 8. 10. But why did God thus deliver His commandments as it were by halves, using elliptical expressions with a larger meaning, than that actually expressed. Other reasons are given, but the following seems to me the best. As the flesh is always on the alert to extenuate the heinousness of sin, unless it is made as it were perceptible to the touch, and to cover it with specious pretexts, the Lord sets forth by way of example whatever is foulest and most iniquitous in each species of transgression, that the delivery of it might produce a shudder in the hearer, and impress his mind with a deeper abhorrence of sin. Informing an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less heinous they are. This delusion the Lord dispels by accustoming us to refer the whole multitude of sins to particular heads, which admirably show how great a degree of heinousness there is in each. For example, wrath and hatred do not seem so very bad when they are designated by their own names, but when they are prohibited under the name of murder, we understand better how abominable they are in the sight of God who puts them in the same class with that horrid crime. Influenced by His judgment, we accustom ourselves to judge more accurately of the heinousness of offenses which previously seemed trivial. 11. It will now be proper to consider what is meant by the division of the Divine Law into two tables. It will be judged by all men of sense from the formal manner in which these are sometimes mentioned, that it has not been done at random or without reason. Indeed, the reason is so obvious as not to allow us to remain in doubt with regard to it. God thus divided His law into two parts, containing a complete rule of righteousness that He might assign the first place to the duties of religion which relate especially to His worship, and the second to the duties of charity which have respect to man. The first foundation of righteousness undoubtedly is the worship of God. When it is subverted, all the other parts of righteousness, like a building rent a sunder and in ruins, are wracked and scattered. What kind of righteousness do you call it, not to commit theft and repine, if you in the meantime with impious sacrilege rob God of His glory? Or not to defile your body with fornication if you profane His holy name with blasphemy? Or not to take away the life of man if you strive to cut off and destroy the remembrance of God? It is vain, therefore, to talk of righteousness apart from religion. Such righteousness has no more beauty than the trunk of a body deprived of its head, nor is religion the principal part merely. It is the very soul by which the whole lives and breathes. Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves. We say, then, that the worship of God is the beginning and foundation of righteousness, and that wherever it is wanting any degree of equity or continence or temperance existing among men themselves is empty and frivolous in the sight of God. We call it the source and soul of righteousness in as much as men learn to live together temperately and without injury when they revere God as the judge of right and wrong. In the first table, accordingly, he teaches us how to cultivate piety and the proper duties of religion in which his worship consists. In the second, he shows how, in the fear of his name, we are to conduct ourselves towards our fellow men. Hence, as related by the evangelists, Matthew 22.37, Luke 10.27, our Savior summed up the whole law into two heads, that is, to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. You see how, of the two parts under which he comprehends the whole law, he devotes the one to God and assigns the other to mankind. 12. But although the whole law is contained in two heads, yet, in order to remove any pretext for excuse, the Lord has been pleased to deliver more fully and explicitly in ten commandments everything relating to his own honor, fear, and love, as well as everything relating to the charity which, for his sake, he enjoins us to have towards our fellow men. Nor is it an unprofitable study to consider the division of the commandments provided we remember that it is one of those matters in which every man should have full freedom of judgment, and on account of which difference of opinion should not lead to contention. We are, indeed, under the necessity of making this observation, lest the division which we are to adopt should excite the surprise or derision of the reader as novel or of recent invention. There is no room for controversy as to the fact that the law is divided into ten heads since this is repeatedly sanctioned by divine authority. The question, therefore, is not as to the number of the parts, but the method of dividing them. Those who adopt a division which gives three commandments to the first table and throws the remaining seven into the second table expunge the commandment concerning images from the list, or at least conceal it under the first, though there cannot be a doubt that it was distinctly set down by the Lord as a separate commandment. Whereas the tenth, which prohibits the coveting of what belongs to our neighbor, they absurdly break down into two. Moreover, it will soon appear that this method of dividing was unknown in a purer age. Others count four commandments in the first table as we do, but for the first set down the introductory promise without adding the precept. But because I must hold, unless I am convinced by clear evidence to the contrary, that the ten words mentioned by Moses are ten commandments, and because I see that number arranged in most admirable order, I must, while I leave them to hold their own opinion, follow what appears to me better established. That is, that what they make to be the first commandment is of the nature of a preface to the whole law, that thereafter follow four commandments in the first table and six in the second, in the order in which they will hear be reviewed. This division origin adopts without discussion as if it had been everywhere received in his day. It is also adopted by Augustine in his book addressed to Boniface, where, in enumerating the commandments, he follows this order. Let one God be religiously obeyed, let no idol be worshiped, let the name of God be not used in vain. While previously he had made separate mention of the typical commandment of the Sabbath. Elsewhere, indeed, he expresses approbation of the first division, but on two slight grounds, because, by the number three, making the first table consist of three commandments, the mystery of the trinity would be better manifested. Even here, however, he does not disguise his opinion that in other respects our division is more to his mind. Besides these, we are supported by the author of an unfinished work on Matthew. Josephus, no doubt with the general consent of his age, assigns five commandments to each table. Thus, while repugnant to reason in as much as it confounds the distinction between piety and charity, is also refuted by the authority of our Savior, who in Matthew places the command to honor parents in the list of those belonging to the second table. Matthew 19, 19. Let us now hear God speaking in his own words. First commandment, I am the Lord thy God, which brought the out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thirteen, whether you take the former sentence as a part of the commandment, or read it separately, is to me a matter of indifference, provided you grant that it is a kind of preface to the whole law. In enacting laws, the first thing to be guarded against is there being forthwith abrogated by contempt. The Lord therefore takes care in the first place that this shall not happen to the law about to be delivered by introducing it with a triple sanction. He claims to himself power and authority to command that he may impress the chosen people with the necessity of obedience. He holds forth a promise of favor as a means of alluring them to the study of holiness, and he reminds them of his kindness that he may convict them of ingratitude if they fail to make a suitable return. By the name Lord, our denoted power and lawful dominion. If all things are from him and by him consist, they ought injustice to bear reference to him, as Paul says, Romans 11 verse 36. This name, therefore, is in itself sufficient to bring us under the authority of the Divine Majesty, for it were monstrous for us to wish to withdraw from the dominion of him out of whom we cannot even exist. Fourteen, after showing us that he has a right to command and to be obeyed, he next, in order not to seem to drag men by mere necessity, but to allure them, graciously declares that he is the God of the Church. For the mode of expression implies that there is a mutual relation included in the promise, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31 verse 33. Hence Christ infers the immortality of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the fact that God had declared himself to be their God. Matthew 22 verse 32. It is therefore the same as if he had said, I have chosen you to myself as a people to whom I shall not only do good in the present life, but also bestow felicity in the life to come. The end contemplated in this is averted to in the law in various passages. For when the Lord condescends in mercy to honor us so far as to admit us to partnership with his chosen people, he chooses us, as Moses says, to be a holy people, a peculiar people unto himself, to keep all his commandments, Deuteronomy 7.6, 14.2, 26.18. Hence the exhortation ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. Leviticus 19 verse 2. These two considerations form the ground of the remonstrance, a son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Sayeth the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1 verse 6. 