the 
truths of the Gospel ; without which the great end of the 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 303 

ministry cannot be attained, which is to teach and instruct 
the people. It is indeed the duty of the ministry to strive 
after eminency in this knowledge ; for they are the lights 
of the world, and should be able to diffuse abroad their 
beams, that they may enlighten those that are ignorant 
and sit in dai'kness. But yet there is no stated measure noi, 
Standard for their knowledge ; for we find that our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the great minister and teacher of the world, 
sent forth his disciples to preach when yet they were very 
ignorant of many important truths of the Gospel. Emi- 
nent knowledge is therefore necessary for their duty, 
but competent knowledge is necessary for their office. 

Sanctifying grace and a holy life and conversation are 
also indispensable in the ministry. They may indeed sus- 
tain the office without this j for we find a Judas sent forth 
with the same authority and commission as the rest of 
the disciples. Yea, and the apostles who had Christ him- 
self for their master and instructor, yet are by him seiit to 
attend on the ministry of the scribes and pharisees ; who, 
though they were very wicked and ungodly hypocrites, 
yet because they sat in Moses' seat, that is, because they 
had a rightful authority to teach the people, therefore he 
commands his own scholars to hear and obey them : 
"Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and 
do." Mat. 23 : 2, 3. God may feed his people as he did 
Elijah by a raven, and make a cold breath kindle the 
sparks of grace in the hearts of others and blow it up in- 
to a flame. But yet it is profitable to the people to sit 
under a minister who shall go before them in example as 
well as in doctrine ; who not only prescribes them rules of 
holiness, but is himself an example of those rules. Such 
a one, who speaks from the heart, is likely to speak to the 



304 THE TEN CaMMANDMENTS. 

heart; and having himself experienced the ways of 
holiness, can more savorily recommend them to the accep- 
tance of his flock. And certainly he will be more likely 
to speed in his errand, when he shall persuade them to 
nothing but what he hath found the goodness and sweet- 
ness of in himself. All others are but like those Mercurial 
statiies which in old times were set up in cross ways with 
their hands extended to point out the right road to pas- 
sengers, but themselves never walked in them. These in- 
deed may be serviceable. But a minister should not only 
be a director, but a leader ; he should not only point out 
the way, but walk before his flock in it. And it is com- 
monly 6bserved that it is the labors of such that God 
most usually owns and crowns with success. -' 

(2.) As he must have an inward call in the gifts of the 
Spirit of God, so likewise he must have an outward call 
by a solemn separation to this work, through impo- 
sition of hands. This gives him the ministerial power, 
and invests him with authority to dispense the ordinances 
of Jesus Christ as an officer and minister of the Gospel. 
And this authority St. Paul calls a gift, " Neglect not the 
gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, 
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 1 
Tim. 4 : 14. This gift here spoken of I take to be the 
ministerial office conferred upon him by ordination, ac- 
cording to those predictions and prophecies which were 
before' given of him by some divinely inspired men, who 
foretold that he was by God designed for the work of 
the ministry, and should glorify God by a careful dis- 
charge of it; of which we read chap. 1, verse 18. 

2. When we are assured that our call is right and ac- 
cording to the will of God, there are then many other 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 305 

duties incumbent on us in the due exercise of our calling. 

(1.) We ought to be good examples to the flock. This 
St. Paul most expressly enjoins Timothy, " Be thou an 
example to the believers, in word, in conversation, ' in 
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 1 Tim. 4 : 12. 

Indeed it is very sad to consider how the unsuitable 
conversation of ministers doth quite enervate all the force 
and strength of their doctrine and exhortations. For, let, 
them speak with the tongues of angels and preach as 
holily and powerfully as if the Holy Ghost did immediate- 
ly inspire them, yet, if their lives be loose and their con- 
versation contradictory to their doctrine, the people will 
be ready to conclude that so much strictness is not 
necessary, that they only urge it as a matter of high and 
nice perfection in religion, and that certainly they know 
a nearer way to heaven than through so many severities 
which they press upon the people, and therefore they 
will take the same course and run the same venture that 
their ministers da. 

And how is it likely that such a ministry should be 
effectual to bring others to holiness, when the minister 
himself declares to all the world, by his actions, that he. 
looks upon it as unnecessary % What hold can his admo- 
nitions and reproofs take upon the consciences of men ] 
certainly his own guilt must rise up in his throat and 
choke his reproofs. For consciousness of the same mis- 
carriages will retort, whatever we can say against others, 
more strongly upon ourselves, and suggest to us that it 
i«i but base hypocrisy to blame that which we ourselves 
practise. With what face canst thou press others to re- 
pent and reform ] what arguments canst thou use to pre- 
vail with them, who, by continuing in the same sin, dost 
thyself judge those arguments to be of no force % 



306 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 

Indeed, it were a temper to be wished and prayed for, 
that we could only respect how righteous the reproof is, 
and not how righteous, the person who gives it, and bt> 
content to have our motes plucked out though it he by 
such as have beams in their ovsti eyes ; that we could 
learn that hard lesson which our Savior gives his disciples, 
to do as they say, but not to do after their works ; for, in-' 
deed, there is no more reason to reject sound admoni- 
tion because it comes from an unsound heart, than there 
is to stop our ears against good counsel because it is de- 
livered perhaps by one who has an offensive breath. But , 
yet so it usually fares, that when ministers of defiled and 
loose lives shall yet preach up holiness and strictness to 
their people and, as they ought, reprove' them sharply for 
their sins, they will be apt to think, *' What ! is he in 
earnest 1 and doth he not see that he himself is as bad or 
worse 1 With what face can he thunder out wo, and wrath, 
and hell against my sins, which yet are no more miner 
than his own 1 Doth he think to fright me vvith denouncing^' 
threats and curses, when he himself, who stands as fair a 
mark for them as I, slights and contemns them ] Or doth 
he envy me my sins and would engross them all to him- 
self ]" And thus, with such carnal reasonings, drawn from 
the evil examples and wicked lives of ministers, they sit 
hardened under their preaching, and account all they say. 
but as a lesson they must repeat and a tale they must tell 
to get their living by. Certainly, such shall perish in 
their iniquities, but the blood of their souls God will re- 
quire at your hands. - '■ '■ ^ : 

But when a minister walks conscientiously and exem- 
plarily before his flock, his doctrine gains a mighty advan- 
tage to work upon them by his life. This is building up 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 307 

he church of Christ with both hands ; showing them both 
he equity and the easiness of that hoHness whieh he 
persuades them to by his own practice. When he 
•eproves, his reproofs break in upon the consciences of 
lis hearers with conviction and authority, and if they do 
lot reform, yet at least they daimt and terrify them, and 
nake them self-accused and self-condemned. " Here is 
me that reproves me for sin, who believes it to be as 
3vil as he represents it by his own eschewing it. Here is 
:>ne that denounces wrath if I repent not, who doubtless 
:)elieves it to be as terrible as he declares it by his own 
carefulness to escape it." Certainly, preaching never 
:omes with such power and energy into the conscience 
IS when the minister preacheth as well by his works as 
by his word, and, to induce the people to it, is first 
obedient himself to the truths which he teacheth them. 
Men are easier led by examples than by precepts, for, 
though precepts are the more exact, yet examples are the 
more easy way of teaching, and he is a perfect workman 
who joineth both together, neither teaching what he will 
not do, nor doing what he dares not teach : and there- 
fore it is observed of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great 
teacher of his church, that he began both to do and teach. 
Acts, 1:1. 

Now ministers must be exemplary both in themselves 
a|id in their families. 

In themselves they " must be blameless, as the stewards 
of God J not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to 
wine, no strikers, not given to filthy lucre: lovers of 
hospitality, lovers of good men, sober, just, holy, tem- 
perate," as the Apostle sums up their duties, Tit. 1 : 7, 
8 These are the things which will give them a good 



308 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

report among those which are without, and will recom- 
mend the doctrines and truths which they teach, to the 
acceptation and love of their very enemies and the ene- 
mies of their holy profession. 

They must likewise be exemplary in their families : a 
minister must rule ''well his own house, having his 
children in subjection, with all gravity." 1 Tim. 3 : 4. 
And because there are so many who are ready mali- 
ciously to asperse us, we must, by a serious and circum- 
spect conversation, cut off all occasion from slanderous 
tongues, that they who watch for our halting may be 
ashamed when they can find nothing to reproach us with 
save in the matter of our God. . 

But if any such there be, who speak like angels but 
live like devils ; who, when they are in the pulpit, it is 
pity they should ever come out, and when they are out, 
it is a great pity they should ever come into it again ; 
who are heavenly lights in it, but hellish fire-brands out 
of it J would to God they would consider how they de- 
stroy the very end of their calling, and, instead of con 
verting souls, do but harden them in their sins ; making 
men abhor the offerings and ordinances of the Lord ; 
putting arguments in their mouths to justify their con- 
tinuance in their wickedness, or else prejudices in their 
hearts; causing them to depart and separate from holy 
institutions, because dispensed by profane and scandalous 
ministers. Let them pretend never so highly to uniform- 
ity and obedience ; yet, certainly, these are the men who 
have made all our separatists that now sadly rend our 
church in pieces ; for when the sheep see a wolf set over 
them instead of a shepherd, no wonder if they run from 
him and scatter into other pastures. It is in vain for them 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 309 

to tell people that they ought to be obedient to the laws 
of the church, when those that tell them so are not obe- 
dient to the laws of God their Father. i . 

And oh, that they would but consider not only the 
damage which they do to the church, of which too many of 
them seem zealous propugners, but the heavy wo and 
wrath which they bring upon their own souls. Every ser- 
mon they study they do but draw up a bill of indictment 
against themselves, and every time they preach they do 
but pronounce the sentence of their own damnation. Wc 
unto such pastors, when they whom Christ hath set over 
his sheep shall themselves be found at the last day stand- 
ing among the goats ! 

(2.) Another great duty of ministers is a diligent and 
conscientious employment of their gifts and talents. 

They must be both able and willing to teach. They 
themselves must be well grounded in the knowledge and 
doctrine of Christ : '* the priest's lips " should preserve 
" knowledge, and men should seek the law at his mouth ; 
for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Mai. 2 : 7. 
And therefore the apostle rejects a novice, a raw, ig- 
norant and unexperienced person ; for " if the blind 
lead the blind, both will" be in danger of falling together 
" into the ditch." And God himself tells such ignorant 
and foolish teachers, " Because thou hast rejected know- 
ledge, I also will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest 
to me : seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I 
will also forget thy children." Hosea, 4:6. 

And as they must be able to teach, so they must be 
diligent in teaching. A " necessity is laid upon them, 
and wo unto them if they preach not the Gospel," as the 
apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 9 : 16. They ought to be instant 



010 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

in season and out of season, 2 Tim. 4 : 2, "Preach the 
word ; be instant in season and out of season : reprove, 
rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." Not 
as if BGunisters must be continually in the exercise of 
preaching, but they ought to preach in season, that is, in 
the ordinary and stated times for it, and out of season, 
that is, on extraordinary occasions, when the necessity or 
usefulness of the church shall require it. 

Their doctrine also ought to be sound such as cannot 
be condemned : ** Speak thou the things which become 
sound doctrine." Tit. 2:1. It must have its authority 
either from the express words of Scripture, or the 
analogy of faith rationally deduced from Scripture j foi 
he that preacheth false doctrine inconsistent with these, 
doth but mingle poison with his people's meat. 

It must likewise be frojitahle, not setting before them 
"alien and unintelligible notions, or such thin airy specu- 
lations as can scarce consist with sense, much less with 
divinity, for this is to give them wind instead of food. 
*^ Charge them before the Lord, that they strive not about 
words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." 
2 Tim. 2 : 14. And, Tit. 3:8," These things I will that 
thou affirm constantly; that they which have believed in 
God might be careful to maintain good works. These 
things are good and profitable unto men." 

Their preaching, moreover, must be flai% and suited to 
tlie capacity of their hearers, as much as can be without 
disgusting any ; for he that shall only disgorge and tum- 
ble out a heap of bombastic theatrical words, at which 
the people only stare, and gape, and wonder, preacheth 
to them in an unknovm tongue, although he speak Eng- 
lish : and this is but to give them stones instead of bread. 



f ilP'TH c&MMArmM^N*. 311 

Again, their preaching must be grave and solid, not 
slovenly and too much neglected, for that will but be- 
get a nauseating in the hearers ; nor yet too nicely and 
sprucely drest, for that will be apt to divert the atten- 
tion from the matter to the phrase. Their sermons ought 
to have a comely and matron-like, not a gayish and mere- 
tricious attire. The truths they preach must be delivered 
ill such words as may adorn but not hide nor bury them, 
such as may rather recommend the doctrine to the con- 
sciences, than the art and rhetoric of the preacher to the 
errors and fancies of the hearers. 

And, finally, they ought to preach powerfully and with 
authority : " These things command and teach." 1 Tim. 
4:11. We come to the people in the name of God, and 
are his ambassadors, and therefore ought to deliver his 
message boldly, being sent to the people by the Kingof 
kings and Lord of lords ; and those who mince his er- 
rand, as if they were afraid to speak that which God hath 
given them in commission, shall at their retirm unto him re- 
ceive the reward of treacherous and unfaithful i^essengers. 

There are very many other duties which cannot with- 
out too much length be particularly insisted on. As hos- 
pitality, according to the measure of their estates. They 
must be "given to hospitality." 1 Tim. 3 : 2. They must 
be " lovers of hospitality." Tit. 1 : 8. And therefore they 
ought to be liberally and plentifully endowed, that they 
may make their table a snare in a good sense, and may get 
some to follow and observe them though it be but for the 
loaves ; and here it will be a good point of their. wisdom 
if they can handsomely make use of such opportunities 
(as we find our Savior did after he had miraculously fed 
the multitude) to break unto them the bread of life, 



312 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

and with their bodily nourishment to feed their souls. 

Then gravity, in their discourse and in all their con- 
verse. A minister should neither speak nor do any thing 
that is unseemly. Intemperate mirth, clamorous talk, 
scurrilous jestings, but especially the least syllable of an 
oath, although it be never so much varied and disguised, 
in a minister's mouth, as it is wicked, so it is utterly 
misbecoming the dignity of his profession, and renders 
him mean and contemptible. 

Again, a pious and assiduous care in visiting the sick, 
who may receive good advice and counsel then, although 
perhaps they have all their lifetime before despised and 
refused it. You may possibly do more good by the sick- 
bed than in the pulpit, for death is a terrible and thun- 
dering preacher ; and he must be a most forlorn and ob 
durate wretch who will not listen to your admonitions 
when the hopes of a long life, which made him formerly 
reject them, have forsaken him. 

And once more, diligence in catechising and instructing 
the younger in the principles of faith and religion. Root 
them well at first, and they will continue stable ever after. 
This vdll save yourselves and your successors much la- 
bor ; for if once you can insinuate into their minds piety 
and verity, they will grow up to farther degrees of per- 
fection in the ordinary course of your ministry, and be 
your comfort and rejoicing here, and your crown and 
glory hereafter. 

There are many other duties necessary to the right 
discharge of the ministerial function, but those already 
mentioned may suffice. And all others may be reduced 
to some of these. 

I shall therefore conclude this part of the subject v* ith 



PIPTH COMMANDMENT. 313 

my earnest request that you would ever seriously medi- 
tate upon that charge which God gives the prophet, and 
in him all ministers : " Son of man, I have made thee a 
watchman unto the house of Israel ; therefore hear the 
word at my mouth and give them warning from me. 
When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die ; and 
thou givest him not warning, nor speakest To warn the 
wicked of his evil way, to save his life ; the same wicked 
man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood wall I require 
at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn 
not from his wdckedness, he shall die in his iniquity, but 
thou hast delivered thy soul." Ezek. 3 : 17-19. 

II. Having considered the duties of ministers to their 
people, we come now to the people's duty towards 
THEIR MINISTER, which is especially twofold^ that of obe- 
dience and honor. ^^; </ 1 

1. Obedience, in being persuaded by his godd "utfvice" 
arid admonitions. 

We have this most expressly commanded, Heb. 13 : 17, 
"Obey them that have the rule over you;" that is, not 
only civil magistrates and your rulers in state affairs, but 
ministers also ; for so it is added, " for they watch for 
your souls as they that must give an account ; that they 
may do it with joy, and not with grief." And they are 
called "the elders that rule Well." 1 Tim. 5 : 17. 

I know that this obedience to ministers is a duty so 

utterly forgotten in the practice of most men, that I doubt 

if tjiere may not be some prejudice in them against these 

places of Scripture by which it is so plainly enjoined. 

Alas, that ever Christ and his apostle should invest us 

with such authority, which when we assume we are look- 
Ten. Com. l^ 



3X4 ' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 

ed upon by the people as almost as ridiculous for it as if 
we had only a reed in our hands and u crown of shame 
rather than of dignity put upon our heads, and are ac- 
counted of rather as insolent usurpers upon their liberty 
than as officers empowered by God himself! Sirs, we 
take to ourselves no power over you but what God hath 
hy his patent and charter given us ; and when we pro- 
pound to you the will of God revealed in his word, or in 
cases not so clearly determined therein do give our judg- 
ment as those who have found mercy to be accounted 
faithful, we do and may challenge your obedience to it in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we find that in 
those particular cases wherein the apostle had no express 
revelation from Christ, yet he prescribes to the Corin- 
thians what he judges fit for them to do, and by that di- 
rection obliged their practice ; not indeed simply and ab- 
solutely, yet so that, in such circumstances as the apostle 
supposeth, they had sinned if they had done otherwise 
than he directed them. We desire not to lord it over 
God's inheritance by any burdensome imposition of 
thing's, either unlawful or in themselves unfit. But when 
we require from you those things which God himself hath 
commanded, or if not expressly commanded, yet which 
are, in the judgment of those to whom you owe obedi- 
ence, thought convenient and lawful to be done, I know 
not how you can excuse yourselves fi'om disobedience 
against God if in these cases you be not obedient unto 
us. And if you call this usurpation, and a taking too much 
upon us, you do but speak the language of Korah and his 
accomplices. Num. 16:3, and shake not so much ours as 
God's title and authority over you, who hath given us this 
power and commission. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 315 

2. Another duty of the people is to honor their minis- 
ters as their spiritual fathers. 

Yea, the apostle speaks of a double honor due to them, 

1 Tim. 5 : 17, " Let the elders that rule well be account- 
ed worthy of double honor." All must have that honor 
given them which is due to their function ; but those who 
inxle the flock well, k*^*'?* that is, not barely commenda- 
bly but excellently, must have this honor doubled to 
them ; and those who not only thus rule but excel others 
in teaching them likewise, must have this double honor 
doubled upon them, especially they that labor in the word 
and doctrine. 

We owe them the honor o? reverence. We ought to 
honor and esteem them for their office and their work's 
sake. ^ So, expressly, 1 Thess. 5 : 12, 13, "We beseech 
you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and 
esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." 
And again, Phil. 2 : 29, " Receive him therefore In the 
Lord with all gladness ; and hold such in reputation." 
And certainly they who cast any contempt on ministers, 
either by injurious actions or reviling speeches, do not 
so much despise them as Christ who sent them. "He 
that despiseth you, despiseth me," saith our Savior, Luke, 
10 : 16. And God will not leave this sin unpunished, 
yea, he speaks of it as an almost unpardonable crime : 
" They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his 
words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of God 
was against his people, and there was no remedy." 

2 Chron. 36 : 16. 

Again, we owe them the honor of maintenance. So, Gal. 
6:6," Let him that is taught in the wdrd, communicate 
unto him that teachethin all good, things." And there is 



316 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

good reason for it ; for, " if we have sown unto you spiri- 
tual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your car- 
nal things'?" saith the apostle, 1 Cor. 9 : 11. What you 
give them is not a matter of bounty and mere voluntary 
benevolence ; and the minister who so accounts or re- 
ceives it, undervalues his authority and wrongs his right ; 
but it is your duty and his due. He must have a compe- 
tent and liberal maintenance, not stinted to bare neces- 
sity ; but it should be liberal, such as may enable him to 
relieve the necessities of others, to provide comfortably for 
his own family, and to use hospitality in his house. This 
is his due, and he owes you no more thanks for tendering 
it than you do him for receiving it. Not here to dispute 
the divine right of the tenth part, (which yet was not all 
that was due to the ministers under the law, for they had 
a considerable accession by offerings and sacrifices,) I 
think it certain that the encouragement of ministers un- 
der the Gospel should equal if not exceed theirs, inasmuch 
as our labor is far greater and our ministry more excel- 
lent than theirs. But they who think it fit to keep minis- 
ters poor and dependent, may well be suspected to do it 
in favor of their own vices ; for how shall he dare to re- 
prove them, who is afraid of losing part of his stipend? 
But whilst the gentleman in black must sit below the 
salt, and after dinner converse with the better sort of 
serving men, there is no danger that he should be so au- 
dacious as to find fault ; or if he should, no great heed 
will be taken to what so despicable a thing as he can say. 

It remains only to notice, in the sixth place, the mutual 
duties between superiors and inferiors, or those who 
differ in the gifts of Divine hounty. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. ' 317 

These may be considered either as the gifts o£ special 
grace or o£ common providence. Of which briefly. 

I. The gifts of special grace. God endows s'ome 
with an excellent measure of sanctifying grace ; and is 
pleased to show the world, by a few rare and choice in- 
stances, how wonderfully he can sublime our corrupted 
nature, and 'how near he can exalt human frailty to an 
angelical perfection. This indeed is the most excellent 
of all his gifts, and that which we ought most earnestly 
to covet and desire ; for although other gifts, as know- 
ledge, wisdom, power, &c. do in some imperfect manner 
assimilate us to God, yet sanctification and holiness fa; 
transcend all these, both because it stamps on us the re- 
semblance of the Divine nature in that attribute which is 
its greatest glory, (whence God assumes it to himself that 
he is glorious in Jioliness,) and likewise because God 
hath highly honored itj, and given it the dignity and pre- 
rogative to be the only means of bringing us to the com- 
plete and eternal fruition of our felicity. 

1. Those whom God hath thus blessed with an emi- 
nent degree of this his best gift ought, 

(1.) To heware that they do not secretly despise their 
weaker brethren in their hearts; nor with a censorious aus- 
terity reject those whom God hath received. 

It is often seen that fellow-seiTants are more inex- 
orable towards each other than their common Lord and 
MELster; and that those eri'ors and infirmities which are 
rather the slips of thoughtlessness than the products of a 
resolved will, can hardly obtain pardon among men, 
though God hath forgiven and forgotten them. This 
ariseth from a spiritual pride, which makes us envious 



318 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

towards those who excel us, and scornful towards those 
who fall short; for when men grow conceited of their 
own excellencies and attainments they will be ready to 
condemn other men's duties as formal hypocrisy, and their 
sins as total apostasy; they will mistake the smoking 
flax for a reeking dunghill, and be forward imperiously 
to cast them out of God's family though themselves were 
but lately received into it out of mere charity. 

Certainly this is a spirit, (though it too much prevails in 
this broken and shattered age, wherein every one thinks 
so much the better of himself by how much the worse he 
thinks of others,) yet this I say is a spirit utterly misbe- 
coming the sweetness and mildness of the Gospel, which 
teacheth us to be meek and gentle, forbearing one an- 
other and forgiving one another. It would better become 
thee, O christian, not to observe other men's falls, but to 
lodk to thine own standing : " Thou standest by faith, be 
qot high-minded, but fear." Rom. 11 : 20. It is the worst 
vvay that so excellent a thing as divine grace can be per- 
verted, when it makes thee proud and censorious. 

For my part I should much more confide in the secu- 
rity of an humble soul that creeps along to heaven, though 
with a slow yet an even pace, than in the ecstatic zeal and 
fervor of those who perhaps far outstrip others, but also 
contemn them. For the one is still pressing forward, and 
regards with admiration those who excel ; but the other 
is often looking back with disdain upon those who are 
slower than himself ; and whilst he minds not so much 
his way as the advances he hath made, offers many ad- 
vantages to the devil to trip him up and give him many a 
sore and shameful fall. 

And therefore, O christian, the more eminent thy 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. , \ 319 

graces are, the more need hast thou to pray alnd stfive for 
humility. The tallest cedars had need have the deepest 
roots, otherwise the storms and winds will easily oyer- 
turn them : so truly the higher any grow, the more they 
spread and flourish like the cedars of God, beautiful in 
their leaves and plentifiil in their sap, the more need 
have they to be deeply rooted in humility ; or else, be- 
lieve it, the wind and tempest of temptations, to which 
they stand more exposed than others, will not only sorely 
shake them but utterly overturn them, when those whom 
they shall despise as mean shrubs shall stand secure, and 
with a tender pity weep over their fall. 

(2.) Another duty of Such as are eminent in grace is, 
to improve the grace they have to the henefit and advan- 
tage of others. 

God hath given thee a large portion, that thou shouldst 
be helpful to thy brethren. The stock of grace which he 
hath offered thee, is not only that thou thyself shouldst 
live well upon it, but it was intended for the relief and 
comfort of the whole family. 

Hath God endowed thee with a clear and distinct 
knowledge of the mysteries of the Gospel 1 Know that this 
lamp 'was lighted up in thee that thou shouldst give light 
unto others, that thou shouldst diffuse and scatter abroad 
its rays round about thee ; to inform the ignorant, guide 
the doubting, confirm the wavering, resolve the scrupu- 
lous, reduce the erroneous and convince the malicious 
opposers of the truth. This is not the minister's duty 
only, though more eminently and especially his ; but it 
is the duty of every private clu-istian whom God hath 
blessed with a large measure of true knowledge more 
than others, still keeping within due bounds and limits. 



