The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-08-29
LESSON FOR SEPTEMBER I
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

6 LIS son T ,!z!:bon l Shalt love the
k TS ty Gd s wh an and With hea at a ah
strength, and with all thy mind Luke
| 1921
The decalogue divides itself into
two parts; the first has to DO with
man and his relations to God, the sec
| ond deals with man and his relations
with men. We consider today the
| first part From Deut. 5:22, 23 We
learn that the words CT these eternal
principles were spoken to the whole
assembly from the midst Of the burn
| ing mountain and that they stand
apart from the Mosaic law. 1t was
God himself who spake {v. u TO this
redeemed people ". y, Afterwards
| he wrote them with his own finger on
| tablet Of stone, Deut. 5:22. This law
| was done away with in Christ (Col.
2:14, 10, II; Cor. 81, III but never
| theless each one OF these commands,
excepting the fourth is reiterated IN
| the New Testament. emphasizing the
| eternal fixedness CT their principles.
/ The principle of day of rest one day
| aside, as we shall see hereafter. The
| purpose of the law is to bring to men
! the knowledge OF sin and thereby to
/ lead them to Christ, Rom. 500, Z;
! Is; Gal. $40, "a. John the beloved,
tells us that his commandments are
not grievous" Men who understand
! the spirit of the decalogue know that
! every commandment tends to make
better citizens, better parents, better
! children. in fact to enable one to live
satisfactorily with himself and his
neighbors and his God.
Pinnaclcs of Thought.
l. The First Commandment, w. Is.
| Instinctively ore thinks of two other
pinnacles of religions thought, I'm the
| beginning God Gen. IL, and the
first two words OF the disciples pray
er, Our Father" Matt. 60. Eternity
alone can furnish us g measurement
sufficiently great to enable us fully to
| comprehend the fulness Of this
thought. God the creator, law giver,
! father. In the beginning, at this
mountain and in his son, teaching us
of his character.
Up to this time everything had been
done for the Israelites. Hereafter they
must keep the law in order to obtain
| life, Rob. 1876; Gal. 3:12. In this
Gospel dispensation We obtain life as
an enabling agent whereby to perform
or to keep the law, Eph. 81, $40. The
| Christians higher law is Christ him
self, inasmuch as the righteousness OF
the law is fulfilled in the Christian
who walks after the spirit, Rom. ga.
The foundation Of all OF this is to
have 10 other gods. before Cor be-
side) me- Matt. 4:10. soI
u. The Second commandment, wv.
S-6. This is negative in that we shall
not attempt any visible representation
or likeness of God, and positive In
that we shall not bow down in wor
! ship nor serve any such likeness. The
wisdom of this is only too evident
when we carefully study the degener-
acy Of all forms of heather religions.
The creation of mans hands is WOr
SHIPPED i'll lieu Of the creature sup
posed to be represented. God did
sanction images. Elk. 37:7, 1925; |
Kings 1925. The service of art in the
matter of religion is freely acknowl-
! edged but nevertheless it is attended
by grave danger as is evidenced by
Roman Catholic observanees in many
parts of the world. True worship must
| worship in spirit the God who is spir-
| it. John ia; Phil 3:3 r. V. He must
be supreme in our hearts and our at
! fections. The perpetuity of either
blessing or curse for the observance
or violation of this edict may at first
/ seem to be rather harsh. Yet we must
! consider that posterity is the continue
ton of ones self We do what our
fathers did, Heb. 7:9, TO- God has
however made merciful provision
whereby we may turn the misery Of
sin into blessing. Ez. 1872, L. 20 and
Rom S:2S
Must BE Sincere.
III. The Third Commandment, v. 7.
| Here is demanded absolute sincerity
by all III the use of the divine name
and thus forbids all forms of bias
| phemy. This covers much more than
| ordinary vulgar profanity. The flip
pant and sacrilegious use of divine
terms and phrases; the use, whether
in prayer or praise Of divine names
and expressions which are noe part
of our life experience is a form of
blasphemy. Vain, empty, false usage
Of Gods name is blasphemous A
proper reverence towards God is fun
damental to any true love for God
~. The Fourth Commandment, W.
ali. Attention has been called to the
fact that nowhere does it say the
seventh day of the week, though that
is what the Tsraelites observed. This
is the Sabbath OF Jehovah. While this
was specially designated for the Jew.
(Deut. 81 u. Isl, and not literally
binding upon the Christian (Col ZIG,
10, yet it has underneath it a great,
wise and benedcent principle, mans
need for rest one DAY III seven. Phys
ically and nervously he needs rest
and o,riat sDiriTvaiIy he moods rho