Part 3
2. _We should lead a chaste and decent life in word._ We should refrain from _all filthy words_ that prove our heart to be unclean, from all words, songs, jests, etc., of which we would be ashamed before God, or before parents if they would hear them. We should shun all those jests and verses which boy whispers to boy, or girl to girl, lest decent persons might overhear them. Only such words as are good and clean should pass our lips. Never use a word that you would be ashamed of in the presence of your parents and teachers! Always remember that God is with you, that He will hear every word you utter in secret. _"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good."_ Eph. 4,29.
3. _We should lead a chaste and decent life in deed._ We should shun all acts which are mostly done in secret, all deeds which we would be ashamed of in the presence of God, our parents, or other decent people. We should walk honestly as in the day. Rom. 13,13. We should keep all members of our body clean and pure. _Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost._ 1 Cor. 6,19. How could a child of God use a member of his body for filthy purposes and so defile God's temple, make it impure! We should be modest and decent in our behavior, manners, dress, etc.
4. _What must we do to lead such a chaste and decent life?_ Our hearts, by nature, are unclean and unchaste full of evil desires. We cannot hinder evil lusts from springing up in our hearts at times. But with the help of God we must try, and try earnestly, _to quench them, to put them down,_ lest they gain a place in our hearts. We can do this only _by means of God's Word and prayer._ Think of God's holy commandment, of the will of our heavenly Father according to which we should be pure in heart. God says: _"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."_ Matt. 5,8. Remember that God knows the secret thoughts of your heart, and you will say with Joseph: _"How, then, can I do this great wickedness and, sin against God?"_ Gen. 39,9. The fear and love of God will put down all evil lusts and lewd thoughts. And whenever filthy desires arise and tempt you, pray to God for His help, pray earnestly and fervently: _"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."_ Ps. 51,10.
5. In order to lead a chaste and decent life, _we should, as far as possible, shun all temptations and all places and occasions where such temptations will come upon us._ The world is an unclean place, full of evil lusts. Temptations meet us everywhere. Therefore we must always watch over ourselves. _"Flee youthful lusts,"_ 2 Tim 2,22, as Joseph fled when Potiphar's wife tempted him. We should not go to places where such temptations may be met; we should shun bad company, impure books or pictures, theaters, etc. where indecent talk or pictures may excite evil lusts in us.
6. _When we are alone and idle,_ the devil often comes to tempt us with impure thoughts and desires In order to lead a chaste and decent life, we should avoid idleness and work diligently and faithfully. Find something useful to do in work or innocent play, and Satan will find less time to tempt you with lustful thoughts. But above all, pray to your heavenly Father that He would guard you in all temptations, that you may overcome and obtain the victory.
7. We should fear and love God _that each may love and honor his spouse. Spouse_ is man or wife, persons who live in holy matrimony, as your parents do. _Matrimony_ is instituted by God, and it is His will that husband and wife should love and honor each other, that they should faithfully live together till death parts them. If one is unfaithful to the other, or leaves the other, he or she commits _adultery._
REMEMBER:--
_1. God alone can make your heart chaste and keep it clean from sinful lust. Pray to Him: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."_ Ps. 51,10.
_2. When temptation comes near you, when you feel in your heart the sinful lust, remember: God is with me, He sees and hears everything I do, even the innermost thoughts of my heart. "How, them, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"_ Gen. 39,9.
_3. Watch over yourself and keep away from all places where temptation is sure to come. "Flee youthful lusts."_ 2 Tim. 2,22.
MEMORIZE:--
_Let us walk honestly as in the day._ Rom. 13,13.
_Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good._ Eph. 4,29.
_Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me._ Ps. 51,10.
_Keep thyself pure._ 1 Tim. 5,22.
_Flee youthful lusts._ 2 Tim. 2,22.
QUESTIONS.
1. What does God command in the Sixth Commandment? 2. When will our _hearts_ be chaste? 3. When will our lives be decent? 4. What does God demand 1 Tim. 5,22? 5. When will we be chaste and decent in _words?_ 6. What kind of words should we never use? 7. How do we lead a chaste and decent life in _deed?_ 8. What does God Himself call our bodies in His Word? 9. When do we defile this temple of God and make it impure? 10. How should our behavior, our manners, be? 11. How are our hearts by nature? 12. What feelings will therefore often arise in our hearts? 13. By what means can and should we put down these evil thoughts? 14. What should they not gain in our hearts? 15. What places should we avoid in order to lead a chaste life? 16. Name some such places and occasions. 17. What should we also avoid, in order that Satan may have less opportunity to tempt us? 18. What does God command those who live together in holy matrimony? 19. How long should husband and wife live together in this union? 20. What sin do they commit if they prove unfaithful to each other?
