only arguing as S. Paul there doth from a Ceremonial Precept to a Christian duty but affirming expresly concerning that Precept that it was written for the times of the Gospel he thereby plainly shews that though the force thereof were evacuated as to the Ceremony yet it is obligatory as to the Moral which it was chiefly designed to consign and intended by God so to do And therefore if I were to prove in like manner the necessity of purifying our souls before we betake our selves to the solemn Worship of God as it is evident from this of S. Paul that it were enough to alledge a Precept out of the Law because written for us as well as for the Jews so particularly from Gods frequent enjoining the Jews to wash themselves and their clothes before they appeared before him for doth God take care of clean attire or a smooth skin any more than he doth of Oxen and if not may not I as well conclude that for our sakes no doubt this was written that he that presents himself before the Lord should appear with a clean heart with a soul no way stained by any unrepented sin Now if even Ceremonial Precepts were some way intended for us much more those of a higher rank the second thing to be demonstrated For the further evidencing whereof the first thing that I shall alledge is that of the same S. Paul Eph. 6.1 and so on Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth For pressing upon the Ephesians not only the duty of honouring Parents but also upon the account of the fifth Commandment he thereby plainly sheweth that it was intended to oblige them also and in them because they were Gentiles all other Christians In like manner the same Apostle dehorting the Romans from the avenging of themselves inforceth that dehortation from the Law of Moses Deut. 32.35 for it is written saith he Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. And not contented with that he backs it with another out of the Proverbs c. 25.21 where it is written in like manner If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee To all which if we add the same Apostles affirming that whatsoever was written aforetime by way of comfort was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 as in like manner that what is storied of Gods judgments upon the Israelites was written for our admonition to the intent we should not offend as they also did so we shall not need to doubt but that the Precepts of their Law were intended for our direction and obedience For if Gods mercies and judgments upon them were written for our learning no doubt but his Precepts were as which the other were designed to inforce Fourthly and lastly though the Law of Moses did not oblige us by being given to the Israelites though in the primary intention thereof it were designed for the Israelites only and consequently could not so induce an obligation upon any other yet as it was secondarily intended for the Gentile world so soon as God should bring it into the Church so which excludes all doubt of our obligation to it it was adopted by our Saviour into his Law and by him both confirmed and fulfilled But because that is too copious as well as too important an argument to find a room here I will respite the handling thereof to the following Discourses where I will fully and distinctly consider it These two things only would be added here to prevent all mistakes concerning our obligation to the Law of Moses 1. That when I say it was intended to oblige us and accordingly adopted by our Saviour into his Law we understand it so far as it had no peculiar reference to Gods dispensation under the Law or the Polity of the Jewish state For as upon the account of the former I have discarded all ceremonial Rites as which were intended only to serve to the administration of the Law so I must also upon the account of the latter discard all those Precepts which concerned the regulation of their State 2. Again when I say the Law of Moses was though secondarily intended to oblige us and as such adopted by our Saviour my meaning is not to affirm an obligation to a perfect obedience but to a sincere and earnest endeavour and where we fail a due repentance and amendment For though the first Covenant left no place for repentance and pardon yet the Gospel doth and hath accordingly as hath been elsewhere * Explication of the Apostles Creed shewn made forgiveness of sins one of the capital Articles of our Belief DISC. III. That Christ came not to destroy but to confirm the Law of Moses This evidenced in part in the Ceremonial Law from Christs confirming of that which was the main intendment of it and from his retaining some of its usances and transferring them into his own Religion The like in the Moral Law from Christs Sermon upon the Mount and from the evidence there is both there and elsewhere of Christs establishing and inculcating the great Precepts of Piety Sobriety and Justice WHat may seem to have been our Saviours fear concerning himself and Doctrine where he so studiously averts * Mat. 5.17 any design of destroying the Law and the Prophets in process of time came to be fulfilled The Jews representing the Author of it as a friend of Publicans and Sinners as the Heathen did the Religion it self as a Sanctuary of all impious persons For whereas saith Celsus * Vid. Orig. contr Celsum l. 3. p. 147. that great Enemy of Christianity all other Religions were wont to use such addresses as these when they invited men to initiate themselves in their respective Rites Whosoever is pure in hands and wise in tongue and again Whosoever is pure from all impiety that hath a soul conscious to it self of no evil and hath lived well and justly let him come and initiate himself in these mysteries but procul ô procul este profani Christianity on the contrary bespeaks the world after this manner Whosoever is a sinner or a fool childish or any way unhappy let him come for the Kingdom of God stands open to receive him the unjust and the thief the breaker up of Houses and the Wizzard the sacrilegious and the defacer of the monuments of the dead Indeed these are the men whom our Saviour came chiefly to call For I came not saith he to call the righteous but sinners Mat. 9.13 But it was as he himself there telleth us because those had more need of a Physician and to invite them not to continue in their impieties but to
that is to say of thinking honourably of and expressing it in our words and gestures as moreover no question hath or can be made of that part of Honour which hath the name of Piety because Children must generally be supposed both to be of years and of a distinct Family before they can be in a capacity to relieve their Parents so as little question would be made of Obedience if men did but consider that the principal ground of it doth always abide for it being alike true at all times that the one is thy Father that begot thee and the other thy Mother that conceiv'd thee it must be alike true because that is the ground of thy Obedience that thou art always to give obedience to their commands If therefore Children be at any time free from the tie of Honour it must be as to the manner or measure which accordingly I come now to consider Thus for instance Though Reverence be always due from us to our Parents and accordingly hath by good Children been always paid to them yet there is no necessity it should be express'd after the same manner by one of full age as by one who is still under Pupillage because the same gestures become not one of full age that are suitable enough to the tenderness of the other Whence it is that though Children in their minority are always bare before their Parents yet those of Riper age have by a general custom which must be judge of matters of this nature been indulg'd a greater liberty as to that particular even by the consent of Parents themselves In like manner that I may instance in the measure Though Children dwelling in their Parents houses and under their power be to yield Obedience to all their commands and particularly those that concern the Family whereof they are Members whence it is that we find the Father in the Parable Mat. 21.28 commanding his Sons to go and work in his Vineyard yet there is not the same tie upon those that are sent out of it that have a Wife and Family of their own to provide for that are delivered over to the tuition of other persons or in fine have any publick charge upon them Not upon those that are sent out of the Family because as sent out with their leave so of necessity to intend their own proper Affairs Not upon those Children that have a Wife and Family of their own to provide for because beside the foremention'd reason by the command of God himself to forsake Father and Mother and cleave unto their Wives Gen. 2.24 The same is to be said much more of Daughters when Married because not only equally oblig'd to cleave to their Husbands but also subjected to their commands Whence it is that when Pharaoh's Daughter was brought to be a Wife to Solomon we find her exhorted to forget her own people and her Fathers house