thing that is thy neighbour's: whereby it appears, that this command looks through all the other commandments of the second table, and fo condemns all inordinate defire of any object whatsoever. And therefore the Papifts dividing this command into two is abfurd, and but a trick invented to atone for their confounding the firft and fecond. While this command fays, nor any thing, it fays, Thou fhalt not only not dishonour thy neighbour by infolent and contemptuous behaviour, but there fhall not be a defire in thy heart, faying, O that his place and poft were mine, as in the 5th command; nor, O that I had his health and strength, as in the 6th; nor his reputation and efteem, as in the 9th; though you have no deliberate defign or defire to wrong him in thefe,

I do not wonder, if fome are surprised at this, and fay, Are these fins? for indeed this command goes deeper than the reft; and if it did not fo, it would be fuperfluous; for you fee it aims not at any new object, but holds by the objects of the former commands; therefore it must look to fome more inward and lefs noticed motions of the heart than the reft do. And therefore Paul, though he learned the law at the school of divinity under Gamaliel, a profeffor of it, yet, till he learned it over again at the fchool of the Spirit, holding it out in its fpirituality and extent, he did not know these things to be fin, Rom. vii. 7. It was this command brought home to his confcience, that let him fee that luft to be fin which he faw not before.

And feeing this is a command of the fecond table, and ourselves are our nearest neighbour, the luft or inordinate defire of thofe things that are our own must be condemned here, as well as lufting after what is not ours.

So much for the negative part of this command, which in effect is this, Thou shalt not be in the leaft diffatisfied with thy own prefent condition in the

world, nor have any inordinate motion in thy heart to that which is thy own or thy neighbour's.

The pofitive part is implied; and that is, Thou fhalt be fully content with thy own lot, whatever it be, and arreft thy heart within the bounds that God has inclofed it in, bearing a charitable difpofition to thy neighbour and what is his. For all covetoufnefs implies a discontent with our own condition.

Quest. "What is required in the tenth command66 ment ?"

Anf. "The tenth commandment requireth full " contentment with our own condition, with a « right and charitable frame of spirit toward our "neighbour, and all that is his."

Here I fhall confider the duty of this command as it refpects,

1. Ourfelves.

2. Our neighbour.

3. The root of fin.

I. I fhall confider the duty of this command as it refpects ourselves. if we confider, that this command forbidding coveting in the general, fays in effect thefe two things, 1. Thou fhalt not covet or luft after what thou haft; nor, 2. What thou wanteft; the great duty of this command with respect to ourselves will appear to be twofold.

Firft, A thorough weanednefs from and indifferency to all those things that we have, in which our defires may be too eager. There are fome things whereof our defire cannot be too much, as of God, Chrift, grace, victory over fin, and therefore we read of a holy lufting, Gal. v. 17. The renewed part not only defires, but eagerly and greedily gapes for perfect holinefs and entire victory over fin. This is holy lufting, where there is no fear of excefs, although indeed even that may degenerate, when our own eafe that is difturbed by fin may be more in our view than the finfulnefs of fin; and i

this refpect these luftings are mixed, and therefore finful and humbling in the beft; and they are so far contrary to this command, as they are lufting after cafe, more than conformity to the holy will and nature of God.

There are other things to which our defires may be carried out too eagerly and inordinately; and the defire of them is lawful, but the coveting or lufting after them, which is the inordinate defire of them, is here forbidden. Thus we may fin not only in the inordinate defire of fenfual things, as meat, drink, &c. but in rational things, as honour, efteem, &c. The defire of these things is not finful, but there is a luft of them which is fo.

Now, in oppofition to this, we must be thoroughly weaned from and holily indifferent to the fe things, not only when we want them, for that falls in with contentment, but when we have them. So fhould one be to his own houfe, wife, fervants, c. and any thing that is his; keeping our love to, defire after, and joy in them, within due bounds, as the pfalmift did, Pfal. cxxxi. 2. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother: my foul is even as a weaned child. We may take it up in these four things following.

1. The heart's fitting loofe to them, fo as the heart and they may fall afunder as things clofely joined, yet not glued, when God fhall be pleafed to take them from us. For if they muft needs be rent from us, it is an argument that our love to them was indeed a luft towards them. Therefore this disposition is called a hating of them, Luke xiv. 26.; for things that we have, we can part with, without their tearing as it were a piece of our heart away with them. We can fay little on this piercing command, but what will be counted hard fayings, by all that have not a clear view of the tranfcendent purity of the law, which is carried to the height in this command, because to the root, the corruption of

our nature. And that corruption we muft ftill keep in view here, or we will do no good with it.

2. The heart's looking for no more from them than God has put in them. God has made created things as inns in the way to himself, where a person may be refreshed, but not as a refting place, where the heart is to dwell. For the defire is inordinate when the man feeks his reft and fatisfaction in these things inftead of God, Pfal. iv. 6. The corrupt judgement magnifies earthly things, and looks on fhadows as fubftances; and then the corrupt affections grafp them as fuch, and after a thousand dif appointments luft after them ftill, If. lvii. 10.

3. The foul's ftanding on other ground, when these things ftand entire about the man; drawing its fupport from God as the fountain, even when created ftreams are running full, 1 Sam. ii. 1. Pfal. xviii. 46. The world's good things must not be thy good things, Luke xvi. 25. Thou mayft love them as a friend, but not be wedded to them as a hufband; use them as a staff, yet not as the staff of thy life, but a staff in thy hand; but by no means as a pillar to build on them the weight of thy comfort and fatisfaction.

4. The ufing of them paffingly. We must not dip too far in the ufe of them. Lawful defire and delight like Peter walks foftly over thefe waters, but luft fhines in them; in the one there is a holy carelessness, in the other a greedy gripe. The apoftle livelily describes this weanedness, 1 Cor. vii. 29. 30. 31. It remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none'; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they poffeffed not; and they that ufe this world, as not abufing it: for the fashion of this world paffeth away. The violent pulfe of the foul in our high-bended hopes, perplexing racking fears, vehement love, fwelling joy, and overmuch forrow about thefe matters, is a fad VOL. III.

Y

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 peradventure he fleepeth, and must be awakened, 1 Kings xviii. 27. But finful are,

(1.) Offenfive jefts, which tend to the fhewing a defpifing 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 jeft.

(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 seasoning, but to give it for the whole entertainment is abfurd.

4. Lastly, 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 smoother 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 praife that is not due, profeffes the kindness that is not real, and screws up