1. The believing of a God (Hebrews 11:6).

2. Being persuaded that there is but one God.

3. The believing of His Word.

4. Right apprehensions concerning God's glorious attributes and perfections.

5. Thinking and meditating on Him and His Divine perfections.

6. To the acts of our understanding must be added those of our will and affections, and consequently we are to have a high respect and observance of the Divine Author of our being, the glorious God; we are to admire Him, we are to rejoice in Him. But the chief of the affections which are most celebrated in the Holy Scriptures are fear, and hope, and love, of which therefore I am obliged more distinctly and amply to speak.(1) First, an awful fear and dread are due to God, and are the genuine issue of those conceptions which we ought to frame of Him. Fear is a passion that naturally flows from the serious contemplation of the greatness and power of God, and of His impartial justice in punishing offenders. He that hath this fear stands in awe of God, though no punishment should ensue, for he reckons that sin itself is a punishment. Filial fear is founded in love. Having thus briefly displayed the nature of the fear of God, I will in the next place show what are the natural effects and fruits of it. We owe it to this fear that we are not inconsiderate and rash and furious in our prosecutions. And on the other hand, we are kept by it frown security, for it begets watchfulness and circumspection. Hereby we weigh all our actions and undertakings, and ask ourselves whether they will be pleasing to God.(2) To hope in God is another Divine affection which is included in this first commandment. He that hopes in God cheerfully expects that God will support him under and deliver him from evil, and at last glorify him.(3) Again, ardently to love God is another main thing enjoined in this commandment. And truly to love that Being who is most amiable and most perfect is but the natural effect which the contemplation of such loveliness and perfection should produce in us. But there is an outward service and worship which this commandment enjoins also. This is adoration, a religious reverence and homage performed by the body by all external acts of religion. This is a visible expression of the inward esteem we have of a person. So this worship we are now speaking of is an extrinsic sign of that inward reverence, fear, hope, trust, love which were mentioned before. And the conjunction of these is necessary, for first God's image was imprinted on the body as well as the soul, and therefore both must be sanctified, both must be instruments of religion. Besides, they are assistant to one another by reason of that intimate union which is between them, so that they jointly advance the concerns of religion.And then we are to remember that Christ redeemed not only our souls but our bodies; therefore we are to serve Him with both.(1) First, this must be done by our words and speeches. There must be a vocal expressing of the sense we have of God's perfections. The most notable instances of this kind of external and audible worship are these three —

(a)A speaking reverently of God and all things belonging to Him.

(b)Open profession of the name of God and of the holy religion which we have embraced.

(c)Prayer, including confession, petition, praise, and giving of thanks.(2) Secondly, this worship must be discovered in bodily gesture (Psalm 95:6).(3) The true worship which is due to the eternal God is discovered by the actions of the life. The true adorer of the Divine Being is known by his frequent exercises of mortification and abstinence, his guarding himself from outward objects that may promote temptation, by watching over his bodily senses, his addicting himself to temperance and chastity, his acts of righteousness and justice towards his brethren. We must live according to that sense we bear in our minds of a Being so perfect and so worthy to be adored. To obey God, to live a pure and holy life, and to discharge a good conscience in everything, are the height and perfection of this duty, and are indeed the most acceptable worship we can perform to God. And, to sum up all, worshipping of God implies that we and they endeavour to be like Him. After all, I must add this, that the chief worship which is here enjoined is that which is seated in the inward man, the soul. Now, that this is chiefly here meant I gather from this, that the other three commandments of this first table relate most of all to outward worship, for they forbid bowing down to images, and taking God's name in vain, and profaning the Sabbath Day. Thence I argue that the inward and mental worship of God is that which is principally aimed at in this first precept of the law. I take it to be the great design of this commandment to enjoin inward and spiritual religion. Next I come to the negative part of this commandment, i.e. to show what sins are forbidden by it.

1. First, atheism is directly opposite to the duty required of us in this first precept of the moral law. This atheism is —(1) In thought (Psalm 14:1).(2) There is atheism of the tongue as well as of the. heart. There are those who openly disavow the belief of a deity, and are so impudent as to proclaim it to the world.(3) There are atheists not only in thoughts and words, but in actions. These are they that acknowledge a God, but yet live as if there were none. They behave themselves as if there were no omniscient eye to take notice of what they do, as if there were no Supreme Ruler to punish their miscarriages. Of these men the apostle speaks (Titus 1:16).