and to look upon and worship Solomon as her Lord Psal 45.10 11. But neither thirdly is there the same tie upon Children that are subjected to the Tuition of others as to those that are under their Fathers roof and power as will appear if we consider them as made Servants to another or pass'd over into another Family by Adoption for being by the Parents consent subjected to other Masters or Fathers they are now no more theirs who gave them Being but those Masters or adopted Fathers to whom they are so transferr'd This only would be added That as the Children spoken of in the former Instances are only free from their Fathers commands by means of those new Relations they have contracted so they are consequently no farther free from yielding Obedience to their Fathers commands than the necessity of serving those Relations doth exact And therefore if a Son or Daughter that is sent abroad to intend their own Affairs or one that is entred into Marriage or made a Servant or a Son and Daughter by Adoption if I say any of these have opportunity and power to serve their natural Parents there is no doubt they ought to do so no less than those who continue under their Roof For the exception of their obedience being only in regard to those new Relations they have contracted according to that known Rule of the Lawyers Exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis it must strengthen the tie of Obedience where those Relations do no way hinder The only Children to be accounted for are such as have a publick charge upon them whether in the Church or in the State For though Children are not to enter into these without the consent of their Parents if under their Fathers Tuition or at least not without the call of their and their Fathers Superiours yet being entred they are in reason to prefer the discharge of their Place before any Commands of their Father the Private Good being in reason to yield to the Publick the Commands of Parents to those of Kings and Princes Onely as if the Child can without the neglect or debasement of his Charge fulfil his Fathers Commands there is no doubt he is oblig'd so to do so there is so much of Authority in the Name of a Father that no Dignity whatsoever will make a good Son forget it where it is not contrary to a more important Concern 5. The Duty of Honour being thus explain'd and shewn in what manner and measure it is incumbent upon Children it may not be amiss to subjoyn somewhat concerning Fear and Love which I have said to be also a part of their Duty Onely because they are rather Accessaries than Principal parts of Childrens Duties I will be so much the shorter in describing the Obligation they have upon them That we are to fear our Father and Mother the Scripture hath told us Lev. 19.3 and not without cause if we consider either that it is a part of Honour or that there is in Parents a just Object of it For as Fear is a confession of the Power of those whom we have such an apprehension of so there is Power enough in Parents to excite that Passion in us and make us as well to dread as esteem them Of this nature is first the Power of Chastisement whether as to the Body or Possessions of the Son For as I shall afterwards shew that Parents have Authority to inflict either so Experience makes it evident that they want not Power especially as to the latter Chastisement it being ordinarily in the power of Parents to withhold their Possessions from such as are disobedient to them But of all the things we are to fear in a Parent there is certainly nothing more requiring it than the Power they have with God to procure a greater Punishment of our Disobedience than they themselves are able to inflict For though as the Scripture speaks the Curse causeless shall not come yet both Reason and Experience warrant us to believe that the Curses of Parents shall not be without effect where they
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
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
are to have a proportionable Love and Honour from us so if we have a Respect and Kindness for them we must have a Love for those who are equally descended from them with our selves 4. Lastly If Love and Honour do naturally diffuse themselves from those that are the immediate Objects of it to those that are their Relations and Dependents if we have a Respect for our Parents we shall shew some portion of it to those whether Friends or Servants whom they made the Object of theirs PART IV. A Discourse of what is owing by Parents to their Children which is shewn to be first the providing for their Subsistence This evidenc'd from the common Consent of Mankind that Natural Affection which God hath implanted in Parents and from the Scripture The same farther evidenc'd from the Intention of God and Nature in that Being which he conferreth upon Children by them from that Dignity to which Parents are advanc'd and from that Self-love which God hath implanted in their Hearts That the Provision Parents are to make for their Children ought to be as large as their Necessities till they come of Years to provide for themselves yea to continue always such if they prove impotent or foolish The like not to be affirm'd where there is no such Inability Consideration onely to be had whether the Ability of Children can reach to such a Provision as is suitable to their Condition for otherwise it ought to be supplied by the Parents That the Provision of Parents ought to extend beyond their own Times and they accordingly either to lay up for them or put them into a Vocation whereby they may provide for themselves A Caution against Parents suffering their Care for them to entrench upon the Duties of Justice or Charity because these are alike incumbent on them and the best Legacies they can bequeath their Children Institution of Children in Life and Manners a second Duty of a Parent as is made appear both from Nature and Scripture The particular Duties implied in it Instruction Command and Example the first being necessary to teach them how to live the two latter to oblige them to the Practice of it Chastising of Children a third Duty of a Parent and therefore also largely insisted on That it extends not now to Death or the cutting off a Limb as neither to a total Disinheriting or the setting a lasting Note of Infamy upon them Because either the Peculiar of Princes upon whom a great part of the Parents Authority is deriv'd or not so agreeable to Paternal Affection or tending rather to provoke than amend the Parties chastised Corporal Punishments less than those within the power of Parents but yet not to be inflicted upon those of riper Years or not in the same manner wherein they are upon younger Persons Of the Measure in which Chastisements are to be inflicted upon Children That a principal Regard ought to be had that they be within the Quality of the Offence and how they may be known so to be The Strength of the Child another Measure of Chastisement and that that and that alone can be look'd upon to be within it which doth not disable the Child from the performance of those several Offices which Nature or Religion doth exact The Relation of the Chastiser another Measure and what that Relation leads to which is either first the reforming of the Party chastised or the deterring other Children from the like Offences To correct either for ones own Pleasure or Revenge not suitable to a Parent That all possible Submission is due to those Chastisements which are within the forementioned Bounds but however no other Resistance to be made than by Flight or an Appeal to the Magistrate An Inquiry into the supposed Obligation of the Mothers Nursing her own Child and the Arguments for it propos'd and answered II. OF the Duty of Children to their Parents what hath been said may suffice proceed we therefore to consider the Duty of Parents towards them or rather unto God concerning them Where 1. First I shall consider those that are common to each Parent And 2. After that inquire Whether there be any peculiar to the Mother 1. Now there are three things incumbent upon Parents in order to the Welfare of their Children 1. Providing for their Subsistence 2. Institution of them in Life and Manners And 3. Chastisement 1. I begin with the first of these even Parents providing for their Childrens Subsistence where again these three things would be inquir'd into 1. How it appears to be a Duty 2. Whence the Obligation thereof ariseth And 3. What Provision they are to make 1. Now though the Duty of Parents in this Affair would most naturally be made out by pointing at the Grounds from whence it ariseth yet because there are other ways to make the necessity thereof to appear and such too as are more intelligible to the Common sort of Men I think it not amiss to begin with them whereof the first I shall alledge is the Common Consent of Mankind concerning it For it appearing not how all Mankind should so unanimously agree upon the Necessity of Parents providing for their Children if there were not some Principle in Nature to lead them to