is a dangerous thing, Pfal. xxxvii. 8. It was that which prevailed with Ahithophel to make away with himfelf. It is like ink caft into a fountain, which makes all the water blackifh. It unfits for fociety with men, and for communion with God; it deftroys the foul and body too; for the fretful man is his own tormentor. We should ftudy to be content with our lot, and easy whatever our circumftances be, Heb. xiii. 5. and that will fet all our wrongs right, Prov. xv. 15. for then our fpirit is brought to our lot; and the vulture preys no more on our liver.

3dly, Immoderate grief and forrow. When we go into the waters of godly forrow for fin, we are out again ere we are well in; but in carnal forrow we will go over head and ears, 2 Cor. vii. 10. How many have conceived that forrow upon fame cross which they have met with! fomething within their fancy has been balked, that has ruined their bodies as well as their fouls. We fhould enure ourselves to a patient bearing of the Lord's hand; and not fmother that fire within our breafts, but lay it out before the Lord, and leave it there, 1 Sam. i. 18. and labour to please God, and confult our own welfare by a holy and moderate chearfulness, Prov. xvii. 22.

4thly, Anxiety, diftracting carking cares about the things of this life. As men fearing that they fhall not fleep do thereby mar their own reft; fo the body is often ruined by too much anxiety for it, Matth. vi. 31. Take no thought what ye hall eat, &c. Gr. Rack not your mind. When the mind is on the tenterhooks, the body muft fmart for it. As the ape kills its fondling by hugging it; fo do men kill themselves by indulging anxious cares. Let us labour then for a holy careleffness in these matters ; let us ufe lawful means, and leave the fuccefs quietly on the Lord. Though anxiety will not add a

cubit to our ftature, it may through time take a cubit from it, Phil. iv. 6.

5thly, Neglecting of our bodies, Col. ii. 23. when we do not make a convenient ufe of the means of life and health, as when people deny themselves the neceflary measure of food, fleep, exercife, recreations, phyfic, cloaths, and houfing. People may be guilty against their own lives this way, (1.) By a careless negligent difpofition, Eccl. x. 18. (2.) From the plague of a covetous pinching humour, that they cannot find in their heart to ufe the gift of God to them, Eccl. vi. 2. (3.) By means of inordinate paffions, 1 Kings xxi. 4. (4) Sometimes Satan has driven people under conviction to this, fuggefting to them that they have no right to these things. But as long as men live, though they have not a covenant right, they have a common providential right to the means of life, and the command binds, Thou shalt not kill. It is a duty of this command then to take care of our bodies, and provide them neceffaries fo far as we can: they are not ours, but God's.

6thly, Intemperance, when people keep no meafure in fatisfying of the flesh, Luke xxi. 34. They pamper the flesh, till the beaft turns furious and ruins itself. When God made man, he impreffed an image of his fovereignty on him, made him lord over the beafts; but now without, the beafts, and within, the affections, are turned rebels. This is a monster with three heads.

(1.) Gluttony, intemperance in eating. Man fhould eat to live; but fome like the beafts live to eat. The law of God will not allow people to cram their bellies, and facrifice to a greedy appetite, Phil. iii. 19. It is a degree of felf-murder; for it cuts fhort people's days, which fobriety would prolong. There is a curfe entailed upon it, which is often feen to take effect, Prov. xxiii. 20. 21. Be not amongst wine-bibbers; amongst riotous eaters of flesh. For VOL. III, K

the drunkard and the glutton fhall come to poverty: and drowfinefs fhall clothe a man with rags. The glutton and the drunkard in fcripture-language is equivalant to a ne'er-do-well in ours, Deut. xxi. 20. 2 1. It is a beastly fin. A Heathen calls the glutton's belly a fwine's trough. A fcavenger whofe occupation is to empty, is to be preferred to the glutton who lives, to fill a privy.

