num 51. saith of the Habessins A Sanguine verò suffocatis abstinent non vigore Legis Mosaicae sed Statuti Apostolici in Ecclesia Orientali semper in Occidentali verò per mutla secula observati in Conciliis nonnullis repetiti nosque reprehendunt quòd id in desuetudinem passi fuerimus venire To these Seven Natural Precepts given as hath been said first to Mankind in general and after revived in Mara according to the doctrine of the Talmudists in the recension and explication of which according to the sense of the most Learned Interpreters of the Hebrew Antiquities I have hitherto exercised my unequal Pen Some have subjoined another of Honouring Parents But of this tho' equally Natural with the former and among Moral Precepts principal I defer to speak until the Thred of the Method I have prescrib'd to my self in this disquisition shall have brought me to the first Precept in the Second Table of the Decalogue both because some of the Masters do not reckon it in the number of the Primitive and Genuine Precepts of the Sons of Noah but affirm that it was not given until the Israelites were encamped in Marah and because I would prevent repetition of the same things in divers places Nor doth any thing more concerning the Seven Precepts precedent occur to my mind at this time that seems of moment enough to excuse me if by insisting thereupon I should longer defer to put a Period to this First Part of my present Province ¶ The End of the First Part. THE CONCORDANCE OF Natural and Positive Divine LAWS PART II. Containing a Short Explication of the Laws of the DECALOGUE and Reduction of Evangelick Precepts to them CHAP. I. The Preface to the DECALOGUE explicated FRom Primitive Laws meerly Traditional or such as were delivered down from Generation to Generation not in Writing but only by voice or word of mouth and seem to have constituted the most ancient Right of Mankind we come now to the most ancient of Written Laws such as were committed to Writing and consecrated to the Memory and Observation of Posterity Of this sort the Mosaic Laws certainly are as the best so also the First of all known in the World The Grecians indeed ambitious of the honour of being reputed Founders of Government by making good Laws for the regulation of Humane Societies among many other benefits wherewith they boast themselves to have obliged other Nations put Legislation in the head of the Account Lycurgus Draco Solon and other ancient Sages are great Names they glory in But their Glory is altogether vain For all the pretensions and brags of that arrogant Nation in this kind have been long since refuted and silenced by the Jew Flavius Iosephus in his Apology against Apion full of admirable Learning There he shews that the Greek Legislators compar'd to Moses are but of Yesterday for at what time their Father Homer liv'd they knew not the name of Laws nor is it extant in all his Poems only the People had in their Mouth certain common sayings and sentences whereby they were govern'd to supply the defects whereof the unwritten Edicts of Princes were upon occasion added And he had reason For the truth is Moses Senior to Homer by many Ages was the first Writer and Publisher of Laws teaching the People what was right or wrong just or unjust and by what Decrees the Common-wealth was to be established which the Most High God had commanded to settle in Palestine Before the time of this Moses no Written Laws were known in the World For although Mankind liv'd not altogether without Laws before yet were not those Laws consecrated and kept in any Publick Records or Monuments Of this sort were the afore-recited Seven Precepts given to the Sons of Noah concerning certain Rules of Righteousness necessary to humane life Wherefore they were of so large extent that whosoever knew them not those the Israelites were commanded to destroy by War and deprive them of all Communion with Mankind and justly for they that had receiv'd no Law seem'd worse than Beasts and as Aristotle hath Divinely spoken Injustice strengthened with Arms and Power is most cruel and intolerable It must then be acknowledg'd that of all Legislators Moses was the most Ancient nor can it be with truth denied that he was also the Wisest For he ordain'd such a kind of Government which cannot be so significantly stil'd either Monarchy or Oligarchy or Democracy as Theocracy that is a Common-wealth whose Ruler and President is God alone openly professing that all affairs were managed by Divine Judgment and Authority And of this he gave a full demonstration in as much as although he saw all matters depending upon him and had all the People at his Devotion yet upon so fair an invitation he sought no Power no Wealth no Honour for himself A thing whereby he shew'd himself more than Man Then he ordered that the Magistrates should not be Lords and Masters but Keepers of the Laws and Ministers An excellent Constitution this For seeing that even the best Men are sometimes transported by passion the Laws alone are they that speak with all Persons in one and the same Impartial Voice which may well be conceiv'd to be the sense of that fine saying of Aristotle The Law is a Mind without Affection To these Two undeniable Arguments of admirable Wisdom in Moses may be added a Third no less considerable viz. the Eternal Stability of his Laws whereto to add wherefrom to take ought away was a most high offence So that neither Old Laws were abolish'd nor new brought in but the observation of the first was with rigor exacted of all even in the declination of that Common-wealth Which was not so in other Common-wealths most of which have been ruined by Law-making The reason of this diversity cannot be abstruse to him that considers that the Laws of other Nations were the inventions of humane Wit and enforced only by penalties that by time or remissness of Rulers lose their Terror but those of the Iews being the Decrees of the Eternal God not enervated by continuance of time or softness of Judges remain still the same mens minds being still kept in awe by Religion as I have in the former part of this discourse intimated Now if in these Three things to which I might here subjoin others if I thought it necessary the excellent Wisdom and Prudence of Moses be not clearly visible I know not what is so Of these Mosaic Laws upon which by Divine Wisdom both the Polity and the Religion of the Holy Nation are so establish'd as to be not only connex'd but made one and the same thing some are Moral others Ceremonial The Moral which only belong to my present Province are comprehended in that Sacred Systeme call'd the DECALOGUE or Ten Commandments in which the whole duty of Man as well towards God as towards Men is prescrib'd These Ten Precepts therefore I
are in force it is most fitly to be denoted by the Title of Right Intervenient among those Nations And in fine so far as the same Caesarean Right is by some single Nations receiv'd into their Forum or Court of Judicature it is to be named the Civil Right of some Nations or their Domestick Right From this consideration of the nature various notions and differences of Right we may easily be able to distinguish betwixt those two things which many learned Writers confound using the words Right and Law promiscuously For from the Premisses it may be collected that Right consisteth in liberty of doing or not doing But Law obligeth to do or not to do and therefore Right and Law differ as Liberty and Obligation which about the same thing are inconsistent Hence we may define Natural Right to be the Liberty which every man hath of using according to his own will and pleasure his power to the conservation of his Nature and by consequence of doing all things that he shall judge to be conducive thereunto Understanding by Liberty what that word properly signifies Absence of external impediments And Natural Law to be a Precept or General Rule excogitated by reason by which every man is prohibited to do that which he shall judge to tend to his hurt harm or wrong By Nature all Wise men understand the Order Method and Oeconomy instituted and established by God from the beginning or Creation for Government and Conservation of the World All the Laws of Nature therefore are the Laws of God And that which is called Natural and Moral is also Divine Law as well because Reason which is the very Law of Nature is given by God to every man for a rule of his Actions as because the Precepts of living which are thence deriv'd are the very same that are promulged by the Divine Majesty for Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven by our most blessed Lord Iesus Christ and by the Holy Prophets and Apostles nor is there in Truth any one Branch of Natural or Moral Law which may not be plainly and fully confirm'd by the Divine Laws delivered in Holy Scripture as will soon appear to any man who shall attentively read and consider what our Master Hobbs hath with singular judgment written in the 4 th Chapter of his Book de Cive where he confirms all the Laws of Nature by comparing them singly with Divine Precepts given in the Old and New Testament Whoever therefore desires clearly to understand the Reasonableness Equity Justice and Utility of Moral Laws and the true Causes of the Obligation under which he is to observe them in order to his Felicity as well in this life as in that which is to come ought most seriously and profoundly to consider the Divine Laws or Precepts recorded in that Collection of Sacred Writings call'd the Bible Which I though of Learning inferiour to so Noble an undertaking and subject by the Nature of my Profession and Studies to various Distractions every day yet resolve with my self to attempt according to the Module of my weak understanding not for Information of Others but for my own private satisfaction CHAP. II. God's Sovereign Right to Dominion over all things in the World THat God is by highest Right Soveraign Lord and Monarch of the Universe having in himself most absolute power both of Legislation and of Iurisdiction is sufficiently manifest even from this That He is sole Author and Creator of the World and all things therein Contain'd and doth by His most wise Providence perpetually Conserve and Sustain them And that He only can relax or remit the Obligation under which His Subjects are to observe the Laws by Him given for their Regimen and to whom He pleaseth pardon the Violation of them is no less manifest from His very Supremacy So that it belongs not to the right of any Mortal Ruler either to command what God forbids or to forbid what God commands The reason is because as in Natural causes the Inferiour have no force against the efficacy of the Superior so it is in Moral also Upon which reason St. Austin seems to have fixt his most discerning Eye when teaching that the Commands of Kings and Emperors so far as they contradict any Divine Command cannot impose an Obligation to Obedience advances to his conclusion by the degrees of this Climax or Scale If the Curator commands somewhat it is not to be done if the Proconsul forbids Herein we contemn not the Power but choose to obey the Higher Again if the Proconsul bid one thing and the Emperor injoin the contrary without doubt you must give obedience to the Emperor Therefore if the Emperor exact one thing and God another what is to be done God is certainly the greater Power give us leave O Emperor to obey Him From the same reason that most wise Emperor Marcus Aurelius also said the Magistrates judge private men Princes the Magistrates and God the Princes And Seneca the Tragedian Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur Omne sub regno graviore regnum est For his sense is Deum esse supra omnes summates hominum Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis This Monarchy of God is double Natural and Civil By the Natural is to be understood the absolute Dominion which from the Creation he hath exercis'd and at this day doth exercise over all men Naturally or by right of His Omnipotency By the Civil I understand that which in the Holy Scriptures is most frequently named The Kingdom of God and which is most properly call'd Kingdom because constituted by consent of the Hebrew Nation who by express pact or covenant chose God to be their King He promising to give them possession of the land of Canaan and they promising to obey him in all things But this Kingdom being by Divine Justice for the disobedience and many rebellions of that perverse people long since extinct they now remain in the same state of subjection with all other Nations namely under the Natural Empire of the Universal Monarch God But what is worthy our more serious remark and consideration tho the Common-wealth of the Hebrews the form of whose Government may be most properly call'd a Theocraty for the Supreme Ruler and President was not Moses but Almighty God Himself hath been so many Ages past dissolv'd yet the most excellent Positive Divine Laws principally those comprehended in the Decalogue upon which that Empire was founded have lost nothing of their Sanction and Original force but still continue Sacred and Obligatory not only to the posterity of the Hebrews but also to all the Sons of Men of what Nation soever Which the Learned Cunaeus hath de rep Hebraeor cap. 1. with singular judgment observ'd in words of this sense The Laws of other Nations inventions of humane Wit are enforced only by penalties which by time or
