The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-19
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
(copvrirht, Davis W. Clark.)

here indicated by one particular phase of them: namely. the family. This relation is first in point of time and importance,
 as being the source of all other relations.
 Of course. 1t Is conceded that larger scope maintains in tine Orient in the terms
 father and mother. All ancestors and
 the venerable generally are included.
 Even Cicero said, We ought to venerate parent as we do God" The parent is the gift of God. and stands in the place of God. This has been called the first , commandment with promise. This is only the enunciation of a natural law
 Dutiful children are free from the vices which tend to shorten life. Of course, the idea of happy conditions is included in the promised prolongation of days. For men longevity is not always desirable Where unhappy conditions are involved
 1t may well be deemed curse and mis- fortune.
 Sixth commandment: The Revised Yer
 sion Is evidently preferable reading.
 Thou shalt do no murder" Never in the
 history of the race has his,commandment held such universal sway. The number
 of capital crimes of which the law takes cognizance is reduced to a minimum. There was time when stealing a sheep
 was punishable with death, and there
 was barbarous custom of exposing fel-
 ons bones to public view: a time when
 processes of law were so crude that many Innocent persons suffered death penalties:
 and the only atonement which could be
 made was to plant white flag on the
 grave of the unfortunate. The causes of war recognized by the international code have also been reduced to minimum. | Risk to life of employe has also been | greatly diminished. However, we are not | yet ready to efface the sixth command
 ment from the table, since in the decade l69l-l90l there were in the United States 1 S5.116 murders and several times that num- | Der of suicides. Murder is yet committed | by ignoring the demand for sanitation of tenements. And Jacob Riis has said .that a n lFf mat rnyif house as to kill him with .an ax.
 Seventh commandments: Jesus lifts adultery from its literal and limited sense of crime committed with a married wo- man, to its larger scope, which forbids all impurity of every description, whether in deed or in thought. No vice writes the epitaph of an individual, a race, or a nation so quickly as impurity Neither family nor State can abide before it.
 Eighth commandments: Property is re- cognized as a Divine institution. It is an inaLenable right. The thief does more than injure the party from whom he order itself. This commandment also is exceeding broad in it's implications and applications. Many operations now con doned In the business world could not stand a moment in the white light of the Divine word. Thou shalt. not steal
 Ninth commandment: This word does not refer exclusively to false and per- Jured testimony in court of justice. IS d IS dlWdS , in session. It is the court of public opinion. Before this great assize 1t Is possible for men to do their fellows great injustice and irreparable harm. An in nuendo may be the falsest kind of wit ness. It is possible to damn one with
 faint praise
 Tenth commandment: This is an im-
 measurable advance upon any code of antiquity. It practically anticipates Jesus
 carrying of the law into the inward part" It does not deal with the overt act but goes back of the external deed, to the disposition of the mind. Dykes | has admirably said: The practical ef- | feet of the tenth commandment. standing
 where 1t did like d solemn appendix to | the rest was to throw back upon them | all a more searching light. It was to show that they were to be applied to | inward desire. which is sin, as well as to | outward action, which is crime. In effect,
 1t doubled the whole law"