bruised, and put to pass under thofe painful Sunday means of Cure, which are many times necefX. fary in fuch Cafes? I prefume there is no Man would willingly undergo this from another, and why then shouldit thou offer it to him?

the effect

22. The Truth is, this ftrange Cruelty to This Cruelothers, is the Effect of a great Pride and to others Haughtiness of Heart: We look upon others of Pride. with fuch Contempt, that we think it no matter how they are ufed; we think they muft bear Blows from us, when in the mean time we are fo tender of ourselves, that we cannot hear the leaft word of Difparagement but we are all on a Flame. The Provocations to these Injuries are commonly fo flight, that did not this inward Pride difpofe us to fuch an Angriness of Humour, that we take fire at every thing, it were impoffible we fhould be moved by them. Nay, fome are advanced to fuch a wantonnefs of Cruelty, that without any Provocation at all, in cool Blood, as they fay, they can thus wrong their poor Brethren, and make it part of their Paftime and Recreations to cause Pain to others. Thus fome tytannous Humours take fuch a Pleasure in tormenting those under their Power, that they are glad when they can but find a Pretence to punish them, and then do it without all Moderation: And others will fet Men together by the Ears, only that they may have the fport of feeing the Scuffle; like the old RoQ4

mans,

Sunday mans, that made it one of their Publick X Sports to fee Men kill one another; and fure, we have as little Chriftianity as they, if we can take delight in fuch Spectacles.

23. This Savagenefs and Cruelty of Mind is fo unbecoming the Nature of a Man, that he is not allowed to use it even to his Beaft ; how intolerable it is then towards thofe that are of the fame Nature, and, which is more, are Heirs of the fame Eternal Hopes with us? They that fhall thus tranfgrefs against their Neighbours in any of the foregoing Particulars, or whatever elfe is hurtful to the Body, are unjuft Perfons, want even this lowest fort of Juftice, the Negative, to their Neighbours, in refpect of their Bodies..

24. Neither can any Man excuse himself, by faying, What he has done, was only in return of fome Injury offered him by the other: For fuppofe it be fo, that he have indeed received fome confiderable Wrong, yet cannot he be his own Revenger, without Injury to that Man, who is not, by being thine Enemy, become thy Vaffal or Slave, to do with him what thou lift. Thou haft never the more Right of Dominion over him, because he hath done thee Wrong; and therefore, if thou hadft no Power over his Body before, 'tis certain thou haft none now; and therefore, thou art not only Uncharitable, (which yet were Sin enough to damn thee) but Unjuft in every Act of Violence thou doft to him. Nay, this Injuftice

Injuftice afcends higher, even to God himself, Sunday who hath referved Vengeance as his own XI, peculiar Right; Vengeance is mine, I will repay, faith the Lord, Rom. xii. 19. And then he that will act Revenge for himfelf, what does he but encroach upon this fpecial Right and Prerogative of God? Snatch the Sword, as it were, out of his Hand, as if he knew better how to wield it? Which is at once a Robbery and Contempt of the Divine Majesty.

SUNDAY XI.

Of Fuftice about the Poffeffions of our Neighbour : Against injuring him, as concerning his Wife, his Goods. Of Oppreffion, Theft. Of paying of Debts, &c.

Sect. 1.

T

HE Third Part of Nega- Poftive Juftice concerns the fellions Poffeffions of our Neighbours: What I mean by Poffeffions, I cannot better explain, than by referring you to the Tenth Commandment, the End of which is to bridle all covetous Appetites and Defires towards the Poffeffions of our Neighbour. There we find reckon'd up not only his Houfe, Servants and Cattle, which may all pafs under the one general Name of his Goods or Riches, but particularly his Wife, as a principal part of

Sunday his Poffeffions; and therefore, when we XI. confider this Duty of Negative Juftice, in refpect of the Poffeffions of our Neighbour, we must apply it to both, his Wife as well as his Goods.

His Wife.

The enti

cing a

2. The efpecial and peculiar Right that every Man hath in his Wife, is fo well known, that it were vain to fay any thing in Proof of it; the great Impatience that every Husband hath to have this Right of his invaded, fhews that it is fufficiently underftood in the World, and therefore, none that does this Injury to another, can be ignorant of the Greatnefs of it. The corrupting of a Man's Wife, enticing her to a ftrange Bed, is by all, acknowledged to be the worst fort of Theft, infinitely beyond that of the Goods.

3. Indeed, there is in this one, a heap of Man'swife the greateft Injuftices together; fome towards the greatest the Woman, and fome towards the Man: njuftice. Towards the Woman, there are the greateft To the Wo-imaginable; it is that Injustice to her

man.

Soul,which was before-mentioned as the higheft of all others, 'tis the robbing her of her Innocency, and fetting her in a Courfe of the horrideft Wickedness (no less than Luft and Perjury together) from which it is probable fhe may never return, and then it proves the damning of her eternally. Next it is in refpect of this World the robbing her of her Credit, making her abhorred and defpifed,and her very Name a Reproach among

all

all Men; and befides, it is the depriving her unday of all that Happiness of Life, which arifes XI. from the mutual Kindness and Affection that is between Man and Wife, inftead whereof this brings in a loathing and abhorring of each other, from whence flow multitudes of Mischiefs, too many to rehearse, in all which the Man hath his share also.

4. But befides thofe, there are to him to the many and high Injuftices; for it is first, the Man. rabbing him of that, which of all other Things he accounts moft precious, the Love and Faithfulness of his Wife, and that alfo wherein he hath fuch an incommunicable Right, that himself cannot, if he would, make it over to any other; and therefore fure it cannot, without the utmoft Injustice, be torn from him by any. Nor is this all, but it is farther the ingulfing him (if ever he come to difcern it) in that moft tormenting Paffion of Jealoufie, which is of all others the most painful, and which oft puts Men upon the moft desperate Attempts, it being as Solomon fays, Prov. vi. 34. The Rage of a Man. It is yet farther, the bringing upon him all that Scorn and Contempt, which, by the unjuft Measures of the World, fall on them, which are fo abused, and which is by many esteemed the moft infufferable part of the Wrong; and though it be true, that it is very unjuft he fhould fall under Reproach, only because he is injured, yet unless the World could be new moulded