Q. 98. But may not images be tolerated in the churches, as books to the laity? A. No: for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have his people e taught, not by dumb images,f but by the lively preaching of his word. e 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 19. fJer. 10. 1, &c. Hab. 2. 18, 19. རི་རས་ནཔྤཏཝཙྩ》ས�ས XXXVI. LORD'S DAY. Q. 99. What is required in the third command ? A. That we, not only by cursing or a perjury, but also by b rash swearing, must not profane or abuse the name of God; nor by silence or connivance be partakers of these horrible sins in others: and, briefly, that we use the holy name of c God no otherwise than with fear and reverence; so that he may be rightly d confessed and e worshipped by us, and be glorified in all our f words and works. a Lev 24. 11. and 19. 12. Mat. 5. 37. Lev. 5. 4. b Isa. 45. 23, 24. c. Mat. 10. 32. di l'im. 2. 8. e 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. Q. 100. Is then the profaning of God's name, by swearing and cursing, so heinous a sin, that his wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavour, as much as in them lies, to prevent and forbid such cursing and swearing? A. It undoubedly is g for there is no sin greater, or more provoking to God, than the profaning of his n me; and therefore he has commanded this h sin to be punished with death. Q. 101. May we then swear religiously by the name of God? A. Yes: either when the magistrates demand it of the subjects; or when necessity requires us thereby to confirm a fidelity and truth to the glory of God, and the safety of our neighbour: for such an oath is b founded on God's word, and therefore was justly c used by the saints, both in the old and new testament. a Ex. 22. 11. Neh. 13. 25. b Deut. 6. 13. Heb. 6. 16. c Gen. 21. 24. Jos. 9. 15, 19. 1 Sam. 24. 22. 2 Cor. 1. 23. Rom. 1. 9. Q. 102. May we also swear by saints or any other creatures? A. No: for a lawful oath is calling upon God, as the only one who knows the heart; that he will bear witness to the truth, and punish me, if I swear d falsely; which honour is e due to no creature. d 2 Cor. 1. 23. e Mat. 5. 34, 35. ར་ནི་ར*་:ཀྱི"ཞེསཀྱིས》n XXXVIII. LORD'S DAY. Q. 103. What doth God require in the fourth command? A. First; that the ministry of the gospel, and the schools be a maintained; and that I, especially on the sabbath, b that is on the day of rest, c diligently frequent d the church of God, to hear his word, to use the sacraments, e publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the f poor, as becomes a christian : secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the Lord, to work by his holy spirit in me: and thus g begin in this life the eternal sabbath. a Deut. 12. 19. and 1 Tim. 3. 15. d1 Cor. 11.33. Tit. 1. 5. 1 b Lev. 23. 3. e 1 Tim. 2. 1. Tim. 3. 14, 15. 1 Cor. 9. 11. 2 Tim. 2. 2. ཡས་མས XXXIX. LORD'S DAY. Q. 104. What doth God require in the fifth command ? A. That I show all honour, love, and fidelity, to my father and mother, and all in authority over me, and a submit myself to their good instruction and correction, with due obedience; and also patiently bear with their b weaknesses and infirmities, since it pleases c God to govern us by their hand. a Eph. 6. 1. 2, &c. Col. 3. 18, 20. Eph. 5. 22. Rom. 1. 31. b Prov. 23. 22. c Eph. 6. 5, 6. Col. 3. 19, 21. Rom. 13. 1-8. Mat. 22. 21. ཝཾར༠༢༠༠ཝཱཉྩཀྱ�མ�ན XL. LORD'S DAY. Q. 105. What doth God require in the sixth command? A. That neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonour, hate, wound or a kill my neighbour, by myself or by another; but that I lay b aside all desire of revenge: also, that I c hurt not myself, nor wilfully expose myself to any danger: wherefore also the magistrate d is armed with the sword, to prevent murder. a Mat. 5. 21, 22. Prov. 12. 18. Mat. 26. 52. b Eph. 4. 26. Rom. 12. 19. Mat. 5. 39, 40. c Mat. 4. 5, 6, 7. Col. 2. 23. d Gen. 9. 6. Mat. 26. 52. Rom. 13. 4. Q. 106. But this command seems only to speak of murder? A. In forbidding murder, God teaches us, that he abhors the causes thereof; such as e envy,f hatred, anger, and desire of revenge; and that g he accounts all these as murder. e James 1. 20. Gal. 5. 20. Rom. 1. 29. 1 John 2.9. g 1 John 3. 15. Q. 107. But is it enough that we dont kill any man in the manner mentioned above? A. No: for when God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to h love our neighbour as ourselves; to show i patience, peace,j meekness,k mercy, and all kindness, towards him; and prevent his hurt as much as in us lies and that we m do good, even to our enemies. h Mat. 22. 39. and 7. 12. i Rom. 12. 10. j Eph. 4. 2. Gal. 6, 1, 2. Mat. 5. 5. Rom. 12. 18. k Ex. 23. 5. Mat. 5. 45. m Rom. 12. 20. མནརིཔཏིཡཏིཡཏིཙྪཱིཏྟཾཉྩས�སཛྫིསཛྫིང�n XLI. LORD'S DAY. Q. 103. What doth the seventh command teach us? A. That all uncleanness is accursed a of God: and that therefore we must with all our hearts b detest the same, and live c chastely and temperately, whether in d holy wedlock, or in a single life. a Lev. 18. 27. b Deut. 29. 20-23. c 1 Thes. 4. 