now upon forbidding the invading of others Properties the Affirmative doth principally suggest the contributing what in us lies toward the procuring conserving or enlarging them For then and then onely can we be said to love our Neighbour in the Instance that is now before us when we do not onely abstain from the invading of his Property but endeavour to procure him one if he wants or to conserve and add to it if he hath Taking it therefore for granted that so to do is in part the Affirmative of this Commandment I will make it my Business to inquire 1. By what means it may and ought to be effected 2. Whether our Endeavours of thus doing good to others ought to extend to all sorts of Persons and in what Order and Manner and Proportion 1. Now there are two ways as Tully * De Officiis l. 2. well observes whereby Men may become useful to others as to the procuring or conserving or enlarging of their several Properties the Assistance of their Endeavours or of their Purses Whereof though the latter be most taken notice of and so far as in a manner to appropriate to it self the Name of Liberality yet the other doth no doubt alike deserve our consideration and regard that I say not also more importunately require it As being 1. in the power of the Poorer as well as the Richer sort of those whose Properties are as strait as theirs whom they desire to enlarge or conserve For though as St. Peter sometime spake concerning himself Gold and silver have they none yet they are not oftentimes without an Ability of giving that Advice and Encouragement and Assistance which may be alike useful to the procuring improving or conserving of others Properties Solomon * Eccl. 9.14 15. having told us of a poor man who however he was not afterwards regarded for it yet by his wisdom delivered the City wherein he dwelt from the Power of a Great Monarch who had us'd no contemptible means to make himself Master of it But neither 2. as was but now intimated is the Liberality of our Persons less to be considered for the use it is of toward the forementioned purposes as will appear if we consider it with reference to Mens Labours or the conciliating the Favours of other Persons towards them For Labour as was before said being not onely appointed by God for the procuring of this Worlds Happiness but not without a natural aptitude to it he must be look'd upon as no unuseful Person who shall either direct Men in the management of it which in all Employments is of great weight or encourage and assist them in the performance of it In like manner when as it often doth the Properties of Men depend either as to their being or well-being upon the Benevolence of others it is easie to see that he who is no Niggard of his Person and Endeavours may by his Authority or Intercession procure the Favour of those who have the collation of Benefits or by his Wisdom and Eloquence if those Properties Men have be attempted by others defend them from their Rapine or recommend them to those by whom they may All which Beneficences as they are undoubtedly of great use toward the advantaging of our Brothers Properties so they have this farther to commend them to us that whilst the Liberalities of the Purse as Tully * De Officiis lib. 2. speaks exhaust the Fountain of it and make Men less able to be liberal for the future that Liberality which exerts it self in our Endeavours doth not onely suffer no detriment by its being often us'd but gains so much the more by it because making Men both more apt for the exercise thereof and more ready to intend it From the Liberality of our Persons and Endeavours pass we to that of our Purses as being more immediately subservient to the advantaging of our Brothers Property and therefore no doubt more especially requir'd Now there are four ways whereby we may be thus liberal by remitting of what is due or at least not exacting it with rigour by giving of what we are actually possess'd of or lending and lastly by a Hospitable entertainment Of the first of these much need not be said whether we consider it as a Duty or as a Means to procure or conserve our Neighbours Property For as the latter of these is so apparent that it seems not to stand in need of any Proof Men being often undone where they who are their Creditors will neither remit ought of what is due to them nor allow them a competent time to discharge the Debt so the latter needs no other proof than that Love and Benevolence wherein our Saviour hath summ'd up this and other the Precepts of the Second Table For though the exacting of what is due in its full proportion be no way contrary to the Precept of Justice yet it may be sufficiently repugnant to that of Love especially as urg'd upon us by the Gospel Love prompting Men to forgive as well as give to remit of what it may require as well as to part with what it is possess'd of And not without Reason he who forgives giving away what he doth so because it is in his power to exact it To the Liberality of Remitting or Forgiving subjoyn we that of giving a Duty no less necessary to the forementioned purposes nor less necessary to be observed whether we do respect that subserviency of it to the advantaging of our Neighbour's Properties or that right we have often said the necessitous person to have to such a portion of this worlds goods as may afford him a subsistence for it being apparently the intention of God and so declared in his first grant of Dominion that each of the Sons of Men should have a share in them it is of necessity to be looked upon as the duty of those into whose hands God hath put the possession of them to communicate them to such as shall be found to stand in need of them he who