Exposition Upon the Church Catechism, Exposition · Lords Day 15 – Lords Day 25
Lord's Day 15.
Q. You add further in this Article, He was dead: Why is this added?
A. To shew that he was the true Sacrifice for Sin, the wages whereof was death, mRom. 6. 23.: seeing such Sacrifices by Gods Law were to be slain, nLev. 6. 25.he underwent the same, by the separation of his soul from his body.oLuk. 23. 46.
Q. But the death due to our sins, was not only a temporal, but also an eternal death. How then, could Christ, by dying only a temporal death, satisfie for our sins?
A. Because in that temporal death, (which upon his voluntary offering himself thereunto, God accepted in full payment; pEph. 5. 2. Is. 53. 11.the dignity of his Person, added an infinite value to his temporal sufferings. For, upon that account, the blood which issued out of his tortured body, was the Blood of God, qAct. 20. 28.as he himself, (even whilst he hung on the Cross) was the Lord of Glory r1 Cor. 2. 8..
Q. You say in the next clause, that he was Buried. Why is this added, to that of his Death?
A. Because his burial, (with the Circumstances of it, as they are related by the Evangelists,) sMat. 27. 59, 60, 65, 66. Mar. 15. 46. &c.is a full evidence that he was certainly dead; which contributes much to the assurance of his Resurrection.tAct. 12. 29. 30. compared with Act. 2. 29.
Q. When you add, that He descended into Hell, what is to be understood thereby?
A. In so perplexed a dispute as these words have occasioned, it is hard to determine. But this seems to be the safest, and fairest Interpretation; that after he was dead, and buried, his Soul and Body continued in that state of separation, under the Dominion of Death till his Resurrection uAct. 2. 31. Rom. 6. 9..
Q. But this being an Article of Faith, how can a plain Christian believe it as he ought, except he clearly understand it? And how can be do that, except there were a certain determination of the Sense of it?
A. Therefore it is necessary, and sufficient for a plain Christian to believe, that what the Scripture means by Christ's being in Sheol, or Hades, wPs. 16. 10. Act. 2. 27.which we render Hell, (as that Word denotes a concealed place) is true in Point of Fact; though he certainly understand not where that place is, nor what Christ did there.
Lord's Day 16.
Q. Which is the Fifth Article?
A. The third Day he rose again from the Dead.
Q. What contains that Article?
A. That the Body of Christ, (without having seen, that is, undergone any Corruption in the Grave, xAct. 13. 37.was by his Fathers, and his own Divine Power, re-united to his Soul, and really raised from thence, to Life again, on the Morning of the third day after his Death! yAct. 2. 32. 1 Cor. 15. 4.as he himself had foretold,zJoh. 10. 17, 18. 2. 19.
Q. What day in the week was that day, on which he rose?
A. The first day of the week, aLuk. 24. 1, 2, 3.which from the Lord's Resurrection on it, the Church hath since called, The Lord's Day.bRevel. 1. 10.
Q. What mean you by the Sixth Article, That he Ascended into Heaven?
A. That our Lord Jesus Christ, forty Days after his Resurrection, in the sight of his Apostles, was taken up in a Cloud, into the highest Heaven.cActs 1. 3. 9. Eph. 4. 10.
Q. Wherefore did he Ascend thither?
A. That there, and thence, he might perform what was remaining for him to do, for the perfecting of our Salvation: dHeb. 7. 25.and that, by taking possession in our whole humane Nature, of the purchased Inheritance, he might prepare Mansions there for us, eJoh. 14. 2.whereinto he will one day receive us, to be ever with him, to behold, fJoh. 17. 24.and partake of, gRev. 3. 21.his Glory.
Q. What understand you by that other part of that Article, That he sitteth there at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty.
A. That in Heaven, he is advanced to the highest Dignity and Authority, far above all the Angels, and other Glorified Saints. hEph. 1. 20, 21.For, because the Right Hand of a Prince, is (among us) the most Honourable place for any one to be set in: i1 King. 2. 19.therefore, (though God, being a Spirit, hath properly no Right Hand, yet) a Right Hand is attributed to him in this Case, as the place of Christ's advancement; which is elsewhere expressed by his sitting on his Fathers Throne.kRev. 3. 21.
