subject to these as well as to the Higher Powers yet with this difference as you may see 1 Pet. 2.13 14. To the King as Supreme but unto Governours as them that are sent by him Making the Authority of inferiour Magistrates to result from the will of the Supreme and consequently not to be made use of against it Neither will it avail to say that the constitution of our Nation bears witness to the contrary as by which the Sentence of a Judge in matters of Estate shall be of force not only against any private Order of the Princes but even where his own property is concern'd For as on the one side that Constitution neither reacheth any farther than matter of Estate neither hath any farther power to pass it than the Posse comitatus will afford it which at the most extends no farther than the County where the Sentence is to be executed so the reason why a Decree of the Judge shall prevail against any private Order of the Kings is not because our Law allows the inferiour Magistrate to oppose the Supreme but because the Judge being commissionated by the King himself to judge between Him and his Subjects in matters of Estate what is so sentenc'd by him is rather to be presum'd to be the will of the Prince than any private Order against it As little of force is there as to what is pleaded for inferiour Magistrates resisting the exorbitant power of the Prince because commissionated by him to draw the Sword of Justice against Offenders For as St. Paul after he had affirm'd that God had put all things under our Saviour's feet yet ceased not to add as a limitation of that affirmation that it was manifest he is excepted which did put all things under him so we may that when the Prince commissionates the inferiour Magistrates to punish Offenders it is no less manifest that he is excepted who did so commissionate him it being not to be presum'd that he who by the Laws of God and Man is constituted as supreme will commissionate any person against himself As for that saying of Trajan the Emperor when he delivered a Dagger to the Praefectus Praetorio Vse this for me if I govern rightly but if ill against me it is but agreeable as Grotius * De Jure Belli ac Pacis l. 1. c. 4. Sect. 6. hath observ'd to that Princes other demeanour who made shew of behaving himself not so much as an Emperor but as the Servant of the Senate and the people In which case there is no doubt but it might have been lawful for the Praefect to oppose him if the Senate and people should upon the Emperors default have so commanded him Because so the Emperor should not be the Supreme but that Senate and people to whose judgment he professed to subject himself But as it doth not follow that the like may be done to Soveraign Princes whose Supremacy is a bar to all attempts of the inferiour Magistrate so if Soveraign Princes should give such a Power they should neither consult their own honour nor the welfare of that Kingdom which is committed to their trust He who gives another a power against himself if he govern ill not only making him the judge whether he govern so or no but giving him a power against the Commonwealth which depends on the well-being of him that administers it From that second plea pass we to a third which is taken from those Oaths which Kings do commonly make before they are solemnly crown'd of governing the people by the Laws the government as some think seeming thereby to arise from a compact between them and their Subjects upon the breach whereof on the Kings part it may be lawful for the Subject to depart from their Allegiance and resist him in the execution of his Power For answer to which not to tell you what intolerable mischiefs would ensue from such a Tenent as often as any seditious man should go about to perswade the people they were not so well govern'd as they ought I will alledge in behalf of our own Princes farther than which we shall not need to look that which will cut the throat of this objection to wit that our Kings are to as full purpose such before their Coronation as after Witness not only their peforming all the Acts of a King but that known Maxim in our Laws that the King of England never dies From whence as it will follow that the Kings of this Nation owe not their being such to any compact between them and their people that upon any supposed breach thereof it might be lawful for the Subject to resist them so also that the Oaths taken by them at their Coronation are not to procure them that Power which otherwise they could not have but for the encouraging the people to yeild the more ready obedience to them which they may very well do when they who are to govern plight their Faith and Reputation to govern them according to their own Laws There is but one Objection behind that is any thing considerable which alledgeth that there are many Kings in Title which are not so in Reality as being not Supreme in their several Dominions In which case nothing hinders they may be resisted because the command of every Soul 's being subject to the higher powers is by St. Paul himself limited to those that are Supreme that being the true notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But neither will this plea be of any avail if consider'd with relation to our own Princes beyond which we shall not be concern'd to enquire Because it is certain from the Laws and Customs of this Realm that they are both the Supreme and the only Supreme Witness not only the several Titles * See Lord Chief Baron Bridgman's Speech at the Tryal of the Kings Judges that are given them such as that beforementioned The Lieutenants of God immediate from God and the heads of the Commonwealth as to their Crown of being an Imperial Crown and immediately subject to God and to no other Power but also that Power wherewith they are Invested All Laws are made by them their Le Roy le Veult inscrib'd upon all Acts of Parliament evidently shewing it all Proceedings in Law run in their name To them it belongs to Treat of War and Peace By them Parliaments are at Pleasure call'd and dissolv'd again when they think good to do it In fine all jurisdiction flows from them and is bestow'd as they are pleased to appoint All which put together make it evident that the Kings of England are Supreme and therefore to be reckoned among those higher Powers to whom St. Paul hath commanded every Soul to be subject And indeed as so to be is the interest of the People whatsoever the Prince is it having been happily observ'd that how bloody soever Nero was yet there was not so much Blood spilt in his fourteen years Raign as there was
us to take heed of it Luke 12.15 and his Apostle to content our selves with food and rayment 1 Tim. 6.8 So that in this particular it is evident Christ had no design to thwart the dictates of Nature or Moses the precepts of the Law or the wholsome advices of the Prophets The only thing remaining to be enquir'd into is whether he came to destroy the precepts of justice and charity the two last branches of the Moral Law Concerning the latter hereof I shall say nothing at present both because I may have occasion to resume it when I come to intreat of our Saviours fulfilling the Law and because the Evangelists and Apostles as well as the Law and the Prophets are full fraught with Precepts concerning it That which I shall bestow the remainder of my discourse upon is the Precepts of justice even that justice which commands us to give Caesar and all other our Superiours their due Which I shall the rather do because this hath been too often accounted a part of that bondage from which our Saviour came to set us free I begin with Fathers because their authority as it was the first so the foundation even of Regal power Concerning whom if the Law be express that we should give them honour and obedience the Gospel of our Saviour is no less Witness his faulting the Scribes and Pharisees for evacuating that Royal Law by a foolish tradition of their own Mat. 15.4 His Apostle S. Paul's pressing the Ephesians with the letter of it Eph. 6.2 His calling upon children in the verse before to be obedient to their parents his commanding the children of the Colossians to be obedient to them in all things Col. 3.20 His instructing the children of widows to requite their parents 1 Tim. 5.4 His reckoning disobedience to parents amongst the foulest crimes of the Gentiles Rom. 1.30 Than which what more could be said to shew our Saviour's detestation of that crime and his concurrence with the Law and the Prophets in the contrary vertue From the Authority of a Father proceed we to that of a Master and compare the doctrine of the Gospel with the Law of Nature and that of Moses And here indeed is a manifest difference but which is to the advantage of the Gospel for whereas the Law of Moses doth rather suppose obedience to Masters than go about to enjoin it the Gospel is full of precepts to this purpose Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh so S. Paul Eph. 6.5 Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh so the same Apostle Col. 3.22 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour 1 Tim. 6.1 And exhort servants saith the same person to Titus to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things Tit. 2.9 To the froward as well as the gentle to the believing master and the infidel with all chearfulness with all simplicity out of a regard to Christ whose will it was they should obey to his Gospel which would be otherwise blasphem'd Lastly if the Law and the Prophets call'd upon the Jews to honour the Fathers of their Countrey as well as the Fathers of Families to fear the Lord and the King to speak no evil of the Ruler of the people to curse him no not in their heart the holy Jesus on the other hand reminds his of giving unto Caesar that which is Caesar's Mat. 22.21 His Apostle S. Peter of fearing God and honouring the King 1 Pet. 2.17 Submitting themselves to every ordinance of man or as the Greek reads it to every humane creature whether supreme or subordinate and not making use of that liberty which Christ hath purchased for a cloak of disobedience Thus in every particular doth our blessed Saviour rather confirm than destroy those Moral Precepts which are deliver'd by Moses and the Prophets And therefore let men pretend what they will upon the account of their faith and Baptism He is no Christian who is not a devout adorer of the Divine Majesty chast and temperate in his converse a dutiful child an obedient servant and a faithful subject to his Prince DISC. IV. That Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil and add to the Law of Moses General proofs hereof from the Sermon upon the Mount where moreover is shewn that the opposition there made by Christ is between his Law and that of Moses The Law of Moses considered as the Common Law of their Nation and in what respects Christ added to it A discourse concerning the same Law as intended for a rule of life where is shewn wherein Christ either did not or did add unto it That the additions Christ made to the Law in that latter notion of it do not entrench upon the esteem either of it or of its Author The allegation of the imperfection of Moses's Law both answered and disproved LET the Libertine and the Antinomian be from henceforth for ever silent they whose Life or Doctrine or both proclaim the ever blessed Jesus to have abrogated the Law and Prophets for beside that instead of justifying that wisdom whose children they pretend to be they shew themselves as forward as any in condemning her giving countenance to that calumny which was sometime fastend on our Saviour by the Jews behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners they do directly oppose his own vehement asseveration and doctrine as well as the Law of Moses unless to destroy and not to destroy be one and the same thing or to abrogate the Law and the Prophets and to fulfil But so Hercules in the Fable added to the Serpent Hydra's monstrous heads by going about to take them off each wound he gave it becoming strangely prolifical and two heads starting up where there was one lopt off For setting aside the Ceremonial that shadow of good things to come and which therefore was to vanish at the appearance of the Son of Righteousness all the Law and the Prophets beside have rather received an increase than any diminution by his Doctrine Can any one pretend that he hath abrogated the Law concerning adultery who hath substituted two in its room which are no less dreadful than the former The one forbidding all outward uncleanness the other the adultery of the heart If the Law concerning murther be alledged as destroyed by him he hath forbidden calumnies as well as that the wounds of a malicious Tongue as well as the piercing of a Spear II. Having shewn in the foregoing discourse that our Saviour came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but on the contrary to confirm and establish them it remains that we shew it to have been his design to fulfil or add to them according as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place so often referr'd to is generally understood by the Antient Fathers the Law in their opinion being