through the sloath of Governors lose their terror but the Iewish Ordinances being the decrees of the Eternal God not weakned by either continuance of time or softness of the Judges remain still the same and when the Ax and the Scourge are no longer fear'd mens minds are nevertheless kept in awe by Religion And as the Stability of these Laws given by Moses whom God had consituted His Representative and Vicegerent in the promulgation of them to the People of Israel is by Cunaeus rightly referr'd to the Eternity and Immutability of the Divine decrees so is it Lawful for us to assert the Vniversal Extent of them from this reason that the Divine Law of the Decalogue is an Explication of the Law Natural written in the mind of every individual man from the beginning though we must at the same time acknowledge that the very giving the same in Precept to the Iews added a new Sanction and Obligation to the former so that the Iew doing the contrary not only offended in doing an act simply vitious but also in doing an act strictly for bidden because as St. Paul speaks Rom. 11. 23. by the transgression of the Law he dishonoureth God That this different Obligation of Laws Natural and Divine may be yet more clearly understood we observe that the determining of human actions ariseth either from their own Nature as to Honour and Worship God is due to lye unlawful of it self or from the Positive Divine Law Those of the former sort are referr'd to the Law Natural Those of the Latter are such as have been prescribed by God some to single persons namely to Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses and other servants of God among all People to Israel alone God prescribed many Positive Laws pertaining to their Religion which was the same with their Politie To all mankind some things were commanded for a time as the observation of the Sabbath presently after the Creation as many of the most Learned think the Law of not eating bloud or the strangled after the floud Others to last for ever as the institutions of Christ concerning Excommunication Baptism the Supper c. if there be any more of that kind So that one and the same vitious action is more or less offensive to God according to the determination of it to be so by Positive Law or by meer light of reason i. e. by Law Natural Because though both Laws be Divine yet the Obligation of the former is double of the later single Having thus Briefly indeed but plainly asserted Gods Right to the Monarchy of the whole World distinguish'd His Natural Dominion from His Civil defined what is Law Natural what Positive Divine and shewn the difference betwixt that and this as to their Obligation it seems to me that I have not only prevented all such erroneous conceptions which otherwise might arise either from Ambiguity of the words Right Dominion Government Law and Obligation or from Confusion of various Notions of single things But also laid the Corner Stone as it were of the little structure I propose to my self to erect in order to the stronger defence of my mind against allurements to do evil i. e. to violate any of God's Laws For in this illaborate exercise of my pen I have no other end or design but this to investigate and examine the perfect Concordance betwixt the Laws of Nature and Positive Divine Laws principally those of the Decalogue to the end that being at length fully convinced of the double Obligation incumbent on me not to transgress any one of the latter sort I may in the little remnant of my days do my best devoir to live more inoffensively both toward God and toward Men. For certainly who is throughly conscious of the justice equity and decency of Religious Duties will be so much the more solicitous to perform them because the more the understanding is illuminate by the rays of Truth and Evidence by so much the less prone it is to be imposed upon by the specious pretexts of Passions and by consequence the more apt to direct its Handmaid the Will in the right way to Felicity which consists in the Knowledge Love and Veneration of God As for Method the work in which my thoughts are at present versed will be in bulk so little I need not be over curious what Form to give it the Materials so few I need not be solicitous in what Order to range them to the best advantage Without affectation therefore of ornament from either of those two things and without farther amusing my self with variety of distinctions many times of more subtilty than use I will content my self with tracing as faithfully as I can the footsteps of Time or to speak a little more plainly reciting and considering the various Moral Laws whether meerly Traditional or Written given by God first to Noah and his little Family when soon after the Deluge they began to replenish the Earth with Inhabitants and then to Moses when he constituted and established the most Admirable Common-wealth of the Hebrews in the same order in which they are said to have been delivered and breifly comparing them singly with the Laws of Nature it being as I just now profest my chief scope in this Disquisition to find the Concordance betwixt these and those CHAP. III. Of the Precepts of the Sons of Noah in general I Begin from the Moral Laws which according to the Tradition of the Talumdic Masters were given to Noah and his Sons soon after the Floud and which are thence named Praecepta Noachidarum Which before I recite three things not altogether unworthy to be noted for our more facile understanding of their authority and extent are to be Premis'd The first that by the Patronymie Noachidae the Rabbins unanimously understand all Nations besides the Hebrews who affect rather to be call'd Abrahamidae from the Father of all the Faithful Abraham The second that the same Rabbins firmly believing and confidently teaching that there hath been no Age wherein these Precepts have not obtained therefore take them for the Natural and Common Right of all men Whence we may receive a glimps of Light whereby to discern both what they thought of the Religion of the Ancients before the Law and upon what condition it was lawful for Strangers to reside in the Land of Israel after the Law For while the Hebrews were sui juris i e. lived under no Laws but those of their own Republick within their territory no dwelling was permitted to any Idolatrous Gentile But the Stranger who in the presence of three men had taken upon himself the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah and promised to observe them was held to be Proselytus Domicilii and tho' he were neither Circumcised nor Baptized might nevertheless as a Sojourner dwell among the Hebrews The third that tho' in the Mishna or Collection of ancient Traditions made by Rabbi Iehuda surnamed Hakadosh the Saint who lived
Sons of Noah was Obnoxious to Punishment if he had stolen any thing from Gentile or Israelite either Clancularly or Openly Goods or Persons or detained Wages from an Hireling or done ought of that kind In the Mosaic Law Theft is simply forbidden more than once in the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Steal as of Goods so of Men as well Servants as Free. Exod. 21. 16. He that stealeth a Man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand he shall surely be put to death Which was Interdicted also by the Roman Law F. F. de furtis 37. 60. The defraudation of Wages is particularly Prohibited Deut. 24. 14. Other Thefts there are of that kind which are call'd Not Manifest such as the Deceitful removing the Boundaries or Marks of Fields Deut. 27. 17. Let him be accursed that removeth his Neighbours Land-Mark namely the Bounds which your Fathers have put in thy Inheritance Which is understood of the Limits or Boundaries set in the First distribution of the Holy Land as also of the limits of the Nations confining thereupon without just cause of War Whence that of Iosephus Antiq. l. 4. c. 8. p. 123. Terminos Terrae movere non liceat neque propriae neque alienae quibuscum nobis pax est Sed cavendum nè auferatur quod velut Dei calculus in aeternum figitur Among the Egyptians Fraudulent Practices were severely punish'd whether they were of Publick or Private Wrong Witness Diodorus Siculus l. 1. p. 50. The Law Commanded saith he That both the Hands should be cut off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that adulterated Mony or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substituted new Weights or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counterfeited Seals or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scribes that wrote Forg'd Tables or Instruments or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 took away any thing from written Records or Deeds or obtruded false Bonds To the end that every Offender might suffer punishment in that part of his Body with which he had offended against the Law and by an irreparable loss deter others from committing the like Crime To the Hebrews it was forbidden not only to use false Weights and Measures but even to use any fraud of words in Contracts or to lie to anothers wrong Lev. 19. 11. Ye shall not steal neither deal falsly neither lie one to another Upon which Text the Masters commenting pronounce that tho' an Israelite accounted not a Gentile for his Neighbour yet by the Natural Interdict of Theft Gentiles were not to be any ways defrauded in Negotiations Nefas est say they quenquam decipere in emptione venditione aut in consensum arte pellicere quod pariter obtinet in Gentilibus atque in Israelitis Nevertheless in the Violation of this Interdict the Babylonic Gemara tit Sanhed makes the Right of Foreiners different from that of Natives If a Labourer working in a Vine-yard or Olive-yard eat of the Fruit thereof at any other time than that wherein he laboured there he was guilty of theft tho' he were a Noachid but with an Israelite the Case was otherwise he might eat at any time And this difference arises from the Mosaic Right Deut. 23. 24. When thou comest into thy Neighbour's Vine-yard thou mayest eat Grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure but thou shalt not put any into thy Vessel And so of the standing Corn. By which Law there was given to the Israelites not a licence of Stealing but Iuris Modus a Measure or Rule how far the Right extended Another Example of this difference may be from the Value of the thing taken away by Stealth which is not Taxed by Moses By the Institute of their Ancestors an Hebrew was not lyable to an Action of Theft if he filched from another what was in Value less than a Prota which is the smallest Piece of Mony the Eighth Part of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weighing half a Grain of Pure Silver but a Noachid was guilty of Theft if he took away by stealth any thing of less Value than a Prota and for so small a Trifle was to be punish'd with the Sword from this Natural Interdict not from the Civil Law of the Hebrews which in such Cases required neither Attonement of the Divine Majesty nor Compensation of the Neighbour But Capital Punishment was in the Dominion of the Hebrews inflicted upon Gentiles for almost every light Offence Satisfaction for damage sustain'd was always to be made either by restitution of the very thing that had been taken away or by payment of the Price thereof and a Fifth part more to the Heirs of the Person that sustain'd the damage if he himself were dead if he had no Heir to the Lord and in His Right to the Priest Numb 27. 8. An Israelite could not want an Heir and therefore this Law is to be understood to concern only the Proselyte who had no Kindred nor Heir unless one born after his Regeneration nor had the Occupant any Right to the Goods that had been by stealth taken from a Proselyte deceas'd without Heir Restitution of things lost saith Mr. Selden de Iur. Nat. Gent. l. 6. c. 4. depended not upon this Natural Interdict of Theft but upon that Mosaic Law in Deut. 22. 2. To an Israelite it was lawful to retain a thing that a Gentile had by chance lost as left and not yet Occupied but on the contre-part 't was not lawful to a Gentile to retain what he had found of an Israelites To deceive a Gentile in reckoning was unlawful but if a Gentile in casting up accounts through error pretermitted any thing the Israelite had the same Right to make his advantage of the mistake that he had to retain what he had found of the others and so might refuse afterward to pay it as Maimonides Galiz Waib c. 11. Also any thing lost by an Israelite if he despair'd to find it became the Finders own as if it had been left of purpose or if he could not so describe the Signs or Marks of the thing lost as that it might be thence known that it ought to be restored 't was then to be presum'd that the Owner had despair'd to find it ibid. c. 14. In Mutual Commerce to impose upon another by an unequal Price was unlawful by that Mosaic Law in Levit. 25. 14. Which is understood saith Mr. Selden l. 6. c. 5. of Goods Moveable as the Law of Redemption is of Lands and Houses Nor doth the same belong to a Gentile but if a Gentile had brought damage to an Israelite by an unequal price he was by Judgment of Court to refund From the receiv'd Interpretation of the Law if the price were by a Sixth part less than the true Valor of the thing nothing was to be refunded if greater by a Sixth part the Buyer might require his Mony to be restored the Seller his Ware The Punishment of Theft was Capital
