Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-04-01
THE TN GIVEN. :


BY REV. A YESTERDAY
IN THE NORTH STREET n. n.
CHURCH THE DIS
COURSE.
Yesterday morning the Rev. C. b
Graham, pastor Of the North Street
church, preached an interesting ser
mon ON the Law Given" This SER
mon Is the drst of q series OF sermons
on the ten commandments. He chose
as his text:
"And God spake all these words, say
ing, I am the Lord thy God. which
have brought thee out of the land Of
Egypt, out Of the house Of bondage.
Ex. 20, liz.
The BfbIe speaks Of tworAdams, the
fermer may be studied in tho Penta-
teuch or the first Ave books Of the Old
Testament. The latter in the first ave
books Of the New Testament, the four
Gospels and the Acts, and WI regard
them both as distinctly traceable In
the old and new testament and only
complete when taken together. We
purpose from the text of to-day to
consider some facts relating to the
Law Of the Scriptures l. e.. the Mosaic
law. This law has It's foundation In
the first covenant between God and
Abraham and which was of a two fold
character.
st. Paul clearly presents this sub
jeet: Gal. 8. 1924. That covenant con-
tained a spiritual promise of the Mes
siah which was given to the Jews as
the representatives of the whole hui
man race and It contained also the
temporal promises subsidiary to the
former and applicable to the Jewish
naAicn the fnllalment of which was in
possession OF the land of Caanan. A
clear conception Of our duty to God
and man and a contentious practice
Of Il are The essentials to a perfect
Christian character. And while this
duty of the Jew was always given or
made known to him in some form yet
1t was fragmentary and of a special
and private character until God devel-
oped 1t In a brief epitome and wrote
It with His own finger on two tables
of stone. They r called the words
Of the covenant in Ex. and Deut and
in First Kings 8-2d, End Chron. Sill
hut the original meaning seems to be
given Elk. 1928 as above mentioned,
aud though few In number the sense
and matter contained in them is inf
mite and a great part of Scripture Is
no more than a comment on them.
We wish to present the facts as they
gather about the time, place, manner
and effect Of the d~ecalogue or the ten
commandments.
There are three views prevalent
among the churches in regard to the
division of the ten words quoted. The
Bible does not clearly make the divis-
lon o is it necessary for the truth
involved. The Augustenian division
makes the first table contain three
commandments and the second con-
tains seven. Josephus and Philo gave
i've commandments to each table. The
common practice among most Christ
fans is to place the first four which re-
lates to God in the hrst table the other
six which relates to mans duty to his
fellowmen in the second table, this, 1t
would seem, is in harmony with the
teaching Of Moses. Duet. 6, 5, and the
eaviors' lessons to young lawyer Mat.
az, 81, Jesus said to him 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 myself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and
the profits. We now notice. The time
of the delivery of the commandments
in history. With reference to the time
past or the historical date, it was
2.460 years after the creation and near
~ 1900 years before the birth Of
Christ, and therefore nearly 3,40O
years ago, according to the accepted
chronology as stated 10y DR.. Hopkins.
1t is calculated that the Israelites re-
NAMED in camp ten months when re-
ceiving their rules for their lives and
conduct.
1t was 220 years after Israel's decent
into Egypt Elk. d9.1, in the third month
when the children of Israel were gone
forth out of the land of Egypt. Two
hundred and twenty years spent in
servitude and three months of liberty
but perhaps the most important fact
connected with time was that it was
the transition of Israel from a tribe
to a nation and it's definite assumption
Of q distant position and Office in his
tory Of the world. The promise made
to Abraham Gen. II, 4, las for me, be-