by it here, your Portion, unless you repent very deeply' and amend very thoroughly, will be with the Father of Lies hereafter. For into the heavenly Jerufalem fhall in no wife enter whosoever worketh Abomination, or maketh a Lie. Lying Lips are Abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his Delight.

There is yet another Sort of Falsehood, often full as bad as affirming what we do not think I mean, promifing what we do not intend: or what we neglect afterwards to perform, fo foon, or fo fully, as we ought. Whoever hath promised, hath made himself a Debtor : and, unless he be punctual in his Payment, commits an Injustice; which in many Cafes may be of very pernicious Confequence.

Now in order to fecure this great Point of fpeaking Truth befides confidering carefully and frequently the before-mentioned Evils of departing from it, we should be attentive alfo to moderate the Quantity of our Discourse, left we fall into Falfehood unawares. For in the Multitude of Words there wanteth not Sin: but he that refraineth his Lips, is wife". Perfons, who suffer themselves to run on heedlefsly in Talk, juft as their prefent Humour difpofes them, or the prefent Company will be beft pleased; or who will fay almost any Thing, rather than fay Nothing; must be perpetually tranfgreffing fome of the Duties comprehended under this Commandment; which yet is of the utmost Importance not to tranfgrefs. For, with Refpect to the Concerns of this World, He that loveth Life, and would fee good Days, let him refrain his Tongue from Evil; and his Lips, that they speak no Guile. And, as to our eternal State, in the next, If any Man feem to be religious, and bridleth, not his Tongue, that Man's Religion is vain.

s Rev. xxi. 27. é Pfal. xxxiv. 12, 13.

6 Prov. xii. 22.
James i. 26.

7 Prov. x. 19.

LEC

W

LECTURE XVIII.

The Tenth Commandment.

E are now come to the Tenth and laft Commandment; which is by the Church of Rome abfurdly divided into two, to keep up the Number after joining the First and Second into one, contrary to ancient Authority, Jewish and Chriftian. How the Mistake was originally made, is hard to fay: but undoubtedly they retain and defend it the more earnestly, in order to pafs over the Second Commandment, as only Part of the First, without any 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 fhewn you already. And that this, now before us, ought not to be divided, is extremely evident: for it is one fingle Prohibition of all unjuft Defires. And if reckoning up the feveral prohibited Objects of Defire makes it more than one Commandment; for the fame Reason it will be more than two. For there are fix Things forbidden in it particularly, befides all the reft, that are forbidden in general. And moreover, if this be two Commandments, which is the firft of them? For in Exodus it begins, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House: but in Deuteronomy, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife. And accordingly fome of their Books of Devotion make the former, fome the latter of thefe, the Ninth'. Surely the Order of the Words would never have been

Their Manual of Prayers in English, 1725, puts, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife, for the Ninth. But in the Office of the Virgin, both Latin and English, called the Primer, 1717, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighboar's House, is the Ninth.

changed

2

changed thus in Scripture, had there been two Commandments in them but being one, it is no Way ma terial, which Part is named firft. I fay no more therefore on fo clear a Point: but proceed to explain this Precept, of not coveting what is our Neighour's.

The good Things of this Life being the Gifts of God, for which all are to be thankful to him; defiring, with due Moderation and Submiffion, a comfortable Share of them, is very natural and right. Wishing, that our Share were better, is, in the Cafe of many Persons, fo far from a Sin, that endeavouring diligently to make it better is Part of their Duty. Wifhing it were equal to that of fuch another, is not wifhing ill to him, but only well to ourselves. And feeking to obtain what belongs to another may, in proper Circumftances, be. perfectly innocent. We may really have Occafion for it; he may be well able to bestow it; or he may have Occafion for fomething of ours in Return. And on these mutual Wants of Men all Commerce and Trade is founded: which God, without Queftion, defigned fhould be carried on; because he hath made all Coun tries abound in fome Things, and left them deficient in others.

Not every Sort of Defires therefore, but unfit and immoderate Defires only, are forbidden by the Words, Thou shalt not covet. And these are fuch as follow. First, If our Neighbour cannot lawfully part with his Property, nor we lawfully receive it; and yet we want to have it.

