The Whole Duty of Man, Part 10
PARTITION X. Of DUTIES to our NEIGHBOURS. Of JUSTICE, Negative, Positive. Of the sin of MURTHER, Of the Hainousness of it, the Punishments of it, and the strange Discoveries thereof. Of Maiming, wounds and stripes.
§. 1. I Come now to the third part of Duties, DUTY to our NEIGHBOUR.those to our Neighbour, which is by the Apostle summed up in gross in the word [righteousness,] by which is meant not onelyonly bare justice, but all kind of charity also, for that is now by the law of Christ become a debt, to our neighbor, and it is a piece of unrighteousness to defraud him out of it. I shall therefore build all the particular duties we ow to our neighbor, on those two general ones, Justice and Charity.
2. I begin with JUSTICE, whereof there are two parts, the one Negative, the other Positive: JUSTICE.the negative justice is to do no wrong, or injury to any. The positive justice is to do right to all; that is, to yield them whatsoever appertains or is due unto them. I shall first speak of the negative justice, the not injuring Negative.or wronging any. Now because a man is capable of receiving wrong in several respects; this first part of justice extends it self into several branches, answerable to those capacities of injury. A man may be injured either in his Soul, his body, his possessions, or credit; and therefore this duty of negative justice lays a restraint on us in every of these. That we do no wrong to any man in respect either of his Soul, his body, his possessions, or credit.
3. First, This JUSTICE tyes us to do no To the Soulhurt to his Soul; and here my first work must be to examine what harm it is that the soul can receive; it is we know an invisible substance which we cannot reach with our eye, much less with our swords and weapons, yet for all that it is capable of being hurt and wounded; and that even to death.
4. Now the Soul may be considered either In the natural sence.in a natural or spiritual sense; in the natural it signifies that which we usually call the mind of a man, and this we all know may be wounded with gries or sadness, as Solomon saith, Prov. 15. 13. By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. Therefore whoever does causlesly afflict or grieve his neighbour; he transgresses this part of justice, and hurts, and wrongs his soul. This sort of injury malicious and spiteful men are very often guilty of, they will do things▪ by which themselves reap no good, nay, often much harm, onelyonly that they may vex and grieve another; This is a most savage, inhumane humour, thus to take pleasure in the sadness, and afflictions of others; and whoever harbours it in his heart, may truly be said to be possest with a Devil, for it is the nature only of those accursed spirits to delight in the miseries of men; and till that be cast out, they are fit onelyonly to dwell as the possest person did, Mar 5. 2. Among graves and tombs, where there are none capable of receiving affliction by them.
5. But the Soul may be considered also in the In the spiritual.spiritual sense, and so it signifies that immortal part of us which must live eternally, either in bliss or woe in another world. And the Soul thus understood is capable of two sorts of harm: First, That of sin; Secondly, That of Punishment; the latter whereof is certainly the consequent of the former; and therefore though God be the inflicter of punishment yet since it is but the effect of sin, we may justly reckon, that he that draws a man to sin, is likewise the betrayer of him to punishment, as he that gives a man a mortal wound, is the cause of his death; therefore under the evil of sin both are contained, so that I need speak onelyonly of that.
6. And sure there cannot be a higher sort Drawing to in the greatest injury.of wrong, then the bringing this great evil upon the Soul; sin is the disease and wound of the Soul, as being the direct contray to Grace; which is the health and soundness of it: Now this wound we give to every Soul whom we do by any means whatsoever draw into sin.
7. The wayes of doing that are divers, I Direct means of it.shall mention some of them, whereof though some are more direct then others, yet all tend to the same end. Of the more direct ones there is, first, the commanding of sin, that is, when a person that hath power over another shall require him to do something which is unlawful; an example of this we have in Nebuchadnezzars commanding the worship of the golden Image, Dan. 3. 4. and his copy is imitated by any parent or master who shall require of his childe or servant to do any unlawful act. Secondly, there is counselling of sin, when men advise and perswade others to any wickedness: Thus Jobs wife counselled her husband to curse God, Job 27. And Achitophel advised Absolom to go into his Fathers concubines, 2 Sam. 16. 21. Thirdly, there is enticing and alluring to sin, by setting before men the pleasures or profits they shall reap by it. Of this sort of enticement Solomon gives warning, Prov. 1. 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not; if they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without a cause, &c. and verse the 13. you may see what is the bait, by which they seek to allure them: we shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil, cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. Fourthly, there is assistance in sin; that is, when men aid and help others either in contriving or acting a sin. Thus Jonadab helpt Amnon in plotting the Ravishing of his sister, 2 Sam. 13. all these are direct means of bringing this great evil of sin upon our brethren.
