31. 13. it is a Sign betwixt me and you in your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord who sanctifie you Ye shall therefore keep the Sabbath for to you it is holy Nor will the Masters allow it to have pertained to the Gentiles Some exempt even Proselytes of the House from the obligation of this Precept but how that exemption can be brought to consist with those words of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the stranger that is within thy Gates I see not CHAP. VI. The Fifth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. THat this Precept among those that are as it were imprinted upon the mind of man by Nature and Legible by the light of right reason not the least was first given to the Israelites in Marah we have the Authority of the Babylonian Gemara where in titulo Sanhedrin cap. 7. sect 5. we read Decem praecepta acceperunt Israelitae in Mara Septem quae Noachidarum fuere jam vero adjecta sunt Iudicia Sabbatum parentum honos That it obtain'd among the Egyptians also and was by them placed next after the Precept of divine Worship is evident from the funeral Apology used among them wherein the Libitinarius personating the defunct saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I have ever honour'd those who begat my body And that the same was taught also in the School of Pythagoras who learned all his Doctrines from the Egyptian Priests is equally manifest from the Golden Verses where immediately after the precept of Worshipping the Godsfollows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honour thy Parents But long before the days of Pythagoras was this Law placed in the Temple of Ceres Eleusinia if we may confide in the testimony of Porphyry who from Hermippus in De Abstinentia p. 1. and 399. saith as St. Ierom hath translated the place Iovinian l. 2. p. 528. Xenocrates Philosophus de Triptolemi legibus apud Athenienses tria tantum praecepta in templo Eleusinae residere scribit honorandos Parentes venerandos Deos carnibus non vescendum And Socrates in Xenophon Memorabil l. 2. p. 743. saith Civitas ingratitudinis alterius rotionem non habet neque datur actio in eam verùm si quis Parentes non honorârit actio adversùs eum scribitur Magistratum capessere non permittitur For in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquisition made into the manners and life of those who were to be admitted to Magistracy they were interrogated first if they were descended for three generations at least on both sides from Athenian Citizens and Secondly if they had duely honor'd their Parents Because he that is impious toward his Parents cannot be judged pious toward his Country Nor toward God neither saith Menander in this distick Qui patrem incilat voce maledicit patri At in hoc se parat at ipsi maledicat Deo To return to the Egyptians doubtless the Sons among them shew'd all Signs of filial respect and honour to their Fathers while they lived since they piously venerated them even after their decease and paid a kind of religious reverence to their dead bodies to that end preserv'd by precious Embalmments as if death could not cancel their bonds of gratitude nor fate extinguish their Sentiments of natural piety Whence that honourable testimony given of them by the Prince of Antiquaries Diodorus the Sicilian lib. 1. pag. 58. Sanctissimè receptum est inter Egyptios ut appareant Parentes aut Majores ad eternam habitationem translatos impensius honorasse Whereto he adds that it was Lawful for them in case of necessity to pawn the dead bodies of their Parents but those who redeem'd them not were punish'd with highest infamy and contempt during life and after death with privation of Sepulture Nor were the Egyptians the only Nation that taught and urged obedience and honor to Parents from the dictates of Nature For the grave Plutarch de Philadelphia saith Omnes dicunt atque canunt primum ac praecipuum honorem post Deos Parentibus destinasse Naturam Naturae legem Nor is there is the whole World any People so Barbarous and Savage but by mere natural instinct they understand that honour and reverence are due to Parents Wisely therefore did Philo Iudaeus account this Precept now confirmed at the promulgation of the Decalogue the last of the first Table and placed in confinio utriusque His reason this Natura Parentum videtur esse confinium immortalis mortalis essentiae Immortal because a Father by begetting resembles God the Genitor of all things and in the violation of it he puts the highest inhumanity most detestable to God and man feritatis primas ferunt qui Parentes negligunt And in truth this Law is the cement of human society For he that loves and reveres his Parents will requite their care with good education of his Children love his Brethren and Sisters as branches of the same Stock with himself cherish and assist all his kindred as descendent from the same progenitors whence flows that whole Series of consanguinity and natural relation and whence was the most ancient Original of Nations Cities and Towns when Tribes and numerous Families