320 THE TEN COMMANDMENtcs. 

Or, hath the Holy Spirit kindled in thy breast a flame 
of Divine affection'^ And is it not to this end, that thou 
shouldst breathe warmth into the languishing desires of 
others, and by holy conference and spiritual discourse, 
illustrating the beauty of holiness, the excellency of true 
piety in itself and the rewards which it brings after it, ap- 
ply thy heavenly fire unto their chill and freezing hearts 
until thou hast enkindled them too and set them on a 
flame, that so both together might bum with vigorous 
love towards God and his Christ 1 

Or, hath God exercised thee with grievous trials and 
violent temptations 1 Wherefore is it, but that thou 
shouldst the better know how to succor those that are 
tempted, and by thine own experiences counsel and 
comfort those who are ready to sink under their load, 
which not only the weight but the unusualness makes the 
more intolerable % For the greatest accent and emphasis 
that such do usually put upon their miseries is, that never 
any before were so severely afflicted, never any before 
were so violently assaulted. Let them know that no temp- 
tation hath befallen them but what is common unto men, 
and that thou thyself hast come triumphantly from under the 
like. Expound to them the depths and methods of Satan, 
unravtel his vnles and subtleties, stretch out the entangled 
folds of that old and crooked serpent ; for therefore hath 
God comforted you in all your tribulations, that you 
might be able to comfort them who are troubled, with 
the same comforts by which yourselves have been com- 
forted oi God ; as the apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 1 : 4. 
' Or, if thou art not so fit either for instruction or coun- 
sel, yet at least let thy graces be beneficial to others, hy 
a holy and exemplary conversation. If thy graces cannot 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 321 

shin« through thy gifts, yet at least let them shine through 
thy life, that others seeing thy good works, may give 
glory to thy heavenly Father. And therefore never com- 
plain that thou canst not honor God in so noble a w^ay as 
others, that thou canst not speak nor plead for. him as 
others do. If thou livest to him thou pleadest for him ; 
for certainly a holy life is a much better commendation 
of holiness than all the elaborate encomiums of art and 
rhetoric. — Tbese are the duties of those that excel in 
grace. 

2. As for others whose graces are less, one duty of 
theirs is. 

Highly to love and esteem those whose graces dre more 
eminent and conspicuous. God is the comprehensive and 
ultimate object of our love and veneration, and therefore 
the nearer any creature approacheth to the similitude of 
God, the more ought we to esteem and prize it. Now 
God is not more strikingly represented in any thing than 
in the holiness of his saints. This is the most perfect 
portraiture and image of him who hath styled himself 
•* the holy One of Israel." They are begotten of God, 
made partakei-s of the Divine nature, and confonned to 
his image ; therefore, as we would adore this glorious at- 
tribute of God in its infinite original, so we ought to 
esteem and venerate it in those happy souls to whom 
God hath conimunicated some rays of it. ** Every one 
that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begot- 
ten of him," saith the Apostle, 1 John, 5 : 1, because of 
the likeness he bears to his heavenly Father; and the 
more express this resemblance is, the more intense and 
the more endearing should our affections be. We ought to 
associate with them ; to make them our bosom-fiiends, 



322 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

our confidants, and our companions ; our delight should 
be in the saints, and in the excellent ones of the earth, as 
David professeth his to have been, Psalm 16 : 3. 

Another duty of the less eminent in grace towards 
those who are the more eminent, is imitation of their holy 
examples y following them wherein they follow the Lord 
Christ. 

If thou seest others far outstrip thee, mend thy pace, 
endeavor to overtake them, tread in the same steps, and 
do thy very utmost to keep even with them : envy not 
their graces, but be sure to emulate them. 

Indeed, some there are who, that they might not seem 
to be behind the best, prove hinderances and pull-backs to 
them, lest the forwardness of their zeal and piety should 
be a reproach to their own sloth : like truants at school, 
who, lest their fellows should get too much before them, 
do what they can to entice them from their books. But 
this is a most wicked envy, and the root of it is pride and 
laziness. 

But a holy emulation never repines at nor hinders 
the proficiency of others : it rather would by all means 
promote it, but it will put us upon endeavors to be as for- 
ward as any. It will not be a curb to them, but a spur 
to us. And such an emulation as this every true chris- 
tian should highly cherish. For the shame of being out- 
stript is as great an incentive as any that can be given to 
virtue. Christians are like a company of men running in 
a race : every one should strive and strain every nerve 
and sinew to be first at the goal — the first that should lay 
bold on the prize and reward. 

And here he sure you set your pattern right. Take 
Qot the most noisv and airy christians, who glory in talk 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 323 

and censures. Take not one who hath an affectation of 
beino;' relio:ious after a new mode and fashion. Take 
not one who seeks to raise a fame for piety only by de- 
crying or condemning this or that form of profession, and 
who, if there were no differences among us, would lose 
very much of his reputation for sanctity ; for these are 
only torrents that run with a violent stream, but they are 
shallow, and we know not how soon they may grow dry 
and deceive the hopes of those who come to refi-esh 
themselves at them. But propound those to yourselves 
for examples who are of fixed principles and sober 
practice ; who are grave and solid ; who, in all the duties 
that belong to a christian conversation, labor to do them 
substantially rather than ostentatiously ; who live within 
G od and themselves ; who have deep thoughts and solid 
expressions of duty ; and whose actions are suitable and 
correspondent to both. Such a one is the Christian in^ 
deed; and such, for some such there are, I recommend 
to you for your imitation. And yet there is no man that 
walks so uprightly but that sometimes he steps awry. 
And therefore be not led by a blind and implicit adhe- 
rence to any man, but continually eye the rule ; and 
wherein soever any forsake that, be they apostles, yea, 
or if it were possible, even angels themselves, therein 
forsake them. — Thus much for the mutual duties of su- 
periors and inferiors in respect of grace. 

II. Let us next consider them in respect to the gifts of 
God's COMMON BOUNTY, which he promiscuously distri- 
butes both to the good and to the bad. I shall but briefly 
mention them. 

God's gifts of providence may respect either our ^er- 



324 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

sons or else our outward estate. Those which respect the 
person, are either gifts of the mirtd or of the body. 

(1.) Those who excel i7i gifts of the mind, in know- 
ledge, and wisdom, and parts, a profound judgment, or a 
winning elocution, ought to improve these to the good and 
advantage of others ; not as Ahithophel did his politic 
counsel, or Tertullus his flattering oratory, to oppress 
right and equity ; but to guide and advise, for the benefit 
of mankind and the glory of God. 

For these gifts, though they are not sanctifying, yet may 
be very serviceable to the church. Hiram, though a stran- 
ger to the commonwealth of Israel, yet provided many ex- 
cellent materials for the building of the temple. So God 
doth many times embellish those who are strangers to 
him with many admirable ornaments of understanding 
and learning, and makes use of the materials, which they 
have prepared and laid in, for the edification of his church. 
And as Noah employed many to build his ark, who were 
themselves overwhelmed in the deluge ; so God many 
times employs such as these to build his ark, the church, 
who yet may at last be swept away with the deluge of his 
wrath, and drowned in perdition. 

These, though they should possess such, gifts without 
any sanctifying and saving grace, yet §Lre very useful men, 
and our duty is to esteem aud reverence them, to love 
their excellencies and to encourage their labors, to praise 
God for them, and pray for an increase of their gifts. 
How much more then, when their natural and acquired 
endowments are conjoined with sanctifying grace, and the 
love of the truth as much possesses their hearts as the 
knowledge of it does their heads ! It is a sordid baseness 
to detract §i-om any man's worth or extenuate his abilities 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 



by some slandei'ous huts and exceptions. This is the dis- 
ingenuous practice of many, who think all that added to 
their own praise which they thus nibble away from 
another man's. 

(2.) Another superiority which God gi-ants some over 
others, is that of old age, which is of itself reverend and 
entitled to respect ; and we ought to give that due re- 
spect to it which both nature and the law of God requires : 
" Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the 
face of the old man, and fear thy God." Lev. 19 : 32. 
God hath put a signal honor upon it by styling himself 
the Ancient of days, Dan. 7:9; and he threatens it as a 
great judgment upon a people, Isa. 3 : 5, that the children 
shall behave themselves proudly against the ancients. We 
read how severely a scorn cast upon an aged prophet was 
revenged on those children which mocked his baldness. A 
reverend awe before the aged is not only a point of man- 
ners, but part of a moral and express duty ; and therefoi'e 
it is said of Elihu, Job, 32 : 4, that he " waited till Job 
had spoken, because they were elder than he ^" and verse 
6, he saith, " I am young, and ye are very old; where- 
fore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion." 

And if such respect and reverence be due to them fi'om 
others, they ought chiefly to reverence themselves, and 
by grave, and prudent, and holy actions, to put a crown 
of glory on their own gray head. They ought not to be 
vain and light in their converse, nor children of a hundred 
yeai's old, nor by the folly and wickedness of their lives 
expose themselves to that contempt which will certainly 
be cast on them where age is not accompanied with 
gravity and prudence. And therefore we find, Prov. 
16 : 31, " The hoary head is a crown of glory, if il be 



Ii26 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

found in the way of righteousness :" otherwise, instead of 
being a glory, it is but a double shame and reproach. 

(3.) There is another sort of the gifts of common pro- 
vidence wherein some excel others, and that is riches and 
honor. Those who are distinguished by these the Scrip- 
ture calls fathers. Nabal, though he were a fool and a churl, 
yet David in his message to him doth implicitly call him 
father, 1 Sam. 25 : 8, " Give, I pray thee, whatsoever com- 
eth to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David." 

Their duty is to be humble towards their inferiois, 
knowing that it is only external goods, and those the 
least considerable of all the stores of God's blessings, that 
make them to differ from others, and to communicate to 
the relief of others' necessities, that they may be rich in 
good works, and make themselves friends of the mammon 
of unrighteousness, that when they fail they may be re- 
ceived into everlasting habitations \ for he that is rich only 
in hoarding and keeping up his store, is no better to be 
accounted of than the base earth which locks up more 
treasures in its bowels than they can in their chests. 

And the duty of their inferiors is to pay them all due 
respect according to what God hath bestowed upon them ; 
to acknowledge the riches of God in making them rich, 
and to endeavor to promote, so far as in them lies, the 
spiritual good of their souls, that they may not be rich 
here and undone eternally. For a rich man may be more 
universally instrumental either of good or evil than others 
can, and therefore to win such a one to the faith, or to 
preserve him stable in it, is a most charitable work, not 
only to his soul in particular, but to the church of Christ, 
the affairs of which may be much advanced by such a 
man's wealth and interest. 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 327 

Thus I have at last gone through the mutual duties of 
many relations involyed here in this fifth commandment ; 
some natural^ some civile some ecclesiastical^ and some 
economical : I know not with what acceptation or success. 

Possibly some may think these things too mean and 
trivial to be so long insisted on. But let me tell such, that 
relative duties^ as they are the most difficult of all to per- 
form, so they are the best trials of true Christianity and 
the power of godliness. He that endeavors not to waHc 
closely with God in these, let his notions and profession 
be never so lofty and sublime, it will be no uncharitable- 
ness at all to judge that all his pomp is but a mere form 
of godliness and a hypocritical ostentation. 

Let me exhort you, therefore, in the fear of God, that 
ye be much in pondering these things. There needs no 
great labor to understand them, nor to find out mysteries 
and concealed depths in them. It is true, they are plain, 
but they are of daily use, and it is but reasonable that we 
should not be long understanding what we are continual- 
ly to practise. 

Let me subjoin but one general rule and I have done. 
It is this : in all these mutual duties it is no excuse for the 
one party to foil of the most conscientious and carefol per- 
formance of what belongs to him because tJie other doth so. 
For certainly another man's sin cannot excuse mine ; and 
God hath bound us in duty not only one to another, but 
all of us to himself Therefore though others may break 
their obligations and covenants with us, yet that doth not 
take off our obligation to them. Should the father be care- 
less of and cruel to his child, yet this doth not at all ex- 
empt the child from paying duty and obedience to his 
father. Should a master be tyrannical over his servant. 



328 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

yet the servant's duty remains still stated and unaltered, 
to reverence, fear and obey his master. Should a minister 
be careless of the flock committed to his charge, yet his 
people are still bound to give him respect and honor in 
regard to his office. Should a magistrate tyrannize over 
his subjects, yet still they are to own him and obey his 
commands in all lawful things, li'or mal-administration 
of any office or any authority by superiors cannot counte- 
nance and excuse want of duty in inferiors. Still we are 
as carefully to perform what God hath required as if our 
superiors were the best parents or magistrates or masters 
in the world ; and if there be any wrong done, or defect 
on their part, we must leave it to Him to reward our con- 
scientious obedience, and to punish their wilful offences. 
And so likewise it is incumbent on superiors to perform 
their duties faithfully and conscientiously toward their in- 
feriors, be they never so perverse, ungrateful or rebellious, 
for their faults cannot excuse our neglects. ■ 

Having spoken thus much of the precept in this large 
and comprehensive command. Honor thy father and thy 
mother, I come now to the promise added as a motive 
and encouragement to obedience, that thy days may he 
long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This 
promise God's faithfulness stands engaged to fulfil to all 
that are dutiful and obedient. 

"' And here we may observe, that whereas the free and 
genuine administration of the Gospel promises eternal life 
and the joys and glories of heaven to believers, the old 
law runs generally upon earthly and temporal blessings ; 
and among them insists frequently upon length of days 
and a happy and prosperous life, as the chiefest blessing 



FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 329 

and highest expectation of human nature ; yet this must 
not be understood as if the promises of the law were only 
for these beggarly and earthly concerns, but because this 
procedure was more suitable to the whole system of that 
early instruction wherein God thought fit to discipline 
them by types, and to lead them to ths sun by shadows. 
Therefore, as he allayed his own spiritual worship with 
the mixture of very many external rites and pompous ob- 
servances, so he propounded to them likewise their eter- 
nal rewards by temporal and earthly promises ; and, by 
both, attempered their religion to their state of infancy, 
bringing it down, as much as possible, to the verdict of 
sense ; reserving the manly and heroic duties of believing 
his word without a pawn to the more grovsTi ages of the 
church. 

But however, though these promises made to the Jews 
were thus typical, yet these figures were not altogether 
so figurative as not to be properly understood and fulfilled. 
Though heaven were typified by Canaan, yet God's vera- 
city would have suffered if he had brought them to hea- 
ven, the true land of promise, and not given them their 
inheritance in the earthly Canaan. So likewise, that God 
might be true to his promise, it is not enough that he re- 
wards the obedient with eternal life ; but his faithfulness 
stands obliged to prolong their temporal life to such a du- 
ration as may be fit at least to make a type of the ever- 
lasting rest. 

Neither doth the more spiritual dispensation of the Gos- 
pel look upon this blessing- of long life as a thing below 
its cognizance, but propounds it as a promise of moment, 
though it be now divested of its typical use and stancb 
for no more than itself signifies. And therefore we fina 



330 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

that the apostle puts a value upon this fifth commandment 
on this very reason, that it is " the first M^ith promise." 
Eph. 6 : 2, 3. And St. Peter at large transcribes that pas- 
sage of Psalm 34, " What man is he that desireth" to 
live, " and loveth many days 1 Let him depart from evil, 
and do good." And St. Paul tells us that " godliness is 
profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that 
now is, and of that which is to come." And what is there 
that can concern this life more than life itself? God's 
faithfulness is, therefore, obliged by promise to lengthen 
out a holy and obedient life. 

Nor will it be very hard to vindicate his faithfulness 
in the performance of this promise. God does indeed suf- 
fer many to gi'ow old in their sins, whose youth began 
their course of wickedness with rebellion against their pa- 
rents, and who continue, to their decrepid days, their im- 
pieties and rebellions against God ; and early towardliness 
and piety 1 know are often looked ijpon as mortal symp- 
toms — God seems to shorten their days to whom he here 
promiseth a long life — but since this present life is no- 
thing else but a tendency and preparative to eternity, 
neither it nor any thing in it can be called good but only 
as it relates to our eternal state. And therefore all pro- 
mises of earthly blessings must necessarily imply this con- 
dition, that they shall be literally fulfilled to us if they 
may promote our eternal happiness : otherwise they would 
not be promises, but threatenings, and that which we ap- 
prehend to be a blessing would indeed prove no other to 
us than a snare and curse. We may boldly challenge long 
life when all the circumstances of it will tend to our ever- 
lasting welfare. But God, who knows how frail and yield- 
ing the best of us are, an^d in the series of his divine pro- 



FIFTU COMMANDMENT. 331 

vidence sees to what prevailing temptations we shall be 
exposed, oftentimes in mercy abridges this promise, and 
takes us from the world, lest the world should take us 
from him ; and deals with us as princes deal with duellists, 
they make them prisoners that they may preserve them : 
so God, that he might preserve his people from their 
great enemy, commits them to the safe custody of the 
gi-ave. And if this be to be unfaithful, certainly his faith- 
fulness would be nothing else but an art to circumvent 
and undo us, should he, only to keep that inviolate, per- 
form those promises which would be to our hurt and detri- 
ment. Nor, indeed, can any man, whom God hath blessed 
with a right judgment and due esteem of things, be will- 
ing to compound for the continuance of this present life 
at the hazard or diminution of his future happiness. 






THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 

TJiou slialt not kill. 

The Commandments of the Second Table all immedi- 
ately respect our duty to our fellow-men, whom we may 
consider either as under some pecnliar differences, or in 
their common nature. 

We have already spoken of the duties that belong to 
them under the first acceptation, as they are differenced 
into superiors and inferiors. There are other duties 
which appertain universally to all, under what difference 
soever they may be considered, whether they be supe- 
riors or inferiors, or equals among themselves ; and these 
are contained in the five following precepts, all which 
concern our neighbor either in his ^person or in his exte- 
rior gifts of wealth or good name. 

His ferson is to be considered either naturally or mys- 
tically. Naturally, as he is this individual man ; and so 
the sixth commandment provides for his security, Thou 
shalt not 'hill. Mystically, as he is in the state of mar- 
riage, which of two makes up one mystical person ; and 
so care is taken for him in the seventh, Thou shalt not 
commit adultery. 

If we consider him in his external gifts, his estate and 
substance is safeguarded by the eighth commandment. 
Thou shalt not steal. His reputation and good name by 
the ninth. Thou shalt not hear false witness against thy 
neighbor. 

And as a strong fence set about him, and also about the 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT, 333 

Other laws, that neither of them be violated, God hath not 
only prohibited the outward acts of gross and flagitious 
crimes, but the inward lurking motions to evil in our 
tJwughts and affections ; and this in the tenth command- 
ment. Thou slialt not covet. 

I shall begin with the first of these, which takes care 
for the security and indemnity of our persons, Thou 

SHALT NOT KILL. , 

I. This command forbids, first, that barbarous and in- 
human sin of MURDER, that first-bom of the devil, who was 
a murderer from the beginning ; the first branded crime 
that we read of, wherein natural coiTuption contracted 
by the fall vented its rancor and virulence ; the sin of 
Cain, that great instance of perdition, " who slew his 
brother " Abel, " because his brother^s works were righ- 
teous and his own evil." 

Neither doth this precept confine itself only to forbid 
the actual sin of murder, but all degrees and all causes 
of it ; as hatred and rash anger, revenge, and slanders, 
and false accusations, and whatsoever may prejudice the 
safety of our neighbor, or tempt us to see him perish 
when it is in our power to rescue and relieve him. 

Some have extended the sense of this prohibition. Thou 
shalt not kill, even to brute creatures, holding it unlawful 
to slay any of them for the use and service of our life. 
Possibly indeed unmercifulness even towards them, and 
a cruel tormenting of them, not to satisfy our occasions 
and necessities, but our unreasonable passions, may be re- 
ducible as a sin against this commandment, for all acts of 
cruelty are so ; but simply to kill them for our necessity' 
cannot. God, the universal Lord both of them and us, 



334 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

hath granted us this prerogative in our charter, to have 
the power of life and death over them. " Every moving 
thing that liveth shall be meat for you." Gen. 9 : 3. And 
doubtless we may put them to any kind of death that the 
necessity either of our food or physic will require. This 
killing, therefore, forbidden in the text, refers only to men 
like ourselves ; and therefore it is very properly rendered 
by others, Thou shalt do no murder. 

- 2. Yet, neither is every killing of a man murder ^ for 
there are several cases wherein although one kill another 
yet he is no murderer ; as, 

(1.) \Ti the execution of justice. 

Magistrates and such as have lawful power and autho 
rity may and ought to put capital offenders to death ; and 
if they do not, God will charge it on them as their sin. It 
is an ancient law upon record; Gen. 9:6, " Whoso 
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed ;" 
as if there were no other way for expiation, no other me- 
thod to wash away the stain and guilt of blood, but only 
by his who unjustly spilt it. And again, Deut. 19 : 21, 
" Thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life." And 
indeed if we rightly consider it, this is not to butcher up 
mankind, but to preserve them. God hath commanded 
magistrates to kill, that he might prevent murder ; for our 
nature is so extremely corrupt that there is no other ef- 
fectual way to hinder us from killing but by enjoining the 
magistrates to do it. And therefore as physicians, in cases 
of violent and immoderate bleeding, do often open a vein 
in another part of the body as the best method to stop it 
oy revulsion ; so, when the body politic bleeds by private 
rage and revenge gushing out into murders, the way to 
stop this blood is to shed blood. 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 335 

Neither doth our Savior's command not to resist evil. 
Mat. 5 : 39, gainsay this legal and punitive v^ay of blood- 
shedding. For those words do only forbid private re* 
venge, not public. We must not be judges in our own 
causes, nor, when we apprehend ourselves wronged, carve 
out to ourselves what measures of revenge our wrath and 
fury shall dictate. We, who have no authority nor com- 
mission, ought not to take life for life, nor eye for eye, 
nor tooth for tooth, much less life for an injurious word 
or an idle quarrel. We must not repay with the least 
revenge those who have done us the greatest wrongs, 
in which sense we must not resist evil ; but, if we have 
in any thing suffered wrong, we ouglit to bring all our 
causes and complaints to the magistrate; for into his 
hands hath Gk)d put the sword of justice. Rom. 13 : 4. 

Revenge is so sacred a thing that none ought to inter- 
' meddle with it but those whom God hath appointed ; for 
he hath solemnly ascribed it to himself, Heb. 10 : 30, 
" Vengeance belongeth unto me : I will recompense, saith 
the Lord." And he hath constituted the magistrate as his 
deputy in this work and office, and therefore he only 
ought to revenge by punishment proportionable to the 
nature of the crimes committed. 

So that, to speak properly, it is only God, and not man, 
that sheds the blood of wicked persons. The magistrate 
receives his commission from God, and doth it as his mi- 
nister and servant ; yea, and in doing it, is so far from do- 
ing a cruel and unjust act, an act that will either pollute 
his hands or stain his conscience, that it makes him the 
more holy and pure. And therefore when Moses called 
the Levites to slay those idolaters tha<t had worshipped 
the golden calf, he speaks of it as a holy function : " Con 



336 THE TEJV COIVIMANDMENTS. 

secrate yourselves to-day to the Lord; even every man 
upon his son, and upon his brother ; that he may bestovi^ 
upon you a blessing this day." Exod. 32 : 29. 

(2.) There may be bloodshed in a just and lawful war, 
without the charge or crime of murder. 

Indeed we are commanded to follow peace with all 
men ; and as much as lies in us, and if possible, to have 
peace with all men. Rom. 12 : 18. But sometimes, through 
the ambition and turbulent spirits of others, through their 
politic designs pf picking unjust quarrels, it may be no 
longer possible to maintain peace ; and in this case, where 
we have right and equity on our side, it is lawful to wage 
war. I speak not now of private differences between per- 
son and person ; but of public, between nation and na- 
tion : in which case the supreme magistrate hath the power 
of making war and proclaiming peace. 

There are some who decry this assertion, and think it 
contrary to the temper of a christian, who is a son of 
peace, to be a man of war. I confess there is nothing that 
caii justify war against another nation, but either 

Necessary defence against an unjust invasion. Or, 

Recovery of what is unjustly taken away i ■q.?, David pur- 
sued the Amalekites, who had carried his wives away 
captives. Or, 

The punishing of some great injury and tvrong; as 
David likewise warred against the Ammonites for the 
contumelious usage of his ambassadors. 

But, where the cause is just, the manner in which we 
prosecute it warrantable, the authority which engageth us 
in it being rightly constituted over us, I see nothing but 
that it is very fit when it is very necessary to take up 
arms, and in a public war to right ourselves upon inju- 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. ' 337 

rious enemies. For as there may be many wrongs done 
by one party against another, who must be judged by the 
law common to them both ; so there niay be many wroiigs 
done by one nation against another, which if they v/ill 
not consent to redress, there being no common ma/,ns- 
trate nor common law over them both, (except the law 
and right of nations, of which the more powerful usually 
make little account,) in this case, certainly, the injured 
may very justly have recourse to war; for, what law is to 
persons of the same nation, that war is to persons of a 
different nation. 

We read that among those many penitents that came 
to John the Baptist for instruction, when soldiers also 
came he did not bid them lay down their arms or their 
commission. He preached not to them, fight no more, 
kill no man ; but gave them directions how they should 
demean themselves in their calling : which he would not 
have done if he had thought their calling itself unlawful. 
He bids them " Do no violence, accuse no man falsely, 
but be content with your wages." Luke, 3 : 14. 

Neither did our Savior when he so highly commended 
the centurion for his faith, rebuke him for his profession, 
but extolled him for taking the ground and argument of 
his faith from his military calling, Luke, 7:8, ** I am a 
man under authority, having under me soldiers ; and I 
say unto one, go, and he goeth ; and to another, come, 
and he cometh ; and to my servant, do this, and he doeth 
it." This very calling of his he urgeth Christ with, and 
makes it an argument to strengthen his faith, that cer- 
tainly Christ was able to cure his sick servant, because 
if he who was but a captain had such authority over his 
soldiers as to command them to come and to go at his 

Ten Com. i ^ ' 



338 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

word, how much more absolute power had Jesus, as Lord 
both of life and death, over all bodily diseases, to com- 
mand them to come and go at his pleasure ! This 
I take to be the force and reason of his words, upon 
which Christ gives him this large testimonial and enco- 
mium, verse 9, " When Jesus heard these things, he mar- 
velled at him, a,nd turned him about and said unto the 
people, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" 
But enough of this. 