15. Next follows a commemoration of his kindness, which ought to produce upon us an impression strong in proportion to the detestation in which ingratitude is held even among men. It is true indeed that he was reminding Israel of a deliverance then recent, but one which, on account of its wondrous magnitude, was to be forever memorable to the remotest posterity. Moreover, it is most appropriate to the matter in hand, for the Lord intimates that they were delivered from miserable bondage, that they might learn to yield prompt submission and obedience to him as the author of their freedom. In like manners to keep us to his true worship, he often describes himself by certain epithets which distinguish his sacred deity from all idols and fictitious gods. For, as I formerly observed, such is our proneness to vanity and presumption, that as soon as God is named, our minds, unable to guard against error, immediately fly off to some empty delusion. In applying a remedy to this disease, God distinguishes his divinity by certain titles, and thus confines us, as it were, within distinct boundaries, that we may not wander hither and thither and feign some new deity for ourselves, abandoning the living god and setting up an idol. For this reason, whenever the prophets would bring him properly before us, they invest, and as it were, surround him with those characters under which he had manifested himself to the people of Israel. When he is called the god of Abraham or the god of Israel, when he is stationed in the temple of Jerusalem between the cherubim, these and similar modes of expression do not confine him to one place or one people, but are used merely for the purpose of fixing our thoughts on that God who so manifested himself in the covenant which he made with Israel, as to make it unlawful on any account to deviate from the strict view they are given of his character. Let it be understood, then, that mention is made of deliverance in order to make the Jews submit with greater readiness to that God who justly claims them as his own. We again, instead of supposing that the matter has no reference to us, should reflect that the bondage of Israel in Egypt was a type of that spiritual bondage in the fetters of which we are all bound until the heavenly avenger delivers us by the power of his own arm and transports us into his free kingdom. Therefore, as in old times, when he would gather together the scattered Israelites to the worship of his name, he rescued them from the intolerable tyranny of Pharaoh, so all who profess him now are delivered from the fatal tyranny of the devil, of which that of Egypt was only a type. There is no man, therefore, whose mind ought not to be aroused to give heed to the law which, as he is told, proceeded from the supreme king, from him who, as he gave all their being, justly destines and directs them to himself as their proper end. There is no man, I say, who should not hasten to embrace the lawgiver, whose commands he knows he has been specially appointed to obey, from whose kindness he anticipates in abundance of all good, and even a blessed immortality, and to whose wondrous power and mercy he is indebted for deliverance from the jaws of death. 16. The authority of the law being founded and established, God delivers his first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The purport of this commandment is that the Lord will have himself alone to be exalted in his people, and claims the entire possession of them as his own. That it may be so, he orders us to abstain from ungodliness and superstition of every kind, by which the glory of his divinity is diminished or obscured, and, for the same reason, he requires us to worship and adore him with truly pious zeal. The simple terms used obviously amount to this. For seeing we cannot love God without embracing everything which belongs to him, the prohibition against having strange gods means that nothing which belongs to him is to be transferred to any other. The duties which we owe to God are innumerable, but they seem to admit of not being improperly reduced to four heads. Adoration, with its accessory spiritual submission of conscience, trust, invocation, thanksgiving. By adoration I mean the veneration and worship which we render to him when we do homage to his majesty, and hence I make part of it to consist in bringing our consciences into subjection to his law. Trust is secure resting in him under a recognition of his perfections, when, ascribing to him all power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth, we consider ourselves happy in having been brought into intercourse with him. Invocation may be defined the retaking of ourselves to his promised aid as the only resource in every case of need. Thanksgiving is the gratitude which ascribes to him the praise of all our blessings. As the Lord does not allow these to be derived from any other quarter, so he demands that they shall be referred entirely to himself. It is not enough to refrain from other gods. We must at the same time devote ourselves wholly to him, not acting like certain impious despisers who regard it as the shortest method to hold all religious observance in derision. But here precedence must be given to true religion which will direct our minds to the living God. When duly imbued with the knowledge of him, the whole aim of our lives will be to revere, fear, and worship his majesty, to enjoy a share in his blessings, to have recourse to him in every difficulty, to acknowledge, laud, and celebrate the magnificence of his works, to make him, as it were, the sole aim of all our actions. Next, we must beware of superstition, by which our minds are turned aside from the true God, and carried to and fro after a multiplicity of gods. Therefore, if we are contented with one God, let us call to mind what was formerly observed, that all fictitious gods are to be driven far away, and that the worship which he claims for himself is not to be mutilated. Not a particle of his glory is to be withheld. Everything belonging to him must be reserved to him entire. The words before me go to increase the indignity, God being provoked to jealousy whenever we substitute our fictions in his stead. Just as an unfaithful wife stings her husband's heart more deeply, when her adultery is committed openly before his eyes. Therefore, God having by his present power and grace declared that he had respect to the people whom he had chosen, now in order to deter them from the wickedness of revolt, warns them that they cannot adopt strange gods without his being witness and spectator of the sacrilege. To the audacity of so doing is added the very great impiety of supposing that they can mock the eye of God with their evasions. Far from this the Lord proclaims that everything which we design, plan or execute lies open to his sight. Our conscience must therefore keep aloof from the most distant thought of revolt if we would have our worship approved by the Lord. The glory of his Godhead must be maintained entire and incorrupt, not merely by external profession, but as under his eye which penetrates the inmost recesses of his heart. Second commandment, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. Seventeen, as in the first commandment the Lord declares that he is one and that besides him no gods must be either worshiped or imagined, so he here more plainly declares what his nature is and what the kind of worship with which he is to be honored in order that we may not presume to form any carnal idea of him. The purport of this commandment therefore is that he will not have his legitimate worship profaned by superstitious rites, wherefore in general he calls us entirely away from the carnal frivolous observances which our stupid minds are want to devise after forming some gross idea of the divine nature, while at the same time he instructs us in the worship which is legitimate namely spiritual worship of his own appointment. The grossest vice here prohibited is external idolatry. This commandment consists of two parts. The former curbs the licentious daring which would subject the incomprehensible god to our senses or represent him under any visible shape. The latter forbids the worship of images on any religious ground. There is moreover a brief enumeration of all the forms by which the deity was usually represented by heathen and superstitious nations. By anything which is in heaven above is meant the sun, the moon, and the stars, perhaps also birds as in Deuteronomy where the meaning is explained there is mention of birds as well as stars Deuteronomy 4 verse 15. I would not have made this observation had I not seen that some absurdly apply it to the angels. The other particulars I pass as requiring no explanation. We have already shown clearly enough book 1 chapters 11 and 12 that every visible shape of deity which man devises is diametrically opposed to the divine nature and therefore that the moment idols appear true religion is corrupted and adulterated. 18. The threatening subjoined ought to have no little effect in shaking off our lethargy. It is in the following terms. 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. The meaning here is the same as if he had said that our duty is to cleave to him alone to induce us to this he proclaims his authority which he will not permit to be impaired or despised with impunity. It is true the word used is L which means God but as it is derived from a word meaning strength I have had no hesitations in order to express the sense more fully so to render it as inserted on the margin. Secondly he calls himself jealous because he cannot bear a partner. Thirdly he declares that he will vindicate his majesty and glory if any transfer it either to the creatures or to graven images and that not by a simple punishment of brief duration but when extending to the third and fourth generation of such as imitate the impiety of their progenitors. In like manner he declares his constant mercy and kindness to the remote posterity of those who love him and keep his law. The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband the union by which he connects us with himself when he receives us into the bosom of the church having some resemblance to that of holy wedlock because founded on mutual faith. As he performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband so he stipulates for love and conjugal chastity from us that is that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan to be defiled with foul carnal lusts. Hence when he rebukes the Jews for their apostasy he complains that they have cast off chastity and polluted themselves with adultery. Therefore as the purer and chaser the husband is the more grievously he is offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival. So the Lord who has betrothed us to himself in truth declares that he burns with the hottest jealousy whenever neglecting the purity of his holy marriage we defile ourselves with abominable lusts and especially when the worship of his deity which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired is transferred to another or adulterated with some superstition. Since in this way we not only violate our plighted truth but defile the nuptial couch by giving access to adulterers. 