Giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
By W. M. Healey
"Thus did Almighty God for the first time publish his commandments in a solemn manner to the world. They are ten in number, and contain the sum of all our obligations both to God and man; they will, to the latest posterity retain their full force, and no man can ever presume to transgress them without incurring the guilt of sin. It is the wish of devoted men, that every Christian shared a part at least of that holy fear with which the Israelites were at that time so deeply penetrated. Such a fear is the beginning of true wisdom; it checks the passions, and restrains the heart from vice. Length of time and corruption of morals, first amongst the Jews and since amongst Christians, have almost worn out the salutary impressions, and left the world imperfectly sensible of its sacred obligations. Self-love has studied every art, and by every subtlety has tried to explain away the force of God's precepts, and to remove every bar that is a check to our corrupt inclinations. But Jesus Christ who has assured us that not so much as the least tittle of this law can be altered, continues to be still the same God he always was, and still exacts the same respectful obedience to his precepts. No length of time can prescribe against their force, and no fashions of the age can make any change in the nature of their obligations. It is not fear, it is the nobler sentiments of love and charity, that ought to influence our obedience to the law of God. Servile fear may for awhile restrain a slave from vice; it never can perfect the freeborn sons of God in Christian virtue. Very different from the stiff-necked Israelites, who desired God to speak no longer, lest their fears might kill them, a Christian wishes to hear the voice of God for himself; for he knows that the words of God are the words of life, and therefore begs him to accompany them with the unction of his holy Spirit, that his yoke might be made sweet and his burden light."—Reves Bible History, p. 107. W. M. Healey.