deed, did not invest the father with the same boundless power as the Greek and Roman Laws, but it made the act of smiting father or mother a capital offence1, and directed that unnatural and disobedient children should be put to death2.

4. And by Christ and His Apostles. The duty of obedience of children towards their parents is also sanctioned by Christian teaching. For not only did our Lord go down with His earthly parents to Nazareth and live in subjection unto them (Lk. ii. 51), but when He hung upon the Cross, He commended His mother to the care of His favourite disciple St John (Jn. xix. 26). He also found great fault with those amongst the Jews who made this Law of none effect by certain traditions and exemptions (Mtt. xv. 3), and St Paul affirms obedience to parents to be at once right (Eph. vi. 1), and well-pleasing unto the Lord (Col. iii. 20), while he classes disobedience to them among the signs of perilous times (2 Tim. iii. 2).

3

5. Earthly Authority. But as the parental is the type and origin of all authority, and the family is the nursery of the State, the Catechism proceeds to include under the Fifth Commandment the duty not only of loving, honouring, and succouring father and mother, but also of submission to all earthly authority. And this too is sanctioned by the teaching of Christ, who paid tribute (Mtt. xvii. 24—27), and enjoined others to render unto Cæsar the things that are Caesar's (Mtt. xxii. 21), and of His Apostles, who taught the duty of rendering tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom

1 Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xix. 3, xx. 9.

2 Ex. xxi. 17; Deut. xxi. 18-21.

3 To succour, from Latin succurrere, Fr. secourir=(1) to run up to for the purpose of assisting; (2) to help; (3) to support. Comp. 2 Sam. viii. 5, xxi. 17; 2 Cor. vi. 2; Heb. ii. 19. See Bible Word-Book, p. 464.

fear, honour to whom honour (Rom. xiii. 7), and of subjection to the higher powers (Rom. xiii. 1—5; Tit. iii. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 13). Rightly, therefore, does the Catechism hold that the Fifth Commandment teaches us "to honour and obey the queen and all that are put in authority under her, to submit ourselves to all our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters, and to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters.'

1. Right of Personal Security. The previous Commandment treated of our duty towards superiors, the five following treat of our duty towards all men alike, whether superiors, inferiors, or equals. And first, we are taught our duty respecting the life of our fellowman, that he possesses a right of personal security1, and that we may not deprive him of his life, or commit wilful murder.

2. Murder. In accordance with this precept the wilful shedder of man's blood met with no compassion from the Mosaic code. The original law at Sinai and the subsequent repetition of it made death the inevitable penalty of murder, even as it had been in the days of Noah; Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. ix. 6).

3. The Sermon on the Mount. But as inter

1 Whewell's Elements of Morality, 1. 40.

2 Comp. Ex. xxi. 12-14, with Deut. xix. 11-13.

deed, did not invest the father with the same boundless power as the Greek and Roman Laws, but it made the act of smiting father or mother a capital offence1, and directed that unnatural and disobedient children should be put to death2.

4. And by Christ and His Apostles. The duty of obedience of children towards their parents is also sanctioned by Christian teaching. For not only did our Lord go down with His earthly parents to Nazareth and live in subjection unto them (Lk. ii. 51), but when He hung upon the Cross, He commended His mother to the care of His favourite disciple St John (Jn. xix. 26). He also found great fault with those amongst the Jews who made this Law of none effect by certain traditions and exemptions (Mtt. xv. 3), and St Paul affirms obedience to parents to be at once right (Eph. vi. 1), and well-pleasing unto the Lord (Col. iii. 20), while he classes disobedience to them among the signs of perilous times (2 Tim. iii. 2).

5. Earthly Authority. But as the parental is the type and origin of all authority, and the family is the nursery of the State, the Catechism proceeds to include under the Fifth Commandment the duty not only of loving, honouring, and succouring3 father and mother, but also of submission to all earthly authority. And this too is sanctioned by the teaching of Christ, who paid tribute (Mtt. xvii. 24—27), and enjoined others to render unto Cæsar the things that are Caesar's (Mtt. xxii. 21), and of His Apostles, who taught the duty of rendering tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom

1 Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xix. 3, xx. 9.

2 Ex. xxi. 17; Deut. xxi. 18-21.

3 To succour, from Latin succurrere, Fr. secourir= (1) to run up to for the purpose of assisting; (2) to help; (3) to support. Comp. 2 Sam. viii. 5, xxi. 17; 2 Cor. vi. 2; Heb. ii. 18. See Bible Word-Book, p. 464.

fear, honour to whom honour (Rom. xiii. 7), and of subjection to the higher powers (Rom. xiii. 1-5; Tit. iii. 1; 1 Pet. ii. 13). Rightly, therefore, does the Catechism hold that the Fifth Commandment teaches us "to honour and obey the queen and all that are put in authority under her, to submit ourselves to all our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters, and to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters.'

1. Right of Personal Security. The previous Commandment treated of our duty towards superiors, the five following treat of our duty towards all men alike, whether superiors, inferiors, or equals. And first, we are taught our duty respecting the life of our fellowman, that he possesses a right of personal security1, and that we may not deprive him of his life, or commit wilful murder.

2. Murder. In accordance with this precept the wilful shedder of man's blood met with no compassion from the Mosaic code. The original law at Sinai and the subsequent repetition of it made death the inevitable penalty of murder, even as it had been in the days of Noah; Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. ix. 6).

3. The Sermon on the Mount. But as inter

1 Whewell's Elements of Morality, 1. 40.

2 Comp. Ex. xxi. 12-14, with Deut. xix. 11-13.

preted by our Lord, we see that this Commandment has a deeper application than the mere committal of murder. Ye have heard, said He, that it was said to1 them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca3, shall be in danger of the Council; but whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire5 (Mtt. v. 22).

1 The Greek Toîs ȧpxalois is better rendered to them than by them of old time.

2 The received Version adds here elk without a cause, but the word is wanting in many MSS. and is omitted by Tischendorf.

3 Raca empty, brainless, a term of contempt. See Tholuck's Sermon on the Mount, p. 178.

4 In Greek μwpè= either (1) thou fool (comp. Mtt. xxiii. 17, 19); or (2)=a Hebrew word signifying rebel (comp. Hear now, ye rebels, Num. xx. 10); or (3)=d0eos, atheist. Tholuck, p. 180. "He addresses himself," says Luther, "not to the hand, but to the whole person. Hence it is that Thou shalt not kill, expresses as much as if He had said, Whatever members you have, and however you may kill, whether by hand, or heart, or tongue, or gesture; whether you look fiercely, and refuse with your eyes to let your neighbour live, or whether you mean with your ears to kill, and hate to hear him praised, all is condemned; for then is your heart and all within you so disposed as to wish him dead."

5 "There were among the Jews three well-known degrees of guilt, coming respectively under the cognizance of the local and the supreme courts (See Deut. xvi. 18); and after these is set the yéeνva тоû Tνρós, the end of the malefactor, whose corpse, thrown out into the valley of Hinnom, was devoured by the worm or the flame (comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31). Similarly in the spiritual kingdom of Christ, shall the sins even of thought and word be brought into judgment and punished, each according to its degree of guilt, but even the least of them before no less a tribunal than the judgment-seat of Christ." Alford On Mtt. v. 22.