from Ius Noachidarum not from that of the Hebrews which required Exod. 22. 1. Five-fold Four-fold or Double restitution to be made If the Person convict were not able to give the satisfaction required he was by Sentence pronounced in Court adjudged to servitude of the Actor or Plaintiff until his Service should equal the Price of the Theft but the restitution Double Quadruple or Quintuple was to be expected from his more Prosperous Fortune after his Servitude Nor was a Woman sold for her Theft Neither was a Man convict of Theft adjudged in Servitude to a Proselyte whether of Iustice or of the House much less to a Gentile but only to an Hebrew who was Obliged to give Food Raiment and a House not only to him but to his Wife and Children too who notwithstanding were not the Masters Servants but when the Husbands and Fathers Servitude was ended went away with him And all this by Virtue of that Law in Exod. 21. 3. To an Hebrew Servant Adjudged by Sentence of Court who had by a lawful Wife fulfill'd the Command of Multiplication it was permitted to have Carnal Conversation with a Maid-Servant that was a Canaanite that the Master might be enriched by the Children born of her provided he were not kept apart from his Legitimate Wife and Children and that but one Maid-Servant were Conjoin'd to one Man-Servant not to two or more Other causes of Servitude there were also among the Hebrews If thy Brother Compell'd by Poverty shall sell himself to thee c. Levit. 25. 39. If any shall have sold his Daughter for a Servant c. Exod. 21. 7. These Addictions or Sales were not permitted but in Case of extream Poverty when the Seller had nothing left not so much as a Garment and that his life was to be sustain'd by the Price agreed on This selling of a Daughter is understood only of a Minor nor without hope of her Marriage to the Emptor or to his Son without Espousals she obtain'd her Liberty Gratis when first the Signs of Puberty appear'd upon her Also an Hebrew was made a Servant Privately that by his Addiction or Sale he might not lose his Dignity together with his Liberty Now from this Permission of an Israelite reduced to extream want to sell himself or his Child for Sustenance lest he should die of Hunger it is sufficiently manifest that from the very Law of Nature obtaining among the Hebrews it was not Lawful to steal for even the greatest necessity To exercise Vsury was more than once forbidden by the Hebrew Law and the Lender upon Vsury was compell'd by sentence of Court to restore to the Debtor what he had receiv'd for the Loan of Mony as a thing taken away by stealth Deut. 23. 20. To a Stranger thou maist lend upon Vsury to thy Brother thou shalt not lend upon Vsury To steal the Goods of a Gentile was no less unlawful than to steal from an Israelite but to take Usury of a Gentile was permitted of which the Contract arises from the Consent as well of the Receiver as of the Giver For neither from Natural Right was it unlawful to lend upon Usury By the Statutes of their Fore-Fathers as Mr. Selden de Iure Nat. Gent. lib. 6. c. 11. delivers an Hebrew was guilty of Theft who made any Gain to himself by Playing at Dice Cockal Tables or committing Wild or Tame Beasts or Fowls to fight together to make sport for the Spectators For they judged no Gain to be honest that arose from a Contract depending upon Fortune But it was not Theft if a Iew contending with a Gentile won the Prize or Wager tho' that also as a thing Inutile or Unprofitable to Humane Society were prohibited By the same Ancient Right he also was a Thief who so bred up and taught Doves or other Birds or Beasts Wild or Tame as that they should fly or go abroad and alluring or decoying others of the same kind bring them home to the gain of their Owner nor was it lawful to go a Fowling after Pigeons in a place inhabited or within Four Miles thereof because Pigeons were reckoned among the Goods of other Men and were nourished by the Owners either for Sacrifices or for food Nor was it lawful for any man to build a Dove-House in his Field unless he had Ground of his own lying round about it of Fifty Cubits extent every way CHAP. IX The sixth Precept Of Judgments or Administration of Iustice in Courts of Iudicature and of Civil Obedience FRom this Natural Precept the Masters saith Maimonides Hal. Melak c. 9. acknowledge that the Rulers ought to Constitute Judges and Prefects in every City and Town both to judge all Causes pertaining to the Six Precepts of the Sons of Noah and to admonish the People of their observation of them And so indeed the Mosaic Law also at length commanded Deut. 16. 