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DISCOURSES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 AND THE SACRAMENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 BAPTISM 
 
 AXD THE 
 
 LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 LECTURES ON THE CATECHISM 
 ARCHBISHOP ^SECKER. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE, AND HIS SERMON ON 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Selected, and edited by 
 
 A MINISTER of the P. Ep. CHURCH, in the U. S, 
 
 PUBLISHED, 1824. 
 
 BY s. POTTER & CO. PMlad. — E. J. coALE, Baltimore — pishev tho^ipsov. 
 Wash. City — n. j. smith, Richmond^ fa. — e. tuater, Charleston, S. C, 
 — JAXES £. LAY, JVew-York — a. h. MAiTux & CO. A'c'iv Haven, Con. — ■ 
 H. p. & c. WILLIAMS, BostoJi, — u. GRAi' & CO. Portsmouth, A'. H.—h 
 1). ALLiNSOK, Burlington J\\ J. 
 
V 
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 These lectures have been always considered by the 
 Church of England as a standard work, and containing 
 a most luminous and devout exposition of her doctrines, 
 or, to use the words of Bp. Porteus, " one of the fullest, 
 clearest, and most exact compendiums of revealed reli- 
 gion, that the English language affords." In presenting 
 them to public notice in this country, the Editor has been 
 apprehensive, lest the size and cost of the volume con- 
 taining all the Lectures, might prove an obstacle to the 
 general circulation of such an invaluable work. The 
 difficulty, however, was, where all is so excellent, to 
 make a satisfactory selection: after mature deliber- 
 ation, and weighty advice, he is induced to omit for 
 the present the Lectures on the creed, and the Lord's 
 prayer, although these may also probably constitute a 
 separate volume of the same size hereafter. This 
 omission however, lie at any rate conceives, may more 
 readily be supplied by other treatises on these parts 
 of the catechism, than the lectures on the command- 
 ments and the sacraments, which the Reader, it is trust- 
 ed, will find to be eminently instructive and satisfactory ; 
 and in which, even very high attainments in religious 
 knowledge will discover additional light, and fresh ex- 
 citements to devotion. But to tliose who study the 
 other integral portions of the catechism, with a view 
 either to learn or expound them, ample means are af- 
 forded by many approved publications : among other 
 writers on these subjects. Fear son on the Creed, and 
 '^frs, //. More on the Lord's prayer, are fully competent 
 
ir editor's preface. 
 
 to supply the omission which is now very reluctantly 
 adopted, of these admirable lectures of the learned and 
 pious Archbishop. As no commendations can be ad- 
 ded to those, which these lectures have uniformly re- 
 ceived since their first publication, it remains only to 
 be desired, that they who may possess them, peruse 
 them in the same spirit with which they were writ- 
 ten, and thus render them instrumental, in promoting 
 the genuine doctrines, and devout practices of our holy 
 religion. 
 
 .Surlinq-ton, AZ J. January, 1824. 
 
^MEMOIR 
 
 W^^ 
 
 Rt. Rev. ARCHBISHOP 
 
 THOMAS SECKER, L.L.D. 
 
 CHIEFLY ABRIDGED FROM BISHOP PORTEUS's REVIEW OF HIS GRACE S 
 XIFE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 DR. THOMAS SECKER, late Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, was born in 1693, at a village called Sibthorp, 
 in the vale of Bel voir, Nottinghamshire. His father was 
 a protestant dissenter, a pious, virtuous, and sensible 
 man, who followed no profession : his mother, the 
 daughter of Mr. George Brough, a substantial gentle- 
 man farmer of Shelton, in the same county. 
 
 Notw^ithstanding some disadvantages which are no- 
 ticed to have occurred to him, in a private education ; 
 the subject of our memoir is stated, at the age of 1 9, to 
 have made, not only a considerable progress in Greek 
 and Latin, and to have read the best ^Titers in both 
 languages ; but to have acquired a knowledge of French^ 
 Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac; and had learned geo- 
 graphy, logic, algebra, geometry, conic sections, and 
 gone through a course of lectures on Jewish Antiquities 
 and other points, preparatory to the critical study of 
 the Bible. The disposition of his mind appears to have 
 led him towards the ministry, and the result of his stu- 
 dies was, a solid conviction t)f the truths of the Gospel^ 
 yet, not being able to decide t)ii some abstruse specula- 
 
 1 
 
b LIFE OF SECKES. 
 
 tive doctrines, or to determine absolutely what com- 
 munion he should embrace ; he resolved about the age of 
 23, to apply himself to the study of physic, which afford- 
 ed him opportunity to weigh things more maturely 
 in his thoughts, and to settle his opinions on mature 
 reflection. After attending lectures two years in Lon- 
 don, he went to Paris for farther improvement, and car- 
 ried his attention to all the brancltes of medicine, inclu- 
 ding surgery, and midwifery. During this period, he 
 kept up a close correspondence with Mr. Joseph (after- 
 wards bishop) Butler, who had been a fellow stu<lent 
 at Tewksbury. — Mr. Butler having been appointed 
 preacher at the Rolls, at the recommendation of Dr. 
 Clarke and Mr. Edward Talbot, son to bishop Talbot, 
 he now took occasion to mention his friend, Mr, Seeker, 
 without Seeker's knowledge, to Mr. Talbot, who pro- 
 mised, in case he chose to take orders in the Church of 
 England, to engage tbe Bishop, his father, to provide 
 for him. This was communicated to Mr. Seeker in a 
 letter from Mr. Butler, about the beginning of May 
 1720. He had not at that time come to any resohition 
 of quitting the study of physic ; but he began to foresee 
 many obstacles to his pursuing that profession, and hav- 
 ing never discontinued his application to Theology, liis 
 former diiliculties, both with regard to conformity, and 
 some otlier doubtful points, had gradually lessened, as 
 his judgment became stronger, and his reading and 
 knowledge, more extensive. It appears also, from two 
 of his letters, both prior to the date of Mr. Butler's 
 above mentioned^ that he was greatly dissatisfied with 
 the divisions and disturbances, which at that period 
 prevailed among the dissenters. 
 
 In this state of mind Mr. Butler's unexpected propo- 
 sal found liim, and after deliberating on the subject of 
 such a change upwards of two months, he resolved to 
 
tlFE OF SECKER. 7 
 
 embrace the offer, and quitted France about the begin- 
 niiij!^ of Au,^ust, 1720. 
 
 It was thought right by his friends, that he should 
 )iave a degree from Oxford : with this view, and in order 
 to expedite the process, he took the degree of M.D. at 
 Leyden, in the year 1721, on which occasion he did 
 himself great credit, by a thesis which he delivered on 
 the occasion, " De Medicina Statica.'^ He then entered 
 himself a gentleman commoner of Exeter College, Ox- 
 ford, and in a few months obtained the degree of B.A. in 
 that University. He was ordained by Dr. Talbot, at 
 that time Bishop of Durham, and preached his first 
 sermon in March, 1723. The prelate now^took him into 
 his family as ChaplaiUj^ in which office he had Dr. Rundle 
 for an associate. In 1724, he was presented to the val- 
 uable rectory of Houghton-le-Spiing, in Durham; and 
 being in a situation to maintain a family, he maiTied 
 the sister of Mr. Benson, afterwas-ds Bishop of Glouces- 
 ter, and Mr. Talbot's widow came to live with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Seeker, from whom she received, to the end of life, 
 the most assiduous attentions. 
 
 He now set himself down sei'iously to the duties of 
 a country Rector, and supported that useful and respec- 
 table character througliout, with the strictest propriety. 
 He omitted nothing which he thought could be of use, 
 to the souls and bodies of the people intrusted to his care. 
 He brought down his conversation and his sermons to 
 the level of their understandings; he visite*d them in 
 ])rivate, he catechised the young and ignorant, he recei- 
 ved his country neighbours and tenants kindly and hos- 
 pitably, and was of great service to the poorer sort of 
 them, by his skill in physick, which was the only use he 
 ever made of it. Though this place was in a very re- 
 mote part of tjie world, yet the solitude of it perfectly 
 suited his studious disposition, and the income arising 
 
o TuIVE OF SECtER. 
 
 fi'om it, bounded his ambition. Here he would have 
 been content to live and die : here, as he has often been 
 heard to declare, he spent some of the happiest hours of 
 his life ; and it was no thought or choice of his own, that 
 removed him to a higher and more public sphere ; but 
 tiie situation did not agree with the health of ISIrs. Seek- 
 er, and he exchanged Houghton, for a prebend of Dur- 
 ham, with the rectory of Ryton. He continued to reside 
 in the north till 1732, when, being nominated one of the 
 chaplains of the King, became to the metropolis, and in 
 the following year he was presented with the rectory of 
 St. James. On this occasion^ he went to Oxford to 
 take the degree of doctor of laws, not being of sufficient 
 standing for that of Divinity, when he preached what 
 was denominated an Act sermon, " On the advantages 
 and duties of an Academical Education," which was 
 regarded as a masterpiece of sound reasoning and good 
 composition. It was printed at the desire of the heads of 
 the houses, and quickly. passed througlt several editions; 
 and the reputation. derived from it, was thought to ha\e 
 contributed not a little to his advancement to the episco- 
 pal bench, which took place in Jan. 1734-5, when he was 
 consecrated Bishop of Bristol, Dr. Benson, his brother- 
 in-law, being at the same time consecrated to the see of 
 Gloucestero. 
 
 In his high office, as a Bishop, he exhibited the most 
 striking proofs of a conscientious attention to all parts 
 of his duty : he held a confirmation once every year, and 
 examined and instructed the candidates several weeks 
 before in the vestry, and gave them religious Tracts, 
 which he also distributed at other times very liberally 
 to those that needed them. He drew up for the use of 
 his parishioners, his admirable course of Lectures on 
 the Church Catechism ; and not only read them once 
 every week on the usual days, but also every Sunday 
 
LIFE OF SECKER. 9 
 
 eYcniiiij;, either at the CImrch, or one of tlie Chapels be- 
 long'iiii^ to it. They were received Avith universal ap- 
 probation, and attended re^^ularly by persons of all a.^es 
 and conditions; and the judgment of the ])ublic has 
 since confii-ined the opinion of his parishioners, and es- 
 tablished the reputation of this woik, as one of the full- 
 est, clearest, and exactest conipendiunis of revealed re- 
 liction, that the English Language affords. 
 
 The Sermo!is composed by him, were tnily excellent 
 and original : he laid before his audience, witli equal 
 freedom ami plainness, the great Christian duties be- 
 longing to their respective stations, and reproved the 
 follies and vices of every rank among them, without 
 distinction or palliation. He studied human nature tho- 
 I'oughly, in all its various foi'ms, and knew what sort of 
 ai'guments would have most weight wkh each class of 
 men. He brought the subject home to their bosoms, and 
 did not seem to be merely saying useful things in their 
 ])rcsence, hut addressinghimself personally to every one 
 of them. Few ever possessed in a higher degree, the 
 rare talent of touching on tbe most deiicate subjects 
 "^itlrthe nicest |)i-o})!-iety and decorum, of saying the 
 most familiar things without being low, the plainest 
 without being feeble, the boldest without giving offence. 
 Hecouid descend with such singular ease and felicity 
 into the minutest cwiccrns of common life, could lay open 
 ^^ ith so much adcft'css the various workings, artifices 
 and evasions^of the human mind, that his hearers often 
 thougbt their own paiticular cases alluded to, and heard 
 with surprise their private sentiments and feelings, their 
 ways of reasoning and principles of acting, exactly 
 stated and described. His preaching was-, at the same 
 time, higlily rationaht atuh truly evangelical. He 
 explained with perspicuity^ he asserted with dignity, t-ht3 
 ptirtictihir charactei-istie doctrines of the Gospel. He 
 
iO LIFE OF SBCKEK. 
 
 inculcated the utility, the necessity of them, not merely as 
 speculative truths, but as actual instruments of moral 
 goodness, tending to purify the hearts, and regulate the 
 lives of men; and thus by God's gracious appointment, 
 as well as by the inseparable connexion between true 
 faith and right practice, leading them to salvation. 
 
 These important truths he taught witii the authority, 
 the tenderness, the familiarity of a parent instructing 
 his children. Though he neither pejssessed nor affccted 
 the artificial eloquence, of an Orator who wants toamua® 
 or mislead, yet he had that of an honest man who wants 
 to convince, of a Christian preacher who wants to refoj-m 
 and to save, those that hear him. Solid argument, manly 
 sense, useful directions, short, nervous, striking senten- 
 ces, awakening questions, frequent aad pertinent appli« 
 cations of Scripture ; all these following eacli other iu 
 quick succession, and coming evidently from the speak- 
 er's heart, enforced by his elocution, Jiis figure, his ac- 
 tion, and above all, by the corresponding sanctity of his 
 example ,• stamped conviction on the minds ftf his hearers,, 
 and sent them home with impressions itot easy to be 
 effaced. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1748, Mrs. Seeker died of the 
 gout in her stomach. She was a woman of great sense and 
 merit, but of a very sickly constitution. They had been 
 married upwards of 20 years, during tfie greatest part 
 of which time, her extreme bad state of health and spi- 
 rits, hud put his affection to the severest trials ; by wliich, 
 instead of being lessened, it seemed to become stronger 
 every day. He attended her in all her long illnesses, 
 with the greatest care and tenderness, and was always 
 i'cady to break off any ei>gagement, any study, provided 
 his company could procure b©r a moments ease or cheer- 
 fulness. 
 
 He continued in the See of Oxford, to which h« 
 
' LIFE OF SEClvmn 11 
 
 was translated in 1737 at the earnest request of Bishop 
 Sherlock, upwanW of twenty years ; goini^ on that 
 whole time in the same even couisc of duty, and en- 
 joying with the hnghest relish those leisure hours, 
 which his retirement at Cuddesden sometimes afford- 
 ed him, for the prosecution^ of his favourite studies. 
 At length however, his distinguished merit prevailed 
 over all the political obstacles to his advancement; and 
 placed him, without any el^rt or application of his own, 
 in that important station which he hud shown himself so 
 well qualified to adorn. — Within a very few days after 
 the death of Archbishop Hutton, he received a message 
 from the duke of Newcastle^ acquainting him that his 
 Grace had proposed him to the King for the vacant See 
 of Canterbury. He returiied the duke a short note o-f 
 thanks, expressing at the same time his wishes, that liis 
 majesty might fix on a properer )>erson. Soon after this, 
 his Grace desired twi interview with the Bishop, at 
 which he informed his lordship, that the King had ap- 
 pointed him Arclibishop. This promotion accordingly 
 took place, and he was confirmed at Bow-church, April 
 21, 1758. 
 
 In little more than two years after his Grace's pro- 
 motion to the Sec of Canterbury, died King George 11. 
 Of what passed on that occasion, and of the form ob- 
 served in proclaiming his successor George III. (in 
 w hich the Archbishop of coui-se took the lead) his Grace 
 has left an account in writing. He did the same with 
 regard to the subsequent ceremonials, of marrying and 
 crowning the king and queen ; which, in consequence of 
 his station, he had tlie honour to solemnize, and in which 
 he found a great want of proper precedents and direc- 
 tions. He had before, when Rector of St. James', bap- 
 tized the king, wlio was born in that parish, and he was 
 afterwards called upon to perform the same office, for 
 the greatest part of his majesty's children : — a remark- 
 
12 LIFE or SECKER. 
 
 able, ami pei'haps unexampled canctirrence of such inci- 
 dents, in the life of one man. 
 
 From tlie time that he was made Dean of St. Paul's, 
 his majesty used to speak to him at his levee occasional- 
 ly, but with no particular marks of distinction ; but af- 
 ter he became Archbisliop, the king treated him with 
 much kindness, and on one occasion ',vas pleased to as- 
 sure him very particularly, tliat lie was perfectly satis- 
 fied with tlie whole of Iiis conduct in that station ; and 
 it is remarked that his majesty, as well as all his people, 
 had good reason to be so ; for never did any one sup- 
 port the rank, or discharge the various duties of k me- 
 tropolitan, with more true dignity, wisdom, and moder- 
 ation, than Archbisliop Scf^-ker. He considered himself 
 as the natural guardian, not only of that clfiirciV over 
 which he presided, but of learning, virtue, and religion 
 at large; — and, frcfHj the eminence on which he was 
 placed, looked I'oundwith a watchful eye on every thing 
 that concerned them, embracing readily all fit opportu- 
 nities to promote their interest, and opposing, as far as 
 he was able, aJfatteuipts to injure them. 
 
 ^Vbenever any publications came to his knowledge, 
 that were manifestly calculated to corrupt good morals, 
 or subvert t!i€ foundations of Christianity, he did his 
 utmost to stop the circulation of them : yet, the wretch- 
 ed authors themselves, he was so fai» from- wishing to 
 treat with any undue rigor, that he has, more than once, 
 extended liis bounty to them in distress; and, when 
 their writings could not properly be suppressed (as was 
 too often the case) by lawful authoiity, he engaged men 
 of ability to answer then), and rewarded them fur theit 
 trouble. His attention was everywhere: even the falst*- 
 hoods and misi-cpresentations of writers in the newspa- 
 pers, on religious or ecclesiastical subjects, he generally 
 took care to !iave contradicted; and w!ie!i they seemed 
 
^.IFE OF SECKEH. 13 
 
 likely to injure in any material degree, the cause of vir- 
 tue and religion, or the reputation of eminent and wor- 
 thy men, he would sometimes take the trouble of an- 
 swering them himself. 
 
 The welfare, the cretlit, the good influent of the Cler- 
 gy^ he had entirely at heart, and suffered nothing to es- 
 cape his notice, that could in any proper way promote 
 them. He earnestly endeavoured to prevent unworthy 
 men, from bringing disgrace on the profession, and con- 
 tempt on religion, by entering into orders. With this 
 view it was, that he so strongly recommended the great- 
 est care and caution in signing testimonials. "They 
 are," says he>>* the only ordinary information that we 
 have, in a case of the utmost importance, where we have 
 a right to be infomned : for no one can imagine, that wc 
 are to ordain whoever comes, or depend on clandes- 
 tine intelligence. We must therefore, and do depend, on 
 regular testimonials — every part of which ought to be 
 considered before it is given, and no consideration paid 
 to neighbourhood, acquaintance, friendship, compassion, 
 importunity, when they stand in competition with truth. 
 It may be sometimes hard for you, to refuse your hand 
 to improper persons; but it is only one of the many 
 hardships, which conscience bids men undergo resolute- 
 ly when they are called to them. It would be much 
 harder, that your Bishop should be misled, the church of 
 God injured^ and the poor wretch himself, assisted to in- 
 vade, sacrilegiously^ an office, at the thought of which 
 he hath cause to tremble.*' If any such, however, had 
 unhappily found means to obtain ordination, he did his 
 utmost to prevent their further progress ; or, if that 
 could not be done, very openly signified his dislike of 
 their conduct; nor could he ever be brought to treat 
 them, however considerable their rank might be, witl^ 
 any marks of esteem or respect. Men of worth and 
 
. 4 "LITE, OF SECKER. 
 
 eminenre in the churdi, be cherished and befriended^ 
 and endeavoured to brin.a; forward into stations, where 
 tliey mii^ht be singularly useful : above all be distin- 
 s^uished, with peculiar marks of his favour, the consci- 
 entious and diligent parish priest. He was of opinion, 
 that "the main support of piety and morals, consisted 
 in the parochial labours of the Clergy; and that, if this 
 €ount»"y could be preserved from utter profligateness and 
 ruin, it must be by their means." For their assistance 
 therefore, in one important branch of their duty, be 
 gave them in his third archi-episcopal charge, directions 
 for writing and speaking sermons. The thoughts of 
 such a man, on so nice and difficult a subject, must na- 
 turally raise some ex]M?ctation, and that expectation will 
 not be disappointed ; they are the evident result of a sound" 
 judgment, matured by long experience and a thorough 
 knowledge of mankind, and are every way worthy of 
 one, wfio was himself so great a master of that species 
 of com])osition and elocution. It was his purpose, after 
 speaking of stated instructions, to have gone on to oc- 
 casional ones ; but he did not live, as he himself fore- 
 boded he should not, to accomplish that design. 
 
 Witli the Dissenters, his grace was sincerely desirous 
 of cultivating a good understanding. He considered 
 them, in general, as a conscientious and valuable class 
 of men ; with some of the most eminent of tiiem. Watt?, 
 Doddridge, JLeland, Chandler, Lardrier, he maintained 
 an intercourse of friendship or civility : by the most 
 candid and considerate part of them, he was highly rev- 
 erenced and esteemed, and to such among them as need- 
 ed fielp, he showed no less kindness and liberality, than 
 to those of iiis own communion. During the time of his 
 high preferment, the Methodists made very rapid strides 
 in the propagation of their principles: some of the 
 bishops had declared against them ; but Dr. Seeker re- 
 
LIFE OF SECKEE. 15 
 
 commended to his clergy, moderation and kindness in 
 their hehaviour towards those whom he wished to con- 
 sider as his future friends, but whom others were dis- 
 posed to treat as enemies. His expressions in the con- 
 clusion of an answer to some charges of Dr. Mayhew, of 
 Boston, display the Christian. 
 
 " Our inclination is, to live in friendship with all the 
 protestant churches. We assist and protect those on 
 the continent of Europe, as well as we are able. We 
 show our regard to that of Scotland, as often as we 
 have an opportunity, and believe the members of it are 
 sensible that we do. To those who differ from us in this 
 part of the kingdom, we neither attempt nor wish any 
 injury; and we shall gladly give proofs to every deno- 
 mination of Christians in our colonies, that we are 
 friends to a toleration, even of the most intolerant, as 
 far as it is safe; and willing that all mankind should 
 possess all the advantages, religious and civil, which 
 they can demand either in law or reason. But, with 
 those who approach nearer to us, in faith and brotherly 
 love, we are desirous to cultivate a freer communicatif»n, 
 passing over all former disgusts, as we beg that they 
 would. If we give them any seeming cause of com- 
 plaint, we hope they will signify it in the most amicable 
 manner. If they publish it, we hope they will preserve 
 fairness and temper, if they fail in either, we must 
 bear it with patience, but be excused fi'om replying. If 
 any writers on our side have been less cool, or less ci- 
 vil, than they ouglit and designed to have been, we are 
 sorry for it, and exhort them to change their style when 
 they write again; for it is the duty of all men, how 
 much soever they differ in opinion, to agree in mutual 
 good will and kind behaviour." 
 
 During more than ten years that Dr. Seeker enjoyed 
 the See of Canterbury, he resided constantly at his 
 
1=6 LITE OP SECK^R. 
 
 arclii-episcopal honse at Lambeth; as being not only 
 most commodiously situated for his own studies and em- 
 ployments, but for all those who on various occasions, 
 were continually obliged to bave recourse to him. These 
 reasons weiglied with bim so much, that no considera- 
 tion, not even tbat of health itself, could ever prevail 
 upon him to quit tbat place for any length of time, 
 A few months before bis death indeed, the dreadful pains 
 he felt, had compelled him to think of trying the Bath 
 waters ; but tbat design was stopt, by the fatal accident 
 which put an end to his life. 
 
 His grace had been for many years subject to the 
 gout, which in flie latter part of bis life returned with 
 more frequency and violence, and did not go off in a re- 
 gular manner, but left the parts affected for a long time 
 very weak, and was succeeded by pains in different 
 parts of tbe body. About a year and a half before he 
 Tlied, after a fit of tbe gout, he was attacked with a pain 
 in tbe arm near the shoulder, which having continued 
 about a twelvemonth, a similar pain seized the upper 
 and outer part of the opposite thigh, and the arm soon 
 became easier. This was much more gnev ous than the 
 former, as it quickly <lisabled bim from walking, and 
 kept him in almost continual torment, except when he 
 was in a reclining position. During tbis time he had 
 two or tbi-ee fits of tbe gout; but neither tbe gout nor 
 medicines alleviated these pains, which, with the want 
 of exeixise, brouglit him into a general bad habit of 
 body. 
 
 On Saturday the SOth of July, 1768, he was seized, as 
 he sat at dinner, with a sickness at his stomach. He 
 recovei*ed before night, but tbe next evening, whilst 
 his physicians were attending, and his servants rai- 
 sing him on his couch, he suddenly cried out that his 
 tiiigb-bone was broken. The shock was so violent, that 
 
LIPE OF SECKER. Il^ 
 
 flie servants perceived the coucli to shake under him> 
 and the pain so acute and unexpected, that it overcame 
 the firmness he so remarkably possessed. He lay for 
 some time in great agonies, but when the surgeons ar- 
 rived, and discovered with certainty that the bone was 
 broken, he was perfectly resigned, and never afterwards 
 asked a question about the event. A fever soon ensued. 
 On tuesday he became lethargic, and continued so till 
 about five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, when he ex- 
 pired with great calmness, in the 75th year of his age. 
 
 On examination, the thigh-bone was found to be ca- 
 rious about four inches in length, and at nearly the same 
 distance from its head. Tlie disease took its rise from 
 the internal part of the bone, and had so entirely destroy- 
 ed its substance, that nothing remained at the part where 
 it was broken, but a portion of its outward integument* 
 And even this had many perforations, one of which was 
 large enough to admit two fingers, and was filled with 
 a fungous substance arising from within the bone. There 
 was no appearance of matter about the caries, and the 
 surrounding parts were in a sound state. It was appar- 
 ent, that the torture which his Grace underwent during 
 the gradual corrosion of this bone, must have been inex- 
 pressibly great. Out of tenderness to his family, he sel- 
 dom made any complaints to them, but to his physicians, 
 he frequently declared his pains were so excruciating, 
 that unless some relief could be procured, he thought it 
 would be impossible for human nature to support them 
 long. Yet he bore them for upwards of six months with 
 astonishing patience and fortitude ; sat up generally the 
 greater part of the day, admitted his particular friends 
 to see him, mixed with his family at the usual hours, 
 sometimes with his usual cheerfulness; and, except some 
 very slight defects of memory, retained all his faculties 
 
 2 
 
18 IIFE OF SECKER. 
 
 and senses in their full vigour, till within a few days df 
 his death. 
 
 He was huried, pursuant to his own directions, in a 
 covered passage, leading from a private door of the pal- 
 ace to the north door of Lambeth Church ; and he forbade 
 any monument or epitaph to be placed over him. 
 
 The following description is given of his person; He 
 was tall and comely ; in the early part of his life slender 
 and rather consumptive, but as he advanced in years, his 
 constitution gained strength and his size increased, yet 
 never to a degree of corpulency, that was disproportion- 
 ate or troublesome. The dignity of his form correspon- 
 ded with the greatness of his mind, and inspired at all 
 times respect and awe ; but peculiarly so when he was en- 
 gaged in any of the more solemn functions of religion ; 
 into which he entered with such devout earnestness and 
 warmth, with so just a consciousness ofthe place he was 
 in, and the business he was about, as seemed to raise him 
 above himself, and added new life and spirit to the natural 
 gracefulness of his appearance. His countenance was 
 open, ingenuous, and expressive of every thing right. It 
 ■varied easily with his spirits and his feelings, so as to 
 be a faithful interpreter of Uis mind, which was incapa- 
 ble of the least dissimulation : it could speak dejection, 
 and on occasion, anger, very strongly; but when it 
 meant to show pleasure or approbation, it softened into 
 a most gracious smile, and diffused over all liis features, 
 the most benevolent and reviving complacency that can 
 be imagined. 
 
[19] 
 DISCOURSES 
 
 ox 
 
 THE COMMANDMENTS, 5^^- 
 
 FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shalt have none other gods but me. 
 
 The whole duty of man consists in three points : re- 
 nouncing what God hath forbidden us, believing what 
 he hath taught us, and doing what he hath required of us : 
 which accordingly are the things promised in our name 
 at our baptism. The two former I have already explain- 
 ed to you> and therefore I proceed at present to the third. 
 
 Now the things which God requires to be done, arc 
 of two sorts : either such, as have been always the duty 
 of all men ; or such, as are peculiarly the duty of Chris- 
 tians. And our catechism very properly treats of the 
 former sort first, comprehending them under those ten 
 Commandments, which were delivered by the Creator 
 of the world, on Mount SinaU i« a most awful manner, 
 as you may read in the 19th and 20th chapters of Exodus, 
 For though indeed they were then given to the Jews par- 
 ticularly, yet the things contained in them are such, as 
 all mankind from the beginning were bound to observe. 
 And therefore, even under the Mosaic dispensation, they, 
 and the tables on which they were engraven, and the 
 Ark in which they were put, were distinguished from the 
 rest of God's ordinances by a peculiar regard, as con- 
 taining the covenant of the Lord. And though the 
 Mosaic dispensation be now at an end, yet concerning 
 tliese moral precepts of it, our Saviour declares, that 
 
^^ FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the LaWr 
 till all be fulfilled. {Matt.y. 18.) Accordingly we find 
 both him, and his apostles, quoting these ten command- 
 ments, as matter of perpetual obligation to Christians: 
 who are now, as the Jews were formerly, the Israel of God, 
 Indeed the whole New Testament, and especially the 
 sermon of our blessed Lord on the Mount, instructs us to 
 carry their obligation farther, that is, to more points 
 than either the Jews, a people of gross understanding 
 and cariTal dispositions, commonly took into consider- 
 ation ; or their Prophets were commissioned distinctly 
 to represent to them : the wisdom of God foreseeing, that 
 it would only increase their guilt: and further indeed, 
 than the words of the commandments, if taken strictly, 
 express. But the reason is, that being visibly intended 
 for a summary of human duty, they both may, and must, 
 be understood, by tiiose who are ca].«hle of penetrating 
 into the deptli of their meaning, to imply more than they 
 express. And therefore, to comprehend tlieir full extent,, 
 it will be requisite to observe the following rules. Where 
 any sin is forbidden in them, the opposite duty is impli- 
 citly enjoined: and where any duty is enjoined, the 
 opposite sin is implicitly forbidden. Where the highest 
 degree of any thing evil is prohibited ; whatever is faulty 
 in the same kinds thougii in a lower degree, is by con- 
 sequence proliibited. And where one instance of virtuous 
 behaviour is commanded, every other, that hath the 
 same nature, and same reason for it, is understood to be 
 commanded too. Wiiat we are expected to abstain from; 
 we are expected to avoid, as far as we can, all tempta- 
 tions to it, and occasions of it : and what we are expected 
 to practice, we are expected to use all fit means, that may 
 better enable us to practice it. All, that we are bound to 
 do ourselves, we are bound, on fitting occasions, to 
 exhort and assist others to do, when it belongs to tJiem,: 
 
riRST COMMANDMENT. 21 
 
 and all that we are bound not to do, we are to tempt 
 nobody else to do, but keep them back from it, as much 
 as we iiave opportunity. The ten commandments, except- 
 ing two that required enlargment, are delivered in few 
 words : which brief manner of speaking hath great 
 Majesty in it. But explaining them according to these 
 rules ; which are natural and rational in themselves, 
 favoured by ancient Jewish wi'iters, authorized by our 
 blessed Saviour, and certainly designed by the makers 
 of the catecliism to be used in expounding it; we shall 
 find, that there is no part of the moral Law, but may be 
 fitly ranked under them : as will appear by what shall 
 besaid, in speaking separately on each commandment. 
 
 Before them all, is placed a general preface : expres- 
 sing, first, the authority of him who gave them, lam the 
 Lord thy God: secondly. His goodness to those whom He 
 enjoined to observe them ; xvho brought thee out of the 
 land of Egypt^ out of the house of bondage. Now the 
 authority of God over us Christians, is as great as it 
 could be over the Jews. And Kis Goodness is much 
 greater, in freeing us from the bondage of sin, and 
 opening tivusthe heavenly land of promise, than it was 
 in leading tliem, from Egyptian slavery to the earthly 
 Canftfl/i; though indeed this deliverance, having made 
 so fresh and so strong an impression on them, was the 
 fittest to be mentioned at that time. 
 
 The ten commandments being originally written, by 
 the finger of God himself, on two tables of stone ; and 
 consisting of two parts, our duty to our Maker, and to 
 our fellow-creatures, which we can never perform as 
 we ought, if we neglect that we owe to oui^selves ; the 
 four first, are usually calletl duties of the first table ; the 
 six last, of the second. And our Saviour, in effect, di- 
 vides them accordingly, when he reduces them to these ; 
 
 2* 
 
2^ FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shall love the Lord thy God^with all thy. heart; and 
 thy JSTeighbour as thyself. 
 
 The first CommaMdment is, Thou shall have none other- 
 Gods> bitt mei 
 
 The same reasons, which yr&ve that God is, prove 
 that tliere is but one God. The imagination of two 
 or more Beings, each perfect and each infinite, is a<^ , 
 first sight groundless. For one such Being is sufficient 
 to produce and govern every thing else : and therefore 
 more than one can never be proved by reason : and yet, 
 if there were more,.all men would surely have had some 
 way of knowing it; and till we have, we are not to 
 believe it. Indeed we have strong, reasons to believe 
 the contrary: for it there is no difference between 
 these several supposed Beings, they are but one and the- 
 same : and if their is any difference, one must be less 
 perfect than the other, and therefore imperfect, and there- 
 fore not God. Besides, as the whole course of nature 
 appears to proceed uniformly under one direction ; tliere 
 is, without question, only one director ; not several, 
 thwarting each other. 
 
 And what reason toadies in this matter. Scripture 
 every where confirms : forbidding us to worship, or 
 believe in, any other Deity, than tlie one Maker and 
 Ruler of Heaven and Earth : who. hath manifested Him- 
 self to all men by tlie works of His hands; to the Patri- 
 archs and Jews, by tlie revelations recorded in Moses 
 and the Prophets ; and finally to Christians, by bis Son 
 our Loi'd : who, in a way and manner to us incon- 
 ceivable, is one with the Father ; and the Holy Spirit 
 with both: asT have already sliown you, in discoursing 
 on the Creed. 
 
 There being then tliis on© only God, the command- 
 ment before us enjoins, 
 
 L That we have him for our God: 
 
FIRST COMMANDMENT*. ^ 
 
 IL That we Tiave no other. 
 
 I. That we have Mm ^ that is, think so of him, and 
 behave so to him, as his infinite perfection, and our abso- 
 lute dependence on him, require : which general duty 
 towards God, our catechism very justly branches out} 
 into the following particulars : 
 
 First, Tliat we believe in Him. For he that cometh to 
 God, rmist believe that he is, {Heb, xi. 6.) The founda- 
 tion on which this belief stands, I have shown in its pro- 
 per place. And the great thing, in which it consists, is, 
 that we fix firmly in our minds, recall frequently to our 
 memories, and imprint deeply upon our hearts, an awful 
 persuasion of tlie being and presence, the power and 
 justice, the holiness aiidtrutli, of this great Lord of all. 
 The consequence of this will be, 
 
 Secondly, That we fear Him. For such attributes as 
 these, duly considered, must fill the most innocent crea- 
 tures with reverence and self-abasement. But sinful 
 and guilty ones, as we know ourselves to have been, 
 have cause to feel yet stronger emotions in their souls 
 from such a meditation : apprehensions of his displea- 
 sure, and solicitude for his pardon ; leading us naturally 
 to that penitent care of our hearts and lives, on whicli 
 he hath graciously assured us,, that, through faith in 
 Christ Jesus, we shall be forgiven. And then, gratitude 
 for his mercy will prompt us, to the 
 
 Third duty towards Him which our catechism spe- 
 cifies, that we lore Him : the fear of the Lord being, as 
 the son of Sirach declares, the beginning of his love. 
 For whenever we come to reflect seriously on thatgood- 
 ness, which hath given us all the comforts that we en- 
 joy; that pity which offers pardon, on most equitable 
 terms, for all the faults that we have committed/ that 
 grace, which enables us to perform every duty accepta- 
 bly ; and that infinite bounty, which rewards our imper- 
 
^4 FIRST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 feet performances with eteimal happiness ; we cannot 
 but feel ourselves bound to love such a benefactor, with 
 all our heart, and with all our mind, with all our soul, 
 and with all our strength} to rejoice in being under hia 
 government; make our boast of him all the day long; 
 and choose him for our portion for ever, [Psalms xliv. 8 — 
 ]xxiii. i26.) A mind thus affected, would be uneasy, 
 without paying the regard set down in the 
 
 Fourth place, which is, to worship Rim; to acknow- 
 ledge our dependence, and pay our homage to him ; 
 both in private, to preserve and improve a sense of re- 
 ligion inoui'selves ; and in public, to support and spread 
 it in the world. The first part of worship mentioned 
 in tlie catechism, and the first in a natural order of 
 things, is giving him thanks, God originally made and 
 fitted all his creatures for happiness : if any of them 
 have made themselves miserable, thi^ doth not lessen 
 their obligation of thankfulness to him ; but his continu- 
 ing still good, and abounding in forgiveness and liberal- 
 ity, increases that obligation unspeakably. With a 
 grateful sense of Iiis past favours is closely connected, 
 putting our trust in him for the time to come. And 
 justly doth the catechism require it to be our whole trust. 
 For his power and goodness are infinite: those of every 
 creature may fail us ; and all that they can possibly do 
 for us, proceeds ultimately frojn him. Now a principal 
 expression of reliance on God is, petitioning for his help. 
 For if we pray in faith, {James i. 6 — v. 15.) we shall live 
 so too. And therefore trusting in him, which might 
 have been made a separate head, is included in this of 
 worship; and put between the first part of it, giving 
 thanks to him; and the second, calling upon him : ac- 
 cording to that of the Psalmist : Lord, in thee have I 
 trusted: let me never be confounded. To calf upon God 
 is to place ourselves in his presence ; and there to beg of 
 
tmST COMMANDMENT. ' So 
 
 film, for ourselves and each other, with unfeigned luuni- 
 lity and suhmission, such assistance in our duty; such 
 provision for our wants ; and such defence against our 
 enemies, of every kind; as infinite wisdom sees fit for us 
 all. After this evident obligation, follows a 
 
 Fifth not less so : to honour Ris holy name and word.' 
 not presuming even to speak of the great God in a neg- 
 ligent way ; but preserving, in every expression and 
 action, that reverence to him, which is due : paying, not 
 a superstitious, but a decent and respectful regard, to 
 whatever bears any peculiar relation to him ; his day, 
 his church, his ministers : but especially honouring his. 
 holy word, the law of our lives, and tbe foundation of 
 our hopes, by a diligent study and firm belief of what it 
 teaches ; and that universal obedience to what it com- 
 mands, wiiich our catechism reserves for the 
 
 Sixth and last, as it is undoubtedly the greatest, 
 thing ; to serve Him tnily all the days of our life. Obedir 
 ence is the end of faith and fear ; the proof of love ; the 
 foundation of trust; the necessary qualification, to make 
 worship and honour of every kind, acceptable. This 
 therefore must complete the whole, that we rualk in all 
 the Commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, 
 not thinking any one so difficult as to despair of it ; or 
 so small, as to despise it ; and never be weary in well- 
 doing : for we shall reap in due season, if we faint not : 
 and he alone shall be saved, that endureth to the eiuL But 
 we must now proceed to observe, 
 
 II. That, as this Commandment requires us to ac- 
 knowledge the one true God ; so it forbids us to acknow- 
 ledge any other. 
 
