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GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
ACCORDING TO MOSES, ACCORDING TO CUBIST,
AND
ACCORDING TO OUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE.
A SKETCH
SUGGESTIVE OF
A NEW WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH
FOR THE LAITY OF THE 19th CENTURY.
ADDRESSED TO ALL WHO DEEM IT THEIR HIGHEST DUTY
AS WELL AS RIGHT TO
“THINK FOR THEMSELVES.”
“HAPPY IS THE MAN THAT FINDETH WISDOM, AND THE MAN THAT GETTETH UNDERSTANDING."
PROV. III. 13.
LONDON :
N. TRÜBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1867.
PRICE SIXPENCE.
�From an Essay entitled, ‘ Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the
Temporal Happiness of Mankind,’ under the nom de plume of Philip Beauchamp
(printed 1822, and reprinted by Saville and Edwards, Chandos Street, Covent
Garden, 1866), the following extract is made as bearing to some extent on the
present work.
The evils which flow from the belief, not founded on experience, of the inter
ference of an unseen agent infringing at pleasure the laws of nature, are thus
described:—
1 As this persuasion utterly disqualifies mankind for the task of filtering truth
from falsehood, so the multitude of fictitious tales for which it has obtained
credence and currency in the world, exceeds all computation. To him who
believes in the intervention of incomprehensible and unlimited Beings, no
story can appear incredible. The most astonishing narratives are exempted
from cross-examination, and readily digested under the title of miracles or
prodigies. Of these miracles every nation on the face of the earth has on
record and believes thousands. And as each nation disbelieves all except
its own, each, tho’ it believes a great many, yet disbelieves more. The
most enthusiastic believers in miracles, therefore, cannot deny that an
enormous excess of false ones have obtained credence amongst the larger
portion of mankind.’
AV e heartily concur in the following observations on this Essay borrowed
from the Westminster Review for April, 1866. ‘ If it is rightly attributed to a
distinguished historian, we think it greatly to be regretted that he has not
given us in a separate essay his ripest thoughts on the subject.’ . . . . ‘ If
Philip Beauchamp would write something on these subjects, not grudging
to lend the well-earned authority of a known name, and in a manner going di
rectly to his object, he would meet with a more fitting circle of readers than he
could have done five-and-forty years ago.’
We also extract the following passage from an Address of the Rev. Dr
Robert Lee, delivered at the opening of the Theological Class in the University
of Edinburgh (Published by Williams and Norgate) :—
‘ In these days no class of men can possibly have, or should have at any
time, any real weight and authority in guiding opinion, unless it occupy a
somewhat independent position. Prisons and fetters are for the lawless
and disobedient, for thieves and murderers, and all those abandoned classes
who exist and thrive by injuring their neighbours and disturbing society.
Christian teachers, we hope, do not deserve or need to be so guarded, confined,
and pinioned; they are not so set upon perverting the truth, corrupting re
ligion, seducing the people, as that they should be required by law to swear,
at the beginning of their professional life, that they hold not only the great
Articles of the Christian Faith, which are both very simple and very few,
but a positive and categorical opinion regarding many hundreds of proposi
tions which they have not had time to weigh and study ; much less that
they should be required to swear that they will so think on all those points
. which they are now required to profess ‘ during all the days of their life.’ ’
JulIN CHILES AND SON, PRINTERS.
�GOD’S COMMANDMENTS.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
The complaint against those, who have dared to think for themselves,
and to throw aside the authority of all or some of what are called the or
thodox Dogmas of Religion,—for instance, the plenary inspiration of the
Bible, original sin, the eternity of hell torments,—that they leave the
unhappy man, woman, or child, whom they may succeed in enticing from the
pleasant paths of Orthodoxy, without a guide for their future conduct in
life, is not altogether an unjust complaint. The effort of almost all
free thought, no doubt, has hitherto been more on the negative side,—the
pulling down of the old, rather than the constructing a new Faith, or
putting the New Faith into such simple terms as to be at once understood
by all classes.
Now this New Faith, no longer confined to a few isolated thinkers
but spreading quietly in every quarter, on the one hand denies that
God has only revealed himself to man at a particular time or up to a
particular date in his history, and has since left him without any
further revelation beyond what he can obtain by groping about for
the meanings of a number of old books, written in various dead lan
guages, of uncertain dates and authorship, and of which, whilst the origin
als are certainly lost, it is impossible to know whether the oldest extant
copies, or supposed copies, are accurate or are not interpolated or even
forgeries. On the other hand, this New Faith expressly declares that God
is and ever has been revealing himself to man in the works of his Creation,
and that He has never revealed himself in any other way. This Faith, it
will be seen, interferes not with our freest speculations, nor with our
highest aspirations. Thus on the question of a life hereafter, while some
may maintain that one ground of their hope is, that only by a future life
can the misery in this be compensated; others will be free to hold and
will hold, that, while permitted to look forward to a future existence as
being within the scope of the Divine will, still, God’s governance of this
world is perfect and docs not absolutely require to be supplemented by
the life hereafter, to make up for the imagined short-comings, impcrfec-
�•1
tions, and injustice, in the arrangements for our life on earth ; and, more
over, that our obedience to God’s Laws ought to be quite independent of,
and not consequent on, the expectation of a future existence.
Now although there are many learned treatises setting forth the
grounds for this Faith, there is no hand-book for the unlearned to refer
to; there is no standard book or ‘ Catechism ’ of which the free-thinking
father or mother may say, ‘ This little book contains what I believe to be
a true exposition of God’s laws, and out of this I desire my child to
be taught his duty, his religious principles.’ We here use the word ‘re
ligious ’ advisedly and as the proper term, although the multitude may
think that it can be used only by the believers in miracles, in a devil, and
in the monstrous doctrine of the eternity of punishment, and of the end
less woe of those whom it shall not please God arbitrarily to call to ever
lasting happiness.
The present pamphlet is put forth as a partial attempt to supply this
want and to put into plain language what many men, while allowing their
children to learn by rote ten Commandments (possibly compiled for the
Hebrews, long after the time of Moses), and likewise the curious denuncia
tion of themselves contained in the Church-Catechism, as ‘ children of
wrath!’ really do teach them in the practical lessons of every-day life. Its
object is also to bring home to many men the dishonesty of not declaring
more openly what they believe on religious subjects, and at the same time
to give them aid in expressing their convictions, where from want of time
or inclination they have never exactly formularized what they do believe,
though feeling great repugnance to the dogmas sought to be imposed
upon them by the clergyman, who gives priestly consolation to their wives
and daughters. We have none of us, probably, very far to look without
finding among our friends or acquaintances some in this state; men who
are not masters in their own household, who may command the affections,
but have not the least influence over the theological or spiritual lives of
the members of their own family. In many cases utter worldliness or
amiable weakness is pleaded as an excuse for that dishonesty to which we
have taken exception.
Take, for example, a husband and wife—the latter, perhaps, not very
well grounded in her orthodox views : ‘ It will never do to bring up our
children otherwise than according to Church principles. How can we
expect they will get on ? ’ The wife will say, ‘ don’t give these new no
tions to the girls; even for the boys it will be far safer not to be marked
as unsound Churchmen. Think of their being called Infidels, Theists,
Atheists, and all those other shocking names. Why not leave well alone ?
The world got on very well, before that horrible Bishop of Natal was
heard of.’ And then, perhaps, the thought of a rich old uncle will arise,
and the wife will add the conclusive argument,f If he were to get the idea
�into his head that we were not bringing up our children in the strictest
Church principles, you know he would disinherit us and leave all his pro
perty to charities ; pray be careful?
Again, the following is not altogether an isolated or imaginary picture,
the result of an appeal from one free-thinker to another to come forward
with his name, on a subscription, say, for the Essays and Reviews Fund, or
still later for the Colenso Testimonial. ‘ I will give you willingly my £20 ;
but pray keep my name a secret. I would not have my wife suspect me of
thinking as I do on any account. If she were to imagine that I do not
believe exactly as she does, that I have doubts about Bible inspiration,
whatever that may mean, that I do not feel quite steady in my adherence to
the doctrines laid down with such peculiar clearness and force in the Athanasian Creed, or to any other of the so-called fundamental dogmas, she
would be quite miserable. Pray never give her a hint of such a thing.
We have lived so peaceably together for years. It would be quite cruel
on my part to give her an idea of my holding different views from her
own, and what would be the use of it ? It would only unsettle her mind,—
if not her faith, in which she is so wrapped up and contented !’ Thus two
beings, with reasoning faculties, living together nominally as one, profess
ing to have no secrets from each other, are yet perfectly estranged on the
most important of subjects, have no real interchange of thoughts; and
the man, on his side, acts a lifelong lie on the plea at best of good and
amiable motives.
We will not here undertake to judge our friend. Doubtless it may
be said with truth that any attempt on his ’part to f convert1 his wife
would at their time of life be useless ; but this we will say, many a man
imagines the difficulty far greater than it is. How often, if a husband
were quietly to explain to his wife his opinions and the grounds for them,
would he meet with a ready listener; and even should he fail to convince,
he would still have placed himself in the right position towards the
woman he has chosen for his life companion. If his own views have only
gradually opened to a wider sphere of thought, still is he not to
be at liberty to speak his thoughts ? Is free speaking to be the peculiar
privilege of the orthodox ? Are the clergy for ever to have their
own way, and is a husband in his own house to be the only person not al
lowed to express an honest opinion ? Ought not every sensible wife, in
stead of being shocked, to be gratified by the confidence shown in her
better judgment ? Her true complaint should be, of that confidence having
been so long delayed.
One cause for men not discussing these subjects with their wives may
not unfrequently be, that they have not worked out for themselves their
own faith ; they have perhaps discarded the traditional theory of religion,
they may disbelieve in miracles, but have never completely argued out the
�6
why and the wherefore with themselves ; they may not feel the force of the
dogmatic assertions that every thing is true that is in the Bible, and that
all our knowledge must be cut and shaped so as to,suit and fit into the
narrow compass of that book; but they have never seized the true argu
ment in reply; they have no clear and definite notion as to God’s
governance of the world. Consequently they feel uneasy when reproach
fully asked, ‘And where is your substitute for God’s Bible ?’ And they
think it far pleasanter to smother up their difficulties and let their wives,
who have no doubt on any one subject, and scorn, in the plenitude
of their blind faith, to notice the few little intricate difficulties in the
dogmas of the Church (difficulties which by-the-way eighteen centuries of
learned controversy have not solved), take the lead and give true orthodox
religious principles to their children. And be assured these fortun
ate children will never be allowed to suppose that any but very wicked
people, who are sure to go to hell, can hold any other views on the Catho
lic Faith.
To some of our male friends who find themselves thus situated, the
perusal of these pages may suggest a little self-examination, and the act
ing out their lives, according to the straight-forward promptings of their
reason.
The f Commandments ’ which will be found at the end of this work are
drawn up as a suggestion for a Code by which the principles of duty
may be taught to our children, in preference to the Ten Commandments
of the Jewish law, or to any selection of precepts, in the words which
tradition gives us as uttered by Christ. Apart from questions of dogma,
many of these Commandments will be accepted by the ‘orthodox.’
They necessarily illustrate the unfitness of the New Testament as a school
book, by the direct contrast which becomes evident between many of its
precepts, in their literal if not in their actual sense, and the real teaching
which we all ought to give to our children for their conduct in life,
—in one word, to make them truly ‘ righteous.’ We need however
scarcely observe that the quotations from the sayings of Christ are not
given as an attempt to decry his teaching; nor, in framing Command
ments for children who have never been crammed with the (to them) con
fusing lessons of the Old and New Testaments, would the apparently an
tagonistic reference to the sayings or precepts attributed to Christ here
introduced be at all necessary. They are, as will be seen, introduced to
counteract what is often the effect of teaching children from a collection
of books unsuited to their capacities.
We may be told that some passages, such as ‘ take no thought for to
morrow,’ and others, are not properly rendered in the authorized version
of the Bible. Our answer is, perhaps not; but if so, you, the ‘ orthodox,’
should not be so opposed as you admittedly are to an amended version,
�and until it is amended, you cannot blame us for objecting to the use of
words in a book you acknowledge to be faulty. There are nevertheless
other passages, about which no doubt as to the correctness of the transla
tion exists, and which still do not give us the proper teaching we require.
