there is a Tie of Fidelity as well as of Love the purport whereof is also declar'd That the Married Parties are to give each other Honour and particularly what that Honour is which is due from the Husband to the Wife In fine That in respect to God whose Institution Marriage is they ought to possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour as well between themselves as toward others An Address to the declaration of such Laws as concern the Married Parties severally where is shewn upon the part of the Husband that the Authority he hath over the Wife is not coercive but directive that accordingly it ought to proceed rather by the way of Love than Empire as lastly to restrain it self to such things as are within the Bounds of Religion and to such as are suitable to that Fellowship whereinto she is admitted where the Management of Houshold Affairs is shewn to be the Womans Province On the part of the Wife is shewn That she ought not in any measure to usurp Authority over the Man but endeavour rather to gain him by Meekness and Compliance That she ought to do him Honour both in Language and Gesture and obey him in all things that are not contrary to Religion or to that Condition of Life into which she is admitted by him A more particular Declaration of the Duty of the Wife in the matter of Obedience where is shewn That though she hath no Tie upon her as to such things as are contrary to Religion yet she ought to be directed by her Husband in judging of Religious Matters and where they are not manifestly contrary to the Scriptute to submit to and follow his Advices That though she be not under obedience as to such things as are sitter for a Servant than a Wife yet what is fit or not fit for a Wife to do ought not to be judg'd of by the Deportment of the most and much less by the Caprichio's of her own Brain but by the Example of Godly Matrons That though the Management of Houshold Affairs be the Wifes peculiar Province and therefore no proper matter generally for the Husband to interpose his Commands in yet she ought to comply with him even there where there is any just fear of his being discredited or undone by her evil Management An Exhortation to the Married Parties to perform their respective Duties II. IT being so rare for Popular Discourses to entreat of the Duties of Married Persons that it is almost become an Absurdity to mention them I may perhaps fall under the Censure of Indiscretion for going about to make them the Subject of mine though the Design I am now upon do naturally lead me to it But because I cannot give a satisfactory Account of the Nature of Adultery and much less of the due Importance of that Commandment which forbids it without entreating of the Laws of Marriage which Adultery is a Violation of and because how nice soever Men are now grown and how fearful soever of incurring the Censure of Indiscretion St. Paul made no difficulty of interlacing almost all his Epistles with Discourses of it lastly because there is neither that Fidelity between some Married Persons which the Divine Institution and their own Covenants nor that Accord between others which so intimate a Relation doth require I hope it will not be look'd upon by sober Persons as any Imprudence if as I have in the former Discourse shewn what is necessary to the legitimate Contracting of Marriage so I make it the business of this to demonstrate what is requisite to preserve it inviolable after it is so contracted In order whereunto I will represent 1. Such Duties as are common to the Married Parties And after that descend to 2. Those which are peculiar to each of them Now though what both the one and the other are be competently evident from those Covenants into which the Parties enter at the Solemnization of Matrimony between them yet because it is not impossible some Duties may be more obscurely express'd there than will be requisite to give each of them a due understanding of them and because those which are more clearly set down will be look'd upon as more forcible if it can be made appear that they have the Obligation of the Divine Command as well as of their own Contract to bind them on them therefore I think it but necessary to investigate them by the purport of the Divine Commands as well as by the tenor of their own Compacts 1. To begin with those which are common to the Married Parties because the most natural Results of that intimate Conjunction into which they enter Where 1. First I shall represent the Parties loving of each other as both their own Compacts and the Divine Commands bind them For though Love be most usually made the Duty of the Husband to the Wife as on the other side Obedience and Reverence that of the Wife toward the Husband yet as it is evident from St. Paul's enjoyning the aged Women to teach the younger to love their Husbands that Love is no less due from them than it is from the Husband to them Tit. 2.4 so the ground which he elsewhere assigns for the Husbands loving of the Wife inferrs equally the returning of it by her For the Love of the Husband to the Wife being founded by him in that Unity or Identity rather which Marriage conciliates between the Parties Ephes 5.28 and so on if the Wife be one with him as well as he with her there must be the same tie of Love upon her as there is upon the Husband to her Here onely is the difference that whereas the Husband by the Prerogative of his Sex hath no other tie than that of Love which is the reason why the Duty of Love is in a manner appropriated to him the Wife because subjected to the Husband is to temper hers with Reverence and Obedience for which cause we hear so little of any Love to be paid by her and so much of Reverence and Obedience It being thus evident that Love how peculiar soever it may seem unto the Man is yet alike the Duty of them both proceed we to inquire what is the due Importance of it Where first no doubt can be made but that it implies an inward Affection as because Love in propriety of Speech denotes the Affection of the Heart so because all Effects without it are but Hypocrisie and Dissimulation As little doubt is to be made secondly but that that inward Affection of Love is to exert it self in suitable Effects partly because Love is naturally operative and partly because St. Paul where he exhorts Husbands to love their Wives proposeth Christ's Love to the Church for the Pattern of it which as it was not without an inward Affection so shew'd it self in effect because as the same St. Paul observes prompting him to give himself for it The onely thing of difficulty in this matter is What is
AN EXPLICATION OF THE DECALOGUE OR Ten Commandments WITH REFERENCE TO THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND To which are premised by way of Introduction Several GENERAL DISCOURSES concerning GOD'S both NATURAL and POSITIVE LAWS By Gabriel Towerson sometimes Fellow of All-Souls College in Oxford and now Rector of Wellwyn in Hertfordshire Philo in Praefat. ad Librum de Decalogo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΔΙ ' ΑΥΤΟΥ ΜΟÎΟΥ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ÎΟΜΟΥΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΠΟΜΩΠ〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΔΙΑ ΤΟΥΠΡΟΦΗΤΟ Î¥ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΕΠ' ΕΚΕΙÎΟΥΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by J. Macock for John Martyn at the Bell in St Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXVI TO The Most Reverend FATHER in God GILBERT By Divine Providence LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan AND One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please Your Grace I Have here attempted an Explication of that part of our Church-Catechism which respects the Decalogue or Ten Commandments Not out of any great opinion of mine own Abilities for such an undertaking of which they who know me know me to be sufficiently diffident but out of a due sense of the want of a just Discourse upon this Argument which by no Man that I know of hath been handled according to its worth It was once in my thoughts to have suppressed it till I could have finished an Explication of the whole Catechism as conceiving that that would have been more compleat and more acceptable to the World But considering with my self that it would require some time to revise what I have already done and much more to add to and perfect it and since what is now offered to Your Grace and with Your Graces Leave to the Publick view also is entire enough if I have acquitted my self in it as I ought I thought I should no way disoblige my Readers if I sent this part of it before the rest to try the Judgment of the World Especially since it is not impossible but that I may entertain a better opinion of my own Labours than they shall be found by more competent Judges to deserve If any thing may seem with Reason to make such a procedure improper it is that I have referr'd my self to those Parts that are not yet published for the proof of some things asserted here But as it is only for such things as have been abundantly proved by others and which therefore especially in loco non suo I might the better wave the confirmation of so they are for the most part if not only such as by the Laws of Discourse are to be supposed by all that will entreat of this Argument However if what is now tendred find acceptance that blot shall not long lye upon it and if not the imperfectness thereof will be the most pardonable quality of my Discourse or at least will be more excusable than my troubling the World with more In this Treatise I have endeavoured out of that heap which so copious a subject presents to select such matter as is most considerable and pertinent to deliver my sense concerning it in proper and intelligible expressions and lastly to confirm that by solid Reasons For other things I have not been much sollicitous and much less as Solomon speaks to find out acceptable words as conceiving such more proper to perswade than inform which is or ought to be the Design of an Explication If any taking occasion from this rude Discourse of mine shall oblige the World with a more perfect one he shall find me among the foremost to return him thanks for it Both because of the benefit I shall reap in common with others from it and also because I shall have the satisfaction of considering that if I have not been my self so fortunate in Explaining the Ten Commandments yet I have stirred up those that are and thereby have fulfilled a Commandment the observation whereof is of more advantage than the most accurate Explication of them all In the mean time as I hope these my Labours will not be altogether unuseful so I lay them at Your Grace's feet as a Recognition of those many favours You have been pleased to confer upon me and of that Duty I owe to the Church of England for the safe-guard whereof as Your Grace hath with great prudence and conduct happily presided in an Age wherein You have met with more than ordinary Discouragements so that God will still preserve Your Grace for the farther benefit thereof is the hearty Prayer of Your Grace's in all bounden Duty and Service GABRIEL TOWERSON THE DECALOGUE OR TEN COMMANDMENTS As they are described and explained by the Catechism of the Church of ENGLAND Quest YOV said that your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you that you should keep Gods Commandments Tell me how many there be Answ Ten. Quest Which be they Answ The same which God spake in the Twentieth Chapter of Exodus saying I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my Commandments III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy Son and thy Daughter thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant thy Cattel and the Stranger that is within thy Gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed seventh day and hallowed it V. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt do no murther VII Thou shalt not commit adultery VIII Thou shalt not steal IX Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife nor his Servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Quest What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments Answ I learn two things my duty towards God and my duty towards my Neighbour Quest What is
it any prejudice to this inference that mens consciences do oftentimes condemn them for those things that are no parts of the Law of Nature or any other For as we pretend not to infer the goodness or evil of any action in it self from the consciences either acquitting or condemning the person that doth it but only that there is such a thing as good or evil so cannot any reason be assigned of our consciences either accusing or condemning us if the notion of good and evil were not planted in the soul of man by that God who formed it For though tradition and education may perswade us to believe many things to be evil which are in themselves not so and consequently incline the conscience of him that committeth them to condemn or disquiet him for so doing yet could they not unless they could build without a foundation incline the man to be troubled for it but upon supposition that there is such a thing as evil Again when the main trouble of conscience proceeds from hence even from the doing of those things which that assures us to be evil what reason can be assigned of that trouble if it were not a truth implanted in our hearts that we ought not to do those things which our conscience assureth us to be bad For as it is evident no man could be troubled for acting against his conscience but upon supposition of his being bound to follow the dictates of it so is it not to be imagined that that supposition could have any other root than Nature For as for all frightful stories of Hell and the like which men who would be thought wise would have the ground of all Religion even those themselves if it be duly considered will be found to receive their force and efficacy from the conscience's foreperswasion of good and evil and particularly of its own obligation For setting aside the nature of good and evil as meer fancies and my conscience shall not so much be affrighted at the stories of vengeance as at the shaking of a reed because conscious of nothing that may deserve it I conclude therefore with S. Paul in that excellent discourse of his upon this argument Rom. 2.14 That though the Gentiles have not the Law that is to say no revealed one yet they are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another II. The being of the Law of Nature being thus demonstrated enquire we in the second place what the Precepts thereof are I do not mean to give account of every particular one for that