The Fifth Commandment.

Q. WHAT is the fifth Commandment?

A. Thou shalt not kill.

Q. What is prohibited by this?

A. All murder, unjust shedding of blood, fighting, and quarrelling.

Q. Is it not lawful to kill in any cause?

A. Yes, in a just war, or when public justice requites it: For the magistrate beareth not the sword without cause. Rom. i. 4. As also in the blameless defence of our own or our innocent neighbour's life, against an unjust invader?

Q. Is it lawful to fight duels, appointing a set time and place, for private interest, or punctilios of honour?

A. No, by no means; for they are contrary to the law of Nature, and to the laws of all civilized states; and the church hath forbidden them under excommunication to be incurred ipso facto; and such as die in duels can neither have christian burial, nor be prayed for by the church.

Q. How prove you all fighting and quarrelling to be un'lawful?

A. Out of St. Matt. v. 39. You have heard (saith Christ) it was said of old, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, not to resist evil, but if any one strike thee on the right cheek, turn to him also the other.

Q. What else is forbidden by this precept?

A. To seek, wish, or desire our own, or any other man's death, out of impatience or passion, or to cause women with child to miscarry.

The Sixth Commandment Expounded.

Q. WHAT is the sixth Commandment?
A. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Q. What is prohibited by this precept?

A. All carnal sin with another man's wife, or another woman's husband, and chiefly adultery; as also fornication and uncleanness.

Q. How prove you fornication and uncleanness to be mortal

sins?

A. Out of Col. iii. 5. Mortify therefore (saith St. Paul) your members upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and avarice, which are the service of

idols; for which the wrath of God comes upon the children

of incredulity.

Q. In what case is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife? A. Only in case of evident adultery.

Q. Can he that so dismissed his wife marry another during her life?

A. He cannot; for he that dismisseth his wife, and marries another, committeth adultery. St. Matt. v. 32. And St. Luke xvi. 18, He that marries her, that is so dismissed, commits adultery.

Q. Why is adultery a far greater sin than fornication?

A. Because it is a greater injury to our innocent neighbour, as also to the sacrament of matrimony.

Q. How prove you that a wife so dismissed from her husband cannot marry again during her husband's life?

A. Out of 1 Cor. vii. 7, 10, 11. To these that are married (saith St. Paul) not I give commandment, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from her husband; and if she depart, to remain unmarried. And ver. 39, A woman is bound to the law, so long as her husband liveth; but if her husband sleep (that is, be dead) she is at liberty, let her marry whom she will.

Q. What else is forbidden by this precept?

A. Whoredom, incest, sacrilege, and sins against nature. Q. Why is lust hateful in the sight of God?

A. Because it defiles in us the image of God, and the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Q. What more is here prohibited?

A. Unchaste touching of ourselves or others, with delight in lustful thoughts and kisses.

Q. What is the heir of unlawful lust?

A. Death and damnation; for, Neither fornicators nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, (that is, such as defile themselves with voluntary uncleanness,) shall possess the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. vi. 9.

The Seventh Commandment Expounded.

Q. WHAT is the seventh Commandment?

A. Thou shalt not steal.

Q. What is forbidden by this precept?

A. All unjust taking away, or detaining that which is another man's.

Q. How many kinds of theft be there?

A. Three kinds; simple theft, which is a secret taking away that which is another man's; robbery, which is a violent open taking away, or keeping of that which is another man's ; and sacrilege, which is stealing of sacred things, or out of sacred places.

Q. When is a theft mortal sin?

A. When the thing stolen is of considerable value, or causeth a considerable hurt to our neighbour.

Q. How prove you that?

A. Out of 1 Cor. vi. 10. Neither thieves, nor covetous men, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God. Q. What doth the sin of theft oblige us to?

A. To make restitution of the things stolen to the right owner, if we be able, else the sin will not be forgiven us. Q. What else is here prohibited?

A. All usury, bribery, cheating in gaming, or unjust gain by buying or selling.

Q. What is usury?

A. It is to receive or to will some money or money's worth, as gain, above the principle, immediately out of the consideration of loan, and not on account of the loss which arises, or the gain which ceases from the lending of the money or goods.

