SECT. XXVIII. Of our Duty with relation to the Person of our 1. Q. What is the sixth commandment? 2. Q. What is murder? A. It is the wilful and unlawful taking away of the life of a man, by what way or means soever it be done. Gen. ix. 5, 6. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 3. Q. Is not all killing murder? A. No; that only is murder which is voluntary and unlawful. 4. Q. Wherefore must the killing be wilful and designed? A. Because if a man slay another purely by chance, without any design or intention so to do; without malice, and without premeditation, it is a misfortune, it is not murder. PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Exod. xxi. 13. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. Numb. xxxv. 22. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing, without laying of wait, or with any stone wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm; then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood, according to these judgments: and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled. 5. Q. Wherefore must the killing be unlawful? A. To exclude those cases in which, though the killing be voluntary, yet it is not murder; nor forbidden by God as such. 6. Q. What are those cases? A. The execution of justice, after a lawful manner, for a suitable offence, and by a lawful magistrate. The killing of an enemy in a just war. The killing of another for the necessary defence of a man's own life: to which, under the law, were added some other cases with which we are not concerned now, under the Gospel." PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Gen. ix. 5. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Exod. xxi. 14. If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile: thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. Numb. xxxv. 30. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses. Deut. xvii. 6. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he, that is worthy of death, be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness, he shall not be put to death. Rom. xiii. 4. If thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Numb. x. 9. And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets: and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Deut. xx. 1, 13, 17. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.-And when the Lord God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. -But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Prov. xx. 18. Every purpose is established by counsel, and with good advice make war. xxiv. 6. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. 'Deut. xiii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death: because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. Numb. xxxv. 26, 27. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the borders of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. 7. Q. What is your opinion of self-murder? A. That it is as much forbidden by this commandment as any other. 8. Q. What think you of those who meet in a set duel, and so kill? A. If both agree to it, whichsoever falls, they are both guilty of murder. 9. Q. What if men draw in a sudden heat, and one be slain? A. The heat being criminal, it will not excuse the mischief consequent upon it, any more than drunkenness, in the like case, would have done. The laws of men may distinguish as they please, but in the sight of God 'tis murder. 10. Q. What are the peculiar aggravations of this sin? A. They are very many, and very great ones: murder being above most other sins, first, a heinous offence against God, who is the sole Lord of all his creatures; after whose image we are made, and who must therefore be, in a singular manner, both injured and affronted by the destruction of his creature and his image. Gen. ix. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man: Secondly, it is a sin against nature, which has established a common relation betwixt us; designed, us for society; and in order thereunto, has made it one of its fundamental laws that we should love, and pro tect, and do good to one another: and this law cannot by any thing be more eminently trampled under foot than by murder: Thirdly, it is a sin against the civil society, the end of which is protection; to provide for the safety and security of those who are the members of it: and the very bands of which must therefore be broken hereby: Fourthly, it is a sin against the magistrate, who, alone, under God, has the power of life and death; and who, by this violence, is deprived of the counsel, help, and support of one of his subjects: And, lastly, it is a peculiar and signal offence against all the relatives of him who is so cut off, and that such, as perhaps may be utterly ruinous to them. To say nothing of the injury that is hereby done to the person murdered, and who, by this means, is not only deprived of his life, and of all the advantages he enjoyed by it, but is, it may be, taken off in the midst of his sins, and so undone to all eternity. 11. Q. Is there nothing else besides murder, forbidden by this commandment? A. Yes, much more; viz. all variance, hatred, emulation, envy, revenge, evil-speaking, quarrelling; all rash and immoderate anger; and, in one word, whatsoever tends towards murder, or may be likely to end in it. PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Matt. v. 22. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. Rom. xii. 19, |