Q. What mean you, by Christ's sitting there? Is he always in that Posture in Heaven?
A. No, for he is elsewhere said to stand there. lAct. 7. 56.So that sitting there is not a determinatin of his posture of Body, but only an expression of his State, and Majesty.
Q. What is the especial work which he doth there for us?
A. He appears continually in the presence of God for us, (that is, on our behalf:) mHeb. 9. 24.and by his Intercession (as our Advocate) obtains for us the Gifts of his Holy Spirit nJoh. 14. 6.the Answer of our Prayers; oJoh. 14. 13.the Pardon of our Sins; p1 Joh. 2. 1.and the Conquest of his, and our Enemies.qPs. 110. 1.
Lord's Day 17.
Q. What is the Import of the Seventh Article, From thence shall he come to Judg the Quick and the Dead?
A. That the same Lord Jesus Christ shall come the second time from Heaven, in Glorious State, rActs 1. 11. Mat. 24. 30.to Judge all the World, to that condition which they must abide in for ever.sAct. 17. 31. Heb. 6. 2.
Q. What mean, you by the Quick and Dead, whom, you say, Christ is to Judg?
A. By the Quick, are meant those, (for such, there shall be, t1 Thes. 4. 15.who shall be found alive at his coming: and by the Dead, all those that have Dyed, and shall Dye, in all Ages of the World to that Day.uRev. 20. 12.
Q. How shall he then perform the Office of a Judg to them?
A. He shall call them all personally before him, by the Voice of an Arch-Angel, and the Trump of God; and take an account of all things done by them in the Body, that is, whilst they lived in this World; and pass Sentence on every one according to their works.w2 Cor. 5. 10. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Rev. 20. 12.
Q. Which is the Eighth Article?
A. I believe in the Holy Ghost.
Q. Who is the Holy Ghost?
A. The Third Person in the Blessed Trinity, x1 Joh. 5. 7.proceeding from the Father, and the Son, yJoh. 14. 26. 15. 26.and partaker of the same Divine Essence with them, as truly God.zActs 5. 3, 4.
Q. Why call you him the [Holy] Ghost, or Spirit?
A. Because he is, not only Holy in himself, (for so are all the rest of the Divine Persons;) but also, by office, is the Author of Sanctification to us.aRom. 1. 4. 2 Thes. 2. 13.
Lord's Day 18.
Q. Which is the Ninth Article?
A. [I believe] the Holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.
Q. What is the Church?
A. A Spiritual Society, joyned to Christ their Head, by Faith, bEph. 5. 23.and to each other by Charity, or Love.cCol. 2. 2.
Q. What is the Sense of this Word, Catholick, added thereto?
A. The Word is Greek, and signifies as much as Ʋniversal: so denoting that Church, which includes within its Compass all particular Churches, and Persons that belong to that Body; whether those that are Militant upon Earth, dAct. 8. 3.or those that are Triumphant in Heaven; eHeb. 12. 23.but it is commonly understood of the Universal Body of that Church, that is Militant upon Earth.
Q. Why call you it the [Holy] Catholick Church?
A. Because of the truly Holy Members thereof, which being the better part, give that denomination to the whole: and because all the Members thereof, though they all be not so, yet are all called so, and profess Holiness.f1 Cor. 1. 2. 1 Thes. 4. 7.
Q. What particular Churches, or Societies of Christians, belong to that Body?
A. Not only Rome, and the Churches in Communion therewith, though that Corrupt Church alone, Proudly, Schismatically, and Absurdly, challenges to it self, the Name and Authority of the Catholick Church: but all other Regular Societies of Christians, wheresoever the Word of God is truly Preached, and his Sacraments duly Administred, by Ministers lawfully ordained.g1 Cor. 1. 2. Act. 2. 41, 42. & 14. 23. Rom. 10. 15.
Q. Why do you add the Clause of the Communion of Saints, to this Article of the Holy Catholick Church?
A. Because this is the first, and most natural Privilege, belonging to this Society, as denoting the Holy Fellowship which all the true Members thereof, maintain each with other, and all of them with Christ their Head. h1 Joh. 1. 3. 7. Eph. 4. 15, 16. 1 Cor. 12. 26, 27.By Reason whereof they are called Saints, or Holy Persons.iRom. 1. 7.
