The Tupelo journal., 1913-09-05
LESSON FOR SEPTEMBER 7
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

-AN
GOLDEN TEXT-"Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, anu
with ali thy SOUL, and with all my
strength, and with all thy mind.'-Luke
1927.
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, 70 we
learn that the words of these eternal
principles were spoken to the wnole
assembly from the midst Of the burn
ing mountain and that they stano
apart from the Mosaic law. 1t was
God himself who spake (v. y to this
redeemed people ". %. 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, 16, IT; 2 Cor. 81, I'D but never
theless each one of these commands,
excepting the fourth is reiterated In
the New Testament, emphasizing the
eternal fxedness of their principles.
The principle of a day of rest one day
in seven has not, however, been set
aside. as we shall see hereafter. n
purpose of the law is to bring to men
the knowledge of sin and thereby 10
lead them to Christ, Rom. $40, ~,
10: Gal. $40, "a. John the beloved
tells us chat 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 i've
satisfactorily with himself n his
neighbors and his God.
Pinnacles of Thought.
/. The First Commandment, w. 1-3.
Instinctively one thinks of two other
p~innacles of religious thought, In the
beginning Cod" Gen. IL, and the
first two words of the disciples pray
er. "Our Father" Matt. 60. Eternity
alone can furnish us a 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 a been
done for the Israelites. Hereafter they
must keep the law in order to obtain
life. Rob. 1875; Gal. 1912. In this
Gospel dispensation we obtain life as
an enabling agent whereby to perform
or to keep the law, Eph. 2:1, $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 no other gods before Cor be-
side) me-" Matt. 4:10.
II. The Second Commandment, w.
40. 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 in lieu of the creature sup
posed to be represented. God did
sanction images, Elk. 37:7, 1920; |
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 ~observances in many
aa,4. of Tho ,,0rII Tr11n yynrChjn mlISf
worship in spirit the God who Is spir-
it. John 4:24; 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 continual
ton of ones self. We do what our
fathers did, Heb. 7:9, 10. God has
however made a merciful provision
whereby we may turn the misery OF
sin into a blessing, Ez. 1872, 10, 20 and
Rom. 8:28. Let us rather emphasize
the onverse of this law of heredity,
viz, that the blessing is likewise per-
petuated, ito a thousand generations
Deut. 7:9; PS. 1913, tom. Il.lo, DIV.
Must Be Sincere.
III. The Third Commandment, v. z.
Here is demanded absolute sincerity
by all in 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 sa~crilegious use of divine
terms and phrases; the use, whether
in prayer or praise of divine names
and expressions which are not a 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.
Sit. Attention has been called to the
fact that nowhere does it say the
seventh day of the week, though that
T. u,hat tho Tcro oIftoc ohcarvad This