 Both before, and long after the law of Moses was given,- 
 the generality of the world entertained a belief, that 
 there were many Gods : a great number of Beings supe- 
 rior to men, that amongst thew governed the worlds amL 
 
26 FIHST COMMAKDMENT. 
 
 were fit objects of devotion. To these, as their own 
 fancy, or the folly or fraud of others led them, they 
 ascribed more or less both of power and goodness ; attri- 
 buted to several of them, the vilest actions that could be; 
 supposed them to preside, some over one nation or city, 
 some over another ; worshiped a few or a multitude 
 of them, just as they pleased; and that with a strange 
 variety of ceremonies, absurd and impious, immoral 
 and barbarous. Amidst this crowd of imaginary deities, 
 the real one was almost entirely forgot : false religion 
 and irreligion divided the world between them : and 
 wickedness of every kind was authorized by both. The 
 cure of these dreadful evils must plainly be, restoring 
 the old true notion of one only God : ruling the world 
 himself — which therefore was the first great article of 
 the Jewisii faith, as it is of ours. 
 
 Christians can hardly in words profess a plurality of 
 Gods : but in reality they do, if they suppose the divine 
 nature common to more than one Being ; or think our 
 Saviour, or the Holy Spirit, mere creatures, and yet pay 
 them divine honours. But besides these, we appreliend 
 the church of Rome to sin against the present command- 
 ment, when they pray to angels, to the holy vii'gin and 
 the saints, as being able every whereto hear them ; and 
 having not only temporal relief, but grace and salvation 
 in their power to bestow, Nay, were tlie plea, which 
 they vsometimes make, a true one; that they only pray 
 to them to intercede with God ; yet it would be an insuffi- 
 cient one. For there is no reason to believe, that they 
 have any knowledge of such prayers ; or if they had, as 
 there is one God, so there is one Mediator between God 
 and man: And we have neither precept, nor allowance, 
 nor example, in the whole bible, of applying to any 
 other, amongst all the absent inhabitants of the invisihle 
 world. 
 
FIRST COMMANDMENT. 27 
 
 But there are several ways more, of transgressing this 
 Commandment. It' we ascribe things which befall us, 
 to fate, or to chance, or to nature ; and mean any thing 
 real by these words, different from that order, which 
 our Maker's providence hath appointed, we set up in 
 effect, other Gods besides Him. If we imagine the influ- 
 ence of stars, the power of spirits ; in short, any power 
 whatever, to be independant of Him, and capable of do- 
 ing tlie least matter, more than He judges proper to per- 
 mit that it should : this also is having more Gods than 
 one. If we set up ourselves, or others, above Him ; and 
 obey, or expect any one else to obey, man rather than 
 God ; here again is in practice, though not in specula- 
 tion, the same crime. If we love, or trust in uncertain rich- 
 es, more than in the living God ; this is that covetousness, 
 which is idolatry. If we pursue unlawful, sensual plea- 
 sures, instead of delighting in His precepts; this is ma- 
 king a God of our own belbj. In a word, if we allow 
 ourselves to practice any wickedness whatever, we 
 serve, by so doing, the false God of this world, (2 Cor. iv. 
 4.) instead of the true God of heaven, besides whom we 
 ought not to have any other : and therefore to Him 
 alone be, as is most due, all honour and obedience, now 
 and for ever. Amen. 
 
[ 28 1 
 
 SECOND COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shall not make to thyself any graven image, nor the 
 likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in 
 the earth beneath, or in the water binder the earth. Thou 
 shalt not bow down to them nor worship them c for I 
 the Lord thy God am a jealous God; and visit the sins 
 of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and 
 fourth generation of them that hate me; and show 
 mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep m^ 
 commandments. 
 
 We are now come to the second commandment; 
 >vbich the cluirch of Rome would persuade men, is only 
 ]>art of the first. But they plainly relate to different 
 thini^s. The first appoints, that the object of our wor- 
 shij) be only the true God ; the next, that we worship 
 not Him under any visible resemblance or form. And 
 besides, if we join these two into one, there will be no 
 tenth left : though the scripture itself hath called them 
 ten {Exod. xxiv. 1%.Deut, iv. 13 — x. 4.) : to avoid which 
 absurdity, the Romanists have committed another, by 
 dividing the tenth into two. And they might as well 
 have divided it into six or seven ; as I shall show you, 
 in discoursing upon it. For these reasons, the oldest 
 and most considerable, both of the Jewish and Christian 
 writers, who distinguish the commandments by their 
 number, distinguish them jn the same manner that we 
 do. Perhaps it may seem of small consequence, how that 
 before us is countecS, provided it be not omitted. And 
 we must own that some persons, before the rise of 
 popery, and some protestants since the reformation, 
 
SECOND COMMANDMENT. 29 
 
 iiave, without any ill design, reckoned it as the Papists 
 do. But wliat both the former have done, by mere mis- 
 take, these last endeavour to tiefend out of Policy : well 
 knowing, that when once they have got the second to l)e 
 considered as only a part of the first, they can much 
 more easily pass it over, as a part of no great separate 
 •meaning or importance, than if it were thought a distinct 
 precept. And accordingly, in some of their small books 
 of devotion, they pass it over, and leave it out entirely^. 
 But it deserves as I shall now show you, another sort of 
 regard. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah very justly puts the question : To 
 whom will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye com- 
 pare unto him ? He is an invisible Spirit : therefore 
 representing him in a visible sliape, is representing him 
 to be such as he is not. He is every where present : 
 therefore a figure confined by its nature to a particular 
 place, must incline persons to a wrong conception of 
 him. He is the living, wise and powerful Governor of 
 the world : therefore, to express him by a dead lump of 
 matter must be doing him dishonour. We are unable 
 indeed, at best, to speak or think worthily of him: 
 and we cannot well avoid using someof tlie same phrases, 
 concerning him ai^d his actions, which we do concerning 
 the parts and motions of our own bodies. But we can 
 very well avoid making visible images of him : and the 
 plainest reason teaches, that we ought to avtjid it; be- 
 cause they low«r and debase men's notions of God ; lead 
 the weaker sort into superstitious and foolish apprehen- 
 sions atd practices ; and provoke those of better abilities, 
 from a contempt of such childish representations, to dis- 
 
 * This they do in the Latin office of the virgin, and in some of their En- 
 glish devotional books. Indeed there they omit likewise all but the first 
 sentence, of our fourth commandment, and the promise in our fifth ; per= 
 haps 'to palliate their preceding omission. 
 
30 SECOND C03IMANDMENT. 
 
 regard and ridicule the reli.^ion, into which they ai'e 
 adopted. 
 
 Therefore, in the early ages of the world, many of the 
 heathens themselves had no images of the Deity. Par- 
 ticularly, the ancient Persians had none. Nor had the 
 first Romans ; J^Tiima, their second King, having as the 
 philosopher Plutarch, himself a Roman magistrate, 
 though a Greek by birth, tells us, forkidden them to re- 
 present God in the form, either of a man or any other ani- 
 mal. Jind accordingly, he saitb, they had neither any 
 painted or engraved figure of him for ITO years; hut 
 temples, void of any image of any shape : thinking it im- 
 pious to liken a superior nature to inferior ones ; and im- 
 possible to attain the notion of God otherwise, than by the 
 understanding, {Plut, in JVum, p,65, Ed, Par, 1624.) 
 And Varro, one of the most learned of their own authors, 
 after acknowledging, that during more than 170 years, 
 they worshipped the Gods without any visible representa- 
 tion, added, that had they never had any, their religion 
 had been the purer :for which opinion, amongst other evi- 
 dences, he brought that of the Jewish people : and scrupled 
 not to say in conclusion, that they who first set up images 
 of the Gods in the several nations, lessened the reverence of 
 their countrymen towards them, and introduced error con- 
 cerning them. So much wiser were these Heathen Ro- 
 mans in this point, than the Christian Romans are now. 
 
 But when some of the eastern kingdoms had fallen 
 into this corruption ; particularly the Egyptians, who 
 clainicd the invention as an honour, (^Herodot, I, 2. §. 4.) 
 the great care of God was, to preserve or free his own 
 people from it. The words of this commandment ex- 
 press that purpose very strongly, and very clearly for- 
 hid, not only making and worshiping representations of 
 false Gods, but any representation of God at all. And 
 to show yet more fully, that even those of the true God 
 
SECOND COMMANDMENT. 61 
 
 are prohibited by it, Moses, in Deuteronomij, immediately 
 after mentionin.^ the delivery of the ten commandments, 
 adds with respect to the second : Take therefore good 
 heed unto yourselves : for ye saw no manner of similitude, 
 on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horebf out of 
 the midst of the fire ; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make 
 you the similitude of any figure, [Beut, iv. 12 — 15, 16.) 
 And wiien the Israelites made a golden calf in the wil- 
 derness, though evidently their design was to represent 
 by it, not a false object of worship, but the Lord (in the 
 original it is Jehovah) wlio brought them out of the land 
 of Egypt ; yet they were charged with it, and punished 
 for it, as a breach of their covenant with God : and Moses 
 accordingly broke, on that occasion, the two tables of the 
 commandments, which were, on their part, the condi- 
 tions of that covenant. Again, in after-times, when the 
 kings of Israel set up the same representation of the 
 same true God, at Dan and Bethel ; the scripture con- 
 stantly speaks of it, as the leading sin, from which 
 all the rest of their idolatries, and at last their utter 
 destruction, proceeded. For, from worshipping the true 
 God by an image, they soon came to worship the images 
 of false Gods too ; and from thence fell into all sorts of 
 superstition, and all sorts of wickedness. 
 
 Yet the church of Rome will have it, that we may now 
 very lawftilly and commendably practice what the Jews 
 were forbidden. But observe; not only the Jews, but the 
 Heathens also, who never were subject to the law of 
 Moses, are condemned in scripture for this mode of wor- 
 ship. For St Paulas accusation against them is, that 
 when they knew God, they ghrified him not as God ; but 
 became vain in their imaginations ; and changed the glory 
 of the incorruptible God into an image, made like to cor- 
 ruptible man. And in another place, he argues with the 
 Atfienians thus : Forasmuch as we are the offspring of 
 
•>5^ ^ SJECONB COMMANDMENT?, 
 
 God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is liketint^ 
 gold or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 
 And the times of tMs ignorance God winked at, but now 
 commandeth all men every where to repent. 
 
 Where then is or caii be, the allowance of that image 
 ^vorship in the bible, for which multitudes of the Romish 
 communion are as earnest, as if it was commanded there "7 
 ^' or is antiquity more favourable to it than scripture,. 
 For the primitive Christians abhorred the very mention* 
 of images ; holding even the trade of making them to bo 
 utterly unlawful. And indeed, pretending to frame a 
 likeness of God the Father Almighty, whom no man 
 hath ever seen, or can. see, as some of that church have 
 done, without any censure from the rulers of it, liberal 
 as they are of censures on other occasions, is both a pal- 
 pable and a heinous breach of this commandment. Forj^ 
 thougli we find in the Old Testament, that an angel had. 
 sometimes appeared, representing his Person, as an am *> 
 hassador doth that of his prince 3 and though in a vision 
 of the ancient of days, his -garment was white as snow, 
 and the hair of his head like pure ivooli. yet these things 
 gave the Jews no right then, and therefore can give us 
 none now to make other, or even the like representa- 
 tions of him, contrary to his expiess order. 
 
 Our blessed Saviour indeed existed in a human form, 
 but we have not the least knowledge of any one part on 
 feature of his person. And therefore all attempts of ex- 
 hibiting a likeness of him, are utterly vain. Besides, ho 
 liath appointed a very different memorial of himself, the 
 sacrament of his body and blood ; and we ought to think 
 that a sufficient one. These others can serve no good 
 purpose, but what, by due meditation, may be attained 
 as well without them. And there is great and evident 
 danger of evil in them, from that unhappy proneness of 
 mankind, to fix their thoughts and affections on sensible 
 
3ECo:n"D commandment. S3 
 
 objects, instead of raising them higher : which, if any 
 one doth not feel in himself, he must however see in 
 others. But particularly in this case, long experience 
 hath given sad proof, that from setting up images of our 
 gracious Redeemer, the Iioly virgin, and other saints, to 
 remind persons of them and their virtues ; the world hath 
 run on to pay such imprudent and extravagant honours 
 to the figures themselves, as by degrees have arisen to 
 the grossest idolatry. 
 
 Indeed some of the Popish writers tell us, that they 
 do not worship their images. Yet others of them, who 
 have never been condemned for it, say quite the contra- 
 ry, that they do worship them ; and with the very same 
 degree of worship, which they pay to the persons re- 
 presented by them. Nay, their public authorized books 
 of prayers and ceremonies, not only appoint the crucifix 
 to be adored, but in form declare, that divine adoration 
 is due to it. And accordingly they petition it, in so 
 many words, expressly directed to the very wood, as 
 their only hope, to increase the joy and grace of the godly , 
 and blot out the sins of the wicked,"^ 
 
 But let us suppose them to pay only an inferior ho- 
 nour to images, and to worship the holy Trinity and the 
 saints by tliem : Having no ground, or permission to 
 pray at all to saints departed, they certainly have none 
 ta use images for enliveningtheir prayers. If any words 
 can forbid the worship of God, his Son and Spirit, by 
 Images, this Commandment forbids it. And if any ex- 
 cuses or distinctions will acquit the Papists of trans- 
 gressing it, the same will acquit the ancient Jews and 
 Heathens also. For if many of the former mean only, 
 that their adoration should pass through the image, as 
 it were, to the person for whom it was made; so did 
 
 * See Dr.Hickes' collectioa of Controversial discourses, vol. 1. p. 47. 
 3* 
 
54 SECOND COMMANDME-ST. 
 
 many of the Pagans plead, that tlie meaning was ju&l 
 the same* : yet the Scripture accuses them all of ido- 
 latry. And if great numhers of the Pagans did abso- 
 lutely pray to the image itself, so do great numbers of 
 the Papists too ; and some of their own writers honestly 
 confess and lament it. 
 
 But farther: had they little or no regard, as they 
 sometimes pretend, to the image, but only to the per- 
 son represented by it; why is an image of the blessed 
 virgin, in one place, so much more frequented, than 
 another in a different place, and the prayers made be- 
 fore it,, thought to have so mucli more efficacy ? 
 
 Upon tlie whole therefoie, they plainly appear to be 
 guilty of that image-worship, wluch reason and Scrip- 
 ture condemn. IN or do they so much as alledge either 
 any command or express allowance for it. And yet 
 they have pronounced a curse upon ail wiio reject it. 
 
 But let us go on, from thv prohibition to the reasons 
 given for it in the Commandment, The first is a very- 
 general, but a very awful one : For the Lord thy God 
 is a jealous God: not jealous for himself, lest he should 
 suffer for the follies of his creatures ;. that cannot be : 
 but jealous for us, for his spouse the church ; lest our 
 notions of his nature and attributes, and consequently 
 of tiie duties which we owe to him, being depraved, and 
 our minds darkened with superstitious persuasions, and 
 fears, and liopes ; we should depart from the fidelity 
 which wc have vowed to him, and fall into those griev- 
 ous immoralities, which St. Fanl, in the beginning of 
 his epistle to the Romans^ describes as the consequences 
 of idolatry, and which have been its consex^uences in all 
 limes and places, 
 
 "* See a remarkaMe proof of this produced io an Epistle to Mr. M"ar- 
 Wi'ton, conct riling the conformity of Rome Pagan and Papal; prifiicd for 
 RobcF(S) 1748, 8vo.p^.ei. 
 
SfEGOXD COMMA,IsrD\rE!<fT. ST 
 
 The second reason for this proliibition is more par- 
 ticular : that God will visit the sins of the fathers upon 
 the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them 
 that hate him. For, observe, worshipping him irra- 
 tionally, or in a manner which he hath forbidden, he 
 interprets to be hatini? him : as it must proceed, wholly 
 or in part, from a dishonourable opinion of him, and 
 tend to spread the like opinion amongst others, ^ior 
 are we to understand by this threatening, that God 
 will ever, on account of the sins of parents, punish 
 children, in the strict sense of the word, punish^ wiien 
 they deserve it not.* But, in the course of things esta- 
 blished by his providence, it comes to j>ass, that the sins 
 of one person, or one generation, lead those who come 
 after into the same, or other, perhaps greater sins : and 
 so bring upon them double sufferings, i)artly the fruits 
 of their predecessor's faults, partly of their own. And 
 when successive ages follow one another in crimes, 
 besides the natural bad effects of them, which punish 
 them in some measure, God may justly threaten severer 
 additional correct ioiis,.th an he would else inflict for their 
 personal transgressions! f both because it may deter 
 men from propagating wickedness down to their pos- 
 terity, and because, if it doth not, inveterate evils de- 
 mand a rougher cure. Accordingly, here the Israelites 
 are forewarned, that if they fell into idolatry, tliey and 
 their children would fall by means of it, into all sorts of 
 abominations: and not only titese would of course pro- 
 duce many mischiefs to both, but God would^ chastise 
 the following generations with heavier strokes, for not 
 taking warning, as they ought to have done, by the mis- 
 behaviour and sufierings of the foimer. Denouncing 
 
 * Against this wrong imagination, CotUt in Cic. de Nat. 1, S, 6. §. 38. jll- 
 Voighs vehemently. 
 t Se? Sherlock on providence, p. 3SC— 500. 
 
5b SECOND COMMANDMENT* 
 
 this intention beforehand, must influence them, if any 
 thin,!^ could : because it must give them a concern both 
 for themselves and their descendants too ; for whom, 
 next to themselves if not equally, men are always in- 
 terested. And therefore, visiting sins upon them to the 
 third and tourth generation, seems to be mentioned ; 
 because either the life, or however, the solicitude of a 
 person may be supposed to extend thus far, and seldom 
 further. 
 
 This threatening therefore was not only just, but 
 wise and kind, 0*1 the supposition, which in general it 
 was reasonable to make, tliat in such matters children 
 would imitate their wicked progenitors. And whenever 
 any did not, eitlier their innocence would avert the im- 
 pending evils, or they would be abundantly rewarded 
 in a future life, for w hat the sins of others had brought 
 upon them in the present. 
 
 But if God hath threatened to punish tlie breach ot 
 this precept to the third and fourth generatton, he hath^ 
 promised to show mercy unto tho^isandSf that is, so long 
 as the world shall endure, to them that love him and keep 
 his Commandments, To the Jews he fulfilled this en- 
 gagement, as far as they gave him opportunity, by tem- 
 poral blessings. And amongst Christians there is ordi- 
 narily a fair prospect, that a nation or a family, pious 
 and virtuous through successive ages, will be recompen- 
 sed with increasing happiness in every age: which is a 
 powerful motive, both for worshipping God in purity 
 ourselves, and educating those who are placed under 
 our care, to do so too. Yet it must be acknowledged^ 
 that neither the rewards foretold, nor the punishments 
 denounced in this Commandment, are so constantly 
 distributed on earth under the gospel-dispensation, as 
 they were under that of the law. But still our Maker 
 as certainly requires, as ever he did, since he is a Spirit, 
 
SECOND COMMANDMENT. S7 
 
 io he worshipped in spirit and in truths and the induce- 
 ment to it is abundantly sufficient, that the idolaters^ 
 amonj^st other sinners, shall have their part in the lake, 
 which bnrneth with Jire and brimstone. Not that we are 
 to be forward in applying so dieadful a sentence to the 
 case of those, whether Chi-istiaris or otliers, who in this 
 ar any respect, offend through such ignorance or mis- 
 take, as, for ought w^e can tell, is excusable. May our 
 heavenly Father forgive them :Jor they know not what 
 they do. But we should be very thankful to him, for the 
 light which he hath caused to shine upon us ; and very 
 careful to walk in it as becomes tlie children of light, 
 having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of dark- 
 ness^ 
 
[ S8 f 
 
 THIRD COMMANDMENT. 
 
 TIwu shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain : 
 for the Loi'd will not hold him guiltless that taketh his 
 name in vain. 
 
 The first commandment having provided, that we 
 should worship only the one true God ; and the second 
 prohibited worshiping him in a manner so unworthy 
 and dangerous, as by Images; the third proceeds to di* 
 rect, that we preserve a due reverence to him in our 
 whole conversation and behaviour. Thou shall not take 
 the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Under these words 
 are forbidden several things, which differ in their degrees 
 of guilt. 
 
 1 The first and highest offence is, when we swear 
 by the name of God falsely. For vanity in Scripture^ 
 frequently means something which is not what it would 
 appear. And hence using God's name, in vain, or to 
 Tanity, principally signifies, applying it to confirm a 
 falsehood. Doing this deliberately, is one of the most 
 shocking crimes of which we can be guilty. For taking 
 an oath is declaring solemnly, that we know ourselves to 
 be in the presence of God, and him to be witness of 
 what we speak ; it is appealing to him, that our word» 
 express the very truth of our hearts, and renouncing all 
 title to his mercy, if they do not. This it is to swear : 
 and think then what it must be to swear falsely. In 
 other sins men endeavour to forget God : but perjury is 
 daring and braving the Almighty to his very face; bid- 
 ding him take notice of the falsehood that we utter, and 
 do his worst. 
 
THIRD COMMANDMENT. 59 
 
 Now of tills dreadful crime we are guilty, if ever we 
 swear, that we do not know or believe what indeed we 
 do; or that we do know or believe what indeed we do not : 
 if ever, being upon our oaths, we mislead those whom 
 we ought to inform; and give any other than the 
 exactest and fairest account that we can, of any matter 
 concerning which we are examined. Again, if we pro- 
 mise upon oath to do a thing, without firmly designing 
 to do it ; or if we promise not to do a thing, without 
 firmly designing to abstain from it : this also is forswear- 
 ing ourselves. Nay further ; provided the thing which 
 we promise, be lawful, if we do not ever after take all 
 the care that can be reasonably expected, to make our 
 promise good, we are guilty of perjury ; and of living in 
 it, so long as we live in that neglect. If indeed, a per- 
 son hath sw^rn to do what he thought he could have 
 done, and it proves afterwards unexpectedly that he 
 cannot ; such a one is chargeable only with mistake, or 
 inconsiderateness at most. And if we either promise, or 
 threaten any thing, which we cannot lawfully do : 
 making such a promise is a sin, but keeping it would 
 be another, perhaps a greater sin ; and therefore it in- 
 nocently may, and in conscience ought to be broken : 
 But if we have promised what we may lawfully, but only 
 cannot conveniently perform ; we are by no means on 
 that account released from our engagement: unless either 
 we were unqualified to promise, or were deceived into 
 promising ; or the person to whom we have engaged 
 voluntarily sets us at liberty ; or the circumstances of the 
 case be plainly and confessedly such, that our promise 
 was not originally designed to bind us in them. 
 
 You see then what is perjury. And you must see, it 
 i^ not only the directest and grossest affront to God, 
 fi^r which reason it is forbidden in the first table of the 
 ten commandments, but the most pernicious injury to 
 
40 THIRD COMMANDMENT. 
 
 our fellow-creatiires : on which account you will fmil it 
 again forbidden in the second table. If persons will as- 
 sert falsely upon oath, no one knows what to believe ; 
 no one's property or life is safe. And if persons will 
 promise falsely upon oath, no one can know whom to 
 trust ; all security of government and human society, all 
 mutual confidence in trade and commerce, in every re- 
 lation and condition, is utterly at an end. With the 
 greatest reason therefore, ai*e i)erjured wretches abliorred 
 of all the world. And no interest of our own, no kind- 
 ness or compassion for other persons, no turn or pur- 
 pose of wliatsoever sort to be served by it, can ever 
 justify our swerving at all from truth, either in giving 
 evidence, or entering into engagements. Nor must we 
 think in such cases to come off with equivocations, eva- 
 sions, and quibbles : and imagine it innocent to deceive 
 this way. On the contrary, the more artful and cunning 
 our falsehoods are, the more deliberate and mischievous, 
 and thei'cfore tlie wickeder they are. Be not deceived ; 
 Godis not mocked : and the following are the declarations 
 of His sacred word to the upi'ight man : Lord, who shall 
 dwell in Thy tabernacle* and rest upon Thy holy hill ? He 
 that speaketh the trnth from his heart, and hath used no 
 deceit with his tongue: he that sweareth unto his neighbour 
 and disappointeth him not, though it were to his own hin- 
 derance. But to the perjured : seeing he despiseth the oath, 
 by breaking the covenant; thus saith the Lord God : Jis I 
 live, surely my oath that he hath despised, and my covenant 
 that he hath broken, 1 will recompense it upon his head. 
 
 Let us all stand in awe of so dreadful a threatening, 
 and avoid so horrible a guilt. Particularly at present, 
 let all who have sworn allegiance to the king, faithfully 
 keep it, and that in regard to the oath of God, {EccL viii 
 2.) And let those who have not sworn, remember how- 
 ever, that merely claiming the protection of a govern- 
 
THIRD COMMAIVDMENT. 44 
 
 meiit, impliCvS some promise of being dutiful to it in re- 
 turn : and that a successful rebellion would not only 
 tempt multitudes of our fellow-subjects to perjury, but 
 kiy our country, its laws and religion, at the absolute 
 mercy of a faith-breaking church.=^ 
 
 One thing more should be added here ; for it cannot 
 well be mentioned too often, that next to false swearing, 
 false speaking and lying, whether in what we assert or 
 what we promise, is a grievous sin, and hateful to God 
 and man. Thougfi we do not call on our Maker to be 
 witness, yet he is a witness of whatever we say, and it 
 is presumptuous wickedness to utter an untruth in the 
 presence of the God of truth. It is also at the same time 
 very hurtful to other persons, and very foolish with 
 respect to ourselves : For they who will lie, to conceal 
 their faults or to carry tiieir ends, are perpetually found 
 out, disappointed and ashamed, for the most part, in a 
 very little while : and then, for ever after tkey are dis- 
 trusted and disbelieved, even when they speak truth : as 
 indeed who can depend upon such, or who would ven- 
 ture to employ them ? Many other faults may be borne, 
 so long as honesty and sincerity last ; but a failure in 
 these cannot be passed over : so just is Solomon's obser- 
 vation, The lip of truth shall be established for ever : but 
 a lying tongue is but for a monunt, 
 
 2. Another way o£ taking God's name in vain is, when 
 we swear by it needlessly, though it be not falsely. For 
 tliis also the words in vain signify. 
 
 One way of doing so, is by rash and inconsiderate 
 vows : for a vow, being a promise made solemnly to 
 God, partakes of the nature of an oath. And there may 
 possibly be sometimes, good reasons for entering into 
 tJiis kind of engagement But vowing to do what there 
 
 • This paragraph was added in the time of the rebellion, 1745. 
 4 
 
42 THIRD CpMMANi)MENT, 
 
 is no use of doing, is trifling with our Creator: making 
 unlawful vows, is directly telling him we will disobey 
 Him : making such without necessity as are difficult to 
 keep, is leading ourselves into temptation : and indeed 
 making any, without much thought and prudent advice 
 first, usually proves an unhapj)y snare. One vow we 
 have all made, and were bound to make, that of our bap- 
 tism, which includes every real good resolution ; that 
 therefore let us carefully keep and frequently ratify, 
 and we shall scarce have occasion to make any more. 
 
 Another very needless, and always sinful use of God's 
 name, is by oaths in common discourse. Too many are 
 there, who fill up with them a great part of their most 
 trifling conversation ; especially if ever so little warmth 
 arises in talk, then they abound in them. Now it is un- 
 avoidable, that persons who are perpetually swearing, 
 must frequently perjure themselves. But were that 
 otherwise, it is great irreverence, upon every slight 
 thing we say to invoke God for a witness ; and mix His 
 holy and reverend namef with the idlest things that come 
 out of our mouths. And what makes this practice the 
 more inexcusable is, that we cannot have either any ad- 
 vantage from it, or any natural pleasure in it. Some- 
 times it arises from a hastiness and impatience of tem- 
 per, which is but increased by giving this vent to it : 
 w^hereas it is every one's wisdom, not to let it break out 
 in any way, much less in such a way. But generally, it 
 is nothing more than a silly and profane custom, incon- 
 siderately taken up, and there are the strongest i-easons 
 for laying it down immediately. It will make us dis- 
 liked and abhorred by good persons, and scarce recom- 
 mend us to the vei'y worst. No person is the sooner be- 
 lieved for his frequent swearing : on the contrary, a 
 modest serious aflirmation is always much more regard- 
 ed ; and if any one's character is so low that his word 
 
Third command^tent. 46 
 
 cannot be taken, he must think of other methods to re- 
 trieve it, for he will not at all mend matters, by the fre- 
 quent repetition of an oatli. Then if swearing be affect- 
 ed as becoming; it is certainly quite otherwise, in the 
 liighest degree. The very phrases used in it, as well as 
 the occasions on which they are used, are almost con- 
 stantly absurd and foolish : and surely profaneness can 
 never lessen the folly. Besides, they make the conver- 
 sation of men shocking and hellish. They are acknow- 
 ledged to be disrespectful to the company in which they 
 are used : and if regard to their eartlily superiors can 
 restrain persons from swearing, why should not the re- 
 verence, owing to our heavenly Father, do it much more 
 effectually? But indeed, the indulgence of this sin wears 
 off by degrees all sense of religion, and of every thing 
 that is good. 
 
 Justly therefore doth our Siiviour direct : But I say 
 unto you. Swear not at all : neither by Heaven, for it is 
 God^s Throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool ; nei- 
 ther by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King : 
 neither shall thou sxvear by thy head, for thou canst not 
 make one fiair white or black. But let your communication 
 he yea, yea ; nay, nay :for whatsoever is more than these, 
 ex)meth of evil. {Matih. r. 34, S5, 36.) That is; avoid, 
 not only the grosser oaths, but all the silly refinements 
 and softenings of them, which men have contrived in 
 hope to make them seem innocent: for, though the name 
 of God be not expressed, yet if it be implied by men- 
 tioning something relating to God, instead of himself; 
 indeed whatever form is used to disguise it, the intent 
 is the >»ame : and the effect will be, bringing a sacred 
 obligation into familiarity and contempt. Keep your- 
 selves therefore, tlioughout the whole of your common 
 conversation, within the bounds of a plain affirmation 
 or denial : for whatever goes beyond these, proceeds 
 
44 THIRD C0IHMANDM2NT. 
 
 from a bad turn of mind, and will produce bad conse* 
 quences. 
 
 If indeed, we be required to sw^car before a magistrate 
 or public officer, for the discovery of trutli and the doing 
 of justice, this is notwithstanding lawful. For om- Sa- 
 viour forbids^it only in our communication, our ordinary 
 discourse: and he himself, our great pattern, answered 
 upon oath to the High Priest, who adjured him btj the 
 living God. Or though we be not called upon by law-, 
 yet if some other weighty and extraordinary occasion 
 should oblige us to call our Maker to witness: as St. 
 Faul hath done, in more places than one of his epistles ; 
 then also we may allowably do it, provided it be alway 
 with sincerity and reverence. For by oatl»s, thus taken, 
 men are benefited ; and the name of God not profaned, 
 but honoured. But in our daily talk and communication 
 with each other, it is our Saviour's })eremptory precept, 
 swear not at all ; a rule so evidently right and important, 
 that even heathens have strictly enjoined and followed 
 it, to the shame of too many who call themselves 
 Christians. 
 
 Together with common swearing should be mentioned 
 another sin, very near akin to it and almost always 
 joined with it ; that monsti*ous custom of cursing, in dir 
 rect contradiction to all humanity, and to the expreSvS 
 w^ords of Scripture, bless, and curse not. To wish the 
 heaviest judgments of God, and even eternal damnation 
 to a person, for the slightest cause, or none at all; to 
 wish the same to ourselves, if some trifling tiling tliat 
 we are saying be not true, which frequently after all is 
 not true ; amounts to the most desperate impiety ,.if people 
 at all consider what they say. And though they do not, 
 it is even then thoughtlessly treating God and his laws, 
 and the awful sanctions of them^ with contempt : and 
 blotting out of their minds all serious regard to subjects, 
 
THIRD COMMANDMENT. 45 
 
 that will one day be found most serious things. His de- 
 light was in airsing , srys the psalmist, and it shall 
 happen unto him: he loved not blessing, therefore shall it 
 be far from him. 
 
 S. Besides the offences already mentioned, all indecent 
 and unfit use of God's name in our discourse, though it 
 be not in swearing or cursing, comes within tlie prohibi- 
 tion of the Commandment. All irreverent sayings, and 
 even thoughts concerning His nature and attributes. 
 His actions and His commands, fall under the same guilt; 
 unless we are tormented with such thoughts whether we 
 Vill or not: for then they are only an affliction, not a 
 jsin. All sorts of talk, ridiculing, misrepresenting, or 
 inveighing against religion, or whatever is connected 
 with it, incur the like etJndemnation. Nay, even want 
 of attention in God's worship, drawing near to Him 
 with our mouths, wliflst we remove our hearts far from, 
 Him, {Isaiah xxix. 13.) if it be wilfully or carelessly in- 
 dulged, makes us chai'geable, in its degree, with the sin 
 of taking his name in vain, 
 
 4. Though we no way profane his name ourselves; 
 yet if we entice others to perjury and falsehood, or pro- 
 vake tltem to rash oaths and curses ; or give them any 
 ueed less temptation to blaspheme God; to speak disre- 
 spectfully, or think slightly of their Maker or His laws, 
 natural or revealed ; by such behaviour also we become 
 accessory to the breach of this commandment, and rank 
 ourselves w ith those, whom it expressly declai-es God 
 will not hold guiltless : that is, will not acquit, but se- 
 verely punish. 
 
 Let us therefore be watchful, to preserve continually 
 such an awe of the supreme Being upon our own minds, 
 and those of all who belong to us, as may on every occa- 
 sion effectually influence us to give tlie glory due unto 
 
 4* 
 
46 THIRD COMMANDMENT. 
 
 His name, both in our more solemn addresses to Hini^t 
 and in our daily words and actions. For God is greatlif 
 to be feared in the assembly of the saints ; and to be had in 
 rerverence of all them that are round about Him, {Psalm 
 fxxxix. 7.) 
 
47 
 
 FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Rememier that thou keep holy the Sabhath-daij, Six days 
 shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do ; but the 
 seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : In it 
 thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, and thy son, and 
 thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant^ 
 thy cattle, and the stranger that is -within thy gates. 
 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : 
 Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallow- 
 ed it. 
 
 If the worship of God were left at large to be per- 
 formed at any time, too many would be tempted to defer 
 and postpone it, on one pretence or another, till at 
 leni^th it would not be performed at all. And there- 
 fore, though He were to be adored only by each person 
 separately, and in private, it would be very expedient 
 to fix on some stated returning seasons for that purpose. 
 But reason shows it to be requisite, and the experience 
 of all ages proves it to be natural, that as we are social 
 creatures, we should be social in religion as well as 
 other things, and honour in common our common Ma- 
 ker ; that wa should unite in giving thanks to Him for 
 the blessings of life, a very great part of which we 
 should be incapable of, without uniting: that we should 
 join in praying forgiveness of the sins which we too 
 often join in committing; petition Him together for the 
 mercies which we have need of receiving together ; and, 
 by assembling to learn and acknowledge our several 
 duties, keep alive in one another, as well as ourselves, 
 
48 rOURTU COMMANDMENT. 
 
 that constant regard to piety and virtue, on which our 
 happiness depends here and hereafter. 
 
 Since therefore, on these accounts, there must be pub- 
 lick worship and instruction ; it is not only expedient, 
 but necessary, tiiat there should be also fixed times ap- 
 pointed for it by sufficient authority. And how much 
 and what time should be devoted to this purpose, every 
 society must have determined for themselves, and 
 would have found it hard enough to agree in determin- 
 ing, if God had given no intimation of His will in the 
 case. But happily we are informed in the histoi*y of 
 the creation, that the Maker of tlie world, having finish- 
 ed His work in six days, (which He could as easily have 
 finished in one moment, had it not been for some valua- 
 ble reason, probably of instruction to us) blessed the 
 seventh daij^ and sanctijied it : that is, appointed every 
 return of it to be religiously kept as a solemn memorial, 
 that of Him, and therefore to Him are all things, {Rom, 
 xi. 36. j It is much the most natural to apprehend, that 
 this appointinent took place from the time when it is 
 mentioned ; from the time when the reason of it took 
 place. And it is no worrder at all, tl»at in so short a 
 history, notice should not be taken of the actual obser- 
 vation of it before Moses : for notice is not taken of it in 
 500 years after Moses, Yet we know of a certainty, 
 that in his time at least, it was ordered to be observed, 
 both in this fourth Commandment, and in other pai-ts of 
 the law, \N hich direct more particularly the manner of 
 keepirjg it. 
 
 The thing most expi'essly enjoined the Jews in eacif 
 of these passages is, renting from all manner of work; 
 and not suffering their families, their cattle, nor evetv 
 the sti-angers that lived amongst ti»em, to labour on that 
 day. And the reason of this rest, given in the Com- 
 mandment as \ou have it in the hookoi Exodus, is^that 
 
the Lord rested on the seventh day from His work of crea- 
 tion. Not tliat this, or any thiii.^, could be a fati.i^ue to 
 Him : for the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth 
 not f neither is wear ij. {Isaiah x\, 28.) But the expres- 
 sion means, that having then finished tlie formation of 
 the world, he ceased from it, and required men also to 
 cease from th^ir labours every seventh day; in memory 
 of that fundamental article of all religion, that the liea- 
 vens and earth were made and therefore are governed, 
 by one infinitely wise, powerful, and gmn] Being. And 
 thus was the Sabbathf which word means the day of rest, 
 a sign^ as the Scripture calls it, betivten God and the 
 children of Israel ; {Exod,xxxi. 13. 17. Ezek^xx. 12. 20.) 
 a mark to distinguish them from ail worshippers of false 
 deities. 
 
 But besides this principal reason for the repose of 
 every seventh day, two others are mentioned in the 
 law ; that it might remind them of that deliverance from 
 heavy bondage, which God hath granted them : remem- 
 her, that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and 
 that the Lord brought the out thence : therefore He com^ 
 manded thee to keep the SabMth day : and likewise that 
 their servants and cattle might not be worn out with 
 incessant toil ; that thine ox and thine ass may rest; and 
 the son of thine handmaid, and the stranger, may he re- 
 freshed. Such mercy indeed is little moi-e tlian common 
 prudence ; but there are in the world multitudes of hard- 
 hearted wretches, who would pay small regard to that 
 consideration, were they left to tlieir own liberty. 
 
 Now, merely abstaining from common work on this 
 day, in obedience to God's command for such religious 
 and moral ends as these, was undoubtedly sanctifying 
 or keeping it holy. But then we are not to suppose 
 that the leisure thus provided for men, was to be thrown 
 away just as they pleased, instead oCbeing usefully 
 
50 rOtRTII COMMANUMEXT. 
 
 employed. God directed the Jews : Thou shall love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy soul and with all thy might ; 
 and the words which I command thee this day 9 shall be in 
 thy heart ; and thou shall teadi them diligently unto thy 
 children; and shall talk of them, when thou sittest in thine 
 house and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
 liest down, and when thou risest up. Now, as he requi- 
 i*ed them to attend so coustaiitly to these duties ; he 
 could not but expect they should attend more especially 
 to them on that day, when the gi-eat foundation of all 
 duty, his creating the world, was appointed to he com- 
 memorated ; and when they had nothing; to take off their 
 thoughts from what they owed to God their Maker. 
 There was a peculiar sacrifice appointed for that day : 
 there is a peculiar psalm composed for it, the ninety- 
 second ; and tliese things are suiely further intimations 
 to us, that it must have been a time peculiarly intend- 
 ed, for the offering up of prayers and thanksgivings to 
 heaven. 
 