Q. Wherein doth this Fellowship, or Communion consist?k1 Cor. 12. 6.
A. In their common Participation of the same God, and Ordinances, and joyning in the same Faith and Worship, lEph. 4. 4, 5, 6.together, with the mutual helps they afford each to other, in all their Spiritual and Temporal Necessities.mHeb. 13. 6.
Lord's Day 19.
Q. Which is the Tenth Article?
A. [I believe] the forgiveness of Sins.
Q. What is Sin?
A. Any Transgression of any Law of God.n1 Joh. 3. 4.
Q. How many sorts of Sins are there?
A. There are two common Divisions of Sins. 1st. of Sin in General, into Original, and Actual Sins.
2. Of Actual Sins, into Sins of Omission, and Commission.
Q. What is Original Sin?
A. It is that of our Natural Corruption, derived to every one of us from our first Parents; who by their Disobedience, in eating the forbidden Fruit, oGen. 3. 6.tainted all humane Nature, as it is propagated from them to us, by our immediate Parents.pRom. 5. 12. Ps. 51. 5.
Q. What is Actual Sin?
A. The Actual Breach of any Law of God, either in Thought, qMat. 15. 19.Word, rJam. 3. 2.or Deed.sJoh. 3. 19.
Q. What is that Actual Sin you call a Sin of Omission?
A. When a Man neglects, or performs not as he ought, any Duty by God required.tRom. 3. 11, 12. Jer. 32. 23.
Q. And what is a Sin of Commission.
A. When we do any thing which God doth forbid.uJer. 44. 4, 5.
Q. What is it to forgive Sin?
A. 1. Properly, it is to release the Sinner from the guilt, and discharge him from undergoing the desert of Sin, which is Eternal Death; wRom. 6. 23.expressed also in Scripture, by covering, or not imputing Sin.xPs. 32. 1, 2. Rom. 4. 7, 8.
2. But improperly, it is applyed to the pronouncing, and declaring that pardon to Penitent Sinners.y2 Cor. 2. 7. 10.
Q. To whom doth it belong thus to pardon or forgive Sins?
A. 1. Properly, to God only, against whom only Sin is committed; and to whom the Debt of undergoing its punishment, is contracted.zMar. 2. 7. Dan. 9. 9. Ps. 51. 1, 2, 4.
2. But improperly, it is Communicated to the lawful Ministers of the Church, to pronounce it to Penitent Sinners, by Christ's Commission, in God's Name.aJoh. 20. 23.
Q. Who are the Persons that are capable of receiving forgiveness of Sins?
A. Those only, who truly Repent; and Believe in Christ Jesus.bActs 2. 38. 10. 43.
Q. How do such Penitent Believers obtain forgiveness?
A. By the Merit of Christ's Death, who thereby satisfyed God's Justice for them which, by God, is graciously accounted to them, as if they themselves had done it.cEph. 1. 7. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Col. 1. 14.
Q. Why is this Article, annexed to that, of the Holy Catholic Church, and the Communion of Saints?
A. Because forgiveness of sins is, regularly and ordinarily, conferred on those only, who are actually Members of that Holy Society.dMat. 1. 21 Act. 2. 38, 47.
Lord's Day 20.
Q. Which is the Eleventh Article?
A. [I believe] the Resurrection of the Body.
Q. What is the Sence of this Article?
A. That the dead bodies of Saints, and all other Persons, shall at the last day be re-united to their Souls, and raised from the Grave of Corruption, to abide the Doom which Christ, the Judge of quick and dead, shall pass upon them.eAct. 24. 15. Dan. 12. 2.
Q. Ʋpon what Reasons do you believe this which seems a thing so impossible in it self, and to humane Reason incredible?
A. Because God in the Scriptures hath so expresly said it, who is truth it self: and it is not beyond his Power, who made all things of nothing, to effect it.fMat. 22. 29, 30, &c.
Q. Seeing (as you say,) all men are to rise again from the dead. How comes the Resurrection of the Body, to be here mentioned, as a peculiar priviledge of the Church?