were both an infinite and needless task but of the more general ones from which the other may be easily deduced Now there are two ways of investigating any truths as the forementioned Hooker hath well observed the one by the causes which constitute it the other by the signs and tokens which attend it The latter of these is without doubt the most easie but withall the most fallible and therefore quitting that at present I shall chuse rather to pitch upon the former and exemplifie the Precepts of this Law by it Now there are three things wherein our duty is comprehended according to those several relations we stand in our duty to God our Neighbour and our selves I begin with the last of these because nearest to us and therefore in all probability most easie to be discerned by us where the first capital Precept that presents it self to us is the preservation of our selves Now that this is a Precept of that Law which we call the Law of Nature beside our own natural propension to it will appear from God's giving us a being and means to support it For as the destruction of our being is a direct contradiction to that order which he hath set in Nature so our neglect to preserve it is though not a direct yet a consequential contradiction to that provision which he hath made for us in the world For what design can we suppose God to have had principally and chiefly I mean in those good things he hath given us but the support of our being by them If then it were the design of the Almighty in the good things of this world that we should receive support and comfort by them if this design of his appear from the nature of the things themselves the preservation of our selves is a branch of that Law and we consequently transgressors of it if we neglect it But from hence we may collect what we are to think of all self-murthers excesses or neglects for if the preservation of our selves be a duty incumbent on us by the Law of our Creation then must that be a sin which either destroys or impairs or neglects it and consequently all laying violent hands upon our selves all intemperance and sloth and idleness From the duty we owe to our selves ascend we to that which is terminated in God and see whether there be any footsteps of such a one in that Law whereof we are speaking Now there are two things wherein our duty to God may be comprehended our honouring him and obeying him The former of these is evident from that excellency which the soul assisted with the bare light of reason may discern in God For being it is a clear dictate of the light of reason that whatsoever is excellent is to be honoured God as being the most excellent essence yea the fountain of all others excellencies must be much more so by how much he transcends all others But from hence it is evident what we are to think not only of all manifest contempts of him but of adopting any thing else into equal honour with him for being God is not only to be honoured but to be honoured also above all other beings because so far surpassing them the adopting of any other into the like honour must be a diminution of his and consequently a breach of this fundamental Law as well as of that which saith Thou shalt have no other Gods beside me The same is no less evident concerning that other branch of our duty to God even our yielding obedience to all his commands for being as was before shown God is our maker and sustainer he has a right to our obedience and consequently we a necessity of obeying him But from hence will follow not only our yielding obedience to all other the Laws of Nature but to all positive and revealed ones for being the command of God is that which challenges our obedience and not the manner whereby it is made known to us whatsoever appears to be such must be equally our duty whether engraven in Tables of stone as that of Moses was or in the more noble Tables of our heart as this of Nature The only thing now remaining to be proved is what we commonly call our duty to our Neighbour and may be comprised in these
the Substance of the Precept Or 2. Such as are onely Circumstances thereof I. Of the former sort again are these four things 1. The Worshipping of God in private and by our selves 2. The Worshipping of him in consort with others 3. The setting apart a Time for the more solemn performance of each And 4. Lastly Such a Rest from our ordinary Labours as may give us the leisure to intend them and free us from distraction in the performance of them Now concerning each of these there cannot be the least doubt of their being Moral and consequently of Universal Obligation 1. That so it is to Worship God in private the Obligation each of us have to the Divine Majesty and the Words of the First Commandment shew For being he is the Creator and Sustainer of each Individual as well as of Humane Nature being there is no individual Person which hath not some peculiar Obligation to the Divine Majesty whether in respect of some Blessing receiv'd or Evil averted from him lastly being as was before shewn those Expresses of the Divine Goodness lay a necessity upon the Person that hath receiv'd them to honour the Author of them it follows because each individual Person hath been so oblig'd that each of them do for himself acknowledge those Obligations and pay God that Service and Adoration which is due because of them Again Forasmuch as the First Commandment doth not onely exclude the having of other Gods but injoyn the having and owning of the True forasmuch as it requires that of every individual Person as the expressing it in the Singular Number shews lastly forasmuch as the Matter of that Commandment is Moral it follows That to worship God in private and by our selves is a Moral Duty Which was the first thing to be prov'd 2. From the Private Worship of God or that which is due from each particular Person pass we to the Worshipping him in Publick which we have before shewn to be the Design of this Commandment Where first of all I shall shew it to be a Moral Duty and secondly a Christian one To worship God in consort with others being generally look'd upon as so much a Duty that no Sect of Christians for ought I know have ever made a question of it I have often wondred with my self whence so general a Perswasion should arise since the New Testament hath said so little by way of Precept concerning it But considering with my self that the same Perswasion hath prevail'd whereever the Worship of God hath taken place I entred into a suspicion that the same Common Principles had been the Author of it in both even those which Reason and Nature teacheth And indeed that there is enough in them to oblige Men to a Publick Worship will appear to any that shall consider 1. Not onely that God hath made Man a Sociable Creature but that Men have actually entred themselves into Societies For as it was but reasonable that those whom God had made Sociable Creatures should in return for so great a Blessing give a proof of it in his Service and with joynt Forces worship him who had both inclin'd and fitted them so to associate so actually entring into Societies they thereby became Sharers of the good or evil Fortune of those respective Societies which they espous'd In consideration whereof as they were oblig'd either to pray or give thanks according to the several Fortunes which befel them so to do both those Duties not onely apart and by themselves but in conjunction with those to whom they were so associated common Sense requiring that where the Blessing obtain'd relates to any Body that Body to which it so relates should pay its Thanks for it as on the other side that where the Evil either threatned or undergone relates to a Community that that Community to which it doth so should offer up its joynt Prayers to God to avert that Evil from it My second Argument for the Morality of Worshipping God in Publick shall be taken from the Obligation that lies upon us to provoke each other to the Adoration of him For being by the Design of our Creation not onely to glorifie God in our own Persons but as much as in us lies to procure the Glorification of him by other Men we are accordingly as our Saviour speaks so to make that light of ours to shine before men that they seeing our works of piety may glorifie our Father which is in heaven Now forasmuch as it is no way proper that our Personal Devotions should be so laid open because of necessity containing such Petitions as are not fit to be communicated to the World Reason requires that there be a Publick Worship instituted by our diligent attendance whereof we may provoke each other to the more devout Adoration of our Maker Which Argumentation I do the rather make use of because the Author to the Hebrews useth the same where he speaks of the Publick Service in pursuance of his exhorting to * Heb. 10.24.25 consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works adding not forsaking the assembling of themselves together as the manner of some then was but exhorting one another and so much the more as they saw the day approaching Lastly Forasmuch as on the one hand there is a necessity of instructing the Generality in the Duty they owe to God and every one that stands in need of Instruction cannot have a particular Teacher assign'd him as on the other all of us do stand in need of each others help in promoting our Petitions unto God it is but necessary we should sometimes meet together that they who stand in need of Instruction may receive it and both Teacher and Taught put to the utmost of their Endeavours to obtain of God those Blessings which they need For as God knows our Devotion is at best but weak and consequently may well require the twisting of some others with it so there is none of us which may not be sometime indispos'd to ask as we ought or unlikely by reason of some Sin to prevail though we should By which means as our own Prayers must needs be very defective so that defect naturally prompts us to adjoyn our selves to other Men as by whom it will be best supply'd What St. Paul spake concerning Charity being no less true in the matter of Devotion That the abundance of such or such particular Persons may be a supply for the want of others as on the other side that when their abundance fails the abundance of the other may be their supply and so by turns be assisting to each other The Morality of Publick Worship being thus establish'd proceed we according to our proposed Method to shew it to be a part of Christianity which will bind it so much the faster upon our Consciences In order whereunto I shall alledge first its being a part of Moral or Natural Religion according as was but now declar'd For it being the
by all sorts of Persons yea even by those who do most transgress it For as Tertullian * De testimoniâ— animae cap. 2. concluded it to be the Testimony of a Soul naturally Christian That there is but One True God because they who worshipp'd Many could not yet forbear in their common Discourse to say God grant and If God will and God seeth all things so may we That this Precept is a Dictate of Nature because even those who transgress it themselves do yet acknowledge the Equity thereof For though in the Concernments of others such Persons cannot or will not see it yet when the Tables come to be turn'd and their Adversaries deal more harshly with them than they think themselves to have deserv'd there is nothing more usual than to object That they themselves would not be contented to be so used if they were in the same Circumstances with them Lastly For I am unwilling to let any thing pass without a more direct Proof which may be suppos'd to be capable thereof I alledge for the Equity of the present Rule the Equality of all Men both in their Nature and Obligation to the Divine Laws For being there is no difference between one Man and another in their Nature and much less in their Obligation to the Divine Laws being whatsoever difference there is between us in Condition is by God's setting one above another and placing him in a higher State and Degree if that Difference set apart as the present Rule supposeth and the Change that hapneth in Humane Affairs obligeth us to do if I say that Difference set apart I could not but desire that he who is better furnished with this Worlds Goods should afford some Relief to me in my necessity I cannot but think it just to afford the same Relief to him who is under the like Circumstances For it being but reasonable that those things which are equal should have an equal measure If I who am but equal to my Brother in Nature and by my own supposition now equal to him in Condition could not yet but desire Relief my self from those that are able to afford it there is the same reason for his desire of it and consequently the same necessity of his being gratified in it by me or any Man else that is in a Capacity to afford it The last thing comes now to be spoken to even the Comprehensiveness of the Rule now before us a thing which our Catechism doth not obscurely insinuate when it premiseth it to those Duties we owe unto our Neighbours but our Saviour much more clearly when he affirms it to be the Law and the Prophets Now there are two sorts of Duties which the Law and the Prophets contain and to one or both of which therefore this Rule is to be suppos'd to have a regard the Duties we owe to the Great Creator of the World or the Duties which are owing by us to our Neighbour The former of these are no way pertinent to the present Rule or at least not in those Terms wherein it is delivered by our Saviour because the Persons from whom we expect a favourable deportment and to whom accordingly we ought to be ready to afford it are by our Saviour * Mat. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them suppos'd to be Men or rather in express Terms declar'd so to be Not to tell you that it would be a kind of arrogancy to apply it to the Duty we owe to God or attempt to judge of that Duty by it because so we could not do without seating our selves in the Place of God which is too great a Presumption to do even by a Supposition If the doing as we would be done by may with any propriety be referr'd to God it is onely as the desire of his dealing favourably with us is considered as an Argument to prompt us to the like deportment towards our Brethren And in this sense there is no doubt it hath the countenance of Equity as well as the Suffrage of the Almighty For as God hath not allow'd us to expect Mercy from him upon any other Terms than the shewing the like Mercy to our Brethren so they who consider the little reason we have otherwise to expect it will think it but equitable to afford it For if we would that God who is no way oblig'd to us yea who is many ways disoblig'd by us should yet afford some Relief to our Necessities how much more reasonable must we think it to be to allow the same unto our Brethren to whom we are even by that God oblig'd But not to insist any longer upon so remote a Sense especially after that we our selves have declared it so to be proceed we to consider it with reference to the Duty we owe to our Neighbour and as the Sum of the Law and the Prophets concerning it For my more advantageous Explication whereof I will apply it to all those Precepts of the Decalogue which respect the Welfare of our Neighbour To begin with that which gives beginning to them even that which calls upon us to Honour our Father and Mother whether as that imports the Honour that is due unto Superiours or as it doth also connote that Fatherly and gentle Usage which those Superiours are to shew to those that are under their command For who that carries about him I do not say the common Infirmities of Humane Nature but even the most innocent Affections of it who I say that is onely such but would expect Honour and Obedience if he were advanced to that Dignity to which his envied Neighbour is Shall we suppose the lowliness of his Mind to repress such Desires But as that requires no more than such an humble Opinion of a Mans self as is answerable to his own Quality and Condition so we see but too frequently that a change of Fortune produceth a change also in the Mind yea such a change as is also superiour to the other Shall we then say and indeed more than that we cannot say that the present lowness both of his Fortune and Mind may keep him at least from thinking that he should give entertainment to more lofty Desires But even that will not be a bar to the discovery of other Inclinations if he will but advert to his present Demeanour under it For as there are few so low who have not some also under them whether in the relation of Children or Servants so we see but too apparently that even they cannot without regret receive from the other any Disrespect or Disobedience Now forasmuch as it is impossible for any Man not to desire Respect and Obedience supposing himself advanc'd to that Dignity which doth require it forasmuch as that Impossibility will easily discover it self to him who shall but reflect upon his own Demeanour toward those that are below him it will not be hard to collect That
as the Scripture which is more to be credited hath taught us another Lesson because forbidding us to say ‖ Prov. 24.29 I will do to my Neighbour as he hath done to me I will render to the man according to his works so it hath elsewhere assign'd such Reasons of it as both shew the unlawfulness of such a Procedure and take off from the force of its Pretensions For giving us to understand that God to whom Vengeance originally belongeth reserveth that part of Justice to himself †Rom. 12.19 and to those whom he hath entrusted * Rom. 13.4 with his Authority it doth consequently make it unlawful to any other than such to assume to themselves the Execution of it and therefore also to do to Men as they have before dealt with them If he who hath his own Injuries return'd upon him receive no more than he doth deserve yet will not that warrant our retaliating them because we have no Authority to chastise him The more Equitable as well as more Christian Rule is certainly Do to other Men as ye would they should do to you as you your selves if you were in their Circumstances would be forward enough to desire from them So doing you will not onely not usurp upon the Prerogative of God or of his Vicegerent but comply with the Sentiments of Nature and Revelation with the several Precepts and Intimations of the one with the Law and the Prophets and Gospels of the other THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth theé PART I. The Contents A Transition to the Duty we owe to each other whether consider'd onely as Men or under a more near Relation The latter of these provided for in this Fifth Commandment which is divided into a Duty and a Promise An Essay toward a general Explication of the Duty where is shewn That under Father and Mother are comprehended 1. Grandfather and Grandmother and other the Ancestors from whom we came because though at a distance Authors of our Being 2. Kings and all that are in Authority partly because in the place of Parents to their People and partly because their Authority is a Branch of the Paternal one and succeeded into the place of it 3. Our Spiritual Pastors because begetting us to a better Birth And in fine All that are our Superiours whether in Authority Dignity or Age. The like Comprehensiveness evinc'd in the Honour that is requir'd which is shewn also to include Fear and Love together with the Expressions of them and Honour The Duty of Superiours connoted in the Honour that is to be paid to them and how that Duty may be inferr'd An Address to a more particular Explication of the Duty where the Honour of Parents is resum'd and the Grounds thereof shewn to be first Their being under God the Authors of ours and secondly the Maintainers of it The Consequences of the former Ground propos'd and shewn to preclude all Pretences of Disrespect OUR Duty to God being provided for in the first place as which is both the Foundation and Limitation of all others proceed we according as the Decalogue invites to consider the Duty we owe to each other which may be reduc'd to two Heads that is to say such as we owe to one another as Men or such as arise from some more intimate Relation between us The latter of these is my Task at this time because the Design of the Commandment that is now before us for the Explication whereof I will consider 1. The Duty enjoyn'd And 2. The Promise wherewith it is enforc'd I. Now though if we look no further than the Letter we could not be long to seek what that is which is here bound upon us yet because I have before shewn that many things are contain'd in a Commandment beside what is express'd in it to attain the full importance of this we must enter into the very Bowels of it and extract that Sense which is wrapp'd up in it as well as that which is apparent In order whereunto I will inquire 1. Whether any Superiours are here meant besides Fathers and Mothers 2. What is the importance of that Honour which is here requir'd 3. Whether the Commandment provide for the Behaviour of Superiours towards Inferiours as well as of Inferiours towards them 1. And first of all though Father and Mother be the onely Persons express'd to whom we are requir'd to give Honour yet the general Reason of the Commandment obligeth us to extend it to Grandfathers and Grandmothers and other the Ancestors from whom we are descended because though they contributed not immediately to our Birth yet mediately they did as being the Authors of those from whom we deriv'd it Whence it is that in the Scripture they have often the Name of Fathers as Your Father Abraham rejoyc'd to see my day and was glad But beside that Grandfathers and Grandmothers are to be understood and other the Stocks from whence we came there is no doubt but Kings and all that are in Authority are included in the same general Names Witness first their being in the place of Fathers to those who are under their Dominion For though as Moses sometime told God they do not beget their People if we understand it with reference to their Natural one yet as their Civil Birth is from them so they carry them in their bosom as a nursing Father beareth the sucking Child as the same God commanded the angry Moses Num. 11.12 Again As Kings are in the place of Fathers to their People especially in respect of their Tuition so the Authority of Kings is a Branch of the Paternal one and succeeded into the Place of it Of which beside the Testimony * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Sanders de Oblig Conscient Praelect 7. sect 16. of Aristotle who was no Friend of Kingly Government and the great number of Kings that was anciently in every little Country and particularly in the Land of Canaan we may discern evident Marks in the Authority of Fathers even after the Empire was otherwise dispos'd of these having anciently the Power of Life and Death which is one of the principal Flowers of the Regal Diadem Now forasmuch as Kings are not onely in the place of Fathers to their People but vested in that Authority which was originally and naturally theirs it is but reasonable to think that when God commanded to honour these his Intention was to include the other as who beside their resemblance to them had also the best part of their Authority Next to Kings and Princes consider we our Spiritual Fathers even those who beget us to Piety and to God concerning whom there can be no place for doubt that they ought to be understood in those Fathers we are here commanded to revere For if our Earthly Father is to have Honour those certainly ought not to go
without it who beget us to an infinitely better Being To all which if we add that the Decalogue is a Summary of all Moral Duties as well those which respect our Neighbour as those which have an aspect upon God so there can be no doubt not onely that the former are included but all other our Superiours whether in Authority or Dignity or Age Because as the Honour of these may be fairly reduc'd to this Commandment as I shall shew more at large when I come to handle them apart so there is no other Commandment to which they can if you except onely the Honour of Husbands which may have a place in that Commandment which forbids violation of it 2. Having thus shewn what is meant by that Father and Mother which this Commandment requires us to honour I come now to inquire what is the importance of that Honour which we are under an Obligation to exhibit it being likely enough where the Objects thereof are so various that there is some variety in that Honour which is due To find out therefore the full importance of it I will inquire 1. Whether under the Affection of Honour any other be understood And 2. Whether the Expressions thereof be not equally due with the Affections themselves For the Resolution of the former whereof the first thing I shall offer is the primary Notion of the Hebrew Word we render Honour which the Masters of that Language inform us signifies to be heavy or weigh so and consequently in Piel not to account lightly of to esteem of as a thing of weight and moment Now though in the common acception of the Phrase that be most accommodable to that Honour by which we have chosen to express it yet it contains within the compass of it all other Respects which arise from any considerable Quality of the Thing we so value that is to say as well those which arise from its loveliness or terribleness as from the eminency of its Nature and Authority For if we give any Thing or Person its due weight and moment we must also if they be lovely afford them as great and intense a Love or if terrible fear them proportionably to it Whence it is that what is here Honour thy father and mother is in Lev. 19.3 express'd by fear or reverence them and accordingly is no less usually set to denote the Duty we owe to our Parents than that which is here made use of to express it But beside the Comprehensiveness of the Hebrew Word with the Addition of God's expressing our Duty as well by Fear as Honour it is to be observ'd that there is not in Parents a greater ground for any thing than Love witness the tenderness they have over us and particularly that which the Mother hath For if so Love must be suppos'd to be as much a Duty as any thing and consequently to be included in that Affection which is requir'd To all which if we add That it is not unusual under one Species to understand all of the same Genus so no doubt can remain but under the Name of Honour all the former Requisites are contain'd For the Commandment we have now before us being one of those which were intended as an Abstract of the whole Duty of Man it is in reason to comprehend the whole of our Duty to our Superiours and therefore also because not otherwise to be done to set that Species of our Duty for all the rest But beside that the Affection of Honour includes all the rest that are due from us to our Parents they are in like manner to be suppos'd to include the Expressions of them and particularly the Expressions of Honour of which beside the usual acceptation of the Word Honour which together with the Esteem of the Mind connotes the Expressions of it we may fetch a Proof from the Nature of the Affections of the Soul and the necessity of their exerting themselves in outward Acts For as the Affections of the Soul are naturally operative and seek out proper ways to express themselves so unless they do they are of little or rather of no use to whom they are commanded to be exhibited For what avails Charity to a distressed Person if it shew not it self in Alms and other such like Expressions of it Or what satisfaction can an honourable Esteem bring to our Parents if it contains it self in the Mind where it is neither to be discern'd nor can produce any Advantage to them But because to make it evident that the Expressions of Honour are requir'd no better way can be taken than by instancing in the Expressions themselves before I leave this Head I will attempt the Probation of it in each beginning with the Expression of it in Outward Gestures For thus Lev. 19.32 we are commanded to rise up before the hoary head and to honour the face of the old man For if we are to do that before the Face of the Old Man much more before the Face of our Natural Parent or him that is the Father of our Country From Reverence in Gesture pass we to the same testified in Words which we shall find to be no less a Duty than the former witness the several Cautions that are given against cursing our Natural or speaking evil of our Civil Parent For that shews our Words to be under a Law as to that particular and consequently because they are equally capable of honouring our Parents that they ought to be employ'd to that purpose The same is much more evident concerning our Actions and particularly concerning yielding Obedience to their Commands For as a due apprehension of their Authority doth naturally lead us to yield Obedience to those Commands that have their Authority stamp'd upon them so that this Expression of our Honour was intended St. Paul plainly shews Ephes 6.1 2. For inferring as he doth the Justice of Obeying our Parents from this very Commandment we have now before us he supposes Obedience to their Commands to be a part of that Honour which this Commandment requires us to give In like manner forasmuch as where submission to chastisement is not there can be no due apprehension of their Authority the opposing our selves thereto being a denial of it and therewith of the Justice of their Proceedings it follows that to honour our Parents includes that Expression also and we are not onely to be obedient to their Will but suffer without murmuring under the Inflictions of it Such are the Superiours whom we are requir'd to honour such the Honour and other Duties which we are by the same Commandment enjoyn'd to pay Nothing remains toward a general Explication of it but to inquire 3. Whether Superiours may not read their Duty also in it Which Question is the rather to be ask'd because setting aside this Commandment there is no other to which it can be reduc'd But as for that cause it is but reasonable to seek it here where the Duties of their
