Chapter 25. Of the Sixth Commandment.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 25. Of the Sixth Commandment.
You shall not kill.
The Resolution [Kill] The part is set here for the whole, by a synecdoche.
For killing signifies any kind of damage done to the person of our neighbor. The equity of this commandment appears by this: that man was created in the likeness of God. Gen 9.6, Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God has He made man. Again, all men are the same flesh. Isa 58.7, When you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide your face from your own flesh.
Neither should we be ignorant of this also, that it is unlawful for any private person, not called to that duty, to kill another; but a public officer may — that is, if he is warranted by a calling.
• Moses did so. Exo 2.12, And he looked round about, and when he saw no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. Act 7.25, For he supposed his brethren would have understood that God, by his hand, would give them deliverance.
• And Phinehas. Num 25.8, And he followed the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust them both through (to wit, the man of Israel and the woman) through her belly. So the plague ceased from the children of Israel. Verse 11, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, has turned My anger away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them.
Therefore, I have not consumed the children in my jealousy.
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• And Elijah. 1Kng 18.40, And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal; do not let a man of them escape. And they took them, and Elijah brought them to the brook of Kishon, and slew them there.
• And Soldiers in battles waged upon just causes. 2Chr 20.15, Fear not, neither be afraid of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God's.
The Negative Part You shall neither hurt, nor hinder, either your own, nor your neighbor's life.
The sins, then, that are referred to this part, are those which are committed against our neighbor, or ourselves.
Against our neighbor are the following:
I. In heart, such as,
Hatred against him. 1Joh 3.15, Whoever hates his brother, is a manslayer.
Unadvised anger. Mat 5.22, I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother unadvisedly, is in danger of judgment.
Envy. Rom 1.29, Full of envy, murder, contention.
If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not rejoice.
Lack of compassion and sorrow at our neighbor's calamities. Amos 5.5-6, They sing to the sound of the Viola, etc., but no man is sorry for the affliction of Joseph.
Frowardness, when we will not be reconciled to our neighbor. Rom 1.31, Those who can never be appeased, unmerciful.
Desire for revenge. Psa 5.6, The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
II. In words.
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Bitterness in speaking. Pro 12.18, There is one speaking words like the prickings of a sword, but the tongue of wise men is health.
Reproaches and railing, which is throwing a man's sins in his face,
which he has committed, or objecting to him some inherent infirmities. Mat 5.22,
Whoever says to his brother, Raca, shall be worthy to be punished by the counsel. And whoever says, Fool, shall be worthy to be punished with hellfire.
2Sam 6.16, As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw king David leap and dance before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. Verse 20, And Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David, and said, O how glorious was the King of Israel this day, who was uncovered today in the eyes of the maidens of his servants, as a fool uncovers himself.
Contentions, when two or more strive in speech with one another for any kind of superiority.
Brawlings in any conference.
Crying out, which is an unseemly elevation of the voice against one's adversary. Gal 5.19, The works of the flesh are manifest, which are, Verse 20, emulations,
wrath, contentions, seditions. Eph 4.31-32, Let all bitterness, and anger, and wrath, crying and evil-speaking, be put away from you, along with all maliciousness. Be courteous to one another. Gen 16.12, He (i.e., Ishmael) shall be a wild man, his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him.
Complaints to every one of those who offer us injuries. Jas 5.9, Do not grudge against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.
III. In countenance and gesture, all those signs which evidently decipher the malicious affections lurking in the heart. Gen 4.5-6, His countenance fell,
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and the Lord said to Cain, Why are you so angry? Mat 27.39, Those who passed by railed on him, shaking their heads.
This is why derision is termed persecution. Gen 21.9, Sarai saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian mocking, etc. Gal 4.29, The one who was born according to the flesh, persecuted the one who was born according to the spirit.
IV. In deeds.
To fight with, or to beat up our neighbour, and to maim his body. Lev 24.19-20, If any man causes any blemish in his neighbour, as he has done, so shall it be done to him, breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
To procure in any way the death of our neighbour, whether by the sword, famine, or poison. Gen 4.8,
Cain rose up against his brother, and slew him.
To exercise tyrannous cruelty in inflicting punishments. Deu 25.3, Forty stripes shall he cause him to have, and not past, lest if he exceeds, and beats him above that with many stripes, your brother should appear despised in your sight. 2Cor 11.24,
From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes less one.
To use any of God's creatures harshly. Pro 12.10, A righteous man regards the life of his beast, but the mercies of the wicked are cruel. Deu 22.6-7, If you find a bird's nest in the way, in any tree or on the ground, whether they are young, or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young, but shall in any wise let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that you may prosper and prolong your days.
