Quest. C. What special things are we to consider in the Ten Commandments?

Answ. We are to consider in the Ten Commandments, the preface, the substance of the Commandments themselves, and several reasons annexed to some of them, the more to inforce them.

Quest. CI. What is the preface to the Ten Commandments.

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.