(3.) A man may shed blood in, the necessary defence oj 
his person without being guilty of murder, when he is 
suddenly assaulted by those who attempt to take away his 
life and he hath no other means left him to secure it. In 
this case, there being no possibility of having recourse to 
a magistrate for protection, every man is a magistrate to 
himself 

But here, because all cases of blood are tender, let me 
caution you that it is not enough that the danger be im- 
pending, but it must be instant and present ; such wherein 
a man's life is in all probability lost if he doth not stand 
upon his defence. For in dangers that are only threat- 
ened and approaching, we ought to trust Providence, 
and to use our best diligence to work our escape from 
them. But if the assault be sudden and no way of es- 
cape visible, we may lawfully take away the life of him 
who unjustly seeks to take ours ; for this is not a design 
to hill him^ but to preserve ourselves. 

Yea, we find, Exod. 22 : 2, that God allows the kilHng 
of a thief, if he break into a man's house by night, but not 
so if he attempt it by day. And possibly the reason of 
this law might be because, when any cometh upon another 
ip. the night, it might be presurned, ihoX he takes the ad- 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 339 

vantage of the darkness not only to steal his goods but to 
harm his person ; and therefore God allows it as lawful 
to kill such a one as a part of necessary defence : from 
which I think we may safely conclude that it is lawful 
also to kill those who attempt upon our goods, when we 
have reason to fear they may likewise design upon our 
persons. 

(4.) There is yet one case more, and that is accident 
tal hloodsJiedding, which is not chargeable with murder 
when blood is shed without any intention or purpose of 
doing it. 

Such a case we find mentioned in Scripture, as when 
in hewing of wood from a tree the axe should slip and 
kill a man's neighbor. Deut. 19 : 5. And therefore for 
such innocent manslayers God himself appointed cities 
of refuge, that they might fly to them and be safe from the 
avenger of blood. 

But here we must look to it that we be employed 
about lawful things; otherwise, if we be doing that which 
is unjustifiable, which accidentally proves to be the death 
of another, this cannot be excused from murder : and I 
am sure God exacts the same punishment for it. There- 
fore it is said, Exod. 21 : 22, that if men strive among 
themselves and hurt a woman that she die, though it was 
not intended by them, yet life shall go for life : because 
their strife and contention between themselves is an un- 
lawful action. 

There ought also to be a due care taken to avoid any 
mischief that may happen upon doing a lawful action, by 
giving notice to those who come in the way of danger, 
and forbearing to do it whilst they are there. 

But in all cases where the death of another is intended 



340 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

let it be upon never so violent and sudden a passion, 
although there were no prepensed and rancoring malice 
borne towards him before, and howsoever ow laws may be 
too favorable to it and call it manslaughter, yet doubtless 
it is in conscience and in the sight of God wilful murder. 
For the manslayer, whom the Scripture mentions distinct 
from the murderer, is only he who slays his neighbor ac- 
cidentally; not designing nor intending him any harm. 
This is the only manslaughter which our law is pleased 
to call chance-medley ; and whatsoever is not this is mur- 
der, and ought as such to be punished. 

2: Murder may be either of a marCs self or of another. 
Both of them are most black and heinous crimes. 

(1.) As for self-murder ^ many of the ancient heathens 
thought this the most heroic and gallant way of dying, and 
would have recourse to it on very slight occasions, ac- 
counting it a universal remedy that nature had put into 
their hands to rid^ themselves of any trouble which they 
were loth to bear. 

Yet some even among the heathen have very sharply 
as well as justly taxed this wicked custom, among whom 
that saying of Aristotle in his Ethics is very considerable: 
*' For a man to die only that he may avoid poverty or 
crosses, is not gallantry, but mere cowardice, and declares 
that he wants courage to encounter them." In this par- 
ticular this heathen had a better illumination than the 
author of the book of Maccabees, who very unworthily 
commends one Razis, a Jew, for choosing rather to dest!roy 
himself than yield to his enemy — a passage in this bookj 
besides divers others, which evidently proves those books 
not to belong to the canon of Scripture, but to deserve to 
be called as they are. Apocryphal. 



I 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 341 

And truly self-murder, next to the unpardonable sin 
against the Holy Ghost, is, I think, the most dangerous 
and most desperate that can be committed; and as it 
leaves so little room for repentance, it leaves but very 
little for hope and charity. Those wretched creatures 
whom God hath- so far abandoned as to permit them to 
fall into this horrid crime, had they but the least care of 
their eternal salvation, would certainly tremble when they 
are offering violence to themselves, considering that they 
must instantly appear before God, and lift up those hands 
at his great tribunal which they but a minute before im- 
brued in their own blood. It is a sin which, when the 
devil tempts men to, he cannot make use of his most pre- 
vailing wile and stratagem, for when he tempts to other 
sins he still drills on the sinner with hopes of living to re- 
pent and reform, and promises him mercy and forgive- 
ness ; but this of self-murder precludes all such hopes 
and expectations, for they die in their sins, yea, their 
death is their sin : and what a forlorn estate are they in 
who resolve that their last act shall be a damnable sin ! 
These are self-murderers to purpose, and destroy not 
only their bodies but their souls too. 

Consider again that it is a sin committed against the 
very standard and rule of our love to others ; for God 
hath commanded us to love others as ourselves, and there- 
fore as we may not murder another, so much less may we 
murder ourselves. And those who are hurried to this im- 
pious act, as they do actually destroy themselves, so they 
do virtually and interpretatively murder and destroy the 
whole world ; and are as guilty before God as if, toge 
ther with themselves, they had murdered their parents, 
their children, their nearest relations, and all mankind be- 



34!^ THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Bides J" and that, because they destroy that fundamental 
law which should regulate their love to their neighbors, 
and which is the stated rule according to which they 
should endeavor after their welfare and preservation. 

Therefore if ever the devil work upon thy melancholy 
and discontented pride to tempt thee to this damnable and 
almost unpardonable sin, be sure to collect all thy strength 
xmto thee, and with infinite abhorrence of it command 
him to depart. Let not any shame, or poverty, or hor- 
rors of conscience fasten this hellish temptation upon 
thee, for know assuredly that if thou hearkenest unto 
them and puttest them in execution, there is no probabi- 
lity but that thou must pass from temporal sufferings to 
eternal torments ; which, be thy condition in this life 
never so deplorable and wretched, thou hast no reason 
to hasten, but wilt in hell think that they came too soon 
upon thee. 

2. The murdering of another is a most heinous and 
black sin, a sin that God doth usually by some wonderful 
method of his providence detect and bring to punishment ; 
and which dogs the consciences of those who are guilty 
of it with homd affrights and terrors, and hath some- 
times extorted from them a confession of it when there 
hath been no other proof nor evidence. 

The two greatest sinners that the Scripture hath set 
the blackest brand upon were both murderers, Cain and 
Judas : the one the murderer of his brother, the other 
first of his Lord and Master, and then of himself. 

And God so infinitely hates and detests murder, that 
although the altar were a refuge for other offenders, yet 
he would not have a murderer sheltered there, but ho 
was to be dragged from that inviolable sanctuary to ex 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 343 

ecution, according to that law, Exod. 21 : 14, " If a man 
come presumptuously upon his neighbor and slay him 
with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he 
may die." And accordingly we read, 1 Kings, 2 : 30, 31, 
that when Joab had fled and taken hold on the horns of 
the altar, so that the messengers who were sent to put 
him to death durst not violate that holy place by shed- 
ding his blood, Solomon gives command to have him slain 
even there, as if the blood of a wilfiil murderer were a 
very acceptable sacrifice offered up unto God. 

And indeed, in the first prohibition of murder that we 
have, God subjoins a very weighty reason why it should 
be so odious to him. Gen. 9:6, ** Whoso sheddeth man's 
blood, by man shall his blood be shed ; for in the image 
of God made he man." So that homicidvum est Deicidium, 
" to slaughter a man, it is to stab God in effigy ;" for 
though the image of God's holiness and purity be totally 
defaced in us since the fall, yet still every man, even the 
most vdcked «iid impious that lives, bears some marks of 
the image of God in his intellect, the freedom of his will, 
and his dominion over the creatures ; and God will have 
every part of his image so revered by us, that he who as- 
saults man is esteemed by him as one who attempts to 
assassinate God himself 

Murder is a crying sin. Blood is loud and clamorous. 
The first that ever was shed was ' heard as far as fi'om 
earth to heaven : " Tlie voice of thy brother's blood crieth 
unto me from the ground." Gen. 4 : 10. And God will 
certainly hear its cry and avenge it. 

(3.) But not only he whose hands are imbrued in the 
blood of others, but those also who are aecessory are guil- 
ty qfmw^der. As, 



344 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

Those who command or counsel it to he done. Thus David 
became guilty of the murder of innocent Uriah ; and God, 
in drawing up his charge, accuseth him with it, 2 Sam. 
12 : 9, ** Thou hast slain him with the sword of the chil- 
dren of Ammon." 

. Again, tJiose who consent to murder are guilty of it. 
Thus Pilate, for yielding to the clamorous outcries of the 
Jews, " Crucify him, crucify him," though he washed his 
hands and disavowed the fact, yet was as much guilty as 
those who nailed him to the cross. 

He also who concealeth a murder is guilty of it. And 
therefore we read, Deut. 21 : 6, 7, that in case a man 
were found slain and the murderer unknown, the elders 
of that city were to assemble and wash their hands and 
protest that they had not shed this blood, neither had their 
eyes seen it ; intimating that if they had seen and con- 
cealed it, they had thereby become guilty of the murder. 

Those also who are in authority and do not punish a 
murder when committed and known, are themselves guilty 
of it. Thus when, by the wicked artifice of Jezebel, Na- 
both was condemned to die, although Ahab knew nothing 
of the contrivance till after the execution ; yet, because he 
did not vindicate that innocent blood when he came to the 
knowledge of it, the prophet chargeth it upon him, 1 Kings, 
21 : 19, " Hast thou killed, and also taken possession'?" 
The guilt lay upon him, and the punishment due to it 
overtook him, although we do not read that he was any 
otherwise guilty of it than in not punishing those who had 
committed it. 

And those, magistrates who, upon any pretext whatever, 
suffer a murderer to escape unpunished, are said to pol- 
lute the land with blood. Num. 35 : 31-33, " Ye shall 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 345 

take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer ; but he 
shall be surely put to death. So shall ye not pollute the 
land wherein ye are ; for blood it defileth the land : and 
the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed 
therein, but by the blood of him that shed it." 

II. But in this commandment not only the perpetration 
of murder, and the actual embruing our hands in the 
blood of our brother is prohibited ; but likewise all causes 
and OCCASIONS leading to it. As, 

First, Envy, which is the rust of a cankered soul, a 
foul, meagre vice, that turns the happiness and welfare 
of others into our misery and torment. Thus Cain first 
enviously repined at the success and acceptance of his 
brother's sacrifice, and this quickly prompted him to 
murder. 

Secondly. Unjust and immoderate anger, which, if it be 
suffered to lie festering in the heart, will turn into the 
venom of a perfect hatred. This is not only a cause but 
a degree of murder, and as such it is accounted by our 
Savior, who is the best expositor of the law, Mat. 5 : 21, 
22, " Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. 
Thou shalt not kill — But I say unto you. That whosoever 
is angry with his brother without a cause, is in danger of 
the judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, 
Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but whosoever 
shall say. Thou Fool, shall be u\ danger of hell-fire." 
Which passage I have already explained. But, 

1. Anger is not, as envy, simply and in itself unlaw- 
ful ; for, 

(1.) There may be a virtuous anger as well as vicious: 
an anger that merits praise and commendation ; and is so 

15* 



346 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

far from being a sin, that it is a noble and generous grace. 
To be moved with indignation for the cause of God when 
his glory is eclij)sed, his name dishonored, his ordinances 
profaned, his sanctuary polluted, his people vilified, this 
is a holy anger, and may well lose the common and vulgar 
appellation of anger, and pass under the name of zeal. 
Such was our Savior's against those that defiled the temple, 
when with a miraculous authority he whipped them out 
and vindicated the house of God unto the worship of God, 
from the usurpation of the god of this world, mammon. 
And therefore we find that passage. Psalm 69 : 9, applied 
to this action of Christ : " The zeal of thine house hath 
eaten me up." So likewise when, by their hypocritical si- 
lence, they seemed to discountenance and disallow the 
curing of a man on the Sabbath day, it is said " He look- 
ed round about upon them with anger, being gi'ieved for 
the hardness of their hearts." Mark, 3 : 5. 

(2.) There is also an innocent and allowahle anger, 
when we have just provocation to it ; for religion doth not 
utterly root out and destroy the natural passions, but only 
moderate and regulate them. We may be angiy, but 
we must not sin in bur anger, Eph. 4 : 2Q, ** Be angjy," 
but " sin not." And, 

(3.) There is a vicious and sinful anger, which is a rash 
and foolish passion, a short phrenzy, that puts a man for 
the present quite beside himself, and so agitates the spi- 
rits that the blood boils about the heart and sends up 
such sooty fumes as darken the understanding and de- 
prive him of the use and benefit of his reason. 

The two ingi'edients that make up anger are grief for 
some injury conceived to be done unto us, and desire of 
revenge, to discharge our gall and choler upon those that 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 347 

have wronged us, as if we gave ourselves eaise hy laying 
a load upon others. 

2. Two things especially make anger to he evil and sin- 
ful. When it is without cause, and when it is without 
hounds. 

(1.) Causeless anger is a kind of murder, when men 
will fret and rage, although there be no provocation at all 
given them. Some men's gall overflows so much that 
upon every trivial occasion, or perhaps when there is 
none but only their own umbrage and suspicion, they fly 
out into intemperate speeches and revengeful acts, and 
are presently all in a flame and combustion when there is 
nothing to irritate them but their ovTn choleric fancies : 
like clouds that break out in thunder and lightning when 
all the fire and sulphur is bred only in their own bowels. 

See this testy spirit in Jonah, who, though he were a 
holy, yet it seems by his history he was a very passionate 
man. First he is angry that God would spare Nineveh 
after he had prophesied ruin and destruction to it: he 
grows into a pet even with the mercy of God, as if he 
circumvented him and designed to make him accounted 
a false prophet : " It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and 
he was very angry." chap. 4:1. Jonah is angry because 
God is appeased : he thinks the Almighty too easy, and 
can hardly forgive that mercy which so readily forgave 
the Ninevites. And again, when God had caused a worm 
to destroy the gourd which he had prepared to shade 
this hot and angry head, Jonah falls into another fit of 
bitter passion for the loss of so poor a thing as his gourd ; 
and when God meekly expostulates the cause with him, 
" Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ?" his pas- 
sion so far transports him that he dares to return this mal- 



348 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

apert answer even to the great God, Yea, " I do well to 
be angry," to the very death. See here how his gall over- 
flows and taints both his reason and his religion : he 
hurls his fury about against God and men. And as he sits 
in his booth, looking and praying daily that fire and brim- 
stone might come down from heaven to consume that 
great city, when he saw his expectation frustrated and 
the date of his prophecy expired without the accomplish- 
ment of it, he quarrels with God, storms against every 
thing, is weary of his life, and it would seem could 
almost have fired the city himself rather than it should 
have escaped. 

. (2.) As causeless anger, so immoderate anger is a great 
sin and a committing of murder in our hearts. 

Anger may be immoderate either in degree or in con- 
tinuance. 

It is immoderate in degree, when it is vehement and 
excessive, transporting us beyond our due bounds and 
temper. 

I know no law that forbids a christian to resent an in- 
jury. Our Savior Christ himself, when he was buffeted 
was sensible of and reproves that insolence, John, 18 : 
23, " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil ; but, 
if well, why smitest thou me V^ Christianity doth not 
make men stocks, but keeps them from being furies ; it 
doth not root up, but only prune our anger and cut off all 
superfluities of naughtiness from it. It may, when just 
cause is given, warm but not fire our spirits ; but when it 
breaks forth into reviling speeches, or into revengeful 
actions, be sure it hath catched fire then, and is enkindled 
of hell. 

And yet the just anger of superiors as magistrates, or 



I 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. - 349 

masters, or parents, may lawfully break forth upon infe- 
riors in inflicting due punishments. Nor will this fall 
under the guilt of a sinful revenge, but a just reward, 
whilst they are careful that the punishment exceed not the 
fault and crime committed. 

But for those who ^lave no authority over others to 
seek revenge upon them, either by railing or defaming 
speeches, or by the paying injury for injury, is a trans- 
gression of this commandment, the effect of immoderate 
anger and a kind of murder in them. 

Anger may also be immoderate in continuance. For 
age will sour it into hatred, and turn what was wine into 
vinegar. Therefore the apostle counsels us, " Be angry, 
and sin not." But how may that be done 1 "Let not the 
sun," saith he, " go down upon your wrath." Eph. 4 : 2Q. 
And indeed he that goes to bed and sleeps v<rith anger 
boiling in his breast, will find the scum of malice upon it 
the next morning. 

This is a passion which, if it be long cherished, will drive 
away the Spirit. For how canst thou think that the dove- 
like Spirit of God will reside where the heart remains full 
of gall ; or that the celestial flame of divine love should 
bum bright and clear where there are so many thick 
fames and vapors continually rising up to damp and choke 
it 1 How darest thou betake thyself to rest without first 
invoking the great God and locking up thyself by prayer 
into his custody and safe tuition I And how darest thou 
pray whilst wrath bums and rankles in thy breast ] Canst 
thou in faith pray for forgiveness, who dost not thyself 
forgive 1 Our Savior hath expressly told us, that if we 
'* forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our Father 
which is in heaven forgive us our trespasses ;" and there- 



350 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

fore as long as anger and desire of wreaking our revenge 
upon those that have w^ronged us are entertained by us, 
so long we invalidate our own prayers by not performing 
that condition, without which God will never hear nor 
accept them. And therefore be sure you be no longer 
angry than you may lawfully abstain from prayer. For 
we are commanded to " lift up holy- hands without vnrath." 
1 Tim. 2 : 8. Certainly dissension and animosity with 
men is.no fit temper to prepare us to hold commu- 
nion with God. And therefore though thy gift be ready 
to be laid upon the altar, remember thyself, look inward 
and see whether all be quiet and calm there, if there be 
no grudge, no anger against thy brother. If thou findest 
any, either go first and actually reconcile thyself unto him, 
or if opportunity will not sufiice for that, purge out the 
leaven of wrath and malice, and reconcile thyself unto him 
in thine own heart ; for under the law no offering of the 
Lord was to be mingled with leaven, and now under the 
Gospel God will accept of no oblations that are offered up 
unto him with the ferment of wrath arid passion. Although 
it may surprise us, yet let it not possess us. See what 
the wise man counsels us, Eccles. 7 : 9, "Be not hasty in 
thy spirit to be angry :" or if through haste and thought- 
lessness it may seize upon you, yet let it not dwell there ; 
for he adds, *' anger dwelleth in the bosom of fools." And 
certainly the calm and peaceable Spirit of God will not 
dwell in that house where there are perpetual tumults 
and discords, and where our unruly passions make such 
a noise and uproar that his secret whispers and sugges- 
tions cannot be heard. 

Thus you see what kind of anger is sinful— that which 
is causeless, and that which is immoderate, either in de 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 351 

gree or in duration. And likewise what anger is lawful— 
that which is zealous for God's glory, and that which is 
rightly tempered for our own and our neighbor's good. 

3. Let us consider whence sinful arid, univarrantable 
anger usually ^proceeds. You shall find this bitter fruit to 
have likewise its root of bitterness. The causes of it are 
Commonly these : 

(1.) Pride, and an overweening conceit of ourselves. 

Pride is the fruitful mother of many vices ; but it nurs- 
eth none with more care and tenderness than this of an- 
ger; and therefore the wise man tells us, Prov. 13 : 10, 
that only from "pride cometh contention;" and indeed, 
as the philosopher observes, anger usually ariseth from an 
opinion that we are despised and contemned. Now the 
proud man thinks every one contemns him that doth not 
value him as highly as he values himself — that is, beyond 
all reason ; and if he cannot meet with such fools, he 
grows angry and discontented with all the world. Arist. 
Rhet. 50, 2, c. 2. Plut. de Ira Gohib. cap. 12. „-, *-^r. ^^ 

Proud flesh about a sore is always tender and cannot 
bear the least touch ; and so proud persons, if they be never 
i^o little touched, presently grow enraged and think they 
have a gi'eat injury done them if others do not as much 
admire and respect them as they do themselves. 

Whoever is much a self-lover cannot fail of frequent 
occasions to make him angry. Now the proud man is the 
greatest self-lover in the world ; and the misery is that he 
usually loves himself without a rival ; and if all do not 
yield to him, to say what he shall dictate, and to think 
what he shall determine, and to do what he shall prescribe, 
he takes it for a high aflront ; and as he hath given himself 
an authority over others, he looks that they should submit 



352 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

to it and acknowledge it. And others, perhaps having no 
less pride, or possibly more reason, refusing to gratify his 
vain and arrogant humor, quarrels and dissensions arise, 
and endless jars and discords. 

(2.) Another cause of this passion is the weakness and 
feebleness of nature. And therefore it is truly observed by 
Plutarch, that those vs^ho are of the most infirm natures 
and weakest constitutions are most harassed with it ; as 
children more than men; old age more than the staid 
part of life ; and sick persons more than those that are in 
health. For anger is a great weakness, and therefore 
lodgeth most in the weakest ; ants and pismires, and such 
little creatures, are most busy with their stings ; whereas 
strong and generous creatures must be much provoked 
before they will be injurious. 

There are many other causes of the violent stirring of 
this exorbitant passion : as over-much love of vain trifles, 
which if they come to any mischance, as usually they do, 
we are apt to be disturbed at it ; easiness to believe at the 
first recommendation, and engaging our affections in 
things before we have had trial and experience of them, 
which afterwards proving quite contrary to our expecta- 
tions, the disappointment will excite pur choler, &c. But 
r shall not insist on these. / 

III. Let us therefore proceed to lay down some Rules 

FOR THE RESTRAINING AND MODERATING OF ANGER ; and 

that in others and in ourselves. 

1. In others. It is a hellish sport for us to irritate and 
stir up anger in others, only for us to laugh at or to make 
our advantage by it : scarce a less sin than to make others 
drunk that we may abuse them, for prevailing passion is 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 653 

for the time a kind of drunkenness, and both are a degree 
of frenzy and madness. Thou oughtest not, therefore, un- 
necessarily to exasperate thy brother, whom thou knowest 
prone to this great weakness ; otherwise be assured that 
all his intemperate speeches and rash action? shall be im- 
puted to thee, and are thy sins as well as his ; and what- 
ever revilings he dischargeth against thee shall at last also 
be charged upon thee, and what a foolish thing it is for 
thee to bear the sting of them here and the punishment of 
them hereafter ! The wise man hath told us, Prov. 14« : 9, 
that they are " fools" who " make a mock at sin." And if 
thou, for thy recreation, provokest any to an indecent and 
unbecoming passion, know that such laughter is deadly to 
thyself, and thou art like those poisoned persons who 
laugh themselves to death. 

To prevent and suppress anger in thyself, (for there it 
doth most hurt, since another man's anger is none of my 
guilt, if I have neither been faulty in stirring it up nor 
top easy to catch the flame from him,) take these following 
rules and directions. 

(1.) Labor and pray for a meek and humble spirit. 
Think lowly of thyself, and then certainly thou wilt not 
be angry if others conspire vnxh thee in thinking and 
speaking of thee as thou dost of thyself. Most common- 
ly anger, as I have said, proceeds from an opinion of being 
despised: now do thou first of all despise thyself, and 
then all reproaches and injuries will signify no more to 
thee than that other men approve thy judgment, and that 
certainly can be no cause of anger. Thou wilt not be 
angry for want of a ceremony or demonstration of respect 
which others impose or exact, nor wilt thou quarrel with 
any for not relying on thy judgment or contradicting thy 



354 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

sentiments, when thou shalt reflect upon thine own igno- 
rance and frequent mistakes. They are the high hills 
whose heads are wrapped about with clouds and tem- 
pests, when the humble valleys are calm and serene ; 
80 humble souls that lie low in their own esteem remain 
undisturbed, when lofty persons are still molested with 
the tempests of their own passions. 

