persecute you, Mat. v. 44. If ye do these things, ye can never fall into that horrid sin, which is here forbidden

QUESTIONS.

For what reason was this law made?

When was it first made?

How is he that breaks it to be punished?

What is here meant by murder?

Is he that kills a man by chance guilty of it?

Why is he not?

Are they guilty of it, who condemn or execute a man according to law?

What is here forbidden besides actual murder?

What is here commanded ?

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

When God at first made mankind, He made them male and female, and called them both Adam, Gen. v. 2. they being both but one flesh, as He ordained them two to be; and not only them, but every man and woman that should afterwards be joined together in marriage. They are thereby so united as to become one flesh, Gen. ii. 24. Matt. xix. 5. and should therefore live together, as to all conjugal affections, as if there was never another man or woman in the world but themselves. And so they would most certainly have lived, if man had continued in his first estate.

But by the fall of our first parents, our nature is so corrupted, that notwithstanding this union into one flesh, one or other, if not both parties, so joined together, are often prone to run after strange flesh,

which is not their own, and perhaps another's. Which if it should be permitted and generally practised, would not only frustrate the end of this holy institution, but it would breed such confusion and disorder in the world, that a great part, if not all mankind, would degenerate so far, as to become little better, in this respect, than brute beasts, if not much worse; brutes themselves generally observing the laws and rules which God hath set them, much better than such men do it.

By this we may see into the necessity of making, and likewise into the true meaning of, this law, Thou shalt not commit adultery. For hereby Almighty God commandeth, that no man use any woman in a conjugal way, but one that is really his wife, and so his own flesh: and that no woman use any man so, but one that is joined to her in marriage, so as to become one flesh with her. And therefore, that he who hath not a wife, and she who hath not an husband, must use none at all, as such, until they have. And they who have not the gift of continency, nor power over their own wills, must marry; as God requires by His Apostle, saying, To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband, 1 Cor. vii. 2. for it is better to marry than to burn, ver. 9.

But that is not all: for He that made this law, and therefore best knows the true meaning and extent of it, hath been pleased to interpret it of adultery and fornication not only in the act, but likewise in the very thought: Ye have heard (saith He) that it hath been

said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart, Matt. v. 27, 28. from whence it appears, that every motion or inclination of a man's mind to lust after strange flesh, is a breach of this law, although it never break forth into act, nor go any further than the heart. Which should make all people set a strict watch and guard over their hearts, seeing that adulteries and fornications do not only proceed from thence, as our Lord hath taught us, Matt. xv. 19. but (as He here teacheth) they may be also committed there, and so expose a man to all the judgments that God hath threatened against this sin, as well as the outward commission of it.

And verily the judgments which God hath threatened against the breach of this law are very severe and terrible. For, not to insist upon the punishments He appointed for it in the Old Testament, in the New we read, that marriage is honourable, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, Heb. xiii. 4. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience, Eph. v. 5, 6. Col. iii. 6. Wherefore, all had need beware of this sin; especially Christians, to whom the Apostle saith, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the

member of Christ, and make it the member of an harlot? God forbid. 1 Cor. vi. 15, 16, 18. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour: not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles that know not God, 1 Thess. iv. 3, 4, 5. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints, Eph. v. 3.

Neither is it enough to avoid what is here expressly forbidden; but every one must do, what is implied here to be commanded by God, even, that every husband and wife being but one flesh, should have but one heart and one mind between them: that they do not defraud one another, 1 Cor vii. 5. That the husband love his wife as himself; and the wife, her husband as herself, Eph. v. 33. And as the husband Peter iii. 7. so must

must give honour to the wife, 1 the wife submit unto and reverence her husband, Eph. v. 22—33. and both must not only be true and faithful to one another, but must strive all they can to promote one another's good, both temporal and spiritual. And both they that are, and they that are not, married, must be sober, chaste, and modest in their dress, discourse, and behaviour, so as not to excite, but suppress, as much as in them lies, all unclean thoughts, both in themselves and others.

And as for them who have heretofore transgressed this holy Commandment, in thought, word, or deed,

they must repent of their sin, and turn sincerely from it, while they may, and as soon as possibly they can. For which purpose, they must crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts, Gal. v. 24. They must mortify their members that are upon the earth, Col. iii. 5. They must not come near such places or company as are apt to raise in them any lustful or lascivious thoughts, and so incline them to this horrid sin. They must avoid drunkenness and gluttony, as deadly poison. They must be temperate in all things, 1 Cor. ix. 25. They must fast, and watch and pray, that they may not enter into temptation. They must not make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, Rom. xiii. 14. but must follow the example of the holy Apostle, who said, I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means when I have preached unto others, I myself should be a cast-away, 1 Cor. ix. 27.

QUESTIONS.

65 What reason was there for this law?

What is the general meaning of it?

Is not adultery and fornication in the heart here forbidden ? What judgments hath God threatened against those who break this law?

Are not Christians, in a more especial manner, bound to keep it ?

What are the duties here commanded?

What must they do, who have broken this Commandment?

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.

Thou shalt not steal.

Seeing Almighty God, by the word of His power, at first created, and still preserveth and upholdeth all