To take occasion by our neighbour's infirmities, to use him discourteously, and to make him our laughing stock, or taunting recreation. Lev 19.14,
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You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind. 2Kng 2.23, Little children came out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Come up you baldhead, come up you baldhead.
To injure the impotent, feeble, poor, strangers, fatherless, or widows. Exo 22.21-22, You shall not do injury to a stranger, nor oppress him. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not trouble any widow or fatherless child. Verse 25, You shall not be a usurer to the poor.
We then injure these:
If we do not pay the labourer his wages. Deu 24.14-15, You shall not oppress a hired servant who is needy and poor, nor any of your brethren, nor any stranger within your gates. You shall give him his wages for his day — nor shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor and sustains his life with it — lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
If you do not restore the pledge of the poor. Exo 22.26-27, If you take your neighbour's raiment
[cloak] as a pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only garment, and his covering for his skin.
If we withhold corn from the poor. Pro 11.26, He that withholds the corn, the people will curse him. But blessing shall be upon the head of him that sells corn.
Again, this law is transgressed as well by not killing, when the law charges us to kill; and by pardoning the punishment due for murder, as it is by killing when we should not. Num 35.16, If someone strikes another with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall die the death. Verse 33, The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
By this place also, hand to hand combats of two men, for deciding controversies, are utterly unlawful.
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Because they are not equal means ordained by God to determine controversies.
In that it occurs in such combats, that one is a conqueror before man, who indeed is guilty before God.
This also condemns Popish sanctuaries, and places of privilege — such as churches and the like — in which murderers shelter and shroud themselves from the danger of the law. For God expressly commands (Exo
21.14) that such a one shall be taken from His altar, that he may die. And Joab, 1Kng 2.28-29, touching the horns of the altar, was slain in the temple.
To this likewise belong those things which concern the soul of our neighbor.
To be a scandal or offence to the soul of our neighbour, either in life or doctrine. Mat 18.7, Woe be to the world because of offences. It is necessary that offences should come, but woe be to those by whom they come.
To present occasions for strife and discord. We then do this,
When we cannot be brought to remit something of our own right.
When we return snappish and crooked answers.
When we interpret everything amiss, and take them in the worst part.
1Sam 25.25, Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. 2Sam 10.3-4, And the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their Lord, Do you think that David honours your father, that he has sent comforters to you? Has not David rather sent his servants to you, to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?
Therefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off half their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.
WILLIAM PERKINS
The Ministers sin against their neighbours in this: not preaching the word of God to their charge, that they might thereby be instructed in the ways of life.
Pro 29.18, Where there is no vision, the people decay; but he that keeps the Law is blessed. Isa
56.10-11, Their watchmen are all blind; they have no knowledge; they are all mute dogs that cannot bark; they lie down and sleep, and delight in sleeping. And these greedy dogs can never have enough. And these shepherds they cannot understand; for they all look to their own way, every one for his own advantage, and for his own purpose. Eze 3.18, When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you do not warn him, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hands.
And not only not to preach at all, but to preach negligently, is utterly condemned. Jer 48.10. Cursed be the one who does the work of the Lord negligently. Rev
3.16, Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, it will come to pass that I will spew you out of my mouth. This reproves the non-residency of ministers, which is the regular absence of the minister from his charge; namely, from that particular congregation committed to him.
Isa 62.6, I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who all day and night continually, shall not cease. You who are mindful of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He repairs, and till he sets up Jerusalem to the praise of the world.
Act 20.28-31, Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock of which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He has purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Moreover, men shall arise from yourselves, speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them. Therefore, watch and
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remember, that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
1Pet 5.2-3, Feed the flock of God, which depends on you, caring for it, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but from a ready mind; not as though you were lords over God's heritage, but that you may be examples to the flock. Eze 34.4, and 18.
The Council of Antioch, the 17th Canon. If any Bishop, by laying on of hands, is inducted into a charge, and appointed to govern a people, and he neglects to take upon himself that office, but delays to go to the congregation allotted to him, such a one shall be prohibited from the Lord's table till he is enforced to attend to that charge, or at least something is determined by a complete assembly of the Ministers of that province.
The Council of Sardis, the 14th Canon. We remember that our brethren in a former assembly decreed that if any layman remaining three Sabbaths or Lord's days — that is, three weeks in a city — did not in the same city frequent the Church assemblies, he should be excommunicated. If then, such things are not allowable in laymen, much less are they in Ministers, for whom it is neither lawful nor convenient, without urgent necessity, to be absent from his parish Church longer than the time mentioned above. To this decree there was not one non placet [dissent], but every one said, It likes us well.