8. There are also others, which though they seem more indirect, may yet be as effectual Indirect.towards that ill end: As first, example in sin; he that sets others an ill pattern does his part to make them imitate it, and too often it hath that effect; there being generally nothing more forcible to bring men into any sinful practice, then the seeing it used by others, as might be instanced in many sins, to which there is no other temptation, but their being in fashion. Secondly, there is incouragement in sin, when either by approving, or else at least by not shewing a dislike, we give others confidence to go on in their wickedness. A third means is by justifying and defending any sinful act of anothers, for by that we do not only confirm him in his evil, but endanger the drawing others to the like, who may be the more inclinable to it, when they shall hear it so pleaded for. Lastly, the bringing up any reproach upon strict and Christian living, as those do who have the ways of God in derision; this is a means to affright men from the practice of duty, when they see it will bring them to be scorned and despised; this is worse then all the former, not only in respect of the man who is guilty of it (as it is an evidence of the great profaneness of his own heart) but also in regard of others, it having a more general ill effect then any of the former can have, it being the betraying men not only to some single acts of disobedience to Christ, but even to the casting off all subjection to him: By all these means we may draw on our selves this great guilt of injuring and wounding the souls of our brethren.
9. It would be too long for me to instance Men sadly to consider whom they have thus injured.in all the several sins, in which it is usual for men to ensnare others; as drunkenness, uncleannness, rebellion, and a multitude more. But it will concern every man for his own particular, to consider sadly what mischiefs of this kinde he hath done to any, by all, or any of these means, and to weigh well the greatness of the injury. Men are apt to boast of their innocency towards their neighbours, that they have done wrong to no man; but God knowes many that thus brag, are of all others the most injurious persons: perhaps they have not maimed his body, nor stoln his goods: but alas! the body is but the case and cover of the man, and the goods some appurtenances to that, 'tis the soul is the man, and that they can wound and pierce without remorse, and yet with the adulteress, Prov. 30. 20. say, They have done no wickedness; but glory of their friendly behaviour to those whom they thus betray to eternal ruine, for whomsoever thou hast drawn to any sin, thou hast done thy part to ascertain to those endless flames. And then think with thy self how base a treachery this is, thou wouldst call him a treacherous villain, that should while he pretends to embrace a man, secretly stab him; but this of thine is as far beyond that, as the soul is of more value then the body, and hell worse then death. And remember yet farther, that besides the cruelty of it to thy poor brother, it is also most dangerous to thy self, it being that against which Christ hath pronounced a woe, Matth. 18. 7. and ver. 6. he tells us that whoever shall offend (that is, draw into sin) any of those little ones, it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea. Thou maist plunge thy poor brother into perdition, but as it is with wrestlers, he that gives another a fall, commonly falls with him, so thou art like to bear him company to that place of torment.
10. Let therefore thy own & his danger beget Heartily to bewail it.in thee a sense of the greatness of this sin, this horrid piece of injustice to the precious soul of thy neighbour. Bethink thy self seriously to whom thou hast bin thus cruel, whom thou hast enticed to drinking, advised to rebellion, allured to lust, stirred up to rage, whom thou hast assisted or encouraged in any ill course, or discouraged, and disheartned by thy profane scoffings at piety in general, or at any conscionable strict walking of his in particular; and then draw up a bill of indictment accuse and condemn thy self, as a Cain, a murderer of thy brother, heartily and deeply bewail all thy guilts of this kinde, and resolve never once more to be a stumbling block, as S. Paul calls it, Rom. 14. in thy brothers way.
11. But this is not all, there must be some Endeavour to repair it.fruits of this repentance brought forth; now in all sins of injustice, restitution is a necessary fruit of repentance, and so it is here, thou hast committed an act (perhaps many) of high injustice to the soul of thy brother, thou hast robbed it of its innocency, of its title to heaven, thou must now endeavour to restore all this to it again, by being more earnest and industrious to win him to repentance, then ever thou wert to draw him to sin, use now as much art to convince him of the danger, as ever thou didst to flatter him with the pleasures of his vice, in a word, countermine thy self by using all those methods, and means to recover him, that thou didst to destroy him, and be more diligent and zealous in it for 'tis necessary thou shouldst both in regard of him and thy self: First, in respect of him, because there is in mans nature so much a greater promptness and readiness to evil, then to good, that there will need much more pains and diligence to instil the one into him, then the other: besides, the man is supposed to be already accustomed to the contrary, which wil adde much to the difficulty of the work. Then in respect of thy self; if thou be a true penitent, thou wilt think thy self obliged, as S. Paul did, to labour more abundantly, and wilt be ashamed, that when thou art trading for God, bringing back a soul to him, thou shouldest not pursue it with more earnestness, then while thou art an agent of Satans, besides the remembrance, that thou art a means of bringing this poor soul into this snare, must necessarily quicken thy diligence to get him out of it: So much for the first part of negative justice, in respect of the souls of our brethren.