(2.) Consider how ojlen thou givest God occasion to be 
angry with thee, which if he should take, thou wert for 
ever undone. He bears many affronts and indignities at 
thy hands. And who art thou ] a poor vile worm. And 
who is he % even the great Almighty God, the universal 
King of heaven and earth, that he should put up with 
such wrongs at thy hands ! And shall God daily take in- 
juries from such a wretched nothing as thou art, God who 
is thy Lord and Master; and wilt not thou bear them pa- 
tiently from thy fellow-servant, who it may be is in every 
respect equal to thee, but only inferior to thee in this, 
that he provokes thee unjustly 1 Certainly, were we as 
tender towards our brethren as we all desire God should 
be towards us, could we forbear others as we ourselves 
would be forborne, there would never be any quarrel 
commenced, or if it were, it would be soon compound- 
ed. What saith the Psalmist 1 " He will not always 
chide ; neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath 
not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us ac- 
cording to our iniquities." Psalm 103 : 10. Let this 
great example be ours, not to be soon moved to anger, 
and quickly to free ourselves from it. Indeed many there 
are that are slow to anger, and in that they imitate God ; 
but then they are tenacious and retentive of wrath, and 
hardly placable again : their anger is like an impression 



I 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 355 

upon some hard metal, very difficultly maae, and as difficult 
to be effaced. Let such consider what would become of 
them if God should be as slow to be reconciled to them 
as they are to their brethren. Nay, he is infinitely more 
wi'onged by you than you can be by them ; and yet he so 
far condescends as first to seek reconciliation. And, 
although he be infinitely able by the least expression of 
his wrath and power for ever to destroy you; yet "here- 
in God commendeth his love unto you, that when ye were 
enemies, ye were reconciled unto him by the death of his 
Son." Certainly whoever doth but seriously reflect upon 
the infinite patience and forbearance of God, if he hath 
any sweetness diffiised into his soul by that consideration, 
if he hath any conscience of imitating his heavenly Father 
in that which is his most adorable attribute, if he hath any 
care to ascertain unto himself the pardon and remission 
of his own offences, he will therein find a powerful influ- 
ence to sway him to the like acts of mercy and forgiveness. 
(3.) Beware of prejudice against thy brother. For pre- 
judice is a very ill interpreter of actions, and will be sure 
to expound them in the worst sense. Be not easy to be- 
lieve that those who offend thee do it with design, or that 
they despise and undervalue thee. Rather think it any 
thing else than contempt of thee. Believe that his offen- 
ces proceed rather from his folly and indiscretion, or that 
he is forced and necessitated to do it, that others have put 
him upon it. If they be thy friends that wrong thee, sup- 
pose it to be only a fault of their too great familiarity and 
a misgoverned intimacy. If they be such as are subject 
to thee, believe that since they know thou hast power to 
chastise them, they would not do it purposely to provoke 
thee. If they be vile and sordid persons, trouble not thy- 



, 35jGr THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

self witli theif affronts, for thy reputation is above them 
Thus, I say, inchne to believe it any thing rather than a 
designed abuse. For though a strict jealousy over our 
reputation and aptness to think ourselves w^ronged seem 
to proceed from generousness and a sense of honor, yet 
indeed they proceed only from baseness and v^eakness of 
mind. Whoever accounts himself despised by another, is 
in a sense less than he, and confesseth himself his inferior. 
He is the noble and heroic-spirited person w^ho is un- 
shaken with the petty affronts and injuries of others, and 
hath so much stable confidence in the integrity of his 
actions that he cannot believe any can traduce him or 
' them : whereas to be angry at them doth but in a sort 
justify slanders, and will beget a belief that that is not 
altogether groundless whereat he shows himself so much 
concerned. It is an old maxim of prudence, *' If you be 
angry at railings, you seem to acknowledge them; if you 
contemn them, they vanish." 

(4.) Be not familiar with any angry person. For as one 
fire will kindle another, so it is likely that his choler will kin- 
dle thine, till both flame into an inordinate and extrava 
' gant passion. See the direction expressly given us, Prov. 
22 : 24, 25, " Make no friendship with an angry man : 
and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn 
his ways, and get a snare to thy soul." Indeed there is 
no such fuel to wrath as wrrath, and it is a very hard mat- 
ter to refrain from being angry with him who will cause- 
lessly be angry with us. And as thou must shun the com- 
pany and acquaintance of choleric persons, so likewise of 
scoffers ; for a scoff and a jeer is many times more pro- 
voking than a blow, and nothing wall sooner kindle the 
coals of contention than a biting taunt : therefore Solo- 



SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 357 

raon adviseth us, Prov. 22 : 10, " Cast out the scorner, 
and contention shall go out j yea, strife and reproach shall 
cease." 

(5.) It is very good counsel, if thoufeclest any motions 
of this unruly passion begin to stir in thy heart, that thou 
arrest it for some time before thou either speak or act. Let 
this mud have some time to settle again, that reason may 
in the meanwhile recover her throne and direct thee how 
to govern thyself like a wise man and a christian. Speak 
not whilst thou art in the impetuous hurries of thy pas- 
sion ; for it was well said by Plutarch, that " it is good 
m a fever, but much better in anger, to have a tongue kept 
clean and smooth." Plut. de Ira Cohib. Put an interval 
of time between thy anger and thy action ; for those who 
act in the violence and paroxysms of their anger, do either 
they know not what, or else what they may have reason to 
repent of; and therefore Solomon tells us that " the dis- 
cretion of a man deferreth his anger," Prov. 19 : 11 ; and 
*' the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water." 
Prov. 17 : 14. At first when a man cutteth the bank of a 
river, the passage is but little and the stream may be easily 
stopped, but by continual running it will wear away the 
earth and widen the gap, and whole floods and currents 
will pour out where but some few drops were intended. 

(6.) Contemplate the ugliness and deformity of this sin 
in others ; how it makes men brutish in their souls and 
deformed likewise in their countenances. It inflames the 
face, fires the eyes, and makes a man look like a fury, 
deafens the ears, froths the mouth, makes the heart beat 
and pant, the tongue stammer, the voice harsh and rough, 
the speech precipitate and oftentimes ridiculous : briefly, it 
puts the whole man into a preternatural fever, and trans- 



358 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

forms the body into a monster and the man into a devil. 
And what ! shall I give way to passion, so uncomely a 
passion that will make me scorned when I would seem 
most terrible? Certainly, were there no other thing 
whereof to accuse this immoderate anger, it were enough 
to render it odious ; but when it not only destroys what I 
was, but seeks the ruin and destruction of others, it con- 
cerns me to stop it in its first rise and ebullitions, lest the 
boilings of my blood proceed so far as to attempt the 
shedding of the blood of others. , . 



THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 

Thou slialt not commit Adultery. 

In considering the former commandment we have seen 
what care God t^es for the security aiid indemnity of 
every man's person. This command extendeth farther, and 
provideth for his security as he is considered mystically 
in marriage-union, which of twain maketh one flesh. The 
one defends him from the violence of bloody rage and 
revenge, the other from the violations of impure lusts. 

I judge it not convenient to be too circumstantial in 
showing you what is prohibited under this precept. I 
know that some, especially the popish casuists in their 
treatises of moral divinity, such as Sanches, Diana, &c. 
have spoken of these things so minutely, and with such a 
filthy accurateness, that they violate the very eyes and 
fancies of their readers ; rather teach vice than condemn 
it ; and instruct the ignorant to sin skilfully rather than 
convince the guilty to bring them to repentance. Some 
wickednesses there are which it is far better not to re- 
prove than to name ; it is more expedient to leave those 
who are guilty of them to be lashed by their natural light 
and conscience, than, by agitating such crimes, teach others 
not so much to abhor as to practise them. And let this be 
my apology if I pass over this subject with more than my 
accustomed brevity. 

1. I shall speak of the sin which is here lite?'ally and 
expressly forhiddeUy and this is, 

I 



360' THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

1. The detestable and loathsome sin of adultery. This 
sin, properly taken, is a sin committed between two per- 
sons, the one or both of them married to another. In any 
view it is a most heinous sin, but on the married person's 
side most inexcusable and intolerable. In Gen. 39 : 9, it is 
called a " great wickedness against God," even on the un- 
married man's part. And in Lev. 20 : 10, and Deut. 22 : 22, 
the temporal punishment assigned to it is no less than 
death, the same punishment that belonged to murder. 

And if hurhan laws were as severe in the punishment 
of the sin as divine, the fear of it might possibly be of 
greater influence to deter men from such filthiness than 
either shame or the denunciation of eternal punishment. 
Yea, we read in history. Speed's Chron. p. 289, that our 
progenitors, the English Saxons, even while they remain- 
ed pagans and idolaters, so hated this sin, that they made 
it, yea, and simple fornication also, punishable with death, 
which they severely inflicted on those that were found 
guilty ; and this custom continued among them after they 
were converted to Christianity, until the year of Christ 
750, when the antichristian see of Rome, the mother of 
whoredoms, abrogated this law as too rigorous for chris- 
tians. Job calleth it *' a heinous crime ; yea, an iniquity 
to be punished by the judges ; a fire that consumeth to 
destruction." Job, 31 : 11, 12. 

But though they who are guilty of this sin may escape 
the judgment of men, either through the secrecy of their 
wickedness or the too gentle censures of the law, yet 
they shall not escape the righteous judgment of God, nor 
those everlg,sting punishments that he hath prepared for 
them in hell, Heb. 13 : 4, " Whoremongers and adulter- 
ers God will judge." 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 361 

Two things in this sin of adultery make it so exceed- 
ing heinous, namely, the licentiousness andincontinency of 
it, in letting loose the reins to a brutish concupiscence, 
and in yielding up the body to pollution and the soul to 
damnation; and the injustice of it, it being a deceit of 
the highest and most injurious nature that can be* 
Consider, 

(1.) It is the violation of a most solemn vow and 
covenant y and so adds perjury to imfaithfulness ; alien- 
ating that person to another, who, by the most sacred 
and the strictest obligations, is bound only to that 
partner and yoke^fellow to whom God and their own 
consent, and the legal rights of the church and state 
have addicted them. 

(2.) It is also the source and cause of a spurious a/nd sup- 
posititious hirth; bringing in a strange blood into the inhe- 
ritance of lawful children, whereby this unfaithfulness be- 
comes theft as well as perjury. 

" But though this sin of adultery be alone mentioned in 
the command, yet, according to the rules laid down in the 
beginning or this work, all other kinds of uncleanness are 
also forbidden under the name of this one gross crime/ 
For the law of God is perfect ; and as all manner of 
chastity, both in our thoughts, speeches and actions, is 
there enjoined us, so likewise whatever is in the least 
contrary and prejudicial to a spotless chastity and an in- 
violate modesty, is hereby forbidden. And therefore, 

2. This commandment forbids the uncleanness o? for- 
fiication, a sin which properly is the sin conltnitted be- 
twixt two single persons, and which, though it hatli net 
aOffie aggravations that belong to the other, yet is an 
abominable sin in the sight of God. '•r-MfK\ i4?? 

Ten. Com. '16 



362 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

I know how it is extenuated by the impure Romanists,* 
as a small stain that may easily be washed off by the 
sprinkling of a little holy water. But it is no wonder if 
they who have drank deep of the cup of fornications of 
the gi'cat whore, and are guilty of spiritual fornication, 
fiV.^uld speak lightly of corporal fornication also. 

But let us hear how God, who is infinite purity, hath 
sentenced this sin, when he threatens that he himself will 
judge whoremongers ; and tells us, 1 Cor. 6 : 9, 10, that 
" neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, shall 
inherit the kingdom of God." No, the New Jerusalem 
which is above, is a holy city, and no unclean thing shall 
ever enter into it. *' Without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters." Rev. 
22 : 15. And it were well with them if all their punish- 
ment were only to be left without ; but there is a lake of 
fire prepared for them, into which they shall be cast and 
' plunged — the fire of hell, to punish the flames of lust. Rev. 
21 : 8, "The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abomina- 
ble, and murderers, and whoremongers (you see how, in 
both places, they are joined with the vilest and most 
infamous sinners,) — shall have their portion in the lake 
which burnetii with fire and brimstone, which is the se- 
cond death." The apostle reckons this as one of the works 
of the flesh. Gal. 5 • 19, " The works of the flesh are ma- 
nifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, 
lasciviousness," &c. and he exhorts us to a careful mor- 
tification of it. Col. 3:5, " Mortify, therefore, your mem- 
bers, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, 
inordinate affection," &c. ,. i ,.- 

♦ Mazarin. in Psal. li. Durand. Sent. 1. iv. dist. 33. 92. Emraaa. 
Sa. Art. 20. Tit. Episcopus. 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 363 

3. Here likewise are forbidden all incestuous mixturesy 
or uncleanness between those who are related to each 
other within the degrees of kindred specified, Lev. 18, 
from the 6th to the ISth verse ; v^hether the kindred be 
by affinity or consanguinity, that is, whether by former 
marriage or by blood and descent. And the nearer any 
persons are so related to us the greater is the abomination 
if we approach unto them, whether it be with pretence of 
marriage, which in this case is null and void, or without 
any such pretence. > 

4. Here is likewise forbidden polygamy, or a taking a 
wife to her sister; that is, to another. Lev. 18 : 18. God 
indeed seemed to connive at this in the holy men of old, 
yet it never was otherwise than a sin from the foundation 
of the world. And therefore the prophet Malachi refers 
us to the primitive institution of marriage, to show the 
obliquity of this practice, Mai. 2 : 15, " Did not he make 
one ]" that is, Did not he create one woman for one man 1 
" Yet had he the residue of the Spirit," that is, the same Spi- 

1^ ^rit and power, whereby he created all things in the world, 
resided still in God, and therefore he could easily have 
formed more women as well as one had he not purposed 
to oblige them one to the other solely, and to teach them, 
by their being paired at first, not to seek a multiplication 
of wives afterwards. Therefore polygamy was unlawful 
in the beginning, even then when the necessity of in- 
creasing the world might seem to plead for it ; and how 
much more unlawful now when that necessity is ceased ! 
Besides this, the apostle hath commanded, 1 Cor. 7 : 2, 
" Let every man have his own wife, and every woman 
her own husband." 

5. Moreover, here are forbidden all those monsters of 



364 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

unnatural lust, and those prodigies of villany and filthi- 
ness which are not fit to be named among men, but are 
punished upon beasts themselves, as you may read, Lev. 
20 : 15, 16, and Lev. 18 : 22, 23. . : ^ 

6. All those things that may be incentives to lust, and 
which add fuel to this fire, are likewise forbidden in this 
command ; as all impurities of the eyes, of contact, of lewd 
and obscene speech ; all immodest spectacles, wanton ac- 
tions, uncivil and garish attire ; or whatever else may kin- 
dle, either in ourselves or others, any unchaste affections ; 
for all these things do but lay in provision for the flesh, 
to fulfil it in the lusts thereof. 

. 7. Because this law is spiritual, therefore it not only* 
forbids the gross outward acts of filthiness, but the inward 
uncleanness of the heart j^ all lustful contemplations and 
ideas, and evil concupiscences. 

For it is not enough to refrain unchaste desires from 
breaking forth into act, but we must also refrain our 
hearts from entertaining any such desires. These flames 
pent up i-n the heart will soot and consume it ; and though 
its ruin be more invisible, yet it will be sad and fatal. As 
there is a heart-murder, so there is a heart-adultery ; and 
he that commits speculative uncleanness and prostitutes 
his thoughts and imaginations to the impure embraces 
of filthy lust, is, according to our Savior's interpretation, 
guilty of the transgression of this command ; so, Mat. 5 : 
.27, 28, " Ye have heard that it was said to them of old 
time, thou shalt not commit adultery : but I say unto 
you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after 
her, hath committed adultery with her already in his 
heart." Thus you see what is prohibited. 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 365 

11. I shall next speak of the exceeding heinousness 
of this sin, and why it is so justly odious to God, and 
ought to be to us. 

1. It is a sin which murders two souls at once^ and there- 
fore the most uncharitable sin in the world. 

Other sinners can perish singly. The swearer damns 
none by his oaths but himself, and although he curse 
others to the pit of hell, yet he shall descend thither alone 
The drunkard with his intemperance drowns but his own 
soul in perdition. The bloody murderer may say with 
-Lamech,^ Gen. 4 : 23, " I have slain a man to my wound- 
ing, and a young man to my own hurt." And indeed all 
other sinners, though their wickedness prompt them to 
draw in associates and partakers with them, yet the na- 
ture of their sin doth not require a partnership in their 
guilt, but they may be solitarily wicked and perish alone : 
only this sin of adultery necessarily requires partnership, 
and involves another in the same condemnation. And is 
it nothing to thee that another's damnation shall be set 
upon thy score, and the blood of their souls charged upon 
thine for ever? Think with yourselves what horrid greet- 
ings these unclean wretches will give each other in hell, 
when they who have here wallowed together in beastly 
sensuality shall there wallow together in unquenchable 
flames, and with ineffable anguish exclaim against and 
curse both themselves and one another — the one for 
enticing, the other for consenting, and both for fulfilling 
their impure desires. * 

. Or, suppose that God should vouchsafe thee repent- 
ance unto life ; yet, art thou sure that his justice and 
severity will not harden the other in this sin to which 
thoii hast been the author and persuader % How know . 



366 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

est thou but they may persist, and perish in their wick- 
edness 1 Divine vengeance may snatch them away with- 
out affording them space or grace to repent. And is it 
nothing to thee that thou hast damned a soul as well as 
defiled a body, and, for the satisfying of thy brutish 
lust, hast brought upon them everlasting woes and tor- 
ments 1 If God hath granted thee mercy, how anxiously 
solicitous oughtest thou to be to deliver those out of the 
snares of the devil whom thou hast entangled therein, 
and by all holy counsels and remonstrances recover them 
to God by repentance ! Or, if a speedy execution of 
Divine justice should cut them off before, what a sad 
consideration will it be to thee that thou hast eternally 
ruined a poor soul ! This, if thou hast any sense of sin, 
or of the wrath of the great God due unto it, will make 
thee go mourning all thy days, and bring down thy gray 
hairs with sorrow to the grave. „ • ^ ' 

.2. It is the most degrading of all sins. - j 

It debaseth a man from the excellency of his nature, 
and resembles him to the condition of brute beasts. The 
perfection of a man is, to govern himself according to 
law and reason ; to bound and circumscribe his actions 
by the rules of what is fit and honest : whereas beasts 
show the inferiority of their natures by the scope and 
range of their unguided appetites. Hence the prophet 
compares adulterers to " fed horses — every one neighing 
after his neighbor's wife." Jer. 5 : 8. And God joins 
such impure persons with the vilest and most detestable 
of brute beasts, Deut. 23 : 18, " Thou shalt not bring 
the hire of a whore, nor the price of a dog jnto the 
house of the Lord thy God for any vow ; for even both 
these are an abomination to the Lord thy God." 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 367 

3. It is a sin which 7nost of all obscures and exti?i- 
guislies the light of a maiCs natural reason and under- 
standing. 

Nothing so much darkens the understanding as the 
fumes of lust, Hos, 4 : 11, "Whoredom, and wine, and 
new wine take away the heart." And to this the apos- 
tle gives testimony, Eph. 4 : 18, 19, " Having the un- 
derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of 
Grod through the ignorance that is in them because of the 
blindness of their heart; who being past feeling, have 
given themselves over to work all uncleanness with 
greediness." So far doth this beastly sin besot the' 
mind and befool men, that, according to the chaste and 
modest phrase of Scripture language, it is frequently 
called committing of folly ; as if there were no folly like 
to this, and it alone deserved to carry away the name and 
title from all other sins : and indeed it is a most notori- 
ous and egregious folly, for a short pang and epilepsy of 
sensual delight to betray the soul to a gloomy dulness, 
bitter remembrance, guilt, and eternal shame and death. 

4, It is a sin justly the most infamous and scandalous 
amongst men. 

A sin that brands them with the greatest shame and 
reproach, a reproach that can never be wiped away. 
And certainly if such a one doth ever seriously con- 
sider his own sin, he cannot but be ashamed of himself; 
for although there be a shame consequent upon the act 
of every sin, yet the credit and reputation of a man 
is never so deeply blemished nor so foully stained by 
any sin as that of adultery, Prov. 6 : 32, 33, " Whoso 
committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understand- 
ing: he that death it, destroyeth his own soul. A 



368 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

wound and dishonor shall he get and his reproach sTiall 
not be wiped away." Yea, the dishonor of adulterous 
parents is so foul, that, like a black blot, it diffuseth and 
spreadeth itself even upon their children. Deut. 23 : 2. 
A bastard was not to enter into the congregation of the 
Lord unto the tenth generation. 

5. Consider that this sin of uncleanness is a Mnd of 
sacrilege, a converting of that which is sacred and dedi- 
cated, unto a profane use. 

What saith the apostle, 1 Cor. 6 : 19 ? " Know ye 
not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost]" 
And if it were a sacrilegious impiety to turn the temple 
of God, which consisted only of vile materials, wood and 
stone, to vile and inferior uses; if our Savior's zeal 
burned within him when he saw the sanctuary turned 
into a market, and the house of God made a den of 
thieves; how much more heinous wickedness is it to 
convert the living temples of the ever-living God, even 
our bodies, which were redeemed and consecrated to 
God by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, unto impure 
and unclean uses, and to turn his sanctuary into a 
stew ! " The body is not for fornication ; but for the 
Lord. And your bodies are the members of Christ." 
Will ye " then take the members of Christ and make 
them the members of a harlot 1 God forbid." And the 
apostle thinks this sacrilegiousness of uncleanness so 
high an aggravation of the sinfulness of it, that he insists 
on it again, 1 Cor. 3 : 16, 17, " Know ye not that ye 
are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwell - 
eth in you % If any man defile the temple of God, him 
shall God destroy : for the temple of God is holy, which 
temple are ye." 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 369 

6. Consider if all these things will not prevail, the 
dreadful punishment that God threatens to inflict Upon 
all who are guilty of this sin. 

Yea, he speaks of it as a sin that he can hardly be 
persuaded to pardon ; a sin that puzzles infinite mercy 
to forgive, Jer. 5 : 7-9, "How shall I pardon thee 
for thisi When I had filled thy children to the full, 
they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves 
by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed 
horses in the morning : every one neighing after his 
neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things 1 saith 
the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a 
nation as this '?" And, indeed, God doth often in this 
life visit this sin : sometimes by filling their loins with 
strange and loathsome diseases, Prov. 6 : 2Q\ some- 
times by reducing them to extreme beggary; for this 
Bin, as Job speaks, is " a fire that consumeth to de- 
struction, and would root out all his increase." Yea, 
this very sin is so great a punishment for itself, that the 
wise man tells us, Prov. 22 : 14, that those whom God 
hates shall fall into it. Yea, and to express the exceed- 
ing sinfulness of this sin of uncleanness, the apostle 
tells us that God made it the punishment of several 
other sins as black and horrid as can be well conceived. 
When he had spoken, Rom. 1 : 23, of the gross idolatry 
of the heathen in worshipping images and falling down 
before stocks and stones, he subjoins, verse 24, that for 
this cause " God also gave them up to uncleanness :" as 
if uncleanness were bad enough to punish idolatry, and 
those were sufiiciently plagued for their spiritual un- 
cleanness who were abandoned over unto corporal pol- 
lutions. But, though this sin may sometimes escape 
16* 



370 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

infamy through concealment, and other temporal judg- 
ments of God through his patience and forbearance, yet it 
will certainly find them out at the last ; and then those 
who have burned together in lust, shall bum together in 
unquenchable flames. " They shall have their portion in 
the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." — These 
are the derhonstrations of the heinousness of this sin. 

III. Let me now give you some cautionary rules 
AND DIRECTIONS, by observing which you may be pre- 
served from the commission of this sin. And, 

1. Be sure that you keep a narrow watch over your 
senses. For these are the sluices which, instead of letting 
in pleasant streams to refresh, do commonly let in nothing 
but mud to pollute the soul. There is no actual filthi- 
ness in the heart of any but came in by these inlets. 
Through these the devil casts in abundance of filth — he 
stirs up indwelling lust, and by the sinful objects which 
the senses convey to the soul, he dungs that ground which 
of itself was too fruitful before. Thus the devil makes 
use of an adulterous eye to range abroad and fetch in 
provision for uncleanness, and by it, as by a burning-glass, 
he sets the heart on fire, and then blows up the flames 
through the ears by hearing lascivious discourses. There- 
fore make a covenant with thine eyes, and carefully divert 
them from all loose glances and all alluring and enticing 
objects; stop thine ears against all filthy communication; 
and if any begin such obscene talk as is the coirimon 
raillery of our days and almost of every company, blush 
not thou to reprove them, but by thy reproofs make them 
blush at their own shame and wickedness. 

2. Addict thyself to sobriety and temperance, and by 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 371 

these beat down thy body and keep it in subjection to 
thy reason and religion. Certainly the excesses of those 
who indulge themselves in gluttony or drunkenness will 
froth and foam over into lust. And therefore it is said 
Jer. 5 : 7, that when the Israelites were " fed to the full, 
they then committed adultery." 

3. Continually exercise thyself in some honest and law- 
ful employment. Lust grows active when we grow idle. 

Therefore os fulness of bread, so likewise idleness is reck- 
oned as one of the sins of impure Sodom. Ezek. 16 : 49. 
David, when he walks idly upon the roof of his house, 
lies open to the. snares and is inveigled by the beauty of 
Bathsheba : had he then been at his harp and his psalms, 
he might have driven the evil spirit from himself, as for- 
merly he did from his master Saul. Running streams 
preserve themselves clear and pure, whereas standing 
pools soon corrupt and breed noisome and venomous 
creatures. While our mind is employed there will be no 
time left for lust to dally with our fancy nor to dandle an 
unclean affection in our thoughts, and therefore it may be 
remarked as a considerable circumstance in Joseph's re- 
jecting the enticements of his lewd mistress that the text 
saith, " He went into the house to dispatch his business," 
Gen. 39 : 11, noting to us that the honest care of our 
affairs is an excellent preservative to keep us from this 
sin of wantonness and uncleanness. 

4. But, above all, he earnest and frequent in prayer y 
and if thou sometimes joinest fasting with thy prayers, 
they will be shot up to heaven with a fuller strength. 
For this sin of uncleanness is one of those devils that 
" goes not out but by fasting and prayer." God is a God 
of purity. Instantly beg of him, that he would send 



372 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

down his pure and chaste Spirit into thy heart to cleanse 
thy thoughts and thy affections from all unclean desires. 
Beg that the Holy Ghost would but once touch thy heart 
with the dear sense of his eternal love, that he would dif- 
fuse such a celestial flame through thy soul as may ravish it 
with a heavenly zeal and ardor, and make it scorn to stoop 
to the ignoble love of poor inferior objects. Represent to 
him that thy body is his temple, and thy heart his altar in 
it, and desire of him that no strange unhallowed fire may 
flame on his altar. 

Whilst thou diligently and conscientiously makest use 
of these means, thou mayest comfortably expect to be 
kept pure and immaculate — innocent in thy soul and clean 
in thy body ; and as thou hast kept thyself undefiled here, 
so hereafter to be found worthy to walk with the Larrili 
tn white. — > -/^ ' ', ,^ ' - - ■>\.' 






