CHAPTER XIV.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.

THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

HE phrase before me in this commandment occurs

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nowhere else in the Decalogue. Some writers render it by the phrases, Beside me, or But me. Both of these are mistakes. The phrase, Before me, if rendered literally would be, Before my face. It specially refers to God's omnipresence and omniscience. It reminds us at the very beginning of the commandments that He, with whom we have to do, searches the heart. "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." Ps. xliv. 20, 21. He knows our down-sitting and up-rising, he understands our thought afar off. He compasseth our path and our lying down, and is acquainted with all our ways. He has beset us behind and before, and laid his hand We cannot flee from his presence. In upon us. heaven, in hell, in the uttermost parts of the sea, every where he is present. The darkness hideth not from him; the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to him. He possesses our reins. Every sin, therefore, and in particular every

sin against this commandment, is committed in the immediate presence of God. For there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Heb. iv. 13. "God's understanding is infinite." Ps. cxlvii. 5. Concealment from him is impossible. An attempt to hide ourselves or any thing from him is itself folly and wickedness. Man judges of the heart by the deed; but God judges of the deed by the heart; and he judges the heart by itself. To him nothing is indistinct. He never makes a mistake. His omniscience is infallible. This therefore is a great aggravation of all iniquity, that it is perpetrated under the immediate eye of God, and is an affront offered him to his face. So he says, "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?" Jer. vii. 9, 10. It is considered an act of extraordinary impudence when men will lie, or steal, or commit lewdness in the very presence of those who are most wronged and insulted thereby. This principle is of easy application to God.

WHAT THE FIRST COMMANDMENT REQUIRES.

I. It requires us to have a God. It is not so unnatural for man to be without hands, or feet, or hearing, or vision, as to be without the religious sentiment. If man is a creature, then it is clear to reason, that he owes all to the Creator. If man is weak and derendent to an extent, which even the heathen them

selves have admitted, then it is impossible to give him adequate strength, or meet his pressing wants, except by a divinity. An attempt or desire to obliterate the religious sentiment from the mind of ourselves or of others is an appalling atrocity. If it could be successful in any case, it would but sink its victim below the devils, for they believe and tremble. James ii. 19.

II. This precept requires us to have Jehovah for our God. He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He is possessed of all and infinite perfections. He is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. He is over all, God blessed for ever. Cleaving to him, saints and angels rise from glory to glory. All rational creatures are elevated in their natures and conceptions by every species of divinely appointed service rendered to him. His authority is acknowledged by the whole inanimate creation. Not a particle of dust nor a solid globe, not a drop of water nor a mighty ocean, but is wholly subject to his will, as expressed in the laws of nature. All deeps, and fire, and hail, and snow, and vapour, and stormy wind fulfil his word. Yea, the dragons, and beasts and all cattle, and creeping things, and flying fowl are wholly subject to his authority. For man therefore to deny Jehovah's sovereignty over him is to make himself like the devils. From the days of Moses until this time, having Jehovah for our God has been declared fundamental in true religion, and is mighty in producing obedience to the other commandments. Ex. xv. 2; Ps. cxviii. 28.

But what is it to have Jehovah for our God? Surely this means much more than some decent public declaration that we take him as such. For in works, many

deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Titus i. 16.

1. Whoever takes Jehovah for his God must know him. So important is the knowledge of God that often in the Scriptures it is put for the whole of religion. Prov. ii. 5; Isa. xi. 9; Ps. xxxvi. 10, xlvi. 10. If it may be truly said to us as to the Samaritans, "Ye worship ye know not what," it is not only a terrible rebuke of our ignorance, but it proves that our religion is vain. John iv. 22. "To know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, is eternal life." John xvii. 3. Not to know that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, is subversive of all piety. Our knowledge must extend not only to his existence, but to his character. He is "the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. The knowledge of God is either speculative or practical. The former we may have and be none the better, but only the more guilty. The practical knowledge of God is saving. It controls the heart and life; it brings our moral nature into a blessed conformity to the truth of God; it shows its power by humbling the soul. Job xl. 4, 5. It desires to bring others acquainted with the Most High, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, and it is valued above all the treasures of earth. Prov. ii. 3-5.

2. We must confess God in all our ways. Ps. xlviii. 14; Prov. iii. 6. We must be ready to declare, "Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant and Israel acknowledge us not; thou, O Lord,

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art our father, our redeemer." Isa. lxiii. 16. Unless we are brought to the "acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," we cannot hope for salvation. Col. ii. 2,3; Deut. xxvi. 17, 18.

3. We must love God. on in all the Scriptures. more terrible to his foes, if it be rightly considered, than this; "I know you that ye have not the love of God in you." John v. 42. Nor can any more important prayer be offered than this, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God." 2 Thess. iii. 5. Nor do the Scriptures enjoin on man any more weighty duty than this, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." Jude 21. This love, when genuine, is controlling. Many Scriptures require that we love God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the might. Deut. vi. 5, x. 12, xi. 1, 13, 22, xix. 9, xxx. 6; Matt. xxii. 37; Mark xii. 30.

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4. The Scriptures no less clearly require us to fear God. Lev. xxv. 17; 1 Pet. ii. 17. Great promises are made to such as fear him. Eccles. viii. 12. The rebuke the penitent thief gave to his companion was in the words, "Dost not thou fear God?" One mark of a good man is, that he honours them that fear the Lord. Ps. xv. 4. While the servility of ignorance and unbelief may cower at the very thought of God, only they, that fear him after a godly sort, are ever ready to say, "His mercy endureth for ever." Ps. cxviii. 4. Nor may any religious teacher cease to call on the church, saying, "O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him."