12. The second concernes the bodies, and to those also this justice binds thee to do no Negative justice to the body.wrong nor violence. Now of wrongs to the body there may be several degrees, the In respect of the life.highest of them is killing, taking away the life; this is forbid in the very letter of the sixth Commandement. Thou shalt do no murder.
13. Murder may be committed either by Several wayes of being guilty of murder.open violence; when a man either by sword, or any other instrument takes away anothers life, immediately, and directly, or it may be done secretly and treacherously, as David murdered Uriah, not with his own sword but with the sword of the Children of Ammon, 2 Sam. 11. 17. And Jozabel Naboth by a false accusation, 1 Kings 21. 13. And so divers have committed this sin of murder by poyson, false-witness, or some such concealed wayes. The former is commonly the effect of a sudden rage, the latter hath several originals, sometimes it proceeds from some old malice fixt in the heart towards the person, sometimes from some covetous or ambitious desires; such a one stands in a mans way to his profit or preferment, and therefore he must be removed; and sometimes again it is to cover shame, as in the case of Strumpets, that murder their Infants that they may not betray their filthiness. But besides these more direct wayes of killing, there is another, and that is, when by our perswasions and enticements we draw a man to do that which tends to the shortning of his life, and is apparent to do so; he that makes his neighbour drunk, if by that drunkenness the man come to any mortal hurt which he would have escaped if he had been sober, he that made him drunk is not clear of his death; or if he die not by any such sudden accident, yet if drinking cast him into a disease, and that disease kill him, I know not how he that drew him to that excess can acquit himself of his murder in the eyes of God, though humane Laws touch him not. I wish those who make it their business to draw in customers to that trade of debauchery would consider it. There is yet another way of bringing this guilt upon our selves, and that is by inciting and stirring up others to it, or to that degree of anger and revenge which produces it; as he that sets two persons at variance, or seeing them already so, blows the coales, if murder ensue, he certainly hath this share in the guilt, which is a consideration that ought to aflright all from having any thing to do in the kindling, or encreasing of contention.
14. Now for the hainousness of this sin of The hainousness of the sin.murder, I suppose none can be ignorant, that it is of the deepest dye, a most loud crying sin; This we may see in the first act of this kinde, that ever was committed, Abels blood cryed from the earth, as God tells Cain, Genesis 4. 10. Yea, the guilt of this sin is such, that it leaves a stain even upon the land where it is committed, such as is not to be washt out, but by the blood of the murderer, as appears Deut. 19. 12, 13. The land cannot be purged of blood, but by the blood of him that shed it; and therefore though in other cases the flying to the Altar secured a man, yet in this of wilful murder no such refuge was allowed but such a one was to be taken even thence, and delivered up to justice, Exodus 21. 14. Thou shalt take him from my Altar, that he may dye. And it is yet farther observable, that the only two precepts which the Scripture mentions, as given to Noah after the flood, were both in relation to this sin, that of not eating blood, Gen. 9. 4. being a ceremony to beget in men a greater horror of this sin of murder, and so intended for the preventing of it. The other was for the punishment of it, Gen. 9. 6. He that sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed; and the reason of this strictuess is added in the next words, For in the Image of God made he man; where you see that this sin is not only an injury to our brother, but even the highest contempt, and despight towards God himself, for it is the defacing of his image, which he hath stamped upon man. Nay yet further, it is the usurping of Gods proper right, and authority. For it is God alone, that hath right to dispose of the life of man; 'twas he alone that gave it, and it is he alone that hath power to take it away; but he that murders a man does, as it were, wrest this power out of Gods hand, which is the highest pitch of rebellious presumption.
15. And as the sin is great, so likewise is the The great punishments attending it.punishment; we see it frequently very great, and remarkable, even in this world, (besides those most fearful effects of it in the next) blood not only cryes, but it cryes for vengeance, and the great God of recompences as he stiles himself, will not fail to hear it: very many examples the Scripture gives us of this: Ahab and Jezabel, that murdered innocent Naboth, for greediness of his vineyard, were themselves slain, and the Dogs licked their blood in the place, where they had shed his, as you may read in that Story; so Absalom, that slew his brother Amnon, after he had committed that sin, fell into another, that of rebellion against his King and Father, and in it miserably perished. Rechab and Baanah, that slew Ishbosheth, were themselves put to death, and that by the very person they thought to endear by it; many more instances might be given of this out of the Sacred Story, and many also out of Humane, there having been no age but hath yielded multitudes of examples of this kinde, so that every man may furnish himself out of the observations of his own time.