The Council at Constantinople, in the 24th Canon, decreed that, Ministers should not have their substitutes, or vicars, but in their own persons, with fear and cheerfulness, perform all those duties which are required of them in the service of God.
The Canon Law concludes the same things, dist. 39
Canon, si quis vult debent indefinenter, etc. The Bishops who take upon themselves to feed God's flock, should not depart from their duty, lest they lose that excellent talent which God has bestowed on them, but
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rather strive with that one talent, to get three more talents.
And in the 80th Canon of those which are termed the Canons of the Apostles, there is an express mandate that those, whether Bishop or Senior, who do not attend to their office in the Church, shall quickly be removed from that position.
The Chalcedon Council, Canon 10, Let no man be ordained Minister of two Churches, in two separate cities, but let him remain in that to which he was first called. And if for vainglory, he afterward goes to a greater congregation, let him immediately be recalled to his first charge, and exercise his ministry in that only. But if one is called to another charge, let him simply surrender the former, and have no interest in it, etc. For this thing, look to the decree of Damasus, and the Council of Trent, sec. 7, Canon 8.
There are, notwithstanding the former testimonies, some cases in which it is permitted to the Minister that he may be absent: if by his absence the congregation is not damaged.
Sickness. The Council of Mentz, 25th Canon, If a Bishop is not at home, or is sick, or on some exigent, cannot be present at his parish, let him procure one who, on Sabbaths and festival days, will preach to his charge. Augustine testifies, epist. 138, that he was absent on like occasions.
Allowance of the Church, to be absent for a time on some necessary and public commodity for the same.
Col 1.7, Epaphras is their minister; but chap. 4.12, being absent he salutes them. And Ambrose, even though he was a Bishop of Milan, yet he went twice as Ambassador into France, to make an agreement between Maximus and Valentinian — Ambrose's 5th book, and 27th epistle to Valentinian the Emperor.
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If because of persecution he is forced to flee, and sees no hope to procure the safety of his people. This made Cyprian be absent from Carthage, as he testifies in his epistles.
This much concerning sins against our neighbour.
Now follow those sins which a man commits against his own person, as when a man hurts, kills, and endangers himself. Mat 16.24, If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Mat
4.6-7, He said to him, if you are the son of God, cast yourself down headlong; for it is written, He shall give
His angels charge over you, and with their hands they shall lift you up, lest at any time you should dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
Therefore, for a man to be his own executioner, even if to escape a most shameful death, is utterly unlawful and ungodly.
The Affirmative Part You shall preserve the life of your neighbour. To this we may refer these duties:
I. Those which pertain to the person of our neighbour, and concern, First, his welfare both of body and mind, such as, to rejoice with those who rejoice, Rom 12.15. Mar
10.20-21, Then he answered and said to him, All these things I have observed from my youth. And Jesus beheld him, and loved him.
Secondly, his miseries, to be grieved with him for them. Rom 12.15, Mourn with those who mourn. Isa
24.16, And I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe is me; the transgressors have offended; indeed, the transgressors have grievously offended. Psa 119.136,
My eyes gush out with water, because men do not observe Your law. Again, we must help him as much as it lies in us to do so. Job 29.15, I was like an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.
WILLIAM PERKINS
2Cor 8.3, According to their power, indeed beyond their power, they were willing. And what we do, we must do speedily. Pro 3.28, Do not say to your neighbour, Go and come back tomorrow, and I will give it to you, if you now have it. Lev 19.17, You shall plainly rebuke your neighbour, and not suffer him to sin.
Thirdly, concerning those injuries which he offers to you.
You shall not be angry with him upon a small occasion. Num 12.3, Moses was a meek man above all who lived upon the earth. Pro 19.11, The discretion of a man defers his anger, and his glory is to overlook an offense.
You must be slow to wrath, and never angry, but for a most just cause. Mar 3.5, Then he looked round about on them angrily, mourning also for the hardness of their hearts. Pro 14.29, He that is slow to wrath is of great wisdom; but he that is of a hasty mind exalts folly.
Your anger must be but for a while.
Forgive freely an injury, and do not revenge it. Eph 4.32, Be courteous to one another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake forgave you.
Fourthly, his wants and infirmities.
Avoid occasions by which they may be stirred and laid open. Gen 13.8-9, Then Abraham said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and mine. For we are brethren. Is the whole land not before you? Depart from me, I pray you. If you take the left hand, I will take the right; or if you go to the right, I will take the left. Gen 27.44-45, And tarry with him a while until your brother's fierceness is assuaged. And till your brother's wrath turns away from you, and he forgets the things which you have done to him.