Shiloh or the Messiah should appear he expresses it by affirming that as the Scepter which is an Ensign of Regal Power should not depart from Judah so neither a Lawgiver from between his knees Gen. 49.10 In like manner as Homer if we may joyn Profane Authors with Sacred where he speaks of the same Regal Dignity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But so also that I may return to the Scripture after it had been said that Moses commanded a Law to the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob to let us know by what Authority he did so the Scripture adds And he was King in Jesurun when the Princes and Tribes of the People were gathered together to receive it Deut. 33.4 5. But not to content my self with these or the like Texts which attribute the Power of Making Laws to Princes let us which will be a yet more convincing Topick at least to some Men consider the End of their Institution For if that End be not to be compass'd without the Power of Making Laws Princes must consequently be suppos'd to be invested with that Power and their Subjects under a necessity of obeying them It is the Affirmation of St. Paul Rom. 13.3 4. That Rulers are appointed by God for the encouragement of those that do good and the avenging of those that do evil Now though each of these Ends may seem to be compass'd by having a regard in them to the Laws of God and Nature yet if we do more nearly consider it we shall find they cannot compass either unless they have a Power of Making Laws For the Laws of Nature and Scripture descending not to all those Particulars which are necessary to be observ'd in order to the attaining of them hence there ariseth the necessity of a Power to draw them down to particular Instances and accommodate them to the Exigencies of their respective Governments Thus for instance though the Laws of God require the Judging of Offenders and inflicting on them such Punishments as they shall be found to deserve yet inasmuch as they prescribe nothing concerning the Manner or Time of Judging them and much less mark out the Punishments which are to be inflicted on particular Offenders hence there ariseth a necessity in Princes to prescribe when and after what manner they shall be judg'd and what Punishments they shall undergo if they be found guilty of the Crimes laid against them In like manner though the Laws of God and Nature prescribe the encouraging of the Good and doing as much as lies in Princes toward the securing and advancing of their several Properties yet inasmuch as they prescribe nothing at all by what Means that is to be done nor indeed can do by reason of the multiplicity and variety of Humane Affairs hence there ariseth a necessity of making Laws by which they may be secur'd in their several Properties or enabled to improve them to their and the States advantage Forasmuch therefore as without Laws the Good cannot be secur'd as neither Evil-doers either judg'd or condemn'd it follows that they who are appointed both for the one and the other are invested with a Power of Making Laws and consequently the Subjects under a necessity of obeying them But so that they are is yet more evident from the express Declarations of the Scripture For beside that in the fore-quoted place of St. Paul Men are required to be subject to them which as Grotius hath well observ'd imports * Rom. 8.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Obedience to their Commands as well as Submission to their Coercion Beside that disobedience in Things lawful is a resisting of their Authority and therefore the contrary to be thought to be intended in that Subjection which is there requir'd Beside lastly that he who requires every Soul to be subject doth it upon intuition of their receiving Praise from them as well as not receiving Vengeance the former whereof cannot in reason be expected where there is no compliance with their Commands to cut off all doubt concerning Obedience to them the same St. Paul admonisheth Titus chap. 3.1 not onely to put his Charge in mind of being subject to Principalities and Powers but to obey Magistrates and to be ready to every good work in compliance with their Commands as well as far from doing so much evil as to oppose themselves against their Power and Government 2. That Obedience is to be given to Princes we have seen already inquire we now by whom and after what measure For the resolution of the former whereof it may suffice to alledge that of St. Paul Rom. 13.1 â—or requiring there every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers and neither he nor any other of the Apostles else-where making any Exception from it he thereby plainly shews that all are to be so of what Rank and Condition soever And accordingly as whatever is now pretended by the Papists for an Exemption of the Ecclesiastical Order yet no such Plea was ever made by the Priests or Prophets of the Old Testament so till Luxury and Wantonness made the Clergy forget their Duty they also were of the same mind and declar'd it both by their Actions and their Writings St. Chrysostome * Hom 2.3 in Epist ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in particular explaining every Soul by the Soul of an Apostle as well as of a Layman of one in the highest rank in the Church as well as of the most inferiour Members of Church or State 3. From the subjects of this Obedience therefore pass we to the measure of it which is both a more important question and more difficult to be resolv'd Where first of all I shall observe that it must be in such things as are not forbidden by the Almighty For as where God and Man's commands come in competition it is so clear we are to prefer those of God that St. Peter permits it to the judgment of those who commanded him to act contrary to it Act. 4.19 So that we ought to obey God rather than Princes the place they hold under God may serve for an abundant Evidence For inasmuch as Princes are only the Ministers of God they are in reason to be post-posed to him whose Ministers they are Care only would be taken first That we do not fondly and without just ground pronounce those things as forbidden by God which are imposed upon us by the commands of Princes For though we may be excus'd for not obeying where the thing commanded by Princes is so forbidden yet we cannot without sin refuse our Obedience to such commands as are not any where countermanded by the Almighty Again though we are not to obey where the matter of the Command is evidently against that of God because the Inferiour ought to give place to the Superiour yet
AN EXPLICATION OF THE DECALOGUE OR Ten Commandments WITH REFERENCE TO THE CATECHISM OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND To which are premised by way of Introduction Several GENERAL DISCOURSES concerning GOD'S both NATURAL and POSITIVE LAWS By Gabriel Towerson sometimes Fellow of All-Souls College in Oxford and now Rector of Wellwyn in Hertfordshire Philo in Praefat. ad Librum de Decalogo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΔΙ ' ΑΥΤΟΥ ΜΟÎΟΥ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ÎΟΜΟΥΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΠΟΜΩΠ〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΔΙΑ ΤΟΥΠΡΟΦΗΤΟ Î¥ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ΕΠ' ΕΚΕΙÎΟΥΣ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by J. Macock for John Martyn at the Bell in St Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXVI TO The Most Reverend FATHER in God GILBERT By Divine Providence LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY Primate of all England and Metropolitan AND One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council c. May it please Your Grace I Have here attempted an Explication of that part of our Church-Catechism which respects the Decalogue or Ten Commandments Not out of any great opinion of mine own Abilities for such an undertaking of which they who know me know me to be sufficiently diffident but out of a due sense of the want of a just Discourse upon this Argument which by no Man that I know of hath been handled according to its worth It was once in my thoughts to have suppressed it till I could have finished an Explication of the whole Catechism as conceiving that that would have been more compleat and more acceptable to the World But considering with my self that it would require some time to revise what I have already done and much more to add to and perfect it and since what is now offered to Your Grace and with Your Graces Leave to the Publick view also is entire enough if I have acquitted my self in it as I ought I thought I should no way disoblige my Readers if I sent this part of it before the rest to try the Judgment of the World Especially since it is not impossible but that I may entertain a better opinion of my own Labours than they shall be found by more competent Judges to deserve If any thing may seem with Reason to make such a procedure improper it is that I have referr'd my self to those Parts that are not yet published for the proof of some things asserted here But as it is only for such things as have been abundantly proved by others and which therefore especially in loco non suo I might the better wave the confirmation of so they are for the most part if not only such as by the Laws of Discourse are to be supposed by all that will entreat of this Argument However if what is now tendred find acceptance that blot shall not long lye upon it and if not the imperfectness thereof will be the most pardonable quality of my Discourse or at least will be more excusable than my troubling the World with more In this Treatise I have endeavoured out of that heap which so copious a subject presents to select such matter as is most considerable and pertinent to deliver my sense concerning it in proper and intelligible expressions and lastly to confirm that by solid Reasons For other things I have not been much sollicitous and much less as Solomon speaks to find out acceptable words as conceiving such more proper to perswade than inform which is or ought to be the Design of an Explication If any taking occasion from this rude Discourse of mine shall oblige the World with a more perfect one he shall find me among the foremost to return him thanks for it Both because of the benefit I shall reap in common with others from it and also because I shall have the satisfaction of considering that if I have not been my self so fortunate in Explaining the Ten Commandments yet I have stirred up those that are and thereby have fulfilled a Commandment the observation whereof is of more advantage than the most accurate Explication of them all In the mean time as I hope these my Labours will not be altogether unuseful so I lay them at Your Grace's feet as a Recognition of those many favours You have been pleased to confer upon me and of that Duty I owe to the Church of England for the safe-guard whereof as Your Grace hath with great prudence and conduct happily presided in an Age wherein You have met with more than ordinary Discouragements so that God will still preserve Your Grace for the farther benefit thereof is the hearty Prayer of Your Grace's in all bounden Duty and Service GABRIEL TOWERSON THE DECALOGUE OR TEN COMMANDMENTS As they are described and explained by the Catechism of the Church of ENGLAND Quest YOV said that your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you that you should keep Gods Commandments Tell me how many there be Answ Ten. Quest Which be they Answ The same which God spake in the Twentieth Chapter of Exodus saying I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God and visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my Commandments III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt do no manner of work thou and thy Son and thy Daughter thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant thy Cattel and the Stranger that is within thy Gates For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed seventh day and hallowed it V. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt do no murther VII Thou shalt not commit adultery VIII Thou shalt not steal IX Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife nor his Servant nor his Maid nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his Quest What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments Answ I learn two things my duty towards God and my duty towards my Neighbour Quest What is
