Milk for Babes, Questions · Question 8 – Question 11
8. Q. Which are theſe lawes of God?
A. Exod. 20. Deut. 15.Thoſe tenne words which God wrote in two Tables of ſtone, and are ſet downe in Exodus, and Deuteronomie.
Marke here two things: Ten Precepts, two Tables. Deut. 4.13. Exod. 34.28.The number of Gods lawes; and the courſe that God tooke to notice them to us unworthy creatures. As to their Number, they are tenne words, or tenne Commandements, and muſt not be made fewer by us. As to Gods perpetuattng their notice unto us, after the publiſhing of them, he wrote them in two Tables of ſtone. Had we not blotted out a great part of them, and contracted hearts harder then a ſtone, God would not have written them in ſtone. Had any ſtone beene ſufficient to have written them in, he would not have order'd their publiſhing againe, Exod. 20. Deut. 5.and againe, in the ſecond and fifth bookes of Moſes, beſides all the explications of Chriſt, Moſes, the Prophets, and Apoſtles. Now ſeeing I enquire after theſe lawes, and thou doſt characterize, and marke them out, by their Number tenne, and by Gods perpetuating them to poſterity by ſtones, and writings; doe but admire the wiſdome of God, who can give ſo large a Volume in ſo few words: and remember to take notice of the lawes of God in generall, and of all ten particulars of them.
Vſe. Firſt, We muſt know the laws of God.thou muſt take ſpeciall notice of the lawes of God, and therefore I aske, and thou anſwereſt concerning them. Hence the Jewes were commanded to write them upon the poſts of their houſes, Deut. 4.6.and upon their gates: and, in truth, they are thy wiſdome out of Chriſt, they are thy wiſedome unto Christ, and they are part of thy wiſdome in Chriſt.
They are thy wiſdome out of Chriſt: for Moſes ſaith, Doe them, Deut. 4.6.for they are your wiſdome, and your underſtanding in the ſight of the people. They have an excellent politicall uſe to order thy going in, and out, for the good of the commonwealth, and family. They are thy wiſdome unto Chriſt: for they are the beſt Schoolemaſter, Gal. 3.19.24.in thy ſinfull ſtate, to bring thee unto him. They are like the ſtorme of fire and brimſtone which drave Lot out of Sodome. For while they require perfect perſonall righteouſneſſe to juſtificaion; and, for want of this, doe reveale ſinne, and uncloth thee of all worth: Rom. 8. Heb. 12.20, 21.and by reaſon of ſinne, doe ingender the ſpirit of bondage, by making thee feare and quake; they make thee haſte to Chriſt, without whom the curſe will ſwallow thee up in ſorrow.
They are, beſides, part of thy wiſdome in Chriſt: for, by manifeſting the reliques of ſinne, they will keep under thy carnall part, Mic. 6.and, ſo, make thee walke humbly with thy God; and they will be ſuch an hedge of all morall duties, as they will make thy faith ſhine, in adorning thy Chriſtian calling with good works to all well pleaſing.
Vſe. Therefore (my deare Child) neglect not this dutie, know the good lawes of thy God. They are briefe for memory, cleare for capacitie, and ſo perfect, that they ſhall not need either addition, correction, or repealing. It may be thou mayſt think, that now thou art not under the Law, but under Grace. It is true, Rom. 6.that, when God hath put thee into Chriſt, thou art delivered from the exaction, malediction, and irritation of the law: but remember this ſimilitude; So long as an oake grows, it ſhadows thee from the warmth of the Sunne; but, when thou haſt cut it down, thou canſt make wedges out of it ſelf, to rent it in pieces, and make it ſerve for thy ſeverall uſes: ſo, when the law doth overtop thee, during thy being under the power of nature, thou art deprived of the comfort of the Sunne of righteouſneſſe, but, when it is thrown down by the power of the righteouſneſſe of faith, Rom. 7.then mayſt thou make inſtruments out of it ſelfe to kill that ſinne (by way of repreſſion and mortification) which the law occaſioned, and to lay open the path of obedience, wherein (for the juſtification of thy faith) thou mayſt run the way of Gods commandements.Pſal. 119.