nay most probably he never so much as heard For this Just Man is said Iob 1. 5. to have offer'd up Victims in the name of his Sons not according to the Form and Rites ordain'd in the Mosaic Law by which it was Enacted under the penalty of Excision that all Sacrifices should be Immolated at the Door of the Tabernacle Whence some Learned Men infer that he lived before the Law was given Others affirm that there never was any such Man and the Book that bears that name is not a true History but a Parable or Poem for the Original is written in Verse concerning Providence Divine Which of these two Opinions is to be preferr'd I pretend not now to enquire Certain it is however that this Book contains many remarkable things pertaining to Natural Law principally these following Of Idolatry Chap. 31. v. 26. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth kissed my hand this also were an Iniquity to be punish'd by the Iudge for I should have denied the God that is above Of Blasphemy Chap. 1. v. 5. In the Morning he Offer'd Burnt-Offerings according to the number of them all For Job said it may be that my Sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Of Homicide Chap. 31. v. 29. If I rejoyced at the destruction of him that hated me or lift up my self when evil found him Neither have I suffered my Mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his Soul If the Men of my Tabernacle said not Oh that we had of his flesh we cannot be satisfied Of Adultery Chap. 31. v. 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a Woman or if I have laid wait at my Neighbours door then let my Wife grind unto another and let others bow down upon her or as the Vulgar Latin Scortum alterius sit Vxor mea To turn about a Mill was among the ancient Services of Women Of Theft or the unlawful laying hands upon the Goods of another Chap. 31. v. 7. If any blot have cleaved to my hands then let me saw and let another eat yea let my Offspring be rooted out Of Judgments he speaks in Chap. 29. from v. 7. to the end where he relates that Himself had in the days of his Prosperity sate on the Tribunal and been a Prince among the Judges of his Nation Most evident it is then that all these Precepts of the Sons of Noah obtain'd among and were Sacred to the Idumeans who lived not under the Laws of Moses CHAP. XI The seventh Precept Of not eating any Member of an Animal alive THis Precept was added after the Flood according to the Traditions of the Rabbines who say that the eating of Flesh which had been Interdicted to Adam was permitted to Noah and understand this Interdict to be comprehended in that of not eating Blood God at first said to Adam Gen. 1. 29. I have given you every Herb bearing Seed and every Tree in which is the Fruit of a Tree yeilding Seed to you it shall be for Meat After he said to Noah Gen. 9. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green Herb have I given you all things but Flesh with the Life thereof which is the Blood thereof shall you not eat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at carnem in sanguine animae non comedetis where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima we are to understand the Life The eating of Blood is by the Levitical Law forbidden in the same form with the Immolation of a Son to Moloch Levit. 20. 3. I will set my face against him that eateth blood Nor is this manner of speaking to be found in any third Precept which Maimonides well observes in More Nebochim part 3. c. 46. pag. 484. because the eating of blood gave occasion to the Worship of Devils and he fetcheth the reason of the Interdict from Idolaters who thought blood to be the meat of Daemons Hence also it is commanded Levit. 17. 10. that the blood of Victims be sprinkled upon the Altar and moreover that it be covered with dust or sprinkled upon the Ground as water Some of the Zabii used to eat the blood some others who reckoned this to inhumanity at the killing of a Beast reserv'd the blood and put it into a Vessel or Trench and then sitting down in a Circle about it eat up the flesh and pleas'd themselves with an opinion that their Daemons fed upon the blood and that this manner of sitting at the same Table with their Gods would endear them to a nearer tie of Conversation and Familiarity and promising to themselves also that these Spirits would insinuate themselves in dreams and render them capable of Prophesy and Predicting things to come Now in reference to these absurd and Idolatrous ways of the Amorites it was that God expresly forbad his People to eat blood for so some of the Zabians did and to prevent their imitation of others who reserved it in a Vessel he commanded that the blood should be spilt upon the ground like water And with the same respect to the Zabian Rites it seems to be that it was also forbidden Exod. 23. 19. and Deut. 14. 21. to any man of Israel to Seeth a Kid or Lamb in his Mothers milk as our many-Tongued Mr. Gregory in Posthum hath Learnedly asserted The Law in another place viz. Deut. 14. 21. saith Ye shall not eat morticinum ullum of any thing that dieth of it self Thou shalt give it unto the Stranger that is within thy gates that he may eat it or thou mayst sell it unto an Alien Whence some collect that the eating of blood was not forbidden to either Proselytes of the House or the Sons of Noah but only of flesh torn from an Animal alive as the Stones of a Lamb cut out Maimonides More Neboch part 3. cap. 48. pag. 496. brings these reasons of the Interdict both because that is a sign of Cruelty and because the Kings of the Gentiles in that age were wont so to do upon the account of Idolatry namely they cut some Member from a living Creature and eat it presently Nor is this so strange a thing since Clem. Alexandrinus in Protreptico p. 9. commemorates the same execrable cruelty and Bestial Carnage to have been practised in Bacchanals Bacchi orgiis celebrant Dionysium Maenolem crudarum carnium esu sacram insaniam agentes caesarum carnium divulsionem peragunt coronati Serpentibus Nay more inhumanity yet hath been Solemnly practised in the furious Devotion of the Adorers of the same drunken Diety Prophyry de Abstinentia l. 3. sect 55. saith In Chio sacrificabant Baccho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crudis gaudenti hominem membratim discerpentes Idem in Tenedo obtinuit Well therefore do they speak who call Idolatry Madness in the last degree Jobus Ludolfus in Historia Aethiopica lib. 3. cap. 1.
intend the Omnipotent Author of them assisting me seriously and according to the best of my weak understanding to consider one by one in the same order in which they are delivered in the Twentieth Chapter of Exodus And that neither want of skill in the Hebrew Language and in the Idiotisms or proper modes of speaking used by Esdras or whoever else was the Writer of the Pentateuch nor the slenderness of my judgment may lead me into errors in the interpretation of the Sacred Text I am resolved to resign up my self entirely to the conduct and manuduction of the most celebrated Interpreters of the Holy Scripture and among them principally of the Illustrious Hugo Grotius a Man no less admirable for the singular felicity of his judgment in difficult questions than for the Immensity of his Erudition in his Explication of the Decalogue as it is extant in the Greek version of the Seventy Seniors choosing rather to tread in his very footsteps than to deviate from the right way in an argument of so great moment Not that I think it necessary to recite whatsoever he hath congested of this Subject in that part of his Theological writings wherein are deliver'd many curious Criticisms concerning the various significations and uses of as well Greek as Hebrew Words and Phrases that belong chiefly to the cognizance of Philologers but that I design from thence to select only such things that seem requisite to my right understanding of the sense of all and singular the Precepts that I am now about to consider In pursuance therefore of this design I begin from The Preface to the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Lord spake Here by the Lord is meant the God of Gods And the reason why the Greek Interpreters chose rather to use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God seems to be this that writing to the Greeks amongst whom are to be number'd the Egyptian Kings of the Macedonian blood by the Hebrews call'd Kings of Graecia and that among the Graecians also they who were reputed wiser than the rest as the Platonicks of which order were the Ptolomies Kings used to give the appellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God also to those whom they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemons and sometimes in imitation of the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels they thought themselves religiously concern'd openly to testifie that they spake of that God only who by supreme Right ruled and commanded all those that they honor'd by the name of Gods as among Mortal Kings the King of the Persians was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Kings and even at this day the King of the Habessins in Ethiopia writes himself Negûsa nagast Zaitjopja King of the Kings of Ethiopia with respect to some petty Kings subject to him or his Vice-Roys who also are honoured with the Title of Negus King as the most Learned Iobus Ludolfus observes in Hist. Aethiop l. 2. c. 1. Printed at Francfurt this present year 1681. But although the Lord that is the Highest God be here said to speak these words that follow yet ought we to hold for certain that He spake them not by Himself or Immediately but by an Angel sent as an Embassador acting in the Name of the Most High God which ought to be understood also of other the like Visions that have hapned to Holy Men in old times For it was an Angel that spake to Moses and the People in Sinah if we believe the Writer of the Acts of the Apostles chap. 7. v. 38. And so thought the Grave Iosephus also when Antiq. l. 15. he said Cum nos dogmatum potissima Sanctissimam Legum partem per Angelos à Deo acceperimus They err greatly who here by Angel understand the Second Substance of God or Second Person in the Trinity For God spake indeed in various and manifold manners to the Fathers of old but in the last times He began to speak to us by His Son Hebr. 1. 1. The Law was given by Angels by the ministry of Internuncii an Embassador or Mediator namely of Moses that it might be of force until the promised Seed should come Galat. 3. 19. And the Writer to the Hebrews prefers the Gospel to the Law from this that the Gospel was given by our Lord Iesus Himself the Law only by Angels Heb. 2. 2. In which places Angels are named in the Plural Number tho' St. Stephen saith Angel in the Singular because such is the manner of Visions of that kind that there is One Angel sustaining the Person and Name of God and others present with him as Apparitors or Ministers As in Gen. 18. Luke 2. 13. conferr'd with 1 Thess. 4. 16. and with Matth. 13. 39. 41. 49. As therefore the Angel that pronounced the Law saith I Iehovah so also do other Angels that have been likewise sent from God as Embassadors to transact affairs of great Importance speak in the first Person just as the Crier of a Court pronounces the words of the Judge as St. Austin l. 2. de Trinitate c. 2. makes the Comparison So Moses Exod. 3. 15. saith that the God Iehovah spake to him in the Bush and he that then spake to Moses had newly said I who am which is an explication of the word Iehovah i. e. Existens or Being for Being without Beginning without End and without Dependence is Proper to God alone But St. Stephen Acts 7. 30. saith that an Angel of the Lord appear'd to Moses in a Flame of Fire in a Bush and that from the Authority of Moses himself Exod. 3. 2. Of which St. Athanasius Orat. 6. saith Et vocavit Dominus Mosem exrubo dicens Ego sum Deus Patris tui Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Jacob at Angelus ille non erat Deus Abraham sed in Angelo loquebatur Deus qui conspiciebatur erat Angelus c. Of the same judgment was the Author of the Responses to the Orthodox Christians when he said Angelorum qui Dei loco visi aut locuti sunt hominibus Dei vocabulo nominati sunt ut ille qui Jacobo quique Mosi est locutus Etiam homines Dii vocantur Vtrisque ob Officium ipsis injunctum datum est Dei vicem nomen obtinere Expleto autem officio desinunt vocari Dii qui tantùm operae alicujus causâ id nomen acceperunt We must acknowledge then that the words recited in this place of Exodus were pronounced by an Angel in the Name of God but we are not obliged to believe the same of those that are in Deut. 5. For they were the words of Moses by memory rehearsing the former and indeed with such liberty that he transposeth some words changeth some for others of the same signification omitteth others and addeth new for interpretation sake For Deuteronomy or as Philo speaks Epinomis is nothing else but the Law and
