than as if we did not speak at all; and so God would lose His end in giving us this power, and we the great benefit and use of it. For the prevention of which, with many other mischiefs, which the tongue as it is now become an unruly evil, James iii. 8. is apt to betray men into, Almighty God our Maker hath been pleased to give us rules how to use it aright. He before taught us how to speak of Himself, or to use His Name: and here He teacheth us how to speak or use our tongues, in respect of one another.

This therefore is the general rule or law that He hath given for every man to observe whensoever He speaks to or of another man, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour: or rather, as the words in the original text may be interpreted, Thou shalt not bear false witness of thy neighbour: that is, thou shalt never speak any thing of thy neighbour but what is true, either for him or against him. So our Lord, the Lawgiver Himself, and His Apostle after Him, interpret the words in general, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Matt. xix. 18. Rom. xiii. 9. And therefore all false witness, or speaking that which is false of or concerning our neighbour, that is, concerning any man whatsoever, is here forbidden.

And so is all lying too: or speaking that which is not true to him, as well as of him. According to that other law, where the next before and this are put and explained together, Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another, Lev. xix. 11. Wherefore the Apostle requires all men to put away lying,

and to speak every man truth with his neighbour, Eph. iv. 25. Col. iii. 9. And, by consequence, all slandering, false-accusing, and backbiting one another is here forbidden for that is all lying. And so is judging or censuring one another too. For no man perfectly knowing another's heart, or state, can possibly pass a true and certain judgment upon him. And therefore every man is expressly forbidden to do it, Matt. vii. 1. For the same reason also we are commanded to speak evil of no man, Tit. iii. 2. lest what we say of him should happen to be false, as we do not know but it may, and so break this Commandment, which requireth us not to bear false witness either for or against our neighbour.

And verily, although the general practice of the world seems to argue as if this Commandment was repealed or out of date, it is certainly of the same force with the rest, and as necessary to be observed as any Commandment whatsoever. Let us hear what the Judge of the world hath told us beforehand, concerning His proceeding at the last day in this matter: But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof at the day of judgment: for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned, Matt. xii. 36,37.

And if men must give account of every idle word, what account must they give of lying, and slandering one another? What can they who live in this sin expect, but to be condemned to that everlasting fire, which is prepared for the father of lies? Matt. xxv.

41. They are of their father the Devil, and the lusts of their father they do, and therefore must be punished equally with them, John viii. 44. He is the father of lies, and is called the Devil; that is, the accuser, from his false-accusing and slandering the brethren, Rev. xii. 10. and so from the breach of this Commandment.

Which therefore all must keep, as ever they desire not to be like him the Devil, both in what he doth, and in what he suffereth; and as they desire too, not to be thieves and murderers. It being usual for men's whole estates, and their lives also, to be taken away, by lying, and bearing false witness against them. For they who allow themselves in this sin, are usually left to themselves. As they give themselves to tell lies, God gives them up to believe lies, and suffers them to fall into all manner of vice and wickedness: every lie, and liar, being an abomination to him who is truth itself, Prov. vi. 16, 17. xii. 22. And then it is no wonder, that whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, shall be shut out of heaven, Rev. xxii. 15. and that all liars shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, xxi. 8.

Wherefore it behoves you all to take special care of observing what is here commanded. As God hath given you the power of expressing your minds to one another, for your mutual benefit and comfort, beware of frustrating his holy end in giving it, by abusing it to one another's prejudice and wrong. For which purpose, you must lay aside that wicked custom of talking of other people: or if you must needs be doing

it, at least talk of their virtues only behind their backs, and of their vices never but before their faces, so as to reprove and restore them in the spirit of meekness, Gal. vi. 1. But rather, instead of speaking of one man's faults to another, you must strive all you can to conceal other men's as well as your own.

Above all, ye must beware of lying, or speaking falsely to one another, upon any account whatsoever, although it was possible for you to get never so much by it: for you can never get so much as you lose by it. By it, you lose the favour of Almighty God, which is worth more than all the world besides. Wherefore, as you tender His love, and your own welfare, you must make it your constant care and study to speak the truth from your hearts, as becometh honest and good men, Psal. xv. 2. and never to say any thing but what you believe to be not only true, but some way or other beneficial to those who hear it; according to that excellent rule which God hath given you, as a full interpretation of this law, by His Apostle, saying, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, Eph. iv. 29. Remember the words of St. James; If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body, James iii. 2.

QUESTIONS.

What is the use and end of speaking?
Wherefore hath God given us laws about it?
What is here meant by bearing false witness?

Who is our neighbour ?

What necessity is there of avoiding what is here forbidden? How shall liars, and all breakers of this law, be punished? What must we do, that we may always keep this Command

ment ?

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

It being impossible that any state or society of men should subsist without some government, or that government without laws: as we find no place where any considerable number of men live together, but they have some sort of government or other among them; so all sorts of governors have always found it necessary to make some laws or other, to be observed by those that live under their respective governments. But all the laws that were ever made by any governors upon earth, respected only the words and actions, or the outward carriage and behaviour, of their subjects. None ever offered to give laws to the minds or hearts of men, what they should think, or love, or desire, or the like: and it would have been ridiculous and absurd to have done it; because they could never have known whether such laws were observed, or no: forasmuch as it is impossible for one man to know what another thinks, or how he stands affected in his heart, unless he him