54 THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS. For this sinful, degrading act, the people were severely chastised by the Almighty, though at the intercession of Moses they were saved from total extermination. Again Moses went up into the mountain at the command of Jehovah, and again he remained there forty days and forty nights, and once more 66 were the ten commandments, written with the finger of God on two tables of stone, committed to his charge. With these, as well as with fresh instructions touching the observance of the Sabbath, and an abstinence from idolatry, God sent him down to the congregation; and such was the halo shed around him, that for some time after his return, no man could look upon his countenance unveiled." The injunctions delivered to mankind in the primitive age of the world, were, probably, simple in the extreme. As in a state of innocence, our first parents were required not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so after the fall, they may have been commanded to love their God supremely, and to be kind and affectionate in their intercourse with each other. In fact, the ten commandments are only intended to enforce this duty of love to God and love to man. And we are to consider them in no other light than as ramifications of those two sublime precepts: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself," as applied to the various cases of human conduct, in which the important relations of man, as a religious and social being, are apt to be forgotten. We have the testimony of Christ himself to bear us out in this assertion, for he says: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." When we speak of laws, we refer to those rules or principles of action established by competent authority, to regulate the conduct of free agents. They may be divided into positive and negative; the former requiring the discharge of duty, the latter prohibiting every species of conduct that does not tend to promote the general good. God alone possesses the original right of establishing laws here on earth, though he has delegated this right to others. Thus parents have authority over their own children; servants are expected to render obedience to their masters, and legislators are empowered to regulate the government of nations. All human laws, however, to be strictly legal, that is to be legal in a moral, which is the highest sense, must be based on the law of God, else they are not binding on man as a moral being. Thus, though persecution, cruelty and idolatry may become legalized in one sense, they can never become so in another. Though they may be perfectly consistent with the policy of nations, they cannot be consistent with the moral law of the Creator. The Ten Commandments. These commandments are recorded in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, as well as the fifth of Deuteronomy. They are called "the Law," and are eminently distinguished as the standard of all virtuous conduct, and as the basis of all those just and upright regulations which Q. What are laws? How divided? Who possess the right of giving laws? What ought to be the basis of all human laws? Are human laws obligatory, if opposed to the law of God? Where are the ten commandments recorded? What do we call the ten commandments? 56 THE CEREMONIAL LAW. serve to secure harmony in civil community, and promote happiness in social intercourse. As Harnisch expresses it, they contain the kernel of all the divine laws.' This law is denominated holy-1. In reference to its divine author. 2. In reference to its contents, and 3. In reference to its design. The ten commandments are generally divided into the first and second tables. The first three commandments, comprising the first table, relate to the duty we owe our Creator-the last seven, which belong to the second table, have reference to the duty we owe our fellows. They are also divided into positive and negative. The third and fourth, which are positive, mark out a certain course of conduct to be pursued the rest, which are negative, prohibit certain actions, morally wrong. Though the ceremonial law has been annulled, without a question, under the new dispensation, having fully answered the purpose for which it was originally given to the Jews, yet there can be as little doubt that the moral law is binding on every member of the Church of Christ. For the Redeemer himself gives it his sanction when he says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil;" or, as the original word may be more appropriately rendered, to ratify, or establish. And besides, he has illustrated the meaning of the moral law, and plainly enforced obedience to its precepts in his sermon on the mount. (Matt. v. vi. vii.) It is true Christ did not give Q. Why are they denominated holy? How are they generally divided? Which of the commandments are requirements? Which prohibitions? Are the commandments binding on Christians as well as Jews? What law has been annulled? Where did the Saviour state particularly the manner in which the ten commandments are to be observed? MOTIVES OF OBEDIENCE. 57 to the moral law its popular interpretation. He raised the standard of moral obligation, and taught in opposition to prevailing sentiment, that injuries and private wrongs were not to be avenged, and that the spirit of the law demanded the exercise of long-suffering and forbearance. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."(Matt. v. 38, 39.) The sum and essence of the ten commandments are, love to God and love to man. To enforce this duty of giving our best affections to the Creator, and of promoting to the extent of our power, the present and eternal happiness of our fellow beings, is the grand object of the whole moral code. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matt. xxii. 37, 40.) Hence, Luther begins the explanation of each commandment with the phrase: "We should so love and fear God." Obedience to the divine law should therefore spring 1. From motives of affection. We should so love God as to walk in the way of his commandments. We should love him in view of the loveliness of his character; his lofty and adorable perfections. We should also love him in view of his goodness, displayed in our creation, in Q. How did the obedience which he required differ from what the Jews in his day considered the fulfilment of the law? What are the sum and essence of the ten commandments? From what must our obedience spring? 58 THE HEATHEN RESPONSIBLE our preservation, and especially in our Redemption. (1 John, iv. 19.) Feelings of gratitude should induce us to obey the will of our heavenly Father. If the love of God is thus shed abroad in our hearts, it is evident, from the testimony of Christ himself, that it will be our delight to pursue the path of moral duty. "If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (1 John, v. 3.) 2. Obedience to the divine law should also spring from fear. Not that emotion of dread, experienced by the slave, whenever he thinks of the cruel inflictions of his task-master, and which is entirely incompatible with every feeling of affection; but that reverence which we entertain toward the great and the good, and which leads us to respect their will, and to fear their disapprobation. The Almighty stands to us in the relation of our best friend. All his requirements are just and pure. His government is administered with the plainest reference to our happiness in both worlds. And it should therefore be our wish to abstain from the wilful violation of his laws, lest we incur his displeasure, and be deprived of his friendship forever. (Prov. xiv. 2.) It is a truth, established on evidence which no believer in revelation will attempt to controvert, that even the heathens are not absolved from the discharge of moral duty. The proof of the divine existence and power are exhibited in all the works of Creation. (Rom. i. 19, 20.) And besides, "they have a law written within their hearts." And this law, namely, the voice of conscience, has been implanted within them, to suggest to their Q. What reason have we to love God? Do the heathens possess any law? And what? in the Bible? And where? How should we fear him |