40G .c THE EXI'OSIT'ION OF THE Sixth Commandment. Ii? CHÀh. Ï. Why thisCommaitdnieitt it placedin thisOrder. Hob it cihereswith the refl. Ofunjufi anger. The firflfep to Murder, bowit differs from other affellions. Oflawful anger; unlawful anger howprohibited. The degrees and fruits of it. The affirmative part of the Precept, to preferve the life of another. The life of the Body, and the de- grees of it. The life of the Soul, and the fins againfl h, The feope of this Corn., ánaudment. Ñon occides. Thou (halt do no Murder i or, Thou(halt not kill. T TE have ken that whatfoever Duty was between men, as Superiours and WInferiours, pertained to the fife Commandment which hathbeen hand- ledat large. Now the Duties that are called promifcua, which arecom- mon to all, follow in the four next Commandments. This fixth con- cerneth the life ofman,and the prefervation thereof. The feventh refpeáts Chaftity, and the prefervation of it in Wedlock, andout ofWedlock. The eighth takes care ofmettm& tuum, the goods, propriety, ande(iatcs ofmen. And theninth concerns the reputation and good-name ofa man. This Commandment conducing fo much to publick and private Peace, is rightly and in its due order placed next to the fifth, whereby Authority and Government is eftablifhedwithdue refpet:ìand honour. And the Lawgiver considering the frail- ty ofmans memory, hath in his infinite Wifdom under one word [Murder 1 com- prehended a whole Catalogue of fins, and madechoice of this word, which figni- fies the higheft degree of fins of this nature, to thew how odious the other degrees are, and that thofe affeEtions ofunjuft anger, hatred, &c. are murder in his fight, which otherwife would not perhaps have feemed fo hainous to man, If they had not been expreffed by that word. This Commandment is expounded in the LawbyMofes, where not only Mur- Levin. 19. rb, der itfelf is forbidden, but all the degrees and caufes whereby men come to it, as 17, tale-bearing, ftanding againfi the blond ofour Neighbour, hatred, not rebuking a 18' Neighbour for his fin, revenge, grudges, &c. And as in the Law, fo in the Gof- Mat. S.as,&c. pel by our Saviour himfelf there is a large Comment upon this Law, from the two and twentieth verfe ofthe fifth of Saint Matthew to the 27. and from the 38 verse to the endof the Chapter, where rafh anger and malice is madeMurder in the heart, a ohn r ; and revenge even againll Enemies is feverely forbidden.The like is in St. johns Epí= J 3 5 files almoft throughout them all, bu efpecially in one place, molt plainly and cfpeci- ally; whofoever hatetb bis brother is a murtherer. Bywhich God theweth , that God rather gives his Laws to the heart (the fountain of the ofeétions) and to the affecti- ons, than to the a6tions, as men do their Laws. And when we have well weighed thefe places, we (hall find that to be true,which the Apoftle faith,that anger &hatred is the gate of the Devil, whereby he enters into the foul ; Be angry andfin not, neither give
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