Tenth Commandment. ~I I m1y be, yeE we are all apt f:o love oilt !"elvc~, per~aps ~hhout i Rival, ·and ro be putt up with a vain Concett of our own 1magm~ry Perfc£bons! w applaud and com; mend our fdves in our own Thoughts and Fanctcs, and to thmk that we exc~l all others in what we have; and what we have not we defpife as nothing worrh. frord this abundance of a vain Heart break our arrogant Boafiings of our fehes, coht~mn-· ing ofothers, a prefumpruous intruding our felves into theft: £mploym~n~s and Funaions which we are no Way able to manage.. Learn therr;:fore, 0 Chnfba,n; ro take- . the juft Meafure of thy felf. Let. it nor be ioo kanty, lor that will make thee pufilauimous and cowardly; and through an EJ:.tream o~ Modefly rend et thee un1crvice·.. able ro God a.nd the World. But rather let it be too fcaQty tban too large; for this wilt make thee proud, and arrogant, and undertaking; and by exercifi ng rhy felf · in Things too high for thee thou wilt bur ft>~il whatfoe~er thou rafhly and ovet,, waeningly ventureft upon. If rhon art at any tJme tailed or nete!htared r? fpeak of thy fdf, !er it rather be lefs than the Truth than more: For the Tongue " of itfdf very apt to be la\Tifh when it harh fa fweet and pleafing a Theme as a Man's own, Praife. Take the Advice of Solomon, Prov. 27. 2. Let another illan praife thee, llnd not thine own Mouth; a Stranger, and not thine own Lips. S,condly, There is a finful Flatter~ng of others; and ~hat either by an ~mmode.i'ate -extolling of thdr Virtues; or what IS worfe, by a wtcked Commendauon even ~; t he ir very Vices. This is a Sin moft odious i.mro God, who bath rhrearned to cut oJfi aliftaucring Lips, Pfal. I 2. 2. Bur efpecially it is moftdeteftable in Minifiers, whole very Office and FunEl:ion it is to. reprove Men fOr their Sins: If they fhall daub wirb u11tcmpcred A·Iorter, and Jew P1llows under Men.r Elbows, crymg Peace, Pt~cC, r.cbcn there is no Pcact to tbe Wic!ud, only that th~y may lull rhem a{kep in their Se~ curity, they do but betray •heir Souls, and the Blood of them God will certainly require at their Hands. Thus m~ch for the Ninth Coljlmahdment. The Tenth Cotntna'ndment. ~bou lbalt not collet tbp ;lf.}.eigbbottt'~ Jl}oure; 'Jrfjott' fbalt nottobettflpJfletgf)bour·s ~1fe; no~ biS ~atl:: fttbaut, no: bts ~atlHetbant. no~ bi.S ~r. no: bt~ ~Cs, no: anp 'ltbirlg tbat ts tbp ;lf.}etgbbout's. · THus are we at la[\ (through the Divine Afliftance) arrived to the Tenth and !aft Precept of the Moral Law. Indeed the Papifls and the Lutherons difide it iuto Two; making thefe Words, Tbou foalt not covet thy l\Tcighbour's lVife, td be one entire Command, and then putting together the other Branches of it, Thou /halt not covu thy ]l.:eigbbour's Houjc, nor bi.r Servant, &c. to piece up the Iaft. But then wirhaJ to keep the Number ofrheR'Jfrom fwe1lingbey01'ld a Decalogu~, or Ten Words, rheLuthc~ 1·ans join the Firfl: and Second together into on~; and the Papifls, in propounding rhe Commandments ro the People, wholly leave it our; fearing they may be corrupted by h:ating it, becaufe it fpeaks too boldly againft their Idolatry and lmage-worfhip. Bur how infinitely temerarious is it for vile Wretches either to inv~n or defalcate, and as it were to decimate, the Laws of the Great God, by the which they, and all the it AEtion~ mull be judged ar the !aft Day ' And certainly were it nor that they might the bet= ter conct:al from rhe ignorant common People the Dangerous aDd Heretical Words ot the Second Commandment, they could have lain under no Temptation at all to do a Thing altogether fo unreafooable as the dividin~ of this Tenth Commandment into Two: For upon the fame Ground might they as well bave divided it imo Seveo fince there are many more Concupifcences meotioned in ir than that of ou; Neighbo11r's Wife, and of biJ H011je. 1\.nd if eaclt of rhell mufl conftitute a E e e e ~ diflinEt ........
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=