An explication of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, with reference to the catechism of the Church of England to which are premised by way of introduction several general discourses concerning God's both natural and positive laws / by Gabriel Towerson ...

PART VI.

Of reproachful Speeches, where is shewn from the Example of our Savi∣our and his Apostles, that all reproachful Speeches are not unlawful, as, from our Saviour's annexing the Prohibition of them to that of Anger, that such only are so as arise from the Anger by him con∣demned. The ground of their Prohibition here; their taking away that which is the life of Life it self, even Mens good Name, and not seldom tending towards, if not actually procuring the destruction of the other. The murther of the Soul to be reckoned to the present Pro∣hibition, as both properly enough such, and more pernicious than the other. This effected by tempting men to destructive courses, by giv∣ing then an ill Example, by Scandal, or forbearing of Reproofs. An address to the declaring of what sins are included in Self-murther, which are, The neglect of our health, The exposing our selves to unnecessary dangers, Intemperances and Debauches, Eating or Drink∣ing such things as are prejudicial to our health, Taking immoderate Cares, or using immoderate Labours or Studies; In fine, the neglect of such Remedies as Nature or Art have taught men for the removal of their Distempers. The conclusion of the whole with the criminal∣ness of Murther, in order whereunto is alledg'd Gods requiring the life of Man, even of Beasts, and the Athenians sitting in judgment upon that wall which should happen to be the destruction of it.

HAVING entreated at large in my last of the passion of Anger, and both shewn it to have a place in the present prohibition, and disco∣vered its Malady and its Cure; it remains that we address our selves to the consideration of reproachful language, as being alike reckon'd by our Saviour to it. For my more orderly explication whereof, I will enquire,

• 1. Whether all reproachful speaking be to be look'd upon as forbidden by him, or
• 2. If not, what reproachful speaking is, and
• 3. Lastly, How that which is forbidden by him, becomes a vi∣olation of this Commandment.

1. That all reproachful Speeches are not to be look'd upon as forbid∣den by our Saviour, the frequent use of those compellations in Scri∣pture which he expresly prescribes, may serve for an abundant evi∣dence. For did not our Saviour himself, than whom no man ever spake, either more calmly, or more considerately, did not he (I say) bestow the titles of Fools and blind upon those who accounted it some∣thing to swear by the gold of the Temple, but not so by the Temple that sanctified it? Mat. 23.17. As in like manner upon those who thought it of force to swear by the Gift, but of none at all by the Altar that sanctified it, vers. 19. of the same. Nay did he not even after his Resurrection, and when he may be suppos'd to have put off so much as their innocent infirmities, call his Disciples themselves fools, for not believing what the Prophets had spoken Luke? 24.15. But it will be said it may be, that our Saviour was an extraordinary person, and

so not obnoxious himself to those Rules which he prescribed to others. Yet certainly the like cannot be said for his Disciples, and much less for those upon whom his commands were immediately laid. Which notwithstanding, we shall find, that even these were not spa∣ring upon occasion of those reproachful compellations which were ex∣presly forbidden by their Master. I appeal for the proof hereof to that of St. James where he gives the title of Rakah or empty* 1.1 person to those who reli'd upon a naked Faith. For wilt thou know (saith he) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that Faith without Works is dead, chap. 2. 20. Nay I appeal to St. Paul who gives the Galatians the title of Fools, that much more reproachful term, and threatned with a severer penalty. For, O Foolish Galatians (saith he) who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Gal. 3.1. And again, vers. 3. Are ye so foolish and unreasonable, as having begun in the Spirit, to think to be made perfect by the Flesh? For though the Apostle doth not make use of the same word that our Saviour, or at least the Evangelist did, yet he useth one‖ 1.2 that is tantamount, if yet it be not more piquant than the other. Add hereunto, which are alike, or more contume∣lious, our Saviours calling the Scribes and Pharisees by the name of Hypocrites, and a generation of Vipers, as St. Peter by the name of Satan, his Apostle St. Paul's stiling Elymas a child of the Devil, and an enemy of all righteousness; all which, with the like expressions, shew plainly enough, that neither did the Master himself mean to adjudge all, call∣ing Rakah or Fool, to the danger of the Councel and Hell fire, nor those that were his Scholars understood him so. Forasmuch therefore as all reproachful speaking cannot be looked upon as forbidden, as hav∣ing been sometime used, both by our Saviour himself and his Apostles; proceed we to enquire what is to be look'd upon as such, the second thing proposed to be discoursed of.

