violating God's own Image which every man doth bear 2. It is also an extreme injury to the person who is thereby deprived of an unvaluable good which can no wise be repaired or compensated he that loses his life doth therewith lose all the good he possesseth or is capable of here without any possibility of recovering it again the taking therefore of life can be no sutable revenge no reasonable satisfaction for any injury or damage received it infinitely in a manner surpasseth all the evil which any man can sustain from another in his estate or fame or welfare of any kind for those things have their measure and may be capable of some reparation but this is altogether extreme and irreparable and therefore doth include greatest iniquity add hereto that not onely all temporal good is hereby at once ravished from a man but the soul also of the person may incur the greatest damage or hazard in respect to its future estate by being thus snatched away the slayer not onely robbeth his brother of his temporal life but of his time of repentance and opportunity of making peace with God 3. It is also the highest uncharitableness to deal thus with our neighbour arguing that nothing of good will of pity of humanity toward him is left in us to hate his brother to the death is the utmost pitch of hatred If in imitation of our Saviour and out of respect to him we ought as S. John instructeth us to be willing to lay down our lives for our brethren how enormous a crime how opposite to Christian charity is it to take away our brother's life 4. It is likewise a main offence against the publick not onely by unlawfully bereaving it of a member and subject but to its prejudice and dishonour yea so far as lies in us to its subversion and dissolution assuming to our selves pulling away from it its rights and prerogatives of judgment Such briefly is the direct intent and importance of this Law but our Saviour in his comment hereon hath explained and extended it farther so as to interdict all that any wise approaches in nature or in effect tends unto this heinous evil he means to obstruct all the springs and extirpate all the roots thereof such as are rash causeless outragious inveterate anger contumelious and despightfull language reserving grudges or spight in our heart not endeavouring speedily to reconcile our selves to them who have done us injury or displeasure for these things as they commonly do produce the act of murther so they argue inclinations thereto which if fear and self-respect did not restrain would produce it and consequently in moral accompt which regardeth not so much the act as the will are of the same quality therewith however they arise from the same bitter root of great uncharitableness upon which score S. John telleth us that He that hateth his brother is a murtherer and consequently in effect all malice and spight envy hatred malignity rancour immoderate and pertinacious anger and animosity are here prohibited VII Commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery After life if after that for this command in the Greek Translation of Exodus though not in Deuteronomy in some places of the New Testament and in sundry ancient Writers is placed before that against murther nothing commonly is more dear to men than the comforts of their conjugal estate the enjoyment of that special affection and friendship together with those instances of benevolence which by divine institution and mutual contract ratified by most sacred and solemn promises of fidelity are reserved peculiar to that state which enclosures therefore of his neighbour whoever shall invade or trespass upon who shall any wise loose or slacken those holy bands who shall attempt the affection or chastity of his neighbour's wife doth most grievously offend God and committeth as Joseph when he was tempted thereto did call it a great evil against God against his neighbour against himself against the common society of men He violateth an institution to which God hath affixed especial marks of respect and sanctity he wounds his neighbour's honour and interest in the most tender part wherein the content of his mind and comfort of his life are most deeply concerned he as much or rather more dishonoureth and abuseth himself not onely by committing a fact of so high injustice but by making himself accessory to the basest perfidiousness that can be Whoso committeth adultery lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul a wound and dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away for jealousie is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard any ransome neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts He also offendeth against the publick quiet and welfare breeding inextricable confusions and implacable dissensions in families so that hardly from any other cause such tragical events have issued as from this in fine this crime is as Philo calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a loathsome unrighteousness most odious to God and a fire as Job representeth it that consurneth to destruction But we must further also consider that acts of this kind contain also in them another evil that persons committing them do not onely so highly wrong their neighbour but defile themselves also by the foulest turpitude in which respect the prohibition of all unlawfull and irregular satisfactions to lustfull appetite all compliance with that great enemy of our souls the flesh all kinds of impurity and lasciviousness not in act onely but in thought in speech in gesture may be reduced to this Law Our Lord himself doth so interpret it as to make it include a forbidding of all unchast desires and Christianity doth in a most strict and special manner oblige us to all kinds of sobriety and modesty of chastity and purity in body and spirit injoining us to abstain from all fleshly lusts as enemies to our souls to mortifie our fleshly members to possess our vessels or bodies in sanctity and honour not to have any impurity or filthiness so much as named among us nor to suffer a foul word to proceed out of our mouth not to defile our bodies consecrated unto to God and made temples of the Holy Spirit excluding persons guilty of such things from any title or capacity of entring into God's Kingdom in fine representing all such practices as most dishonourable to us most displeasing to God most grievous to God's Holy Spirit the fountain of all vertue and goodness most contrary to the nature and design of our Religion and most destructive of our souls VIII Commandment Thou shalt not steal That every man should quietly enjoy those supports and those conveniencies of life which in any honest manner by God's bounty immediately dispensing it or by God's blessing upon his industry he hath acquired the possession of or right unto as
