eyes a vile perfon is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. And to fuch we must especially do good; Gal. vi. 10. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith.

Q. 9. What is the firft inftruction from hence ?

A. Hence we learn the excellency of divine love. Mofes expreffes the whole duty of man in ten commandments : Christ hangs the whole law upon these two, love to God and our neighbour; Mark xii. 30, 31. And thou fhalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy ftrength: This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neigbour as thyfelf: There is none other commandment greater than thefe. And the apoftle reduces these two into one; Gal. v. 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Q. 10. What is the second inference from hence?

A. It convinces the holieft of men how far fhort they come in their obedience to the rule of duty, and therein the law was our school-mafter to bring us to Chrift, Gal. iii. 24.

QII. What is the third inference from hence?

A. It discovers the excellency and perfection of the law of God; Pfalm xix. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the foul: And that we are highly to honour and magnify it as a rule of duty, though we must utterly renounce it as the way of our juftification.

Q. 12. What is the laft inference from hence?

A. That there is nothing too dear for a Chriftian in this world, but he muft give it up by felf-denial, when it comes in competition with his fupreme love to God; Luke xiv. 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and fifters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my difciple; (i. e.) Love them lefs than me.

Quest. 43.

Of the Preface to the ten Commandments.

W

Hat is the preface to the ten commandments? A. The preface to the ten commandments is in thefe words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Q. 44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?

A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, that

because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.

Q. Why doth God ufe arguments and inducements to win men to the obedience of his laws ?

A. Because he loves to work on man as a rational creature, according to the principles of his nature; Hof. xi. 4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: And becaufe he delights in none but free and chearful obedience; Pfal. cx. 3. Thy people fhall be willing in the day of thy power.

Q. 2. What is the first argument in this preface?

A. It is the fovereignty of the Law-giver, [I am the Lord,] which Thould awe the heart of every man to obedience; James iv. 12. There is one Law-giver, who is able to fave, and to deftroy.

Q3. What is the fecond argument to obedience?

A. Our propriety in God by covenant, [I am the Lord thy God;] this obligeth to obedience, and aggravateth disobedience; Pfalm 1. 7. Hear, O my people, and I will fpeak; O Ifrael, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. Hofea ix. 1. For thou haft gone a whoring from thy God.

Q4. What is the third argument unto obedience?

A. The benefits of redemption that they receive from God. Benefits perfuade to duty; and the goodnels of God leadeth thee to repentance, Rom. ii. 4.

Q5. How can deliverance out of Egypt, be an argument to them that never were in Egypt ?

A. As that deliverance was a type of our deliverance, so it is an argument to us, and an argument from the lefs to the greater; for it obligeth us more than them; Luke i. 74, 75. That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might ferve him without fear, in holinefs and righteoufnefs before him, all the days of our life.

Q. 6. What is that deliverance we have? and how doth it oblige us to obedience?

i.

A. Our deliverance is not from Egypt, but from hell; Col 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath tranflated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And our perfons are bought by the Redeemer to glorify God; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you? For ye are bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

VOL. VIL

Q. 7. Is it not mercenary to ferve God upon the account of benefits received, or to be received?

A. He that maketh religious duties mediums to attain carnal advantages only, is of a worfe than mercenary fpirit; Hofea vii. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds: They affemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. But to be quickened by mercy to duty is not mercenary, but evangelical; Hofea iii. 5. They fhall fear the Lord, and his goodness.

Q. 8. What is the first inference from hence?

A. That great is the condefcenfion of God to man, that he will ufe arguments to induce him to obedience, who might exact it only by his fovereignty, and justly damn us for our difobedience; 2 Cor. v. 20. Now then we are ambaffadors for Christ, as though God did befeech you by us: We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

9. What is the fecond inference from hence ?

A. That the more mercy any receive from God, the more obligations are laid on them to obey him; Pfalm cxvi. 1, 2. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my fupplications: Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

Q. 10. What is the third inference from hence?

A. The more mercies and favours any man fins against, the greater is that man's fin, and the forer will be his punishment; Amos iii. 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Q. 11. What is the fourth inference from hence?

