Quest 63, 64, 65, 66 Of the fifth commandment, Quest 67, 68, 69 Of the sixth commandment,
An Exposition of the Assembly's Catechism. not with terror and rigour ; Eph. vi. y. And ye masters, do thesamethings unto them, forbearing threatening : Knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him..
Q14. 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 shait 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 fungodown 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 goats-milk enough for thy food, for the food of thyhoufhold, and for maintenance for thy maidens .
Q15 . 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 houshold 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.
Quest. 67.W not kill.] Of thefixthCommandment.
Hich is the sixth commandment ?
A. The sixth commandment is, [Thou shalt Quest. 68. What is required in the sixth commandment ?
A. The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
Quest. 69. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment ?
A. The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeththereunto.
2.1 . What is the natural order of these commandments in the second table ?
A. InthesecommandsGod begins with the nearest concern of man, which is life ; Job ii. 4.-Skin for skin, yea, all that am an 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 snall 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 ;
An Exposition of the Assembly's Catechism.
Ifa. iii. 1. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
2. How far doth this commandment extend itself ?
A. It prohibits all cruelty, and commands all help, care, and pity, fo far as mens hearts and hands can go, for the relief and preservation of others ; Psalm cxix. 96.-But thy commandment is exceeding broad.
2.3. 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 outward 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 without 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 that tend to the shortening and ruin of them ; Eph. v. 29. Fornoman ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord doth the church.
. 5. Howmanyways may men fin against this command, with respect to their own lives ?
A. Am an sinneth against his own life, notonlybydestroying himself, as the jailor would have done ; Acts xvi. 27. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his fsleep, 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 sorrows ; 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. 6. How are men guilty of murder with respect to others ?
A. Murder, with 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 accountofGod?
An Exposition of the Assembly's Catechism.
A. No; it is not, if the life ofaperfon betaken away in the course of justice ; Gen. ix. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man hall his blood be med.
Or, in a just and necessary war ; Judges.v. 23. Curse ye Meroz, (said the angel of the Lord) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants 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 am an goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head lippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die, he shall flee untoone of those ci . ties, 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 .
2. 8. Is there no other way of breaking this command ?
A. Yes, there is : Innocents may be murdered under the forms and folemnities both of justice and religion.
So Naboth was murdered by Jezebel ; 1 Kings xxi. 12, 13. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and fat before him :
And the men of Belial witnessed against him, even againstNaboth, in the presence of the people, saying. Naboth did blafphemeGodand the king. Then theycarriedhim forth out of the city, and sloned him with stones that he died.
And the martyrs by bloody Papists. And this strongly proves a day of judgment; Eccl. iii. 16, 17. And moreover, I saw under the fun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked : For there is a time there for every purpose, and for every work .
Q. 9. Areduels forbidden in this commandment ?
A. Yes, they are; for whatever point of honourbetouched, or whatever provocation be given, we are not to be our owa avengers ; Rom. xii. 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, &c.
Q.10. What is the first inference hence ?
A. That we have great cause to bless God for his protecting law, and for human laws grounded upon his law for the protection of our lives ; Rom. xiii. 4.
For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil..
Q11 . What is the second inference hence ?
A. That all that are guilty of this fin, have great cause to be humbled and afflicted: For it is a crying fin, Gen. iv. 10.