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Depart sometimes from your own right. Mat 17.25-27, What do you think Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tribute, or poll money?
From their children, or from strangers? Peter said to him, from strangers. Then Jesus said to him, Then the children are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, and cast in an angle, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you have opened his mouth, you shall find a piece of twenty pence. Take that and give it to them for me and you.
To appease anger that is kindled; this is done,
By overcoming evil with goodness. Rom 12.21, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with goodness.
By following after peace. 1Pet 3.11, Decline from evil and do good; seek peace and follow after it.
By courteous answers. Pro 15.1, A soft answer puts away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. 1Sam
1.14-15, Eli said to her, How 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, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Phm 1.15, It may be that he therefore departed for a season, that you should receive him forever.
By overlooking some lacks and infirmities in men's words and deeds. Pro 19.11, It is a man's honour to overlook infirmities.
By covering them with silence. 1Pet 4.8, Above all things have fervent love among you, for love covers a multitude of sins. Pro 17.9, He that covers a transgression, seeks love; but he that repeats a matter, separates the Prince.
By taking everything (if possible) in the best light.
1Cor 13.5, Love thinks no evil.
WILLIAM PERKINS
This shows the lawfulness of truces, covenants, and other agreements concerning peace, being made to avoid injuries, maintain ancient bounds, procure security in traffic, possessions, and journeys, set pensions, commons for cattle, liberties of hunting, fishing, or fowling, and getting fuel, or other necessaries for public commodities, if there are no unlawful conditions annexed to them. And we may make this covenant not only with Christians, but for the maintenance of peace with infidels also. For that which is godly to be performed, is no less godly to be promised. But it is a note of true godliness to, as much as possible, be at peace with all men. Therefore, to promise peace by covenant, is very godly. We may see the experience of this in the lives of holy men.
Gen 21.22-27, At that same time, Abimelech and Phichol, his chief captain, spoke to Abraham saying,
God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now, therefore, swear to me here by God, that you will not hurt me, nor my children, nor my children's children, etc. 24 Then
Abraham said, I will swear. 27 Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and the two made a covenant. Gen 31.44, Now, therefore, come and let us make a covenant, I and you, which may be a witness between me and you. 51 Then Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and you. 53 The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor, and the god of their father be a judge between us. But Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.
II. Concerning your neighbour's body, we are to regard it both alive and dead.
Being alive, we ought, if necessary,
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To provide it food and clothing. Mat 25.41-42, Depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I thirsted, and you gave me no drink, etc. 45 In as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
To lend our helping hand when our neighbour's body is in any danger. 1Joh 3.16, Hereby we perceive love, that he laid down his life for us; therefore, we also should lay down our lives for the brethren.
When a man is dead, we ought to commit the dead corpse to the grave, as may appear by these arguments:
The instinct of Nature itself.
The examples of the Patriarchs and other holy personages. Abraham buried Sarah, Gen 23.19.
Jacob is buried by his sons, Gen 50.13, Steven is buried by religious and devout men, Act 8.2.
The Lord's own approval of burial, in that he numbers it among his benefits. For the lack of it is a curse. Jer 22.19, He (i.e., Jehoiakim) shall be buried as an ass is buried, even drawn and cast outside the gates of Jerusalem. Therefore, rather than have
Moses buried, the Lord himself buried him. Deu 34.5-6, Moses, the servant of the Lord, died in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-Peor, but no man knows of his sepulchre to this day.
The is no dead carcass so loathsome as man is, which both argues the necessity of burial, and how ugly we are in the sight of God, because of sin.
The body must rise again out of the earth, that it may be made a perpetual mansion house for the soul to dwell in.
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The bodies of the faithful are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and therefore must rise again to glory.
Burial is a testimony of the love and reverence we bear toward the deceased.
A funeral ought to be solemnized in an honest and civil manner; namely, agreeable to the nature and credit of those who remain alive, as well as those who are dead.
Concerning the living, they must see that,
Their mourning be moderate, and such that it may well express their affection and love for the party departed. Joh 11.34-36, He said, Where have you laid him? They answered, Lord, come and see. Then Jesus wept. And the Jews said, Behold how he loved him.
They must avoid superstition, and not surmise that funeral ceremonies are available to the dead. Such are the rites of the Church of Rome, as to be buried in a Church, especially under the altar, and in a Friars' cool [cellar].
They ought to beware of superfluous pomp and solemnities. For of all ostentations of pride, what is most foolish, is to be boasting of a loathsome and deformed corpse. Isa 22.15-16, Thus says the Lord
God of hosts, Go, get to that treasurer, to Shebnah the steward of the house, and say, What have you to do here? And whom do you have here? That you should hew out a sepulchre here, as one who hews out his sepulchre in a high place, or who graves a habitation for himself in a rock.
