Viewed from Different Standpoints.
By R. F. Cottrell
COULD we take our stand on the right side of the law of God, it would appear all beautiful and glorious. It would be seen not only as "holy and just," but as being "good." It is our best friend, the protector of our rights. It glorifies God, our heavenly Father, and guards us in all the inalienable rights which he has graciously given us. It forbids every one from trespassing upon our rights in respect to life, chastity, property, or character; and it is "spiritual" too, for it forbids even the desire for anything which of right does not belong to us. To him who loves its holy precepts, and is striving by grace to keep them, it is indeed the "royal law," the "law of liberty." He can truly say, "I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts." But viewed from the standpoint of the transgressor who will not forsake his sins, but esteems sinful pleasures above the favor of God and the riches of Christ, the law of God is a "yoke of bondage." He views it as laying restraint upon his liberties, as tending to deprive him of his pleasures. He hates it, because it condemns the sins which he loves. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." It is with the law as it is with other things: Much depends on the side from which we view it. And I venture the assertion that no one undertakes to prove from the Bible that the ten commandments have been abolished, except for the reason that he is violating some one of them, and desires still to do so. To the hesitating and doubtful I would say, "Pull up your doubts by the roots, and you will find a little seed at the bottom, and that seed is sin."