strength, wisdom, and skill; no other kind of being having any such strength or wisdom. Hence, among the Roman Catholics, God is represented as a very grave, venerable old man, with a triple crown, (which, however, their popes borrow,) to signify His sovereignty over heaven, earth, and hell; angels, men, and devils, being subject to Him. All these, as well as the triple crown, their symbol, have the popes of Rome, by their doctrines, traditions, and pretensions, arrogated to themselves. They have the keys of both worlds; they open and no man shutteth; they shut and no man openeth! It is a matter of the highest astonishment, that the blasphemous pretensions of these individuals should have been acknowledged, and conceded to them for so long a time, by all the powers of Europe! They have raised up and put down emperors and kings at pleasure. Have absolved, as in a moment, all their officers and subjects from the most solemn oaths of allegiance, and their obligations of obedience :-and for all this they have given them indulgences, purgatory, transubstantiation, image-worship, worship of the Virgin Mary, as queen of heaven; saints and angels as mediators and intercessors; prayers for the dead; and uncertain and contradictory traditions, in place of the BIBLE! All these must be received on their authority; and he who disputes their authenticity is a heretic:-i. e. one that the church of Rome orders to be burnt alive :—and those who reject their authority, incur the Divine displeasure, and if not reconciled to them and their church, shall be banished from the presence of God, and the glory of His power, to all eternity! What blasphemous pretensions! What gross idolatry!

Or any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, ib.

To have the full spirit and extent of this commandment, we must collate this place with Deut. iv. 15-19. "Take ye, therefore, good heed to yourselves; (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire;) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth upon the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters be

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neath the earth and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven; and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, and shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them." This is, in the first place, directed against the idolatry of Egypt. All who have even a slight acquaintance with the ancient history of Egypt, know that Osiris, and his wife Isis, were supreme divinities among that people. Their images were objects of adoration, and were multiplied throughout the land. Several of those images, of a very high and remote antiquity, with various mythologic emblems, now lie before me ;-and which had been doubtless objects of adoration ;--some of them are thickly covered over with hieroglyphics; and, could they be deciphered, would, no doubt, cast much light on the history of those persons, their deification, and the worship paid to them. Some of these images are cut out of marble, others out of sand-stone, and others out of schist. Among these also, are the Anubis or barking dog; the Cercopithecus or monkey; and the Ibis or stork. Some of these are modelled of clay, and baked in the fire; others carved out of cedar, lately brought from the tombs of the kings in Upper Egypt; and others formed from brass. Not only the dog and the monkey were adored, but also the ox and the cow. The or was sacred, because they supposed that Osiris took up his residence in one of these animals. Hence they always had a living ox, which they supposed to be the habitation of the deity; and they imagined that on the death of one he entered into the body of another, and so on successively. This famous ox-god they called Apis and Mnevis. Here every species of idolatry is forbidden. By the male and female, Osiris and Isis may be intended: for, to these they paid divine honours. By any beast, the dog, the monkey, the cat, and the ox, are intended. By the fowl that flieth in the air,—the ibis, stork, the crane, and the hawk;-for these were all objects of Egyptian idolatry. By that which creepeth on the ground, the crocodile, serpents in general, and the scarabeus or beetle, may be intended, for all these were objects of Egyptian adoration. The likeness

or

of any fish,—all fish were sacred animals in Egypt. One called oxurunchus, had a temple, and had divine honours paid to it. See Strabo, lib. xvii.

Another fish called phagrus, was worshipped at Syene, ac

cording to Clemens Alexandrinus, in his Cohortatio; and the lepidotus, and eel, were objects of their adoration, as we learn from Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. 72.

In short, Oxen, Cows, Sheep, Goats, Lions, Dogs, Monkeys, and Cats:—the Ibis, the Crane, and the Hawk :-the Crocodile, Serpents, Flies, and the Scarabeus or Beetle :-the Nile and its Fish:-the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars :-Fire, Air, Light, Darkness, and Night :—Onions, Leeks, and other horticultural productions; were all objects of Egyptian idolatry, and all included in this very circumstantial prohibition as it stands in Deuteronomy: and very forcibly in the general terms of the text, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the HEAVENS above, or that is in the EARTH beneath, or that is in the WATER under the earth. And the reason of this is very evident, when the various objects of Egyptian idolatry are considered. But it is not directed solely against Egyptian idolatry-but against all idolatry, whether found among the savage tribes in North America-the worshippers of the visible heavens in China-the devotees of Brahma, Siva, and Mahadeo in Hindostan the followers of Budhoo in Ceylon, and Java and Ava-or the corrupt Christians in the Church of Rome against all these, and all like them, has God sent forth the SECOND Commandment.