 Few indeed, or none of God's law^s, were well observ- 
 ed in the days of the Old I'estament. But still, as the 
 Priests and Levites were dis|)ersed through the Jewish 
 nation, that they might teach the people religion ; so we 
 read, that in good times they did teach it accordingly : 
 and when could this be, but on the Sabbath day ? We see 
 it was the custom of religious persons, on that day, to 
 resort to the prophets that were in Israel ; doubtless to 
 bear the word of God from their mouths. (2 Kings iv, 
 S3.) We see public happiness promised on this condi- 
 tion, that men should honour the Sabbath of the Lord, not 
 doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor 
 speaking their own words. We see absolute ruin threat- 
 ened for the profanation of it, {Jer. xvii. 27.) We see a 
 time foretold, when from one Sabbath to another alljlesh 
 should come to worship before the Lord, (^Isa, Ixvi. 25.) 
 
roURTH COMMANDMENT. 51 
 
 And in consequence of this, when their captivity had 
 taii.^ht the Jews a stricter regard to their duty, syna- 
 gogues and houses of prayer, wei*e erected in every city 
 wliere the Maker of all things was publicly adored, and 
 His law read and preached every Sabbath-day. (^dcts 
 XV. 21.) 
 
 Such was the state of thini^s, when our Saviour 
 came into the world ; whose religion being intended 
 for all mankind equally, the deliverance from Egyptian 
 bondage, in which the Jews alone vvei*e concerned, was 
 mentioned no longer in the divine laws: but instead of 
 the commemoration of this, was substituted that of the 
 redemption of the world fi'om the dominion and punish- 
 ment of sin, which our blessed Redeemer accomplished 
 by His death, and proved Himself to have accomplished 
 by His resurrection. Accordingly, the first day of the 
 week, being the day i)f his resurrection, was appointed 
 in thankful remembrance of it, for the time of public 
 worship amongst Christians, and therefore is called by 
 St. Johrif the Lord's day ; {Rev, i. 10,) though in common 
 language it be moi-e usually called Sunday, as it was 
 even before our Saviour's time, and may be for a better 
 reason since, because on it Christ, the Sun of righteous- 
 ness, arose. Accordingly, some of the earliest fathers 
 ^ive it that name. 
 
 And that no one may doubt the lawfulness of this 
 change of the day, it plainly appears from several passa- 
 ges of St. Paul^ that we are not bound to observe the day 
 of the Jewish sabbath : and it still more plainly appears 
 in the scj'ipture history of the apostles, that they did ob- 
 serve and direct the observation of our present Chris- 
 tian Sabbath ; as the whole church hath constantly done 
 since, from their times to this, though it doth not appear 
 that they called it the Sabbath-day for many hundreds of 
 years. One day in seven being still kept, the memory 
 
52 FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 of the creation is as well preserved, and tlie intent of this 
 commandment as fully answered, as before : and that one 
 day in seven being chosen, on which our Saviour rose 
 again, the memory of the redemption wrought by hira 
 and called in scripture anew creation {2 Cor, v. 7-— Gal. 
 vi. 15.) is, in the properest manner, as well as with the 
 greatest reason, perpetuated along with the former^ 
 
 The day being then thus fixed which we ought to keep 
 holy, it remains to consider how it ought to be kept. 
 And, 
 
 1. It must be a day of rest, in order to commemorate 
 God's res ^in^, as the scripture expresses it, from all His 
 work which He created and made; and to allow that ease 
 and refreshment, which, with so great humanity, the 
 commandment requires should be given, not only to ser- 
 vants, but to the vei'y cattle. Besides, it cannot be a 
 day of religion to mankind, without such vacation from 
 the ordinary labours of life, rs may give sufficient leisure 
 to distinguish it by exercises of piety. But then, as 
 Christians are not under a tiispensation so rigorous in 
 outward observances as that of Moses, they are not 
 bound to so strict and scrupulous a i^est as the Jews 
 were. Though, indeed^ the Jews themselves became at 
 last, much more scrupulous in this matter than they 
 needed, and are accordingly reproved by our blessed 
 Saviour, from whom we learn this general rule, that the 
 Sabbath was made for man, not man far tlie Sabbath : and 
 therefore all works of great necessity, or great goodness 
 and mercy, if they cannot be deferred to another time, 
 be they ever so laborious, may very allowably be done 
 then. Only, so far as the public wisdom of the laws of 
 the land hath restrained us, we ought certainly to re- 
 strain ourselves, even from such things as in our pri- 
 vate opinion, we might otiieinvise think innocent. As 
 to matters of less labour, what propriety and decency, 
 
roURTH COMMANDMENT. o3 
 
 and reasonable convenience require, we surely aeed not 
 «mit. And what the practice of the more religious and 
 considerate part of those amongst whom we live allows, 
 hath without question no small title to our favourable 
 opinion. But the liberties taken by thoughtless or pro- 
 fane persons, are not of any authority in the least, and 
 the safest general rule to go by, is to omit whatever may 
 be sinful and is needless, and neither to require nor 
 suffer those who belong to us, to do, on this day, what 
 we appreliend is unlawful to do oui'sehes. 
 
 2. A reasonable part of our day of holy rest must be 
 employed in the public worship of God. This, you have 
 seen, the Jews understood to be requisite on their Sab- 
 bath : and the earliest accounts which we have of ours 
 informs us, that on the first day of the week, the disciples 
 came together to break bread : {Acts xx. 7) which means 
 to celebrate the Lord's supper. That with this was 
 joined the apostles^ doctrine and prayer, we learn from 
 another place of the same book of scripture, (^Jlcts ii. 42.) 
 And that every Lord's day was dedicated to the public 
 offices of piety, the history of the church fully shows 
 from the beginning. To strengthen the obligation of at- 
 tending on these offices, the laws of the land also enjoin it: 
 and as all persons need instruction in their duty both to 
 God and man, and the generality liave scarce any other 
 season for it than the leisure of the Sunday; if this 
 most valuable time be either taken from them, or thrown 
 away by them, they must become ignorant and vicious, 
 and of consequence miserable in this world and the next. 
 How wicked then, and how unwise, is it, either to throw 
 contempt on such ^n institution, or on frivolous pre- 
 tences to neglect improving by it ! 
 
 3. Besides assembling in the church on the Lord's 
 day, every one should employ some reasonable part of 
 it in the private exercises of piety : in thinking over their 
 
54 rOXJRTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 past behaviour, confessing their faults to God, and mak- 
 ing prudent resolutions against them for the future; 
 in praying for the mercies which they more especially 
 want, and returning thanks for the blessings with 
 which providence hath favoured them ; in cultivating a 
 temper of humanity ; in doing acts of forgiveness, and 
 setting apart something according to their ability, for 
 acts of charity ; (for which last St. Paul hath paiticular- 
 ly recommended this time, 1 Cor. xvi. S.) and in seri- 
 ously considering at home, whatever they have heard in 
 God's house. For our public religion will soon degene- 
 rate into a useless form, unless we preserve and enliven' 
 the spirit of it by such means as these, in private: to 
 which they above all persons, are bound on the Lord's 
 day, who either have little leisure for them on others, or 
 make little use of it. 
 
 When once persons have brought themseh^s to spend 
 so much of the Sunday as is fitting in this manner ; it 
 will then, and not before, be time for them to ask how 
 the remainder of it may be spent : for it is a very bad 
 sign to be careless of observing what is commanded, 
 and zealous of extending to the utmost, what at best is 
 only permitted. Over-great strictness however must be 
 avoided : and therefore decent civility and friendly 
 conversation, may both innocently and usefully have a 
 place in the vacant part of our Lord's day ; of which it 
 is really one valuable benefit, that it gives even the low- 
 est persons an opportunity of appearing to each other in 
 the most agreeable light they can, and thus promotes 
 mutual good will. Nor is it necessary at all to banish 
 cheerfulness from our conversation on this day ; which 
 being a festival, though a religious one, we should par- 
 take of all God's blessings upon it with joyful hearts. 
 But then such instances of freedom and levity in conver- 
 sation and behaviour, as would scarce be proper at any 
 
FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 55 
 
 time, are doubly improper at this : and tend very fatally 
 to undo whatev er good the preceding part of the day 
 may have done. 
 
 And as to taking further liberties, of diversions and 
 amusements, though they are not in express words for- 
 bidden (for the desire of them is not supposed in the 
 word of God) yet by the laws both of church and state 
 they are. And what need is there for them, or what 
 good use of them ? If persons are so vehemently set upon 
 these things, that they are uneasy to be so much as one 
 day in seven without them, it is high time that they 
 should bring themselves to more moderation, by exer- 
 cising some abstinence from them. And if they are at 
 all indifferent about them, surely they should consider, 
 what nriist be the effect of introducing and indulging 
 tbem : what offence aird uneasiness these things give the 
 more serious and valuable part of the w orid ,* what com- 
 fort and countenance to the unthinking and irreligious 
 part : what a dangerous exam])le to the lower part : what 
 encouragement they afford to exti-avagance and the mad 
 love of pleasure : what a snare they place in the way of 
 all, that think them unlawful, and yet will thus be 
 tempted to these liberties first and then to others, against 
 their consciences : and, to add no more, how unhappily 
 they increase the appearance (which, without them, God 
 knows, would be mucli too great) of religion being 
 slighted and disregarded,, especially by the upper part of 
 tlie world, who should be the great patterns of it. 
 
 And if this be the case of merely unseasonable diver- 
 sions, imprudent and unlawful ones are still more blame- 
 able on this day : but most of all, that crying sin of 
 debauchery and intemperance, which perverts it from 
 the service of God tothe service of the devil, and leads 
 persons more directly than almost any thing else, to utter 
 destruction of body and soul. Therefore let us be care- 
 
Ob FOURTH GOMMAWDMMNT.- 
 
 ful, first to guard ourselves against these transgressions^ 
 then to keep our children, servants, and dependents from- 
 the like, if we make any conscience of doing well by 
 them, or would have any prospect of comfort in them. 
 Nor let us think it sufficient, to restrain them froi» 
 s^pcndingi the day ilL: but to the best of our power and 
 imderstandings,, encourage and assist them to spend it 
 Vtell ; and God grant we may all employ in so right a 
 manner, the few Sabbaths and few days which we haver 
 to come on earth, that we may enter at the conclusion 
 af them, into that eternal Sabbath, that rest which re-^ 
 mainethfor the people of God, in heaven. 
 
I 57 1 
 
 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Honour ihij father and thy mother, that thy days may be 
 long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 
 Having explained the precepts of tlie first table, 
 ^\hich set forth the duty of men to God ; I now come 
 to tliose of the second, which express our several obliga- 
 tions one to another. 
 
 Now the whole law concerning these matters, is 
 bnefly comprehended, as St. Pfmr very justly observes, 
 in this one saying, Tliou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
 Our neighbour, is every one with whom we have at any 
 time any concern, or on wiiose welfare our actions can 
 have any itiflirence. For whoever is thus within our 
 reach, is in tlie most important sensenear tons, however 
 distant in ether i-espects. To love our neighbour is to bear 
 him good-will, which of course will dispose us to think 
 favourably ofhiin and behave properly to him. And to love 
 him as ourselves, is to have not only a real, but a strong 
 and active good-will towai'ds him ^ with a tenderness 
 for his iritTprests, duly proportioned to that which we 
 naturally feel for our own. Such a temper would most 
 powerfully restrain us from every tiling wrong, and 
 prompt us to every thing I'iglit: and therefore is the fulfil' 
 ling of the law, so far as it relates to our mutual be- 
 haviour. 
 
 But because on some occasions, we may either not 
 see, or not confess we see what is right and what other- 
 wise; our Saviour hath put the same duty in a light 
 somewhat different, which gives the safefrt, fallesf, 
 
58 riFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 and clearest direction for practice that any one precept 
 can give. Ml tilings 'whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do unto you, even so do ye unto them. Behaving 
 properl}^^ depends on judging truly ; and that, in cases of 
 any doubt, depends on hearing, with due attention both 
 sides. To our own side we never fail attending : the rule 
 therefore is, give the other side the same attention by 
 supposing it your own ; and after considering carefully 
 and fairly, what, if it were indeed your own, you should, 
 not only desire (for desires may be unseasonable) but 
 think you had an equitable claim to, and well-grounded 
 expectation of from the other party, that do in regard 
 to him. Would we but honestly take this method, our 
 mistakes would be so exceedingly few and slight and 
 innocent, that well might our blessed Lord add, For this^ 
 is the law and the prophets. 
 
 Yet, after all, there might be difficulty sometimes, es- 
 pecially to some persons, in the application of a rule so 
 very general ; and therefore we have in tlie command- 
 ments, the reciprocal duties of man to man branched out 
 into six particulars : the first of which, contained in the 
 fifth Commandment, relates to the mutual obligations of 
 superiors and inferiors : the rest, to those points in which 
 all men are considered as equals. 
 
 It is true>^ the precept now to be explained, mentions 
 only one kind of superiors : Thou shait honour thy father 
 and thy mother. But the case of other superiours is so 
 like that of father, that most of them have occasionally 
 the very name of father given them in most languages ; 
 and therefore the regard due to them also, may be very 
 properly comprehended and laid before you, under the 
 same head.. It is likewise true, that the duty of the 
 inferior alone is expressed in the Commandment^ but 
 the corresponding duty of the superior is, at the same 
 time, of necessity implied : for which reason 1 shall dis- 
 
FIFTH COMMABTDMENT. 59 
 
 course of both; beginning with the mutual obligations 
 of children and parents, properly so called, which will 
 be a sufficient employment for the present time. 
 
 Now the duty of children to their parents is here ex- 
 pressed by the word honour, which in common language 
 signifies a mixture of love a«d respect, producing due 
 obedience; but in Scripture language it implies further, 
 maintenance and support when wanted. 
 
 K Love to those, of whose flesh and blood we are, is 
 what nature dictates to us in the very first place. ChiK 
 dren have not only received from their parents, as in- 
 struments in the hand of God, tlie original of their being ; 
 but the preservation of it through all the years of help- 
 less infancy : which the needful care of them gave much 
 trouble, took up much time, required much expense; 
 all which parents usually gothrojigh with so cheerful a 
 diligence and so self-denying a tenderness, that no re- 
 turn of aftection on the child reus' part, can possibly re- 
 pay it to the full, though childiens' affection is what, 
 above all things, makes parents happy.. Then, as life 
 goes on, it is their i)arents that give or procure for 
 them such instruction of all kinds, as qualifies them, both 
 to do well in this world, and be for ever blessed in ano- 
 ther ; that watch over them continually with never-cea- 
 sing attention, consulting their inclinations in a multi- 
 tude of obliging instances, and bearing with their per- 
 verseness in a multitude of provoking ones ; kindly re- 
 straining them from a thousand pernicious follies, into 
 which they would otherwise fall, and directing their 
 heedless footsteps into the right way, encouraging, re- 
 warding, and, which indeed is no less a benefit, correct- 
 ing tfiem also, as the case requires ; full of solicitude all 
 tlie while for their happiness, and consumhig themselves 
 with labour and thoug+itfulness for their dear objects, to 
 improve, support, and advance them in their lives, and 
 
60 riFTH COMMAK^DMENT. 
 
 provide for tlieni at their deaths. Even those parents, 
 Avho perform these duties hut imperfectly, who perhaps 
 do some very wrong things; do notwithstanding, almost 
 all of them, so many right and meritorious ones, that 
 though the moi-e such they do the hetter tliey should he 
 loved, yet they that do least, do enough to be loved sin- 
 cerely for it as long as they live.^ 
 
 2 And witli love must ever he joined, due respect, 
 inward and outward. For parents ai-e not only the 
 benefactors, hut in rank the betters, and in right the 
 governors of their children ; whose dependence is u])oh 
 them> in point of interest, generally : in poiut of duty, 
 always. They ought therefore to think of them with 
 great reverence, aiid treat them with every mark of sub- 
 mission, in gesture, in speech, in the whole of their 
 behaviour, wliich the practice of wise and good persons 
 hath established, as proper instances of filial regard. 
 And though the parents be mean in station or low in 
 understanding; still the relation continues, and-the duty 
 that belongs to it. Nay, suppose they be faulty in some 
 pai't of their conduct or character, yet children should 
 be very backward to see this, and it can very seldom 
 be allowable for them to show that they see it : from the 
 world they should always conceal it, as far as they Cian, 
 for it is shocking beyond measui-e in them to publish it. 
 And if ever any thing of this nature must be mentioned 
 to tiie parents themselves, whicii nothing but great ne- 
 cessity can warrant or excuse; it should be with all 
 jM)ssible gentleness and modesty, and the most real 
 concern at being obliged taso unnatural an office. 
 
 3 Love and respect to parents will always produce 
 obedience to them, a third duty of the highest impor- 
 tance. Childien, for a considerable time, are utterly 
 
 * Sec X,.LOphon''s memoirs of Socrates, 1. 2. «. 
 
riFTir GOMMANDMEXr. 61 
 
 uttqualified to govern themselves | and so lon.e; as this 
 continues to be the case, must be absolutely and impli- 
 citly governed by those, who alone can claim a title to 
 it. As they grow up to the use of their understanding, 
 reason should be gradually mixed with authority, in 
 every thing that is required of them: but at the same 
 time children should observe, what they may easily find 
 to be true in daily instances, that they are apt to tliink 
 they know how to direct themselves, much sooner than 
 they really do f and should therefore submit to be directed 
 by their friends In more points, and for a longer time, 
 than perhaps they would naturally be tempted to wish. 
 Suppose, in that part of your lives wliich is already past, 
 you had had your own way rn. every thing, what woulcf 
 have been the consequences ? Very bad ones you your- 
 selves mustsee^s and yoiir elders now see, what you will 
 also in time, that it would be full as bad were you to 
 have your way now ; and what all who are likely to 
 know agree in, you should believe and submit to. Youp 
 parents and governors have at least more knowledge 
 and experience, if they have no more capacity, than youj 
 and the trotible which they take,, and the concern which 
 they feel about you, plainly show that your good is the 
 iJnmg which they have at heart. The only reason why 
 they do not indulge you in the particulars that you wish, 
 is, that they see it would hurt you : and it is a dreadful 
 venture for you, to think, as yet, of trusting yoursehcs* 
 Trust therefore to them, whom you have all uianaicr of 
 reason to trust ; and obey them willingly, who by the 
 laws of God and man, have aright to rule you, and, ge- 
 nerally speaking, a power ta make you obey at last, be, 
 you ever so unwilUngo . 
 
 Not that children are bound to obedience in all things 
 without exception. Should a parent command them to 
 lie, to steyal, to commit any wickedness : God commands 
 
62 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 the contrary; and He is to be obeyed, not man. Or 
 should a parent command any thin,i^ of consequence, di- 
 rectly opposite to the laws of the land and the injunc-^ 
 tions of public authority ; here tlie magistrate beinj? tlie 
 superiour power, in all things that confessedly belong to 
 his jurisdiction, is to be obeyed rather than the parent, 
 who ought himself to be subject to the magistrate.* Of, 
 if in other points, a parent should require what was 
 both very exidently and very greatly, unsuitable to a 
 child's condition and station, or had a clear tendency to 
 make him miserable ; or would be certainly and consi- 
 derably prejudicial to him thi-ough the remainder of his 
 life; where the one goes so far beyond his just bounds, 
 the other may allowably excuse himself from complying. 
 Only one case must be both so plain and withid of sucli 
 moment, as may justify him, not only in his own judg- 
 ment, which may easily be prejudiced, but in that of 
 every considerate person whom he hath oppoi'tunity of 
 consulting, and in the general opinion of mankind. 
 And even then, the refusal must be accompanied with 
 the greatest dcceiicy and humility ; and the strictest 
 care to make amends, by all instances of real duty, for 
 this one seeming want of duty. 
 
 In proportion as young persons approach to that age, 
 %vhen the law allows them to be capable of governing 
 theniselvcs, they become by degrees less and less subject 
 to the govenmient of their parents; especially in smaller 
 mattei's : for, in the more important concerns of life, and 
 above all, in the very impoitant one of marriage, not 
 only Daughters, (concerning whom the very })hrase of 
 giving them in marriage shows, that they are not to 
 gi\e themselves as they please) but sons too, should have 
 all possible regard to the authority, the judgment, the 
 
 * See Taylor's Elements of Civil Law, p. 387, 38S, 389. 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMEXT. 63 
 
 blessing, the comfm^t of those to whom they owe every 
 tiling. And even after they are sent out into the world 
 to stand on their own bottom, still they remain for ever 
 bound not to slight, or willingly to grieve them ; hut in 
 all proper affairs, to consult with them and hearken to 
 them, as far as it can be at all expected in reason or 
 gratitude, that they should. 
 
 4. The last thing, which in scripture the phrase of 
 honouring parents comprehends, is affording them de- 
 cent relief and support, if they are reduced to want it. 
 For thus our Saviour explains the word in his reproof 
 of the Pharisees, for making this commandment of no ef- 
 fect by their tradition, God commanded^ honour thtj fa- 
 ther and thy mother: but ye say, whosoever shall say to 
 his father or mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou 
 mightest be profited by me: that is, what should have re- 
 lieved you, I have devoted to religious uses; whosoever 
 should say this, and honoureth not his father or his mo- 
 ther, he shall be free: [Matt xv. 4, 5, 6.) In St. Mark it is, 
 Fe suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mo- 
 ther. [Mark vii. 12.) And in other places of scripture, 
 besides this, honouring a person signifies contributing 
 to his maintenance : as I Tim. v. 17, 18. Let the elders 
 that rule be counted worthy of double honour : especially 
 they who labour in the xvord and doctrine; for the scripture 
 salth, the labourer is worthy of his reward. 
 
 How worthy pai^ents are of this, as well as the other 
 sorts of honour, wlien they need it, sufficiently appears 
 from all that hath been said. If they deserve to be loved 
 and respected, surely they are not to be left exposed to 
 distress and want by those whom they have brought 
 into life, and for whom they have done so much : but 
 children, even if they are poor, should both be diligent 
 in working and provident in saving, to keep their help- 
 less parents from extremities : and if they are in compe- 
 
€4 TiFTH tJOMMANDMENT. 
 
 tently good circumstances, should allow them a liberal 
 share of the plenty which they enjoy themselves. Ac- 
 cordingly St. Faul directs, that both children and ne- 
 phewSf that is s^randchiJdren, for so the word nephew 
 always means in scripture, should learn Jirst to show 
 piety at Iiome, and to requite their parents :for that is good 
 and acceptable before God, Indeed nature as well as 
 Christianity^ enjoins it so strongly, that the whole world 
 cries out sliame where it is neglected : and the same 
 reason which requires parents to be assisted in their 
 necessities, requires cliildren also to attend upon them 
 and minister to them, with vigilant assiduity and tender 
 affection, in their infirmities ; and to consult on every oc- 
 casion, their desires, their peace, and tlieir ease: and they 
 should consider both what they contribute to their sup- 
 poi't, and every other instance of regard which they 
 show them, not as an alms given to an inferior, but as 
 a tribute of duty, paid to a superior. For which reason 
 perhaps it may be, that relieving them is mentioned in 
 scripture under the notion of honouring them. 
 
 One thing more to be observed, is, that all these du- 
 ties of children belong equally to both parents : the mo- 
 ther being as expressly named as the father, in the 
 commandment, and having the same right in point of 
 reason. Only, if contrary orders are given by the two 
 parents to the child, he is bound to obey that parent 
 rather, whom the other is bound to obey also : but still 
 preserving to each all due reverence, from which no- 
 thing, not even the command of either can discharge 
 him. 
 
 And now I proceed to the duties of parents to their 
 children, on which there is much less need to enlarge 
 than on the other. For not only parents have more un- 
 derstanding to know their duty, and stronger affections 
 to prompt them to do it ; but indeed, a great part of it 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMENT. ^5 
 
 liatli been already intimated, in setting forth that oC 
 children to them. It is the duty of parents, to take all 
 that kind care, which is the main foundation of love; to 
 keep up such authority, as may secure respect ; to give 
 such reasonable commands, as may engage a willing 
 obedience ; and thus to make their children so good, and 
 themselves so esteemed by them, that they may depend, 
 in case of need, on assistance and succour from them. 
 
 More particularly, they are bound to think them, from 
 the first, worthy of their own inspection and pains : and 
 not abandon them to the negligence, or bad management 
 of others : so to be tender of them and indulge them, as 
 not to encourage their faults ; so to reprove and correct 
 them, as not to break their spirits or provoke their ha- 
 tred ; to instil into them the knowledge, and require of 
 them the practice, of their duty to God and man : and 
 recommend to them every precept, both of religion and 
 morality, by what is the strongest recommendation, a 
 good and amiable example : to breed tliem up as suitably 
 to their condition as may be; but to be sure not above it: 
 watching over them with all the care that conduces to 
 health ; but allowing them in none of the softness that 
 produces luxury or indolence, or of the needless distinc- 
 tions, that pamper pride ; to begin preparing them early, 
 according to their future station in life, for being useful 
 in it to others and themselves: to provide conscien- 
 tiously for their spiritual and eternal, as well as tempo- 
 ral good, in disposing of them ; and bestow on them 
 willingly, as soon as it is fit, whatever may be requisite 
 to settle them properly in the world : to lay up for them, 
 not by injustice, penuriousness, or immoderate solici- 
 tude, all that they can ; but by honest and prudent dili- 
 gence and attention, as much as is sufficient, and to 
 distribute this amongst them, not as fondness, or resent- 
 ment, or caprice, or vanity, may dictate ; but in a rea- 
 
66 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 sonable and equitable manner, such as will be likeliest 
 to make those who receive it love one another, and es- 
 teem the memory of the giver. 
 
 These are, in brief, the mutual duties of parents and 
 children ; and you will easily perceive that they are the 
 duties in proportion of all who, by any occasional or 
 accidental means, come to stand in the stead of parents 
 or of children. The main thing which wants to be ob- 
 served, is, that from the neglect of tliese duties on one 
 side, or on both, proceeels a very great part of the wick- 
 edness and misery that is in the world. May God in- 
 cline the hearts of all that are concerned either way in 
 this most important relation, so to practise the several 
 obligations of it, as may procure to them in this world, 
 reciprocal satisfaction and joy, and eternal felicity in 
 that which is to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
6r 
 
 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 Part II. 
 
 In my last tliscourse, I began to explain the fifth 
 Commandment; and having already gone through the 
 duties of children and parents, properly so called, I 
 come now to the other sorts of inferiors and superiors" j 
 all which have sometimes the same names given them, 
 and are comprehended under the reason a^d equity of 
 this precept. 
 
 And here, the first relation to be mentioned is, that 
 between private subjects and those in authority over 
 them; a relation so very like that of children and fa- 
 thers, that the duties on both sides are much the same in 
 each. 
 
 But more particularly the duty of subjects is, to 
 obey the laws of whatever government Providence hath 
 placed us under, in every thing wliich is not contrary to 
 the laws of God ; and to contribute willingly to its sup- 
 port, every thing that is- legally required, or maybe 
 reasonably expected of us : to be faithful and true to the 
 interests of that society of which we are members, and 
 to the persons of tliose who govern it ; paying, both to 
 the supreme power, and all subordinate magistrates, 
 every part of that submission and respect, both in 
 speech and behaviour, which is their due ; and making 
 all those allowances in their favour, which the difficulty 
 of their office, and the frailty of our common nature de- 
 mand : to love and wish well to all our fellow subjects, 
 without exception ; think of them charitably, and treat 
 them kindly: to be peaceable and quiet, each minding 
 
68 
 
 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 diligently the duties of his own station ; not factious and 
 turbulent, intruding into the concerns of others : to be 
 modest and humble, not exercising ourselves in matters 
 too high for us ; but leaving such things to the care of our 
 superiors, and the providence of God : to be thankful 
 for the blessings and advantages of government, in pro- 
 portion as we enjoy them : and reasonable and patient 
 binder the burdens and inconveniences of it, which at 
 any time we may suffer. 
 
 The duty of princes and magistrates, it would be of 
 iittle use to enlarge on at present. In general it is, to 
 ionfine the exercise of their power within the limits of 
 the laws, to which they are bound ; and direct it to 
 the attainment of those ends for which they were ap- 
 pointed ; to execute their proper function with care and 
 integrity, as men fearing God, men of truth, hating co^ 
 vetousness; to do all persons impartial justice, and con- 
 sult in all cases, the public benefit^ encouraging religion 
 and virtue with zeal,, especially by a good example; 
 punishing crimes with steadiness, yet with moderation ; 
 and studying to preserve the people committed to their 
 charge, in wealth, peaces and godliness. {Commimion 
 office,) 
 
 Another relation to be brought under this Command- 
 ment, is, that between spiritual fathers, the teachers 
 of religion, and such as are to be taught. 
 
 The duty of us who have undertaken the important 
 work of spiritual guides and teachers, is to deliver the 
 doctrines and precepts of our holy religion, in the plain- 
 est and strongest terms that we can ; insisting on such 
 things chiefly, as will be most conducive to the real and 
 inward benefit of our hearers : and recommending them 
 in the most prudent and persuasive manner ; seeking to 
 please all men for their good, to edification, but fearing no 
 man in the discharge of our consciences -, and neither 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 69 
 
 sayinj^ or omitting any thin,^ for the sake of applause 
 from the many or the few, or of promoting either our 
 own wealth and power, or that of our order ; to instruct, 
 exhort and comfort all that are placed under our care, 
 with sincerity, discretion, and tenderness, privately as 
 well as puhlickly, so far as they i^ive us opportunity, or 
 we discern hope of doing service : watching for their 
 sonlSf as they that must give account; to rule in the 
 church of God with vigilance, humility, and meekness, 
 showing ourselves in all things^ patterns of good works. 
 
 The duty of you, the christian laity, whom we are to 
 teacli, is to atlenil constantly and seriously on religious 
 worship and instriiction, as a sacred ordinance appoint- 
 ed by heaven for your spiritual improvement ; to consider 
 impartially and carefully what you hear, and believe 
 and practise what you are convinced you ought j to ob- 
 serve with dite regard the rules established for decent 
 order aiid ediiication in the church, and pay such re- 
 spect, in word and dcQil, to those who minister to you 
 in holy things, as the interest and honour of religion re- 
 quire; accepting and encouraging our well-meant ser- 
 vices, and' bearing charitably with our many imperfec- 
 tions and failings. 
 
 A third relation, is that between masters or mistress- 
 es of schools and their scholars. The duty of the for- 
 mer is, diligently to instruct the children committed to 
 them, in all the things which they are put to learn, suit- 
 ing their manner of teaching, as well as they can, to the 
 temper and capacity of each, and to take effectual care 
 that they apj)ly themselves to what is taught them; and 
 do their best to watch over their behaviour, especially 
 in the great points of religion and truth, modesty and 
 good-humour; show countenance to &tich as are well- 
 behaved and promising ; correct the faulty, with need= 
 ful. vet net with excessive severity : and get the incor- 
 
rO FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Hgible removed oirt of the way, before they corrupt 
 others. And the duty of the scholars is, to revei^nce 
 and obey their master or mistress, as if they were their 
 parents ; to live friendly and lovingly with one another 
 as brothers and sisters ; to be heartily thankful to all that 
 give or procure them so valuable a blessing as useful 
 knowledge; and industrious to improve in it, consider- 
 ing, how greatly their happiness here and hereafter 
 depends upon it. 
 
 I come now to a fourth relation, of great extent an4 
 importance, that between heads of families and their 
 servants. 
 
 When the New Testament was written, the generali- 
 ty of servants were, as in many places they are still,, 
 mere slaves; and the persons to whom they belonged, 
 had a right to their labour and that of their postei'ity, 
 for ever, without giving them any other wages thaiv 
 their maintenance ; and with a power to inflict on them, 
 Avliat punishments they pleased for the most part, even 
 death itself, if they would. God be thanked, service 
 amongst us,, is a much happier thing : the conditions of 
 it being usually no otlier, than the servants themselves 
 voluiitarily enter into for their own benefit. But then, for> 
 tliat reason, they ought to pcrfoi'm whatever is due from 
 them, both more conscientiously and more cheerfully. 
 
 Now from servants is due, in the first place, obedience. 
 Indcedj if they arc commanded what is plainly unlaw- 
 ful; they ought to obey God rather than man; {Ads v. 29.) 
 but still til ay must excuse themselves decently, though 
 resolutely. And even lawful things, which they havo 
 not bargained to do, they are not obliged to do : nor any. 
 tljing iiid'ocd, which is clearly and gi-eatly unsuitable to 
 iheir phice and station, and improj)er to be required of 
 them. But whatever they engaged, or knew they were 
 expected to do; or wliat, though they did not know i\i 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMENT. TT, 
 
 it beforehand, is usual and reasonable, or even not very 
 unreasonable, they must submit to. For if tliey may 
 on every small pretence, refuse to do this, and question 
 whether that belong to their place, it is most evident, 
 that all authority and order in families must be at an 
 end ; and they themselves will have much more trouble 
 in disputing about their business, than they would have 
 in performing it. 
 
 Servants therefore should obey : and they should do 
 it respectfully and readily ; not murmuring or behaving 
 gloomily and sullenly, as if their work was not due for 
 their wages; and contradicting, as if tliose whom they 
 serve were their equals; but, as the apostle exhorts, with 
 good-will doing service; [Eph, vi. 7,) not answering again 
 (Tii. ii. 9.) and paying all fit honour to their master oi^ 
 ffiistresS) and to every one in the family. 
 
 They are also to obey with diligence : to spend as much 
 time in work, and follow it as closely all- that time, as 
 can be fairly expected from them ; not with etje-service, 
 as men-pleasers (these are the words of scripture, twice 
 repeated there) hit with singleness of heart, fearing God^ 
 W hatever industry therefore a reasonable master would 
 require when his eye is upon them, tlie same, in the main,, 
 honest servants will use when his eye is not upon them : 
 for his presence or absence can make no difference in 
 tiieir duty. He hath agreed with tiiem for tiieir time 
 and pains, and he must not be defrauded of them. 
 
 With diligence, must always be joined care, that no 
 business be neglected or delayed beyond its proper sea= 
 son : nothing mismanaged for w ant of thinking about 
 it; nothing heedlessly, much less designedly, wasted: 
 and squandered; but all reasonable frugality and good 
 contrivance shown, and all fair advantages taken, yet 
 no other, for the benefit of those who employ them.. 
 Everv servant would think this but common justice in 
 
rS FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 his own case; and therefore should do it as common 
 justice in his Maker's case. Some perhaps may imagine 
 that their master's estate or income, is w ell able to afford 
 them to be careless or extravagant ; but the truth is, few 
 or no incomes can afford this : for if it be practised in one 
 thing, why not in another ? And what must follow, if it 
 be practised in ail? that certainly which we daily sec, 
 that persons of the greatest estates are distressed and 
 ruined by it. Or, though it would not distress them at 
 all, yet a master's wealth is no moi'e a justillcation of 
 servants wasting what belongs t^ him, than of their 
 stealing it- and if oj5« be dishc>nest, the other must be so. 
 
 Now dishonesty^ every body owns to be a crime; but 
 too many do not consider sufficiently how many sorts 
 of it there are : observe then, that besides the instances 
 already mentioned, and the gross ones that are punish- 
 able by law, it is dishonest in a servant, either to take to 
 himself or give to another, or consent to the taking or 
 giving, whatever he knows he is not allowed, and durst 
 not do with his master's knowledge. There are, to be 
 sure, various degrees of this fanlt, some not so bad 
 as others, but it is the same kind of fault in all of them ; 
 besides that tlie smaller degrees lead to the greater : 
 and all dishonesty, bad as it is in other persons, is yet 
 worse in those who are intrusted, as servants are, and 
 things put in their power upon that trust, which if they 
 break, they are unfaithful as well as unjust. 
 
 Another sort of dishonesty is, speaking falsehoods : 
 against which J have already in the course of these lec- 
 tures given some cautions, and shall give more, there- 
 fore at present I shall only say, that whether servants 
 are guilty of it amongst themselves, or to their masters 
 or mistresses, whether against or in favour of one ano- 
 ther, or even in their own favour; there are few things 
 by which they may both do and sisffer more harm than a 
 lying tongue. 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMENT. T3 
 
 Truth therefore is a necessary quality in servants, 
 and a further one is proper secrecy : for there is great 
 nnfairness in betraying the secrets, either of their mas- 
 ter's business or his family, or turning to his disadvan- 
 tage any thing that comes to their knowledge by being 
 employed under him ; unless it be where conscience 
 obliges them to a discovery, which is a case that seldom 
 happens ; and, excepting that case, what they Iiave pro- 
 mised to conceal, it is palpable wickedness to disclose ; 
 and where they have not promised, yet tbey are taken 
 into their master's house to be assistants and friends, not 
 spies and talebearers ; to do service, not harm to him, 
 and to every one that is under the roof. 
 
 Two other duties, of all persons indeed, but in some 
 measure peculiarly of servants, are, sobriety, without 
 which they can neither be careful or diligent, nor will be 
 likely to continue just; and chastity, the want of which 
 will produce all manner of disorders and mischiefs in the 
 family to which they belong, and utter ruin to them- 
 selves. 
 
 The last requisite which I shall mention, is peaceable- 
 ness and ^ood temper ; agreeing with and helping one 
 another, and making the work which they have to do 
 easy, and the lives which they are to lead together, com- 
 fortable, For it is very unfit, that either their masters 
 or any other part of the family should suffer through 
 their ill-humour; and indeed they suffer enough by it 
 themselves, to make restraining it well worth their 
 while. 
 
 These are the duties of servants ; and as the faithful 
 performance of them is the surest way of serving them- 
 selves and being happy in this world; so, if it proceed 
 from a true principle of conscience, God will accept it 
 as service done to himself, and make them eternally 
 happy for it in the next : whereas wilfully transgressing 
 
7*4 FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 or neglij^ently sli^^hting, the things which they aught to' 
 do, whatever pleasure or wimtever advantage it may 
 promise to produce to them for a while, will seldom fail 
 of bringing them at last to shame and ruin even here, and 
 will certai^nly bring them,, unless they repent and amend, 
 to misery hereafter. 
 
 But thiiik not, I entreat you, that we will lay burdens 
 on those below us, and take none upon ourselves: there 
 are duties also, and very necessai^ ones, which masters^ 
 and mistresses owe to their servants. 
 
 To behave towards them with meekness and gentle- 
 ness, not imperiously and with contempt ; and to restrain 
 them as far as may be from incorrect conduct one to ano- 
 ther ; never to accuse, threaten, or suspect them, with- 
 out or beyond reason ; to hear patiently their defences 
 and complaints; and bear with due moderation their 
 mistakes and faults, neither to make them, when in 
 health, work or fare harder than is fitting, or suffer 
 them, when in sickness, to want an^y thing requisite for 
 their comfort and relief; if they be hired servants, to pay 
 their wages fully and punctually at the time agreed : if 
 they are put to learn arjy business or profession, to in- 
 struct them in it carefully and thoroughly ; not only to 
 give them time for the exercises of religion, but assis- 
 tance to understand, and encouragement to practise, 
 every part of their duty : to keep them as much as pos- 
 sible, both from sin and temptation, and particularly 
 from corrupting each other: To show displeasure when 
 Ihey do amiss as far, and no farther, than tlie case re- 
 tjuires ; and to countenance and reward them when tliey 
 serve well, in proportion to the merit and length of such 
 service. For all these things are natural dictates of rea- 
 son and humanity, and clearly imj)lied in that compre- 
 hensive rule of scripture : masters, give unto your ser- 
 vants that which is just and equals knowing, that ye also 
 have a Master in Heaven. 
 
FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 75 
 
 There are still two sorts more of inferiors and siipe° 
 i4ors, that may properly be mentioned under this com- 
 mandment : young persons and elder ; those of low and 
 high degree. 
 
