fion on the fon of her womb? (2.) To educate them for God; Eph. vi. 4. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (3.) To reftrain their fins by correction; Prov. xxix. 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself, bringeth his mother to fhame. (4.) To provide for their livelihood; 1 Tim. v. 8. But if any provide not for his own, and efpecially for thofe of his own houfe, he hath denied the faith, and is worfe than an infidel. (5.) To pray daily for them; Job i. 5. And it was fo, when the days of their feafting were gone about, that Job fent and fanctified them, and rofe up early in the morn ing, and offered burnt-offerings, according to the number of them all for Job faid, It may be that my fons have finned, and curfed God in their hearts: Thus did Job continually. (8.). To encourage them with endearing language in the way of godlinefs; Prov. xxxi. 1, 2, 3. The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. What, my fon? and what the fon of my womb? and what the son of my vows ? Give not thy ftrength upto women, nor thy ways to that which deftroyeth kings.

Q7. What are the duties of children to parents?

A. Their duty is, (1.) To obey them only in the Lord; Eph. vi. i. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. (2.) To reverence and honour them; Lev. xix. 3. Ye fhall fear every man his mother and his father, &c. (3.) To fubmit to their reproofs and corrections; Heb. xii. 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. (4.) To provide for them, if they be poor and needy, and we have ability; Gen. xlvii. 12. And Jofeph nourished his father and his brethren, and all his father's houthold, with tread, according to their families.

Q. 8. What fhall children do, when parents abufe their au thority, by forbidding duty, or commanding fin?

A. In fuch cafes children are to obey God, rather than their parents; Acts iv. 19. But Peter and John anfwered, and faid unto them, whether it be right in the fight of God, to heark. en unto you, more than unto God, judge ye. But yet to ma nage their refufals of obedience with all meeknefs and humility.

9. What is the first duty of bufbands to their wives?

A. The firft duty, on which all other duties depend, is cohabitation with them; 1 Pet. iii. 7. Likewife ye husbands, dwell with them, according to knowledge, &c. And nothing can make this duty void, but a lawful divorce for adultery;

Matth. v. 31, 32-But I fay unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, faving for the caufe of fornication, canfeth her to commit adultery, c.

Q. 10. What is the husband's fecond duty to his wife? A. True and hearty love to foul and body; Eph. v. 25. Hufbands, love your wives, even as Chrift alfo loved the church, and gave himfelf for it. Evidencing itfelf in careful provision for them; 1 Cor. vii. 33. But he that is married, careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife. But efpecially to their fouls, in winning them to Chrift; 1 Cor. vii. 16. -Or, how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt fave thy wife? And building them up in Chrift; 1 Pet. i. 7. Likewife ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

Q. 11. What are the duties of wives to their husbands?

A. It is their duty, (1.) To be in fubjection to their own husbands; Eph. v. 22, 23. Wives, fubmit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord: For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Chrift is the head of the church. (2.). To' reverence them; Eph. v. 33.And the wife fee that the reverence her husband. (3.) To express their reverence in suitable words and actions; 1 Pet. iii. 6. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, &c. (4) To be faithful to them; Prov. xxxi. 12. She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. (5.) To adorn their relation with meekness, and quietnefs of fpirit; Pet. iii. 4. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the fight of God of great price.

Q. 12. What are the duties of fervants to their masters?

A. It is their duty, (1.) To be faithful in all things committed to their charge; Tit. ii. 10. Not purloining, bet fhewing all good fidelity, &c. (2.) To honour them in all respectful words and carriages; 1 Tim. vi. 1. Let as many fervants as are under the yoke, count their own mafters worthy of all honour,

c. (5) To bear patiently their rebukes; Pet. ii. 18, 19. Servants, be fubject to your mafters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for confcience toward God endare grief, fuffering wrongfully.

13. What is the first duty of masters to their fervants? Their first duty is to rule over them with gentleness, and

not with terror and rigour; Eph. vi. y. And ye masters, do, the fame things unto them, forbearing threatening: Knowing that your Master alfo is in heaven, neither is there respect of perfons with him.