History summarily repeated in favour of those who were not present at the promulgation of the Law and at the transactions of that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these Sermons saying These very words that no Man of Posterity might think that ought had been added or taken away In Deuteronomy 5. are not found these words so express and therefore it sufficeth that there the sense of the Reciter is signified as we just now siad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the Lord thy God who hath brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of Servitude By the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Septuagint have interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Empire is signified The same word is attributed sometimes also to Angels as in Psalm 82. v. 2. and sometimes to eminent Magistrates as in Exod. 21. 6. 22. 26. so that in Psalm 82. 1. 131. 1. it is a great doubt among the most Learned of the Hebrew Doctors whether Angels or Magistrates are to be understood But whensoever the Plural is conjoin'd with the Singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by apposition but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defective no doubt is to be made but that He alone is to be understood who with Highest and most absolute Empire presides over all both Angels and Magistrates But to that word the Possessive Case is wont to be added whereby it is signified that to this Most High God besides the Soveraign Right He hath of most absolute Dominion over all Angels and Men there belongs also a certain peculiar Right of Dominion over some particular Men or Nation by vertue of not common benefits conferr'd upon them For such is the nature of benefits that it always gives to him who hath conferr'd a benefit somewhat of new Right over him that hath receiv'd it And this is the cause why here no mention is made of God's Creation of Mankind in the beginning but of those things that properly belonged to the Posterity of Iacob nor of all those neither but only of the most recent the memory whereof sticks more firmly and efficaciously in the minds of Men. Compare with this the cause of keeping the Law which Fathers are commanded to deliver down to their Children in Deut. 26. 10. and following verses Now what is said in this place is not Law but a Preface to the Law Seneca indeed approves not of a Law with a Prologue because a Law is made not to persuade but to command But Zaleucus Charondas Plato Philo and some other Philosophers were of another Opinion Certainly the middle way is the best let the Prologue be brief and grave such as carries the Face of Authority not of disputation The Number Ten is to almost all Nations the end of numbering for the numbers that follow are distinguished by compound names either by the sound as Vndecim Duodecim Eleven Twelve or by signification as an Hundred a Thousand c. and certainly the most ancient way of Numeration was by the Fingers of which Man hath Ten. For which reason also in these Precepts which were above all other things to be imprinted upon the receivers memory God was pleas'd to choose this number wherein that all diversities of numbers all Analogies all Geometrical Figures relating to numbers are found Philo largely shews in his Enarration of the Ten Precepts And Martianus Capella where he saith Decas verò ultra omnes habenda quae omnes numeros diversae virtutis ac perfectionis intra se habet Nor was it from any other reason that the Pythagoreans and after them the Peripateticks referr'd all kinds of things into Ten Classes vulgarly call'd Categories or that not only in the Law but also before it Tenths were devoted to God as may be collected from the History of Camillus written by Livy and Plutarch and from Herodotus who speaks of that Custom as most ancient The Place wherein the Law was given also exacts our notice It was given in a Wilderness barren and desolate with design that the People remote from the contagion of Cities and purged by hardship and sore afflictions and by Miracles taught not to depend upon things created might be well prepared for that Common-wealth which God was about to found and establish Nor ought we without a remark to pass by the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy God Which not only here in the Preface but in the Precepts ensuing is used intimating that the Law commanding and forbidding speaks to every individual Man in the number of Unity to the end that it may declare that here the condition of the Prince and of the lowest Hebrew of the vulgar is one and the same none High or Low being exempted from the Obligation thereof CHAP. II. The First Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not have other Gods beside me IN the words Other Gods beside me seems to be a Pleonasm or redundance of speech For it had been sufficient even to men of common sense to have said other Gods But the like speech occurs also in 1 Corinth 8. 4. and 1 Corinth 3. 1. and the meaning is that other Gods are neither to be substituted in the place of the True God nor to be assumed to him which many did as in 1 Kings 17. 33. Here by Gods are to be understood not only Angels and Iudges or other Magistrates of eminent Dignity who are as we have already hinted in the Preface sometimes in the Scripture honour'd with the Title of Gods while they execute their Office but also all those whom the Gentiles tho' without just cause call'd by that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are call'd Gods 1 Corinth 8. 5. So some are call'd Prophets who boast and Magnifie themselves for such Ier. 28. 1. let us therefore consider first the false Gods of the ancient Gentiles and then those that are not without cause call'd Gods That the first things which men worshiped as Gods were the Celestial Fires or Luminaries is the opinion of the most Learned and Judicious of the Hebrew Masters Abenesdras Moses Maimonides and others And this opinion is highly favor'd both by the Tradition of Abraham who is said to have abandoned his Native Countrey and travell'd into a strange Land meerly out of detestation of this kind of Idolatry and from the History of Iob taken from times most ancient Chap. 31. v. 26. 27. 28. Whereto may be added that of Deut. Chap. 4. v. 19. and Chap. 17. v. 3. Now that the Sun Moon and other Lights of Heaven are false Gods is most evident not only from hence that no great goods or benefits come from them to Mankind but also from this that they neither understand Mens adoration and prayers nor have the liberty of doing good more to one Man than to another which two things are conjunctim requir'd to fill up the true signification of the name God Heb. 11. 6. No
causes will at length find with the Philosophers of clearest understanding that there is one first Mover i. e. one Eternal Cause of all things which all Men call God and this without all cogitation of his own fortune the solicitude whereof both begets fear of evil to come and averts the mind from the inquisition of natural causes and at the same time gives occasion of imagining many Gods 2. God is necessarily or by Himself and whatsoever is so is consider'd not as it is in genere but in actu and in actu things are single Now if you suppose more than one God you shall find in singulis nothing wherefore they should be necessarily or by themselves nothing wherefore two should be believ'd to be rather than Three or Ten rather than Five Add that the multiplication of singular things of the same kind is from the fecundity of Causes according to which more or fewer things are bred out of them but of God there is neither original nor any cause And then again in divers singulars there are certain singular proprieties by which they are distinguish'd among themselves which to suppose in God who by his Nature necessarily is is not necessary 3. Nor can you any where find signs of more than One God For this Whole University makes One World in the World is but one Sun in Man also but One mind governs 4. If there were Two or more Gods acting and willing freely they might will contrary things at the same time and consequently one might hinder the other from doing what he would but to imagine it possible for God to be hinder'd from doing what He wills is to imagine Him not to be God Evident therefore and necessary it is that there is but One God Evident it is also that the Israelites were under a double obligation to obey this Precept One from God's express Command the other from the Light of Nature which alone is sufficient to teach Men both that there is but One God properly so call'd and that to Him alone all Divine Worship is due CHAP. III. The Second Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. IN Greek Writers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used to signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an apparition or ostent but in the Sacred Books we no where find it used in that signification but always of the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graven and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Image or Effigies and therefore St. Ierom translates it sometimes Idolum sometimes Sculptile then Imago and in other places Simulacrum So the Calf made in Horeb is by St. Luke Act. 7. 41. call'd an Idol and they that worship'd it are by St. Paul 1 Corinth 10. 7. call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idolaters And the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers exactly to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby is signifi'd Worship alien from the Law not that an Idol signifies any thing of evil per se as some think but because after the Law there was no more evident sign of distinction betwixt the Pious and the Superstitious than this that all these had graven Images those had none And therefore tho' the Greek version renders not word for word yet the sense is plainly enough express'd Nor did the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worshippers of many Gods only make and set up Images to them but thought also that by Magical rites some certain Ethereal Spirit was brought down into those Images as may be seen both in the Dialogue of Trismegistus whoever he was that impos'd that mighty name upon himself with Asclepius and in Maimonides in many places of his Book intituled Ductor dubitantium as also in Abenesdras upon this Precept The same is noted by Tertullian l. de Idololatria in these words Rapere ad se Daemonia omnem Spiritum immundum per consecrationis obligamentum and in l. de spectaculis he saith that Demons operate in Images and Minutius Felix Isti impuri Spiritus sub statuis imaginibus consecratis delitescunt That such were the Images which in Iacob's History are named Teraphim is the opinion of Abenesdras Maimonides and Kimchi tho' the word it self be of good and bad signification indifferently and is sometimes as in Iudg. 17. 5. and Hosea 3. 