 The duty of the younger is, to moderate their own 
 rashness and love of pleasure, to reverence the persons 
 and advice of the aged, and neither to use tliem ill or de- 
 spise them, on acconntof the infirmities that may ac- 
 company advanced years ; considering in what manner 
 they will expect hereafter that others should treat them. 
 And the duty of elder persons is, to make all fit allow- 
 ances, but no hurtful ones, to the natural dispositions of 
 young people ; to instruct them with patience and re- 
 prove them with mildness ; not to require either too 
 much or too long submission from them, but be willing 
 that they, in their turn, should come forward into tlie 
 world; gradually withdrawing themselves from the 
 heavier cares and the lighter pleasures of this life, and 
 waiting with pious resignation to be called into another. 
 
 The duty of the lower part of the world to those above 
 them, in rank, fortune, or office, is not to envy them, 
 or murmur at the superiority which a wise though mys- 
 terious providence hath given them, but in xvhatever 
 state they are, therewith to be content; and pay willingly 
 to others, all the respect which decency or custom have 
 made their due. At the same time, the duty of those in 
 higher life is, to relieve the poor, protect the injured, 
 countenance the good, discourage the bad, as they have 
 opportunity ; not to scorn, much less to oppress the 
 meanest of their brethren ; but to remember, that we 
 shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ ; {Rom, 
 xiv. 10.) where he that doth wrons;, shall receive for the 
 wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect of per- 
 sons, {Col, ni, 25,) 
 
 And now, wer« all these duties conscientiously ob- 
 
76 FTFTtt COMMANDMENT. 
 
 served by all the world, how happy a place would it be ! 
 And whoever will faithfully do their own part of them, 
 they shall be happy, whether others will do theirs or not ; 
 and the Commandment assures them of it; that thy days 
 may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee* In all probability, if we obey his laws, and that 
 now before us in particular, both longer and more pros- 
 perous will our days prove, in the land of our pilgrimage 
 in which God Iiath placed us to sojourn ; but, without all 
 question, eternal and infinite shall our felicity be, in that 
 land of promise, the heavenly Canaan, which he hath 
 appointed for our inheritance ; which that we may all 
 inherit accordingly. He of his mercy grant, &c 
 
7/ 
 
 SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 TJwu shall do no murder. 
 
 Having set before you, under the fifth Command- 
 ment, the particular duties which inferiors and supe- 
 riors owe each to the other, I proceed now to those re- 
 maining precepts, which express the general duties of all 
 men to all men. 
 
 Amongst these, as iife is the foundation of every thing 
 valuable to us, the preservation of it is justly entitled to 
 the first place : and accordingly the sixth Command- 
 ment is, Thou shall do no murder. Murder is taking 
 away a person's life, with design, and without authority. 
 Unless both concur, it doth not desei-ve that name. 
 
 1. It is not murder unless it be with design. He wIk) 
 is duly careful to avoid doing harm, and unhappily not- 
 withstanding that kills another, though be hath cause to 
 be extremely sorry for it, yet is entirely void of guilt on 
 account of it : for his will having no share in the action, 
 it is not, in a moral sense, his. But if he doth the mis- 
 chief through heedlessness or levity of mind, or inconsi- 
 derate vehemence, here is a fault : if the likelihood of 
 mischief could be foreseen, the fault is greater ; and the 
 highest degree of such negligence or impetuous rashness, 
 comes near to bad intention. 
 
 2, It is not murder unless it be without authority. 
 Now a person hath authority from the law, both of God 
 and man, to defend his own life, if he cannot do it other- 
 wise, by the death of whoever attacks it unjustly ; whose 
 destruction in that case is of his own seeking, and his 
 Uood on his own head. But nothing short of the most 
 
78 SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 imminent danger, ought ever to carry us to sucli an ex 
 tremity, and a good person will spare ever so bad a one, 
 as far as he can with any prospect of safety. Again, 
 proper magistrates hav« authority to sentence offenders 
 to death, on sufficient proof of s«ch crimes as the welfare 
 of the community requires to be thus punished ; and to 
 employ others in the execution of that sentence : and 
 private persons have authority, and in proper circum- 
 stances are obliged, to seize and prosecute such offen- 
 ders : for all this is only another sort of self defence, 
 defending the public from what else would be pernicious 
 to it : and tiie Scripture hath said, that the sovereign 
 power beareth not the sword in vain : (Jtom, xiii. 4.) 
 but in whatever cases gentler punishments would suffi- 
 ciently answer the ends of government, surely capital 
 ones are forbidden by this Commandment. Self-defence, 
 in the last place, authorizes whole nations to make war 
 upon other nations, when it is the only way to obtain 
 redress of injuries which cannot be supported, or secu- 
 rity against impending ruin. To determine whether 
 the state is indeed in these unhappy circumstances, be- 
 longs to the supreme jurisdiction, and the question 
 ought to be considered very conscientiously ; for wars, 
 begun or continued without necessity, are unchristian 
 and inhuman : as many murders are committed, as there 
 are lives lost in them ; besides the innumerable sins and 
 miseries of other sorts, with which they are always atten- 
 ded. But subjects, in their private capacity, are incom- 
 petent judges of wliat is re(piisite for the public weal , nor 
 can the guardians of it permit them to act upon their judg- 
 ment, were they to make one : therefore they may law- 
 fully serve in wars which their superiors have unlawful- 
 ly undertaken, excepting perhaps such offensive wars 
 as are notoriously unjust. In others, it is no more the 
 business of the soldiery to consider the grounds of their 
 
SIXTH C0M5rANDMENT. 79 
 
 sovereign's taking up arms, than it is the business of the 
 executioner to examine, whether the magistrate hath 
 passed a right sentence. 
 
 You see then> in what cases killing is not murder ; in 
 all but these, it is ; and you cannot fail of seeing the 
 guilt of this crime to be singularly great and heinous. 
 It brings designedly upon one of our brethren, without 
 cause, what human nature abhors and dreads most: it 
 cuts him off from all the enjoyments of this life at once, 
 and sends him into another fo? which possibly he was 
 not yet prepared : it defaces the image^ and defeats the 
 design of God : it overturns the great purpose of govern- 
 ment and laws, mutual safety: it robs society of a; 
 member, and consequently of part of its strength : it 
 robs the relations, friends, and dependents of the person 
 desti'oyed, of every benefit and pleasure which else they 
 might have had from him ; and the injury done in all 
 these respects, hath the terrible aggravation, that it 
 eaniiot be recalled. Most wisely therfelbre hath our 
 Creator surrounded murder with a peculiar horror : that 
 nature, as well as reason, may deter from it every one 
 who is not utterly abandoned to the worst of wickedness, 
 and most justly hath he appointed the sonsof JVba^, that 
 is, all mankind, to punish death with deatJi. Tfhoso 
 sheddeth man^s blood, by man shall his blood be shed ; for 
 in the image of God made he man* { Gen, ix. 6.) And that 
 nothing may protect so daring an oflTender, he enjoined 
 the JewSf in the chapter which follows the ten Com- 
 mandments : If a man come presumptuously upon his 
 neighbour to slay him with guile, thou shall take himfr&m 
 mine altar that he may die. But supposing, what seldom 
 happens, that the murderer may escape judicial ven- 
 gea!»ce ; yet what piercing reflections, what continual 
 terrors and alarms must he carry about with him ! And 
 ccHild he be hardened against these, it would only subject 
 
SiO" SIXTH COMMANDMEK^-Pi;. 
 
 him the more inevitably to that future condemnation, 
 from which nothing but the deepest repentance can pos- 
 sibly exempt him. For no murderer hath eternal life; 
 but they shall have their part in the lake that hurneth 
 •with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Johm. 
 i Vu 1 5 .T^Re^ xxi . 8 .) 
 
 But shocking, and deserving of punishment here and^ 
 hereafter as tlus crime always is, yet there are circum- 
 stances which may augment it greatly.. If the person 
 whom any one deprives of life, be placed in lawful au- 
 thority over him ; or united in relation or friendship to 
 iiim ; or have done him kindnesses ; or never hath done 
 him any harm; or be, in a peculiar degree, good, useful, 
 or pitiable; each of these things considerably increase 
 the sin> though some indeed more than others. Again, 
 if the horrid fact be formally- cojitFived,» and perhaps the 
 design carried on through a length of time, this argues 
 a much more steady and inflexible depravity of heart, 
 than the commission of it in a sudden rage : but still, 
 even the last, though it hath in tlie law of this country, 
 a different name of man-slaughter given it^ and' a differ- 
 ent punishment prescribed for the first offence; yet in 
 the sight of God is as truly murder as the former, though 
 freer from, aggravations. The mischief done is done 
 purposely ; and neither passion nor provocation gives 
 authority for doing it, or even any great excuse. For 
 as God hath required us, he hath certainly enabled us to 
 I'fistrain the hastiest sallies of our anger,..esppcially from 
 such enormities as this. 
 
 Nor doth it materially alter thenature>or lessen at all 
 the degree of the sin,.if, whilst we attack« another, we 
 give him an opportunity to^ defend himself and attack us,, 
 as in duelling : Still taking away his life is murder : expo= 
 sing our own is so likewise, as I shall quickly show you : 
 and an appointment of two persons to meet for this pur- 
 
S^IXTH COMMANDMENT. 81 
 
 pose under pretence of being, bound to it by their honour, 
 is an agreement in form to commit, for the sake of an 
 absurd notion, or rather an unmeaning word, the most 
 capital offence against each other and their Maker, of 
 which, if their intention succeed, they cannot have time 
 to repent. 
 
 As to the manner in which murder is committed, 
 whether a person do it directly himself or employ ano- 
 ther; whether he doit by force, or fraud, or colour of 
 justice j accusing falsely, or taking any unfair advan- 
 tage; these things make little further difference in the 
 guilt, than that the most ai'tful and studied way is gene- 
 rally the worst. 
 
 And thougli adesign of murder should not take effect; 
 yet whoever hath done all that he could towards it, is 
 plainly as much a sinner as if it had: doing any thing 
 towards it, or so much as once intending it, or assisting 
 or encouraging any other who intends it, is the same 
 sort of wickedness ; and if a person doth not directly de- 
 sign the death of another, yet if he designedly doth what 
 he knows or suspects may probal^ly occasion it, he is, in 
 }>ro])ortion to his knowledge or suspicion, guilty. Nay, 
 if he is only negligent in niatters which may affect hu- 
 man life, or meddles with them, when he hath cause to 
 think he u^ulerstands them not, he is far from innocent ; 
 and there are several professions and emjdoyments, in 
 which these truths might to be considered with a pecu- 
 liar degree of seiiousness. 
 
 Further yet; if it be criminal to contribute in any 
 manner towards taking away a person's life immediate- 
 ly, it must be criminal also to contribute any thing to- 
 V, ards shortening it, which is taking it away after a 
 lime; whether by bringing any bodily disease upon liim, 
 or causing him any grief or anxiety of mind, or by what 
 indeed will produce both, distressing him in his circum- 
 
82 ^IXTH C4»MMANttMJI£NTc 
 
 stances, concerning which the son of. Sirack snitt . Jic 
 that taketli away his 7ieighbours living, slayeth him ; and 
 he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a bloood- 
 shedder. 
 
 Indeed, if we caitse or procure any sort of hurt to ano- 
 ther, though it hath no tendency to. deprive him of life,^ 
 yet if it makes any i)art of his life more or less uneasy or 
 uncomfortable, we deprive him so far of what makes it 
 valuable to him^ which is equivalent to taking so much 
 of it away from him, or? possibly worse. 
 
 Nay, if we do a person no harm, yet if we wish him 
 harm, St* John hath determined the case : Whosoever ha- 
 teth his brother is a murderer. For indeed, hatred not 
 only leads to murder, and too often, when indulged, pro- 
 duces it unexpectedly; but it is always, though perhaps 
 lor the most part in a lower degree, the very spirit of 
 murder in the heart, and it is by our hearts that God 
 will judge us. Should our dislike of another not rise to 
 ftxed hatred and malice,^ yet if it rise to unjust anger, 
 we know our Saviour's declaration, i/ vjas said by them 
 f\f old time, thoiL shall not kill: and whosoever shall kill, 
 shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, 
 whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall 
 he in danger of the judgment, {jMait, v. 2 1 , 22.) That 
 is, wiiosoever is angry, either with persons that he ought 
 not, or on occasions that he ought not, or more vehe- 
 mently, or soonei", or longer than he ought to be,- is guil- 
 ty in some measure of that uncliaiitableness of whiclL 
 murder is the highest act, and liable to the punishment 
 af it in the same pro])ortioii* 
 
 Nor even yet have 1 carried the explanation of this 
 commandment to tbe extent of our duty. Whoever doth 
 not, as far as can be reasonably expected from him, en- 
 deavour to guard his neighbour from harm, to make 
 noace. to r<;licve distress 'm\C^ want, fails of what love to- 
 
SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 83 
 
 human kind certainly requires. Now love is thefiiljil' 
 ling of the law; and he that lovethnothis brother, abideth 
 in death. (i2om. xiii. 10. — l John iii, 14.) 
 
 We are also carefully to observe, that however hei- 
 nous it is to sin agjainst the temporal life of any one ; in- 
 juring him in respect of his eternal interests is yet 
 unspeakably woree. If it be unlawful to kill or hui-t the 
 body, or overlook men's worldly necessities ; much more 
 is it to destroy the soul of our brother for whom Christ 
 died, or any way endanger it ; or even suffer it to conti- 
 nue in danger, if we have in our power the proper and 
 likely means of delivering it: and^on the other Jiand, all 
 that mercy and iiumauity wliich, in the civil concerns of 
 our neighbours is so excellent a duty, must pro])ortion- 
 ably be still more excellent in their religious ones, and of 
 higher value in the sigiit of God. . 
 
 Hitherto I have considered the prohibition, thou shalt 
 do no murder f as respecting others; but it forbids also 
 self-murder : As we are not to commit violence against 
 the image of God in the person of any of our brethren, 
 so neither in our own : As we are not to rob the society 
 to which we belong, or any part of it, of the service 
 \vhich any other of its mcmbei's might do to it, we are 
 not to rob either of what we might do : As we are not 
 to send any one else out of the world ])rematurely, we 
 are not to send ourselves, but wait witli patience all the 
 days of our appointed tirae, till our change come. {Jobx\y^ 
 14.) If the sins which persons have committed prompt 
 them to despair, they of all others, instead of rushing 
 into the presence of God by adding this dreadful one to 
 them, should earnestly desire space to repent, [Her, ii. 
 21.) which, by his grace, the worst of sinners may do, 
 and be forgiven. If their misfortunes or sufferings make 
 them weai-y of life, he hath sent them these with design 
 that they should not by unlawful means evade them, but 
 
84 SIXTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 go through them well, whether they be inflicted for the 
 punishment of their faults or the trial of their virtues. 
 In either case we are to submit quietly to the discipline 
 of our heavenly Father, which he will not suffer to be 
 heavier than we can bear, whatever we may imagine, 
 but w ill support us under it, improve us by it, and in due 
 time lelease us from it» But in any case for persons to 
 make away with themselves, is to arraign the constitu- 
 tion of things which he hatli appointed ; and to refuse 
 living wiiere lie hath put them to live ; a very provoking 
 instance of widutifulness, and made peculiarly fatal by 
 tliis circumstance,^ tliat leaving usually no room for re- 
 pentance it leaves none for pardon : always excepting, 
 where it proceeds fronva mind so disordered by a bodily 
 disease as to be incapable of judging or acting reason- 
 ably, for God knows with certainty when this is the 
 cause and when not, and will accordingly either make 
 due alloAvances, or make none. 
 
 And if destroying ourselves be a sin,~doing any thing; 
 Nvilfully or- heedlessly that tends to our destruction, must- 
 h\ proportion be a sin : Where indeed necessity requires 
 gi-eat hazards to be run by some persons for the good of 
 others ; as in war, in extinguishing dangerous fires, in 
 several cases winch might be named ; or where employ- 
 ments and professions which somebody or other must 
 undertake,^ or such diligence in any employment as men 
 are by accidents really called to use,^ impair health and 
 shorten life ; there, far from being throw n away, it is 
 laudably spent in the service of God and man. But for 
 ii.ny person to bring on hiuLself an untimely end by ad- 
 venturous rashness, by ungoverned passion, by an im- 
 Dioderate ajixiety, or by an obstirjate or careless neglect 
 of his owji pieservation, is uiiquestlonably sinful. And- 
 above all, doing it by debauchery or immoral excess, is. 
 a most cffLctual way of ruining soul and body at once. 
 
SIXTH COM\tAX»MENT. 85 
 
 Let us therefore be conscientiously watchful, against 
 ^very tiling which may provoke or entice us to be inju- 
 rious, either to others or ourselves : and God grant, that 
 we may so regard the lives of our fellow-creatures and 
 so employ o«r own, that we may ever please the giver 
 and Lord of life ; and having faitlifully lived to him here, 
 may eternally live witii him hereafter, through JesiLS 
 Christ our only Saviour. Ameiu 
 
L S6 j 
 
 SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thow shalt not commit Multertj. 
 
 In speaking of this comuiandment, it is proper to be- 
 gin with observing, that as in the sixth where murder 
 is forbidden, every thing which tends to it or proceeds 
 from the same bad principle with it, is forbidden too ; so 
 in the seventh where adultery is proljibited, the prohibi- 
 tion must be extended to whatever else is criminal in the 
 same kind ; and therefore in explaining it I shall treaty 
 first of the fidelity which it requires fi*om married per- 
 sons, and then of the chastity and modesty which it re- 
 quires from all persons. 
 
 First, of the fidelity owing to each other from married 
 l)ersons. 
 
 'Not only the scripture account of the Creation of 
 mankind is a proof to as many as believe in scripture, 
 that the union of one man with one woman was the 
 original design and will of f leaven ; but the remarkable 
 equality of males and females born into the world, is an 
 evidence of it to all men. Yet notwithstanding it must 
 be owned, the cohabitation of one man with several wives 
 at the same time, was practised very anciently in the 
 darker ages, even by some of the patriarchs, who were 
 otherwise good persons; but having no explicit revealed 
 rule concerning this matter, they failed of discerning the 
 above-mentioned purpose of God, and both this error 
 and that of divorce on slight occasions, were tolerated 
 by the law o^ Moses : but that was only as the la\^ of 
 other countries, which often connive at what the lawgiver 
 is far from approving, accordingly, God expressed par- 
 
SEVE?«^TH COMMANDMENT. ST 
 
 ticularly by the prophet MalachU his dislike of these 
 thiiij^s : {Mat, ii. 14, 15, 16,) and our Saviour both tells 
 the Jews that Moses permitted divorces merely he- 
 caus€oftIie hardness of their hearts, and peremptorily 
 declares, that whosoever shall put away his wife^ 
 except it be for fornication, and shall marry another^ 
 committeth adulterij^ Now certainly it cannot be less 
 adulterous, to marry a second wltiiout putting away the 
 first. 
 
 Nor is polygamy (that is, the having more wives than 
 one at the same time) prohibited in holy w rit alone, but 
 condemned by many of the heathens themselves, who 
 alledge against it very plain and forcible reasons. It is 
 inconsistent with a due degree of mutual affection in 
 the parties, and a due care in the education of their chil- 
 dren. It introdcices into families perpetual subjects of 
 the bitterest enmity and jealousy ; keeps a multitude of 
 females in most unnatural bondage, frequently under 
 guardians fitted for the office by unnatural cruelty, and 
 tempts a multitude of males thus left unprovided for, to 
 nnnatural lusts. In civilized and well-regulated coun- 
 tries therefore, single marriages have either been esta- 
 blished at first, or prevailed afterwards on experience of 
 their preferableness : and a mutual promise of inviolable 
 faithfulness to the marriage-bed, hath been understood 
 to be an essential part of the contract : which promise is 
 with us most solemnly expressed in the office of matri- 
 mony, by as clear and comprehensive words as can be 
 devised ; and unless persons are at liberty in all cases 
 to slight the most awful vows to God, and the most de- 
 liberate engagements of each to the other ; how can they 
 be at liberty in this, where public good and private hap- 
 piness are so deeply interested? 
 
 Breaches of plighted faith, as they must be preceded 
 by a want of conjugal attection in the offending party^ 
 
BS SEVENTH COMMAKDMENT. 
 
 SO they tend to extinguish all the remains of it ; and tliis 
 change will he performed, and will give uneasiness to 
 the innocent one, though the cause he hid: hut if it he 
 known, or merely suspected hy the person wrpfiged, 
 (which it seldom fails to he in a little time ) it produces 
 in warm tempers, a resentment so stroni^ ; in milder, an 
 affliction so heavy^ that few things in the world equal 
 either : for love is sti^ong as death, jealousy is cruel as the 
 grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire. And with what- 
 ever vehemence they burn inwardly or outwardly, it can 
 he no wonder, when perfidious unkindness is found in 
 that nearest relation, where truth and love were delibe- 
 rately pledged and studiously paid on one side, in ex- 
 pectation of a suitable return ; and when the tenderest 
 part of the enjoyment tii life is given up beyond recall 
 into the hands of a traitor, who turns it into the acutest 
 misery. To what a height grief and anger on one 
 side, and neglect ripened into scorn and hatred on the 
 other;, may carry such calamities, cannot be foreseen : 
 but at least they utterly destroy that union of hearts^ 
 that reciprocal confidence, that oj^enness of communica- 
 tion, that sameness of interest of joys and of sorrows, 
 which constitute the principle felicity of the married 
 state. And besides, how very frequently do the conse- 
 quences of these transgressions affect and even ruin the 
 health or the fortune, it may be both, of the blameless 
 person in common with the guilty, and perhaps entail 
 diseases and poverty to successive generations ! 
 
 These are fruits which unfaithfulness in either party 
 may produce. In one it may produce yet more. A wo- 
 man guilty of this crime, who, to use the words of scrip- 
 ture, /orsaA-ef/i the guide of her youths and forg-etteth tht 
 covenant of her God, brings peculiar disgrace on her hus- 
 band, her children, and friends ; and may bnng an ille- 
 gitimate offspring to inherit what is the right of others: 
 
 i 
 
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 85 
 
 ■Hor is the infamy and punishment to whicli she exposes 
 herself, a less dreadful evil for bein^ a deserved one. 
 And if falsehood on the me;i's part hath not all the same 
 aggravations, it hath very great ones in their stead : 
 they are almost constantly the tempters; they often 
 carry on their wicked designs for a long time together ; 
 they too commonly use the vilest means to accomplish 
 them, and as they claim the strictest fidelity, it is unge- 
 nerous as well as unjust, to fail of paying it. All men 
 must feel how bitter it would be to them to be injured in 
 this respect ; let them think then what it is to be inju- 
 rious in it : and since the crime is the same when com- 
 mitted by them, as when committed against them, let 
 them own that it desei'ves tlie same condemnation from 
 the Judge of the world. The Lord hath been witness^ 
 saith the prophet, between thee and the wife of thy youth, 
 agmnst whom thou dealest treacherously ; yet is she thy 
 companion^ and the wife of thy covenant. Therefore take 
 heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with 
 the wife of his youth, (Mai. ii. 14, 15.) 
 
 It will be safest, but I hope it is not necessary, to add, 
 that an unmarried man or woman, offending with the 
 wife or husband of any one, being no less guilty of adul- 
 tery than the person with whom the offence is committed, 
 is consequently an accomplice in all the wickedness and 
 all the mischief abovementioned ; and this frequently 
 with aggravating circumstances, of the greatest base- 
 ness and treacliery and ingratitude and cruelty, that can 
 be imagined. Whatever some may plead, surely none 
 can think such behaviour defensible ; and most surely 
 they will not find it so : for marriage is honourable in all ; 
 and the bed undefiled ; but whoremongers and adulterers 
 God will judge. 
 
 The crime of adultery being so great, it follows, that 
 all improper familiarities which, though undesignedly, 
 
 8 
 
90 SEYENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 may lead to adultery, and all imprudent behaviour 
 which may give suspicion of it, is to be avoided as mat- 
 ter of consci43nce ; that all groundless jealousy is to be 
 checked by those who are inclined to it, and discouraged 
 by others, as most heinous injustice; and that every 
 thing should be carefully observed by both parties, 
 which may endear tliem to each other. No persons 
 therefore should ever enter into the marriage bonds with 
 sucli as they cannot esteem and love ; and all persons 
 who have entered into it, should use all means, not only 
 to preserve esteem and love, but increase it: affectionate 
 condescension on the husband's part, cheerful submis- 
 sion on the wife's ; mildness and tenderness, prudence 
 and attention to their common interest and that of their 
 joint posterity, on both parts. It is usually, in a great 
 measure at least, from the want of these engaging quali- 
 ties in one or the other that falsehood arises, or some 
 other evil, of a tendency to produce effects equally 
 grievous, and therefore to be considered as equally for- 
 bidden. 
 
 But now, from the mutual fidelity required of married 
 persons, 1 proceed, secondly, to the chastity and modesty 
 required of all persons. 
 
 Supposing that only such as live single were to be 
 guilty with each other, yet hy means even of this licen- 
 tiousness, in proportion as it prevails, the regularity and 
 good order of society is overturned, the credit and peace 
 of families destroyed, the proper disposal of young peo- 
 ple in marriage prevented, the due education of children 
 and provision for them neglected, the keenest animosi- 
 ties perpetually excited, and the most shocking murders 
 frequently committed, of the parties themselves, their 
 rivals, or innocent babes : in short, every enormity fol- 
 lows from hence, that lawless passion can introduce. 
 For all sins indeed, but especially this, lead persons on 
 
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT, 91 
 
 Lo more and greater ; to all manner of falsehood to se- 
 cure their success, all manner of dishonesty to provide 
 for the expensiveness of these courses, all manner of 
 barbarity to hide the shame or lighten the inconveniences 
 of tliem ; till thus they become abandoned to every crime, 
 by indulging this sinful one. 
 
 But let us consider the fatal effects of it on tlie two 
 sexes, separately. Women that lose their innocence, 
 seldom fail of being soon discovered ; lose their good 
 name entirely along with it, and are marked out and 
 given up at once to almost irrecoverable infamy ; and 
 even mere suspicion hath in some measure,^ the same bad 
 consequences with certain pooof. It is, doubtless, ex- 
 tremely unjust to work up mere imprudences into gross 
 transgressions ; and even the greatest transgressors 
 ought to be treated witli all possible compassion, when 
 they appear trufy penitent; But unless they appear so, 
 a wide distinction between them and others ought to be 
 made : and they who contribute, whether designedly or 
 thoughtlessly, to place good, bad, and doubtful charac- 
 ters all on a level, do most prej)osterousIy obscure and 
 debase their own virtue if tliey have any ; keep guilt in 
 countenance, and defraud right conduct of the peculiar 
 esteem which belongs to it: thus injuring at once the 
 cause of religion and morals, and the interests of society. 
 But besides the general disregard, of which vicious wo- 
 men will experience not a little, even in places and times 
 of the most relaxed ways of thinking, they have a sorer 
 evil to expect ; that of being, sooner or later, for the most 
 part very soon, cast off and abandoned with contempt 
 and scorn, by their seducers. Or even should they have 
 reparation made them by marriage, this doth not take 
 away the sin at all, and the disgrace but very imperfect- 
 ly; not to say, that it still leaves them peculiarly ex- 
 posed to the reproaches and the jealousy of their hus- 
 bands ever after* 
 
0"Z SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 And if men that seduce women, are not looked on by 
 the world with so much abhorrence as women that arc 
 seduced, at least they deserve to be looked on with 
 greater : for there cannot easily be more exquisite 
 wickedness, than, merely for gratifying a brutal appe- 
 tite or idle fancy, to change all the prospects which a 
 young person hath of being happy and respected through 
 life, into guilt and dishonour and distress, out of which 
 too probably she will never be disentangled, under the 
 false and treacherous pretence of tender regard. If we 
 have any feeling of conscience within us, we must feel 
 this to be most unworthy behaviour; and if the Ruler of 
 the world hath any attention to the moral character of 
 his rational creatures, which is the noblest object of His 
 attention that can be conceived. He must show it on such 
 occasions ; and therefore may be believed, when He saith 
 He will. 
 
 But supposing men not to corrupt the innocent, but 
 to sin with such alone as make a profession of sin ; yet 
 even this manner of breaking the law of God hath most 
 dVeadful consequences : It hinders the increase of a na- 
 tion in general — It leaves the few children that proceed 
 from these mixtures, abandoned to misery, uselessness, 
 and wickedness — It turns aside l^ie minds of persons 
 from beneficial and laudable employments to mean sen- 
 sual pursuits — It encourages and increases the most dis- 
 solute, and in every sense, abandbned set of wretches 
 in the world, common prostitutes, to their own misera- 
 ble and early destruction, and that of multitudes of un» 
 wary youths, xyho would else have escaped. It debases 
 the heart, by the influence of such vile and profligate 
 company, to vile and profligate ways of thinking and 
 acting: It sometimes produces quarrels that are imme- 
 diately fatal; sometimes friendships that are equally so, 
 to every valuable purpose of life. It leads men to extra 
 
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. y3 
 
 ra.i^ance and profusion ; grieves all that wish them well ; 
 distresses those who are to support them ; and drives 
 them to the most criminal methods of supporting them- 
 selves. It tempts men to excesses and irregularities of 
 every kind ; wastes their health and strength ; brings on 
 them painful and opprobrious diseases, too often commu- 
 nicated to those whom they afterwai*ds marry and to 
 their miserable posterity, if they have any : by all these 
 mischiefs, which for the most part come upon them in 
 the beginning of their days, the remainder of them is 
 usually made either sliort or tedioiiSr perhaps both. 
 (^rfs(/. ii. 1.") With great wisdom therefore doth Solo- 
 mon exhort : Remove thij way from the strange woman, 
 and come not nigk the door of her house : lest thou give 
 thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel : lest 
 strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thou mourn at the 
 last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, 
 how have 1 hated instruction^ and my heart despised re- 
 proof; and 1 have not obeyed the voice of my teachers. 
 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and 
 he pondereth all his goings. Ms own iniquities shall take 
 the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his 
 sinsi. {Prov, v. 8 — 13, 21, 22.) 
 
 It is very true, the sins of the flesh do not always pro- 
 duce all the bitter fruits which I have mentioned; but 
 then such instances of them, as at first are imagined the 
 safest, frequently prove extremely hurtful ; or however 
 entice persons on to worse, till they come at length to 
 the most flagrant and pernicious. Very few who trans- 
 gress the scripture-bounds, ever stop at those lengths 
 which themselves, when they set out,^ thought the great- 
 est that were defensible. Liberties taken hy men before 
 marriage, incline them to repeat the same liberties after 
 marriage; and also to entertain the most injurious jea- 
 lousies of good women, grounded on tlie knowledges 
 8* 
 
94 SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 which they have formerly had of bad ones : Their pas^ 
 successes embolden and excite them to new and more- 
 flaj^itious attempts, and by appetites thus indulged and 
 habits contracted, they are carried on perpetually fur- 
 ther and further, till they come to be guilty, and some- 
 times merely for the sake and the name of being guilty, 
 af what they would onc€ have trembled to hear pro- 
 posed. 
 
 Eut supposing th«y keep within the limits of what they 
 at first imagined to be allowable; is imagination (and 
 reason,, when biassed by passions, is notliing better) the 
 test of truth ? supposing their behaviour could be harm- 
 less otherwise, is not the example dangerous ? will or 
 can the world around them take notice of all the pretend- 
 ed peculiarities that distinguish their case and preserve 
 it from being a sin, while other crimes to which at first 
 sight it is very like, are confessedly .e:reat ones ? or will 
 not all, who hav* bad inclinations or unsettled prin- 
 ciples, take shelter under their practice, and either de- 
 spise their refinements, or easily invent similar ones for 
 their own use? 
 
 But further yet : if it be argued, that offences of this 
 nature may by circumstances be rendered excuseables,-. 
 why not others also ? why may not robbery, why may 
 not murder be defended, by saying, that though un- 
 doubtedly in general they are ver3^ wr-ong, yet in such 
 and such particular occurrences, there is on the whole 
 very little Iiurt, or none at all done by them, but per- 
 haps good : and what would become of the human race, 
 weresuch pleas admitted? The ends of government can 
 be attained by no other than by plain, determinate, com- 
 prehensive laws,, to be steadily observed ; and no one's- 
 inclinations or fanciful tlieories are to decide, when, 
 tJiey bind and wlien not : but deviations from them are? 
 Criminal, if on no other account,, yet because they are^ 
 
SETEXTH COMMAXDMEXT. 95 
 
 deviations : though difFerently criminal indeed accord- 
 ing to their different degrees : thus in the matter before 
 us, what approaches !>earer to marriage is, ordinarily 
 speaking, so far less blameable than what is more dis- 
 tant from it : but nothing can. be void of 1)lame, and of 
 great blame, that breaks the ordinances of God and 
 man. For even the latter, if they oblige the conscience 
 in any case, must oblige it in this, where public and pri- 
 vate welfare is so essentially concerned ; and as to the 
 former, though sensual irregularities may suit very well 
 with some sorts of superstition, yet their inconsistence 
 with any thing that deserves the name of religion, is 
 confessed in effect by the persons guilty of them. For 
 if some few do hypocritically, in vain hope for conceal- 
 ment, keep on the appearance of it,. yet who amongst 
 them can preserve the reality of it ? offences of this kind^^ 
 how plausibly soever palliated, yet being committed 
 against known prohibitions, wear out of the mind all 
 reverence to God's Commandments, all expectation of- 
 his future favour, nay the very desire of spiritual hap- 
 piness hereafter. And though many who indulge in li- 
 centiousness,,liave notwithstanding very good qualities ^. 
 yet, would they review their hearts and lives, they 
 would find that they had much the fewer for itj and that 
 those which remain are often made useless, often endan^^ 
 gered, often pservcrted by it.. 
 
 But the sins already mentioned^ are by no-means t\\o 
 only ones to be avoided in consequence of this Com- 
 mandment: whatever invites to them; whatever ap- 
 proaches towards them ; whatever is contrary to de- 
 cency and honour ; whatever taints the purity of the- 
 mind,, inflames the passions, and wears off the impres- 
 sions of virtuous shame ; all immodesty of appearance, 
 or behaviour; all entertainments, books, pictures, con- 
 versations, tending to excite or excuse the indulgence of 
 
96 SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 irregular desires, are in their proportion prohibited and 
 criminal : and unless we prudently guard against the 
 smaller offences of this kind, the more heinous will be 
 too likely to force their way ; as our Lord very strongly 
 warns us. Fe have heard, it was said by them of old time<, 
 Thou shall not commit adultery: hut I say unto you, that 
 whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath com' 
 mitted adultery with her already in his heart. And al- 
 though vicious inclinations were never to go further 
 than the heart; yet, if» instead of merely intruding 
 against our will, they a!*e designedly encouraged to 
 dwell there, they corrupt the very fountain of spiritual 
 life, and none but the pure in heart shall see God. 
 
 All persons tlierefore should be very careful to turn 
 their minds fi'om forbidden objects, to fix their attention 
 so constantly and steadily on useful and conuTiendable 
 employments as to have no leisure for vices, and to 
 govern themselves by such rules of temperance and pru- 
 dence, that every sensual appetite may be kept in sub- 
 jection to the dictates of reason and the lawsof religion f 
 always remembering that Christianity, both delivers to 
 lis the strictest precepts of holiness, and sets before us 
 the strongest motives to it ; our peculiar relation to a 
 holy God and Saviour ; our being the temples of the holy 
 Ghosts ( I Cor, vi. 19.) which temple if any man defile, him 
 will God destroy ; (I Cor, iii. 17.) our being pilgrims and 
 strangers on earth, not intended to have our portion 
 here, but to inherit a spiritual happines hereafter; and 
 every one that hath this hope, must purify himself, even as 
 God is pure, ( I John iii. 3.) I shall conclude therefore 
 with St. jPaw^s exhortation : Fornication and all uncleaii- 
 ness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh 
 saints ; neither fit hiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, 
 which are not convenient :for this ye know, that no whoi-e- 
 monger nor unclean person, hath any inheritance in the 
 
SFVENTH COMMANDMENT. 97 
 
 kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you 
 with vain words : for because of these things cometh the 
 wrath of God 2ipon the children of disobedience. Be not ye 
 therefore partakers with them : walk as children of lights, 
 and have no fellowship ivith the unfruitful wo^i^s^ of dark- 
 ness^ 
 
[ 98 F 
 
 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shall not steal 
 
 Under the eighth commandment, is comprehended our 
 duty to our neighbour, in respect to his worldly sub- 
 stancef and to explain it distinctly, I shall endeavour to 
 shoWy 
 
 I. Whut it forbids ; and 
 
 II. What, by consequence, it requires. 
 
 As to the former, Tlie wickedness of mankind hath 
 invented ways to commit such an astonishing variety of 
 sins against this commandment, that it is impossible to 
 reckon them up, and dreadful t<^ think ofthem:but 
 most, if not all of them, are so manifestly sins, that the 
 least reflection is enough to make any one sensible, how 
 much he is bound conscientiously to avoid them, and he 
 who desires to preserve himself innocent, easily may. 
 
 The most open and shameless crime of this sort, is 
 robbery; taking from another what is his, by force: 
 which, adding violence against his person to invasion 
 of his property, and making every part of human life 
 unsafe, is a complicated transgression, of very deep guilt* 
 
 The next degree is secret theft : privately converting 
 to our own use what is not our own. To do this in mat- 
 ters of great value, is confessedly pernicious wickedness ; 
 and though it were only in what may seem a trifle, yet 
 every man's right to the smallest part of what beh)ngs 
 to him, is the same as to tlie largest, and he ought no 
 more to be wronged of one than of the other. Besides, 
 little instances of dishonesty cause great disquiet; make 
 the suffferers mistrustful of all about them^ sometimes 
 
EIGHTH COMMAXDMENT. 99 
 
 of those who are the farthest from deserving it ; make 
 them apprehensive continually that some heavier imjury 
 will follow; and indeed almost all offeiKlers begin with 
 slight offences. More henious ones would shock them at 
 first: but if they once allow themselves in lesser faults, 
 they go on without reluctance, by degrees, to worse and 
 worse till at last they scruple nothing. Always therefore 
 beware of small sins ; and always remember, what I have 
 before observed to you, that when any thing is commit- 
 ted to your care and trust, to be dishonest in that is 
 peculiarly base. 
 
 But besides what every body calls theft, there are 
 many practices which amount indirectly to much the 
 .same thing, however disguised in the world under gen- 
 tler names : thus, in the way of trade and business, if 
 the seller puts off any thing for better than it is, by 
 false assertions or deceitful arts : if he takes advantage 
 of the buyer's ignorance, or particular necessities or 
 good opinion of him, to insist on a larger price for it 
 than the current value ; or if he gives less in quantity 
 than he professes or is understood to give ; the frequency 
 of some of these things cannot alter the nature of any of 
 them: none can be ignorant that they ar« wrong, but 
 such as are wilfully or very carelessly ignorant : and 
 the declaration of scripture against the last of thein, is 
 extended in the same ])lace to every one of the rest : 
 Thou shall not have in thy bag divers weights^ a great and 
 a small : thou shall not have in thine house divers measures, 
 a great and a small. For all that do such things, and all 
 that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord 
 thy God, {Dent. xxv. 13-16) 
 
 On the other hand, if the buyer takes advantage of 
 his own wealth and the poverty or present distresses of 
 the seller, to beat down the price of his merchandise be- 
 yond reason ; or if he buys up the whole of a commodity. 
 
IQO EICaiTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 especially if it be a necessary one, to make immoderate 
 gain of it; or if he refuses or neglects to pay for what 
 he hath bought, or delays his payments beyond the time 
 within which, by agreement or the known course of 
 traffick they ought to be made ; all such behaviour is 
 downright injustice and breach of God's law. For the 
 rule is. If thou sdlest ought unto thy neighbour^ or buyest 
 ought of thy neighhour^s hand, ye shall not oppress one 
 another, {Lev, xxv. 14.) 
 
