A20559:475
The bright star which leadeth wise men to our Lord Jesus Christ, or, A…
The bright star which leadeth wise men to our Lord Jesus Christ, or, A familiar and learned exposition on the ten commandments gathered from the mouth of a faithful pastor by a gracious young man, sometime scholar in Cambridge.The bright star which leadeth wise men to our Lord Jesus Christ, or, A familiar and learned exposition on the ten commandements gathered from the mouth of a faithfull pastor by a gracious young man, sometime scholler in Cambridge.
London: printed by John Harison for Thomas Man, 1603London: printed by Iohn Harison for Thomas Man, 1603
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The reason is next: That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy god giveth thee.
The reason is next: That thy daies may be long in the land which the Lord thy god giueth thee.
This is taken from the good effect and commodity that will follow to him that keeps this commandment. It shall be for his profit, he shall have the benefit of it himself. So that hence we may learn this lesson, that the way to get a prosperous and long life, is to be obedient to parents and superiors, and to honour them. As in Ephes. 6. 2. He saith this is a commandment with promise, namely, with a special promise. For indeed this stirs up the heart of the parent to pray to God for his children, that he would pour a blessing on them, and that not in word only, but indeed, and in the desire of his soul, he will beg it earnestly at Gods hand, for so the words in the original run that they may prolong thy days, namely, thy parents, when they shall have occasion with a glad and joyful heart to thank God for that comfort which they have received by the obedience and dutifulness of their children; this brings with it a blessing of God upon the soul and body of such a child to prolong his life in all happiness. But on the other side when the father and mother through the rebellion and obstinacy of a child are driven to sigh and mourn before God with a troubled soul, that he that should have been one of the greatest comforts is one of the greatest griefs, and he that should have built up the house doth pluck it down; this brings a curse, and provokes God to cut of his life untimely, and his soul also (unless he repent) to his damnation. An example of this we have in the Rechabites, the sons of Jonadab. Jerem. 35. 19. They did reverence their parents so much, and had such a regard of him, as that when he seeing the excessive abuse of wine to drunkenness, and the abuse of lands and houses to covetous greediness, commanded them to drink no wine nor build no houses, nor buy no land, which might seem an hard commandment, abridging them of their pleasure and