Let us, however, emphatically repeat that nothing written below is in
tended to cast contempt on the sayings of Christ here referred to. Wo
cannot be sure of the sense in which his hearers were intended to under
stand him, even if we have his very words. The language in which his
discourses have been handed down to us is the figurative, and often beau
tifully poetic, language of the East; but it is not the language in which we
want to teach our own children—still less the little plough-boys and the
girls of our country villages—their plain lessons of moral duty. Go into
any Sunday-school throughout the land, and calmly listen to the blunder
ing attempts of the well-meaning volunteer teachers, and hear what a mess
they make, what utter confusion they introduce to the children’s minds, in
stumbling overpassages which, if they explain properly, they have frequent
ly to declare mean exactly the reverse of what the words say; while, to
keep up a consistency between these words and their teaching, they have
to repeat to the children at every breath ‘ the words are figurative, are
allegorical, are spiritual/ We ask, ought this to be? Without much
presumption we may express a hope, that what is here written may give
some of these teachers a clearer view of the way in which they should, in
the words of the Church Catechism, teach a child to ‘keep God’s holy
will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of his life.’
It will be said that the language of these Commandments is not wholly
suited for children. That may be true, although the greatest care has
been taken to make the language as simple as possible. These Com
mandments are sketched out to assist parents and others in teach
ing their children—not by merely cramming by heart, but by patient
explanation and training ; and at any rate, there is nothing contradictory
in the language used, as in the passages to which we have taken excep
tion.
According to the age and development of the child, so ought the
teaching to be. It would be difficult to say how early thought does not
guide some of an infant’s acts. The infant takes food at first without
knowing the result; but before long, because it remembers the pleasure
experienced on former occasions. The child must then have formed an
idea, must have begun to think; and from that moment his education
has commenced. How ever little the parents and nurses may notice the
fact, the child, before he can speak or understand a word that is spoken,
may learn something of God’s Commandments. Through the language
of frowns and caresses, he learns the duty of obedience,—blind obedi-
�8
cnee at first, necessitated by his ignorance. Before the child can speak,
much more read, he will, in any well-regulated house, have learned much.
Even when he does begin to speak and read, how few are the words he
can understand. The difficulty of teachers is and always must be, to
adapt their language to the capacity of a child, and it is almost impossi
ble to put Commandments into words that shall be absolutely suitable to
children of all ages, and also to grown-up persons.
Here let us say a few words on obedience of children. Many parents
fear to lose their authority, if they encourage their children to think for
themselves, too early as they would say. They inculcate blind obedience,
just as the parson tries to inculcate it upon all his parishioners, whom he
would like to keep as children, in the bondage of authority, all their
lives. Why should this be so ? Is it not that the parents, through
indolence and want of proper education, have never attained to a thorough
knowledge of the reasons and principles which ought to govern their own
and their children’s conduct ? They have no faith of their own, of which
they can give a rational account. They are, moreover, afraid of tell
ing their children that they, their parents, are and must be ignorant of
many things; and, they take, as they suppose, the proper course of
teaching—by dogmatically telling the child he must do what he is bid,
without a reason; when, by a little pains, the child would obey with his
understanding, instead of on mere authority.
Instead of repressing a young child’s eager searching for a reason,
we ought to be gently leading him on with a kindly ‘ think for yourself on
all occasions, and on all subjects.’ IIow few parents dare to do this !
On the contrary, both parents and priests do just the reverse, saying,
‘ Think as I think ’—adding, when religion is the subject—‘ under pain of
loss of your eternal happiness ; ’ and thus they crush out that early instinct
implanted in all of us; for the child will think for himself if only encour
aged, instead of being snubbed. We are almost inclined to say, that nearly
the only independent thoughts of many men have been those of their in
fancy.
We trust, in conclusion, that nothing in this pamphlet will be taken
as intentionally offensive to the clergy. We number among them many
as our truest friends, and gratefully acknowledge the zeal of the whole
body in good works ; nevertheless, we look forward to the time when,
set free from the trammels of dogmatic authority, and no longer feeling
bound to expend their energies in ‘ reconciling ’ old books and fables
with the facts of modern science, they will join still more heartily with the
laity in aiding the intellectual and moral development of the human race.
�9
THE COMMANDMENTS,
ACCORDING TO MOSES AND TO CHRIST.
If the question be asked how many Commandments has God given to
us, the almost invariable answer, in the stereotyped words of the catechism,
will be, ‘ Ten/
Few of those making such an answer will have ever troubled them
selves with a thought on the subject. Satisfied with what they learnt like
parrots, when children, ‘ on their mothers’ laps,’ they have taken for
granted that what is said in the Prayer Book is the correct, the only
possible answer to the question.
Now let us ask, Has God given us ten, and only ten, or as many as ten
Commandments ? Many in reply will refer to the Decalogue as conclu
sive ; but let us hope that this answer will not continue to satisfy us and
our children.
It is true that Moses is said to have received Ten ; but on the face of
the Pentateuch itself it is impossible to say exactly what the Ten were, for,
as we shall see below, there are at least two * differing versions even of
these Ten. And, moreover, the Pentateuch contains many more Com
mandments said to have been given by God himself to Moses. The
* Besides the versions of the Decalogue in the xx. chap, of Exodus and in the
v. chap, of Deuteronomy, we find in the xxxiv. chap, of Exodus a third version.
This version is declared to have been delivered, quite as authoritatively as the
other two, by God to Moses. Here we will merely notice that it gives Sab
batical Commandments which, if any such are binding on Christians, must be
equally so with the 4th in the xx. chap, of Exodus.
v. 18. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt
eat» unleavened bread.
v. 21. Six days thou slialt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest : in
earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
v. 22. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat
harvest and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
2 '
�10
question remains, ought a Christian to be satisfied with merely looking
for God's Commandments in the Old Testament ? Should he not give
a preference to what he may find in the New Testament as uttered by
Christ, the founder of his religion ?
Let us compare the Decalogues given in Exodus and Deuteronomy
with the Commandments given in the New Testament.
The Commandments recorded as The Commandments recorded in the
given to Moses—written by God
Gospels—as declared by Christ.
HIMSELF IN TWO TABLETS OF STONE.