LESSON 8.
The Seventh Commandment.
Which is the Seventh Commandment?
_Thou shalt not steal._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or goods, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business._
1. _We should not steal;_ that means, _we should not take our neighbor's money or goods._ Our neighbor's, our fellow-man's, money and his goods do not belong to us, but to him _They are his property._ It is God's will that men should have property, money, and goods that belong to them. All the goods in the world come from Him, they are His gift. He gives to every one as much earthly goods as He pleases, as much or as little as is best for him. There always will be rich people and poor people among us. _The property of our neighbor should be sacred to us because it is given him by God, our heavenly Father._
2. _We should not take our neighbor's money or goods._ It belongs to him according to God's will; therefore we should not steal, that is, not take his property away from him. He may give and present it to us, if he so chooses, but we should not take it. We may buy his goods at a fair price, if he is willing to sell, but we should not take it against his will. This may be done in various ways. Think of the _thieves_ into whose hands the Jew fell who came down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Luke 10,30. They stripped him of his raiment; _openly_ and _by force_ they took his clothes and all that he had. We call such men _robbers._-- Others do not take their neighbor's property by force, they sneak into their neighbor's house and take his money and valuables _secretly,_ without his knowledge, or they pick his pockets when there is a chance. _Achan_ took some of the spoils of the city of Jericho secretly and hid the goods in the earth under his tent, in order that nobody might know what he had taken. Josh. 7,21. Such men are called _thieves;_ their sin is called _theft._ Also to-day there are many robbers and thieves in the world.--Beware of taking your fellow-pupil's property, be it ever so small, a pen or a pencil, etc. That would be theft. Remember that your heavenly Father, whom you fear and love, will see you. Our Lord says: _"Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good."_ Eph. 4,28.
3. _We should not get our neighbor's money and goods by false ware or dealing._ That is another way of taking our neighbor's property. Taking our neighbor's property in this manner is generally called fraud or cheating. _"Let no man go beyond_ [what belongs to him according to the will of God], _and defraud his brother in any matter_ [in his trade and business], _because that the Lord is the avenger of all such"_ (the Lord will punish all that commit such frauds). 1 Thess. 4,6. We should not take our neighbor's money _by false ware,_ that is, by selling bad, poor wares to him in place of good ones for which he pays. We should not take his money _by false dealings,_ that is, by using short weights and measures, and in this way keeping back what belongs to our neighbor, by taking too much profit when buying or selling anything, and thus cheating our brother, by borrowing money or other goods and not returning them, etc. _"The wicked borroweth and payeth not again."_ Ps. 37,21. There are many ways of taking our brother's money or goods. A child of God will shun them all, he will be _honest_ in all his dealings with his neighbor.
4. _We should help our neighbor to improve ... his property and business._ We should help and assist our neighbor as much as we can, by _word and deed,_ that his property and business, by means of which he earns his living, may be _improved,_ become better. If our neighbor is poor and suffers want, we should help him by _giving_ him of our money, or other goods which he may be in need of. _"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again."_ Prov. 19,17 We should lend him our money if he is in need, until he may be able to repay it. _"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."_ Matt. 5,42. _Zacchaeus,_ after having joyfully received the Lord into his house, was ready to give half of his goods to the poor. Luke 19,8. How _well-pleasing_ it is to our Lord when we help the poor and needy! _"To do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."_ Heb. 13,16.
5. _We should help our neighbor to ... protect his property and business._ Our neighbor's property and business sometimes is in danger, in danger by water or fire, or by wicked men who try to harm our brother. We should _warn_ him against these dangers, we should give him _good advice how to overcome them._ But we should not only warn and advise but also assist him as much as we can that his property may not be lost or come to harm. Our love to God should prompt us to serve our brethren. _"This commandment have we from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also."_ 1 John 4,21.
REMEMBER:--
_1. All our property has been given us by God. God bestows these goods as He pleases. Rich and poor will always be among us. The property of our neighbor should be sacred to us because God has given it to him._
_2. We should, therefore, not take our neighbor's money and goods against his will, neither by robbery and theft, nor by defrauding him by poor wares or crooked dealings. Always be honest!_
_3. We should rather help him to improve his property and business and to preserve it from danger and harm._
MEMORIZE:--
_Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away._ Matt. 5,42.
_He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again._ Prov. 19,17.
_To do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased._ Heb. 13, 16.
QUESTIONS.