it it is in reason to be presum'd to be a part of Natural Duty and such as Reason no less than Revelation doth tie upon them From the Consent of Mankind pass we to that Natural Affection which God hath implanted in the Breasts of Parents For as that doth naturally lead Men to make Provision for those toward whom they have so strong an Affection so it is a sufficient Proof of the Intention of the Almighty to oblige Parents to the Practice of it no other account being to be given why God should implant in them so strong an affection but to be as a Spur to them to make Provision for them But so that Parents are naturally obliged St. Paul declares in his Epistle to the Romans and the Second to the Corinthians Witness for the former his charging upon the Heathen among other things the * Text. Graecus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod propriè significat expertes naturalis affectâ—â— erga liberos want of natural affection to their Children Rom. 1.31 for the latter his express Affirmation that Parents ought to lay up for them 2 Cor. 12.14 For inasmuch as nothing but a Sin could be the matter of a Charge as nothing could be a Sin to the Gentiles which was not a breach of Nature's Law by charging the want of natural affection upon the Heathen he manifestly implies it to have been a transgression of Nature's Law and consequently that the contrary was commanded by it The same is yet more evident from that other place where he affirms in express terms That Parents ought to lay up for them for though as a Learned Man * Sanderson Two Caser of Conscience pag. 72 hath observ'd St. Paul speaks it but upon the By and by
way of illustration of another Argument yet is that so far from lessening the importance of it that on the contrary it adds a greater Force to it such illustrations as the forequoted Person remarks being ever taken à notiori and from such common notions as are granted and consented unto by all reasonable men 2. Having thus shewn it to be a natural duty of Parents to provide for their Childrens subsistence which is the first of those things we proposed to consider proceed we in the second place according to the method before laid down to shew from whence the Obligation thereto ariseth which is first of all from the intention of God and Nature in that Being which he conferrs upon Children by them For the Intention of God and Nature being to make those to whom he gives it happy he must consequently be supposed to have enjoin'd the adding of those things which may serve for the procuring of it Otherwise our Birth would have been rather an Infelicity than a Benefit because exposing us to those Evils which but for our Birth we should never have receiv'd Now forasmuch as God intended our Birth for our benefit forasmuch as that cannot be where the conveniencies of Life are wanting he must consequently be supposed to have enjoin'd the adding of them also so far as it is in the power of Parents to procure them From the intention of God and Nature in our Birth pass we to that dignity which we have before said Parents to be advanc'd to that is to say to be as Gods to those whom they were the Authors of For as that dignity of theirs doth oblige those who are their Children to look upon and revere them as such so it doth no less oblige the Parents to do things becoming that divine dignity to which he hath advanc'd them Otherwise they shall not only bring a scandal upon themselves but upon him whose Images they are Now forasmuch as it is no way becoming that dignity to which they are advanc'd to cast off those creatures which they have produc'd God whose Image they bear no less providing for his Creatures when made than contributing to the Being of them at first it follows that as Parents are a kind of Gods to us by the Being which they gave us so they ought to shew themselves to be farther such by preserving what they have made and continuing what they before gave Lastly forasmuch as Children are not only the workmanship of their Parents but also like that of the Spider woven out of their own Bowels Hence there ariseth another Obligation of making provision for them so far as they may stand in need of them For inasmuch as no man yet either did or could without a great unnaturalness hate his own flesh no man can without the like unnaturalness withold nourishment from those who are no other than a portion of it 3. That Parents ought to make provision for their Children together with the grounds of that Obligation we have seen already proceed we now to consider the provision they are to make In order whereunto I will consider their several stages through which their Children are to pass And first of all If the question be concerning Children before they have either Ability or Reason to provide for themselves so there is no doubt the provision of Parents ought to be as large as the necessities of their Children For as the weakness of Children in that state takes away all pretence of putting any part of it upon them so the same reason which obliges Parents to provide for their Children at all obliges them to provide for them altogether where there is a like necessity of it The same is to be said of Children who however of years of strength and discretion are yet by reason of some defect in Nature either impotent or foolish these being as much Children as those of younger years and therefore to have a like Interest in our care and providence From Children which have not arriv'd to Ability and Discretion pass we to those that have but continue still in their Fathers Family or at least have the opportunity of their Fathers Assistance and Advice Where first I shall not stick to affirm that there is no necessity the provision should be as large as for Children of a lower state For the general ground of making provision for others being the necessities of those we provide for our obligation to make provision must so far cease as we see their necessities do And therefore if a Child be in some measure able to provide for himself there is no doubt but a Father may oblige him to it and substract so much of his own providence But to those very creatures whom God hath sent us to learn Providence of have taught us by their example to proceed For how great soever their affection to their young ones is yet they generally leave them to their own conduct when they are able to shift for themselves This only would be added which hath no place in other creatures that consideration ought to be had of the quality of Children or rather of those from whom they are descended For as the provision Parents ought to make for their Children ought to be answerable to the condition both of themselves and of their Children so if the ability of their Children will not reach to such a provision the Parent is to supply it by his care and providence and not only furnish him with such things as are necessary for a Son but for the Son of such a Father For by the same reason a man is to provide more for a Child as being of a nobler Nature than we find other Creatures do for their young Ones by the same a Man of more noble Condition is to provide more largely for his Child than if he were the Son of a more Inferiour Person But because what hath been hitherto said doth rather concern the making provision for a Child in his Fathers House or at least during his Life then after his Fathers decease and because St. Paul hath represented this last as no less the Duty of Parents where he tells us that they ought to lay up for them therefore inquire we in the third place Whether or no Parents are oblig'd to do it and after what proportion Now that so they are which is the first thing to be shewn beside what was alledged out of St. Paul will appear from the necessity Children generally stand in of it For beside that after their Parents decease they must needs be less able than before to attain to such a condition of life as is suitable to their respective qualities they wanting in that state that Advice and Assistance of their Parents which might have facilitated their way to it so it is but requisite that to supply that defect Parents should either train up their Children to some Calling by which they may be able to provide for themselves which
