THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.

"And God spake all these words, saying, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." EXODUS XX. 1-3.

In looking at the general character of the commandments we can scarcely help noticing that they are almost all of a negative nature, that is, not so much telling us what we are to do, as what we must not do. This is the case with them all, excepting the fourth, and the fifth. Now the reason why they are so would seem to be this. They are all directed against certain tendencies or natural inclinations, which exist in the human heart. It is the object of God in these laws to forbid the indulgence of those inclinations, and to enforce the duty of the very opposite feeling. But this also may remind us they are not intended to give life, but to show and convince of sin. As it is written, "If there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Gal. iii.

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21.) And again, "Wherefore then serveth the law? it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." (ver. 19.) That is, then, the law serves to show us our sins, and to lead us to look to Him, the promised seed, who is able to give life, which the law cannot give. "By the law is the knowledge of sin," and "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Gal. iii. 24.)

The evil tendencies of our nature against which the commandments are given, exist to this day in every human heart. We still need the law to shew us our sin, and all our shortcomings, and that the only righteousness which justifies a sinner in the sight of God is, that of Christ, "which is unto all and upon all them that believe," for "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Rom. x. 4.)

But then in the next place, there is another feature in the general character of these commandments to which we must pay especial attention, before we can fully know what our sin is who have broken them, and what is that righteousness which will alone satisfy God, and which only is to be had of Christ.

We must observe then, there are two ways

in which they may any one of them be broken, and two ways in which they may be kept. I mean, they all have a literal and a spiritual meaning. They may be broken in the letter, and they may be broken in the spirit. Real and perfect obedience to them is nothing less than obedience to the spirit of each commandment. This makes God's "commandments exceeding broad." And this makes man's sin "exceeding sinful."

The number of the commandments is ten. Of this there is no doubt, for so it is written. (Exodus xxxiv. 28.) "He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." They were written on two stones, and our Lord has taught us to view them in the two great divisions of our duty to God, and our duty to our neighbour. Thus when asked, "Which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matt. xxii. 37, 38.) Here we see that the requirement of the commandments reaches to the heart, and the thoughts of the heart. It is not only that we are to take no other for our God than the

Lord, but He is to have the first place in our affections, and His will and service to be uppermost in our minds.

Before however we speak further of the spiritual observance of this first commandment, it is necessary for us to notice the gross transgression of its very letter which prevails in our day. And this not merely in heathen countries, where, as the Apostle says, "There be they that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many," (1 Cor. viii. 5.) but alas! even in our own land, and among those called Christians, shall we find this first commandment is broken. However much we may wish it were otherwise, and however much we may pity those deceived by the system, for truth's sake we must lay this to the charge of all Roman Catholics who worship according to the doctrines of their Church. And does it not look rather suspicious, when we find in that Church a disposition to slur over the distinction between the first and the second commandments, as we believe the word of God divides them. All are agreed there are ten. We say there are four in the first table, and six in the second. But the Romish Church joins the two first into one. Although they are in our eyes quite distinct, the one forbidding the

religious worship of all other beings than the One true God, the other forbidding idolatry, that is, the worship of any material images or pictures. Then in order to keep up the number of ten, they divide the last, and make this one commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house," &c. into two; whereas it might on the same ground have been divided into seven, according to each object we are forbidden to covet. But it is plain it is all one, and is against the sin of desiring what is not our's, and is that referred to by the Apostle, when he says, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not. covet." (Rom. vii. 7.)

But is the first commandment really broken by worshippers in the Romish Church? Surely it is, since they are guilty of paying divine honour to other beings than the One true God. Of course they do not leave out the worship of God, but they add the worship of other beings. It may be said of Roman Catholics as is written of the Samaritans,

"They feared the Lord, and Gods." (2 Kings xvii. 33.)

served their own

Surely they are

justly charged with this sin, since they pay honour to the Virgin Mary, to Saints, and Angels, such honour as is due only unto God. We ought not lightly to charge any