ful fubject, in our thoughts, much more than we do, we must now turn our eyes from it to a very different view, fet before us. IV. That the fouls and bodies of the wicked fhall undergo everlasting punishment." This, it must be owned, is not explicitely mentioned in the Creed. And God had rather, that we should be moved to obey him by love, and hope of his favour, than by fear of his anger. But both motives are implied in this article. For though life in fcripture more efpecially means happiness; yet its original fenfe is only continuance in being, whether happy ør miferable and as the wicked are raised, and judged in order to fuffer what they have deserved, fo muft they live afterwards for the same purpose. That disobedience to God can never end well, is the plaineft truth in the world: for nothing is hid from his knowledge, nothing can escape his p wer: he is holy as well as good; befides that goodness itself requires, the incorrigible bad to be made examples, for the fake of deterring others. Yet left, after all, they should promise themselves that he will fpare them, he hath folemnly and repeatedly declared, that he will not. In this world however, many fuch come off, to all appearance, with impunity; committing much evil, and enjoying much good. And they who are punished, are often but flightly punished; and feldom according to the degree of their crimes for the deliberate and artful finners, who are the worft, ufually fare beft here below. As fure therefore as God is juft and true, another ftate remains, in which all this will be fet right. : What fufferings, in particular, the Divine juftice will then inflict on unpardoned finners, reafon cannot determine and revelation hath given us only general and figurative defcriptions of them; but fuch descriptions, as are beyond all things terrible and I fhall lay them before you, not in my own words, but those of holy writ. The Judge of all shall say unto them, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlafling fire, prepared for the devil and his argels*. There they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out, without mixture, into the cup of his indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimBone; and the fmoke of their torment afcendeth up for ever and e *Matth. xxv. 14. ver ver, and they have no reft, day nor night*: their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched †. How fevere foever thefe denunciations may appear to us, affuredly the threatenings of God will not be vain terrors, We are partial and incompetent judges in our own cafe: prone to flatter and deceive ourselves. But he knows exactly what fin deferves, and what the honour of his government requires: from his declarations therefore we are to learn our fate. He hath fet before us life and death: and whether we like, shall be given us‡. If therefore the latter be our wilful choice, in which we obftinately perfift; what wonder if we are left to it? For fin and mifery muft and will be companions for ever. Not that in any case, the anger of God fhall prevail over his juftice but the degree of each person's condemnation shall be fo exactly proportioned to that of his guilt, that when the eyes of finners, which here they endeavour to fhut, are opened, as they fhall be hereafter, to fee what their deeds have merited every mouth fhall be ftopped §, and all flesh be filent before the Lord. For every circumftance that can either aggravate or excuse, will be impartially weighed; and fome be accordingly beaten with many fripes, and fome with few ¶. But what the lowest degree of the Almighty's final vengeance may amount to, God forbid we should any of us try: for whoever fins, purposely or carelessly, in hopes of a small punishment, will for that very reason deserve a heavy one. : Let us all therefore make the use that we ought, both of the terrors and the mercies of the Lord: awing ourselves by the former from tranfgreffing our duty, and encouraging ourselves by the latter to the utmost diligence in performing it: that fo we may pafs 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 next. *Rev. xiv. 10, II. Ecclus. xv. 17. Ifa. lxvi. 24. Mark ix. 44, 46, 48.. LE C THE LECTURE XVIII. FIRST COMMANDMENT. HE 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 promised in our name at our baptifm. The two former I have already explained to you. And therefore I proceed at present to the third. : Now the things which God requires to be done are of two forts 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 fort fir, comprehending them under thofe Ten Commandments, which were delivered by the Creator of the world, on Mount Sinai, in 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 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 diftinguished from the reft of God's ordinances by a peculiar regard, as containing the Covenant of the Lord t. And though the Mofaic difpenfation be now at an end, yet concerning these moral precepts of it our Saviour declares, that one jot or que title shall in no wife pass from the law, till all be fulfilled t. 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 Ifael of God §. Indeed the whole New Teftament, and especially the fermon of our bleffed Lord on the mount, inftrucs us to carry their * Decem fermones illi in tabulis nihil novum docent, fed quod obliteratum fuerat admonent. Novatian. de lib. Judaicis, c. 3. Exod. xxxiv. 28. Deut. iv. 13, ix. 9. 11, 15. Jofh. iii. 11. 1 Kin. viii. 9, 21. 2 Chron. v. 10. vi. II. + Mat. v. 18. § Gal. vi. 16. their obligation farther, that is, to more points, than either the Jews, a people of grofs understanding and carnal difpofitions, commonly took into confideration; or their prophets were commiffioned diftinctly to represent to them; the wisdom of God forefeeing, that it would only increase their guilt and further indeed, than the words of the commandments, if taken strictly, exprefs. But the reason is, that being vifibly intended for a fummary of human duty, they both may, and must be understood, by those 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 fin is forbidden in them, the oppofite duty is implicitely enjoined and where any duty is enjoined, the oppofite fin is implicitely forbidden. Where the highest degree of any thing evil is prohibited; whatever is faulty in the fame kind, tho' in a lower degree, is by confequence fo prohibited. And where one inftance of virtuous behaviour 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 abstain 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 practise, we are expected to use all fit means, that may better enable us to practise it. All that we are bound to do ourfelves, 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 else 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 speaking hath great Majefty in it. But explaining them according to these rules; which are natural and rational in themselves, favoured by ancient Jewish writers *, authorized by our bleffed Saviour, and certainly defigned by the makers of the catechifm to be used 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 shall be said, in speaking separately on each commandment. : Before εν είδει Χρη δε μηδ' εκείνα αγνοειν, ὅτι ὁι ί λόγοι κεφαλαια νομώνεισι, των παρ δλην την νομοθεσίαν εν ταις ἱεραις βίβλοις αναγράφονταν. Philo de Decal. .44 Cozri, page אמזח התורח ושרשיה The ten commandments are See also there, p. 107. Before them all, is placed a general preface: expreffing, first) the authority of him who gave them; "I am the Lord thy God:" Secondly, His goodnefs to those 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 Chriftians, is as great, as it could be over the Jews. And his goodness is much greater, in freeing us from the bondage of fin, and opening to us the, heavenly land of promise, than it was in leading them, from Egyptian slavery, to the earthly Canaan: 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 ftone; 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 ourselves; the four firft are ufually called duties of the first table; the fix last, of the second. And our Saviour, in effect, divides them accordingly, when he re duces them to thefe: "Thou fhalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart; and thy neighbour, as thyself *.” 米粉 The first 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 first fight groundless. For one fuch Being is fufficient to produce and govern every thing else and therefore more than one can never be proved by reafon and yet, if there were more, all men would furely have had some 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 these feveral fuppofed Beings, they are but one and the fame. And if there is any difference, one must be lefs perfect than the other, and therefore imperfect, and therefore not God. Befides, as the whole courfe of nature appears to proceed uniformly under one direction; there is, without queftion, only one director; not several, thwarting each other. And what reafon teaches in this matter, fcripture every where I * Matth. xxii. 37, 39. |