2. Superstition, as well as atheism, is forbidden in this commandment. For this we are to know, that there are two extremes in religion, one in the defect, which is neglect and contempt of God and His worship, profaneness, and even atheism itself; the other in the excess, which is a vain and unnecessary worship, and this is superstition. The former proceeds from a fond conceit of reason without fear; the latter, from fear without right reason. The first is a defiance of religion; the second makes it a sordid thing. The one makes men irreligious and profane; the other fills them with false imaginations and needless terrors. We have seen in the general that superstition is an overdoing in religion; but more particularly to explain the nature of it —(1) It is doing more in religion than is required by God.(2) It is doing that which is in itself commanded, but with a false principle.(3) It is a being over-concerned about things that are merely circumstantial or indifferent. And withal, consider the pernicious nature of superstition. To conclude, this is a base and servile temper, void of all that generous freedom which should attend true religion. It is unworthy of a noble spirit, and unbecoming a true worshipper. It is one of the foulest blemishes that a person or a church can be defaced with.

3. Idolatry is condemned by this commandment. It is having that thing or being for a god which hath no divinity in it.Here, then, is a threefold idolatry forbidden —

1. That which is moral, which is an immoderate affecting or prosecuting of anything that is not our chief good. It is setting our hearts wholly on any finite and worldly object. All wilful sinners, all those that delight in the practice of what is vicious, are such, for they make their lusts their chief good, and so in a manner make them their gods. This is moral idolatry.

2. There is polytheism, or pagan idolatry, i.e. the believing and worshipping of a multiplicity of deities, even among the works of the creation, as of the sun, moon, and stars, etc. As the atheist maintains that there is no God, so the Gentile worshipper is for making everything a god.

3. The last sort of idolatry is that which hath a mixture of the worship of the true God with it. From the sacred history in Exodus 32:5 we may inform ourselves that the Israelites worshipped Jehovah and the golden calf at the same time. They sometimes worshipped the Lord and Baal together, which Elijah objects to them in 1 Kings 18:21. This medley of religious worship you will find among the strange nations which were transplanted into Samaria (1 Kings 17:41). They feared the Lord and served their graven images.

( J. Edwards, D. D..)

1. It suggests to us the blessedness of the Divine nature. There is no contrariety, no strife, no division of counsel.

2. Again, this truth invests with authority the demands made upon our service as intelligent and responsible beings. If there were more than one God, the question might be asked, What God are we to obey?

3. Also, we may learn that He demands the homage and affection of our whole nature. The one God requires the whole heart, united in itself in one love. The unity of our nature is secured only by our love to God. There is no other power that can do it. Self-interest may try, pleasure may try, ambition may try, but the nature is still divided; and conscience, instead of expressing its approval, is like Mordecai at the gate, refusing to bow the knee. The unity of Germany was a dream, until the enthusiasm of the different states was aroused by the menaces of a common enemy; and in the fire of that enthusiasm they were welded together into one empire. The unity of man's nature is a dream until, by the fire of God's love, all his powers and faculties and emotions are fused into one. The whole man is to be given to God. There are many who are ready to unite in the confession, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth," who are only uttering words, as a child first lisping his A B C, without attaching any definite meaning to the words, and without the heart's emphasis on the words. Is our belief in God a tradition, or a real living faith? Is He our God? Do we acknowledge His presence? Do we worship Him in truth?

(James Owen.)

II. We are further commanded TO ACKNOWLEDGE OR MAKE A VISIBLE PROFESSION OF OUR SUBJECTION TO GOD AND IN PARTICULAR TO CHRIST AS OUR GREAT MEDIATOR. His name, interest, and glory should be most dear to us; and we are, on all occasions, to testify that we count it our glory to be His servants, and to make it appear that He is the supreme subject of desire and delight (Psalm 142:5; Psalm 73:25).

III. We are further obliged by this commandment TO WORSHIP AND GLORIFY GOD, PURSUANT TO WHAT WE KNOW, AND THE PROFESSION WE MAKE OF HIM AS THE TRUE GOD AND OUR GOD.