19. In the threatening we must attend to what is meant when God declares that he will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. It seems inconsistent with the equity of the divine procedure to punish the innocent for another's fault and the Lord himself declares that, quote, the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father, Ezekiel 18 verse 20. But still we meet more than once with the declaration as to the postponing of the punishment of the sins of the fathers to future generations. Thus Moses repeatedly addresses the Lord as, quote, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, Numbers 14, 18. In like manner Jeremiah, quote, thou showest loving kindness unto thousands and recompenses the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, Jeremiah 32, 18. Some feeling sadly perplexed how to solve this difficulty think it is to be understood of temporal punishments only which it is said sons may properly bear for the sins of their parents because they are often inflicted for their own safety. This is indeed true for Isaiah declared to Hezekiah that his children should be stripped of the kingdom and carried away into captivity for a sin which he had committed, Isaiah 39 verse 7, and the households of Pharaoh and Abimelech were made to suffer for an injury done to Abraham, Genesis 12 verse 17, chapter 20 verses 3 to 18. But the attempt to solve the question in this way is an evasion rather than a true interpretation. For the punishment denounced here and in similar passages is too great to be confined within the limits of the present life. We must therefore understand it to mean that a curse from the Lord righteously falls not only on the head of the guilty individual but also on all his lineage. When it has fallen what can be anticipated but that the father being deprived of the Spirit of God will live most logitiously that the son being in like manner forsaken of the Lord because of his father's iniquity will follow the same road to destruction and be followed in his turn by succeeding generations forming a seed of evildoers. 20. First let us examine whether such punishment is inconsistent with the divine justice. If human nature is universally condemned those on whom the Lord does not bestow the communication of his grace must be doomed to destruction. Nevertheless they perish by their own iniquity not by unjust hatred on the part of God. There is no room to expostulate and ask why the grace of God does not forward their salvation as it does that of others. Therefore when God punishes the wicked and logitious for their crimes by depriving their families of his grace for many generations who will dare to bring a charge against him for this most righteous vengeance? But it will be said the Lord on the contrary declares that the son shall not suffer for the father's sin. Ezekiel 18 verse 20. Observe the scope of that passage. The Israelites after being subjected to a long period of uninterrupted calamities had begun to say as a proverb that their fathers had eaten the sour grape and thus set the children's teeth on edge meaning that they though in themselves righteous and innocent were paying the penalty of sins committed by their parents and this more from the implacable anger than the duly tempered severity of God. The prophet declares it was not so that they were punished for their own wickedness that it was not in accordance with the justice of God that a righteous son should suffer for the iniquity of a wicked father and that nothing of the kind was exemplified in what they suffered. For if the visitation of which we now speak is accomplished when God withdraws from the children of the wicked the light of his truth and the other helps to salvation the only way in which they are accursed for their fathers wickedness is in being blinded and abandoned by God and so left to walk in their parents steps. The misery which they suffer in time and the destruction to which they are finally doomed are thus punishments inflicted by divine justice not for the sins of others but for their own iniquity. 21 On the other hand there is a promise of mercy to thousands a promise which is frequently mentioned in scripture and forms an article in the solemn covenant made with the church. I will be quote a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Genesis 17 verse 7 with reference to this Solomon says quote the just man walketh in his integrity his children are blessed after him Proverbs 20 verse 7 not only in consequence of a religious education though this certainly is by no means unimportant but in consequence of the blessing promised in the covenant that is that the divine favor will dwell forever in the families of the righteous herein is excellent consolation to believers and great ground of terror to the wicked for if after death the mere remembrance of righteousness and iniquity have such an influence on the divine procedure that his blessing rests on the posterity of the righteous and his curse on the posterity of the wicked much more must it rest on the heads of the individuals themselves notwithstanding of this however the offspring of the wicked sometimes amends while that of believers degenerates because the almighty has not here laid down an inflexible rule which might derogate from his free election for the consolation of the righteous and the dismay of the sinner it is enough that the threatening itself is not vain or nougatory although it does not always take effect for as the temporal punishments inflicted on a few of the wicked are proofs of the divine wrath against sin and of the future judgment that will ultimately overtake all sinners though many escape with impunity even to the end of their lives so when the lord gives one example of blessing a son for his father's sake by visiting him in mercy and kindness it is a proof of constant and unfeeling favor to his worshipers on the other hand when in any single instance he visits the iniquity of the father on the son he gives intimation of the judgment which awaits all the reprobate for their own iniquities the certainty of this is the principal thing here taught moreover the lord as it were by the way commends the riches of his mercy by extending it to thousands while he limits his vengeance to four generations end of section 15 recording by trisha g section 16 of institutes of the christian religion book two this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org institutes of the christian religion book two by john kelvin translated by henry beverage chapter eight part three third commandment thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain 22 the purport of this commandment is that the majesty of the name of god is to be held sacred in sum therefore it means that we must not profane it by using it irreverently or contemptuously this prohibition implies a corresponding precept this that it be our study and care to treat his name with religious veneration wherefore it becomes us to regulate our minds and our tongues so as never to think or speak of god in his mysteries without reverence and great soberness and never in estimating his works to have any feelings towards him but one of deep veneration we must say steadily observe the three following things first whatever our mind conceives of him whatever our tongue utters must bespeak his excellent and correspond to the sublimity of his sacred name in short must be fitted to extol its greatness secondly we must not rationally and preposterously pervert his sacred word and adorable mysteries to purposes of ambition or avarance or amusement but accordingly as they bear the impress of his dignity must always maintain them in due honor and esteem lastly we must not detract from or throw obliquy upon his works as miserable men are want insultingly to do but must laud every action which we attribute to him as wise and just and good this is to sanctify the name of god when we act otherwise his name is profaned with feign and wicked abuse because it is applied to a purpose foreign to that to which it is consecrated whether nothing worse and being deprived of its dignity it is gradually brought into contempt but if there is so much evil in the rash and unseasonable employment of the divine name there is still more evil in its being employed for nefarious purposes as is done by those who use it in necromancy cursing illicit extortions and other impious incantations but the commandment refers especially to the case of oaths in which a perverse employment of the divine name is particularly detestable and this it does the more effectually to deter us from every species of profanation that the thing here commanded relates to the worship of god and the reverence due to his name and not to the equity which men are to cultivate towards each other is apparent from this that afterwards in the second tablet there is a condemnation of the perjury and false testimony by which human society is injured and that the repetition would be superfluous if in this