by virtue of this Commandment, Required, if need be, to work for the Supply of our Own Wants, and of the Wants of those who depend upon Us. We are to live Soberly and Frugally; free from Vice, and all Extravagance. We are to avoid all Lewdness, Gaming, and the like Occafions of Excefs: To abftain from all Idle, Diffolute, and Difhoneft Converfation, and Acquaintance; and from whatsoever elfe may be apt to tempt us to, or engage us in the Sin which is here forbidden to us. 14. 2. What is the Third Rule, to be Obferved, for the better understanding of these Commandments ? A. "That the laft Commandment is to be look'd "upon by Us, not fo much as a fingle Command"ment, as a general Caution Given to Us, with "Relation to most of the Duties of the Second Ta"ble; which ought to be Govern'd, and Influenc'd "by it." Thus because we must not steal from, or defraud our Neighbour of his Goods, neither muft we Covet them. Because we must not commit Adultery, neither muft we Luft. Becaufe we must do no Murder, neither muft we defire the Hurt or Death of our Neighbour. For this is the first Spring of Evil in our Hearts; by ftopping of which we shall the most effectually Arm ourfelves against the Commiffion of it. 15.2. What is the laft General Rule to be obferved, for the better Interpretation of thefe Commandments? A. "That wherefoever we are Forbidden to Do "any thing Ourselves, as Sinful, there we are to "takeCare that we be not Partakers of Other Mens "Guilt, who do Commit what was fo forbidden; By Advising, Affifting, Encouraging, or other"wife, Aiding, and Abetting them in It. Nay, we must not fo much as Give any Countenance to the the Evil, which they do, by making Excufes for, and extenuating their Guilt; by hiding, or concealing of it; left by fo doing, we make our felves acceffary to it, and contract to ourselves a ftain by it. SECT. XXIII. 1.2YOU faid that the First Table contained commandments which concern our Duty towards God: What is the firft of These? A. Thou halt have none other Gods but Me. 2. 2. Is this all that belongs to this Com mandment? A. Yes, it is. 3.2. What then do you account that which goes immediately before it, and was alfo deliver'd by God Himfelf; namely, 3 am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage? A. It is a General Preface, or Introduction, to the Commandments; and represents to us the Two great Grounds, or Motives, on which God Required the Jews to Obey thofe Commandments which he was about to deliver to them; namely, Firft, a That he was the Lord 21. xix. 14, their Ged: And Secondly, That He had brought 16, 18, &c. them out of the Land of Egypt, out of the Houfe xxi. 12, &c. of Bondage. Deut. i. 3o. vi. 21. to 25. xxvi. 8, xxii. 2, &c. Io. Judg. ii. 1, 2. a Lev. xviii. Num. iii. 13. 4. 2. Do thefe Reasons extend to us Chrif tians? A. They Gal. iii. 23, A. They do, and that no lefs, if not more, than they did to the Jews. a For we are the a Rom. ii. Spiritual Ifrael, and Heirs of the Promifes. b He 28, 29. is the LORD our God, by a more Excellent 1 Cor. x. 18, Covenant than he was theirs. He has brought 26. vi. 16. Us out of that Slavery, of which the Jews Egyptian Bondage was but a Type. d And has prepared for Us an Inheritance in Heaven, comparison of which their Land of Canaan is nothing to be accounted of. in b Phil. iii. 3. Heb. viii. 'Luke i. 6, 8, &c. d Gal. iv. 26. 5. 2. What is the full Import of the first Heb. xii. 22. Commandment? Rev. iii. 12. A. That we fhould have the LORD for xxi. 9, 10, our God, and that we should have no Other &c. befides Him. 6.2. What is it to have the LORD for our God? A. It is firft to Think of Him, and then to Worship and Serve Him as God. 7.2. How ought we to Think of God? Sect vii. A. As of an Eternal, and All-Perfect Be. See before ing; the Maker, and Preferver of All Things: And our moft Gracious and Merciful Father, in, and through his Son, Jefus Christ our Lord. 8. 2. How ought we to Worship God? xcv. 6. A. With all the Powers and Faculties both of Pfal. v. 7. xlvii. 