5. taken for Cherubins Such also was the Gamaheu or little Image that Nero had or at least was willing Men should believe he had by the suggestions whereof he pretended to be premonished of things to come as Suetonius relates That many Images telesmatically made forsooth and erected have been vocal yea and Oraculous too many grave Writers have made no scruple to affirm and Maimonides parte 3. cap. 29. Ductor dubitant tells us That he had read two Books of speaking Images These Authors perhaps had from others heard of such Statues and believ'd what they had heard to be true but to me I freely profess it seems more probable that either they gave credit too easily to fabulous relations or that the relators themselves had been imposed upon by frauds and impostures of Heathen Priests speaking in and pronouncing enigmatick Oracles from the hollow of Statues to delude the Credulous and at the same time propagate the honour of the False Gods represented by those Idols than that evil Demons should as it were animate a Statue and cause it to express articulate Sounds without vocal Organs And as for Memnon's Statue or Colossus made of black Marble set up in that magnificent Temple of Serapis in Thebes and for the Musick it made upon the striking of the beams of the Sun upon it so much celebrated by ancient Writers as well Latine as Greek certainly it was meerly a piece of Art a kind of pneumatic Machine contrived by the Theban Priests Men of not vulgar skill in Astronomy and all other Philosophical Sciences Athanasius Kircher I remember in his Oedipus Aegyptiacus Tom. 2. according to his usual credulity conceives it was a Telesme or made by Talismanic Art and that the Devil was conjur'd within the hollow of it to perform that Effect because it continued Musical for so long a time namely to the days of Apollonius Tyaneus which from the first Erection of it was about Eleven hundred Years But yet he shews that such a Musical Statue may be made by Mathematical and Natural contrivance upon the ground of Rarefaction saying Magnam enim vim in natura rerum rarefactionem obtinere nemo ignorat and subnecting various other pneumatical devices among the Aegyptians in their Temples But whether it were the Devil or the Priest that spake in those Consecrated Statues or whether the vulgar in all Ages easie to be gull'd by Men of more Learning and cunning were only deluded into a belief that they spake certain it is however that the opinion of some Spirit or other included within them so far advanced their
that kind of speech is found in any other sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And shewing mercy unto Thousands God spake in the plural Number not to a Thousand but to Thousands shewing how much larger God is in doing good and conferring benefits than in punishing This is what the Hebrews mean when they say That the Angel Michael the Minister of God's Wrath and Vengeance flyes with but one Wing Gabriel The Minister of His Mercy Love and Blessing with two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To those that love me To those that Worship me and that are therefore call'd Pious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And keep my Precepts Who are attent to observe all my Commandments but chiefly those which pertain to the exclusion and extinction of Idolatry and all wicked Superstitions and who are therefore call'd Righteous or Iust. CHAP. IV. The Third Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God c. IN the Hebrew thou shalt not bear or carry namely in thy Mouth which is the same with Thou shalt not take viz. into thy Mouth Here also is of the Lord because by that Title the tremend Majesty of God is best understood We may en passant observe that here the manner of speech is changed For according to the way of speaking used in the former Precepts it should have been My Name but to the Hebrews this is frequent to put a Noun for a Pronoun as in Exod. 23. 18 19. Genes 2. 20. Numb 10. 29. and many other places where the like Translation from the first person to the third occurs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In vain or as Aquila rashly or as Philo to testifie a Lye But to omit all other interpretations of these Words we have the sense of them compendiously exprest in St. Matthew 5. 33. Thou shalt not forswear thy self nor is it to be doubted but our Saviour Christ in this place urged the very Words of the Law where the Syrian hath put words that signifie Thou shalt not Lye in thy Oath or Swearing Only this is to be accurately noted That in this place is treated not of an Oath taken for Testimony of which the Ninth Precept was particularly given but of an Oath Promissory which the words following immediately in the same verse of St. Matthew sufficiently declare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt perform unto the Lord thy Oaths taken most certainly from Numb 30. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to forswear taken in its proper sense is as hath been critically observ'd by Chrysippus to make void what thou hast sworn or not to stand to what thou hast by Oath promised The weight or hainousness of this execrable Crime Philo wisely sheweth where he saith That he who commits it doth either not believe that God takes care of humane Affairs which is an Abnegation of Gods Providence and the Fountain of all Injustice or if he doth believe that he makes God less than any honest Man whom none that designs to assert a Lye would dare to call in for a Witness of what he knows to be false Abenesdras adds That in other sins somewhat of commodity profit or pleasure is lookt upon whereby Men may be tempted and carryed away but in this oftentimes there is not the least commodity or emolument that other Crimes cannot always be committed this always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh the Name of the Lord his God in vain Here according to the Greek custome two Negatives are put for one in the Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to pass by one as innocent So that the sense is God will not leave him unpunished which is a Figure call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Extenuation such as is used in the Gospel of St. Matthew 12. 31. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men that is shall be severely punished and in many other places of Scripture And this sin is even by the Light of Nature so hainous and detestable that the Heathens themselves believ'd that it was always severely punished by God Hesiod said Et juramentum clades mortalibus unde Adveniunt quoties fallaci pectore jurant Dire miseries pursue those men that dare Themselves with heart fallacious to forswear In Herodotus this Oracle is related At juramento quaedam est sine nomine proles Trunca manus trunca pedes tamen impete magno Advenit atque omnem vastat stirpemque domumque From Perjury a nameless issue springs With maimed hand and foot which yet still brings Revenge with mighty force and doth at last Both the whole Race and Family devast And the sweet-tongu'd Tibullus could say Ah miser Et si quis primo perjuria celat Sera tamen tacitis poena venit pedibus Ah wretch though one his Perjury conceal Vengeance with silent feet will on him steal And he had reason for an Oath is a religious Affirmation as Cicero defines it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Testimony of God upon a doubtful matter as Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affirmation with an assumption of God for witness as Clement of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strongest Seal of Human Faith as Dionysius Halicarnensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last and most certain pledge of Faith as Procopius Wherefore the Ancients even wehre a specious excuse might be brought held themselves religiously oblig'd to fulfill whatsoever they had by Oath promised Concerning the sanction of an Oath or Vow consult Iudges 20. 1. 1 Sam. 14. 24 26 27. Ioshua 19. 15. Psal. 21. 2 6 7 8. Now the reason why God threatens to send from Himself dire Punishments upon those who either worship False Gods or violate His most Holy Name by Perjury seems to be this to let them know that though men may perhaps be ignorant of or neglect to vindicate these Crimes yet they shall never escape the certain hand of Divine Vengeance in the end which many times indeed is slow in lifting up but always first or last strikes sure and home CHAP. V. The Fourth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember the Sabbath day c. IN Deuteronomy 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observe the Sabbath day and in the Hebrew is the like difference in the latter place Moses expounds what is meant by Remember in the former namely attend to the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sanctifie it viz. by a glad and grateful recordation of the Worlds Creation by God For most true is the Sentence of Rabbi Iudah Barbesathel and R. Ephraim in Keli Iacar that in these words one thing is Commanded and another in the following The keeping holy of the Sabbath day hath for its true cause the Creation of the World the Rest from Labour the Egyptian servitude That extends to all mankind this to the Hebrews only Exod. 31. 13. Which is the
31. 13. it is a Sign betwixt me and you in your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord who sanctifie you Ye shall therefore keep the Sabbath for to you it is holy Nor will the Masters allow it to have pertained to the Gentiles Some exempt even Proselytes of the House from the obligation of this Precept but how that exemption can be brought to consist with those words of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the stranger that is within thy Gates I see not CHAP. VI. The Fifth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. THat this Precept among those that are as it were imprinted upon the mind of man by Nature and Legible by the light of right reason not the least was first given to the Israelites in Marah we have the Authority of the Babylonian Gemara where in titulo Sanhedrin cap. 7. sect 5. we read Decem praecepta acceperunt Israelitae in Mara Septem quae Noachidarum fuere jam vero adjecta sunt Iudicia Sabbatum parentum honos That it obtain'd among the Egyptians also and was by them placed next after the Precept of divine Worship is evident from the funeral Apology used among them wherein the Libitinarius personating the defunct saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I have ever honour'd those who begat my body And that the same was taught also in the School of Pythagoras who learned all his Doctrines from the Egyptian Priests is equally manifest from the Golden Verses where immediately after the precept of Worshipping the Godsfollows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honour thy Parents But long before the days of Pythagoras was this Law placed in the Temple of Ceres Eleusinia if we may confide in the testimony of Porphyry who from Hermippus in De Abstinentia p. 1. and 399. saith as St. Ierom hath translated the place Iovinian l. 2. p. 528. Xenocrates Philosophus de Triptolemi legibus apud Athenienses tria tantum praecepta in templo Eleusinae residere scribit honorandos Parentes venerandos Deos carnibus non vescendum And Socrates in Xenophon Memorabil l. 2. p. 743. saith Civitas ingratitudinis alterius rotionem non habet neque datur actio in eam verùm si quis Parentes non honorârit actio adversùs eum scribitur Magistratum capessere non permittitur For in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquisition made into the manners and life of those who were to be admitted to Magistracy they were interrogated first if they were descended for three generations at least on both sides from Athenian Citizens and Secondly if they had duely honor'd their Parents Because he that is impious toward his Parents cannot be judged pious toward his Country Nor toward God neither saith Menander in this distick Qui patrem incilat voce maledicit patri At in hoc se parat at ipsi maledicat Deo To return to the Egyptians doubtless the Sons among them shew'd all Signs of filial respect and honour to their Fathers while they lived since they piously venerated them even after their decease and paid a kind of religious reverence to their dead bodies to that end preserv'd by precious Embalmments as if death could not cancel their bonds of gratitude nor fate extinguish their Sentiments of natural piety Whence that honourable testimony given of them by the Prince of Antiquaries Diodorus the Sicilian lib. 1. pag. 58. Sanctissimè receptum est inter Egyptios ut appareant Parentes aut Majores ad eternam habitationem translatos impensius honorasse Whereto he adds that it was Lawful for them in case of necessity to pawn the dead bodies of their Parents but those who redeem'd them not were punish'd with highest infamy and contempt during life and after death with privation of Sepulture Nor were the Egyptians the only Nation that taught and urged obedience and honor