Exposition of the Principal Scriptures Used in our English Liturgy, Part 27
The Precepts.
LOueLoveRom. 13. 10. is the complement of the Law. hMat. …2. 37. 39.Christ therefore reduced all the ten Commandements vntounto these two: Thou shalt louelove the Lord thy God with all thy heart: and thy neighbour as thy selfe. The which (asiLib. 5. contra Marciou. Tertullian obserues) is not dispendium, but compendium legis: not a curtalling, but a full abridgement of the whole law. Yet I finde three sundrie partitions of the seuerals.
kAntiquit lib. 3. cap. 6.Iosephus andlLib. de Decalogo. Philo part them equally, making fiue Commandements in each table: the curious and learned may peruse Sextus Senensis Bibliothec. sanct. lib. 2. pag. 59. & Gallasius annot. in Irenaei, lib. 2. cap. 42.
Lombard out ofmQuaest. 71. in Exod. & epist. 119. cap. 11. Augustine, and generally the schoole men out ofnLib. 3. sent. dist. 37. Lombard, in honour of the Trinitie, diuide the first table into three Commandements, and the second into seuen.
But all our new writers, and most of the old Doctors, ascribe foure to the first, sixe to the second: among the Hebrewes, oRamus de religion. lib. 2. c. 3.Aben Esra: the Greekes,pIn Synopsi. Athanasius,qHom. 8. in Exod. Origen, rHom. 49. in Matth.Chrysostome: the Latines, Hierome, Ambrose in epist. ad Ephesios, cap. 6.
Wherefore being compassed about with such a cloud of witnesses, I follow the Churches order, assigning foure concerning our dutie to God, and sixe touching our dutie to man.
The first table then is a lanthorne to guide vsus in the worship of God; assIo. de Combis compend. lib. 5. cap. 59. some write, The two first commandements concerne God the Father as our Creator: the third, God the Sonne as our redeemer: the fourth, God the holy Ghost as our sanctifier. Yet so that we worship the Trinitie in vnitie, and vnitie in trinitie, neither confounding the persons, nor diuiding the substance.
Or astHerma…. Colon. Archiepis. explicat. decalog. other: the two first Commandements intimate how we must worship God in our heart: the third, how we must worship God in our tongue: the fourth, how we must worship God with both, in sanctifying the Sabbath.
Or the first table doth set down two points especially:
1. The hauing of the true God for our God, in the first, Thou shalt hauehave no other gods but me.
2. The worshipping of this one God, in the other three.
The first Commandement is obserued in exercising the three theologicall vertues,
Faith,
Hope,
Charitie.
He that vnfainedly beleeueth in God, hath God for his God: because he taketh God for the chiefe veritie: and in this vnbeleeuers and misbeleeuers offend. Hee that hopeth in God, hath God for his God, in that hee takes him for most faithfull, most pitifull, and also most potent: as being assuredly perswaded that hee can, and will helpe him in all his necessitie. And in this they sinne who despaire of the mercies of God, or doe trust more in men, then in God: or so much in men, as in God. He that loueth God aboue all things, hath God for his God, in holding him for the chiefe good: and in this they trespasse who louelove any creature more then God, or equall with God, and much more they that hate God: for it is a sound conclusion in Diuinitie; that is our God which we louelove best, and esteeme most.
Concerning the worship of God, note the
Manner: in the 2. Commandement.
End: in the 3. Commandement.
Time and place: in the 4. Com.
The second doth describe the manner of his worship: Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any grauen image, &c. forbidding all strange worship, and inioyning pure worship according to his word:uHilarius. for to deuise phantasies of God, is as horrible as to say there is no God. And therefore though wee should grant, that Images and pictures of God are as it were the Laymans Alphabet, and the peoples Almanacke: yet forasmuch as these bookes are not imprinted Cum priuilegio, but on the contrarie prohibited; it is vnlawfull to learne what God is by them, or to worship God in, or vnderunder them. And lest any should presume, God hath fensed in this commandement with a very strong reason, I am the Lord, and therefore can punish: a iealo…s God, and therefore will punish grieuously such, as giuegive that honour to another which only belongs vntounto me.
The end of Gods worship is his glorie, prouided for in the third Commandement: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine.
The which is done two waies, in our
Workes.
Words.
In our conuersation: when as our leaud life doth occasion enemies of religion to reuile the Gospell, andxRom. 2. 24. blaspheme God. It is to take Christs name in vaine, when wee play the Gentiles vnderunder the name of Christians; as Paul to y1. Titus 16.Titus: professing God in word, but denying him in our works. zSaluianus de gubernatione. dei, lib. 4.Hoc ipso Christiani deteriores quô meliores esse deberent: a2. Tim. 2. 19.He that calles on the name of Christ, must depart from iniquitie.
Secondly, wee take Gods name in vaine by speech; and that without an oath, or with an oath: without an oath, when we talke of himselfe, his essence, titles, attributes, holie word, wonderfull workes irreuerently and vnworthilie without any deuotion, or awfull regard of his excellent Maiestie.
We blaspheme God with an oath, by swearing either
Idlely.
Falsly,
Idlely out of
Weaknesse: when in our ordinary talke, through abBasilicon Doron, lib. 1. pag. 17 custome in sinne, wee fill vp our periods withcMatth. 5. 37. vnnecessarie oathes.
Wickednesse: as when a wretch in his discontented humor shall binde himselfe with an oath to doe some notable mischiefe. So certaine Iewes, Acts 23. sware that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed Paul: or when he shall despitefully sweare to vex the good spirit of God, and to trample the bloud of Christ vnderunder his feet: if cardes, or bowles, or dice, runne against him, he will make his tongue to runne so fast against God: or when he doth sweare by heauen, or earth, or any other creature,dDeut. 6. 13. Matth. 5. 34. in stead of the Creator. An oath is an inuocating of God: he therefore that sweares by the light, makes light his God: hee that sweares by the Masse, doth make that Idoll his God.
A man may forsweare himselfe three waies, as eLib. 3. sent. dist. 39.Lombard out offDe verb… Apostoli, serm. 28. tom. 10. fol. 264. Augustine: whē he doth sweare
1. That which is false, and hee knowes it false.
2. That which is true, but hee thought it false.
3. That which is false, but hee held it true.
The two first kinds are abominable: namely, when a man sweares either that hee knowes to be false, or thinks to be false: but the third in the Court of Conscience is no sinne; because it is with forswearing as with lying: Periurie is nothing else but a lie bound with an oath. gAulus Gellius, lib. 11. cap. 11. & Augustin. de mendat. ad Consent. cap. 11.As then a man may tell an vntruth, and yet not lie: so likewise sweare that which is false, and yet not sweare falsly.hIerem 4. 2. Thou shalt sweare in truth, that is, as thou shalt in thy conscience and science thinke to be true:iAugust. epis…. 154. for doubtlesse it is a lesser offence to sweare by a false god truly, then to sweare by the true God falsly: it is a sinne to lie, but a double sinne to sweare and lie.