To this commandment belong these duties:
Before the vintage or harvest, we ought to permit any man, for repressing hunger, to gather grapes, or pluck off the ears of corn in the field. Deu 23.24-25,
When you come into your neighbour's vineyard, then you may eat grapes at your pleasure, as much as you will. But you shall put none in your vessel. When you come into your neighbour's corn, you may pluck the
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ears with your hand, but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbour's corn. Mat 12.1, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn, and his Disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears of the corn, and to eat, etc.
In the vintage and time of harvest, we should neither leave the trees naked of grapes, nor rake up ears of corn after the reaping; but ought to leave the after-gatherings for the poor. Lev 23.22, When reap the harvest of your land, you shall not rid clean the corners of your field where you reap. Nor shall you make an after-gathering of your harvest. But you shall leave them for the poor, and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. Ruth 2.8, Go to no other field to gather, nor go from here, but abide here by my maidens. Verse 17, So she gleaned in the field until evening.
III. Concerning the soul of our neighbour.
We must seek all means to win him to the profession of Christian religion. 1Cor 10.33, I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved. Heb 10.24, Let us consider one another, to provoke to love and to good works.
We must live among men without offence. 1Cor 10.32, Give no offence, either to the Jews, or to the Grecians, or to the church of God. 1Cor 8.13, If food offends my brother, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, that I may not offend my brother.
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The light of our good life must be as a lantern to direct the ways of our neighbours. Act 24.14-16, This
I confess to you, that according to the Way (which they call heresy), so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets. 15 And I have hope to God, that the resurrection of the dead, which they themselves also look for, shall be both of just and unjust. 16 And in this, I myself endeavour to always have a clear conscience toward God, and toward men.
If our neighbour offends, we are to admonish him.
1Th 5.14, We desire you, brethren, admonish those who are unruly; comfort the feeble-minded; bear with the weak; be patient towards all men.
If our neighbour runs in the ways of God's commandment (as David speaks), we ought to encourage him in that.
We may refer such things to this commandment, as pertain to the peculiar preservation of every individual man's life:
Recreation, which is an exercise joined with the fear of God, conversant in things indifferent, for the preservation of bodily strength, and confirmation of the mind in holiness. Ecc 2.2, I said of Laughter, you are mad; and of Joy, what is this that you do? Isa
5.12, The harp, viola, timbrel & pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider the works of His hands. 1Cor
10.7, Neither be idolaters, as were some of you. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Luk 6.25, Woe to you who laugh; for you shall wail and weep.
Deu 12.7, There you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, both you and your households, because the Lord your God has blessed you. To this end, the word of God has permitted,
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Medicine, the use of which is holy, if before receiving it, a man craves remission of his sins, and reposes his confidence only upon God, not upon the means.
Mat 9.2, And lo, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the one sick of the palsy, Son, be of good comfort; your sins are forgiven. 6 Then he said to the one sick of the palsy, Arise, take up your bed and walk to your house. Joh 5.5, A certain man was there, who had been diseased thirty-eight years. 8
Jesus said to him, Take up your bed and walk. 14
After that, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, you are made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you. 2Chr 16.12, And Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, and his disease was extreme. Yet he did not seek the Lord in his disease, but the physicians.
Self-defence: avoiding an injury intended by some private person. If it is against an unruly and unrestrained adversary, and the defense is faultless, this is very lawful, and is so far from a private revenge, that it is to be accounted a just defence.
The defence is then faultless, when a man so assaults his adversary, that he neither purposes his own revenge, nor his enemy's hurt, but only his own safety from that imminent danger.
A doubt: Whether a man may flee in times of plague?
Answer: Those who are hindered by their calling may not; such as Magistrates, and Pastors, having charge of souls. Yet free men who are not bound by their calling, may.
Reasons:
A man may provide for his own safety if it is not to the hindrance of another.
A man may flee wars, famines, floods, fire, and other such dangers: therefore the plague.
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There is less danger of sickness, the more the multitude of people is diminished.
Objection 1: To flee is a token of distrust.
Answer: This diffidence [lack of trust] is no fault of the fact, but of the person.
Objection 2: It is offensive.
Answer: The offence is given, not taken.
Objection 3: To flee is to forsake our neighbour against the rule of charity.
Answer: It is not, if kinsfolk and Magistrates are present.
Objection 4: Men are to visit the sick by God's appointment.
Answer: Lepers were excepted among the Jews; and so likewise are those, in these days, who are infected with a disease comparable to leprosy; namely, if it is dangerously contagious.