 Again : borrowing on fraudulent securities, or false 
 representations of our circumstances ; or without inten- 
 tion or proper care afterwards to repay ; preferring the 
 giatification of our covetousness, our vanity, our volup- 
 tuousness, our indolence, before the satisfyingof our just 
 debts : all this is palpable wickedness ; and just as bad 
 is that of demanding exorbitant interest for lending to 
 ignorant or thoughtless persons, or to extravagant ones 
 for carrying on their extravagance ; or to necessitous 
 ones, whose necessities it must continually increase, and 
 make their ruin after a while more certain, more difficult 
 to retrieve, and more hurtful to all with whom they are 
 concerned. Tlie scripture hath particularly forbidden it 
 in the last case, and enjoined a very difterent sort of be- 
 haviour: If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in de- 
 cay with thee, then shall thou relieve him : yea, though he 
 be a stranger, or a sojourner. Thou shall not give him 
 thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for in- 
 crease; but fear thy God, that thy brother may dwell with 
 thee. And the psalmist hath expressed the two opposite 
 characters on these occasions, very briefly and clearly : 
 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again : but the 
 righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. 
 
 Another crying iniquity is, when hired servants, la- 
 bourers, or workmen of any sort, are ill used in their 
 ivages ; whether by giving them too little, or, which is 
 
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT, 101 
 
 often fall as bad, deferring it too long : the word of God 
 forbids the last in very strong terms : Thmi shalt not de- 
 fraud thy neighbour, neither rob him : the wages oj him 
 that is hired shall not abide with thee, (meaning, if de- 
 manded, or wanted,) all night until the morning: Jit his 
 day shalt thou give him his hire, neither shall the sun go 
 down upon it; for for, when, J he is poor, and setteth his 
 heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and 
 it be sin unto thee* {Lev. xix. IS. — Deut,xxiv, 15.) JNay, 
 the son of Sirach carries it, with reason, (as I observed 
 to you on the sixth Commandment) further still. The 
 bread of the needy is their life: he that defraudeth the la- 
 hour er of his hire, is a blood-shedder. 
 
 But besides all these instances of unrighteousness, 
 there are many more that are frequent in all kinds of 
 contracts. Driving bargains tliat we know are too hard ; 
 or insisting rigidly on the performance of them after 
 they appear to be so : making no abatements, when bad 
 times, or unexpected losses, or other alterations of cir- 
 cumstances call for them : not inquiring into the grounds 
 of complaints when there is a likelihood of their being 
 just: throwing unreasonable burdens upon others, 
 merely because they dare not refuse them : keeping them 
 to the very words and letter of an agreement, contrary 
 to the equitable intention of it : or, on the other hand, al- 
 ledging some flaw and defect in the form, to get loose 
 from an agi^eement wliich ought to have been strictly- 
 observed : all these tilings are grievous oppression, and 
 though some of them may not be in the least contrary to 
 law, yet they are utterly irreconcileable with good con- 
 science. Human laws cannot provide for all cases, and 
 sometimes the vilest iniquities may be committed under 
 their authority, and by their means. 
 
 It is therefore a further lamentable breach of this 
 Commandment, when one person puts another to the 
 9 
 
102 EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 charge and hazard of law, unjustly or needlessly ; or 
 in ever so necessary a law-suit, occasions unnecessary 
 expenses and contrives unfair delays : in short, w^hen 
 any thin,g is done by either party, by the counsel that 
 plead or advise in the cause, or by the judge who deter- 
 mines it, contrary to real justice and equity. 
 
 Indeed, when persons by any means whatever, with- 
 hold from another his right; either keeping him ignorant 
 of it or forcing him to unreasonable C(>st or trouble to ob- 
 tain it; this, in its])roportion is the same kind of injury 
 with stealing from him. To see the rich and great, in 
 these or any ways, bear hard upon the poor, is very 
 dreadful : and truly it is little, if at all less so, when the 
 lower sort of people are unmerciful, as they are but too 
 often, one to another. For, as Solomon observes, *S poor 
 man that oppresseth the poor, is like a sweeping rain, which 
 leaveth no food : but if it ije a person ever so wealthy tliat 
 is wronged, still his wealth is his own, and no one can 
 have more right to take the least part of it from him 
 without his consent, than to rob the meanest wretch in 
 the world ; suppose it be a body or number of men ; sup- 
 pose it to be the government, or ihe public, that is cheated; 
 be it of more or less, be it of so little as not to be sensi- 
 bly missed ; let the guilt be divided among ever so many ; 
 let the practice be ever so ccimmon ; still it is the same 
 crime, however it may vary in degrees ; and tiie rule is 
 without exception, that no man go beyond, or defraud his 
 brother in any matter, ( 1 Thess. iv. 6.) 
 
 It surely scarce needs to be added, that whatever things 
 it is unlawful to do, it is also unlawful to advise, encou- 
 rage, help or protect others in doing : that buying, re- 
 ceiving, or concealing stokn goods, knowing them to 
 be such, is becoming a partner in the stealth : and ;that 
 being any way a patron, assistant, or tool of injustice, is 
 
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 103 
 
 510 less evidently wrong, than being the immediate and 
 principal agent in it. 
 
 And as the irjjustice of all these things is very plain, 
 so is the folly of them : common robbers and thieves are 
 the most miserable set of w retclies upon eaith : in per- 
 petual danger — perpetual fi-ights and alarms — obliged 
 to support their spirits by continual excesses, wliich, 
 after tbe gay madness of a few hours, depress them to 
 the most painful lowness ; confined to the most hateful 
 and hellish society; very soon, generally speaking, 
 betrayed by their dearest companions, or hunted out by 
 vigilant otticers ; then shut up in horror, condemned to 
 open shame, if not to an untimely death ; and the more 
 surely undone for ever in the next life, tbe more insen- 
 sible they are of their sufferings and their sins in this. 
 
 Nor do they, of whose guilt the law can take little or 
 no cognizance, escape a heavy and blttei' self-condenma- 
 tion from time to time, nor usually the bad opinion of 
 the world; which last alone will frequently do them 
 more harm, than any unfair prttctices will do them good. 
 But especially this holds in the middle and lower, which 
 is vastly the larger part of mankind: their livelihood 
 depends chiefly on their character, and their character 
 depends on their honesty : this would make amends for 
 many other defects : but nothing will make amends for 
 the want of it. Deceitful craft may seem perhaps a 
 shorter method of gain, than uprightness and diligence; 
 but they who get wickedly, spend for the most part fool- 
 ishly, perhaps wickedly too ; and so all that stays by 
 them is their guilt : or let them be ever so cunning, and 
 appear fur a while t«? tiH-ive ever so fast ; yet remember 
 the sayings of the wise king : Jn inheritance may be got- 
 ten fuiHtilij at the beginning : but the end thereof shall not 
 be blessed. T^-ensures of wickedness projit nothing : but 
 righteousness detivereth from death. Wealth gotten by 
 
lOi EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 ranittj, shall be diminished, hut he that gathereth hif 
 labour shall increase. Or, should the prospei-ity of 
 persons who raise themselves by ill means, last as long 
 as their lives, yet their lives may be cut sliort : for what 
 the prophet threatens often comes to pass, and is always 
 to be feared ; He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall 
 leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall 
 heafooL But should his days on earth be extended to 
 the utmost ; yet the sinner, an hundred years old, shall 
 be accursed. For the unrighteous shall not inherit the 
 kingdom of God : but the Lord is the avenger of all such. 
 
 Let every one therefore consider seriously, in the first 
 place, wliat this commandment forbids and abstain from 
 it: though he fare more hard, though he lay up less, 
 though he be despised for his conscienciousness ; pro- 
 vided it be a reasonable one, surely it is well worth while 
 to bear these things, rather than injure our fellow-crea- 
 tures and offend our Maker. 
 
 But let us now^ i)roceed to consider, 
 
 Secondly, What the commandment before us^ by 
 i.onsequcnce, requires,. And, 
 
 1. It requires restitution of wliatever we have at any 
 time, unjustly taken or detained. For, that being in 
 right not our own but another's, keeping it is continu- 
 ing and carrying on injustice, therefore the prophet 
 EzeJdel makes it an express condition of forgiveness : 
 If the wicked restore the pledge, and give again that he 
 hath robbed ; then he shall surely live, he shall not die. 
 ^or was it till Zaccheus had engaged to restore amply 
 wliat lie had extorted from any one, that our Saviour de- 
 clared, This day is salvalion COT" ^- ^^^-?'n,i.-««t Sr. *Uor 
 
 ,"■;■;;'■ • 
 
 to think of raising wealth by fraud and then growing 
 honest, is the silliest scheme in the world : for till we 
 have returned, or offered to return as far as we can all 
 that we have gotten by our fraud, we are not honest. 
 
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 105 
 
 Nay, suppose we have spent and squandered it, still we 
 remain debtors for it : and suppose we got nothing, sup- 
 pose we meant to get nothing by any w icked contri- 
 vances in which we have been concerned ; yet if we have 
 caused another's loss, any loss for which money is a 
 proper compensation, what we ought never to have done, 
 we ought to undo as soon and as completely as we are 
 able, however we straiten ourselves by it ,* otherwise we 
 come short of making the amends which may justly be 
 expected from us ; and while so important a part of re- 
 pentance is wanting to demonstrate the sincerity of the 
 rest, we cannot hope to be accepted with God. 
 
 2. This commandment also requires industry ; with- 
 out which, the generality of persons cannot maintain 
 themselves honestly ; tlierefore St. Fuul directs : Let him 
 that stole, steal no more ; but rather lethhn (and certainly, 
 by consequence, every one else that needs) labour, work- 
 ing with his hands the thing which is good. And each of 
 (hem is to labour, not only for himself, but for his family 
 also, if he hath one ; both for their present, and if pos- 
 sible, their future maintenance in case of sickness, ac- 
 cidents, or old age. For as they who belong to him 
 liave, both by nature and by law, a claim to support 
 from him, if they need it, and he can give it, neglecting to 
 make due provision for them is wronging them; and 
 throwing either them or himself upon others, when he 
 may avoid it, or might have avoided it by proper dili- 
 gence, is wronging others : for which reason the same 
 apostle commanded likewise, that if any one would not 
 work, neither should he eat. 
 
 In order to be just therefore, be industrious ; and 
 doubt not but you will find it, after a while at least, by 
 much the most comfortable as well as christian way of 
 getting a livelihood. It is a way that no one ought to 
 
 think beneath him, for better is he that laboureth and 
 
 9# 
 
1&6 EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 aboundeth in all things^ than he that boasteth himself, and 
 wanteth bread. It is the best preservative that can be, 
 from bad company and bad courses ; it procures the 
 good will and good word of mankind ; it exempts per- 
 sons from the contempt and reproach of which those 
 have bitter experience, who make a dependent state 
 their choice. Begging is sweet in the mouth of the shame- 
 less ; but in his belly there shall burn afire. Very differ- 
 ent from this is the case of the industrious. Their minds 
 are at ease; their bodies are usually healthy i their time 
 is employed as they know it should be : what they get 
 they enjoy with a good conscience, and it wears well; 
 nor do only the fruits of their labour delight them ; but 
 even labour itself becomes pleasant to them; 
 
 And though persons of higher condition are not bound 
 to work with their hands, yet they also must be diligent 
 in other ways, in the business of their offices and pro- 
 fessions; or, if they have none, yet in the care of their 
 families and affairs, else the former will be ill-governed, 
 wicked, and miserable, and the latter soon run into such 
 disorder, as will almost force them, either to be unjust to 
 their creditors and those for whom nature binds them to 
 provide ; or to be guilty of mean and dishonourable ac- 
 tions of more kinds than one, to avoid these and other 
 disagreeable conseqiience* of their supineness. Besides^ 
 as the upper part of the world are peculiarly destined by 
 Providence to be in one way or another extensively use- 
 ful in society ; such of them as are not, defraud it of the 
 service they owe it,^ and therefore break this command- 
 ment. But 
 
 3. To observe it well, frugality must be joined with 
 industry, else it will all be labour in vain ; for unwise 
 expensiveness will dissipate whatever the utmost dili- 
 gence can acquire ; but if idleness be added to extrava- 
 gatice, that brings on quick ruin; and if intemperance 
 
EIGHTH COMMANDMENTc lOf 
 
 and debauchery ^o along with them, the case is ther^ 
 come to its extremity. Every one therefore, who de- 
 sires to approve himself honest, should be careful to live 
 within the bounds of his income, so as to have something 
 in readiness against the time of inability and unforeseen 
 events: but they who have, or design to have families, 
 should endeavour to live a good deal within thos<? bounds; 
 and whoever spends upon himself, or throws away upon 
 any other person or thing, more than he can prudently 
 afford, (whatever false names of praise, as elegance, ge- 
 nerosity, good-nature, may be given to this indiscretion) 
 will be led before he is aware, to distress Iiimself, per- 
 haps many more; and be too probably driven at last to 
 3'epair as well as he can, by wickedness, the breaches 
 which he hath made by folly. 
 
 4. This commandment requires in the last place, that 
 we neither deny ourselves, or those who belong to us^ 
 what is fit for our and their station, which is one kind of 
 robbery; nor omit to relieve the poor according to our 
 ability, w hich is another kind. For whatever we enjoy 
 of worldly plenty is given us in trust, that we should 
 take our own share with moderation, and distribute out 
 the remainder with liberality. And as they, wha have 
 but little, will, most or all of them, at one time or ano- 
 ther, find those who have kss; very few, if any, are ex- 
 empted from giving some alms : and whoever either 
 penuriously or thoughtlessly neglects his proper share 
 of this duty, is unjust to his Maker and his fellow crea- 
 tures too. For the good which God hath placed in our 
 hands for the poor, is undoubtedly, as the scripture de- 
 clares it, their due : He hath given them no right to seize 
 it : but He hath bound us not to withhold it from them 
 {^Prov, iii. 27.)- 
 
 And now, having finished tlie two heads proposed I 
 shall only add, that by observing these directions from 
 
108 EIGHTH COMMANDMEKT. 
 
 a principle of christian faith, and teaching all under our 
 care to observe them from the same ; the poor in this 
 world may be rich towards God^ and the rich may trea- 
 sure up in store for themselves, a good foundation against 
 the lime to come, which will enable them to Iwij hold on 
 eternal life. 
 
109 
 
 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
 
 The ninth commandment is connected with every one 
 of the four which precede it : for neither tlie duties of 
 superiors and inferiors, nor those amongst equals could 
 he tolerahly practised, neither the lives of men nor their 
 happiness in the nearest relation of life, nor their pos- 
 sessions and properties, could ever he secure, if they 
 Avere left exposed to those injuries of a licentious tongue^ 
 which are here prohibited. This commandment there- 
 fore was intended, partly to strengthen the foregoing 
 ones, and partly also to makeprovisionfor every per- 
 son's just character on its own account, as well as for 
 the sake of consequences ; for, independently on these, 
 we have hy nature (and with reason) a great concern 
 ahout our reputations ; and therefore the precept, thoiL' 
 shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour^ is in all 
 views, of much importance. 
 
 The crime at w hich these wortls principally and most 
 expressly point, is giving false evidence in any cause or 
 trial ; and as in such cases, evidence hath always been 
 given upon oath, this commandment so far is the same 
 with the third : only there, perjury is forbidden as impi- 
 ety against God; hero, as injurious to men. Now we 
 nre guilty of this sin,^ if, in bearing witness, we affirm 
 that we know or believe any thing which we do not ; or 
 deny that we know or believo any thing which we do; 
 or either affirm or deny more positively than we have 
 good grounds : nay, if we only stifle by our silence, any 
 fact which is material, though we are not examined par- 
 
110 NINTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 ticularly about it; still when we have sworn in general 
 to speak the whole truth, we bear false w itiiess if we 
 designedly avoid it; especially aftei* being asked, if we 
 are able to say any tiling besides relative to the point 
 in »juestion ; for hiding the truth may as totally mislead 
 those who are to judge, as telling an untiuth : indeed, if 
 by any means whatever we disguise the real state of the 
 ease, instead of relating it in the fait est and plainest 
 manner that we can, we evidently transgress the intent 
 of this commandment; and by doing it, the good name, 
 the property, the livelihood, the life of an innocent per- 
 son may be taken away ; the advantages of society de- 
 feated, nay, perverted into mischiefs, and the very bonds 
 of it dissolved. Therefore the rule of the Mosaic law 
 is ; If a false witness rise up against aiiyman, and testify 
 against his brother that which is wrong ; then shall ye da 
 unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother, and 
 thine eye shall not pity ^ With us indeed, the punishment 
 extends not so far. But however mild such persons may 
 find the penalties of human laws to be, or liow artfully 
 soever they may evade them ; God hath declared : d 
 false witness shall not be unpunished : and he that speak-- 
 eth lies, shall not escape. 
 
 The commandment saith only, that we shall not bear- 
 false witness against our neightmur; but in effect it 
 binds us equally, not to bear false witness tor him : for 
 in all triaJs of property, hearing witness for one party 
 is bearing witness against the other ; and in all trials 
 for crimes, false evidence to the advantage of the person 
 accused, is to the disadvantage and ruin of rigrit and 
 truth, of public safety and p^ace; by concealing and en- 
 couraging what «)ught to be detected and punished. 
 
 It being thus criminal to bear false witness, it must 
 be criminal also to draw persons into the commission of 
 so great a sin, by gifts, or promises, or threatenings,. 
 
NINTH COMMANDMENT, 111 
 
 ar any other method. And in its degree, it must be 
 criminal to bring a false accusation or false action, 
 against any one; or to make any sort of demand, for 
 which there is no reasonable ground. 
 
 Nay further, however favourably persons are apt to 
 think of the defendant's side, yet to defend ourselves 
 against justice, or even to deny it by unfair methods, is 
 very wicked; for it ought to take place, and the sooner 
 the better. Still, both the piofessors of the law, and 
 othejs, may unquestionably say and do for a doubtful or 
 a bad cause, wliatever can be said with truth or done 
 with equity ; for otherw ise it might be thought still 
 worse tlian it is, and treated worse than it deserves. But 
 if they do in any cause, what in reason ought not to be 
 done; if they use or suggest indirect methods of defeat- 
 ing the intent of the law ; if by false colours and glosses, 
 by terrifying or confounding witnesses, by calumniating 
 or ridiculing the adverse party, they endeavour to make 
 justice itself an instrument for patronizing injustice; 
 this is turning judgment into galU as the scripture ex- 
 presses it, and the fruit of nghteousness into hemlock. 
 (Jju^s vi.'l2.) 
 
 But in a still higher degree is it so, if judges or jury- 
 men are influenced in giving their sentence or verdict, 
 by interest, relation, friendship, hatred, compassion, 
 party ; by any thing, but the natui-e of the case as it 
 fairly appears to them. For designedly making a false 
 determination, is completing all the mischief which 
 bearing false witness only attempts : arid in a ^ord, who- 
 evei- any way promotes what is wrong orobstiucts what 
 is right, partakes in the same sin, be it either of the par- 
 ties, their evidences or agents ; be it the highest Magis- 
 trate, or the lowest ojfieer. 
 
 But ppisons may bi'eak this commandment, not only 
 in judicial proceedings, but often full as grievously in 
 
112 NIXTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 common discourse, by raising, spreading, or countenan- 
 cing false reports against others ; or such as tiiey have 
 no sufficient cause to think true; which is the case, in 
 part at least, of most reports, by misrepresenting their 
 circumstances in the world to their prejudice ; or speak- 
 ing without foundation, to the disadvange of their per- 
 sons, understandings, accomplishments, temper, or con- 
 duct ; whether charging them with faults and imperfec- 
 tions which do not belong to them ; or taking from them 
 good qualities and recommendations which do ; aggra- 
 A'ating the former or diminishing the latter ; determining 
 their characters from a single bad action or two"; fixing 
 ill names on things which are really virtuous or innocent 
 in them; imputing their laudable behaviour to blamea- 
 ble or worthless motives; making no allowance for the 
 depravity or weakness of human nature, strength of 
 temptation, want of instruction, wicked insinuations, 
 vicious examples : and in all these ways persons may be 
 injured, either by open public assertions, or more dan- 
 gerously perhaps, by secret whispers, which they have 
 no opportunity of contradicting. The scandal may be 
 accompanied with strong expressions of hoping it is not 
 true, or being very sorry for it ; and warm declarations 
 of great good will to the party whom it concerns: all 
 which may serve only to give it a more unsuspected 
 credit; Nay, it may be conveyed very effectually in dark 
 hints, expressive gestures, or even affected silence ; and 
 these, as they may be equally mischievous, are not less 
 wicked for being more cowardly and more artful me- 
 thods of defamation. 
 
 Further yet; speaking or intimating things to any 
 person's disadvantage, though they be true, is seldom 
 innocent; for it usually proceeds from bad principles: 
 revenge, envy, malice, pride, censoriousness ; unfair 
 zeal for some private or party interest ; or at best, from 
 
NINTH COMMANDMENT. 1 1 S 
 
 a desire of appearing to know more than others, or mere 
 impertinent fondness for talking. Now these are wretch- 
 ed motives for publishing what will be hurtful to one of 
 our brethren ; sometimes indeed, bad characters and 
 bad actions ought to be known; but much oftener not, or 
 not to all the world, or not by our means, and we have 
 need to be very careful from what inducements we act in 
 such a case. Sometimes again things are known alrea- 
 dy, or soon will be known, let us be ever so silent about 
 them ; and then, to be sure, we are at more liberty : but 
 «ven then, to take a pleasure in relating the faults of 
 others is by no means right : and to reveal them, when 
 they can be hid, unless a very considerable reason re- 
 quire it, is extremely wrong. 
 
 Indeed we should be cautious, not only what harm, but 
 what good we say of others; for speaking too highly of 
 their characters or circumstances, or praising them in 
 finy respect beyond truth, is bearing false witness about 
 them, which may sometimes turn against them, and may 
 often mislead those to whom we exalt them thus, and pro- 
 duce grievously bad consequences of many kinds ; but 
 the other is much the more common, and usually the 
 more hurtful extreme. 
 
 We all think it an injury, in the tenderest part, when 
 bad impressions are made on others concerning us ; and 
 therefore should conscientiously avoid doing the same 
 injury to others : making them designedly, without a 
 cause, is inexcusable wickedness : and even where we 
 intend no harm, we may do a great deal. Whatever 
 hurts in any respect the reputation of persons, always 
 gives them great pain, and often doth them great preju- 
 dice, even in their most important concerns, for indeed 
 almost ev^ry thing in this world depends on character; 
 and when once that hath suffered an imputation, for the 
 most part, neither the persons calumniated, be they ever 
 10 
 
114 NINTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 SO innocent, can recover it completely by their own gH" 
 dertours, nor the persons who have wronged them, be 
 they ever so desirous, restore it fully to its former state : 
 thou.<::h certainly they who rob others of their good name, 
 or even without design asperse it, are full as much bound 
 to make restitution for that, as for any other damage 
 w hich they cause. But were they not to hurt at > all the 
 person against whom they speak, still they hurt them- 
 selves, and lessen the jiower of doing good in the world : 
 they often hurt their innocent families by the provoca- 
 tions which they give ; they grieve their friends ; they 
 set a mischievous example in society ; and if thev pro- 
 fess any religion, bring a dreadful reproach upon it, by 
 a temper and behaviour so justly hateful to mankind. 
 
 It will be easily understood, that next to the raisers 
 and spreaders of ill repoi-ts, they who encourage persons 
 of that kind, by hearkening to them with pleasure, and 
 by readiness of belief in what they say, contradict the 
 intention of this commandment. Indeed we ought, in- 
 stead of countenancing scandal and detraction, to ex- 
 press, in all proper ways our dislike of it : show the un- 
 certainty, the improbability, the falsehood, if we can, of 
 injurious rumours ; oppose the divulging even ol truths 
 that are uncharitable ; and set a paitern of giving every 
 one his just praise. 
 
 It must now be observed further, that thougli undoubt- 
 edly those falsehoods are the worst, which hurt otiiers 
 the most directly, yet falsehoods in general are hurtful 
 and wrong. And therefore lying, all use either of words 
 or actions of known settled import, with pur])ose to de- 
 ceive, is unlawful. And those offences of this kind which 
 may seem the most harmless, have yet commonly great 
 evil in ihem. Lying destroys the very end of speech, 
 and leads us into perpetual mistakes, by tiie very means 
 \^hich God intended should lead us into truth : It puts 
 
mnth commandment. 115 
 
 ftn end to all the pleasure, all the benefit, all the safety 
 of conversation ; nobody can know, on what or whom ta 
 depend : for if one person may lie, why not another ? 
 And at this rate, no justice can be done, no wickedness 
 be prevented or punished, no business go forward. All 
 these mischiefs will equally follow, whether untruth>s be 
 told in a ,^ross barefaced manner, or disguised under 
 equivocations, quibbles, and evasions. The sin there- 
 fore is as great in one case as the other. And it is so 
 great in both, that no sufficient excuses can ever be made 
 for it in either, though several are often pleaded. 
 
 Many persons imagine, that when they have commit- 
 ted a fault, it is very pardonable ta conceal it under a 
 lie ; but some faults ought not to be concealed at all ; 
 and none by this method ; which is committing two, in- 
 stead of one, and the second, not uncommonly, worse 
 than the first An ingenuous confession will be likely, in 
 most cases, to procure an easy pardon : but a lie is a 
 monstrous aggravation of an offence ; and jTersisting in 
 a lie can very hardly be forgiven. But above all, if any 
 persons, to hide what they have done amiss tiiemselves, 
 are so vile as to throw the blame or tlie suspicion of it 
 upon another, this is the lieigbt of wickedness; and 
 therefore particularly all children and servants, who are 
 chieSy tempted to excuse themselves by telling false- 
 hoods, ought to undergo any thing rather than be guilty 
 of such a sin: and on the other hand, all parents, mas- 
 ters and mistresses, ought to beware of punishing them 
 too severely for their other offerees, lest they drive them 
 into a habit of this terrible one. 
 
 Some again plead for making free with truth, that 
 they do it only in jest ; but these jests of theirs often 
 occasion great uneasiness and disquiet, and sometimes 
 other very seriously bad consequences : the Scripture ; 
 therefore ; hath passed a severe ecnsure upon them, As a 
 
11& NINTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 madman, who casteth Jire-brands, arrows, and death; 
 so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, am 
 I not in sport? (Prov, xxvi. 19. J To give another per- 
 son vexation, or make him appear contemptible, though 
 in a slight instance, is by no means innocent sport ; and 
 l)esi(les, to speak falsehood on any occasion is a danger- 
 ous introduction to spreading it on more, if not all occa- 
 sions : For if so trifling a motive as a jest will prevail 
 on us to violate truth, how can we be expected to with- 
 stand more weighty temptations ? 
 
 However, it may perhaps at the least be thought, that 
 lying to prevent mischief and do good, must be per- 
 mitted. But the Scriptiire expressly forbids us to do 
 evil that good may come; C^^^' iii* 8. J and they who 
 allow themselves in it, will usually be discovered and 
 lose their end ; or if not, will never know where to stop : 
 they will be enticed by degrees to think every thing 
 good that serves tlieir turn, let others think it ever so 
 had : those others again will think themselves authorized 
 hy such examples to take the same liberties , and thus all 
 trust and probity will be lost among men ; a much great- 
 er evil, than any good, wliich falsehood may do now and 
 then, will ever compensate. 
 
 And if telling lies, even from tliese plausible induce- 
 ments, be so bad ; what must it be when they proceed 
 from less excusable ones, as desire of promoting our 
 own interest, or that of our party : and how completely 
 detestable, when we are prompted to them by malice 
 or undue resentment, or any other totally wicked prin- 
 ciple ! 
 
 Nor is the practice less imprudent than it is unlawful. 
 Some indeed lie to raise their characters, as others do to 
 gain their points ; hut both act very absurdly, for tliey 
 miss of their purpose entirely as soon as they are found 
 mit, and all liars are found out, immediately for the 
 
NINTH COMMANDMEIST. HT 
 
 most part, but in a while without fail ; and after that, 
 every body despises and hates them : even when they 
 speak truth, nobody knows how to credit them ; and so, 
 by aiming wickedly at sonte little advantage for the 
 present, tl»ey put themselves foolishly under the greatest 
 disadvantage in the world ever after. The Up of truth 
 shall be established for ever : bid a lying, tangue is but for 
 a moment. {Frov, xii. 19, 2^2.) Beware then of the least 
 beginning of a practice that will be sure to e^dill : for if 
 you venture uj)on falsehood at all, it will grow4ipon you, 
 and entangle you, and briag yau to shame, to punish- 
 ment, to ruin. And, besides what you will suffer by it 
 here, your portion, unless you rej)ent very deeply and 
 amend very thoroughly, will be with the father of lies 
 hereafter ; for into the heavenly Jerusalem shall in no 
 wise enter whosoever worketh ahomination, or maketh a 
 He. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord; but they that 
 deal truly are his delight, {Hev. xxi. 27, — Prov, xii. 
 £2.) 
 
 There is yet another sort of falsehood, often full as 
 bad as affirming what we do not thii>k : I mean, pro- 
 misi/.g what we do not inteml, or what we neglect after- 
 wards to perform, so soon ar so fully as we ought. 
 Whoever hath promised liath made himself a debtor ; 
 and unless lie be punctual in his payment commits an 
 injustice, wliich in many cases may be of very perni- 
 cious consequence. 
 
 >.ow in order to secure this great point of speaking 
 truth, besides consideriijg carefully and frequently the 
 before-mentioned evils of departing from it, we should 
 be attentive also to moderate the quantity of our dis- 
 course, lest we fall into falsehood unawares : for in the 
 muliitnde of words^ there wanteth not sin : but he that re- 
 fraineth his lips is wise. Persons who suffer themselves 
 to run on heedlessly in talk, just as their present Im- 
 
 10* 
 
118 NINTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 moiir disposes them, or the present company will be beat 
 pleased, or who will say almost any thin,^, rather than 
 nothing ; must he perpetually transgressing some of the 
 duties comprehended under this Commandment, which 
 yet are of the utmost importance to be observed ; for, 
 with respect to the concerns of this world. He that loveth 
 life* and would see good days, let him refrain his tongue 
 from eviU and his lips, that they speak no guile. {Psalm, 
 xxxiv. 12, 13.) And as to our eternal state in the life ta 
 come, If any man seem to he religioiiSfUnd bridlethnot his 
 tongue, that man's religion, is vain. 
 
[ 119 1 
 
 TENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 Thou shall not covet thy neighbour's hcnise, thou shall not 
 covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his 
 maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any; thing that is 
 his. 
 
 We are now come to the tenth and last command- 
 ment, which is by the church of Rome absurdly divided 
 into two, to keep up the number, after joining tlie first 
 and second into one, contrary to ancient authority 
 Jewish and Christian. How the mistake was^originally 
 made is hard to say : but undoubtedly they i*etain an^d 
 defend it the more earnestly, in order to pass over the 
 second Commandment as only part of the firvSt,vvithout 
 a distinct meaning of its own ; and accordingly many of 
 their devotional books omit it entirely. But that these 
 two ought not to be thus joined and confounded, I have 
 shown yoU' already ; and that this now before us ought 
 not to be divided, is extremely evident ; for it is one 
 single prohibition of all unjust desires. And if reckon- 
 ing up the several prohibited objects of desire makes it 
 more than one commandment,>for the same reason it will 
 be more than two, for there are six things forbidden in 
 general : and moreover, if this be two Commandments, 
 which is the first of them ? for in Exodus it begins. Thou 
 shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, but in Deuterono- 
 my, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour'' s wife: and ac- 
 cordingly, some of tlieir books of devotion make the for- 
 mer, some the latter of these, the ninth.* Surely ihe 
 
 1 Their Manuel Prayers in English, 172.5, puts. Thou shalt not covet thy 
 neighbour's ivifef for the ninth. But in tiie office of the virgin, both Latin 
 and English, called the Primer, 1717, Thou shalt not covet thy Jiei^hboiir' r 
 home, is the ninth. 
 
120 TENTH COMMAN^DMEjST. 
 
 order of the words would never have been changed thus 
 in Scripture, had there been two commandments in tliera; 
 but being one, it is no way material which part is 
 named first : I say no more therefore on so clear a point, 
 but proceed to explain this precept, of not coveting what 
 is onr neighbour's. 
 
 The good things of this life being the gifts of God for 
 which all are to be thankful to him ; desiring, with due 
 moderation and submission, a comfortable share of them, 
 is very natural and right : wishing that our share were 
 better, is, in the case of many persons, so far from a sin, 
 that endeavouring diligently to make it better is part of 
 their duty. Wishing it were equal to that of such ano- 
 ther, is not wisliing ill to him, but only well to ourselves,, 
 and seeking to obtain what belongs to another may, in 
 proper circumstances, be perfectly innocent: we may 
 really have occasion for it; he may he well able to be- 
 stow it; or lie may have occasion for something of ours 
 in return, and on these mutual wants of men all com- 
 Bierce and trade is founded ; which God, without ques- 
 tion, designed should be carried on, because he hath 
 made all countries abound in some things, and left them 
 deficient in others. 
 
 Not every sort of desires therefore, but unfit and im- 
 moderate desires only, are forbidden by the words, thoit 
 shalt not covet. And these are such as follow : first, if 
 our rjeighbour cannot lawfully part with his property 
 nor we lawfully receive it, and yet we want to have it : 
 one instance of this kind is expressed, thou shalt not 
 covet thy neighbour's wife: another is, if we want a per- 
 son wlio possesses any thing in ti'ust, or under certain 
 limitations, to give or sell it in bieach of that trust or 
 those limitations; or if he can part with it, but is not 
 willing, and we entertain thougfits of acquiring it by 
 force and fraud, or of being revenged on him for his 
 
TENTH COMMANDMENT. 121 
 
 refusal, this is also highly blameable; for why should 
 lie not be left quietly in possession of his own? indeed 
 barely pressing and iniportunini^ persons contrary ta 
 their interest, or even their inclination only, is in some 
 deg-ree wrong , for it is one way of extorting things from 
 them, or however of giving them trouble where we have 
 no right to give it. 
 
 But though we keep our desires ever so much to^ our- 
 selves, they may notwithstanding be very sinful ; and 
 such they are particularly, if tfiey induce us to envy 
 others, that is, to be uneasy at their imagined superior 
 happiness, to wish them ill or take pleasure in any harm 
 which befalls them ; for this turn of mind will prompt us 
 to do them ill, if we can, as indeed a great part of ihe 
 mischief that is done in the world, and some of the worst 
 of it, arises from hence. TVrath is cruel and anger 
 is outrageous ; hut who is able to stand against envy ? 
 {Frov. xxvii. 4.) Accordingly we find it Joined in the 
 New Testament, with strife, railing, variance, sedition, 
 murder, confusion, and ererij evil work. {Rom, i. 29. xiii. 
 13.-1 Cor. iii. 7.-2 Cor. xii. 20.-Gal. v. 20, 21.-1 Tim. vi. 
 4.-James lii. 14, 16.) But were it to produce no mischief 
 to our neighbour, yet it is the directly opposite disposition 
 to that love of him, which is the second great precept of 
 Christ's religion ; it indeed deserves, in some respects, 
 to be reckoned the worst of ill-natured sins : the re- 
 vengeful man pleads for himself some injury attempted 
 against him ; but the envious person bears unprovoked 
 malice to those who have done him neither wrong nor 
 harm, solely because he fancies them to be, in this or that 
 instance, very Tiappy. And why should they not, if they 
 can, as he certainly would, if he could ? for the prospe- 
 rity of bad people, it must be confessed, we have reason 
 to be so far sorry, as they are likely to do hurt by it^ 
 but to desire their fall rather than their amendment 5 to 
 
12£ TENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 desire what may be grievous to any persons, not from 
 good will to mankind but from ill will to them,- to wish 
 anv misfortune even to our competitors and rivals, 
 merely because they are such; or because they have 
 succeeded and ck joy what we aimed at ; is extremely 
 uncharitable and inhuman : it is a temper that will 
 give us perpetual disquiet in this >vorld, for there will 
 always be somebody to envy,) and bjing a heavy sen- 
 tence upon us in the next, unless we repent of it and 
 subdue it first. 
 
 But though our selfish desires were to raise in us no 
 malignity against our fellow-creatures; yet if they 
 tempt us to murmur against our Creator, and either to 
 speak or think ill of tliat distribution of things, which 
 His providence hath made; this is great impiety and 
 rebellion of the heart against God, who hatli an abso- 
 lute right to dispose of the work of his hands as he 
 pleases, and uses it always both with justice and with 
 goodness to us. Were we innocent, we could none of 
 us demand more advantages of any sort, than He 
 thought fit to give us : but as we are guilty wretches, 
 far from having a claim to this or that degree of hap- 
 piness, we are e\ery one liable to severe punishment : 
 and therefore, with the man} comforts and blessings 
 which we have now, and the eternal felicity which, 
 through the mercy of our heavenly Fatlier, the merits 
 of our blessed Redeemer, and the grace of the holy 
 Spirit, we may, if we will, have hereafter, surely we 
 have no ground to complain of our condition. For what 
 if things be unequally divided here? we may be certain 
 the disposer of them hath wise reasons for it, whether 
 we can see them or not, and may be as ceitain, that un- 
 less it be our own fault, we shall be no loseis by it, for 
 all things work together for good to them that love God, 
 {Roriu viii. 20.) Therefore^ how little soever we enjoy. 
 
TENTH COMMA^-DMENT. 1^3 
 
 we have cause to be thankful for it: and how much so- 
 ever we suffer, we have cause to be resl.^ue<l, nay thank- 
 ful too even for that; as we may be the happier in this 
 world for many of our sufferiui^s, and shall, if we bear 
 them as we ought, be improved in goodness by them all, 
 and made happier to eternity. 
 
 But further yet : though we may not be conscious of 
 what we shall study to liide from ourselves, that our de- 
 sires cari*y us either to behave or wisli ill to our neigh- 
 hours or to repine against God ; still, if they disturb and 
 agitate our minds ; if we are eager and vehement about 
 the objects of them, we are not arri\ed at the state in 
 which we should be found : some feeling of this inward 
 tumult, especially on trying occasions, may be unavoid- 
 able by fallen man, and more of it natural to one person 
 than another; but after all, it is voluntary indulgence^ 
 that gives our appetites and passions and fancies, the 
 far greater share of their dominion. We inflame them 
 when else they would be moderate : we affect things for 
 which we have really no liking, merely because they are 
 fashionable : we create imaginary wants to ourselves, 
 and then grow as earnest for what we might do perfect- 
 ly well without, as if the whole of oiir felicity consisted 
 in it : this is a \evy immoral state of mijid, and hurries 
 persons, almost irresistibly, into as immoral a course of 
 life. In proportion as worldly inclinations of any kind 
 engage the heart, tliey exclude from it social affection, 
 compassion, generosity, integrity ; and yet more effec- 
 tually love to God, and attention to the concerns of our 
 future state. Nor do they almost ever fail to make us 
 at pi-esent miserable as well as wicked : they pi*ey upon 
 our spirits, torment us with perpetual self-dislike, waste 
 our health, sink our character, drive us into a thousand 
 foolish actions to stratify them ; and, v hen all is done, 
 can never be gratified so as to give us any lasting saiis- 
 
124 TENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 faction. First we shall be full of anxieties and fears ; 
 w hen we have got over these and obtained our wish, we 
 shall quickly find it conies very short of our expectation : 
 then we shall be cloyed and tired and wretchedly lan- 
 guid, till some new cravings set us on work to as little 
 purpose as the former did, or till we are wise enough to 
 see, that such pursuits are not the ways to happiness. 
 
