Chapter 24. Of the Fifth Commandment.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 24. Of the Fifth Commandment.
Up to here we have spoken of the commandments of the first tablet. Now follows the second tablet, which concerns the love of our neighbor. Rom 13.9, You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying: namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Our neighbor is everyone who is of our own flesh.
Isa 58.7, When you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh.
The manner of love is to so love our neighbor as ourselves; namely, truly and sincerely — when contrarily, the manner of loving God, is to love God without measure.
The second tablet contains five Commandments, of which the first (and in the order of the ten commandments, the fifth) concerns the preservation of the dignity and excellency of our neighbor. The words are these:
Honour your father and your mother, that they may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
The Resolution [Honour] This word, by a figure, signifies all that duty by which our neighbor's dignity is preserved, but especially our superiors. This dignity proceeds from this: that every man bears in him some part of the image of God, if we respect the outward order and decency which is observed in the Church and commonwealth. In the Magistrate, there is a certain image of the power and glory of God. Dan 2.37, O King, you are a King of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. This is why Magistrates are called gods, Psa 82.1.
In an old man is the similitude of the eternity of God; in a father, the likeness of His fatherhood. Mat 23.9, And call no man on earth your father; for there is but one, your
Father who is in heaven. In a man is the image of God's providence and authority. 1Cor 11.7, For a man should not cover his head, because he is the image of the glory of God; but the woman is the glory of her husband.
Finally, in a learned man is the likeness of the knowledge and wisdom of God. Now, therefore, that person in whom appears even the least title of the image of God, is to be honored and reverenced.
[Your father] By a figure, we must here understand it to mean all those who are our superiors, such as Parents, and those of our kindred or alliance, who are in the place of Parents to us: Magistrates, Ministers, our Elders, and those who excel in any gifts whatsoever. The kings of Gerar were called Abimelech, my father the king, Gen 20.2.
Gen 45.8, God has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord over all his house. 1Cor 4.15, For though you have ten thousand administrators in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you. 2Kng
5.13, But his servants came, and spoke to him, and said, 'Father, if the Prophet had commanded you a great thing, would you not have done it?' 2Kng 2.12,
WILLIAM PERKINS
And Elisha saw it, and he cried, 'My father, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen.'
[And your mother] This is added lest we despise our mothers because of their infirmities. Pro 23.22, Obey your father who has begotten you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Here we are to put in mind to perform due honour to our stepmothers and fathers-in-law, as if they were our proper and natural parents. Ruth 3.1, 5, Afterward
Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that you may prosper? And she answered her, All that you bid me, I will do. Exo
18.17, But Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing you do is not good. Verse 19, Hear now my voice; I will give you counsel, and God shall be with you. Verse 24
So Moses obeyed the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. Mic 7.6, For the son reviles the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
[That they may prolong] Parents are said to prolong the lives of their children, because they are God's instruments by which their children's lives are prolonged. For often the name of the action is attributed to the instrument by which the action is done. Luk 16.9, Make friends with the riches of iniquity, that when you lack, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 1Tim 4.16, For in doing so, you will save both yourself, and those who hear you.
But parents do prolong the lives of their children in commanding them to walk in the ways of the Lord, by exercising justice and judgment, Gen 18.19. For in becoming godly, they have the promise both of this life, and the life to come, 1Tim 4.8.
Furthermore, they effect the same thing by their prayers made in behalf of their children. By this, it plainly appears that the usual custom of children saluting
their parents, to ask them for their blessing, is no light or vain thing.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
Moreover in these words, is the reason that moves us to the obedience of this commandment; it is drawn from the end, which is also a promise, and a special promise at that. Eph 6.2, Honour your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise
(I say, special promise), because the promise of the second commandment is general; it belongs to all the rest of the commandments.
For God does not promise long life absolutely, but only in so far as it is a blessing. Eph 6.3, That it may be well with you, and that you may live long on earth. For we must think that long life is not always a blessing, but that sometimes it is better to die than to live. Isa
57.1, The righteous perishes, and no man considers it in heart; and merciful men are taken away, and no man understands that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
But if at any time the Lord gives a short life to obedient children, He rewards them again with eternal life in heaven; and so the promise does not fail, but changes for the better.
