MR. EDITOR:—With your consent and approval, I will give through the columns of your paper a synopsis of a series of discourses on the Decalogue, delivered on the afternoons of several sucessive Sabbaths to my congregation in Cleveland.
INTRODUCTION.—The ten commandments were written by God on two tables of stone, and given to Moses at the time of that memorable interview which he had with Jehovah on Mount Sinai.—They are not ten separate, unconnected principles or laws, but ten parts or divisions of the one great law which runs through the Bible and given to us by Christ in a still briefer compass. "Thou shalt love the Lord," &c. The first four of these, written upon the first table, define the immediate duties which man owes to God; the remaining six, on the second table, define the duties which man owes to his fellow.
In regard to the Old Testament Scripture containing the laws given to the Israelites and through them to us, there are several errors prevailing among men against which Christians should be fully guarded. Some of them I will here notice.
1st. It is said that "in many things, the Old Testament conflicts both in letter and spirit with the New; that the one encourages and justifies slavery, war, poiygamy, revenge and their kindred evils, while the other forbids these iniquities; that the New Testament presents a much purer morality than the Old." This idea is unvarnished infidelity, and tends to destroy man's faith in the Bible as the word of God; and as will appear by a careful reading of the Scriptures, is absolutely false. The same God is the Author of the Old and New Testament. The same Holy Spirit which guided the pen of Matthew and John, inspired Moses and Isaiah. The same principles of infinite benevolence which are so prominent in the writings of Paul and John are manifest in those of David and Jeremiah. As God is immutable and changeth not, so the truth of God is everlasting and changeth not.—Any real or apparent differences in God's dealings with men or nations are readily accounted for from the fact that guilt is measured by the degree of light enjoyed, and that Jehovah has not usually brought forth any great moral truth until men have been prepared to receive that truth. In the New Testament there is a fuller and clearer exhibition of the truth than the Old; yet there is no contravening of any great principle or law previously given. The fact that God did not rebuke evils which prevailed at one period, as he did those evils at another period, does not argue that God at the former time connived at the sins of men, but rather that men had not a clear perception of the evil. The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now he commandeth all men every where to repent.
If you examine either the moral, the judicial or the ceremonial laws of the Bible, you will find that the great law of love and truth runs through the whole. The moral is the perpetual, unchangeable rule of right and wrong; the violation of which under any dispensation is sin; harmonizing most fully with the teachings of Christ, or rather forming the basis on which all Christ's instructions are placed. We admire the golden rule given by Christ, "All things whatsoever ye would," &c., but it ought to be borne in mind that He himself tells us, "This is the law and the prophets." In the declaration we have Christ's testimony to the genuineness and authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Professing christians as well as infidels, have tried to prove that the Bible sanctions slavery and war, and polygamy; the latter making this an argument for the destruction of the Bible, and the former excusing it by telling us the law was intended for a dispensation dark and severe in its character, and requiring therefore a state of things not tolerated under the milder and more peaceful dispensation of the Gospel. Both are wrong and start from false premises. The Bible no where lends its high and solemn sanction to any form of moral evil.
The judicial law also including all those statutes by which justice was administered, stands and will stand the great defender of the rights of mankind. In proportion as the laws of nations have been formed after those given by Moses, have they given security to life, liberty and property. To say that the law of God given for the judicial government of Israel, gave license express or implied to do any thing inconsistent with the moral law, is to say that God authorized the commission of sin, and then passed a sentence of eternal retribution against the man who should do what he sanctions.
The ceremonial law also, though now canceled by the blood of Christ and nailed to the cross, partook of the same high, moral character, teaching under figures, types and shadows, the great truths which were necessary to bring men to the Saviour. The direct object of the forms and ceremonies of worship, was to make men more perfectly acquainted with Jesus, and to show them how a holy God would justify the rebellious. Thus then from the beginning to the end, the Bible forms a most perfect and harmonious system of divine truth, teaching man's obligations to an infinitely holy and perfect God, and his duties to his fellow-man.
2d. Again it is argued that "the Decalogue belongs to the legal order of things, and in its requirements and sanctions has been superceded by the Gospel:" upon this I observe:
1st. That no part of the moral law or ten commandments has ever been or ever can be set aside. The whole of the law composed of each and every part is binding on men of every age and every country through all time. The Saviour resolves the first table into what he denominates the first commandment. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength." The very nature of this command is such as that a covenant which would annul it—which would bring salvation and free men from obedience to it, would be a curse and not a blessing. The same is true of the second table which Christ calls the second commandment. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This carries with it a perpetual obligation.
2d. So far is the moral law from being abolished by the atonement, it has attained an infinitely greater power and higher obligation upon men, seeing that the atonement itself was made to sustain, magnify and make it honorable.
3d. The imperfection of man by which it is said he is rendered unable to obey, can furnish no excuse for imperfect obedience, or wanton violation, since the Holy Ghost has been given that man might be renewed, sanctified and fitted for obedience.
APPLICATION.—In the unchanging character of the law of God we learn,
1st. God's mercy endureth forever.
2d. The infinite fullness there is in Christ through whom the whole family of man though infinitely guilty, may obtain free pardon. The same rich veins of love which were opened by God's infinite mercy to save Israel of old, still course through a Saviour's body, and bear to all who receive Christ, a healing portion for every ill, and bliss and joy, inconceivable. Will you accept him and live?