Cafes, it would be a downright Robbery, and Oppreffion: Were he to covet his Wife, it might put him upon endeavouring to debauch her, which would be Adultery; and if he could not prevail that Way, it might even put him upon Murder; and the fame may be faid, upon each of the other Articles: Under this Head, therefore, our Reader will find, a Sort of Recapitulation of what has been faid before, in Relation to the Duties of the Second Table; together with fome Additions, to fuch Points as had been touched too flightly; and a Supplement, to what had been either omitted, or forgotten.

Thus have we laid before our Readers, a fhort Sketch of what they are to expect in the Body of this Work; from whence they may be able, in a good Measure, to judge of the whole; as likewife of the great Usefulness of this Undertaking: To which, therefore, we fhall only add, that it shall not be our Fault, if it is not as compleat, as the Size of the Book will admit; and that, we hope, they will give it a favourable Reception, till they meet with fomething more perfect of the Kind, to fupply it's Place.

CHAP

1

CHAP. I

Of the good and bad Confequences of the Obfervance, or Non-obfervance of the First Commandment.

HE extraordinary Pomp, and unpar rallel'd Majefty, with which the Promulgation of the Ten Commandments, called otherwife, by fome, the Moral Law, and the Decalogue, was attended; and the inexpreffible Dread, which it ftruck into the Hearts, of the whole People of Ifrael; the terrible Thunderings and Lightenings; the Mountain fmoaking fearfully, as if all in Flames; and trembling exceffively, as in an Earthquake; with the Smoke afcending from it, as from a vast fiery Furnace; the exceeding loud Voice of the Trumpet, which undoubtedly had fomething in it inconceivably dreadful, and was indifputably the fame Trump of the Archangel, whose awful and piercing Sound, we are affured, fhall one Day wake the Dead; the ftrict and exprefs Charge, that Bounds fhould be fet about the Mount, and that none of the People, nay, not even a Brute Beaft, fhould' fo much as touch the Border of it, on Pain of Death; though they had all been fanctified before, according to God's Direction, and by his immediate Command: All these Circumftances, we fay, of uncommon Dignity and Terror, wherewith the Delivery of this

Law

Law was usher'd in, and accompanied, together with that amazing Condefcenfion, of our Great Greator, in writing it, with his own Finger, upon Two Tables of Stone, were certainly intended, by the infinite Wisdom of the Almighty, to imprint the greater Reverence for ir, in their Hearts, and to rivet it the deeper, in their Memories.

Nor were all these Precautions unneceffary, or merely for the Sake of Form, or the greater Pomp, as we find immediately afterwards; no, that allwife Being, who knew beft, of what perverfe Tem pers, that ftiff-necked Generation were compounded, thought all little enough, to keep them within the Limits of their Duty; and prevent their perishing, by their Proneness to Difobedience, and Rebellion. In effect, awful and terror-ftriking as they were, they were not all even fufficient, to reftrain that headstrong Nation, from abfolute Idolatry, for fo fhort a Space as full fix Weeks; no, notwithstanding it appears, the Voice of the LORD was fo dreadful, that they cry'd unto Mofes," Speak thou with us, and we will

hear, but let not GOD fpeak with us, left we dye. Nay, though we are exprefsly told, "The Sight of "the Glory of the LORD was like devouring Fire, on "the Top of the Mount, in the Eyes of the Children of "Ifrael." Notwithstanding all this, we fay, yet no fooner were thefe Terrors removed from them, in fome Measure, than they forgot them; and, upon Mofes not coming to them within forty Days, their Patience being quite worn out, they cry out peevishly to AARON, Up, make us Gods, which shall go before us; for, as for this Moses, the Man that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt, we wot "not what is become of him."

46

And this their Murmuring was the more remarkable, and inexcufable, as it plainly appears, from the facred Story, that the Glory of the Lord, and

the

the Cloud, remained all the while upon the Mount; fo that, unless they were either fo wicked, to think the GoD of Mercy was a cruel Being, and had called Mofes thither to deftroy him; or fo weak, to imagine he could not enable him to live fo long without eating, and confequently, that he had died for Want of Food; they must know, he was ftill with their Great Creator, and therefore, of Course, under his Almighty Protection.

This their unaccountable and abominable Rebellion, and Idolatry, coft the Lives of Three Thoufand of the Ifraelites ; and well was it, that they efcap'd fo, after having thus grievously provoked that good GOD, who had fo lately and miraculously delivered them, with a high Hand, and out-stretch'd Arm, from the Tyranny of their Egyptian Task-Mafters. However, Mofes having ftood in the Gap, and turned away the divine Anger, by his Prayers; his Zeal for GoD's Honour; and the Sacrifice of Three Thoufand of his Brethren; the Almighty, ever merciful and gracious, condefcended again, to write the fame Law, on Two other Tables of Stone; the Two first having been broken by Mofes, though, otherwife, the meekeft Man on Earth, in his Indignation against the Ifraelites, for this their heinous, and inexcufable Offence. Thus much we thought proper to premife, concerning the awful Solemnity, wherewith the firft Publication, of this divine Law, was accompanied; in order to remind fuch of our Readers, into whofe Hands this may chance to fall, as don't much trouble themselves with looking into that old fashioned Book, the Bible, of the Dignity of the Almighty Legislator, and the unreserved Obedience, they are bound to pay to it: Pass we now on to the Commandments themselves, as they follow, fucceffively.

And

And here the first Thing to be remarked, is, the Preface with which it is introduced; I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the Haufe of Bondage. Upon which we fhail only obferve, that Great and Almighty as the God of Ifrael was, is, and ever fhall be, yet he vouchfafed to affign five Reafons, why he expected, and required of them Obedience to those his Commands. Fift, I am the Lord; now the Word Lord always implies the having Dominion over his Vaffals; but it is likewife to be noted, he does not fay thy but the Lord; the Lord by way of Eminence the only one, who has any real Right to that Title; as fuch, therefore, he had an undoubted Claim, not only to their Obedience, but that of the whole World.

However, as if not thinking this fufficient to fatisfy fuch a headstrong People, he adds thereto a second, the Lord thy GOD. Now, what is the Idea we affix to the Word GOD? Is it not, that it fignifies a Being, every Way greatly fuperior to any Man what- ever; and, coníequently, intitled to a different and more exalted Kind of Homage, and a more unlimited Obedience? That this is fo, was allowed, even by the wifeft Heathens, though enlightened only by the Light of Nature; accordingly, they rightly diftinguished between the Obedience, due even to the greatest of their Princes, and that to be paid to thofe, whom they worshipped miftakenly as Gods.

Of this the Philofopher, Calisthenes, gave a me. morable and noble Example, when required to worship the greatest Prince that ever was, namely, Alexander the Great: "There is a wide Difference,

faid that honeft and wife Man, with a generous "Freedom which afterwards coft him his Life, between "the Reverence to be paid the Gods, and that due "to Men. The former requires Temples, Altars, "Prayers, and Sacrifices; the latter is confined to

C

" Praifes