 But supposing persons are not violent in pursuing the 
 imagined good tilings of this world ; yet if they be de- 
 jected and grieved that no more of them have fallen to 
 their lot ; if they mourn over the inferiority of their con- 
 dition, and live in a perpetual feeling of afiiiction (be it 
 ever so calm) on that account, or indeed on account of 
 any cross or disadvantage whatever, belonging to the 
 present life: this also is a degree, though the lowest and 
 least, yet still a degree of inordinate desire: for we are 
 not grateful, if, instead of taking our portion of happi- 
 ness here with cheerfulness and feeling due acknowedg- 
 ments for it, we only lament that it is not, in this or that 
 respect more considerable ; and we are not wise, if we 
 embitter it, be it ever so small, by a fruitless sorrow, in- 
 stead of making the best of it. 
 
 These then being the excesses which this command- 
 ment forbids, the duty which of course it requires is, 
 that we learn, like St. Paul, in whatsoever state we are, 
 therewith to he content. This virtue every body practi- 
 ses in some cases ; for who is there that could not men- 
 tion several things which he should be glad to have, yet 
 is perfectly well satisfied to go without them ? and would 
 i?ve but strive to be of the same disposition in all cases, 
 the self-enjoyment that we should reap from it is inex- 
 pressible. The worldly condition of multitudes, is really 
 qu to as good as it needs to be; and of man}^^ others (who 
 do not think so) as good as it well can be: now for such 
 to be anxious about mending it, is only being miserable 
 
TENTH COMMANDMENT. 125 
 
 for nothing : and in whatever we may have cause to wish 
 our circumstances were better, moderate wishes will be 
 sufficient to excite a reasonable industry, to improve 
 them as far as we can ; and immoderate eagerness will 
 give us no assistance, but only disquiet. More than a 
 few consume tliemselves with longing for what indo- 
 lence and despondency will not suffer them to try, if they 
 can obtain. The desire of the slothful killeth him ;for his 
 hands refuse to labmir. And sometimes, on the contrary, 
 the precipitance with which we aim at a favourite 
 point, is the very reason that we overshoot the mark 
 and miss it. 
 
 But supposing the most solicitous were always the 
 most likely to gain their ends ; yet this likelihood will 
 be often crossed both by delays and disappointments, 
 which to impatient tempers will be exti-emely grievous ; 
 and the saddest disappointment of all will be, that they 
 will find the most perfect accomplishment of their wishes, 
 after a very short time, to be little or no increase of 
 their happiness : persons uneasy in their present situa- 
 tion, or intent on some darling object, imagine, that 
 could they but succeed in such a pursuit, or had they but 
 such a person's good fortune or accomplishments, then 
 they should be perfectly at ease and lastingly delighted : 
 but they utterly mistake. Every enjoyment palls and 
 deadens quickly : every condition hath its unseen incon- 
 veniences and sufferings, as well as its visible advanta- 
 ges ; and happiness depends scarcely at all on the preem- 
 inence commonly admired ; for the noble, the powerful, 
 the rich, the learned, the ingenious, the beautiful, the 
 gay, the voluptuous, are usually to the full as far from it, 
 and by turns own they are, as any of the wretches whom 
 they severally despise. Indeed, when every thing is tried 
 round, we shall experience at last what we had much 
 better see at first, as we easily may, that the cheerful 
 11 
 
126 TENTH COMMANDMENT. 
 
 tomposure of a reasonable and religious, and therefore 
 contented mind, is the only solid felicity that this world 
 iiffords ; the great blessing of heaven here below, that 
 will enable us to relish the rest if we have thein, and to 
 be satisfied if we have them not. What Solomon hath 
 said of wealth, he found to be equally true of every 
 thing else beneath the sun : God giveth to a man that i& 
 good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and Joy : but to 
 the sinner he giveth travel, to gather and heap up.' — This 
 also is vanity 9 and vexation of spirit. 
 
 Contentment, therefore, being the gift of God, we should 
 earnestly pray to Him for it ; and in order to become 
 objects of his favour, we should frequently and thank- 
 fully recollect the many undeserved comforts of our con- 
 dition, that we may bear the afflictions of it more pa- 
 tiently, reasoning with Job, Shall we receive good at the 
 hands of God, and shall we not receive evil ? Nor should 
 we fail to join with our meditations on his past and pre- 
 sent mercies the firm assurance, which both his attri- 
 butes and his promises furnish, that the ^2ca\^lovingkind- 
 ness should follow us all the days of our life, and be exerted, 
 though sometimes for our correction or trial, yet always 
 for our benefit; and so as to make our lot supportable in 
 every variety of our outward circumstances. Let your 
 conversation therefore be without covetousness ; and be 
 :onte7it with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Another very im- 
 portant consideration, necessary to be often brought to 
 mind is, that the season both for enjoying the advantages 
 and bearing the inconveniences of life, is short: but the 
 reward of enjoying and bearing each, as we ought, is 
 ^^ternal and inconceivably great. 
 
 Together with these reflections, let us exercise a steady- 
 care to check every faulty inclination in its earliest rise ; 
 ^or it is chiefly indulging them at first, that makes them 
 
TENTH COMMANDMENT. 127* 
 
 SO hard to conquer afterwards : and yet we shall always 
 find the bad consequences of yielding, to outweigh vastly 
 the trouble of resisting, and that to bring our desires, 
 when they are the strongest, down to our condition, is a 
 much easier work than to raise our condition to our de- 
 sires, which will only grow the more ungovernable the 
 more they are pampered. Further; whatever share we 
 possess of worldly plenty, let us bestow it on ourselves 
 with decent moderation, and impart of it to others with 
 prudent liberality ; for thus knowing how to abound, wd 
 shall know the better how to suffer need if providence 
 calls us to it ; and lastly, instead o^ setting our affections 
 on any things on earth, which would be a fatal neglect 
 of the great end that we are made for, let us exalt our 
 views to that blessed place, where Godliness with con- 
 tentment will be unspeakable Gain ; and they who have 
 restrained the inferior principles of their nature by the 
 rules of religion, shall have the highest faculties of their 
 souls abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God^s house, 
 and be made to drink of the river of his -pleasures. 
 
 Thus then you see, both the meaning and the import- 
 ance of this' last command, which is indeed the guard and 
 security of all the preceding ones : for our actions will 
 never be right habitually, till our desires are so ; or if 
 they could, our Maker demands the whole man, as he 
 surely well may, nor, till that is devoted to him, are we 
 meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 And now, both the first and the second table of the 
 ten commandments having been explained to you, it only 
 remains, that we beg of God sufficient grace to keep 
 them ; earnestly intreating him in the words of his 
 church, Lord, have mercy upon us, and xvrite all these 
 thy laws in our hearts, tve beseech thee^ 
 
r 1^9 ] 
 
 ON THK SACRAMENTS. 
 
 The nature and number of the Sacraments, 
 
 The far greater part of the duties which we owe to 
 God, flow, as it were of themselves, from His nature 
 and attributes, and the several relations to him in which 
 we stand, whether made known to us by reason or scrip- 
 ture. Such are those winch have been hitherto explain- 
 ed to you: the ten commandments, and prayer for the 
 grace which our fallen condition requires, in order to 
 keep them. But there are still some other important 
 precei)ts peculiar to clji'istiunity, and dcrivini^ their 
 whole obli^^ation fi-om our Saviours institution of them, 
 £oncernii\ij; which it is highly requisite that our cate- 
 chism shmild i^nstruct us before it concludes, and these 
 are the two sacraments. 
 
 The word sacrament, by virtue of its original in the 
 Latin tongue, signifies any sacred or holy thing or ac- 
 tion ; and among t!ie heathens was particularly applied 
 to denote, sometimes a pledge deposited in a saci-ed 
 place ;* sometimes an oath, the most sacred of obliga- 
 tions ; and especially tliatoath of fidelity which the sol- 
 diery took to tlicir gcnej'al. In scripture it is not used 
 at ail. By the cai'ly writers of the western church it 
 was used to express almost any thing relating to our holy 
 religion ; at least any thing that was figurative, and sig- 
 nified somewhat further than at first sight appeared. 
 But aCtei'wards a more confined use of the word prevail- 
 ed by degeecs f and in thatstrieter sense, which iiath long 
 
 * Eden Elcm. JuT.Clv. [). 238. Gronov. in Vhvn. R'.id. 5. 3. 21, 
 11# 
 
130 THE NATURE AND NUMBER 
 
 been the common one, and which our catechism follows, 
 the nature of a sacrament comprehends the following 
 particulars. 
 
 1. There must he an outward and visible sign; the 
 solemn application of some bodily and sensihle thing or 
 action, to a meaning and purpose which in its own nature 
 it hath not : In common life, we have many other signs 
 to express our meanings, on occasions of great conse- 
 quence, besides words, and no wonder then, if in religion 
 we hav« some of the same kind. 
 
 2. In a sacrament, the outward and visible sign must 
 denote an inward and spirit2ial grace given unto ns : tliat 
 is, some favour freely hestowed on u& from heaven, hy 
 which our inward and spiritual condition, the state of 
 our souls, is made better. Most of tlie significative ac- 
 tions that we use in religion, express only our duty ta 
 God : tlius kneeling in prayer is used, to show our reve- 
 rence towards Him to whom we pray ; And signing a 
 child with the cross after it is baptized, declares our ob- 
 ligation not to be ashamed of the cross of Christ. But 
 a sacrament, besides expressing on our part duty to God, 
 expresses on His ])ai-t, some grace or favour towards us. 
 
 3.. In order to entitle any thing to the name of saci'a- 
 nicnt, a further requisite is, that it be ordained by Christ 
 Jliinself. We may indeed uscj on^the foot of human au- 
 thority alone, actions that set forth either our sense of 
 any duiy^ or oui* belief in God's grace; for it is cer- 
 tainly as lawful to express a good meaning by any other 
 ])ropcr sign as by words : but then, sucii mai*ks as these, 
 wiiicii wc commonly call ceremonies, as they are taken 
 !ip at pleasure, may be laid aside again at pleasure, and 
 ought to be laid as-lile whenever they giH)w too numerous, 
 or abuses are made of them which cannot easily be re- 
 lormcd, and this hath frequently been the case: but sa- 
 rnunents arc of perpetual obligation, for they stand on 
 
OF THE SACRAME.YTS. XSl 
 
 the authority of Christ, who hath certainly appointed 
 nothing to be forever observed in His^church, but what 
 He saw would be for ever usefuL Nor doth every ap- 
 pointment of Christ, though it be of perpetual obligation, 
 deserve the name of a saeranient; but tliose, and no 
 other, which are, 
 
 4. Not only signs of gi'ace, but means also, whereby xve 
 receive the same r None but our blessed Lord could ap- 
 point such means; and wiiich of his ordinances should be 
 such and which not, noi>e but Himself could determine. 
 From His word therefore we are to learn it,* and th^^ 
 as we hope to attain the end, we must use the means. 
 But when it is said, that the sacraments are means of 
 grace, we are not to understaiKl, either that the perform- 
 ance of the mere outward action doth, by its own vir- 
 tue produce a spiritual effect in us ; or that God liath an- 
 nexed any such effect to that alone ; but that He will 
 accompany the action with his blessijig, provided it be 
 done as it ought; with tlwse qualifications which He 
 recpiires : And therefore, unless we fulfil the condition^ 
 we must not expect the benefit. 
 
 Further; calling the sacraments means of grace, doth 
 not signify them to be means by which we merit grace , 
 for nothing but the sufferings of our blessed Saviour can 
 do that for us, bo^t means by which what He hath merit- 
 ed is conveyed to us. 
 
 Nor yet are they the only means of conveying grace ; 
 for reading and heading and meditating upon the Word 
 of God, are part of the tilings, w hich He hath appointed 
 for this end; and prayer is another part, accompanied 
 with an express promise, that if WQUsk^ve shall receive; 
 but these, not being such actions as figure out and repre- 
 sent the benefits which they derive to us, though tliey 
 are means of grace, are not signs of it; and therefore do 
 not come under the notion of sacraments. But 
 
132 THE NATUfiE AND NUMBER 
 
 5. A sacrament is not only a si,^n or representation 
 of some heavenly favour, and a means whereby we re- 
 ceive it, but also a pledge to assure us thereof: Not that 
 any thing' can ,^ive us a greater assurance, in point of 
 reason, of any blessing from God, than his bare promise 
 can do : but that such observances apj)ointed in token of 
 his promises, affect our imaginations with a stronger 
 sense of them, and make a deeper and more lasting, and 
 thei-efore more useful impression on our minds. For this 
 cause, in all nations of the world representations by ac- 
 ^ns have ever been used as well as words, upon solemn 
 occasion*, especially upon entering into and renewing 
 treaties and covenants with each other, and therefore, 
 in condeseention to a practice which, being so universal 
 among men, appears to be founded in the nature of man, 
 God hath graciously added to His covenant also the so- 
 lemnity of certain outward instructive pei-formances, by 
 which he declares to us, that as surely as our bodies are 
 washed by water and nourished by bread broken, and 
 wine poured forth and received, so surely are our souls 
 purified from sin by the baptism of repentance, and 
 strengthened in all goodness, by partaking of that mer- 
 cy which the wou)nding of the body of Christ and the 
 shedding of his blood hath obtained for us. And thus 
 these religious actions, so far as they are performed by 
 God's minister in pursuance of his appointment, are art 
 earnest and pledge on his part, wiiich (as 1 observed to 
 you) was one ancient signification of the word sacra- 
 ment ; and so far as we join in them they are an obiiga^ 
 tion, binding like an oath on tuir part, as shall be liei'e- 
 after shown you, which was the other primitive meaning 
 of the word. 
 
 Having thus explained to you the description of a sa- 
 crament gi\en in the catechism, let us now consider 
 what tilings we have in our religion that answer to it : 
 
^F THE SACKAMENTS. ISS 
 
 for the Papists reckon no less than seven sacraments; 
 find tlioup;h this number was not named for above 1000 
 years after Christ, nor fixed by the authority of even 
 their own church till 200 years ago, that is, since the 
 reformation ; yet now they accuse us for not agreeing 
 with them in it, but acknowledging only two. 
 
 The first of their five is confirmation. And if this be 
 a sacrament, we administer it as well as they, intleed 
 much more agreeably to the original practice, and are 
 therefore entitled, at least, to tlie same benefit from it. 
 But though Christ did indeed put his hands on children 
 and bless them, yet we do not read that He appointed 
 this particular ceremony for a means of conveying 
 grace ; and though the apostles did use it after Him, as 
 others had done before Him, yet there is no foundation 
 to ascribe any separate efficacy to the laying on of 
 hands, as distinct from the prayers that accompany it ; 
 or to look upon the whole of confirmation, as any thing 
 else than a solemn manner of persons Inking upon them- 
 selves their baptismal vow, followed by the solemn ad- 
 dresses of the bishop and the congregation that they may 
 ever keep it ; in which addresses, laying on of hands is 
 used, partly as a mark of good will to the person for 
 whom the prayers are offered up, and partly also as a 
 sign that the fatherly hand of God is over all who under- 
 take to serve him, yet without any claim of conveying 
 His grace particularly by it, but only with intention of 
 praying for His grace along with it: which prayers 
 however we have so just ground to hope he will hear, 
 that they who neglect this ordinance, though not a sa- 
 crament, are greatly wanting both to their interest and 
 their duty. 
 
 Another sacrament of the church of Rome is penance, 
 which they make to consist of particular confession to 
 the priest of ew^ry deadly sin, particular absolutioB 
 
154 THE NATURE AND NUMBER 
 
 from him, and such acts of devotion, mortification, or 
 charity as he shall think fit to enjoin. But no one part 
 of this being required in scripture, much less any out- 
 ward sign of it appointed, or any inward grace annexed 
 to it, there is nothing in the vshole that hath any ap- 
 pearance of a sacrament, but too much suspicion of a 
 contrivance to gain an undue influence and power. 
 
 A third sacrament of theirs is, extreme unction : but 
 their plea for it is no more than this : St. James, at a 
 time when miraculous gifts were common, directed the 
 elders of the church, who usually had those gifts, to anoint 
 the sick with oil, [James v. 14, 15.) as we read the dis- 
 ciples did v^hilst our Saviour was on earth, (Jl/ar/c vi, 
 13.) in order to obtain by the prayer of faith , (that /ai//i 
 which could remove mountains) the lecovery, if God 
 saw fit, of their bodily health, and the forgiveness of 
 those sins for which their disease w as inflicted, if they had 
 committed any such. And upon this, the church of R(nne, 
 now aii such inirnaiious gifts have ceased, continues 
 notwithstanding, to anoint the sick for a quite different 
 purpose: not at all for the recovery of their health, for 
 they do not use it till they think them very nearly, if not 
 quite, past recovery ; nor indeed for the pardon of their 
 sins ; fa- these, they say are pardoned upon confession, 
 which commonly is made before it; but chiefly, as them- 
 selves own, to procure composedness and courage in the 
 hour of death : a purpose not only unmentioned by St, 
 James, but inconsistent with the pui'pose of recovery, 
 which he doth mention, and very often impossible to be 
 attained : for they fi-equently anoint persons after they 
 have become entirely senseless, and yet, in spite of all 
 these things, they will needs have this practice owned 
 for a sacrament, which indeed is now, as they manage 
 it, a mere piece of superstition. 
 
 Another thing which they esteenj » christian sacra- 
 
OF THE SACRAMENTS. 135 
 
 ment, is matrimony : though it was ordained, not by 
 Christ, but long before His appearance on earth, in the 
 time of man's innocency, and hath no outward si.ern ap- 
 pointed in it, as a means and pledge of inward grace. 
 But the whole matter is, that they have happened most 
 ridiculously to mistake their own latin translation of the 
 New Testament, where St. Faul, having compared the 
 union between the first married pair, Mam and Eve, to 
 that between Christ, the second Mam, and his spouse the 
 church ; and having said that this is a great mystery ; a 
 figure, or comparison, not fully and commonly under- 
 stood ; the old interpreter, whose version they use, for 
 mystery hath \n\t sacrament ; which in his days, as Isaid 
 before, signified any thing in religion that carried a hid- 
 den meaning, and they have understood him of what we 
 now call a sacrament, whereas, if every thing that once 
 had that name in the larger sense of the word, were at 
 present to have it in the stricter sense, tliere would be 
 an hundred sacraments, instead of the se\ en, which they 
 pretend there are. 
 
 The fifth and last thing, wiiich they wrongly insist 
 on our honouring with this title, is holy orders : but as 
 there are three orders in the church, bishops, priests, 
 and deacons, here would be three sacraments if there 
 were any, but indeed there is none : for the laying on of 
 hands in ordination, is neither appointed nor used to 
 convey or signify any spiritual grace, but only to confer 
 a right of executing such an office in the church of Christ. 
 And though prayers for God's grace and blessing on the 
 person ordained, are indeed very justly and usefully 
 added, and will certainly be heard unless the person be 
 unworthy, yet these prayers on this occasion, no more 
 make what is done a sacrament, than any other prayers 
 for God's grace on any other occasion. 
 
 However, as 1 hav e already said of confirmation, so 
 
136 THE XATURE AND NUMBER &C. 
 
 I say now of orders and marriage, if they were sacra- 
 ments, they would be as much so to us as to the Roman- 
 ists, whether we called them sacraments or not : and if 
 we used the name ever so erroneously, indeed if we 
 never used it at all, as the Scripture hath never used it, 
 that could do us no harm, provided, under any name, 
 Xve believe but the tliin.^s which Christ hath tau^^ht, and 
 do but the things which he hath commanded : for on this, 
 and this alone, depends our acceptance and eternal sal- 
 vation. 
 
f IS7 3 
 
 ON THE SACRAMENTS. 
 
 On Baptism, 
 
 Having already explained to you the nature of a sa- 
 crament, and shown you that five of the seven things 
 which the church of Rome calls by that name, are not 
 entitled to it; there remain only two that are truly such, 
 and these two are plainly sufficient : one for our entrance 
 into the Christian covenant ; the other, during our whole 
 continuance in it ; Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. 
 However, as the word sacrament is not a Scripture one, 
 and hath at different times been differently understood, 
 our Catechism doth not require it to be said absolutely, 
 that the sacraments ai'e two ordy, but two only as neces- 
 sary to salvation: leaving persons at liberty to com- 
 prehend more things under the name, if they please, 
 provided they insist not on the necessity of them, and of 
 dignifying them with this title : and even these two, our 
 church very charitably teaches us not to look upon as 
 indispensably, but as generally necessary ; out of which 
 general necessity, we are to except those particular 
 cases where believers in Christ, either have not the 
 ineans of performing their duty in respect to the sacra- 
 ments, or are innocently ignorant of it, or even excusa- 
 bly mistaken about it. 
 
 In explaining the Sacrament of Baptism, I shall speak 
 first of the outward and visible sign, then of the inward 
 and spiritual grace. 
 
 As to the former: Baptism being intended for the 
 sign and means of our purification from sin ; water, the 
 proper element for purifying and cleansing, is appointed 
 12 
 
138 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 to be used in it : there is indeed a sect, sprung up amongst 
 us within a little more than a hundred years, that deny 
 this appointment, and make the Christian Baptism sig- 
 nify only the pouring out of the gift of the Holy Ghost 
 upon a person ; but our Saviour expressly requires that 
 we be born of water as well as of the spirit^ to enter into 
 the kingdom of God, ( Jo/m iii. 5.) And not only Jb/m 
 hi^iov^vimw^v baptised with water, but his disciples also, 
 by his direction, baptized in the same manner, even more 
 than John: {John iv. 1,2.) when therefore he bade them 
 afterwards teach all nations, baptizing them, {Matt, xviii. 
 19.) what baptism could they undeistand, but that in 
 which he had employed them before ? and accordingly, 
 we find they did understand that : Philip, we read, bap- 
 tized the Samaritans, not with the Holy Ghost, for the 
 apostles went down some time after to do that them- 
 selves, {JctsYuL 12. 14, &c.) but with water undoubt- 
 edly, as we find in the same chapter, he did the eunuch, 
 where the words are. Here is water: what doth hinder 
 me to be baptized ? And they went down to the water, 
 and he baptized him. Again, after Cornelius and liis 
 friends, had received the Holy Ghost, and so were alrea- 
 dy baptized in that sense, Feter asks. Can any man/or- 
 hid water that these should not be bajitized, which have 
 received the Holy Ghost as well as we? {Mts x. 4. j when 
 therefore John says, that He baptized with water, but 
 Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost; he means, not 
 that Christians should not be baptized with water, but 
 that they should have the Holy Ghost poured out upon 
 them also, in a degree that John^s disciples had not : 
 when St. Feter says. The baptism which saveth us, is not 
 the washing away the filth of tliefiesh, he means, it is not 
 the luere outward act, unaccompanied by a suitable in- 
 ward disposition : w hen St. Paul says, that Christ sent 
 him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel ; he means, 
 
ON BAPTISM. 139 
 
 that preaching was the principal thing he was to do iii 
 person : to baptize, he might appoint others under him> 
 and it seems, commonly did, as St. Peter did not baptize 
 Cornelius and his friends himself, but co7n?na?i(/efZ them te 
 he baptizedf {Jets x. 48.) and we read in St. John, that 
 Jesus baptized not, but his disciples^ 
 
 Water- baptism therefore is appointed : and why the 
 church of Rome should not think water sufficient in 
 baptism, but aim at mending what our Saviour hath 
 directed by mixing oil and balsam with it, and dip- 
 ping a lighted torch into it, I leave them to explain. 
 
 The precise manner in which water shall be applied 
 in baptism, Scripture hath not determined : for the word 
 baptize, means only to wash, whether that be done by 
 plunging a thing under water, or pouring the water 
 upon it : the former of these, burying as it were the per- 
 son baptized in the water, and raising him out of it 
 again, without question was ancientJy the more usual 
 method, on account of which, St. Pa?^^ speaks of baptism 
 as representing both the death and burial and resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, and wliat is grounded on them, our being 
 dead and buried to sin ; renouncing it and being acquitted 
 of it, and our rising again to walk in newness of life, 
 {Rom. vi. 4, 11. — CoL ii. 1.) being both obliged and en- 
 abled to practice for the future every duty of piety and 
 virtue ; but still the other manner of washing, by pouring 
 or sprinkling water, sufficiently expresses the same 
 two things, our being by this ordinance purified from 
 the guilt of sin, and bound and qualified to keep ourselves 
 pure from the defilement of it. Besides, it very naturally 
 represents that sprinkling the blood of Jesus Christy 
 (I Pet, i. 2.) to which our salvation is owing; and the 
 use of it seems not only to be foretold by the prophet 
 Isaiah speaking of otir Saviour, he shall sprinkle many 
 nations, (^Isaiah lii. 15:) that is, many shall receive his 
 
140 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Ijaptism ,• and by the prophet Eaekiel, then will 1 sprinkle 
 dean water upon youf and ye shall be clean : {E^ek, xxxvi. 
 S5.) but to be had in view also by the apostle, where he 
 speaks of having our hearts sprinkled from an evil consci- 
 ence^ and our bodies washed with pure water, [Ileb, x. 22.) 
 And though it was less frequently used in the first ages, 
 it must almost of necessity have been sometimes used f 
 ibr instance, when baptism was administered, as we read 
 hi the acts, it was, to several thousands at once ; {Acts 
 ii. 41.) when it was administered on a sudden in private 
 jiouses, as we find it in the same book, to the gaoler and 
 all his tamily the very night in which they were convert- 
 ed ; {t^cts xvi. 33,) or when sick persons received it, in 
 ivhich last case the present method was always taken, 
 because the other of dipping them might have been dan- 
 gei*ous ; and from the same apprehension of danger in 
 these colder countries, pouring the water is allowed, 
 even when the person baptized is in health j and the par- 
 ticular manner being left at liberty, that is now univer- 
 sally chosen which is looked on as safer, because were 
 there more to be said for the other than there is, God 
 will have mercy and not sacrifice, {Matt. ix. 13. xiii. 7.) 
 
 But washing with water is not the whole outward 
 part of this sacrament, for our Saviour commanded his 
 apostles, not only to baptise alt nations^ but to baptize 
 ihem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost: [Matt, xviii. 19.) Sometimes indeed the scrip- 
 ture speaks of baptism, as if it were administered only 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus, {,3ds ii. 38. x. 48. xix. 5.) 
 But it fully appears, (Jets. xix. 2, 3.) that the name of 
 the Holy Ghost was used at the same time, and there- 
 fore that of the Father, we may be sure. Now being 
 baptized in the name of these three, may signify being 
 baptized by virtue of their authority, but the exacter 
 translation is, into the name; and the fuller import of the 
 
ON BAPTISM. 141 
 
 expression is, by this solemn action taking upon us their 
 name, (for servants are known by the name of their 
 master) and professing ourselves devoted to the faitli, 
 and worship^ and obedience of tliese three, our Creator ; 
 ouy Redeemer; our Sanctifier. In tliis profession the 
 whole of Christianity is briefly comprehended, and on 
 this foundation tlierefore the ancient creeds are all built. 
 TliQ^second and principal thing in baptism, the inward 
 and spiritual grace, is said in the catechism to be a death 
 unto sin, and a new birth mito righteousness ; for that 
 being by JS^ature borth in sin, and the children of wrathy 
 we are hereby made the children of grace. The former 
 part of these words refers to the old custom of baptizing 
 by dipping, just now mentioned, and tlie meaning of the 
 whole is this : Our first parents having by disobedience 
 in eating the forbidden fruit, corrupted their own na- 
 ture ; ours being derived from them, received of necessi- 
 ty an original taint of the same disorder: and therefore, 
 coming into the world under the ill effects of their sin, 
 and being.from the tin>e of our entering into it, prone to 
 sin ourselves, we are said to be born in sin : And they 
 having also, by the same disobedience forfeited their im^ 
 mortality, we, as descended from them, became mortal 
 of course, and inheriting by wa/of natural consequence, 
 w hat they suffered as a-mark of God's wrath,, wc, their 
 children, are said to be children of wrath : Not that God, 
 with whatever disapprobation He must view" our native 
 depravity, is, or properly speaking can be, angry with 
 us personally for what was not our personal fault : but 
 He might undoubtedly, both refuse us that immortality 
 which our first parents had foifeited, and to which we 
 have no right, and teave u& without help, to the poor 
 degree of vStrengthtltat remained to us in our fallen con- 
 diti(ni, the effect of which must have been that had we 
 
 done our best, as we were entitled to no reward from 
 
 12:?^ 
 
14£ ©N BAPTISM*. 
 
 his justice, so it had been such a nothing, that we could 
 have hoped for little, if any, from his bounty ; and had 
 we not done our best, as no man hath, we had no assu- 
 rance that even repentance would secure us from pun- 
 ishment. But what in strict Justice He mij^fit have 
 done, in His infinite goodness. He hath not done : for the 
 first covenant hein.2; broken by Mam, He hath enter- 
 ed into a new one with mankind through Jesus Ghrist ; 
 in which he hath promised to free us, both from the mor- 
 tality which our first parents had brought upon us, by 
 restoring us to life again ; and from the inability, by the 
 powerful assistance of his Holy Spirit. T^ay further yet, 
 He hath promised, (and without it the rest would have 
 been of suiall use") that should we, notwithstanding his 
 assistance fail in our duty when we might have perform- 
 ed it, as we have all failed, and made ourselves by that 
 means, children of wrath in tlie strictest and worst sense ; 
 yet, on most equitable terms. He would still receive us 
 to mercy anew, and tlius the Christian covenant deli- 
 vering us, if we are faithful to it, from every thing we 
 had to fear, and bestowing on us every thing we could 
 hope, brings us into a state so unspeakably diffei-entfrom 
 our former, that it is justly expressed by being dead to 
 that, and born into another. And this new birth being 
 effected by the grace or goodness of God external and 
 internal, we, the children of it, are properly called the 
 childre^i of grace : now baptism is not only a sign of this 
 grace, (as indeed it signifies very naturally the washing 
 off both of our original corruption, and our actual guilt) 
 by tiie appointed way of entering into the covenant that 
 entitles us to such grace, the means whereby we receive 
 the same., and a pledge to assure us thereof. 
 
 Indeed the mere outward act of being baptized, is, as 
 St, Peter, in the words already mentioned, very truly 
 expresses it, the -mere putting away of the filth of the 
 
ON BAPTIS>T. 145 
 
 jlesh ; unless it be made effectual to save us, as he teaches 
 in the same place it must, by the answer of a good con- 
 science towards God : [Pet. iii. 21.) that is, by the sincere 
 stipulation and engagement of repentance'^ wherehy we 
 forsake sin ; and faith, wherehy ice believe the promises 
 of God, made to us in that sacraments For it is impossi- 
 ble that He should forgive us our past sins, unless we 
 are sorry for them and resolved to quit them; and it is 
 as impossible that we should quit them effectually, unless 
 a firm persuasion of his helping and rewarding us excite 
 and support our endeavours. These two things there- 
 fore we see our catechism justly mentions as necessary. 
 In answer to the question, What is required of persons to 
 he baptized? Both having been explained in their pro- 
 per place, and therefore I enlarge on neither her^. 
 
 But hence arises immediately another question : If 
 these conditions are necessary, why are infants hapfized 
 when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform 
 them? And as this difficulty appears to some a great one, 
 I shall give a fuller solution of it, than the shoitness of a 
 catechism would easily j)ermit. Repentance and faith 
 are recpiisite, not before they are possible, but when they 
 are possible : repentance is what infants need not as yet, 
 being clear of personal guilt, and happy would it be 
 were they never to need it : Faith, it may be reasonably 
 presumed, by the security given for their Christian 
 education, they will have as soon as they have occasion 
 to exert it ; and in the mean time, baptism may vejy fitly 
 be administered, because God, on His part, can certain- 
 ly express by it, both his removing at present the disad- 
 vantages which they lie under by the sin of Jidavi, and 
 his removing hereafter, on proper conditions, the disad- 
 vantages which they may come to lie under by their own 
 sins : and though they cannot, on their parts, expressly 
 pi'omisc to perform these conditions, yet they are ncjt 
 
14^ Olf BAPTISM* 
 
 only bound to perform theni, whether they promise it ot 
 not, but (which is the point that our catecliism insists on) 
 their sureties promise for them, that they shall be made 
 sensible, as soon as may be, that they are so bound, and 
 ratify the engagement in their own persons, which when 
 they do, it then becomes complete. For it is by no means 
 necessary, that a covenant should be execitted by both 
 the parties to it at justtlie same time ; and as the Chris- 
 tian covenant is one of the greatest equity and favour, 
 we cannot doubt, to speak in the language of our liturgy, 
 hit that God favourably alloweth the charitabte work of 
 bringing.wfants to Bis Holy baptism : Eor the j^romise of 
 the covenant being exi)ressly said to belong to us and to 
 our children (^Jlcis ii. 39.) wltlK>ut any limitation of age, 
 why should tliey not all,, since they are to partake of the 
 promise, partake also of the sign of it? especially since 
 the infants of the Jews were, by a sokmn sign entered 
 into their covenant ; and the infants of proselytes to the 
 Jew s, by this very sign amongst others, of baptism. So 
 that supposing the apostles to imitate either of these ex- 
 amples, as^they naturally would, unless forbidden, which 
 they were not, when they baptized (as the scripture, 
 without making any exception, tells us they did) whole 
 families at once ;{»8ctsx\u 15, S3.) we cannot question 
 but they baptized^, as we know the primitive Gliristians- 
 their successors did, little children amongst the rest,, 
 concerning whom our Saviour says, tliat of such is the 
 Jdngdom of God, and St. Paul says, they are holy, (1 Cor, 
 viii. 14.) which they cannot be reputed without entering 
 into the gospel covenant ; and the only appointed way of 
 entering into it is by baptism, which therefore is con- 
 stantly represented in the New Testament as necessary 
 to salvation. 
 
 Not that such converts in ancient times, as were put 
 to death for their faith before they could be baptized. 
 
ON BAPTISM. 145 
 
 lost their reward for want of it ; not that such children 
 of believers now as die unbaptized by sudden illness or 
 wnexpected accidents, or even by neglect (since it is 
 none of their own neglect) shall forfeit the advantages of 
 baptism ; this would be very contrary to that mercy and 
 grace, which abounds tlM'ough the whale of the gospel 
 dispensation : nay, where the persons themselves do de- 
 signedly, through mistaken notions, either delay their 
 baptism as the Anabaptists, or omit it entirely as the 
 Quakers, even of these it belongs to Christian charity 
 not to judge hardly, as excluded from the gospel cove- 
 nant if tliey die unbaptized, but to leave them to the 
 equitable judgment of God. Both of them indeed err, 
 and the latter especially have, one should think, as little 
 excuse for their error, as well can be : for surely there is 
 no duty of Christianity which stands on a plainer foun- 
 dation, than that of baptizing with water in the name of 
 the holy Trinity. But still, since they solemnly declare 
 that they believe in Christ, and desire to obey His com- 
 mandments, and omit water baptism only because they 
 cannot see it is commanded, we ought (if we have cause 
 to think they speak truth) by no means to consider them 
 in the same light with total unbelievers. 
 
 But the wilful and the careless despisers of this ordi- 
 nance, who, admitting it to be of God's aj)pointment, 
 neglect it notwithstanding, these are not to be looked on 
 as within his covenant: and such as, though they do ob- 
 serve it for form's sake, treat it as an empty insignifi- 
 cant ceremony, are very unworthy of the benefits which 
 it was intended to convey. And bad as these things are, 
 little better if not worse, will be the case of those who, 
 acknowledging the solemn engagements into which they 
 have entered by tliis sacrament, live without care to 
 make them good ; for to the only valuable purpose of 
 God's favour and etemal happiness, He is not a Chris* 
 
14'6 039^ BAPTISM. 
 
 tian, which is one outwardly ; neither is that Baptism 
 which is outward in the flesh : hut he is a Christian, who 
 is one inwardly; and Baptism is that of the heart, in the 
 spirit, and not in the letter: whose praise is not of men, but 
 of God. 
 
£ 147 j 
 
 Ox\ THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 Part I. 
 
 As by the Sacrament of Baptism we enter into the 
 Christian covenant, so by that of the Lord's Supper we 
 profess our thankful continuance in it; and therefore the 
 first answer of our catecliism concerning this ordinance, 
 t^lls us it was appointed for the continual remembrance 
 of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits 
 which we receive thereby. Now the nature and benefits 
 of this sacrifice have been already explained in their 
 proper places ; I shall therefore proceed to sliow, that 
 the Lord's Supper is rightly said here to be ordained for 
 a remembrance of it, not a repetition, as the churcli of 
 Rome teaches. 
 
 Indeed every act, both of worship and obedience, is 
 in some sense a sacrifice to God, humbly offered up to 
 Him for his acceptance; and this Sacrament in particu- 
 lar, being a memorial and representation of the sacrifice 
 of Christ solemnly and religiously made, may well 
 enough be called, in a figurative way of speaking, by the 
 same name with what it commemorates and represents : 
 but that he vshould be really and literally offered up in it, 
 i« the directest contradiction that can be, not only to 
 common sense but also to Scripture, which expressly 
 says, that He was not to be offered often^for then must He 
 often have suffered ; but hath appeared once to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of Himself and after that, forever sat 
 down on the right hand of God: for by one offering He 
 hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. {Heb, ix* 
 25, 26 — X. 12, 140 
 
148 
 
 This ordinance then was appointed, not to repeat, but 
 to commemorate the sacrifice of Christ ; which thougli 
 we are required to do, and do it accordingly more or less 
 explicitly in all our acts of devotion, yet we are not requi- 
 red to do it by any visible representation but that of the 
 Lord's Su])pcr, of which therefore our catechim teaches 
 in the second answer, that the outward part^ or sign^ is 
 bread and wine, rvhich the Lord hath commanded to be 
 received. And indeed he hath so clearly commanded 
 both to be received, that no reasonable defence in the 
 least can be made, either for the sect usually called Qua- 
 kers, who omit this sacrament entirely, or for the church 
 of Rome, who deprive the laity of one half of it, the cup, 
 and forbid all but the priest to do, what Christ hath ap- 
 pointed all without exception to do. They plead indeed^ 
 that all whom Christ appointed to receive the cup, that 
 is, the apostles, were priests ; but their church forbids 
 the priests themselves to receive it, excepting those who 
 perform the service, which the apostles did not perform, 
 but their master. And besides, if the appointment of 
 receiving the cup belongs only to priests, that of receiv- 
 ing the bread too must relate only to priests, for our 
 Saviour hath more expressly directed all to drink of the 
 one, than to eat of the other, but they own that his ap- 
 pointment obliges the laity to receive the bread, and 
 therefore it obliges them to receive the cup also, which 
 that they did accordingly, 1 Cor, xi. makes as plain as 
 words can make any thing : nor was it refused them for 
 1200 years after. They plead farther, that administer- 
 ing the holy sacrament is called in Scripture breaking of 
 bready without mentioning the cup at all, and we allow 
 it : but when common feasts are expressed in Scripture 
 by the single phrase of eating 6rmd, surely this doth not 
 prove that the guests drank nothings and if in this reli- 
 gious feast, the like phrase could prove that the laity did 
 
QN THE lord's supper, 149 
 
 not partake of the cup, it will prove equally that the 
 priests did not partake of it either. They plead in the 
 last place that hy receiving the bread, which is the body 
 of Christ, we receive in effect the cup, which is the 
 blood, at the same time ; for the blood is contained in the 
 body: but here, besides that our Saviour, who was 
 surely the best judge, appointed both, they quite forget 
 that this Sacrament is a memorial of His blood being 
 shed out of His body, of which, without the cup, there 
 can be no commemoration : or if there could, the cup 
 would be as needless for the clergy as for the laity. 
 