Indeed the Vatican Copy of the Septuagint in Exodus places, Thou halt not commit Adultery, before Thou shalt do no Murder. And fo do Mark x. 19. Luke xviii. 20. Rom. xiii. 9. and Philo, and Part of the Fathers. But the Hebrew and Samaritan, and all Tranflations excepting the Septuagint, and even that in Deuteronomy, and I believe moft Copies of it in Exodus, and Matth. xix. 18. and Jofephus, and another Part of the Fathers, keep the now common Order. And the Evangelifts did not intend to obferve the original Order; for they put, Honour thy Faiber, &c. laft. And St. Paul doth not fay, that he intended to ob ferve it. This therefore is not a parallel Cafe to that of the Tenth Commandment.

One

One Inftance of this Kind is expreffed, Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife. Another is, if we want a Perfon who poffeffes any Thing in Truft, or under cer tain Limitations, to give or fell it in Breach of that Truft or thofe Limitations. Or if he can part with it, but is not willing; and we entertain Thoughts of acquiring it by Force or Fraud, or of being revenged on him for his Refufal; this is also highly blameable: for why should he not be left quietly free Mafter of his own? Indeed barely preffing and importuning Perfons, contrary to their Intereft, or even their Inclinations only, is in fome Degree 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 Defires ever fo much to ourfelves, they may notwithstanding be very finful. And fuch they are particularly, if they induce us to envy others: that is, to be uneafy at their imagined fuperior 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 the Mischief that is done in the World, and fome of the worst of it, arifes from hence. Wrath is cruel, and Anger is outrageous: but who is able to ftand against Envy? Accordingly we find it joined in the New Teftament, with Strife Railing, Variance, Sedition, Murder, Confufion, and every evil Work. But were it to produce no Mifchief to our Neighbour, yet it is the directly oppofite Difpofition to that Love of him, which is the fecond great Precept of Chrift's Religion. Nay, indeed it deferves, in fome Refpects, to be reckoned the worst of ill-natured Sins. The revengeful Man pleads for himself fome Injury attempted against him but the envious Perfon bears unprovoked Malice to thofe, who have done him neither Wrong nor Harm, folely becaufe he fancies them to be, in this or that Inftance, very

4 Prov. xxvii. 4. 2 Cor. xii 20. Gal. v. 20, 21.

5 Rom. i. 23.
1 Tim. vi. 4.

xiii. 13. 1 Cor. iii. 7. James iii. 14, 16.

happy.

happy. And why fhould they not, if they can; as he certainly would, if he could? For the Profperity of bad Pcople, it must be confeffed, we have Reafon to be fo far forry, as they are likely to do hurt by it. But to defire their Fall, rather than their Amendment; to defire what may be grievous to any Perfons, not from good Will to Mankind, but from ill Will to them; to with any Misfortune even to our Competitors and Rivals, merely because they are fuch; or, because they have fucceeded, and enjoy what we aimed at; is extremely uncharitable and inhuman. It is a Temper that will give us perpetual Difquiet in this World, (for there will always be fomebody to envy,) and bring a heavy Sentence upon us in the next, unless we repent of it, and fubdue it firft.

But though our selfish Defires were to raise in us no Malignity against our Fellow Creatures; yet if they tempt us to murmur againft our Creator; and either to fpeak or think ill of that Diftribution of Things, which his Providence hath made; this is great Impiety, and Rebellion of the Heart against God: who hath an abfolute Right to difpofe of the Works of his Hands as He pleases; and ufes it always both with Juftice and with Goodnefs 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 every one liable to fevere Punishment. And therefore, with the many Comforts and Bleffings which we have now, and the eternal Felicity which, through the Mercy of our heavenly Father, the Merits of our bleffed Redeemer, and the Grace of the Holy Spirit, we may, if we will, have hereafter, furely we have no Ground to complain of our Condition. For what if Things be unequally divided here? we may be certain the Difpofer of them hath wife Reasons for it, whether we can fee them or not and we may be as certain, that, unless it be our own Fault, we shall be no Lofers by it: for all Things work together for Good to