18. Iudges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates c. In many other places also Juridical Prefectures are commanded to be constituted according as the Civil Societies of Men require Many and memorable things indeed hath that most Excellent Interpreter of Eastern Antiquities Mr. Selden written of the Councils or Assemblies of the Ancient Hebrews in that interval of time that preceded the giving of the Holy Law on Mount Sinai But to me I confess it doth not from thence appear that any one of the Patriarchs before Moses exercised Jurisdiction in Foro in Court much less constituted Juridical Prefectures in Cities and Towns The Family of the Hebrews descending from Sem to Abraham lived in Mesopotamia nor is it constant from the Scripture whether it were at that time sui Iuris or under the Laws of the Neighbour Nations The Grand-Children of Abraham were toss'd to and fro in continual Peregrination until at length they sate down in Egypt where they were so far from living by Laws and Customs of their own that they groan'd long under a most cruel Servitude Common-wealth of Hebrews there was none Tribunal or Court of Judicature they had none till after their deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage Then and not till then it was that the People of God being greatly multiplied and divided into Twelve Tribes the Precept concerning Judgments was given in Mara Exod. 18. 25. Among the Traditions of the Masters we find mention'd often the House of Iudgment of Methusalem also of Sem and Eber which yet are not to be taken for Juridical Prefectures but for Schools Witness Maimonides More Neboch part 2. c. 39. Who saith The Wise Men speak of the Prophets that were before Moses the House of Judgment of Eber the House of Judgment of Methusalem that is the School of Methusalem All those were Prophets and taught Men after the manner of Preachers or Doctors Nor is it otherwise said of Abraham Gen. 18. 19. I know him that he will command his Children and Houshold after him and they
whom they pleased before the Law 10. The Right of Divorce instituted by Moses 11. Polygamy permitted to the Hebrews both before and after the Law 12. The Hebrews not permitted to lie or marry with Gentiles not Proselytes 13. Eunuchs Bastards excluded from Matrimony with Israelites 14. The Right of Proselytes and Libertines 15. The Maid-Servant not permitted to Marry before she was made absolutely Free by Redemption or Manumission 16. Nor the Man-Servant until the Christians gave them jus Conjugii Article 1. Theft Interdicted among the Egyptians whose Singular Law concerning Robbery is recited 2. Theft of what kind soever forbidden also to the Sons of Noah by Law Natural and 3. By the Mosaic to the Hebrews 4. Fraudulent removing of ancient Land-marks Theft 5. Punishment of various frauds among the Egyptians 6. All fraud even in words unlawful to the Hebrews 7. The difference betwixt the Right of an Hebrew and of a Gentile as to pilfering things of small Value 8. Satisfaction for damage always to be made by the Mosaic Law and to whom 9. The Law of restoring things lost explicated 10. An unequal Price unlawful 11. Punishment of Theft Capital not from the Law of the Hebrews but from that given to the Sons of Noah 21 The Mosaic Interdict of Theft deduced from Law Natural 13. Vsury unlawful to the Hebrews among themselves lawful to the Gentiles 14. Gain from Games unlawful to an Hebrew Artic. 1. The administration of Justice by Iudges prescribed first by Natural Law after by the Mosaic 2. Courts Iuridical not constituted before Moses 3. The contrary not evident from the Traditions of the Rabbins nor from the Scripture 4. Nor from the Example of Simeon and Levi and of Iudah in the cause of Thamar 5. The Right of a Gentile in the Common-wealth of the Hebrews as to Judgments in foro Article 1. Eating of Blood Interdicted first to Noah and after to the Israelites 2. The reason of this Interdict 3. The Law against eating of any thing that died of it self and of any Member torn off from an Animal alive and the reason thereof 4. Examples of such cruelty carnage in Bacchanals Article 1. The Mosaic Law of all written Laws the most ancient 2. Moses the Wisest of all Law-givers 3. The Writers design method in the eâ—suing explication of the Decalogue 4. Why God is here call'd The Lord. 5. That the Law was given not immediately by God Himself but by an Angel in the Name of God 6. Why the Angel that pronounced the Law said I am the Lord c. 7. Why the Writer of the Law saith all these Words 8. God's peculiar Right to the Title of Supream Lord of the Israelites 9. The Preface to a Law ought to be brief and full of Authority 10. Why God in these Precept chose the number Ten. 11. Why the Law was given in the Wilderness 12. Why it is here said Thy in the singular number Article 1. Why it is here said Other Gods beside me 2. Gods distinguish'd into two Classes 3. The Celestial Luminaries the first false Gods 4. Kings and Queens deified after death the Second false Gods 5. Whence it was that Brutes came to be worship'd as Gods 6. Honor due to good Angels and what 7. Signs of honour proper to God not to be exhibited to good Angels 8. Civil Veneration of Kings not unlawful 9. Extirpation of Polytheism the principal design of this Precept 10. The Unity of God manifest by the Light of Nature Article 1. In what