Sunday

Day 67: Duties of the First Commandment, part 1

Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 103
Shorter Catechism Q. 45-46
Larger Catechism Q. 104


Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 103. Which is the first commandment?
A. The first commandment is, Thou shall have no other gods before me [n].

[n] Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.


Shorter Catechism
Q. 46. What is required in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God [h]; and to worship and glorify him accordingly [i].

Judge Roy Moore Judge Myron Thompson

[h] 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
Deuteronomy 26:17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice.

[i] Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.


Larger Catechism
Q. 104. What are the duties required in the first commandment?
A. The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God [o]; and to worship and glorify him accordingly [p], by thinking [q], meditating [r], remembering [s], highly esteeming [t], honouring [v], adoring [w], choosing [x], loving [y], desiring [z], fearing of him [a]; believing him [b]; trusting [c], hoping [d], delighting [e], rejoicing in him [f]; being zealous for him [g]; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks [h], and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man [i]; being careful in all things to please him [k], and sorrowful when in any thing he is offended [l]; and walking humbly with him [m].

the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God [o];

[o] 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
Deuteronomy. 26:17 Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

and to worship and glorify him accordingly [p],

[p] Psalm 95:6-7 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

by thinking [q],

[q] Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

meditating [r],

[r] Psalm 63:6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

remembering [s],

[s] Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

highly esteeming [t],

[t] Psalm 71:19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

honouring [v],

[v] Malachi 1:6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name.

adoring [w],

[w] Isaiah 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

choosing [x],

[x] Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Ver.22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.

loving [y],

[y] Deuteronomy. 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

desiring [z],

[z] Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.


End of Lesson, Day 67


For Further Study:

Shorter Catechism Q. 45 Shorter Catechism Q. 46

The idea that the government cannot recognize our dependence on God is a pernicious lie, and Judge Thompson is either a pernicious liar, or he is too ignorant of the most fundamental principles of human society to be sitting as a judge on a federal court.

In one of the most important addresses in the history of this nation, "the Father of his Country" proclaimed:

"[I]t is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

In an official proclamation on July 9, 1812, President James Madison, "the Father of the Constitution," declared:

I do therefore recommend the third Thursday in August next as a convenient day to be set apart for the devout purposes of rendering the Sovereign of the Universe and the Benefactor of Mankind the public homage due to His holy attributes; of acknowledging the transgressions which might justly provoke the manifestations of His divine displeasure; of seeking His merciful forgiveness and His assistance in the great duties of repentance and amendment, and especially of offering fervent supplications that in the present season of calamity and war He would take the American people under His peculiar care and protection; that He would guide their public councils, animate their patriotism, and bestow His blessing on their arms; that He would inspire all nations with a love of justice and of concord and with a reverence for the unerring precept of our holy religion to do to others as they would require that others should do to them; and, finally, that, turning the hearts of our enemies from the violence and injustice which sway their councils against us, He would hasten a restoration of the blessings of peace.
In a similar proclamation, President John Adams, agreeing with President Washington, said this was not just a duty of individuals, but of nations, of societies:
it is also most reasonable in itself that men who are made capable of social acts and relations, who owe their improvements to the social state, and who derive their enjoyments from it, should, as a society, make their acknowledgments of dependence and obligation to Him who hath endowed them with these capacities and elevated them in the scale of existence by these distinctions;
the observance of special seasons for public religious solemnities is happily calculated to avert the evils which we ought to deprecate and to excite to the performance of the duties which we ought to discharge by calling and fixing the attention of the people at large to the momentous truths already recited, by affording opportunity to teach and inculcate them by animating devotion and giving to it the character of a national act:

The First Amendment means absolutely nothing if the federal government can prevent any State from publicly acknowledging God.

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