Services and Homages by which they hold their respective Emoluments The Duty of the Lord to afford them again that Protection Assistance and Redress which the Laws of the Land the Custom of the Place or the Nature of their Dominion doth require Of the Honour of Masters and what the Grounds thereof are In order whereunto inquiry is first made concerning such of their Servants as become so by Constraint and particularly by Conquest by Sentence or by Purchase Where the Servants become such either by Conquest or a Condemnatory Sentence those to whom they do belong have for the Ground of their Honour their giving them that Life which it was in their power to have taken away Where Servants become such by Purchase there is the Title of those whether Conquerors or Princes to whom they did originally belong and that Valuable Consideration which the Purchaser paid for it If the Servant become such by his own free Consent as it is in Days-men Menial Servants and Apprentices there is not onely his own free Consent to entitle his Master to Honour from him but those Wages and Nourishment which the two former receive and that Skill or Craft which the latter is instructed in An Address to the Declaration of what Honours are due from Servants to their Masters and in what measure and proportion Where entrance is made with the Consideration of such Servants as become so by constraint and all sort of Honour shewn to be due from them which they are in a capacity to pay This evidenc'd both from Scripture and the Life which they receive from their Masters A Digression concerning the Abolition of Servitude in the Christian World where is shewn That it was neither founded upon any just Reason nor is much for the Commodity of it Of the Honours that are due from such as become Servants by Consent which are shewn to be in a great measure determinable by their own Compacts Certain Rules laid down for the more certain investigation of them such as are That they shew respect to their several Masters in Gesture and Language That they yield Obedience to their Commands and particularly in all such things as are expresly covenanted or are by Law or Custom impos'd upon them yea even when the matter of the Command is harsh provided it be not eminently such An Account of the Qualifications wherewith this Obedience of theirs is to be attended which are Singleness of Heart and a Chearful Mind Submission to the Censures of the Master another part of the Servants Duty even where they are rather frowardly than justly inflicted provided they be not often repeated nor prove intolerable An Appeal to the Magistrate in that case allowable but no violent Resistance in that or any other Of the Duty of Masters to their Servants and particularly to such as are Servants by Constraint or Slaves Where is shewn first That they ought to furnish them with Food and Rayment in such a proportion as may suffice the Necessities of Nature Secondly That they impose such Tasks upon them as are not above their Strength to undergo Thirdly Not to punish them above the demerit of their Crime or above what their Strength will bear And in sine That neither their Commands nor Punishments be extended any farther than the Laws of the Place give leave or Equity and Christian Charity permit It is however necessary for such Servants to submit to whatever is impos'd provided it be not above the proportion of their Strength partly upon the account of St. Paul's commanding Subjection to the Froward and partly upon the Account of that Life which is indulg'd them Of the Duty of Masters to Servants by Consent which to be sure comprehends 1. All things that are owing from them to Slaves 2. What they expresly covenant to afford them whether that be Wages or Instruction 3. To treat them agreeably to the Nature of that Service into which they are admitted 4. The exacting of due Labour from them and where they fail Chastisement 5. The restraining them from Vicious Courses and both prompting and obliging them to the Practice of Religious Duties Where both the Ground and Vsefulness of the Master 's so doing is declar'd WHAT Honour is due from us to those that have any thing of Dignity to commend them hath been already declar'd together with the Grounds upon which it stands It remains onely that we entreat of the Honour of such as are also in Authority and may command our Obedience as well as Respect I do not mean by vertue of any Publick Employment for what Honour is due to such hath been before sufficiently declar'd but by vertue of some Private Dominion such as is that of a Lord of a Mannor over his Tenants or of a Master of a Family over his Servants Of the former of these much need not be said whether as to the Necessity or the Kinds of Honour that are to be paid For holding their Lands from them upon condition of certain Rents Services and Homages to which they do moreover by Promise and Oath oblige themselves at their several Admissions to them the Benefit they enjoy by them and their own Compact shews the necessity of honouring them as the latter because particularly expressing them the Kinds of Honour they are to pay In consideration whereof as no Man of Conscience can pretend to withhold them were it onely for the Oath of God by which the Payment thereof is bound upon them so those who challenge this Honour from them are in reason to afford them that Protection Assistance and Redress which the Laws of the Land the Custom of the Place or the Nature of their Dominion doth require From this first Dominion pass we to that which is more general I mean that of the Master over his Servants Where first of all 1. I shall shew the Duty of Servants honouring their Masters 2. The Grounds upon which the Honour of them is built 3. What Kinds and Measure and Quality of Honour is due unto them 4. And lastly What is due from them again to their Servants 1. I begin with the first of these even the Duty of Servants honouring their Masters concerning which the Scriptures of the New Testament speak much and often as to that part of Honour which consists in Obedience and Submission But because when I descend to shew the Kinds of Honour they are to give them there will be a necessity of producing those Texts anew I shall content my self at present with that general Proof which St. Paul gives us in his First to Timothy and with that which this Commandment if well considered will be found to do For though the Letter of it specifie onely the Honour of Parents yet it sufficiently implies the Honour of other Superiours and particularly that Honour which is due from Servants to their Masters there being certainly a far greater Preeminence of a Master over his Servant than there is of a Father over his Child
commands Submission to the Froward for Servants to oppose themselves so if they should be allow'd to do so it would introduce a greater confusion in Families than either the Peace of them or of the State would be consistent with 4. What Honour is due from Servants to their Masters hath been at large declar'd and thereby so far as this particular is concern'd the main intendment of the Commandment discharg'd But because I have often said that the Commandment which is now before us was intended also to comprehend the duty of Superiours toward Inferiours as well as of Inferiours toward them I think it not amiss to speak somewhat of the duty of Masters toward their Servants and the rather because oftentimes they stand as much in need of an admonition as the other In order whereunto following the division before laid down I will consider the duties of Masters toward their Slaves and and then of their duties toward such as though their Servants yet are so in a more ingenuous way Now though the Authority of Masters over Slaves be undoubtedly much greater than that over other Servants though anciently as Justinian * Institut tells us they had the power of Life and Death and were not accountable for it though they put them to death unjustly yet as the Roman Laws * Lib. 1. tit 8. sect 2 3. set bounds to that exorbitant Power of theirs and our own hath yet more retrench'd it so if we consult the Laws of Nature and Christianity we shall find there is more owing from them unto their Slaves than is ordinarily thought fit to be paid Of this Nature is first Furnishing them with Food and Rayment in such a proportion as may suffice the necessities of Nature this being absolutely necessary to enable them to the performance of that Service and Labour which they exact Of the same nature is secondly The imposing such Tasks upon them as is not above their strength to perform this being no more than common humanity requires of which Slaves are equally partakers with our selves But such also is it thirdly Not to punish them above the demerit of their Crime nor above what their Strength will bear Justice requiring that the Punishment do not exceed the Proportion of the Offence and common humanity that it pass not the bounds of their Natural Abilities In fine for so St. Paul plainly intimates where he commands Masters to give unto their Servants that which is just and equal their Commands and Punishments ought to extend no farther than the Laws of the place give leave or Equity and Christian Charity permit which to be sure will not only exclude all Cruelty and Injustice toward them but impose a necessity upon the Master of shewing such Compassion to them as their Weakness or Necessities may at any time require In the mean time though I no way doubt but Masters are to give unto their Slaves that which is just and equal and consequently to abstain from all Cruelty either in their Commands or Censures yet I think it necessary for them to submit both to the one and the other where the burthen which is impos'd is not above the proportion of their strength partly because St. Peter commands subjection to the froward and difficult and partly because that they have so much as their life is owing either to the mercy of their present Masters or of those from whom they were purchas'd From the duties of Masters to their Slaves pass we to the duties of the same to their Servants such I mean as are so in a more ingenuous way Where first of all I shall make no difficulty to affirm as I suppose neither will any man so grant that all those things are undoubtedly owing to Servants which are from a Master to his Slave the condition of Servants being much better than that of Slaves and therefore to be sure not to require less of their Masters than the other As little difficulty can be made that all that is owing to them from their Masters which at the entrance upon their service they do expresly covenant to afford them a Promise even where there is no other Obligation making the party promising a Debter and how much more then where there is a valuable consideration to engage him But from hence it will follow first Where there is any such thing covenanted that they are to give them the promised reward or wages and that too at or near the time wherein they become due to them he paying less than he ought who pays not at or near the the time because depriving the party to whom he owes it of that use and advantage which he might and which because it is his own it is fit he should receive by it It will follow secondly where that is a part of the Contract that Masters carefully and faithfully teach their Servants that Trade for the Learning whereof they become Servants to them which is the rather to be observ'd because it is oftentimes through sloathfulness omitted or basely and invidiously conceal'd at least as to the cheifest Mysteries thereof as if a Contract could be satisfied by paying one half the thing contracted for and it may be too the less considerable one I observe thirdly That in such Servants as are by Contract to receive their whole maintenance from their Masters a regard is to be had not only of what necessity but what the condition of that Service into which they are assum'd requires For by how much the more Ingenuous the Service is so much the more free in reason ought to be the entertainment of those that are in it especially when as it mostly happens paying accordingly to their Masters for it Whence it is that no Man of reason doubts but that the Apprentice of a Merchant or other such more liberal Profession should be treated in a better fashion than one of a man of a more inferiour one or an ordinary Serving Man to the same I observe fourthly That as care is to be taken on the one hand that they afflict not their Servants with immoderate Labours or Punishments so also on the other hand that they suffer them not to be Idle nor be sparing of just Chastisements when they deserve them the omission of that not only proving the bane of their Servants but being a falsification of that Trust which is reposed in them by their Servants Parents and an injury to the Commonwealth which by their slothfulness or cowardise is like to have so much the worse Subjects Fifthly and Lastly more than which I shall not need to say unless it be to exhort them to the practise of what they are thus bound to It is incumbent upon all Masters of Families to restrain their Servants from all Vitious Courses and both prompt and oblige them to the practise of Religious Duties not indeed by any direct obligation upon them from their Authority which reacheth rather to Temporal than Spiritual matters