From Exodus xx. 2—16.
From Mark xii. 28.
And one of the Scribes asked
him, which is the first Com
mandment of all ? (or, as
quoted in Matt. xxii. 36,
which is the great Command
ment in the Law ?) And Jesus
answered him, The first of all
the Commandments is:
1. I am the Lord thy God, which have 1. f Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our
brought thee out of the land of
God is one Lord, and thou shalt
Egypt, out of the house of bond
love the Lord thy God with all thy
age. Thou shalt have no other
heart and with all thy soul and
gods before me.
with all thy mind and with all thy
strength.' This is the first (and
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee
‘ great' in Matt.) Commandment.
any graven image, or any likeness
[This command is taken by
of any thing that is in heaven
Christ from Deut. vi. 5.
above, or that is in the earth be
Omitting all reference to the
neath, or that is in the water
land of Egypt, it is of uni
under the earth. Thou shalt not
versal application alike to
bow down thyself to them, nor
Jew and Gentile; while, to
serve them : for I the Lord thy
quote the words of the author
God am a jealous God, visiting
of the ‘ Sabbath,' ‘ it far more
*
the iniquity of the fathers upon
distinctly proclaims the unity
the children, unto the third and
of God, and it enjoins what
fourth generation of them that
the Commandment in the
hate me, and shewing mercy unto
Decalogue does not, — the
thousands of them that love me,
Christian duty of Love to
and keep my commandments.
God.']
3. Thou shalt not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain : for the
Lord will not hold him guiltless
* See a reference to this work in the
that taketh his name in vain.
note to page 13.
�11
4. Remember the Sabbath-day, to
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work. But
the seventh day is the Sabbath of
the Lord thy God: in it thou
shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates : For in six
days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them
is, and rested the seventh day :
wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
And the second is like it: name
ly, this—■
2. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself.
[This command is taken by
Christ from Lev. xix. 18.]
There is none other greater than
these (Mark xii. 28—31).
On these two Commandments
hang all the law and the Prophets
(Matt. xxii. 36—40).
A new Commandment give I
unto you, that ye love one another
(Jno. xiii. 34).
In all the four Gospels not one
word can be found, as uttered by
Christ, in favour of keeping one
day holy above the others, or
against doing work on the Jewish
Sabbath, nor for change of the
Sabbath from the seventh to the
first day of the week, nor for hon
ouring him or God by the observ
ance of days. On the contrary,
Christ is reported as having on
some occasions worked or com
manded unnecessary work to be
done on the Sabbath day. Christ
*
evidently held different views from
* Plucking corn, Matt. xii. 1 ; Mark ii. 23; Luke vi. 1. Christ did not
deny that this was a breach of the Sabbath; but defended his disciples by quoting
David’s act as a precedent.
Healing on the Sabbath day a woman who had been ill for 18 years, and who
could well have waited one day longer. Luke xiii. 12, 13.
The impotent man takes up his bed, and thus deliberately, by Christ’s orders,
did unnecessary work (John v. 8). It could not even have been necessary for
him to do so to show that he was cured. The cure must have been evident
without his carrying a burden,—contrary to God’s injunction in Jeremiah xvii. 21.
1 Jesus spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the
eyes of the blind man with the clay’ (John ix. 6). Clearly, however trifling,
this was unnecessary work for one who is believed to have been God omnipotent.
Christ, again, joined a large feast on the Sabbath. Luke xiv. 1, 7—12.
�12
those of our modern English and
But in the version given in
Scotch Sabbatarian. Christ’s great
Deut. v. 14, the reason stated
apostle Paul also distinctly tells
for this Commandment is
his Christian converts that they
quite different.
need not observe days.
*
‘ That thy manservant and thy
It is possibly on this ground, that
maidservant may rest as well as
in the Catechism no reference is
thou. And remember that thou
made, either in the summary of our
wast a servant in the land of
duty to God or to our neighbour,
Egypt, and that the Lord thy God
to any obligation to observe one
brought tliec out thence through
day above another.
a mighty hand and by a stretched
out arm : therefore the Lord thy And from Mark x. 17 ;
And one asked him, Good
God commanded thee to keep the
Master, what shall I do that I
Sabbath day?
may inherit eternal life ? And
Jesus said unto him—Why
callest thou me good ; there is
none good but one, that is
God. Thou knowest the Comman dm ent s.f
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 3. Do not commit adultery.
4. Do not kill.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
5. Do not steal.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness 6. Do not bear false witness.
7. Defraud not.
against thy neighbour.
The 10th Commandment of the
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neigh
bour’s house, thou shalt not covet Decalogue is not referred to by
thy neighbour’s wife, nor his man Christ. He may have considered
servant, nor his maidservant, that his far more universal Com
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any mandment of ‘Love your neighbour’
thing that is thy neighbour’s.
was sufficient.
* ‘ Let no man, therefore, judge you in respect of an holyday, or of the New
Moon, or of the Sabbath days.’ Colos. ii. 1G.
‘O foolish Galatians (iii. 1), how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly ele
ments whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days and months
and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour
in vain.’ Gal. iv.
t What an opportunity was here lost by Jesus of enforcing the keeping
of the Sabbath if he had intended to enforce it,—an opportunity that our
modern Divines would only too gladly avail themselves of.
�13
5. Honour thy father and thy 8. Honour thy father and mother.
mother that thy days may be long
[It is surely better to teach
upon the land which the Lord
this Commandment as given
thy God giveth thee.
by Christ than with the ad
In the version given in Deu
dition of such a weak or in
teronomy the ground sug
complete ground as we find
gested for keeping this Com
in Exodus.] *
mandment varies from that in
Exodus, and is more explicit.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
as the Lord thy God hath com
manded thee, that thy days may
And he answered and said,
be prolonged, and that it may go
Master, all these things have
well with thee in the land which
I observed from my youth.
the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Then Jesus beholding him,
Deut. v. 16.
loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest. [If
thou wilt be perfect, Matt,
xix. 21.]
9. Go thy way; sell whatsoever
thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven.
A Commandment set aside in
our day, not only by the very
rich, as this man is repre
sented to have been, but by
Christians in general.
