“Ritualism and the Reformation” and the Second Commandment.
When writing the above pamphlet I had before me the Prayer-Book used by Romanists in France, entitled “Le Paroissien.” It is quite possible that in the Catechism for Romanists, published by Burns & Oates, the second commandment has been inserted, for that Catechism is intended for English people, many of whom, alas! have been Protestants. To have omitted it there might have done more harm than good to the Romish cause, as it would at once haver awakened the suspicion that they were tampering with the Word of God.
To know what Rome really does teach, you must come to countries such as France, Spain, and Ireland, where the people are completely under the power of the priests. Here in Ireland the “Maynooth Catechism” is in very general use, and there the true second commandment (vers. 4 and 5 of Ex. 20) is left out, and the tenth (Ex. 20:1717Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. (Exodus 20:17)) is divided into two in order to keep the number up to ten. Most people are aware that there are, or should be, ten commandments, and their suspicions would be immediately aroused if they discovered that by some means or other these had shrunk into nine!
The same remarks apply to another book largely used by Irish Romanists, “A Manual of Christian Doctrine,” by Rev. Daniel Terris.
But this deceitful handling of the Word of God has placed Rome in a difficulty even here, for the terms of the tenth commandment are given in a different order in Exodus 20:1717Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. (Exodus 20:17) and Deuteronomy 5:2121Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's. (Deuteronomy 5:21). In Exodus the house comes first, the wife second; whereas in Deuteronomy the wife is first and the house second. To get over this difficulty Rome has united the ninth and tenth under one heading.
And now what will your friend say when I tell you that in all the National Schools in Ireland the ten commandments are hung up on the walls, but the words “thou shalt not bow down thyself to them” have been deliberately cut out. Now this has been passed by a Protestant (!) censor! Rather than give offense to a people wholly given to idolatry, the Word of God must be mutilated. The above two Catechisms are published by Gill & Sons, Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.
H. S., Sheffield. — In reading your remarks re the two Jewish dispensations, “This Age” and “The Age to Come,” in “Hints on Daniel” (October issue of Christian’s Library), Luke 21:32, 3332Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:32‑33) was brought before me. Is “this generation” the same as “this age”?
As in English so in Greek, the words in each case are different, and mean two different things. The “age” means a dispensation during which God acts according to certain definite principles; the “generation” means a race of people. In the passage you quote, as well as in many others, the term has a moral signification rather than a chronological one. We are not to understand a generation of some thirty or forty years’ duration, but a race possessing certain moral characteristics of unbelief and hardness of heart. (Compare Deuteronomy 32:5, 205They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. (Deuteronomy 32:5)
20And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. (Deuteronomy 32:20).)