THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my commandments.

HE First Commandment forbids us to worship any god, Tinstead of, or along with God.

The Second Commandment forbids us to worship God in a wrong manner. It forbids all worship of images, whether intended as representatives of the true God or not.

Idolatry was the besetting sin of the Israelites, and the root of all their other sins.

In giving the Commandments to Israel God spoke as a Liberator, a Deliverer.

We may see this very clearly in this Second Commandment.

Idolatry and bondage have always gone together, and always will. Where there is idolatry there is and can be no true freedom. As sure as ever the Israelites fell into idolatry, they fell also to bondage, not only into actual. bondage to their enemies, but into spiritual bondageBondage to the powers of nature;

Bondage to sense, i.e. to a mere animal life;
Bondage to their own lusts.

But do not suppose that it was only the Israelites that were tempted to idolatry. We also are tempted to idolatry. Idolatry is our root-sin, the root of all our sins.

S. John's last written words to the Church-indeed probably the last written words of revelation—are, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 S. John v. 21).

If we put anything in the place of God, if we make any earthly thing our highest good, we commit idolatry.

If,

instead of thinking of God as He has revealed Himself, we think of Him according to our own notions, we are framing a likeness of God, not with our hands, but with our minds. And idolatry will bring bondage to us, no less than to the Israelites.

It brings us into the bondage of—

(1) Covetousness. "Covetousness which is idolatry" (Col. iii. 5).

(2) Earthliness. "Whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things" (Phil. iii. 19).

(3) Public opinion.

From all these Christ has come to set us free

Free from "covetousness," by teaching us to hunger after righteousness;

Free from "earthliness," by teaching us the blessedness of self-sacrifice;

Free from "public opinion," by teaching us to see in Him our sole Example.

There are two remarkable expressions in this command

ment.

One, where it is said that God is a jealous God. There is a true jealousy, as well as a false; a righteous jealousy, as well as a selfish one. Thus S. Paul speaks of feeling a godly

jealousy (2 Cor. xi. 2).

God is jealous for us, because He loves us. If He did not love us, He would not care whether we loved Him or not. God has made man for Himself, and He cannot bear to see him wasting his love upon an unworthy object.

The other thing is that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. We ask, Is this right? Is it fair? The answer is, It is inevitable. Man being what he is, and sin being what it is, his sin cannot stop short with himself.

Sin in a father produces a tendency to that particular sin in the child. Thus certain sins, such as drunkenness, become hereditary. The results of sin, the weakening of the will, the blunting of the moral sense, these, too, become hereditary, and are passed on to the third and fourth generation of evil-doers.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT (continued).

HIS Commandment, as explained by our Lord, as we saw

than that it lays down the principles of true worship. Christ laid down this great rule for worship: "God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

The principle of this rule is that there must be a likeness between the worshipper and the object of his worship.

It is an undoubted law of our spiritual nature, that we necessarily grow like what we worship. If we worship one who is Spirit, we shall become more spiritual. If we worship one who is righteous and loving, we become more loving and more just. If we worship one whom we picture to ourselves as cruel and unjust, we become cruel and unjust.

So, on the other hand, if we are growing to be more loving and true, it is a sign that we are worshipping the All-Loving, the All-Righteous One. If we are growing more and more worldly, getting fonder and fonder of money or pleasure, then we may be sure, that however much we may profess to worship God, we are really worshipping the world, its pleasure and its riches.

But we are to worship in truth as well as in spirit. That is, we are to worship God as He is, or rather as He has revealed Himself to us; and we are to worship according to what we ourselves are, according to the truth of our nature. And what are we?

Well, we are essentially spirits-spirits though dwelling in earthly bodies. Our worship, therefore, should be essentially spiritual; we must worship God with love and gratitude, with humility and confidence, with hope and longing.

We have also an understanding: we have an intellectual nature. Our worship must therefore be " a reasonable service" (Rom. xii. 1). We must worship God with our understandings, with intelligence. Our minds must go with our words. We must think of what we are saying, and to whom we are speaking.

We have also bodies: we have a bodily nature. We must therefore worship God with reverence-with self-reverence, keeping ourselves pure, and with reverence to Him who has given us a bodily nature.

When we worship God in spirit, we should be sure that our bodies are brought into harmony with our spirits. We do this when we adopt reverent postures in church, when we kneel at prayer, or stand in praise; when we bow our heads at the Name of Jesus, and at the Holy Name into which we are baptized; when in all ways we show a reverent and attentive behaviour.

The two great divisions of our religious life are worship and service; and by service I mean work for others for God's sake.

There is a Latin saying, "Laborare est orare; that is, "To labour is to pray." The holy angels do not cease to worship God when they go on His errands. To serve is to worship. Devotion is possible in the busiest life.

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name

in vain.

To this we may add the words of "the Duty to God:" I learn .. to honour God's Holy Name and His Word; and the first petition of the Lord's Prayer:

Hallowed be Thy Name.

THERE is something very sacred and very wonderful in

the Name of God.

In the Old Testament the Name of God is spoken of as very near, as very great and terrible, and yet very blessed and precious. "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe” (Prov. xviii. 10). Our Saviour constantly spoke of God's Name. He said that He had come in His Father's Name, that He had manifested that Name to His disciples. He taught us to pray that this Name might be hallowed.

By the Name of God we may understand God as He has revealed Himself to us. God as He stands in relation to us. Thus we are baptized into the Name of God, the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Of this Name of God it is said, Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

A thing is done in vain when it fails of its proper end, when it does not do what it is intended to do.

To take God's Name in vain, was to use it in a way in which it was not intended to be used.

For instance, to take a false oath, to invoke the name of the God of Truth to a lie, is in the fullest sense to take God's Name in vain.

Again to bring God's Name, which is so blessed and sacred a thing, into our common talk, as when people say, "Good Lord," "Lord bless me," or the like-this is to use God's Name in an improper way, and is to take God's Name in vain.