In addition to the nine Commandments here selected from Christ’s
teaching, and which Christians may be recommended to use as being his
substitute for the Decalogue, we find many more quite as solemnly laid
down by Christ as of universal obligation. Let us refer to Matt. v. and
vi., in which Christ in the Sermon on the Mount is represented as giving
new Commandments.
* If the reader of this pamphlet cares to look further into the parallel here
drawn between what maybe called Christ’s substitute for the Decalogue, and to
satisfy himself that the Decalogue was written for the Jews and not for Chris
tians, he is referred to ‘ The Sabbath ’ (Chapman and Hall, 1855), vol. ii., in the
first chap, of which, the Mosaic Sabbath is very fully considered.
�14
10. Swear not at all—but let your
communication be yea, yea, nay,
nay.
11. Resist not evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also.
12. Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neigh
bour and hate thine enemy : but
I say unto you f Love your
enemies?
13. When thou prayest enter into
thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door pray to thy Father
which is in secret.
14. But when ye pray use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do.
15. Take no thought, saying, What
shall we eat and what shall we
drink, or wherewithal shall we be
clothed ? Take no thought for
the morrow. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof.
And from Luke vi. 80.
16. Give to every man that asketh
of thee, and of him that taketh
away thy goods ask them not
again.
Some of these are wisely ignored by Christians at the present day ;
while two which might be obeyed, with no detriment—if with no positive
good, namely, (1) praying in secret only and not parading- prayers in
churches, and, (2) not using vain repetitions in praying—are universally
disobeyed by the great body of professing Christians.
Christ, therefore, at any rate did not confine himself to Ten; ac
cording to the Catechism, he did not give the proper reply to the ques
tion. He nevei’ repeated all the Commandments of the Decalogue.
For anything that Christ is reported to have uttered, he need not even have
been aware of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 10th Commandment of the
Decalogue, as handed down to us ; or of the statement in Deuteronomy
that the Ten Commandments were written by God himself in two tables of
stone. Even in giving out those Commandments of the Law which he
�15
did refer to, lie did not repeat them in the order in which they stand in
the Decalogue; and on the subject of the 4th and the 5th Commandments,
he certainly has not enlightened us as to which is the true version,—the
true Commandments, written in the tables of stone.
It is singular that Christians should not have sufficient faith in the
words of their Saviour to adopt his express teaching on the subject of
Commandments. For example, had they such faith, they would not now,
running back to the ‘weak and beggarly elements ’ of the Jewish Scrip
tures, repeat every Sunday they are at church such a Commandment as
the 4th, never uttered by Christ, and which not one of them attempts to
keep, in its strict letter and meaning,—that of absolute cessation from
work and nothing else.
*
We may here remark that the Catechism errs not only in limiting
the number of God’s Commandments, expressly contrary to the teaching of
Christ; but it further makes the child declare that he learns from these
Ten Commandments what no one ever could learn from them. What is
laid down in the Catechism as the child’s duty is a very fair summary of
moral law and duty as believed in and practised by many at the present
day; but to say that the child or grown-up person ‘chiefly learns’ from the
Ten Commandments all that is there put down is not true. Where do we
find in the Ten a word about ‘ submitting ourselves to our spiritual pastors
and masters ’ ? or ‘ ordering ourselves lowly and reverently to our
betters’ ? or ‘keeping our bodies in temperance and soberness’'?
* See on this point ‘ The Sabbath,’ vol. ii. p. 179.
�16
THE COMMANDMENTS,
WHICH BELIEVERS IN A GOD, WILLINGLY CALLING THEMSELVES CHRIS
TIANS, MAY CONSIDER OBLIGATORY UPON THEM.
Turning now to the realities of life, we will look at the Commandments
from our own point of view.
Surveying dispassionately the history of religious opinion through
all ages of the world, we perceive that, notwithstanding all the assump
tions of infallibility by Popes and Ecclesiastics in general, there
has been a constant progress in religious belief. We also per
ceive that the saying of old, that ‘ God made Man in his own image/
should be replaced by the real fact that ‘ Man has always been and
is still making God in his own image ’; that as human knowledge
increases, as our ideas of what is right and noble and true go on
improving, so do our ideas of what a perfect God must be. We have long
since given up the crude notion of an angry and jealous God—of a God
who was ready to walk in a Garden on earth, and to come at the call of
every patriarch who chose to summon him,—and though kings and earthly
potentates may still invoke the God of Battles in their prayers, and Arch
bishops and Bishops may still write prayers on cattle plagues and cholera,
deprecating God’s wrath, and urging him to interfere and abrogate his
own laws at the call of man, we express the hope that the days of such
mistaken attempts to honour God are numbered, and that the time is
rapidly coming when true science or knowledge shall have swept away
these lingering superstitions of bygone ages.
And what is prayer—the only prayer fitted for educated minds,—un
less it be, in the spirit of the Axiom stated below, an earnest searching
after and earnest endeavour to obey all the unchanging laws, moral as well
as physical, which govern this world? In this sense alone can ‘prayer with
out ceasing ’ be possible. In this sense men of science, though possibly
never entering a church built by the hands of man, may be constantly
offering up their ‘praise and thanksgiving’ to the Unknown ‘whose
temple is all space/ and ‘ with whom/ as was well said several hundred
years ago, ‘ is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’
The Commandments which we, who have not been brought out of the
land of Egypt, and who are not Israelites, but the descendants of Gen
tiles, may believe to be binding on us, though not given out, as the
Ten Commandments are said to have been, on the top of Mount Sinai, are
�17
such as we now derive from the united wisdom and experience accumu
lated by mankind during the past and present ages.
Our only AXIOM is this :—
It is our duty with all our energies to ascertain the laws, both moral
and physical, which govern this world and ourselves; to be constantly
endeavouring to obey these laws when ascertained, and never to
hesitate to give up an opinion or belief on what is called religion, any
more than on any other subject, if we find that that opinion or belief,
even though handed down to us from very ancient times, is inconsist
ent with our better knowledge at the present day.
