ANSW. The preface to the Commandments is contained in these words
[_I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage_] wherein God manifesteth his
sovereignty, as being Jehovah, the eternal, immutable, and almighty
God, having his being in and of himself, and giving being to all his
words, and works; and that he is a God in covenant, as with Israel
of old, so with all his people; who, as he brought them out of their
bondage in Egypt, so he delivereth us from our spiritual thraldom;
and that therefore we are bound to take him for our God alone, and
to keep all his Commandments.
QUEST. CII. _What is the sum of the four Commandments, which contain
our duty to God?_
ANSW. The sum of the four Commandments containing our duty to God,
is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our
soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind.
These answers contain some things necessary to be observed; as,
I. That the substance of each commandment is to be considered by us, or
what it is, that God enjoins or forbids therein; in which we find that
every Commandment contains a distinct head of duty, and is to be
explained according to the rules laid down in the foregoing answer. And
also that some of them have reasons annexed to them; which is an
instance of God’s condescending goodness, that besides the consideration
of our obligation to obey whatever he commands, because it is his will,
we may have other motives to enforce this obedience. What these reasons
or motives are, will be considered in their proper place.
II. That here is a general preface, which God has set before the
commandments, which contains several motives to obedience; some of which
were indeed peculiarly adapted to the Israelites, whereby they were put
in mind of their late deliverance out of the land of Egypt.
Nevertheless, if we consider the moral reason thereof, as this, together
with the subject-matter of the commandments, to which it is prefixed,
may be applied to God’s people under all ages, we shall find that it
extends farther than the obligation which Israel was under, as delivered
from the Egyptian bondage. Therefore it may be observed,
1. That God reveals himself as the Lord, whose name alone is Jehovah, a
God of infinite sovereignty and almighty power, as well as faithful to
his promises; so that whatever he obliges us to do, or gives us
encouragement to expect from him, we have the highest motive and
inducement thereunto.
2. He styles himself his people’s God; and so puts them in mind of that
relation which they stand in to him, as the result of the covenant of
grace, in which he gives them a warrant to lay claim to those spiritual
blessings which he bestows on a people nigh unto him; and this is
considered as a farther obligation to obedience. The covenant of grace
respects either the external dispensation thereof, which belongs to the
church in general, viz. to all who are made partakers of the glad
tidings of salvation, which are contained in the gospel; or else that
particular claim which believers have to saving blessings which are made
over to them therein, which respects all those graces which God is
pleased to give his people here, and that glory which he has reserved
for them hereafter; and this must certainly be reckoned the highest
motive to duty.
3. As to what respects God’s having brought Israel out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage; this is to be extended farther than
that particular providence, which was then fresh in their memories; and
therefore it denotes all the deliverances which God is pleased to
vouchsafe to his people, whether temporal or spiritual; and in
particular, that which was procured for us by Christ, from the bondage
and thraldom of sin and Satan, the condemning sentence of the law,
together with that salvation which is inseparably connected with it;
which is to be improved by us as an inducement to yield universal
obedience to all God’s commandments.
There are some, indeed, who think that this is a part of the first
Commandment, and so the meaning is, Thou art to know, and practically
consider, that I am the Lord thy God, as containing the affirmative part
thereof; and then follows the negative, Thou shalt have no other gods;
or else they suppose it to be a reason annexed to this Commandment in
particular. But it seems most probable, that it is a preface to all the
Commandments, and accordingly to be applied as a motive to enforce
obedience to every one of them.
III. We have farther an account of the sum of the four Commandments,
which contain our duty to God. Here it maybe observed,
1. That the sum of all the commandments is love. This is what the
apostle intends, when he says, that _the end of the commandment is
charity_, or rather _love_, as it ought to be rendered, 1 Tim. i. 5. and
accordingly he says, _He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law_,
Rom. xiii. 8. This love hath either God or man for its object, and
comprizes in it the duties which we owe to God and man: and they are all
reduced to this general head; that hereby we may understand; that
obedience, whether it be to God or man, is to be performed with delight;
otherwise it will be a burden to us and unacceptable to him, who has
obliged us to love him and keep his commandments; because he first loved
us.
2. These commandments, as they respect our duty to God and man, are
comprized in two tables, which are to be divided according to their
respective objects. Some ancient writers, indeed, have very
injudiciously supposed that the five first Commandments belong to the
first table, and the others to the second; and so make an equal division
thereof; and the Papists have assigned but three to the first table,
making the second Commandment an appendix to the first; and that the
number ten may be compleat, they divide the tenth Commandment into two.
The reason urged by them for this matter, will be considered in its
proper place; but we are bound to conclude that the four first
Commandments contain the duties of the first table, which respect those
which we immediately owe to God; and these are to be performed, as our
Saviour says, _with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all
our mind_, Luke x. 27. which is an idea superior to that which is
contained in the duty we owe to man. And the six last Commandments
contain the duties of the second table, of which our neighbour is the
more immediate object.
That this division of the Commandments is just, appears from what the
apostle says, when speaking concerning the duty contained in the fifth
Commandment, _Honour thy father and mother_, who calls it _the first
Commandment with promise_, Eph. vi. 2. Whereas it is not the first
Commandment that has a promise annexed to it, since the second
Commandment contains a promise of mercy to thousands of them that love
God and keep his commandments; nor is it the first of the ten
Commandments. Therefore the apostle can intend nothing hereby but that
it is the first Commandment of the second table.
And now we are considering the Commandments as thus contained in two
tables, and distinguished with respect to the more immediate objects
thereof, we may farther observe; that though both of them are enjoined
by the authority of God, and consequently are equally binding, so that
the obedience which is acceptable in his sight, must be so extensive, as
that we must _have respect to all his commandments_, Psal. cxix. 6. Yet
it may be observed,
(1.) That the duties of the first table, in which we have to do with God
as the more immediate object thereof, are to be considered as acts of
religious worship, whereby we not only confess our obligation to obey
him; but in performing it, adore and magnify his divine perfections as
the highest end and reason thereof; which is not included in the idea of
the duties which we owe to our neighbour, as contained in the
commandments of the second table. These, indeed are to be religiously
observed, not from any circumstance respecting our neighbour, but as
duties which we perform in obedience to God[204].
(2.) Though the principal and most excellent branch of religion consists
in our obeying the commandments of the first table; yet our obedience is
not only defective, but unacceptable to God, if we neglect to perform
those of the second. And, on the other hand, the performance of the
duties of the second table is not sufficient to denominate a person a
religious man, who lives in the neglect of those which are contained in
the first.
(3.) The duties which we owe to our neighbour, as contained in the
second table, are, for the most part, to give way to those which we owe
to God, pursuant to those which are enjoined in the first, especially
when they are considered as standing in competition with them. Thus we
are obliged, in the fifth Commandment, to obey our parents or superiors.
Nevertheless, if they command us to break the Sabbath, profane the name
of God, or attend on such worship which he has not required, we are to
disobey them, or to _obey God rather than men_, Acts iv. 19. And
elsewhere it is said, _If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy
son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is
as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go, and serve
other gods: thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him_,
Deut. xiii. 6, 8. This our Saviour calls _hating father and mother,
wife, children, and brethren_, Luke xiv, 26. without which we cannot be
his disciples. By which he intends, that if the love which we otherwise
owe to them, be inconsistent with that obedience which he requires of
his followers; or, if we cannot oblige them, and at the same time
perform the duties which we owe to him, the inferior obligation must
give way to the superior.
Footnote 204:
_The former of these are generally styled the Elicit acts of religion,
the latter the Imperate._
Quest. CIII., CIV.