436 SERMONS UrON MARK X. 17-27. [SeR. IIL
not displeasing to him ; and therefore there can be no hurt in pressing men to these, yea, by the rewards propounded in the legal covenant. Therefore Christ might say, ' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the com- mandments ; ' the old legal proposal showing how valuable they are in their own nature, and the words being also capable of a gospel sense : Heb. xii. 14, ' Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which, no man shall see the Lord ; ' Eph. ii. 10, ' For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.'
Quest. 2. Why the commandments of the second table are only mentioned ? for since those duties which belong to the first table are more excellent, as concerning the worship of God, and they are more strict and inward, and therefore would seem to be fittest to bring the man to a sense of his condition, why doth Christ refer him to the second table ? I answer —
1. In these the pharisees conceived themselves to be most perfect, and yet these were a sufficient touchstone whereby to try and discover their unfruitfulness and their imperfection. Certainly if they be defec- tive here, there is no standing by the law. If a man cannot go, surely he cannot run ; if he cannot spell, surely he cannot read ; if men be defective in the duties of the second table, certainly they are not able to keep the law.
2. These are most plain and easy to be understood, and the sins com- mitted against them are most evident and apparent. The duties of the second table are of the lowest hemisphere, and wherein a man can do most if he can do anything ; these duties are more written in a man's heart than first table duties. Heathens were fe»ols in worship, as the apostle represents them, Kom. i. 22, ' Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.' Yet as to the duties of the second table, they were just, charitable, and temperate, and had a great command of their passions, though they were very sottish in their worship: for the benefit of human society God hath left second-table notions more clear upon man's heart.
3. In the externals of the first table the Jews seemed very zealous, but negligent they were of the second ; and herein they commonly fail who hypocritically make fair shows of devotion and outward respect to God in worship ; as Isa. i. 11, ' To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, saith the Lord ? I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats ; ' when they neglected judgment and justice. So Isa. Ixvi. 3, ' He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man ; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck ; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood ; he that burnetii incense, as if he blessed an idol.' So Micali vi. 7, 8, when they talked of ' rivers of oil, and thousands of rams,' the prophet tells them, ' He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ?' that they should make conscience of justice and equity in their deal- ings, and be merciful and charitable. Second-table duties are of greater value than outward ceremonies ; therefore, when Christ would convince such a man as this, he refers him to the second-table duties.
VeR. 19.] SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. 437
Quest. 3. "Why ju.^ aTroa-Tepjja-rjq, ' Defraud not,' and ' deprive not,' is put for the last commandment, ' Thou shalt not covet ? ' Certainly that is intended, as is evident to any that shall consider Christ's answer ; it fitly shows what kind of coveting is forbidden in the last command- ment, namely, such covetings as tend to another's loss. It is a question that hath exercised some how to state the sin forbidden and the duty enjoined in the law.
1. The sin forbidden is coveting, by which is not meant the whole corrupt inclination of our nature, for that is not forbidden in any one commandment but in the whole law ; nor all the first stirrings of that corruption neither, for a great part of them are opposite to religion, and they are forbidden in the first table ; nor all those stirrings of corrup- tion which tend to the loss and hurt of our neighbour, for when they proceed to a deliberate consent and purpose, they are forbidden in other commands, of not killing, not stealing, &c. But those first lustings by which the soul is urged to desire any good thing that is our neighbour's, though at first we have not a set purpose to get it by unlawful means, yet when we have a lusting desire of anything that may tend to our neighbour's loss, as Ahab had a lustful desire of Naboth's vineyard as a conveniency, though he promised to give him a better in the room of it, or to give him the worth of it in money ; he would have it upon a valuable consideration, by sale or exchange, 1 Kings xxi. 2. So here, an inordinate desire to have some good thing out of our neighbour's hand, that is the sin forbidden by * defraud not,' or ' deprive not,' when we would mend our own portion with the diminution of his.