A. Because the Resurrection is only a privilege to those of Mankind, who are to arise to enjoy the happiness of another World; those, who are the Members of Jesus Christ, and raised by his Spirit gRom. 8. 11., and by vertue of his Resurrection, h1 Cor. 15. 22, 23.and to be Conformed to his glorified Body in Heaven; iPh. 3. 21.and are therefore Emphatically called the Children of the Resurrection.kLuk. 20. 36.
Q Which is the twelfth and last Article?
A. [I believe] the life Everlasting.
Q. What mean you by this Life Everlasting?
A. The enjoyment of all happiness and glory, both in Soul and Body, for ever in Heaven; which consists in perfect Communion with, and conformity to, God the Fountain of Life, lPs. 16. 11. 17. 15. 36. 9.and Jesus Christ the Prince of Life, mAct. 3. 15. 1 Thes. 4. 17.which blessed estate is therefore expressed by Life, because Life is the most valuable enjoyment of humane Nature.nJob 2. 4.
Q. Shall not all other Persons after the Resurrection live everlastingly? And if so, how is it, that Everlasting Life is here mentioned also, as the peculiar privilege of Saints?
A. True indeed, (as this Word Life, imports the perpetual indissoluble Union of Soul and Body,) so all Men after the Resurrection, shall live everlastingly: but as to the wicked, because this Life shall be led by them in continual Torments, Spiritual and Corporal, in a state of separation from God, and all Comforts, and in the society of Damned Spirits and men only: this estate (which is worse than not to be at all) oMat. 26. 24.is called in the Scripture, by the Name of the Second Death: as directly contrary to that everlasting Life, which the godly enjoy.pRev. 2. 11. 20. 14. Mat. 25. 41. 2 Thes. 1. 9
Lord's Day 21.
Q. You said, That your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you, that you should keep Gods Commandments. Tell me how many there be?
A. Ten. (Which for their comprehensive Breviry, are called, ten words, or the Decalogue.)qExod. 34. 28. in the Margin.
Q. Which be they?
A. The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying,
I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.
I. Thou shalt have no other Gods, but me.
II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth Beneath, or in the Water under the Earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them. For I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children, unto the third and fourth Generation, of them that hate me; and shew mercy unto thousands, in them that love me and keep my Commandments.
III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name in vain.
IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou, and thy Son, and thy Daughter, thy Man-servant, and thy Maid-servant, thy Cattle, and the Stranger that is within thy Gates. For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the Sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the ‖Heb. Sabbath.seventh day and hallowed it.
V. Honour thy Father, and thy Mother, that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
VI. Thou shalt do no Murther.
VII. Thou shalt not commit Adultery.
VIII. Thou shalt not Steal.
IX. Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House, thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife, nor his Servant, nor his Maid, nor his Ox, nor his Ass, nor any thing that is his.
Q. How did God deliver these Commandments?
A. He first spake them from Heaven, with a great voice, in the hearing of all the People of Israel; and then wrote them with his own Finger, on two Tables of Stone; rDeut. 5. 22. Exod. 31. 18. 32. 16.and gave them to Moses, to be laid up in an Ark, or Chest, appointed for that purpose, to be kept in the Sanctuary.sDeut. 10. 2. 5.
Q. God gave Moses, and the Israelites by him, many other Commandments or Laws. How do you call this Law, to distinguish it from the rest?
A. This Law of the ten Commandments, or words, is usually called the natural, or moral Law, to difference it from the rest of those Laws; which were either Judicial, or Ceremonial.tDeut. 7. 11.
Q. What Law was that which you call. Judicial?
A. A Law which ordered all matters concerning the Civil Government of that Nation; and was obligatory to none but that Nation only.
Q. What Law was that which you call Ceremonial?
A. A Law that ordered the Circumstances of the Jewish Religion, and so obliged only that Church; and that only, till Christ by his Authority, put an end to it, and made it unlawful any longer to be used.uGal. 5. 2.
Lord's Day 22.
Q. Why call you the Law of the ten Commandments, the natural Law?
A. Because the substance of it is naturally planted in the Reason of all Mankind wRom. 2. 14, 15.; ever since Adam, in whose heart it was written.
Q. Wherefore call you it the Moral Law?
A. Because its design is, to govern the moral Actions, or Manners of Men, by rules of Religion, Righteousness, and Sobriety xTit. 2. 12.: and is therefore confirmed by the Gospel, to stand in force to the end of the world.yRom. 3. 31.