of the Child to be the principal if not onely end of Gods obliging Parents to chastise them But from hence it will follow not onely that Parents ought not to chasten Children for their own pleasure or to gratifie their Anger and Revenge but also that where a less Chastisement is likely to have effect the Parent is not generally to inflict a greater I say generally because a greater one may be sometimes necessary to deter his other Children from the like Offence Which as there is no doubt the Parent ought to have a regard to as being concern'd for the welfare of them all so the offending Son hath no just Cause to take exception at it provided the Punishment be within the measure of the Offence It being but reasonable that he should instruct those by his Chastisement whom by his evil Practice he hath given a temptation to offend Which said nothing remains to account for but what Submission is due from Children to the Chastisement of their Parents which will require no great pains to resolve For as no doubt can be made but where the Chastisement is within due Bounds all possible Submission is due from the Children to it the same Authority that licenseth the Parent to chastise obliging the Child to acquiesce in it so even where the Chastisement is exorbitant no other Resistance can be suppos'd to be lawful than what is made either by flying from it or appealing to those to whom even Parents ought to be subject other Resistance than that overthrowing that Subordination which God hath ser between a Child and a Parent 2. Of those Duties which are common to both Parents what hath been said may suffice proceed we therefore to inquire whether there be any peculiar to the Mother The Ground of which Quaerie is an Opinion that hath prevail'd of Womens being generally obliged to nurse their own Children What Reasons there are for such a Surmise may be seen in a Dissertation of Favorinus * Vid. A. Gell. Nâ—ct Atric l. 12. c. 1. where that Matter is argued with great Eloquence and shew of Reason The sum of his Argumentation is That Nature doth as it were prompt the Mother to it by that Nourishment which it sends into her Breasts that the Milk of the Mother is most agreeable to the Child that is to be maintain'd by it that ill Dispositions of Mind may be contracted from the Nurses they make use of and in fine that much of that Affection which is due from the Child to the Mother and on the other side from the Mother to the Child may be taken off by putting them out to Nurse to Stranger Women Which Reasons how plausible soever in appearance seem to me not to have that force which they are commonly apprehended to be of For though it be true in the first place that Nature commonly furnisheth the Mother with an Ability to perform that Office to the Child yet as that may be look'd upon rather as the Kindness of God and Nature than any Obligation to the doing of it so that it induceth no Obligation to the Undertaking of it will need no other proof than that the Nourishment of the Child may be otherwise as happily procur'd For the Means of any thing becoming valuable by its subserviency to that End which it is made use of to procure where the End may be attain'd by more Means than one there no doubt it shall be lawful for the Party concern'd to make use of either according as their own Conveniences or other Circumstances shall perswade All therefore that it will concern us to shew is That the End may be as happily attain'd by other Means which will consequently lay the stress of Mothers Obligation if indeed there be any upon the less aptitude of other Means which the following Objections are intended to establish To bring therefore the Controversie to an Issue let us consider those Objections and first of all that which pretends that the Milk of the Mother is most agreeable to the Child that is to be maintain'd by it Now that so it is not will appear if either we compare it with the Bringing up of Children by Hand as it is commonly called or with the Milk of other Women For beside that late Experience shews that many Children have been brought up the former way without any considerable inconvenience the same Experience gives us to understand that Nurses if healthful Women and stirring as the greatest part of them are do perform that Office with as great or greater success than the Mothers themselves do especially if as most of those are that put out their Children they be Women of more nice Constitutions and more dainty and therefore less healthful Feeding As little or less am I mov'd with that following Suggestion of Favorinus of Childrens contracting ill Dispositions of Mind and particularly Poorness of Spirit from those mean Persons Women make use of for their Nurses For beside that the contrary is frequently seen in the Children of greater Personages who are all upon the matter nurs'd by Women of meaner Birth than their Mothers there want not even among the poorer sort Women of Spirits above their Fortunes and to whom therefore if that be all they may put their Children By which means all the force there is in Womens being obliged to nurse their own Children must be grounded upon the presumption of the Affections of the Mother and the Child being likely to be abated by making choice of a Stranger to perform the Office of a Nurse to them But as that is on the part of the Child a groundless Presumption it being not at all rare for those Children who have been nurs'd by their Mothers to shew as little affection to them as those that have been nurs'd by others so that it is otherwise on the part of the Mother will be hard to be believ'd by those who have made any Observations upon it Women of better Fortunes and who therefore for the most part place their Children abroad being generally as fond or fonder of their Children than Women of meaner Birth and Fortunes who for the most part are their own Nurses PART V. Of Kings or Princes and all that are in Authority The Ground of the Honour of Princes their being 1. God's Ministers and Vicegerents and 2. Of his Designation and Appointment The former of these evidenced from their being stiled Gods as their Throne the Throne of God That this was not peculiar to the Jewish Princes evidenced from St. Paul who stiles the Powers of his Time the Ministers of God An Answer to what is objected out of St. Peter concerning their being stiled the Ordinance of Man That Princes are of God's Designation and Appointment as well as his Ministers and Vicegerents because that Authority wherewith they are invested cannot become theirs but by the Grant of him to whom they do originally belong How it may appear that the Princes that now are are of
to them for being the end doth depend upon the means and either follows or follows not according as they are made use of or omitted he that commands any end must necessarily be thought to command the means as on the other side he that forbids the end to forbid the other Thus forasmuch as drunkenness leads to lust and immoderate anger to murther were there no other Precepts to make them unlawful those of Murther and Adultery would because intemperance and immoderate anger naturally lead to them 5. For to enumerate more particulars would perhaps serve rather to forestall the ensuing discourse than to clear our way to it Whatsoever either the Old or New Testament proposeth concerning piety and vertue as it may fairly enough be reduced to some Precept or other of the Decalogue as will appear when we come to discuss them so considering it as our Catechism doth as an abstract of all moral duties it will be necessary to take that course in the explication of it 6. Lastly for though matter of duty be the principal thing here intended yet that duty hath promises annexed to it Whatsoever is here annexed by way of promise though more peculiarly concerning the Jews doth yet appertain to us also For being whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 being the Author to the Hebrews applies that promise to all Christians which was spoken particularly to Joshua and upon a particular occasion Heb. 13.5 it is much more reasonable to believe those promises to belong to us which are annexed to the Ten Commandments because they are no less our duty than those to whom they were first given And therefore as S. Paul when to shew the equity of Christian children's obedience to parents alledged the words of the fifth Commandment Ephe. 6.2 so he forgot not to add the promise annexed of its being well with us and living long upon the earth all which had been very impertinent if the promise as well as duty had not been our concernment as well as the Jews Allowance only would be made for the difference there is between the Law and the Gospel as to temporal promises but what that difference is and what allowance ought to be made for it will fall in more seasonably when I come to intreat of the fifth Commandment to which therefore I shall reserve the distinct handling of it Having thus prepared my way to the explication of the Ten Commandments by shewing the nature and obligation of the divine Laws and particularly of this with the measure whereby we are to proceed in the explication of them it remains that we descend to the Commandments themselves and consider the several duties that are wrapped up in them But because the Law-giver himself before he proceeds to the several Precepts of the Decalogue labours to stir up the Israelites to yield obedience to them by the consideration of that great mercy of Gods toward them in bringing them out of the Land of Egypt I will for a conclusion of this discourse shew what like tyes he hath upon us to the performance of the same duties And here in the first place it is not to be forgotten because that is the first root and foundation of all our obligation to him that he who exacts our obedience is he that made us he from