commandment the duty of charity were handled moreover this is necessary even for distinction because as was observed God has for good reason divided his law into two tablets the inference then is that God here vindicates his own right and defends his sacred name but does not teach the duties which meant oh to men 23 in the first place we must consider what an oath is an oath then is calling God to witness that what we say is true execrations being manifestly insulting to God are unworthy of being classified among oaths that an oath when duty taken is a species of divine worship appears from many passages of scripture as when Isaiah prophesies of the admission of the Assyrians and Egyptians to a participation in the covenant he says in that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts Isaiah 19 18 swearing by the name of the Lord here means that they will make a profession of religion in like manner speaking of the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom it is said he who blessed himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth and he that swearth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth Isaiah 65 16 in Jeremiah it is said if they will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name the Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be built in the midst of my people Jeremiah 12 16 by appealing to the name of the Lord and calling him to witness we are justly said to declare our own religious veneration of him for we thus acknowledge that he is the eternal and unchangeable truth in so much as we not only call upon him in preference to others but as a fit witness to the truth but as it's only a sartor able to bring hidden things to light a discerner of the hearts when human testimony fails we appeal to God as witness especially when the matter to be proved lies hid in the conscience for which reason the Lord is grievously offended with those who swear by strange gods and construes such swearing as a proof of open revolt the children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods Jeremiah 5 7 the heinousness of the offense is declared by the punishment denounced against it I will cut off them that swear by the Lord and that swear by Malcolm Zephaniah 1 4 and 5 24 understanding that the Lord would have our oaths to be a species of divine worship we must be the more careful that they do not instead of worship contain insult or contempt and vilification it is no slight insult to swear by him and do it falsely hence in the law this is termed profanation Leviticus 19 12 for if God is robbed of his truth what is it that remains without truth he could not be God but surely he is robbed of his truth when he is made the approver and attester of what is false hence when Joshua is endeavoring to make Achan confess the truth he says my son give I pray the glory to the Lord God of Israel Joshua 7 19 intimating that grievous dishonor is done to God when men swear by him falsely and no wonder for as far as in them lies his sacred name is in a manner branded with falsehood that this mode of expression was common among the Jews whenever anyone was called upon to take an oath is evident from a similar obestation used by the Pharisees as given in John John 9 24 Scripture reminds us of the caution which we ought to use by employing such expressions as the following as the Lord livid God do so and more also I call God for a record upon my soul such expressions intimate that we cannot call God to witness our statement without imprecating his vengeance for perjury if it is false 25 the name of God is vulgarized and vilified when used in oaths which though true are superfluous this too is to take his name in vain wherefore it is not sufficient to abstain from perjury unless we at the same time remember that an oath is not appointed or allowed for passion or pleasure but for necessity and that therefore a licentious use is made of it by him who uses it on any other than necessary occasions moreover no case of necessity can be pretended unless where some purpose of religion or charity is to be served in this matter great sin is committed in the present day sin the more intolerable in this then its frequency has made it cease to be regarded as a fault though it certainly is not accounted trivial before the judgment seat of God the name of God is everywhere profane by introducing it indiscriminately in frivolous discourse and the evil is disregarded because it has long and audaciously persisted in with impunity the commandment of the Lord however stands the penalty also stands and will one day receive effect special vengeance will be executed on those who have taken the name of God in vain another form of the violation is exhibited when with manifest impiety we in our oaths substitute the holy servants of God for God himself thus conferring upon them the glory of his Godhead it is not without cause the Lord has by a special commandment required us to swear by his name and by a special prohibition forbid us to swear by other gods the apostle gives a clear attestation to the same effect when he says that men verily swear by the greater but that when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater he swear by himself Hebrews 6 16 and 13 26 the Anabaptist not content with this moderate use of oaths condemn all without exception on the ground of our Savior's general prohibition I say unto you swear not at all let your speech be ye ye nay nay for whatsoever is more than these come of the evil Matthew 5 34 James 5 12 in this way the inconsiderately make a stumbling block of Christ setting him in opposition to the Father as if he had descended into the world to annul his decrees in the law the Almighty not only permits an oath as a thing that is lawful this were amply sufficient but in a case of necessity actually commands Exodus 22 11 Christ again declares that he and his Father are one that he only delivers what was commanded of his Father that his doctrine is not his own but his that sent him John 10 18 and 30 and chapter 7 verse 16 what then will they make God contradict himself by approving and commanding at one time what he afterwards prohibits and condemns but as there is some difficulty in what our Savior says on the subject of swearing it may be proper to consider it a little here however we have never arrived at the true meaning unless we attend to the design of Christ and the subject of which he is treating his purpose was neither to relax nor to curtail the law but to restore the true and genuine meaning which had been greatly corrupted by the false glossies of the scribes and Pharisees if we attend to this we shall not suppose that Christ condemned all oaths but those only which transgressed the rule of the law it is evident from the elves themselves that the people were accustomed to think it enough if they avoided perjury whereas the law prohibits not perjury merely but also vain and superfluous oaths therefore our Lord who is the best interpreter of the law reminds them that there is a sin not only in perjury but in swearing how in swearing namely by swearing vainly these oaths however which are authorized by the law he leaves safe and free those who condemn oaths think their argument invincible when they fasten on the expression not at all the expression applies not to the word swear but to the subjoined forms of oaths for part of the air consists in their supposing that when they swore by the heaven and the earth they did not touch the name of god the lord therefore after cutting off the principal source a prevarication deprives them of all sub-refuges warning them against supposing that they escape guilt by suppressing the name of god and appealing to heaven and earth for it ought here to be observed in passing that although the name of god is not expressed yet men swear by him in using indirect forms as when they swear by the light of life by the bread they eat by their baptism or any other pledges of the divine liberality towards them some erroneously suppose that our savior in that passage rebukes superstition by forbidding men to swear by heaven and earth and Jerusalem he rather refutes the sophisticated sub-bilty of those who thought it nothing vainly to utter indirect oaths imagining that they thus spared the holy name of god whereas that name is inscribed on each of his mercies the case is different when any mortal living or dead or an angel is substituted in the place of god as in the vile form devised by flattery in the heathen nations by the life or genius of the king for in this case the false hypothesis obscures and impairs the glory of the one god but when nothing else is attended then to confirm what is said by an appeal to the holy name of god although it is done indirectly yet his majesty is insulted by all frivolous oaths cry strips this abuse of every vain pretext when he says swear not at all to the same effect is the passage in which james uses the words of our savior above quoted james 512 for this rash swearing has always prevailed in the world notwithstanding that it is a profanation of the name of god if you refer the words not at all to the act itself as if every oath without exception were unlawful what will be the use of the explanation which immediately follows neither by heaven neither by earth etc these words make it clear that the object in view was to meet the cavals by which the jews thought they could extinuate their fault 27 every person of sound judgment must now see that in the passage our lord merely condemned those oaths which were forbidden by the law for he who in his life exhibited a model of the perfection which he taught did not object to oaths whenever the occasion required them and the disciples who doubtless in all things obeyed their master followed the same rule who will dare to say that paul would have sworn romans 19 and second corinthians 123 if an oath had been altogether forbidden but when the occasion calls for it he adures without any scruple and sometimes even implicates the question however is not