thy duty towards God Answ My duty towards God is to believe in him to fear him and to love him with all my heart with all my mind with all my soul and with all my strength to worship him to give him thanks to put my whole trust in him to call upon him to honour his holy Name and his Word and to serve him truly all the days of my life Quest What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour Answ My duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as my self and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me To love honour and succour my Father and Mother To honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him To submit my self to all my Governours Teachers Spiritual Pastors and Masters To order my self lowly and reverently to all my betters To hurt no body by word or deed To be true and just in all my dealings To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart To keep my hands from picking and stealing and my tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering To keep my body in temperance soberness and chastity Not to covet nor desire other mens goods but to learn and labour truly to get mine own living and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPLICATION OF THE DECALOGUE DISCOURSE I. Of the Law of NATVRE How it doth appear that there is such a Law What the general Contents of that Law are And of what continuance its obligation is A digression concerning mens misapprehensions in the matter of Nature's Law and from whence those misapprehensions do proceed Of what use the knowledge of Nature's Law is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and of Christ PRoposing to my self to entreat of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments according as the Catechism of the Church of England hath understood them I foresee it necessary to premise somewhat concerning the Divine Laws in general and then of the Ten Commandments in particular For as that Catechism though it restrains Gods holy will to the Ten Commandments yet doth it upon supposition of their containing in them all other his Laws and Commandments so before we descend to the Explication of those Ten it will be necessary to enquire By what Authority they stand how they come to oblige us and what measures we are to proceed by in the Interpretation of them Now the Laws of God are of two sorts to wit either Natural or Positive by the former whereof I understand such a Law or Laws as are founded upon natural principles and investigable by them by the latter such as have no other visible foundation at least than the meer good pleasure of God and are therefore to be known only by revelation from himself The Law of Nature again hath these four things to be enquired into which accordingly shall be the boundaries of my discourse concerning it 1. How it doth appear that there is such a Law 2. What the general Contents of that Law are 3. Of what continuance the obligation thereof is 4. Of what use the knowledge thereof is after the superinducing the Laws of Moses and Christ I. It is very well observed by the judicious Hooker and will be evident to any man that shall consult his own understanding that all knowledge is at length resolved into such things as are clear and evident of themselves for all knowledge of things obscure being made by such things as are more known than the things we seek after either it must terminate in such things as are clear and evident of themselves or we can have no certain knowledge of any thing That by which we endeavour to know any thing requiring still something to manifest it and so on in infinitum Now though a resolution into things clear and evident of themselves be not always actually made nor indeed necessary to be so the intermediate principles of any Science coming by discourse to be as well known as those things which are clear and evident of themselves yet being now to penetrate as it were into the very bottom of all Moral Truths it will be requisite for us to dig so much the deeper and deduce the being of the Law of Nature if not from such principles as are the lowest in their kind yet from such as are nearest to them I have * Explic. of the Apostles Creed elsewhere shewn and shall therefore now take it for granted that there is such a thing as an Alwise and good God that that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world and all things in it which being granted it will follow that there is a right in God to give Laws to his Creatures in such things as are in their power and suitable to their nature to execute For what can be more rational than that every one should have the disposal of those things which he is the Author of and consequently if God be the Author of all things that he himself should have the command of them All therefore that will be requisite for us to enquire into is whether as God hath the power of giving Laws to his Creatures and to man in particular so he hath actually done it and consigned him to the obedience of them Now for this we shall need no other proof than that freedom of will which God hath given to humane nature for being man is not carried by any inevitable necessity as other Creatures are but left to the guidance of his own reason and will either he must have a Rule set him to proceed by or it shall be in his power even by the consent of the Almighty to disturb the order of Nature Now forasmuch as it can be no way suitable to the wisdom of any one to put Creatures into a power that I say not into a kind of necessity to disturb his own orders and designs therefore God being Alwise must necessarily have prevented this inconvenience and given him a Rule to direct his will and operations Again being it appears not that man at the first had any other revealed Law of God than that of not eating the forbidden Fruit and many Nations of the World have no opportunity to know those Revelations he hath since made it follows that God hath implanted in the soul of each particular man a Law by which he is to act or at least such principles from which he may deduce it Lastly forasmuch as there is in all men a conscience excusing or commending them when they have done any thing they apprehend to be good but disapproving and condemning them if they have done any thing which they believe to be evil it follows undeniably that there is a Rule whereby our actions are to be guided For if mankind were left at large what ground could there be of his either applauding or condemning himself for any supposed either virtuous or vitious actions Neither is
two generals the giving to every man that which is his own and where that is requisite the ministring to them of ours The former whereof as it is so plain that it hardly admits of any proof so both the one and the other receive sufficient confirmation from our natural desire of receiving the like charity and justice from others for being as the forementioned Hooker well observeth those things which are equal must needs all have one measure if I cannot but wish to receive all justice and requisite charity from the hands of others I cannot but think it reasonable to afford it and I must either condemn my own desires and that nature from whence they flow or think other mens as necessary to be complyed with III. From what hath been said concerning the Law of Nature it is evident thirdly that this Law is unchangeable or at least must continue of force so long as our nature doth for being as was before said rooted in Nature and flowing from natural causes it must consequently have the same continuance with those causes from whence it flows Thus for example to give every man that which is his own is so a duty that it can never cease to be so as in like manner to offer violence to no man not to take away any mans life or substance Indeed it sometimes happens that there seems to be a change in this Law as in those known instances of the Israelites spoiling the Aegyptians and Abrahams sacrificing his innocent Son But if it be well considered it will be found that there is not so much a change made in the Law as in the matter about which it is conversant for God having a paramount power over the Creatures and never so parting with it as not to reserve to himself a liberty to withdraw it at pleasure whatsoever he commands to be taken away doth thereby cease to be that persons whose it was before and consequently it is no violation of that Law which commands the giving every man his own to disrobe such a person of it The like is to be said concerning Abrahams sacrificing his Son or the Magistrates putting a Malefactor to death for it being not simply murther to take away a mans life but to take it away either without commission from God or without any just motive Abrahams sacrificing his Son and the Magistrates putting a man to death is no breach of that Law which forbids murther Because the former did what he did by commission from God who is absolute Lord of the Creatures and the Magistrate puts Malefactors to death by virtue of that general Commission which impowers those that are in Authority to execute vengeance upon all that do evil By which solution all pretence is taken away of drawing those actions into example and particularly that of spoiling the Aegyptians For it being evident from the Scripture that whatsoever any man how wicked soever acquires by the ordinary course of Gods providence is truly and properly his and no diminution of that appearing but by an express command from God as the Israelites had to spoil the Aegyptians to take any thing away from such a person without that command is truly and properly to take away that which is anothers and consequently eternally sinful because that Law of which it is a transgression is eternal But here a question may not impertinently be made and I shall the rather intend it because the resolution thereof may confer somewhat to the clearing of that which follows to wit how it comes to pass that this Law of Nature hath not only been so much disobeyed but so much misunderstood by those who were under the obligation of it for flowing as I have before said from natural principles the truth whereof is evident to all and being also as was now shewn eternally obligatory to all mankind it may seem a wonder how this Law should be so strangely misunderstood as experience tells us it hath been The Romans a polite and civilized people accounting it no injury to invade the Territories of their Neighbours as the whole Heathen world strangely offending against that fundamental Law which forbids the adopting of any Creature into equal honour with the Almighty In answer to which we are first to know that though the first principles of natural knowledge carry sufficient evidence in themselves and accordingly have been with great consent acknowledged by all whence it is that no Nation almost hath been so barbarous as not to own a God and that God is to be worshipped yet the deductions from those principles which are no less a part of that Law require some care and intention in those that make them which the world generally slothful not being over forward to use it is no wonder if men have many times erred in several particulars thereof for let the truth we are to know be built upon never so certain and evident principles yea upon such as are no less evident than that the whole is greater than the part yet if we attend not to the consequences of those principles we may erre in our apprehensions about them even as he who hath a light to guide him may either stumble or wander out of his way if he do not advert to those bright rays that stream from it 2. But there is yet a more weighty cause of mens misapprehensions in those things which are the Precepts of this great Law and that is the depravedness of their wills and affections and their earnest pursuit of such things as promise them any present pleasure or advantage for finding sin to minister to these and themselves strongly enclined to obtain them the desire of so doing makes them first willing to believe that which leads to them to be no impiety and then actually to believe it none for as Minutius Felix speaks facilè credimus quae volumus we easily believe that which we desire to be our passion for any present enjoyment either wholly stifling or suppressing the dictates of right reason which should keep us from the pursuing of it 3. Lastly which S. Paul expresly affirms * Rom. 1.28 and is in truth the best account of this difficulty the Heathen world liking not to retain God in their knowledge nor those Precepts of his which this great Law contain'd it is no wonder if he gave them over not only to vile affections but also to a reprobate and brutish mind for how can it be but extremely just to withdraw the light from those who shut their eyes against it when they have it and to make that their punishment which was their own choice IV. The fourth and last thing comes now to be discussed to wit What is the usefulness of this Law A question which may seem the more necessary to be asked after the superinducing of the Law of Moses and that of Christ In answer to which I say 1. That though these later Laws should acquaint us with every thing that