'' ■ \ 



•c^:;. </*, • .'.i ■) 



THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 



Thou Shalt not Steal. 



The foregoing commandment, as you have seen, re- 
quires chastity in our persons. This requires honesty and 
uprightness in our dealings ; a virtue immediately found- 
ed upon that first practical principle of all human con- 
verse, v^hich our Savior lays down, Mat. 7 : 12, " What- 
soever ye w^ould that men should do unto you, do ye even 
so to them ;" and which he recommends to us as the brief 
sum and epitome of all the Scriptures ; "for this is the 
law and the prophets." 

The principle of this command carries such innate 
light and clear evidence in itself, that the very heathens 
do frequently inculcate it in their writings as the primary 
dictate of that morality which they taught. It is a maxim 
which we all assent to, not by any elaborate instructions, 
or dint of arguments, or any long train of consequences ; 
but because it strongly masters our understandings by its 
native evidence, and springs up in us an unpremeditated 
resolve of reason. Both God and nature have set it up as 
a standard in our consciences ; and usually there needs 
no other judge of our actions towards others, than our owii 
conscience comparing them with what, in the like cases, 
we would think just and fit to be done towards ourselves. 

It may be we are all partial to ourselves in our present 
concerns ; and whilst we look only that way, we may 



374? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

possibly seek all advantages to promote them, though to 
another's detriment; but both reason and religion teach 
us to put ourselves in their stead, and then to manage 
all our transactions with them as vv^e ourselves would 
judge just and reasonable, were their condition ours. 

Therefore when thou dealest with another thou shouldst 
first be both parties to thyself. As for instance, a servant 
should sit down and consider with himself what respect 
he would require were he m the same circumstances with 
his master, and had servants under him. Children should 
consider what duty and obedience they would expect 
were they parents of children; subjects, what honor and 
submission they might reasonably demand were they ma- 
gistrates ; and so in any other relation. And when they 
have thus seriously pondered it in their own thoughts, let 
them then perform the same duties to others in their real 
condition which they judged to belong to them in their per- 
souated condition ; for it is a never-failing rule for the direc- 
tion of our practice, t/iat what thoujudgest due to thy self ^ 
wert thou in another man's condition, is certairdy as due to 
hirn in his own ; and if thou actest not accordingly, thou 
betrayest a great deal of selfishness and sinful partiality. 

This is a rule applicable to all affairs; and there is 
scarce any one occurrence of a man's life but he may re- 
gulate himself in it according to this direction. And in- 
deed there is scarce need of any other. Whatsoever thou 
hast to transact with thy brother, though perhaps thou 
mayest spy advantages upon him, and such as, if thou 
shouldst take, possibly he might never know or never be 
able to redress ; yet then take thy conscience aside and 
seriously ask whether thou couldst be content and think 
it honest and just to be so dealt with thyself; if not. 



EIGUTU COMMANDMENT. "^ 375 

whatsoever, the temptation be, or how much soever thou 
mightest gain by hearkening unto it, reject it with scorn, 
as that which would induce thee to violate the first prin- 
ciple of common honesty among men, and contradicts all 
the laws both of nature and Scripture. 

Were this rule but more generally observed among 
men the world would not have such cause to cry out of 
rapine, extortion, oppression, fraud and injustice, as now 
it hath. The rich would not gi'ind the faces of the poor, 
nor the poor causelessly clamor against the rich ; supe- 
riors would not tyrannize over inferiors, nor inferiors 
Hiurmur or rebel against superiors ; but an equal peace 
and uniform justice would overspread the face of the 
whole earth, and righteousness would " run down our 
streets as a mighty stream." 

Let me therefore once again recommend it to you (for 
indeed I cannot press it too often) that you would fre- 
quently set this golden rule before your eyes, to do no- 
thing to any other person, which, were you in his capa- 
city, you would think unjust to be done unto yourselves ; 
and whatsoever you would expect from others as your 
due were you in their place and they in yours, to perform 
the very same to them ; for otherwise you cannot but con- 
demn yourselves in your actions whilst you do that which 
upon this supposition you cannot but be convinced is un- 
just, and withhold that which you know to be due, and 
which yourselves would expect should be yielded to you 
by others. This is a dictate of nature and right reason, 
this is the sum of the law and the prophets ; and all those 
various precepts which are given us in the Scriptures for 
the conduct of our lives are T3ut as so many lines that 
meet all in this centre ; and if we apply it to each particu- 



376 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

lar command of the second table, we shall find them all 
founded upon this, and to be interpreted by it. We are 
required to honor superiors ; to abstain from murder, 
from adultery, from theft, from false accusations, from co- 
veting what rightfully belongs to another; and all this ac- 
cording to the same measures by which we would have 
others perform these very duties to us. So that self, 
which is now the great tempter to wrong and injure 
others, were it governed according to this universal 
maxim, would be the greatest patron and defender of 
other men's rights and dues. 

I have the longer insisted on this principle, both be- 
cause it is of such general influence to the right ordering 
of our conversation, and also because the most visible 
and apparent violation of this natural law is by the sin of 
theft forbidden in this commandment. ' . • - 

I. Theft, in general, is an unjust taking or keeping 
to ourselves what is lawfully another man's. He is a thief 
who withholds what ought to be in his neighbor's posses- 
sion, as well as he who takes from him what he hath for- 
merly possessed. 

^ All theft presupposes a right and propriety ; for where 
nothing of right appertains to me, nothing can be unjust- 
ly taken or detained from me. 

1. Certain it is, that God is the great Lord and pro- 
prietor hoth of heaven and earth, and of all things in them : 
Ps. 24 : 1, " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness 
thereof;" and 50 : 10, "Every beast of the forest is 
mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." By him and 
of him are all things ; and for his will and pleasure they 
are, and were created. 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 377 

2. This great and absolute Lord hath granted to man a 
large charter of the world. When he had taken an exact 
inventory of those goods with which he had furnished 
this great house, the universe, (he " saw every thing that 
he had made, and behold, it was very good," Gen. 
1 : 31 ;) then he set man to live in it as his tenant, and 
freely gave him the use of and dominion over all the 
works of his hands, Gen. 1 : 28, " Replenish the earth 
and subdue it, and have dominion over all the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every liv- 
ing thing that moveth upon the earth." So the Psalmist, 
Ps. H5 : 16, " The heaven, even the heavens are the 
Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of 
men." A large and regal gift, whereby he hath made 
over all sublunary things to man ; reserving to himself 
the sovereignty and supreme lordship of all, and requir- 
ing only from man the homage and payment of obe- 
dience. Yet, 

'? 3. This large charter and donation gave no particular 
propriety to any : neither, if man had continued in his 
happy and innocent estate, would there have been any 
need of mine or thinCj or any partition of these earthly 
possessions; but common blessings had been enjoyed in 
common, and all things which covetousness and comip- 
tion now ravine after, would have been as promiscuous- 
ly enjoyed and used as the common light and air, and 
each particular man's share in those blessings would have 
been sufficient and satisfactory. But, 

4. Sin entering into the world, 7nen*s desires grew im^ 
moderate after these earthly enjoyments ^ and their attempts 
to attain them injurious to others ; so that it became ne- 
cessary to prescribe bounds and limits to them, and to 



378 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

divide among them what before lay in common among 
all ; that each man knowing his assigned portion, might 
rest satisfied with it, and be restrained from the unjust 
invasion and usurpation of another's right. And, 

5. This could no otherwise be effected but by human 
laws, hy mutual compact and agreement, declaring what 
should he accounted as every man's right and property. So 
that it is law which is the great determiner of property ; 
and there is nothing mine or thine, farther than this as- 
signs it to u&i Indeed equity must sometimes interpose 
to moderate the letter of the law; for, in some cases, 
should we rigorously prosecute our right, and insist»upon 
every punctilio that we may call our due, this, although 
it would not be unjust, yet it would be justice turned in- 
to gall and wormwood ; it would be a breach and viola- 
tion of the law of Christ and of charity, which requires 
us rather to part with our own in small matters, than to 
be vexatious or contentious in recovering or defending it. 

Thus ygu see how all right and property first came into 
the world : a general right, by the donation of God ; a 
particular right by the sanction of laws, alloting to each 
man his portion, which to invade or usurp from him, is 
injustice or theft. 1 .• '^ 

Whence it follows that where there is no society in oc- 
cupation of any part of the earth, the right accrues to the 
first possessor; and where things are found which apper- 
tain to none, they fall to the first seizor ; for there can be 
no theft committed where there is no precedent title. If, 
any therefore should providentially be cast into some de- 
sert and uninhabited part of the world, the general char- 
ter that God hath given to mankind of possessing the 
earth, empowers them to seize on it as theirs ; and they 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 379 

may lawfully make use of the blessings of it in common, 
till, by mutual consent, they shall divide to each other 
their part and portion ; but after such a partition is made, 
to use the same liberty is no longer lawful, but theft and 
robbery. 

Thus you see what theft is, and that this law of God 
prohibiting us to steal what is another's, doth presuppose 
a law of man, which maketh property and causeth things 
to become either ours or another's. 

But there are many kinds of theft. 

1. The first kind of theft is the taking away of what 
rightfully belongs to another, whether God or man. 

(1.) Of this sort the highest and chief is that committed 
against God hy sacrilege, which is an alienating from God 
whatever he hath appropriated to himself, or whatever is 
on good grounds dedicated to the encouragement and 
maintenance of his honor and service. 

Indeed the alienating of what hath been given to super- 
stitious or idolatrous uses cannot be justly 4ncluded in 
the sin of sacrilege ; for it was not so much given to God 
as to ignorance and superstition ; therefore our ancestors 
have done well and piously in dissolving those nests and 
cages of unclean birds that were so numerous and bur- 
thensome in these kingdoms ; but withal, in my judgment, 
they would have done much better if they had converted 
their revenues to some public use, either for the benefit 
of the church or the commonwealth, rather than to their 
DvvTi private and particular gain. 

' But where any thing is indeed consecrated to God and 
set apart for the maintenance and encouragement of his 
worship and service, it is no less than sacrilege and rob- 
bing of God to alienate any part of this to any secular use. 



380 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

or to detain it from that use to which it was separated. 

Of this God himself grievously complains, Mai. 3 : 8, 9, 
" Will a man rob God ]" as if it were a sin so heinous as 
that it is hardly to be supposed any man would be guilty 
of it. What ! not allow that God his share among them 
who had liberally afforded them all things to enjoy ! " Yet 
ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we rob- 
bed thee 1 In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a 
curse ; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.'' 

Certainly those things which are appointed for the wor- 
ship and service of God, whether they be so originally by 
divine right or not, yet cannot be alienated nor detained 
without involving the persons or the nation that doeth thus 
in a most direful curse ; for this is no other than a robbing 
God of his right. 

(2.) Theft is committed against men by an unjust seiz- 
ing or detaining what of right belongs to them. And this 
may be done either by fraud or force: therefore our 
Savior in reciting the commandments mentions them botjb 
Mark, 10 : 19, " Do not steal: defraud not." . , ; 

This is a sin, moreover, that God hath threatened with 
many severe curses and punishments. 
- The temporal punishment which the Scripture awards 
to it is a fourfold and sometimes a fivefold restitution, as 
you may see, Exod. 22 : 1 ; therefore Zaccheus, when he 
was converted, offers a fourfold restitution to those whom 
he had wronged, " Luke, 19 : 8, "If I have taken any 
thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him 
fourfold." 

And yet, besides this restitution, it seems that some- 
times the offenders were to be put to death, especially if 
the circumstances of their theft added cruelty and dp- 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 381 

pression to it. This appears in the parable of Nathan, 
2 Sam. 12. When he had most artificially aggravated 
the crime of the rich man in taking away the poor man's 
lamb, he so raised David's compassion and indignation 
that he pronounced this sentence, verse 5, 6, " The man 
that hath done this thing shall surely die ; and he shall 
restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and 
because he had no pity." So you see that, even under 
the law of Moses, it was not unlawful in some cases to 
punish a thief with death, though the usual and pre- 
scribed punishment was restitution. 

.God also leaves a curse upon what is gotten hy theft and 
deceit. A curse that will blast and consume all such wick- 
ed increase. They put it into a bag with holes, and, by 
some unperceivable providence, it strangely wastes and 
slips away between their fingers. But, usually, luxury 
and intemperance devour what is got by theft and 
rapine — God, by his righteous judgment, making one 
sin the vengeance of another. Some secret withering 
curse seizeth upon it, and what is thus wickedly add- 
ed to our former possessions, will rub its rust and 
canker upon them all; and, if restitution be not duly 
made, will insensibly prey upon them and consume 
them; therefore, saith the wise man, Proverbs, 21 : 7, 
"The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them;" and 
Jer. 17 : 11, "As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and 
hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches, and not 
by right, shall leave them in the mixlst of his days, and 
at his end shall be a fool." Many times Grod raiseth 
up those against them who deal vdth them as they 
have dealt with others; and when these spunges are 
full of what they have unjustly sucked up, they shall be 



382 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

squeezed, and made to refund their ill-gotten treasure. 
Thus God threatens the Chaldeans, Hab. 2 : 8, "Be- 
cause thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant 
of the people shall spoil thee." Such unjust gettings 
tend only to poverty ; and in this sense it is no solecism 
to say they have but gained a loss, and treasured for 
themselves and their posterity want and beggary. 
Therefore, as you desire to thrive in the world, and 
to have your earthly comforts multiplied, so be sure 
that no gain of robbery, or oppression, or fraud and 
deceit, be found in your hands ; for this will devour 
even what you have gotten lawfully. 

Again, not only is theft against men threatened with 
severe curses and punishments, but anxieties and per- 
plexities of mind always accompany ill-gotten wealth. 
This is a sin so much against the very light of nature, 
that conscienc;e, if it be not utterly stupified and sense- 
less, will be still molesting and haunting men with 
troublesome thoughts and reflections; besides, the fear 
of detection, and the shame and punishment which will 
follow upon it, must needs be a continual disturbance 
to them. Whereas, what is gotten with a good con- 
science, and in an honest and lawful calling, wheth- 
er it be more or less, brings this contentment with it, 
that a man may quietly sit down and rejoice in that 
portion which the providence and bounty of his gracious 
God and heavenly Father have here afforded him. He 
drinks no widow's tears nor orphan's blood. He eats 
not the flesh of the poor, nor breaks the bones of the 
needy. His conscience gnaws not upon him whilst he 
is feeding on what his honest labor and industry have 
prepared for him ; and althoug]> it be but a bit of bread 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 383 

and a cup of water that he can procure, yet is he enter- 
tained at a continual feast. His fare may be but mean, 
yet his cheer, his joy and comfort is great, and the 
coarsest morsel he eats is far more savory to him than 
all the heightened delicacies of rich oppressors, whose 
consciences mingle gall and wormwood with their most 
pleasant bits, and gnaw and grind them as they grind the 
faces of the poor and needy. Therefore, saith the wise 
man, Prov. 16 : 8, ** Better is a little with righteousness, 
than great revenues without right." And the Psalmist, 
Ps. 37 : 16, *' A little that a righteous man hath is better 
than the riches of many wicked." 

Further, this sm of robbery and deceit provokes God 
to cut men off hy some untimely stroke and immature 
judgment — and that, either by the hand of human justice 
with shame and reproach, or of divine justice with wrath 
and vengeance. For so we find it threatened, Ps. 55 : 
23, " Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit 
of destruction : bloody and deceitful men shall not live 
out half their days :" that is, they shall not lengthen out 
their days to that period which the course and strength 
of nature might seem to promise them ; but the hand of 
God shall cut them off in the vigor and midst of their 
flourishing years. But, however it may fare with them 
in this life, however they may escape the reproach of 
men and the sword of justice, yet, 

They who commit this sin shall certainly he eternally 
cursed and eternally miserable. Their ill-gotten goods 
shall not be able to redeem their souls, nor bribe the jus- 
tice of God, nor give them the least solace and comfort. 
And what wretched fools are they who must eternally 
perish for gaining things that perish here, and bring 



384 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

everlasting torments upon themselves for that which be- 
fore brought them vexations and disquietude! 1 Cor. 
6 : 10, "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor 
revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of 
God." Where then shall their portion be but in that lake 
w^hich burneth w^ith fire and brimstone unquenchable ? 
Where the Lord w^ill spoil their very souls, as the wise 
man's expression is, Prov. 22 : 23, " Rob not the poor ; 
for the Lord will plead their cause, and will spoil the 
soul of those that spoiled them." Thus you see in what 
various ways God hath threatened that he will punish 
this sin. 

But before I can proceed farther, here are two questions 
to be answered. 

Question 1. Whether in no case it he lawful to steal. 
What if the necessity be so lu'gent that I must certainly 
perish or else relieve myself by this means % 

I say we ought not to do it in any case, for theft is in 
itself a sin, and there can be no necessity to sin ; for every 
man is bound rather to choose the greatest evil of suffer- 
ings than to commit the least evil of sin. 

Indeed such necessity doth somewhat mitigate the hei- 
nousness of the offence ; but that is not at all considerable 
in the direction of our practice, since it continues a sin 
still, and deserves et-ernal damnation. The wise man tells 
us, Prov. 6 : 30, 31, *' Men do not despise a thief if he 
steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;" but this 
must be understood only comparatively, viz. that the re- 
proach and infamy which attend such a one are not so 
great as that of an adulterer, as it appears verse 32, as if 
he should say, " To be an adulterer is a far fouler re- 
proach than to be a needy thief." Yet he adds, " If he be 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. \V >i^' 285 

found lie shall restore sevenfold ; he «hall give all the 
substance of his house :" that is, though his necessity and 
hunger may take off' somewhat from the shame, yet it 
shall not from the punishment of his offence, but he shall 
restore that vv^hich he hath stolen sevenfold. Not that the 
restitution should be seven times as much as the theft, 
for the utmost that the law requires was but a fivefold res- 
titution, Exod. 22 : 1; but as the word sevenfold is most 
frequently used in Scripture to signify that which is com- 
plete and perfect, so is it here, **he shall restore seven- 
fold," that is, he shall make a full and satisfactory res- 
titution. 

Since therefore the punishment of theft shall not be re- 
laxed upon the plea of indigence and necessity, it is ap- 
parent that necessity cannot justify any from the guilt 
of theft. 

' Hence, let your wants be what they will or can be, 
you ought not to supply them by any such wicked aiid 
unlawful courses, whatever Aquinas says to the contrary, 
22 de q. 66, art. 7. If God hath given thee strength and 
ability, thou oughtest to labor and to use thine honest in- 
dustry to procure necessaries ; if not, thou oughtest to im- 
plore the charity and benevolence of others whose hearts 
God may open to thy relief. Or if thou shouldst Tneet 
with such cruel Diveses who will contribute nothing to 
thy support, thou oughtest rather, with godly Lazarus, to 
die in thine integrity than to steal any thing from them, 
which, although it be their superfluity, yet it is not thy 
right without their donation. 

Question 2. What shall we judge of the Israelites 
spoiling the Egyptians of their jewels, of which we read, 
Exod. 12: 35, 36? 

Ten Com. J'jr 



386 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

I answer : In this action there was no theft committed. For, 

(1.) The supreme dominion of all things is the Lord's, 
and he may justly transfer the right and property where 
he pleaseth. Therefore the Israelites being commanded 
by the Lord to take these things of the Egyptians, took 
only what was rightfully their own, being made so by him 
who hath the sovereign power of all things both in heaven 
and earth. 

(2.) These things which they thus took might be well 
considered in lieu of their wages, which were not given 
them for their long service in Egypt. Therefore it was 
but righteous in God to consign over these riches of the 
Egyptians to the Israelites as a reward for their tedious 
servitude. Those who, by the command of the supreme 
Lord of all, take that which is but a due reward for their 
labor, cannot certainly be condemned as guilty of theft. 
And this, it seems, was their plea, when in the time of 
Alexander the Great, so many ages after the thing was 
done, the Egyptians sued the Jews by a juridical pro- 
cess, to recover what was taken from them. But, 
.. (3.) This example is extraordinary and special, and 
not to be pleaded nor introduced into practice. For 
certain it is that they had a most express command from 
God to spoil the Egyptians. But whosoever shall pre- 
tend any such warrant now, by revelation or the impulse 
of his private spirit, may well be censured for enthu- 
siasm and condemned for robbery. Thus I have done 
with the first and greatest kind of theft: taking away 
what rightfully belongs to another, whether God or man. 

2. Another kind of theft is, ojp^ession and unreason' 
able exaction. " .." = • ■• - • -, 

And this especially is the sin of superiors towards 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT* f 387 

their inferiors : taking advantage, either upon their weak- 
ness or their necessity, to impose most unequal condi- 
tions upon them, and such as they cannot bear without 
their detriment or ruin ; contrary to that law which God 
gave unto his people. Lev. 25 : 14, " If thou sell ought 
unto thy neighbor, or buyest ought at thy neighbor's 
hand, ye shall not oppress one another." Thus, those 
who set their lands to the sweat and toil of others at too 
hard a rate, so that the laborious tenant cannot subsist by 
his industry ; those that let out money at a biting interest, 
or rigidly exact it from insufficient persons ; great ones 
who fright the meaner into disadvantageous bargains, and 
force them through fear to part with what they enjoy at 
an under price ; these, and others like them, though they 
may not be condemned by human laws, which give too 
much permission to men to make the utmost advantage 
of their own, yet they are guilty by the law of God, and 
their sin is no less than oppression, which is a sin hateful 
both to God and man. The prophet Micah, chap. 3 : 2, 3, 
calls it a "flaying off their skin from off them, and their 
flesh from off their bones;" and " chopping them in pie- 
ces as for the pot, and as flesh for the caldron." All un- 
mercifulness and hard dealings with others are a kind of 
thefi; ; for the law of nature, and much more the law of 
chanty, binds thee so to deal with others that they may 
have no cause to complain of thee to God, and in the bit- 
terness of their spirits to imprecate his wrath and ven- 
geance upon thee. 

3. Another kind of theft is, detaining from another 
what is his due either bij equity or compact. 

And how many are there whose profuse riot and lux- 
ury are maintained upon the intrusted goods of others, 



^88 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

whilst the poor creditor in the meantime hath no otlicr 
satisfaction but good words, and scarce any thing to live 
upon but his own tears and sighs ! And how many with- 
hold the hire of the laborer, who, when he hath wearied 
himself in their service, is denied that small reward 
which he requires for his necessary refreshment ! Yea, 
not only denying it, but even deferring it beyond the 
time that they can conveniently be without it, is a kind of 
theft and oppression. Deut. 24 : 14, 15, " Thou shalt 
not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy. At 
his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun 
go down upon it ; for he is poor, and setteth his heart 
upon it : lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be 
sin unto thee." Yea, in all thy bargains and agreements, 
though they be never so much to thine own prejudice, 
thou art bound to stand to them, unless the other will 
voluntarily release thee from the obligation; for this is 
one of the characters given of a godly person, Ps. 15 : 4, 
" He that sweareth," and covenanteth " to his own hurt, 
and changeth not," but upon demand is ready and willing 
to fulfil his agreement. How much more heinous and 
abominable is it, when men have already received the full 
value of their compact, unjustly to withhold what they 
have agreed to give ! which is no better than to take 
their labor or their goods from them by violence and rob- 
bery ; yea, and in one respect worse, inasmuch as it adds 
falsehood to stealth. 

4. Another kind of theft is in buying and selling. 

And this is a very large and voluminous deceit ; for the 
subtlety of men hath found out so many artifices to de- 
fraud and overreach one another, that to recount them is 
almost as hai d as to escape them. Here come in the false 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 389 

weights and the false measures which are an " abomina- 
tion to the Lord," Prov. 11: 1 ; false and counterfeited 
wares ; overcommending or undervaluing of goods ibr 
advantage, and many other unjust contrivances which 
men's consciences can better suggest to them than any 

-discourse. The apostle hath sufficiently cautioned and 
threatened such men, 1 Thess. 4:6, " Let no man go 
beyond or defraud his brother in any matter; because 
that the Lord is the avenger of all such." Believe it, there 

'is a day coming when the false weights shall be them- 
selves weighed, and the scanty measures measured by a 
standard that is infallibly true. Possibly thou mayest deal 
■^, so cunningly, that those whom thou overreachest can have 
no advantage against thee nor right themselves by law ; 
. but remember that the great Judge will avenge them upon 
.< thee at the last day. Then all accounts shall be balanced, 
and so much found resting due which thou shalt certainly 
pay, though not to those whom thou hast wronged, yet to 
the justice of God who is the great and universal creditor. 
Besides these several kinds of theft, there are likewise 
manT/ other kinds, as prodigality in wasting what should 
satisfy the just demands of others, taking wages and re- 

._ward for what we do not endeavor conscientiously to per- 
form ; selling that which we have no right to dispose of, 
or things which ought not to be sold ; taking bribes for 
justice, or rewards for injustice. But I shall not particu- 
larly insist upon these and many others that might be 
mentioned. — Thus we have seen what the negative part of 
this precept is, or what i& forbidden in this commandment. 

II. As eveiy negative implies in it a positive, let us 
now see what is the duty here required. 



390 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

This is twofold : that every one of us should have 
some calling, and that all of us should be contented in the 
state and condition of life in which Divine providence 
hath placed us. 

1. The command is, thou shalt not steal; therefore 
every man ought to have a calling by which he may 
comfortably subsist, and by his labor and industry may 
provide at least necessaries for himself and family. For 
he that provideth not for his family " hath denied the 
faith," saith the Apostle, **and is worse than an infidel." 