yet disposed of for something that only oaths exempted from their prohibition are public oaths such as those which are administered to us by the magistrate or independent states employed in ratifying treaties or the people take when they swear allegiance to their sovereigns or the soldier in the case of military oath and others of similar description to this class they refer and justly those protestations in the writings of paul which assert the dignity of the gospel since the apostles in discharging their office were not private individuals but the public servants of god i certainly deny not that such oaths are the safest because they are the most strongly supported by passages of scripture the magistrate is enjoined in a doubtful manner to put the witness upon oath and he in his turn to answer upon oath and an apostle says that in this way there is an end of all strife hebrews 6 16 in this commandment both parties are fully approved nay we may observe that among the ancient heathens a public and solemn oath was held in great reverence while those common oaths which were indiscriminately used were in little or no estimation as if they thought that in regard to them the deity did not interpose private oaths used soberly sacredly and reverently unnecessary occasions and were purless to condemn supported as they were by reason and example for a private individuals are permitted in a grave and serious matter to appeal to god as a judge much more may they appeal to him as a witness your brother charges you with perfidy you is bound by the duties of charity labor to clear yourselves from the charge he will on no account be satisfied if through his obstinate malice your good name is brought into jeopardy you can appeal without offense to the judgment of god that he may in time manifest your innocence if the terms are weighed it will be found that it is a less matter to call upon him to be witness and I therefore see not how it can be called unlawful to do so and there is no want of examples if it is pretended that the oath which Abraham and Isaac made with abimelech was of a public nature that by which Jacob and Laban bound themselves in mutual league was private woe as though a private man confirmed his promise of marriage to Ruth in the same way obadiah to a just man and one that feared god though a private individual and seeking to persuade Elijah as separates with an oath I hold therefore that there is no better rule than so to regulate our oaths that they shall neither be rash frivolous promiscuous or passionate but be made to serve a just necessity in other words to vindicate the glory of god or promote the edification of a brother this is the end of the commandment fourth commandment remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shall thou labor and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work 28 the purport of the commandment is that being dead to our own affections and works we meditate on the kingdom of god and in order to such meditation have recourse to the means which he is appointed but as his commandment stands in particular circumstances apart from the others the mode of exposition must be somewhat different early christian writers are want to call it typical as containing the external observance of a day which was abolished with the other types on the advent of christ this is indeed true but it leaves the half of the matter untouched wherefore we must look deeper for our exposition and attend to three cases in which it appears to me that the observance of this commandment consists first under the rest of the seventh days the divine lawgiver meant to furnish the people of Israel with a type of the spiritual rest by which believers were to cease from their own works and allow god to work in them secondly he meant that there should be a stated day on which they should assemble to hear the law and perform religious rites or which at least they should specially employ in meditating on his works and be thereby trained to piety thirdly he meant that servants and those who lived under the authority of others should be indulged with a day of rest and thus have some intermission from labor 29 we are taught in many passages that this adembration of spiritual rest held a primary place in the Sabbath indeed there is no commandment the observance of which the almighty more strictly enforces when he would intimate by the prophets that religion was entirely subverted he complains that his sabbaths were polluted violated not kept not hallowed as if after it was neglected there remained nothing in which he could be honored the observance of it he eulogizes in the highest terms and hence among the other divine privileges the faithful set an extraordinary value on the revolution of the Sabbath in Nehemiah the Levites in the public assembly thus speak the made is known into them thy holy sabbath and command us them precepts statues and laws by the hand of moses thy servant you see the singular honor which it holds among all the precepts of the law all this tends to celebrate the dignity of the mystery which is most admirable expressed by moses and Ezekiel thus in exodus fairly my sabbath shall ye keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you ye shall keep my sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you every one that defile that shall surely be put to death for whosoever does any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people six days may work be done but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest holy to the Lord whosoever does any work in the Sabbath day he shall surely be put to death wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever exodus 31 13 through 17 Ezekiel is still more full but the sum of what he says amounts to this that the sabbath is a sign by which Israel might know that God is their sanctifier if our sanctification consists in the mortification of our own will the analogy between the external sign and the thing signified is most appropriate we must rest entirely in order that God may work in us we must resign our own will yield up our heart and abandon all the lusts of the flesh in short we must desist from all the acts of our own mind the God working in us we may rest in him as the apostle also teaches Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13 and chapter 4 verses 3 and 9 30 this complete cessation was represented to the Jews by the observation of one day in seven which that it might be more religiously attended to the Lord recommended by his own example for it is no small incitement to the zeal of man to know that he is engaged in imitating his creator should anyone expect some secret meaning in the number seven this being in scripture the number for perfection it may have been selected not without cause to denote perpetuity in accordance with this Moses concludes his description of the succession of day and night on the same day on which he relates that the Lord rested from his works another probable reason for the number may be that the Lord intended that the Sabbath never should be completed before the arrival of the last day we here begin our blessed rest in him and daily make new progress in it but because we must still wage an incessant warfare with the flesh it shall not be consummated until the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord Isaiah 66 23 in other words when God shall be all in all first Corinthians 15 28 it may seem therefore that by the seventh day the Lord delineated to his people the future perfection of his Sabbath on the last day that by continual meditation on the Sabbath they might throughout their whole lives aspire to this perfection 31 should these remarks on the number seem to any somewhat far-fetched I have no objection to their taking it more simply that the Lord appointed a certain day on which his people might be trained under the tutelage of the law to meditate constantly on the spiritual rest and fixed upon the seventh either because he foresaw it would be sufficient or in order that his own example might operate as a stronger stimulus or at least to remind men that the Sabbath was appointed for no other purpose than to render them conformable to their Creator it is of little consequence which of these be adopted provided we lose not sight of the principal thing delineated is the mystery of perpetual resting from our works to the contemplation of this the Jews were very now and then called by the prophets lest they should think a carnal cessation from labor sufficient besides the passages already quoted there is the following if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honorable and shall honor him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord Isaiah 58 13 and 14 still there can be no doubt that on the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ the ceremonial part of the commandment was abolished he is the truth at whose presence all the emblems vanish the body at the site of which the shadows disappear he I say is the true completion of the Sabbath we are buried with him by baptism into death that like his Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we should walk in newness of life Romans 6 4 hence as the apostle elsewhere says let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holiday or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Colossians 2 16 and 17 meaning by the body the whole essence of the truth as is well explained in that passage this is not contented with one day but requires the whole course of our lives until being completely dead to ourselves we are filled with the life of God Christians therefore should have nothing to do with a superstitious observance of days 32 the two other cases ought not to be classed with the ancient shadows but are adapted to every age the Sabbath being abrogated there is still room among us first to assemble on stated days for the hearing of the word the breaking of the mystical bread and public prayer and secondly to give our servants and labor's relaxation from