THE LAW OF GOD by B. F. Snook

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 18, 1860

THE LAW OF GOD.

By B. F. Snook

BY B. F. SNOOK.

CHAPTER. I.

1. The term law defined. 2. Its basis, the relation which exists between man and God and man and man. 3. Its nature is moral, i. e., right.

1. The definition. "Law is a rule of action, a rule of direction; that which governs or has a tendency to rule. Moral law, a law which prescribes to men their religious and social duties; in other words, their duties to God and to each other. The moral law is summarily contained in the decalogue or ten commandments written by the finger of God on two tables of stone." Web.

2. The foundation. The foundation of the law of God is firm and unchanging. It always has been and will ever be the same. It is based (1.) On the relation which man sustains to his Creator; and (2.) on the relation of man to his fellow man.

1. The first four precepts have respect to certain natural duties which man owes to God. He is our Creator, and by creation we are his. These are exalted relations and demand, 1st. That we love him with all the heart. 2nd. That we serve him—that we worship him only, and make him the object of our daily adorations. 3rd. That we speak of his name only in the most reverential and affectionate manner. 4th. That we reverence his institutions, and use them only as he has given us privilege and direction. On these relations is based the first great commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." Deut. vi, 5. Also the first four commandments have the same basis, and grow out of the same source.

These relations are the same in all created intelligences. Hence the obligations growing therefrom are the same upon all. Wherever these relations exist, these obligations must exist. This shows the puerility of the position of those who maintain that these obligations rest only on the Jew. If this were true it would then follow that the relations out of which these obligations arise are confined to the Jew. That being true it follows that God is not the God nor Creator of the Gentile, and hence can have no claim upon him for love or obedience to any precept of his law! But how long since these obligations began? Evidently as long as the relations have existed which gave them birth.

It being an established fact that these obligations grow out of man's relation to God, it follows, 1st. That the obligations did not exist before their source or basis. 2nd. That they began as soon as their basis was created; as naturally as the effect follows the cause, and therefore are as old as the creation of man. 3d. The last six commandments have respect to the duties which men owe to each other. 1st. All men are creatures of the same Creator. 2nd. Are children of the same Father. 3rd. Possess the same natural and unalienable rights, which are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

These relations demand, 1st. That they love each other. 2nd. Treat each other with brotherly kindness. 3rd. That they respect and protect each other's rights. On these relations is based the second great commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Lev. xix, 18. Also the last six which hang upon this, and depend upon it, are based upon the same relations.

These obligations growing out of the above relations, it unavoidably follows that they reach back for their beginning to the time when the relations out of which they grow began to exist. Hence as soon as man was blessed with a fellow man whom he might denominate his neighbor, these obligations rested upon and required him to love and respect him as himself. Thus we see that the law of our heavenly Father is well founded. Its foundation will last while he is our Creator and we are his creatures. No man can violate one of the first four precepts who loves God with all the heart. Neither can he who loves God, and his neighbor as himself, violate either of the last six precepts. "For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments." 1 John v, 3.

Man would be perfectly happy if he would obey from the heart this law. His peace would be as a river and his righteousness as the rolling waves of the boundless ocean. Joy and peace would ever sit triumphantly enthroned in his heart while sorrows and sighs would never molest him. With the poet he could say—

"Great is their peace who love thy law, How firm their souls abide; Nor can a bold temptation draw Their steady feet aside. "Then shall my heart have inward joy, And keep my face from shame, When all thy statutes I obey, And honor all thy name."

3. Its nature. We propose to show in the next place that this is a moral law, or a law of morals. The word moral in its common use means "that which is naturally right;" that which is right in the very nature of things. That there is a class of commandments which are right in the very nature of things we presume no Bible scholar will deny. That this class of right or moral commandments is the decalogue, or law of ten commandments, the Bible abundantly testifies.

Proof. David says, "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. But David what do you mean by the statutes of the Lord? Ans. "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." All is plain. We now understand you, since by the statutes of the Lord you mean his commandments. Again: "Thou camest down also on mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws (laws of truth, margin), good statutes and commandments." Neh. ix, 13.

This testimony is the clearest proof as to the morality of the law in question. We will bring forward one more text which we regard as most triumphantly settling the question: "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is RIGHT. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise." Eph. vi, 1, 2. Paul in giving this requisition refers to the fifth commandment in the decalogue as authority, and sanctions the obligation enforced by it as being right. These witnesses prove the morality of the whole law, and show that as a whole it is right or moral.

But it is objected that the fourth commandment is not moral, but is ceremonial or positive. To this we reply as follows: 1. There is no proof to sustain the objection. 2. The Scriptures which we have referred to prove the morality of the fourth as much as that of any other precept. 3. If the objection is true, David should have said, the statutes of the Lord are right except one, the fourth precept, which is positive. 4. The fourth precept hangs upon the first great commandment as much as the other three which regulate our duty to God: Matt. xxii, 40. 5. It grows out of the same relations to God that the others do. 6. God proclaimed it at the same time he proclaimed the others, and spake it in their very midst. 7. When graving the others on the tables of rock for their preservation and to denote their perpetuity, he placed it (the fourth) in the very bosom of the ten. 8. It as much protects and guards the Lord's holy day which is his property, as the sixth guards and protects any property of man. These reasons prove the morality of the fourth precept beyond the possibility of refutation. But if it is not moral, then verily to steal from the Lord is not the violation of moral law, while to steal from man is!!