16. And it is worth our notice, what The strange discoveries of it.strange and even miraculous meanes it hath often pleased God to use for the discovery of this sin; the very bruit creatures have often been made instruments of it; nay, often the extream horrour of a mans own conscience hath made him betray himself, so that it is not any closeness a man uses in the acting of this sin, that can secure him from the vengeance of it, for he can never shut out his own conscience, that will in spight of him be privie to the fact, and that very often proves the means of discovering it to the world, or if it should not do that, yet it will sure act revenge on him, it will be such a Hell within him as will be worse then death: This we have seen in many, who after the commission of this sin have never been able to enjoy a minutes rest, but have had that intolerable anguish of minde that they have chosen to be their own murderers rather then live in it. These are the usual effects of this sin even in this world, but those in another are yet more dreadful, where surely the highest degrees of torment belong to this high pitch of wickedness, for if as our Saviour tells us, Mat. 5. 22. Hell fire be the portion of him that shall but call his brother fool, what degree of those burnings can we think proportionable, to this so much greater an injury?
17. The consideration of all this ought to We must watch diligently against all approaches of this sin.possess us with the greatest horrour, and abomination of this sin, and to make us extremely watchful of our selves, that we never fall into it, and to that end to prevent all those occasions which may insensibly draw us into this pit. I mentioned at first several things which are wont to be originals of it, and at those we must begin, if we will surely guard our selves. If therefore thou wilt be sure never to kill a man in thy rage, be sure never to be in that rage, for if thou permittest thy self to that, thou canst have no security against the other, anger being a madness that suffers us not to consider, or know what we do, when it has once possest us. Therefore when thou findest thy self begin to be inflamed, think betimes, whither this may lead thee, if thou lettest loose to it, and immediately put the bridle upon this head strong passion; so again, if thou wilt be sure thy malice shall not draw thee to it, be sure never to harbour one malscious thought in thy heart, for if it once settle there it will gather such strength, that within a while thou wilt be perfectly under the power of it, so that it may lead thee even to this horrible sin at its pleasure; be therefore careful at the very first approach of this treacherous guest, to shut the doors against it, never to let it enter thy mind; so also if thou wilt be sure thy covetousness, thy ambition, thy lust, or any other sinful desire shall not betray thee to it, be sure thou never permit any of them to bear any sway with thee, for if they get the dominion, as they will soon do, if they be once entertained in the heart, they will be past thy controul, and hurry thee to thi… or any other sin, that may serve their ends. In like manner if thou wouldst not be guilty of any of the mortal effects of thy neighbours drunkenness, be sure not to entice him to it nor accompany him at it, and to that purpose do not allow thy self in the same practice, for if thou do, thou wilt be labouring to get company at it. Lastly, if thou wilt not be guilty of the murder committed by another, take heed thou never give any incouragement to it, or contribute any thing to that hatred, or contention, that may be the cause of it. For when thou hast either kindled or blowed the fire, what knowest thou whom it may consume? bring always as much water as thou canst to quench, but never bring one drop of oil to encrease the flame. The like may be said of all other occasions of this sin not here mentioned; and this careful preserving our selves from these, is the only sure way to keep us from this sin; therefore as ever thou wouldst keep thy self innocent from the great offence, guard thee warily from all such inlets, those steps and approaches towards it.
18. But although murder be the greatest, yet it is not the onelyonly injury that may be done to the body of our neighbour, there are others which are also of a very high nature, the next Maiming a great injury.in degree to this is Maiming him, depriving him of any member, or at least of the use of it, and this is a very great wrong and mischief to him, as we may discern by the Judgement of God himself, in the case of the bond-servant, who should by his Masters means loose a member, Exod. 21. 26. the freedom of his whole life was thought but a reasonable recompence for it, He shall let him go free, saith the text, for his eye; Nay though it were a less considerable part, if it were but a tooth, which of all other may be lost with the least damage, yet the same amends was to be made him, ver. 27.
19. But we need no other way of measuring That which every man dreads for himself.this injury, then the judgement of every man in his own case; how much does every man dread the loss of a limb, so that if he be by any accident or disease, in danger of it, he thinks no pains or cost too much to preserve it. And then how great an injustice, how contrary to that great rule of doing as we would be done to, is it, for a man to do that to another, which he so unwillingly suffers himself.