The Affirmative Part Preserve the dignity of your neighbor. Under this part is commanded:
First, reverence towards all our superiors. The actions of this are, • To reverently rise up before any man who passes by us. Lev 19.32, Rise up before the hoary head
[grey-haired], and honour the person [presence] of an old man, and dread your God. I am the Lord.
• To meet someone who comes towards us. Gen 18.2, And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door. 1Kng 2.19, When
Bathsheba came to speak to king Solomon, the king rose to meet her, and bowed himself to her.
WILLIAM PERKINS
• To bend the knee. Mar 10.17, And when he had gone out on the way, someone came running, and kneeled to him. Gen 18.2, He ran to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground.
• To stand by those who sit down. Gen 18.8, And he took butter and milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them, and stood by them under the tree, and they ate. Exo 18.13, Now, on the morrow, when Moses sat to judge the people, the people stood about Moses from morning to evening.
• To give the chief seat. 1Kng 2.19, And he sat down on his throne, and he had a seat [throne] set for the king's mother, and she sat down at his right hand.
Luk 14.7-9, He also spoke a parable to the guests, when he marked how they chose the chief places, and said to them, 'When you are bid [invited] by any man to a wedding, do not set yourself down in the highest place, lest a more honorable man than you is bid by him; and the one who bid both him and you, comes and says to you, Give this man [your] place, and you then begin with shame to take the lowest place.' Gen 43.33, So they sat before him, the eldest according to his age, and youngest according to his youth, and the men marvelled among themselves.
• To let our Superiors speak before us. Job 32.6, 7, 17.
• To keep silence in courts and judgment places, until we are bid to speak. Act 24.10, Then Paul, after the Governor had beckoned to him that he should speak, answered.
• To give them their right and just titles, that declare our reverence when we speak to them. 1Pet 3.6, As Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord, whose daughters you are while you do good. Mar 10.17,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may possess eternal life? Verse 20, Then he answered and said to him, Master, all these things I have observed from my youth. 1Sam 1.14-15, And Eli said to her, How
A GOLDEN CHAIN
long will you be drunk? Put away your drunkenness from you. Then Hannah answered and said, But no, my Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink.
Secondly, towards those who are our superiors in authority — First, obedience to their commandments. Rom 13.1,
Let every soul be subject to the higher power.
We are to be admonished to obedience — because every higher power is the ordinance of God, and the obedience which we perform to him, God accepts as though it were done to Himself and to Christ. Rom 13.2,
Whoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God; and those who resist shall receive judgment to themselves. Col 3.23-24, And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to them, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Obedience is to be performed to our superiors with diligence and faithfulness. Gen 24.2, Abraham said to his eldest servant of his house, who had the rule over all that he had, Now put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord God of heaven, and God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell.
Verse 10, So the servant took ten camels of his master and departed. Verse 12, And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I beseech You, send me good speed this day, and show mercy to my master Abraham. Verse
33, Afterward the food was set before him; but he said, I will not eat until I have said my message. And Laban said, Speak on. Verse 56, But he said, Do not hinder me, seeing that the Lord has prospered my journey.
Send me away that I may go to my master. Gen 31.38-40, This twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and your goats have not cast [miscarried] their young, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Whatever was torn by beasts, I did not bring to you, but made it good myself. You required it of my hand, if it were stolen by day, or stolen by night. I was consumed with heat in the day, and with frost in the night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.
Furthermore, we must yield obedience to our Superiors, even if they are cruel and wicked, but not in wickedness. 1Pet 2.18, Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and courteous, but also to the froward [evil and difficult].
Act 4.19, Whether it is right in the sight of God, to obey you rather than God, you judge.
Subjection in suffering the punishments inflicted by our Superiors. Gen 16.6, Then Abraham said to Sarai,
Behold, your maid is in your hand; do with her as it pleases you. Then Sarai dealt roughly with her; for which she fled from her. Verse 9, Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your dame [mistress], and humble yourself under her hands.
And even if the punishment is unjust, yet we must suffer it until we can get some lawful remedy for it.
1Pet 2.19-20, For it is thankworthy if a man, out of conscience toward God, endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what praise is it if, when you are buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? But if when you do good, you suffer wrong and take it patiently, this is acceptable to God.