1. We must make God the subject of our daily meditation.

2. We are to honour, adore, and fear Him for His greatness.

3. As God is the best good, and has promised that He will be a God to us, so He is to be desired, loved, rejoiced in, and chosen by us.

4. As He is a God of truth, we are to believe all that He has spoken, and in particular what He has revealed in His promises or threatenings, relating to mercies which He will bestow, or judgments which He will inflict.

5. He is able to save to the utmost, and faithful in fulfilling all His promises, we are to trust Him with all we have from Him, and for all those blessings which we hope to receive at His hands.

6. When the name, interest, and glory of God is opposed in the world we are to express an holy zeal for it.

7. Since He is a God hearing prayer, we are daily to call upon Him, "O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come."

8. As He is the God of all our mercies, we are to praise Him for them.

9. His sovereignty and dominion over us calls for subjection and obedience, and a constant care to please Him, and approve ourselves to Him in all things.

10. As He is a holy, jealous, and sin-hating God, we are to be filled with sorrow of heart when He is offended, either by ourselves or others.

11. A sense of our unworthiness and daily infirmities should excite us to walk humbly with God.

(Thomas Ridglet, D. D.)

II. There is manifestly contained in this commandment AN IMPLICIT DENIAL OF ALL ATHEISM. The command, "Thou shalt have none other gods before Me," rests on the assumption that there is one true and living God. The law therefore forbids atheism as being a denial of God. Now, atheism is really of two very different kinds: one that is purely speculative or theoretical; and the other, and a far more common kind, practical atheism.

1. Of that purely speculative atheism which denies the existence of God there is very little in the present day. There may be exceptional thinkers, both in this country and in Germany, who would commit themselves to a definite denial of the existence of God, but men like Darwin and Huxley, or Tyndale and Herbert Spencer, are never found asserting there is no God. They are too wise and, let me add, too reverent to commit themselves to such an unprovable assertion. The speculative atheism of today calls itself agnosticism. It does not say that there is no God; all it affirms is, we cannot prove that there is one. We know nothing whatsoever about the hidden and mysterious cause which lies at the back of all phenomena; we know that there is something, and this something is the only reality of the universe, but what it is we cannot tell. "The power," Mr. Herbert Spencer says, "which the universe manifests to us is utterly inscrutable." "Such a power," he goes on to say, "exists, but its nature transcends intuition and is beyond imagination." Now, what I desire to say about this modified form of atheism, calling itself agnosticism, is that it is really as deadly a form of atheism as the coarser atheism which openly declared there was no God. The agnostic himself, such a man as Herbert Spencer, may be a man of all moral excellence, for men often live on the beliefs which they have denied, just as, to use Mr. Balfour's striking illustration, parasites often live on the trees which they have destroyed. But agnosticism itself, the assertion that if there be a God we cannot know Him, is as fatal to all human goodness as the denial that there is a God. During the reign of terror the French were declared to be a nation of atheists by the National Assembly; but a brief experience convinced them that a nation of atheists could not long exist. Robespierre then proclaimed in the Convention that belief in the existence of a God was necessary to those principles of virtue and morality upon which the Republic was founded.

2. There is another kind of atheism that is most common, the atheism that we find in the streets, in the homes, in the hearts of a large number of people, and that I have called practical atheism; and this is as sternly forbidden by the First Commandment as the intellectual denial of God. And when I speak of practical atheism I mean the atheism of the heart and not of the head, the atheism of the life and not of the reason, the atheism, in one word, of that man to whose daily life it would make no kind of difference if there were no God.

III. THIS COMMANDMENT FORBIDS ALL IDOLATRY. Coarse and material idolatry is impossible today; but there are other kinds of idolatry than the worship of idols.

