A. It is their duty, (1.) To be faithful in all things committed to their charge ; Tit. ii. 10. Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity, <^c. (2.) To honour them in all respectful words and carriages ; 1 Tim. vi. 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honour, ^c. (5.) To bear patiently their rebukes; 1 Pet. ii. 18, 19. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear ; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thank-worthy, if a man for con- science toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
Q. 13. AVhat is the first duty of masters to their servants .''
A. The first duty is to rule over them with gentleness, and not with terror and rigour; Eph. vi. 9- And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening : Knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.
Q. 14. What is the second duty of masters to their servants ?
A. To pay them their wages fully, and without delay ; Deut. xxiv. 14, 15. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it ; lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. And to provide food for them convenient ; Prov. xxvii. 27. And thou shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for maintenance for thy maidens.
Q. 15. What is the third duty of masters to their servants ?
A. The third and principal duty is, to engage them as much as in them lies, to the ways of God, and duties of religion, as Abraham ' did ; Gen. xviii. 19. For I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, &c. And Joshua, Josh. xxiv. 15. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Of the sixth Commandment.
Quest. 67. TT HIGH is the sixth commandment.^ A. The sixth commcmdment i^ [Thou shalt not kill]
2i2 AN EXPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY'S CATECHISM.
Quest. 68. What is required in the sixth commandment ? A. The sixth commandment requirefh all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
Quest. 69. What is iorbidden in the sixth commandment ? A. The sixth commandment fhrbiddeth the talcing away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or wkatsoever tendeth thereunto.
Q. 1. What is the natural order of these commandments in the second table ?
A. In these commands God begins with the nearest concern of man, which is life ; Job ii. 4. — Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life. Next to that his command guards his nearest relative, from whom the best outward comfort is to rise, his wife : Mark x. 8. And they twain shall be one flesh, &c. After that his good name, which is very precious to him ; Eccl. vii. 1. A good name is better than precious ointment. And then his goods, which support his life; Isa. iii. 1. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the stafl", the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. Q. 2. How far doth this commandment extend itself.'* A. It prohibits all cruelty, and commands all help, care, and pity, so far as men's hearts and hands can go, for the relief and preservation of others; Ps. cxix. 96. — But thy commandment is exceeding broad. Q. 3. Doth this command respect only the outward action, or also the inward passion of the soul ?
A. It respects and bridles the inward passion of the soul, as well as outv.ard actions ; as hatred, 1 John iii. 15. Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer, &c. And causeless anger ; Matth. v. 22. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother with- out a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, &c.
Q. 4. Doth this command only respect the lives of others ? A. No ; it primarily respects our own lives, and forbids us all things tliat tend to the shortening and ruin of them ; Eph. v. 29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cher- isheth it, even as the Lord doth the church.
Q. 5. How many ways may men sin against this command, with respect to their own lives.
A. A man sinneth against his own life, not only by destroying himself, as the jailor would have done; Acts xvi. 27. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled ; but by refusing food or physic to preserve life, or macerating our bodies with excessive sor- rows; 2 Cor. vii. 10. But the sorrow of the world worketh
death. Or envy at others felicity ; Prov. xiv. 30. — But envy, the rottenness of the bones.
Q. 9. How are men guilty of murder with respect to others ?
AN EXPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY'S CATECHISM. S45
A. Murder, witli respect to others, may be either with relation to their bodies; Numb. xxxv. 30. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death, &c. Or to their souls, which is the most heinous murder in the world ; Ezek. iii. 18. When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life : the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Q. 7. Is all destruction of another's life murder in the account of God?
A, No ; It is not, if the life of a person be taken away in the course of justice ; Gen. ix. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Or, in a just and necessary war; Judg. v. 23. Curse ye Meroz, (said the angel of the Lord) curse ye bitterly the inhabit- ants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Or by pure accident ; Deut. xix. 5. As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die, he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live. Or in self-defence ; Exod. xxii. 2. If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
Q. 8. Is there no other way of breaking this command ?