whence it is that they are call'd Masters according to the Flesh but by virtue of that Great Law of Christianity which commands Men as much as in them lies to promote the business of Religion Which lying more in Masters powers than in other Mens by means of that Authority they have over them there doth from thence arise an Obligation upon them to promote Religion by their commands in all those which are subjected to their Dominion And indeed as that which is honest will very rarely be found to be separate from profitable if Men would estimate the advantageousness of a thing by that which is most certainly and lastingly so so there cannot be a more compendious way to promote our Interest in the World than by endeavouring as much as in us lies to make those Religious whom we employ Because as what such do is most faithfully and diligently done so it is most likely to be prosper'd by the Divine Providence from whom as all other good Gifts so this Worlds Wealth will be found to come PART XI Of the Promise wherewith the Duty of this Commandment is enforced and what the due importance of it is Where is shewn 1. That the Blessing here promis'd is a long and happy Life and particularly in the Land of Canaan 2. That that Blessing is to be expected from our Parents as well as from God partly by that sustenance and encouragement which our Honour will prompt them to afford and partly by their Intercession with God for us Vpon occasion whereof the efficacy of a Parent 's blessing is declar'd and the reasonableness of Children's desiring it of them is asserted 3. That the Blessing here promised implies a contrary Curse to the Violators of the Commandment as is evident both from the ineffectualness of a single Promise to perswade and the denunciations of God elsewhere Whether or no and how far the promise belongs to us Christians Evidence of its belonging to us from the obligation of that Duty to which it is annexed and from St. Paul's making use of it to perswade the Ephesians to the performance of the other An Essay toward the shewing in what manner and measure it appertains to us Where first is made appear that it appertains not to us in the same manner and measure wherein it did unto the Jews Evidence hereof from its referring to the Land of Canaan which was the proper Portion of the Jews and from the nature of those earthly promises that were made to them those as they were not clogg'd with the same exceptions wherewith they are now so intended in a great measure as shadows of more substantial Blessings That this and other such like Promises appertain to us First and chiefly in the Mystery or Substance where withal is shewn what the Mystery here adumbrated is even a Happy and Immortal Life in Heaven That they appertain to us also in the Letter but not without the exception of Persecutions nor yet any farther than they shall be found to be subservient to our Spiritual welfare and the Glory of God and of his Gospel Enquiry is next made whether or no and in what proportion the present Promise doth belong to the Observers of the several Duties of this Commandment That it belongs in some measure to all is evidenced from the extensiveness of the Duty which the Promise is in reason to answer But first and principally to the Honourers of Parents because that is the only Duty expressed and because that tye which Parents have upon us approacheth nearest unto that whereby the Honour of God is bound upon us The honourers of other Superiours more or less entitled to it according as those Superiours approach neerer to or are farther removed from our Natural Parents The consequence whereof is that it belongs more to the honourers of our Civil and Spiritual Parents than to other Superiours as again more to the honourers of our Civil than Spiritual ones because the former have a greater Interest in our Temporal Being The Explication concludes with enquiring what appearance there is of the literal completion of this promise Evidence hereof in the Honourers of our Natural Parents from the observations both of Greeks and Jews As in the Honourers of other Superiours and particularly of our Civil or Spiritual Parents partly from the orderliness of their behaviour which is more likely to be successful than Turbulent and Seditious ones and and partly from their preventing those Wars and Confusions which do principally occasion the shortning of Mens days II. HAVING entreated at large in several Discourses of the Duty here enjoin'd as well that which we owe to our Civil and Spiritual Parents together with all other kinds of Superiours as that which we owe unto our Natural ones it remains that we proceed to the Promise wherewith it is inforc'd of the prolongation of our days For though the words wherein it is express'd look rather like a Motive drawn from the Consequents of our Honour than a Promise of what God will bestow upon it yet as that Law-giver who proposeth any thing under the Notion of a Motive must if he Act like a Law-giver both represent that which is advantageous and moreover if the thing depend upon his Will an assurance of his own readiness to contribute towards it which is the very formality of a Promise so that that which God proposeth under that Notion was intended as a Promise St. Paul gives us to understand Ephes 6.2 He there stiling this Commandment a Commandment with a Promise and the first of that Nature meaning thereby the first of the Decalogue to which there was any express and special one Taking it therefore for granted that the words now before us have the nature of a Promise to the due observers of this Commandment I will make it my business to enquire 1. What is the due importance of it and 2. Whether or no and how far it appertains to us Christians upon the performance of the duty enjoin'd 3. Whether and in what proportion it belongs to the several duties therein contain'd I. Now there are three things within the resolution whereof the answer to the first of these will be comprehended 1. What the Blessing here promised is 2. From whom it is to be expected And 3. Whether it implies any thing of a Curse to the violators of the Commandment 1. What the Blessing promised is we shall not be long to seek because so particularly expressed in this place and in the parallel one of Deuteronomy chap. 5. 6. it being evident from them both that a long life is promised from that of Deuteronomy * And that it may go well with thee that that life shall be happy as well as long and from both again that that long and happy life should be spent in their own Country and particularly in the Land of Canaan that being the Land promised by God unto the Israelites and to which this Promise and in a
and all the Mischiefs that attend them but obliging Superiours for their own safety and that of the Commonwealth to cut those off which shall be found to withdraw Obedience from them And though it sometime happen that the Peaceable and Obedient meet with a Fate no way answerable to their Merit yet as generally speaking they are more likely to be successful than turbulent and seditious Men so where they are not they have the Conscience of their own Goodness to support them and the certain expectation of a Reward in another World That being a Blessing which as no Violence of Men can obstruct so God hath without any Exceptions oblig'd himself to bestow THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT Thou shalt * or not kill do no murther PART I. The Contents Of the Duty we owe to each other as Men and particularly to each others Persons and Lives the violation whereof this Commandment forbids The Affirmative part of the Commandment the shewing Humanity or Benevolence unto all the Grounds whereof are also declar'd Those either first our descending originally from the same Common Parents the ignorance whereof was probably the cause of the Heathens not extending their Humanity usually beyond their own Nation Or secondly our descending from the same Coelestial Parent God and being created by him in his own Image Or thirdly that Natural Compassion which God hath implanted in all our Hearts that necessity we stand in of one anothers Help and that Ability which we have by means of Reason and Speech to afford it The particular Duties this Humanity includes an inward Affection to Praying for and doing all those things which may promote each others Happiness Of which nature are the assisting one another with our Advice lending one another the Assistance either of our Persons or Fortunes and where there is a necessity of punishing using moderation in it This Humanity to extend in some measure to all unless where there is a Command of God to the contrary which is not to be suppos'd under the Gospel Of the Measure wherein this Humanity is to be extended where is shewn first That it ought to be extended even to evil and unjust Persons so far as is consistent with the Glory of God the Publick Good and the Good of our own Souls What the Result of that Determination is and that it no way hinders but Offenders may be brought to condign Punishment because Glemency to them is Cruelty to the Innocent Inquiry is next made in what proportion this Humanity is to be extended to the several sorts and degrees of Men where is shewn That where it cannot or not alike be afforded unto all those of the same True Religion with us are to be preferr'd before those of a False as those who are nearly related to us before those who are more remote Our selves caeteris paribus to be preferr'd before other Men but not so where there is an Inequality our own Pleasure being to be postpos'd to the necessary Support of a Neighbour and our own Welfare as well as Pleasure to that of the Society whereof we are WHAT is owing from us to each other upon the account of any near Relation was the Business of that Commandment to shew which entreats of the Honour of Parents It remains that we inquire what we owe to one another as Men which is the purport of the following ones In the investigation whereof following the Order of the Decalogue and Nature we will inquire first of all what is owing from us to each others Persons and Lives Now though if we look no farther than the Letter of the Commandment that is now before us the Whole of what is requir'd of us may seem to be no other than the not invading each others Lives or at least offering no violence to them yet because it is certain from the Laws of God and Nature that a positive Benevolence is also requir'd and because both our Saviour and St. Paul reduce the whole of the Law to Love which could not be done with any congruity if Benevolence had not a portion in it therefore I think it not amiss to allot it a place in my Discourse and inquire 1. Upon what Grounds it stands 2. What Duties it contains 3. To whom and 4. In what measure it is to be extended 1. And here not to tell you that Benevolence to all Mankind is so confessedly a Duty that it hath obtained the name of Humanity because though that be a proof of the Worlds believing it to be such and consequently that it hath a foundation in Nature yet it gives no account of the Grounds upon which it stands I shall without more ado apply my self to the investigation of those Principles from which both so general a Perswasion and the Obligation thereof doth arise Now the first Obligation we have of shewing Humanity to each other ariseth from hence that all of us though at at a greater distance descend from the same Common Parents For being by the former Precept oblig'd to give Honour to our Parents as well those which are farther remov'd from us as those which are more immediate to us See Explicat of the Fifth Commandm Part 1. in the beginning of it and Part 3. towards the end being also as was there observ'd we cannot give Honour to them unless we have a regard to those that are alike descended from them it follows that if we are all descended from the same Common Parents we are to look upon one another as of the same Family and consequently to afford one another a share in our Affections And though in tract of Time the Tradition of our Descent from the same Common Parents was in a manner quite forgotten among the Heathen which is probably the reason why they shew'd so little Humanity out of their own Nation yet as where there was a perswasion of descending from the same Common Stock there was always a Religious Friendship between them yea though Necessity or some other Cause had separated them as to the place of their abode so Josephus * Antiqu. Judaic lib. 12. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. tells us That when the Lacedemonians found by a certain Writing that they and the Jews descended from the same Stock as being both of the Posterity of Abraham they did in a Letter of their Kings to Onias the High Priest both offer and require a mutual Friendship as the result of that Cognation that was between them It being but just as the Words ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph ibid. of their Letter are that since you are our Brethren you should send to us for such things as you desire as in like manner we shall do and both look upon your Possessions as our own and have our own in common with you From which Ratiocination of theirs it is apparent that though the Heathen had not the knowledge of all Mens descending from the same Common
