And this ny they could fear here on Earth. is the meaning of the Commination in the Text, Whosoever, &c. From the Words thus explained, arise these following Truths: : I. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices. II. Murder is a Crime, which the Magistrate must by no means fuffer to go unpunish'd. III. Wrath and Anger without a just Cause, hath its degrees, and acccording to the degrees of the Sin, the Punishment in the next World will be proportionable. 1. Antiquity is no warrant for erroneous Doctrines and Practices. The Scribes and Pharisees here pretended, that what they taught and practis'd concerning the sixth Commandment, was deliver'd to them by them of old Time. But our Saviour shews that this pretence could be of no use to them, but rather betray'd than cover'd their Nakedness. Error pleads Antiquity as well as Truth, and though nothing be more antient than Truth, for it is from Eternity, and before ever Error appear'd in the World, Truth had the universal Monarchy, yet Error is as ancient as the Fall. As soon as the Apoftate Angels forsook their Habitationand Integrity together, Error began to shew it self, which foon spread it self through the habitable World; : World; when Man, tempted by the Devil, consented to his falfe Principles, and went astray from the center of his Happiness. No doubt, Antiquity is venerable, but it must be in a good Cause, and where Truth and that join together, the Argument is perswasive, and may be call'd invincible. But a thing is not therefore true because it is antient, nor doth it command Assent, because of its uncommon Pedigree. Sin and Error lose little of their Deformity by appealing to antient Times, and an Error is so much the worse, by how much it defends it self by the Practice of former Ages. Idolatry, and all the Vices in the World, may shelter themselves under this Roof; and there is no Villany so great, but Men may find a Prefident two or three thousand Years ago. The Priests of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, called the Wicker-image of that Goddess Θεοπετής, fallen down from Jupiter, meerly because it was antient; and the Temple having been seven times ruin'd, and built up again, and this Image still preserved, was to them an Argument that this Worship must be lawful. Indeed, at this rate, a Man might e ven defend Sodomy with the Romish Archbishop Joannes Casa, because it was practised in the Cities which God destroyed with Fire and Brimstone, and the Jews would have had a good Plea for their Adoration of the Queen of Heaven, because their Fathers had been used to it. This 68 This very Argument makes the Allegations of the Roman Church from Antiquity ridiculous, and they might as well espouse the Heresies of Ebian and Cerinthus, because they lived in and about the Age of the holy Apostles. When God hath given a Standard of Truth, that must be the Rule whereby Truth and Error must be concluded; and when that faith a thing is true, it is not its being revived, or taught but Yesterday, that can make it false; and whatever is contrary to that Form of found Words, must be Erroneous and False, though it were as old as the Rebellion of Corah, Dathan and Abiram. The Worship of Images is not therefore lawful, because Irene a fuperftitious Woman 900 Years ago, got a company of illiterate and passionate Men together, who decreed it in a Council; nor is Sedition and Disobedience to Magistrates therefore justifiable, because Gregory II. Pope of Rome, in the eighth Century, shook off the Authority of Leo Ifaurus, his Emperor. And therefore let none of you plead for any Sin because it is the fashion, nor allow themselves in Actions offensive to God's Holiness, because it hath been the Custom of the Country to do so for many Ages. This will be but a poor defence in the last Day to alledge, that you follow'd the finful Practices of your An cestors, or to say it was unmannerly to depart from that which was done before you for many Generations. To be sure, Men were good before they were bad, and there was a Golden Age before that of Iron took place 鍵 in the World; and therefore if Antiquity be a motive, nothing can challenge your Embra ces more than Righteousness, and dominion over your Appetite and Passions, for that was in the World before Mankind knew what it was to depart from the living God. Murder is as antient as the time of Cain; yet no civiliz'd Nation under the cope of Heaven will allow of it, because of its Antiquity: So far from it, that in all Countries it is or der'd to be punish'd with the Death of the infolent Creature: Which calls me to the II. Observation, That Murder is a Crime which a Magistrate must by no means suffer to go unpunished; for it hath been faid, Thou Shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment. The Substance of this hath been faid by Almighty God, as well as by them of old time; and so far as God háth faid it, it is a Law unalterable. Murder is a truly crying Sin, for the Voice of thy Brother's Blood crys unto me from the Ground, faith God; Gen. IV. 10, This is a, Crime which Nature it self trembles at; and yet we sée there are Wretches and Monsters, who can steel and harden their Consciences against the Horror ofit: But God thunders against it from Heaven; and because the Crime is so great, he hath made a Law, and given it to all Mankind That whoso sheds Mans Blood, by Man, i.e. by the Magistrates, shall his Blood be shed, Gent ix. 6. Nay, if a wild Beast tears a Man; who is going about his lawful Occasions, in pieces, though an irrational Creature, God will strike that F that Beaft dead, because it kill'd Sanctius his Animal, a nobler, and more facred Fabrick. So tender is God of the Life of Man, nor would he fuffer his Tabernacle or Sanctuary to be a refuge for fuch a barbarous Wretch. The Horns of the Altar could not fave the Offender, and from the very Temple he was to be dragg'd to the Gallows, or place of Execution. The whole Country comes to be defiled by the horrid Crime, where it goes unpunish'd; and that Magistrate makes his Soul black with Guilt, that connives at the inhumane Action; or out of respect to Greatness, or Rank, or Quality, pardons the intollerable Extravagance: Where this remains unpunish'd, when known, a Nation falls under the Curse of God; and whatever Judgments befal them, an Ounce of the unpunifh'd Murder, as the Jews say of the Sin of the Golden Calf, may be faid to be an Ingredient of their Calamity. We have a Distinction of our Law betwixt Mans-Slaughter and Murder; A Distinction, which I wish did not too often cover that Bloody Crime, which ought to be avenged by publick Justice. The Word of God knows no such Distinction; and tho' it provides for Chance-medly, and gives pardon to the Man that unawares, and without any intent to kill, proves the occasion of another's Death; yet this is nothing to the Act, which Wrath and Anger, whether sudden, or premeditate, doth produce to the Horror of the Creation, Neither |