AN EXPOSITION UPON THE Commandments. The Firfl: Commandment. clPOD fpak!l tbefe lbOlM, anD fatD, 31 am tV~ 1Lo~n tpp llDoD : 3l:Uou U)alt f)ab!l none otUtt <!5eM but me. THERE are two thin~s in the general which perfe<'l: · n''':!!J'1' p!,J ,;, e.r.; a Chriftian: the one, IS a clear and difrinCl: Knowled~e .(}~~~11,!1)>.1!-'."a ~.v.~~. -r,vvruofhis Duty· the other a Confciencious PraCl:iceof 1t tEirtuf~~' ~" x"~!-"::ur Hf correfponde~t to his K~owledge; and bot~ thefe are i~ ~b\ 9~~~~+'kY'.4:1i~v~'}'~p: a:n equal degree necelfary. For as we can have no fohd, nor well- .nv,~ ~:r~l'lh111', juilMatt. grounded Hopes of Eternal Salvation without Obedience, fo we Expof. Fidei. • can h:tve no furc nor eftablith'd Rule for our Obedience without Knowledge: And therefore our Work and Office, is not only Exhortation but InftruCHon; not only to excite the AffcCl:ions, but to inform the Judgment ; and we muft as well illuminate as warm. Knowledge ind~ed may be found without PraCl:ice1 and our Ageaboundswitltfhch Speculative Chriftians, whofe Religion is but li ke the Rickets, t,hat makes them grow large in the Head., but narrow in the Breaft; whofe Brains arc replenifh'd withNoti~ ons, but their Hearts ftraightned towards God; and their Lives and ACtions as black and deformed, ·as if their Light had only tann'd and difcolot.'lr'd them. I ~onfefs, in~ deed, that their Knowledge may be beneficial unto others, who may favourily .feed upon that Meat which thefc do only mince and carve: yet where it is thus over~born by unruly Lufts, and contradicted by a licentious ConVerfation, to themfclves it is rnoft fatal and baneful. It is like Light lhut up in a Lanthorn, which may fen•c: to guide and direa others, but only foots, and at laft burns that which contain'd it. But although Knowledge may be thus without Practice, yet it is utterly impofliblc that the PraC\ice of Godlinefs lhould be without Knowledge. For if we know not the limits of Sin and Duty, what is required oftis; arid what is forbidden, it cannot be fhppofed, but that in this corrupted State of our Natures;. we fhalluriavoidably nm into many hainous Mifcarriages, unlefs it wete'poffiDie for us to pleafe God at unawares, and fo get to Heaven by gteat chance. , And therefore, ·th~t we might be informed what we ought to do, and what to avoid, it hath pleafed God who is the great Governour~ and will be the righteous judge of all the World, to prcfcribe us Laws, for the regula ting of mir.A:<'l:ion1; and rl;at we might not be ignorant what Fhcy are, .He hath openly prcJmu"Igated them in !"' Word: For when we had miferablydefaced the LawofNature, ori&ina 11 y written ~n our Hearts, fo that many of the Commands of tt were no longerle'gtble, tt fccmed good to his infinite VVifdom and Mercy, tC? ~ranfcribe and Copy out that Law in· the facred T ables of the Scriptures,. and to :fuper-add many pofitive Precepts and lnpm<'l:tOns whtch were not before 1mpofed. Tlic
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