THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT.
By James White
WITH a great many almost any reason is sufficient to excuse their neglect of the fourth commandment. It has been quite common to cite the above text to prove that love to God and our neighbor are the two commandments of this dispensation: but it is now so generally understood that “all the law” hangs on these two commandments, that few are found willing to attempt an evasion of this kind. But those who wish to avoid the force of truth never lack for excuses. A friend to whom I recently put the question, why he did not keep the Sabbath, replied with all apparent honesty and sincerity, that he did not consider it of so much importance as many other points on which he was actively engaged, such as anti-slavery and temperance. Here he could work for the amelioration of man, which he considered more important than the observance of the Sabbath. This view may, to many, appear to be correct; but it is not. But if we even grant that it is correct, it is no reason at all for the non-observance of the Sabbath, unless it be also true that a few prominent duties are to be performed, and all minor ones left undone. But who will affirm this? The true relative importance of the reforms of the day, and our relation as Christians to them are not generally understood. We hear temperance and anti-slavery lecturers, each on their favorite theme, picturing the world as a Paradise, and the time a millennium, when his particular reform shall be effected. Every thing else is lost sight of. This is fanaticism. If there were a “Maine Law” in every State and every land, and slavery entirely abolished, much, very much would yet remain to be done to restore this earth to its Eden state, and man to his primeval innocence. Their great mistake is this: instead of regarding temperance and opposition to oppression as Christian graces, they make them substitutes for Christianity. To such an extreme is this carried, that I once heard a church member say that he believed that the order of “Sons of Temperance” would entirely supersede the necessity of churches! Every Christian must necessarily be temperate and opposed to oppression; but not every temperance and anti-slavery man is a Christian. Christianity includes both principles; but they are far from being the sum of Christianity. I have long doubted the propriety of Christians joining themselves to any party, or society, that aims at any reform short of true Christianity. The thorough anti-slavery man cannot sympathize with the colonization society; nor would the temperance advocate lend his influence to a society that allowed the moderate use of rum as a beverage. The inconsistency of such a course would be apparent at a glance! they have got their standards higher. Then why is it that those who profess to have the true standard of reform are so willing to engage in a work where that standard is entirely lost sight of. And they will often work with tenfold energy and zeal in a party where the object is infinitely below their estimate of true Christianity. Many a professor of religion speaks with more animation at a political meeting than at a prayer-meeting; and is more regular in his attendance at the appointments of the club or lodge, than at the appointments of the church. In presenting the claims of God’s holy Sabbath, we do not propose to have men relax their efforts to do good to their fellows. “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” But we would fain correct the error into which so many have fallen in regard to their duty to their Maker. It is not a matter for wonder that erroneous views have obtained in the minds of the masses, while they trust so much in the multitude of their mighty men, [Hos. x, 13,] and the law of God is so lightly esteemed. Although the Declaration of Independence acknowledges that our blessings are bestowed by the Creator, the law of the Creator is set aside and treated with contempt, even by the rulers of the nation. In the very halls where a chaplain daily prays that the Almighty will look favorably upon them and bless their deliberations, where the moral sensibilities of the majority would be shocked at the example of “Infidel France;” at the capital of this most enlightened Christian nation, Senator Seward was sneered at by more than one for intimating that there was a “higher law” than that of the United States! And will not a just and jealous God visit upon such a nation as this? The true standard of morality has been repudiated by the state and the church; the law of God is rejected by legislators and professed ministers of the gospel. The effect has been to destroy the difference between the righteous and the wicked. The scale of morality and Christianity has been brought so low that time-serving ministers and worldly-minded professors are really deluding the mass of non-professors with the vain idea that holiness is not essential in the formation of Christian character; and their conformity to the world is a stupendous stumbling-block to deter others from seeking pure and undefiled religion, which consists (in part) in keeping one’s self unspotted from the world. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” If the only true standard of Christian morals be set aside, how shall we determine who are righteous and who are not? The standards of the world, including nominal christendom, are so many and so various that they cannot be depended upon. God has presented the true standard in his word, and by it we shall be judged in the great day. Eccl. xii, 13, 14. Man is a free moral agent; by which we understand that he is on probation, free to develop his moral character according to his will or choice. As there is one Law-giver, [Jas. iv, 12,] and God is the Judge of all, [Heb. xii, 23,] his law is the only rule of judgment; and the vain effort, so often made, to establish another rule, or to justify self by another standard, is but trying to open a way of salvation which God has not opened, and inviting men to walk in a way which God has not approved—and is a sure indication that the heart is not reconciled to God, to his plan, and his word. In saying that the reforms of the age are not more important than the observance of the Sabbath, I would not lessen the value of these reforms, but would endeavor to arrive at their true comparative value. And in so doing I shall not consult so-called reformers, but the faithful and true witness; the Lord Jesus. Our duty to God and man is summed up by him in these words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” That there is a difference in the precepts of God’s law, as least and greatest, is clearly implied in Matt. v, 19; the question to be settled then is, Which are greatest, and which are least? As “all the law” hangs on two principles, if degrees of comparison shall be found to be admissible relative to these principles, then, of course, those precepts which hang on the greatest principle will be the greatest commandments in the law; but love to God is “the first and great commandment,” and love to our neighbor second to it. Hence, those commandments which manifest our love to God, must be “the first and great” precepts of the law; and those which manifest our love to man are secondary, or “least.” As the angels sung at the birth of Christ: (1.) “Glory to God in the highest, and (2.) on earth peace, good will toward men,” reason would indicate that if we owe duties to God and man, as God is supreme over all, and man is our equal, our duties to God would be first in importance. As all things were created for his pleasure, and we are commanded to do all things to his glory, it cannot be pleasing in his sight to neglect our duties to him as our Creator and Supreme Governor, or make them second to any other object whatever. We would not disconnect these principles, for the second is “like unto” the first: love is the basis of both. But as the degree in which we are to love each is clearly taught, it is our duty to recognize it. We should love our neighbor as ourselves; but we are no where commanded to love ourselves or our neighbor with all our heart, and mind, and strength. This degree of love God reserves to himself. In all things God is supreme, and man subordinate; and the most joyful obedience of the heart reconciled to God and his law, [see Rom. viii, 7; v, 1,] will be rendered to these precepts which hang on the principle of love to God, to wit: the first four of the Decalogue; “and no one can show that the principle of this first great commandment would not be violated by polluting the Lord’s holy Sabbath, as much as by profaning his holy name.”—Law of God, p. 44.