discover Thus when Moses had broken the two Tables of stone wherein God had written the Ten Commandments and thereby defaced the characters thereof the same reason which prompted him to write them at the first prompted him to write them a second time and renew that which Moses had defaced Which as it was no doubt a just obligation to the Jews to be doubly thankful to the Almighty so ought it to be no less to us that God hath written that Law in his Word which he had before graven in the Tables of our hearts these Tables being defaced not by an angry Moses but by our selves and by our own either neglect or perversness The reason of positive Laws being thus discovered pass we now on in the investigation of the Law of Moses and particularly of the Ten Commandments concerning which you may remember I proposed to enquire into these three things 1. By what Authority that Law stands 2. How it comes to oblige us and 3. What measures we are to proced by in finding out the full importance of it 1. To the first of these or at least so far as the Decalogue is concerned the Preface to it is a direct answer telling us that God spake all these words and indeed if any Law can pretend to be of divine Authority this of the Ten Commandments certainly may For first of all when Moses had by the commandment of God assembled all the people of Israel near Mount Sinai God by a voice from Heaven published all these Commandments in their ears and with all the signs and demonstrations of his Majesty Again when the same people terrified by the dreadful appearance of his Majesty desired to have this Law delivered to them by Moses God in compliance with their desires wrote the same words in two Tables of stone and transmitted them by him unto the people Exod. 31.8 Lastly when Moses had broken those two Tables and thereby put God upon a necessity of transcribing them anew he wrote upon other two Tables the same Ten Commandments as you may see Deut. 10.4 So that if the publishing of Commandments from Heaven or writing them with his own finger can entitle them to a divine Authority the Law of the Ten Commandments certainly may as being notified by both 2. But because it is not enough to make a Law obligatory to us that it hath God for its Author and Promulger unless it do also appear to have been intended for our direction and obedience therefore before we proceed to infer our own obligation by it we must enquire how it comes to do so and what appearance there is of Gods intending it for our direction and obedience And here in the first place it is manifest enough that what was before said concerning the Laws given to Adam and Noah cannot have place in those given to Moses and the Israelites those being not Representatives of mankind as Adam and Noah were but only of the Jewish state Now being the Gentiles were no part of that body nor descended from the Authors of it therefore what was given to them cannot be supposed to oblige us for that reason and consequently some other ground must be looked out for our obligation to it It is manifest secondly that as there is nothing in the persons to whom this Law was given to perswade our obligation to it so is there much in the Law it self to perswade Gods designing it for the Jews alone for pressing as he doth obedience to this Law upon the account of his delivering them out of Aegypt he doth consequently restrain the Law it self to those who were benefited by it which none but the Israelites were And indeed beside the Preface of the Almighty and that of Moses before the same Commandments Deut. 5.1 Hear O Israel the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day it is the known exultation of that People and of the most holy persons of it that these Constitutions were peculiarly theirs for What Nation is there so great saith Moses which hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day Deut. 4.8 And He sheweth saith the Psalmist his word unto Jacob and his statutes and judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his judgments they have not known them Psal 147.19 20. And truly thus much must be yielded to the fore-quoted Texts that the Law was intended for the Jews alone whilst the Church was confined to Palestine but as there was to be a time even by the Predictions of their own Prophets when all Nations should flow unto it Isa 2.2 So it is apparent thirdly from the same Prophet That the Law was then proportionably to extend its dominion and comprehend those new comers as well as its ancient subjects the design of their thus flowing into the House of the God of Jacob being that he might teach them of his ways and they walk in his paths as you may see v. 3. of that Chapter And accordingly as before this Law was thus to take effect it was in reason to have a new promulgation suitable to the extent of its dominion so if we consult the stories of those times we shall find God was not wanting in making it known to the Gentile world partly by the dispersing of the Jews among them but more especially by that signal act of his Providence in causing it to be translated by the Septuagint into Greek which was then the most known Language of the Gentile World By which means that Law which was before shewn only unto Jacob came unto the knowledge of the Heathen from whom it had been so long concealed Now though what hath been alledged from the Prophet Isay and this universal Promulgation be enough to establish what we have deduced from it yet because it may conduce much to our satisfaction to evidence it from the New Testament which is the immediate rule of our belief and practice I will therefore to remove all scruples endeavour to shew from thence that whatever it was whilst the Church was confined to Jewry yet after the coming in of the Gentiles the Law was intended to take in them also and oblige them to the several Precepts of it To begin with the Ceremonial Law because the most unlikely to concern us and therefore if well proved of more force to conclude the like of others Concerning which it may suffice to represent the use S. Paul makes of it 1 Cor. 9.8 Say I these things as a man or saith not the Law the same also For it is written in the Law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn. Doth God take care for Oxen Or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope For not
death Lev. 20.10 But I say unto you That whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart and that my Law forbids as well as the outward act and shall be both tried and sentenced at my Tribunal If your Law judges no man before it hears him and knows from sufficient witnesses what he hath done which shews that it hath respect to the outward action only if it be made not for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient for murtherers of fathers and murtherers of mothers for manslayers for whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for men-stealers liars and perjur'd persons that is to say for manifest and open sinners my Law as being a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart reaches to the impieties thereof and censures those seeds of murther and adultery which are there But by this means we may easily avoid the imputation of charging the Law of Moses with imperfection as forbidding only sinful actions and not sinful purposes it being no imperfection at all in the Common Law of the Jewish Nation whereof we now speak to forbid sinful actions only because those who were to give sentence by it could not take cognizance of any other Again 2. Whereas that part of the Law which was the Common Law of the Jewish Nation took notice only of grosser offences such as that of adultery and murther in the mean time permitting others of a lower rank lest too severe a restraint upon them should make them throw the yoke from off their neck the Gospel of our Saviour the Christian Law forbids all deviations whatsoever the smaller aswell as the greater offences They are Christs own words in the 19. verse of the forequoted Chapter For whosoever saith he shall break one of the least of these Commandments he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven They are his sense and meaning in what he opposes to the forementioned instances Our Saviour to that crime of Murther opposing the calling of our Brother Raka or Fool as to that other of Adultery a wanton look or an immodest dalliance which are certainly far inferiour to the other II. I have considered the Law of Moses as to that part of it which was the Common Law of the Jewish Nation and shewn you how our Saviour added to it I come now to speak of the same Law as intended for a rule of manners and as a guide to the Jews in walking with God In which sense it is taken when it is stiled a Law converting the Soul or represented as a means to inherit eternal life Now in this sense it is chiefly that question is made concerning it whether Christ added thereto and wherein that addition consists And first of all 1. Negatively we are not to think that Christ added to it by exacting the obedience of the heart as well as the outward man for that this Law of Moses did no less than the Precepts of our Blessed Saviour And hence as was before intimated it is by the Psalmist said to be a law converting the Soul Psal 19.7 and by S. Paul affirmed to be spiritual Rom. 7.14 yea that if there had been a Law which could have given life the Law of Moses had been it Gal. 3.21 Neither do the Precepts of this Law enforce any thing less than those Elogies which are given of it by David and S. Paul Not the Precepts of Piety or those which taught the Jews their duty toward God For hear O Israel saith the Law the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might Deut. 6.5 As in like manner Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to love and serve him with all thy heart and with all thy soul Not the Precepts of Charity for as our Saviour doth here forbid the malice of the heart as well as killing so did this Law also for thou shalt not saith the Law hate thy brother in thy heart nor bear a grudge against the children of thy people Lev. 19.17 18. Lastly not the Precepts of Chastity and Justice as they are couched in the Law and the Prophets For as our Saviour forbids here the adultery of the heart as elsewhere the desire of that which is anothers so do also the Law and the Prophets The words of the Proverbs of Solomon being Thou shalt not lust after the beauty of a strange woman in thy heart Pro. 6.25 Of the Law Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife servant cattel or any thing that is his Exod. 20.17 But as our Saviour added nothing to this Law by calling for the piety of the heart because that did so as well as he so neither Secondly by forbidding lesser as well as greater sins because this Law did no less For thus as our Saviour forbad a wanton look as well as the act of Adultery a slanderous tongue as well as a killing hand so did also the Law and the Prophets For what man is he saith the Psalmist Psal 34.12 that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good let him keep his tongue from evil And yet more particularly Psal 15.1.3 Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue as well as he that doth no evil to his neighbour he that taketh not up a reproach against him The like severity we may observe in the Proverbs of Solomon against that lustful eye of which our Saviour forewarns us Prov. 6.25 Where to the former caution of not lusting after the strange womans beauty in the heart he adds neither let her take thee with her eye-lids which implies a watchfulness over our own But neither Thirdly doth our Saviour require any new vertue of us which the Law and the Prophets did not before him for the kind I instance in the love of enemies because that seems of all others most peculiar to the Gospel and most opposite to the Precepts of Moses Concerning which for the kind I mean the Law is as express as the Gospel can be supposed to be Thus Exod. 23.4 5. If saith Moses thou meet thine enemies ox or ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again And if thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him For as the Apostle spake in another case Doth God take care for Oxen or Asses or said he it not rather for this even to enjoin them to lay aside their animosities and shew their enemies all acts of benevolence And accordingly Vatablus renders those words in the 5. verse Thou shalt surely help with him by exonerabis asinum cum eo qui te odio habet
