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As there is a life of far greater importance than that of the body, the precept may be understood to comprehend the duties which relate to the salvation of our own souls, and those of our brethren: "He that findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death."* In these words our duty to ourselves is pointed out; and with respect to others who are connected with us, it is only when we endeavour, by our instructions, our example, and our prayers, to turn them from the path of destruction, that we can say with Paul, that "we are free from the blood of all men.'

LECTURE CV.

ON THE LAW OF GOD.

Commentary on the Seventh, the Eighth, the Ninth, and the Tenth Commandments.-Conclusion from a Review of the Law.

THE Seventh precept is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." As it forbids a sin which can be committed only by married persons, and according to the rules laid down for the interpretation of the law, not only forbids all the sins comprehended under this general term, but enjoins the opposite duties; a detail of the duties of the conjugal relation is more properly introduced in this place, than under the fifth commandment, to which they are commonly referred.

Marriage is an ordinance of God for the increase of the human race, and for other important purposes connected with the comfort and moral improvement of the species. It was instituted in Paradise, where our first parents were united as husband and wife by their Creator himself, and an example was given to be imitated by their descendants. As such it was considered by Adam, who, instructed no doubt by a divine revelation, said on that occasion, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh."t

As only a single pair was created, it appears to have been the intention of their Maker that a man should have only one wife, and a wife only one husband. In this manner Malachi explains the fact, when he says, " And did not he make one?" namely, one woman; "yet had he the residue of the Spirit. And wherefore one? that he might seek a godly seed." Yet we know that polygamy was introduced at an early period, that it was practised by the patriarchs and other pious men, and that it was recognized by the law of Moses, and subjected to regulation. If it was not properly approved, it was tolerated; and we must conclude, that at that period there was not such moral evil in it, if it was at all sinful, as was inconsistent with a state of salvation. The case is finally decided by our Saviour, who has forbidden polygamy. It now admits of no apology; and if a man, professing to be a Christian, should take to himself more wives than one, he would not only incur the penalty of human laws, but expose himself to the displeasure of heaven.

Marriage is the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. It is founded on mutual consent, and binds the parties to each other for life. As the relation is of great importance, not only to the individuals, but to society at large,

• Prov. viii. 36.

† Gen. ii. 24.

‡ Mal. ii, 15.

the civil laws have taken it under their cognizance, and prescribed the forms which are necessary to legalize the transaction. This precaution has not been neglected in our own country; but the matter is still left too loose, as consent expressed before witnesses, or even, I believe, in writing, is sufficient to constitute marriage. When the laws have settled the forms, the observance of them becomes indispensable; and as marriage, although a divine institution, is at the same time a civil transaction, a marriage, in contracting which they have been neglected, is not legal and cannot be considered as valid.

Marriage is not a temporary contract, like that between master and servant, but a union of a man and woman for life. They cannot separate at their pleasure, or at the expiration of a definite period. They are bound to adhere to each other during the term of their natural lives, and neither of them is at liberty to enter into a new engagement, without an offence against the law both of God and man. There is one cause, however, which may terminate the relation during their lifetime, namely, the sin forbidden in this commandment. Adultery, whether committed by the husband or by the wife, is a just ground of divorce. It is a direct violation of the marriage vow, giving the aggrieved party a right to demand the dissolution of an engagement which the other has broken, by retracting the pledge solemnly given at its commencement. You will observe, however, that adultery does not ipso facto dissolve the conjugal relation; it only invests the sufferer with a right to demand the dissolution of it from the competent authority; if the wife or the husband does not choose to exercise the right, things remain as they were. Another cause which, in this country but not in England, is considered as sufficient to procure the dissolution of the conjugal tie, is the wilful desertion of one of the parties, which means as our law has defined it, the absence of one of the parties for a specified time without any lawful cause. If a man should be absent from his wife for many years on business, or because he was forcibly detained, or rendered incapable of returning, the wife would have no plea for a divorce. Our Saviour has taken no notice of this cause when speaking of the subject; but it is supposed to be countenanced by these words of Paul: "If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. As wilful desertion not only implies alienation of affection, but defeats all the designs of marriage, it seems to entitle the injured party to be released from an obligation which the other has violated, and which now serves only as a restraint upon the natural liberty of the innocent.

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This precept addresses married persons in the first instance, and forbids the violation of the fidelity which they pledged to each other when they entered into the conjugal relation. It requires mutual affection, cohabitation, the faithful performance of their duty, the avoidance of all temptations to sin, and of all means leading to it, and such care of one another as shall prove effectual, through the blessing of God, to preserve them pure and blameless.

