It may be proper to observe here, that in this, as well as in every other commandment, where any thing is expressly forbidden, whatever is contrary to that is understood to be enjoined; and on the other hand, where any particular duty is commanded, whatever contradicts that duty is supposed to be absolutely forbidden.

.. Thus, when the, Lord commands, "Thou shalt have none other Gods but "Me," He seems to imply, thou shalt not only pay no respect to any false deity substituted in my place, but thou shalt worship me with all thy heart and with all thy soul, in love and reverence, and at all times obeying my statutes, and ascribing to me the honour due unto my

name.

How unnecessary does this caution seem to have been; how very improbable that

they should ever have recourse to other gods, who had seen the terror of His exerted power upon their enemies, who had felt His goodness showered upon themselves! Can it be supposed that they would ever seek after strange gods to worship them, in contradiction to their own knowledge, and in open defiance of the commands of their Deliverer?

Yet such is the perverseness of human nature, they not only neglected the service of the Almighty, but even adored the work of their own hands-images fashioned after their own invention. They turned the glory of the Lord into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay.

But not without its punishment was this ingratitude of the Israelites-a punishment, terrible in its execution, dreadful in its consequence; entailed upon their childrens' children, through all their

posterity, who are to this day doomed to wander upon the face of the earth, a sad warning to all mankind, a lesson purchased by fatal experience, never to forget that Providence, which, as He saves, can also destroy.

Before I proceed to examine the remainder of these commandments, let us consider how far we are bound to observe them as the rule of our actions; for, it has been vainly imagined by some, that they only relate to the children of Israel, because they were addressed immediately to them; Without referring to all the passages which are so numerous in the Old and New Testaments, where we are recommended to a strict observance of God's holy statutes, teaching us, that in them is contained, and upon them depends, every thing relating to our future welfare; the words of the text are sufficient for our information on this point: "If thou wilt

enter into life, keep the commandments;" and indeed without these instructions, so frequently conveyed to us in the course of the Scriptures, reason alone might enable us to see the necessity of keeping the commandments, from their general tendency to promote peace and harmony amongst all orders of men, and the particular happiness of each individual: for what body of laws could be framed by human invention abounding with more useful doctrines, more powerful arguments, or precepts more agreeable to nature and reason?

Though it appears from the introduction to these statutes, that they were applied in a literal sense to the Israelites "I am the Lord thy God, who brought "thee out of the land of Egypt, out of "the house of bondage ;" yet these words, in a more extensive signification, may be addressed with equal force and energy to

us-we have been released from a bondage more oppressive, from a yoke more galling than a temporal slavery-the dominion of sin.

Though we were tied and bound with the chain of our iniquities, God hath delivered us by a miracle greater than any performed by the hand of Moses, even the death and resurrection of His own Son; who hath paid the price of our transgressions, and restored us to life and immortality.

By his hand we are conducted to the promised Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the seat of joy and felicity, where are pleasures for ever more. By this it is evident, that we have stronger motives to enforce our obedience to the laws of God, than those which influenced His own people.