refuseth so to do as much as in him lyes defeating God of his intention and men of that right which accrues to them by it Whence it is no doubt that Almsgiving both ‖ See for the Old Deut. 24.13 Where the Septuagint render the word righteousness by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also Psal 112.9 For the New Mat. 6.1 according to some Greek Copies in the Old and New Testament hath so frequently the name of Righteousness that being not improperly stiled Righteousness which he who is the Object of it hath the original grant of Dominion to warrant his title to Thirdly as there is a liberality in forgiving and giving so there may be a liberality in lending that no less than either of the other tending to the advantaging of Mens Properties and oftentimes much more to the welfare of their Souls For whereas giving many times relieves Mens idleness as well as wants and makes them careless
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
that they would if duly observed not only not abridge our own Properties but preserve us from the temptation of invading those of others which the Negative part of the Commandment doth forbid It being not to be thought especially after such glorious Promises * See Prov. 11.25 Prov. 19.17 Prov. 28.27 as are made to the charitable man that he should be under any necessity of invading the Properties of others who in obedience to the Divine Command hath been so liberal of his own THE NINTH COMMANDMENT THE NINTH COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour PART I. The Contents This Ninth Commandment both refers to and supposeth Humane Judicatories upon occasion whereof inquiry is made 1. By what Divine Right they now stand 2. What Persons intervene in them and what their respective Duties are The former of these evidenced from the necessity there is of determining Controversies from the Precept given to Noah of shedding the Blood of the Murtherer and from the Divine Right of Regal Power of which the Power of Judicature is a part The latter of the forementioned Questions brought under consideration where both the Parties that intervene in them are enumerated and their respective Duties described Those of the Plaintiff shewn to be not to raise a false Report not to mix untrue Reports with true nor prosecute even a true one in trifling Instances Those of the Defendent to own justly imputed Crimes not to charge his Adversary with the same or the like Calumnies nor shew himself morose in his Deportment to him The Duties of the Advocate not to espouse such Causes as are apparently evil though probable ones they may nor yet to make choice of them meerly by the Purses of those that present them as after they have espous'd them to manage them with all fidelity and diligence and dispatch in fine to content themselves with a simple Narration of the Cause and neither to be lavish in the commendation of their own Clients nor in the reproach of the Adversary A more large Account concerning Witnesses where after a Declaration of the use of them in Judgment their requisite Number and necessary Qualifications their Duty is shewn to be not to deliver any thing that is false not to conceal or transpose any thing that is true as in fine not to deliver what they deem to be so with any greatâ—r assurance than they themselves are perswaded of in their own Bosom A Conclusion of the whole with a Reflection upon the Duty of Judges whether they be Judges of Right or of Fact where among other things is shewn 1. That they ought to pass Sentence according to the Proofs that are made before them whatsoever jealousie or private knowledge they may have of the thing in controversie 2. That in doubtful Cases they ought to incline to such Determinations as are favourable to the Accused Party THAT it may the better appear what that is which is here forbidden what Crimes are comprised under it and what Duties enjoyned by it I foresee it necessary to premise something concerning Humane Judicatories which this Commandment doth both refer to and suppose not onely the use of Witnesses so perswading which every one knows to have been introduc'd to decide Controversies between Man and Man before a competent Judge but that Phrase which the Hebrew makes use of to express the bearing of false Witness and the manner of the Jews Procedure in their several Courts of Judicature For it appearing from Lev. 5.1 that Witnesses were interrogated upon Oath concerning that particular Affair which they were call'd to bear witness to it is but reasonable to think especially when the Hebrew Phrase * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the not answering falsly that the intent of the Commandment was to forbid the bearing of false witness before a Judge in any Controversie that should occur Which as it plainly supposeth the being of such Judicatories among the Jews and God's approbation of them so makes it but necessary to inquire because otherwise the Prohibition would be null 1. By what Divine Right they now stand 2. What Persons intervene in them and what their respective Duties are 1. For the evidencing the first whereof even the Divine Right of Humane Judicatories I shall alledge in the first place that which is antecedent to and the Foundation of all other Laws even the Law of Nature For that perswading the determination of all Controversies between Man and Man as without which Humane Society could not subsist it must consequently be supposed to enjoyn because there is no other way of ending them the constituting of some indifferent Persons to do it no Man being to be thought a competent Judge in his own Case and much less likely to be thought so by him with whom