Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Eph. ii. 12, At that time ye were without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Q. 3. What is the profaneness forbidden in this commandment?

A. The profaneness forbidden in this commandment, is the not worshipping and glorifying the true God, as God and our God.

Q. 4. Wherein doth this profaneness, in regard of God's worship and honour, appear?

A. Profaneness, in regard of God's worship and honour, doth appear, . When persons do not know God, or have misapprehensions of him. Jer. iv. 22, My people is foolish, they have not known me. Psal. 1. 21, Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself. 2. When persons are forgetful of God. Jer. ii. 32, My people have forgotten me days without number. 3. When persons hate Cod, or love themselves, or any thing else, more than God, desire creatures more than God, trust in arms of flesh more than God, delight in objects of sense more than God; when persons set any affections upon any thing in the world more than God, and take off the heart, in whole or in part, from God. Rom. viii. 7, The carnal mind is enmity against God. 1 John ii. 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. Col. iii. 2, Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. 4. When persons omit or neglect to give that worship and glory which is due unto God, either with the inward or outward man. Isa. xliii. 22, But thou hast not called upon

me, O Jacob.

Q. 5. What is that idolatry which is forbidden in the first commandment?

A. The idolatry which is forbidden in the first commandment, is the giving that worship and glory unto any other, which is due unto God alone. Rom. i. 25, Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

Q. 6. How many ways may persons be guilty of the idolatry forbidden in this commandment?

A. Persons may be guilty of the idolatry forbidden in this commandment, 1. By having and worshipping other gods besides the true God, with the outward man; as when persons worship the heathenish gods, or angels, or saints. 2. By giving that honour and respect to any thing in the world, which is due only unto God, with the inward man, which is heart-idolatry. Col. iii. 5, And covetousness, which is idolatry.

Q. 48. What are we especially taught by these words [before ME] in the first commandment?

A. These words [before ME] in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with the sin of having any other God.

Q. 1. How doth it appear that God seeth all things? A. It doth appear that God seeth all things, because God is every where present, and is infinite in understanding. Jer. xxiii. 24, Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? _saith the Lord: do not I fill heaven and earth? Psal. cxlvii. 5, His understanding is infinite.

Q. 2. Why doth God take such notice of, and is so displeased with the sin of having any other God?

A. Because the sin of having any other God, is a great affront unto the holy and jealous eye of God, who will not give his glory to another. Psal. xliv. 20. 21, If we have stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? Isaiah xlii. 8, I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Q. 49. Which is the second commandment?

A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or the 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.

Q. 50. What is required in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment requireth the observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.

Q. 1. How doth the worship required in the second commandment, differ from the worship required in the first commandment?

A. The worship required in the first commandment, hath a respect unto the object of worship, whereby we are bound to worship the true God, and none else; the worship required in the second commandment, hath a respect unto the means of worship, whereby we are bound to worship God acccording to the way and means of his own appointment, and no other.

Q. 2. What is the way and means which God hath appointed for his worship?

A. The only way and means which God hath appointed for his worship, is his ordinances, which he hath prescribed in his word.

Q. 3. What are the ordinances which God hath appointed in his word, to be the means of worship, and to be observed by his people?

A. The ordinances which God hath appointed in his word, to be the means of his worship, and to be observed by his people, are, 1. Prayer unto God with thanksgiving, and that publicly in assemblies, privately in families, and secretly in closets. Philip. iv. 6, Be careful for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Eph. v. 20, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Christ. Luke i. 20, And the whole multitude of people were praying. Jer. x. 25, Pour out thy fury upon the families which call not upon thy name. Matth. vi. 6, But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and,

when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 2. Reading and searching the scriptures. Acts xv. 21, For Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. John v. 39, Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. 3. Preaching and hearing of the word. 2 Tim. iv. 2, Preach the word;

5. Ad

be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. Isaiah lv. 3, Hear, and your soul shall live. 4. Singing of psalms. Psal, cxlix. 1, Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. James v. 13, Is any merry, let him sing psalms. ministration and receiving of the sacraments, both of baptism and the Lord's supper. Matth. xxviii. 19, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25, For I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 6. Fasting. Luke v. 35, But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 7. Instructing of children and household in the laws and ways of the Lord. Gen. xviii. 19, For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord. Deut. vi, 6, 7, And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Eph. vi. 4, And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 8. Conference and discourse of the things of God. Mal. iii. 16, They that feared the Lord, spake often one to another; and the Lord heark

ened, and heard it. Deut. vi. 7, Thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house; and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 9. Meditation. Psalm lxxvii. 12, I will meditate of all thy works. 1 Tim. iv. 15, Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear unto all. 10. Vows to the Lord. Psalm lxxvi. 11, Vow and pay unto the Lord. 11. Swearing by the name of the Lord, when lawfully called. Deut. vi. 13, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 12. Exercise of church-discipline. Matth. xviii. 15, 16, 17, If thy brother shall trespass against-thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Q. 4. What doth God require in the second commandment, in reference to his ordinances and means of worship?

A. God, in the second commandment, doth require, in reference to his ordinances and means of worship, 1. The receiving of them. 2. Observing of them. 3. The keeping them pure and entire.

Q. 5. What is it to receive God's ordinances?

A. The receiving of God's ordinances, implieth an approving of them with the mind, and embracement of them with the will.

Q. 6. What is it to observe God's ordinances?

A. The observing God's ordinances, implieth a doing what is required in them, a making use of them, and attending upon God in them.

Q. 7. What is it to keep pure and entire God's ordi nances?

A. The keeping pure and entire God's ordinances, implieth a doing what in us lieth to preserve the ordinances from corruption, not suffering any thing to be added to them, or taken away from them. Deut. xii. 32, What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Q. 8. How doth it appear that the receiving, observing,

« ZurückWeiter »