mercy to those of a different profession the scope of our Saviours answer as appears from the question proposed being not to declare the necessity of shewing mercy but the persons to whom we are to do it But as Schismaticks and Samaritans by the Discipline of our Saviour are to have a share of that love which we are to shew to enemies so also Pagans and Infidels men who are not only Separatists from but perfect strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel Witness one for all that known place of S. Paul 1 Tim. 2.1 where he exhorts that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty For as it is evident from the stories of those times as well as from the words that follow that the Powers that then were had not attained the knowledge of the truth so it is no less that they were the Christians enemies and made use of that authority which God put into their hands for the repressing of evil doers to discountenance and extirpate them In the love therefore of enemies it is manifest that Christ includes the Heathen and the Samaritan as well as the Christian and the Orthodox professor But though such as these are to be lov'd whatsoever their enmity may be to us yet certainly not when enemies to us upon the account of Christianity and thereby to the Authour of it Indeed the present practice of Christians would so perswade a man that were not studied in the doctrine of our Saviour there being generally no hatred accounted too great to shew to those that are the enemies of our Religion But what the will of our Saviour was his behaviour toward the Samaritans when they denyed him entertainment snews plainly enough and his own words in his Sermon upon the Mount for it was not upon any particular grudge to his person that they denied him entertainment that they refused him that civility which seems due to all strangers the text it self tells us Luke 9.53 that the reason of their not receiving him was because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem thereby professing that he looked upon that City as the place appointed for Gods publick worship which was the chief controversie between the Jews and the Samaritans And yet notwithstanding this their rudeness to our Saviour upon the account of the true Religion our Saviour would by no means hear of calling for fire from Heaven upon them and checked his Disciples for the motion intimating withall that they were to be of a different temper from him whose fiery zeal they commended to him But let us view our Saviour's own words in his Sermon upon the Mount and see whether our love be not to take in such persons as are enemies to us for his name sake But I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse your do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you even to those especially which persecute you for righteousness sake which speak all manner of evil against you for mine For beside that these are the persecutors and revilers spoken of in the former verses and therefore in all probability to be understood here S. Luke hath subjoined the Precept of loving enemies immediately after that beatitude which pronounces a blessing upon those that are persecuted for Christs sake and the woe that is opposed to it thereby plainly shewing that they who persecute us for Christs sake are in the number of those enemies whom he obliges us to love and pray for For after he had said c. 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of mans sake as on the other side Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets vers 26. he adds in the very next verse to wit the 27. But I say unto you Love your enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you by which enemies what other can be meant than those who were so because they were Christians and hated them not for their own sake but the Son of man's We have seen the intent of this Precept under the Gospel let us now look upon it as prescribed by the Law and the Prophets which if we do we shall soon discern that the Precepts thereof fall short of those of our blessed Saviour For first of all whereas Christianity makes no difference between a sound Christian and a Schismatick or an Infidel the Law though enjoining the same love of enemies yet restrains it to such as were of the Jewish Nation or Religion If he who opposeth thee be of thy own blood or profession if he be a natural son of Abraham or one adopted into his family then thou oughtest to look upon him as thy neighbour and shew thy self benevolent to him Say I this of my self or saith not the Law the same For is not neighbour and children of thy people made synonymous even where this very argument is intreated of for thou shalt not saith Moses Lev. 19.18 avenge or bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Nay doth not our Saviour intimate this to have been the meaning of the Law when in pursuance of this most excellent Precept he adds Mat. 5.47 If ye salute your brethren only what do ye more than others Again to resume that place which we before made use of to shew the Jews obligation to this Precept at all doth not the book of Deuteronomy sufficiently declare the enemy whom they were there obliged to assist to be one of their own Nation or profession If you take the pains to compare them together you will easily discern that that is the due meaning of it If saith Moses in the book of Exodus thou meet thine enemies oxe or ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him Exod. 23.4 5. But in Deut. c. 22.1 Thou shalt not see thy brothers oxe or his sheep going astray and hide thy self from them thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother and v. 4. Thou shalt not see thy brothers ass or his oxe fall down by the way and hide thy self from them thou shalt surely help with him to lift them up plainly shewing that the enemy they were forbidden to hide themselves from was such an one as was also a brother which in the Hebrew phrase was an Israelite by Nation or Religion I observe secondly that as the love the Jews were obliged
perhaps it may be that many of those execrations relate to the enemies of Christ particularly those last mentioned For beside that it is evident enough from the Psalms themselves that they were also designed against Davids enemies the story of the Gospel shews that our blessed Saviour who ought rather to be our pattern prayed even for those very enemies for those that gave him gall to eat and vinegar to drink His own words as S. Luke tells us being Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23.34 In conformity to which example as no doubt we ought to proceed who are so often required to set it before our eyes so if we take a view of his Precepts we shall find them to injoin us the same tenderness wherein he went before us by his example Thus Mat. 5.44 we have his own express command to bless those that curse us his Apostle S. Paul's Rom. 12.14 that we should bless and curse not Lastly thus we find him himself checking his Disciples for having a desire to imitate Elias his zeal in calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans and moreover insinuating to them that the Spirit of a Disciple ought to be far different from that of Elias Luke 9.55 And accordingly saving that Prayer of S. Paul concerning Alexander the Coppersmith The Lord reward him according to his works 2 Tim. 4.14 and that other of S. Peter's concerning Simon Magus That his money might perish with him Act. 8.20 which yet he seems afterwards to recal when he admonishes him to repent and pray to God if perhaps that thought of his heart might be forgiven him saving I say those prayers the former whereof was against one who had greatly withstood S. Paul's preaching the later against him who offer'd the Apostles money for the Holy Ghost I think we shall hardly meet with any of that nature throughout the whole New Testament Which is to me an evident argument that the loving of enemies and praying for them that curse is at least required of us in a greater degree than it was under the Law But not to confine my self to this single vertue when there is appearance enough that the like is required in all I shall desire any man that doubts of it to consider with me these 3. things 1. That the Precepts of Christ are much more clear and explicit than those of Moses 2. That the promises are more clearly proposed and 3. and lastly That God hath eased us of the yoke of the Ceremonial Law Of the first of these as there cannot well be made a doubt by any that shall compare the Law and the Gospel together so neither hath it I think been actually done by any and therefore instead of insisting upon the proof of it I shall make this inference from it that God exacts of us a more perfect conformity than he required of those under the Old Testament For as the publication of a Law makes it obligatory to those to whom that publication is made so consequently the more clear the publication is the greater the obligation must be Of the second particular there can yet less doubt be made even of the promises of the Gospel being more clearly proposed by it it being harder to find that there were any such then than any so clear and express And therefore as the Socinians do now generally deny it so we find the like to have been done by the Sadducees of old wherein though it is true they have erred and that grosly yet some of the texts they alledge do sufficiently prove that there is a clearer manifestation of them than before Witness that known affirmation of S. Paul 2 Tim. 1.10 where speaking of the Gospel he tells us that it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by it In fine the same S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 3. that there was a veil upon Moses writings as well as there sometime was upon his face but that that veil is done away in Christ and we may now with open face behold the Glory of the Lord and that Glory which he hath laid up for us Now if the promises of the Gospel as well as the Precepts thereof were more clear than those of Moses the motives to obedience as well as the rule of it our conformity thereto is in reason to be proportionably greater than that to which the Jews were tyed To all which if we add that God hath now eased us of the yoke of the Ceremonial Law which the Jews though they were not able to bear yet were forced to stand under so no doubt can remain of a stricter obligation upon us to those most excellent Precepts of the Moral gratitude it self requiring that we who are eased of a heavy yoke should the more quietly submit our necks to a light and gracious one Now though what hath been said doth sufficiently evidence that Christ came not to destroy but fulfil the Law and the Prophets in the most proper notion of the word yet because it hath been thought by some that the granting of that would inferr the Law of Moses to have been imperfect before I put a period to this discourse I will free my doctrine from that imputation and so much the rather because the charge of imperfection would in fine fall upon the Author of it In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is that it is no crime at all to affirm it to have been imperfect if compared with the doctrine of our Saviour that which is less perfect being sometimes as seasonable as at other times a more perfect one But 2. I say that Law is not presently â—o be thought imperfect which doth not enjoyn the highest pitch of vertue It is enough if it be suited to the ability and temper of those for the regulation of whom it was devised And therefore as one made answer when it was demanded of him whether he had given such Laws as were absolutely the best that he had given the best Laws he could find out for those who were to be governed by them so shall I say concerning the Laws of God by Moses If they were the very best that people was capable of to whom they were given if they were the best for that time and State they were as perfect as any Law need to be because wanting nothing that was required But doth any thing that I have said charge the Law of Moses with not being the best that people was capable of nay have I not already shown that in regard to the hardness of their hearts God was fain to remit something in the matter of divorce For whereas at the first God tyed man and wife by a bond which nothing but Adultery could dissolve for the hardness of the Jews hearts as our Saviour tells us he was forced to remit of that severity and suffer