he hath to do Upon which as there will follow a necessity of referring them to the determination of another which is that for which Humane Judicatories were appointed so also which makes them properly such the furnishing them with a Power to constrain the Parties at variance to submit to their Determination and Sentence Otherwise among contentious Persons at least the Controversie would recur and involve them in new and greater Heats To the Law of Nature and its Dictates subjoyn we that which is call'd the Law of Noah or rather that which was given by God to him and his Posterity concerning which though saving in the * Vid. Selden de Jure Nat. Gent. l. 7. c. 4. Tradition of the Jews there be no express mention as to any Precept which imports the constituting of Humane Judicatories yet as a Tradition so receiv'd as that is not lightly to be despis'd especially when as to some Precepts it hath a certain Foundation in Scripture so that it is not without ground even there as to this Precept whereof we speak may be competently evidenced from Gen. chap. 9. vers 6. Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed For God not onely decrying there the shedding of Mans blood but requiring the shedding of his that did it by another he seems to me plainly to intimate the constituting of a Magistrate which should both take cognisance of and punish it as because otherwise the Blood of Men might continue unreveng'd if he who were the next of kin whom Grotius * In locum De jure belli c. lib. 1. cap. 2. sect 5. supposeth to have been impower'd should have wanted Courage or Ability to execute it so because Murther being for the most part secretly committed there was a kind of necessity of authorizing some to make inquisition after it and draw both the suspected person and others to their Tribunal Otherwise it should have been lawful for the avenger of blood to have followed his own uncertain conjectures which it is not very likely God would ever have permitted or the Fact must have continued unreveng'd which the Precept before mentioned was
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
thy duty towards God Answ My duty towards God is to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship him to give him thanks to put my whole trust in him to call upon him to honour his holy Name and his Word and to serve him truly all the days of my life Quest What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour Answ My duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as my self and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me To love honour and succour my Father and Mother To honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him To submit my self to all my Governours Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters To hurt no body by word or deed To be true and just in all my dealings To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart To keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering To keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity Not to covet nor desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLICATION OF THE DECALOGUE DISCOURSE I. Of the Law of NATVRE How it doth appear that there is such a Law What the general Contents of that Law are And of what continuance its obligation is A digression concerning mens misapprehensions in the matter of Nature's Law and from whence those misapprehensions do proceed Of what use the knowledge of Nature's Law is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and of Christ PRoposing to my self to entreat of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments according as the Catechism of the Church of England hath understood them I foresee it necessary to premise somewhat concerning the Divine Laws in general and then of the Ten Commandments in particular For as that Catechism though it restrains Gods holy will to the Ten Commandments yet doth it upon supposition of their containing in them all other his Laws and Commandments so before we descend to the Explication of those Ten it will be necessary to enquire By what Authority they stand how they come to oblige us and what measures we are to proceed by in the Interpretation of them Now the Laws of God are of two sorts to wit either Natural or Positive by the former whereof I understand such a Law or Laws as are founded upon natural principles and investigable by them by the latter such as have no other visible foundation at least than the meer good pleasure of God and are therefore to be known only by revelation from himself The Law of Nature again hath these four things to be enquired into which accordingly shall be the boundaries of my discourse concerning it 1. How it doth appear that there is such a Law 2. What the general Contents of that Law are 3. Of what continuance the obligation thereof is 4. Of what use the knowledge thereof is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and Christ I. It is very well observed by the judicious Hooker and will be evident to any man that shall consult his own understanding that all knowledge is at length resolved into such things as are clear and evident of themselves for all knowledge of things obscure being made by such things as are more known than the things we seek after either it must terminate in such things as are clear and evident of themselves or we can have no certain knowledge of any thing That by which we endeavour to know any thing requiring still something to manifest it and so on in infinitum Now though a resolution into things clear and evident of themselves be not always actually made nor indeed necessary to be so the intermediate principles of any