labor it cannot be doubted that the Lord provided for both in the commandment of the Sabbath the former is abundantly evinced by the mere practice of the Jews the latter Moses has expressed in Deuteronomy in the following terms the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shall not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy man servant nor thy mate servant that thy man servant and thy mate servant may rest as well as thou Deuteronomy 5 14 likewise in Exodus that thine ox and thine ass may rest and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed Exodus 23 12 who can deny that both are equally applicable to us as to the Jews religious meetings are enjoined us by the word of God their necessity experienced itself sufficiently demonstrates but unless these meetings are stated and have fixed days allotted to them how can they be held we must as the apostles expressed it do all things decently and in orders 1st Corinthians 1440 so impossible however would it be to preserve decency in order without this politic arrangements that the dissolution of it would instantly lead to the disturbance and ruin of the church but if the reason for which the Lord appointed a Sabbath to the Jews is equal applicable to us no man can assert that it is a matter with which we have nothing to do our most provident and indulgent parent has been pleased to provide for our wants not less than for the wants of the Jews why it may be asked do we not hold daily meetings and thus avoid the distinction of days with that we were privileged to do so spiritual wisdom undoubtedly deserves to have some portion of every day devoted to it but if owing to the weakness of many daily meetings cannot be held and charity will not allow us to exact more of them why should we not adopt the rule which the will of God has obviously imposed upon us 33 I am obliged to dwell a little longer on this because some restless spirits are now making an outcry about the observance of the Lord's day they complain that Christian people are trained in Judaism because some observance of days is retained my reply is that those days are observed by us without Judaism because in this matter we differ widely from the Jews we do not celebrate it with the most minute formality as a ceremony by which we imagine that a spiritual mystery is typified but we adopt it as a necessary remedy for preserving order in the church Paul informs us that Christians are not to be judged in respect of its observance because it is a shadow of something to come Colossians 2 16 and accordingly he expresses a fear lest his labor among the Galatians should prove in vain because they still observe days Galatians 4 10 and 11 and he tells the Romans that it is superstitious to make one day differ from another Romans 14 5 but who except those restless men does not see what the observance is to which the apostle refers those persons had no regard to that politic and ecclesiastical arrangement but by retaining the days as types of spiritual things they in so far obscure the glory of Christ and the light of the gospel they do not desist from manual labor on the ground of its interfering with sacred study and meditation but as a kind of religious observance because they dreamed that it was their cessation from labor they were cultivating the mysteries which had of all been committed to them it was I say against this preposterous observance of days that the apostle invades and not against the legitimate selection which is subservient to the peace of Christian society for in the churches established by him this was the use for which the Sabbath was retained he tells the Corinthians to set the first day apart for collecting contributions for the relief of their brethren at Jerusalem first Corinthians 16 2 if superstition is dreaded there was more danger in keeping the Jewish Sabbath than the Lord's day as Christians now do it being expedient to overthrow superstition the Jewish holy day was abolished and is the thing necessary to retain decency orders and peace in the church another day was appointed for that purpose 34 it was not however without a reason that the early Christians substituted what we call the Lord's day for the Sabbath the resurrection of our Lord being the end and accomplishment of that true rest which the agent Sabbath typify this day by which types were abolished serves to warn Christians against adhering to a shadowy ceremony I do not clean so to the number of seven as to bring the church under bondage to it nor do I condemn churches for holding their meetings on other solemn days provided they guard against superstition this they will do if they employ those days merely for the observant of discipline and regular order the whole may be thus summed up as the truth was delivered typically to the Jews so it is imparted to us without figure first that during our whole lives we may aim at the constant rest from our own works in order that the Lord may work in us by his spirit secondly that every individual as he has opportunity may diligently exercise himself in private in pious meditation on the works of God and at the same time that all may observe the legitimate order appointed by the church for the hearing of the word the administration of the sacraments and public prayer and thirdly that we may avoid oppressing those who are subject to us in this way we get quit of the trifling of the false prophets who in later times instilled Jewish ideas into the people alleging that nothing was abrogated but what was ceremonial in the commandment this they term in their language the taxation of the seventh day while the moral part remains viz the observance of one day in seven but this is nothing else than to insult the Jews by changing the day and yet mentally attributing to it the same sanctity thus retaining the same typical distinction of days as had placed among the Jews and of a truth we see what profit they have made by such a doctrine those who cling to their constitutions go thrice as far as the Jews in the gross and carnal superstition of sabbatism so that the rebukes which we read in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 13 and chapter 58 verse 13 apply as much to those of the present day as to those to whom the prophet addressed them we must be careful however to observe the general doctrine viz in order that religion may neither be lost nor languish among us we must diligently attend on our religious assemblies and duly avail ourselves of those external aids which tend to promote the worship of god end of section 16 recording by lia wilson haymarket virginia january 2010 section 17 of institutes of the christian religion book 2 this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org institutes of the christian religion book 2 by john calvin translated by henry beverage chapter 8 part 4 fifth commandment honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god give it thee 35 the end of this commandment is that since the lord takes pleasure in the preservation of his own ordinance the degrees of dignity appointed by him must be held inviolable the sum of the commandment therefore will be that we are to look up to those whom the lord has said over us yielding them honor gratitude and obedience hence it follows that everything in the way of contempt in gratitude or disobedience is forbidden for the term honor has this extent of meaning in scripture thus when the apostle says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor first timothy 5 17 he refers not only to the reverence which is due to them but to the recompense to which their services are entitled but as this command to submit is very repugnant to the perversity of the human mind which puffed up with ambitious longings will scarcely allow itself to be subject that superiority which is most attractive and least invidious is set forth as an example calculated to soften and bend our minds to habits of submission from that subjection which is most easily endured the lord gradually accustomed us to every kind of legitimate subjection the same principle regulating all for to those whom he raises to eminences he communicates his authority in so far as necessary to maintain their station the titles of father god and lord all meet in him alone and hence whenever any one of them is mentioned our mind should be impressed with the same feeling of reverence those therefore to whom he imparts such titles he distinguishes by some small spark of his refulgence so as to entitle them to honor each in his own place in this way we must consider that our earthly father possesses something of a divine nature in him because there is some reason for his bearing a divine title and that he who is our prince and ruler is admitted to some communion of honor with god 36 wherefore we ought to have no doubt that the lord here lays down this universal rule that is that knowing how every individual is said over us by his appointment we should pay him reverence gratitude obedience and every duty in our power and it makes no difference whether those on whom the honor is conferred are deserving or not be they what they may the almighty by conferring their station upon them shows that he would have them honored the commandment specifies the reverence due to those to whom we owe our being this nature herself should in some manner teach us for they are monsters and not men who petulantly and contumiliously violate the paternal authority hence the lord orders all who rebel against their parents to be put to death they being as it were unworthy of the light in paying no deference to those to whom they are indebted for beholding it and it is evident from the various appendices to the law that we are correct in stating that the honor here referred to consists of three parts reverence obedience and gratitude the first of these the lord enforces when he commands that whose curseth his father or his mother shall be put to death in this way he avenges insult and contempt the second he enforces when he denounces the punishment