to Parents from the dictates of Nature For the grave Plutarch de Philadelphia saith Omnes dicunt atque canunt primum ac praecipuum honorem post Deos Parentibus destinasse Naturam Naturae legem Nor is there is the whole World any People so Barbarous and Savage but by mere natural instinct they understand that honour and reverence are due to Parents Wisely therefore did Philo Iudaeus account this Precept now confirmed at the promulgation of the Decalogue the last of the first Table and placed in confinio utriusque His reason this Natura Parentum videtur esse confinium immortalis mortalis essentiae Immortal because a Father by begetting resembles God the Genitor of all things and in the violation of it he puts the highest inhumanity most detestable to God and man feritatis primas ferunt qui Parentes negligunt And in truth this Law is the cement of human society For he that loves and reveres his Parents will requite their care with good education of his Children love his Brethren and Sisters as branches of the same Stock with himself cherish and assist all his kindred as descendent from the same progenitors whence flows that whole Series of consanguinity and natural relation and whence was the most ancient Original of Nations Cities and Towns when Tribes and numerous Families conjoyn'd themselves into Societies under the Government of their Heads After this when men conven'd from many places they began by common consent to constitute Kings and Governours by the example of Parents to whom the ancients therefore gave the most proper and obliging name of Fathers For which reason in the Roman Laws and in those of other nations the crime of Majesty which we call High Treason is put before all other crimes as most pernicious to the peace and safety of the Common-wealth and for the same reason is this Precept of Honouring Parents put before the rest that respect human society Here God hath been pleased to name and certainly as He is the Author of Nature and maker of all Children in the Mothers Womb so is He the most equal Judge the Mother as well as the Father Whereas the Laws of this kind made by Men provide almost for Fathers only as the Persian Law commemorated by Aristotle and the Roman described in the Digests and Institutions mentioned first by Epictetus then by Simplicius and Philo de legatione And though in collisu the right of the Father be the better by reason of the prevalency of his Sex for which God gave the Husband dominion over the Wife yet certainly obedience and reverence which are here signified by the word Honour are from Children due to both In the same word is comprehended also the duty of Thankfulness and a grateful requital as much as in Children lyeth for indeed a full requital can never be made to Parents for the great blessing of existence and life given by them to Children as both Aristotle and Philo have observ'd quomodo enim ab aliquibus genitus eos
vicissim generare possit And as God was pleased for mans imitation to impress upon mute Animals visible characters of almost all virtues of justice clemency chastity fidelity friendship c. not of all in all but of each in particular species so hath He given for an example of filial love and piety to men the Storks which sustain and nourish their Parents when they are grown old and weak For this also is comprehended in the first word of this Precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Honour which in its chief sense signifies to nourish as appears from the 1 Timothy 5. 3. Honour Widows that are Widows indeed i. e. relieve their wants and contribute to their maintenance And so the Hebrews interpret that text in Numbers 22. 17. I will promote thee unto very great honour So Cicero Officior 1. treating of duties to Kindred and near relations saith Necessaria praesidia vitae debentur his maxime And Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. We shall highly honour Parents if we most readily serve them with the Ministry of our body and the help of mony Here I cannot but take notice of a strange distinction made betwixt Sons and Daughters by the Egyptians in their Law of nourishing Parents labouring of old age or poverty and recorded by Herodotus l. 2. 35. Nulla est necessitas filiis alendi parentes nolentibus sed filiabus summa etiamsi nolint Sons are under no necessity to feed and sustain their Parents against their own will but Daughters are most strictly bound to nourish them though against their will An odd Law this to impose the burden upon the weaker Sex and exempt the stronger and the more admirable to me because no reason is added to it by Herodotus nor can I fix my conjecture upon any that is probable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it may be well with thee This is here added out of Deuteronomy for explication sake or perhaps ascribed on the margin from that place in Epist. to the Ephesians 6. 1. 3. many such additional clauses being found in the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That thou mayst live long Here Abenesdras noteth that God is wont when He forbids any thing to annex the penalty where He commands the reward as in this place But St. Paul in the just now cited place to the Ephesians noteth this more that this is the first Commandment with promise The Law in direct words promiseth only temporal felicity as St. Ierom observes l. 2. Commentar in Epist. ad Galat. 1. Dialog contra Pelagium and St. Austin de Civit. Dei l. 10. cap. 15. And of temporal felicity the principal part is long life Which is generally promis'd to those that keep the Law as in Levit. 18. 5. and 25. 18. and in Deuter. 6. 17. 18. and in Ezech. 20. 11. some expound the Hebrew words That they may prolong thy days namely thy Parents by their favour and prayers to God But I fear lest this interpretation be too Subtile and adhere rather to the Seventy and other Interpreters who take the Hebrew word though of an active form in a passive sense viz. That thy days may be prolonged To Absolom violating this precept his days were cut off or shortned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vpon the Earth or in the Land Life in exile is not life but a long death Therefore God promiseth to obsequious and dutiful Children a long life and that too at home in their own Country And Ezechiel enumerating the causes of deserved exile puts the contempt of Parents in the head of the Catologue chap. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The good Land This also hath been added from Deut. 8. 7. but deservedly For that Land was in those days truly good and singularly fertil abounding with Milk Honey and Corn and other Fruits and the only Land that produced Balsam which it continued to do in good plenty down to the days of Pliny who therefore praised it and doth even at this time though in less quantity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which the Lord thy God will give thee The present for the future as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will come Matth. 3. 2. It must be something great and highly estimable that God confers as a donative upon the posterity of those whom he loved above all others and to whom he promised to give it But as God promises great blessings to those that observe this Precept so on the contrary He threatneth grievous punishment to those that contemn and revile their Parents namely death by decree of the Judge if the matter be by sufficient testimonies prov'd against them Exod. 21. 15. 17. and if the matter be not brought to publick notice divine wrath Deut. 27. 16. than which nothing is more dreadful and from which Good Lord deliver us CHAP. VII The Sixth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not commit Adultery IN the Hebrew this Precept is placed next after that against Murder and the Greek Copies also now keep the same order in the rehersal of the Decalogue in Deuteronomy But lest any should think this transposition of these two Precepts a thing recent I must observe that Philo in his time read them as we now do and that he gives this reason for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that among unjust facts Adultery is the greatest And again after he hath with admirable eloquence described the many evil consequents of this crime he saith Meritò Deo hominibus exosa res adulterium inter crimina ordinem ducit meaning the crimes that are injurious to men Nor did the ancient Christians read them otherwise following the Greek Codes as appears from Tertullian de pudicitia who saith Eo amplius praemittens Non maechaberis adjungit non occides Oneravit utique maechiam quam homicidio anteponit c. Wherefore whenever the Ancients bring in these Precepts in another order they bring them out of Deuteronomy not out of this place of Exodus Let us then since we may do so without injury to the diligence of the Masorets follow the Greek Edition which we have taken into our hands and which may be defended not only by its antiquity but also by this probable reason That many of the Hebrew Women preferr'd Chastity to life and that in the judgment of Aristotle the crimes that proceed from the desire of pleasure are more hainous than those that come from anger Abenesdras thinks that by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath committed Adultery all unlawful Venery and simple Fornication is signified but we find that among the Hebrews that word is every-where taken only in the sense of Adultery and so translated in this and other places by the Greek Latin and other Interpreters True it is indeed that in the Mosaic Law there is an interdict that there should be no Whores in the People of Israel and that Incests and Marriages with strange Women that worshipped false Gods
and the Portenta Veneris or unnatural lusts are also strictly prohibited But there was nothing of necessity that in so brief a Decalogue all the crimes that were afterward to be interdicted should be mentioned when it was enough that those were toucht upon that might most hurt either piety or human society So there is no mention made of wounds inflicted but of murder which of all kinds of violence offer'd to the bodies of men is the greatest In these words therefore is properly comprehended both the Wife that yields the use of her body to any other man besides her Husband and the man that polutes anothers Wife Both are condemned to suffer death Levit. 20. 10. Which punishment the Christian Emperors Constans and Constantius long after introduced into the Roman Empire as appears from the Theodosian Code Nor is this capital punishment to be thought more severe than Equity requires if we well consider that Common-wealths arise from and are conserv'd by marriages that their very foundations are shook by Adultery that conjugal love is converted into mutual hatred that inheritances are alienated to a spurious issue while the right Heir is supplanted that whole houses are fill'd with reproaches and feuds which descend to posterity and not seldom break forth into publick miseries and destruction Of these dire mischiefs and a hundred other too many to be here in this brief and desultory discourse particularly mentioned sad and tragical examples occur in almost all Histories whether ancient or modern and the consideration of them made Epicurus in the Moral Sentences ascribed to him to say What evil doth it not draw upon a man to desire to have to do with a Woman whose company is interdicted to him by the Laws Doubtless a wise man must be deterred from admitting such a design into his thoughts if not by the manifest injustice thereof yet at least by the great solicitude of mind requisite to obviate the many and great dangers that threaten him in the pursuit of it it being found true by daily experience that those who attempt to enjoy forbidden Women are frequently rewarded with wounds death imprisonment exile and other grievous punishments Whence it comes that for a pleasure which is but short little and not necessary to nature and which might have been either otherwise enjoy'd or wholly omitted men too often expose themselves to very great pain danger or at best late and bitter repentance CHAP. VIII The Seventh Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Kill THat in the Books of our time this Precept hath been unduly placed after that against Theft Philo Tertullian and others clearly shew Philo saith truly That he who commits Homicide is guilty also of Sacriledge in that he violates the Image of God and then he most hainously sins against Society to which all Men are born and which cannot consist if Innocency be not safe from Violence Since Nature hath instituted a certain Cognation betwixt us it is a genuine consequence saith Florentinus most wisely that for one man to lye in wait for the blood of another is a high Crime against the Law of Nature Then again he that assumes to himself that power over the Life of another how nocent soever which the Law attributes only to the Judge violates the Civil Laws So that Homicide is a Crime against the Majesty of God against the Law of Nature and against the Laws of Humane Society or Civil Government But by the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Kill is here signified not every act by which the Life of another is taken away but the unlawful Act which is wont to be the sense of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath Murder'd What therefore is done in defence of Life or Chastity is exempt from this Law by that of Exod. 22. 