moment to be opposed to this arguing and that is what followes in the 10. verse Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law for if love be the fulfilling of the Law in that it works no ill then may the whole tenour of the Law seem to be comprehended in the not doing of any harm to our neighbour But to this I answer first that when the Apostle saith Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law his meaning may be not that love is the fulfilling of the Law meerly because it doth no harm but because of its opposition to all those evils and harms such as Adultery Theft and the like whereby our neighbour is incommodated Love is a stranger to Murther Adultery and Theft and to whatsoever else whereby our neighbour is incommodated and being a stranger to all such practises it doth not only extend it self to this or that Commandment but to all the Commandments of the second Table I say secondly with Esthius that though the Apostle say less yet it was his intention to have more understood even not only that love worketh no ill but that it worketh all good to its neighbour Which beside the usual forms of Speech in Scripture and other books where under negative expressions such as I am not ashamed great boasting is often signified is evident from the verse before For being it is there said not only that the Precepts Thou shalt not kill and the like but if there be any other Commandment it is briefly comprehended in that saying namely Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self and consequently that the command of honouring our Parents is because that is a Precept of the same Decalogue the Law cannot be fulfilled by abstaining meerly from evil because that of Honouring our Parents is more than so When therefore it is here said that love worketh no ill to his Neighbour and therefore is the fulfilling of the Law we are not only to understand that it worketh no ill but that it procureth all the good that can be In the mean time if any deem the positive love of our Neighbour to be the fulfilling of the Law in the same sense in which I have shewn the word fulfil is to be understood in the 5. Chapter of S. Matthew that is to say as an addition made by Christ to it to make up its former wants it will come all to one as to our present purpose For being the subjects of that Christ who hath fulfilled it we are necessarily to look upon the Law in that latitude wherein it is proposed by him and consequently to believe the Commandments of the Decalogue not only to require us to abstain from doing evil but to pursue the contrary good The argument is much more strong from the affirmative to the negative that is to say from the command of any positive duty to the forbidding of the contrary vice For though for instance I may abstain from dishonouring my Parents and yet never give them honour yet I cannot honour and dishonour them at once and therefore that Commandment which enjoins me honour must consequently be thought to forbid all dishonour and contempt Thus far therefore we have already attained toward the importance of the Ten Commandments that though some of them and those the most seem satisfied with abstaining from evil and others with the sole pursuing of good yet both the one and the other are to be understood as obliging to both to eschew that which is evil and to follow after that which is good and vertuous 2. The second thing observable concerning the Ten Commandments is that though the grosser sort of sins only be there expresly forbidden such as Adultery Murther and the like yet under them are contained also all the lesser ones of the same species Thus for example Though the Decalogue take notice only of Murther and Adultery in the sins of Malice and Unchastity yet considering those Precepts as proposed by Christ in which capacity there is no doubt all Christians are to look upon them so we are to understand all sins of the same kind to be included how much soever inferiour to the other For I say unto you saith our Saviour that whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mat. 5.28 And again not only that he who kills his Brother but that whosoever is angry without a cause especially if he proceed to reproachful language shall be in danger of the same judgment to which the murtherer is obnoxious v. 22. of the same Chapter And indeed though there appear not any clear indications in the Commandments themselves of their descending to those lesser sins yet forasmuch as we find the Tenth Commandment descending so low as to forbid the very roveting that which is another man's and again the other parts of the Law and the Prophets forbidding the lower degrees of unchastity and malice as hath been before shewn there is reason enough to believe those lower degrees were intended to be forbidden by it as well as the higher ones For the other parts of the Law and the Prophets being but as Comments upon the Decalogue as appears by Gods laying that as the foundation of all the rest and its own containing in it the general heads of our obedience whatsoever is forbidden by the other parts of the Law and the Prophets must be supposed to be included in those grosser fins of the same kind which the Decalogue takes notice of 3. The third thing observable concerning the Ten Commandments is that though all of them except the last take no notice of any other than the outward actions yet the actions of the inward man or the heart are no less comprised in the several Precepts and Prohibitions of it For beside that as was before said the Law of God is by the Psalmist said to be a law converting the soul Psal 17.9 and by S. Paul term'd spiritual Rom. 7.14 That first and great Commandment in which all our duty to God is comprehended is expressed by our loving God with all our heart and soul as well as with all our might and strength Mat. 22.38 And though the second be not expressed in like manner to wit that of loving our Neighbours as our selves yet as the affection of the heart is manifestly included in the word love which is the proper act of it so the Law is express that we should not hate our brother in our heart nor bear a grudge against the children of our people But because this argument hath been sufficiently exemplified in the several Precepts of the Decalogue I will proceed to my 4. Rule which is That not only the sins here mentioned are forbidden but all those things that lead to them as on the other side not only that the duties there expressed are under command but all those means that naturally tend
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
Spirits and that too in an especial manner For as it is but requisite that he who is a Spirit should have the worship of ours because most agreeable to his own Nature so also that we should for that reason intend that Worship especially and make it the chief of our Study and Design And accordingly though under the Law for the grosness of the Jews God appointed them a Worship which consisted much in Rites and Ceremonies yet he gave them sufficiently to understand that the spiritual Worship or the Worship of the Soul was that which he principally requir'd Witness one for all that of the Prophet David Psal 51.16 17. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offering The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise The result of the Premises is this That to worship God in Spirit and consequently to worship him after a due manner is especially to intend the worshipping him with ours that is to say by entertaining honourable thoughts of him by endeavouring to conform our Wills to his most holy one and lastly by suiting our Affections to his several Attributes by fearing and loving and trusting in him But beside the Worshipping of God with our Spirits and that too in a more especial manner to worship God in Spirit doth also imply the worshipping him without an Image or any Corporeal Representation For beside that this is the very thing here forbidden and therefore in reason to be suppos'd to be excluded by worshipping God in spirit and in truth to worship God by an Image is so far from being consistent with a spiritual Worship that it is but a dishonouring of him because resembling him to things to which he is no way like and which indeed are infinitely below the Excellencies of his Nature 2. Of the Natural or Moral Sense of Worshipping God in Spirit I have spoken hitherto and shewn both the Ground and Importance of it Let us now consider the Evangelical one according as was before insinuated For that such a one was also intended is evident from that Story to which this Passage is subjoyn'd If you please to consult the Verse preceding that which I have chosen for the Ground-work of this Argument you will there find a Woman of Samaria demanding of our Saviour whether Mount Gerizim by Sichem where the Samaritans sacrific'd or Jerusalem were the true Place of Worship In answer to which after our Saviour had told her That that Question was not now of much moment because ere long they should neither worship in the one or the other for a farther proof of that his Assertion he adds that the time was coming and even then was Mr. Mede on Joh. 4.23 that the true worshippers should worship the Father in spirit and in truth Which being compar'd with the foregoing Words and the State of the Controversie to which they do relate will shew that by worshipping in spirit and in truth is meant no other than the worshipping of God with a spiritual Worship as that is oppos'd to the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law For the Question being not whether Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem were the place of Publick Prayer because both Jews and Samaritans had particular Places for them but which of the two was the proper Place to send their Sacrifices to and our Saviour making answer That in a little time neither of them should be because the Father sought such to worship him as should worship him in spirit and in truth he thereby plainly shews his meaning to be That to worship God in spirit and in truth was not to worship him with Sacrifices and other such Figures but in spiritual and substantial Worship such as are the Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise with other the like Natural Expressions of our Devotion But from hence it will follow not onely that we are to worship God without those Legal Rites wherewith it was before sufficiently clogg'd but also that we are not to clog it with other Rites than Decency and Order shall require For our Saviour not onely excluding the Rites and Sacrifices of the Law but affirming the Worship which his Father sought to be a spiritual one he doth thereby cut off the affixing of all other Rites as being alike contrary thereto save what Decency and Order shall require But so the Church of England hath declar'd it self to understand the Worshipping of God in spirit and in truth telling us in one of its Prefaces to our Liturgy That Christ's Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law as much of Moses Law was but it is a Religion to serve God not in bondage of the Figure or Shadow but in the freedom of the Spirit contenting it self onely with those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order and comely Discipline and such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of Man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified In conformity whereto as she her self hath proceeded injoyning neither many nor trifling ones so what she hath done is sufficiently warranted not onely by that Solemnity which Experience shews Things of that nature to add to all Matters of Importance but which is of more avail from the Institution of our Saviour and the Practice of the Church in the Apostles days For if all Rites are to be excluded what shall become of the Sacraments themselves But how shall we any way excuse the Apostolical Church for that holy Kiss wherewith they were wont to conclude their Prayers the laying on of hands in admitting Ministers to the Church or shaking off the dust of their feet against those that should not receive them in testimony of their rejection of them For that all those things were then in use even with the allowance of the Apostles themselves the Scripture is our Witness to which therefore if Men will exclude all things of that nature they must first oppose themselves Such is the Practice of that Church to which we relate such the Grounds upon which she proceeds but as farther than that she neither goes nor pretends to do so if she did there is no doubt she would offend against that Precept which requires the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth For how can they be said to do so whose Devotion spends it self in outward Ceremonies Which as they are of no value in themselves so have this ill property of the Ivy that where they are suffer'd to grow too luxuriant they eat out the Heart of that Religion about which they twine PART II. A Transition to the Negative part of the Precept and therein first to that part of it which forbids the making any Graven Image or other Corporeal Representation That all Images are not forbidden but such onely as are made with a design to represent the Divine Majesty or to bow down to and