3, 4. 1 Cor. 7. 4-9. d Heb. 13. 4. Q. 109. Doth God forbid in this command, only adultery, and such like gross sins? A. Since both our body and soul are temples of the Holy Ghost, he commands us to preserve them pure and hody: therefore he forbids all unchaste actions, e gestures, words, thoughts, ƒ desires, and whatever g can entice men thereto. e Eph. 5. 3. 1 Cor. 6. 13. ƒ Mat 5. 28. g Eph. 5. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 33. ་ཡཾ-ཝཾཡ�r�ས XLII. LORD'S DAY. robberies, Q. 110. What doth God forbid in the eighth command? A. God forbids not only those a thefts, and which are punishable by the magistrate; but he comprehends under the name of theft all wicked tricks and devices, whereby we design to c appropriate to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbour: whether it be by force, or under the appearance of right; as by unjust d weights, ells, e measures, fraudulent merchandise, false a 1 Cor. 6 10. b1 Cor. 5. 10. c Luke 3. 14. 1 Thes. 4. 6. d Prov. 11. 1. e Ezek. 45. 9, 10, 11. Deut. 25. 13. coins, fusury, or by any other way forbidden by God; as also all g covetousness, all abuse and waste of his gifts. f Psa. 15. 5. Luke 6. 35. g 1 Cor. 6. 10. Q. 111. But what doth God require in this command ? A. That I promote the advantage of my neighbour in every instance I can or may; and deal with him as I h desire to be dealt with by others further also that I faithfully labour, so that I i may be able to relieve the needy. h Mat. 7. 12. i Prov. 5. 16. Eph. 4. 29. ཡས་མསཙྩཾ 22n XLIII. LORD'S DAY. Q. 112. What is required in the ninth command ? A. That I bear false witness a against no man; nor falsify b any man's words; that I be no backbiter, c nor slanderer; that I do not judge, or join d in condemning any man rashly, or unheard; but that I e avoid all sorts of lies and deceit, as the proper works f of the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God: likewise that in judgment and all other dealings I love the truth, speak it uprightly g and confess it; also that I defend and promote, h as much as I am able, the honour and good character of my neighbour. a Prov. 19. 5, 9. and 21. 28. b Psa. 15. 3. c Rom. 1. 29, 30. d Mat. 7. 1, &c. Luke 6. 37. e Lev. 19. 11. ƒ Prov. 12. 22. and 13. 5. g 1 Cor. 13. 6. Eph. 4. 25. h 1 Pet. 4. 8. ་ XLIV. LORD'S DAY. Q. 113. What doth the tenth commandment require of us? A. That even the smallest inclination or thought, contrary to any of God's commands, never rise in our hearts; but that at all times we hate all sin with our whole hearts, a and delight in all righteousness. a Rom. 7. 7, &c. Q. 114. But can those, who are converted to God, perfectly keep these commands? A. No: but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only small beginnings of this bobedience; yet so, that with a c sincere resolution, they begin to live, not only according to some, but all the commands of God. b Rom 7. 14. c Rom. 7. 22, 15, &c. James 3. 2. Q. 115. Why will God then have the ten commands so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them? A. First that all our life time, we may learn & more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin, e and righteousness in Christ; likewise, that we constantly endeavour and pray to God for the grace of the holy spirit; that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us, in a life to come.f d1 John 1. 9. Rom. 3. 20. and 5. 13. and 7. 7. e Rom. 7. 24. f1 Cor. 9. 21. Fail. 3. 12, 13, 14. XLV. LORD'S DAY. OF PRAYER. Q. 116. Why is prayer necessary for christians? A. Because it is the chief part of a thankfulness which God requires of us and also because God will give his grace and holy spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of him, and b are thankful for them. a Psa. 50. 14, 15. b Mat. 7. 7, 8. Luke 11. 9, 13. Mat. 13. 12. Psa. 50. 15. Q. 117. What are the requisites of that prayer, which is acceptable to God, and which he will hear? A. First, that we from the heart pray to the one true God only, who hath c manifested himself in his word, for all things, he hath commanded us to ask of him: d secondly, that we rightly and thoroughly know our need and misery, that so we may e deeply humble ourselves in the presence of his divine majesty thirdly, that we be fully persuaded that he, notwithstanding we are funworthy of it, will, for the sake of Christ our Lord, certainly g hear our prayer, as he has h promised us in his word. e John 4. 22, 23. d Rom. 8. 26. 1 John 5. 14. je John 4. 23, 24. Psa. 145. 18. f2 Chron. 20. 12. g Psa. 2. 11. and 34. 18, 19. Isa. 66. 2. h Rom. 10. 13. and 3. 15, 16. James 1. 6, &c. John 14. 13. Dan. 9. 17, 18. Mat. 7. 8. Psa. 143. 1. Q. 118. What hath God commanded us to ask of him? A. All things necessary for soul and body; which Christ our Lord has comprised in that prayer, he himself j has taught us. i James 1. 17. Mat. 6. 33. j Mat. 6. 9, 10, &c. Luke 11. 2, &c. Q. 119. What are the words o that prayer? A. Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us ver debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into |