Quest 43, 44 Of the preface to the ten commandments, Quest 45, 46, 47, 48 Of the first commandment,
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Q. 7. Is it not mercenary to ferveGod 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 worse than mercenary spirit ; Hofea vii. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds : They assemble 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 shall fear the Lord, and his goodness.
Q.8. What is the first inference from hence ?
A. That great is the condescension of God to man, that he will use arguments to induce him to obedience, who might exact it only by his sovereignty, and justly damn us for our disobedience ;
2 Cor. v. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Q. 9. What is the second inference from hence ?
A. That the more mercy any receive from God, the more obligations are laid on them to obey him ; Psalm cxvi. 1 , 2. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplications : 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 sins 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 so; 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.
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 chearful duties of obedience;
Exod . xvii . 14. And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.
Psalm ciii. 2, 3. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits .
A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt Quest . 45 . WHich Of the first Commandment.
Hich is the first commandment ? have no other gods before me.
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2.1. What is the first duty enjoined in the first commandment?
A. It is to know and acknowledge the existence or being of God, andconfequently 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 rewarderof them that diligently seek him.
Psalm xiv. 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 unityof God; Deut. vi. 4. Hear, O Israel, 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.
2.3. Whence sprang the opinion of more gods than one at first in the world ?
It sprang from ignorance of God's omnipresence 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 presence and power of God might reach one place, and not another ; I Kings xx. 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 ?
Probably the heavenly bodies, fun, moon, and stars, because of their splendor and influences.
These, as heralds, do proclaim God to the world ; Psalm xix. 1, 2. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work : Day unto dayuttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. And these messengers of God were mistaken 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 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. xliv. 3, 4. Because of their wickedness
An Exposition of the Assembly's Catechism. whichtheyhavecommitted 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 fervantstheprophets,rising early, and sending them, saying, Oh do no 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. iii. 5. And covetousness, which is idolatry.
Phil. iii. 19. Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Q.7. Howdoththe idolatry forbidden in the first, differ from that forbidden in the second commandment ?
A. The idolatry forbidden in the first commandment is a fin respecting the object of worship, when we setup 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 such means, and in such a manner as he hath not required, or hath forbidden; Exod. xxxii. 4. And he received them at their hands, and fashioned it with agraving tool, after he had made it a molten calf ; and they fald, 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 ; Psalm cxlvii. 20.
He hath not dealt so with any nation ; and as for his judgments, they have not known them ; praise ye the Lord.
9. What is the second inference from the first commandment?
A. That it isa great and dreadful fin to live without the worship of God in the world ; Eph. ii. 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 superftitiousworship, when they are cast into idolatrous places, how great soever the danger be; Psalm xvi. 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.