Under the head of adultery, all the kindred sins are forbidden. I may specify, in the first place, fornication, or the illicit intercourse of two unmarried persons of different sexes. The enormity of this crime might be shown from the state of mind which it implies, and from its consequences; but it is enough in this rapid sketch to remark, that it is expressly forbidden as inconsistent with moral purity, and offensive to God. Among the heathens, it was looked upon as a venial sin, or rather as no sin at all, and it was countenanced by the doctrine and practice of their greatest philosophers. This is probably the reason that, in the decree of the council of Jerusalem, it is mentioned along 1 Cor. vii. 12, 13, 15.

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with some other things of less importance, from which the Gentiles were commanded to abstain.*

This precept also forbids incest or sexual intercourse between persons within the forbidden degrees, as between brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, &c. According to the laws of our country, the prohibition is extended to the corresponding degrees of affinity.

It forbids unnatural lusts, which were practised by the heathens without shame, and defended, or at least not condemned, by such a man as Socrates, but which are now of rare occurrence, and always excite unqualified abhor

rence.

It forbids, in a word, all impure actions, all impure words, and all impure thoughts, as sinful in themselves, and as leading to sin. This is our Lord's commentary upon the law: "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."t

The precept requires us to maintain our own and our neighbour's chastity in heart, speech and behaviour; to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God. With this view, we should cultivate a habitual sense of the Divine presence, which enabled Joseph to preserve his innocence, when he was exposed to very powerful solicitation: How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" It will be well to remember that his eye is upon us in the most secret place; that the fear of offending him may counteract the most urgent temptation, and check the irregular movements of our hearts. This leads me to say, in the next place, that we should guard against the entrance of evil thoughts into our minds, and immediately expel them if they have entered, and should labour to suppress the risings of unhallowed appetite. He who rolls iniquity like a sweet morsel under his tongue, is prepared to commit it if a fit opportunity shall occur, and Providence shall withdraw its restraints. The man who sports with temptation, and quietly permits or encourages its first advances, is in danger of ultimately yielding to it. The most effectual method to prevent the growth of poisonous fruit, is to destroy the root which bears it.-Again, we should guard against all incentives to those indulgences which are forbidden by this precept, all spectacles which are calculated to excite the irregular movements of appetite, all reading and conversation which may produce the same effect. We should avoid loose and profligate company, whose words and example might taint our minds; we should avoid idleness, which, leaving the mind vacant, exposes it to the inroads of unhallowed sentiments and passions; we should avoid intemperance in eating and drinking, than which nothing is more likely to give appetite the mastery over reason. In a word, we should live in the contemplation of death and the future judgment, and the awful realities of eternity, a just apprehension of which will divest the pleasures of sense of their attractions; and continually offer up our prayers to God for his restraining and sanctifying grace, without which our precautions and resolutions will be unavailing. "Wherewithall shall a young man purify his way? By taking heed thereto, according to thy word;"§ by making the word his guide, and depending upon the assistance which it promises. My son, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus." "Once," says Paul to the Corinthians, "ye were adulterers, fornicators, and abusers of yourselves with mankind; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."¶

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The Eighth commandment is, " Thou shalt not steal;" and the design of it is to guard property against fraud and open violence. It places a sacred inclo

* Acts xv, 29.

§ Ps. cxix. 9.

+ Matth. v. 28.
[2 Tim. ii. 1.

+ Gen. xxxix. 9.
q1 Cor. vi. 9, 11.

sure around it, into which no person must enter without the consent of the proprietor.

It is unnecessary to engage in an inquiry respecting the manner in which property is acquired. The subject has been discussed by philosophers, and different theories have been proposed and defended. It has been said to have

originated in the right of occupancy, or, that he who first took possession of a part of the common field of nature, became its rightful proprietor. It has been founded on the right of labour, that is, it has been supposed that a man, by cultivating a part of the soil, was entitled to claim not only the produce but the soil, as his own. It has been referred to the will of God, who, having created all things for the use of man, gave liberty to every individual to appropriate to himself what was necessary for the supply of his wants. Without troubling ourselves to discuss these theories, we may remark that, in a state of society, property is ascertained by the law of the land. As it points out the various ways in which it may be acquired, and secures it to the rightful possessor, so it determines in all controversies which arise between two or more individuals, who is the rightful owner of a field, a house, money, &c. The sin which the precept forbids is the appropriation to ourselves, by our own act, of that which we know belongs to another. A man would not be chargeable with transgressing it, who should seize another man's property, believing it to be his own, and should endeavour to establish his claim to it at law; although his right was not good, his intentions would not be dishonest. But he is a transgressor, who takes what he knows to belong to another man; and although he have attained the sanction of law by such acts as the unprincipled too often employ, he is a thief or a robber in the estimation of God.

Theft is distinguished into different kinds. There is peculation, or theft of the public money, a crime often committed, and by persons who pass in the world for honourable men, and look down with ineffable contempt upon the obscure culprit, who practises his depredations upon a confined scale. There is sacrilege, or theft of the property of the church or of any thing devoted to the service of God. This crime is comparatively rare, partly because the temptations to it are neither frequent nor great, partly because men are restrained by a sense of religion, and partly because it would cover the guilty with indelible infamy. There is common theft, which is practised daily; and at present abounds to such a degree as to render property extremely insecure. Robbery differs from theft in the manner of committing it. The one is secret and the other open; and robbery is accompanied with violence threatened, or actually employed, to compel a surrender, or to overcome resistance. All those crimes are forbidden, and they are violations of the laws of God and man. The precept condemns the man of office who fills his purse out of the public treasury, and places him on a level in respect of moral guilt, if it do not degrade him still lower, with the contemptible wretch who goes from house to house pilfering whatever he can find. It condemns neighbours who steal from one another, servants who purloin the goods of their masters, and children who secrete for their own use the property of their parents.

Besides what is commonly reputed theft, there are various other ways in which men may be guilty of transgressing this commandment. It is broken when a man borrows and does not repay. His dishonesty is manifest if he denies the debt, or refuses to make restoration, or takes advantage of some legal quirk to evade payment, or removes to a place where he is beyond the reach of his creditors. But he is also dishonest if he borrows without any reasonable prospect of being able to pay; if he render himself unable by idleness, by extravagant living, by rash speculations, in which he has embarked the property of others as well as his own; or if, having obtained a discharge after partial payment, he does not make full restitution when Providence has placed

him in prosperous circumstances. The commandment is broken by the deceitful arts which are practised in trade; when a man takes advantage of the necessity of another to buy from him or sell to him, at a price which would have been different in different circumstances, or when he takes advantage of his ignorance with the same design; when the buyer depreciates the article of sale contrary to his knowledge, and the seller labours to raise it above its real value; when goods are adulterated, and consequently sold at a price which they would not have brought if their state had been known; when false weights and measures are used, and less is given in exchange than was expected and promised; when bargains are not fulfilled, because there is a prospect of greater gain, and so what really belonged to the purchaser, although he had not obtained actual possession of it, is withheld from him; when payments are made in counterfeit or debased instead of current coin; in all these cases, the precept is as certainly violated, as when direct theft is committed. It is broken, too, when men waste the property of others which is committed to their care, or permit it to be wasted by others; when they suffer it to go to decay, and do not use the means of improving it which are in their power, and which they were bound by their engagements to employ. In this way many are guilty of a breach of the eighth commandment, who do not suspect their own honesty, and would consider themselves insulted, if it were called in question by others. There are many other ways of transgressing this commandment, which it would be tedious to mention.

The duty of those who are guilty, in any form, is to cease to do evil, and to learn to do well. "Let him that stole, steal no more;"* let him make restitution as far as he has ability and opportunity; and let him guard against temptation to a repetition of the crime, and against all the causes which might lead to it. Besides entertaining a habitual sense of the omniscience and authority of God, which would be an effectual restraint from all sin, let him study to be content with his condition; and if it is attended with inconveniences and privations, let him consider that these are allotted to him by the Supreme Disposer, that it is his duty to suffer with patience, and that he will not be an ultimate gainer by resorting to unlawful expedients for relief. Instead of appropriating to himself any portion of his neighbour's wealth, he ought to regard it as placed within the fence of the Divine law, and feel that he is bound to promote his neighbour's interest by all means in his power, for this is the converse of the negative precept. There are different ways in which this work of love may be performed, as by assisting others in their labours, when attention to our own business will permit; by giving them lessons of prudence and economy; by pointing out to them the best methods of managing their affairs; by warning them of dangers which they do not foresee; and if we are precluded from using any of these means, we always have it in our power to wish them well, and to pray for their prosperity.

"Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good." If a man has not resources of his own, he must endeavour to provide them by lawful industry, and thus cut off one strong temptation to theft. The crime is most frequently committed by the poor, who cannot work for their daily bread; or by the idle, who will not work, and take this easier method of supplying their wants. Hence it follows that diligence in business is enjoined by this precept. The calling in which we engage must be lawful, because the gain which is acquired by an illicit occupation, is the fruit of a violation either of this or some other commandment, and cannot be sought with a good conscience. It must be carried on by lawful means, by fair and honest industry, to the exclusion of falsehood and fraud, and any encroachment upon the rights and privileges of others. It should be managed with attention, and prudence, and perseverance, because it is only by · * Eph. iv. 28. † Eph. iv. 28.

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