bring him within the compass of the Commandment Of Murther properly so called and of the Sins included in it what hath been said may suffice and therefore I will supersede all farther consideration of it But because the Scripture makes mention of another Murther even the murther of the Soul by which though it be not altogether depriv'd of Life yet it is of the comforts of it and thereby made much more miserable than if it were not at all therefore it may not be amiss to enquire whether that also have not a place in the prohibition and how men become guilty of it Now there are two things which perswade the Murder whereof we speak to come within the compass of the prohibition now before us 1. That what we call the murther of the Soul is properly enough such and 2. That it is a more pernicious one than the other That the Murther whereof we speak is properly enough such is evident not only from the Scriptures giving that State the name of death into which this Murder brings men but also from the very nature of it For as Murder properly so call'd becomes such not by the taking away of all Life for the Soul which is the chiefest part of Man lives no less after that than before but by the destruction of that natural Life which he from whom we take it enioy'd as to the present World so the murder of the Soul as we commonly express it though it introduce not a perfect insensibility yet it despoils it of that spiritual Life which it enioys in this present state and which is more of that also of which it is capable in the next It is no less evident Secondly That supposing what we speak of to be a Murder it is a much more pernicious one than the other because as that Life which it takes away is a much better one than the other so it draws after it an eternity of torment Now forasmuch as the Murder whereof we speak is not only properly enough such but a much more pernicious one than the other it is easie to suppose or rather impossible to suppose otherwise than that he who forbad the one intended also the avoiding of the other especially having before shewn that the Commandments of which this is one were intended as a summary of the whole Duty of Man All therefore that remains to enquire into upon this head is how men become guilty of it which will require no very accurate consideration to resolve For to say nothing of those who have the cure of Souls though of all others the most obnoxious to it partly because they are not under mine and partly because they are better able to inform themselves I shall content my self at present with pointing out those ways whereby private persons may come to be guilty of it which is 1. By prompting men to or encouraging them in those sinful courses which draw after them the destruction of the Soul That which gave the Devil the title of a murderer from the beginning as he is called Joh. 8.44 being no other than that as the story of Genesis informs us he sollicited our first Parents to eat of that Fruit from which both their temporal and spiritual Death ensu'd 2. The same is to be said of giving an ill example and thereby drawing other Men into the commission of the like Crimes an evil Example not onely having the Nature of a Temptation but being also of greater force than any other inasmuch as it doth more undiscernably instill its Poyson and finds Men more ready to receive it It being a known and undoubted Truth that Men regard not so much what they ought or what they are advis'd to as what they see others do before them 3. Add hereunto because of near affinity with the other the doing any thing how innocent soever whereby our weak brother may be tempted to do the like against his own Conscience Such as was for example the eating of Meats sacrificed to Idols in the presence of those who were not so well inform'd of their Christian Liberty For though as St. Paul spake concerning it 1 Cor. 8.4 there was no unlawfulness in the thing it self and consequently therefore nothing in it but the Conscience of the Idol to unhallow it yet might the doing thereof by a strong Christian be a temptation to a weak one to do the like if not against yet without a due assurance of his own Conscience Which as St. Paul hath elsewhere * Rom. 14.23 pronounc'd to be damnable and so destructive of that Soul which is guilty of it so both there †Rom. ver 15.20 and here ‖ 1 Cor. 8.11 he chargeth the guilt of its destruction upon those who should so embolden it to offend 4. And though the like care of other Men be not incumbent upon private Christians as is upon those Persons whom God hath more particularly intrusted with the inspection of them yet inasmuch as by the Laws both of Nature and Christianity they are commanded to reprove an offending Brother and not suffer sin to be upon him he that shall suffer such a one to perish for want of a seasonable and just admonition shall be so far chargeable with his destruction whom he did not endeavour to reclaim What is meant by Thou shalt not kill as that is to be understood of the killing another hath been at large declar'd together with the several Sins that are included in it Nothing remains toward the compleating of my Discourse but to shew what Sins are included in the killing of our selves Where 1. First of all I shall reckon the neglect of our Health because a step to that Self-murther which is here forbidden For though that for the most part be look'd upon as an Imprudence rather than any violation of the Commandments of our Maker yet it is because Men consider not that there is a Duty owing by them to themselves or rather unto God concerning them They are as I have before remark'd plac'd in this World by God they are put into a capacity of and enjoyn'd the serving of their Maker in it and being so are in reason to intend the performance of it and because that cannot otherwise be procur'd to intend also the preservation of themselves the neglect of that not onely making Men more unapt for it whilst they live but cutting them off before their time 2. To the neglect of our Health subjoyn we the exposing our selves to unnecessary dangers and where nothing but vain-glory or the desire of filthy Lucre prompts us to it such as are many of those Dangers which they who profess Feats of Activity do without the least scruple involve themselves in For as it is rare for such Persons to what Agility soever they may have attain'd not to procure their own destruction in the end so many of the Dangers to which they expose themselves are so imminent that they must always be thought
the Ground of that mutual Love and what Effects it ought to manifest it self by As to the former of these much need not be said especially if we have an eye to the principal Ground of it the Words of St. Paul in the place before-quoted no less than those of the Institution of Marriage shewing the ground of the Parties Love to be no other than that Vnity into which the Divine Institution hath conjoyn'd them Onely as so much was necessary to be observ'd here because the proper place for it so the rather to take them off from laying the main stress of their Love upon the Aimiableness or other Qualities of those with whom they are so conjoyn'd For as though these and other such like are a just ground of Love between them yet they are neither the onely nor the principal ones so he who makes them such is in danger of overthrowing that Love which God would have to be firm and stable Because however the Word of God may endure for ever yet Beauty and other such like Qualities perish and come to nought and consequently draw after them the destruction of that Love which hath no other ground to stand upon I say not the same of that Affection which is between Christ and his Church of which St. Paul tells us Marriage was intended for a Figure because though that be not the principal Ground of Love yet it is a necessary and a lasting one For inasmuch as Marriage was intended to represent that Affection and Unity which is betwixt Christ and his Church that Affection and Unity ought in reason to be an inducement to ours as without which we shall but profane the other The Grounds of our mutual Love being thus declar'd inquire we in the next place into the due Effects of it Which are first the doing of all things that may any way contribute to each others contentment as on the other side the avoiding of all things which may displease Both the one and the other of which as they are so easie to be understood that it will be unnecessary to explain them so they are for the most part such that it will be much better to leave them to the Consciences of the Parties to inform themselves in than to give any distinct explication of It may suffice here to say 1. That as Marriage was intended for such a Society as the Parties that enter into are by Nature most fitted for so it cannot but be look'd upon as a Violation of Marriage and of that Love which it involves to refuse that Society to each other Again Forasmuch as all Love and particularly the Conjugal one excludes the doing of any thing that may displease the Party loved it will follow that they who are entred into that State are to avoid all unkind or contumelious Words all contemptuous and injurious Actions but more especially all such as may minister an occasion of suspicion to each other of their having a greater Affection for a Stranger Next to the Contentation of each other subjoyn we the seeking one anothers Profit as being a no less necessary Effect of Love and of that Union that is between the Parties For as Love where it is naturally seeks the good of those whom it makes the Object of its Affection so by so much the more by how much the nearer they are to it but how much rather then when they are in a manner one with it Which as it is the case of the Married Couple who by the Institution of the Almighty are no more twain but one flesh so being such it must be look'd upon as unnatural not to have the same care for each other not to seek each others Profit and Advantage Because however Men may sometimes have little regard to Strangers yet as the Apostle argues in the place before-quoted no man yet ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church Which place as it is a convincing Argument of the Love they ought to have for each other and which is more of seeking each othert advantage so directs us withal to the Means they are to make use of in order to the procuring of it that is to say providing for each others Welfare whilst it is yet entire by Food and Raiment and all other things that are necessary for their support as when it is any way impair'd by Sickness or Trouble of Mind endeavouring to restore it by the application of inward and outward Remedies by Advice and Comfort and Assistance Both the one * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enutrit educat sic Lexicographi and ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the other of these as they are the purport of those Words by which St. Paul illustrates the Effects of the Husbands Love so being alike common to each as both the Union that is between them shews and the aptitude that is in either to promote them For though the Care of Provision lies especially upon the Man as being best fitted for it by ability both of Mind and Body yet as the Woman oftentimes is in some measure fitted for it and consequently under a proportionable Obligation to intend it so there is a Provision within-doors which is her peculiar Province and without which the Provision of the Man will be of little or no avail either for himself or her But because the Married Parties are Spirit as well as Flesh and no Provision can secure the Welfare of that but that which Religion furnisheth therefore it may not be amiss to inquire whether that Love which ought to be between them be not to extend it self also to the seeking each others Spiritual Welfare For though Marriage in its own nature look no farther than a Temporal one as for the promoting whereof it was first ordain'd yet as nothing hinders but it may be carried much higher by the Precepts of Religion and particularly of that which we have the Honour to profess so that it is so we have not onely the general Commands of procuring each others eternal Welfare and how much more then theirs who are so nearly conjoyn'd to us but such as do more particularly direct the procuring of theirs who are united to us by the Band of Marriage For wherefore should St. Paul 1 Cor. 14.15 direct the Wife if she understood not what she had learn'd in the Publick Assemblies to ask her Husband at home concerning it but that as Bishop Davenant well argues it is the Duty of the Husband to direct his Wife in Spiritual as well as Temporal Matters Or the same St. Paul oblige the believing Wife to cohabite with an unbelieving Husband upon the hopes of gaining him over to her Religion 1 Cor. 7.13 but that he suppos'd it to be the Duty of the Wife so far as in her lies to procure her Husbands Spiritual Welfare And indeed as it is scarcely
possible for those who have any great love for each other not to desire and endeavour each others Welfare in that which most especially concerns them so they who remember Marriage to have been intended as a Figure of that Mystical Vnion that is between Christ and his Church will not think they have paid a just Respect to that Mystery which it adumbrates unless they endeavour to their power to make the Conversation of each other approach as near as may be to it Lastly Forasmuch as there is nothing more contrary to Love or to that Union from which it results than Strife and Contention between the Married Parties it will follow that it is their Duty as well as Interest to prevent them what they may or if they happen at any time to break out to suppress them The former whereof will be done by avoiding all occasion of Offence the latter by a mutual forgiving and forbearance where such Offences do arise Which whilst some Persons have imprudently neglected they have but help'd to make themselves miserable and made the Yoke of Marriage as uneasie to themselves as to those whom they design'd to revenge themselves upon It being not to be thought they should reap any advantage to themselves who either kindle or maintain a War within their own House and Bowels 2. To the Duty of Love subjoyn we that of Fidelity which is another necessary Result of that Union which Marriage conciliates he or she no less violating that Unity who bestow their Affections upon a Stranger than they who deny it to the proper Object of it Upon which account as Adultery must needs be look'd upon as highly criminal because violating it in that particular for which it was especially ordain'd so also though in a lower degree the frequenting the Company of others more than their own Consorts or using more familiarity with them than the Laws of Decency and Modesty do allow in fine the spending upon others any considerable part of their Estates to the prejudice or without the consent of the other Party he who joyn'd them so closely to one another as to make them one Flesh consequently forbidding all Commerce with Strangers which either exceeds or rivals or prejudiceth that Commerce which the Society into which they enter obligeth the Married Persons to 3. Thirdly As Love and Fidelity to each other are the indispensible Duties of the Married Parties so also though in a different measure the giving each other Honour according as they expresly stipulate For the evidencing whereof we shall need onely to instance in the Deportment of the Husband to the Wife because as I shall afterward shew there cannot be the least doubt of Honours being to be paid to the Husband by her Now that the Husband is to give Honour to his Wife is evident from that of St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.17 where he exhorts the Husband not onely to dwell with his Wife according to knowledge but to give honour to her as to the weaker vessel Which Words as they are a convincing proof of that Honour which we have affirm'd to be due to her from her Husband so shew the Honour that is to be given her because the Honour of the weaker Vessel to be such as is proper to that State in which God hath plac'd her under her Husband The purport whereof is not that the Husband should subject himself to her who is but in some respects his Equal and much less his Superiour but that inasmuch as she is assum'd into a Copartnership with him he should treat her not as a Servant but a Companion and not onely so neither but as the Companion of such a Person and according to his own Quality or Dignity that he should permit her as in reason he ought to bear her self as a Mother over his Family and not either subject her to or