2. For the resolution whereof, we shall need to go no farther than the words immediately preceeding the prohibition of it. For, for∣bidding not simply and absolutely that Anger from which reproach∣ful Speeches flow* 1.3, but such only as was either rash, or causeless, or immoderate, he must consequently be supposed to forbid no other re∣proachful speaking than which had such an Anger for its Parent. Which by the way will not only shew what reproachful speaking we are to understand, when we find our Saviour condemning it to the danger of the Council and of Hell-fire, and St. Paul‖ 1.4 excluding those that are guilty of it from the Society of Christians and Heaven, but with how little reason also the Examples of our Saviour and his Apostles are sometime alledg'd in patronage of our own excesses in this parti∣cular. For, beside that, our Saviour and his Apostles were publick Persons, and to whom therefore it appertain'd, as well to chastise Offenders with reproaches, as to execute other severities upon them; those reproaches of theirs were far from being the issue of that Anger which we have shewn to be forbidden by our Saviour. Not of a rash and precipitate one, because many of them let fall by them in their writings; but all of them when they were employ'd about Sacred matters, wherein it is hard to conceive but that they had their wits about them; Not of a causeless anger, because having some notorious crime for their ground* 1.5, or some opinion‖ 1.6 which was destructive of that Religion which our Saviour came to commend. Lastly, not of

an immoderate Anger, because at the same time giving no contempti∣ble testimonies of the love they bear to the reproached parties. Wit∣ness our Saviours admonishing the Pharisees in that very Chapter, where he calls them Fools, and Blind, and Hypocrites, and a Genera∣tion of Vipers, to cast off their hypocrisie, to* 1.7 cleanse the inside as well as the outside of the Platter; Witness St. John Baptist's calling upon the same Pharisees, and with the very same breath, he gives them the title of Generation of Vipers, to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance, Mat. 3.7, 8. Lastly, witness St. James and St. Paul's instructing those Fools they wrote to, to deposite those their distempers, and become wise unto God and unto Salvation. Which shews that their anger, and consequently reproachful speaking, was not without a mixture of kindness, or rather that it had that in part for the fountain of it. And indeed, as Origen* 1.8 sometime spake concerning God, that those whom he is not angry with when they sin, he is therefore not angry with them because he is extremely such, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; So may we of our Saviour and his Apostles: If they had not applyed those Goads of Racha and Fool to the dull and drowsie sinner, they had shew'd themselves much more displeased with them, because suffering them so to continue unmolested in those Errors and Impieties, which would have infallibly exposed them to the danger of the Council and of Hell fire. The result of the premi∣ses is this, that as there is not the least appearance of the lawfulness of those Reproaches, even to publick Persons, which are the issues of a rash, or causeless, or immoderate Anger, so there is far less appear∣ance of their being lawful to private Persons, who are generally to leave the chastising of Offenders to the other.

3. What reproachful Speeches are forbidden, you have seen already, even those which proceed from a rash, or causeless, or immoderate Anger; enquire we therefore in the next place, how those, which are so, become violations of this Commandment. Where not again to tell you, that they incline the Person against whom they are directed, to take up murtherous purposes against the Reviler, because, though that may be enough to reduce it to the Commandment, yet it makes ra∣ther the reviled, than Revilers the direct violatours of it, as neither to insist upon our Saviours making the prohibition of Rakah and Fool an Appendix to it, because that rather proves it to be a violation, than shews how it doth become so; I shall consider, 1. The nature of that good name which reproachful Speeches blast. For, though a Good Name be not the life of the possessour of it, yet is it so necessa∣ry to the well Being of it, that he, who endeavours to take it away, may be look'd upon as a Murderer for so doing; because robbing a man of that which is the life of life it self, and without which who∣soever is, is dead to all happiness, and to the world. Again, 2. Though the Sword of the reproachful person (I mean his reviling tongue) be not ordinarily of force enough to cut that knot which God and Na∣ture hath knit between the Soul and Body; yet as instances might be produc'd where it hath actually done it, and where men have died of no other wounds than what a malicious Tongue gave them; so, where it hath not that effect upon the reproached Party, it is rather for want of ability than will, so to wreck their fury upon the Enemy: It being not so much, because they are otherwise resolv'd, but because

they either cannot, or dare not shew their fury in effects, that they revenge themselves of their Enemies with their tongues. Whence it is, that no persons have been observ'd to be of more intemperate tongues than those of the Female Sex, or weak and pusillanimous men. The sequel of which discourse will be, that though the reviler be not always a Murtherer in fact, yet he is in heart, which is enough to bring him within the compass of the Commandment.

