THESE Words of our Lord Jesus Christ are quoted from the sixth of the ten Command­ments, which God published from Sinai, in the hearing of the main Body of the Jewish Nation, and wrote on two Tables of Stone, that they might be a standing perpetual Rule for the Direction of their Conduct towards Him and one another. And as all these Commandments (the Fourth only excepted, and this only in part) are grounded on Reason, and not meer positive Institution, they are universally obligatory, so far as Mankind are under Advantages to become ac­quainted with them. This is particularly true of the Commandment I have just read to you; because it took rise from that Fitness and Propriety of Action, which is everlastingly due from Men towards each other, as they are all of one Blood, and endowed with the same common Right to the possession and enjoyment of Life here on Earth. And this Commandment is eminently bind­ing upon us Christians, as it has been adopted by our great Master and Lord into his Religion, and makes one of the important Laws of his Kingdom. Jesus said, [Page 6] Thou shalt do no Murder. In discoursing to which Words, I shall endeavour two Things.

I. First, Explain the Sense in which we are here commanded to do no Murder.

II. Secondly, Enforce the Command, by representing the horrid Nature, and enormous Guilt of the Sin of Murder.

We shall then conclude the Discourse with the pro­per Application.

I. First, I am to explain the Command, Thou shalt do no Murder.

And it is plain, if one Man should slay another by meer Chance, as we vulgarly speak; that is, when he had no Intention to do it, nor any Thought of being the occasion of Hurt to him, in the least, it is a Mis­hap only, and not the Crime here cautioned against. Accordingly we find, that God himself, in this Case, frees a Man from Guilt, ordaining that he shall live. Deut. 19. 4, 5. Whoso killeth his Brother ignorantly, whom he hated not in Time past, as when a Man goeth into the Wood with his Neighbour to hew Wood, and his Hand fetcheth a stroke with the Ax to cut down the Tree, and the Head slippeth from the Helve, and lighteth upon his Neighbour that he die, he shall—live. Only, it ought to be remembred here, Carelessness is a Fault; and should we, in this Way, be the occasion, tho' accidental­ly, of the Death of another, we might have just rea­son for uneasy Reflections on ourselves; much more, if we were engaged in that which was in it self unwar­rantable and sinful.

Again, If one Man should take away another's Life, in necessary Self-Defence; as when, by being suddenly and unavoidably assaulted, he is obliged to repel Force with [Page 7] Force, or run the Risque of losing his own Life, he is not chargeable with the Sin of Murder. In Cases of this Sort, the Fault lies not with him that slays, but with him who is slain. The Man who was thus com­pelled to smite his Brother is innocent. There is in­deed the Guilt of Blood; but it is wholly chargeable upon him who gave the occasion for exerting the un­alienable Right, which Men have to preserve themselves. The Scripture therefore says, Exod. 22. 2. If a Thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall be no Blood shed for him. He is himself the proper sole Cause of this Evil; and ought therefore to be the only Sufferer for it. Tho' great Care should be taken, that Men do not needlesly expose themselves to the ne­cessity of exerting their Right of Self-Defence: nor should they ever exert this Right, in this extreme Case, unless when the Necessity is real, and apparently un­avoidable.

In like manner, Enemies may be slain in War, with­out any Breach of this Command: Always provided, the War is engaged in upon just and necessary Reasons; as, to redress Injuries, guard against Wrongs and Violence, and secure the Possession and Enjoyment of valuable Rights and Privileges; all other Methods having prov­ed ineffectual. In this Case, it is rather a Virtue than a Crime, to be instrumental in curbing the Insolence of Enemies, and weakning their Strength to injure and op­press; tho' in the doing of it, Numbers of them should be slain. They are indeed the faulty Causes of their own Death. The opposing them with Force may pro­perly be considered as an Act of publick Justice, and ne­cessary Self-Defence; and those who are active herein, instead of being faulted, ought to be applauded: And the more successful they are in reducing such Enemies to Reason, or Destruction, the more worthy they are of Honour. But if Wars are come into meerly to serve the Ends of Pride, Ambition, Avarice, or any other Lust, either of the Flesh or Mind, the Lives which are taken [Page 8] away in such Wars are really so many horrid Murders. How far the immediate Instruments may be chargeable with Blame in God's Sight, may be difficult to deter­mine; but it is, at once, evident, that their Employers, the Princes and Potentates of the Earth, are, in this Case, inhuman, cruel, barbarous Butchers of their Fellow-Men, and will be treated as such by the King of Kings, who respecteth not the Persons of Men; but will render to all, whether high or low, without favour or Affec­tion, according to their Deeds, in the Day of the appear­ing of his Son Jesus Christ to judge the World in Righteousness.