Acting up to this axiom we accept St John’s declaration, (Little
children, let no man deceive you : he that doeth righteousness is right
eous,’ 1 John iii. 7. We also readily accept, as a bond of brotherhood
between Christ and ourselves, his declaration in Matt. xii. 50, f Whoso
ever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my
brother, and sister, and mother.’ Looking also to Christ’s earnest en
deavour to enforce the law ‘ Love your neighbour as yourself,’ we
desire to be called Christians, although we may utterly repudiate all
the miraculous stories of the Old and New Testaments,—although we may
utterly repudiate any belief in a personal Devil, just as we do in witch
craft,—and although we admit neither sacraments nor priests of any
kind, and look upon the miscellaneous books bound up together and
called the Bible as entitled to no more respect than what is due to them
as ancient records of what men have believed and have felt in former ages.
We differ from the priests of all denominations and the self-styled
orthodox in this ; that, while believing much that is in the Bible, we be
lieve nothing merely because it is in the Bible. We seek enlightenment
in the place of dogmatic assurance, and we accept the declaration of the
man of science, who, to use the words of Professor Huxley (in his lecture
on improving Natural Knowledge, delivered at St Martin’s Hall, London,
on Sunday evening, 7th January, 1866), f absolutely refuses to acknow
ledge authority as such ; for him scepticism is the highest duty, blind
faith the one unpardonable sin. The man of science has learnt to believe
in justification, not by faith, but by verification.’ Our faith may be
described as a simple ‘ Faith in Works.’
The Commandment which we may state includes all others is to (love
thy neighbour as thyself.’ This was, so far as we have any record, first
laid down, not by Christ, as many suppose, but in Levit. xix. 18; but
there its meaning was narrowed by the words which follow, ‘ Thou shalt
hate thine enemy.’ Christ could truly say to the Jews that he gave it to
them as ‘a new Commandment,’ earnestly endeavouring to counteract
the narrow teaching in Leviticus by telling his hearers to love their
�18
enemies, and showing here and elsewhere, that by ‘neighbour* we should
understand every human being. Five hundred years before Christ, Con
fucius, the great Chinese Philosopher, wrote the precept, ‘Do unto another
what thou would he should do unto you, and do not unto another what
thou would not should be done unto you. Thou only needest this Law
alone. It is the foundation and principle of all the rest? The heathen,
*
Seneca, also said ‘ Live for another as you would live for yourself? Now
we do not accept even this Commandment because it was uttered by Moses,
by Confucius, by Christ, or by Seneca, but because all our experience
teaches us that, whether uttered by them or not, it is, in complete accord
ance with the above Axiom, a true law of God;—for the more we study the
laws of this world, both moral and physical, the more do we find that the
happiness of ourselves and of our fellow-creatures—in one word, our
well-being in this life—is intended to be the great object of our existence
here, and that the real happiness of each individual is dependent on the
happiness of others; that a man cannot be truly happy if those around
him are miserable. It may be added that by acting thus, and only thus,
by really loving ourselves and our neighbours, can we show reverence and
love to that mysterious ‘ unknown/—that, to us in our present state,
incomprehensible Power which we call GOD, and believe to have, in
some way wholly beyond our capacity to imagine, created the Universe,
of which our little world is the merest atom.
We therefore, to prevent a possible misapprehension of Christ’s
meaning, would alter the order in which in selecting the two Command
ments from Deut. vi. 6, and Lev. xix. 18, he is recorded as having placed
them, and would say : ‘ first, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, and
by so doing (secondly) thou wilt, and in this way only canst thou, show thy
love to God? In this sense love to God may be said to be the first (mean
ing by the first the ‘ greatest/ Matt. xx. 38) Commandment.
Only think of the cruelties and murders practised by Christians in all
ages under the plea of ‘ first love God/ and we shall agree how important
is the alteration in the order of the two Commandments as here suggested.
What were the Crusades and all the religious wars since the commence
ment of the Christian Era—all the martyrdoms and persecutions of Pro
testants by Catholics, and no less of Catholics by Protestants; and in a
less degree, what are all the bitter persecutions and religious feuds and
heart-burnings of the present day, but miserable, mistaken attempts to
love and honour God by hating and ill-using instead of loving our neigh
bour ?
* Confucius also said, ‘ Desire not the death of thine enemy. We may have
an aversion for an enemy, without desiring revenge? This probably is the doc
trine practically held by most Christians at the present day, of whom it would
be a stretch of imagination to say that they consider it a duty to llove their
enemies.’
�19
THE COMMANDMENTS.
1. Love your neighbour as yourself. Do unto others as you, in the
exercise of your best intelligence, think they ought to do unto you.
And how ought I to love myself? This is a question not generally put
to children. The duty itself is not properly enforced—but is rather depre
cated under the fear of inculcating ' selfishness.’ The following may be
stated as some of the laws, without obedience to which it is impossible to
say, ( I truly love myself?
2. Parents.—As a parent or guardian of children, so instruct and
educate them, and so conduct yourself, that they may learn to honour
and obey you, and prepare themselves in their turn to instruct their chil
dren, without troubling themselves too much whether ‘their days may be
long’ or short, but taking every pains that 'it may go well with them’
in the land of their birth or adoption; and that they may, in learning to hon
our and obey you, in your imperfection, learn still more to reverence and
obey that perfect Power, which is revealing itself continuously in the
works of the Creation, and which we worship as God, the Father Uni
versal.
The Hebrews of old said, the sins of the parents are visited on the chil
dren unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate God.
While rejecting the idea implied by the literal statement of a jealous God
punishing mankind for merely hating him, we accept these words partly as
meaning, If you do not obey the laws of God, but disobey them either
through wilfulness or ignorance, the consequences of your conduct or
your bad example will, by God’s unvarying laws, injure not only yourself
but also your children. Remember too that your neglect of your children
will react upon yourself.
Assist also in educating the poor—those whom their parents are
unable or neglectful themselves to educate. Be to them as a parent, where
opportunity offers. All of us are liable to suffer, and arc constantly suffer
ing through the ignorance of what are called the lower classes, although
this effect of their ignorance is very generally overlooked.
3. Health.—Will ye ‘ take no thought for your health, what ye shall
eat and what ye shall drink; and for your body, what ye shall put on ? ’
Matt. vi. 25. On the contrary, study the laws which govern your body
and your mind. Make yourself well acquainted with the beauty of that
wonderful piece of mechanism, that temple in which you dwell and which
constitutes your ' self,’ and strive to preserve it in perfect health as your
most valued treasure—'that it may be well with you’ on this earth.