(2.) Drunkennefs, intemperance in drinking, Luke xxi. 34. A fin that makes quick work for the grave, and has carried many thither ere they have lived half their days. Reafon differences men from beasts, but the beaftly fin of drunkenness takes away that, robbing men of reason. It is the devil's rack, on which while he has men, they will babble out every thing; for quod in corde fobrii, in ore ebrii. It is an inlet to other lins: for what will a man not do in his drunkenness, if he have a temptation to it? It destroys a man's health, wealth, and foul; murders foul and body at once. The Lacedæmonians ufed to fill their flaves drunk, that their children feeing the picture of drunkennefs might loath it. We have the picture of it, Prov. xxiii. 29. &c. (1.) It embroils men in quarrels, Who bath wo? who hath forrow? who hath contentions? Many have wo and forrow that cannot help it; but drunkards wilfully create them to themfelves. When drink is in, wit is out. Thence proceed drunken fcuffles; babbling in fcurrilous language; and from words they go to blows, wounds without caufe. (2.) It ruins their bodies; redness of eyes, a fign of an inward inflammation, through drink and watching, not through weeping and praying. (3.) It expofes them to uncleannefs, ver. 33. Thine eyes fhall behold Strange .women. (4.) It makes their tongues ramble, speak contrary to religion, reafon, common civility, yea nonfenfe. (5.) It befots them; it makes their heads giddy, and they are fearlefs of danger, ver. 34. Tea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the

fea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (6.) Lastly, It is a bewitching fin. The man fees the ill of it, but his heart is hardened, he has no power to leave it, ver. 35. They have ftricken me, fhalt thou say, and I was not fick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when fhall I awake? I will feek it yet again. The curfe of God is entailed on it, If. xxviii. 1. 2. 3. Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whofe glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and Strong one, which as a tempeft of hail and a destroying form, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall caft down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim fhall be trodden under feet. (3.) Intemperance in any other fenfual pleasure, Luke viii. 14. The pleasures of the fenfes are often chains to the foul, and fcourges to the body; and intemperance in them will make them fo. Too much pleafing the body may make mourning at laft, Prov. v. II. A man may fin against God and his own body in the intemperate ufe of any fenfual pleafure whatsoever, though in itself lawful; and no doubt much guilt is contracted in the intemperate ufe of tobacco, and fuch like things, 1 Cor. vi. 12,

7thly, Immoderate labour and painfulness, Eccl. ii. 22. 23. Labour and exercife in moderation is like a fober wind that purifies the air, and is good for the body and foul too; but immoderate labour and exercife is like a violent wind that throws down the houfe, and plucks up the tree by the roots,

Lastly, Expofing of ourselves to unneceffary haZards, Mat. iv. 7. To put ourselves in hazard where we have no call, is to fin against God and ourselves, And in this cafe God defires mercy, and not facrifice.

SECONDLY, We will confider this command as relating to our neighbour's life,

FIRST, Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour's foul. It is fin that is the killing thing both to our own and our neighbour's foul. And there are feveral ways how men fall into this guilt of murdering the fouls of others. As,

1. By giving them an example of fin. God forbade to lay a ftumbling-block before the blind, but the world is filled with these, and fo ruined, Matth. xviii. 7. Men do ill things, and think that if they do ill, it is but to themselves. No; but thereby thou doft what lies in thee to ruin others.

Yea, example is not only ruining to others in evil things, but also, (1.) In doing what has the appearance of evil: therefore we fhould take heed to that, because others may take the appearance for reality, and fo be ruined by us. (2.) By an uncharitable use of our Chriftian liberty in things indifferent. Thus the ftrong may ruin the weak, Rom. xiv. 15.

2. By co-operating directly to the fin of our neighbour, which is indeed the lending our destroying hand to ruin his foul, whereby his blood comes to be charged on us. It is the putting a cup of poifon in his hand to difpatch himself, and a reaching of the fword to the madman, which whofo do are acceffary to his death. Thus men are guilty,

ift, By commanding others to fin, as Jeroboam made Ifrael to fin. So magiftrates by finful laws, and all fuperiors whatsoever, when they ufe their authority to oblige another to an ill thing; or whofoever commands another to do what is finful.

2dly, By counselling others to it, or advifing them in it. The world is full of thefe murderers. So that where a perfon is under temptation, there is often at hand one like Jonadab to give counfel to fome ill courfe, 2 Sam. xiii. 5. Such counsel often has the force of a command. murder one another's fouls, Hab. ii. 15.

So drunkards

3dly, By joining with others in fin, Pfal. 1. 18.