In fine, If Men are put to Death for Capital Crimes by Authority from the Civil Magistrate, who is God's Mi­nister, and holds the Sword for this very Purpose, it is not a Trespass upon my Text; but an act of publick Service, necessary for the well-being of Society; which could not subsist, if wicked and violent Men should be suffered, with Impunity, to invade the Rights of others, as their ungoverned Lusts might prompt them thereto.

These Cases being excepted, the Sin forbidden in this Commandment, is the voluntary taking away another's Life without Cause, or without a just and necessary one: Upon what Motive soever it is done, whether from Hatred, or Malice, or Envy, or Revenge, or presumed Safety, or pretended Reparation of Honour: Or, by what Means soever it be effected; whether by direct Violence, or fraudulent Contrivance; in an open, or clandestine Manner; immediately by ourselves, or by the Instru­mentality of others. Or if Life should not be actually taken away, yet is this Commandment violated, at least, in the all seeing View of God, if it was endeavoured, and such Endeavour would have taken Effect, had it not been counter-acted by some unforeseen Turn or o­ther in the Conduct of Providence; as in the Case of those, who entered into a Conspiracy to kill Paul, and [Page 9] laid wait for him, in prosecution of this bloody Design, but were hindred, beyond their own Intention, from ac­complishing it; Acts 23. 12, 14.

This now is the Crime which is here forbidden; and it is a more or a less aggravated one, in proportion to the Circumstances that attend it. If the Design upon another's Life was not suddenly excited; but took rise from cool, deliberate, settled, Hatred and Malice, it is Murder in the grossest Sense. Nor will the Manner in which it was committed make any considerable Dif­ference in the Degree of Guilt. It is Murder of the deepest Dye.

It is Murder also, tho' in a less criminal Sense, when Life is taken away, not from a settled Principle of calm and deliberate Malice, but in consequence of sudden An­ger heightened into Rage and Fury. What Allowances human Laws, under some Governments, may make for sudden Transports of Passion, and how far, in some Cases, they may be satisfied without the Blood of the guilty Person, I pretend not to determine; but, in true Reason, it is evidently unfit, that Life should be continually exposed to hazard, from the turbulent and ungoverned Wrath of Men. This would be to subject quiet and peaceable Members of Society to the greatest Hardships, by constructively giving Encourage­ment to angry Men to vent their Fury on them. It is plain, the possession of Life is not so strongly guard­ed and secured as it might be, and ought to be, in well regulated Society, if passionate Men may be indulged the Liberty of slaying their Neighbours; provided they are able to plead, they were in a Fit of Rage, not hav­ing the government of themselves, and not knowing what they did. This, at best, is only making one Crime an Excuse for another; which if allowed as valid, and sufficient to wipe off the Guilt of Blood, no one can enjoy his Life with safety. That Anger in­creasing [Page 10] into Rage, which hurries a Man on wickedly and injuriously to invade his Neighbour, and deprive him of Life, is murderous in the Eye of Reason, and in the Eye of God, and it is Pity if it is not, in all Places, so esteemed, by the Law of Man. I now proceed,

II. In the second Place, to enforce the Command in my Text, by representing the horrid Nature of this Sin of Murder.

It is indeed one of the blackest and most monstrous Sins, and so esteemed both by God and Man.