sense the word Idol is always used in holy Scripture 2. That Idolatry was founded upon an opinion that Images Magically consecrate were animated by Daemons and therefore vocal 3. Teraphim used chiefly for Divination 4. Teraphim how made 5. Of what Materials 6. What were the Silver Shrines of Diana of the Ephesians 7. Why graven Images of Animals were by God interdicted to the Hebrews 8. That God reserv'd to himself a right of exception to this Law from the Instances of the Cherubims and of the Brazen Serpent Erected by His Command 9. Images of the Stars also interdicted by this precept and that to prevent Polytheism 10. to admonish men That the Invisible God cannot be represented by Images 11. What Pictures fall under this interdict 12. That the Christians have not thought themselves indeterminately obliged by this Law 13. What is here signified by Adoration of Images 14. Different Opinions of Christians about honour exhibited to Saints before their Images Pictures 15. The true sense of the Word Idolatry 16. Private Men among Christians ought not to pull down Idols * 17. That God revenges Idolatry only to the third and fourth Generation and that by delivering up the Posterity of Idolaters into miserable Servitude 18. Who are properly said to hate God 19. Why God is here said to shew mercy unto Thousands 20. Who are by God call'd Pious and who Righteous Men. Article 1. Why it is here said the Name of the Lord not my Name * 2. Perjury interdicted chiefly by this Precept and 3. Threatned to be severely punish'd by God Himself 4. The Sanctity of an Oath 5. Why God threatneth to revenge Perjury by Punishments inflicted by Himself Article 1. The precept of keeping holy the Sabbath distinguish'd from the precept of resting from Labour upon the Sabbath as by the causes so also by the times 2. The different interpretations of Grotius and Selden of the word Remember reconciled 3. Testimonies of the Sabbath observ'd anciently by Gentiles also 4. Why the primitive Christians held their Assemblies upon the Sabbath day 5 The Lords day not Surrogated into the place of the Sabbath 6. why the Greeks and Latins use the word Sabbata not Sabbatum 7. Labour upon Six days of the Week not commanded but only permitted 8. Why God fixed the Sabbath upon the Seventh day 9. Why he by many words inculcated this Precept 10. Who are to be understood here by Thy Son and thy Daughter 11. Humanity of Masters towards Servants here intimated 12. Some goodness and mercy to be exercised also toward Brutes by this Precept 13. Who is here meant by The Stranger that is within thy gates * 14. Why the Stranger was by this Law obliged to abstain from Labour upon the Sabbath 15. Why God made the Universe in Six days 16. What is to be understood by His resting upon the Seventh day * 17. How the true Seventh or Sabbatical day was first made known to the Hebrews 18. The honour of the number Seven deriv'd from the Aegyptian Mathematicians 19. The Septenary number of days observ'd by Gentiles in their Feasts 20. The Number Seven of solemn respect in the Mosaic Rites in other Mysteries 21. The weekly Circle of Days deriv'd by the Aegyptian Astrologers from the Seven Planets 22. Bede's reason why in the planetary denomination of the Seven days of the week the natural order of the Planets was not observ'd 23. Why Saturn was made Lord of the Seventh day 24. The Antiquity of the planetary denomination of the Seven days and conclusion of this chapter Article 1. That this Precept was anciently observed by the Egyptians the Pythagoreans and 2. the Athenians 3. Honour and reverence given by the Egyptians even to the dead bodies of their Parents 4. Other Nations also honour'd Parents 5. Excellency and usefulness of this Law 6. The right of Mothers to honour and reverence from their Children 7. Children by this Law obliged to relieve their Parents in want 8. Longaevity the reward of filial reverence 9. The Penalty added to this Law Article 1. Murder a Crime against God Nature and Civil Laws 2. Exempts from this Law Article 1. Theft injurious to private Men and hurtful to the Public * 2. The necessity and utility of this interdict 3. Theft of a Man capital among the Hebrews Article 1. Who is here to be understood by Neighbour 2. The form of Adjuration used by the Hebrew Judges to Witnesses and to the Accused 3. False Testimony a hainous Crime 4. The Punishment of a False Witness among the Hebrews Article 1. What is here meant by Concupiscence according to the interpretation of the Hebrew Masters 2. Acts indirectly tending to the gratification of lusts interdicted by this Precept 3. As also the simple purpose to fulfil them 4. Concupiscence without effect no Sin according to the judgment of the Rabbins 5. But condemn'd by the Christians who are obliged to purity of mind 6. Not to covet any thing that belongs to another the Sum of all Moral Precepts
