31. Ex hoc Augustini testimonio liquet eumdem verborum ordinem in loco Exodi olim fuisse, qui in Deuteronomio adhuc reperitur, quem casu quodam immutatum deinceps fuisse verosimile est: quapropter fundamento caret objectio illa a Jeremia Taylor aliisque proposita, nos verborum ordinem invertere, ut unicum in duo dividamus præcepta. Equidem ordo quem sequimur præceptis non mœchandi, et non furtum faciendi congruit, et Deuteronomii loco probatur, ubi versiculi et præcepta in textu Hebraico plane distinguuntur ea prorsus qua apud nos ratione. Quod autem nihil in eo innovatum sit liquet ex Augustini testimonio. Id insuper animadvertendum Protestantes in divisione primi præcepti Judæos auctores non habere; quamvis enim in duo unicum illud dividere consueverint, ea tamen in unum conjungunt quæ Protestantes distinguere laborant: primum enim apud eos præceptum his continetur verbis: "Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de terra Ægypti, de domo servitutis:" alterum incipit; "Non habebis deos alienos coram me. Non facies tibi sculptile, etc."2 Igitur frustra clamitant hæc necessariò distinguenda, quum illa distinctio ne quidem ab omnibus admissa sit, qui quatuor præcepta ad Deum pertinentia numerant. Nobis ea conjungentibus favet et rerum nexus, et Judæorum consensus, et Augustini cum plurimis aliis ex vetustis scriptoribus auctoritas. Quod autem præceptum de concupiscenda re aliena ab alio de uxore desideranda dividamus, Deuteronomii auctoritatem plane sequimur, favente ipsa rerum distinctione. Nihil igitur arbitrio veluti nostro, vel partium studio in decalogi divisione admisimus. Quod autem breviori forma omnia præcepta in quibusdam catechismis enuntientur, in puerorum rudiumque factum est utilitatem, salva omnino substantia.

32. Consentientes in præceptorum divisione habemus Lutheranos.

(2) "That those two first commandments are but one was the doctrine of Philo the Jew, (at least it is said so,) who making the preface to be a distinct commandment, reckons this to be the second. . . . This division was usual in St. Cyril's time who brings in Julian thus accounting them. . . and the same way is followed by St. Jerome and Hesychius. These make the introduction to be one of the commandments; and those which we call the first and the second to be the second only. Of the same opinion as to the uniting of these two is Clemens Alexandrinus and St. Austin." Jeremias Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, 1. ii. c. 2. Rule 6, p. 325.

VOL. I.-S

Audiatur Walchius, celebris horum theologus: "De divisione decalogi multa disputata esse constat. Reformatæ ecclesiæ doctores ad priorem tabulam quatuor; ad posteriorem sex præcepta referunt, quum quæ ad primum præceptum de idolopaia pertinent, separant, atque ex illis peculiare quoddam, idque secundum præceptum constituunt; nonum autem ac decimum solent conjungere. Acriter pugnant pro hac divisione ; atque Anhaltini, Marpurgenses atque alii Lutherum de omisso idolopœias precepto arguunt. Nostrates enim tabulam priorem tribus; posteriorem verò septem præceptis circumscribunt, ea quæ Deus de fugienda idolopoia sancivit, ad primum præceptum referendo; nonum autem ac decimum separando. Ipsa hæc dissensio non magni momenti est. Res enim, si in se spectatur, ita comparata est, ut cuique libertas sentiendi divisionemque instituendi, relinqui possit. Sufficit si singula præcepta recenseantur ac decem numerentur." Ipse Turretini compendii auctor animadvertit" talem esse controversiam istam, de qua cum quoque odiose non sit contendendum; modo salva maneat totius decalogi doctrina, nec mutiletur numerus."

991

(1) Introd. in lib. Eccl. Luth. Symbol. 1. 1. c. ́vi. § xl. p. 657.
(2) Locus xv. de Decalogo. p. 168.

CAPUT V.

DE PRIMO PRECEPTO.

33. "EGO SUM DOMINUS DEUS TUUS." Hæc verba quæ Hebræi primum præceptum designant, indicant Deo omnia illa munia persolvenda, quæ summam ejus majestatem et perfectionem decent, et quæ postulant innumera in nos collata beneficia. Intelligitur igitur præcipi: "Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota fortitudine tua."1 Quum autem tractatu speciali de Religione, et tractatu de virtutibus theologicis, ea explicare sigillatim in animo sit, necesse non est in iis impræsentiarum immorari. Populum Israeliticum Ægyptiaca Deus eripuit servituti; nos e captivitate peccati liberavit: quapropter grates ei reddere oportet, et grati animi testimonia opera virtutis exhibere.

