p. 138 | Untitled article by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, August 13, 1867

THE LAW OF GOD.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

The ten commandments are emphatically the law of God. This is shown from the following reasons. 1. While all the rest of the Bible was given through the medium of angels and men, the ten commandments were spoken by God himself directly to the people. “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Deut. iv, 12, 13.

2. God himself wrote the ten commandments with his own finger, while the rest of the Bible was written by men. “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. xxxi, 18.

3. While the rest of the Bible was written on paper or parchment, God wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. Ex. xxxi, 18.

4. The tables of stone containing the ten commandments were placed in the holy ark in the most holy place in the sanctuary. Deut. x, 1-5. No other part of the Bible was placed there.

5. The ten commandments by themselves are called a law. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Ex. xxiv, 12. James also shows that it is the law which convinces men of sin, and by which they will be judged. Chapter ii, 9-12.

There is a moral principle, or a principle of right, in each one of the ten commandments, which always has been and ever will be binding upon men. Think of them a moment. Thou shalt have no other Gods, nor make an image to worship, nor swear, nor break the Sabbath, nor dishonor your parents, nor kill, nor steal, &c. These things are wrong in themselves and always will be. Hence it is a moral law.

7. The ten commandments have always, until very lately, been regarded by almost every class of Christians as emphatically the Law of God.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Canaan, Me.