Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-04-20
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CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
OrlglnaI.]
s.THUs SAITH THE LORD.v

II W tSo Ii EtS4 AkA4E1AN.
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sTHUS SAITH THE LORD"
Every one who reads the Bible is struck, no
doubt, with the peculiar expression with Which
every communication Of the divine will is in
troduced. Such expressions as THE Lord said
unto Adam and Eve the Lord said unto Cain ;
the Lord said unto Noah the Lord said unto
Abraham the Lord spake unto Moses, unto
Aaron, unto Samuel. unto David" and ''Thus
saith the Lord, are of frequent occurrence in
the Old Testament. In the New Testament,
we find the expressions "Jesus said," and
Jesus taught them.'' In these expressions
there is something that is worthy of our SOL
amn consideration. They are each the enact
ing clause of the laws which follow. When
the Congress of the United States is about to
promulgate a law, the first sentence begins
thus, ''Be it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives - but when God published
his laws, He simply said, ''The Lord spake, y
or ''Thus saith the Lord
The laws made by the Congress of the Uni
ted States may be formally enacted, and still
be unconstitutional, but the laws of the Bible
cannot be unconstitutional, because they are
made and enacted by God himself. Lii human
governments an act may be lawful, that is, Ill
accordance with law, and at tlesame time un-
constitutional. Such laws, of necessity, are,
in process of time declared null and void by
the Supreme Court. The constitution is of
more Importance than the statutory enact
meuts. No repeating, amending or nullitying
ever takes place in case Of the laws which are
contained in the Bible, because they are con-
stitutional that is, they express the exact will
of God, the Supreme lawgiver.
In some human governments the will OF the
people is law +; in others, the will of the rulers
is law; in the Church the will of God is law,
and in the Bible are contained all the divine
precepts, and the enacting clause of every pre-
cept is ssThus saith the Lord" This makes it
not simply a statute, buta constitutional stat
ute, which can never he changed, because its
author is Interchangeable.
In practical point of view, the words,
'tThus saith the Lord" are of momentous i'm
portance. Whatever is commanded by God is
law and everything else is sin. The essence OF
liberty consists in obeying what God has COM
manded, and in refusing to do what he has not
commanded.
In human governments whatever is not for
hidden is allowable but in religion, what God
does not command is sinful. The only law
| eiver of the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ.
No ecclesiastical court, no matter what may
| be it's name, has any divine right to make any
law. It's whole duty is performed when it die
tates what the law is and administers it. The
only authority that we need for performing
any particular act in religion, is 1.-THE Lord
commands it," AS all the facts of science are
contained in the works of God, so all the doc
trines of religion are contained in the revela'
ton of God, which is the Bible. In science,
| we dare not make facts; so in religion, we
dare not have opinions of our own, but faith
| in the word of God. In science we are forced
TO accept the facts as we find them, 80 in re-
ligion we are required to accept the law as 1t
| is revealed in the word of God, and live by
faith.
The principle stated above, if carried out,
would make sad havoc with much that is usu'
ally classed under the head Of religion. In the
religion of all men, there is much that has no
higher or better authority than the traditions
of men. What would some of us say If we
were asked to give ''Thus saith the Lord
for many things which we have practiced, as
devotional exercises, all our lives? The very
strongest apologizing reply that we could give
is, that they are not forbidden. But is every
thing allowable which is not forbidden If
So then horse-racing, cock-fghting, betting on
cards, and speculating in stocks which have
no existence, is certainly allowable, for they
are not forbidden The conclusion is mon
strous, but it is legitimate, if everything is al
lowable which is not forbidden in Gods word.
If we understand everything to be forbidden
which is not commanded then everything is
allowable which is not forbidden, but it is al
lowable because it is commanded. 1t is on
the principle that acommand toperforma GER
tain duty forbids the doing of the opposite,
and a command to abstain from doing some
thing enjoins the opposite
In the sixth precept of the moral law we are
commanded not to kill. This is not all, we
are also commanded to use all lawful measures
to preserve our own lives and the lives of 9TH
ers To neglect to preserve life is one mode
of taking away life, and hence, is murder. He
who steals violates the eighth commandment,
but he who neglects to provide things honestly
in the sight of men, Also breaks the same COM
mandment, although he may never have appro-
priated to his own use anything belonging to
others.
We are prone to bolster up our immoral lives
by citing the acts of Abraham, of Isaac, of
Jacob and of others whose history is contain
ed in the Bible. Such course is consummate-
ly silly. Did all, or any one of these men, do
all that God commanded them to do, and re-
fran from doing everything that God forbid
them to do If so, then we are not only al
lowed to do what they did, but it is our duty
to follow their example. Unfortunately, no
mere man, since the fall, has ever been obe-
dient in all things and at all times. No man
is our pattern. We are commanded to follow
Jesus and not Abraham or Jacob or Paul or
John or Peter, or any man, no matter how
much he may have been honored by God
Moses was highly honOred of God, but God
never allowed Moses to enact single moral
statute for Israel and although Mosesis often
called great law-giver, henever made single
law. God made all the laws for his Church,
and Moses, as his chosen minister, only pub
ished the laws God gave him. God never al
lowed the people of Israel to follow Moses or
Aaron, or any one else, only 80 far and so long
as they followed Him. 1t is often difficult for
short-sighted mortals, such as we are, to dis.
cover what, under all circumstances God COM
mands us to do. The revelation is clear but