It is mentioned by Name, in the sacred Writings, as a Sin which is eminently hateful to God. Psalm 5. 6. The Lord will abhor the bloody Man. Prov. 6. 16, 17. Hands that shed innocent Blood are an Abomination to the Lord. And he has accordingly testified his great Dis­pleasure against this Sin, even from the Beginning of the World. That was his Language to Cain, the Son of the first Man that ever lived, upon having murdered his Brother Abel. Gen. 4. 10, 11. 12. What hast thou done? The Voice of thy Brother's Blood crieth to me from the Ground. And now thou art cursed from the Earth, which hath opened her Mouth to receive thy Brother's Blood from thy Hand.—A fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth. An awful Punishment this! And well might Cain break forth, and say, as in the Words that next follow, My Punishment is greater than I can bear! It may be worthy Observation, The most awfully severe and extensive Judgment God, was ever pleased to visit this World of ours with, was its Destruction by a Deluge of Water, one Family only excepted; and the Reason is given, Gen. 6. 11. Because the Earth was filled with Violence. And it was to prevent such Violence in the new Generations that might proceed out of the Loins of Noah, that God made it a standing perpetual Law. Gen. 9. 5, 6. At the Hand of every Man's Bro­ther [Page 11] will I require the Life of Man. Whoso sheddeth Man's Blood, by Man shall his Blood be shed. And when he took upon himself the more special Government of the Nation of the Jews, he peremptorily annexed the Sentence of Death, to the Law against Murder. And that it might be known what Murder was, he says, concerning every Man that should kill his Neighbour, as in Numb. 35. 16. And if he smite him with an Instru­ment of Iron, so that he die, he is a Murderer: The Mur­derer shall surely be put to Death. It follows, in the next Verse, And if he smite him with throwing a Stone, and he die: he is a Murderer: The Murderer shall surely be put to Death. It is yet added in the following Verse, which may be worthy of Notice, upon this Occasion, or if he smite him with a hand-weapon of Wood (wherewith he may die) and he die; he is a Murderer: The Murderer shall surely be put to Death. And it is farther observable, the Sovereign Lord of Life was pleased most solemnly, and in express Words, to prohibit the taking any Satis­faction for the Life of a Murderer, as in the 30th and 31st Verses of this Chapter, Whoso killeth any Person, the Murderer shall be put to Death—ye shall take no Satisfaction for the Life of a Murderer; but he shall surely be put to Death. And that this Law might not be evaded, by the Flight of Murderers to any of the Cities of Refuge (a Number of which were appointed for the Protection of those, who tho' they had killed others, yet were not chargeable with Murder) he particularly ordained, Deut. 19. 12. That they should be fetched thence, and delivered into the Hands of the Avenger of Blood, that they might die.

But more than all this, the holy God, to signify his great Indignation against this Sin of Murder, has par­ticularly rank't it, in the Revelation of his Will by his Son Jesus Christ, among those Crimes which, if not repented of, will certainly be a Bar in the Way of Men's obtaining Life in Heaven, according to 1 John [Page 12] 3. 15. No Murderer hath eternal Life; yea, he has mentioned it, by Name, as a Sin that will, without sincere Repentance, expose Men to the second Death, or, which means the same Thing, the Fire of Hell, accor­ding to Rev. 21. 8. Murderers shall have their Part in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone: which is the second Death.

And as this Sin of Murder is thus singularly foul and black in the Esteem of God, so it is likewise in the Account of Man. It is indeed a Crime that is shocking to the human Mind, unless when abandoned to all Sense of what is right and fit: Nor are there many, however debauched in their Principles, and dissolute in their Manners, but would find within themselves uneasy Emotions of Soul at the Thought of committing a bar­barous Murder; adopting the Language of Hazael, and saying, Is thy Servant a Dog that he should do this Thing? All civilized Nations have, as one, united in ranking Murder among the most enormous Crimes, and guarding against it by enacting Laws with the Sanction of Death. We know indeed of no People, however rude and un­cultivated, in other Respects, but have entertained a kind of Horror at the Sin of Murder; judging it wor­thy of some remarkable Punishment. Hence the Bar­barians, at Melita, reasoned among themselves, as in Acts 28. 4. No doubt this Man is a Murderer▪ whom, tho' he hath escaped the Sea, [...] Vengeance suffereth not to live. And even Murderers themselves, when they come coolly to reflect upon what they have done, are commonly filled with great inward Remorse; turning upon them­selves with the keenest resentments of their Folly. And should they escape the Vengeance of Man, they scarce ever after enjoy themselves, or take Comfort in Life. Their Hearts misgive them; their Thoughts trouble them; their guilty Fears perpetually haunt them: And sometimes, for the sake of Peace within, they have been, as it were, forced to reveal their own Wickedness; [Page 13] chusing rather to die by the Hands of Justice, than to drag on Life under the uneasy Sensations of a con­tinually Self-condemning Conscience.