THE HARMONY OF Natural and Positive Divine Laws Chrysostom ad Demetrium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quòd praeceptis non creditur ex inertia ad implenda quae praecepta sunt venit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deo parere non libertate tantùm sed regno praestantius est Philo Lib. de Regno LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1682. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER FOrtune though beyond my merit and beside my expectation so propitious as to give me not only the liberty of reading the Original Manuscript of this Compendious Treatise but also a right of adjudging it either to perpetual Darkness in my Cabinet or to publick Light as I should think convenient hath yet been so reserv'd or sullen as to deny me the knowledge of the Author's Name and Quality as if it were favour great enough that she entrusted me to dispose of anothers Treasure without understanding from whom she had receiv'd it or as if she design'd to make Trial of my Faith whether I would lay claim to what seem'd to want an owner But this her Caprichio as it hath not deterr'd me from divulging so ought it not to discourage you Candid Reader from seriously perusing this Manual For 't is an ancient and wise saying of a Philosopher Non tam quis dixerit refert quam quid dictum sit and if the Book be good enough to commend it self what can it concern you or me to be inquisitive who Compos'd it if not certainly no Name how much soever celebrated can defend it from neglect and Contempt Besides when we remain ignorant upon whom to fix the blame of our Frustrations commonly that Ignorance turns to our advantage by mitigating our Resentments and keeping our displeasure from transgressing the limits of Humanity and Moderation This I speak neither out of dislike of that Natural Curiosity by which all Men are led to search into things conceal'd nor from vain hope to restrain you from using the liberty of Conjecturing that is equally common to all but only from good Manners which forbid us to pry into the Secrets of another chiefly of him who judges the Communication of them to be unsafe to himself and no way useful to us If therefore our Author duly conscious to himself of Human Frailty and diffident of his own Learning and judgment fears to come upon the Stage in this Censorious Age wherein the Illiterate blush not to condemn the Knowing we are at once to acknowledge his Modesty and commend his Prudence not to envy him the Privacy he affects And this is enough for me to say and for you to know concerning him As for my self If I from good will to all Mankind desire to make Common to that benefit which seems have been at first intended to be inclosed and kept peculiar I neither invade the Authors propriety nor abuse the freedom permitted to me but charitably dispense to many the Wealth I might have kept intirely to my self And this too following the Writers example I choose to do unknown that my Charity may be exempt from all suspition of Ostentation and that I may prevent all thanks of those that take it in good part So that in fine all I ask of you is that you would freely enjoy the pleasure of his Studies and of my benevolence without thinking your self obliged to either without perturbing the quiet we both hope from our belov'd obscurity This Good Reader you cannot with Equity deny to Men who leaving to Censure the Liberty wherein chiefly it delights do by concealing the more expose themselves It remains only that I add a short Advertisement concerning the Book it self of the good reception whereof by the Learned and the Iudicious I am not a little Solicitous and from whose Fate I may learn how rightly to estimate the small Judgment I have in Discourses of this kind Permit me therefore to inform you That it was Written by the Author to no other end but to confirm his Faith by inquiring into the Reasonableness and Purity of it and to augment his Piety toward God In a Word That he might offer to the Divine Majesty not the Sacrifice of Fools but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worship consentaneous to right Reason as appears from the laudible Profession he makes in the Fifth Article of the Second Chapter of the First Part and from the plainness and simplicity of the Stile such as serious Men use when they commit to Writing their Collections and Remarks for their own private use and what is yet more convincing from the Scope of the whole Disquisition The Design then you will I presume acknowledge to be good worthy a Philosopher and a Christian. And if he hath pursued it so far as to satisfie his own Reason why may not I hope from the same Cause the like good effect also in the Minds of others From this and only this hope it is that I permit this Compendium of Natural and Positive Divine Laws to see the Publick Light If my hope be by wiser Heads found to stand upon an infirm Basis the charity of my intention may at least excuse if not expiate the Error of my understanding THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART CHAP. I. Of Right and Law in general