Question 42

In how many Tables were the ten Commandments at first written?

In two Tables of Stone, Deut. 10. 1, 2, 4.

How many Commandments are comprized under the first Table, or first great Commandment?

The four first.

How many under the second Table, or second great Commandment?

Six.

Do the Papists well in leaving out the second Commandment, and in their dividing the tenth into two?

No.^b

What is the comprehensive Duty of all the Commandments written in these two Tables?

Love, Rom. 13. 9. For this, Thou shalt not commit Adultery, Thou shalt not Kill, Thou shalt not Steal, Thou shalt not bear false Witness, Thou shalt not Covet: And if there be any other Commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Namely, Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self. [The like may be said of all the Commandments of the first Table.]

What is the summ of the first Table of the Law?

To love the Lord our God with all our Heart, and with all our Soul, and with all our Mind, and with all our Strength.

What mean you by the word Summ?

A general or chief Head which comprehends other particulars in it. Ibid. Rom. 13. 8.

What is it to love the Lord our God with all our Heart, &c?

It doth imply the supremacy, ardency and activity of our Love, whereby we chuse the Lord, cleave to him, and delight in him as our chief Good, and employ all our faculties and powers in his service, in obedience to him out of Love.

What is the summ of the second Table of the Law?

To love our Neighbour as our selves.

Who is our Neighbour?

Every man, Luk. 10. 29,—38.

What is it to love our Neighbour as our selves?

To love him with the same truth and constancy of Love, as we do our selves.

But are we not bound to love our Neighbour with the same Degree of Love, as we do our selves?

No.