ANSW. The sins of equals are, beside the neglect of the duties
required, the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving
at the advancement or prosperity one of another, and usurping
pre-eminence one over another.
QUEST. CXXXIII. _What is the reason annexed to the fifth Commandment
the more to enforce it?_
ANSW. The reason annexed to the fifth Commandment, in these words,
[_That thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord thy God
giveth thee_] is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as
far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good, to all
such as keep this Commandment.
1. We are to consider the duties which superiors owe to their inferiors.
Whatever circumstance of advancement one has above another in the world,
this is a peculiar gift of God, and should not give occasion to that
pride of heart which is natural to fallen man, which puts him upon
casting contempt on those who are below him; much less should they
oppress others, who are in a lower station of life than themselves; but
should endeavour to do good to them, and thereby glorify God. And,
indeed, as every relation is mutual, and calls for its respective
duties, so that superiors expect the duty which belongs to them, from
inferiors; it is equally just and reasonable that they should not
neglect those duties which they are obliged to perform to them; though
they be of another nature, different from those which they demand from
them. Here we shall consider,
2. The duty of parents to children. This not only includes in it the
using their utmost endeavours to promote their worldly advantage, as to
what respects their present or future condition in life; but they ought
to have a just concern for their spiritual welfare, which is a duty very
much neglected, though it be incumbent on all parents, and will be
performed by those who have a sense of God and religion upon their
spirits; this the apostle calls _bringing them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord_, Eph. vi. 4. When children are first capable of
being instructed; or when they first take in the knowledge of common
things; then it is the parent’s duty to instil into them those things
that are spiritual. It is, indeed, a difficult matter to speak to them
about divine things, so as to lead them into the knowledge thereof; and
it requires a great measure of wisdom and faithfulness in them. One of
the first duties that they owe to them, is acknowledging God’s right to
them, putting them under his care, giving them up to him, hoping and
trusting in Christ, that he will bestow on them the saving blessings of
the covenant of grace, and that in their early age of life. Moreover,
since children soon discover themselves to have a corrupt nature: This
ought to be checked and fenced against, as much as it is in our power:
Since all habits of sin are of an increasing nature, and though it be
difficult to prevent them; yet we shall find it much more so to root
them out.
Now that we may instil into the minds of children, the principles of
religion, as soon as they are capable of receiving instruction, let it
be observed,
(1.) That parents must take great care that they neither speak nor act
any thing before their children, which may tend to corrupt their minds,
or afford a bad example, which it would be of pernicious consequence to
them to follow; nor ought they to suffer those passions to break forth,
which may render them mean and contemptible in the eyes of their
children; or give them occasion, by their example, to indulge the same
passions.
(2.) They must take heed that they do not exercise severity for trifles,
or those inadvertencies which children are chargeable with, on the one
hand; nor too much indulge them in that incorrigibleness and profaneness
which they sometimes see in them, on the other.
(3.) They must separate from them all companions, or servants, from whom
they may imbibe the principles of sin, and oblige those who have the
immediate care of their education, to instil into them the principles of
religion, and, at the same time, to recommend to them, the pleasure,
beauty, and advantage of holiness in all, but especially in young ones.
(4.) The examples which we have, either in scripture, or our own
observation in the world, of those who have devoted themselves to God,
and been religious betimes, is to be frequently inculcated, for their
imitation, with all the affecting and moving expressions that it is
possible for them to use, and with a particular application thereof to
their case; and, on the other hand, the miserable consequences which
have attended persons neglecting to embrace the ways of God in the days
of their youth, and the sore judgments which often ensue hereupon; as it
is said, _His bones are full of the sin of youth_, Job xx. 11.
(5.) Reproofs for sin are to be given, with a zeal and concern for the
glory of God; and yet with that affection as may convince children, that
in those things, in which they are ready to think their parents their
enemies, they appear to be their greatest friends.
(6.) They, who have the care of children, ought to take heed, that they
do not lead them into, or give them occasion, to rest in, a formal, or
external appearance of religion, on the one hand; nor, on the other
hand, are they to use any methods which may induce them to think, that,
a burden, or a reproach, which they ought to esteem their delight and
honour.
(7.) Those opportunities are more especially to be embraced, when
instructions are most likely to be regarded by them; as when they are
inquisitive about divine things. This should give the parent occasion to
be particular in explaining them to them. Thus God commands Israel,
_when thy son asketh thee in time to come, what mean the testimonies and
the statutes, and the judgments; which the Lord thy God commanded you?_
to _say unto him, we were Pharaoh’s bondsmen_, Deut. vi. 20, 21. and so
they were to relate to them those dispensations of providence towards
them, that gave occasion to these statutes which he had appointed.