Q. How prove you usury and bribery to be great sins? A. Out of Psalm xiv. 1, 6. O Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle, or who shall rest in thy holy mountain? He that hath not given his money to use, nor taken bribes upon the innocent man. And from St. Luke vi. 36, where the Lord says, "do good and lend, hoping for nothing thereby." Q. How are rich men soonest brought to beggary? A. By mingling other men's goods among their own. Q. How do men generally sin against this precept? A. Princes, by imposing unjust taxes on their subjects; subjects, by not paying their due taxes to their princes; buyers and sellers, by deceitful weight and measure, or by exceeding the just prices; masters, by defrauding servants of their wages; and servants, by embezzling their masters goods.

The Eighth Commandment Expounded.

Q. WHAT is the eighth Commandment?

A. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Q. What is prohibited by this precept?

A. All false testimonies, rash judgments, and lies.
Q. Why is false testimony so great a sin?

A. Because it is against the justice of God, and our neighbour.

Q. How prove you that corrupt judgment is a great sin? A. Out of Isai. v. 22, 23, 24. Woe be to you that call evil good, that justify the impious man for bribes, and rob the just man of his justice; for as a fire devoureth the stubble, so shall the root of these men be ashes.

Q. Why is rash judgment a great sin?

A. Because it robs God of his judgment, and our neighbour of his good name: Do not ye judge, that you be not judged. St. Matt. vii. 1.

Q. Why is it a sin to lie?

A. Because the devil is a liar, and the father of all lies. St. John viii. 44.

Q. What else is prohibited by this precept?

A. The crimes of whispering, flattery, detraction.

Q. What is whispering?

A. It is to break friendship betwixt others, by speaking ill of one unto the other behind his back.

Q. What is flattery?

A. To attribute to another some perfection which he hath not, or to praise him for that which he deserves not.

Q. What is detraction?

A. It is a secret staining and blotting another's good name, by making known, without just cause, his hidden sins or defects.

Q. What is calumny?

A. It is the telling a falsehood of our neighbour to his prejudice.

Q. Are lies, backbiting, flattery, affronts, detraction, and calumny, grievous sins?

The Scripture

A. They are often very grievous sins. saith, Prov. vi. 16, 19, Six things there are which the Lord hateth; and the seventh his soul detesteth. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run into mischief, a deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth discord among brethren.

Q. What is he bound to, that hath hurt his neighbour in any of these kinds?

A. To make him satisfaction, and restore him his good name,

Q. How for example?

A. If he has told a hurtful lie of him, he is bound to unsay it; or if he has revealed his secret sin, he is bound to speak well of the same party, and to mitigate the matter all he can ;' and so with the others.

Q. Is it a sin to harken to detraction?

A. To do it willingly and with delight, or so as to encou rage the detractor, it is; for by so doing we cooperate with the detractor.

Q. How then must we behave ourselves among detractors? A. If they be inferiors, we must reprehend them; if equals or superiors, we must show ourselves at least not pleased with that discourse.

Q. What is rash judgment?

A. That which is grounded on mere hearsay, jealousy, and surmises, without any moral certainty, or great probability.

Q. When is a lie a mortal sin?

A. When it is any great dishonour to God, or notable preiudice to our neighbour.

The Ninth and Tenth Commandments Expounded.

Q. WHAT are the ninth and tenth Commandments? A. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.

Q. What is prohibited by these commandments?

A. The unruly will or desire of unlawful pleasure, espe cially adultery, and of all theft.

Q. What else?

A. Not only deliberate desire or consent, but likewise all wilful delight and complacency, in covetous or impure thoughts and motions of the flesh.

Q. How prove you that unchaste desires are mortal sins?

A. Out of St. Matt. v. 27, 28. It was said of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, whosoever shall see a woman to lust after her, he hath already committed adultery in his heart.

Q. How prove you covetous desires to be great sins?

A. Out of 1 Tim. vi. 9. They that will be made rich fall into temptations and the snare of the devil, and many desires unprofitable and hurtful, which drown men in destruction and perdition.