Thankfulness in our prayers for them. 1Tim 2.1-2, I exhort you therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all those who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty. 1Tim 5.17, Elders who rule well are worthy of double honor. Gen 45.9-11, Hasten and go up to my Father and tell him, thus says your son
Joseph: God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come down to me and do not tarry. And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen… Also, I will nourish you there — for
A GOLDEN CHAIN
five years of famine yet remain — lest you perish through poverty, you and your household, and all that you have.
Thirdly, towards those who excel us in gifts. Our duty is to acknowledge those gifts, and speak of them to their praise. 1Cor 12.22-23.
Fourthly, toward all our equals, to think reverently of them. Phi 2.3, Let nothing be done through contention or conceit; but in meekness of mind, let every man esteem others better than himself.
In giving honour to one before another, and not in receiving it. Eph 5.21, Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God. To salute one another with holy signs, by which may appear the love which we have toward one another in Christ.
1Pet 5.14, Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Rom 16.16, Salute one another with a holy kiss. Exo 18.7, And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed, and kissed him. Ruth 2.4, And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you.
Fifthly, the duties of all Superiors towards their inferiors is to, • yield to them in good matters, as to their brethren.
Deu 17.20, That his heart not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he not turn from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left. Job
31.13, If I despised the judgment of my servant, and of my maid...
2Kng 5.13, And his servant came and spoke to him, and said… Verse 14, Then he went down and washed himself seven times in the Jordan, etc.
• to shine before their inferiors by an example of a blameless life. Tit 2.2, That the elder men be sober, honest, discreet, sound in the faith, in love, and in patience. Tit 2.3, the older women likewise, that they be in such behaviour as becomes holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, but teachers of
WILLIAM PERKINS
honest things. 1Pet 5.3, Not as though you were Lords over God's heritage, but that you may be example to the flock; Phi 4.9.
• To show gratuity joined with dignity, by their countenance, gesture, deeds, and words. Titus 2.4-7.
Job 29.8, The young men saw me and hid themselves; the aged arose and stood up.
Sixthly, towards inferiors in obedience; that is, toward their subjects.
To rule them in the Lord, that they do not offend.
1Pet 2.13-14, Submit yourselves to all manner of ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether it be to kings as to superiors, or unto governors, as to those who are sent by the king, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of those who do well.
Deu 17.19, And it shall be with him (namely, the book of the law), and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep all the words of this law, and those ordinances, to do them. Col 4.1, You masters do unto your servants, what is just and equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
To provide those things which will be to the good of their subjects, whether they belong to the body or to the soul. Rom 13.4, For he is minister of God for your wealth. Isa 49.23, And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and queens shall be your nurses. Psa
132.1-5, Lord, remember David with all his troubles, who swore to the Lord, and vowed to the mighty God of Jacob, saying, I will not enter into the tabernacle of my house, nor come upon my pallet or bed, nor allow my eyes to sleep, not my eye lids to slumber, until I find a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
To punish their faults, the lighter by rebuking, the greater by correction; that is, by inflicting real or bodily punishment. There is a holy manner of punishing the guilty, for which these are required:
I. After diligent and wise examination is had, to be assured of the crime committed.
II. To show out of God's word, the offense of the sin, so that the conscience of the offender may be touched.
III. It is convenient to defer or omit the punishment, if thereby any hope of amendment may appear. Ecc
7.21-22, Also, do not give your heart to all the words that men speak, lest you hear your servant cursing you.
For oftentimes also your heart knows that you likewise have cursed others. 1Sam 10.27, But the wicked men said, How will he [Saul] save us? For they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his tongue.
IV. To inflict deserved punishment, not in his own name, but in God's name, adding it holily and reverently. Jos 7.19-20, Then Joshua said to Achan, My son, I beseech you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and confess to Him, and show me now what you have done; do not hide it from me. And Achan answered and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. Verse 25, And Joshua said, in as much as you have troubled us, the Lord shall trouble you this day. And all Israel threw stones at him, and burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.
V. And lastly, when you punish, aim at this one thing only: that the evil may be purged and amended, and that the offender, by sorrowing for his sin, may unfeignedly repent of it. Pro 20.30, The blueness
[bruise] of the wound serves to purge the evil; and the stripes within the bowels of the belly.