of death on disobedient and rebellious children to the third belongs our saviors declaration that god requires us to do good to our parents matthew 15 and whenever paul mentions this commandment he interprets it as enjoining obedience 37 a promise is added by way of recommendation the better to remind us how pleasing to god is the submission which is here required paul applies that stimulus to rouse us from our lethargy when he calls this the first commandment with promise the promise contained in the first table not being specially appropriated to any one commandment but extended to the whole law moreover the sense in which the promise is to be taken is as follows the lord spoke to the israelites specially of the land which he had promised them for an inheritance if then the possession of the land was in earnest of the divine favor we cannot wonder if the lord was pleased to testify his favor by bestowing long life as in this way they were able long to enjoy his kindness the meaning therefore is honor thy father and thy mother that thou may be able during the course of a long life to enjoy the possession of the land which is to be given the in testimony of my favor but as the whole earth is blessed to believers we justly class the present life among the number of divine blessings once this promise has in like manner reference to us also in as much as the duration of the present life is a proof of the divine benevolence toward us it is not promised to us nor was it promised to the jews as if in itself it constituted happiness but because it is an ordinary symbol of the divine favor to the pious wherefore if anyone who is obedient to parents happens to be cut off before mature age a thing which not infrequently happens the lord nevertheless adheres to his promise as steadily as when he bestows a hundred acres of land where he had promised only one the whole lies in this we must consider that long life is promised only insofar as it is a blessing from god and that it is a blessing only insofar as it is a manifestation of divine favor this however he testifies and truly manifests to his servants more richly and substantially by death 38 more over while the lord promises the blessing of present life to children who show proper respect to their parents he at the same time intimates that an inevitable curse is impending over the rebellious and disobedient and that it may not fail of execution he in his law pronounces sentence of death upon them and orders it to be inflicted if they escape the judgment he in some way or other will execute vengeance for we see how a great number of this description of individuals fall either in battle or in brawls others of them are overtaken by unwanted disasters and almost all are a proof that the threatening is not used in vain but if any do escape till extreme old age yet because deprived of the blessing of god in this life they only languish on in wickedness and are reserved for severe punishment in the world to come they are far from participating in the blessing promised to obedient children it ought to be observed by the way that we are ordered to obey parents only in the lord this is clear from the principle already laid down for the place which they occupy is one to which the lord has exalted them by communicating to them a portion of his own honor therefore the submission yielded to them should be a step on our assent to the supreme parent and hence if they instigate us to transgress the law they deserve not to be regarded as parents but as strangers attempting to seduce us from obedience to our true father the same holds in the case of rulers masters and superiors of every description for it were unbecoming and absurd that the honor of god should be impaired by their exaltation an exaltation which being derived from him ought to lead us up to him sixth commandment thou shalt not kill 39 the purport of this commandment is that since the lord has bound the whole human race by a kind of unity the safety of all ought to be considered as entrusted to each in general therefore all violence and injustice and every kind of harm from which our neighbor's body suffers is prohibited accordingly we are required faithfully to do what in us lies to defend the life of our neighbor to promote whatever tends to his tranquility to be vigilant in warding off harm and when danger comes to assist in removing it remembering that the divine law giver thus speaks consider moreover that he requires you to apply the same rule in regulating your mind it were ridiculous that he who sees the thoughts of the heart and has special regard to them should train the body only to rectitude this commandment therefore prohibits the murder of the heart and requires a sincere desire to preserve our brother's life the hand indeed commits the murder but the mind under the influence of wrath and hatred conceives it how can you be angry with your brother without passionately longing to do him harm if you must not be angry with him neither must you hate him hatred being nothing but in better at anger however you may disguise the fact or endeavor to escape from it by vain pretexts where either wrath or hatred is there is an inclination to do mischief if you still persist into diversation the mouth of the spirit has declared that quote whosoever hated his brother is a murderer first john three fifteen and the mouth of our savior has declared that quote whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother raka shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire matthew five twenty two forty scripture notes a twofold equity on which this commandment is founded man is both the image of god and our flesh therefore if we would not violate the image of god we must hold the person of man sacred if we would not divest ourselves of humanity we must cherish our own flesh the practical inference to be drawn from the redemption and gift of christ will be elsewhere considered the lord has been pleased to direct our attention to these two natural considerations as inducements to watch over our neighbor's preservation that is to revere the divine image impressed upon him and to embrace our own flesh to be clear of the crime of murder it is not enough to refrain from shedding man's blood if in act you perpetrate if in endeavor you plot if in wish and design you conceive what is adverse to another's safety you have the guilt of murder on the other hand if you do not according to your means and opportunity studied to defend his safety by that in humanity you violate the law but if the safety of the body is so carefully provided for we may hence infer how much care and exertion is due to the safety of the soul which is of immeasurably higher value in the sight of god seventh commandment thou shalt not commit adultery 41 the purport of this commandment is that as god loves chastity and purity we ought to guard against all uncleanness the substance of the commandment therefore is that we must not defile ourselves with any impurity or libidinous excess to this corresponds the affirmative that we must regulate every part of our conduct chastely and continently the thing expressly forbidden is adultery to which lust naturally tends that its filthiness being of a grosser and more palpable form in as much as it casts a stain even on the body may dispose us to abominate every form of lust as the law under which man was created was not to lead a life of solitude but enjoy a help neat for him and ever since he fell under the curse the necessity for this motive life is increased the lord made the requisite provision for us in this respect by the institution of marriage which entered into under his authority he has also sanctified with his blessing hence it is evident that any motive cohabitation different from marriage is cursed in his sight and that the conjugal relation was ordained as a necessary means of preventing us from giving way to unbridled lust let us be where therefore of yielding to indulgence seeing we are assured that the curse of god lies on every man and woman cohabiting without marriage 42 now since natural feeling in the passions unnamed by the fall make the marriage tie doubly necessary save in the case of those whom god has by special grace exempted let every individual consider how the case stands with himself virginity i admit is a virtue not to be despised but since it is denied to some and to others granted only for a season those who are assailed by incontinence and unable successfully to war against it should retake themselves to the remedy of marriage and thus cultivate chastity in the way of their calling those incapable of self-restraint if they apply not to the remedy allowed and provided for intemperance war with god and resist his ordinance and let no man tell me as many in the present day do that he can do all things god helping the help of god is present with those only who walk in his ways Psalm 91 14 that is in his callings from which all withdraw themselves who omitting the remedies provided by god vainly and presumptuously strive to struggle with and surmount their natural feelings that continents is a special gift from god and of the class of those which are not bestowed indiscriminately on the whole body of the church but only on a few of its members our lord affirms Matthew 19 verse 12 he first describes a certain class of individuals who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heavenly sake that is in order that they may be able to devote themselves with more liberty and less restraint to the things of heaven but lest anyone should suppose that such a sacrifice was in every man's power he had shown a little before that all are not capable but those only to whom it is specially given from above hence he concludes he that is able to receive it let him receive it paul asserts the same thing still more plainly when he says every man has his proper gift of god one after this manner and another after that verse grintian 7 verse 7 43 since we are reminded by an express declaration that