�20
Though Solomon’s finery, made by human hands, was not so wonderful
as the lily, yet Solomon’s body without any clothing at all was at least as
glorious, and so is your own naked body, as any lily of the field or any
other of the comparatively simple works of creation.
Do no injury wilfully to your own body, nor to that of any man or
creature. ‘ If thine eye cause thee to offend’ (Matt. v. 29 and 30) ever so
much, do not pluck it out; ‘ if thine hand offend thee,’ do not cut it off;
but keep both eye and hand, both body and mind, under proper control.
You cannot ‘cut off’ the real offender, your brain and will.
In the carelessness for health, we continually find the sins of the parents
visited on the children, as instanced by madness, gout, and other diseases
properly called hereditary. Without health you are incapable of doing
your duty, and you become a burden to those whom you ought to protect
and to comfort. Thus fasting is no duty to us. We must take the greatest
care to get good food, though never eating or drinking too much ; while if
we purposely eat or drink too little, simply to ‘ mortify the flesh,’ we do
an injury to our health, and thus do wrong.
Remember also that mind or soul and body are one. You cannot
separate what God has truly joined together. A strong and healthy body
enables the mind to act healthily. A weak body tyrannizes over the mind.
4. Conduct.—Form good habits when young. Think for yourself.
Study to do right. Do not be misled by the common notion that what
is called ‘ Conscience ’ is an intuitive ’faculty or gift at your birth which
will develope itself without effort on your part. As a child gradually
learns to stand upright, wholly unconscious of the slight mental and
bodily effort still necessary to sustain him in that position, so by the care
ful exercise and training of his moral and intellectual powers may a man
gradually learn to judge, almost unconscious of an effort, when he is act
ing uprightly or otherwise. Watch over this faculty continually so as to
keep it, like the rest of your bodily and mental powers, in an ever
healthy state. Be just; be industrious, frugal, and careful, thus avoiding
*
debt (understand by this word inability to fulfil your engagements) as the
greatest shame, and becoming a self-supporting member of the community
in which you live. Be sober, be temperate, be chaste, controlling your
passions and preserving your health; but if you are struck on one
cheek (Matt. v. 39) do not offer the other cheek to be struck. Or if
a man takes your coat (Matt. v. 40), do not let him have your cloak
also; of him that taketh away thy goods, do ask for them again (Luke
vi. 30). If a man wastes your time by making you walk a mile with him
* The reader is referred on this question to an able treatise, A Discourse on
Ethics of the School of Paley, by W. Smith, Esq. London, Pickering, 1839.
8vo, price 3s. Gd.
�21
(Matt. v. 41), do not add to his folly and your own by walking two with
him. On the contrary, and notwithstanding what is said in Matt. v. 39,
< resist evil ’ always to the best of your ability. If injured by another,
strive to have him punished, that his conduct may be amended.
Be considerate of the feelings and opinions of others; but still be not
frightened out of plainly expressing your honest convictions either from
false delicacy towards others who differ from you or from a fear of their
coldness or hatred. Never give way to anger in discussion. Be moie
particularly guarded when the question is a religious one, for here its very
importance is apt to excite. The inclination to anger may anse fiom
vanity rather than zeal for the truth, and should warn you that you are
possibly in error or have not mastered the subject.
Judge others, that in so doing you may learn to judge yourself. While
obeying the injunction, Mudge not, and ye shall not be judged; con
demn not, and ye shall not be condemned’ (Luke vi. 37), to the extent
of not blaming others where, as constantly happens, you cannot know all
the motives of their acts ; do not think that by judging leniently of others,
you will escape f judgment/ or the consequences of your own folly or
wickedness.
Moreover be not deceived! Justice may be, but mercy, in the usual sense
of the word, is not an attribute of that Great Power which governs and con
trols this world. Punishment, either direct or indirect, in the depriva
tion more or less of that state of well-being for which we are fitted, at
tends every breach of God’s laws, physical or moral. Neither ignorance
nor good intention can be pleaded with success. The infant that burns
its hand in the fire or falls out of window, suffers punishment, without
mercy. The man who swallows poison, believing it to be medicine—
and the man who, knowingly, drinks strong liquors in excess, equally suffer
for their acts ; and so does the man who gives way to his passions, whether
he has, or has not, had the advantage of a good education. For a
definition of what may in one sense be called mercy, we might quote the
Psalmist, ‘ Thou, Lord, art mercifdl; for thou rewardest every man ac
cording to his works/ Psalm lxii. 12. The true mercy shown is the gift
of reason, which enables us by care and foresight to protect ourselves and
our children from nearly all suffering. For the rest, we must be con
tented, seeing that all things are not possible even to a God. How can
we be free-agents, and yet be secured against all suffering from our own
acts and the acts of other free-agents like ourselves ?
5. Language, Truthfulness, and Oaths.—Strive for the greatest accu
racy in expressing yourself, and early teach your children the true mean
ing of the words they utter, and urge on them the importance of correct
expression. A child is often made unhappy from inability accurately to con
�22
vey its meaning; and through life what constant quarrels and misery, among
even those who ought to be nearest and dearest to each other, arise from
carelessness or inaccuracy in the use of language.
Speak the truth at all hazards ; but do not suppose it to be a duty to say
at all times every thing you happen to believe. When called upon in a
court of justice to give evidence, do not accept the direction "Swear not
at alP (Matt. v. 34) literally; but swear or promise in the way that other
men may think most binding on the conscience, even though you feel that
in thus doing you in no way increase your obligation to speak the truth,
and nothing but the truth.
6. Promises.—Keep your promises, unless in keeping them you are
committing a greater error than in breaking them; but to avoid the dis
grace of breaking a promise, be extremely guarded in making any pro
mises at all. You are not able to foretell what may happen, and you may
find you cannot keep rash promises. Who but the most infatuated would
now hold up Jephtha’s slaughter of his only daughter, on account of a
rash and superstitious promise, as any thing but a fouL murder, an abom
inable wickedness ?