abridge her the exercise of her Authority over it in fine that he should permit her whilst she lives to partake of his Worldly Goods and after her and his Decease to permit her Children to succeed into them For though I know even among us there are other kind of Bargains made and such as do in truth make the Woman rather a Concubine than a Wife as shall hereafter be more at large declar'd though I know also that in Germany there is a sort of Marriage wherein the Husband gives the Wife the Left Hand in stead of the Right that is to say expresly stipulates with her not to take her as a Wife of equal Condition by means of which as * Vid Mylerum in Gamologia seu de matrimonio Personarum Imperii illustrium c citat in le Journal de Scavans parte 1. Mylerus observes neither hath she all the Rights of a Wife neither do her Children succeed either to the Fathers Name or Arms or full Inheritance Yet as I cannot but look upon such Matches among us as a contradiction in adjecto because the Husband in Marriage endows her with all his Worldly Goods so upon all such whether here or elsewhere as contrary to the Divine Institution of Marriage and particularly to that Honour which St. Peter requires Men to exhibit to them For how are they either one with their Husbands or in the esteem of Wives which are set at so great a distance from them I will conclude this part of my Discourse with a Duty that is indeed alike common with the former to each of the Married parties but which hath not themselves but God for the object of it And that is that forasmuch as God is the Author of Marriage they would in respect to him whose institution it is possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour as well among themselves as toward others Which they shall do if to give themselves to Fasting and Prayer they shall for a time defraud one another with consent as at all times use that moderation in their enjoyments as may shew them studious of more refined ones and that reservedness and modesty in their outward deportment which may neither tempt others to any impurity nor censure the Divine Institution because of them 2. I have hitherto insisted upon such Duties as are common to the Married parties and which for that reason it is to be hoped will not be distasteful to either of them It remains that I entreat of those that are peculiar to each of them and where if any where I must expect a censure from my Readers But as that rarely happens to a Teacher from the Sober and the Vertuous where his own indiscrete managery thereof gives not occasion to it so he must very much forget his own duty and the dignity of his Employment who shall value any thing of that nature when coming from the Ignorant and Profane Setting aside therefore any farther discourse concerning that I will betake my self to my Task and first of all to 1. Those Duties which are peculiar to the Husband I have heretofore shewn and
shall by and by have occasion to confirm it that God hath endu'd the Husband with Authority over the Wife and commanded her to pay Obedience to it But because it is not impossible Men may arrogate to themselves a greater Authority than ever God intended them or exercise it more fully and with greater rigour than they ought therefore it may not be amiss in describing the peculiar duties of the Husband to shew him what kind of Authority he hath how it is to be exercis'd and about what For answer to which I say first that the Authority of the Husband over the Wife is not coercive but directive that is to say an Authority which priviledges him to command but not to constrain her to Obedience For being given by God to Man as a Companion * Malach. 2.14 and a helper and which is more in such a degree as to become one with him it is unreasonable to think he should have such a power over her as to constrain her to a compliance by force and violence A forcible Treatment degrading her from the condition of a Mate and ranking her among Subjects or Servants Neither will it suffice to say that so also will the laying of Commands because according to the usual saying par in parem non habet potestatem which is alike true as to Commands and Coercions For beside that by the Divine Institution the Man is priviledg'd to rule over her as you may see Gen. 3.16 beside that in this case there is not a perfect parity as the rule before spoken of shews the power of Command is not only not destructive of the conjugal Society but absolutely necessary to the maintaining of it For inasmuch as the Married parties may both entertain different apprehensions concerning such things as are to be done and also take up different resolutions concerning them if there were not a power of ruling somewhere it would be in the power of either party to obstruct the common good of both But as there is not the same necessity of a coercive Power partly because the Husband hath the Law of God to back his Commands and partly because not without a sufficient Power from the Laws of the place he lives in to be able to effect his own purposes so it is perfectly inconsistent with that Society and fellowship into which the Wife is assumed by him It may suffice the Husband that he hath the power of Commanding and in case of refusal that of Reproof and Admonition as which those of far less Authority are not excluded from but other coercion than that no Law of God gives him and is not therefore to be arrogated by him The Authority of the Husband over the Wife being thus explain'd and shewn to consist in Commands Admonitions and Reproofs proceed we to enquire how this Authority is to be exercis'd the second thing propos'd to be discoursed of For the resolution whereof though I might again take my measures from that Partnership into which we have said the Wife to be admitted yet I shall choose rather to shape my Discourse by that Love which the Husband is every where commanded to shew her who is so admitted by him For Love where it is either finding or making Persons equal especially where there is not too great an imparity between the Parties it will follow that the Commands or Admonitions of the Husband are not generally to be delivered in imperious terms and such as savour more of Authority than Kindness St. Paul having taught us by his own behaviour toward Philemon that though a Man may have power to Command yet where that will serve the turn for Love's sake he should rather entreat and not so much constrain as invite them to a compliance I say not the same where she whom God hath commanded to obey shews her self utterly averse from a compliance For in such a case to be too officious were to make himself contemptible and not only so but that Authority which God hath vested in him Only as we learn from St. Paul elsewhere * Col. 3.19 even here also a mean is to be used and though nothing hinders him to express himself in terms suitable to his own Authority yet no Law either of God or Man allows him to be bitter against her The third and last particular comes now to be discours'd of even about what the Authority of a Husband is to be conversant which if we may judge of by the obedience the Wife is required to pay appears to be every thing as you may see Eph. 5.24 But as the same Apostle elsewhere where he entreats of that very Argument adds by way of limitation as it is fit in the Lord Col. 3.18 thereby manifestly restraining the Authority of the Husband to all such things as are within the bounds of our Religion so Reason requires the limiting it to such things also as are suitable to that fellowship into which she is admitted From whence as it will follow that the Husband ought not to impose upon her such things as are more proper for a Servant or Vassal than a Wife so also that he is generally to leave the administration of Houshold affairs to her alone care and management Because as I have often said she is admitted into a Copartnership with him which cannot well be salv'd if that should be taken from her and because both St. Paul 1 Tim. 5.14 and the Laws of Nations appropriate the guiding of the house to her According to that known Proverb which the Roman Matrons were wont to use when they were brought home to their Husbands Houses Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia Where you are a Master I expect to be a Mistress and enjoy the priviledges of such 2. Having thus shewn the Duty of the Husband to the Wife as to that Authority wherewith he is invested over her it remains that we enquire what is due from her to him as well in respect of his Authority as her own necessary subjection to it Now though that be easie enough to infer from the foregoing Discourse and may therefore seem to require the less pains in the investigating of it yet I think it not amiss if it were only to observe a due proportion between them to be as particular in the declaration of it as I was before in that of the Authority and Duty of the Husband In order whereunto I say 1. That inasmuch as God hath invested the Man with Authority over the Wife it must be look'd upon as highly irreligious in her to be so far from submitting to it as on the contrary to usurp Authority over him Such a Behaviour bidding defiance to the order of God and Nature because not only thwarting but perverting it And accordingly as St. Paul not only proscribes it as a thing unlawful but moreover represents it as a thing not to be suffer'd 1 Tim. 2.12 So he hath also given us there to understand what is to be
thought of Womens laying Commands upon their Husbands of entertaining them with Reproofs or offering violence to them For if as he there discourseth it is not so much as lawful for them to take upon them to instruct their Husbands how much less may we suppose it to be to command or check them or in fine to offer violence to them the two former being more apparent marks of Authority than Instruction the latter of so high a nature that it is not lawful from the Man to the Wife though invested by God with Authority over her It may suffice the Wife where the Husband behaves himself otherwise than he ought to expostulate with him in the most becoming terms to exhort entreat and perswade him to an amendment in fine to endeavour it by the piety and winningness of her behaviour and particularly by a meek and quiet spirit For as other courses than such are not likely to prevail with Men that understand themselves so St. Peter not only represents it as the means they are to make use of to win those who obey not the word to yield obedience to it but gives hopes withal by affirming it to be in the sight of God of great price that it is the most probable means to procure it 2. Again forasmuch as God hath not only invested the man with Authority over the Wife but represented him as the head of her even as Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 it will follow as St. Paul infers vers 33. that she ought to reverence her Husband and express it both in her behaviour and language even as Sarah declar'd hers to Abraham by calling him Lord 1 Pet. 3.6 But from hence we may collect what is to be thought of those reproachful titles which Women of haughty spirits do oftentimes bestow upon them For if by the precept of the Scripture they are not to speak to their Husbands without respect how much less may we think it lawful for them to use such contumelious terms as are scarcely fit to be given to a Slave 3. Lastly Forasmuch as God hath not only invested the man with Authority but oblig'd the Woman to yield obedience to it it will follow not only that she is under a necessity of obedience but of such an obedience also as is proportionable to that Authority wherewith we have said him to be invested The result whereof is that she is to obey him in all things that are not contrary to Religion or to that condition of life into which she is admitted by him These three things only must be added to the former exceptions as exceptions of those exceptions or rather necessary explications of them 1. That though the Wife hath no tie upon her to comply with him in such things as are contrary to Religion yet she is to be directed by him in judging of Religious matters and where they are not manifestly contrary to the Scripture to submit to and follow his advices For as there is not a more proper notion of that headship * Daven in Vol. 3.18 19. which is attributed to the Man than that which imports a power of direction so that that direction is to be understood with reference to Religious matters also St. Paul plainly shews 1 Cor. 14.35 he there obliging the Wife if she doubted of the sense of any thing delivered in the publick Assemblies to ask her Husband at home and if so to take directions from him in doubtful cases Which course as a Learned Man * Dr. Tayl. Sermon on Eph. 5.32 33. Part 2. observes hath this farther to recommend it that though if she be deceiv'd alone she hath no excuse because not attending to her instructor yet if she should happen to be deceiv'd with him she hath much pitty and some degrees of warranty under protection of that humility and deference which she shews towards him who is by God appointed over her 2. Secondly Though it be true that the Wife is not under any tie of Obedience where the things commanded by the Husband are more fit for a Servant than a Wife yet as there may be a time particularly that of Sickness wherein the Husband and Wife both may be oblig'd by turns to be a kind of Servants to each other so what is fit or not fit for a Wife to do is at all times to be judg'd not by the deportment of the most which in each Sex are always the worst and much less by the caprichi'os of their own brain but by the examples of godly Matrons as which are most likely to direct them best in judging of it 3. Lastly Though it be true that the management of Houshold Affairs is the proper Province of the Wife and therefore no proper matter generally for the Husband to interpose his commands in yet as no man is oblig'd to be impos'd upon as to his own particular or discredited or undone by her to whom he is appointed as a head so if there be any danger of either of these by her imprudent or wilful management of Affairs there is no doubt in such a Case he hath Authority to controul her and consequently she also a necessity of submitting to it Having thus shewn at large the Duties of Married Persons as well those which are peculiar to each as those which are common to them both nothing remains for me to do but to exhort them to a performance and particularly of such duties as are peculiar to each of them For beside that by so doing they shall each of them comply with the Divine Commands and because that is a natural consequent of the other procure the peace of their own Consciences beside that they shall thereby consult the peace and welfare of themselves and families which for want of a just compliance are oftentimes torn in pieces and beggary and confusion introduc'd the Married parties have this farther inducement to it that they shall thereby provide for their own reputation which is a thing that prevails often where neither Interest nor Religion can For what credit can it be to the Husband to domineer over his Wife who as well by the weakness of her Sex as by the Divine command is obliged to subject her self to him or what credit to the Wife to detrect her Husbands just commands or usurp Authority over him when she cannot do either without proclaiming her self to be proud and insolent and her Husband to be a fool for permitting it Which last title if such persons cannot with patience hear others affix unto their Husbands because of that strait tie which is between them let them see how they will absolve themselves in their own breasts who by their imperious carriage give occasion to the reproach of both On the other side when Man and Wife perform their respective duties and his will looks more like a desire than a command and her actions like the result of his will than of her own when the Man avoids