1. Stating it in one word, what do we call all the money and goods our neighbor has? 2. From whom did he receive his property? 3. How should the property of our neighbor be to us? 4. What does it mean to steal? 5. In what way do men take the property of their neighbor against his will? 6. What do we call robbery? 7. What is theft? 8. How should we also not take our neighbor's money or goods? 9. When do we take our neighbor's money by false wares? 10. When do we take it by false dealings? 11. How does the Bible call him who borrows money but does not repay it? (Ps. 37,21.) 12. What does God command us to do in behalf of our neighbor's property and business? 13. How should we help our neighbor when he is poor and suffering want? 14. What does our Lord say Matt. 5,42? 15. To whom does he lend who takes pity on the poor? 16. What do we learn from Heb. 13,16? 17. What should we do to protect our neighbor's property? 18. If we love God, whom shall we love also?
LESSON 9.
The Eighth Commandment.
Which is the Eighth Commandment?
_Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, nor defame our neighbor, but defend him, speak well, of him, and put the best construction on everything._
1. _"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,"_ that is the command of our heavenly Father in the Eighth Commandment. _False witness_ is any false statement against our neighbor, anything false and deceitful that we say against him. A _false_ statement is saying something that is not true; it is a statement _against_ our neighbor when it will harm him, or hurt his good name, or deprive him of it altogether.--False witness comes out of an evil _heart,_ a heart that is false and insincere against our neighbor. We should not even _think evil_ of him. _"Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against your neighbor."_ Zech. 8,17. If we love God and for His sake our neighbor, we shall always think well of him, even if he is our enemy.
2. We can bear false witness against our neighbor in many ways. Our Catechism explains: "We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander nor defame our neighbor."--_We should not belie our neighbor. Potiphar's wife_ belied Joseph. She told her husband a lie about Joseph, saying that he had tried to wrong her. She did so in order to harm Joseph, to bring him into prison.--_We should not lie,_ we should never wilfully and knowingly tell an untruth, or withhold the truth from our neighbor to harm him. Be careful always to tell the truth. Our Lord tells us that the _devil_ is a liar and the father of it. John 8,44. If you tell a lie, you do the work of the devil. Remember that you are a child of God and that a child of God fears and loves his heavenly Father. God hates all liars and will most certainly punish them. _"He that telleth lies shall not tarry [remain] in My sight,"_ says the Lord Ps. 101,7.
3. _We should not betray our neighbor._ We should not reveal his secrets, not tell others what our neighbor does not want other people to know. It shows a false and deceitful heart against our brother to reveal his secret sins. _"A talebearer revealeth secrets; but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter."_ Prov. 11,13.
4. _We should not slander nor defame our neighbor._ We are not to speak evil against our brother behind his back, when he is not present and therefore not able to defend himself. Even if the evil which we tell of him be true, we should not tell others of it. Holy Scripture admonishes us: _"Speak not evil one of another, brethren."_ Jas. 4,11. Because we are brethren, we should not speak evil, but well, of one another. If we slander and backbite our neighbor, speak evil of him when he is not present, we _defame_ him, that is, we harm his good name; it is our fault if other people will think evil of him. We are all much inclined to these sins; therefore beware of backbiting and slandering your neighbor. Honor and a good name are easily taken away, but not easily restored.
5. We should never speak against our neighbor to harm and injure him, but we are to speak _for_ him. _We should defend him._ When in our presence anybody speaks evil of our brother behind his back, so that this brother cannot speak for himself, we should not remain silent, but speak for him, defend him against all false statements and lies uttered against him. We should never allow our neighbor to be slandered in our presence.
6. _We should speak well of our neighbor._ We are to speak well of his good works and deeds, to praise them as far as it can be done in keeping with the truth. Especially when others speak evil of our brother, when they slander and defame him, we ought to take his part and speak well of him, so that he may keep his good name. We read of Jonathan, David's friend: _"And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul, his father_ [who was David's enemy and wanted to kill him], _and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward_ [towards you] _very good."_ 1 Sam. 19,4. And in verse 6 we read that Saul listened to Jonathan and resolved not to kill David. Owing to Jonathan's good words, then, David was safe for a while. The Jews who asked Jesus to heal the servant of the centurion spoke highly of him. They besought the Lord instantly to hear the prayer of the centurion, saying, _"That he was worthy for whom He should do this, for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagog."_ Luke 7,4.5. In the same way we should speak well of our neighbor and praise him.
7. _We should put the best construction on everything_ that we hear of our neighbor, or that we see him doing. We should put the best construction on everything, that is, in love and charity we should cover his faults and not make too much of them. We should explain all his words and deeds in his favor as far as this can be done in keeping with the truth. _"Charity shall cover the multitude of sins."_ 1 Pet 4,9. True love and charity always thinks the best of the neighbor, always hopes for the best, and will suffer wrong rather than do wrong. _"Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things endureth all things."_ 1 Cor. 13,7. It is a noble virtue to explain as best you can all you may hear of your neighbor.