And it is upon just and reasonable Grounds, that Mur­der is thus reckoned by God and Man as one of the blackest and most monstrous Crimes, and felt to be so by Murderers themselves: For it carries in it, in an high Degree, Uncharitableness, Injustice, and Impiety; each of which are in themselves great Breaches upon the Law of Nature and Religion.

Charity, or Love to our Neighbour is the second sum­mary Commandment; and like the first, which requires Love to God, it is great and important. On these two Commandments hang the Law and the Prophets, the Gospel and the Apostles. We are destitute of all Virtue and Religion, if we do not love God; and it is a vain Thing to pretend that we love God, if we love not our Neighbour also. For as the Apostle John speaks, 1 John 4. 20. If a Man says that he loves God, and hateth his Brother, he is a Liar; for he that loveth not his Bro­ther, whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. And what stronger Evidence can a Man give, that he don't love his Brother, than embruing his Hands in his Blood? This is the strongest Proof of his be­ing entirely void of that Christian Temper which is kind, and gentle, and peaceable, and apt to put one upon walking with all Lowlinss, and Meekness, and Long­suffering; forbearing and forgiving one another in Love. To be sure, when one Man is urged on to slay ano­ther from Hatred and Malice, deliberate and premeditated, he discovers Uncharitableness, in the highest Degree; yea, Inhumanity and Barbarity reign in him, in­stead of Good-Will and Christian Piety. To hate a Brother to the Death is the utmost Pitch of Hatred. And if, in imitation of our Master and Saviour Jesus Christ, and out of respect to him, we ought to be [Page 14] willing to lay down our Lives for the Brethren, it must be a most enormous Breach of Christian Charity for a Man wilfully, and without Cause, to take away his Brother's Life.

Judgment is as weighty a matter of God's Law as Mercy; for the Lord our God hath particularly required it of us to do Justice. But the Murderer outragiously transgresseth the Rule of Right; invading his Neigh­bour's Property, in the most indisputable Case: For the Possession of Life is what he claims by immediate Grant from the great Sovereign of the Universe. And by invading this Right he does him the greatest possible Injury; for he deprives him of the most valuable Good. Nothing indeed, in all the World, is so precious as Life; for it is the Foundation of all other Enjoyments, and justly preferable to them all. The Father of Lies therefore spake Truth, when he said, as in Job 2. 9. Skin for Skin, all that a Man hath will he give for his Life. Nor can the Loss of it be repaired or compensated. He that loseth his Life, loseth therewith all future Capacity of Enjoyment in this World, without any Possibility of recovering it again. It is therefore the highest and most aggravated Injury that can be done to a Man to take away his Life unjustly. It, in a manner, in­finitely surpasses every other Evil, whether in Name, Estate, or bodily Welfare in any Kind; for these ‘have their Measure, and may be capable of some Reparation: But this is altogether extreme and ir­reparable.’