Q. You say these ten Commandments or words which God spake, were afterwards written by God himself. Was there no other word of God written before that time?
A. No. But the word of God, before the time of Moses, was unwritten; being communicated at several times, and in divers manners, to the chief Heads of holy Families; who were prophetically inspired, and had the opportunity of delivering the Divine Will to their Posterity, for divers Generations, by word of mouth, by reason of the long time that they usually lived.zGen. 18. 19. Luke 1. 70.
Q. From Moses his Time then, downwards, the word of God hath been delivered by Writing. Have we any authentick Writings of that kind, besides this of the ten Commandments, and the rest of the Books of Moses?
A. Yes: In the rest of the Holy Scriptures; (which we call by that Name, because they are written aRom. 1. 2. Heb. 10. 7.) compiled into that Book, which is emphatically, and by way of eminency called the Book or Bible.
Q. Who wrote the rest of those Holy Scriptures you mention?
A. Several Holy Prophets and Prophetical Men, wrote the rest of the Old Testament, by Gods Inspiration, and Appointment. bHos. 8. 12. 2 Pet. 1. 20, 21. 2 Tim. 3. 16.And the New Testament, was by like Inspiration, Penned by the Apostles of our Saviour, and other Apostolical Men: cJoh. 14. 26. 16. 12, 13, 14.Who attested the Truths delivered in those Writings, by Miracles, (unquestioned in that Age wherein they were done, and therefore believed in all Ages of the World since:) and their Books, upon that Evidence, have been always received in the Church, as of Divine Authority.
Lord's Day 23.
Q. So much upon the occasion of Writing these Commandments. Now concerning the Sense of them;
What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments?
A. I learn two things: My duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
Q. You said, before, that these Commandments were written in two Tables; To which of those two Tables belongs your duty towards God?
A. To the first Table, which contains the four first Commandments.
Q. And to which Table belongs your duty to your Neighbour?
A. To the second Table; which contains the six last Commandments.
Q. What is thy duty towards God, (the Sum of the first Table?)
A. My duty towards God, is to believe in him, to fear him, and to love him, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my Soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks, to put my whole trust in him, to call upon him, to honour his holy Name and his Word, and to serve him truly all the days of my Life.
Q. What is thy Duty towards thy Neighbour; (the Sum of all the Commandments of the second Table?)
A. My Duty towards my Neighbour, is to love him as my self; and to do to all Men, as I would they should do unto me. To Love, Honour, and Succour, my Father and Mother. To Honour, and Obey, the King, and all that are put in Authority under him. To submit my self to all my Governours, Teachers, Spiritual Pastors and Masters. To order my self lowly, and reverendly, to all my Betters. To hurt no Body by Word or Deed. To be true and just in all my Dealing. To bear no malice not hatred in my Heart. To keep my Hands from picking and stealing, and my Tongue from Evil speaking, lying and slandering: To keep my Body in temperance, soberness, and chastity. Not to Covet, nor Desire other Mens Goods; but to learn and labour truly to get mine own Living, and to do my Duty, in that State of Life unto which it shall please God to call me.
Q. You say, that these Answers contain the things you chiefly learn from these Commandments; and thereby imply, that there be other things also contained under them. Let us therefore, take a more particular view of them. And first, are the first Words, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage; a part of any Commandment?
A. No. They contain only a short Preface to all the Commandments.
Q. What doth this Preface to the Commandments contain?
A. Two things.
1. The Titles of the Law-maker, with the Right he hath to give Man a Law; in these Words, I am the Lord thy God.
2. A special motive to perswade Obedience thereunto, taken from the special Mercy of God to that People of the Israelites, then fresh in Memory. And so this motive is literally proper to them only: but in the spiritual and Mystical Sense, it layes a like, but (withal) a greater Obligation on us. It is contained in these Words, That brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.
Q. What is that Spiritual and Mystical Sense, which brings down this Motive to us?
A. That the great Lord of Heaven and Earth, and our God by Baptismal Covenant, dRom. 3. 29.hath by the Redemption wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ, brought us out of a worse Bondage, than the Israelites were in Egypt: to wit, that of Sin, eRom. 6. 17.Satan, f2 Tim. 2. 26.and the fear of Eternal Death and Damnation.gHeb. 2. 14, 15.