But if the person be poor, one that must Yet worse if the man be poor.labour for his living, the injury is yet greater, it is such as may in effect amount to the former sin of murder, for as the wise man says, Ecclus. 24. 21. The poor mans bread is his life, and he that deprives them thereof is a bloodshedder. And therefore he that deprives him of the means of getting his bread by disabling him from labour, is surely no less guilty. In the Law it was permitted to every man that had sustained such a damage by his neighbour to require the Magistrate to inflict the like on him, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as it is Exod. 21. 24
20. And though unprofitable revenge be Necessity of making what satisfaction we can.not now allowed to us Christians, yet sure it is the part of every one who hath done this injury, to make what satisfaction lies in his power; 'tis true, he cannot restore a limb again (which by the way should make men wary how they do those mischiefs which it is so impossible for them to repair) but yet he may satisfie for some of the ill effects of that loss: If that have brought the man to want and penury, he may, nay, he must, if he have but the least ability, relieve and support him, yea, though it be by his own extraordinary labour: for if it be a duty of us all to be eyes to the blinde and feet to the lame, as Job speaks, much more must we be so to them whom our selves have made blind and lame. Therefore whoever has done this injury to any of his poor brethren, let him know, he is bound to do all that is possible towards the repairing of it, if he do not, every new suffering that the poor mans wants bring upon him, becomes a new charge and accusation against him, at the tribunal of the just Judge.
21. There are yet other degrees of injury Wounds and stripes injuries also.to the body of our neighbour, I shall mention onelyonly two more, Wounds, and stripes; A man may Wound another, which though it finally cause loss neither of life nor limb, is yet an endangering of both; and the like may be said of stripes; both of which however are very painful at the present, nay perhaps very long after, and pain of all temporal evils, is to be accounted the greatest, for it is not onelyonly an evil in it self, but it is such a one, that permits us not, whilst we are under it, to enjoy any other good; A man in pain having no taste of any the greatest delights: If any man despise these, as light injuries, let him again ask himself, how he would like it, to have his own body slasht or bruised, and put to pass under those painful means of cure, which are many times necessary in such cases? I presume there is no man would willingly undergo this from another, and why then should thou offer it to him?
22. The truth is, this strange cruelty to This cruelty to others the effect of pride.others is the effect of a great pride, and haughtiness of heart, we look upon others with such contempt, that we think it no matter how they are used; we think they must bear blows from us, when in the mean time we are so tender of our selves, that we cannot hear the least word of disparagement, but we are all on a flame. The provocations to these injuries are commonly so slight, that did not this inward pride dispose us to such an angriness of humour, that we take fire at every thing, it were impossible we should be moved by them. Nay some are advanced to such a wantonness of cruelty, that without any provocation at all in cool blood, as they say, they can thus wrong their poor brethren, and make it part of their pastime and recreation to cause pain to others. Thus some tyrannous humours take such a pleasure in tormenting those under their power, that they are glad when they can but finde a pretence to punish them, and then do it without all moderation, and others will set men together by the ears, only that they may have the sport of seeing the scuffle; like the old Romans, that made it one of their publick sports to see men kill one another, and sure we have as little Christianity as they, if we can take delight in such spectacles.
23. This savageness and cruelty of minde is so unbecoming the nature of a man, that he is not allowed to use it even to his beast; how intollerable is it then towards those, that are of the same nature, and which is more, are heirs of the same eternal hopes with us? They that shall thus transgress against their neighbours in any of the foregoing particulars, or what ever else is hurtful to the body, are unjust persons, want even this lowest sort of justice, the negative, to their neighbours, in respect of their bodies.
24. Neither can any man excuse himself by saying what he has done was onelyonly in return of some injury offered him by the other, for suppose it be so, that he have indeed received some considerable wrong, yet cannot he be his own revenger without injury to that man, who is not, by being thine enemy, become thy vassal, or slave, to do with him what thou list; thou hast never the more right of dominion over him, because he hath done thee wrong, and therefore if thou hadst no power over his body before, 'tis certain thou hast none now, and therefore thou art not only uncharitable (which yet were sin enough to damn thee) but unjust in every act of violence thou doest to him. Nay, this injustice ascends higher, even to God himself, who hath reserved vengeance as his own peculiar right, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord, Rom. 12. 19. and then he that will act revenge for himself, what does he, but incroach upon this special right and prerogative of God, snatch the sword, as it were, out of his hand, as if he knew better how to weild it! which is at once a robbery, and contempt of the Divine Majesty.