Appearance, with Impunity: committing much Evil, and enjoying much Good. And they, who are punilhed, are often but flighly punished; and feldom according to the Degree of their Crimes: for the deliberate and artful Sinners, who are the worst, ufually fare beft here below. As fure therefore as God is juft and true, anothe State remains, in which all this will be fet right.

What fufferings, in particular, the divine Juftice will then inflict on unpardoned Sinners, Reafon cannot determine and Revelation hath given us only general and figurative Defcriptions of them; but fuch Defcriptions, as are beyond all Things terrible and I fhall lay them before you, not in my own Words, but thofe of holy Writ. The Judge of all fhall fay unto them, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlafting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. There they fhall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God, which is poured out, with out Mixture, into the cup of his Indignation, and fhall be tormented with Fire and Brimftone; and the Smoke of their Torment afcendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no Reft, Day nor Night: their Worm shall not die, neither fhall their Fire be quenched 3.

How fevere foever thefe Denunciations may appear to us, affuredly the Threatenings of God will not be vain Terrrors. We are partial and incompetent Judges in our own Cafe: prone to flatter and deceive ourselves. But he knows exactly, what Sin deferves, and what the Honour of his Government requires; from his Declaration therefore we are to learn our Fate. He bath fet before us Life and Death: and whether we like, ball be given us 4. If therefore the latter be our wilful Choice, in which we obftinately perfift; what Wonder, if we are left to it? For Sin and Mifery muft and will be Companions for ever. Not that, in any Cafe, the Anger of God fhall prevail over his Juftice: but the Degree of each Perfon's Condemnation fhall be fo ex3 Ifa. Ixvi. 24.

1 Matt. XXV. 14. Mark ix. 44, 46, 48.

4

2 Rev. xiv. IO, II.
Ecclus xv. 17.

actly proportioned to that of his Guilt, that when the Eyes of Sinners, which here they endeavour to fhut, are opened, as they fhall be hereafter, to fee what their Deeds have merited, every Mouth fhall be flopped, and all Flesh be filent before the Lord. For every Circumftance, that can either aggravate, or excufe, will be impartially weighed; and fome be accordingly heaten with many Stripes, and fame with few. But what the lowest Degree of the Almighty's final Vengeance may amount to, God forbid we thould any of us try: for whoever fins, purpofely or carelessly, in Hopes of a fmall Punishment, will for that very Reafon deserve a heavy one.

Let us all therefore make the Ufe that we ought, both of the Terrors and the Mercies of the Lord: awing ourselves by the former from trangfgreffing our Duty, and encouraging ourselves by the latter to the utmost Diligence in performing it: that fo we may pass through Life with Comfort, meet Death with Cheerfulness, and having faithfully ferved God in this World, be eternally and abundantly rewarded by him in the

THE whole Duty of Man confifts in three Points: renouncing what God hath forbidden us, believing what he hath taught us, and doing what he hath required of us: which accordingly are the Things promited in our Name at our Baptifm. The two former I have already explained to you. And therefore I proceed at present to the third.

1

Now

2

Now the Things, which God requires to be done, are of two Sorts: either fuch, as have been always the Duty of all Men: or fuch, as are peculiarly the Duty of Chriftians. And our Catechifm very properly treats of the former Sort firft, comprehending them under thofe ten Commandments, which were delivered by the Creator of the World, on Mount Sinai, in a molt awful Manner, as you may read in the 19th and 20th Chapters of Exodus. For though indeed they were then given to the Jews particularly, yet the Things contained in them are fuch, as all Mankind from the Beginning were bound to obferve'. And therefore, even under the Mofaic Difpenfation, they, and the Tables on which they were engraven, and the Ark in which they were put, were diftinguifhed from the reft of God's Ordinances by a peculiar Regard, as containing the Cove nant of the Lord 2. And though the Mofaic Difpenfation be now at an End, yet concerning thefe moral Precepts of it our Saviour declares, that one Jot or one Tittle hall in no wife pafs from the Law, till all be fulfilled3. Accordingly we find both him, and his Apoftles, quoting thefe ten Commandments, as Matter of perpetual Obligation to Chriftians who are now, as the Jews were formerly, the Ifrael of God*.