Seventhly, and lastly, there is a certain duty of a man to be performed toward himself, which is that a man should preserve and maintain with modesty, the dignity and worthiness which is inherent in his own
WILLIAM PERKINS
person. Phi 4.8, Furthermore, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things pertain to love, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, or if there is any praise, think on these things.
The Negative Part Do not diminish the excellency or dignity which is in the person of your neighbour. To this are referred these sins:
First, against our superiors.
I. Irreverent behaviour and contempt of them. The sins of this are:
• Deriding our superiors. Gen 9.22, And when Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, he told his two brothers outside. Pro 30.17,
The eye that mocks his father, and despises the instruction of his mother, let the ravens of the valley pick it out, and the young eagles eat it.
• To speak evil of, or revile our superiors. Exo 21.17, And he that curses his father or his mother, shall die the death.
II. Disobedience, by which we contemn their just commandments. Rom 1.30, Disobedient to parents.
1Tim 3.3, Not strikers, but gentle; no fighter. The sins of this are:
• To make marriage contracts without the counsel and consent of the parents. Gen 6.2, Then the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took wives of all that they liked. Gen 28.8-9,
And Esau, seeing that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac, Esau then went to Ishmael, and added to the wives he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabaioth, to be his wife.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
of servants. Col 3.22, Servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, in all things; not with eye-service, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart [sincerity], fearing God. Eph 6.6, Not with service to the eye, as men pleasers...
• The eye service • Answering back when they are reprehended. Tit 2.9, Let servants be subject to their masters, and please them in all things, not answering back.
• Deceitfulness and wasting their master's goods. Tit 2.10, Neither pikers,
but that they show all good faithfulness.
• To flee from the power of their superiors. Gen 16.6, Then Sarah dealt roughly with her, for which she fled from her.
• To resist the lawful authority of their Superiors, 1Pet 2.20.
• To obey them in unlawful things, Act 4.19.
• To extol themselves above their betters; this is the sin of Antichrist. 2Th 2.3-4, Which (man of sin) exalts himself against all that is called God.
• Lastly, the freedom of the Papists, by which they free children from the government of their parents, and subjects from the authority of their princes, so that they make if lawful for them to pretend and procure their [superior's] death. 1Sam 26.8-9, Then Abishai said to David, God has closed your enemy into your hand this day. Now, therefore, I ask you, let me strike him once with a spear, to the earth, and I will not strike him again. And David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him; for who can lay his hand the Lord's
Anointed and be guiltless?
III. Ingratitude, and lack of a loving affection, First, towards parents. Mat 15.5-6, But you say,
Whoever says to father or mother, By the gift that is
WILLIAM PERKINS
offered by me, you may profit, though he does not honour his father or mother, shall be free.
Also, 1Tim 5.4.
Secondly, we offend against our equals, in preferring ourselves above them, in talking or in sitting down.
Mat 20.20-21, Then the mother of Zebedee's children came to him with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said, What would you have? And she said to him, Grant that these, my two sons, may sit, the one at your right hand, and the other at your left hand in your kingdom. Verse 24,
And when the others heard this, they disdained the two brethren.
Thirdly, toward our inferiors.
Through negligence in governing them, and providing for their good estate. Hag 1.4, Is it time for yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house to lie waste? See Dan 3.28.
This condemns those mothers who put out their children to be nursed, having both sufficient strength and a store of milk themselves to nurse them. 1Tim 5.10, If she has nourished her children.
By excessive gentleness and leniency in correcting them. 1Kng 1.5-6, Then Adonijah, son of Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I will be king… And his father would not displease him from his childhood, to say, Why have you done so? 1Sam 2.22-25. So Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did to all
Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And he said to them, Why do you do such things? For I hear evil reports of you from all this people. Do no more, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear; namely, that you make the Lord's people trespass… Notwithstanding, they did not obey the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
By excessive cruelty and threatenings. Eph 6.4, And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath.
Verse 9, And you masters do the same things to them, putting away threatenings.
Lastly, a man offends against himself when, through his naughty behaviour,
he obscures and almost extinguishes those gifts which God has given him.
Mat 25.2 [the parable of the talents]. Or contrarily, when he is too wise in his own conceit. Rom 12.3,
For I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, that no man presume to understand [himself] above that which is fitting to understand.