:

There is something remarkable in the 23d yerse of this chapter, that should be noticed here: Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. In ver. 3. it is commanded, Thou shalt have no other gods BEFORE me, al panai-But here they are commanded, Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, or of gold, 'n ithi, WITH me, as emblems or representatives of God; in order, as might be pretended, to keep the displays of His magnificence in memory. He would not even have a costly altar :on the contrary, He ordered one of earth, or plain turf, to be erected, on which they should offer those sacrifices, by which they should commemorate their own guilt, and the necessity of an atonement, by which they might be reconciled to God.

ver.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them,

5.

Two things, in addition to what is mentioned above, should be noted here. 1. They shall offer no mental adoration

to images. 2. They shall perform to them no religious service.

1. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them; annwn as onb lo tishtachoch la-hem-Thou shalt not prostrate thyself to them, in any act of adoration; kneeling down, putting the head between the knees, and touching the earth with the forehead, was the common form of religious adoration. Ye shall conceive no idea of their capability to hear, help, or save you; they are nothing but the block, stone, or metal, which you see from them you never received help, and to them you are under no obligation.

2. Thou shalt not serve them; byn velo taâbdemThou shalt not honour them with any religious rite-such as sacrifice, offering, &c.; for this is one of the acceptations of the verb y abad, and in Exod. xii. 25, may abodah, signifies religious service, such as God required of the people—and in this sense it is often used. Hence we find that prostration, kneeling, prayers, mental adoration, offering candles, frankincense, &c., or performing pilgrimages, to saints, angels, images, &c., is flat idolatry, and point blank against the letter and spirit of this commandment.

To countenance its image worship, the Roman Catholic Church has in some cases left the whole of this second commandment out of the decalogue, and as a second command, she has omitted it in all her Formularies, Catechisms, Missals, and Church books that I have seen; and to keep up the number of TEN commandments, she has divided the tenth into two, contrary to the whole spirit and sense of this law, that speaks only of the objects of covetousness.

This omission and division is totally contrary to the faith of God's elect, and to the acknowledgement of the truth which is according to godliness. The verse containing this second command is found in every MS. of the Hebrew Pentateuch that has ever yet been discovered. There is not even one word of the whole verse wanting in any of the hundreds of MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi; nor in my own, five of which are among the oldest extant. It is in all the ancient versions, Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Septuagint, Coptic, Vulgate, and also in the Persian. The AngloSaxon gives this command with its usual sententious brevity. Ne pinc pu pe agrafene Irodar, Ne work thou the graven

(or image) gods. Do not make such-and why? Because Ic com Drihten þin Lod, I am the Lord thy God.

And by all people and sects, the Roman Catholics excepted, with whom I have any acquaintance, it has ever been considered as the second commandment.

For I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, ib.

It

There is scarcely a word of more ominous interpretation, than the word jealousy. It is a suspicion often generated from love, in weak minds, that it is not returned-for love demands love; and nothing else can be its recompense. is often ideal, being founded on appearances which, traced to their origin, are found to have no connexion with, nor bearing on, the subject of the suspicion. It is however, in most cases, a real evil to that mind which is exercised with it. One of our poets has described it well :-

"It is the green ey'd monster that doth mock

The meat it feeds on,

But O, what cursed minutes tells he o'er

Who doats, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves!"

But it signifies also, an anxious care to preserve a person or thing in a state of purity-to prevent defection in a person, whose heedless and incautious conduct might lead into transgression, though at first, neither premeditated nor planned. This is what may be called a godly jealousy—— anxious care to preserve its object from corruption and ruin. Thus, Jehovah was jealous over the Israelites; and St. Paul jealous over the church of God at Corinth, that he might present it as a chaste virgin to Christ, 2 Cor. xi. 2.

When the Lord says, "I am a jealous God," He shews in the most expressive manner, His love to the people. He felt for them as the most affectionate husband could feel for his spouse. The covenant between Him and them was the strong bond which required their invariable attachment to Him; and bound Him to afford them His continual protection and support. He saw, from that lightness and variableness of their conduct, that they might be easily led astray into idolatry, which was the breach of that stronger than matrimonial bond by which He and they were bound to each other. He was jealous for their fidelity, because He willed their invariable happiness.

On this gracious principle, He tells them, that He visits the