Science coming by discourse to be as well known as those things which are clear and evident of themselves yet being now to penetrate as it were into the very bottom of all Moral Truths it will be requisite for us to dig so much the deeper and deduce the being of the Law of Nature if not from such principles as are the lowest in their kind yet from such as are nearest to them I have * Explic. of the Apostles Creed elsewhere shewn and shall therefore now take it for granted that there is such a thing as an Alwise and good God that that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world and all things in it which being granted it will follow that there is a right in God to give Laws to his Creatures in such things as are in their power and suitable to their nature to execute For what can be more rational than that every one should have the disposal of those things which he is the Author of and consequently if God be the Author of all things that he himself should have the command of them All therefore that will be requisite for us to enquire into is whether as God hath the power of giving Laws to his Creatures and to man in particular so he hath actually done it and consigned him to the obedience of them Now for this we shall need no other proof than that freedom of will which God hath given to humane nature for being man is not carried by any inevitable necessity as other Creatures are but left to the guidance of his own reason and will either he must have a Rule set him to proceed by or it shall be in his power even by the consent of the Almighty to disturb the order of Nature Now forasmuch as it can be no way suitable to the wisdom of any one to put Creatures into a power that I say not into a kind of necessity to disturb his own orders and designs therefore God being Alwise must necessarily have prevented this inconvenience and given him a Rule to direct his will and operations Again being it appears not that man at the first had any other revealed Law of God than that of not eating the forbidden Fruit and many Nations of the World have no opportunity to know those Revelations he hath since made it follows that God hath implanted in the soul of each particular man a Law by which he is to act or at least such principles from which he may deduce it Lastly forasmuch as there is in all men a conscience excusing or commending them when they have done any thing they apprehend to be good but disapproving and condemning them if they have done any thing which they believe to be evil it follows undeniably that there is a Rule whereby our actions are to be guided For if mankind were left at large what ground could there be of his either applauding or condemning himself for any supposed either virtuous or vitious actions Neither is
out of a belief of its being a Requisite of that Days Service But as the former will be easily voided if we consider what he elsewhere * Acts 26.22 affirms of his Preaching That he said no other things than the Prophets and Moses did say should come thereby making his Sermons but an Explication and Confirmation of the Prophets so that it was in regard to the Day that he so preach'd as well as to his being to depart the next the mention of the Apostles Doctrine before among the Parts of their Publick Worship as well as the subsequent Practice of the Church shews If as that Text manifestly implies his purpose of going away the next day had any influence upon it it was not so much for the producing of it at all as for his drawing it out to that length to which it was and would therefore more agreeably to the Sense and no way dissonant to the Stile of the New Testament where such like Trajections ‖ Vid. Knatchbull Animadv in Nov. Test speciatim in Annot. ad Act. 13.27 are us'd be rendred That on the foremention'd day St. Paul preach'd unto them and because he was to depart the next continued his Speech until midnight From the Apostles Days pass we to the subsequent Age where again we shall have a pregnant Proof from Justin Martyr * Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who continuing his Account of the Sunday-Service adds That after the Reader had done the President or Bishop in a set Discourse made an Admonition and Exhortation to the imitation of those excellent things they had before read agreeably to the Customs of those Times as Mr. Thorndike ‖ Religious Assembl ch 6. hath observ'd where the Sermon or Discourse was not as now upon any Subject indifferently but to the Explication and Application of that which was read in the Assembly From the Testimony of Justin Martyr pass we to that of Tertullian †Apol. c. 39. Certe fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus spem erigimus fiduciam figimus disciplinam praeceptorum nihilominus inculcationibus densamus where we shall find a Proof of the same usance For after he had given an Account of their coming together to reherse the Scriptures he adds which to my seeming plainly referrs to their Sermons However we fail not with holy Speeches to feed Mens Faith erect their Hope fix their Confidence neither forget we in the mean time to thicken the Discipline with the frequent inculcation of Precepts This thickning of the Discipline with the inculcation of Precepts being more proper to Sermons where there is liberty to heap up many to the same purpose than to the Reading of the Scriptures which pass from one thing to another However it be as it there follows that there also are * Ibidem etiam exhortationes castigationes censura divina Exhortations Castigations and a Divine Censure so in the Place before-quoted out of his Book de Animâ among the Solennia Dominica as he there calls them he reckons