conjoyn'd themselves into Societies under the Government of their Heads After this when men conven'd from many places they began by common consent to constitute Kings and Governours by the example of Parents to whom the ancients therefore gave the most proper and obliging name of Fathers For which reason in the Roman Laws and in those of other nations the crime of Majesty which we call High Treason is put before all other crimes as most pernicious to the peace and safety of the Common-wealth and for the same reason is this Precept of Honouring Parents put before the rest that respect human society Here God hath been pleased to name and certainly as He is the Author of Nature and maker of all Children in the Mothers Womb so is He the most equal Judge the Mother as well as the Father Whereas the Laws of this kind made by Men provide almost for Fathers only as the Persian Law commemorated by Aristotle and the Roman described in the Digests and Institutions mentioned first by Epictetus then by Simplicius and Philo de legatione And though in collisu the right of the Father be the better by reason of the prevalency of his Sex for which God gave the Husband dominion over the Wife yet certainly obedience and reverence which are here signified by the word Honour are from Children due to both In the same word is comprehended also the duty of Thankfulness and a grateful requital as much as in Children lyeth for indeed a full requital can never be made to Parents for the great blessing of existence and life given by them to Children as both Aristotle and Philo have observ'd quomodo enim ab aliquibus genitus eos
under the three Antonins Pius Marcus and Commodus and finish'd his Syntagme of the Mishna in the Year 120. from the destruction of the Temple but of the Christian Aera 190. there be no memory of these Precepts yet in the Babylonian Gemara or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complement compos'd by Rab. Ase about 400 years after the former they are not only mentioned but with sacred respect commended to Posterity so that even our Prince of Antiquaries Mr. Selden thought it a task well worthy his diligence and admirable Learning to explicate and comment upon them in his seven Books de Iure Naturali Gentium tho' he had found the Masters themselves embroil'd in a kind of Civil War about the number of them some accounting but six others seven others eight and others again adding two or three more As appears from the Gemara it self where ad titul Sanhedrin c. 7. sect 5. is found this list of the Precepts Traditur à Rabbinis septem Praecepta imperata esse Noachidis de Iudiciis de Maledictione Numinis de Cultu Extraneo de Revelatione Turpitudinum de Sanguinis effusione de Rapina seu furto de Membro animalis viventis R. Chanina dixit etiam de Sanguine viventis R. Chidka etiam de Castratione R. Simeon etiam de Magia R. Eliezer etiam de Heterogeneorum animalium admissione arborumque insitione And from Rabbi Moses ben Maimon vulgarly Maimonides and Rambam who saith that the six former were delivered to Adam that of abstaining from any member of a living Creature to Noah that of Circumcision to Father Abraham in Halak Melakim c. 9. But the Major part of these Learned Commentators upon the Mishna give their suffrages to no more than seven Of those therefore supposing them to be Genuine and Universal I choose to speak in this Treatise preferring these two that belong to Religion or Divine Worship to the rest which concern the mutual Offices or Duties of Men. CHAP. IV. The first Precept Of Extraneous Worship or Idolatry BY Extraneous Worship the Ancient Egyptians seem to have understood and detested only whatsoever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Parents had not taught them as may be collected from that Prayer or Apology rather used by them at funerals translated from the Egyptian tongue into the Greek by Euphantus and from him transmitted to Posterity by Porphyrius in Lib. de Abstinentia 4. sect 10. For in this Apology one of the Overseers of the Obsequies personating the defunct and speaking in his or her name pronounces among many other these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego enim Deos quos mihi parentes commonstrarunt piè colui quamdiu in hoc saeculo vixi But the Hebrews thereby understood that the Worship of any Creature whatsoever as well of Angels and bodies Celestial or Terrestrial as of Images or Idols was strictly prohibited For to acknowledge and worship one God and him the true God was to them as it is now to us Christians the fundament of Religion This difference betwixt the Egyptian and Hebraick Religïon even Tacitus treating of the Iews Hist. l. 5. clearly enough observes in these words Corpora condere quà m cremare è more Aegyptio eademque cura de Infernis persuasio Coelestium contrà Aegyptii pleraque animalia effigiésque compositas venerantur Judaei mente solâ unumque Numen intelligunt profanos qui Deûm imagines mortalibus materiis in species hominum effingant Summum illud aeternum neque mutabile neque interiturum Itaque nulla