Secondly, We muſt know every commandement.thou muſt not onelyonly take notice of theſe laws in generall, but of every particular of them: as which is the firſt, ſecond, third, fourth, and ſo of the reſt. God hath neither ſwelled them into to twentie, nor ſhrunk them into nine. And for theſe ten, Deut. 4.13.he hath given none of them in vain, but hath, in the leaſt, diſcovered a world of wiſdom, and goodneſſe, which is particularly to be noticed to thee, except thou wilt diſhonour thy good God.
Ʋſe. Therefore, be thou (my child) ſure to be diligent in this dutie. When thou prayeſt, wouldſt thou know, in confeſſing thy ſinnes, how to riſe from leſſe ſins to greater, till thou ſhake thy heart, and cover thy face with confuſion? then know the commandements, and the power of them diſtinctly Wouldſt thou know to ſpeake ſupplications to God for for thy ſelfe, or others, that he would adorne his providence by thee, and them? Then know the commandements diſtinctly. Wouldſt thou know how to examine thy heart, and life, and to referre vertues, and vices to their proper heads, that thou mayſt make uſe of them accordingly? Then know the commandements diſtinctly.
To help thee therefore with the milk of Babes in this particular, we ſhall paſſe thorough a briefe ſum of them all in order.
Tell me therefore
9. Q. What is the firſt Commandement?Exod. 20.3.
A. Thou ſhalt have no other God before me.
Here God requires the having of the true God onelyonly to be thy God: What God requires in the firſt commandement.Thou muſt have a God; thou muſt have the true God; thou muſt have him onelyonly; thou muſt have him to be thy God. Gen. 3.Thou muſt have a God, or elſe thy wicked nature will be a God to thy ſelf. Adam was tempted to be ſo, and it did undoe him and us: and thou wilt be ſo, without further temptation, and be accurſedly miſerable. Thou muſt have the true God; for all falſe gods are dung hill gods, and lying vanities which cannot profit thee. Thou muſt have him onelyonly, for as marriage, and Monarchy, cannot endure corrivals; ſo cannot God endure that any ſhould be joyned with him. Thou muſt have him to be thy God: for a man is not chiefly comforted but with that which is his own. A mans own houſe, land, wife, children, gold, and ſilver ſpeake beſt content unto him; and ſo will God when he is thy own. It may be thou wilt wonder, how thou canſt have God? Thou canſt not have him as thou haſt money in thy purſe, How God may be had.cattell in thy ground, or cloathes on thy back; yet mayſt thou have him as an husband hath a wife, or a wife an husband. A man and his wife may be a thouſand miles aſunder, and may not ſee one another in many yeares, and yet the husband hath his wife, Prov. 2.and the wife hath her husband by vertue of the Covenant of God, by which they are made one fleſh. So mayſt thou have God by Covenant when thou cleaveſt unto him by knowledge, faith, feare, love, confidence, worſhip, and the like.
Uſe. Be thou ſure (my good child) to have the true God onelyonly to be thy God thus. When thou knoweſt not God, and doeſt not beleeve, love, and feare him, nor put thy truſt and confidence in him, that thou mayſt enjoy him, and uſe him as thine, thou haſt him not: no nor thou doeſt not give him theſe graces alone. Thou haſt there articles of the Covenant for him alone, and for other things, and perſons, under him, and for his honour onelyonly.
10. Q. What is the ſecond Commandement?
A. Exod. 20.4, 5, 6.Thou ſhalt not make to thy ſelfe any graven Image, nor any likeneſſe of things, that are in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth; thou ſhalt not bowe down to them, nor worſhip them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, viſiting the iniquitie of the Fathers upon the children unto the third, and fourth generation of them that hate me, and ſhewing mercy to thouſands of them that love me and keep my commandements.
