of obedience of children towards their parents is also sanctioned by Christian teaching. For not only did our Lord go down with His earthly parents to Nazareth and live in subjection unto them (Lk. ii. 51), but when He hung upon the Cross, He commended His mother to the care of His favourite disciple St John (Jn. xix. 26). He also found great fault with those amongst the Jews who made this Law of none effect by certain traditions and exemptions (Mtt. xv. 3), and St Paul affirms obedience to parents to be at once right (Eph. vi. 1), and well-pleasing unto the Lord (Col. iii. 20), while he classes disobedience to them among the signs of perilous times (2 Tim. iii. 2).

5. Earthly Authority. But as the parental is the type and origin of all authority, and the family is the nursery of the State, the Catechism proceeds to include under the Fifth Commandment the duty not only of loving, honouring, and succouring1 father and mother, but also of submission to all earthly authority. And this too is sanctioned by the teaching of Christ, who paid tribute (Mtt. xvii. 24—27), and enjoined others to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's (Mtt. xxii. 21), and of His Apostles, who taught the duty of rendering tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour (Rom. xiii. 7), and of subjection to the higher powers (Rom. xiii. 1—5; Tit. iii. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 13). Rightly, therefore, does the Catechism hold that the Fifth Commandment teaches us "to honour and obey the queen and all that are put in authority under her, to submit ourselves to all our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters, and to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters."

1 To succour, from Latin succurrere, Fr.secourir (1) to run up to for the purpose of assisting; (2) to help; (3) to support. Comp. 2 Sam. viii. 5, xxi. 17; 2 Cor. vi. 2; Heb. ii. 18. See Bible Word-Book, p. 464.

Security.

The previous

1. Right of Personal Commandment treated of our duty towards superiors, the five following treat of our duty towards all men alike, whether superiors, inferiors, or equals. And first, we are taught our duty respecting the life of our fellowman, that he possesses a right of personal security1, and that we may not deprive him of his life, or commit wilful murder.

2. Murder. In accordance with this precept the wilful shedder of man's blood met with no compassion from the Mosaic code. The original law at Sinai and the subsequent repetition of it2 made death the inevitable penalty of murder, even as it had been in the days of Noah; Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. ix. 6).

3. The Sermon on the Mount. But as interpreted by our Lord, we see that this Commandment has a deeper application than the mere committal of murder. Ye have heard, said He, that it was said to3 them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say

1 Whewell's Elements of Morality, I. 40.

2 Comp. Ex. xxi. 12-14, with Deut. xix. 11-13.

3 The Greek Toîs apxaíos is better rendered to them than by them of old time.

unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause1 shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca2, shall be in danger of the Council; but whosoever shall say Thou fools, shall be in danger of hell fire (Mtt. v. 22). Whence it is clear that while the letter of this precept forbids only the act, the spirit of it forbids all those vindictive passions, which tend to murder, revenge, envy, hatred, provoking words, malice, and illwill. (See Eph. iv. 26, 31.)

4. The Positive Duty. But while, in the words of

=

1 The received Version adds here eikn without a cause, but the word is wanting in many MSS. and is omitted by Tischendorf.

2 Raca =

empty, brainless, a term of contempt. See Tholuck's Sermon on the Mount, p. 178.

3 In Greek μwpè either (1) thou fool (comp. Mtt. xxiii. 17, 19); or (2)=a Hebrew word signifying rebel (comp. Hear now, ye rebels, Num. xx. 10); or (3)=d0eos, atheist. Tholuck, p. 180. "He addresses himself," says Luther, "not to the hand, but to the whole person. Hence it is that Thou shalt not kill, expresses as much as if He had said, Whatever members you have, and however you may kill, whether by hand, or heart, or tongue, or gesture; whether you look fiercely, and refuse with your eyes to let your neighbour live, or whether you mean with your ears to kill, and hate to hear him praised, all is condemned; for then is your heart and all within you so disposed as to wish him dead."

4 "There were among the Jews three well-known degrees of guilt, coming respectively under the cognizance of the local and the supreme courts (See Deut. xvi. 18); and after these is set the yéevva тoû πupós, the end of the malefactor, whose corpse, thrown out into the valley of Hinnom, was devoured by the worm or the flame (comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31). Similarly in the spiritual kingdom of Christ, shall the sins even of thought and word be brought into judgment and punished, each according to its degree of guilt, but even the least of them before no less a tribunal than the judgment-seat of Christ." Alford On Mtt. v. 22.

the Catechism, the precept thus forbids our hurting anybody "by word or deed," or bearing any "malice or hatred in the heart," it also enforces the positive duty of cultivating a forgiving disposition1, of praying for and relieving the wants of our enemies2, of contributing to the necessities of those in need3, and generally of being merciful even as our Father in heaven is merciful (Lk. vi. 36).

I. The relation of Husband and Wife. As the last Commandment proclaimed the sanctity of human life, so the present proclaims the sanctity of marriage. The institution of marriage, the parent of civil society, is "an honourable estate" ordained by God Himself3, "adorned and beautified"" by the presence and first

1 If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Mtt. vi. 14); forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for given you (Eph. iv. 32).

2 Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you (Mtt. v. 44). If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink (Rom. xii. 20).

3 Whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in Him? (1 Jn. iii. 17).

4 Cicero calls marriage Principium Urbis et quasi seminarium reipublicæ, De Off. I. xvii. 54.

5 Gen. ii. 24, quoted by Christ Mtt. xix. 4, 5; Mk. x. 6—9. 6 Jn. ii. I-II. See the Marriage Service.

miracle of His blessed Son, and declared by St Paul to be a type of "the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church1."

2. Adultery. All offences, therefore, against so honourable an estate are of a very heinous character, and the sin of adultery has in all ages and amongst all nations been severely punished. In the Mosaic code it ranked next to murder, and the punishment for both parties was death by stoning2.

3. Duty of Purity. But like the last, this Commandment also has been explained by our Lord. Ye have heard, said He, that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Mtt. v. 27, 28). From which we learn that this Precept goes far beyond the mere act of adultery, and forbids the dominion of sensual desires and the indulgence of every kind of wantonness in act, speech, or thought3.

4. Specially incumbent on Christians. Hence the Catechism traces to this Commandment the positive duty of keeping the body in temperance soberness,

1 Eph. v. 23-32. See the Marriage Service.

2 Comp. Levit. xviii. 20; xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22. 3 See Gal. v. 19, where St Paul classes adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness among the works of the flesh, and Eph. v. 3, where he declares that fornication and all uncleanness ought not to be once named amongst Christians, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient. Comp. also I Cor. vi. 9; Col. iii. 5.

4 Or as St Paul expresses it, I Cor. ix. 27, keeping under. ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγώ, literally, I beat my body black and blue and lead it about as a slave.

5 Temperance (Acts xxiv. 25; Gal. v. 23; 2 Pet. i. 6) has lately assumed almost exclusively the meaning of moderation in the matter of drink; its original sense was that of