34. "NON HABEBIS DEOS ALIENOS CORAM ME." Vetantur plures dii colendi, quum unus Deus agnoscendus sit, in tribus tamen personis, uti fides Christiana docet. Ideo autem vetatur in universum ne plures dii colantur, quod nonnulli eos colerent, etiam absque imaginibus, uti de antiquis Romanis narrat Varro. Quoniam polytheismus jam ubicumque Christi religio invecta est, penitus sublatus est, de eo disserere non vacat.

35. "Non facies tibi sculptile, etc." Hæc ad statuas, et imagines, quas gentes solebant fingere, ut deos suos venerarentur, plane referuntur: nam finis prohibitionis explicatur, iis verbis quæ sequuntur: "non adorabis ea, neque coles.3 Hinc arguuntur ab Apostolo

(1) Deut. vi. 5.

(2) Apud S. Aug. 1. iv. de civ. Dei c. xxxi.

(3) "Being placed, as it is, among such precepts as respect the Almighty, and that honor and esteem which we ought to have for him; and being moreover immediately followed with the prohibition of bowing down to them and serving them; as that is with the jealousy of God, concerning his own honor; it is in reason to be extended no farther than the forbidding of such images as

qui "mutaverunt gloriam incorruptibilis Dei, in similitudinem imaginis corruptibilis hominis, et volucrum, et quadrupedum, et serpentium." Ex omnium sæculorum consensu constat sculpendi et pingendi artes non hoc vetari mandato: plerique enim qui in sacrarum imaginum venerationem et usum vehementissime insurrexerunt, non affirmarunt vetari ne fieret quælibet statua vel imago, sed ne in cultu adhiberetur, vel ne coleretur. Equidem in tabernaculo erant imagines Cherubim, et plurimæ animantium statuæ et cælaturæ in templo.3 Cæterum imagines nullæ erant fingendæ in cultum, ob idololatriæ tum ubique grassantis periculum: "Apud alios autem erat cultus falsorum deorum sub quibusdam imaginibus. Et ideo opportune prohibetur etiam ipsarum imaginum institutio, cum dicitur: Non facies tibi sculptile': et ipsarum imaginum cultus, cum dicitur : Non coles ea, etc.'4 Optime autem animadvertit S. Thomas : 66 neque in veteris legis tabernaculo, seu templo, neque etiam nunc, imagines in Ecclesia instituuntur, ut eis cultus latriæ exhibeatur: sed ad quandam significationem, ut per hujusmodi imagines mentibus hominum imprimatur et confirmetur fides de excellentia angelorum et sanctorum."

995

are made with a design to represent the Divine Nature, or to bestow upon them that honor which is due unto it." Explication of the Decalogue, by Gabriel Towerson, Rector of Wellwyn, p. 109. London, 1676.

(1) Rom. i. 23.

(2) Exod. xxv. 19.

(3) III. Reg. vii. 29. "Beside that, they who teach all images to be forbidden the Jews, are forced to confess their admitting of some, and particularly of images in their coins, what shall we say, (that may be satisfactory, I mean,) to God's giving orders for the Cherubims over the Mercy-seat, and for the making of the brazen serpent in the wilderness? for his admitting into the ark the five golden mice, and five golden hemorrhoides of the Philistines? for the pomegranates, and twelve brazen bulls upon which the laver in the temple was placed? For though it be true that God might dispense with his own command, especially a positive one, yet as there is no evidence of those orders of his being a dispensation, so it is not easy to believe, that, having made so strict a law against image-making, he would not only dispense so soon with it, as we see he did in the cherubims and brazen serpent; but dispense with it in a manner for ever, by placing those cherubims and bulls for perpetuity. For what were this, but to tempt men to think he had abrogated the command, and not only dispensed with it, but taken it away?" Trowerson, ubi supra.

(4) S. Thom. 2. 2. qu. cxxii art. ii. ad secundum. (5) 2. 2. qu. xciv. art. ii. ad primum.

36. Contra præceptum peccant si qui in imaginibus divinam aliquam virtutem inesse putent, qui ethnicorum fuit error; vel in iis fiduciam reponant, tamquam in causis beneficiorum quæ postulant, vel eas cultu prosequantur, qui in iis consistat, nec ad eos quos repræsentant referatur. Cæterum non facile damnandi sunt fideles simpliciores, quorum sermo vel actus nimiam quandam imaginis venerationem videatur prodere: plerumque enim mens eorum rectis imbuta est principiis, quamvis haud feliciter se explicent. Id omnibus certum et exploratum est Deo soli supremum cultum tribuendum. Quæ quibusdam imaginibus virtus videtur adscribi ob beneficia plurima ejus occasione impetrata, ad Dei voluntatem referenda est, qui dona sua impertitur, in iis quibus vult rerum adjunctis.

8*