Q. What Ground have we to apply this Consideration to this purpose, (the inducing us to obey this Law?)
A. Because the Scriptures often urge Obedience to it, on this Motive.hRom. 6. 18. 19. Heb. 8. 10. 12. Luk. 1. 74, 75.
Lord's Day 24.
Q. Thus much concerning the Preface. Now, before we enter upon the particular view of the Commandments themselves; let me bear what general Rules there are chiefly to be observed, in the interpretation of them?
A. Those Rules are chiefly five.
Q. Which is the first of them?
A. 1. The first Rule is, That the Law of God, who is a Spirit, iJoh. 4. 24being (like him) Spiritual, kRom. 7. 14.where it seems to command, or forbid, only outward Acts, is to be understood to reach the inward motions of the Spirit also.lMat. 5. 27, 28. 22. 37.
Q. Which is the second?
A. 2. That the Command being exceeding broad, mPsal. 119. 96.every Duty that is commanded, and every Sin that is forbidden, contains under it all the Degrees of each: together with whatsoever may conduce to the occasioning, causing, or other furtherance of it, so far as any of them are in our own power.nMat. 5. 22. 32. 1 Thes. 5. 22. Rom. 14. 19.
Q. Which is the third?
A. 3. That (for the same Reason) all Commandments that are delivered Negatively, (that is, forbidding any Sin,) include the affirmative part also, (that is, require the contrary Duty:) oEph. 4. 28.and all such as affirmatively enjoyn any Duty, imply also the Negative part: that is, forbid the contrary Sin.pMat. 4. 10. Mar. 7. 10, 11.
Q. Which is the fourth?
A. 4. That where any Commandment concerneth Relations; there, though but one of them be named, yet the mutual Duty of the other proportionably, is likewise included.qEph. 6. 2. 4.
Q. Which is the fifth?
A. 5. That every Person is bound to be assistant, to all others to do those things which they are obliged to equally with him, so far as lawfully he may: rGen. 18. 19. Jos. 24. 15. 2 Cor. 1. 24.and on the contrary, to prevent and hinder others from any things, in like sort forbidden.sLev. 19. 17. Ep. 5. 11.
Lord's Day 25.
Q. Well now, (according to these Rules,) let us enquire into the particular meaning of each Commandment. Rehearse me first, the first Commandment by it self.
A. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me.
Q. The new Translation of the Bible (more according to the Hebrew) reads the last clause, before me. What doth that Phrase, of having no other Gods before God, import?
A. The same thing (in substance) with, having no other Gods, but the true God: only with this special consideration, intimated in the manner of expressing it, That God seeth, and taketh special notice how Mens Hearts stand affected to him, and his Worship: and is highly offended with the least propensions of the Heart to Idolatry, though never so secret, and undiscernable by the Eyes of Men.tDeut. 12. 30. 29. 18.
Q. What is the Affirmative part of this Commandment; or what Duties doth it require of us?
A. The knowing, uHos. 8. 2.and acknowledging of the true God only; and the owning him for our God, wDeut. 26. 17.by all Acts of inward Worship especially: xJoh. 4. 24.in a Degree answerable to his infinite perfections and excellences. yPsal. 29. 2.Particularly, in the highest Expressions of Faith, zProv. 3. 5.Love, aMar. 12. 30.Fear, bMat. 10. 28.Thankfulness, cPs. 118. 28, 29.and Obedience.dAct. 5. 29.
Q. What is the Negative part, or what Sins are here forbidden?
A. All Atheism, or denial of the divine Being: ePs. 14. 1and all that sort of Idolatry, which sets up any other Object of divine Worship, but the true God only.fDeut. 6. 14.
As also, all mean and unworthy Thoughts of God, gIs. 10. 18. Psal. 50. 21.and Carriages answerable to such Thoughts: hMal. 1. 14.Particularly, the neglecting altogether, iIsa. 43. 22.or slight performance, of any part of the Worship that belongs to him, kMat. 15. 8.especially, the inward Worship, consisting in the particulars before mentioned.lHeb. 3. 12. Joh. 5. 42. Psal. 55. 19. Ro. 1. 21. Ps. 81. 11.