the inordinate desire of any thing that is the property of another, can never make a breach in the peace of society by an act of wrong to any of even its feeblest members. Before I conclude, I feel obliged once more to reprehend the bad faith of the church of Rome: we have already seen that this church has in effect struck out the second commandment, relative to image worship, that she might have nothing in the Bible that might directly testify against her idolatry: and this fearful liberty she has taken in opposition to the original Hebrew, all the ancient and modern versions, her own accredited versions-the Septuagint and the Vulgate; and against the judgment and usage of every other Christian church on the face of the earth, all of which consider it as a separate commandment. To colour this deceit, knowing that God had given TEN commandments, and that Himself had expressly named this number, Deut. iv. 13. this church, after having disposed of the second, by joining it to the first, in order to keep up the number ten, divided the tenth commandment into two, against all Scripture, reason, and common sense; for the tenth commandment contains only one subject, and that absolutely indivisible: it is against covetousness, and against that only, as even a child may discern. This commandment divided into two, makes the ninth and tenth, of the church of Rome, thus : "Commandment ix. wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's "Commandment x. Thou shalt not covet his house, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that belongs to him.” This division is without a difference: for it is the same principle that covets the man-servant, the maid-servant, the ox, the ass, or any thing that is his, as that which covets the neighbour's wife, as she is most evidently included among the any things that are his. In vindication of this division it has been stated, that it is thus divided in the Hebrew text: it is true that in some of the Masoretic Bibles there is sometimes the space of a letter after the words ne isheth reêca, "Thy neighbour's wife;" but this is no authority to make two commandments out of one; and were we to consider such a space as authority to divide a commandment, we might make three or four different commandments out of the D fourth; for so many divisions it has in almost all Hebrew Bibles: besides, there are 239 MSS., and with them the Samaritan, which have been collated by Kennicott and De Rossi, that have no space after the above words: and out of five ancient MSS. in my own collection, there are four which have no such space. The division is therefore arbitrary and unauthorised and the making two commandments out of one, is absurd, in reference to the sense, and sinful in reference to the design. Having now gone over this Decalogue, and endeavoured to give the true meaning of each precept, it might be thought proper to give the sum of the whole in such a way as they might be easily remembered; and readily applied to all parts of our moral conduct. To do this would not be very difficult, but to do it better than it has been done in the common Catechism of the Church, would be a task indeed. As every adult may not have the catechism at hand, and those who have learnt it when young, may have unfortunately forgotten it, I shall transcribe it here : "Q. What dost thou chiefly learn by these commandments? "A. I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my neighbour. "Q. What is thy duty towards God? "A. To believe in Him, to fear Him, and to love Him, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole trust in Him, to call upon Him, to honour His holy name and His word, and to serve Him truly all the days of my life. "Q. What is thy duty towards thy neighbour? "A. To love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me to love, honour, and succour my father and mother: to honour and obey the king, and all that are put in authority under him to submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters: to order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: to hurt nobody by word or deed: to be true and just in all my dealings to bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: to keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evilspeaking, lying, and slandering: to keep my body in tem perance, soberness, and chastity: not to covet or desire other men's goods; but to learn and labour truly to get my own living, and to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me." It is no ordinary recommendation of the passages which I have quoted, that when the famous Doctor Franklin undertook to draw up a catechism upon moral and economical principles for the Americans, he incorporated the above passages in his work, with very little alteration, as peculiarly excellent. As obedience to these commandments is so essentially necessary, and they came to us from and with the highest authority, and that the fallen spirit of man is not able to observe them in their letter and spirit without the especial help of God, I do not think that a sincere heart can ever find more suitable expressions to clothe its desires, when praying for such help from God, than are contained in the Collect prefixed to these commandments, in the introduction to the Communion-service of our church, which I shall also subjoin :— Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen." 66 And as every man must know that he has broken these commandments, and stands in need of God's mercy to pardon what is past, and His grace to help him in the time to come, it is with great propriety, that when the minister ends each commandment, the people cry out, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law!" And when the last is read, that they should all join with heart and voice in the following petition, which I must cordially recommend to all my readers,-" Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee !" We have broken them, and need mercy-we must keep them, but shall not do it, unless God incline our hearts to do it, and write them all upon our hearts by the finger of His power, as that finger wrote the originals on the tables of stone! Amen, so be it, Lord Jesus! SERMON XVIII. THE LORD'S PRAYER. MATTHEW, Chap. vi. ver. 5-13. 5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 10. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. 11. Give us this day our daily bread: 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. IN speaking on this subject, I shall first consider, I. The nature of prayer. II. The object of prayer. III. The end aimed at by praying. IV. What we are to avoid in order to pray successfully. the welfare of the supplicant in the Lord's prayer. VI. The doxology. I. Of the nature of prayer:-or an answer to the simple, but very important question, What is prayer? Prayer has been defined, " An offering of our desire to God for things lawful and needful, with a humble confidence to obtain them through the alone merits of Christ, to the praise of the mercy, truth, and power of God;"—and " its parts are said to be invocation, adoration, confession, petition, pleading, dedication, thanksgiving, and blessing." Though the definition be imperfect, yet, as far as it goes, it is not objectionable but the parts of prayer, as they are called, (except the word petition,) have scarcely any thing to do with the nature of prayer; they are in general, separate acts of devotion, and attention to them in what is termed praying, will entirely mar it, and destroy its efficacy. It was by following this division, that long prayers have been introduced among Christian congregations, by means of which, the spirit of devotion has been lost: for where such prevail most, listlessness and deadness are the principal cha racteristics of the religious services of such people; and these have often engendered formality, and, frequently, total indifference to religion. Long prayers prevent kneeling, for it is utterly impossible for man or woman to keep on their knees during the time such last. Where these prevail, the people either stand or sit. Technical prayers, I have no doubt, are odious in the sight of God; for no man can be in the spirit of devotion who uses such it is a drawing nigh to God with the lips, while the heart is (almost necessarily) far from Him. : The original words in ancient languages, generally afford the best definitions of the things of which they are the signs; for as names were first given from necessity, and for convenience, terms were used which were borrowed from actions by which some remarkable property or properties of the subject were expressed. "For, the imposition of names cannot be considered as arbitrary; but for some cause, on account of some eminent property, attribute, or action; in short, for some reason appertaining to the thing which bears that name; and hence," says a learned philologist," the verb and the adjective, between which there is a great affinity, generally point out the nature of the noun; the one expressing its action and state, the other its property and quality. Hence too, it appears, the verb is the proper radix or root of the word: for when a noun cannot be brought to a verb, it will be impossible to have a clear conception of its meaning; and it will appear to be a mere arbitrary sign." VOL. II. 6 D 2 |