8. In this commandment God demands of us, His children, many good works which are well-pleasing to Him, if only we would recognize them. There is nothing which can do both greater good or harm in all matters than our tongue, though it is such a small and feeble member of our body.
REMEMBER:--
_1. If we love God and, for His sake, our neighbor, we shall always think well of him, even though he is our enemy._
_2. A child of God should never tell a lie. God hates a liar and will punish him._
_3. Always speak well of your neighbor, defend him if he is falsely accused, and explain his deeds and words in his favor._
_4. "There is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether."_ Ps. 139,4.
MEMORIZE:--
_Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor._ Zech. 8,17.
_Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor._ Eph. 4,25.
_Speak not evil one of another, brethren._ Jas. 4,11.
_Charity shall cover the multitude of sins._ 1 Pet. 4,8.
QUESTIONS.
1. Which is the Eighth Commandment? 2. What does it mean to bear false witness against our neighbor? 3. When is a statement a false statement? 4. When is it a statement against our neighbor? 5. When do we belie our brother? 6. What does it mean to lie? 7. Who was the first liar in the world? 8. How does God look upon a liar? 9. What does it mean to betray our neighbor? 10. When do we slander and defame him? 11. What ought we to do to protect the good name of our neighbor? 12. When should we defend him? 13. What does it mean to speak well of him? 14. Who, for example, spoke well of his friend? 15. Whom did the Jews praise in the presence of the Lord? 16. What does it mean to put the best construction on everything? 17. What do we read 1 Pet. 4,8? 18. Of what member of our body should we take especial care?
LESSON 10.
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments.
Which is the Ninth Commandment?
_Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not craftily seek to get our neighbor's inheritance and house, nor obtain it by a show of right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it._
Which is the Tenth Commandment?
_Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbors._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away from our neighbor his wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and do their duty._
1. In the Ninth and the Tenth Commandment God forbids the same. Both commandments begin with the words: _"Thou shalt not covet."_ To covet means eagerly and sinfully to desire and want what does not belong to us, but to some one else, to our neighbor. We are covetous when we envy our neighbor because of what he has, and want it for ourselves, and will not be satisfied until we have obtained it for ourselves. Remember the story of _King Ahab and Naboth._ Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, had a strong desire for a certain vineyard which was the property of Naboth. He offered to buy the vineyard, but Naboth did not want to sell it because he had inherited it from his fathers. Ahab kept on longing for the property of his neighbor and was not satisfied until Naboth was stoned to death, and he was able to take possession of the vineyard. 1 Kings 21,1-16. Here we learn what it is to covet our neighbor's property.
2. We are all, by nature, covetous. We all envy our neighbor and desire to obtain what belongs to him. God forbids such evil desires. Already in the Seventh Commandment we learned that our neighbor's property ought to be sacred to us because God Himself gave it to him. God does not want us even to covet it, to _desire_ to obtain it against the will of our neighbor. We should, therefore, not _craftily,_ with cunning and fraud, _seek to get our neighbor's inheritance,_ what he inherited from his parents, or his _house,_ nor try _to obtain it by a show of right,_ in such a way that it appears right before men while it is wrong in the sight of God. We should not _force or entice away our neighbor's wife, or servants, or cattle, or whatever belongs to him._
3. The property of our neighbor should be sacred to us. Because we love him for God's sake, we should _help him and be of service to him in keeping his property._ We should urge our _neighbor's wife or servants to remain with him and do their duty towards him_ whenever we see that they are seeking to leave him. God, our heavenly Father, tells us in His Word: _"By love serve one another."_ Gal. 5,13. And furthermore He says: _"Look not every man on his own things, but ever man also on the things of others."_ Phil. 2,4.
4. God forbids us to covet our neighbor's property, all that belongs to him. _Covetousness is a sin of the heart._ God teaches us a very important lesson in these last two commandments. He teaches us that not only our evil deeds nor only our evil words are sins against the holy God, _but also our evil thoughts._ In the sight of God every desire for anything that He has forbidden in His Word is evil, is a sin, even if this sinful thought does not break out in evil words or deeds. Every lust in itself is truly a sin which God has threatened to punish. _"Thou shalt not covet,"_ is His demand. Every sinful thought, every impure desire in our heart, proves that we do not fear and love our heavenly Father as we should, that we have broken not only these two commandments, but the first also, yea, all the commandments of our Lord.