kill the Adulteress in the Act of her Uncleanness and not to stay for the Formalities of Justice to wreck his Revenge upon her lastly as by the Jewish Law Capital Punishment was adjudg'd to it and both the Adulterer and the Adulteress commanded to be put to death Deut. 22.22 so Christianity though in another way hath shew'd it self as severe against it and those who are the Committers of it St. Paul having in more places †1 Cor. 6.9 c. Gal. 5.21 than one reckon'd it among those Sins which they who do shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Which however to the generality of Men it may appear a light Censure because they rarely consider any thing which is not expos'd to their Eye or Touch yet as it cannot but be otherwise thought of by those who have a Prospect of the World to come and that Eternity of Weal or Woe which it infers so the Adulterer and the Adulteress will be forced to confess it when they shall not onely find themselves shut out of that Kingdom but which follows necessarily upon the former have their unhallow'd Fires punish'd with a more scorching and continual one PART IV. Of the Sins that are included in that which is here expresty forbidden which are shewn to be All preternatural Lusts as being alike or rather more contrary to the Institution of Marriage All Incestuous Mixtures the unlawfulness whereof is further declar'd The defiling of a Person betrothed Simple Fornication and Concubinacy the unlawfulness of the former whereof is evidenced from its contrariety to the Institution of Marriage and to the Positive Laws of God both in the Old and New Testament And in fine All Excesses even in Lawful Mixtures The like unlawfulness even by the force of this Commandment evinced in lesser Vncleannesses and in the Incentives either to those or greater ones Of the former of which sort are The unclean Desires of the Heart All such Looks Gestures or Touches as result from them as also All unclean Communications Where moreover is shewn against Tully and the Stoicks that there are such Expressions as are really dishonest and their Objection against it propos'd and answered Of the latter sort are Sloth and Ease Luxury or Excess in Meat and Drink Converse with Persons of loose or immodest Behaviour and in fine the reading of loose Books listning to impure Songs or resorting to offensive Plays Whereunto is subjoyn'd as an Antidote against the â—emptations to Vncleanness the rather fleeing from the consideration of them than going about to combate with them â—â— and the setting before our Minds the excellency of the Pleasures of the Mind above those of the Flesh or Body IT being impossible on the one hand to discharge that Duty we owe to God without marking out all those Sins which this as well as the other Commandments doth forbid and it being little less than impossible on the other to enter into a just Discourse concerning them without leaving some kind of Pollution upon the Minds of those to whom it is directed I have thought it the most prudent as well as most pious way of procedure to hold a middle course and neither be altogether silent concerning them nor very particular in the handling of them Which perswasion I am the more confirm'd in as because Men may with less danger to the Publick fetch the Resolution of extraordinary Cases from the Mouth of those of whom they are commanded to seek the Law so because what is generally necessary to be known concerning the Vices here forbidden may be easily inferr'd from what we have before said concerning the Nature Institution and Laws of Marriage For if the Divine Laws do not onely set Bounds to the Enjoyments of Marriage but proscribe all Enjoyments out of it all those must be look'd upon as unlawful which shall be found to be without it or to pass those Bounds in it which the Divine Majesty hath set Besides having not onely entreated at large of the Nature Institution and Laws of Marriage but as occasion offer'd it self pointed out also several of the Violations of them I have left little else for my self to do than to make a more exact and orderly enumeration and to add such farther Arguments against the Sins it forbids as were not before taken notice of by me III. Having snewn at large in my last the Nature and Criminalness of Adultery to which I know nothing to add unless what was then also insinuated that Adultery hath place not onely where the Marriage which is violated continues undissolv'd but also where it is dissolv'd for a less cause than Fornication it remains that we inquire Whether any other Sins are included in the Prohibition of Adultery and what those Sins are Of the former part of this Quaerie much need not be said after what hath been produc'd to shew the Comprehensiveness of the Decalogue in the general For it being evident from a former Discourse that the Decalogue or Law of the Ten Commandments was intended as a Summary of the several particular Laws set down in the Book of God as Philo * De Decalogo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also hath observ'd we are in reason to understand the Prohibition of Adultery to include in it all such Sins as are of the same kind with it or leading to it The onely thing which it will concern us to inquire is What those Sins are which therefore I come now to investigate 1. And here in the first place I shall not doubt to reckon as included the prohibition of all preternatural Lusts such I mean as are transacted between a Man and a Beast or between those of the same Sex For beside that God hath provided against these by special Laws and not onely so but condemn'd the respective Offenders to suffer death as you may see Lev. 20.30 c. beside that before the Law he made Sodom and Gomorrha a desolation for thus following after strange flesh and that too as St. Jude hath observ'd to deter us by their example ver 7. of that Epistle the unlawfulness or rather prodigiousness thereof is sufficiently evident from the Institution of Marriage and the prohibition of that violation of it which is now before us For God having not onely at first appointed Man and Woman to be Associates to each other but forbidden also the adhering to any other Person than those which we have joyn'd our selves to in Marriage he must consequently be thought much more to forbid because more contrary to his own Institution the defiling of our selves either with other Creatures or those of our own Sex But because God be thanked how depraved soever we are in other Particulars such Crimes as these are rarely heard of among us it shall suffice me to represent that of St. Paul to the Romans where he censures such Extravagances as these as vile and unnatural and such as God suffered the Heathen to fall into as a just Punishment of
to be estimated by those things only which can declare our conceptions to the Hearers Which since those Reservations which are in the Mind cannot do in judging of the Truth of any Speech account is to be made of those things only that are expressed and not of mental Reservations Of Pernicious and Officious Falsities what hath been said may suffice proceed we therefore to such as have the name of Jesting ones By which Title I mean not all Fictions of the brain which are devised to delight for so all Parables of the Scripture are and though not invented for delight only yet to delight as well as profit But I mean such Fictions as are represented as real Truths contrary to the mind and knowledge of the Utterer Now concerning these much need not be said to shew them to be generally unlawful and as such to be eschewed and avoided as because the observation of Truth is of much more concernment than our delight so because the Scriptures of the New Testament have not only imposed upon us the simplicity of the Dove * Matt. 10.16 that guileless Creature but moreover forbidden to us the speaking of a vain ‖ Matt. 12.36 or idle word If there be any case wherein these kind of Falsities are allowable it must be where they are in a manner detected as soon as told and neither our own sincerity made lyable thereby to exception nor the signification of those external marks by which we are to communicate our Thoughts to each other brought into uncertainty with the World That of S. Paul shall put an end to this Argument and the Negative part of the Commandment Ephes 4.25 Wherefore putting away Lying speak every man Truth with his Neighbour for we are members one of another All Pernicious Lyes being simply and universally unlawful all Officious ones unless in those few cases before excepted and all Jesting ones unless in the case but now mentioned if yet that may be excepted out of the number And here a fair opportunity is ministred to me Affirmative part of the Commandment of entring upon the Affirmative part of the Commandment which I shall gladly embrace though in the close as you see of this Discourse because I have in a great measure dispatched it already as knowing not well how to entreat of the other without it Where first of all I shall represent because Judicial Matters are principally referred to the doing what in us lyes to advantage a just Cause which that love in which our Saviour sums up this and other the Precepts of the Second Table doth manifestly require Now this a Witness will do yea cannot otherwise discharge himself of the tye of love if he voluntarily present himself to attest his knowledge where either the matter in debate requires it or he can think it will be acceptable to the party concerned If when thus presenting himself or called to it by others he shall duly recollect himself that so he may omit no material part of his Evidence Lastly if having thus recollected himself he clearly and fully declare it and speak the truth and the whole truth as well as nothing contrary to it The Plaintiff shall do his duty if he shall prefer only such Enditements as are true and material and prosecute them with candor and moderation as the Defendant his if he shall own justly imputed Crimes particularly in matter of Estate and fence only against such as he is falsly aspersed with The Advocate shall fulfil his part if he espouse just or at least probable Causes and prosecute them with that fairness and civility which becomes men and Christians and particularly that awful Assembly before which he speaks As the Judge his if he lend a patient ear to the Evidence that is given help out and encourage weak but honest Witnesses and narrowly sift crafty and reserved ones if having so done he shall duly weigh all circumstances and if that be all he hath to do as in our Common-Law Courts it is recapitulate the whole and deliver his own sense clearly and impartially The Jury shall do their part if after a like serious consideration of the matter in debate they shall guide themselves in their Verdict by the opinion of the Judge in matter of Law and by the Evidence that is given as to matter of Fact In fine those to whom the power of Registring is committed theirs if they shall faithfully record the Sentence that is passed upon the whole by the Judge as they and all others to whom the power of the execution of it belongs if they set their helping hand to a speedy and faithful and full execution of it All which Duties I have thus shortly laid together without the addition of their respective Proofs partly because they carry their own conviction in their foreheads and partly because those that seem to stand in need of any have already had them in the foregoing Discourses to which therefore it is but reasonable to refer you From Judicial Matters pass we to Extrajudicial ones where agreeably to those several Falsities which I have shewn to be forbidden in the Negative our Duty as well as the Affirmative part of the Commandment must be to prosecute those Truths that are contrary to them particularly that whereas Pernicious Lyes strike at our Neighbours Reputation or Estate we on the contrary in compliance with that Truth which is opposite to them should endeavour to advantage him in both as the Precept of Love doth manifestly enjoin To advantage him in his Reputation by giving him his due commendation by ascribing to him those Parts or Vertues or Endowments which he is really possessed of and remembring them where ere we come with all the expressions of respect and honour To advantage him again in his Reputation by taking off those Calumnies wherewith he is aspersed and shewing the either falsness or improbability thereof To advantage him in his Estate by a religious observation of our own Promises or Compacts or by causing those of others to be strictly and faithfully observed To have a regard to Truth in our Discourses with our Neighbour even when the contrary thereof may be advantageous to our selves and others unless it be in such cases where the common consent of mankind the saving of an innocent persons life or a speedy detection of the falshood licenseth a departure from it But above all that we intend the prosecution of Truth above our own meer delight and against the temptation of those baits which the pleasure of imposing upon others gives Truth as it is a Duty which is owing to our Neighbours Vnderstanding no less than Good-will is to his Will from ours so being the foundation of all pleasurable and useful Commerce the band of Societies and of those several Compacts by which they are confederated and in fine the fulfilling of this Commandment THE TENTH COMMANDMENT THE TENTH COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not