2. and Deut. 22. 26. So are other Killings that the Law permits as the Killing of him that attempts to seduce to the Worship of strange Gods Deut. 25. 6 7 8. And the Killing of an Homicide is permitted to the Revenger of Blood who was the next of Kin to the person slain The same is to be said also of those who have receiv'd from God a special mandate to Kill some Peoples or Men. For there is no injury in what God commands who hath by highest right most Absolute Dominion of the Life and Death of all Men even without cause Given Of the Right of Zealots deriv'd from the Example of Phineas the Son of Eleazar Numb 25. 11. we have formerly spoken in Art 6. of Chap. 6. of the former part of this Disquisition CHAP. IX The Eighth Precept explained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Steal UNder the Name of Theft is comprehended all subduction or taking away of the Goods of another whether it be done by force or by fraud Society to which as was just now said all Men are born cannot subsist unless every Mans Possessions be in safety He therefore that either by open Violence or by privy Stealing takes any thing from a private Man at the same time both wrongs him by invading his Propriety and hurts the Common-wealth by dissolving the common Ligament or bond of it which is the safety of every Mans private Right or Propriety Nor is it to be doubted but he that indulges to himself that licence would if he could invade all things of all Men and by open Force make the Common-wealth his own For Injustice strengthned by Power becomes Tyranny Therefore The Seeds of so great and pernicious an evil were to be early oppress'd and the diligence of all Men to be excited to Labours by Faith made to them that they should quietly keep possess and enjoy whatsoever they by their honest Pains Art and Industry acquired To admit Theft saith Paul the learned Roman Lawyer is prohibited by Law Natural And Vlpian saith that Theft and Adultery are by Nature shameful and odious By the Mosaic Law the Panishments of Theft were various according to the quality and valour of the things stolen and some other Circumstances But Theft of the most precious thing of a Man which the Latines call Plagium was punish'd with Death Exod. 21. 16. and Deut. 24. 7. Which Abenesdras in his Notes upon this Precept will have to be understood only de Puero of a Boy or Child that cannot speak Theft of a Man was interdicted also by the Roman Law F. F. de furtis 37. 60. So it is by our Law which makes it Felony CHAP. X. The Ninth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not speak against thy Neighbour a false Testimony NEighbour here is an Israelite of the same Country as appears from Exod 11. 13. and Levit. 19. 18. Where it is said Thou shalt not stand against the Blood of thy Neighbour Which according to the Interpretation of the Masters is Thou shalt not stand an idle Spectator when an Israelite one of thy
that were in our Saviour's time and a little before and after who finding in the Mosaic Law no penalty ordain'd for thoughts and desires of interverting the Wife or Goods and possessions of another man therefore deny that any sin is committed by the Will alone without any overt Act unless in the case of worshipping false Gods because to such thoughts Counsel and purpose a penalty was assign'd and to no other And that this was the judgment of most Rabbins Abenesdras noteth at the beginning of the Decalogue and Iosephus certainly was of the same when treating of the Sacrilege designed by Antiochus he said non erat paenae obnoxium consilium sine effectu Nor would St. Paul educated under such Masters have believed otherwise had not a more exact and more Spiritual consideration of the Law convinced him and brought him to write Romans 7. 13. that the Law being Spiritual makes concupiscence in thought though it proceed no farther sinful But what shall we Christians say of what our Saviour prescribes to us in the Gospel of St. Matthew 5. that this Law which we now consider was thereby only vindicated from an erroneous interpretation or that somewhat was aded unto it The latter is more probable viz. that Christ prohibited not only a firm purpose and design to gratifie our lusts but also the assent or yielding to the motions of them which He commands us to suppress and extinguish so soon as they are felt and perceived within us and to avoid all occasions that may foment them which He teacheth very significantly though in parable by the casting away of Hand Eye and Foot i. e. by the loss of those things that are dear to us Nor content to have taught this purer Doctrine He addeth a more grievous penalty to offenders than any found in the old Law namely that of Hell whereas for such delicts the Law of Moses prescribes no punishment at all as the Masters rightly observe Certainly the ancient Christians held that in the Gospel somewhat more perfect is exacted than what the Law expressly treats of Witness Tertullian Nos ergo soli innocentes quid mirum si necesse est Enimvero necesse est innocentiam à Deo edocti perfectè eam novimus ut à perfecto Magistro revelatam fideliter custodimus ut ab incontemptibili dispectore mandatam Let us for example take that Precept of not lusting after a Woman which the Ancients thus explicate Iustin writing to Zena and Serenus saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first fume of this appetite is interdicted by Christ. Athenagoras saith we are so far from thinking such things indifferent that it is not permitted to us to look upon a Woman with desire Tertullian de velandis virginibus a Christian beholds a Woman with safe Eyes in mind he is blind toward lust And Minutius ye punish wicked Acts to us but to think an ill thought is to sin This more refined precept deliver'd by Christ with some other of like perfection seem'd so new and so heavy withal to the Iews that Tryphon the most learned and eloquent among them doubted not to say to Iustin Your Precepts in the Evangel I know to be so great and admirable that no man is I think able to observe them not considering what had been taught by Christ Matth. 19. 26. With men this is impossible to God all things are possible Namely Christ hath obtain'd for those that believe in him a more certain faith of eternal life and a Spirit much greater than had ever before been given to men and then by His sufferings upon the Cross He gave us an example most absolute and that nothing is so hard at first which may not by exercise and a willing mind be made easy and familiar as most of the Fathers have noted upon that in St. Matthew 12. 30. By this custom of repugning it comes to pass that those lustful motions by degrees subdued dare no more rise up within us This is that noble and glorious victory by faith of which St. Iohn speaks in his Epistle c. 5. v. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor his field nor his Man-servant nor his Maid-servant nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any Beast of his nor any thing that is thy Neighbours Nor his Field hath crept hither from Deuteronomy and nor any Beast of his from the Precept of the Sabbath for neither is found in the Hebrew of this place But these differences are of little moment Tertullian spake all in a word when he said alienum non concupisces thou shall covet nothing that belongs to another not the least things ought to be excepted lest by degrees men should go higher nor the greatest because in such the virtue of justice is most resplendent And Aristotle being asked what was Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iust answered as became the Prince of Philosophers Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non concupiscere aliena in which all Moral Precepts are reduced to one CHAP. XII Evangelick Precepts conferr'd with those of the Decalogue IT was wisely observ'd by Philo that the Masters of his Nation were wont to referr to these ten Precepts of the Decalogue which we have endeavor'd briefly to explicate whatsoever was contained in the whole Law of Moses not that all the Mosaic Institutes were comprehended in the words of the Ten Commandments but that these all pertain to certain kinds of actions to which the rest may be for help of the memory referr'd as all things are by Philosophers referr'd to Ten Categories or Predicaments for more facility of teaching This very thing have the Christians also done referring all Evangelic Precepts to their respective places in the Decalogue but they have done it much more fully and perfectly as being both endowed with a greater Spirit and obliged by their most noble faith and profession to exercise sublimer virtues Thus to the First head which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods Vnity and single Government they congruously refer not only all those Doctrines of the Gospel that forbid the least shew or appearance of Worship exhibited to false Gods deliver'd in Acts 15. 20. and 29. in 1 Corinth 8. 10. in 1 Iohn 5. 21. and particularly expounded by Tertullian in Apologetico and the Ancient Canons but also those that Command the Vnity of the Church most strictly to be observ'd taught in Iohn 17. 3. and 21. in 1 Corinth 8. 6. and 12. 2. 18. 19. and 25. and in Ephes. 4. 5. To the Second which interdicteth Idols or Images they refer all the Evangelic Precepts by which we are prohibited to addict our selves to or fix our affections upon things subject to sense so as to prefer them before or equal them to God such as are given in Matth. 6. 24. in Ephes. 5. 5. in Coloss. 3. 5. in Philip. 3. 19. and in Romans 16. 17. Of which argument we may read excellent things in St. Chrysostom upon the fifth Chapter of the Epistle
St. Austin contra adversarios Legis Prophetarum l. 2. c. 1. saith expressly Habere praeter Scripturas legitimas et propheticas Iudaeos quasdam Traditiones suas quas non scriptas habent sed memoriter tenent et alter in alterum Loquendo transfundit quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant it seems probable that the Mishna was either not written or at least not well known in the world in the year of Christ 400. as the Modern Rabbins would have it to have been Among these Maimonides in praefat ad Mishnam affirms that about 300 years from the destruction of the Temple Rabbi Iochanan Head of a Synagogue in Palestin added the GEMARA 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Complement call'd the Ierusalem Gemara Which joyned with the Mishna of Iudas makes the Ierusalem TALMUD And this Maimonides well deserves our belief For his extraordinary Wisdom and Learning are to this day so much admired by the Iews that they commonly say of him à Mose usque ad Mosem nequaquam fuisse hactenus talem Mosem and Mr. Selden de Diis Syris syntagmate 2 cap. 4. prefers him to all other Rabbins saying primus Rabbinorum fuit qui delirare desiit The Iews at length passing from the Subjection of the Romans to that of the Persians about 100 years after Rabbi Ase in the Land of Babylon composed another Gemara or Complement of the Mishna which from thence was denominated the Babylonic Gemara and which contains many ridiculous fictions and fables incredible And this with the Mishna makes the Babylonian Talmud which is now most in use nay doctrinal to all the Iews as if all their discipline all Law both Divine and Human were therein comprehended in which notwithstanding the Sadduces are never remember'd but under the name of Hereticks or Epicureans In the Mishna if self were contain'd not only the Judgments Ordinances and Decrees of all precedent Consistories but also a Collection of all the Traditions which they call the Law Oral and pretend to have been originally receiv'd from the mouth of Moses himself And to give more credit and authority to these traditional Precepts Rabbi Eliezar in Pirke cap. 49. editionis Vorstianae pag. 123. tells us that during the 40 days absence of Moses on the Mount he spent the days in reading the Scripture and the nights in composing the Mishna and in the Babylonic Gemara is a formal story of the very manner