The Sixth Commandment by J. O. Corliss

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Dec 16, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 20.

The Sixth Commandment

By J. O. Corliss

As in everything else of God's disposition, His rule for regulating the conduct of His subjects is perfect in form. This is clearly seen in the grouping of the commandments. First, they point out the duty of all toward the infinite Ruler, and at the same time reveal Him as the creator of the universe, thus giving the reason why men and angels should honor Him. Having fully made known Himself, and so laid the foundation for claiming absolute sovereignty over all, Jehovah next proceeds to show how each subject should regard his fellow subjects, giving directions in the order in which these dependents are related to each other.

In this division of moral regulations, parents have the first mention. They are the medium through whom life is distributed to men, and so are entitled to primary honor. The budding thoughts of every human being should be expended in paying deference to those of whose very substance he is a part. Having thus started in life, the same course should be maintained to the end, not only to bestow dignity upon, and bring joy to, one's own parents, but to establish an example by which one's children may profit in turn, in rendering homage to their parents.

Next in order is the duty one owes to his fellow men, whoever and wherever they may be, and under whatever circumstances they may be encountered. "Thou shalt not kill," is the command to every human being. It is highly fitting that such a command should issue immediately following the one requiring all to honor the life of their parents. The life of a fellow man is sacred as the gift of God, and should be so regarded by every one. It matters not how strong a provocation may come to one, nor how great a temptation may beset him, this injunction should regulate his conduct in any and every extreme case.

The reason for this is easy to find. To take from another that which no power but a heavenly one can restore, is to commit the gravest crime possible against a fellow man. Life is valued more than earthly treasure because it can not be gotten by human exertion. A single rash human act may deprive one of life, but all the good deeds of a lifetime can not return it to the loser. With how much care, then, should this precept be studied, lest through some provocation one should step beyond the bounds of due regard for the sacred rights of his neighbor's possession of life.

It is not enough, however, to refrain from the overt act of raising the hand to strike one down with the assassin's weapon. This precept is a part of that "great" commandment which requires one to love his neighbor as himself. One's love for himself invariably leads him to employ every available safeguard for self-protection. In order, then, to do the same for others, he must not only refrain from doing him direct personal violence, but also to throw about him the same means for protection that he would use for himself.

Love is far more than mere expression of sentiment. Love ever displays itself in its effort to uplift the fallen. "In this was manifest the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. Love is of that nature that it ever seeks, not only to help those who are degraded and dead in sin, but to elevate them to an equality with the highest, even the angels of heaven. Heb. 2:6-9.

"If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 1 John 4:11. But how much should we love others? There are no known degrees in love. "Love is of God." Whosoever, therefore, possesses love and dwells in it, lives in God, and God lives in him. Verse 16. God Himself being love,—that being the essence of His character,—the indwelling of God with a human being is the ingrafting of love into his soul, so that his nature becomes the reproduction of God's nature. And this change is not a fugitive, evanescent incident, as the Lord loves with an "everlasting love" (Jer. 31:3), even to dying upon the cross of shame for His enemies; so when that love makes its abode in any human form, that person must become steadfast in his love toward even his most bitter enemy. This is in harmony with our common Master who said, "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." John 15:12. This is true love, "indeed and in truth."

To love others less than this, is to violate the great principle upon which the Ten Commandments are founded, because love,—the only really genuine love,—which is the foundation of God's character, is the "fulfilment of the law." Rom. 13:8. The reason for this conclusion is obvious, as ex

pressed in another text by the same apostle thus: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore [for this reason] love is the fulfilling of the law." Verse 10.

It is impossible for one who possesses love to work a wrong to another, because love is God’s impulse in man to lead him in the way of righteousness. Without this heavenly stimulus, one is left to be controlled by a power from beneath, in opposition to God’s will and work. Hatred, the very opposite of love, is Satan’s ruling power with men, as it is with himself. Hatred harbored in the heart gives one the worst possible view of others, and causes him to rejoice in the downfall of all not in accord with himself. Nay more, it will lead him to contribute toward that wished-for end, even tho it should be the eternal undoing of one whom he ought to aim to uplift.

One may affirm that he loves God, but even tho he does so with all possible vehemence, yet if he shows hatred for another, he proclaims himself a companion of Satan, of whom the Saviour said: “He is a liar.” John 8:44; 1 John 4:20. The apostle has truly said that no one can really love God whom he has never seen, and yet hate a visible fellow man toward whom the love of God is being manifested in His continuous effort to save him.

More than this, he who muses hatred in his heart toward another is a murderer. 1 John 3:15. Not that he has in very deed raised his hand to strike down the hated one, but he holds in his heart that terrible seed from which, under provocation, may quickly develop overt action. It is a sad misconception of spiritual relations when one can profess to love the Lord and yet have only bitter words of hatred to bestow on another whom he supposes has not treated him with due deference. Like the arch-conspirator against heaven’s peace, such persons conceive an enmity against another, and then talk about it to others until, through the abundance of his merchandise, he becomes filled with violence, even to desiring the destruction of another, or at least of his influence for good. It will be a terrible realization for such when, in the great day of final accounts, they find themselves forever condemned by that section of God’s commandments which says: “Thou shalt not kill.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”