The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-12
Exodus Xxx. Ill: The Ten Command
ments-Dutie. to God.

ments-Dutie. to God.
After the dead level OF Egypt the towering.
thunder smitten cliffs OF Sinai would be all the
more impressive. The place seems isolated by
nature-the Almighty's secret sudience-chamber.
The most nonchalant traveller feels perforce the
spell OF awful grandeur. lie recognizes at once
the appropriateness OF natures setting for that
scene OF superlstive majesty.
4 hundred days had passed since Moses and
Miriam had sung their peans on The shore
days in which bitter waters had been sweet
ened. quails and mama had been gathered,
and the hordes Of Amalsk overcome at Rephi-
dim. And three million people stand upon
the four hundred OF bowling floor. and
gaze at the granite throne OF the Almighty tow
ering two thousand feet above them.
Nature was agitated II on the point OF
dissolution. That pyrsmidsl altar shook and
smoked and blszed. Jehovah made flames OF
fire His ministers that DAY. There were angel
attendants also. stephen and the author
Of Hebrews affirm There was a sound as OF
trumpet executing crescendo. But speech
Of man breaks down in effort 10 describe the
Theophany. this most august sight OF earth
and greatest event by far OF the old covenant.
The unspproschable holiness OF God sig
nihcantly indicated by the barrier set up he
tween the multitude and the mountain. ard
the extreme penalty upon beast for so
much as touching Jehovahs temporary and
material throne. day. too. had been spent
IN additions before the people could so much as
stand in the divine presence.
Inenably glorious as this scene was il did
rot amount to- Hesel anlrms, an absolute
enslayement OF human individuality by the mai
esty OF the divine personality" Here the
| ratification OF a covenant, and that always inn
| plies the freedom OF both parties 1t was the
establishment OF conjugsl relation. In that
| secret shrine OF nature God married His peo-
! pie. having first their consent. which they
/ expressed in the words. An that the Lord hath
spoken viii do" This was the coronation
Of Jehovah. the establishment of theocrscy
but the setting OF il up with the full consent OF
! the governed
! The Ten Words formed in the air by the
/ power of God, and distinctly heard understood
and agreed TO by the whole nation. are the basic
principles from which all human codes have
| since been developed Like the steel frame
which holds towering modern structure to-
gether. the Ten Commandments the in
visible framework of society. There is an old
tradition OF the rabbis which sfirms that God
spoke in tongue that divided itself into the
seventy languages then extsnt and extended
thus audbly over the whole earth That OF
course, is fiction. But that the Decslogue is the
| cradle OF all codes is fact
/ 1t is OF compare lively small moment how
We olfloe the law, NhetheF with PhilO into two
pentsds or with Augustine into three and seven.
God was dealing with race in its childhood
and their digits evidently intended to help
them remember the tenfold law. They could
keep and count the .Decslosue on their fingers
One table is commonly believed have con-
tanned the laws which express mans duty to
God. the other his duty toward his fellows The
first contained the commandments respecting CD
other gods, 90 images. 80 the name of God.
~ho Gaf.A
murder go adultery, Cd stealing, co false wit
ness, go covetousness
In this audi.nce-chamber the natural
| sublmity OF which had been indescribabIy en-
/ HANGED by this supernal scene. the whole ma ton
tarried for eleven months. il in constitutional
assembly. until the fundamental principles OF
the Decalogue had been drawn out in particular
statutes. ethical sscerdotsl. judicial, and civil
Then length this movable commonwealth
this pilgrim nation, took up its march, COM
pacted and defended by such an ethico-relgious
constitution had never been dreamed OF be-
fore.
THE TEACHERS LANTERN
IGregory Nazianzen's versifcationI
These ten laws Moses formerly engraved
OF stone; but do thou engrave them on thy heart.
Thou shalt not know another God. since worship
Thou shalt not make vain statue. a Iifeless
Thou shalt not call on the great God in vain;
! Keep ALL Sabbaths the sublime and shadow
| Happy he who renders 10 his parents due honor
/ Flee the crime of murder, and OF a foreign
| Red; evil-mnded theft and witness
| False: and the desire OF another's the seed or
death
The law a boy-leader. the slave whose
task il 10 take the children 10 the tutor
1t is holy. just. and good; but is also a reve-
lation TO man OF his own nveterste sinfulness
IL strikes all excuses dead upon the sinners
lips. 1t cries ''Do-' but the same time dis
closes to himself mans utter impotence, and
leads him 10 seek plying eye, q delivering
arm The ONCE OF the law is finely depicted
in the Epistles 10 the Romans and Galatians
How consciously and confessedly i'm
perfect morality bring a perfect salvation
Cause must be sufficient 10 produce effect; vet
what multitudes seem content to remain under
the law, with its ordinances Of death. and that
too when grace, with its gift OF eternal life is
freely proffered.
The moral law is a magnifcent salon spacious
enough to contain the human race. Within its
four walls is everything really conducive TO
human happiness and advancement. There God
would have US stay. The walls pierced with
doors varying in size and conspicuousness II
matters little whether a goes out at a large