7. Property.—Lay up for yourselves treasures here (Matt. vi. 19).
Take thought for to-morrow, so that you may be able not only to keep
yourself and your children from want and bodily suffering, and conse
quent ill health; but may have a surplus for those who through real mis
fortune, or mental or bodily incapacity, have need of assistance. Bear
always in mind that although two of us shall agree to ask something
(Matt, xviii. 19), it is not true that God will grant it merely for the asking.
Nor if, like fowls of the air, none of us sow nor reap, nor gather into
barns, shall we be fed as they (Matt. vi. 26) ; but we shall starve, and de
servedly so. Though God has clothed us with a body more beautiful
and complex in its structure than any lily of the field (Matt. vi. 28),
still his having done so is no reason for supposing that we shall have,
without proper exertions on our own part, proper clothing to protect us
from the inclemency of the weather. The lilies of the field want no
clothing; but you will die of cold unless you clothe yourself.
8. Charity.—Do not e sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the
poor’ (Luke xviii. 22); for if you do, you will only increase improvidence
and want. On the contrary, never ‘ give to him that asks you ’ (Matt. v.
42), merely because he asks you; neither give to the poor merely because
they are poor. Rather suspect that the beggar is an unworthy object;
and remember that the giving alms to such a one is a bad act on your
part (prompted by your own ill-regulated impulsiveness), for it is—not
�23
only an encouragement to idleness, but a discouragement to the industri
ous neighbour of that beggar, and increases the evil you thus thought
lessly try to remedy.
Neither purposely give your alms ‘in secret,’ relying on the promised
reward in Matt. vi. 4; rather attend to the instructions to ‘ let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works ’ (Matt. v. 16).
Alms openly and judiciously given, will offer an example and encourage
ment to your neighbour to do likewise. Still give not alms ostentatiously
nor in expectation of praise or of mercenary reward here or hereafter. If
the knowledge that you are doing good to a neighbour is not a sufficient
reward, you must have been very badly trained as a child.
Probably the greatest real charity you can bestow is to assist in
having the children of those who are unable or indifferent, properly
trained and taught, so that ‘ they may learn and labour truly to get
their own living, and do their duty in that state of life’ in which they
may be placed, or to which they may attain by their own intelligence.
9. Observance.of Days.—Keep each day as holy as any other;—God,
in the only way we can see him, namely, in his works, works every day
alike ; He never rests. Vary your occupations, arrange them as may be
expedient (‘ all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expe
dient,’ St Paul in 1 Cor. vi. 12) ; but your work in life—working
righteousness—must be continuous as God’s is.
*
* Freed from superstitious observance of days as being one more holy than
another, such an institution as a periodical cessation from ordinary work
is eminently ‘ expedient ’ among a hard-working people, so expedient that as
mankind grows in wisdom neither the penalty of death enacted by Moses nor the
5s. fine of our modern legislation will be wanted to enforce it. The Sunday as a
day more particularly set apart by man for assembling together, either in public
or private, for worship, or for moral instruction and training, which if true must
be religious,—for family and social reunions and intercourse,—and for the enjoy
ment of healthy recreation, bodily exercise, and innocent amusement,—may be
an institution of the utmost importance for promoting the love of ourselves
and our neighbours.
We have to remember, however, that the real rest given by God to man is the
portion of time allotted to sleep. If it were not that man commits excesses in
labour, both mental and bodily, periodical days of rest would certainly not be
necessary, however enjoyable. A proper amount of labour judiciously varied in
its kind every day in the year would be quite as conducive to health ; but just
as a man, who commits excesses in eating and drinking all the week long, may
recruit himself by abstinence on one day in the week, so may we, in the present
state of society, be in every respect benefited by a cessation from labour.
Let us remember also that the artisan, shut out by the superstition of the age
from national museums, picture galleries, botanical gardens, and other places
�21
10. Idolatry.—‘ Little children, keep yourselves from idols’ (1 John
v. 21). Avoid Idolatry in any form, whether it be in making an idol of
one day over another, or of a book, of an idea, or of a man. Accept
a belief from no man. To adopt or to hold a belief because it is written
in a book, or because a man or a church, in olden times or at the present
day, declares it to be true, is idolatry and superstition just as much as to
fall down before a stone, a picture, a graven image, a piece of bread, or a
wafer, and worship it. Think for yourself, unfettered, and undismayed
by the fear of consequences, or by the knowledge that the multitude is
against you. If you wish for a saying of Christ in support of this, re
member the passage (Matt. x. 35), ‘ for I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.’
If you thus obey the command to love yourself and your neighbour
alike, you will, in the only way possible to man, show your real love to
GOD, and you may truly say with the Deuteronomist—
‘The Lord our God is one Lord, whom we love with all our
heart, and with all our mind, and with all our strength.’
In conclusion, we would ask our Christian neighbours to think for
themselves, whether it would not be better to teach their children even
from such a code of Commandments as is here imperfectly sketched out,
than from those of the Jewish Decalogue. We would also ask them
whether they would not prefer that their children should, on their en
trance into the world, have some such plain and simple guidance for
their inexperience, in the place of solemnly binding themselves to believe,
most usually without pretence of understanding them, three Creeds, differ
ing one from another, and the present Thirty-nine Articles of our National
Church ? In the one case they will be free to use their God-given
faculty of reason; in the other, they will grow up under a crushing bond
age, slaves to a priesthood and their barbarous anathema, ‘ To doubt is
damnation ! ’
How can a Church be truly national, if it does not permit the widest
differences on questions of mere intellectual belief !
where he might have a chance of learning God’s ways to man—has a perfect right
to spend the Sunday in his ordinary employment, and far better will it be that
he should do so than in mere idleness.
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
�
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Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
God's commandments according to Moses, according to Christ, and according to our present knowledge: a sketch suggestive of a new Westminster Confession of Faith for the laity of the 19th century
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 24 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by John Childs and Son. "Addressed to all who deem it their highest duty as well as right to "think for themselves" [Title page].
Publisher
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N. Trubner & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1867
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5267
Subject
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Presbyterianism
God
Creator
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[Unknown]
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (God's commandments according to Moses, according to Christ, and according to our present knowledge: a sketch suggestive of a new Westminster Confession of Faith for the laity of the 19th century), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Conway Tracts
God
Moses
Presbyterian Church
Westminster Confession of Faith