whom we receive our life and breath and all things conducing to the support of it For as it is but reasonable in it self that God should exact the obedience of those who are made and sustained by him so it is no less reasonable that we should pay him that obedience who receive so great a favour from him But not to insist upon so remote an obligation who have so many that are much more near and pressing to us Christians consider we in the second place that he who immediately bound this Law upon us hath bought us with his most precious blood An argument I the rather insist upon because it carries with it an exact correspondency to that mercy which God made use of to perswade his own people to obedience For as the deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt was a deliverance from a cruel bondage and such as neither before nor since any Nation groaned under so our redemption by Christ was a deliverance from a more cruel bondage because from a spiritual one We were in bondage to our own hearts lusts we were in bondage to Satan and his instruments a Master who after all our toil would have paid us no other wages than death and an eternal separation from God Again whereas the Jewish Law-giver delivered them from their bondage by the bloud of the Paschal Lamb and of their enemies he who bound the same Law upon us purchased us not indeed by the bloud of Lambs or of other men but which is much more considerable by his own Now if a deliverance out of Egypt were so strong an obligation to obedience that God himself should lay the stress of the whole Law of Moses on it how great a one may we suppose it to be to be delivered from sin and Satan and death and that too by the bloud of him by whom that Law was imposed on us Certainly if any redemption be a just incentive to obedience a redemption from such a servitude and in such a manner must be and we who are so bought obliged to glorisie God both in our bodies and in our spirits which are his We are not as yet at an end of the obligations the divine goodness hath laid upon us to yield obedience to these his Laws For whereas God though he delivered the Jess from their Egyptian bondage yet brought them into another from a servitude in making bricks to a servitude in observing many unprofitable Rites and Ceremonies our Law-giver on the contrary hath delivered us from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God that is to say for what Son is there that is not under obedience to the obedience of Sons to a service which is both easy and ingenuous We are not now as they under a yoke of ceremonial rites and ordinances we are not treated as slaves nor indeed as servants what becomes a Son to do and a Father to exact what is just and equitable and ingenuous that and that alone is the rule of our obedience Which yet neither doth he so exact as to cast us off for every transgression of it for every weak or indeed wilful deviation from it but after the manner of tender Fathers passeth by our lesser errours and upon our repentance and amendment receives us into favour after grosser ones Lastly as our Law-giver admits us to an ingenuous and easy service as he is moreover gracious and merciful in the exacting of it so he furnisheth us with ability to perform all those things which he doth so mercifully exact For of his
in them as being bound upon us by an inevitable necessity so being the will of God no less than his precepts they are at least to have the sufferance of ours and be consented to as well as undergone But so we find that old Eli how blameworthy soever as to the doing of Gods will yet thought himself obliged to submit to the sufferance of it 1 Sam. 3.18 For though the message that was brought him was no other than the utter extirpation of his house and which is more delivered in the most heart-breaking terms yet he made no other reply than It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Now though this to some persons at least may seem a harder task than flesh and bloud can readily undergo yet it is not all which the making Gods Will ours importeth and consequently neither all that is required of us towards the owning of God in them For as Seneca words it if we will do that we must non tantum deo parere sed assentiri embracing as well as submitting to whatsoever it layes upon us and receiving it how sad soever with alacrity and cheerfulness For otherwise as was before observed we give God but a part of our Wills and choose it not because we will it but because we cannot avoid it Neither let any man say that this is above the proportion of humane strength and therefore not to be thought to be any part of our duty to the Almighty For as I readily grant it to be above the proportion of humane strength when considered without the assistance of the Divine Grace so that it is not so when accompanied with it is manifest enough from the practice of Job c. 1.21 That holy man notwithstanding all the sad tidings that were brought him blessing God for the loss of his Cattel Servants and Children as well as for his former bestowing of them In the mean time as it is not to be denied to be a very hard task and such to which we had need have some other incentive beside that of our own duty so I shall not be unmindful of supplying you when I come to entreat of that petition of the Lords prayer Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven 2. Having thus entreated of the elicite acts of the Will that is to say of such as proceed immediately from it and withal shewn what tribute is due from each of them to him whom we are commanded to owne for our God it remains we descend to those which are called imperate ones or rather to the Empire of the Will over them For though the acts before remembred are the only immediate acts of the Will yet all the acts of the body and mind are under its controul and move by the guidance of it Thus for instance it is from our Wills that our understandings apply themselves to the consideration of Heaven and Heavenly things from the same Wills that our affections are stirred up to tend to their proper objects Lastly from the same Wills it is that we perform all outward actions whether of Religion or Civility In consideration whereof as it is but necessary they themselves should be rightly disposed and pay the Almighty that tribute which is due from each act of them so to the compleatly owning of God for their God that they make use of that Empire of theirs to bring our other faculties to pay God that Homage and Obedience which he requires For the Will being as it were the Vicegerent of God over this little world of man how can it discharge that trust which is reposed in it if it do not lay its commands upon those subjects of its own and Gods to give him that Honour and Obedience that he requires But from hence it will follow that the Will is to incite the understanding to meditate upon God and the affections to embrace and revere him that it is to lay its commands upon the tongue to chaunt forth his praises and upon the knee to bow down to him and adore him In fine as its Empire extends to the whole man to see that each of them perform their several duties and particularly those of Piety and Devotion In the mean time you may see how much they are deceived who upon a surmise of their hearts being right with God take occasion either wholly to neglect or but perfunctorily perform the outward actions of Religion For if the Heart or Will be Gods Vicegerent over all our other faculties and powers it cannot be right with him if it do not stir them up to pay God that service which he requires of each of them I have but one thing more to add concerning this Empire of the Will but it is such as if attended to may be of excellent use in the conduct of our lives and that is that as this Empire of the Will is very great so it will prove very effectual if it be resolute in what it doth propose Nothing almost being too hard for a mind so resolved especially when accompanied with the divine assistance By vertue of this resolution it is that men overcome many and great difficulties by the same that they put themselves upon matters of the greatest hazard by this that they encounter with enemies that are superiour to them both in number and strength by the same that they oftentimes get the victory of them that resolution of theirs not only making them to exert their own strength to the uttermost but damping the courage of their opponents But so that it fareth with our Spiritual enemies the Scripture hath given us plainly enough to understand because assuring us that however the Devil may press upon the weak and irresolute yet he will flie from us if we have the courage to resist him Being now to pass from the Vnderstanding and Will to the Affections and to shew what tribute each of them is to pay to the Almighty I have been somewhat retarded by the consideration of a duty which the Scriptures often call for I mean Trust in God For beside that it is generally expressed in Metaphorical terms such as depending resting or staying our selves upon God which though they may sometime illustrate that to which they are applied yet do no less often serve to obscure it it may seem somewhat difficult to those who do more intimately consider it to what power of the Soul to referr it or rather whether it do not some way appertain to each of them And indeed upon a serious consideration of the whole matter I am apt to believe it doth which is the reason I have chosen this place for it That the Vnderstanding hath a share in it is evident to me from that belief which it manifestly implies and by which it is oftentimes expressed he that trusts to or upon any person doing it upon the account of that credit which he gives to the affirmation of him upon whom he doth so rely But