1. Consider the idolatry of pleasure; and this may take one of two forms, either the pursuit of sensual pleasure or the passion for amusement. Now, the coarse degrading pursuit of sensual pleasure is not unknown even in the present day. There are those, St. Paul tells us, "whose god is their belly"; and I suppose there are such men to be found in England today, men who have little pleasure beyond the pleasures of the table, whose appetite and taste are as sensitive to the delights of eating and drinking as the ear of the musician or the eye of the artist is to what delights them; and then again, there is the lower form of sensual pleasure, the fulfilling of the lusts of the animal nature; but the common form of the idolatry of pleasure is found in the pursuit of amusement. It is one of the most pressing dangers of the present day. When I see the eager race for amusement today, when I find young men alert and excited if a sailing match or a football contest or a tennis tournament or a cricket match is taking place, willing to give up any engagement so as not to miss their favourite pleasure; and when I see these same young men indifferent to all higher aims — the pleasures of reading, of music, of art, and above all of religion; when I notice how easily excuses are found for absence on Sunday from worship, how readily the house of God is neglected for the cycle ride, or the river, or the seashore, I cannot help saying to myself, the idolatry of pleasure is one of the commonest of all the idolatries of modern life.

2. Another form of idolatry is seen in the love of money, and of all idolatries it is the most frequent in our modern world; for the one idol that never lacks worshippers is the idol of gold. I remember in this city a man dying many years ago who was one of these lovers of money. He had amassed a large fortune, no part of which ever came to any charity; and as he was lying upon his deathbed he sent for his minister, who naturally thought the dying man wished to speak to him of heavenly things, of his own soul, of religion, of God. The minister went to see him, and when he reached the bedside, and almost before he could speak, the poor miserable idolater of money said: "Oh, Mr. —, I am so glad you have come; I want to ask you if you can tell me the price of those shares today," mentioning some company in which he was interested. I am not saying that the desire to grow rich is idolatry, or that a man who bends his energies to make money in the week is sinning against God. He may be sinless in all this, and he is sinless if he desires money, not for its own sake, not for self-enjoyment, but for the use and blessing it may be to others; if he puts God first, and money always second. None the less, there are many in peril of reversing this.

3. The last form of idolatry to which I shall allude is the idolatry of love. There is something so beautiful in human love that it seems hardly possible to speak of it as an idolatry; and yet none the less it may become so. There are those whom Satan could never tempt through the flesh, who have never felt a single sensual temptation, who have no interest, or little interest, in amusement, and very little care for money, and no desire to grow rich; but who, nevertheless, are tempted through the affections, tempted to make an idol of some human love, to put lover or husband or wife or child on the throne of the heart where God ought to be. "Love me," said a wise and devout girl to her lover, — "love me as fervently as you will, but take care you love God better than you love me." She knew too well the peril of this idolatry of the heart. Possibly the commonest form this idolatry takes today is seen in the worship of children. By a bedside a woman once knelt, praying with streaming eyes. On that little bed, cold and still in death, lay her only child. She had literally worshipped it, and now God had taken her child from her. Listen to what that kneeling, weeping, broken-hearted mother is saying, the words are only sobs: "Oh my God, it is hard, Thou only knowest how hard for me to bear it. I thank Thee Thou hast taken my darling to Thyself. I loved my boy too well — I loved him more than I loved Thee; I made him my idol; now Thou hast broken my idol, and I have only Thee to love. My God, forgive my sorrow. I will not love my boy any less. I will love Thee more, more than I ever loved him."

(G. S. Barrett, D. D.)

(G. Campbell Morgan.)

I. THE INSTANCES IN WHICH PRACTICAL ATHEISM DISCOVERS ITSELF.

1. They are chargeable with it who are grossly ignorant of God, being utter strangers to those perfections whereby He makes Himself known to the world, or who entertain carnal conceptions of Him, as though He were altogether such an one as ourselves.

2. When persons, though they know, in some measure, what God is, yet never seriously exercise their thoughts about Him, which forgetfulness is a degree of atheism, and will be severely punished by Him.

3. When persons maintain corrupt doctrines and dangerous heresies, subversive of the fundamental articles of faith and contrary to the Divine perfections.

4. When we repine at His providence, or charge God foolishly, and go about to prescribe laws to Him, who is the Governor of the world and may do what He will with the work of His hands.

5. When we refuse to engage in those acts of religious worship which He has appointed, or to attend on His ordinances, in which we may hope for His presence and blessing.

6. When we behave ourselves, in the conduct of our lives, as though we were not accountable to Him and had no reason to be afraid of His judgments.