Adlocutiones or Speeches as distinct from the Reading of the Scriptures And indeed though the Word barely read might suffice to Edification if it were but attended to as it ought yet forasmuch as some Men are dull of hearing or rather of understanding and a greater number are backward to make application of it to themselves hence it comes to pass that to make them the more prevalent it is at least very behoveful that they to whom the Office of Preaching is committed not onely open their Understandings in them but bring such things especially to their remembrance as it most concerns them to consider thickning them moreover as Tertullian speaks by the frequent inculcation of those several Precepts which lie dispersed in the Scriptures But other advantage than this as Sermons have not above the Word read so to give them any other were to set up the Compositions of Men for such all Sermons are above the pure Dictates of God's Spirit From the Word Read or Preach'd pass we to Prayer an Office of the Jewish Sabbath and no less undoubtedly of the Christian For as in the place before-quoted out of the Acts * Act. 2.42 it is expresly reckon'd as a Part of the Publick Worship as before that by our Saviour ‖ Mat. 18.19 20. for one of those things in the performance whereof he would be present to them when they met so that it was one main Business of the Lord's-day Service those very Ancient Authors before-quoted largely shew Justin Martyr * Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the ending of the Sermon mentioning their all rising up to Prayer and praying not onely for themselves but for all the World of Prayer again at the Consecration of the Eucharist which he moreover affirms the President or Bishop to pour forth with all his might In like manner Tertullian ‖ Coimus ad deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus Haec vis Deo grata est Oramus etiam pro Imperatoribus pro ministris eorum ac potestatibus pro statu seculi pro rerum quiete pro mora finis not onely affirms the Christians to come together to God as it were to make up a Party by which to besiege him with their Prayers adding moreover that therein they recommended also the state of Emperours and their Ministers but in the place so often quoted out of his Book de Animâ makes mention of the preferring of Prayers as one of the Lord's-day Solemnities Which Testimonies I do the rather inculcate because though Publick Prayer be one of the Chief and always so accounted yet it is now neglected and contemn'd upon how small a pretence we may easily judge by what we often hear from some That they can make the same or as good Prayers at home For though they could yet not with the same advantage either to themselves or others because wanting the concurrence of the Devotion of other Men which is that that makes Prayer so acceptable And I cannot but upon this occasion call to mind a Saying of Maimonides remembred out of him by * Thorndike Rel. Assembl chap. 6. a Learned Man of our own Nation to wit That he that dwelleth in the City where there is a Synagogue and prayeth not there with the Congregation this is he that is call'd a Bad Neighbour For as he may well be call'd a Bad Neighbour as the same Learned Man goes on that will not lend his Neighbours Prayers the strength of his own so he himself findeth the Fruit of his own bad Neighbourhood when his own Prayers want the assistance of his Neighbours Next to Prayer subjoyn we the Duty of Praising God whether in or out of a Song For that this was a part of the Publick Service at the Assemblies and consequently of the Lord's-day which was appointed for the holding of them the Scriptures do abundantly declare For beside that St. Paul
the other so it would be no less for us to investigate our Duty to our Neighbour by what we our selves would desire to be done to us when at the same time we may read that Duty in God's express Declarations concerning it Onely as it may sometime happen and I wish I could say it doth not often do so that what is clearly enough reveal'd may yet be obscure to us or at least difficult to be practis'd through the Prejudices we have against it so in that case I should no way doubt the foremention'd Rule may be made use of to instruct us in our Deportment to our Neighbour He who in such a case considers what he himself could be content to have done unto himself if he were in the same Circumstances with his Neighbour making use of it not so much to detract from the Honour of the Primary Rule of Vertue which so far as he understands it he faileth not to consider but in compliance with his own Infirmities and that he may be the more easily induced to yield Obedience to it Men being more apt to see what is just and equitable when their own Concernments are interwoven with it than they are in the condition of a Stranger 2. It is to be observ'd secondly That as to do as we would be done by is no Primary Rule of Humane Actions so neither is it though in a secondary sense an absolute and unlimited one Because though we cannot desire any thing which comes not unto us under the notion of Good yet we may take that for Good which is far from being such and consequently make it the Object of our Desires For what through the weakness or rather crazedness of our Understandings what through the Power our Affections have to corrupt and debauch their Sentence it happens not infrequently that even these also do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and prophesie rather what is suitable to the corrupt temper of those that ask than what is agreeable to Truth and Equity Upon which as there will necessarily follow a like Irregularity in our Desires because