THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT by E. J. Hibbard

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 1, 1902

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT.

By E. J. Hibbard

“Thou shalt not kill.” To every living being, the dearest treasure, the one upon which depend all others, is the life which God has given. Even Satan, the arch-enemy of the race, has discovered that “all that a man hath will he give for his life.”

Not alone in the beginning did the Creator give life to man. Not alone at birth is that life imparted; for “God that made the world and all things therein,” even now, at this present time, “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” God’s creatures are not detached fragments. He has not measured out to them a certain quantity of life, placed it within their bodies, and set them adrift from His own existence. No; that is not the way. He g-i-v-e-t-h a present continuous flow of the life of God to each created being. Who has a right to cut off that flow of life? Who knows when it ought to be withheld from the one receiving it?—Only the Giver. “Thou,” O man, “shalt not kill.”

This commandment being the safeguard to our most sacred treasure, its violation is accompanied here, in this life, by the severest possible penalty: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.”

That this penalty is meant only for wilful, premeditated murder, and not for accidental destruction of life, may be seen in the provision made for cities of refuge, in the government which God established in Canaan for those who bore His name. Also, “The powers that be are ordained of God.” “He is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Therefore the execution of a murderer, of one who has, beyond all question, been convicted of the deed, is not, as some have thought, a violation of the sixth commandment; but is the penalty provided in this world for its violation. It is meant also to check its future transgression; for the executed man can not repeat the crime, and those who would do so are in a measure restrained.

But where is the permission for mob violence and lynching? Is not this in itself the most flagrant, the most cruel, the most startling, of all the violations of this command? Is it not an unmistakable evidence of degeneration on the part of the people, and of decay and disintegration on the part of the government? Just before the deluge, this state of affairs existed; and the story is told in one sentence: “The earth was filled with violence.” From the report of passing events, one can easily think these days a counterpart of those.

But what of wars of conquest and extermination? When the taking of one life is a sin and a crime, by whose decree is wholesale slaughter counted righteous? What of suicide? What of murder in so-called self-defense? What of infanticide and abortion? It is said that “the hand which to-day drops an offering into the contribution box at church, may have, but yesterday, been guilty of taking the life of her own offspring.” Verily it will take a mind superior to that of man, and a tribunal superior to any on earth, to adequately weigh and requite for all this. “As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.” When?—“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.”

This is but a brief survey of the letter of the command. Now what of its spirit?—“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” Startling announcement, when even the extreme meaning of the word “hatred” is taken. But far less than this may come within the meaning of the text. “Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.” “And . . . the Lord saw that Leah was hated.” A failure to warn a fellow-being who is in danger, constitutes hatred for him: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.” Since “the wages of sin is death,” is it not equivalent to murder, when we allow one to continue in sin without warning him of its results? “I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.”

The Gospel is the antidote for sin. He who has received the Gospel is debtor to every man who has not received it; and that to the extent that it dwells in himself. Having been rescued from a watery grave, from among a large company of shipwrecked fellows, what would be thought of the man, who, having been made comfortable himself, would deliberately sit and see the balance of his company perish for want of assistance which he could easily render? What must be registered in the books of heaven, against that priest and that Levite who “passed by on the other side,” and left to perish the man who had “fallen among thieves?” You and I never kill anybody. O, no. But are we leaving any to perish, temporally or eternally, for the lack of that of which we have an abundance?

To the one who has been set apart as a Gospel minister, the Lord has spoken: “If when he seeth the sword upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. . . . But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.” “Fearful are the responsibilities in the Gospel ministry.” “They [the true ones] watch for your souls, as they that must give account.” And yet there are those occupying pulpits who openly confess that they dare not warn their flocks against the sins which they are indulging. When those flocks perish, as perish they must, at whose hand will God require their blood? Does such a pastor (?) confess himself a murderer?

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. . . . Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. . . . But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” But if love is not there, what is?

Is it possible that He from whom all blessings flow, has made me only a steward of the temporal things in my possession? Can it be that he allows some to have an abundance while others suffer need, that He may test those who have through them that have not? I wonder if the Heavenly Father regards the children of men as one great family? and if it grieves Him when those who have abundance lavish upon themselves until all their wants are surfeited, while others, at their very doors, are pinched, poverty-stricken, dying? Such a state would wring the heart of a human parent, if it existed in his own family circle. Is the heart of the Holy One less tender?

“And the people asked him [John the Baptist], saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat [food of any kind], let him do likewise.” This shows the amount of surplus we need to have before we are expected to divide with them that have nothing. “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these My brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me.” “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto Me.” “And these [last] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”

But gifts to the poor do not purchase righteousness; for is it not written: “Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, . . . and have not charity [love], it profiteth me nothing.” It is love, then, which restrains the hand from violence and the heart from plotting evil. It is love which saves from that neglect of a fellow-being which would allow him to perish or suffer need. “The love of Christ constraineth us.” Love compels, not from without, but from within. With the love of God flooding the heart, all His requirements are a delight; without that love, they are a yoke of bondage.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.” But how can I love my enemies? I can not love my enemies. God’s love includes enemies. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

Love can not hate. Love can not kill. Therefore, only the love of God can enable one to keep the sixth commandment. That love is found only in the heart of him who is born of the Spirit. These are the sons of God. “As many as received Him [Christ], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

E. J. HIBBARD.