Pag. 1. II. God's Right to Soveraign Dominion over all things in the World 10 III. Of the Precepts of the Sons of Noah in general 18. IV. Of Extraneous Worshipor Idolatry 21 V. Of Malediction of the Most Holy Name or Blasphemy 28 VI. Of shedding Blood or Homicide 32 VII Of uncovering Nakedness or unlawful Copulation 40 VIII Of Theft or Rapine 54 IX Of Iudgments or the Administration of Iustice in Courts of Iudicature and of Civil Obedience 65 X. Prints of the Six precedent Natural Precepts found in the Book of Job 73 XI Of not eating any member of an Animal alive 76 OF THE SECOND PART CHAP. I. The Preface to the Decalogue Explained Page 81 II. The First Precept Explicated 96 III. The Second Precept Explicated 111 IV. The Third Precept Explicated 143 V. The Fourth Precept Explicated 148 VI. The Fifth Precept Explicated 172 VII The Sixth Precept Explicated 181 VIII The Seventh Precept Explicated 185 IX The Eighth Precept Explicated 187 X. The Ninth Precept Explicated 189 XI The Tenth Precept Explicated 193 XII Evangelic Precepts reduced to those of the Decalogue 200 APPENDIX Containing a short History of the Iews TALMUD 209 THE CONCORDANCE OF Natural and Positive Divine LAWS PART I. Containing a Brief Explication of the Precepts of the Sons of Noah And Reduction of them to the Dictates of right Reason CHAP. I. Of Right and Law in General WHat is by the ancient Wise Men of Greece as well Philosophers as Legislators call'd sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Latines Ius and by the English RIGHT may not unfitly be defined to be the Rule Measure
are in force it is most fitly to be denoted by the Title of Right Intervenient among those Nations And in fine so far as the same Caesarean Right is by some single Nations receiv'd into their Forum or Court of Judicature it is to be named the Civil Right of some Nations or their Domestick Right From this consideration of the nature various notions and differences of Right we may easily be able to distinguish betwixt those two things which many learned Writers confound using the words Right and Law promiscuously For from the Premisses it may be collected that Right consisteth in liberty of doing or not doing But Law obligeth to do or not to do and therefore Right and Law differ as Liberty and Obligation which about the same thing are inconsistent Hence we may define Natural Right to be the Liberty which every man hath of using according to his own will and pleasure his power to the conservation of his Nature and by consequence of doing all things that he shall judge to be conducive thereunto Understanding by Liberty what that word properly signifies Absence of external impediments And Natural Law to be a Precept or General Rule excogitated by reason by which every man is prohibited to do that which he shall judge to tend to his hurt harm or wrong By Nature all Wise men understand the Order Method and Oeconomy instituted and established by God from the beginning or Creation for Government and Conservation of the World All the Laws of Nature therefore are the Laws of God And that which is called Natural and Moral is also Divine Law as well because Reason which is the very Law of Nature is given by God to every man for a rule of his Actions as because the Precepts of living which are thence deriv'd are the very same that are promulged by the Divine Majesty for Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven by our most blessed Lord Iesus Christ and by the Holy Prophets and Apostles nor is there in Truth any one Branch of Natural or Moral Law which may not be plainly and fully confirm'd by the Divine Laws delivered in Holy Scripture as will soon appear to any man who shall attentively read and consider what our Master Hobbs hath with singular judgment written in the 4 th Chapter of his Book de Cive where he confirms all the Laws of Nature by comparing them singly with Divine Precepts given in the Old and New Testament Whoever therefore desires clearly to understand the Reasonableness Equity Justice and Utility of Moral Laws and the true Causes of the Obligation under which he is to observe them in order to his Felicity as well in this life as in that which is to come ought most seriously and profoundly to consider the Divine Laws or Precepts recorded in that Collection of Sacred Writings call'd the Bible Which I though of Learning inferiour to so Noble an undertaking and subject by the Nature of my Profession and Studies to various Distractions every day yet resolve with my self to attempt according to the Module of my weak understanding not for Information of Others but for my own private satisfaction CHAP. II. God's Sovereign Right to Dominion over all things in the World THat God is by highest Right Soveraign Lord and Monarch of the Universe having in himself most absolute power both of Legislation and of Iurisdiction is sufficiently manifest even from this That He is sole Author and Creator of the World and all things therein Contain'd and