in Baptism are I conceive understood there being no other season or occasion wherein ordinarily and visibly God doth exhibit those Benefits It may be demanded How Children by reason of their innocent age are capable of these Benefits how they can be pardoned who never had offended how they can be justified who never were capable of being unjust I briefly answer That because they come from that race which by sin had forfeited God's favour and had alienated it self from him because also they have in them those seeds of pravity from which afterward certainly life continuing without God's restraining Grace will sprout forth innumerable evil actions therefore that God overlooking all the defects of their nature both relative and absolute or personal doth assume them into his special favour is no small benefit to them answerable to the remission of actual sin and restitution from the state consequent thereon in others 2. In Baptism the Gift of God's Holy Spirit is conferred qualifying us for the state into which we then come and enabling us to perform the duties we then undertake which otherwise we should be unable to perform for purification of our hearts from vitious inclinations and desires for begetting holy dispositions and affections in our Souls for to guide and instruct us to sustain and strengthen us to encourage and comfort us in all the course of Christian piety The which effects are well also figured by water which purifieth things both from inherent and adherent filth That this benefit is annexed to Baptism the Scripture also teacheth us Be baptized saith S. Peter in the Name of Christ to the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We being baptized in one body are made to drink of one spirit saith S. Paul And with the Laver of Regeneration S. Paul again joineth the renovation of the Holy Ghost And it is represented as an advantage of our Saviour's Baptism above that of John that our Lord not only baptized with water to repentance but with the Holy Ghost and Fire Some preventing operations of the Holy Ghost whereby God freely draweth Men to Christianity persuading their minds to assent thereto inspiring their hearts with resolutions to comply with it do precede Baptism but a more full communication thereof due by compact assured by promise for the confirming and maintaining us in the firm belief and constant practice of Christianity is consequent thereon After ye had believed ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise saith S. Paul To signify which benefit then conferr'd the ancient Christians did to Baptism annex the Chrism or holy Unction signifying the collation of that healing and chearing Spirit to the baptized person that which S. Paul may seem to respect when he saith He that establisheth or confirmeth us with you into Christ and who hath anointed us is God who also hath sealed us and hath given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 3. With those gifts is connected the benefit of Regeneration implying our entrance into a new state and course of life being endowed with new faculties dispositions and capacities of Souls becoming new Creatures and new Men as it were renewed after the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness our being sanctified in our hearts and lives being mortified to fleshly lusts and worldly affections being quickned to a spiritual life and heavenly conversation in short becoming in relation and in disposition of mind the children of God This the matter and the action of Baptism doth set out for as children new born for cleansing them from impurities adherent from the Womb both among the Jews and other people were wont to be washed so are we in Baptism signifying our purification from natural and worldly defilements The mersion also in Water and the emersion thence doth figure our death to the former and receiving to a new life Whence Baptism is by S. Paul called the laver of Regeneration and our Lord saith that If a man be not born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God that is every one becoming a Christian is by Baptism regenerated or put into a new state of Life getteth new dispositions of Soul and new relations to God Ye are all saith S. Paul the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus that is by embracing his Doctrine and submitting to his Law professedly in Baptism And We saith S. Paul again are buried with Christ through Baptism unto death that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so also we should walk in newness of life 4. With these Benefits is conjoined that of being inserted into God's Church his family the number of his chosen people the mystical body of Christ whereby we become entitled to the privileges and immunities of that heavenly Corporation We saith S. Paul have been all baptized in one spirit into one body the mystical body of Christ And so many of you saith he again as have been baptized into Christ into Christ mystical or the Church have put on Christ and ye are adds he all one in Christ Jesus As Proselytes among the Jews by Baptism were admitted unto the Communion and privileges of the Jewish so thereby are we received into the like Communion and privileges of the Christian far more excellent Society 5. In consequence of these things there is with Baptism conferred a capacity of a title unto an assurance under condition of persevering in faith and obedience to our Lord of eternal life and salvation We are therein in S. Peter's words regenerated unto a lively hope of an incorruptible inheritance by that resurrection of Christ which is represented to us in this action and so therein applied as to beget in us a title and a hope to rise again in like manner to a blissful life whence we are said therein to rise with him Being saith S. Paul buried with him in Baptism wherein also we were raised again whence by the two great Apostles Baptism is said to save us Baptism saith S. Peter the antitype of the delivery in the flood doth save us that is admitteth us into the Ark putteth us into the sure way of Salvation and God saith S. Paul according to his mercy saved us by the laver of regeneration and He that shall believe and shall be baptized shall be saved is our Saviour's own word and promise shall be saved that is shall be put into a state and way of salvation continuing in which state proceeding in which way he assuredly shall be saved for Faith there denoteth perseverance in Faith and Baptism implyeth performance of the conditions therein undertaken which next is to be considered For as this Holy Rite signifieth and sealeth God's collation of so many great benefits on us so it also implyeth and
