Of the tenth Commandment.

EXODUS XX. 17.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-fervant, nor his maid fervant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's,

THE

HE fcope of this command is to ftrike at the root and first rifings of fin in the heart, in the defires going out of their right line of purity and equity. It is a ftrict boundary fet to the unbounded defires of the heart.

In it there are, 1. The act. 2. The object. The act, Thou shalt not covet, or luft, as the apoftle terms it, Rom, vii. 7. which implies an inordinateness of defire, a feverish motion of the foul towards the creature, irregular and diforderly; and fo a diffa tisfaction with one's prefent condition, as appears from Heb. xiii. 5. Let your converfation be without covetoufness, and be content with fuch things as ye have.

The object is held forth particularly for example's caufe, thy neighbour's houfe, thy neighbour's wife, his fervants, and goods. Thou shalt not only not take away thy neighbour's houfe from him by oppreffion, nor entice away his fervants, nor fteal his goods, nor entertain a fixed and deliberate defire to do him that injury, as is forbidden in the eighth command; but the inordinate defire of having them fhall not rife in, nor go through thy heart, however lightly, if it were like a flying arrow, faying, O, that his house, his fervant, his ox and afs were mine! Thou fhalt not only not defile his wife, nor deliberately defire to do it, as is forbidden in the feventh commandment; but thou shalt not say in thine heart, O that he were mine! though thou haft no mind, right or wrong, to make her so.

This object is held forth univerfally, nor any

diers did at Chrift in his fufferings, Matth. xxvii 28. 29. The natural imperfections of others ar their sport, though reproaching the poor they de fpife his Maker; yea and their finful imperfections too, for fools make a mock at fin.

Some have a mighty fondnefs for gibing and taunting; their whole converfe runs that way, to make others uneafy and themselves merry with their taunts. Let them not value themselves on their talent; if any spark of tendernefs be left in them, I doubt they dare look to it as a good gift given them from above, but as an abuse of the good gift of God. It was Ifhmael's way, for which he was caft out of the family of the faithful, Gal. iv. 29.

(13.) Reviling and railing, giving others reproachful and opprobrious names, piercing them with bitter words, and murdering them with their tongues, Matth. v. 22. I Cor. vi. 10. Revilers are among

thofe excluded out of heaven.

Thefe are fome of the ways how the wicked tongue gives home thrufts to others, and pierces like the piercing of the fword, following the example of him who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. But would ye fee them, all gathered together in one, ye have them in,

(13.) Lastly, Scolding and rating, an abominable diforder which we are fo much difturbed with. There their wicked hearts, ftirred up with paffion and revenge, vomit out all at once this filthy ftuff. For there their neighbour's faults are unneceffarily difcovered, aggravated, &c. as if hell's forces were rendezvouling betwixt them. Wonder not at the expreffiou. See Jude 9. No, the angei durft not engage Satan with thefe weapons whereof he was the proper mafter, and at which none can outdo him. If ye take not better heed to your tongues, they will ruin you, Pfal. lii. 2-5.

There are fome other evils of the tongue here for bidden, the hurt whereof does not fo plainly appear.

1. Talkativeness, or much speaking. Some are ever talking, and are never in their element but when prattling; and when once they loose, it is as hard to ftop them as to ftop a flood, and turn it another way. Of it I fay,

(1.) It is a fign of a loofe and frothy heart, where the fear of God has little place, Eccl. v, 2. For that would make our words few, true, weighty, and ufeful. When God has given us two ears, and but one tongue, that we may be swift to hear and flow to speak; it is a pregnant evidence of a naughty heart, to be swift to speak and flow to hear.

(2.) It is the fool's badge, Eccl. v. 3. Talkative perfons, for want of acquaintance with themselves, thinking to fhew themfelves wife, ordinarily prefent a fool to the company. They will have a flood of words, who have hardly a drop of good fenfe or judgement; fo that they are jutt a voice, and no more. They that are given to much speaking, can hardly fpeak either true or well; which made an orator afk a double fee of a talkative fcholar, one to learn him to fpeak well, another to learn him to hold his peace. It is the character of a virtuous woman, that he openeth her mouth with wifdom, Prov. Xxxi. 26. Her mouth is not always open, but duly fhut and difcreetly opened.