Of Murther, properly so called, and of the Sins included in it, what hath been said may suffice, and therefore I will supersede all farther consideration of it. But because the Scripture makes mention of ano∣ther Murther, even the murther of the Soul, by which, though it be not altogether depriv'd of Life, yet it is of the comforts of it, and thereby made much more miserable than if it were not at all, therefore it may not be amiss to enquire, whether that also have not a place in the prohibition, and how men become guilty of it.

Now there are two things which perswade the Murder whereof we speak to come within the compass of the prohibition now before us. 1. That what we call the murther of the Soul, is properly enough such, and 2. That it is a more pernicious one, than the other. That the Murther whereof we speak, is properly enough such, is evident, not only from the Scriptures giving that State the name of death into which this Murder brings men, but also from the very nature of it. For, as Murder properly so call'd, becomes such, not by the taking away of all Life; for the Soul, which is the chiefest part of Man, lives no less after that than before, but by the destruction of that natural Life, which he, from whom we take it, enioy'd as to the present World; so the murder of the Soul, as we commonly express it, though it introduce not a perfect insensibility, yet it despoils it of that spiri∣tual Life which it enioys in this present state, and which is more, of that also of which it is capable in the next. It is no less evident, Secondly, That, supposing what we speak of to be a Murder, it is a much more pernicious one than the other, because, as that Life which it takes away is a much better one than the other, so it draws after it an eternity of torment. Now, forasmuch as the Murder whereof we speak, is not only properly enough such, but a much more pernicious one than the other, it is easie to suppose, or rather impossible to suppose otherwise, than that he, who forbad the one, intended also the avoid∣ing of the other; especially having before shewn, that the Command∣ments, of which this is one, were intended as a summary of the whole Duty of Man. All therefore that remains to enquire into, upon this head, is, how men become guilty of it, which will require no very ac∣curate consideration to resolve.

For to say nothing of those who have the cure of Souls (though of all others the most obnoxious to it) partly, because they are not un∣der mine, and partly, because they are better able to inform them∣selves, I shall content my self at present with pointing out those ways whereby private persons may come to be guilty of it, which is

• 1. By prompting men to, or encouraging them in those sinful cours∣es which draw after them the destruction of the Soul: That which gave the Devil the title of a murderer from the begin∣ning (as he is called Joh. 8.44.) being no other, than that, as the story of Genesis informs us, he sollicited our first Parents

• to eat of that Fruit from which both their temporal and spi∣ritual Death ensu'd.
• 2. The same is to be said of giving an ill example, and thereby drawing other Men into the commission of the like Crimes: an evil Example not onely having the Nature of a Temptati∣on, but being also of greater force than any other; inasmuch as it doth more undiscernably instill its Poyson, and finds Men more ready to receive it: It being a known and undoubted Truth, that Men regard not so much what they ought, or what they are advis'd to, as what they see others do before them.
• 3. Add hereunto, because of near affinity with the other, the do∣ing any thing, how innocent soever, whereby our weak brother may be tempted to do the like against his own Conscience: Such as was, for example, the eating of Meats sacrificed to Idols, in the presence of those who were not so well inform'd of their Christian Liberty. For though, as St. Paul spake concerning it, 1 Cor. 8.4. there was no unlawfulness in the thing it self; and consequently therefore nothing in it, but the Conscience of the Idol to unhallow it: yet might the doing thereof by a strong Christian, be a temptation to a weak one to do the like, if not against, yet without a due assurance of his own Conscience: Which as St. Paul hath elsewhere* 1.9 pronounc'd to be damnable, and so destructive of that Soul which is guilty of it; so both there† 1.10, and here‖ 1.11, he chargeth the guilt of its destruction upon those who should so embolden it to offend.
• 4. And though the like care of other Men be not incumbent upon private Christians, as is upon those Persons whom God hath more particularly intrusted with the inspection of them; yet inasmuch as by the Laws both of Nature and Christianity, they are commanded to reprove an offending Brother, and not suffer sin to be upon him; he that shall suffer such a one to perish for want of a seasonable and just admonition, shall be so far charge∣able with his destruction, whom he did not endeavour to re∣claim.