doth by His most wise Providence perpetually Conserve and Sustain them And that He only can relax or remit the Obligation under which His Subjects are to observe the Laws by Him given for their Regimen and to whom He pleaseth pardon the Violation of them is no less manifest from His very Supremacy So that it belongs not to the right of any Mortal Ruler either to command what God forbids or to forbid what God commands The reason is because as in Natural causes the Inferiour have no force against the efficacy of the Superior so it is in Moral also Upon which reason St. Austin seems to have fixt his most discerning Eye when teaching that the Commands of Kings and Emperors so far as they contradict any Divine Command cannot impose an Obligation to Obedience advances to his conclusion by the degrees of this Climax or Scale If the Curator commands somewhat it is not to be done if the Proconsul forbids Herein we contemn not the Power but choose to obey the Higher Again if the Proconsul bid one thing and the Emperor injoin the contrary without doubt you must give obedience to the Emperor Therefore if the Emperor exact one thing and God another what is to be done God is certainly the greater Power give us leave O Emperor to obey Him From the same reason that most wise Emperor Marcus Aurelius also said the Magistrates judge private men Princes the Magistrates and God the Princes And Seneca the Tragedian Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur Omne sub regno graviore regnum est For his sense is Deum esse supra omnes summates hominum Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis This Monarchy of God is double Natural and Civil By the Natural is to be understood the absolute Dominion which from the Creation he hath exercis'd and at this day doth exercise over all men Naturally or by right of His Omnipotency By the Civil I understand that which in the Holy Scriptures is most frequently named The Kingdom of God and which is most properly call'd Kingdom because constituted by consent of the Hebrew Nation who by express pact or covenant chose God to be their King He promising to give them possession of the land of Canaan and they promising to obey him in all things But this Kingdom being by Divine Justice for the disobedience and many rebellions of that perverse people long since extinct they now remain in the same state of subjection with all other Nations namely under the Natural Empire of the Universal Monarch God But what is worthy our more serious remark and consideration tho the Common-wealth of the Hebrews the form of whose Government may be most properly call'd a Theocraty for the Supreme Ruler and President was not Moses but Almighty God Himself hath been so many Ages past dissolv'd yet the most excellent Positive Divine Laws principally those comprehended in the Decalogue upon which that Empire was founded have lost nothing of their Sanction and Original force but still continue Sacred and Obligatory not only to the posterity of the Hebrews but also to all the Sons of Men of what Nation soever Which the Learned Cunaeus hath de rep Hebraeor cap. 1. with singular judgment observ'd in words of this sense The Laws of other Nations inventions of humane Wit are enforced only by penalties which by time or
History summarily repeated in favour of those who were not present at the promulgation of the Law and at the transactions of that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these Sermons saying These very words that no Man of Posterity might think that ought had been added or taken away In Deuteronomy 5. are not found these words so express and therefore it sufficeth that there the sense of the Reciter is signified as we just now siad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Lord thy God who hath brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of Servitude By the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint have interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empire is signified The same word is attributed sometimes also to Angels as in Psalm 82. v. 2. and sometimes to eminent Magistrates as in Exod. 21. 6. 22. 26. so that in Psalm 82. 1. 131. 1. it is a great doubt among the most Learned of the Hebrew Doctors whether Angels or Magistrates are to be understood But whensoever the Plural is conjoin'd with the Singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by apposition but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defective no doubt is to be made but that He alone is to be understood who with Highest and most absolute Empire presides over all both Angels and Magistrates But to that word the Possessive Case is wont to be added whereby it is signified that to this Most High God besides the Soveraign Right He hath of most absolute Dominion over all Angels and Men there belongs also a certain peculiar Right of Dominion over some particular Men or Nation by vertue of not common benefits conferr'd upon them For such is the nature of benefits that it always gives to him who hath conferr'd a benefit somewhat of new Right over him that hath receiv'd it And this is the cause why here no mention is made of God's Creation of Mankind in the beginning but of those things that properly belonged to the Posterity of Iacob nor of all those neither but only of the most recent the memory whereof sticks more firmly and efficaciously in the minds of Men. Compare with this the cause of keeping the Law which Fathers are commanded to deliver down to their Children in Deut. 26. 