Indeed the whole New Teftament, and efpecially the Sermon of our bleffed Lord, on the Mount, inftructs us to carry their Obligation farther, that is, to more Points, than either the Jews, a People of grofs Underftanding and carnal Difpofitions, commonly took into Confideration; or their Prophets were commiffioned diftinctly to reprefent to them: the Wifdom of God forefecing, that it would only increafe their Guilt: and further indeed, than the Words of the Commandments, if taken frictly, exprefs. But the Reafon is, that be

1 Decem fermones illi in tabulis nihil novum docent, fed quod oblitera tum fuerat admonent. Novatian de lib. Judaicis, c. 3. Deut. iv. 13. ix. 9, 11, 15. 2 Chron. v. 10. vi. 1.

2 Exod. xxxiv. 28. Kings viii. 9, 211

4 Gah vò 16,

Ꮐ ?

Josh. iii. 11. 3 Matt. v. 18.

ing

ing visibly intended for a Summary of human Duty, they both may, and muft, be underflood, by thofe who are capable of penetrating into the Depth of their Meaning, to imply more than they exprefs. And therefore, to comprehend their full Extent, it will be requifite to obferve the following Rules. Where any Sin is forbidden in them, the oppofite Duty is implicitly enjoined: and where any Duty is enjoined, the oppofite Sin is implicitly forbidden. Where the higheft Degree of any Thing evil is prohibited; whatever is faulty in the fame Kind, though in a lower Degree, is by Confequence prohibited. And where one Inftance of virtuous Be. haviour is commanded, every other, that hath the fame Nature, and fame Reafon for it, is understood to be commanded too. What we are expected to abftain from, we are expected to avoid, as far as we can, all Temptations to it, and Occafions of it: and what we are expected to practife, we are expected to ufe all fit Means, that may better enable us to practife it. All, that we are bound to do ourselves, we are bound, on fitting Occafions, to exhort and affift others to do, when it belongs to them; and all, that we are bound not to do, we are to tempt Nobody elfe to do, but keep them back from it, as much as we have Opportunity. The ten Commandments excepting two that required Enlargement, are delivered in few Words: which brief Manner of fpeaking hath great Majefty in it. But explaining them according to thefe Rules; which are natural and rational in themfelves, favoured by ancient Jewish Writers authorized by our bleffed Saviour, and certainly defigned by the Makers of the Catechifm to be ufed in expounding it, we fhall find, that there is no Part of the moral Law, but may be fitly ranked under them as will appear by what fhall be faid, in fpeaking feparately on each Commandment.

5 Χρη δε μηδ' εκείνο αἴνρειν, ὅτι οἱ ἱ λογοι κεφαλαια νομων εισι, των εν είδει απαρ' όλην την νομοθεσίαν εν ταις ἱεραις βίβλοις αναγραφειων. Philo de Decalo See Cozri, p. 44.

.אמות התורה ושדשיח The ten Commandments are

alfo there, p. 107.

- Before

Before them all, is placed a general Preface: expreffing, firft, the Authority of him who gave them, I am the Lord thy God: fecondly, his Goodnefs to thofe whom he enjoined to obferve them;, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage. Now the Authority of God over us Chriflians, is as great, as it, could be over the Jews. And his Goodnefs is much greater, in freeing us from the Bondage of Sin, and opening to us the heavenly Land of Promife, than it was in leading them, from Egyptian Slavery, to the earthly Canaan: though indeed this Deliverance, having made fo fresh, and fo ftrong an Impreffion on them, was the fitteft to be mentioned, at that Time.

The ten Commandments being originally written, by the Finger of God himself, on two Tables of Stone; and confifting 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 ourfelves; the four fir are ufually called Duties of the first Table; the fix laft, of the, fecond.. And our Saviour, in Effect, divides them accordingly, when he reduces them to thefe Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy Heart; and thy Neighbour, as thyfelf.

:

6

The firft Commandment is, Thou shalt have none other Gods but me.

The fame Reafons, which prove that God is, prove that there is but one. God. The Imagination of two or more Beings, each perfect and each infinite, is at firft, Sight groundlefs. For one fuch Being is fufficient to produce, and govern every Thing elfe: and therefore more than one can never be proved by Reafon and yet, if there were more, all Men would furely have had fome Way of knowing it and till we have, we are not to believe it. Indeed we have, ftrong Reafons to believe the contrary. For if there is no Difference between thefe feveral fuppofed Beings, they are but one and the fame. And if there is any Difference, one must be lefs