simulacra urbibus suis nedum templis sunt From the times of Abraham Idolatry was held by the Hebrews to be of all crimes the greatest and to be fled from as the worst of plagues but that which is interdicted in the Decalogue and other Laws seems to have respect to the manifold Idolatry of the Egyptians In the parts of lower Egypt the highest honour and veneration was given to a sort of Buck-Goats with long shaggy hair call'd Seirim and the Israelites placed there were grown so mad with this Mendesian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they needed a special interdict to restrain them Which they receiv'd in this form Lev. c. 17. v. 7. They shall no more offer their Sacrifices Pilosis unto Devils after whom they have gone a whoring Where not only our Translators but Maimonides in More Neboch part 1. cap. 36. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understand Devils appearing to their Votaries in the shape of Hee-Goats with long hair The same Rabbi Doct. Perplex lib. 3. cap. 46. pag. 480. saith moreover Of the Zabians there have been some who worship'd Daemons and believ'd them to have the form of Male-Goats and thence call'd them also Seirim i. e. Goats Which foolish and ridiculous opinion was in Moses's time diffused far and wide as appears from the above recited Prohibition non sacrificabunt ultrà sacrificia sua Lasseirim hircis i. e. Daemonibus ita appellatis and was the true cause why the eating of such Goats was Piacular among the Zabians by which name he understands chiefly the Mendesii People of a Province in Lower Egypt To enumerate all the various kinds of Idolatry used by the Egyptians in the time of the Israelites servitude under them would require a large Volume For not contented to adore all the Host of Heaven by an Idolatry common to them with many other Nations they were then grown so impiously devout that they form'd to themselves Deities of all sorts of Animals four-footed Beasts Fowls Fishes Serpents Insects not excepting Plants Trees and Herbs So that it was not without reason that Moses solicitous to extirpate the reliques of Idolatry out of the hearts of the infected Israelites at once and by one Universal Antidote gave them this Command Deut. c. 12. v. 2. 3. You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations which ye shall possess served their Gods upon the high Mountains and upon Hills and under every green Tree And you shall overthrow their Altars and break their Pillars and burn their Groves with fire and hew down the graven Images of their Gods and destroy the names of them out of that place Yea more he made it unlawful for them either to enter into a League of what kind soever with any people serving Idols intra solum Israeliticum or to have conversation or commerce with them Exod. cap. 34. ver 15. and Deut. cap. 7. ver 2. Before the Law Iacob the Patriarch erected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cippum statum a pillar Gen. 35. 14. and Moses before the Tabernacle was built rais'd an Altar and twelve Titles Exod. 24. 4. But lest from these conspicuous examples occasion might be given to Idolatry the Law forbid such things also Levit. 26. 1. But these Laws peculiar to the Israelites did not per se oblige a Noachid or stranger to whom living without the Hebrew Territory it was
vicissim generare possit And as God was pleased for mans imitation to impress upon mute Animals visible characters of almost all virtues of justice clemency chastity fidelity friendship c. not of all in all but of each in particular species so hath He given for an example of filial love and piety to men the Storks which sustain and nourish their Parents when they are grown old and weak For this also is comprehended in the first word of this Precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Honour which in its chief sense signifies to nourish as appears from the 1 Timothy 5. 3. Honour Widows that are Widows indeed i. e. relieve their wants and contribute to their maintenance And so the Hebrews interpret that text in Numbers 22. 17. I will promote thee unto very great honour So Cicero Officior 1. treating of duties to Kindred and near relations saith Necessaria praesidia vitae debentur his maxime And Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. We shall highly honour Parents if we most readily serve them with the Ministry of our body and the help of mony Here I cannot but take notice of a strange distinction made betwixt Sons and Daughters by the Egyptians in their Law of nourishing Parents labouring of old age or poverty and recorded by Herodotus l. 2. 35. Nulla est necessitas filiis alendi parentes nolentibus sed filiabus summa etiamsi nolint Sons are under no necessity to feed and sustain their Parents against their own will but Daughters are most strictly bound to nourish them though against their will An odd Law this to impose the burden upon the weaker Sex and exempt the stronger and the more admirable to me because no reason is added to it by Herodotus nor can I fix my conjecture upon any that is probable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it may be well with thee This is here added out of Deuteronomy for explication sake or perhaps ascribed on the margin from that place in Epist. to the Ephesians 6. 