treated our inferiors with haughtiness and severity ! Even our natural parents we have by no means honoured as we ought, nor sustained any relation in life as God has required us to do. In all these re- spects therefore we have sinned before God, and " treasured up wrath for ourselves against the day of wrath."
Thus far many will readily acknowledge themselves guilty. But so ignorant are mankind in general of the spirituality and extent of God's law, that they account themselves blameless with respect to all the other commandments : if they have not literally, and in the grossest sense, committed murder, adultery, theft, or perjury, they have no conception how they can have transgressed the laws which forbid these things. But let us calmly and dispassionately exa- mine this matter ; bearing this in mind, that it is our interest to know our sins; because by knowing them, we shall be stirred up to seek the forgiveness of them through the Saviour's blood ; whereas, if we remain ignorant of our sins, we shall not feel our need of a Saviour, and shall consequently die without an in- terest in him.
The sixth commandment then respects our own and our neighbour's life; "Thou shalt do no mur- der." We take for {minted that none of us have imbrued our hands in human blood : yet this by no means exempts us from the charge of murder. Our Lord, in that justly admired Sermon on the Mount, has given us the clew, whereby we may be led to a true exposition of this and of all the other command- ments ; " Ye have heard," says he, " that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment ; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." By this comment of our Lord's, we are assured that causeless anger and passion are esteemed