moulded and fashioned by our Understandings so those Desires of ours therefore can no more be an absolute Rule of our Deportment than they can be suppos'd to be the Primary one But from hence it will also follow that when we make the present Rule our own we understand the doing unto others as we our selves can fairly desire to have done unto us by others For to do as we would be done by being not the Primary Rule of Humane Actions nor yet an absolute and unlimited one it is in reason to be bounded by that Law of God which is the Primary Rule both of our Desires and Actions and therefore also the Measure of this Rule no less than of our Conversation and Obedience It being thus evident of what nature the Rule before us is that is to say a Secondary and a Limited one inquire we in the next place into the due Importance of it Where 1. First The Premises so perswading we are necessarily to understand the doing unto others what we our selves can Lawfully desire to be done unto our selves by them For if our desires be irregular those Actions will be also such which receive their Measure from them and consequently cannot be supposed to be any part of our Saviour's meaning Thus for instance if a Woman should consent to comply with anothers Lust upon the score of her own desiring that that other should so comply with hers we are not to think that Action of hers to be therefore legitimate or indeed to admit of any Excuse because her Desire being sinful that Action must also be so which is influenc'd and directed by it In like manner if it should be pleaded as it sometimes is by those who call for Liberty of Conscience That we our selves if we were in their Circumstances would not be well pleas'd to be restrain'd I should think it no hard matter to prescribe against that Plea from the Limitation before laid down For the Question is not Whether we our selves if we were in their Circumstances should not desire a freedom from Punishment for what Malefactor doth not how obnoxious soever to the stroke of it but Whether we can lawfully desire it and whether the Supreme Magistrate ought not to punish those who seem to him to transgress the Rules of Christianity whatsoever their Pretences be Which if true that other Plea will come to nothing For as it ceaseth not to be lawful for the Magistrate to inflict a Punishment upon Malefactors because it is not unlikely that if he were in their Condition he would not be over-willing to suffer it so neither for the same Person supposing as was before suppos'd to restrain those who live in disobedience to the Laws of Christianity because if he were so affected he would be desirous to be freed from it It is indeed an excellent Rule to do as we would be done by it is of great advantage to the right ordering of our Lives and of like necessity to be considered But as it is not either the Primary or an Absolute Rule of Humane Actions so there is no doubt it is a much more excellent Rule to do to other Men what God hath particularly directed us to do and what we our selves if we were well advised would desire they should do to us This onely would be added That when I say we are to understand by doing as we would be done by the doing what we our selves can lawfully desire to be done unto us by others we understand this Limitation onely where some particular Rule may appear to judge of the Lawfulness of the Action by For though there may and no doubt ought to be place for the consideration of the Lawfulness of our Desire where any such Rule appeareth yet there is no necessity at all for such a Consideration where no such particular Rule appeareth partly because in that case we may reasonably presume the Desire to be lawful and therefore need not make any scrupulous Inquisition into it and partly because the Rule now before us having place especially in the want of a more particular one it is in reason to have its full force in the directing of our Actions where no such particular Law appeareth to controul it But because it may be said That if the foresaid Limitation be at all admitted the Rule we have now before us will be so far forth of no use it seeming as easie to discover what we ought to do unto others as what we may lawfully desire to have done unto our selves Therefore before I proceed to any new Limitations I will endeavour to remove that Umbrage which the following Considerations will effect For though it may be as easie in it self to discover what we ought to do unto others as what we may lawfully desire to have done unto our selves yet it is not so considering the Prejudices we lie under
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
own of which he gives no slight indication in desiring that which is thus the object of anothers he who desires any thing which is thus the Object of his Neighbours affection desires the prejudice of the Owner because desiring that which he cannot part with without a prejudice to his content And though I know the Owners themselves may be peccant this way in refusing to procure a great and real advantage to their Neighbour with the loss of a fanciful one to themselves yet that hinders not the covetous person from being inordinate in his Desires by suffering them to six themselves upon it As because the thing he desires is the Property of his Neighbour so which being so cannot be transferred to him without the free consent of the present Proprietor which is not likely to be had where such an affection precedes From those Desires which are peccant in the Object pass we to those which are peccant in themselves such as are 1. First All those that are not with submission to the Will both of God and the Proprietor The former