(8.) Parents should let their children know, that their obedience to
God’s commands, will always entitle them to the greatest share in their
affection, that this may be a motive and inducement thereunto.
2. We are now to consider the duty which masters owe to their servants.
And,
(1.) They ought to recommend the good ways of God to them, endeavouring
to persuade them to be religious; and, by their exemplary conversation
in their families, whereby they adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour,
in all things, afford them an additional motive hereunto.
(2.) They should encourage religion in their servants, as well as
diligence and industry. For, as the one tends to their advantage, to
whom their service is due; the other tends to the glory of God, and the
good of their souls, who are found in the practice of it.
(3.) Masters should endeavour to instruct their servants in the
principles of religion, especially if ignorant. And,
(4.) They should allow them sufficient time for religious duties; which,
if needful, ought to be taken out of that time, wherein they would
otherwise be employed in their service: And this they ought to do, as
considering, that the best Christians are like to make the most faithful
servants.
3. We are now to consider the duty of magistrates towards their
subjects. This consists,
(1.) In their endeavouring to promote their liberty, safety, and
happiness, by the justice and clemency of their administration. Thus it
is said, _He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God_, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. By this means they will lay their subjects under
the highest obligation to duty and obedience; and the respect which they
have from them, will render the station, in which they are, more
agreeable.
(2.) They ought to defend the rights of subjects, when injured, against
their oppressors; that they may appear to be, as it were, their common
fathers, to whom they have recourse in all difficulties, and find
redress.
(3.) They ought to encourage and support the common design of
Christianity, by suppressing irreligion and profaneness, and every thing
which is a scandal to the Christian name, or a reproach to a
well-ordered government. This leads us,
II. To consider the sins of superiors. These sin in their behaviour
towards their inferiors,
1. By pride and haughtiness; when they treat those who are below them,
with contempt and disdain; as though, because they are not, in many
respects, their equals, they are not their fellow-creatures. This
discovers itself either in reproachful words or actions. Thus the
Pharisees treated those whom they apprehended inferior to them, in gifts
or station, in the church, with contempt; so that they often made use of
that aphorism; _This people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed_, John
vii. 49.
2. Another sin of superiors is, when masters exact severe and unmerciful
labour, beyond what is reasonable, of their servants, which is little
better than the oppression of the Egyptian task-masters; who commanded
them to make brick without straw, Exod. v. 15,16. and beat, and dealt
severely with them, because they could not fulfil their unreasonable
exactions.
3. Sin is committed by those who, being princes, or generals, exercise
inhuman cruelty, contrary to the law of nature and nations, towards
their conquered enemies, when they have them in their power. This David
seems to have been charged with, as a blemish in his reign; when he
_put_ the men of Rabbah, after he had conquered them, _under saws, and
under harrows of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kilns. Thus
did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon_; which seems hardly
justifiable by marshal law; and therefore it must be reckoned a failing
in him; especially unless the Ammonites had done something
extraordinary, to deserve such treatment, or had used Israel in the like
manner, so that this might be reckoned a just reprizal upon them, 2 Sam.
xii. 31.
And to this we may add, that magistrates do not behave to their
subjects, as they ought, and therefore commit sin, when they inflict
punishment beyond what the law directs, or the crime deserves. Thus
small offences are not to be punished with death, as capital crimes are,
since the punishment must be greater or less, in proportion to the
crime. Thus God enjoined a certain number of stripes for some crimes
committed, which they were not to exceed; _whereby their brother would
seem vile unto them_, Deut. xxv. 2, 3. that is, they would treat him
with a greater severity than the nature of the crime demanded.
4. Superiors sin, when they take advantage on the necessities of the
poor; in buying or selling, which is called, a _grinding the faces of
the poor_, Isa. iii. 14, 15.
5. Masters, or parents sin, in giving undue correction to their servants
or children, for small faults as when they neglect to perform some
punctilio’s, of respect, which are due to them, with greater severity
than they do, open sins against God, or when they are transported with
unreasonable passion for trifles; whereby they render themselves hated
by them, and provoke them to wrath, rather than answer the end of
chastisement, which is the glory of God and their good. This the apostle
forbids parents to do, Eph. vi. 4. And elsewhere, he speaks of the
_fathers of our flesh chastizing us after their own pleasure_, Heb. xii.
10. as being disagreeable to the divine dispensations, and consequently
not to be justified in them that practise it.
6. Superiors sin, when they command those things, of their inferiors,
which are in themselves sinful, which they cannot, in their consciences,
comply with. And to this we may add, their demanding those things which
are impossible, and being enraged against them for not doing them.
7. Superiors sin, when they surmise their inferiors have committed a
fault, which they resent, and punish, without suffering them to
vindicate themselves, though they request this favour in the most
submissive way. This is to extend their authority beyond the bounds of
reason. We shall now consider,