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

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stroyed entirely. The Lord said to
Moses, Come up to me into the
Mount, and l will give thee tables Of
stone. and q law and commandments
which I have written, that thou mayest
teach them" Elk. 24:12. The particu-
lars OF the writing and why the Lord
wrote it himself are left unexplained
and subjects for the conjectures Of the
most fertile minds and for the specu-
lations OF the minds fully developed
in their powers of imagination. In the
giving Of the first pair OF tables 1t
seems that the Lord prepared the
tables and did the writing. but when
Moses threw them ON che ground as he
descended from the hill and beheld the
people in idolatry, the lord required
Moses to prepare the second pair him
self, probably as a punishment for his
rash act. We notice as our last gen
eral thought.
TAe Purpose Of the Law.
DR.. Wheeden in his Commentary, ex-
presses this; we believe thoroughly in
the following. The glory Of this deca-
logue is that its provisions are abso-
lutely fundamental. They have to do
with individual life, social relations
and national history. We are not to
imagine that they are now issued for
the first time. or had no existence OF
recognition before the time of Moses.
Compare the note of Gen. 9:6, These
laws are grounded in the very nature
Of man as a moral being. having es-
sential relations to God On the one
hand and to his fellow man on the
other. They rest upon the idea that
there is an infinite power above man
to whom allegiance Is due, and a COM
munity of coordinate fellow beings
about him with whom he Is bound to
act on principles of equity and love.
These great truths were manifest from
the beginning, but had become obscure
and often ignored by the perVersity Of
man. Jehovah, the God Of Israel. gave
them new and sublime expression at
Sinai. They were there given upon
two tables of stone. (Chaps. 80, Is. 16,
"a, 2S.) Hard, stiff, abrupt as the
cliffs from which they were taken"
Writes Stanley: "They remain as the
firm, unyielding basis on which all true
spiritual religion has been built up
and sustained. Sinai is not Palestine
the law is not the Gospel; but the
Ten Commandments, in letter and
spirit, remain to us az a relic of that
time. They present to us, both In fact
and in idea, the granite foundation, the
immovable mountain on which the
world is built up-without which all
theories of religion are but as shifting
and deeting clouds. They give us the
two homely and fundamental laws
which all subsequent relation has but
confirmed and sanctined-the law OF
our duty to God and the law OF our
duty to our neighbor. Side by side
with the prayer of u God and with
the creed of our church, they appear
inscribed on our churches, read from
our affairs, taught to u children, as
the foundation of morality"
The moral law is still the rule OF life
for us. It has not been annualled nor
changed in the principles first laid
down for the government of man In
his duty to his God, his neighbor and
himself. Infdels have criticized the
Lawgiver and many of the executors
of the law, but have never attempted
to attack the moral law as based upon
"these words" to which the text ap-
plies. 1t is true that they have ignored
it in practice and complained of many
features of 1t, but the general princi-
Piles remain as firm as the mountain
on which they were given. But while
these are the foundation Christ built
broader and higher than the letter of
the law, and the Christian does not
conflne or limit himself to the letter
of the law. 1t is said that an official
in a church in the olden time kept a
grocery in which he sold rum by the
quart, but the law prohibited him
from selling less than that amount. A
mar wanted to buy a pint and he re-
fused to sell it. The man inquired why
he would not sell 1t to him. Because
1t is contrary to the law" said he"
The man looked him squarely in the
face, and said: Deacon Bartlett, il
you are not better than the law makes
you, you will go to hell sure" The
man who depends Upon the law for his
spiritual life and liberty will not at
tain the maturity of a true disciple of
Christ, and yet no man can be Christ's
disciple without fulfilling the law Of
the ten words" There are many that
are calling for the new things and
methods, and to a certain extent this
is right. We believe that the church
should be awake to all new discoveries
and inventions of the day, for all these