 The outward signs therefore which Christ hath com- 
 manded to be received, equally received by all Christi- 
 ans, are bread and wine ; of these the Jexvs had been 
 accustomed to partake, in a serious and devout manner 
 at all their feasts, after a solemn blessing or thanksgiv- 
 ing to God made over them, for his goodness to men : 
 but especially at the feast of the passover, wiiich our 
 Saviour was celebrating with his disciples when he insti- 
 tuted this holy sacrament : at that feast, in the above- 
 mentioned thanksgiving, they commemorated more at 
 large the mercies of their God, dwelling chiefly howev- 
 er on their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt : now 
 this having many particulars resembling that infinitely 
 more important redemption of all mankind from sin and 
 ruin, which our Saviour was then about to accomplish ; 
 He very naturally directed his disciples, that their an- 
 cient custom should for the future be applied to this 
 greatest of divine blessings, and become the memorial of 
 Christ their passover sacrificed for them; (1 Cor, v. 7.) as 
 indeed the bread broken aptly enough represented his 
 body, and the wine poured forth expressively figured 
 out his blood, shed for our salvation. These therefore, 
 as the third answer of our catechism very justly teach- 
 
 15 
 
150 ON THE lORD^S SUPPER. 
 
 es, are the inward part of this sacrament, or the thmg 
 signified. 
 
 But the Church of Borne, instead of being content 
 with saying, that the bread and wine are signs of the 
 body and blood of Christ, insist on it that they are turn- 
 ed into the very substance of his body aivd blood : which 
 imagined change they therefore call transubstantiation : 
 now were tliis true, th^re would be no outwai'd sign left, 
 for they say it is converted into the thing signified, and 
 by consequence there would be no sacrament left, for a 
 sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace. 
 
 Besides, if our senses can in any case inform us what 
 any thing is, they inform us that the bread and vk^ine 
 continue bread and wine : and if we cannot trust our sen- 
 ses, when we have full opportunity of using them all, 
 how did the apostles know^ that our Saviour taught them 
 and performed miracles? or how do we know any one 
 thing around us ? but this doctrine is equally contrary 
 to all reason too ; to believe that our Saviour took his 
 own body, literally speaking, in his own hands, and gave 
 the whole of that one body to every one of his apostles, 
 and that each of them swallowed him down their throats, 
 though all the while he continued sitting at the table be- 
 fore their eyes ; to believe that the very same one indi- 
 vidual body, which is now in heaven, is also in many 
 thousands of different places on earth ; in some standing 
 still upon the altar ; in others, carrying along the streets : 
 and so in motion and not in motion at the same time ; to 
 believe that the same body can come from a great dis- 
 tance and meet itself, as the sacramental bread often 
 doth in their processions, and then pass by itself and go 
 away from itself to the same distance again ; is to be- 
 lieve the most absolute impossibilities and contradic- 
 tions : if such things can be true, nothing can be false : 
 and if such things cannot be true, the Church that 
 
151 
 
 teaches them cannot be infallible, whatever arts of puz- 
 zling sophistry they may use to prove either that or any 
 of their doctrines; for no reasonings are ever to be 
 minded against plain common sense. 
 
 They must not say this doctrine is a mystery, for there 
 is no mystery, no obscurity in it, but it is as plainly 
 seen to be an error, as any thing else is seen to be a 
 truth : and the more so because it relates, not to an infi- 
 nite nature, as God, but entirely to what is finite, a bit 
 of bread and a human body : they must not plead, that 
 God can do all things ; for that means only that He can 
 do all things that can be done, not that He can do 
 what cannot be done, make a thing be this and not be 
 this, be here and elsewhere at the same time; which 
 is doing and undoing at once, and so in reality doing 
 nothing. They must not alledge scripture for absurdi- 
 ties, that would sooner prove scriptui-e false than scrip- 
 ture can prove them true : but it no where teaches them. 
 
 We own that our Saviour says, This is my hody^ which 
 is broken ; and^ This is my blood, which is shed, but He 
 could not mean literally, for as yet his body was not 
 broken nor his blood shed, nor is either of tliem in that 
 condition now : and therefore, tlie bread and wine neither 
 could then nor can now, be turned into them, as such. 
 Besides, our Saviour said at the same time. This cup is 
 theJVew Testament in my blood. {Luke xxii. 20. — 1 Cor, 
 xi. 25.) Was the substance of the cup then changed into 
 the New Testament ? and if not, why are we to think 
 the substance of the bread and wine changed into his 
 body and blood ? the apof>tle says, the rock that supplied 
 the Israelites with water in the wilderness, was Christ; 
 (1 Cor. X. 4. j that is, represented Him : every body says, 
 such a picture is such a person, meaning the represen- 
 tation of Him ; why then may not our Saviour's worcTs 
 mean so too ? 
 
15^ ON THE LORD*S SUPPER. 
 
 The Romanists object, that though what represents a 
 thin^ iiatiirally or by virtue of a preceding institution, 
 may be called by its name, yet such a figure as this, iit 
 the words of a new institution, would not be intelligible* 
 But the representation here is natural enough 5 and 
 though the institution was new, figurative speech was 
 old : And the apostles would certainly rather inter- 
 pret their Master's words by a v€ry usual figure, 
 than put the most absurd sense upon them that could 
 be. They object further, that if He had not meant 
 literally. He would have said, not, this, but this breads 
 is my body :* but we may better argue, that if Ho 
 had meant literally, He would have said in the strongest 
 terms that he did so ; for there was great need, surely, of 
 such a declaration. But we acknowledge, that the 
 bread and wine are more than a representation of his 
 body and blood ; they are the means by which the bene- 
 fits arising from them are conveyed to us, and have 
 thence a further title to be called by their name ; for so 
 the instrument by which a prince forgives an offender is 
 called his pardon, because it conveys his pardon : the 
 delivery of a writing is called giving possession of an 
 ostate ; and a security for a sum of money, is called the 
 sum itself, and is so in virtue and in effect, though it is 
 not in strictness of speech and reality of substance. 
 Again : our Saviour we own, says in the vi. chapter of 
 St. John, that He is the bread of life; that, his flesh is 
 meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed : that, whoso 
 eaieth the one and drinketh the other, hath eternal life : and 
 that, without doing it, we have no life in us: but this, if 
 understood literally would prove, not that the bread in 
 tlie sacrament was turned into His flesh, but that His 
 flesh was turned into bread ; and therefore it is not to be 
 
 * Preuves de la Religion, Vol iv. p. 168. 
 
t)X THE lord's SUPPEB. 153 
 
 understood literally, as indeed He Himself pjives notice : 
 Thejlesh prqfiteth nothing ; the words which I speak unto 
 yoUf they are spirit and theij are life / it is not the gross 
 and literal, but tlie figurative and spiritual, eating and 
 drinking ; the partaking by a lively faith of an union 
 with me, and being inwardly nourished by the fruits of 
 my offering up my flesh and blood for you, that alone 
 €an be of benefit to the soul. 
 
 And as this is plainly the sense, in which He says, that 
 Sis flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed; 
 so it is the sense, in which the latter part of the third 
 answer of our catechism is to be understood ; that the 
 "body and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and 
 received by the faithful in the Lord's snpper: words in- 
 tended to show, that our church as truly believes tlie 
 strongest assertions of Scripture concerning this Sacra- 
 ment, as the church of Jlome doth ; only takes more 
 care to understand them in their right meaning, which 
 is, that though in oiie sense, all communicants equally 
 partake of what Christ calls His body and blood, that is, 
 the outward signs of them ; yet in a much more import- 
 ant sense, the faithful only, the pious and virtuous re- 
 ceiver, eats His flesh and drinks His bloody shares in 
 the life and strength derived to men from his incarna- 
 tion and death ; and through faith in Him becomes, by 
 a vital union, one with Him ; a member, as St. Paul ex- 
 presses it, of His flesh and of His bones : (^Eph. v. 3Q.) 
 certainly not in a literal sense, (which yet the Romanists 
 might as well assert as that we eat his flesh in a literal 
 sense,) but in a figurative and spiritual one. In appear- 
 ance, the sacrament of Christ's death is given to all 
 alike ; but verily and indeed, in its beneficial effects, to 
 none beside* the faithfuL Even to the unworthy com- 
 municant He is present, as He is wherever we meet to- 
 gether in His name -, but in a better and most graclotf^ 
 IS* 
 
1:54 
 
 sense to the worthy soul, becoming by the inward virtue 
 of His spirit, its food and sustenance. 
 
 This real presence of Christ in the sacrament His 
 church hath always believed : hut the monstrous notion 
 of his bodily presence, was started 700 years after his 
 death, and arose chiefly from the indiscretion of preach- 
 ers and writers of warm imaginatioiis, who, instead of 
 explaining judiciously the lofty figures of Scripture 
 language, heiglitened thwn, and went beyond them, till 
 both it and they had their meaning mistaken most as- 
 tonishingly ; and when once an opinion had taken root, 
 that seemed to exalt the holy sacrament so much, it 
 easily grew and spread, and the more for its wonderful 
 absurdity, in those ignorant and superstitious ages ; till 
 at length, 500 years ago, and 1200 years after our Sa^ 
 viour's birth, it was established for a gosi>el truth by 
 the pretended authority of the Romish church. And 
 even this had been tolerable in comparison, if they had 
 not added idolatrous practice to erroneous belief: wor- 
 shipping, on their knees, a bit of bread for the Son of 
 God : nor are they content to do tliis themselves, but 
 with most unchristian cruelty, curse and murder those 
 who refuse it. 
 
 It is true, we also kneel at the Sacrament, as they 
 do, but for a very different purpose ; not to acknowledge 
 any corporeal presence of Chrisfs natural Jlesh and blood; 
 as our church, to prevent all possibility of misconstruc- 
 tion expressly declares ; adding, that His body is in 
 heaven, and not here : but to worsbip Him who is every 
 where present, the invisible God. And this posture 
 of kneeling we by no means look upon as in itself neces^ 
 sary, but as a very becoming appointment, and very fit 
 lo accompany tlte prayers and praises, which we offer 
 up at the instant of receiving, and to express that in- 
 ward spirit of piety and humility, on which our partar 
 
ON THE lord's SUPPER» 155 
 
 king worthily of this ordinance, and receiving benefit 
 from ity depend. But the benefits of the holy sacranrent 
 and the qualifications for it, shall, God willing, be the 
 subject of two other discourses. In the mean time, con- 
 sider what hath been said, and Uie Lordgive ijou wider- 
 standing in all things. 
 
[ 156 3 
 
 ON THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 Part II. 
 
 The doctrine of our catechism concerning tlie Lord*» 
 supper hath been already so far explained a& to show 
 you, that it was ordainedf not for the repetition but the 
 continual remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ: that the 
 outward signs in it are bread and wine, both which the 
 Lord hath commanded to be received by all Christians, 
 and both which are accordingly received, and not 
 changed and transubstantiated into the real and natural 
 body and blood ofChnst; which however the faithful, and 
 they only, do, under this representation of it, verily and 
 indeed receive into a most beneficial union with them- 
 selves ; that is, do verihj and indeed, by a spiritual con- 
 nexion with their incarnate Redeemer and head through 
 faith, partake in this oi'dinance, of that heavenly favour 
 and grace, which by offering up His body and blood, He 
 hath procured for His true disciples^ and members. 
 
 But of what benefits in particular the faithful partake 
 in this sacrament, through the grace and favour of God, 
 our catechism teaches in the fourth answer, to which I 
 now proceed : and which tells us it is, the strengthening 
 and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ, 
 as our bodies are by the bread and wine."^ Now both the 
 truth and the manner of this refreshment of our souls 
 will appear, by considering the nature of the sacrament 
 and the declarations of scripture concerning it. 
 
 Indeed the due preparation for it, the self examination 
 
@N THE lord's SUPPER. 157 
 
 iTequlred in order to it, and the religiwis exercises w hicli 
 that examination will of course point out to us, must pre- 
 viously be of great service; as you will see when I come 
 to that head ; and the actual participation will add fur- 
 ther advantages of unspeakable value. 
 
 Considered as an act of obedience to our Saviour's 
 command, Do this in remembrance of me, it must be be- 
 neficial to us; for all obedience will. Consideied as 
 obedience to a command, proceeding ])rincipaliy if not 
 solely from his mere will and pleasure, it contributes to 
 form us into a very needful, a submissive and implicitly 
 dutiful temper of mind : but further, it is the most emi- 
 nent and distinguished act of Christian worship, con- 
 sisting of the most devout thankfulness to God, for the 
 greatest blessing which He ever bestowed on man ; at- 
 tended, as it naturally must be, with earnest prayers that 
 the gift may avail us, to our spiritual and eternal good. 
 And it is much more likely to affect us very strongly and 
 usefully, for expressing his bounty and our sense of it, 
 not as our daily devotions do, in words alone, but in the 
 less common and therefore more solemn way, ♦of visible 
 signs and representations; setting forth evidentlij before 
 i>ur eyes, to use St. Pantos language, Christ crudjied 
 amongst us. This, of necessity, unless we are strangely 
 wanting to ourselves, must raise the warmest affections 
 of love that our hearts are capable of, to him who hath 
 given Himself for us. And as love is the noblest prin- 
 ciple of religious behaviour, what tends so powerfully to 
 animate our love, must in proportitm tend to perfect 
 us in every branch of duty, according to the just reason- 
 ing of the same apostle i For the love of Christ constrain- 
 ethus; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
 were all dead ; and He died for all, that they who live 
 should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him 
 who died for them, and rose again. When oiu* Saviour 
 
158 OSr THE LORD^S SUPPEE. 
 
 said to his disciples, If tje love vie, keep my command- 
 ments. He knew the motive was no less engaginj? than 
 it is reasonable, and therefore He adds very soon at'tepy 
 If a man love me, he rmll keep my words* 
 
 But this institution carries in it a yet further tie upon 
 us ; being, as our blessed Lord himself declared, the J\*ew 
 Testament in His blood. - {Lnke xxii. 20.) the memorial 
 and acknowledgment of the second covenant between 
 God and man, which was founded on his death ; and re- 
 quires a sincere faith and obedience on our part, as the 
 condition of grace and mercy on his. Every one that 
 nameth the name of Christ, is bound to depart from ini- 
 quity : but the obligation is redoubled on them who come 
 to His table as friends, and make a covenant with Him,, 
 by partaking of His sacrifice, {Psalm L 5.) If these live 
 wickedly, it is declaring with the boldest contempt, that 
 they consider Christ as the minister of sin; {Gat, ii. 17. 
 and count the blood of t/ie covenant, wherewith they pro- 
 fess to be sanctifed, an unholy thing, {Heb, x. 29.) Par- 
 taking therefore of this holy ordinance is renewing, in 
 the most awful manner, our engagements to the service 
 which we owe, as well as our claims to the favours that 
 God hath promised. It is our sacrament, our oath, to be 
 faithful soldiers under JAe great Captain of our salvation i 
 (si Tim, ii. 3,4. — Heb. ii. 10. which surely we cannot 
 take thus, without being efficaciously influenced to the 
 religious observance of it, in every part of a Christian 
 life.' 
 
 But there is one part especially, and one of the utmost 
 importance, to which this institution peculiarly binds 
 us, that of universal good- will and charity. For com- 
 memorating, in so solemn an action, the love of Christ to 
 us all, cannot but move us to that mutual imitation of his 
 love, which just before his appointing this holy sacra- 
 ments He so earnestly and aifectionately enjoined hl^ 
 
159 
 
 followers, as the distinguishing badge of their profes- 
 sion. This is my commandmenU that ye love one another^ 
 as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friends- Fe are my 
 friends, if ye do whatsoever I command yoiu Hereby shall 
 all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one 
 to another. Then besides; commemorating his love 
 jointly, as the servants of one master and members of 
 one body, partaking of the same covenant of grace and 
 the same hope of everlasting happiness, must, if we have 
 any feeling of wliat we do, incline us potently to that re- 
 ciprocal union of hearts, which indeed the very act of 
 communicating suggests and recommends to us. For 
 we, being many, are one bread and one body : for we art 
 all 2)ar takers of that one bread. (I Cor, x. 17.) 
 
 Another grace, which this commemoration of our Sa- 
 viour's deatli peculiarly excites, is humility of soul. We 
 acknowledge by it that we are sinners, and have no 
 claim to pardon or acceptance, but through his sacrifice 
 and his mediation, whose merits we thus plead and set 
 forth before God. And this consideration must surely 
 dispose us very strongly to a thankful observance of his 
 commands, to watchfulness over our own hearts, to mild- 
 ness towards others. For we ourselves also have been 
 foolish, disobedient, deceived $ and not by works of righ- 
 teousness which we have done, but according to his mercy 
 God hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration and 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundant- 
 ly through Christ Jesus our Saviour, {Tit, iii. 3, 5, 6.) 
 
 And as this sacrament will naturally strengthen us in 
 all these good dispositions, we cannot doubt but God 
 will add his blessing to the use of such proper means, 
 especially being appointed means. For since He hath 
 threatened punishment to unworthy receivers, He will 
 
160 
 
 cei'taiiily bestow rewards on worthy ones. Our Saviour 
 hath told us, that his Jtesh is meat indeed, and his blood is 
 drink indeed; Sustenance and refreshment to the souls of 
 men. When He blessed the bread and wine, He un- 
 iloubtediy prayed, and not in vain, that they might be 
 effectual for the good purposes which He designed should 
 be attained by this holy rite : and St. Paid hath told us, 
 if it needs, more expressly, that the cup which weblessis 
 the communion, that is, the communication to us of the 
 blood of Christ ; and the bread which we break, of the body 
 of Christ: (I Cor, x. 16.) that is, of a saving union with 
 Him, and therefore of the benefits procured us by his 
 death, which are, forgiveness of our offences ; for he 
 bath said. This is my blood of the A^ew Testament, which 
 is shed for the remission of sins : {Matt, xxvi. 28.) In- 
 crease of the gracious influences of the Holy Ghost j for 
 the apostle hath said, plainly speaking of this ordinance, 
 that we are all made to drink into one spirit: (1 Cor, xii. 
 13.) and everlasting life; for whoso eateth his flesh and 
 drinJieth his blood, dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him,, 
 and he will raise him up at the last datj : [John vi. 54, 56.) 
 Whence a father of tlie apostolic age, Ignatius, calls the 
 Eucharist the medicine of itnmortality ; a preservative, 
 that we should not die^ but live for ever in Jesus Christ,^ 
 But then what hath been already hinted to you must 
 be always carefully observed, that these benefits are to 
 be expected only from partaking worthily of it: for he 
 that eateth and drinketh unworthily, St Paul hath told 
 us, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, that is, 
 guilty of irreverence towards it, and eateth and drinking 
 judgment to himself. Our translation indeed hath it, 
 damnation to himself, but there is so great danger of this 
 
 * Ign. ad. Eph. c, 20. See Waterland on the Eacharist, p. 217. 
 
ON THE XOBD^S SUPPEE, 161 
 
 last word being understood here in too strong a sense, 
 that it would be much safer and more exact, to translate 
 it, (as it is often translated elsewhere, and once in a few 
 verses after this passage, and from what follows ought 
 undeniably to be translated here) judgment or condem- 
 nation ; not to certain punishment in another life, but to 
 such marks of God's displeasure as He sees fit; which 
 will be confined to this world, or extended to the next, 
 as the case requires : for receiving unworthily may, ac- 
 cording to the kind and degree of it, be either a very 
 great sin or comparatively a small one. But all dan- 
 gerous kinds and degrees may with ease be avoided, if 
 we only take care to come to the sacrament with proper 
 dispositions, and which will follow of course, to behave 
 at it in a proper manner. 
 
 To these dispositions our catechism proceeds, but 
 more is needful to be known concerning them, than 
 can well be laid before you now ; therefore I shall 
 conclude at present with desiring you to observe, that 
 no unworthiness but our own, can possibly endanger us 
 or prevent our receiving benefit : doubtless it would 
 both be more pleasing and more edifying, to come to 
 the table of the Lord, (1 Cor. x. 21.) in company with 
 such only as are qualified for a place at it ; and they 
 who are unqualified ought, when they properly can, to 
 be restrained from it : but we have neither direction 
 nor permission to stay away, because others come who 
 should not, nor can they ever be so effectually excluded, 
 but that tares will be mixed among the wheat ; and at- 
 tempting to rootthemup may often be more hurtful, than 
 letting both grow together until the harvest. C*^^o,tt. xiii. 
 28 — 3 1. J >J ay, should even the stewards SLud diis^^en- 
 sers of God^s mysteries ( i (^or. iv. 2. J be unholy persons, 
 though it be a grievous temptation to others to abhor 
 14 
 
1'65 ON THE lORD^S STJTFEH. 
 
 the offering of the Lord, yet that is holy still. They shali 
 hear their iniquity : but notwithstanding, all the promises 
 of all God's ordinances are yea and ^men, sure and 
 certain in Jesus Christ, to as many as worship Him in 
 spirit and in truth, (^ Cor, i. 20. — Jehn iv. 23.J 
 
t 165 ] 
 
 OiN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 Part III. 
 
 What qualifications and dispositions are required of 
 those who come to the Lord's supper, the scripture hath 
 not particularly expressed, for they are easily collected 
 from the nature of this ordinance ; but our catechism, in 
 its fifth and last answer concerning it, hath reduced 
 them very justly to three; repentance, faith, and cha- 
 rity. 
 
 L That roe repent us truly of our former sins^ stedfastly 
 purposing to lead a new life. For as we are by nature 
 prone to sin ; and the youngest a^ld best among us have> 
 in more instances than a few, been guilty of it, the less 
 the better ; so in Christianity, repentance is the founda- 
 tion of every thing: now the sorrow that we ought to 
 feel for the least sin, must be a very serious one, and for 
 greater offences in proportion deeper, but the vehemence 
 arid sensibility of grief will on every occasion and 
 •particularly on this, be extremely different in different 
 persons, and therefore all that God expects is, a sincere, 
 though it may be a calm, concern for every past fault of 
 which we are conscious, and for the multitudes which 
 we have either not observed or forgotten. And this 
 concern must proceed from a sense of duty, and produce 
 the good effects of an humble confession to Him in all 
 cases, and to our fellow-creatures in all cases needful; 
 of restitution for the injuries that we have done, so far as 
 it is possible ; and of a settled resolution to amend our 
 hearts and lives, wherever it is wanting. Moi-e than 
 this we cannot do. and less than this God cannot accept: 
 
164 ON THE lord's SlTPPER. 
 
 for it would be giving us a licence to disobey Him, if 
 He allowed us to come to his table and profess to have 
 fellowship with him, while we walked in darkness. (1 
 John u 6.) Mere infirmities indeed, and undesigned 
 frailties, provided we strive against them with any good 
 degree of honest care, and humble ourselves in the Di- 
 vine presence for them so far as we are sensible of them, 
 will not provoke God to reject us as unworthy receivers, 
 though in strictness wc are ail unworthy : for if such 
 failures as these made persons unfit, nobody could be 
 fit : and therefore they will be no excuse for omitting 
 what Christ hath commanded, nor can be any reason 
 why we should not do it with comfort* 
 
 But whoever lives in any wilful sin, cannot safely 
 come to the holy Sacrament ; nor, which I beg you to 
 observe, can he safely stay away : for, as the hypocrisy 
 of professing amendment falsely at God's table is a 
 great sin, so the profaneness of turning our backs upon 
 it, because we will not amend, is to the full as great a 
 one; and it is the merest folly in the world, to choose 
 citlier as the safer way ; for a wicked person can be safe 
 no way : but let him resolve to quit his wickedness, and 
 when he is thoroughly sure, so far as he can judge from 
 a competent experience, that he hath resolved upon it 
 effectually, then he may as safely receive as he can say 
 his prayers : and such a one should come, not with ser- 
 vile fear as to a hard master, but with willing duty as to 
 a merciful father. Nay, should he afterwards break his 
 resolutions, though doubtless it would be the justest 
 cause of heavy grief, yet it would not prove that he re- 
 ceived unworthily, but only that he hath behaved un- 
 worthily since he received : and the thing for him to do 
 is, to lament his fault with deeper contrition, renew his 
 good pui'pose more firmly, pray for help from above witfi 
 more earnestness, watch over himself with more prudent 
 
id5 
 
 care ; then go again to God's altar, tliankfully comme- 
 morate his pardoning love, and claim anew the henefit 
 of his gracious covenant. Following this course honest- 
 ly, he will assuredly gain grou-nd, and therefore such as 
 do not gain ground, do not follow it honestly ; but allow 
 themselves to go round in a circle of sinning, then re- 
 penting, as they call it, and communicating ; then sin- 
 ning again; as if every communion did of course wipe 
 off the old score, and so they might begin a new one 
 without scruple, which is the most absiird, the most ir- 
 religious, the most fatal imagination, that can be. 
 
 II. The next thing required of those who come to the 
 Lord's supper, is a lively faith in GoiVs mercy through 
 Christy with a thankful remembrance of his death : and tlie 
 faitli necessary is a settled ])eF-suasion, that for the sake 
 of the meritorious obedience and sufferings of mir blessed 
 Redeemer, God will pardon ti'uc penitents; together 
 with a comfortable trust, that we, as such, have an in- 
 terest in his merits. But here again you must observe, 
 that different pei-sons may have vfi-y different degrees 
 of this persuasion and trust : some may be weak in faith ; 
 may have caiise to say with Him in the gospel of St> 
 Mark^ Lord I believe ; help thou mine unbelief; and yet 
 their prayers, like His, may be graciously heard: Others 
 may be strong, and increase, till they abound in faiths 
 and such iiave great reason to be thankful to God for 
 themselves, but surely theyou^ght never to judge hardly 
 of tlieir brethren, who liave not advanced so far. The 
 pule of judging^both in the catechism and the scripture, 
 is not by the pasitiveness, but the liveliness of our faith ; 
 that is, the fruits of a Christian life which it produces ; 
 for faith without works is dead: {James u^ 1 7.] if wc 
 cannot show the evidence of these, tlie highest con- 
 fidence will do us no good ; and if we can- we need have 
 
 no doubts concerning our spii-itual condition ; andthoua:lii 
 14* 
 
166 
 
 we have ever so many, provided we have no sufficient 
 reason for them, we may celebrate this holy ordinance 
 very safely. For such weaknesses in onr natural tem- 
 per and spirits are no way inconsistent with havin.G;, in 
 our fixed and deliberate judgment, that/iiW trust in GocVs 
 mercy f wliich the communion-service requires ; and we 
 cannot take a more likely method, either to perfect our 
 repentance or to strengthen our faith, than receiving the 
 sacrament frequently. 
 
 Our catechism teaches further, that our faith in Christ 
 must be accompanied with a thankful remembrance of his 
 death. And surely, if we believe that He died to save 
 us, we must be thankful for it : but then the measure of 
 our thankfulness must be taken from the goodness and 
 constancy of its eflTects, not from that sensible warmth 
 and fervency, which we cannot, ordinarily speaking, 
 feel so strongly in spiritual things *as in temporal ; and 
 of vvliich bad persons may at times have very much, and 
 good persons little ; for that is the true thankfulness, 
 which produces love : And this is the love of Gad, that we 
 keep his commandments, ( I John v. 3.) 
 
 But there is one commandment, as I have show n you, 
 peculiarly connected with this ordinance, and therefore 
 our catechism sj)^cifies it separately, and in express 
 terms, by requiring, 
 
 III. That we be in charity with all men. For we can 
 fiave no share in the love of our Creator, our Redeemer, 
 and Sanctifier, unless, in imitation of it, we lovt^, one 
 another; and as the goodness of God is universal, ours 
 must be so: Receiving the holy communion was indeed 
 intended to increase the degree of it; but we must have 
 the reality, before we are wortliy to receive ; and we 
 must show^ it is real, by forgiving them who trespass 
 against us; by assisting, as far as can be reasonably ex- 
 jiected, those who need assistance in any kind, by our 
 
©N THE lord's SIJPPEE, 16f 
 
 hearty prayers for those whom we can help no other 
 Avay ; by faithfully performing the duties of our several 
 stations and relations in life ; and by condescension, mild- 
 ness, and humanity towards every person, as occasion 
 offers: all which duties, and particularly that of for- 
 giveness, have been explained to you in their pi'oper 
 places. 
 
 These then being the dispositions requisite for re- 
 ceiving the holy sacrament, as indeed they are for ob- 
 taining eternal happiness ; we are all greatly concerned 
 to examine ourselves, whether we have them or not; and 
 should have been concerned to do it, though this ordi- 
 nance had never been appointed ; but we are now more 
 especially bound to it with a view to this ordinance, both 
 from the nature of it, and from St. TauVs positive in- 
 junction : Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat 
 ofthatbreadf and drink of that cup. (I Cor, xi. 28.) 
 
 The principal subjects of our examination are com- 
 prehended under the three heads just now mentioned : but 
 as to any particular method to be taken, or time to be 
 spent in it, or in any other further preparation subse- 
 quent to H:, we have no command, it is left to every one's 
 prudence and voluntary ]riety : Tiiey who live in a con- 
 stant pi'actice of religion and virtue, are always fit for 
 the sacrament; and may, if the call be sudden, by reflect- 
 ing for a few moments sufficiently know that they are 
 fst: Persons who live in any sin, may as easily and 
 quickly know that tliey are not, and it is only in 
 doubtful cases, that any length of consideration is neces- 
 sary to satisfy us about this matter. But it must be ex- 
 tremely useful for all pei-sons, not only to be attentive to 
 their ways constantly, but to look back upon them fre- 
 quently ; much more frequently than almost any one re- 
 ceives the sacrament, and as things which have no cer- 
 tain season fixed for them^ are \cvy apt to be neglected^ 
 
r6l5r ON THE lord's SUPPER* 
 
 we should fix upon this as one certain season, for as par- 
 ticular an inspection into" the state of our hearts and 
 lives, as vv€ can well make and can hope to be the better 
 for ; Joining with it suitable meditations, resolutions, and 
 devotions. But then in the whole of this work we must 
 be careful, neither to hurry over any part thoughtlessly, 
 nor lengthen it wearisomely ; and in our examination 
 we must be especially careful,, neither to flatter nor yet 
 to affright ourselves; but observe impartially what is 
 right in us, thank God and take the comfort of it ; ac- 
 knowledge what is wrong, beg pardon and amend itt 
 For without amendment, being ever so sorry will avail 
 nothing. 
 
 The last thing to be mentioned in relation to this holy 
 sacrament, isour behaviour at it, which ought to be very 
 serious and reverent ; such as may show in the most pro- 
 per* manner, that, to use the apostle's words, we discern 
 or distinguish the Lord^s lody ; look on the action of re- 
 ceiving it, as one of no common nature, but as the reli- 
 gious memorial of our blessed Saviour's dying for us, 
 and by his deatii establishing with us a covenant of par- 
 don, grace, and everlasting felicity on God's part, and 
 of faith and holiness on ours. With this important con- 
 sideration, we should endeavour to affect our hearts 
 deeply and tenderly ; yet neither to force our minds into 
 immoderate transports, by which we shall only bewilder 
 and lose instead of benefiting ourselves, nor express even 
 what we ought to feel, by any improper singularities of 
 gesture ; nor yet be dejected, if we have less feeling, and 
 even less attention to the service, than we have reason 
 to wish. For such things may be, in a great measure at 
 least, natural and unavoidable: or, supposing then*, 
 faults, they may be and often are, the faults of such per- 
 sons as notwithstanding are, on the whole, very worthy- 
 communicants; They may be for a time, useful means >€ 
 
»N THE LOTtD^S SUPPER. l69 
 
 keeping us humble and w atcbful ; after that, God may 
 deliver us from them : and should we continue all our 
 lives afflicted with them, it would never hinder our re- 
 ceivinj? all the necessary benefits of this ordinance. 
 
 God grant, that both it and all His other gracious in- 
 stitutions, may contribute effectually to build us up in our 
 most holy faith in a suitable practice, that so we may ever 
 keep ourselves in the love of GoiU aiul on good grounds 
 look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal 
 life^ ' 
 
f iro 1 
 
 OF MAN'S INABILITY, GOD'S GRACE, AN© 
 PRAYER TO HIM FOR IT. 
 
 I have now proceeded, in the course of these lectures^ 
 to the end of the Commandments; and explained the 
 nature of that repentance, faith and obedience, which 
 were promised for us in our baptism, and which we are 
 bound to exercise, in proportion as we come to under- 
 stand the obligations incumbent on us. You cannot but 
 see by this time, that the duties which God enjoins us, 
 are not only very important but very extensive ; and 
 therefore a consideration will almost unavoidably pre- 
 sent itself to } our minds in the next place, what abilities- 
 we have to perform them. Now this question our Cate- 
 chism decides without asking it,, by a declaration ex- 
 tremely discouraging in appearance; that we are not 
 able of 02irselveSn to walk in the Commandments of God,, 
 and to serve him. 
 
 Indeed, had we ever so great abilities, we must have 
 them not of ourselves, but of our maker,^ from whom all 
 the powers of all creatures are derived. But something 
 fnrther than this is plainly meant here: that there are 
 no powers belonging to human nature in its present 
 state, sufficient for so great a purpose. The law of God 
 is spiritual; but we are carnal sold under sin, {Rom \iu 
 14.) and that such is our condition, will appear by re- 
 flecting, first, what it was at our birth; secondly, what 
 we have made it since. 
 
 1. As to the first, we all give proofs, greater or less, 
 of an inbred disorder and wrongness in our understand- 
 ings, will and affections : possibly one proof that some 
 may give of it, may be a backwardness to own it: brit 
 
or man's INABIIITT &C. Ifi 
 
 fliey little consider how severe a sentence they would 
 pass, by denying it on themselves and all mankind : 
 even with our natural bad inclinations for some excuse, 
 we are blameable enough for the ill things that we do - 
 but how much more should we be so, if we did them all 
 without the solicitation of any inward depravity, td 
 plead afterwards in our favour? in point of interest 
 therefore as well as truth, we are concerned to admit 
 an original proneness to evil in our frame, while yet 
 reason plainly teaches at the same time, that what«*ver 
 God created was originally, in its kind, perfect and good. 
 To reconcile these two things would have been a 
 great difficulty, had not revelation pointed out tiie way, 
 by informing us, that man was indeed made upright, 
 but that the very first of the human race lost their inno- 
 cence and their happiness together ; and tainting by wil- 
 ful transgression their own nature, tainted by conse- 
 quence that of their whole posterity. Thus by one man, 
 sin entered into the worlds and death by sin ; and so death 
 passed upon all men^ for that all have sinned. We find 
 in fact, however difficult it may he to account for it in 
 speculation, that the dispositions of parents both in body 
 and mind, very commonly descend, in some degree, to 
 their children ; and therefore it is entirely credible, that 
 so great a change in the minds of our first parents 
 from absolute rectitude of temper to presumptuous wick- 
 edness ; accompanied with an equal change of body, from 
 an immortal condition to a mortal one, produced per- 
 haps in part, by the physical effects of the forbidden 
 fruit ; that these things, I say, should derive theii* fatal 
 influences to every succeeding generation. For though 
 God will never impute any tiling to us, as our personal 
 fault, which is not our doing, yet he may very justly 
 withhold from us those privileges, which he granted to 
 «ur first parents only on condition of their faultless 
 
172 OF man's INABIMTY &C. 
 
 obedience, and leave us subject to those inconveniences, 
 wliicli followed of course from their disobedience : as, in 
 multitudes of other cases, we see children in far worse 
 circumstances by the faults of their distant forefathers, 
 than they otherwise would have been ; and most evident- 
 ly it is no more a hardship upon us, to become such as we 
 are by means of Mam's transgression, than to suffer 
 what we often do for the transgressions of our other 
 ancestors; or to have been created such as we are, 
 without any one's transgression : which last, all who 
 disbelieve original sin, must affirm to be our case. 
 
 But unliappy for us as the failure of the first man 
 was, vve should be happy in comparison, if this were 
 all that we had to lament. Great as the native disorder 
 of our frame is, yet eitliei' the fall of Mam left in it or 
 God restored to it, some degree of disposition to obedi- 
 f^nce, and of strength agaijist sin : so that though iii us» 
 that is ill ourjlesh, drvellet/i no good things yet after the 
 inward man^ (the mind J we delight in the law oj God; 
 fRoia, ^^-Z, 23, J and there are occasions, on which even 
 the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the 
 things contained in tlie law, (liom» ii. 14.J though nei- 
 ther all, nor any, are without fault; and on us Chris- 
 tians, our heavenly Father confers in our baptism the 
 assurance, of much greater strength to obey his com- 
 mands, than they have. But then, if we consider 
 
 2. What we have made our condition since, we shall 
 find, that instead of using well the abilities which we 
 had, and taking the methods which our maker hath ap- 
 pointed for the increase of them, we have often careless- 
 ly, and too often wilfully, misemployed the former, and 
 neglected the latter. Now by every instance of such 
 beiiaviour, we displease God, weaken our right affec- 
 tions, and add new strength lo wrong passions : and by 
 habits of such behaviour, corrupting our hearts and 
 
OF man's INABIXITY &C. 175 
 
 blinding our understandings, we bring ourselves into a 
 much worse condition than that in which we were born, 
 and thus become doubly incapable of doing our duty i 
 this, experience proves but too plainly, though Scripture 
 did not teach as it doth, that the imagination of man^s 
 heart is evil from his tjouth ; that we were sJiapen in ini- 
 quity, and in sin did our mother conceive ws .♦ that the car- 
 nal mind is enmity against God: that without Christ we 
 can do nothings and that we are not sufficient to think any 
 thing, as of ourselves. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this, we feel within us an obli- 
 gation of conscience to do every thing that is right and 
 good : for that obligation is in its nature unchangeable, 
 and we cannot be made happy otherwise, than by en- 
 deavouring to fulfil it ; though God, for the sake of our 
 blessed Redeemer, will make fit allowances for our com- 
 ing short of it. But then we must not hope for such al- 
 lowances as would really be unfit : our original weakness 
 indeed is not our fault, but our neglect of being relieved 
 from it, and the additions that we have made to it, are : 
 and whatever we might have had the power of doing, if 
 we would, it is no injustice to punish us for not doing, 
 especially when the means of enabling ourselves continue 
 to be offered to us through our lives. JNow, in fact, the 
 whole race of mankind I charitably hope and believe, 
 have, by the general grace or favour of God, the means 
 of doing so much at least, as may exempt them from fu- 
 ture sufferings : but Christians, by the special grace 
 mentioned in this part of the catechism, are qualified to 
 do so much more, as will entitle them, not for their own 
 worthiness, but that of the holy Jesus, to a distinguishing 
 share of future reward. 
 
 Mow the special grace of the Gos]>el consists, partly 
 in the outward revelation which it makes to us of divine 
 truths 'y partly in the inward assistance which it bestows 
 15 
 
174 OF man's inability &c* 
 
 on us for obeying the divine will. The latter is the 
 point here to be considered. 
 
 That God is able, by secret influences on our minds, 
 to dispose us powerfully in favour of what is right, there 
 can be no doubt ; for we are able in some degree, to in- 
 fluence one anotlier thus : — that there is need of his doing 
 it, we all have but too much experience ; and that there- 
 fore we may reasonably hope for it, evidently follows. 
 He interposes continually by His providence, to carry 
 on the course of nature in the material world; is it not 
 then very likely that He should interpose in a case, 
 which, as far as we can judge, is yet more worthy of His 
 interposition ; and incline and strengthen His poor crea- 
 tures to become good and happy, by gracious impres- 
 sions on their souls, as occasions require? but still, hope 
 and likelihood are not certainty : and God, whose ways 
 are past Jinding out, might have left all men to their own 
 strength, or rather indeed theii* own weakness. But 
 whatever he doth in relation to others, which is not 
 our concern, he hath clearly promised to us Christians, 
 that his grace shall be sufficient for us : His holy Spirit 
 shall enable us effectually to do, every thing which His 
 word requires. 
 
