WHERE DID MOSES GET THAT LAW?
An infidel, wishing to examine into the truth of the Christian religion, inquired of an elder of the Presbyterian church as follows: "What books, sir, would you advise me to read?" "The Bible," said the elder. "I believe you do not understand me," resumed the unbeliever, surprised in his turn; "I wish to investigate the truth of the Bible." "I advise you, sir," repeated the elder, "to read the Bible. And," he continued, "I will give you my reasons: Most infidels are very ignorant of the Scriptures. Now, to reason on any subject with correctness, we must understand what it is about which we reason. In the next place I consider the internal evidence of the truth of the Scriptures stronger than the external." "And where shall I begin?" inquired the unbeliever. "At the New Testament?" "No," said the elder, "at the beginning—at Genesis." One evening the elder called and found the unbeliever at his house or office, walking the room with a dejected look, his mind apparently absorbed in thought. He continued, not noticing that any one had come in, busily to trace and re-trace his steps. The elder at length spoke: "You seem, sir," said he, "to be in a brown study. Of what are you thinking?" "I have been reading," replied the infidel, "the moral law." "Well, what do you think of it?" asked the elder. "I will tell you what I used to think," answered the infidel. "I supposed that Moses was the leader of a horde of banditti; that, having a strong mind, he acquired great influence over a superstitious people; and that on Mount Sinai, he played off some sort of fireworks, to the amazement of his ignorant followers, who imagined in their mingled fear and superstition that the exhibition was supernatural." "But what do you think now?" interposed the elder. "I have been looking," said the infidel, "into the nature of that law. I have been trying to see whether I can add anything to it or take anything from it, so as to make it better. Sir, I cannot, it is perfect." "The first commandment," continued he, "directs us to make the Creator the object of our supreme love and reverence. That is right. If he be our Creator, Preserver, and supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat him and none other, as such. The second forbids idolatry. That certainly is right. The third forbids profaneness. The fourth fixes a time for religious worship. If there is a God, he ought surely to be worshiped. It is suitable that there should be an outward homage, significant of our inward regard. If God be worshiped it is proper that some time be set apart for that purpose, when all may worship him harmoniously and without interruption. One day in seven is certainly not too much, and I do65not know that it is too little. The fifth defines the peculiar duties arising from the family relations. Injuries to our neighbor are then classified by the moral law. They are divided into offenses against life, chastity, property, and character. And," said he, applying a legal idea with legal acuteness, "I notice that the greatest offense in each class is expressly forbidden. Thus, the greatest injury to life is murder; to chastity, adultery; to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now the greater offense must include the less of the same kind. Murder must include every injury to life; adultery, every injury to purity; and so of the rest. And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command forbidding every improper desire in regard to our neighbor. "I have been thinking," he proceeded, "where did Moses get that law? I have read history: the Egyptians and the adjacent nations were idolaters; so were the Greeks and Romans; and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this law which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened ages? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous; but he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared so far above his age as to have devised it himself. I am satisfied where he obtained it. It came down from Heaven. I am convinced of the truth of the religion of the Bible." Thy law is perfect, Lord of light;
Thy testimonies sure;
The statutes of thy realm are right;
And thy commandments pure.
Beyond the wealth of golden mines,
Thy precepts are my joy;
The way where thy commandment shines,
Shall all my cares employ.
Let these, O God, my soul convert,
And make thy servant wise;
Let these be gladness to my heart—
The dayspring to my eyes.