A. That God's expectations are greater, where his mercies and favours have been fo; Ifa. v. 4. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes.

Q. 12. What is the last inference from hence?

A. That memorials of God's mercies are to be kept by us, to provoke us to conftant and chearful duties of obedience; Exod. xvii. 14. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. Pfalm ciii. 2, 3. Blefs the Lord, O my foul, and forget not all his benefits.

Quest. 45.

Of the firft Commandment.

Hich is the first commandment?

WH

A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Q. I. What is the first duty enjoined in the first command-` ment?

A. It is to know and acknowledge the existence or being of God, and confequently condemns all atheism, both in judgment and practice; Heb. xi. 6. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him. Pfalm xiv. 1. The fool hath faid in his heart, there is no God.

Q. 2. What is the fecond duty of the first commandment?

A. It requires all men to know and acknowledge the unity of God; Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our God is one Lord. And condemns polytheism, or plurality of gods; 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many); but to us there is but one God.

Q. 3. Whence sprang the opinion of more gods than one at firft in the world?

A. It fprang from ignorance of God's omniprefence and omnipotence. Hence came their vain imaginations; Rom. i. 21. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They thought the prefence and power of God might reach one place, and not another; 1 Kings xx. 23. And the fervants of the king of Syria faid unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we; But let us fight against them in the plain, and furely we shall be stronger than they.

Q. 4. What were the first creatures worshipped as gods?

A. Probably the heavenly bodies, fun, moon, and stars, becaufe of their fplendor and influences. Thefe, as heralds, do proclaim God to the world; Pfalm xix. 1, 2. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament fheweth his handywork: Day unto day uttereth fpeech, and night unto night fheweth knowledge. And thefe meffengers of God were miftaken for God himself; Job xxxi. 26, 27, 28. If I beheld the fun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been fecretly enticed, or my mouth hath kiffed my hand; this alfo were an iniquity for I fhould have denied the God that is above.

Q5. What doth these words [before me] import?

A. It notes God's perfect knowledge and abhorrence of all idolatry, or worshipping of another God, as what he cannot eodure to behold; Jer. xliv. 3, 4. Becaufe of their wickedness

which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incenfe to ferve other gods whom they knew pot, neither they, you, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I fent unto you all my fervants the prophets, rifing early, and fending them, faying, Oh do no not this abominable thing that I hate.

Q. 6. Are none guilty of this fin but heathenish idolaters ? A. Yes; all that place their fupreme love or truft in any creature, make that creature their God; and in fcripture are calfed idolaters, Col. iii. 5. And covetoufness, which is idolatry. Phil. iii. 19. Whofe end is deftruction, whose god is their belly, and whofe glory is in their fhame, who mind earthly things.

Q. 7. How doth the idolatry forbidden in the first, differ from that forbidden in the fecond commandment?

A. The idolatry forbidden in the first commandment is a fin refpecting the object of worship, when we fet up any thing in the place of God, which by nature is not God; Gal. iv. 8. Howbeit, then when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But that against the second commandment is, when we pretend to worship the true God, but do it by fuch means, and in fuch a manner as he hath not required, or hath forbidden; Exod. xxxii. 4. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf; and they faid, Thefe be thy gods, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. $ Q. 8. What is the first inference from the first commandment? A. That it is a special mercy to be brought forth in a land where the true God is known and worshipped; Pfalm cxlvii. 20. He bath not dealt fo with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them; praise ye the Lord.

9. What is the fecond inference from the first commandment?

A. That it is a great and dreadful fin to live without the worfhip of God in the world; Eph. ii. 12. That at that time ye were without Chrift, being aliens from the commonwealth of Ifrael, and ftrangers from the covenants of promife, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Q. 10. What is the third inference from the first commandment?

A. That Chriftians must not comply with idolatrous and fuperftitious worship, when they are caft into idolatrous places, how great foever the danger be; Pfalm xvi. 4. Their forrows fhall be multiplied, that haften after another god; their drinkofferings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their name into my lips.