What is meant by Thou shalt not kill, as that is to be understood of the killing another, hath been at large declar'd, together with the several Sins that are included in it: Nothing remains toward the com∣pleating of my Discourse, but to shew what Sins are included in the killing of our selves. Where,

1. First of all, I shall reckon the neglect of our Health, because a step to that Self-murther which is here forbidden. For, though that for the most part be look'd upon as an Imprudence, rather than any violation of the Commandments of our Maker; yet it is because Men consider not that there is a Duty owing by them to themselves, or rather unto God concerning them. They are (as I have before re∣mark'd) plac'd in this World by God; they are put into a capacity of, and enjoyn'd the serving of their Maker in it; and being so, are in reason to intend the performance of it, and (because that cannot otherwise be procur'd) to intend also the preservation of themselves: the neglect of that not onely making Men more unapt for it whilst they live, but cutting them off before their time.

2. To the neglect of our Health, subjoyn we the exposing our selves to unnecessary dangers, and where nothing but vain-glory, or the desire of filthy Lucre, prompts us to it: such as are many of those Dan∣gers which they who profess Feats of Activity, do without the least scruple involve themselves in. For, as it is rare for such Persons (to what Agility soever they may have attain'd) not to procure their own destruction in the end; so, many of the Dangers to which they expose themselves, are so imminent, that they must always be thought to run the hazard of their own destruction: Which, though it be not a Self-murther, yet is in a disposition to it, and consequently to be thought to be forbidden with the other: He who forbids any Action, at least with any severity, being in reason to be thought to forbid that which hath a natural tendency to it; because where that is not carefully avoided, it will be hard to avoid the other.

3. The same is to be said, and with far greater reason, of all great Intemperances and Debauches. For, beside that the intemperate Man, no less than the former, runs the hazard of his Life oftentimes, partly by that Quarrelsomness to which his Intemperances do incline him, and partly by that Stupidity and Insensibleness which he does thereby contract, his Intemperance doth of its own nature help to shorten his Life, and so make him more literally a Murtherer of himself: Wit∣ness the Consumptions, and other fatal Diseases, which such Persons do often fall into, through the meer force of their Intemperances and Debauches: Of which, as Death is sure to be the consequent, so it matters not much, as to the Crime of Self-murther, whether it hap∣pen sooner or later: He being no less truly a Murtherer who (after the manner of some Italians) gives a Poyson which shall not have its effect till after many Months, than he who gives one which shall kill within an Hour.

4. Add hereunto all eating or drinking such things as are prejudi∣cial to our Health, however not such either in themselves, or to other Men; and (which is not so often thought of) but ought equally to be consider'd, the taking of immoderate Cares, or using of immoderate Labours or Studies. For, beside the other Irregularities wherewith these things are commonly attended, they do all of them confer to the destruction of those by whom they are us'd, and consequently be∣come Violations of this Commandment. And I cannot but upon this occasion call to mind a Saying* 1.12 of a Venetian Gentleman to the fa∣mous Father Paul, with whom he had contracted a Religious Friend∣ship: For, observing that most excellent Person always confining him∣self to his Cell, and there wearing away himself with perpetual Stu∣dy, he ••••uck not to tell him in plain Terms (as he was never wont to speak to him in a Mask‖ 1.13, as the same Father Paul was wont to ex∣press it) That that unintermitted course of reading and writing was a kind of Intemperance, as was heretofore his Amorettes and Wan∣tonnesses. Here onely was the difference, that Opinion gave a Title of Lewdness to the one, but to the other Names of Honour. And indeed, as that more sober Intemperance shews a Man the Indulger of his Af∣fections, no less than they who addict themselves to more ignoble Plea∣sures; so it contributes alike to the shortning of our Lives, and con∣sequently to the violation of the Commandment. This onely would be added, That as there may be some Works of great importance to

Religion, which require a more than ordinary dispatch; so, if those whom God hath fitted with proportionable Abilities, shall shorten their Lives in the composing of them, as it is said of the Judicious Hooker, as to his Books of Ecclesiastical Politie, they shall be so far from being to be look'd upon as Felo's de se, that they ought to be had in the reputation of Martyrs.

