The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-09-06
The Ten Commandments, Part |
The Story.

The Matterhorn is one of the
Alps, of course; but it has its
own striking personality, rising like
an obelisk; with sides too sheer to
hold the. snow which crowns its
neighbors. The Decalogue is part
of the Bible, of course; but among
these hills of truth it rises with
an individuality all its own. Part
of the Bible, yes; but strangely dis
tinct from it. Like the Matter
horn, it must needs catch the eye
of the most cursory and superficial
reader. 1t cannot be hid. 1t is
the best and most widely known OF
any part of the Old Testament at
least, if not of the entire Scrip
ture. Comprehensiveness is the
characteristic of this unique ethi-
cal code. The commandment is
exceedingly broad. 1t is mira
Gle in words that such number
and variety of duties could be
included in terms SO brief. That
is the power and utility of it. The
number of them is in itself an aid
to memory. The commandments
can be counted on the fingers. They
are ten words, one for each digit
The Ten Words formed in the air
by the power of God, and distinct
ly heard, understood, and agreed
to by the whole nation, are the. baA
sic principles from which all hu-
man codes have 81 nee been devel-
oped. Like the steel frame which
holds a towering modern structure
together, the Ten Commandments
are. the invisible framework of So
ciety. There is an old tradition OF
the rabbis which affirms that God
spoke in a tongue that divided it
self into the seventy languages
then extant, and extended thus au-
dibly over the whole earth. That,
of course, is fiction. But that the
Decalogue is the cradle of all codes
lis fact. 1t is of comparatively
small moment how we divide the
law, whether with Philo into two
pentads, or with Augustine into
three and seven. God was dealing
with race in its childhood, and
their digits were evidently inten-
ded to help them remember the
tenfold law. They could keep and
count the Decalogue on their fin
gers. One table is commonly be-
lieved to have contained the laws
which express mans duty to God.
The other. his duty toward his fel-
lows. The first contained the
commandments respecting other
gods, images, the name of God,
the Sabbath. The second, parents.
murder, adultery, stealing, false
witness, covetousness. In this vast
audience chamber, the natural sub
Unity of which had been indescrib-
ably enhanced by this supernal
scene, the whole nation tarried for
eleven months. as if in constitution
al assembly, until the fundamental
principles of the Decalogue had
been drawn out in particular stat
utes, ethical, sacerdotal, judicial,
and civil. Then at length this
movable commonwealth, this pill
grim nation, took up its march COM
pacted and defended by such an
ethico-religious constitution as had
never been d'eamed of before.
The Teachers Lantern.
These ten laws Moses formerly
engraved on tables of stone; but
do thou engrave them on thy
heart:
Thou shalt not know another
God, since worship belongs to me;
thou shalt not make vain statute.
lifeless image; thou shalt not call
on the great God in vain; keep
all Sabbaths the sublime and shade
wy. Happy he who renders to his
parents due honor; flee the crime
of murder, and of foreign bed !;
evi1-minded, theft, and witness
false; and the desire of another's,