 We may resist His motions : or we may receive them 
 into our souls, and act in consequence of them. Every 
 one hath power enough to do right; Scripture, as well 
 as reason, shows it : only we have it not resident in us 
 by nature, but bestowed on us continually by our Maker, 
 as we want it. In all good actions that we perform, the 
 preparation of the heart is from the Lord; [Prov. xvi. 1.) 
 and that faith, which is the fountain of all actions truly 
 good, is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, {Eph, ii. 8.) 
 But he giveth liberally to all (James i. 5.) wiio ask him, 
 aiid therefore no one hath caus<^ of complaint. 
 
 It is true, we are seldom able to distinguish this hea- 
 
OF man's inability &c. ir^ 
 
 renly influence from the natural workings of our own. 
 minds, as indeed we are often influenced one by another 
 without perceiving it ; but the assurance given in Scrip- 
 ture of its being vouchsafed to us, is abundanily suffi- 
 cient ; to which experience also would add strong con- 
 firmation, did we but attend with due seriousness to 
 what passes w ithin our breasts. 
 
 Our natural freedom of will is no more impaired by 
 these secret admonitions of our Maker, than by the open 
 persuasions of our fellow creatures : and the advantage 
 of having God's help, far from making it unnecessai y ta 
 help ourselves, obliges us to it peculiarly : we are there- 
 fore to work out our own salvation^ because He worketh 
 in us both to will and to do, {P/iiL ii. l^^ 13.) For it is 
 a great aggravation of e\ei*y sin, that, in committing it, 
 we quench the pious motions excited by the spirit ( I Thes, 
 V. 1^.) af God In our hearts; and a great incitement to 
 our endeavours of performing every duty, that with 
 such aid we may be sure of success ; our own natural 
 strength cannot Increase, as temptations and difficulties 
 do, but that which we receive fiom heaven^ can ; and 
 thus it is, that we learn courage and humility at once, 
 by knowing that we can do ail things, but only through 
 Chnst xvhich streugtheneth us; {Phil, iv, 13.) and there- 
 fore not we^ but the grace of God, which is with us. (1 Cor^ 
 XV. 10.) 
 
 This grace therefore being of such importance to us^ 
 our catechism, with great reason, directs us at ail times 
 to caitfor it by diligent prayer :■ for our heavenly Father 
 hath not promised, nor can we hope that He xvill give 
 the Holy Spirit to them who proudly disdain or negli- 
 gently omit to ask Him, {Luke xi. 13.) And hence it 
 becomes peculiarly necessary , that we should understand 
 how to pray to Him ; a duty mentioned in the former 
 
i "6 or man's inability &c; 
 
 part of the catechism, but reserved tabe explained more 
 fully in this* 
 
 God having bestowed on us the knowledge in some 
 measure, of what He is in Himself, and more especially of 
 what he is to us ; we are doubtless bound to be suitably 
 affected by it ; and to keep alive in our minds with the 
 Titmost care, due sentiments of our continual dependence 
 on Him, of reverence and submission to His will, of love 
 and gratitude for His goodness, of humility and sorrow 
 for all our sins against Him, and earnest desire that his 
 mercy and favour may be shown in such manner as He 
 shall think fit, to us and to all our fellow-creatures. 
 
 Now, if these sentiments ought to be felt, they ought 
 also to be some way expressed : not only thatothers may 
 see we have them and be excited to them by our example ; 
 hut that we ourselves may receive both the comfort and 
 The improvement wliich must naturally flow, from exer- 
 rising such valuable affections. And unquestionably the 
 most lively and most respectful manner of exercising 
 Ihem is, that we direct them to Him who is the object of 
 them, and pour out our hearts before Him in suitable 
 acts of homage, thanksgiving, and confession ; in hum- 
 ble petitions for ourselves, and intercessions for all man- 
 kind : not that God is ignorant, till we inform Him, 
 cither of our outward circumstances or the inward tem- 
 per of our hearts 5 if He were,, our prayers would give 
 Him but very imperfect knowledge of either, for we are 
 ourselves greatly ignorant of both : But the design of 
 prayer is, to bring our own minds into a right frame ; 
 and so make ourselves fit for those blessings, for which 
 we are very unfit, while we are too vain or too careless 
 to ask them of God. 
 
 The very act of prayer therefore, will do us good if we 
 pray with attention, else it is nothing ; and with sinccri 
 
- OF man's INABILITY &C. 177 
 
 ty, else it is wo^se than nothing ; and the consequences 
 of pray in j^, God hath promised, shall be further good : 
 Ml things whatsoever ]je shall ask in prayer^ believing, ye 
 shall receive, (^Matt,xxu 22.) Not absolutely all things 
 whatsoever we desire ; for son^ of our desires may be 
 on several accounts unfit and some would prove extreme- 
 ly hurtful- to ns : therefore we ought to consider well what 
 we pray for, and especially in all temporal matters refer 
 ourselves wholly to God's good pleasure. Nor doth He 
 always grant immediately what He designs to grant, 
 and hath given us the fullest right to ask : but delays it 
 perhaps a while to exercise our patience and trust in 
 Him: for which reason our Saviour directs us always 
 to pray and not to faint. But whatever is really good. 
 He will undoubtedly, as soon as it is really necessary, 
 give us upon our request; provided further, that with our 
 earnest petitions we join our hanest endeavours, for 
 prayer was never designed to serve instead of diligence, 
 but to assist it : and therefore,, if in our temj)oral affairs 
 -we are idle or inconsideratc,^ we must not expect that our 
 prayers will bring us good success; and if, in our spi- 
 ritual ones, we wilfully or thoughtlessly neglect our- 
 selves; we must not imagine that God will amend us 
 against our wills, or whilst we continue supinely indif- 
 ferent. But let us do our duty to the best of our power, 
 at the same time that we pray for his blessing; and we 
 may be assured that nothing but an injurious disbelief 
 can prevent our obtaining it, on whicbaccount St. James 
 requires, that we ask in faith, nothing wavering. 
 
 Indeed, without the encouragement given us in scrip- 
 ture, it might well be with some diffidence, and it should 
 still be with the utmost reverence, that we take upon us 
 to speak unto the Lard, who are bid dust and ashes. {Gen. 
 xviiL 2r.) The heathens therefore addressed their 
 prayers to imaginary deities of an inferior rank, as judg- 
 
 1 5^ 
 
ITS wF man's INABILITY &C 
 
 ing themselves unworthy to approach the supreme One : 
 but our rule is, T/iou shall worship the Lord thy God, and 
 Him only shall thou serve, {Matt, \y> 10,) The affected 
 humility of worshipping even angels, and therefore much 
 more saints, (who, if really such, are yet lower than an- 
 gels{Psal, viii 5,)may,aswe are taught, beguile us of our 
 reward: [Col, it. 11.) whereas we may come boldly to 
 the throne of our Maker's grace, {Heb, iv. 16.; though 
 not in our own right, yet through the Mediator whom he 
 hath appointed^ and who hath both procured us the pri- 
 vilege and instructed us how to use it, by delivering to 
 us a prayer of his own composition, which might be at 
 once a form for us freq^lently to repeat, and a pattern 
 for us always to imitate. 
 
 That the Lord's prayer was designed as a form, ap- 
 pears from his own Viords: lifter this manner pray ye: 
 or, translating more literally. Thus pray ye; {Matt. vi. 
 9.) and which is yet moie expressive, ff'hen ye pray, say^ 
 our Father, {Luke xi. 2.) ^c. Besides, it was given by 
 Him to his disciples on their request, that He would 
 leach them to pray, as John also taught his disciples, {Luke 
 xi. 1.) which undoubtedly was, as the great Rabbis 
 among the Jews commonly taught theirs, by a form. 
 And acrai'dingly this prayer has been considered and 
 used as such, fi'om the earliest ages of Christianity down 
 (o the present. 
 
 Yet our Saviour's design w^as not, that this should be 
 the only prayer of christians; as appears both from the 
 precepts and the practice of the apostles, as well as. 
 from the nature and reason of the thing; but when it is 
 not used as a form, it is however of unspeakable advan- 
 tage as a model. He proposes it indeed more particu- 
 larly as an example of shortness; not that we are never 
 to make longer prayers, for He Himself continued ail 
 night in prayer to God: and we have a much longer, made 
 
OF M^AN^S I?f ABILITY &C. 1T9 
 
 by the apostles, in the fourth chapter of the Acts : but 
 his intention was, to teach by this instance, that we are 
 not to affect unmeaning repetitions, or any needless mul- 
 tiplicity of words, as if we thought thai we should be 
 heard for our much speaking. And not only in this re- 
 spect, but every other, is our Lord'^s prayer an admira- 
 ble institution and direction for praying aright; as will 
 abundantly appear, when the several parts of it come to 
 be distinctly explained. But though such explanation 
 will show both the purport and the excellency of it more 
 fully, yet they are to every eye visible in the main, with- 
 out any exjilanation at all ,* and therefore let us conclude 
 at present with devoutly offering it u^ to God. 
 
 Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thfname. 
 Thy kingdom come. Thtj will be done in earth, as it is in 
 heaven. Give 21s this day our daily bread ; And forgive us 
 our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against 
 us : And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power^ and the 
 glory, for ever aiid ever. •iincM. 
 
[ 180 } 
 
 A SERMO^f 
 
 ON 
 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 ACTS viii. 17. 
 
 Then laidihey iheir hands on them, and! they receivtd'the 
 Holy Ghost 
 
 The history to which these words belong, is- this : 
 Philip the deacon, ordained at the same time with St. 
 Stephen, had converted and baptized the people of Sa- 
 maria; which the apostles at Jerusalem hearing, sent 
 down to them Peter and John, two of their own body, 
 who, by prayer accompanied with imposition of hands, 
 obtained for them a greater degree than tliey had yet 
 received, of the sacred influences of the Divine Spirit: 
 w hich undoubtedly was done on their signifying, in some 
 manner so as to be understood, their adherence to the 
 engagement into which they had entered at their bap- 
 tism.. 
 
 From this and the like instances of the practice of 
 the apostles, is derived, what bishops, tlieir successors, 
 though every way beyond comparison inferior to them, 
 have practised ever since, and which we now call con- 
 firmation. PreacIiiPg was common to all ranks of mi- 
 nisters ; baptizing was performed usually by the lower 
 rank ; but, perhaps to maintain a due subordination, 
 it was resei'ved to the highest, by prayer and laying on 
 
A SERMON^ OX CONFIMATIO.V. 181 
 
 «f hands, to communicate further measures of tlie Holy 
 Ghost. It was indeed peculiar to the apostles, that on 
 their intercession his extraordinary and miraculous 
 gifts were hestowed, which continued in the church no 
 longer than they were needed ; nor can we suppose that 
 all were partakers of them, hut unquestionably, by their 
 petitions they procured for every sincere convert, a 
 much more valuable, though less remarkable blessing 
 of universal and perpetual necessity, his ordinary and 
 saving graces. 
 
 For these therefore, after their example, trusting that 
 God will have regard, not to our unworthiness, but to 
 the purposes of mercy whicli He hath appointed us to 
 serve, we intercede now, w hen persons take upon them- 
 selves the vow of their baptism. For this good end be- 
 ing now come amongst you, though 1 doubt not but your 
 ministers have given you proper instructions on tiie oc- 
 casion, yet I am desiroiis of adding somewhat further, 
 •which may not only more fully acquaint those who are 
 especially concerned, with the nature of what they are 
 about to do ; but remind you all of the obligations which 
 Christianity lays upon you ; and I cannot perform it 
 better, than by explaining to you the office of confirma- 
 mation, to w^hich you may turn in your prayer-books, 
 where it stands immediately after the catechism. 
 
 There you will see in the first place, a preface direct- 
 ed to be read, in which notice is given, that/or the more 
 edifying of such as receive coiifirinationf it shall be admin- 
 istered to none but those who can answer to the questions 
 of the catechism preceeding : that so children may come to 
 years of some discretion, and learn what the promise 
 made for them in baptism was, before they are called 
 upon to ratify and confrm it before the church xvith their 
 own consent, and to engage i/mi they will ever mn^" ^^b- 
 serve it. 
 
iS^ A SERMON ON CONriEMATIOK. 
 
 Prayers may be offered up for infants with very good 
 effect : promises may be made in their name by such as 
 are authorised to act for them: especially when the 
 things promised are for their interest, and will be their 
 duty ; which is the case of those in baptism. But no 
 persons ought to make promises for themselves, till tJjey 
 reasonably well understand the nature of them, and are 
 capable of forming serious purposes. Therefore, in the 
 present case, being able to say the words of the cate- 
 chism is by no means enough, without a competent ge- 
 neral knowledge of theii* meaning, and intention of be- 
 having as it requires them ; which doubtless tliey are 
 supposed to have at the same time; and if they have not, 
 making a profession of it is declaring with their m<»uths, 
 what they feel not in their hearts at the instant, and 
 will much less reflect upon afterwards : it is hoping to 
 please God by the empty outward performance of a re- 
 ligious rite, from which, if they had been withheld till 
 they were duly qualified, their souls might have been 
 affected, and their conduct influenced by it as long as 
 they lived. 
 
 Therefore I hope and beg, that neither ministers nor 
 Parents will be too eager for bringing children very 
 eai'ly to confirmution ; but first teach them carefully, to 
 know their duty sufficiently, and resolve upon the prac- 
 tice of it heai'tily ; then introduce them to this ordinance, 
 which they shall not fail t<» have opportunities of attend- 
 ing in tlieir neighbourhood from time to time^ so long as 
 God continues my lif« and strength. 
 
 But as there are some too young for confirmation, 
 some also may be thought too old, especially if they 
 have received the holy Sacrament without it : now there 
 are not indeed all the same reasons for tlie confirmation, 
 of such, as of others : nor hatii the church 1 believe, de- 
 termined any thing about their case, as it might be 
 
A SEEM6N ON COXriBMATlON- 185 
 
 ihought unlikely to happen : but still, since it doth hap- 
 pen too frequently, that persons were not able, or have 
 neglected to apply for this purpose, so wlienever they 
 apply, as by doing it they express a desire to fulfil 
 all righteousness^ {Matt iii. 15.) and may certainly re- 
 ceive benefit, both from the profession and the prayei^ 
 appointed in the office ; my judgment is, that they should 
 not be rejected, but encouraged. 
 
 Only I must entreat you to observe, that when you 
 take thus on yourselves the engagement of leading a 
 Christian life, you are to take it once for all ; and no 
 more to think of ever being confirmed a second time, 
 than of being baptized a second time. 
 
 After directing who are to be confirmed, the office 
 goes on to direct how tliey are to be confirmed : and 
 here, the bishop is to begin with asking every one of 
 those who offer themselves, whether they do, in the pre- 
 sence of God and of the congregation^ renew in their own 
 persons the solemn vow of their baptism; acknowledging 
 themselves bound to believe and to perform all those things, 
 which their god-fathers and god-mothers then undertook 
 for them, "On which, t!»ey are each of them to answer 
 with an audible voice, I do. 
 
 Now the things promised in our name, were to re- 
 nounce whatever God hath forbidden, to believe what 
 He hath taught, and to practise what he hath command- 
 ed. Nobody can promise for infants absolutely, that 
 they shall do these things ; but only, that they shall 
 be instructed and admonished to do them ; and, it is 
 hoped not in vain : this instruction and admonition, 
 parents are obliged by nature to give; and if they do 
 it effectually, god-fathers and god-mothers have no 
 further concern than to be heartily glad of it : but if 
 the former fail, the latter must supply the failure, as far 
 as they have opportunity of doing it with any reason- 
 
184 A SERMOI? ON CONFIRMATION. 
 
 able prospect of success ; for they were intended, not to 
 release the parents from the care of their children, which 
 nothing can ; but for a double security in a case of such 
 importance. 
 
 If nothing at all bad been promised in our names, 
 we had still been bound, as soon as we were capable 
 of it, to believe in God and obey Him ; but we are more 
 early and more firmly bound, as not only this hath 
 been proniised for us, but care hath been taken to make 
 us sensible of our obli,^ation to perform it; which obli- 
 gation therefore, })ersons are called upon, in the question 
 under consideration, to ratify and confirm : and great 
 cause have tliey to answer, that they do ; for doing it is 
 a duty, on which their eternal felicity peculiarly de- 
 pends, as a little attention to what 1 am about to say 
 will clearly show you. 
 
 Oiii- first paients, even while they w'ere innocent, had 
 no title to happiness or to existance, but from God's 
 notification of his good pleasure; which being condi- 
 tional, when they fell they lost it, and derived to us a 
 corrupt and mortal nature, entitled to nothing; as both 
 the diseases and the poverty of ancestors often <lescend 
 to their distant posterity. This bad condition we fail 
 not, from our first use of reason, to make worse in a 
 gi eater or less degree, by actual tjansgressions : and s» 
 personally deserve the displeasure, instead of favour, of 
 Him who made us; yet we may hope, that, as He is 
 good, H^will on our repentance forgive us: but then, 
 as He is also just and wise and the ruler of the world, 
 we could never know with certainty of ourselves, what 
 his justice and wisdom and the honour of his govern- 
 ment, might require of Him with respect to sinners: 
 whether He vvould pardon greater offences at all ; and 
 whether IJe would reward those, ^vhom He might be 
 pleased not to punish : but most happily, the revelation 
 
A SlERMON ON CONFIRMATIOJS". 1*0 
 
 '«f liis holy word hath cleared up all these doubts of un- 
 assisted reason, and offered to the worst of sinners, on 
 tlie condition of faith in Christ, added to repentance 
 and productive of good works, (for all which He is 
 ready to enable us) a covenant of pardon for sins past, 
 assistance against sin for the future, and eternal life in 
 return for a sincere, though imperfect, and totally un- 
 deserving obedience. 
 
 The method of entering into this covenant is, being 
 baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost; that is, into the acknowledgment of the 
 mysterious union and joint authority of these three, and 
 of the distinct offices which they have undertaken for 
 our salvation, together with a faithful engagement of 
 paying suitable regard to each of them. In this appoint- 
 ment of baptism, the washing with water aptly signifies, 
 both our promise to presei^ve ourselves, with the best 
 care we can, pure from the defilement of sin, and God's 
 promise to consider us as free from the guilt of it: bap= 
 tism then, through his mercy, secures infants from the 
 bad consequences of Adam^s transgression, giving them 
 anew title to the immortality which he lost; it also 
 secures to persons grown up, the entire forgiveness of 
 their own transgressions, t)n the terms just mentioned : 
 but then, in order to i*eceiv€ these benefits, we must lay 
 our claim to the covenant which conveys them ; we must 
 ratify as soon as we are able, what was promised in 
 our name by others before we were able ; and done for 
 us then only on presumption, that we should make it 
 our own deed afterwards : For if we neglect, and appear 
 to renounce our part of the covenant, we have plainly 
 not the least right to God's performing His, but we re- 
 main in our sins, and Christ shall profit us nothing, {^GaU 
 V. 2.) 
 
 I'ou see then of what unspeakable importance it is 
 16 
 
186 A SERMON ON CONFIRMATIOm 
 
 that we take on ourselves the vow of our baptism, and 
 it is very fit and useful, that we should take it in such 
 form and manner as the office prescribes : It is fit, that 
 when persons have been properly instructed by the care 
 of their parents, friends, and ministers, they should 
 with joyful .£^ratitude acknowledge them to have faitiiful- 
 ly performed that kindest duty : It is fit, that beforethey 
 are admitted by the church of Christ to tlie holy com- 
 munion, they should give public assurance to the church 
 of their christian belief and christian purposes. This 
 may also be extremely useful to themselves ; For consi- 
 der, young persons ai*e just entering into a world of 
 temptations, with no experience, and little knowledge to 
 guard them, and much youthful rasliness to expose them : 
 The authority of others over them is beginning to lessen, 
 their own passions to increase, evil conummication to 
 have great opportunities oi corrupting good manner Sf and 
 strong impressions, of one kind ( r anotlier, will be made 
 on them ver-y sooru What can then be mor^e necessary, or 
 more likely to preserve their innocence, than to form the 
 most deliberate resolutions of acting right, and to de- 
 clare them in a manner, thus adapted to move them 
 at the time, and be remembered by them afterwards, in 
 the presence of God, of a nnmber of his ministers, and 
 of a large congregation of his people, assembled with 
 more than ordinary solemnity for tbat very purpose? 
 
 But th^n, you that are to be confirmed, must either do 
 your own part, or the whole of this preparation will be 
 utterly thrown away upon you : If yoe; make the answer 
 which is directed without sincerity, it is lying to God ; 
 if you make it without attention, it is trifling with him. 
 Watch over your hearts therefore, and let them go along 
 with your lips. The two short words, / do, are soon 
 said, but they comprehend much in them ; Whoever uses 
 them on this occasion, saith in effect as follows : ^^ 1 do 
 
A SEHMON ONT CONFIRM^ATIOJf^ 187 
 
 ^heartily renounce all the temptations of the devil ; all 
 *^*the unlawful pleasures, profits, and honours of the 
 ^^ world; all the immoral gratifications of the flesh. I do 
 *^ sincerely believe, and will constantly profess, all the 
 ^^ articles of the christian faith. I do firmly resolve to 
 "keep all God's commandments all the days of my life; 
 *^* to love and honour Him ; to pray to Him and praise 
 **Him daily in private; to attend conscientiously on the 
 ^* public worship and instruction which He hath appoint- 
 " ed ; to approach his holy table, as soon as I can qualify 
 *^ myself for doinj? it worthily ; to submit to his blessed 
 " will meekly and patiently in all things ; to set Him 
 "ever before my eyes, and ackno^^ ledge Him in all my 
 " ways. I do further resolve in the whole course of my 
 "behaviour amongst my fellow creatures, to f/o j?/s//i/, 
 "/ore mercy^ speak truth, be {lilit^ont and useful in my 
 " station, dutiful to my superiors, coudcscciiding to those 
 "beneath me, friendly to my equals; careful, through 
 "all the relations of life, to act as the natuie of them re- 
 " quires, and conduct myself so to all men, as I should 
 ^ think it reasonable that they should do to me in the 
 ** like case. Further yet, / do resolve, in the govern- 
 " ment of myself, to be modest, sober, temperate, mild, 
 "humble, contented ; to restrain every passion and ap- 
 ** petite within due bounds; and to set my heart chiefly, 
 ^*not on the sensual enjoyments of tiiis transitory world, 
 "but the spiritual happiness of the future endless one. 
 " Lastly, / do resolve, whenever I fail in any of these 
 <' duties, as I am sensible I have, and must fear I shall, 
 " to confess it before God with unfeigned concern, to ap- 
 ^' ply for his promised pardon in the name of His bless- 
 "ed Son, to beg the promised assistance of His holy 
 ** Spirit ; and in that strength, not my own, to strive 
 *^ against my faults, and watch over my steps with re- 
 " doubled care.'* 
 
i88r A- SERMON ON CONFIRM A'tlO^v 
 
 Observe then : it is not gloominess and melancholy 
 that religion calls you to ; it is not useless austerity, and' 
 abstinence from things lawful and safe ; it is not extra-^ 
 Yagant flights and raptures ; it is not umneaning or un- 
 oclifying forms and ceremonies; much less is it bitter- 
 wess against those who differ from you. But the fore- 
 mentioned unquestionable substantial duties, are the 
 things to which you bind yourselvesj witen you pro- 
 nounce the awful words, /do. Utter them then with the 
 truest seriousness; and say to yourselves, each of you 
 afterwards, as Moses did to the Jews, Thou hast avouch- 
 ed the Lord this daij to be thy God, to walk in Ms ways- 
 and keep His statutes, and to hearken to His voice: and the 
 Lord luis avouched thee this day to be His; that thou- 
 sJwuldst keep all His commandments^ and be holy unto the 
 Lord thy God, as He hativ spoken, {Deut, xxvi. 17, 18^ 
 19.) It is a certain truth, call it therefore often to mind, 
 and fix it in your souls, that if breaking a solemn pro- 
 mise to men be a sin ; breaking tliat, which you make 
 thus deliberately to God, would be unspeakably a great» 
 or sin. 
 
 But let us i>ov>^ proceed to the next part of the office^ 
 in which, after persons have confirmed and ratified the 
 vow of their baptism, prayers are offered up, that God 
 would confirm and strengthen them in their good pur- 
 pose; on both which accounts this appointment is called 
 'onfirmation. 
 
 Scripture teaches, and sad experience proves,^ that of 
 ourselves we can do nothing :. are not sufficient for the dis- 
 charge of our duty, without God's continual aid ; by 
 which He can certainly influence our minds, without 
 hurting our natural freedom of will, and even without 
 our perceiving it; for we can influence. our feJIowrcrea- 
 tures so. Nor is it any injustice in Him to require of us 
 Avhat exceeds our ability, since He is ready to supply 
 
A SERMON ON CONFIRMATION. 189 
 
 the want of it: Indeed, on the contrary, as this method 
 of treating us is excellently fittad both to keep us hum- 
 ble and yet to give us courage, using it is evidently 
 worthy of God ; but tlien, as none can have reason to ex- 
 pect his help but those who earnestly desire it, so he hath 
 promised to give the holy spin7, only tathem tluit askllim. 
 {Luke xi. 13.) And to unite chi'istians more in love to 
 each other, and incline them more to assemble for pub- 
 lic worship, our blessed Redeemer hatli especially pro- 
 promised, tliat wAere two or three of them are gathered 
 together in His name. He will he in the midst of them. 
 And further still, to promote a due regard in his people 
 to their teachers and rulers, the sacred writings ascribe 
 a peculiar efficacy to their pi'aying over those who are 
 committed to their charge. Even under the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, the family of Aaron wei*e told, that them the 
 Lord had separated to minister unto Him, and to bless in 
 the name of the Lord; and they shall put my name^ saitii 
 ■God, iipon the children of Israel^ and I vAll bless them^ 
 No wonder then, if under the christian dispensation we 
 ,read, but *just before tiie text, that the apostles, when 
 they were come down to Samaria, prayed for the new-bap- 
 tized converts //mi they might receive the Holy Ghost ^ 
 and in the text, that they did receive it accordingly. 
 
 Therefore, pursuant to these great authorities, here is 
 on the present occasion, a number of young disciples, 
 about to I'un the same common race, met together to pray 
 for themselves and one another; here is a number of 
 elder christians who have experienced the dangers of 
 life, met to pray for those who are just entering intij 
 them ; here ai*e also God's ministers, purposely come to 
 intercede with Him in their behalf; and surely we may 
 hope, theit^ joint and fervent petitions will avail and be 
 effectual. 
 
 16# 
 
190 A SERMON ON CONFIRMATION. 
 
 They begin as they ought, with acknowledging, anU' 
 in Scripture words, that our help is in the name of the 
 Lord, who hath made heaven and earth: it is not in man to 
 direct his own steps ; but his Creator only can preserve 
 him. Then we go on to pronounce the name of the Lord 
 blessed henceforth world without end, for His readiness 
 to bestow on us the grace which we want. And lastly, 
 in confidence of his goodness, we intreat Him to /iear owr. 
 prayers, and let our cry come unto him. 
 
 After these preparatory ejaculations, and tiie usual ad- 
 monition to be attentive. Let us pray ; comes a longer 
 act of devotion, vfhich first commemorates God's mercy 
 already bestowed, then petitions for an increase of it. 
 The coninicmoration sets forth, that He halh regenerated 
 ^hcse his servants by water and the Holy Ghost, that is, 
 entitled tiiem by baptism to the enlivening influences of 
 ihe spirit, and so, as it were, begotten them again into a 
 state inexpressibly happier than their natural one; a 
 J ovenant-state, in which God will consider them, whilst 
 they keep their engagements, with peculiar love, as his 
 dear childi'cn. It follows, that He hath given unto them 
 forgiveness of all their sins ; meaning, that He hath 
 given them assurance of it, on tlie gracious terms of the 
 gospel: But that every one of them hath actually re- 
 « tived it, by complying with those terms since he sinned 
 liist, though we may charitably hope, we cannot presume 
 i^ afiinii ; nor were these words intended to affirm it; as 
 I he known docti'ine of the church otEngland fully proves. 
 And theiefore let no one misunderstand this expression 
 in the office, wliich hath parallel ones in tlie aew testa- 
 ment, (A'p/j. u7,—Col, h 14.) so as either to censure it, 
 i)V delude himself with a fatal imagination, that ajiy 
 thing said over him can possibly convey to him a pardoii 
 of* sins fur which he is not truly penitent; we only «•> 
 
A SERMON ON C0NFlRMATI02f. 191 
 
 knowledge, with due thankfulness, that God hath done 
 his part, but which of the congregation have done theirs 
 their own consciences must tell thens^. 
 
 After this commemoration, we go on to request fop 
 tlie persons before us, that God would strengthen them 
 against ail temptation ^ and support tliem under all af- 
 fliction by the Holy Ghost the Comforter, and daily in- 
 crease in them his manifold gifts of grace ; which gifts we 
 proceed to enumerate in seven particulars^ taken from 
 the f rophet Isaiah, (xi. 2.) by whom they are ascribed 
 tf) om* blessed Redeemer: but as the same mind o\\^\it 
 t) he in us as it was in Christ Jesus , a petition for them 
 was used m the office of confirmation 1400 years ago if 
 iwt sooner. The separate meaning of eacliof the seven, 
 it is neither easy nor needful to determine with certain- 
 ty; foF indeed, if no more was designed than to express 
 very fully and strongly, by various words of nearly the 
 same import^ a pious and mcral temper of mind, this is 
 a manner of speaking both common and emphatical| 
 but each of tliem may betakcw in a distinct sense of its 
 owr : and thus we may beg for these our fellow Chris- 
 tians, a spirit of wisdom to aim at tlie right endj tlie sal- 
 vation of their souls ; and of undtr standing, to iHireue it- 
 by right mea»s ; of counsel, to form good purposes, and of 
 ghostly or spiritual strength, to execute tiiem ; cf useful 
 knoxctedge in the doctrines of religion ; and true godlinessp 
 dispensing tliem to a proper use of it ; but chiefly, tkougJi 
 lastly, we pray that they may be filed with the spirit of 
 GodM holy fear; with that reverence of Him, as the 
 gi^atest and purest and best of beings, the rightful pi*o- 
 prietor and just Judge of ail, which will effectually ex- 
 cite them to whatever they are concerned to believe or 
 do.. For tlie /ear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 
 
 Having concliid-d this prayer for theraall in general. 
 
192 A SERJtfOX ON CONFIRMATION. 
 
 the bishop implores the divine protection and grace for 
 each one, or each pair of them, in particular: that as 
 he is already God*s professed child and servant, by the 
 recognition which he hath just made of his baptismal 
 covenant, so he may continue his forever, by faithfully 
 keeping it ; and far from decaying, daily increase in Hii 
 holy spirit riii^tiSf in the fruits of the spirit, piety and 
 virtue, more and more; making greater and quicker ad- 
 vances in them as life goes on, until he comes to that do 
 Gisive hour, when his portion shall be unchangeable in 
 God^s everlasting kingdara. 
 
 And, along with the utterance of these solemn word?, 
 he lays his hand on each of their heads, a ceremony usel 
 from the eai'liest ages by religious persons, when thqy 
 prayed for God's blessing on any one ; used by our Sa- 
 viour, who, w hen children were brought to him, that he 
 should put his hands on them, and pray, and bless then, 
 'ivas much displeased with those who forbade it ; {Mctt. 
 xix 13. 15. — Mark x. 13. 16.) used by the apostles, after 
 converts were baptized, as the text plainly shows ; reck- 
 oned in the epistle to the Hebrews, among the fcundations 
 of the Christian piX)fession ; {Hea. vi. 1, 2.) constantly 
 practised, and highly esteemed in the church from that 
 time to this; ajitl so far from being a Popish cereiDonv, 
 that the Papists administer confirmation by other cere- 
 monies of their own devising, and have laiil aside this 
 piimitive oi>@, which therefore our church very prudent- 
 ly restored f and the custom of it is approved as aposto- 
 lical, both by Luther and Calvin and several of their fol- 
 low ers, though tbey rashly abolished \U as having been 
 abused, but I am credibly informed, that at Geneva it 
 hath lately been restored. 
 
 The laying on of the hand naturally expresses good 
 ^ill and good wishes in the person who doth it; and- 
 
ASERMOX ON CONFIRMATION J 19i> 
 
 ill the present case is further iiitentled, as ynu will find 
 in one of the following ])rayers, to certify those to whom 
 it is done, of Go(Vsfavour and gracious goodness towards 
 them; of which goodness they will continually feel the 
 effects, provided, 'which must always be understood,^ 
 that they preserve their title to his care by a proper care 
 of themselves. This, it mnst be owned, is a truth : and 
 we may as innocently signify it by this sign as by any 
 other, or as by any words to ti)e same purpose : further 
 efficacy we do not ascribe to it; nor would have you 
 look on bishops, as having or claiming a power, in any 
 case, to confer blessings arbitrarily on whom they 
 please; but only as petitioning God for that blessing 
 from above which He alone can give ; yet, we justly 
 hope, will give the i-ather for the prayers of those whom 
 He hath placed over his people, unless your own unwor- 
 thiness prove an impediment : not that you are to expect, 
 on the performance of this good office, any sudden and 
 sensible change in your hearts, giving you, all at once, 
 a remarkabfe strength or comfort in piety which you 
 never felt before ; but you may reasonably proiiiise 3 our- 
 selves, from going through it with a projier disposition, 
 greater measures, when real occasion requires them, of 
 such divine assistance as willbe needful for your support 
 and orderly growth, in every virtue of a Christian life. 
 
 And now, the imposition of hands being finished, the 
 bishop and congregation mutually recommend each 
 other to God, and return to such joint and publick devo- 
 tions as are suitable to the solemnity. The first of these 
 is the Lord's prayer ;. a form seasonable always, but pe- 
 culiarly now, as every petition in it will show to every 
 one who considers it. In the next place, more especial 
 supplications are poured forth for the j)ersons particu- 
 larly concerned,, to Him who alone can enable \\\tmJfoth 
 
94 A SEHMON OX COXFlttMATiaSfr. 
 
 to will and to do what is good; thutj as the hand of his 
 minister hath been laid upon them, so His fatherly hand 
 may ever be over them, and lead them in tlie only way, 
 the knowledge and obedience of his word, to everlasting 
 life. After this, a more general prayer is offered up for 
 them and the rest of the congregation togethei*, that God 
 would vouchsafe, unworthy as w^e all are, so td direct 
 and govern both our hearts and bodies, our inclinations 
 and actions, (for neither will suffice without the other,) 
 in the ways of His laws and in tlic works of His command- 
 ments, that through his most mighty pi^otection both here and 
 ever, we may be preserved in body and soul ; having the 
 foi'nier, in his good time, raistjd up from the dead, and the 
 latter made happy in conjunction w ith it, to all eternity- 
 These requests being thus made, it only remains that 
 all be dismissed with a solemn blessing; which will cer- 
 tainly abide with you, unless by wilful sin or gross neg- 
 ligeiH c you drive it away ; and in that case, you must 
 not hope that your baptism or your confirmation, or the 
 pra^^ers of the bighop or ihe clmrch or the whole world, 
 Tvijl -lo y-tJU any service ; on they conti'ary, every thing^ 
 which you migiit have been the better for, if you had 
 made a good use of it, you \\\\\ be the worse for if you 
 make a bad one. You »io well to renew the covenant of 
 your baptism in confirmation; but if you break it, you for- 
 feit the benefit of it. You do well to repeat your vows in 
 the sacrament of the Lord's supper ; it is what all Cliris- 
 tians are commanded by their dying Saviour, for the 
 strengthening and refreshing of their souls : it is what 1 
 beg all who are confirmed will remember, and their 
 friends and ministers remind them of ; the sooner they 
 are prepared for it the happier; and by stopping short, 
 the benefit of what preceded will be lost: but if you are 
 admitted to this privilege also and lire wickedly, you 
 
A SERMON ON GONFlRMATIOJto 195 
 
 'do but eat and drink your own condemnation: so that all 
 depends on a thoroughly honest care of your hearts and 
 behaviour in all respects. 
 
 Not that, with our best care, we can avoid smaller 
 faults ; And if we intreat pardon for them in our daily 
 pi'ayers, and faitbfuUy strive against them, they will not 
 be imputed to us; but gross and habitual sins we Miay 
 avoid, through God's help, and if we fall into them, we 
 fall from our title to salvation at the same time : Yet 
 even then our case is not desperate, and let us not make 
 it so, by thinking it is ; for through the grace of the gos- 
 pel, we may still repent and amend, and then be forgiv- 
 en. But I beg you to observe, that ^s continued health 
 is vastly preferable to the happiest recovery from sick- 
 ness ; so is innocence to the truest repentance : If we suf- 
 fer ourselves to transgress our duty ; God knows whether 
 we shall have time to repent: He only knows wliether 
 we shall have a heart to do it : at best we shall liave 
 lost, and more than lost, the whole time that we have 
 been going back ; whei^as we have all need to press for 
 wards as fast as we caii ; therefore let the innocent of 
 w ilful silt preserve tliat treasure with the greatest cir- 
 cumspection, and the faulty return from their errors 
 without delay : Let the young enter upon the way of 
 righteousness with hearty resolution, and those of riper 
 age ])ersevere in it to tlie end. In a word, let us all, of 
 eveiy ag-e, seriously consider, and faithfully practise 
 the obligations of religion, for the vows of God are still 
 iipon us, how long soever it be since they were first 
 made, either by us, or for us : and it is in vain to forget 
 what He will assuredly remember ; or hope to be safe in 
 neglecting what He expects us to do. But let us use 
 proper diligence, and He will infallibly give us proper 
 assistance, and confirm us all unto the end, that we maij 
 te blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
196 A SEHMON ON CONFIRMATIOK. 
 
 wVow unto him, who is able to keep us from Jailing ^ and 
 1o present us faultless before the presence of his glory with 
 exceeding joy 9 to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory 
 ahd majesty, dominion and po^t^er, both now and ever, 
 Ametu 
 
 THE K>U, 
 
 fJ. AlLISSO.H, PKI>rEH. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Memoir &c. Page 5 
 
 First Commandment, 19 
 
 Second Commandment, 28 
 
 Third Commandment, 38 
 
 Fourth Commandment, 47 
 
 Fifth Commandment, 57 
 
 Sixth Commandment, - - - - - 77 
 
 Seventh Commandment, 86 
 
 Eighth Commandment, 98 
 
 Ninth Commandment, 109 
 
 Tenth Commandment, - - - - -119 
 
 The nature and number of the Sacraments, r - 129 
 On Baptism, ------- 157 
 
 On the Lord's Supper, part I. - - - - 147 
 
 II. . - . - 156 
 
 III 163 
 
 Of Man's inability, God's Grace, and Prayer to 
 
 Him for it, - - . - - - - 170 
 A Sermon on Confirmation,- - - - - igo 
 
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 the CREED, making a similar volume to this on the 
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 ance. 
 
 IN THE PRESS, 
 LIVES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS, 
 
 BY Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray. 
 
 Translated from the French, with notes and a life of 
 the Author, 
 
 By the rev. John Cormack, m. a. 
 
J 
 
'M^-aW^. 
 
'^i