better and render them more apt for the Practice of it both the Chaldee * Chal. pro eo quod est in Hebr. faciendo voluntatem tuam ut non facias necessaria tua pro ab inveniendo voluntatem tuam neque provideas in eo quae tibi necessaria sunt and the ‖ LXX pro à faciendo vias tuas ab inveniendo voluntatem tuam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuagint understand it of the pleasure of gain of making provision for their necessities and commodities Which restriction is the rather to be admitted as because the Sabbath was ordain'd for †Vid. Exod. 23.12 ubi LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. refreshment so because there is not the least mention elsewhere of forbidding Recreation on it Add hereunto what will farther confirm the former Notion that of the same Prophet vers 3. Behold in the day of your fast you find pleasure and exact all your labours For as it is probable from what he there subjoyns concerning the exacting of their labours that he meant no other pleasure than the pursuing of their profits so that he could not mean pleasures in the proper acception of the Word the fifth Verse of the same Chapter shews he there intimating that they were not wanting in afflicting their souls which shews they were far from finding pleasure This onely would be added That as Recreation how lawful soever in it self may upon other Days become unlawful according as it may happen to be circumstantiated so it will become so more especially upon this if either it be unsuitable for the Kind to the Gravity of such a Solemnity or take up too much Time in the exercise thereof Upon which account I should make no difficulty to condemn as the Statute 1 Caroli chap. 1. did all Meetings Assemblies or Concourse of People out of their own Parishes for any Sports or Pastimes whatsoever or any Bear-baiting Bull-baiting Enterludes or Common Plays within them these latter as they are rarely managed without either those Vanities or Heats which are very unsuitable to the Day so both the one and the other being not well to be either provided for or attended to according as that Statute remarques without entrenching upon those Duties for which it was set apart Besides when it is apparent how great the Necessities of Men's Souls are and how little leisure the Common sort have to consider them upon other Days when it is farther apparent how ill the other Festivals of the Church are observ'd and consequently how little likelihood there is of Mens supplying those Necessities in them by a conscionable discharge either of Publick or Private Duties of Religion lastly when it is apparent how apt Men are to exceed and upon a pretence of the lawfulness of Recreation on it to convert that Day which was set apart for God's Service into a Day of Sloth or Merriment it is easie to see how much it concerns Men to set Bounds to their Recreations on it and avoid a profane neglect as well as a too nice and superstitious observation of it PART IV. By what Religious Offices the Jewish Sabbath was sanctified which beside the offering of Sacrifices and other such Legal Ministrations are shewn to have been the reading of the Law and the Prophets An Explication of and Exhortation out of them Praying to and Praising God A Transition to the Publick Sanctification of the Lord's-day where the several Offices thereof are commemorated and evidenced at large both from Scripture and Antiquity Of Reading the Scriptures in the Publick Assemblies and the both Necessity and Vsefulness of continuing that Practice in them That the Reading and Hearing of the Scriptures is no improper part of God's Worship A Caution against those who reject the Reading of the Scriptures as insufficient to convert Souls unto God Of the Explication of the Scriptures and Exhortations out of them What the Ancient Form of Sermons was and the Vsefulness of all Concerning Prayer and Praise both which are at large evidenc'd to be Parts of the Lord's-day Service The vanity of those Mens Pretences who absent themselves from our Publick Prayers because as they think they can make as good at home The Administration of the Lord's-Supper a great part of the Office of the Day 3. BEING by the Order of my Discourse to inquire by what Offices the Jewish Sabbath was and ours is to be sanctified after its example I must admonish you in the general That it is especially by such as are strictly and properly Religious For though God may be honour'd by other Offices yet those tend more directly towards it and consequently also to the Sanctification of those Days which were set apart for his Honour Setting aside therefore for the present what place other good Offices may have in it I will make it my business to inquire what Religious ones were requir'd toward the Sanctification of the Jewish Sabbath and what are to the Sanctification of our own And first of all if the Question be concerning the Sanctification of the Jewish Sabbath and particularly concerning the Sanctification of it in Publick so beside the offering of Sacrifices and other such Legal Ministrations we shall find they had 1. The Reading of the Law and the Prophets For that this was a great part of the Business of their Sabbath is evident from what was * See Part 1. of the Explic. of this Commandment heretofore alledg'd out of the Jewish Writers and a Passage of St. James but may be made yet more clear from Acts 13.27 where St. Paul not onely affirms the Prophets to have been read every Sabbath-day but makes it an aggravation of the Jews ignorance in the matter of our Saviour concerning whom they so clearly foretold 2. But beside the Reading of the Law and the Prophets which yet was always a part of their Service they had at least for the most part an Explication of them by those who were the most eminent in Knowledge among them And accordingly as we find our Saviour after the reading of a Passage in Isaiah proceeding to the Explication of it Luke 4.16 so the Rulers of the Synagogue of Antioch after the reading of the Law and the Prophets sending to Paul and Barnabas to tell them that if they had any word of exhortation to the people they should say on Acts 13.14 Agreeable hereto is a Passage of Philo concerning a Sect among the Jews call'd Essenes to wit Thorndike Rel. Assembl ch 3. p. 60. That coming to their Holy Places called Synagogues they sit down in Ranks according to Years the Younger under the Elder with fit decorum dispos'd to hear Then one taketh the Book and readeth another of the best practised cometh afterwards and recogniseth that which is least understood that is expoundeth it From all which it appeareth that the Exposition of the Law and the Prophets was a part of their Sabbath-Service as well as the Reading of it 3. The
the Reading and Hearing thereof to be no improper Parts of God's Worship He that reads or listens to them as to the Word of God no less acknowledging his Authority over us than he who either prays to or praises him And accordingly as Prayer and Praise as being immediate Parts of God's Worship were always accompanied with some outward Testimony of Respect so we find also that the Reading of the Law and the Prophets sometime was as is evident from a Passage in each Testament The former giving us to understand that when Ezra opened the Book of the Law not onely he himself but all the People stood up Nehem. 8.4 5. the latter that our Saviour us'd the same Posture at the Reading of the Prophet Isaiah and sate not down till he clos'd it both the one and the other thereby declaring their Acknowledgment of his Authority by whose Spirit each of those Books was dictated Whilst therefore the Scriptures are thus attended to we do no less worship God than learn how to do it and the Reading and Hearing of them is not onely the way to but a part of that very Worship to which it leads But because there are some who though they question not the Reading of the Scriptures upon that account yet reject it either as unedifying or at least not very proper for the Publick Assemblies in stead of prosecuting the former Argument we will consider each of these Pretensions and first that which excludes it as no way proper for the Publick For be it which is commonly alledg'd that Men may read the Scriptures at home as well as at the Publick Assemblies yet as there are a great number of Men who cannot read at all and others who have no leisure for it though they could by means whereof they must have been ignorant of the Scripture unless God had provided for them by the Publick Reading of it so it is apparent that they who both can read and have leisure for it are too apt to omit it and consequently were it not for the Publick Reading of it would have had no farther knowledge of it than they should have receiv'd from the Discourses of their Instructers By which means they might not onely have suck'd in their Infirmities together with it but sometimes also their Errours and Extravagancies Again If the Scriptures had been confin'd to Closets and no more of them produc'd in Publick than what might serve either for the Subject or strengthning of a Sermon it had been no hard matter especially before Printing came in use to have corrupted the Scriptures without remedy as to the Common sort and made them speak not what they ought but what every perfidious Heretick would have had them for so those that are unlearned would have had no means to inform themselves whether that which was suggested to them as Scripture were genuine or no. But when the Scriptures were not onely in the hands of Private Persons but preserv'd in Churches and which is more publickly read in them as there was not the like encouragement to evil Men to corrupt private Copies as knowing that their Corruptions might be detected by those Books which were in the custody of and publickly read by the Church so if they had been so bold what was read in the Assemblies would have help'd Men to have discover'd the Fraud and preserv'd them from the Attaque of it This onely would be added That though there be not the like danger since Printing came in use and Men were appointed by Authority to preside over it yet there would be danger enough if the same Custom were not continued of Reading the Scriptures in the Assemblies For as corrupt Copies may come abroad notwithstanding all the diligence of those who have the Charge of the Press so if they should the Common sort of Men would have nothing left to fence themselves against them if the Reading of the Scriptures were banish'd out of the Assemblies Add hereunto which though but an Argument ad hominem may perhaps prove more prevalent than those that speak to the Thing it self and that is the abhorrency that even they who would not have the Scriptures publickly read profess to have for the Papists robbing the People of it For what do they less who would have them banish'd from the Publick Assemblies where alone the Ignorant sort are in a capacity of receiving them So slight or rather so dangerous are the Pretensions of those who would have the Reading of the Scriptures appropriated to Mens Closets How much more then the rejecting of the Reading of them as if when onely read they were not able to convert a Soul unto God For as whatsoever force there is in Sermons is for the substance of them deriv'd from the Scriptures and therefore the Power of converting Souls to lie chiefly there so if those Scriptures have not lost their credit as well as their converting Faculty the bare Reading of them through God's Blessing may be a means to convert Souls unto God Otherwise why should God as he did command the Reading of the Law that the children of Israel might hear and learn and fear the Lord their God and observe to do all the words of this Law Deut. 32.11 12. or St. John affirm of his Gospel that it was written that we might believe and that believing we might have Life through his Name For if it was written that Men might believe there is no doubt it is able to effect it when read because that is enough to let Men into the Sense of it And indeed as if Sermons prove more effectual it is oftentimes because they are more attended to their novelty and spruceness engaging our attention whilst the plainness of the other makes it less regarded so if they have any advantage in themselves it is not so much for the Arguments they alledge which are the same in both but by the order wherein they are dispos'd and the manner of application Having thus shewn the Reading of the Scriptures to be one part of the Publick Service and thereby asserted it from that Contempt into which it is now fallen I proceed to inquire Whether as in the Service of the Jewish Sabbath so also in the Christian the Explication of the Scriptures is to have a part Now that so it is will appear if we look into the Service of the Church as it was in the first Institution of it And here not to tell you that the first Account we have of the Publick Service presents us with the mention of the Apostles Doctrine I shall begin my Proofs with that of Acts 20.7 because speaking of the First day of the Week or Sunday For there we are told That among other the Exercises of that Day the Disciples had a Sermon from that excellent Preacher St. Paul All the difficulty is what kind of Sermon that was and whether it were not made rather in regard to his being to depart the next day than