it is not in every man's power to live chased in celibacy although it may be his most strenuous study and aim to do so that it is a special grace which the lord bestows only on certain individuals in order that they may be less encumbered in his service do we not oppose god and nature as constituted by him if we do not accommodate our motive life to the measure of our ability the lord prohibits fornication therefore he requires purity and chastity the only method which each has of preserving it is to measure himself by his capacity let no man rashly despise matrimony as a thing useless or superfluous to him let no man long for celibacy unless he is able to dispense with the married state nor even here let him consult the tranquility or convenience of the flesh save only that freed from this tie he may be the readier and more prepared for all the offices of piety and since there are many on whom this blessing is conferred only for a time let everyone in abstaining from marriage do it so long as he is fit to endure celibacy if he has not the power of subduing his passion let him understand that the lord has made a obligatory on him to marry the apostle shows this when he enjoins quote nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband and quote quote if they cannot contain let them marry and quote he first intimates that the greater part of men are liable to incontinence and then of those so liable he orders all without exception to have recourse to the only remedy by which unchastity may be obviated the incontinence therefore neglecting to cure their infirmity by this means sin by the very circumstance of disobeying the apostles command and let not a man flatter himself that because he abstains from the outward act he cannot be accused of unchastity his mind may in the meantime be inwardly inflamed with lust for paul's definition of chastity is purity of mind combined with purity of body quote the unmarried woman caret for the things of the lord that she may be holy both in body and spirit first grinty in 734 therefore when he gives a reason for the former precept he not only says that it is better to marry than to live in fornication but that it is better to marry than to burn 44 moreover when spouses are made aware that their union is blessed by the lord they are thereby reminded that they must not give way to intemperate and unrestrained indulgence for though honorable wedlock veils the turpitude of incontinence it does not follow that it ought forthwith to become a stimulus to it wherefore let spouses consider that all things are not lawful for them let there be sobriety in the behavior of the husband toward the wife and of the wife in her turn toward the husband each so acting as not to do anything on becoming the dignity and temperance of married life marriage contracted in the lord ought to exhibit measure in modesty not run to the extreme of wantonness this excess ambrose censured gravely but not undeservedly when he described the man who shows no modesty or comeliness in conjugal intercourse as committing adultery with his wife lastly let us consider who the lawgiver is that thus condemns fornication even he who as he is entitled to possess us entirely requires integrity of body soul and spirit therefore while he forbids fornication he at the same time forbids us to lay snares for our neighbor's chastity by lascivious attire obscene gestures and impure conversation there was reason in the remark made by archa laus to a youth clothed the feminately and over luxuriously that it mattered not in what part his wantonness appeared we must have respect to god who abhors all contaminations whatever be the part of soul or body in which it appears and that there may be no doubt about it let us remember that what the lord here commends is chastity if he requires chastity he condemns everything which is opposed to it therefore if you aspire to obedience let not your mind burn within with evil conscupa since your eyes wanton after corrupting objects nor your body be decked for allurement let neither your tongue by filthy speeches nor your appetite by intemperance entice the mind to corresponding thoughts all vices of this description are a kind of stains which to spoil chastity of its purity eighth commandment thou shalt not steal forty five the purport is that in justice being an abomination to god we must render to every man his due in substance then the commandment forbids us to long after another man's goods and accordingly requires every man to exert himself honestly in preserving his own for we must consider that what each individual possesses has not fallen to him by chance but by the distribution of the sovereign lord of all that no one can pervert his means to bad purposes without committing a fraud on a divine dispensation there are very many kinds of theft one consists in violence as when a man's goods are forcibly plundered and carried off another in malicious imposter as when they are fraudulently intercepted a third in the more hidden craft which takes possession of them with assemblance of justice and a fourth in sycophancy which wiles them away under the pretense of donation but not to dwell too long in enumerating the different classes we know that all the arts by which we obtain possession of the goods and money of our neighbors for sincere affection substituting an eagerness to deceive or injure them in any way are to be regarded as thefts though they may be obtained by an action at law a different decision is given by god he sees the long train of deception by which the man of craft begins to lay nets for his more simple neighbor until he entangles him in his meshes sees the harsh and cruel laws by which the more powerful oppresses and crushes the feeble sees the enticements by which the more wildly baits the hook for the less wary though all these escape the judgment of man and no cognizance is taken of them nor is the violation of this commandment confined to money or merchandise or lands but extends to every kind of right for we defraud our neighbors to their hurt if we decline any of the duties which we are bound to perform towards them if an agent or an indolent steward wastes the substance of his employer or does not give due heed to the management of his property if he unjustly squanders or luxuriously wastes the means entrusted to him if a servant holds his master in derision divulges his secrets or in any way is treacherous to his life or his goods if on the other hand a master cruelly torments his household he is guilty of theft before god since everyone who in the exercise of his calling performs not what he owes to others keeps back or makes a way with what does not belong to him 46 this commandment therefore we shall duly obey if contented with our own lot we study to acquire nothing but honest and lawful gain if we long not to grow rich by injustice nor to plunder our neighbor of his goods that our own may thereby be increased if we hasten not to heap up wealth cruelly rung from the blood of others if we do not by means lawful and unlawful with excessive eagerness scrape together whatever make blood our avarice or meet our prodigality on the other hand let it be our constant aim faithfully to lend our counsel and aid to all so as to assist them in retaining their property or if we have to do with the perfidious or crafty let us rather be prepared to yield somewhat of our right than to contend with them and not only so but let us contribute to the relief of those whom we see under the pressure of difficulties assisting their want out of our abundance lastly let each of us consider how far he is bound in duty to others and in good faith pay what we owe in the same way let the people pay all due honor to their rulers submit patiently to their authority obey their laws and orders and decline nothing which they can bear without sacrificing the favor of god let rulers again take due charge of their people preserve the public peace protect the good curb the bad and conduct themselves throughout as those who must render an account of their office to god the judge of all let the ministers of churches faithfully give heed to the ministry of the word and not corrupt the doctrine of salvation but deliver it purely and sincerely to the people of god let them teach not merely by doctrine but by example in short let them act the part of good shepherds towards their flocks let the people in their turn receive them as the messengers and apostles of god render them the honor which their supreme master has bestowed on them and supply them with such things as are necessary for their livelihood let parents be careful to bring up guide and teach their children as a trust committed to them by god let them not exasperate or alienate them by cruelty but cherish and embrace them with the levity and indulgence which becomes their character the regard due to parents from their children has already been adverted to let the young respect those advanced in years as the lord has been pleased to make that age honorable let the aged also by their prudence and their experience in which they are far superior guide the feebleness of youth not assailing them with harsh and clamorous invectives but tempering strictness with ease and affability let servants show themselves diligent and respectful in obeying their masters and this not with eye service but from the heart as the servants of god let masters also not be stern and disobliging to their servants nor harass them with excessive asperity nor treat them with insult but rather let them acknowledge them as brethren and fellow servants of our heavenly master whom therefore they are bound to treat with mutual love and kindness let everyone I say thus consider what in his own place and order he owes to his neighbors and pay what he owes moreover we must always have a reference to the law giver and so remember that the law requiring us to promote and defend the interest and convenience of our fellow men applies equally to our minds and our hands end of section 17