Q: 14. 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 shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy ftrangers that are in thy land within thy gates. At his day thou fhalt give him his hire, neither fhall the fun go down upon it, for he is poor, and fetteth his heart upon it; left he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be fin 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 thy houfhold, and for maintenance for thy maidens.

15. What is the third duty of masters to their fervants? 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 fhall keep the way of the Lord, &c. And Joshua, Josh. xxiv. 15-But as for me and my houfe, we will ferve the Lord,

Queft. 67.

not kill.]

Of the fixth Commandment,

Hich is the fixth commandment?

WE

A. The fixth commandment is, [Thou shalt

Queft. 68. What is required in the fixth commandment? A. The fixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preferve our own life, and the life of others.

Quest. 69. What is forbidden in the fixth commandment? A. The fixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.

Q. What is the natural order of these commandments in the fecond table?

A. In these commands God begins with the nearest concern of man, which is life; Job ii. 4.-Skin for skin, yea, all thạt a man hath, will he give for his life. Next to that, his command guards his nearest relative, from whom the best outward comfort is to rife, his wife; Mark x. 8. And they twain shall 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 fupport his life;

I. iii. 1. For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerufalem, 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 prefervation of others; Pfalm cxix. 96.-But thy commandment is exceeding broad.

3. Doth this command refpect only the outward action, or alfo the inward paffion of the foul?

4. It refpects and bridles the inward paffion of the foul, 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 fay unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a caufe, fhall be in danger of the judg ment, &c.

Q. 4. Doth this command only refpect the lives of others? A. No; it primarily respects our own lives, and forbids us all things that tend to the fhortening and ruin of them; Eph. v. 29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisbeth it, even as the Lord doth the church.

5. How many ways may men fin against this command, with refpect to their own lives?

A. A man finneth against his own life, not only by destroying himself, as the jailor would have done; Acts xvi. 27. And the keeper of the prifon awaking out of his fleep, and seeing the prifon-doors open, he drew out his fword, and would have killed himself, fuppofing that the prisoners had been fled; but by refufing food or phyfic to preferve life, or macerating our bodies with exceffive forrows; 2 Cor. vii. 10. But the forrow of the world worketh death. Or envy at others felicity; Prov. xiv. 30.-But envy, the rottennefs of the bones.

Q. 6. How are men guilty of murder with respect to others? A. Murder, with refpect to others, may be either with relation to their bodies; Numb. xxxv. 30. Whofo killeth any perfon, the murderer fhall be put to death, &c. Or to their fouls, which is the most heinous murder in the world; Ezek. iii. 18. When I fay unto the wicked, Thou shalt furely die, and thou giveft him not warning, nor fpeakeft to warn the wicked from his wicked way to fave his life: the fame wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Q. 7. Is all deftruction of another's life murder in the ac count of God?

1

A. No; it is not, if the life of a perfon be taken away in the course of justice; Gen. ix. 6. Whofo fheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be fhed. Or, in a just and necessary war; Judges v. 23. Curfe ye Meroz, (faid the angel of the Lord) curfe 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 a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut dowa the tree, and the head flippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die, he fhall flee unto one of those cities, and live. Or in felf-defence; Exod. xxii. 2. If a thief be found breaking up, and be fmitten that he die, there fhall no blood be fhed 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 juftice and religion. So Naboth was murdered by Jezebel; 1 Kings xxi. 12, 13. They proclaimed a faft, and fet Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and fat before him: And the men of Belial witneffed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, faying. Naboth did blafpheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and floned him with ftones that he died. And the martyrs by bloody Papifts. And this ftrongly proves a day of judgment; Eccl. iii. 16, 17. And moreover, I faw under the fun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, and the place of righteoufnefs, that iniquity was there. I faid in mine heart, God fhall judge the righteous and the wicked: For there is a time there for every purpose, and for every work.

Q. 9. Are duels forbidden in this commandment ?

A. Yes, they are; for whatever point of honour be touched, or whatever provocation be given, we are not to be our own avengers; Rom. xii. 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourfelves, &c.

Q 10. What is the first inference hence?

A. That we have great cause to blefs 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 minifter of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth

evil.

Q. 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.