(1.) Some there ^re toho live without any calling at all. 
Such are like idle drones that consume the labor of others, 
lazy vagabonds to whom the greatest charity would be 
correction, who only sei-ve to devour misplaced alms and 
defraud the truly poor of their relief. Yea, if I should 
rank with these a company of superfluous debauched 
gentlemen, I think I should do them no great injury ; 
such I mean who are neither serviceable to God nor their 
country, who have nothing of true worth and gentility in 
them, but are a company of lewd and desperate characters, 
the most unprofitable members in the commonwealth, and 
good for nothing but to kill and destroy one another in 
their drunken quarrels. I know there is no necessity for 
manual employment and labor to those whom God hath 
liberally endowed with his earthly blessings ; but yet they 
may have a calling, and within their own sphere may 
find employment enough to take up their time and 
thoughts, and such as may make them the most beneficial 
men on earth, and truly honored and loved by others ; 
for by their authority, their example, the ampleness of 
their patrimony and revenues, and the dependence thaf 
Others have upon them, they may be as influential to pro 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 391 

mote goodness and virtue as too commonly they are to 
promote vice and villany; and to such truly generous 
spirits who intend to be so employed, let me commend 
the careful perusal of an excellent treatise directed to 
them, entitled, *' The Gentleman's Calling." But yet 
w^ithal, if they should condescend to some stated vocation 
and course of life, it would be no disparagement to their 
gentility ; for certainly Adam was as much a gentleman, 
and had as large demesnes as any of them, and yet God 
thought fit to plafce him in Eden that he might dress and 
keep the garden. But as some have no employment, 

(2.) Others have an unlawful employment^ whose only 
work is to instruct in vice, and excite men to it. And 
how many such are there who live by provoking and en- 
couraging the wickedness of others, and continually make 
use of all the allurements that might entice to evil ; and 
recommend debauchery, first to the fancy and then to the 
will and affections ! 

(3.) Others have indeed an honest and a lawful calling, 
but they are 7iegligent and slothful in it. Sloth tendeth to 
poverty, Prov. 6 : 10, 11, '* Yet a little sleep, a little slum- 
ber, a little folding of the hands to sleep : so shall thy po- 
verty come as one that travelleth," drawing nearer and 
nearer to thee by soft and silent degrees ; " and thy want 
as an armed man," who, though his pace be slow by rea- 
son of the weight of his armor, yet his assaults are more 
irresistible and destructive. And poverty tempts to thefi;, 
Prov. 30 : 9, ** Lest I be poor, and steal." And therefore 
this command, which forbids theft, must, by consequence, 
enjoin labor and industry in those lawful callings wherein 
the Divine providence hath set us, according to that of 
the apostle, Eph. 4 : 28, " Let him that stole, steal no 



392 The ten commandments. , 

more ; but rather let him labor, working with his hands 
the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him 
that needeth," and so, by his industry, of a thief become 
a benefactor and alms-giver. 

\ 2. It requires us to be contented with that portion of y/^ 
earthly comforts which our heavenly Father allots to iis. 

" Be content with those things ye have." Heb. 13 : 5. 
And certainly he that is not content with what God allows 
him, lies under a grievous temptation, by fraudulent and 
unjust courses, to carve out his own condition to himself, 
and to invade the rights and property of others. Discon- 
tent and covetousness are the root of all injustice. He 
that thinks himself wronged in that he hath not as much 
as some others, will be apt, either through fraud or vio- 
lence, to increase his own by wronging of others. 

Let us therefore check this ripening temper betimes, 
and not think that we have too little and others too much ; 
but whatsoever God affordeth us, let us account it suffi- 
cient provision and a child's portion ; and although it be 
but food and raiment, neither the most delicate nor the 
most sumptuous, yet, " having food and raiment, let us be 
therewith content," as the apostle exhorts us, 1 Tim. 6 : 
8. Let us look upon all other things as superfluous or in- 
different, and not murmur though we should never obtain 
them ; for whatever is needful to thy subsistence God's 
providence and blessing upon thy industry will furnish 
thee with ; and what is not needful to this, is not worth 
thy envy and repining. 

3. I shall only subjoin a word or two to those who are 
conscious to themselves that they have wronged others of 
what was their due, and either withheld or taken from 
them what by law and equity belonged to them. 



EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.^ 393 

Let such know that they are bound to make them a 
perfect and plenary satisfaction, by making an entire and 
plenary restitution, if the thing they have stolen or pur- 
loined be still extant and in their hand; or if not, then by 
making a full and satisfactory compensation. Yea, be the 
thing great or small, more or less, though it should seem- 
ingly tend to the loss of thy credit by acknowledging 
such a wrong, or visibly tend to thy impoverishing or un- 
doing to restore it, yet notwithstanding, thou art bound to 
restore every farthing of that of which thou hast wronged 
and defrauded thy brother. Nor is it enough to confess 
the sin before God and to beg pardon at his hands, but 
thou must likewise render unto man what is his due, and 
what thou unjustly keepest from him, whether it be his 
by thy promise or by his own former possession, as ever 
thou hopest to obtain pardon for thy sin from the mercy 
of God ; yea, and thou art bound likewise, to the very ut- 
most of thy power, to make him recompense for all the 
damage which he hath in the meantime sustained by thy 
unjust withholding of his right and due from him; or else 
thou shalt never obtain pardon and remission for thy 
guilt. And the reason is, because, as long as you detain 
what is another's, so long you continue in the commission 
of the same sin ; for unjust possession is a continued and 
prolonged theft, and certainly repentance can never be 
true nor sincere while we continue in the sin of which 
we seem to repent ; and thy repentance not beuig true, 
pardon shall never be granted thee. 

But you will say, " What if those whom we have 
wronged be since dead 1 How can restitution be made 
to them 1" 

I answer : In this case thou art bound to make it to 
17* 



3D4 • THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. ^ . 

theii children, or their nearest relations, to whom it is 
to be supposed that what thou hast wrongfully detained 
would have descended and been left by them. Or, if none 
of these can be found, nor any to whom of right it may 
belong, then God's right takes place, as he is the great 
Lord and proprietor of all things ; and thou oughtest, 
besides what thou art obliged to give of thine own, to 
bestow it on the works of charity and piety, for it is 
then escheated to him. Yet, withal, thou hast great 
reason to bewail that thou hast so long defeiTed the 
restitution of it to the right owner till now thou hast 
made thyself incapable of doing it. 

This possibly may seem a hard lesson, and doubtless 
it is so in a world so full of rapine and injustice ; but 
yet, as hard as it is, this is the rule of Christianity, this 
is the inflexible law of justice, and without this you live 
and die without all hopes of obtaining pardon, by con 
tinning in your sins irapenitently. "^ . :^ " ' 



^.jf-:-; .,'.^r' 



THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 



Thou Shalt not bear false witness against tliy neighbor. 

The former commandment provides for the security 
of every man's property^ that he may suffer no wrong 
nor detriment in his goods; this provides for the pre- 
servation of his good namcj which is a much dearer pos- 
session. For " A good name," saith the wise man, 
Prov. 22 : 1, "is rather to be chosen than great riches," 
and therefore it ought to be preserved and guarded by 
us, although not delicately and nicely, yet tenderly and 
with respect. Whoso contemns fame will soon prosti- 
tute virtue, and those who care not what others say, will 
shortly arrive to such impudence of sinning as not to 
care what they themselves do. 

Indeed a good name is so excellent a blessing, that 
there is but one thing to be preferred before it, and that 
is a good conscience. When these two stand in com- 
petition, credit must give place to duty ; and in this ease 
it is far better to lose our repute with men, than our ac- 
ceptance and reward with God. It oftentimes so hap- 
pens, through the ignorance and general corruption of 
mankind, that what is honest, and pure, and just, is yet 
not of good report amongst them: piety is but affecta- 
tion, strictness of life a peevish hypocrisy, the cross a 
scandal, Christ himself a wine-bibber, a fiiend of pub- 



396 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

licanis and sinners, his doctrine heresy, and his miracles 
impostures. And if thou lightest upon any such froward 
and perverse censurers, as too many such there are in 
all ages, ** who think it strange," as the apostle speaks, 
" that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, 
speaking evil of you," seek not by any base and sinful 
compliance to redeem their good opinion, but rather 
glory in the testimony of their railing, and account all 
their reviling speeches to be but so many votes for 
your blessedness. ** Blessed are ye when men shall revile 
you, and persecute you, and shall speak all manner of evil 
against you falsely for my sake." Mat. 5:11. 

Never covet a good name by bad actions. For what 
will all the concurring applause of the whole world sig- 
nify to thee, if yet thy conscience condemn thee louder 
than they can extol thee 'i This is but to have music at 
the door, when all the while there is chiding and brawl- 
ing within. It is far better that others should wound thy 
credit than thou thy conscience. That is a wound which 
their tongues can never lick whole again. All the repu- 
tation thy popular sinning can bring thee will be but like 
hanging bells at a horse's ears, when all the while his 
back is galled with his burthen. Whoever will be a 
christian must resolve to go through bad report as well 
as good: he should desire the one, but not anxiously 
refuse the other. And if any will bespatter him, let 
him be careful that it be only with their own dirt, and 
not with his — -with their own malice, and not his mis- 
carriages. And whilst he thus keeps his conscience 
dear, he may be assured that his credit shall be cleared 
up at that day when all their unjust reproaches shall 
but add a crown and diadem of glory to his head. 



NINTH COMMANDMEI^T. 397 

But where a good name is consistent with a good 
conscience, we ought to prize and value it as one of 
the choicest of God's blessings in this world, and to 
use all lawful means to preserve it. For, 

1. A good name will render a man more serviceable to 
God, and the Jitter instrument to promote his honor and 
glory in the world. '^7' 

And therefore the wise man, Eccl. 7 : 1, compares a 
good name to " precious ointment," and in the compaii- 
^Bon gives it the preference. For as precious ointment dif- 
fuses its fragrancy through the room where it is poured 
forth, and affects all that are in it with its delightful odor ; 
so do men's gifts, when they are perfumed with a good 
name, delight and attract others, and by a sweet and pow- 
erful charm allure them to imitate and practise those vir- 
tues which they see to be so commendable. And therefore 
we find it the apostle's carCj 2 Cor. 6:3, to give " no 
offence in any thing, that the ministry might not be 
blamed." Though it be our great folly to estimate men's 
counsels by their own practice, since a diseased physician 
may prescribe a wholesome medicine, yet so it comes to 
pass, whether through the curse of God or the prejudice 
of men, that those who have lost their credit, have, toge- 
ther with it, lost all opportunities and advantages of doing 
good in the world : let their talents be never so great and 
their gifts never so eminent, yet if once this dead fly be 
gotten into this box of ointment, it will corrupt it and 
render it unsavoiy to all. And the devil hath no policy so 
successful to make the gifts of those whom he fears might 
6hake his kingdom unuseful, as either to tempt them to 
the commission of some infamous and scandalous sin, or 
to tempt others falsely to calumniate and report such pro- 



398 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

fligate crimes concerning them ; then he knows such a 
one is disarmed and made unserviceable, and if he can but 
once blast the leaves, the fruit will seldom come to any 
maturity and perfection. Therefore as you desire to be 
serviceable to God in promoting his glory, and to the 
world in promoting their good and benefit, which is the 
gTeat end of our being and the only thing worth living 
for, so endeavor, by all wise and honest means, to keep 
up your good name. Be good, and appear to be so. *' Let 
your light so shine before men, that they seeing your 
good works, may glorify your Fathei" which is in heaven." 
Mat. 5: 16. 

2. A good name i as it gives us advantage of doing good 
to others t lays an obligation upon us of being good ourselves. 

For if the world be so kindly mistaken as to report 
well of us without any desert, yet this cannot but stimu- 
late us, if we have any ingenuousness, and engage us to 
deserve it, and thus happily turn that which was praise 
into motive. Or if they give us but our due commenda- 
tion, and our virtue justly challengeth this fame, yet still 
it will engage us to do things worthy of ourselves, and 
worthy of the common estimate that men put upon us, that 
we may not fall short of what we have been, or what they 
still repute us to be. This is a laudable ambition, which 
seeks by virtue to maintain that credit which by virtue 
we have acquired. And doubtless when other arguments 
have been baffled by a temptation, this hath been a sheet 
anchor to the soul, and hath often held it in the greatest 
storms when the wind and waves have beat most furiously 
against it. " Should I consent to this sin, what a blot and 
dishonor should I get to myself! How should I be able 
to look good men in the face again] Would not this sin 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 399 

brand me for a hypocrite in their esteem 1 Would they 
ever look upon me or receive me with affection after this 
fain Should I not carry the disgrace and scar of this 
wound visibly upon me to my grave 1 No, one sin shall 
never ruin all the comfort and all the repute gained 
through so many years, and I, who have been so long 
exemplary as a christian, will not by this one act make 
myself a scorn to the wicked and a shame to the godly." 
And by these considerations he rejects a temptation that 
perhaps ran down all other considerations before it. But 
a man of a lost and desperate credit sins impudently with- 
out any such restraint upon him ; he thinks it is but in 
vain for him to abstain from any wickedness, for, whether 
he doth or not, people will still believe him guilty; his 
credit is so disfigured and his name so infamous that he 
thinks he cannot be worse than he is already reported, 
and so rubs his forehead and outfaces censure, and with a 
brazen impudence cares not how wicked he is nor how 
many know him to be so. Thus you see how cautious 
we ought to be in maintaining our own good name. 

But this command requires us to preserve the re- 
pute and good name of others as well as our own. 
It forbids 

The sin of lying, of detraction and slander, and of base 
toothing and unwortJiy flattery. 

In the first place, the command prohibits lying ; and 
this is a sin which comprehends under it all other vio- 
lations of this precept, for slander and flattery are both 
of them lies, different only in manner and circumstances ; 
and as lying is a sin large and comprehensive in its na- 
ture, so it is general and universal in its practice. We 



400 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 

may well complain, with the holy prophet, that '* Truth 
is perished from the earth." 

And here I shall show what a lie is, with the different 
sorts of lies, and then the heinousness and aggravation of 
this common sin. 

I. A lie, according to Augustin's definition of it, is 

A VOLUNTARY SPEAKING OF AN UNTRUTH WITH AN IN- 
TENT TO DECEIVE. 

In a lie therefore there must be these three ingre- 
dients. There must be the speaking of an untruth; it 
must be known to us to he an untruth ; and it must be loith 
a will and intent to deceive him to whoin ice speak it, and 
to lead him into error. Hence, 

:'•■ X. Parables and figurative speeches are no lies. For 
neither as to the drift and scope of them are they false- 
hoods, nor yet are they spoken with an intent to deceive, 
but rather to instruct the hearers, and so they have nei- 
ther the matter nor the form of a lie. 

The Scripture abounds with these tropical expressions, 
which although, in the proper signification of the words, 
they cannot be verified of the thing to which they are ap- 
plied, yet do they very fully agree to them in their figura- 
tive and transferred sense. Thus Jotham's parable of 
trees choosing them a king was aptly accommodated to 
the sense which he meant, and which those that heard 
him well enough understood. And thus our Savior 
Christ calls himself a door, signifying by that metaphor 
that by him alone we must enter into heaven and eternal 
life : a vine, signifying that without our incision into him 
and spiritual union to him, whereby we derive grace 
from his plenitude and fulness of grace as the branches 
do sap and juice from the stock, we shall be cast out as 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 401 

withered and fruitless branches, fit for nothing but to be 
burned. Innumerable other metaphors are every where 
dispersed throughout the Scriptures. 

And besides metaphors, the Scripture useth hyperholes. 
I shall only instance in that famous one, John, 21 : 25, 
" Many other things Jesus did, the which, if they should 
be written every one, I suppose that even the world it- 
self could not contain the books that should be written." 
This high expression the evangelist uses to indicate the 
great number of the miracles and remarkable passages 
of our Savior's life, and to signify that he did very many 
other things which are not on record. 

^ ^And sometimes the Scripture useth iro?iical taunts. 
Thus in that bitter sarcasm of Elijah to the priests of 
Baal, 1 Kings, 18 : 27, "He mocked them, and said, 
cry aloud; for he is a god." Ironical speeches of this 
kind are so far from being intended to create error in 
the minds of men, or to confirm them in it, that they are 
spoken on purpose to convince them of their eiTors and 
make them appear to be shameful and ridiculous, and 
therefore are no lies. 

But here we must take this caution, that in using such 
figurative speeches we ought so to circumstantiate them 
that the hearers may easily perceive the drift and scope 
of our discourse, or at least that they may be assured 
that we intend some other meaning by them than what 
the words do properly and in themselves bear. Otherwise, 
though it may not be a lie in us, yet it may be an occa- 
sion of error and mistake in them. 

2. Every falsehood is not a lie. For though it hath the 
matter, yet it may want the form and complement to make 
it such. Foi many times men speak and report that whicb 



402 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

is not true, wMcli yet they themselves do believe to be true ; 
and so they are rather deceived than deceivers, and per- 
haps are far from any intention of imposing on the credu- 
lity of others. Such a one is not so much to be accused of 
lying, as of folly and rashness in reporting that for truth 
the certainty of vi^hich is not clear and evident to himself. 

3. A man may speak that wJiich is true, und yet he a liai 
in so doing. As in these two cases : 

When loe report that to he a truth, which, although it he 
so, yet we believe it to he a falsehood, and report it with an 
intent to deceive those that hear us. Or, 

When we report the figurative words of another, leaving 
out those circumstances which might make them appear to 
he figurative. Therefore they are called false witnesses 
which came in against Christ and testified that he said 
he was " able to destroy the temple of God and to build 
it in three days," Mat. 26 : 60, in which, though there 
were many falsifications of the words of our Savior, yet 
had they reported the very words that he spake, they had 
nevertheless been false witnesses, because by their tes- 
timony they wrested them to another sense than what 
Christ intended by them ; for certainly he is a liar who 
reports my words with a purpose to beget a wrong con- 
struction of them, as much as he who reports me to have 
spoken what I never said. 

4. It is no lie to conceal part of the truth when it is not 
expedient nor necessary to he known. Thus, 1 Sam. 16 : 2, 
God himself instructs Samuel, when he sent him to anoint 
jDavid king over Israel, that he should answer, he came 
to sacrifice to the Lord; which was truth, and one end of 
his going into Bethlehem, though he had als<i another, 
which he prudently concealed. 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 403 

5. A man may act contrary to what he before said, if 
the circumstances of the thing he altered, without being 
guilty of lying. Of this we have frequent examples in 
the Scripture. Thus, Gen. 19 : 2, the angels tell Lot 
that they would not come into his house, but would 
" abide in the street all night ;" yet, upon his importunity 
and earnest entreaties, they went- in with him. And thus 
Peter, with some heat and vehemency of his humility, re- 
fused that Christ should wash his feet, John, 13 : 8, 
*' Thou shalt never wash my feet ;" but when he was in- 
structed in the significancy of this condescension of our 
Savior, he not only permits, but entreats him to do it. So 
likewise in all things of such a nature we may lawfully 
change our words upon the change of our minds, and 
upon the inducement of some circumstances that were 
not known or considered by us, we may,^ without the im- 
putation of lying, do otherwise than we before resolved 
and declared. But here must be heedful caution : 
' That the actions be not such as we are bound to perform 
by divine precept ; 

Nor such as we have bound ourselves to by the voluntary 
obligation of a vow made unto God ; 

J^or such that our not doing them, or doing Mherwise 
than we have promised, shall be hurtful or prejudicial to 
others. For if I have promised another that which is be- 
neficial to him, however I may change my opinion, yet I 
must not change my purpose ; but, unless he v^dll release 
me, or hath forfeited the benefit of my promise by failing 
in the conditions of it, I stand engaged to perfoiTn what I 
lave plighted to him. 

Thus you see what a lie is, and what is not a lie. 

The sum of all I shall contract in this description of 



404 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

it : A lie is a falsehood, either real or supposed so by us 
spoken purposely and with an intention to deceive an 
other. And therefore, neither falsehoods not thought tc 
be so, nor figurative speeches, nor truth partly concealed 
nor the change of our mind and purposes upon the 
changing and alteration of circumstances, can be charge- 
able with the foul and scandalous sin of lying. 

As to the different sorts of lies, they are usually distin- 
guished into three kinds : the jocular, the officious, and 
the pernicious lie. - . . ~ ' ■ -^" .' 

1. The jocular lie is a lie framed to excite mirth and 
laughter, and to deceive the hearer only to please and 
divert him. Though it may seem very harmless to de- 
ceive men into mirth and recreation, yet truth is such an 
awful and severe thing that it ought not to be contradict- 
ed; no, not in jest. And God reckons it as a sin against 

. the Israelites, Hos. 7 : 3, that they made " the king and 
princes glad," or merry, " with their lies." 

2. The officious lie is a lie which is told for another's 
benefit and advantage, and seems to make an abundant 
compensation for its falsehood by its use and profit. But 
yet neither can this excuse it from being a sin; for since 

. a lie is intrinsically evil in itself, let the advantage that 
accrues by it be never so great, we ought not to shelter 
either ourselves or others under that rotten refuge. That 
_Btated maxim holds universally true in all cases ; we ought 
.not to do evil that good may come thereof. Therefore, 
- although thine own life or thy neighbor's depends upon 
it, yea, put the case, it were not only to save his life but 
' to save his soul, couldst thou by this means most eminent- 
ly advance the glory of God or the general good and wel- 
fare of the church, yet thou oughtest not to tell the least 



NINTH COMMANDMENT..- 405 

lie to promote these great and blessed ends. This the 
apostle takes for granted, Rom. 3:7. 

And here, as this passage may seem at first glance 
somewhat obscure, I shall briefly expound it. If the truth 
of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, 
why yet am I also judged as a sinner? The words as they 
stand seem to be favorable to such a beneficial lie ; but if 
we consider the scope and drift of them, we shall see that 
they clearly condemn it. For the apostle had, in the fore- 
going verses, taught that the unrighteousness and sins of 
men did occasionally conduce to the manifestation of the 
justice and veracity of God, in fulfilling his threatenings 
upon them. Against this position he raiseth an objection, 
verse 5, If the unrighteousness of men commend and illus- 
trate the righteousness of God, how then can God be just 
in taking vengeance on those sins by which he is glorified 1 
To this the apostle answers two ways : 

He abhors the consequence, verse 6. God forbid that we 
should think him unjust because he punisheth those sins 
which accidentally serve for the manifestation of his glo- 
ry. For if God were unjust, how then should he judge 
the world 1 

\ He answers, by putting alike case and giving a like in- 
stance, Yerse 7, " If the truth of God hath more abounded 
through my lie — why yet am I judged as a sinner V As if 
he had said, " By the like reason as you infer that it would 
be unrighteous in God to punish those who are the occasion 
of so much glory to him through their sins, by the like, I 
might infer, that if by my lie I might glorify God, I were 
not to be accounted a sinner for lying." But this, saith he, 
verse 8, is a most wicked consequence, and such as would 
justify the slanders of those who report that we affirm it 



4dd' 



THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



lawful to do evil that good may come, wJiose damnation is 
just : that is, it is just with God to damn those who slander 
us with such a gross untruth; and it is just with God to 
damn those who hold so wicked and destructive a doctrine. 

So you see that nothing could be more expressly spoken 
against these officious lies than what the apostle here pro- 
duceth in this place. He asserts, in general, that we must 
not do evil that good may come thereof; and he instanceth 
in particular, that we must not lie, although the glory of 
God may he promoted hy it. 

3. The malicious and pernicious lie is a lie devised on 
purpose for the hurt and damage of my neighbor. And this 
is the worst and the most heinous sort of all, and hath 
nothing that might excuse or extenuate it. li shows a 
heart brimful of the bitterness of malice, when this pas- 
sion works out at the mouth in slanderous reports and 
false accusations. All lies are in themselves sinful; but 
this is the vilest and most abominable of all. 

11. The AGGRAVATIONS OF THIS SIN. Consider, 

1. It is <2 sin that makes you most like unto the devil. 

The devil is a spirit, and therefore, gross canial sins 
cannot correspond to his nature. His sins are more re- 
fined and intellectual ; such as are pride and malice, de- 
ceit and falsehood, John, 8 : 44, " He is a liar, and the 
father of it." And the more malice goes into the com- 
position of any lie, the more nearly it resembles him. 
This is the first-born of the devil; the beginning of his 
strength ; for by lies he prevailed over wretched man ; 
hence it is his darling and beloved sin, and the gi'eatest 
instrument of promoting his kingdom. It is that which, in 
his own mouth, ruined all mankina in the gross, when he 
falsely suggested to our first parents that they should be 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 407 

as gods ; and that which he still puts into the hearts and 
mouths of men to ruin and destroy their souls and the 
souls of others, Acts, 5:3, '* Why hath Satan filled thine 
heart to he to the Holy Ghost V " When he speaketh a 
lie, he speaketh of his own," saith our Savior. And cer- 
tainly, when we speak a lie we repeat only what he 
prompts and dictates to us. Thou never liest but thou 
speakest aloud what the devil whispered softly to thee ; 
the old serpent lies folded round in thy heart, and we 
may hear him hissing in thy voice. And therefore when 
God summoned all his heavenly attendance about him, 
and demanded who would persuade Ahab to go up and 
fall at Ramoth-Gilead, an evil spirit that had crowded 
in amongst them steps forth and undertakes the office, as 
his most natural employment, and that wherein he most 
of all delighted, 1 Kings, 22 : 22, " I will go forth and 
be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." JCvPty 
lie thou tellest, consider that the devil sits upon thy 
tongue, breathes falsehood into thy heart, and forms thy 
words and accents into deceit. 

2. Consider that it is a sin most contrary to the nature 
hf'God^ lolio is truth itself. It is sin that he hates ^nd 
abominates, Prov. 6 : 16, 17, "These six things doth the 
Lord hate ; yea, seven are an abomination unlo him : a 
proud look, a lying tongue," &c. ; and Prov. 12 : 22, " Ly- 
ing lips are an abomination to the Lord." Hence we have 
so many express commands given us against this sin. Lev. 
19 : 11, " Ye shall not deal falsely, nor lie one to an- 
other." Col. 3 : 9, " Lie not one to another." " Wherefore, 
putting away lying, speak every man truth to his neigh- 
bor." Eph. 4 : 25. 

