bidden, there envy and rash anger are for- bidden, which may occasion it. ANHiere a- dulter)^ is forbidden in the commandment, there is forbidden all that may lead to it, — as wanton glances of the eye, — or com- ing into the company of an harlot, Prov. v. 8., " Come not nigh the door of her house;" he who would be free from the plague, must not come near the infected house. Under the law the Nazarite was forbidden to drink wine ; nor might he eat grapes of which the wine was made.
Rule 4. In relatio subintellif/itur correla- tum, — where one relation is named in the commandment, there another relation is in- cluded. Where the child is named, there the father is included; where there is the duty of children to parents mentioned, there is included also the duty of parents to chil- dren ; where the child is commanded to honour the parent, there is implied that the parent is also commanded to instruct, to love, to provide for the child.
Rule 5. Where greater sins are forbid- den, there lesser sins are also forbidden. Though no sin in its own nature is little, yet comparatively one may be less than an- other : where idolatry is forbidden, there is forbidden superstition, or bringing any inno- vation into God's worship, which he hath not appointed. As the sons of Aaron were for- bidden to worship an idol, so to sacrifice to God with strange fire. Lev. x. 1. Mixture in sacred things, is like a dash in the wine, which though it gives a colour, yet doth but debase and adulterate it. It is highly provoking ♦^ God to bring any superstitious ceremony uiIj his worship which he hath not prescribed; it is to tax God's wisdom, as if he were not wise enough to appoint the manner how he will be served.
Rule 6. The law of God is copulative. I^x est copulativn. The first and second tables are knit together, — jjiety to God, and equity to our neighbour, these two tables which (iod hath joined together must not be ])ut asunder. Try a moral man by the duties of the first table, — piety to God, — and there you will fiiul him negligent; try an hypocrite by the duties of the second table, — equity to his neighbour, — and there you will find him tardy. He who is strict in the second table but neglects the first.
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or he who is zealous in the first tabic, but iien^lccts the second, his heart is not right with God. The Pharisees were the hijrhe^it pretenders to the first table, zeal and holi- ness ; but Christ detects their hypocrisy. Mat. xxiii. 23., " Ye have omitted judg- ment, mcrcv and faith." Thcv were bad in the second table ; they omitted judgment, that was, being just in their dealing ; mer- cy, in relieWng the poor ; and faith, that is faithfulness in their promises and contracts with men. God wrote both the tables, and our obedience must set a seal to both.
7?///^ 7. God's law forbids not only the acting of sin in our own persons, but being accessory to, or having any hand in the sins of others.
Quest. Hotc and in what sense may ice be said to partake of, and have an hand in the sins of others ?
Ans. 1. By decreeing unrighteous de- crees, and imposing on others that which is unlawful. Jeroboam made the people of Israel to sin ; he was accessory to their idolatry, by setting up golden calves : so David though he did not in his own person kill Uriah, yet because he wrote a letter to Joab, to set Uriah in the fore-front of the battle, and it was- done by his command, therefore he was accessory to Uriah's death, and the murder of him was laid to David's charge by the prophet, 2 Sam. xii. 9., " Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword."
A. 2. We become accessory to the sins of others by not hindering them when it is in our power, Q^ui non prohibit cum /K>test, Judtt. If a master of a family see his ser- vant break the sabbath, or hear him swear, and let him alone, doth not use the power he hath to suppress him, he becomes acces- sory to his sin. Eli, for not punishing his sons when they made the ofiering of the Lord to be abhorred, made himself guilty, 1 Sam. iii. 14. He that suffers an offender to p;iss unpunished, makes himself an offender.
A. 3. By counselling, abetting, or pro- voking others to sin. Ahithophel made himself guilty of the fact, by giving coun- sel to Absalom to go in and defile his fa- ther's concubines, 2 Sam. xvi. 21. He who shall tempt or solicit another to be drunk though himself be sober, yet being the oc-
casion of another's sin, he is accessory to it, Hah. ii. 15., " Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him."