because they are a direct opposition to his Will to whom all created Beings ought to be subject by virtue of that Being which they receive from him The latter because an intrenchment upon our Neighbours Property so far as the Desire of Man can be one For that which is the Property of our Neighbour being so his as not to be transferred without the Will of the Party in whom it is vested he who desires any thing of his without submission to his Will must consequently entrench upon it in his Desires 2. I place in the same rank even of such Desires as are peccant in themselves those that are not accompanied with a like Desire of gratifying our Neighbour if he should desire the same or a like favour from us such a Desire being apparently contrary to that most equitable Rule which commands us to do to others as we would be done by our selves But so also do I reckon 3. Such Desires of our Neighbours Goods as breed perturbation in us and will not suffer us to intend as we ought the Duties of Religion or of our own Profession nor enjoy that repose and quiet which is necessary for us these beside the prejudice they bring both to our spiritual and eternal welfare arguing a dissatisfaction with the Divine Providence for bestowing those blessings upon others which we but in vain desire I place not under the same head though Desires far more inordinate those that prompt Men to make use of unlawful means to compass them partly because they are breaches of the Eighth Commandment and partly because I have there accounted for them already This only would be added That though inordinate Desires may contain themselves within or at least may not presently put Men upon the use of unlawful means to compass them yet they seldom fail where they are cherished to spur the party on to use fraud or violence to compass them Of which if we wanted other Instances that of Ahab might suffice after he had taken a fansie to Naboth's Vineyard For though at first that fansie of his put him only upon Entreaties and Proposals and such as were not only very reasonable in themselves but in all probability would have prevailed if they had met with a Man less obstinate than Naboth though after that and Naboth's flat denyal of his Request they went no further than a sullen and melancholy behaviour which however taken up to gratifie a discontented mind yet serves only to add more affliction to the party that espouseth it yet when a malicious Jezebel had put him in mind of being a King and of that liberty or licentiousness which that glorious Name seems to challenge then I say he could so far gratifie his own inordinate Desires and Jezebels malicious mind as to permit her to seal Letters in his Name to the Elders of Naboth's City to accuse him first of Blasphemy against God and himself and after that to stone him to death that so his Vineyard might escheat to the Crown All which whosoever shall consider will see Reason enough to set bounds to his Desires though at first they proceed no farther because as all Vice stands upon a precipice so the inordinate Desires of Men more particularly do seldom fail to hurry them into the use of the most unlawful means to compass the Object of them Which said nothing remains to do but to shew 3. In the third place The Criminalness of those Desires which I have affirmed to be forbidden by the Commandment But as I knew not well how to point out those inordinate Desires without shewing also wherein that inordinacy consisteth by which means I have upon the matter prevented my self in that Argument which comes now in order to be discoursed of so having so done I shall only add That the Criminalness thereof may be easily collected from what I have before said concerning the Criminalness of Stealth and other the like ways of encroaching upon our Neighbours Property For though he who only Covets his Neighbour's Property do not actually encroach upon it nor disturb that order which I have shewn God to have instituted at first and ever since to have approved both by his Providence and his Laws yet he bewrays a manifest dissatisfaction with it and a Will no less opposite to it than the Actions of the injurious person are Which however in Humane Judicatories without the imputation of a crime because the motions of the Will are neither prejudicial to that outward policy which they are to maintain nor knowable by them though they were yet at the Bar of God and Nature they are alike or more criminal than our outward Actions if they are also alike opposite to the Laws of God For whilst the thieving Hand moves only as it is guided by the Will and is rather the Instrument of anothers malice than the Executioner of its own the Will determines it self to those unlawful objects upon which it fixeth and chooseth those inordinacies into which it falleth PART II. The Affirmative part of the Commandment The contenting our selves with that which is our own upon occasion whereof enquiry is made into the nature of Contentment which is defined to be an Acquiescency of the Mind in that portion of outward things we are possessed of upon a perswasion of its being sufficient for us This definition allotted both a general and a particular explication and evidenced to be true in every branch of it An account of the grounds of our obligation to Contentment which are shewn to be 1. The Will of the Almighty declared by the disposition of his Providence 2. Gods both knowing better than we our selves what condition is fittest for us and his readiness to allot it 3. The sufficiency of our own portion The means whereby this excellent vertue may be attained A sober use of abundance at all times and sometimes a voluntary abstinence