Excellency of the Ten Commandments.
Mr. Comber, as quoted in the Comprehensive Commentary on Ex. xx, has the following pious reflections upon the ten commandments. It is the same spirit which led David to say, "Oh, how love I thy law!" (Ps. cxix, 97,) and Paul, "I delight in the law after the inward man." Rom. vii, 22. "These ten commands are from My God; and why should I be backward to vow my obedience to his laws? Are they anything else but a method of living well and wisely, free from fears and injury? Do they not teach me to conduct myself so that I may win the favor of God and good men, and be safe in the best, and happy in the worst condition? Can I wish greater felicity than to be [reverential and spiritually minded,] meek and patient, grateful and contented, temperate and industrious, just and bountiful, to converse with God, rejoice with angels, to imitate the saints, follow and trust in the blessed Jesus, and to seek everlasting joy? Doth God require anything impossible, unjust, or unreasonable? Am I to bind myself to any more than that which my judgment and my conscience tells me is fit and expedient for me to do, although it had never been commanded? Is it any more than that which all the wisest and best men, the friends of God, and favorites of Heaven, have done with the greatest delight—and which, therefore, is only the proof of a generous and noble spirit? Is not my God the best of all Masters; who covers the infirmities, and strengthens the weaknesses of his servants? Can I fail to please Him who excites the desire, and enables for the performance; who makes the way familiar and easy, pleasant and inviting, and yet, where there is a hearty endeavor, doth make many abatements, and accept the will for the deed; who begins his assistances early, and continues them till He hath perfected this excellent work? Shall I not be rewarded with a glorious crown in Heaven, for being so wise as to choose to be happy on earth?"