II. THE AGGRAVATIONS AND DREADFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THIS SIN. It is contrary to the light of nature and the dictates of conscience, a disregarding those impressions which God has made of His glory on the souls of men. And in those who have been favoured with the revelation of the grace of God in the Gospel, in which His perfections have been set forth to the utmost, it is a shutting our eyes against the light, and casting contempt on that which should raise and excite in us the highest esteem of Him whom we practically disown and deny. It is directly opposite to and entirely inconsistent with all religions, and opens a door to the greatest degree of licentiousness.

III. To consider this commandment as FORBIDDING IDOLATRY: which is either what is more gross, such as that which is found among the heathen, or that which is more secret, and may be found in the hearts of all.

1. As to idolatry in the former sense, together with the rise and progress thereof, in considering the first rise of it we may observe —(1) That it proceeded from the ignorance and pride of man, who, though he could not but know, by the light of nature, that there is a God; yet being ignorant of His perfections, or of what He has revealed Himself to be in His Word, was disposed to frame those ideas of a God which took their rise from his own invention. Accordingly the apostle says, "When ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which, by nature, are no gods."(2) When iniquity abounded in the world, and men cast contempt on the ordinances of God, they invented and worshipped new gods.(3) Hereupon God gave them up to judicial blindness, so that they worshipped the host of heaven, as the apostle says the heathen did.(4) As to what concerns the idolatry which was practised among the Israelites. That took its rise from the fond ambition which they had to be like other nations who were abhorred of God, counting this a fashionable religion.

2. That idolatry which is sometimes found among Christians.(1) Self may be reckoned among those idols which many, who make profession of the true religion, pay a greater regard to than to God. This we may be said to be guilty of; in which respect we are chargeable with heart idolatry — When we reject or refuse to give credit to any of the great doctrines contained in Divine revelation, unless we are able to comprehend them within the shallow limits of our own understandings. This is no other than a setting up our own understanding, which is weak and liable to err, in opposition to the wisdom of God, and, in some respects, a giving superior glory to it. When we are incorrigible under the various rebukes of providence, and persist in our rebellion against God, notwithstanding the threatenings which He has denounced or the judgments which He executes. This also discovers itself in our affections, when they are either set on unlawful objects, or immoderately pursue those that would otherwise be lawful; when we love those things which God hates, or covet what He has expressly forbidden. There is a more subtle kind of idolatry, whereby self enters into religious duties. Thus when they attempt to perform them in their own strength, as though they had no occasion to depend on the Almighty power of God to work in them that which is pleasing in His sight. And we are further guilty of this sin when, through the pride of our hearts, we applaud ourselves when we have performed some religious duties, and expect to be justified thereby; which is a setting up self as an idol in the room of Christ. And lastly, when self is the end designed in what we do in matters of religion, and so robs God of that glory which is due to His name.(2) There is another idol which is put in the room of God, and that is the world. When our thoughts are so much engaged in the pursuit of it that we grow not only cold and remiss as to spiritual things, but allow ourselves no time for serious meditation on them, or converse with God in secret. When the world has our first and last thoughts every day. When we pursue the world, without depending on God for His blessing to attend our lawful undertakings. When our hearts are hereby hardened, and grow cold and indifferent in religion, or when it follows and disturbs us in holy duties, and renders us formal in the discharge thereof. When the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world have a tendency to quiet our spirits, and give us full satisfaction, though under spiritual declensions and destitute of the special presence of God, which is our greatest happiness. When we fret at the providence of God under the disappointments we meet with in our secular affairs in the world. When we despise the members of Christ because they are poor in the world, are ashamed of His Cross and refuse to bear reproach for His sake.(3) There is another instance of heart idolatry, namely, when we adhere to the dictates of Satan, and regard his suggestions more than the convictions of our own consciences, or the Holy Spirit. Satan's design in his temptations is to turn us away from God, and when we are drawn aside thereby we may be said to obey him rather than God.

(Thomas Ridglet, D. D.)

II. NATIONS must have a God. The words of this law were addressed to the people of Israel. Neither kings nor senates nor majorities can avoid national responsibility. Constitutions may not recognise Him, but the Divine administration is not dependent upon human enactments.

III. THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL must have a God. The law of the universal holds the unit. I must have a God. Not one soul can drop out of the all-embracing government of God.

IV. There are TWO WAYS of having a God. First, by the necessity of His government, which will not surrender one soul to any other authority; and second, by the voluntary choice of the soul who takes the God who is king by right of creation, to his heart as Father and Redeemer, delighting in Him as his all-sufficient portion.

V. Man may have MANY GODS.

1. Through the perversion of the religious faculty, as when the powers that must worship something, having lost the perception of the true, invisible God, are directed towards visible things, first as symbols and then as substance — sun, moon, stars, statues, stones, birds of the air, beasts of the field, and loathsome reptiles of the ground.

2. Through the prostitution of all the faculties, as when the powers given us by the Creator to be used exclusively for His glory (which invariably includes our highest good) are employed with selfish aims, God being forgotten. Then are the objects of our love and delight the "gods" we serve.

VI. Man should have but ONE GOD — the one Lord God — JEHOVAH.

1. Because of what this one God is: the Self-existent, the Almighty, the Eternal, the Unchangeable, whose throne is from everlasting, and whose power and glory are only equalled by His holiness and justice and love and mercy.

2. Because of what this one has done. He is our Creator, and has preserved us. But more than this, it is He who has redeemed us.

3. Because of what man needs. Honour, ease, friendship, wealth, power, are all insufficient to meet the wants of the immortal mind of man. In the midst of all their best benefactions man cries out for something better. Man, made for God, is in misery without God.

4. Because of the train of miseries which must follow in the service of many gods, or of any but the one God. In the Hebrew the expression "before Me" signifies "before, upon, or against My face." He who has any other than the true God, thereby —(1) Hides God's face from himself, so that He does not see God, nor look toward Him, nor rest assured of God's presence. He is full of doubts and uncertainties. The world is dark, for His face is hidden from which the light shines.(2) He hides himself from God's face — from the smiles of approval and the words of blessing. No "well-pleasing in My sight" comes with its sweet inspiration and consolation to his soul. He is seen by the Almighty as through a thick cloud, and the Almighty delighteth not in him.(3) His idolatries "before" or "against the face" of God antagonise God. He defies his Maker. He calls for His vengeance, and when the thrones of the idols perish before the indignation of the Almighty, all who bow at these thrones shall also perish.

VII. Man in "having" God has ALL THINGS. He has infinite resources of wisdom, power, and grace at command, according to the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God, who is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." He has peace, deep and abiding. He has joy, full and unfailing. He has hope, clear and unquestioning. He has love, fervent, abounding, and all-controlling. He has "all things" of this world, and the "better things" of the world to come.

VIII. Let us look at this "word" of the law — the first of the "ten words" IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. First, there were "ten words," or commandments. They were prohibitory, monitory, and minatory. "Thou shalt not" rings through the code of Sinai. In the New Testament these are reduced to "two." "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Nay, we find them all in one. One law! One word! and this one word is Love.

IX. God led Israel out of bondage, but not out of the pains of DISCIPLINE AND TRIAL. He brought them out of Egypt to learn this law, but led them to Sinai by way of the Red Sea and the desert of Sin, and the perils of Rephidim, and through the midst of the fierce Amalekites. Thus are God's people led today to the heights where His law is revealed. The way is dark and desolate and full of danger, but He who leads us has lessons for us to learn: lessons about Himself; lessons which we are slow to receive and prone to forget; but He bears with us and brings us on our way — His way — sustaining and comforting and aiding us.

(J. H. Vincent, D. D.)

(J. P. Newman, D. D.)

I. FEAR GOD SUPREMELY.

1. Each commandment is like a coin stamped on both sides. On the one side the image is forbidding, even terrible. It delineates the prohibition, "Thou shalt not." The other is beautiful — it gives the precept. Look at the first commandment on its two sides — the one shows the idolater, the other the child of God.

2. When men fear aught else but God they are idolaters. They bow before images of terror, e.g. want, sickness, death, the judgment of men, etc.

