question, Which be they? we say, The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

4. Typical Condition of the Israelites. For the circumstances of the Israelites at the time of the delivery of these Commandments were typical of our condition now (1 Cor. x. 6-11), and the grounds on which obedience to them was demanded of the chosen Nation, in a still deeper sense apply to all Christians. Thus, had the Israelites been set free, by a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, from low and degrading bondage in Egypt? We have been delivered by the same infinite mercy, from a still worse thraldom, even that of sin, death, and Satan1. Had God made a solemn Covenant with the Israelites? He has made us partakers of a new and better Covenant2. Had they been baptized unto3 Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. x. 2)? We have been baptized into the Name of the Triune God Himself. Were they in a state of deliverance, and on the road amidst dangers and temptations to a Land of Promise? We also have been placed in a state of salvation, we are members of a Church Militant, and, amidst the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, are journeying through life towards a better and a heavenly inheritance (Heb. xi. 16.)

1 "Theirs was from the captivity of their bodies; ours from the bondage of our souls. Theirs from Egypt only, and the tyranny of man; ours from hell, and the tyranny of the devil. They were redeemed by strength of arm, by signs and wonders, without any price at all; but He bought and paid for us with His own blood" (1 Pet. i. 18, 19). Nicholson On the Catechism, p. 97. See also Nowell's Catechism.

2 See above, pp. 7, 8.

3 That is, into fealty or obedience to Moses.

5. Principles of Interpretation. Thus, then, were the circumstances of the Israelites typical of our own. Now, since God, the Author of these Commandments, is a Spirit (Jn. iv. 23, 24), His Law also is spiritual, and, unlike human laws, reacheth to the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. iv. 12). Hence, as our Lord's own exposition of certain of the Commandments teaches, every precept is to be regarded with great latitude, and we infer that when any duty is enjoined, the contrary sin is forbidden, and when any sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is enjoined1.

I. The first Commandment condemns and forbids idolatry, which, as we have already seen3, gradually spread over the world through forgetfulness of the one true God, and unthankfulness to Him for common mercies. Though men knew God, as St Paul says,

1 See Nicholson On the Catechism, p. 92; Secker's Lectures, I. 287.

2 Or, as it is in our version, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exod. xx. 3).

3 See above, p. 15.

4 See Class-Book of Old Testament History, p. 22.

they glorified' him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. i. 21—23). Now all such worshipping of the creature rather than the Creator was solemnly forbidden to the Israelites. They were to have and acknowledge no other god beside the One true God, who had revealed Himself to them as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Ex. xxxiv. 6).

2. The Sin forbidden. Thus also we, as Christians, are forbidden to have or acknowledge any other god but that God of infinite mercy and holiness, who has revealed Himself to us in the person of His Son (Heb. i. 1, 2), and into whose Name we have been baptized. And though we are not in danger of worshipping the gods of the heathen, there are other gods we are bidden to renounce, lest they usurp the place in our hearts due to God alone. Such gods men make for themselves when they ascribe all things to fate or chance; when they set their hearts on the accumulation of wealth3; when they are lovers of pleasures, or of themselves, more than lovers of God; when they become devoted to covetousness, which is idolatry3 (Col.

1 That is, they did not, either in worship or conduct, recognise the perfection of God's character, as manifested in His works. Vaughan, in loc.

2 Ηλλαξαν...ἐν = exchanged for.

3 Job xxxi. 24, 25; Mtt. vi. 24, ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

2 Tim. iii. 2, 4; Phil. iii. 19.

5 Avaritia maximè affigit ad terram. Bengel in loc.

iii. 5), or to their own honour, their own glory, and their own advancement1.

3. The Duty enjoined. While, however, this is the conduct forbidden, there is also a duty which this commandment enjoins. Our duty towards God, who has revealed Himself to us in His works and in His Word, is to believe in Him2, and trust His providence and His superintending care3; to fear Him as a Being of infinite power, knowledge, and holiness; to love Him for all His goodness as manifested “in our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for His inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ4;" and this love and adoring gratitude we are to show forth not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves, and devoting all our powers and faculties, heart and mind, soul and strength, to His service, and that work in life which He has given us to do".

1 "The second way of making goddes of creatures is when men put their hole confidence in other thinges than in God, and haue these or suche lyke thoughtes wythin themselfes I woulde I hadde suche riches or landes, I woulde suche a man were my frende, then shoulde I be ryche, happye and blessed, then should I be sufficiently defended and armed against all chaunces that maye happen vnto me in this worlde. They that thinke thus, haue such riches landes and creatures for a god, although with their tongue they say not so, yea althoughe this affection lye hidde in our hearte so secretly, that we our selfes should scantly knowe of it." Cranmer's Catechism, pp. 10, 11.

2 Heb. xi. 6.

3 1 Pet. v. 7; Phil. iv. 6.

4 See the General Thanksgiving in the Morning and Evening Service.

5 Mtt. xxii. 37; Mk. xii. 30; Luke x. 27.

CHAPTER II.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love Me, and keep my commandments.

DUTY TOWARDS GOD.

My duty towards God is... to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole trust in Him, to call upon Him.

1. Object of the Commandment. As the first Commandment enjoined the Israelite to worship only the true God, so the second forbade his worshipping Him under any visible resemblance or form.

2. As addressed to the Israelites. Hence they were warned against making for themselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything in heaven above, as of the sun, moon, and stars, or in the earth beneath, as of men, birds, beasts, and creeping things, or in the water under the earth, as of fish and other marine animals (see Deut. iv. 15-19).

3. Egyptian Idolatry. The idolatrous objects. here alluded to were chiefly those with which the Israelites had become acquainted in Egypt. There they had witnessed the gorgeous ceremonies which attended the worship of Ra1 the "Sun-god,” and of Isis and 1 Hence "Pha-raoh," the Child of the Sun, "Potiphe-rah," the Servant of the Sun.