Of the First Commandment
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 constant and cheerful duties of obedience; Exod. 17:14. And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. Psal. 103:2, 3. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Of the First Commandment Quest. 45. WHICH is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Q. 1. What is the first duty enjoined in the first commandment?
A. It is to know and acknowledge the existence or being of God, and consequently condemns all atheism, both in judgment and practice;
Heb. 11:6. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Ps. 14:1. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.
Q. 2. What is the second duty of the first commandment?
A. It requires all men to know and acknowledge the unity of God; Deut. 6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And condemns polytheism, or plurality of gods; 1 Cor. 8:5, 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 first in the world?
A. It sprang from ignorance of God's omnipresence and omnipotence. Hence came their vain imaginations; Rom. 1:21.
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 presence and power of God might reach one place, and not another; 1 Kings 20:23.
And the servants of the king of Syria said 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 surely we shall be stronger than they.
Q. 4 What were the first creatures worshipped as gods?
A. Probably the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars, because of their splendour and influences. These as heralds, do proclaim God to the world; Ps. 19:1, 2. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work: Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. And these messengers of God were mistaken for God himself; Job 31:26, 27, 28. If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also were an iniquity, for I should have denied the God that is above.
Q. 5. 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 endure to behold;
Jer. 44:3, 4. Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, you, nor your fathers.
Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate.
Q. 6. Are none guilty of this sin but heathenish idolaters?
A. Yes; all that place their supreme love or trust in any creature, make that creature their god; and in scripture are called idolaters,
Col. 3:5. And covetousness, which is idolatry. Phil. 3:19. Whose end
is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Q. 7. How doth the idolatry forbidden in the first, differ from that forbidden in the second commandment.
A. The idolatry forbidden in the first commandment is a sin respecting the object of worship, when we set up any thing in the place of God, which by nature is not God; Gal. 4:8. 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 such means, and in such a manner as he hath not required, or hath forbidden; Exod.
32:4. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned it with a graven tool, after he had made it a molten calf; and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, 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; Psal. 147:20. He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them; praise ye the Lord.
Q. 9. What is the second inference from the first commandment?
A. That it is a great and dreadful sin to live without the worship of God in the world; Eph. 2:12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
Q. 10. What is the third inference from the first commandment?
A. That Christians must not comply with idolatrous and superstitious worship, when they are cast into idolatrous places, how great soever the danger be; Psal. 16:4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that
hasten after another god; their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their name into my lips.
Q. 11. What is the fourth inference from hence?
A. That supreme love, fear, and trust of the soul, is God's peculiar right and due. Whosoever places them on any other besides God, is guilty of a very heinous and great sin against him; 1 John 2:15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Compared with Job 31:24–28. If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, thou art my confidence; this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above.
Q. 12. What is the fifth inference from hence?
A. That God's eye discovers the closest idolatry in the world, whether it be in secret actions; Ezek 8:12. Hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? Every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. Or inward affections; Col. 3:5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Q. 13. What is the sixth inference from hence?
A. That an high and full condition in the world, is a dangerous condition, and lies most exposed to the danger of heart-idolatry;
Prov. 30:9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord?
Mark 10:24. How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven?
Q. 14. What is the last inference?
A. That in covenanting with God, and avouching him for our God, we must wholly renounce all others, and take God alone for our portion, and object of our love and dependence; Hosea 3:3. Thou shalt not be for another man; so will I also be for thee. Luke 14:33. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Of the Second Commandment Quest. 49. WHICH is the second commandment?
A. The second commandment is, [Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing, that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.] Quest. 50. What is required in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment requireth, the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances, as God hath appointed in his word.
Quest. 51. What is forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in his word.
Quest. 52. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment, are God's sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he hath to his
own worship.
Q. 1. What is the sin especially forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The sin here forbidden, is the corruption of God's worship, by making any similitude of any person in the Godhead, and performing divine worship before it, or to it; Exod. 32:8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, these be thy gods O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Deut. 4:15, 16. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire) lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.
Q. 2. What is the second sin forbidden in this commandment?
A. The second sin against this commandment is will-worship, consisting in the addition of man's inventions to the worship of God, as a part thereof; Matth. 15:9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Col. 2:20, 21, 22,
23. Whereof if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances. (Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Q. 3. But if those additions be for the more decent worshipping of God, is it not allowed by 1 Cor. 14:40. Let all things be done decently, and in order?
A. No; that scripture commands that God's institutions be regularly and decently performed, but not that we invent ceremonies that are
symbolical, to make them more decent than Christ left them.
Q. 4. Why is the second commandment left out in all the public offices of the popish church?
A. Because it expressly condemns their idolatrous images, kneeling at the sacrament, prayers to saints, and all their superstitious crosses, surplices, and chrisme, as sinful.
Q. 5. Do they not clear themselves from idolatry, by telling us they only worship God before, or by them, but not the images themselves?
A. No, they do not; for the use of images in God's worship is expressly condemned in this commandment; as if this would excuse the papists, it had also excused the Israelite in worshipping the calf,
Exod. 32:4.—And they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Q. 6. What is the first reason annexed to the second commandment?
A. The first reason annexed is God's sovereignty, I the Lord; which shews that it belongs to God only to institute his own worship, and make it effectual; and therefore to do that in his worship which he never commanded, is sinful and dangerous; Jer. 7:31. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Q. 7. What is the second reason annexed to the second commandment?
A. The second reason is God's propriety in us: He is our God, and we belong to him; and therefore to corrupt his worship, greatly aggravates our sins; Hosea 9:1. Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people; for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, &c.
Q. 8. What is the third reason annexed to the second commandment?
A. The jealousy of God over his worship and worshippers; so that this sin of corrupting his worship will dreadfully incense his wrath, as it did, Lev. 10:1, 2. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire thereon, and offered strange fire, before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
Q. 9. What is the first instruction from the second commandment?
A. That it is an heinous sin to neglect the worship of God in that manner he hath appointed us to worship him, as in prayer; Jer.
10:25. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. Hearing the word; Prov.
28:9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Q. 10. What is the second instruction from the second commandment.
A. That those who suffer for endeavouring to preserve the purity of God's ordinances, and nonconformity to the contrary injunctions of men, have a good warrant to bear them out in all such sufferings;
Deut. 4:2. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.
Q. 11. What is the third instruction from the second commandment?
A. That it is highly sinful and dangerous to innovate and prescribe by human authority such symbolical rites in the worship of God, as he never appointed or allowed in his word; Matth. 15:9. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.