6, 7. our Souls and Bodies: In Publick, and in Private. According to all that in his Holy Gospel he has cxxxii. 7. required, or by the Force of our Own Natural Mat. vi. 5, Reafon, directed us to do. 9. 2. What are the main Things wherein we are to express our Duty towards God? &c. Jo. iv. 24. Phil. iii. 3. e Heb. x. 25. Acts xiii. 39. Rom. x. 4, 9. Gal. iii. 22. Heb. xi. 6. 1 Jo. iii. 23. v. 13. f Pfai. xxii. 23. xxxiii. 18. xxxiv. 11. Prov. i. 7. Mat. x. 28. Luke i. 50. 2 Cor. vii, I. Phil, ii, 12. Heb, xii, 28, 29. g M1t. xxii. 37. Eph. v. 20. I Theff. v. 18. c Pfal. ii. 12. with all our heart, with all our Mind, with all our Soul, and with all our Strength: Coa worship Him; to ↳ Give Him Chanks: to c put our whole Trust in Him; to Call upon Him; to e Honour his Holy Name, and his word; and to f Serve Him truly all the Days of our Life. с xviii. 30. cxv. 9, 10, 11. Rom. xv. 12. 2 Cor. i. 9. 1 Tim. vi. 17. 1 Pet, iii. 5. d Pfal. xiv. 4. xviii. 3. cxvi. 2, 13, 17. cxlv. 18. Acts ii. 21. Rom. x. 12, 13, 14. 1 Cor. i. 2. e Pfal. lxvi. 2. xcix. 3. cxix, 140, 161, 162. Col. iii. 16. 1Theff. ii. 13. Heb. ii. 2, 3, 4. iv. 12. Jam. i. 21. f Pfal. ii. 11. €, 2. Luke i. 74, 75. 1 Theff. i. 9, 10. Heb. x. 19, &c. 10. 2. What are the chief Offences that may be Committed against this Part of the first Commandment? A. They are chiefly thefe: Firft, Atheism, and Infidelity, whether it be Speculative, or Practical; that is to fay, whether Men do Really believe that there is no God; or live fo as if they.. did; without any due Worship of Him, or Regard to Him. Next to thefe, all Unworthy Opinions of God, or Blafphemous Thoughts, or Speeches against Him. Such are the Thoughts, and Speeches, of Those who not only deny the Doctrine of the Bleffed Trinity, or of the Divinity of Chrift and the Holy Ghost, but make it their Bufinefs to Expofe and Ridicule the Belief of it. And, laftly,fuch are all the Heinous, but efpecially the Habitual Sins, which Men fall into, and the confe quence of which plainly fhews, either that they do not in Good Earnest believe the LORD to be their God, or that they are yet to confider what that Belief requires of them. 11. 2. What is the Other thing proposed to Us in this Commandment? A. Not to have any Other, befides the LORD, for our God. 12. 2. Is there any Other God, befides the LORD? A. No, there is not, nor does this Commandment at all Suppofe that there is. But when these Commandments were deliver'd, the World generally believed in, and worshipped Other Gods, befides the LORD; who was almost utterly forgotten by Them. And therefore it was highly neceffary, that the Lord fhould, in the very firft Place, caution his People against this Folly and Idolatry. 13.2. How many ways may Men haveOthers for their God, befides the LORD? A. By as many ways as They are capable of fhewing, that They have Him for their God. Namely, Firft by Thinking of them as God; and 1 Cor. viii. Secondly, by Worshipping, and Serving, of them 5, 6. xii. 2. as Such. 14. 2. Is it poffible for any Man who knows, and worships the LORD, to have any Other God befides him? Gal. iv. 8. 12. A. So this Commandment evidently Supposes; 1 Kin. xi, 2, and so indeed it may easily enough be: There be- 3, 4. ing nothing fo unreasonable which an immoderate 2 Kin. xvii. Superftition is not capable of leading, fometimes 33, 34. even Wife-Men into. And therefore not only God here gives this Caution to the Jews, but St. Paul in like manner forewarns even the Chriftians to whom he preached, to flee from Idolatry; 1 Cor. x. 14. Comp. 1. fo. v. 21. and not to keep Company with a Brother, (that is, a Chriftian) who was guilty of it. 1 Cor. v. 11. 15.2. How can this be; feeing He who knows, and believes aright of God, muft know, and believe, that there neither is, nor can be, any Other God befides Him? A. Would Men always Act confiftently to their own Knowledge and Profeffion, it would then indeed be Impoffible for those who had a |