ordinary enjoyn'd even as to their not stirring from their Habitations Now concerning each of these Rests I shall not stick to affirm that according as before-stated they are not onely not obligatory to us Christians but superstitious That they are not obligatory will appear if we consider that the Sabbath it self is not For the Sabbath as was before-shewn being peculiar to the Jews to whom it was given as a Sign of the Covenant between God and them that Rest which gave it its Name and a great part of its Nature must be look'd upon as in like manner peculiar to them and consequently not obligatory to us But neither is it less evident that such a Rest would be superstitious if either impos'd or observ'd as Religious because placing Religion in that which however it might have some place in the Jewish yet is no part of the Christian because exhibiting that better Rest of which the other was a Type If therefore there be any Obligation upon us from the Rest here commanded it must be either to the Observation of that Spiritual Rest of which it was a Type or to such a Bodily one as is requisite to the Solemn Performance of God's Worship each of which I come now to consider Of the former of these Rests there is not the least doubt to be made that is to say of a Spiritual one or Rest from Sin For it being evident on the one hand that the Law of Moses was written for our Direction and Obedience as well that which is * See the Discourse concerning the Positive Laws of God c. Ceremonial as that which was Moral and Substantial and it being no less evident on the other that that of it which was Ceremonial was not written to oblige us to the Ceremony it self it follows because it was written for our Direction and Obedience that it was intended to oblige us to those Spiritual Duties of which the other were Types and Shadows Now forasmuch as the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews was a Type of some Christian Duty forasmuch as there is no Duty in Christianity which can better answer it than a Rest from Sin it follows that though we look not upon our selves as concern'd in the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews yet we look upon our selves as concern'd in that Rest of which it was a Type and accordingly cease from our Sinful Works as they did on the Sabbath from the Works of their several Employments Again Though the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews oblige us rather to the Thing signified by it than to the Rest it self though in the Circumstances in which it was enjoyn'd it was apparently Legal and consequently one of those Bondages from which Christ came to set us free yet so far forth as that is requisite to the performance of God's Worship there is no doubt it doth oblige us even as to the thing it self Because as was before shewn * See Part 1. of the Explic. of this Commandment a part of the Moral Law and subordinate to the main End of this But from hence as was there observ'd it will follow that we are to rest from our Employments both in and some time before the Time of God's Solemn Worship the Mind of Man being neither able to intend them both at once nor yet the Service of God alone with that freedom which it ought where the Cares of this World press too near upon it Which though it amount not to the strictnesses of the Jewish Sabbath yet will oblige us to such a Rest as will leave little leisure for other earthly Thoughts than what the Necessity of our Affairs or the Conveniences of Life will take up But as farther than this I neither shall nor dare press upon you the Rest enjoyn'd the Jews so even they who are more severe will not know how to free themselves if they should be press'd with their own Actions For who of them thinks himself a Sinner for gathering a few Sticks on the Christian Sabbath or going about to kindle a Fire on it The * Exod. 35.3 latter whereof was yet expresly forbidden the Jews as the ‖ Num. 15.36 former punish'd with death 2. Having thus shewn what kind of Rest was impos'd upon the Jews and withal how far we our selves are concern'd to observe it inquire we in the next place To whom and in what manner it appertain'd or rather into the latter onely the Commandment being express not onely for the resting of all sorts of Persons but also of the very Beasts themselves And first of all if the Question be concerning those who were sui juris or permitted so to be as to the Rest here enjoyn'd so there is no doubt that Rest appertain'd to them not onely as a Privilege but a Duty the Rest here spoken of being the Matter of a Command and consequently intended to oblige all those who were in a capacity to yield obedience to it On the other side if the Question be concerning Cattel which by the Tenor of the Commandment were to have a share in it so there is no doubt the rest here spoken of appertain'd to them onely by way of Privilege For being uncapable either of understanding or giving obedience to Laws they must be suppos'd to have been free from this and consequently what is said concerning their Rest to have appertain'd to them onely by way of Privilege Setting aside therefore both the one and the other as whose Case admits not of the least difficulty we will consider first of all the Case of Parents and Masters 2. Of Children and Servants And 3. and lastly because there is something particular in his of the Stranger that was within their gates For the first of these again there is no great difficulty in explicating their particular Concerns because the Commandment is clear not onely that they should rest themselves but oblige those who were under their Power to do so For those being more in their Parents and Masters Power than in their own the Command is in reason to be suppos'd to have appertain'd chiefly to them in whose Power their Labour or Resting was From Parents and Masters pass we to Children and Servants and inquire into their particular Concerns Where first of all there is no doubt for the Reason before alledg'd that it was no less their Duty than Privilege to rest from their Labours where they might be permitted so to do The onely doubt is whether it were incumbent upon them so to do though their cruel Masters should have us'd Threats or Chastisements to constrain them to their ordinary Labours For the resolution whereof I shall desire you first to consider that of Deut. 5.15 For it being manifest from thence that the great Design of the Rest enjoyn'd was that Servants should have ease from their Labours it is hard to suppose God would oblige them so to rest when a far greater Evil than their Labour impended on them For by this means God should
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
several Correlatives are describ'd so it will be no hard matter for Superiours to read it in that Honour which is commanded to be paid unto themselves For though as I shall afterwards shew their very begetting of us require our having them in esteem yet if it be not also accompanied with a Paternal Care over us it must needs be a great Stumbling-block to us and if not destroy yet very much diminish their Esteem Again Forasmuch as our Honour though built in part upon their giving us a Being yet is also founded by the Scriptures themselves upon their lending us their Assistance to support it hence it comes to pass that to obtain a complete Honour from us they must shew us the way by their Kindness and feed us with the same Kindness that the Stork doth her Young ones that Emblem both of Paternal Affection and Filial Duty It being impossible for Children to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 requite their Parents as the Young ones of the Stork do theirs where the Parents have not shew'd themselves Storks before Having thus given you a general Scheme both of this Commandment and my Design and shewn both who and to what they are oblig'd I intend now to present them to you a second time and allow them a more distinct Consideration In order whereunto I will begin with Parents because express'd in the Commandment and shew both 1. What is due from their Children unto them And 2. What is due from them unto their Children I. Now there are Five things within the resolution whereof all that is necessary to be known concerning the former of these Obligations is comprehended 