The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job i. 21. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. Isa. xxxix. 8. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt. xi. 29. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Luke xxii. 42. As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Rom. xiv. 11. Shall we not be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? Heb. xii. 9. Submit, yourselves, therefore, to God. James iv. 7. 7. To esteem him as our chief good. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Ps. xlii. 1, 2. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Ps. Ixxiii. 25. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? Ps. lxxxix. 6. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Ps. cxliii. 6. he had, and bought the pearl of great price. Matt. xiii. 45, 46. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, &c. Phil. iii. 8. 8. To seek his glory as our highest aim. Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. x. 31. And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Col. iii. 17. Remember how very broad is this commandment, and how spiritual is the obedience it requires. It not only forbids you to kneel and pray to idols, like the ignorant heathen, but it demands a full and unreserved surrender of the heart and soul to the true God. You break it every time you fix your affections on any object more than on him. See that you give not his glory to another. Isa. xlii. 8. Litany. That it may please thee to give us a heart to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments. 2d Sunday after Trinity.-Make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name. 6th Sunday after Trinity.-Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire. 14th Sunday after Trinity.-Make us to love that which thou ON THE COMMANDMENTS. 3. SECOND COMMANDMENT. WHAT is 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 show mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments.' Wherein does the second Commandment differ from the first? The first commandment teaches us whom we are to worship; the second the manner in which that worship is to be expressed. What does this Commandment forbid? 1. It forbids worshipping God by means of images, or in any other way not authorized by God's word; this being superstition and will worship. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. Exod. xxxiv. 17. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. Lev. xix. 4. Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image. Lev. xxvi. 1. Ye saw no manner of similitude, &c., lest thou shouldest be driven to worship them. Deut. iv. 15-19. 23-25. Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image. Deut. xxvii. 15. This thing became a sin, viz. worshipping the golden calves set up by Jeroboam. 1 Kings xii. 28. 30. They moved him to jealousy with their graven images. Ps. lxxviii. 58. Confounded be all they that serve graven images. Ps. xcvii. 7. My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Isa. xlii. 8. 17. A deceived heart hath turned him aside, viz. the worshipper of idols. Isa. xliv. 9-20. The portion of Jacob is not like them. Jer. x. 3-9. 14-16. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver, graven by man's device. Acts xvii. 29. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job i. 21. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. Isa. xxxix. 8. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt. xi. 29. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Luke xxii. 42. As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Rom. xiv. 11. Shall we not be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? Heb. xii. 9. Submit, yourselves, therefore, to God. James iv. 7. 7. To esteem him as our chief good. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God! Ps. xlii. 1, 2. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Ps. lxxiii. 25. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? Ps. lxxxix. 6. My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Ps. cxliii. 6. he had, and bought the pearl of great price. Matt. xiii. 45, 46. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, &c. Phil. iii. 8. 8. To seek his glory as our highest aim. Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. x. 31. And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Col. iii. 17. Remember how very broad is this commandment, and how spiritual is the obedience it requires. It not only forbids you to kneel and pray to idols, like the ignorant heathen, but it demands a full and unreserved surrender of the heart and soul to the true God. You break it every time you fix your affections on any object more than on him. See that you give not his glory to another. Isa. xlii. 8. Litany. That it may please thee to give us a heart to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments. 2d Sunday after Trinity.-Make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name. 6th Sunday after Trinity.-Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire. 14th Sunday after Trinity.-Make us to love that which thou ON THE COMMANDMENTS. 3. SECOND COMMANDMENT. WHAT is 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 show mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments." Wherein does the second Commandment differ from the first? The first commandment teaches us whom we are to worship; the second the manner in which that worship is to be expressed. What does this Commandment forbid? 1. It forbids worshipping God by means of images, or in any other way not authorized by God's word; this being superstition and will worship. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. Exod. xxxiv. 17. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. Lev. xix. 4. Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image. Lev. xxvi. 1. Ye saw no manner of similitude, &c., lest thou shouldest be driven to worship them. Deut. iv. 15-19. 23-25. Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image. Deut. xxvii. 15. This thing became a sin, viz. worshipping the golden calves set up by Jeroboam. 1 Kings xii. 28. 30. They moved him to jealousy with their graven images. Ps. lxxviii. 58. Confounded be all they that serve graven images. Ps. xcvii. 7. My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Isa. xlii. 8. 17. A deceived heart hath turned him aside, viz. the worshipper of idols. Isa. xliv. 9-20. The portion of Jacob is not like them. Jer. x. 3-9. 14-16. We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver, graven by man's device. Acts xvii. 29. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image It was one of the temptations of our Lord by Satan, to break this commandment. All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Matt. iv. 9. Any pretended representation of the Deity is an affront to the person of Christ, who is the only adequate “image of the invisible God." Col. i. 15. The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. Heb. i. 3. The worship of saints and angels as mediators, robs Christ of his glory; for there is but one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. ii. 5. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntarily humility and worshipping of angels. Col. ii. 18. 23. If any worship the beast and his image, he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Rev. xiv. 9, 10. See thou worship me not-I am thy fellow servant. Rev. xix. 10. Praying to departed saints is discouraged by the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Luke xvi. 20-29. Though this commandment expressly forbids the making of images for the purpose of worshipping them, it does not forbid us to make them for other purposes. God himself ordered golden images of cherubim to be placed over the mercy-seat in the Jewish tabernacle. Roman Catholics omit the second commandment in many of their Catechisms, &c., and it is impossible to reconcile it with their worship of images and adoration of saints. He is an idolater that prays to any saint or angel; for by so doing he gives them the honour due to God alone. Roman Catholics consider the second commandment as only a part of the first, and in many Catechisms for popular use it is omitted under the pretext that a general view of each commandment is sufficient for children, and that the first exhibits the essential part of both. The temptation to this method of taking away from the commandments of God, arises obviously from the extensive prevalence of image worship in the Church of Rome, which is rebuked by the second commandment. In order to complete the number of ten commandments, which is reduced to nine by this blending of the first and second, the tenth commandment is made into two. "They might as well," Secker remarks, "have divided it into six or seven." The Scriptures divide the law into ten commandments, (Exod. xxxiv. 28. Deut. iv. 13; x. 4 ;) and the nature of the subjects to which they refer seems obviously to point out the proper division. The difference in this respect, although important, is not of so much importance as the use which is made of this arrangement of the Church of Rome, in preventing a due sense of the obligation of the second com. |