Quest. CXXIX., CXXX., CXXXI., CXXXII., CXXXIII.

QUEST. CXXIX. What is required of superiors towards their inferiors?

ANSW. It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel, and admonish them; countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well; discountenancing, reproving, and chastising such as do ill; protecting, and providing for them all things necessary for soul, and body; and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honour to themselves, and so to preserve the authority which God hath put upon them.

QUEST. CXXX. What are the sins of superiors?

ANSW. The sins of superiors are, beside the neglect of the duties required of them, and inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; counselling, encouraging, or favouring them in that which is evil, dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good; correcting them unduly, careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonouring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behaviour.

QUEST. CXXXI. What are the duties of equals?

ANSW. The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honour to go one before another, and to rejoice in each others gifts and advancement, as in their own.

QUEST. CXXXII. What are the sins of equals?

ANSW. The sins of equals are, beside the neglect of the duties required, the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the advancement or prosperity one of another, and usurping pre-eminence one over another.

QUEST. CXXXIII. What is the reason annexed to the fifth Commandment the more to enforce it?

ANSW. The reason annexed to the fifth Commandment, in these words, [That thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee] is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good, to all such as keep this Commandment.

1. We are to consider the duties which superiors owe to their inferiors. Whatever circumstance of advancement one has above another in the world, this is a peculiar gift of God, and should not give occasion to that pride of heart which is natural to fallen man, which puts him upon casting contempt on those who are below him; much less should they oppress others, who are in a lower station of life than themselves; but should endeavour to do good to them, and thereby glorify God. And, indeed, as every relation is mutual, and calls for its respective duties, so that superiors expect the duty which belongs to them, from inferiors; it is equally just and reasonable that they should not neglect those duties which they are obliged to perform to them; though they be of another nature, different from those which they demand from them. Here we shall consider,

2. The duty of parents to children. This not only includes in it the using their utmost endeavours to promote their worldly advantage, as to what respects their present or future condition in life; but they ought to have a just concern for their spiritual welfare, which is a duty very much neglected, though it be incumbent on all parents, and will be performed by those who have a sense of God and religion upon their spirits; this the apostle calls bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Eph. vi. 4. When children are first capable of being instructed; or when they first take in the knowledge of common things; then it is the parent’s duty to instil into them those things that are spiritual. It is, indeed, a difficult matter to speak to them about divine things, so as to lead them into the knowledge thereof; and it requires a great measure of wisdom and faithfulness in them. One of the first duties that they owe to them, is acknowledging God’s right to them, putting them under his care, giving them up to him, hoping and trusting in Christ, that he will bestow on them the saving blessings of the covenant of grace, and that in their early age of life. Moreover, since children soon discover themselves to have a corrupt nature: This ought to be checked and fenced against, as much as it is in our power: Since all habits of sin are of an increasing nature, and though it be difficult to prevent them; yet we shall find it much more so to root them out.

Now that we may instil into the minds of children, the principles of religion, as soon as they are capable of receiving instruction, let it be observed,

(1.) That parents must take great care that they neither speak nor act any thing before their children, which may tend to corrupt their minds, or afford a bad example, which it would be of pernicious consequence to them to follow; nor ought they to suffer those passions to break forth, which may render them mean and contemptible in the eyes of their children; or give them occasion, by their example, to indulge the same passions.

(2.) They must take heed that they do not exercise severity for trifles, or those inadvertencies which children are chargeable with, on the one hand; nor too much indulge them in that incorrigibleness and profaneness which they sometimes see in them, on the other.

(3.) They must separate from them all companions, or servants, from whom they may imbibe the principles of sin, and oblige those who have the immediate care of their education, to instil into them the principles of religion, and, at the same time, to recommend to them, the pleasure, beauty, and advantage of holiness in all, but especially in young ones.

(4.) The examples which we have, either in scripture, or our own observation in the world, of those who have devoted themselves to God, and been religious betimes, is to be frequently inculcated, for their imitation, with all the affecting and moving expressions that it is possible for them to use, and with a particular application thereof to their case; and, on the other hand, the miserable consequences which have attended persons neglecting to embrace the ways of God in the days of their youth, and the sore judgments which often ensue hereupon; as it is said, His bones are full of the sin of youth, Job xx. 11.

(5.) Reproofs for sin are to be given, with a zeal and concern for the glory of God; and yet with that affection as may convince children, that in those things, in which they are ready to think their parents their enemies, they appear to be their greatest friends.

(6.) They, who have the care of children, ought to take heed, that they do not lead them into, or give them occasion, to rest in, a formal, or external appearance of religion, on the one hand; nor, on the other hand, are they to use any methods which may induce them to think, that, a burden, or a reproach, which they ought to esteem their delight and honour.

(7.) Those opportunities are more especially to be embraced, when instructions are most likely to be regarded by them; as when they are inquisitive about divine things. This should give the parent occasion to be particular in explaining them to them. Thus God commands Israel, when thy son asketh thee in time to come, what mean the testimonies and the statutes, and the judgments; which the Lord thy God commanded you? to say unto him, we were Pharaoh’s bondsmen, Deut. vi. 20, 21. and so they were to relate to them those dispensations of providence towards them, that gave occasion to these statutes which he had appointed.

(8.) Parents should let their children know, that their obedience to God’s commands, will always entitle them to the greatest share in their affection, that this may be a motive and inducement thereunto.

2. We are now to consider the duty which masters owe to their servants. And,

(1.) They ought to recommend the good ways of God to them, endeavouring to persuade them to be religious; and, by their exemplary conversation in their families, whereby they adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, in all things, afford them an additional motive hereunto.

(2.) They should encourage religion in their servants, as well as diligence and industry. For, as the one tends to their advantage, to whom their service is due; the other tends to the glory of God, and the good of their souls, who are found in the practice of it.

(3.) Masters should endeavour to instruct their servants in the principles of religion, especially if ignorant. And,

(4.) They should allow them sufficient time for religious duties; which, if needful, ought to be taken out of that time, wherein they would otherwise be employed in their service: And this they ought to do, as considering, that the best Christians are like to make the most faithful servants.

3. We are now to consider the duty of magistrates towards their subjects. This consists,

(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 of God.

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 tale-bearers, 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 Commandment, and the promise annexed to if, 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. l. 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 providence 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.

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 they shall have a prosperous life; without which, long life would not be so great a blessing. Thus he says, That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long upon the earth, Eph. vi. 3. Now there are three things which tend to make a long life happy.

(1.) Experience of growth in grace, in proportion to our advances in age, according to that promise, They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing, Psal. xcii. 14.

(2.) When we retain our natural abilities, and that strength and vigour of mind, which we have formerly had. This some are deprived of, through the infirmities of old age; whereby they may be said to out-live themselves. It was a peculiar blessing, which God granted to Moses; concerning whom it is said, that he was an hundred and twenty years old when he died; and yet his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, Deut. xxxiv. 7.

(3.) Old age is a blessing, when our usefulness to others, in our day and generation, is continued. Thus Joshua died an old man; but it was a peculiar blessing that he was useful to the end; for in the very close of his life he made a covenant with the people in Shechem, Josh. xxiv. 25. compared with 29. and laid strict commands on them, to behave themselves towards God, as they ought to do.