religious worship not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshipping * 1 Kings xi. 33. Because that them liars. Ver. 14. But I have a they have forsaken me, and have few things against thee, because thou worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of hast there them that hold the docthe Zidonians, Chemosh the god of trine of Balaam, who taught Balac to the Moabites, and Milcom the god of cast a stumblingblock before the chilthe children of Ammon, and have not dren of Israel, to eat things sacrificed walked in my ways, to do that which unto idols, and to commit fornication. is right in mine eyes, and to keep my Ver. 15. So hast thou also them that statutes and my judgments, as did hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, David his father. 1 Kings xii. 33. So which thing I hate. Ver. 20. Nothe offered upon the altar which he withstanding I have a few things had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Rev. xvii. 12. And the Deut. xii. 30. Take heed to thy- ten horns which thou sawest are ten self that thou be not snared by fol- kings, which have received no kinglowing them, after that they be de- dom as yet; but receive power as stroyed from before thee; and that kings one hour with the beast. Ver. thou enquire not after their gods, 16. And the ten horns which thou saying, How did these nations serve sawest upon the beast, these shall their gods? even so will I do likewise. hate the whore, and shall make her Ver. 31. Thou shalt not do so unto desolate and naked, and shall eat her the Lord thy God: for every abomi- flesh, and burn her with fire. Ver. nation to the Lord which he hateth 17. For God hath put in their hearts have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. Ver. 32. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

'Deut. xiii. from Verse 6 to 12. [See letter b.] Zech. xiii. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. Ver. 3. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. Rev. ii. 2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found

...

to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Deut. iv. 15. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) Ver. 16. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female; Ver. 17. The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air; Ver. 18. The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: Ver. 19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. Acts xvii. 29. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God.

of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them;1 all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God," adding to it, or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good intent, or any other pretence whatsoever;

simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed.b

Q. 110. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it?

A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it, contained in these words, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing

our kings, and our princes, in the ye have robbed me.
cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of
victuals, and were well, and saw no
evil.

But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

t Isa. lxv. 3. A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; Ver. 4. Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments; which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Ver. 5. Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. Gal. i. 13. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it; Ver. 14. And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

▼ 1 Sam. xiii. 11. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Ver. 12. Therefore, said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burntoffering. 1 Sam. xv. 21. But the people (said Saul) took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.

y Exod. iv. 24. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Ver. 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. Ver. 26. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

Matt. xxii. 5. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. Mal. i. 7. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. Ver. 13. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.

a Matt. xxiii. 13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

b Acts xiii. 44. And the next sab. bath-day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Ver. 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming 1 Thess. ii. 15. Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men; Ver. 16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, Rom. ii. 22. Thou that abhorrest to fill up their sins alway: for the idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? wrath is come upon them to the utMal. iii. 8. Will a man rob God? Yet termost.

Acts viii. 18. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.

N

mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my command ments; are, besides God's sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship, as being a spiritual whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and esteeming the observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and promising mercy to them unto many generations.h

Q. 111. Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the

110. Exod. xx. 5, 6.

a Ps. xlv. 11. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. Rev. xv. 3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Ver. 4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

e Exod. xxxiv. 13. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. Ver. 14. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

quenched. Ezek. xvi. 26. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. Ver. 27. Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. Deut. xxxii. 16. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. Ver. 17. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Ver. 18. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that f1 Cor. x. 20. But I say, that the formed thee. Ver. 19. And when the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, Lord saw it, he abhorred them, bethey sacrifice to devils, and not to cause of the provoking of his sons God: and I would not that ye should and of his daughters. Ver. 20. And have fellowship with devils. Ver. 21. he said, I will hide my face from Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, them, I will see what their end shall and the cup of devils: ye cannot be be: for they are a very froward genepartakers of the Lord's table, and of ration, children in whom is no faith. the table of devils. Ver. 22. Do we 8 Hosea ii. 2. Plead with your provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we mother, plead; for she is not my wife, stronger than he? Jer. vii. 18. The neither am I her husband: let her children gather wood, and the fathers therefore put away her whoredoms kindle the fire, and the women knead out of her sight, and her adulteries their dough, to make cakes to the from between her breasts; Ver. 3. queen of heaven, and to pour out Lest I strip her naked, and set her as drink-offerings unto other gods, that in the day that she was born, and they may provoke me to anger. Ver. make her as a wilderness, and set her 19. Do they provoke me to anger? like a dry land, and slay her with saith the Lord: do they not provoke thirst. Ver. 4. And I will not have themselves to the confusion of their mercy upon her children; for they own faces Ver. 20. Therefore thus be the children of whoredoms. saith the Lord God, Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be

h Deut. v. 29. Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my com mandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.i

Q. 112. What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requires, That the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordinances,' the word, sacraments," prayer," oaths, vows, lots, his works," and whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation,