A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it, contained in these words, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments; are, besides God’s sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship, as being a spiritual whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and esteeming the observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and promising mercy to them unto many generations.

Q. Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Q. What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requires, That the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordinances, the Word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his works, and whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing; by an holy profession, and answerable conversation, to the glory of God, and the good of ourselves, and others.

(Questions CX, CXI and CXII of the Westminster Larger Catechism.)

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

An tiny imperfection which spoils the whole.

A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again united to their souls. Whereas the souls of the wicked are at their death cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.

(Question LXXXVI of the Westminster Larger Catechism.)

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

Enjoy life…

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

The NIV gives a good modern day translation for this one: There is a time for everything…

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Self-explanatory really – there’s nothing new.

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Speaking gently will not cause another to be angry.

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

Double the trouble!

Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

To express a sense of grief.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

To be perplexed

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

An idiomatic way to say seventy, generally in relation to the length in years of a persons life.

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

To go from a position of strength, to an ever stronger position of strength.

They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

To perish, to die.

“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.”

May I be judged.

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

To be in deep anguish…