1. 3. many such additional clauses being found in the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That thou mayst live long Here Abenesdras noteth that God is wont when He forbids any thing to annex the penalty where He commands the reward as in this place But St. Paul in the just now cited place to the Ephesians noteth this more that this is the first Commandment with promise The Law in direct words promiseth only temporal felicity as St. Ierom observes l. 2. Commentar in Epist. ad Galat. 1. Dialog contra Pelagium and St. Austin de Civit. Dei l. 10. cap. 15. And of temporal felicity the principal part is long life Which is generally promis'd to those that keep the Law as in Levit. 18. 5. and 25. 18. and in Deuter. 6. 17. 18. and in Ezech. 20. 11. some expound the Hebrew words That they may prolong thy days namely thy Parents by their favour and prayers to God But I fear lest this interpretation be too Subtile and adhere rather to the Seventy and other Interpreters who take the Hebrew word though of an active form in a passive sense viz. That thy days may be prolonged To Absolom violating this precept his days were cut off or shortned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vpon the Earth or in the Land Life in exile is not life but a long death Therefore God promiseth to obsequious and dutiful Children a long life and that too at home in their own Country And Ezechiel enumerating the causes of deserved exile puts the contempt of Parents in the head of the Catologue chap. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The good Land This also hath been added from Deut. 8. 7. but deservedly For that Land was in those days truly good and singularly fertil abounding with Milk Honey and Corn and other Fruits and the only Land that produced Balsam which it continued to do in good plenty down to the days of Pliny who therefore praised it and doth even at this time though in less quantity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which the Lord thy God will give thee The present for the future as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will come Matth. 3. 2. It must be something great and highly estimable that God confers as a donative upon the posterity of those whom he loved above all others and to whom he promised to give it But as God promises great blessings to those that observe this Precept so on the contrary He threatneth grievous punishment to those that contemn and revile their Parents namely death by decree of the Judge if the matter be by sufficient testimonies prov'd against them Exod. 21. 15. 17. and if the matter be not brought to publick notice divine wrath Deut. 27. 16. than which nothing is more dreadful and from which Good Lord deliver us CHAP. VII The Sixth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not commit Adultery IN the Hebrew this Precept is placed next after that against Murder and the Greek Copies also now keep the same order in the rehersal of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy But lest any should think this transposition of these two Precepts a thing recent I must observe that Philo in his time read them as we now do and that he gives this reason for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that among unjust facts Adultery is the greatest And again after he hath with admirable eloquence described the many evil consequents of this crime he saith Meritò Deo hominibus exosa res adulterium inter crimina ordinem ducit meaning the crimes that are injurious to men Nor did the ancient Christians read them otherwise following the Greek Codes as appears from Tertullian de pudicitia who saith Eo amplius praemittens Non maechaberis adjungit non occides Oneravit utique maechiam quam homicidio anteponit c. Wherefore whenever the Ancients bring in these Precepts in another order they bring them out of Deuteronomy not out of this place of Exodus Let us then since we may do so without injury to the diligence of the Masorets follow the Greek Edition which we have taken into our hands and which may be defended not only by its antiquity but also by this probable reason That many of the Hebrew Women preferr'd Chastity to life and that in the judgment of Aristotle the crimes that proceed from the desire of pleasure are more hainous than those that come from anger Abenesdras thinks that by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath committed Adultery all unlawful Venery and simple Fornication is signified but we find that among the Hebrews that word is every-where taken only in the sense of Adultery and so translated in this and other places by the Greek Latin and other Interpreters True it is indeed that in the Mosaic Law there is an interdict that there should be no Whores in the People of Israel and that Incests and Marriages with strange Women that worshipped false Gods