A. It is the exact observation and practice of the golden rule of Christ; Matth. vii. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets.
Q. 8. Are all men to be loved alike, and with the same degree of love ?
j4. No ; though we must love all men with the love of benevo- lence, yet the saints only with the love of complacency ; Ps. xvi. 3. But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my dehght. Ps. xv. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemn- ed ; but he honoureth them that fear the l.ord. And to such we must especially do good ; Gal. vi. 10. As we have therefore oppor- tunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Q. 9. What is the first instruction from hence ?
A. Hence we learn the excellency of divine love. Moses expresses the whole duty of man in ten commandments : Christ hangs the whole law upon these two, love to God and our neighbour ; Mark xii. 30, 31. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: There is none other com- mandment greater than these. And the apostle reduces these two into one; Gal. v. 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this. — Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Q. 10. What is the second inference from hence ?
A. It convinces the holiest of men how far short they come in their obedience to the rule of duty, and therein the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, Gal. iii. 24.
Q. 11. What is the third inference from hence .'*
^. It discovers the excellency and perfection of the law of God ; Psal. xix. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : And that we are highly to honour and magnify it as a rule of duty, though we must utterly renounce it as the way of our justification.
Q. 12. What is the last inference from hence ?
A. That there is nothing too dear for a Christian in this world, but he must give it up by self-denial, when it comes in competition with his supreme love toGod ; Luke xiv. 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
AN EXPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY'S CATECHISM. 5!23
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple ; i. e. Love them less than me.
Of the Preface to the ten Commandments.
Quest. 43. f ▼ HAT is the preface to the ten commandments ?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these zvords, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt^ out of the house of bondage.
Q. 44. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us that because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemery therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.
Q. 1. Why doth God use arguments and inducements to win men to the obedience of his laws ?
A. Because he loves to work on man as a rational creature, ac- cording to the principles of his nature ; Hos. xi. 4. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love : And because he delights In none but free and cheerful obedience ; Psal. ex. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.
Q. 2. What is the first argument in this preface ?
A. It is the sovereignty of the Lawgiver, [I am the Lord,] which sliould awe the heart of every man to obedience ; James iv. 12, There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.
Q. 3. What is the second argument to obedience ?
A. Our propriety in God by covenant, [I am the Lord thy God ;] this obligeth to obedience, and aggravateth disobedience ; Psal. 1. 7- Hear, O my people, and I will speak ; O Israel, and I will testify against thee; I am God, even thy God. Hos. ix. 1. For thou ha^i gone a whoring from thy God.
Q. 4. What is the third argument unto obedience ?
A. The benefits of redemption that they receive from God. Be- nefits persuade to duty ; and the goodness of God Icadeth thee to repentance, Rom. ii. 4.
Q. 5. How can deliverance out of Egypt be an argument to them that never were in Egypt ?
A. As that deliverance was a type of our deliverance, so it is an argument to us, and an argument from the less to the greater ; for it obligeth us more than them ; Luke i. 74, 75, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the davs of our life.
Q. 6. What is that deliverance we have ? and how doth it oblige us to obedience ?
A. Our deliverance is not from Egypt, but from hell ; Col. i. IS, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath trans- lated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And our persons are bought by the Redeemer to glorify God; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. What
S2-i AX EXrOSISION- OF THE ASSEMBLY'S CATECHISM.
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you ? For ye are bought with a price : Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Q. 7. Is it not mercenary to serve God upon the account of benefits received, or to be received ?
A. He that maketh religious duties mediums to attain carnal ad- vantages only, is of a worse than mercenary spirit; Hosea vii. 14. And they have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds : They assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. But to be quickened by mercy to duty is not mercenary, but evangelical ; Hosea iii. 5. They shall fear the Lord, and his goodness.
Q. 8. What is the first inference from hence ?
A. That great is the condescension of God to man, that he will use arguments to induce him to obedience, who might exact it only by his sovereignty, and justly damn us for our disobedience; 2 Cor. V. 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye recon- ciled to God.
Q. 9. AVhat is the second inference from hence .'*
A. That the more mercy any receive from God, the more obliga- tions are laid on them to obey him ; Psalm cxvi. 1, 2. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplications : Be- cause he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Q. 10. Vv hat is the third inference from hence ?
A. The more mercies and favours any man sins against, the greater is that man's sin, and the sorer will be his punishment ; Amos iii. 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth ; there- fore I will punish you for all j'our iniquities.
Q. 11. What is the fourth inference from hence.?