10. and following verses Now what is said in this place is not Law but a Preface to the Law Seneca indeed approves not of a Law with a Prologue because a Law is made not to persuade but to command But Zaleucus Charondas Plato Philo and some other Philosophers were of another Opinion Certainly the middle way is the best let the Prologue be brief and grave such as carries the Face of Authority not of disputation The Number Ten is to almost all Nations the end of numbering for the numbers that follow are distinguished by compound names either by the sound as Vndecim Duodecim Eleven Twelve or by signification as an Hundred a Thousand c. and certainly the most ancient way of Numeration was by the Fingers of which Man hath Ten. For which reason also in these Precepts which were above all other things to be imprinted upon the receivers memory God was pleas'd to choose this number wherein that all diversities of numbers all Analogies all Geometrical Figures relating to numbers are found Philo largely shews in his Enarration of the Ten Precepts And Martianus Capella where he saith Decas verò ultra omnes habenda quae omnes numeros diversae virtutis ac perfectionis intra se habet Nor was it from any other reason that the Pythagoreans and after them the Peripateticks referr'd all kinds of things into Ten Classes vulgarly call'd Categories or that not only in the Law but also before it Tenths were devoted to God as may be collected from the History of Camillus written by Livy and Plutarch and from Herodotus who speaks of that Custom as most ancient The Place wherein the Law was given also exacts our notice It was given in a Wilderness barren and desolate with design that the People remote from the contagion of Cities and purged by hardship and sore afflictions and by Miracles taught not to depend upon things created might be well prepared for that Common-wealth which God was about to found and establish Nor ought we without a remark to pass by the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy God Which not only here in the Preface but in the Precepts ensuing is used intimating that the Law commanding and forbidding speaks to every individual Man in the number of Unity to the end that it may declare that here the condition of the Prince and of the lowest Hebrew of the vulgar is one and the same none High or Low being exempted from the Obligation thereof CHAP. II. The First Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not have other Gods beside me IN the words Other Gods beside me seems to be a Pleonasm or redundance of speech For it had been sufficient even to men of common sense to have said other Gods But the like speech occurs also in 1 Corinth 8. 4. and 1 Corinth 3. 1. and the meaning is that other Gods are neither to be substituted in the place of the True God nor to be assumed to him which many did as in 1 Kings 17. 33. Here by Gods are to be understood not only Angels and Iudges or other Magistrates of eminent Dignity who are as we have already hinted in the Preface sometimes in the Scripture honour'd with the Title of Gods while they execute their Office but also all those whom the Gentiles tho' without just cause call'd by that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are call'd Gods 1 Corinth 8. 5. So some are call'd Prophets who boast and Magnifie themselves for such Ier. 28. 1. let us therefore consider first the false Gods of the ancient Gentiles and then those that are not without cause call'd Gods That the first things which men worshiped as Gods were the Celestial Fires or Luminaries is the opinion of the most Learned and Judicious of the Hebrew Masters Abenesdras Moses Maimonides and others And this opinion is highly favor'd both by the Tradition of Abraham who is said to have abandoned his Native Countrey and travell'd into a strange Land meerly out of detestation of this kind of Idolatry and from the History of Iob taken from times most ancient Chap. 31. v. 26. 27. 28. Whereto may be added that of Deut. Chap. 4. v. 19. and Chap. 17. v. 3. Now that the Sun Moon and other Lights of Heaven are false Gods is most evident not only from hence that no great goods or benefits come from them to Mankind but also from this that they neither understand Mens adoration and prayers nor have the liberty of doing good more to one Man than to another which two things are conjunctim requir'd to fill up the true signification of the name God Heb. 11. 6. No