and contagious example which the World sets before them the World which by its fair promises and pleasing flatteries enticeth to sin or by its angry frowns fierce threats discourageth from goodness permitting the Devil without controll or impediment by his wiles to delude and seduce them which kind of proceeding of God with men is clearly represented in the 81 Psalm where of the Israelites God says that having signally declared his pleasure to them and by promise of great benefits invited them to observe it upon their wilfull neglect he dealth thus with them But says God there my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels In such manner if God provoked thereto by our heinous miscarriages doth justly bring us into or doth let us enter into temptation as our Lord otherwhere expresseth it Pray saith he that ye enter not into temptation we shall infallibly run into many grievous sins and desperate mischiefs no less surely than we shall wander and stumble in the dark than we shall slide and fall in the most slippery places and sometimes be entangled when we do walk in the midst of snares surrounded with traps innumerable most cunningly laid to catch us It is not saith the Prophet in man to direct his steps so as to go streight and upright 't is not in him to see his duty to bend his inclinations to compliance therewith to restrain his appetites when sensible objects forcibly press on them to govern his passions when they are vehemently stirr'd to disorderly motion we do continually need God's instruction to guide us God's hand to uphold us God's care and help to guard us when therefore I say our condition and circumstances do minister dangerous occasions of sin when our vain and weak tempers do incline or betray us thereto when the world would smile or frown us into it when the Devil violently solicits or thrusts on toward it thus to be destitute of God's grace thus to be left to our selves is the most horrible judgment that can be In such cases and seasons God's interposal is necessary either to remove those temptations or to support and defend us from the prevalence of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping us from stumbling and falling as S. Jude speaks not suffering us as S. Paul expresseth it to be tempted above what we are able but making with the temptation also a way to escape so that we shall be able to sustain it That God would please to do this for us we do here pray and in pursuance of this Petition we subjoin that which in part may pass for an illustration thereof implying an antithesis serving to that purpose for delivering from evil importeth the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being rescued from temptation in S. Peter The Lord saith he knoweth how to rescue the godly out of temptation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preserve from the time of temptation in the Revelation which are opposed to bringing into temptation partly it may be supposed an improvement thereof delivering from evil signifying perhaps somewhat more than not permitting us to incur occasions strongly inviting us to evil even the effectual keeping us from being overborn or complying with it but let us consider that Petition it self But deliver us from evil From evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrysostome takes it for the Devil who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evil one the tempter who seduceth us to evil but we shall take it according to the more common acception from evil that is principally from sin or evil moral and spiritual the onely evil simply and in its own nature such and the root of all other evil from that and consequently from all mischief evil natural and temporal or evil penal and afflictive which may grow upon or sprout from thence As for such evils as these the want of things necessary or convenient for us bodily disease and pain disappointment in our designs and ill success in our undertakings disgrace and reproach upon our good names dangers difficulties and distresses concerning our outward estate distractions vexations and troubles of mind about temporal matters with the like evils in some sense in some degree evils or appearing such to our natural sense and fancy we may indeed deprecate them as even our Lord himself did with submission as he did to the wisedom and will of God in case it pleaseth him and he thinketh fit to remove them but all these things being but names and empty sounds in comparison to spiritual and eternal evils such as are vicious distempers of mind indispositions to serve God ill progress in our spiritual affairs dissatisfaction concerning our state in respect to God actual transgression of God's holy will and law incurring God's displeasure and disfavour being deprived of his grace and assistence wanting the communion and comfort of his Holy spirit remorse of conscience and anguish of spirit for having violated or neglected our duty blindness of mind hardness of heart want of love reverence devotion toward God of charity and good-will toward our neighbour of sobriety humility regularity of passion and calmness of temper in respect to our selves and the inward frame of our souls these I say and such like evils we should absolutely request of God that he in mercy would deliver and free us from them they being irreconcileably repugnant to his will and glory and inconsistent with our eternal welfare Yet even these and all other things we do request onely in general terms leaving the distinct matter and manner and measure according to which they should be dispensed to the wisedom and goodness of God who doth as our Lord telleth us know what things we need before we ask him and is not onely able as S. Paul says but willing also to do for us superabundantly above what we can ask or think We are hereby it seems taught this point of good manners in our devotion not to be tediously punctual and particular in our prayers as if God needed our information or were apt to neglect the particulars concerning our good We shut up all with a Doxology most sutable to the nature of devotion signifying our due faith our affection and our reverence toward God For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen That is For thou hast a perpetual and unmoveable authority whereby justly to dispose of all things thou hast an indefectible and irresistible power whereby thou canst effect whatever seems just and good to thee wherefore we profess onely to rely upon and seek help from thee with hope and confidence we address our selves to thee for the supply of our needs thine is the glory all honour and reverence all love and thankfulness are due unto thee therefore we render our adorations and acknowledgments to