Besides it ought to be remembred here, when a Man wickedly slays his Brother, he not only, at once, turns him out of all Capacity of enjoying any farther Good in this World, but deprives him of the Time he might otherwise have had to make Preparation for another World, and may be the Means of his being tormented, instead of comforted there. The Murderer of his Bro­ther [Page 15] not only robs him of his temporal Life, and all Temporal Good therewith; but of his Space for Repen­tance, and Opportunity to make his Peace with God, and to get into good Terms with Heaven: And if he should suddenly dispatch him into the other World, and in his Sins too, as, it may be feared, is too often the Case, he is, in a Sense, the Murderer of his Soul, as well as Body, and may properly be charged with bringing upon him the second, as well as the first Death. A very serious and awful Truth this! And if it were duly attended to, might, under the Blessing of God, be happily influential to restrain from the horrid Sin of Murder. It is not confined, in its Consequences, to the present World; but may prove injurious to our poor innocent Brother, innocent as to us, beyond the Grave, in the Resurrection World. Many a poor Sinner, it may be feared, by the Murder of his Body, has been virtually and constructively murdered in his Soul also. And shall we dare venture upon the Commission of a Crime which may be the immediate Occasion of the Dam­nation of our Brother? Shall we not rather keep at the utmost Distance from that Act of Injustice, towards our Brother, which, together with destroying▪ Body, may be the Means of destroying his Soul in Hell?

I may still add here, the Injustice involved in the Sin of Murder, affects others besides the Man himself that is turned out of Life. His Relations, especially near ones are greatly injured; as hereby those natural Passions are awakened, which occasion the keenest Sense of Pain, and, many Times, abiding Sorrow of Heart, such as they are never freed from on this Side the Grave. Besides which, they are deprived of the Advantage they might have received from him, upon whom, under God, they chiefly depended for their comfortable Subsistence in Being. The Wife of a Man's Bosom is sometimes, by this injurious Sin, at once subjected, not meerly to the Solitude of a widowed Life, but to unknown Dif­ficulties, [Page 16] Anxieties, and Hardships consequent there­upon; while, at the same Time, his Children are re­duced to the State of poor helpless Orphans, without a Guide to their Youth, or, it may be, any Means to provide for their Education, and future Welfare in the Word.—But God only knows all the Injuries which are connected with this unjust Act of taking away ano­ther's Life.—Whole Families have been ruined by it; yea, in its unhappy Consequences, it may have been the Means of their Ruin in another World, as well as this.—Moreover, the Public is highly injured by the Sin of Murder, as well as the murdered Person himself, and his Relatives. It loses one of its Members, and, toge­ther herewith, all the Service it might have reaped from one in his Place, in the Improvement of his Time and Talents, for promoting the general Good. And, as the Case may be, and sometimes really has been, the Injury, in this Respect, rises high, and proves an irreparable Damage.—Such Injustice is involved in the Sin of Murder.

It argues also Impiety against God, and to a great Degree; for it is a downright Encroachment upon, and Usurpation of, that Right over Life, which the So­vereign Lord of the Universe has reserved to be exer­cised by himself only, or by his Vice-gerents in certain Cases, wherein the Good of Society may make it ne­cessary.—And it is, in another Respect, an high Indig­nity offered to God; for it dispossesses him of his just Property, by virtually robbing him of a Creature whom his Hands have formed; yea, of a Servant and Subject, from whom he might have received a Revenue of Honour and Service. Besides all which, it is a de­stroying of that Image of God which every Man natural­ly bears. And it was indeed for this Reason, in spe­cial, that the Statute against Murder, in the Days of Noah, was guarded by God himself with the Sanction of Death. So we read, Gen. 6. 9. Whoso sheddeth Man's [Page 17] Blood, by Man shall his Blood be shed; for in the Image of God made he Man. The Man who murderously sheds another's Blood, is not thought fit, by the Wisdom of the Supreme Legislator, to live any longer on the Earth; because he hereby heinously affronts God, by throw­ing Contempt on the noblest Work of his Hands, that which he made after his own Likeness, in his own Image.

So that, upon the whole, this Sin of Murder appears to be one of the foulest and blackest Crimes, of very heinous and complicated Guilt. It is at once a Sin against God and Man. It virtually usurps God's sovereign Au­thority, his Throne of Justice, his Sword of Vengeance; and it does the highest Injustice to Man, both in his private Capacity, and as related in Society.