Q. 42. What is the sum of the ten commandments?

A. The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves.

Matt. xxii. 37-40: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Rom. xiii. 8-10: "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Q. 43. What is the preface to the ten commandments?

A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words:-I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Ex. xx. 2.

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 Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.

Ps. xcv. 1-8: "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness."

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Lev. xx. 7, 8: "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you."

Q. 45. What is the first commandment? A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Ex. xx. 3.

Q. 46. What is required in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly.

Ps. xxix. 1, 2: "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."

1 Chron. xvi. 25-30: "For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him, all the earth.”

Q. 47. What is forbidden in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God, and our God, and the giving of that worship and glory to any other which is due to him alone.

Forbiddeth the denying God.

Ps. xiv. 1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

The not worshipping and glorifying the true God as God and our God.

Ps. 1. 22: "Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver." Dan. v. 23: "And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."

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Eph. ii. 12: Having no hope, and without God in the world."

Rom. i. 21: "Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

Giving worship and glory to any other.

Rom. i. 23-25: "And changed the glory of the un

corruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forAmen."

ever.

Ps. xcvii. 7: "Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols; worship him, all ye gods."

Jer. x. 25: "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name."

Q. 48. What are we specially taught by these words [before me] in the first commandment?

A. These words [before me] in the first commandment teach us, That God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.

Ps. xliv. 20, 21: "If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart."

Isa. lxv. 3: "A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick."

Deut. xxix. 24-28: "Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom

he had not given unto them: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: and the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day."

Rev. xxi. 8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Q. 49. Which is the second commandment?

A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 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; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Ex. xx. 4-6.

Q. 50. What is required in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word.