him for their Governour who was so advanc'd to it And upon this account it is that the Powers St. Paul spake of became legitimate and the Christians were so earnestly exhorted to submit themselves to them Because though the Authority of those Powers were founded in Violence yet it was submitted to and accepted * Justinianus in Instit lib 1. tit 2. Sed quod Principi placuit legis habet vigorem quum lege Regia quae de ejus imperio lata est populus ei in eum omne imperium suum potestatem concedat Vid. Strabonem in fine Operis cit à Grotio in Flor. sparsione ad Jus Justinianeum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Senate and People of Rome who were both the Governed and Governours In which Case as there could not be any pretence for any other Powers to interpose so God Almighty sufficiently intimated his Pleasure concerning the Roman Emperours by not onely suffering them to rise to that Creatness but by moving the Hearts of the Senate and People quietly to submit to and own them as their Lords and Governours 2. Having thus shewn that there is in Princes a just Foundation of Honour and moreover describ'd at large what are the proper Grounds of it my proposed Method leads me to inquire what Kinds of Honour we are to give them which we shall find to be much the same though in a greater degree than that of Parents Of this nature is I. The entertaining an awful Apprehension of them and regarding them in our Thoughts both as God's Vicegerents and of his Appointment For the very Life of Honour consisting in our Inward Esteem of those whom we pretend to honour it is in reason to be given to those who are a kind of Gods on Earth and appointed as the Representatives of the onely True and Immortal One. The same is no less evident from the Influence which the want of it is apt to have upon our Outward Actions For it being impossible for Men to give the best and chiefest Expressions of Honour where there is not a due Apprehension of the Excellencies of the Party honoured where such an Esteem is wanting those Outward Expressions will naturally fail and consequently our Honour together with it For though a Man may bow down before or speak with submission to those whom he honours not in his Heart yet it is impossible he should submit his Actions to be guided by their Laws which I shall afterwards shew to be a great part of the Honour that is requir'd II. From our Inward Esteem pass we to the several Acknowledgments which the Honouring of any Person doth manifestly involve among which I reckon first the honouring them with our Outward Gesture and Behaviour Bowing down to them or falling down before them For as Nature it self hath prompted us to such an Acknowledgment because inclining us to shew forth in the Behaviour of our Bodies Vid. Part 2. of the Explic. of this Commandment those Affections and Passions we have within so where the Custom of the Place hath made them necessary they cannot be omitted without a manifest violation of their Honour it being impossible for him to think himself honour'd who wants those Expressions of it which the Custom of the Place and of the World hath appointed as Declarations of it Whence it is as was before observ'd that we find all Good Men have ever given it and that too in such Instances as would be look'd upon by us as Notes of Servitude witness one for all their falling flat upon their Faces before them and thereby in a manner professing themselves their Footstools Next to the honouring them with our Gesture proceed we to the honouring them with our Tongues and giving them those Titles which their High Place and Authority doth exact Which is the rather to be inculcated as because the Tongue was given us to express our inward Conceits so because we find the Apostles thus honouring even the Heathen Powers and such by whom they were at that very instant call'd in question For thus when St. Paul answered for himself before King Agrippa and Festus he did not onely give Agrippa frequently the Title of King as you may see in the 26 Chapter of the Acts but when Festus told him he was beside himself which had been enough to have stirr'd an ordinary Patience yet gave him the Title of most Noble Festus as you may see vers 25. of that Chapter But from hence we may collect I do not say what is to be thought of those who omit such Acknowledgments but in stead thereof employ their Tongues to defame and to disgrace them For if we are to honour Princes with our Tongues to be sure we are not to revile them as being directly contrary to the other And accordingly as in the Law of Moses which to be sure was so far Moral because containing no other thing in it than what the Light of Nature doth confirm as I say in the Law of Moses Men were expresly forbidden to revile the Gods or speak evil of the Ruler of the People Exod. 22.28 so that it was of force to St. Paul when converted and consequently to us Christians his Acknowledgment before the Jewish Sanhedrim shews For having been charg'd by the Jews for calling the High Priest Whited wall in stead of going about to excuse the Fact any other way than that it was done through inadvertency he acknowledges it for a Fault as being committed against that known Rule Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Acts 23.5 Which Passage is the more to be remark'd because it shews the Prohibition to extend not onely to Calumnies or unjust Reproaches but also to the speaking reproachfully even of the real Failings of our Governours there being no doubt he was no better than a Whited wall who pretending to judge according to the Law did in contradiction to that Law cause an undeserving Person to be stricken Neither let any Man say That these are trifling Matters or at least not so criminal as we have endeavour'd to represent them For beside that we are not lightly to esteem of any thing which God hath thought fit to make the Matter of a Prohibition and much less of what he hath so in relation to those to whom he hath given the Name of Gods and moreover imparted to them of his own Authority beside that the speaking evil of Princes is apt to expose them to contempt as that Contempt to the resisting of them which St. Paul hath pronounc'd to be damnable beside these things I say St. Jude hath represented it as the Character of those Ungodly ones which he placeth in the same Rank with the Apostate Angels and filthy Sodomites For likewise also saith he vers 8. these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and speak evil of dignities adding vers 9. which shews yet more the hainousness of the Crime That Michael the
in a few months after his death so by resisting the Supreme Powers they make God their enemy I speak as to the present world whom otherwise they might experiment as their friend For as on the one hand there is no doubt but he will avenge the contempt of his Vicegerents because it is his Authority and his alone by which they shine so there is as little doubt on the other hand but if men would submit their Necks to the Yoak God Almighty himself would sooner or later ease them of it It being not to be thought but that he who is no respecter of Persons would be as ready to avenge the Exorbitances of Princes as of those who are subjected to their commands 4. Having thus shewn what Honour is due from us to the Higher Powers and moreover remov'd those Objections which are commonly made against submitting to their Censures nothing remains upon this head but to enquire into the honour of Inferiour Magistrates what are the grounds of it the kinds and in what measure it is to be exhibited For that these also are to have our honour St. Peter shews in the place by me so often quoted where he requires not only that we should submit our selves to the King as Supreme but to Governours as those that are sent by him Now though it be not to be deny'd that these also are Gods Ministers and as such to be rever'd by us yet because it is certain that these are neither Gods immediate Ministers nor immediately appointed by himself therefore to make out the grounds of their Honour we must take another course than what we before did in that of Sovereign Princes Now there are two things upon which the honour of Inferiour Magistrates is grounded and into which therefore it is to be resolv'd by us The Authority Princes have to constitute Inferiour Magistrates and their actual constitution of them Of the former of these we need no other proof than that the ends of Government are not to be attain'd without For it being impossible for any one man especially where his Dominions are any thing large to distribute justice to all those that are committed to his charge there ariseth a necessity of conferring part of the care upon other men as without which it is impossible to be discharged In conformity whereto as we find Jethro the father-in-Father-in-Law of Moses advising him for his own ease and the benefit of the people to set such inferiour Rulers over them Exod. 18.21 and so on so we find the same Moses constituting such Rulers over them from Rulers of Thousands to Rulers of Fifties and of Tens vers 25. of that Chapter Now forasmuch as the ends of Government are not possible to be attain'd unless there be Inferiour Rulers as well as others it is to be look'd upon as the intention of God who doth nothing in vain that such Rulers are to appointed and where they are to be rever'd and obey'd As little doubt is to be made of Princes constituting the Persons that are to be so to procure them that honour which is due unto them For being appointed by God as his Ministers in solidum in those places where they are authorized to preside witness St. Paul's both commanding every Soul to be subject to them and representing them as Gods Ministers for Reward and Vengeance which comprehend within them the whole of all Civil jurisdiction whatsoever other Powers there are must derive their Authority from them whom he hath entrusted with that command Whence it is that St. Peter himself where he speaks of submission to them requires it upon this score even because they are sent or rather commissionated by the Supreme It is true indeed that designation is not always apparent not only the Election of Inferiour Magistrates being permitted to several Societies but those Magistrates formally Invested in that Authority by some of the members of it But as the Election or Constitution of such is indulg'd to those several Societies by the Laws or Charters of Princes so being such they who are so Elected or Constituted are to be look'd upon as the Ministers of the Prince and appointed by his Authority and Command He who is appointed by those who are comissionated by the Prince being to be look'd upon as appointed by himself Having thus shewn the ground of honouring Inferiour Magistrates to be that they are with the approbation of God constituted by him whom he hath immediately appointed and consequently that they are Gods Ministers in a secondary manner the next thing to be enquir'd into is what kind of Honours are to be afforded them Which we shall find to be much the same with those we are to pay unto the Supreme because though in an inferiour manner partaking of that Authority with which the Prince himself is vested Of this nature is first esteeming of them according to their several places demeaning our selves respectfully toward them and speaking honourably to and of them so far I mean as their respective Dignities do exact no Authority being likely to have its due force and efficacy where these are not duly paid Of the same nature is secondly yielding Obedience to their Commands and submitting our selves unto their Censures otherwise we do in effect oppose our selves to the Authority of the Prince from whom they have their Commission and consequently also to that of God Add hereunto where any such thing is made their due the ministring to them of our substance as being but a just reward for their attending upon the affairs of the Republick and a just regard to him by whom they are appointed over us The only thing of difficulty is in what measure these Honours are to be paid which accordingly I come now to resolve In order whereunto the first thing that I shall offer is that it ought always to be with subordination to the Divine Majesty For if we are to obey God rather than Princes how much more ought we to do so rather than those who are but their Ministers As little doubt is to be made in the second place but that the Honour which is to be paid to Inferiour Magistrates is to be with subordination to the Supreme For being as St. Peter instructs us to be submitted to and honour'd as Persons that are sent by him that Honour is in reason to be subordinate to his by whom they are so sent or commissionated That by which any thing is such being much more such it self and consequently to be preferr'd before it Excellent to this purpose is that of St. Augustine as I find him quoted by the late Reverend Primate of Armagh * Power Communicated by God to the Prince and the Obedience required of the Subject pag. 116. If thy Curator command thee any thing must it not be done yes questionless And yet if the Proconsul countermand and thou obey him thou despisest not the power of thy Curator but servest a greater Neither ought the lesser to