Here God requires the worſhipping of God with his own outward worſhip. What God requires in the ſecond commandement.God ſees the vaine wickedneſſes of Idolaters. Becauſe they are carnall, they muſt have carnall helps of their own inventions. Hence is it, becauſe they have not bodily communion with their gods; they, ordinarily, ſee them not, heare them not, feele them not: therefore they ſet up their Images, likeneſſes, and ſimilitudes; they doe honour and worſhip to them in the place of their gods: they adorn them, they cenſe to them, they kneele, bowe, courteſie, and pray to them: they think that there is a religious, and divine power and preſence in them, to be a chariot of their devotions, and to convey the Influences of their hearts, and words, to their patrons, their great gods. But God will not be worſhipped in this carnall way. Deut. 4.15, 16, 17, 18.He manifeſted no ſimilitude on the day that the Lord ſpake out of the midſt of the fire, leſt we ſhould corrupt our ſelves and make a graven Image, the ſimilitude of any figure, the likeneſſe of male or female. God is a conſuming fire, Deut. 4.24.and a Jealous God, and will have none of his worſhip conveyed to any deviſes of man, or by them, to him: but he will have his own worſhip, by an acknowledgement of ſuch divine excellencies as are in him, in the way, and by the means that he hath appointed, that is, by the Word, Sacraments, and Prayer.
Vſe. Therefore (my child) look upon all Idolaters ſo as to hate their abominable courſe. Doe not thinke to pleaſe God by devices of thine owne, or others. Imagine not that Images, or Idols, either graven, or carved, or painted, can carry thy worſhip to thoſe Gods, or divine things, or Perſons whom they repreſent. Beſtow not thy divine reſpects upon any thing, or perſon but God alone. Frame not any will-worſhip thy ſelfe for the true, and good God. But as thou learneſt out of the word the worſhip, to give him all manner of prayers, and prayſes, to heare his word, to receive his Sacraments, and to offer up any ſpirituall ſacrifices, ſo doe, that thou provoke not God to jealouſie, and ſo to hate thee, and to plague thine before thy face to thy confounding diſcomfort.
11. Q. What is the third Commandement?
A. Exod. 20.7.Thou ſhalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine; for the Lord will not hold him guiltleſſe that taketh his name in vaine.
Here God requires the worſhipping of him in his owne manner, What God requires in the third Commandement.ſo as it may not be in vaine. If it be not done as he would have it, as good never a whit, as not done as he would have it. The name of God is, God himſelfe any wayes made knowne unto thee. Thou art knowne by thy name, and God hath a name whereby he is, or may be, made known, to all mankind, to wit, his works, his word, his titles, his attributes, his religion, his worſhip; this is his name. To take it, ſignifies to take it up, or to challenge it from contempt, and blaſphemy, ſo as God may not be diſhonoured by thine, or others uſe of it. To take it in vaine, is to uſe it to no end, to a fruitleſſe end, or to a wicked end; as when thou uſeſt the names, titles, and attributes of God, to toſſe them like Tennice balls to no uſe, but as fruitleſſe imbelliſhments of thy ſpeech; when thou uſeſt them in aſſeverations, and oathes, to belch out the paſſions, and bitterneſſe of thy heart to, or againſt others; and when thou uſeſt them in word, or actions, to vent the malice, or hypocriſie in thy heart.
Vſe. Take heed of doing thus (my child): Thou art a Chriſtian, and wouldeſt be accounted godly, and ſo thou takeſt up Gods name. Do it ſo, as God and his people may not be aſhamed to acknowledge thee for ſuch. Thou ſometimes takeſt up the name of God in thy mouth; doe it with all reverence. When thou ſweareſt, doe it, when thou art juſtly called unto it, Joh. 7. Heb. 6. Jer. 4.2.to cleare the innocency, or to end ſtrife among men, in truth, in righteouſneſſe, and in judgement. When thou prayeſt, heareſt, voweſt, or receiveſt the Sacraments, doe them as ſincerely deſiring to draw thy ſelf into communion with God in Chriſt. If thou doe not, though men are found to be carefull for preſerving of their owne names more then Gods, yet God tenderly reſpects his owne name, and will account thee guilty, and bind thee over to be plagued in this world, and for ever.