3. But we ought to fear God because "He is a great God"; "He commands and it is done," etc. He sends sickness and health, etc. In His hands are life and death. He is Judge. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Therefore "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

4. But to fear God for this reason only would be not to fear Him, but His rod. This is a slavish fear: such "fear has punishment." But if children of God we must avoid what would offend Him. "How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Let this fear ever be yours in every circumstance and condition in life. A proud sceptic wrote: "A poor miserable life it is to be constantly in fear! What will they ever accomplish who are always asking the question, 'Is this right that I have undertaken what I am doing?' How weakly and fearfully do such take their stand in a world where courage and quick decision are needed in order to achieve anything, who plague themselves with puerile scruples of conscience and stand ever in dread of an unseen Judge!" No, we say. The man who fears God is freed from every other fear. And true courage, endurance, etc., are to be found only among God-fearing men, e.g. the Swiss at Lempach praying. "They pray for mercy," said an Austrian, "but from God, not from us, and what that means we shall soon experience." The apostles: "We must fear God rather than men."

II. LOVE GOD SUPREMELY.

1. When men love any person or thing more than God they are idolaters as much as those who serve idols, e.g. Mammon.

2. Others do not cherish mammon in their hearts. On the contrary, they squander what they possess to minister to their lusts and appetites. "Whose end is destruction."

3. Others cry out, "I deserve to have honour among my fellows, their esteem," etc. Ask yourself, do you esteem this more than the honour that comes from God?

4. Others cry, "My wife, child, etc., is the being most dear to me," etc. Try your heart as to whether they have a higher place in your heart than God, and whether, therefore, you are an idolater.

5. If you would escape from this idolatry hear what God says: "My son, give Me thine heart." Hear what David says of Him: "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength," etc. (Psalm 17:1, 2). If He is all this to us we must love Him.

III. TRUST GOD SUPREMELY.

1. Manifold are the troubles and dangers we meet on the way through life; and in view of this not only heathens but Christians trust in dead idols. When men put their trust in aught but God they become idolaters.

2. When a poor man trusts in a rich friend alone; a sick man thinks only of the skilled physician, an embarrassed man trusts to his own unaided wisdom, or a dying man declares, "I have at all times lived righteously, I shall not be condemned," they are idolaters. "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom," etc.

3. Rather give God your heart, and rest all your hope in Him. In trouble look to Him as the true helper and be confident. Though the last handful of meal and drop of oil be reached, etc., trust, and all will be well. Remember His word, "I am the LORD THY GOD." This heavenly Father will feed, help, etc., in due time; and even when His ways seem dark, remember His wonders of old.

(K. H. Caspari.)

1. What dishonour it did to Jehovah, the one God! What must have been the impression on the minds of the heathen when their idols were preferred by Israel to their own Jehovah!

2. Such conduct was strongly interdicted, as involving in it the foulest ingratitude.

3. Idolatry stood not alone. The worship given to these other gods was, in itself and in its accompaniments, made up of all that was otherwise odious in God's sight. How just the designation of these idolatries by Peter, "abominable idolatries."

(R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

(Egerton Young.)

     5811   compromise
     7525   exclusiveness
     8623   worship, of God
     8831   syncretism

Deuteronomy 5:6-7

     1165   God, unique
     8402   claims

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

     1443   revelation, OT
     7263   theocracy
     8412   decisions

Deuteronomy 5:7-8

     8315   orthodoxy, in OT
     8771   idolatry, objections

Deuteronomy 5:7-9

     8138   monotheism
     8799   polytheism

Deuteronomy 5:7-10

     5211   art

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Jesus Fails to Attend the Third Passover.
Scribes Reproach Him for Disregarding Tradition. (Galilee, Probably Capernaum, Spring a.d. 29.) ^A Matt. XV. 1-20; ^B Mark VII. 1-23; ^D John VII. 1. ^d 1 And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judæa, because the Jews sought to kill him. [John told us in his last chapter that the passover was near at hand. He here makes a general statement which shows that Jesus did not attend this passover. The reason for his absence is given at John v. 18.] ^a 1 Then there …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Mount Zion.
"For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

The Foundations of Good Citizenship.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.--Ex. 20:1-17. Parallel Readings. Hist. Bible I, 194-198. Prin. of Politics, Chap. II. Lowell, Essay on "Democracy." Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou …
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament