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(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,

III. The duty of equals. And,

1. They ought to encourage and strengthen the hands of one another in the ways of God, which is the great end and design of Christian societies.

2. They ought to sympathize with one another in their weakness, warning and helping each other, when exposed to temptations, or overcome by them.

3. They ought to defend one another when reproached by the enemies of God and religion.

4. To love one another, and rejoice in each others welfare. And,

5. To withdraw from the society of those who are a reproach to, or endeavour to turn them aside from the good ways God.

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IV. We shall now consider the sins of equals; which they are guilty of,

1. When they entertain unjust and unfriendly quarrels, contrary to that love, which ought to be amongst brethren.

2. When they affect, or usurp pre-eminence over one another; as Diotrephes did, whom the apostle speaks of, who loved to have the pre-eminence amongst them, 3 John, ver. 9. Christ's disciples themselves were sometimes liable to this charge; especially when there was a strife among them, which of them should be accounted greatest, Luke xxii. 24. which our Saviour is so far from commending in them, that he reproves

them for it.

3. It is a great sin, when equals endeavour to make breaches amongst those, who are otherwise inclined to live peaceably with one another. This is the wretched employment of talebearers, busy-bodies, make-bates, and slanderers, who delight to raise and propagate false reports; as the Psalmist supposes some inclined to do, who are distinguished from those who do not backbite with their tongue, nor take up a reproach against their neighbour, &c. Psal. xv. 3. and it is reckoned one of those things which the Lord hates, Prov. vi. 19.

4. They are guilty of sin, when they insult, and take occasion, to expose their brethren, for those weaknesses and infirmities which they see in them, not considering that they are also liable to the same themselves.

5. When they endeavour to ensnare and entice others to sin. This vile practice Solomon takes notice of, chap. i. 10, 15. and cautions those who are thus tempted against consenting to, or complying with them. We are now to consider,

V. The reasons annexed to the fifth Commandment, which are included in that promise of long life, to such as keep it. It is enquired by some, whether this promise is to be applied to none but the Israelites; since there is mention of the land which the Lord gave them, to wit, Canaan? To which it may be replied; that though they might make a particular application of it to themselves; yet it extends to men in all ages and places. Accordingly the apostle Paul mentioning this Cominandment, and the promise annexed to it, instead of those words, That thy days may be long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, alters the mode of expression, that it may be applicable to us as well as them, when he says, That thou mayest live long on the earth, Eph. vi. 2, 3. This may give us occasion to enquire,

1. Whether this promise be made good as to the letter of it,

to all that keep this Commandment; especially since we find, that, according to the common methods of providence, some good men live but a short time in this world, when the wicked oftentimes live to a great age. That the lives of some good men have been short, needs not be proved. Abijah, the best of Jeroboam's family, in whom some good thing was found, towards the Lord God of Israel, died when a child, 1 Kings xiv. 12, 13. And Josiah, who was one of the best of the kings that reigned over Judah, lived but thirty nine years; for it is said, that he was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years, 2 Kings xxii. 1. And Enoch excelled all the patriarchs who lived before the flood, and was more honoured in that he was translated to heaven, without dying; yet he continued but a little while in this world, if we compare the time he lived here, with the time which men generally lived before the deluge; which was but three hundred and sixty five years; whereas, several others are said to have lived above nine hundred years. And Joseph, who was the most remarkable, for shewing honour to parents, and performing the duties belonging to other relations, of any we read of in scripture; he lived but an hundred and ten years, Gen. 1. 26. Whereas Levi, who had been a reproach to his father, and a dishonour to the family in general, lived an hundred thirty and seven years, Exod. vi. 16.

2. We shall now consider, how such dispensations of provi dence may be accounted for, consistently with the promise annexed to this Commandment. Accordingly it may be observed,

(1.) That, when God takes his saints out of the world when young, it is sometimes a peculiar instance of compassion to them, in taking them from the evil to come. Thus Josiah died, as was but now hinted, when young; but this was in mercy to him, that he might not see the evil which God would bring on Judah for their sins, 2 Kings xxii. 20.

(2.) They are, at their death, possessed of a better world, which is the best exchange: So that were the matter referred to their own choice, they would choose heaven before the longest life, and the best advantages they can enjoy in this world. (3.) Old age is not a blessing, unless it be adorned with grace. The hoary head is, indeed, a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness, Prov. xvi. 13. but not otherwise. Good men are not destroyed by the blast of God's wrath, but gathered, like a shock of corn, when fully ripe; they are meet for, and then received into a better world. Therefore the child dying in Christ, is said to die an hundred years old, Isa. lxv. 20.

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3. We shall now enquire, how far, or in what respects, we are to hope for, and desire the accomplishment of the promises of temporal good things.

(1.) Temporal good things are not to be desired ultimately for themselves, but as subservient to the glory of God. And long life in particular is a blessing, so far as it affords more space to do service to the interest of Christ in the world.

(2.) They are to be desired, with an entire submission to the will of God, and a resolution to acknowledge, that he is righteous, and to magnify his name, though he deny them to us, as considering that he knows what is best for us, and may do what he will with his own.

(3.) We are to desire that God would give us temporal good things in mercy, as pledges of eternal happiness, and not in wrath. Thus the Psalmist says; There be many that say, who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, Psal. iv. 6.

4. We shall now enquire with what frame of spirit we ought to bear the loss of temporal good things, which we have been encouraged by God's promise, to hope for. In answer to this, let it be considered, that if God does not fulfil his promise in the way and manner which we expect, in granting us temporal good things; yet,

(1.) We must justify him, and condemn ourselves; none can say, that he does not forfeit all blessings daily. Therefore. we are to say; let God be true, and every man a liar. He is a God of infinite faithfulness; but we are unfaithful, and not stedfast in his covenant.

(2.) We are not to conclude, that our being deprived of temporal good things, which we expect, is a certain sign that we have no right to, or interest in those better things that accompany salvation; as the wise man says, No man knoweth either love or hatred, by all that is before him, Eccles. ix. 1.

(3.) We are to reckon the loss of temporal good things as a trial of our faith and patience; and endeavour, under such disappointments, to make it appear, that the world was not the main thing we had in view; but Christ and spiritual blessings in him, were the spring of all our religion.

5. It may farther be enquired; what are those things that tend to make a long life happy, for which alone it is to be desired? It may be observed, that life is sometimes attended with those miseries, which induce a believer to desire to depart, and be with Christ, as the weary traveller desires rest. And it may be observed, that though, in the promise annexed to the fifth Commandment, we have no mention of any thing but long life; yet the apostle, when explaining it, adds, that

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