3. Consider that it is a sin that gives in a fearful evidence 



408t THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

against us that we belong to the devil and are his children / 
for he is tlie father of lies and of liars. God's children 
will imitate their heavenly Father in his truth and ve- 
racity. And it is g, very observable place, Isa. 63 : S, 
" Surely," saith God, " they are my people ; children that 
will not lie ; so he was their Savior." 

4. Consider how dreadfully God hath threatened this 
nn with eternal death. Scarce, any one sin more express- 
ly and particularly. Rev. 22:15, "Without," even in 
outer darkness, " are dogs — and murderers, and idolaters, 
and whosoever loveth or maketh a lie." !;.- . 

5. A lie showeth a most degenerate and cowardly Jear of 
men, and a most daring contempt of the great God. Who- 
ev-er lies, does it out of a base and sordid fear lest some 
evil and inconvenience should come to him by declaring 
the truth. And this Montaigne, in his Essays, gives as the 
reason why the imputation of lying is the most reproach- 
ful ignominy that one man can lay upon another, and that 
which most passionately moves them to revenge ; because, 
saith he, " To say a man lieth, is to say that he is audacious 
towards God and a coward towards men." Lib. 2, c. 18^ 

6. Mankind generally account lying a most infamous 
and reproachful sin. A liar loseth all credit and reputa- 
tion amongst men; and he who hath made himself scan- 
dalous by lying, is not believed when he speaks truth. 
Yea, it is so odious and foul a sin that we find it generally 
esteemed worse than other sins ; and the avoiding of this 
is thought a good excuse for the commission of others ; 
for when men are moved with some violent passion they 
often resolve to do those things which, when their passion 
is allayed, they must look upon as grievous sins; yet, 
rather, than be false to their word, and so censured for 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 409 

lying, they will venture to perpetrate them. Thus Herod, 
for his oath's sake, beheaded John the Baptist. And the 
common excuse for rash and unwaiTantable actions is, " I 
said I would do thus or thus, and therefbre I thought my- 
self bound in honor to do it." 

7. It is a sin that God will detect, and which exposeth those 
who are guilty of it to shame and contempt. Lying lips 
are ** but for a moment." Prov. 12 : 19. And when they 
are found out, as usually they are, by their own forget- 
fulness and the interfering of their own speeches, how 
shameful will their sin be to them ! And the reward they 
shall have for it is, that those who have accustomed them 
selves to lying shall not be believed when they speak 
truth. 

Thus much concerning the heinousjiess and aggravation 
of the sin of lying. 

There remain two other violations of this command- 
ment ; the one is by slander and detraction, the other by 
base flattery and soothing ; and both may respect either 
ourselves or others. 

I shall now speak of the common sin of slander and 
DETRACTION : a siu that is reigning and triumphant in this 
our age, and if I should likewise sayin this place, I think 
I should not myself be guilty of it by that censure. 

Slander and detraction seem somewhat to differ. Slan- 
der, properly, is a false imputation of vice, but detraction 
is a causeless diminishing report of virtue. The one tra- 
duceth us to be what indeed we are not, the other lessens 
what we really are, and both are highly injurious to our 
good name and reputation, the best and dearest of all our 
earthly possessions. 

Tea Com. Jg 



410 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

WheH a man's life and actions are so blameless and 
exemplary that even malice itself is ashamed to vent its 
venom by base slanders lest it should appear to be ma- 
lice, and the reproach should light rather upon the report- 
ers than him whom they seek to defame, then it betakes 
itself to those little sly arts of nibbling at the edges of a 
man's credit and clipping aw^ay the borders of his good 
name, that it may not pass so current in the world as be- 
fore. Thus when any are so just as to give others their 
due commendation either for learning, or wisdom, or piety, 
or any other perfection, either of grace or of nature, you 
shall have those who lie in wait to cut off other men's es- 
teem. If they see it so strongly fortified by the conspicuous- 
ness of it and the general vote of the world that they dare 
not attack the whole, they lurkingly assault part of it, and 
what they cannot altogether deny they will endeavor to 
diminish : ** It is true, such a man is, as you say, learned 
and knowing, but withal so knowing as to know that too. 
He is wise, but his wisdom is rather politic than gene- 
rous, and all his designs are biassed with self-ends. He is 
charitable, but his charity seems too indiscreet ; or if you 
did not proclaim his good works he himself would. He is 
pious and devout indeed, poor man, after his way, and ac- 
cording to his knowledge." Thus by these blind hints 
they endeavor either to find or to make a flaw in another 
man's reputation, well knowing that a cracked name, like a 
cracked bell, will not sound half so clear and loud in the 
ears of the world as else it might. Thus you see what 
elanders and detractions are. I remark, 

1. A man may he a self-slanderer and a self-dctracter. 
Such are those who traduce and defame themselves, and 
either assume to themselves those wickednesses which 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 41 1 

they have not committed, or blameably conceal those 
gifts and excellencies they are endowed with, when they 
are called to discover them for the glory of God and the 
public good. 

Some slander themselves out of hope of reward, when 
they suppose that the crimes they boast of may be ac- 
cepted as services by others. Thus, when Saul had slain 
himself, an Amalekite falsely reports to David that he 
had slain him — hoping to obtain a reward from him for 
despatching his enemy. 

Sometimes men impiously boast of those sins which 
they never did and never durst commit, merely oid of a 
hraving humor of vain-glory, and that among their de- 
bauched companions they may gain the reputation of 
valiant and daring sinners. 

Others falsely accuse themselves of those sins of which 
they were never guilty, out of a despairing and dejected 
spirit. Thus many a poor soul that hath labored under 
severe convictions, begins first to doubt, and then to con- 
clude that he hath certainly committed the unpardonable 
sin against the Holy Ghost, and, in extreme anguish and 
horror, crieth guilty, and confesseth the indictment that 
is falsely drawn up against him by the calumny of the 
devil and his own dark fears and melancholy. 

Sometimes men detract from themselves out of a lying 
and dissembled humility, making this kind of detraction 
only a bait for commendation ; as knowing the ball will 
rebound back the farther to them the harder they strike 
it from them. This is usually an artifice of proud and 
arrogant persons ; and those who cannot endure to be 
contradicted in any thing else, would be very loth you 
should yield to them in this. 



412 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

: And, lastly, others detract from themselves out of a too 
hashful modesty, or to avoid some troublesome and un- 
pleasing employments which they are called unto. Thus 
we find Moses, Exod. 4 : 10, making many excuses that 
he was " not eloquent," but ''slow of speech and slow 
of tongue ;" and all because he was loth to under- 
take that difficult and dangerous charge of bringing out 
the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. 

All these kinds of self-slander and detraction are evil, 
and some of them most vile and abominable. 

2. There \^ a slandering of and detracting from another, 
wronging him unjustly in his fame and reputation, which 
we ought tenderly to preserve and cherish. God and 
nature have intrusted us mutually with each other's 
good name. Thy brother's credit is put as a precious 
deposit into thy hands, and if thou wickedly lavishest it 
out by spreading false rumors of him, or carelessly keep- 
est it, by suffering others to do so when it is in thy power 
to justify him, know assuredly that it will be strictly re- 
quired of thee, for in this respect every man is his bro- 
ther's keeper. J .;>^^; ^'f • 

This slandering of others may be either m judicial pro- 
cess or in common and ordinary converse. 

(1.) Injudicial process. And then it is truly and pro- 
perly false-witnessing — when thou risest up against thy 
brother in judgment, and attestest that which thou know- 
est to be false and forged, or which thou art not most 
infallibly assured to be true. And this sin is the more 
heinous and dreadful on account of two aggravating cir- 
cumstances that attend it. 

Since usually all actions in law and judgment concern 
either the person or the estate of thy brother, by a false 



. NINTH COMMANDMENT. T 410 

witness thou not only wrongest him in his name and 
reputation, but also either his person or his estate, and so 
thou art not only a slanderer but a thief or murderer. 
" A hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor/' 
Prov. 11 : 9. And by so much the more odious is thy 
crime, in that thou pervertest the law, which was intended 
to be a fence and safeguard to every man's property, and 
turnest it against itself, making it the instrument of thy in- 
justice and cruelty. The Psalmist, Psal. 52 : 2, compares 
Doeg's malicious tongue to a sharp razor; and certainly 
when thou givest a false testimony against thy brother, 
thy tongue is a sharp razor, it not only wounds hi& 
credit but cuts his throat. 

Again, since usually all judicial proceedings exact from 
the witnesses a tremendous oath solemnly taken by the 
name of the great God of heaven, to give in a false testi- 
mony is not only to be guilty of slander but oi perjury too. 

Yea, and let me add one thing more to make it a most 
accumulate wickedness ; such a false testimony is not only 
slander and perjury, but it is hlasphemy too . For what 
else is it but to bring the most holy God, who is eternal 
tnith, to confirm a falsehood and a lie 1 What can be a 
higher affront to his most sacred Majesty than this % For 
a sworn witness is therefore accepted because he brings 
God in to be a witness too. And wilt not thou tremble, 
O wretch, to cite God to appear a witness to that which 
a thousand, witnesses within thee (I mean thy own con- 
science) do all depose to be false and forged ; and so 
to transfer thy injustice, and rapine, and bloody murder 
upon him, and shelter them all under the shadow of his 
veracity and faithfulness ! 

You see then how horrid an impiety this is ; and yet 



424 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

how common it is, not only those who by this wicked 
means suffer wrong, but others who are conversant in 
such judiciary trials do too truly report. 

May it please God to put it into the hearts of our ru- 
lers to enact more severe and rigorous laws against those 
who are found guilty of it ! It is sad to think that whereas 
a thief shall be adjudged to death (in England) for stealing 
some petty inconsiderable matter, and perhaps too for the 
relief of his pressing necessities ; yet two villains that 
have conspired together by false accusations and perjured 
testimonies to take away a man's whole estate, or possibly 
his life, should for these far greater crimes be sentenced 
to so easy a punishment that only shame and reproach 
.make up the severest part of it. Certainly methinks it 
were but just that the least they should suffer should be. a 
retaliation of their intended mischiefs, and that the same 
they designed against their brother should be inflicted on 
themselves ; whether it be loss of life or loss of goods and 
estate. It is but equity that the plotters and artificers 
of mischief should perish by their own craft. And if this 
rigor and wholesome severity were used, we should not 
have so many oaths set out to hire, nor would any make 
it a trade to be a witness ; but innocency would be se- 
cured under the protection of the laws, and the laws 
themselves be innocent of the ruin of many hundreds, who 
by this means fall into the snares of ungodly men. Of 
this one thing I am sure, that God himself thought it a 
most equitable law when he thus provided for the safety 
of his people Israel : Deut. 19 : 18-20, " If the witness be 
a false witness, and testify falsely against his brother, then 
shall ye do unto him as he had thought to do unto his bro- 
ther: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you; 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 415 

and those which remain shall hear and fear, and shall 
henceforth commit no more any such evil among you." 

(2.) There is a slandering of others in our common and. 
ordinary converse. And this is either open and, avowed^ 
in their presence and to their faces ; or secret and sly^ be- 
hind their backs. 

The open and avowed is ^ also twofold. One way is by 
reviling and railing speeches, as Shimei barked at David, 
2 Sam. 16 : 7, " Come out, thou bloody man, and thou 
man of Belial." And I wish that our streets and houses 
did not, to their great disgrace and reproach, echo with 
such clamor ; and that too many did not rake together all 
the dirty expressions which their wit and malice will 
sei've them to invent only to throw into one another's 
faces. A sin which, as it is sordid and base in itself, so 
it chiefly reigns among those who are of a mean condi- 
tion ; but wherever found, is a disparagement to human na- 
ture, a sin against civil society, and argues men guilty of 
much folly and brutishness ; and I am sure it is a transgres- 
Rion of that express command of the apostle, Eph. 4:31, 
32, " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and cla- 
mor, and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all 
malice ; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath 
forgiven you." 

The other way of open, avowed slander is by hitter 
taunts and sarcastical scoffs. And this is usually an ap- 
plauded sin among the more refined sort of men, who 
take a pride and glory in exposing others and making 
them ridiculous, thinking their own wit never looks so 
beautiful as when it is dyed in other's blushes. But this 
is a most scurrilous and offensive way, wherein certainly 



416 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

he hath the most advantage, not who hath most ■wit, 
but tliat hath least modesty. These kinds of tauntings are 
sometimes such as the apostle calls cruel mockings, and 
reckons up as one part of those persecutions which the 
primitive christians endured. Heb. 11 : 36. As Nero for 
his barbarous sport VTi'apped up the christians in beasts' 
skins and then set dogs to worry them; so these dis- 
guise their brethren in false and antic shapes, and then 
fall upon them and beat them. 

Again, there is a more secret and sly conveyance of 
slander, by hachhiting, whisperings and the carrying up 
and down of tales. Like those busy tongues, Jer. 20 : 10, 
that would fain find or make themselves some employ- 
ment, sayijng. Report, and we will report. And so a 
false and slanderous rumor shall, like the river Nile, 
spread over the whole land, and yet the head of it be 
never known : it shall pass on to the indelible blot and 
infamy of thy neighbor, and the first author of it lie hid 
and concealed in the crowd, as some fishes will in the mud 
which they themselves have stirred. Against this sort of 
men Solomon, in his book of Proverbs, is very severe ; 
and there is no one wickedness which that excellent 
compendium of wisdom and morality doth more inveigh 
against than this of whispering about another man's dis- 
grace, Prov. 18 : 8, " The words of a tale-bearer are as 
wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of 
the belly." And this he repeats again, chap. 2Q : 22, in- 
timating that the wound which such a tongue makes is 
deep, but yet hid and secret, and therefore the more in- 
curable. And Prov. 16 : 28, ** A whisperer separateth 
chief friends." He is, as it were, the devil's truchman 
and interpreter between them both, and goeth to one and 



NINTH COMMANDMENT.. 417 

buzzeth in his ear what such a one said of him, although 
perhaps it be altogether false ; and when he hath by this 
means got some angry and choleric speeches from him, 
goes and reports them back to the other ; and so by hia 
wicked breath blows up the coals of strife and dissension 
between them. Therefore the wise man tells us, " Where 
no wood is, the fire goeth out ; so, where there is no 
tale-bearer the strife ceaseth." Prov. 26 : 20. The 
apostle cautions the Corinthians against this sin, 2 Cor. 
12 : 20, '' I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you 
such as I would — lest there be among you debates, en- 
vyings, wi'aths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swell- 
ings, tumults ;" and he reckons it up among the black 
catalogue of those crimes, for the which ' * God gave up " 
the heathen " to a reprobate mind, to do those things 
which are not convenient ; being filled with all unrighte- 
ousness — full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, 
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, 
boasters, inventors of evil things." Rom. 1 : 28-30. 
Now one of the chief artifices of this sort of men is to 
calumniate strenuously, according to that old maxim of 
the devil, Calumniarefortiter^ et aliquid adhcerehit, " Slan- 
der stoutly, and somewhat will stick behind ;" for though 
the wound may possibly be healed, yet the scar will still 
remain, and be a blemish to a man's reputation as long as 
he lives. 

But then again there is another kind of slander and de- 
traction, when a man divulgeth those imperfections and 
faults which are truly in his neighbor, without being called 
or necessitated to do it. For sometimes truth itself may 
be a slander, when it is spoken with an evil design to the 
hurt and prejudice of another. 

18* 



418 ^ THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. > 

Indeed, if thou be duly called to witness in judgment ; 
or if it be in thy own defence and vindication, when, if 
thou dost not discover him that is guilty, thou thyself 
mayst be supposed to be the person; or if the crime be such 
as ought not to escape unpunished ; or ifhe remain contu- 
macious after more private admonition, in which case our 
Savior commands us to tell it to the church: or lastly, when 
it is for the safety and security of another, who might else 
be wronged should we conceal from him the mischiefs 
which others intend him : in these cases it is both lawful 
and expedient to make known the faults of thy brother. 

But then be sure that thou do it not with any secret 
delight and exultation that thou hast his credit to tram- 
ple upon, to raise thine own the higher ; but with that 
true grief and sorrow of heart which may evince to all the 
world that nothing but conscience and a sense of thy duty 
enforced thee to publish his shame, which thou wouldst 
be willing to hide at the price of any thing but sin and 
thine own shame. 

But, alas ! it is strange to consider the depravity of our 
nature, how we delight in other men's sins, and are 
secretly glad when their miscarriages give us an occasion 
to reproach and disgi'ace them. How many are big with 
such stuff, and go in pain till they have disburthened 
themselves into the ears of others ! And some are such 
ill dissemblers of their joy, that they do it with open 
scorn and irrision. Others are more artificially malicious, 
and with a deep sigh and a downcast look, and a whining 
voice and an affected slowness, whisper to one, " Alas ! 
did you not hear of such a gross miscarriage by such a 
one 1" and then whisper the same thing to another, and 
B third ; and when they have made it as public as they 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 410 

can, hypocritically desire every one to keep it secret, for 
that they would be loth their neighbor should come to 
any disgrace and trouble about it. Believe it, sirs, this, 
though the matter you report be never so true, is nothing 
else but slander ; because it is done to no good end, but 
only to feed your own malice, and, like flies, to lie suck- 
ing the galled backs and sores of others. And therefore 
we find that Doeg, though he told nothing but the truth, 
1 Sam. 22 : 9, 10, yet is by David challenged as a liar 
and slanderer. Ps. 52. 

Having thus shown what this sin of slander is, I shall 
give some brief rules and directions, which, through 
the grace of God, may be serviceable to keep you from 
this common sin ; and then such as may show how you 
ought to demean yourselves under the lash of other 
men's slanderous tongues. 

1. II020 to keep yourselves from slandering others. 

(1.) If thou wouldst keep thyself from being a slanderer 
of others, addict not thyself violently to any one party or 
persuasion of men. For party spirit will beget prejudice, 
and prejudice is the jaundice of the soul, which repre- 
sents other men and their actions in. the color which oui 
own disease puts upon them. And indeed we have all 
generally such a good conceit of ourselves, that it is a very 
hard and difficult matter to have a good esteem for others 
who are not of our judgment and of our way. And this 
makes us, first, very willing to hear soma evil of them ; 
for because we think that what we do is good, we cannot 
cordially think them good who do not judge and act as 
we ourselves do, and so our minds are prepared to en- 
tertain reports against them from others, and then to 



4r2x) THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

spreaa them abroad ourselves. And I cannot but impute 
to this the great uncharitableness of our days, wherein 
love and brotherly kindness lie murdered under the vio- 
lence of different persuasions, and different modes, and 
divers ways of worshipping one and the same God and 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence all those lying rumors 
and lying wonders that one party invents to beat down 
the other. Both suffer from each other's envenomed 
tongues, and between both, truth suffers, and charity 
perishes, and is utterly lost. For shame, O christians ! 
Is this the way to promote God's cause or Christ's king- 
dom 1 Doth he or it stand in need of your lies ? Will 
you speak wickedly for God, ai;id talk deceitfully for him 1 
Shall his honor be maintained by the devil's inventions ] 
I shall not speak partially ; but wheresoever the fault 
lies, there let the censure fall— that it is certainly a 
very strong presumption of a weak and bad cause, when 
the refuge and support of it are lies. 

(2.) If thou wouldst not be guilty of slander, he not 
busy in other men's affairs. Keep thine eyes within doors 
and thy thoughts at home. Inquire not what others sa} 
nor what others do, but look to thine own affairs, and 
guide them with discretion. Thou hast work enough 
at home, within thine own heart, and in thine own 
house; and if thou art careful to manage that well, 
thou wilt scarcely have either time or inclination to re- 
ceive or divulge bad reports of others. And therefore 
the apostle joins idleness and tattling together, " They 
learn to be idlerp wandering about from house to house ; 
and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy-bodies, 
speaking things which they ought not." 1 Tim. 5 : 13. 
They are idle, and yet husy -bodies, very idly busy, who, 



1 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 421 

because they care not to employ their hands, set their 
tongues on work, and suffer them to walk through the 
world abusing and lashing every one they meet. A true 
description of a company of giddy flies in our times, that 
are always roving from house to house, and skipping 
about, now to this man's ear, and by and by to that, and 
buzzing reports of what ill they have heard or observed 
of others. 

(3.) Take another rule. If thou wouldst not be guilty 
of slander, he frequent in reflecting on thine own miscarria- 
ges, or thy pr oneness to fall into the same or greater faults. 

When thou hearest or knowest of any foul and scanda- 
lous sin committed by another, look backwards upon thine 
own life and actions. Canst thou find no blots in thy copy] 
Is the whole course of thy life fair vsrritten upon thy con- 
science % If not, how canst thou without shame to thyself 
upbraid thy brother with his miscarriages, when thou thy- 
self hast been guilty of the like or greater? Or wliy, O 
hypocrite, " beholdest thou the mote that is in thy bro- 
ther's eye, and seest not the beam that is in thine ovm?" 
Methinks our shame for our own sins should be a cover- 
ing to our brother's, and when we ourselves are guilty, 
we should not be so malicious nor foolish as to reproach 
ourselves by reproaching him; for thus to eclipse and 
darken his good name is but as when the moon eclipseth 
the sun, her own darkness and obscurity is made the 
more evident by it. 

Or if God by his restraining grace hath kept thee from 
those wickednesses into which he hath suffered others to 
fall, yet then look inward, view and search thine own 
heart, ransack over thy corrupted nature, and there thou 
shalt find those, yea, and far ^eater abominations than 



422 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

those, like beds of twisted serpents knotting and crawlino- 
within thee. vSay with thyself, ** How can I reproach him 
who hath but copied forth mine own nature 1 How can I 
expose his infamy who hath but done what I have much 
ado to keep myself from doing ] Possibly the same temp- 
tation might have prevailed over me too, had God let it 
loose upon me. I owe my preservation, not to any differ- 
ence that was between us, but only to the free and abound- 
ing grace of God: by this it is that I stand; and shall 
I reproach him for falling, who should also myself have 
fallen were I not strongly upheld by another ?" Thus I 
say, by reflecting on ourselves we shall be withheld from 
being injurious in our censures and in our reports of 
others, we shall hardly divulge their real miscarriages, 
much less accuse and slander them with false and forged 
ones. This is the apostle's i-ule. Gal. 6:1, " Brethren, if 
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye, which are spiritual, re- 
store such a one in the spirit of meekness ; considering 
thyself lest thou also be tempted." 

(4.) If you would not be guilty of slander, listen not to 
those who are slanderers and detracters. Lend not yotir 
ears to those who go about with tales and whispers, 
whose idle business it is to tell news of this man and the 
other ; for if these kinds of flies can but blow in your 
ears„ the worms will certainly creep out at your mouths. 
For all discourse is kept up by exchange, and if he bring 
thee one story, thou wilt think it incivility not to repay 
him with another for it ; and so they chat over the whole 
neighborhood, accuse this man, and condemn another, and 
suspect a third, and speak evil of all. I wish tliiat the 
most of our converse were not taken up this way, in re- 
counting stones of what passed between such and such, 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 423 

when all is to no other end but to bring an evil report 
upon them. Now, if any such backbiters haunt thee, who 
make it their trade to run up and down with tales and 
news, give them no countenance, listen not to their de- 
tractions, but rather sharply rebuke them and silence 
their slanderous tongues; and this will either drive the 
slander from them or the slanderer from thee. "The 
north wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry counte- 
nance a backbiting tongue." Prov. 25 : 23. 

(5.) If you would not be slanderers of others, he not 
self-lovers. For self-love always causeth envy, and envy 
detraction. An envious man cannot endure another's 
praise, and therefore seeketh all he can to blast it by 
false reports and lying slanders, as if all that were de- 
tracted from another were added to his own reputation. 
When his neighbor's fame begins to grow tall and to 
spread about him, he then seeks what he can to cut it 
down, because he thinks it hinders his prospect, and the 
world cannot take so fair a view of him as he desires, 
therefore he is still hewing at it, sometimes with oblique 
and sometimes with direct blows, sometimes striking at 
his talents and sometimes at his piety ; and if he can but 
make these fall in the esteem of the world, then he thinks 
none shall be so much respected and honored as himself. 
A man that is a self-lover thinks all due to himself : all 
praise and commendation must run in his channel, or 
else it takes a wrong course, and he accounts just so much 
taken from him as is ascribed to another, and this puts 
him upon this base art of detraction, that by depressing 
others he may advance himself, and raise the structure of 
his own fame upon the ruins of his neighbor's. Therefore 
if thou wouldst not slander others, be sure do not too 



42f4 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

much admire thyself. For self-applause and self-esteeir. is 
like a pikie in a pond, that will eat up and devour all about 
it, that itself may thrive and grow upon them. 

(6.)i Be not too ready to entertain suspicious and evil 
mnnises against others. For if thou begin to suspect c vil 
of another, the next thing is to conclude it, and the next 
to report it. This suspicion is a strange shadow that 
every action of another will cast upon our minds, espe- 
cially if we be beforehand a little disaffected towards them. 
Thus very dreams increased suspicion against Joseph in 
his brethren. And if once a man be out of esteem with 
us, let him then do what he will, be it never so virtuous 
and commendable, suspicion will still be the interpreter ; 
and where suspicion is the interpreter of men's actions, 
slander and detraction will be the gloss and comrnunt 
upon them. Indeed suspicion is always too hasty in con- 
cluding, and many times our jealousies and distrusts upon 
very small occasions prompt us to conclude that what we 
have thus surmised is certainly come to pass, and so we take 
shadows for enemies, and report that confidently for truth 
which yet we never saw acted but only in our own fancies. 

