COMMUNION.

Minister.

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Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down 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 show mercy unto thousands in them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Minister.

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.

OBSERVATIONS.

The proneness of all nations to the vile idolatry of making and worshipping images, and the creatures they represent, shows the absolute necessity of the authority of God, to prevent so great a sin, and contempt of the Divine Majesty, and the judg ments that would follow.

At the same time, God has given us the greatest encouragement, to obey this, and all His commands; assuring us, that both we and our children's children shall reap the blessing of our obedience.

Happy it is for the world that men are restrained (as far as a command, and the fear of God and His judgments will restrain them) from profaning His name

COMMUNION.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Minister.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is; and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

OBSERVATIONS.

to idle and wicked purposes. Were it not for this, all reverence for oaths, and for God Himself, would be lost among men.

When we consider how backward we are to learn our duty, how apt to forget it, and unwilling to put it in practice, we cannot but acknowledge the necessity and kindness of this command; which obliges every man, who loves and fears God, to keep one day in seven holy to the Lord; in order to preserve the knowledge of the true God, and His glorious perfections, and of our creation and redemption, that we may fear, and love, and adore Him as we ought to do. The neglect of this duty, commanded from the beginning, having in all probability been the occasion of that deplorable state of ignorance and idolatry in the heathen world, as it has been of very remarkable judgments upon many

COMMUNION.

Minister. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Minister.

Thou shalt do no murder.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

OBSERVATIONS.

of those among Christians that have profaned this day. And indeed to profane the Lord's-day, is, in a manner, to deny the God that made us and the world.

The infinite mischiefs occasioned by undutiful children, by rebellious subjects, by unfaithful servants, and by the little regard had to those that watch for our souls, show the great goodness of God; who, in order to prevent those evils, hath given this command, with a promise of an especial blessing to such as obey it.

Men must be abandoned to all inhumanity who do not acknowledge the great mercy of God in forbidding us, upon pain of His displeasure, to shorten our own, or other men's lives, by violence, intemperance, or by such evil usage as may make their lives miserable and a burden to them.

COMMUNION.

Minister.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Minister.

Thou shalt not steal.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Minister.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

People.

Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

OBSERVATIONS.

If the sins of whoredom, impurity, and uncleanness, and that luxury, drunkenness, and sloth, which leads to them, had not been forbidden by God Himself, the world would have set light by then; and, as bad as it was, would have been much more wicked.

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Every one whose rights and properties have been invaded by violence, or fraud, or injustice, thievery, do easily see the reason, and goodness, and necessity of this law of God; and therefore ought to pray most earnestly that it may be religiously observed by themselves and others.

Evil-disposed people being capable of doing the greatest mischief to the estates, reputations, and lives of their neighbours, by false oaths and lying stories, God hath most mercifully consulted the