1. The Grounds of our Honour 2. The Kinds of it 3. With what variety it is to be exhibited to either Parent 4. Whether or no and how far a Child may be freed from it 5. To which I shall subjoyn in the fifth place somewhat concerning Fear and Love which I have said to be a part of Childrens Duties 1. And here though I very well might not to establish it upon this Commandment nor yet upon that Strength which Christianity hath added to it by its own I will make it my Business to inquire whether Nature it self hath not afforded Grounds enough to establish that Obligation upon Now there are two things upon which the honouring our Parents is grounded and which indeed do each of them evince its necessity how much more then when as for the most part conjoyn'd The former whereof is their being under God the Authors of ours and secondly the Maintainers of it That they are the Authors of our Being is too evident from Experience to admit of any the least doubt That as such they ought to be honour'd will be no less evident if we consider either the Excellency thereof or the Authority that it naturally infers For inasmuch as Excellency is a just Object of Honour Honour as was before observ'd being a just Valuation of that which is so inasmuch as there is a peculiar Excellency in being the Author of anothers Being he who is so thereby partaking of one of the great Prerogatives of the Divine Nature it follows because our Parents are Partakers of that Prerogative that they are to be look'd upon as the Objects of Honour and next to him to be regarded by us And accordingly as some have not stuck to call them visible * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Decal Gods in respect of that resemblance which they have to the Great Creatour of us all so if it be cautiously understood it is not without Warrant even from the Scriptures themselves God himself so stiling both the Angels and Magistrates for that Image they have of his Nature and Authority However it be there is a great Resemblance between our Earthly Parents and God as being each in their measure the Authors of our Being and if so there can be little doubt of their being the just Objects of our Honour if God may be allow'd to be a just Object of it But then if we add moreover That the Authors of our Being have eo ipso a Natural Authority over those to whom they are so Nature and Reason dictating that the Maker of any thing should have the disposal of it so there will not onely follow a necessity of honouring them but of giving them such an Honour as includes Obedience to their Commands But besides the Resemblance there is between our Parents and God in that particular and that Authority which it naturally infers we are also to consider according as was before insinuated that they are God's Instruments in the producing of us For if so they cannot be neglected without casting a contempt upon God ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Decalog whose Instruments and Ministers they are the Vertue of an Instrument being not so much its own as that Causes by which it is manag'd And accordingly as among Men what is done or not done unto an Agent is by the Prince and all others interpreted as done or not done unto himself so there have not wanted even among the Heathen who saw the legitimateness of making such an Interpretation of the Dishonour that is done to God's Instruments our Earthly Parents Menander †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in particular affirming of him who reproacheth his Father That though his Words go no farther than him yet he aims at the Divine Nature The same is no less evident in that the Honour of Parents hath even in the New Testament the Title of * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5.4 Piety For that being the proper Word to express our Duty to our Maker shews the thing to which it is attributed to have a peculiar aspect upon him and that it is Sacrilege as well as Injustice to deny it I have insisted so much the longer upon this Head as because the Scripture seems to found our Obligation upon it when it requires us to hearken to the father that begat us Prov. 23.22 so also because it cuts off all Pretences of doing dishonour to those whom this Commandment obliges us to revere For be it first that thy Parents may prove unnatural and thereby so far devest themselves of that Honour which is due from other Children unto theirs yet so long as that which is past cannot be recall'd they cannot cease to be thy Parents and it is eternally true that the one is thy Father that begat thee and the other thy Mother that conceiv'd thee Be it secondly which is another Pretence of Disobedience that though they gave Being to thee yet they design'd not that so much as the gratification of their own Appetites which will consequently cut off all Moral Right to that Honour which they exact of thee yet inasmuch as they were the Authors of thy Being they have a Natural Right to it and therefore ought not to be deny'd it any more than we may deny Honour to a Man of Natural
is indeed an excellent Portion or if that will not suffice or be not suitable to their Condition that they lay up for them that which Solomon tells us answers all things Otherwise they will leave them unprovided for as to that state which stands most in need of it Neither will it avail to say there is no reason the Fathers care should reach beyond his own life when we have before said that the Child's obedience generally ought not For as I have before shewn that the Honour of a Parent ought to abide after his death and Obedience to his Commands also so far as that is concerned in it so it is but requisite that answerably to that a Fathers care should extend beyond his own time and not only provide for his Children during his own life but as much as in him lies afterwards especially when the necessities of his Child which is the ground of making provision for them is then likely to be greater than before The only thing to be enquired into in this affair is after what proportion a Father is to provide for them For the resolution whereof though I might have referr'd you to what was said before concerning making provision for them in the Parents life time because giving us to understand that both the one and the other ought to be according to the condition of the Father yet I thought it not amiss to bring it anew before you if it were only to add this necessary limitation to a Fathers care to wit that he ought not so to see to the providing for his Children as to forget to minister of his substance to the more publick concernments of Church or State or the pressing and instant necessities of those charitable Objects he hath before him For as both the one and the other ought rather to be regarded than the leaving to our Children a pompous and glorious Estate so he that forgets not to do good and to communicate provides much better for his Children than he who will not suffer any the least part of his Estate to pass away from them Money lent to God as all that is so employ'd is * Pro. 19.17 being as Master Herbert hath well observ'd ‖ Country Parson chap. 10. plac'd surer for the Childs advantage than if it were given to the Chamber of London which was in his time the best security in the world 2. The second duty of Parents follows even the institution of their Children in Life and Manners which is a provision for their better part their Souls concerning which therefore I will shew first the Authority by which it stands the Duties it contains and the Inconveniences that attend the omission of it And first if we enquire by what Authority the Institution of Children stands we shall find it to be by the same whereby all other moral Duties do that is to say by the Law of Nature and Revelation both the one and the other binding it upon the Consciences of Parents and that too more stronger than the former That the Law of Nature doth the Argument before alledg'd for Parents making provision for their Subsistence is to me an abundant Evidence For the design of God in our Birth being the happiness of those to whom he gives a Being he must consequently be supposed to have enjoyn'd the adding of those things which may serve for the procuring of it Which being in an especial manner to be understood of a holy Institution because our Eternal happiness doth depend upon it will make the addition of that even by Natures Law more incumbent upon Parents than the providing for their Temporal one The same is no less evident from the positive Laws of God as well those of the Old Testament as the New in the former whereof * Deut. 6.7.11.19 we find Parents commanded to teach Gods Commandments diligently unto their Children and to talk to them of them when they sit in their House and when they walk by the way when they lie down and when they rise up in the latter ‖ Eph 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significat institutionem per poenas vid. Grot. in loc which is tantamount though expressed in fewer words that they should bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. From the Authority by which this Duty stands pass we to the particulars it contains which may be reduced to these Three Heads Instruction Command and Example the first to shew them how they ought to Live and Act the two latter to induce them to the practice of it For as it is impossible for Children to live well till they know what it is to do so or know it without a precedent Institution they neither bringing with them into the world a knowledge of their Duty nor being able through the tenderness of their Understandings to find it without the help of others so the pravity of their Natures makes it but necessary that they should be Oblig'd as well as Instructed and Encourag'd as well as Oblig'd The former whereof as it is best done by the Parents commands which till the minds of Children come to be debauch'd have a mighty influence upon them so the latter by the Parents shewing themselves a Pattern of those things which they bind upon them by their Instruction and Commands nothing prevailing more with Children than Example doth nor any Example more than that of a Father Which therefore as it is but necessary that Parents should superadd to compleat the Institution of their Children so woful experience shews that the want of that alone makes all other ways of Institution fruitless it being rare to find a Child who is not more debauch'd by his Fathers ill Example than regulated by his wholesome Instruction and Commands Having thus shewn as well what the Institution of Children implies as by what Authority it stands it remains only to give it so much the more weight that I represent some of those inconveniencies which attend the omission of it For to say nothing at all that that Father is like to be ill serv'd himself who hath not taught his Children to revere his and their common parent God nor yet that the omission of a Holy Institution may expose them to the taking such Courses as will bring little comfort either to their Children or themselves I shall desire such Parents to consider how they will be able at that great day to look those Children in the face whom they have begotten only to Eternal Torments For as if they have the bowels of a Father it cannot but be an infinite affliction to them to see those who are a part of themselves plung'd in Eternal Torments so if they have any the least shame it will be an equal confusion to them to consider that they became so by their means even by theirs who ought in reason to have done their utmost to make them happy and enstate them in Gods Kingdom as well
they may join together both in publick and private Prayers For though as a Learned Man hath observ'd * See the Case of Marrying with a Recusant by Dr. Sanderson it would be hard to condemn the contrary Matches how distant soever their Religions are as simply evil and unlawful inasmuch as there may be causes imaginable wherein they may seem not only lawful but expedient such as is for Example The Marrying of a Christian with a Pagan where there is none other to adjoin himself self to or of a Protestant Prince with a Popish Princess where the good of the State doth necessarily require it yet I think it would be as hard to free such Matches from the imputation of sinfulness where there is not something of necessity to prompt the Persons to it Because beside the perpetual ‖ Tert. ad Vxorem lib. 2. Quis enim dubitet obliterari quotidie fidem commercio infideli Bonos corrumpunt mores confabulationes malae quanto magis convictus individuus usus ib. cap. 3. danger the Orthodox party is in of being enticed from the true Religion there is little probability of that entire affection and accord which the tie of Marriage doth require For to say nothing at all of that alienation of affection which difference in Religion is apt of it self to produce there is a necessity upon the differing parties if they will be faithful to their several ways of Worship to frequent different Companies to resort to different Assemblies and in fine to place their Charity upon different Objects Upon which as Jealousies and Suspicions must needs arise whether of their fidelity to each others Beds or of their justice in the dispensing of the common Goods it is impossible to think but that those Jealousies will also prompt them to give a check to each other in their several courses which will be the parent of farther differences between them For who as * Tertull. ad Vxorem lib. 2. p. 189. Quis autem sinat conjugem suam visitandorum fratrum gratiâ vicatim aliena quidem pauperior a quaeque tuguria circuire Quis nocturnis convocationibus si ita oportuerit a latere suo adimi libenter feret Quis denique solennibus Paschae abnoctantem securus sustinebit Quis ad convivium illud Domin cum quod infamant sine sua suspicione dimittet Quis in carcerem ad osculanda vinculae martyris reptare patietur Tertullian speaks would suffer his Wife upon pretence of visiting the Brethren to run up and down from house to house and particularly to those of the poorer sort Who will willingly bear her being taken from his side to be present at nightly meetings if occasion do so require Who will suffer her to lie from him at the Solemnities of Easter or be present at that Banquet of our Lord which the Heathen do so defame In fine Who will suffer her to creep into Prison there to kiss the Bonds of the Martyrs Rather than so as the same Father immediately before discourseth if he do not restrain her by his Authority yet he shall find out some means or other whereby to divert her from her purposes If a Station ‖ Yertull ib. Vt si statio facienda est maritus de die condicat ad balneas si jejunia observanda sunt maritus eadem die convrvium exerceat si procedendum erit nunquam magis familiae occupatio obveniat or more solemn Assembly for Prayer be to be held it is ten to one but the Husband will appoint her that day to accompany him to the Bath If a Fast be to be observ'd but that he will hold a Feast upon it Lastly If she be to go abroad whether to visit the sick or for other such like purpose but that there shall then be somewhat more than ordinary to busie her about at home On the other side when Husband and Wife are of the same perswasion in matters of Religion when they are one as well in Spirit as in Flesh then there is not onely no dissent as to Civil matters but a perfect accord as to Spiritual ones they think and speak and act the same things As Tertullian expresseth it in the place before quoted They Pray they roul themselves in Ashes and Fast together they Teach Exhort and bear alike with each other * Simul orant simul volutantur simul jejunia transigunt alterutro docentes alterutro hortantes alterutro sustinentes In Ecclesia Dei pariter utrique partier in convivio Dei pariter in angustiis in persecutionibus in refrigeriis Neuter alterum celat neuter alterum vitat neuter alteri gravis est Liberè aeger visitatur indigent sustentatur Eleemosynae sine tormento sacrificia sine scrupulo quoti diana diligentia sine impedimento Non furtiva signatio non trepida gratulatio non muta benedictio Sonant inter duos Psalmi Hymni mutuò provocant quis meliùs Deo suo canter Talia Christus videns audiens gaudet His pacem suam mittit Vbi duo ibi ipse ubi ipse ibi Malus non est Tertull. ad Vxor lib. 2. in fine They are both alike in the Church and at the Feasts of the Almighty they are alike in straights in persecutions and resreshments Neither goes about to conceal ought from other neither avoids the others converse nor is burdensome to the other when they afford their own The sick is visited freely and without the least hinderance from the other and the indigent person reliev'd Alms are given without any fear of the others displeasure the Christian Sacrifices resorted to without giving the other the least scruple of their unfaithfulness the daily Prayers attended without any impediment There is no need of crossing ones self by stealth of a fearful salutation or a dumb benediction Psalms and Hymns sound between them two and they provoke each other who shall sing best unto his God The result of which blessed harmony is That Christ who sees and hears all this rejoiceth at it and forasmuch as he is a lover of Peace and Unity adds his Peace and Society to theirs and both excludes the company of the evil one and makes up a kind of Trinity in Unity with them Having thus shewn what Persons may contract Matrimony and with whom proceed we to enquire what is requisite to the contract it self And here to say nothing at all how far the consent of Parents is requir'd because I have sufficiently accounted for that where I entreated of Childrens duties to them I shall first of all represent as necessary to the legitimateness thereof that the compact be made before one or more witnesses For beside that otherwise a way might be opened to either Party to withdraw themselves and to dissolve that Contract which God would have to be inviolable occasion of Scandal would thereby be given to those with whom they converse because ignorant of the grounds of