forsooth how Moses communicated and explain'd the Oral Law to Aaron and his Sons and the Elders The Elders saith the Pirke Aboth i. e. capitula Patrum a Talmudic treatise deliver'd the same to the Prophets and the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue and they again handed it down to their Successors But these things being too compendiously spoken to evince the succession through so many ages the more recent Rabbins have put their wit upon the Rack to explicate the matter more particularly After the finishing of the Talmud for an age or two there is nothing but thick darkness in the Histories of the Iews but then they being expulsed out of Babylon and their Schools left empty and desolate about the year of our Lord 1040. a great part of the Rabbins and People came for refuge into Europe and chiefly into Spain there appearing to us no Memorials of European Iews before that time Since that innumerable Rabbins men of great Learning skill in all Sciences nor addicting themselves and studies to the extravagant and absurd dreams of the Talmud as their predecessors had done have written copiously and the succession of the Cabbala hath been sought for in the East Rabbi Moses ben Maimon vulgarly Maimonides and Rambam born at Corduba in the year of Christ 1135. died at the age of 70. after he had written Commentaries upon the Mishna in the preface to which he gives a long series or list of those who had propagated the Oral Law successively Which yet appearing imperfect and interrupt to Rabbi Abraham Zacuth of Salamanca who wrote Iuchasiin in the year of Christ 1502. he and his contemporany Don Isaac Abarbinel an exiled Spaniard and after them David Ganz who brought his Chronology down to the year of Christ 1592. in his Book entitled Tzemach or Germen Davidis found or made that Catalogue of the Propagators of the Traditional Law more perfect and continued Herein Zacuth indeed follow'd Maimonides and Ganz trod in the steps of Abarbinel but Guitiel Vorstius in observat in Ganz pag. 213. comparing these successions each with the other from the diversity of computation from the interruption and gaping conjunction thereof argues the Catalogue to be plainly fictitious There are nevertheless even among our Christian Divines some who lay hold upon that continuation of Traditions and use it to serve their turn how prudently let others judge For I have not undertaken curiously to examine that series and the nine classes of Iewish Doctors contenting my self at present with these few collections concerning the Original and Antiquity of the Talmud FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard H. Mori Opera Theologica Philosophica Fol. Three Vol. Dr. More 's Reply to the Answer to his Antidote against Idolatry With his Appendix Octavio Remarques on Judge Hales of fluid Bodies c. Octavo Exposition on the Apocalyps Quarto Exposition on Daniel Quarto Confutation of Astrology against Butler Quarto Dr. Sherlock's Discourse of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. With his Defence Octavo Answer to Danson Quarto Account of Ferguson's Common-place-Book Quarto Dr. Falkener's Libertas Ecclesiastica Octavo Christian Loyalty Octavo Vindication of Liturgies Octavo Dr. Fowler 's Libertas Evangelica Octavo Mr. Scot's Christian Life Octavo Dr. Worthington's great Duty of Self-Resignation Octavo Dr. Smith's Pourtraict of Old Age. Octavo Mr. Kidder's Discourse of Christian Fortitude Oct. Mr. Allen's Discourse of Divine Assistance Octavo Christian Justification stated Octavo Against Ferguson of Justification Octav. Perswasive to Peace and Unity With a large Preface Octavo Preface to the Perswasive Alone Octav. Against the Quakers Octavo Mystery of Iniquity unfolded against the Papists Octavo Serious and Friendly Address to the Nonconformists Octavo Practical Discourse of Humility Octavo Mr. Lamb's stop to the Course of Separation Octa. Fresh Suit against Independency Octavo Mr. Hotchkis Discourse of the Imputation of Christs Righteousness to us and our Sins to him In two Parts Octavo Mr. Long 's History of the Donatists Octavo Character of a Separatist Octavo Against Hales of Schism With Mr. Baxter's Arguments for Conformity Octavo Non-Conformists Plea for Peace Impleaded against Mr. Baxter Octavo Dr. Grove's Vindication of the Conforming Clergy Quarto Defence of the Church and Clergy of England Quarto Defensio suae Responsionis ad nuperum Libellum qui Inscribitur Celeusma c. in Quarto Responsio ad Celeusma c. Quarto The Spirit of Popery speaking out of the Mouths of Fanatical
whom they pleased before the Law 10. The Right of Divorce instituted by Moses 11. Polygamy permitted to the Hebrews both before and after the Law 12. The Hebrews not permitted to lie or marry with Gentiles not Proselytes 13. Eunuchs Bastards excluded from Matrimony with Israelites 14. The Right of Proselytes and Libertines 15. The Maid-Servant not permitted to Marry before she was made absolutely Free by Redemption or Manumission 16. Nor the Man-Servant until the Christians gave them jus Conjugii Article 1. Theft Interdicted among the Egyptians whose Singular Law concerning Robbery is recited 2. Theft of what kind soever forbidden also to the Sons of Noah by Law Natural and 3. By the Mosaic to the Hebrews 4. Fraudulent removing of ancient Land-marks Theft 5. Punishment of various frauds among the Egyptians 6. All fraud even in words unlawful to the Hebrews 7. The difference betwixt the Right of an Hebrew and of a Gentile as to pilfering things of small Value 8. Satisfaction for damage always to be made by the Mosaic Law and to whom 9. The Law of restoring things lost explicated 10. An unequal Price unlawful 11. Punishment of Theft Capital not from the Law of the Hebrews but from that given to the Sons of Noah 21 The Mosaic Interdict of Theft deduced from Law Natural 13. Vsury unlawful to the Hebrews among themselves lawful to the Gentiles 14. Gain from Games unlawful to an Hebrew Artic. 1. The administration of Justice by Iudges prescribed first by Natural Law after by the Mosaic 2. Courts Iuridical not constituted before Moses 3. The contrary not evident from the Traditions of the Rabbins nor from the Scripture 4. Nor from the Example of Simeon and Levi and of Iudah in the cause of Thamar 5. The Right of a Gentile in the Common-wealth of the Hebrews as to Judgments in foro Article 1. Eating of Blood Interdicted first to Noah and after to the Israelites 2. The reason of this Interdict 3. The Law against eating of any thing that died of it self and of any Member torn off from an Animal alive and the reason thereof 4. Examples of such cruelty carnage in Bacchanals Article 1. The Mosaic Law of all written Laws the most ancient 2. Moses the Wisest of all Law-givers 3. The Writers design method in the eâ—suing explication of the Decalogue 4. Why God is here call'd The Lord. 5. That the Law was given not immediately by God Himself but by an Angel in the Name of God 6. Why the Angel that pronounced the Law said I am the Lord c. 7. Why the Writer of the Law saith all these Words 8. God's peculiar Right to the Title of Supream Lord of the Israelites 9. The Preface to a Law ought to be brief and full of Authority 10. Why God in these Precept chose the number Ten. 11. Why the Law was given in the Wilderness 12. Why it is here said Thy in the singular number Article 1. Why it is here said Other Gods beside me 2. Gods distinguish'd into two Classes 3. The Celestial Luminaries the first false Gods 4. Kings and Queens deified after death the Second false Gods 5. Whence it was that Brutes came to be worship'd as Gods 6. Honor due to good Angels and what 7. Signs of honour proper to God not to be exhibited to good Angels 8. Civil Veneration of Kings not unlawful 9. Extirpation of Polytheism the principal design of this Precept 10. The Unity of God manifest by the Light of Nature Article 1. In what sense the word Idol is always used in holy Scripture 2. That Idolatry was founded upon an opinion that Images Magically consecrate were animated by Daemons and therefore vocal 3. Teraphim used chiefly for Divination 4. Teraphim how made 5. Of what Materials 6. What were the Silver Shrines of Diana of the Ephesians 7. Why graven Images of Animals were by God interdicted to the Hebrews 8. That God reserv'd to himself a right of exception to this Law from the Instances of the Cherubims and of the Brazen Serpent Erected by His Command 9. Images of the Stars also interdicted by this precept and that to prevent Polytheism 10. to admonish men That the Invisible God cannot be represented by Images 11. What Pictures fall under this interdict 12. That the Christians have not thought themselves indeterminately obliged by this Law 13. What is here signified by Adoration of Images 14. Different Opinions of Christians about honour exhibited to Saints before their Images Pictures 15. The true sense of the Word Idolatry 16. Private Men among Christians ought not to pull down Idols * 17. That God revenges Idolatry only to the third and fourth Generation and that by delivering up the Posterity of Idolaters into miserable Servitude 18. Who are properly said to hate God 19. Why God is here said to shew mercy unto Thousands 20. Who are by God call'd Pious and who Righteous Men. Article 1. Why it is here said the Name of the Lord not my Name * 2. Perjury interdicted chiefly by this Precept and 3. Threatned to be severely punish'd by God Himself 4. The Sanctity of an Oath 5. Why God threatneth to revenge Perjury by Punishments inflicted by Himself Article 1. The precept of keeping holy the Sabbath distinguish'd from the precept of resting from Labour upon the Sabbath as by the causes so also by the times 2. The different interpretations of Grotius and Selden of the word Remember reconciled 3. Testimonies of the Sabbath observ'd anciently by Gentiles also 4. Why the primitive Christians held their Assemblies upon the Sabbath day 5 The Lords day not Surrogated into the place of the Sabbath 6. why the Greeks and Latins use the word Sabbata not Sabbatum 7. Labour upon Six days of the Week not commanded but only permitted 8. Why God fixed the Sabbath upon the Seventh day 9. Why he by many words inculcated this Precept 10. Who are to be understood here by Thy Son and thy Daughter 11. Humanity of Masters towards Servants here intimated 12. Some goodness and mercy to be exercised also toward Brutes by this Precept 13. Who is here meant by The Stranger that is within thy gates * 14. Why the Stranger was by this Law obliged to abstain from Labour upon the Sabbath 15. Why God made the Universe in Six days 16. What is to be understood by His resting upon the Seventh day * 17. How the true Seventh or Sabbatical day was first made known to the Hebrews 18. The honour of the number Seven deriv'd from the Aegyptian Mathematicians 19. The Septenary number of days observ'd by Gentiles in their Feasts 20. The Number Seven of solemn respect in the Mosaic Rites in other Mysteries 21. The weekly Circle of Days deriv'd by the Aegyptian Astrologers from the Seven Planets 22. Bede's reason why in the planetary denomination of the Seven days of the week the natural order of the Planets was not observ'd 23. Why Saturn was made Lord of the Seventh day 24. The Antiquity of the planetary denomination of the Seven days and conclusion of this chapter Article 1. That this Precept was anciently observed by the Egyptians the Pythagoreans and 2. the Athenians 3. Honour and reverence given by the Egyptians even to the dead bodies of their Parents 4. Other Nations also honour'd Parents 5. Excellency and usefulness of this Law 6. The right of Mothers to honour and reverence from their Children 7. Children by this Law obliged to relieve their Parents in want 8. Longaevity the reward of filial reverence 9. The Penalty added to this Law Article 1. Murder a Crime against God Nature and Civil Laws 2. Exempts from this Law Article 1. Theft injurious to private Men and hurtful to the Public * 2. The necessity and utility of this interdict 3. Theft of a Man capital among the Hebrews Article 1. Who is here to be understood by Neighbour 2. The form of Adjuration used by the Hebrew Judges to Witnesses and to the Accused 3. False Testimony a hainous Crime 4. The Punishment of a False Witness among the Hebrews Article 1. What is here meant by Concupiscence according to the interpretation of the Hebrew Masters 2. Acts indirectly tending to the gratification of lusts interdicted by this Precept 3. As also the simple purpose to fulfil them 4. Concupiscence without effect no Sin according to the judgment of the Rabbins 5. But condemn'd by the Christians who are obliged to purity of mind 6. Not to covet any thing that belongs to another the Sum of all Moral Precepts