5. There is but one Sin remaining of those that are included in Self murther, and that is, the neglect of such Remedies as Nature and Art have taught Men, for the removal of those Distempers into which we fall: He who honoureth not the Physician in such a Case, being a kind of Murtherer of himself, because neglecting those Remedies whereby he might be preserv'd. And though the Book of Ecclesia∣sticus be no Canonical one, nor as such represented by that Church whereof we are Members; yet I cannot forbear to say, that it con∣tains in it many Canonical Truths, and particularly, as to this matter whereof we are entreating. For, inasmuch as St. James tells us, Eve∣ry good and perfect gift is from above, what should hinder us from concluding, as that Author doth, that* 1.14 God hath created both the Medicine and him that prescribes it; that‖ 1.15 he hath given Men Skill, that both they and he may be honour'd in those happy Effects which it produceth, and† 1.16 those which stand in need of it, may be preserved by it? Care onely would be taken, as the same* 1.17 Wise-man adviseth, that we neglect not to seek unto God by ardent Prayer for our Reco∣very; to which I shall add, neither the imploring of theirs whom God hath appointed to mediate on our behalf; that we leave off from sin, and order our hands aright, and cleanse our heart from all wicked∣ness. For, as these are both the primary and most sovereign Remedies of our Distempers, because it is from God that both those Distem∣pers and the Redress thereof cometh; so, the neglect of them must therefore be look'd upon as the pulling of Death upon us with our own Hands, and (which is more to be dreaded) of Eternal Ruine.

Being now to put an end to my Discourse upon this Commandment, and those Sins which I have shewn it to forbid, Reason would that, since I cannot do the like for all, I should endeavour to stir up in you a just abhorrency of that Crime which this Commandment doth espe∣cially condemn. Now, though that might be competently procur'd by the repetition of those Arguments whereby I have before evinc'd the Criminalness thereof; yet because I am unwilling to present you with the same things again, and thereby rather nauseate than invite your Attention; and because there is yet an Argument of the Crimi∣nalness of Murther, beside what I have before insisted on; I think it not amiss to set it now before you, and leave you to guess at the hai∣nousness of that Sin by it: Which is, That however unreasonable Creatures cannot be said to sin, because whatsoeuer they do, they do by the force of that Natural Instinct by which they are guided in all their Actions; yet if at any time they hapned to kill a Man, they were by the Law of God to fall no less under the Hand of Justice, than those who had both Reason and Religion to restrain them from it. For, to say nothing at all of the Law of Moses, by vertue of which if an Ox gor'd a Man that he died, the Ox it self was to be slain, and the Flesh thereof cast away as an abomination, Exod. 21.28, 29. By that more Catholick Law given to Noah, the Blood of Mens Lives

was to be requir'd of Beasts, no less than of the Owners of them: For, Surely (saith God, Gen. 9.5.) your Blood of your Lives will I re∣quire: at the hand of every Beast will I require it, and at the hand of Man; and at the hand of every Mans Brother will I require the Life of Man. And though, after the Law of God, we need not make any farther Inquisition, because we know all such not to have been with∣out just Grounds; yet I think it not amiss to add, if it were onely for its affinity thereto, a like Law* 1.18 of the Commonwealth of Athens, the purport whereof was, That if onely a Wall had by chance fallen down and kill'd a Man, the Judges of that place were to sit upon and arraign it, and, upon conviction, throw the Stones thereof out of the Country. By which procedure of theirs, as they gave sufficient te∣stimony how sacred a thing they esteem'd the Life of Man to be; so when we have a more convincing testimony from the Laws of God, we must be strangely unreasonable, if we allow our selves in offering violence to it.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Hesych. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 seu potius 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 LXX. Jud. 11.3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 pro 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• ‖ 1.2

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He∣sych. Lex. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. sen potius 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.3

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Ar••s••••. apud Grot. A••∣not. in Mat. 5.22.
• ‖ 1.4

  1 Cor. 5.11.—6.9.
• * 1.5

  See Mat. 23. throughout.
• ‖ 1.6

  See the fore∣alledged pla∣ces out of St. James and the Epistle to the Galathians.
• * 1.7

  Mat. 23.26. compar'd with Luke 11.41, &c.
• * 1.8

  Philocal. c. 27.
• * 1.9

  Rom. 14.23.
• † 1.10

  Rom. ver. 15.20.
• ‖ 1.11

  1 Cor. 8.11.
• * 1.12

  The Life of Father Paul, &c. p. 169.
• ‖ 1.13

  Lodato iddio, che ho pur tro∣vato uno che mi parla non in maschera. Ib.
• * 1.14

  Ecclus. 38.14.
• ‖ 1.15

  Ecclus. ver. 6.
• † 1.16

  Ecclus. ver. 7.
• * 1.17

  Ecclus. ve. 9, &c.
• * 1.18

  See Hales Sermon of Duels, p. 82. of his Re∣mains.