Now, notwithstanding that this sin of slander and de- 
traction is so great and heinous, yet may it not be justly 
feared that many place their whole religion in it, and 
think themselves so much the better by how much the 
worse they think and report of other men % Do they not 
think it a piece of zeal and warmth for the w^orship and 
service of God, to cry down all as superstitious that do 
not worship him in their way ] Do they not make it, if not 
a part, yet a sign of holiness, to be still finding fault and 
crying out against others ; to be censorious and clamorous ] 
Such a class of men they represent as all lewd and pro- 



NINTH COMMANDMENT.^ 425 

fane, and such a class as all rebellious and hypocrites ; and 
then, to justify their censures, they instance possibly in 
two or three, of whom perhaps they know no more than 
the bare names. 

And what tends all this to but mutual exasperation 1 
Those that do not believe them are exasperated against 
the reporters, and those who do believe them are exas- 
perated against the slandered. 

And as it tends to exasperation, so likewise it encou 
rageth and hardeneth many in their sins. For when they 
hear so much evil blazed abroad in the world, and few or 
none escape wdthout having some foul blot rubbed upon 
them, or infamous crime reported of them whether tnily 
or falsely, how natural that many should think that sin 
and wickedness is no such strange thing, and so embolden 
themselves to commit that which they hear is so common. 

I beseech you therefore, christians, for the peace of 
the church, which else will continue sadly rent and di- 
vided ; for the sake of Christianity, which else will be dis- 
credited and reviled ; for your brethren's sake, who else 
vnll be discouraged or exasperated, be very cautious 
what reports you either receive or make of others. Their 
good name is very precious, precious to God when their 
blameless conversation warrants it, and precious to them- 
selves. However, unless there be absolute necessity, and 
you are constrained to do it for the glory of God and the 
good of others, divulge not their imperfections though 
they be real, and in no case whatever feign or devise false 
rumors concerning them. " Take heed lest, if ye bite and 
devour one another, ye be not consumed one of another," 
and one with another. These are rules to keep you from 
being guilty of slander against others. 



426 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

2. But if any are guilty of raising an ill report against 
you, observe these following rules and directions how you 
ought to demean yourselves in this case. 

(1.) If the reproach they cast on thee be true and deserved, 
though they perhaps have sinned in disclosing it to the 
world, yet make this use of it : go thou and disclose it in 
thy most humble and periitent confessions unto God ; yea, 
and if thou art called thereunto by due form of law, give 
glory unto God by confessing it before men. Men possi- 
bly may upbraid thee with it, but by this course God will 
forgive thee, without upbraiding thee. 

(2.) If thou art falsely charged with that which never 
was in thy heart to do, yet improve this providence to stir 
thee up to pray the more fervently that God woidd for ever 
keep thee from falling into that sin with which others slan- 
der thee : so shall all their reproaches be thrown merely 
into the air, and fall at last heavy on their own heads, 
whilst thou rejoicest in the innocency of thine own soul. 

(3.) If any unjustly slander thee, revenge not thyself upon 
them by slandering them again. I must confess that this 
is a very hard lesson, and requires almost an angelical 
perfection to perform it well. We read in the Epistle of 
St. Jude, that when Michael and the devil contended 
*' about the body of Moses," the holy angel " durst not 
bring a railing accusation " against that wicked sj)irit, but 
only said, *' The Lord rebuke thee." And so, when men 
of devilish spirits spew out their slanders and broach all 
the malicious accusations that their father the great ac- 
cuser hath ever suggested to them, return not slander for 
slander; for so the devil would teach thee to be a devil; 
but with all Quietness and meekness desire of God to re- 
buke their lies and calumnies, and by all wise and pru- 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 427 

dent means vindicate thyself, clear up thine integrity, and 
make it appear that though " the archers have shot at 
thee and sorely giieved thee with their aiTOws, even bit- 
ter vv^ords ;" yet still ** thy bow remaineth in its strength." 
What saith the apostle ] 1 Pet. 3 ; 9, Render not " evil 
for evil, or railing for railing." And indeed whoever dolh 
so seeks only to heal a wound in his name by making a 
much deeper one in his conscience. 

(4.) JVken thou art falsely aspersed and slandered, re- 
fer thyself and appeal to the all-knowing God : retire in- 
to the peace and refuge of thine own conscience, and 
there shalt thou find enough for their confutation and thy 
comfort. 

Know that a good name may be in the power of 
every slanderous tongue to blast ; but they cannot cor- 
rupt thy conscience to vote with them. Possibly, it is 
only the excellence and eminence of thy grace that of- 
fends them : if so, glory in it ; for the reproaches of 
wicked men are the best testimonials that can be given of 
an excellent and singular christian. In a strict and holy 
conversation there is such contradiction to the loose and 
profane of the world, as at once both convinces and vexes 
them, reproves and provokes them. And if thou dost 
thus reproach them by thy life, wonder not at it if they 
again reproach thee by their lying slanders. Be not too 
solicitous how they esteem thee. It is miserable to live 
upon the reports and opinions of others ; let us not much 
reckon what they say, but what reports our own con- 
sciences make ; and if a storm of obloquy and reproaches, 
railings and slanders, do at any time patter upon us, how 
sweet is it to retire inwards to the calm innocency of our 
own hearts ! there are a thousand witnesses which will 



428 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

tell US we have not deserved them. How comfortable is 
it to remit our cause to God, and to leave our vindication 
to him for whose cause we suffer reproach ! Thus Jere- 
miah appeals to God : "I heard the defaming of many — 
Report, say they, and we will report it. But, Lord ot 
hosts, thou that triest the righteous, and seest the reins 
and the heart, unto thee have I opened my csaue." Ch. 
20 : 10, 12. Thus, if whilst wicked men are maliciously 
conspiring how to blot and sully our names, we can but 
keep our consciences clear, what need we much trouble 
ourselves how the wind blows abroad, since we are har- 
bored under the retreat of a peaceable heart 1 They m.ay 
possibly persuade others to believe their calumnies ; but 
God, who searcheth the heart and conscience, knows that 
we are injured ; and he is hastening on a day wherein he 
will clear up our righteousness ; and then the testimony 
of a good conscience shall put ten thousand slanderers to 
silence. — Thus I have spoken of this sin, slander and de- 
traction. 

The third sin against this commandment is base flat- 
tery, which is a quite opposite extreme to the other, as 
both are opposite to truth. There is either sel f -flattery ^ 
QX x}iiQ flattering of others. 

1. There is a selfflattery. And indeed every man is, 
as Plutarch well observed, his own greatest flatterer. 
However empty and defective we may be, yet we are all 
apt to love ourselves, perhaps without a rival, and to be 
puffed up with a vain conceit of our own imaginary per- 
fections, to applaud and commend ourselves in our own 
thoughts and fancies, and to think that we excel all others 
in what we have, and what we have not we despise as 
nothing worth. From this abundance of a vain heart 



NINTH COMMANDMENT. 429 

break out arrogant boastings of ourselves, contemning of 
others, and a presumptuous intruding ourselves into those 
employments and functions which vv^e are no way able to 
manage. Leara, therefore, O christian, to take the just 
measure of thyself. Let it not be too scanty, for that will 
make thee pusillanimous and cowardly, and through an 
extreme of modesty render thee unserviceable to God 
and the world. But rather let it be too scanty than too 
large, for this will make thee proud, arrogant and as- 
suming ; and by exercising thyself in things too high for 
thee, thou wilt but spoil whatsoever thou dost rashly and 
overweeningly venture upon. If thou art at any time 
called or necessitated to speak of thyself, let it rather be 
less than the truth than more ; for the tongue is of itself 
•very apt to be lavish when it hath so sweet and pleasuig 
a theme as a man's own praise. Take the advice of So- 
lomon : " Let another man praise thee, and not thine 
own mouth ; a stranger, and not thine own lips." Pro v. 
21 : 2. 

2. There is a sinful fiatteriiig of others, and that either 
by an immoderate extolling of their virtues, or what is 
worse, by a wicked commendation even of their very 
vices. This is a sin most odious to God, who hath threat- 
ened to ** cut off all flattering lips." Psalm 12 : 3. But es- 
pecially it is most detestable in ministers, whose very office 
and function it is to reprove men for their sins, if they 
shall " daub with untempered mortar," and ** sew pillows 
under men's elbows," crying " Peace, peace, when there 
is no peace to the wicked," only that they may lull them 
asleep in their secunty ; they do but betray their souls, 
and the blood of them God will certainly require at theii 
hands. i,uo(j Vi« ao^ 



THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. 



Thou shnlt not covet thy neig^hhor's house: thou shalt not 
covet thy uei£;hbor*8 wife; no.- his itiau-servaut, ikor his 
maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that 
is tlty neighbor's. 



Thus are we at last, through the Divine assistance, ar- 
lived to the tenth and last precept of the moral law. 

Indeed the papists, and after them some protestants-, 
divide it into two, making these words, thou shalt not covet 
thy neighbor's wife, to be one entire command ; and then 
putting together the other branches of it, thou shalt not 
covet thy neighbor's house, nor his servant, &c. to piece up 
the last. And then, withal, to keep the number of the 
commandments from swelling beyond a decalogue, or ten 
words, some join the first and second together into one ; 
and the papists, in propounding the commandments to the 
people, wholly leave out the second, fearing they may be 
corrupted by hearing it, because it speaks too boldly 
against their idolatry and image-worship. 

But how infinitely rash is it for vile wretches either to 
invert or defalcate, and as it were to decimate the laws 
of the gi-eat God, by the which they and all their actions 
must be judged at the last day ! 

And certainly were it not that they might the better 
conceal from the ignorant common people the dangerous 



TENTH COMMANDMENT. 431 

and heretical words of the second commandment, they 
could have lain under no temptation at all to do a thing 
alton:ether so unreasonable as the dividing of this tenth 
commandment into two ; for on the same ground might 
they as well have divided it into seven, since there are 
many more concupiscences mentioned in it than that 
of our neisrhbor's wife and of his house. And if each of 

o 

these must constitute a distinct precept, why not also, 
thou shall not covet his man-servant : thou shalt not covet 
his ox, &c. 

Besides, the order of the words makes clearly against 
them. For whereas they make, thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor's wife to be the ninth, in the text those words, 
thou shalt not covet thy 7teighhor's house go before them, 
so that either they must needs confess it to belong to the 
tenth, or else must grant a most unintelligible hyperba- 
ton both of sense and words, such as would bring in 
utter confusion and disorder amongst those laws which 
God certainly prescribed us in a most admirable method 
and disposition. 

But to speak no more of this, I shall first consider tlie 
sin here prohibited, and then close up with some 'practical 
use and impi-ovement. 

I. The sin here prohibited is concupiscence, or an 
: unlavidful lusting after what is another man's. 

For since God had in the other commandments for- 
bidden the acts of sin against our neighbor, he well knew 
that the best means to keep men from committing sin in 
act would be to keep them from desinng it in heart ; and 
therefore he who is a Spirit imposeth a law on our spirits, 
and forbids us to covet what before he had forbidden us to 



432 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. ^ 

perpetrate. It is true that other precepts are spiritual 
likewise, and their authority reacheth to the mind and 
the most secret thoughts and imaginations of the 
heart; for our Savior, Mat. 5, accuseth him of adul 
tery that doth but lust after a woman, and him of mur- 
der that is but angry with his brother without a cause ; 
and it is a most certain rule, that whatever precept pro- 
hibits the outward act of any sin, prohibits likewise the 
inward propension and desires of the soul towards it. 
But because these are not plainly and literally expressed 
in the former commands, therefore the infinite wisdom of 
God thought it fit to add this last command, wherein he 
doth expressly arraign and condemn the very first mo- 
tions of our hearts towards any sinful object ; and where- 
as, before he had commanded us not to kill, not to steal, 
not to commit adultery, not to slander and bear false wit- 
ness ; now in the last place, for the greater security that 
these his laws should not be violated, he commands us 
not so much as to harhor in our hearts any desire to- 
wards these. So that this tenth commandment may well 
be called Vinculuin Legis, the bond of the whole laio ; and 
it is especially the bond that strengthens and confirms the 
second table ; for because all our outward actions tak^ 
iheir first rise from our inward motions and concupis- 
cence, there is no such way to provide for our innocency 
as to lay a check and restraint upon these. 

Concupiscence is sometimes taken in Scripture in a good 
sense, but more often in an evil. There is an honest and 
lawful concupiscence, when we desire those things which 
are lawful, to which we have right, and of which we have 
need. There is likewise a holy and pious, and a wicked and 
sinful concupiscence. We have both together, Gal. 5 : 17, 



TENTH COMMANDMENT. 433 

** The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
the flesh." 

It is only concerning this sinful concupiscence that we 
are at present to speak. This evil concupiscence is the 
first-born of original sin ; the first essay and expression of 
that corruption which hath seized on us and on all the 
wretched posterity of Adam. For in original sin, besides 
the guilt which results from the imputation of the primi- 
tive transgression to us, and makes us liable to eternal 
death, there is likewise an universal depravation of our 
natures, consisting, first, in a loss of those spiritual perfec- 
tions wherewith man was endowed in his creation, which is 
the defacing of the image of God stamped on our nature 
in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness ; and se- 
condly, and consequent upon this, in a violent propension 
a7id. inclination to whatsoever is really evil and contrary to 
the holy will and commands of God, and this is the image 
of the devil, into which man, by his voluntary apostasy 
and defection, hath transformed himself. \~ ■ ■ . ^ • 

This inordinate i?iclination of the soul to what is evil and 
sinful is properly the cmicwpiscence forbidden in this com- 
mandment. For the soul of man being an active and busy 
creature, must still be putting forth itself in actions suita- 
ble to its nature. Before the fall man enjoyed supernatu- 
ral grace, though in a natural way ; which enabled him to 
point every motion of his soul towards God, and to fix 
him as the object and end of all his actions ; but, forfeit- 
ing this gi'ace by the fall, and being left in the hands of 
mere nature, all his actiolis now, instead of aspiring to 
God, pitch only on the creature. And this becomes sin to 
us, not merely because we affect and desire created good, 
ipT that is lawfiil, but because we affect and desire it in 

Ten Com. ^ ig 



434 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

an inordinate manner, that is, without affecting and desir- 
ing God. And thus the soul not being able, without grace 
and the image of God, to raise its operations to God, 
pitched upon low, sinful objects, to the neglect and slight- 
ing of God and the great concerns of heaven. This is, in 
the general, that inordinate disposition of the soul which 
is here called coveting or concupiscence. , ,/ < *- . 

There are^wr degrees of this sinful concupiscence. 

1. There is the motus primo primi, or the first film and 
shadow of an evil thought, the imperfect embryo of a sin 
before it is well shaped in us or hath received any linea- 
ments and features. And these the Scripture calls the 
imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts. Gen. 6 : 5, 
" God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man's 
heart was only evil continually :" that is, the very first 
figment and flushing of our thoughts is evil and corrupt. 
Indeed, some of these are injected by the devil. Many 
times he assaults the dearest of God's children with hor- 
rid temptations, and importunately casts into their minds 
strange thoughts of questioning the very being of God, 
the truth of the Scriptures, the immortality of the soul, 
future rewards and punishments, and such other blas> 
phemous, hideous and unshapen monsters, against the 
very fundamentals of religion, for the truth of which they 
would willingly sacrifice their very lives as a testimony to 
them. These indeed are not their sins, although they are 
their great troubles and afflictions ; for they come only 
from a principle without them, and they are merely pas- 
sive and sufferers by them, so long as they are watchful 
to abhor and resist them, and to cast these fiery darts ot 
the devil back again into his face. But then there are 
other first motions arising in onr_ hearts towaids those 



1 



41. TENTH COMMANDMENT. 435 

sins which are more delightful and pleasant to our sensual 
inclinations : these, whatsoever the papists say to the con- 
trary, as soon as ever they do but begin to heave and stir 
in our bi easts, are truly sins, and do in their measure 
pollute an I defile the soul ; for the soul of man is like a 
clear mirror, upon which if you only breathe you sully 
it and leave a dimness upon it. So truly, the very first 
breathings of an evil thought and desire in our souls do 
sully their beauty and dim their lustre, and render the 
image of God less conspicuous in them than it was 
before. 

2. A farther degree of this concupiscence is, when 
these evil motions are entertained in the sensual mind with 
some measure of complacency and delight. 

When a sinful object offers itself to a carnal heart, 
there is a kind of inward pleasing titillation that affects 
it with delight, and begets a kind of sympathy between 
them. As in natural sympathies a man is taken and de- 
lighted with an object before he knows the reason why 
he is so J so likewise in this sinful sympathy between a 
carnal heart and a sensual object, the heait is taken and 
delighted with it before it hath had time to consider what 
there is in it that should so move and affect it. At the 
very first sight and glimpse of a person we many times 
find that we conceive some more particular respect for 
him than possibly for a whole crowd of others, though all 
may be equally unknov^oi to us ; so on the very first 
glimpse and apparition of a sinful thought in our minds, 
we find that there is something in it that commands a 
particular regard from us, that unbosoms and unlocks 
our very souls to it, even before we have the leisure to 
examine why. 



436 - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

3. Hereupon follows assent and approbation jf the sin 
in the practical judgment, which, being blinded and for- 
cibly carried away by the violence of coiTupt and caraal 
affections, commends the sin to the executive faculties. 

The understanding is the great trier of every deliberate 
action, so that nothing passeth into act which hath not 
first passed examination and censure there ; whether this 
or that action is to be done is the great question canvass- 
ed in this court, and all the powers and faculties of the 
soul wait what definitive sentence will be here pronounc- 
ed, and so accordingly proceed. Now here two things 
do usually appear and put in their plea to the judg- 
ment against sin ; God's law, and God's advocate, con- 
science J the law condemns, and conscience cites that 
law. But then the affections step in and bribe the judge 
with profit, or pleasure, or honor, and thereby corrupt 
the judgment to give its vote and assent unto sin. 

4. When any sinful motion hath thus gotten an allow- 
ance and pass from the judgment, then it betakes itself to 
the will for a decree. The judgment approves it, and there- 
fore the will must now resolve to commit it, and then the 
sin is fully perfected and formed within, and there wantd 
nothing but opportunity to bring it forth into act. 

Thus you see what this concupiscence is, and the de- 
grees of it, viz. the first bubblings up of evil thoughts in 
our hearts, our complacency and delight in them, (as in- 
deed it is very hard and much against corrupt nature 
not to love these first-born of our souls,) the assent and 
allowance of our judgment, and the decree and resolution 
of our wills. Each of these is forbidden in this com- 
mandment. 

But if the sin proceeds any further, it then exceeds tht» 



TENTH COMMANDMENT. 437 

bounds and limits of this commandment, and falls under 
the prohibition of some of the former, which forbid the 
outward acts of sin. 

Thus much concerning evil concupiscence in the ge- 
neral. 

But here is mention likewise made of several particu- 
lar objects of it : thy neighhor's house, his vnfe, his ser- 
vants, his cattle, (under which are comprehended all sorts 
of his possessions,) and all is included under the last 
clause, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. So that, to 
desire to take from him either his life, or his good name, 
or his virtue, is this condemned covetousness ; as well as 
a desire to take from him his temporal possessions and 
enjoyments. 

II. I shall close all with some practical use and 

IMPROVEMENT. 

1. Learn here to adore the unlimited and boundless so- 
vereignty of the great God. 

His authority immediately reacheth to the very soul 
and conscience, and lays an obligation on our very 
thoughts and desires, which no- human laws can do. It 
is but a folly for men to intermeddle with or impose 
laws upon that of which they can take no cognizance, 
and therefore our thoughts and desires are free from 
their censure any farther than they discover themselves 
bv overt acts. But though they escape the commands 
and notice of men, yet they cannot escape God. He sceth 
not as men see, neither judgeth he as men judge : the se- 
crets of all hearts are open and bare before his eyes : ho 
looks through our very souls, and there is not the least 

hint of a thought, not the least breath of a desire stirring 

19* 



438 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

in us but it is more distinctly visible to him than the 
most opake bodies are unto us. " The Lord knoweth 
the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." Ps. 94 : 11. 
And therefore his law, like his knowledge, reaches unto 
the most secret recesses of the soul, searches every comer 
of the heart, judges and condemns those callow lusts 
which men never espy ; and if these find harbor and 
shelter there, condemns thee as a transgressor, and guilty 
of eternal death, how plausible soever thy external de- 
meanor may be. Wherefore, 

2. Content not thyself with an outward conformity to 
the latv, hut labor to approve thy heart in sincerity and 
purity unto God : otherwise thou art but a pharisaical 
hypocrite, and washest only the outside of the cup, when 
within thou art still full of unclean lusts. 

This was the corrupt doctrine of the scribes and phari- 
sees, that the law reached only to the outward man ; and 
although we entertained and cherished wicked desires 
and evil purposes in our hearts, yet so long as they did 
not break forth into outward crimes, they were not to be 
imputed unto us, nor did God account them as sins. And 
this St. Paul confesseth of himself, that whilst he was 
trained up in pharisaical principles, he did not under- 
stand the inward motions of lusts to be sins. 

But, alas, this is but gilding over a dry and rotten post, 
which, though it may look beautiful to men, yet, when God 
comes to examine it, will not abide the fiery trial. Thou 
art as truly a murderer, a thief, an adulterer in God's 
sight, if thou dost but harbor bloody, unclean, unjust 
thoughts in thy heart, as thou wouldst be in men's if 
thou shouldst actually kill, or steal, or wallow in the 
open and professed acts of uncleanness. 



TENTH COMMANDMENT. 439 

Indeed, most men do herein grossly delude themselves, 
and if they can but refrain from the outward commission 
of gross and scandalous sins, they very seldom reflect on 
their heart-lusts, which, like deep ulcers, rankle inwardly, 
and perhaps grow incurable, when all the while they 
may be skimmed over with a fair and inoffensive life. 
Although the heart estuate and boil over vdth malicious, 
revengeful, lascivious thoughts, yet they usually dispense 
with these, and their natural conscience indulgeth them 
without disturbance. 

But deceive not yourselves — God is not mocked, 
nor can he be imposed upon by external shows, nei- 
ther will he judge of thee as others do, or as thou thy- 
self dost. 

I know it is a very difficult thing to convince men of 
the great evil that there is in sinful thoughts and desires, 
and therefore very difficult to persuade them to labor 
agamst them; for because they do not openly obtrude 
themselves, therefore men think they carry in them 
but small guilt and little danger. Every man that hath 
but a remnant of conscience left him will beware of 
gross and notorious crimes, that carry the mark of hell 
and damnation visibly stamped upon their foreheads, 
such as he that can without reluctance commit them, 
must needs own himself for the apparent offspring of 
the devil. But for " an invisible thought, a notion, a de- 
sire, a thing next to nothing — this certainly I may 
please myself withal, for this can hurt no one. By a 
malicious purpose I wrong no man, by a covetous de- 
sire I extort from no man, and what so great evil then 
can there be in this ?" 



UO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

It is true, indeed, wert thou only to deal with men, 
w^hora immaterial things touch not, there were no such 
great evil in them ; but when thou hast likewise to do 
»vith an immaterial and spiritual God, before whom thy 
very thoughts and desires appear as substantial and con- 
iiderable as thy outward actions, then know that these 
fall under his censure here, and will fall under his re- 
venge hereafter. 

Now were this persuasion effectually wrought into the 
minds of men, is it possible they could indulge them- 
selves as they do in vain, frothy, unclean, malicious 
thoughts and desires "? Is it possible they could so close- 
ly brood on these cockatrice eggs which will bring forth 
Tiothing but serpents to sting them to eternal death] 
IS it possible they could delight in rolling and tossing 
a sin to and fro in their fancy, and by imagining it, 
make the devil some recompense for not daring to 
commit it 1 Certainly such men are altogether unac- 
quainted with the life and power of true grace, when 
those sins which they dare not act, yet they dare with 
pleasure contemplate and dally with in their fancies and 
imaginations. 

Turn therefore your eyes inwards. Bewail and strive 
against that natural concupiscence which lodgeth there, 
and never content thyself that thou hast dammed up the 
streams of thy corruption from overflowing thy life and 
actions, till thou hast in some good measure dried up 
the fountain of it. 

3. See here the best and the surest method to keep us 
from the outward violation of God's laws, which is to 
mortify our corrupt concupiscence and desires. 



TENTH COMMANDMENT. 441 

And therefore, as 1 told you, the wisdom of God hath 
set this commandment in the last place, as a fence and 
guard to all the rest. Thou shall not covet, and then cer- 
tainly thou shall not hilly nor steal, nor commit adultery, 
nor hear false witness, but be kept pure from all out- 
ward defilements of the flesh when thou art thus cleansed 
from the inward defilements of the spirit. 

For from these it is that all the more visible sins of 
our lives and actions have their supply. Therefore saith 
our Savior, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies." Mat. 15 : 19. Observe that he puts evil 
thoughts in the front, as the leader of all this black regi- 
ment ; for out of this evil treasure of the heart men bring 
forth evil things ; and all the fruits of the flesh, the grapes 
of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah, receive their sap 
and nourishment from this root of bitterness. 

It ought therefore most deservedly to be the great and 
chief care of every christian to lay the axe to this root, to 
purge and heal this fountain that sends forth such corrupt 
and poisonous streams, to keep his heart clean from sinfiil 
thoughts and affections, and then his life will be clean by 
consequence. And therefore God very pressingly re- 
quires this, Jer. 4 : 14, " O Jerusalem, wash thy heart 
from wickedness — how long shall vain thoughts lodge 
within thee *?" 

And let me add, that unless we make this our chief 
care, unless we do most solicitously observe this last 
commandment, all our care in observing the former 
commands will be utterly in vain, not only in respect to 
our acceptance and reward with God, but as to any 



442 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

good issue and effect. All other endeavors will be as 
hopeless as to attempt the cure of an ulcerous body with- 
out purging it, where the corruption will quickly break 
forth again; or to attempt the emptying of a pond that 
hath many springs still rising up in the bottom of it, 
which will soon grow as full as ever it was. 



THB END. 



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