mand the reason assigned is, his jealousy of giving his honour to another. This precept, therefore, is perpetually obligatory.

The third precept is against false swearing, (in which sense the word vain is frequently used in Scripture.) The morality of this command is very apparent, for since God is the God of truth, and every oath is an appeal to him, it must, therefore, be a gross wickedness to call upon him to vouch for lies.

The fourth commandment cannot be called moral in the first or highest sense, since no reason can be given from the nature of things why the seventh, more than any other day, should be applied to the service of God. But it is moral that a man should pay homage to his Maker, and since sensible objects are apt to wear better things out of our thoughts, it is necessary that some solemn time should be set apart for meditating on this subject. This time should be universal, as otherwise the engagements of some men might interfere with the devotions of others; it should have such an eminent character upon it, as a cessation from business, both to awaken curiosity and give opportunity for meditation ; and it must not return too often, so as to interrupt our avocations, nor too seldom, lest the impressions of religion should be worn out. The exact proportion of time, however, is known only to God. It is evident, also, that no breach is made in the

good or moral design of this law, by transferring the celebration of it to the first day of the week,a so that even a less occasion than our Lord's resurrection, and a less authority than the Apostles, would have been sufficient to authorize this alteration.b

These four commandments constituting the first table, have been reduced to three in the Roman Catholic Catechisms, on the ground, that the first and second relate to the same subject. But there is a great difference between them; much more than between the coveting our neighbour's wife, and the coveting his house. These are plainly two distinct acts of the same species, as in Exodus, the house is put before the wife, and stands for the whole substance, which is afterwards branched out into particulars. There is, therefore, no reason for their separating this into two precepts.

Considered in the character of a member of society, a man has four kinds of property, his

* It should be observed, that the blessing is annexed to the institution of the Sabbath itself, not to the day on which it was held. "The Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. xx. 11. See Dwight's Theol. ser. 105.

b It is not improbable that the Jewish Sabbath was held on the day preceding that of its first institution in Paradise. If this be true, we observe the original Sabbath. See Jenning's Jew. Ant. v. 2. p. 146. Ed. 1766.

H

person, his wife and family, his goods, and his reputation. In each of these, he is secured by a negative precept against killing, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness, to which, as the chief acts of their kind, are to be reduced all those of a similar nature, such as injuries to a man's person, every temptation to uncleanness, all acts of injustice, and all defamation. Besides these, there are also two laws to secure the performance of them, which constitute an exterior and an interior fence, the one regarding men's conduct, the other their thoughts. Thus, the fifth commandment enforces obedience to the heads of families, and by implication, to the civil powers which preside in the country; and the tenth restrains the inward desires, which if uncontrolled, might lead men to commit a breach of morality in order to gratify them. The latter is only a moral precept in the second order, for St. Paul says, " he had not known it to be a

sin, if it had not been for the law that forbids it." (Rom. vii. 7.)

(3.) This law is obligatory on Christians. Our Saviour expressly declared, that "he came not

a The object of Christ's coming was to atone for the violation of the moral law by Adam and his posterity. Had he, therefore, annulled that law, he should have contradicted the design of his coming, since an abrogated law cannot be violated, and he should, consequently, have no objects to intercede for.

to dissolve the law, but to fulfil it." (Matt. v. 7.) And so far was he from derogating from the obligation of it, that he extended its application, not only to the actions, but even to the thoughts and words of men.

ARTICLE VIII.

OF THE THREE CREEDS.

THE THREE CREEDS, NICE CREED, ATHANASIUS'S CREED, AND THAT WHICH IS COMMONLY CALLED THE APOSTLES' CREED, OUGHT THOROUGHLY TO BE RECEIVED AND BELIEVED, FOR THEY MAY BE PROVED BY MOST CERTAIN WARRANTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.

As the doctrines contained in these creeds have been already proved, it will be only necessary to consider some few particulars concerning them.

I. As to the Nicene Creed. The article of the procession of the Holy Ghost, with the following words, was not expressed in the original form of this creed as made at Nice. It is, however, found in the creed of Epiphanius, which proves the doctrine to have been held by the Church, before the second General Council of Constantinople. In this Council the creed was reduced

This Council was held in 381, and condemned Macedonius, who denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. Mosheim's Hist. p. 2. c. 5. cent. 4.

to it's present state, with the exception of the article relating to the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son, which was afterwards added in Spain, (A.D. 447.) whence it spread over the Western Church.a

II. As to the Creed of St. Athanasius. Neither was this creed composed by the person whose name it bears, for 1; It is not found in his works. 2. He, and the rest of the orthodox, always refer to the Nicene Creed. 3. The Macedonian, Nestorian, and Eutychian heresies, are condemned in it, yet it was never urged as an authority in those disputes, whence it is clear that no such creed was then known in the world; and, 4. It never was heard of till the eighth century."

a Three different states of the creed are here alluded to. In the original Nicene Creed, the Article was simply: " and in the Holy Ghost." In the Constantinopolitan, "And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son, is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets." The creed in its present form, differing from this, only by the insertion of the words filioque, (“proceedeth from the Father and the Son,") obtained universally in the Western Church, by the sanction of Pope Nicholas I. A. D. 883. See Field, of the Church, B. 3. c. 1. p. 53.

It was received into the Gallican Psalter about the year 670. For the history of the reception of this creed into the different Churches, see Dr. Waterland's Works, v. 6. p. 229, &c. Ed. Oxford, 1823. For the life of Athanasius, and the persecutions to which he was exposed from the Arian party, see Lardner's Works, v. 8. p. 414, and Cave's Lit. Hist. Part. 1. p. 141.