2. Idle fpeaking, Matth. xii. 36. The tongue was given to man to be for the honour of God, and the good of himfelf and his neighbour. Though our words then be not evil in themselves, they are evil because they are idle; that is, words spoken to nʊ good purpofe, tending neither to the honour of God, nor the good of ourselves or others, neither to his moral good to make him more holy, nor to his civil good, as not being upon the neceflary concerns of human life, nor his natural good, to maintain the moderate chearfulness of fociety. It may be comprehended under foolish talking, rafh, raving,

and impertinent difcourfe, doing no good to the hearers, but bewraying the folly of the speaker.

3. A trade of jefting, Eph. v. 4. It is not finful to pass an innocent jeft for begetting of moderate chearfulness. The wife man tells us, There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh, Eccl. iii. 4. It may in fome cafes be as neceffary to chear the fpirits, as a cordial is to restore them, or a pleasant gale of wind to purify the air. It was not unbecoming the gra vity of the prophet to mock Baal's priefts, and to fay, Cry aloud; for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is purfuing, or he is on a journey; or per adventure be fleepeth, and must be awakened, 1 Kings xviii. 27. But finful are,

(1.) Offenfive jefts, which tend to the fhewing a defpiling of our neighbour, to the irritating and provoking of him. And indeed it is often feen, that those who are much given that way, their converfation is most offenfive, fparing neither friend nor foe, and will rather lose their friend than their jest.

(2.) Profane jefts, either making a mock of fin, or of that which is holy, particularly wrefting and abufing of scripture, to exprefs the conceits of their light and wanton wits. It is a dangerous thing to jeft in fuch matters.

(3.) People's being immoderate in jefting. To make every word a jeft, is liker the ftage than Chriftian gravity. This is as abfurd as to prefent a man a difh of falt to feed on; a little of it is good for feasoning, but to give it for the whole entertainment is abfurd.

4. Lafly, Flattery, Pfal. xii. 3. This is a moft dangerous ftroke, and the more deadly that the wound it gives does not smart, but by it a man is hugged to ruin, The words of a flatterer are fmoother than oil, yet are they in effect as drawn fwords. It is a compound of lying, abjectness of spirit, and treachery. The flatterer gives the praise that is not due, profeffes the kindness that is not real, and fcrews up

all to a pitch far above truth; and fo he is a liar. He debafes himself to please others, turning himself into every fhape to humour the party he is to flatter; and betrays him into felf-conceit and unacquaintednefs with himself.

I shall shut all with a twofold dehortation.

First, Speak truth, and beware of lying. Lying is a very common fin; repent of that guilt, and beware of it for the future. For motives, confider,

Mot. 1. That God is the God of truth, the author and lover of truth, so that he cannot lie. And therefore lying is most contrary to the nature and mind of God; it is therefore fingularly abominable and hateful to him, Pfal. x. 6. Prov. vi. 16. 17. We find that God fuffered Adam's fons to marry their own fifters, and the Ifraelites to fpoil the Egyptians of what they had borrowed of them; but never did the God of truth at any time difpenfe with mens fpeaking lies. Hate that abominable thing then, which God fo hates.

2. All lies are from the devil in a special manner, John viii. 44. It was he that firft broached lies in the world, and ruined mankind with them; and having fped fo well with that engine of hell at first, no wonder he fets himself to keep up the trade. He is the father of lies, that begets them on the false heart, and they are brought forth by the lying tongue. Whom do liars resemble then, the God of truth or the father of lies?

3. Lying is a part of the old man of fin, which must be put off, if we would not be put out of God's prefence, Eph. iv. 24. 25: It is the way to which our corrupt natures do kindly and quickly incline, Pfal. lviii. 3. The wicked go aftray, as foon as they be born, Speaking lies. Hence children are not to learn this, they have the art of it from their firft father Adam. But as foon as grace enters the heart, it rectifies it in that point. Hence the Lord's people are called children that will not lie, If. lxiii. 8. VOL. III.

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