The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-07-19
THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
DUTIES TOWARD MEN
Sunday School Lesson for July 81, 1901
Specially Prepared for This Paper

The fifth commandment belongs TO
both tables of the law. Since God is
our Father we are taught to honor
him as father. "If then, be faith
er, where is mine honor? saith
the Lord of hosts unto you" (Mal.
1:6). To- the young child the parents
are In place of the heavenly Father,
to lead the child up to him. The word
pietas, whence our "piety" mant orig
inally the duty of men to God reflect
ed in their duty towards their parents.
So in l Tim. 5:4, the Greek word for
show piety at home, eusebein, and its
Latin equivalent, colere, honor, rever-
ence, worship, is applied both to God
and to parents.
2. I'VE are hidden to honor, because
love is instructive, and can only be
spontaneous. The honor for our pa
rents is love combined with rever-
ence; the love must be honor touched
with emotion. The word honor in
cludes love- for there can be no true
honor without love."-Farar
3. 1t applies to both parents. Moth
err stands out as clear as Sinai itself.
There is no cloud on her majesty.
Such honor as goes to the father goes
to the mother "-Caverno.
4. We honor by love, courteous at
tentions, by giving them the best, by
always treating them with hsnor in
the presence of others, by deferring to
their wishes.
Ia III nraf q a
sanctification OF social life" and
the surest basis of all righteous gov
eminent" In its widest sense it re-
spects gray hairs everywhere, and
honors all in authority over you, such
as your pastor, teacher, employer or
magistrates. Lack in this respect is
a growing evil, full of mischief to our
nation.
6. The fifth commandment does not
require a child to do wrong at a pa
rents bidding, but it does require a
child to love even unlovely parents,
because they hold to him the sacred
relation of father and mother.
V. 10. Thou shalt not kill" The
r. " gives the thought more accurate
ly, Thou shalt do no murder" Kill
ing is sometimes justifiable; the bible
itself enjoins the killing of men for
punishment of those who murder, in
order to prevent, by the punishment
of the guilty, the murder of the inno-
cent.
V. II. This is the safeguard of the
home and the family.
1. Primarily, the seventh command
ment forbids adultery, and the sins
which, under slight differences, are
cognate with it.
2. It forbids all impure thoughts,
and the books and pictures and plays
and acts which tend to excite such
thoughts and inspire impure acts. Pla-
to would exclude from his ideal repub-
lie everything that would debase the
TASTE even all poor pictures and poor
workmanship.
3. BLESSED are the pure in heart,
for they shall see Cod" while the i'm
pure soon lose all sense of divine
| things. No sin, not even intemperance,
so rapidly ruins a man, body, mind,
and soul, as this sin.
4. The way to overcome this evil is
by the good-true love and happy
marriage, a mind full of good
thoughts, life full of good deeds.
V. 10. Is the safeguard of personal
and property rights, and the wall of
defense against the temptations to sell
fshness and crime.
The crime of theft Is, of all others,
the meanest and most despicable. 1t
is selfishness incarnate. To gain by
stealing is far worse for the thief than
for the one wronged. A clear con-
science is worth more than all the
world. Plato illustrates the test OF
honesty by the story of Gyges' ring,
which made the wearer invisible. He
that is honest, even when he can be
dishonest without being found out,
is truly honest man.
V. 16. Forbids false statements in
a case of law-perjury. at is prohi-
bition of SANDER, or of careless speech
affecting the good name of ones fell
low man. This is not, as many have
supposed, mere Injunction to truth
full speech on all occasions, "-Trum-
bull.
The last compartment is unique
one. Search all the laws of the world
and you will not find one which re-
sembles it. The sixth. seventh, eighth
and ninth commandments you will
find in all codes, though only as pro-
hibitions of crimes amenable to Judi
cial punishment. The tenth command
ment is the complement of all the rest.
1t shows that God requires of us not
only outward virtue, but inward holt
ness; that he demands in us the sac
rifice of the will, from which wicked
actions spring; that sinful magma
tons are a crime against him as well
as wicked acts. "-Farrar.
Practical Points.
The religious side must come first.
as the inspiration to perform our du-
ties toward men. Love to God our
Father will necessarily lead to love to
our fellow men, his children.