The Law of God and the Laws of Man
THERE is a wide difference between the law of God and the laws of man. There is, however, one principle common to both, namely, every man is supposed to know the law; at least ignorance of the law is not accepted as an excuse for its violation. But this principle in a great measure requires an impossibility on the part of many as regards human law; for the reason that but comparatively few can know all of the laws of man. One who knows whereof he speaks, says, “To read all the laws of Congress and ‘of any one State, and the decisions thereon, would ‘require perhaps twenty years at ten hours a day.” Yet the law of God, which contains “the whole ‘duty of man,” is comprehended in ten brief commandments. And even these were concentrated into two short statements by Moses and our Lord. Thus we see that the requirements of God are never unreasonable nor impossible—if there be the will to obey them.