The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-09-04
LESSON FOR SEPTEMBER 7
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

LESSON. TExT-Ex; 2O1-11:
GOLDEN TExT-'Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and
with all thy soul and with all thy
lG:2T.
The decalogue divides itself into
two parts; the first has to do with
h IN and his relations to God, the sec
ON. deals with man and his relations
with men. We consider today the
first part. From Deut. 5:22, % we
learn that the words of 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 y to this
redeemed people ". p. 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, II; Q Cor. S:7, ~ 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 day Of rest one day
In seven has not, however, been set
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. $40, 7;7,
13; Gal. $40, "a. John the beloved,
tells us that his commandments are
not grievous." Men who understand
the spirit of the decalogue know that
ND fondo fn make
better citizens, better parents, better
children, in fact to enable one to live
satisfactorily with himself and his
neighbors and his God.
Pinnacles of Thought.
|. The First Commandment, w. 1-3.
Instinctively one thinks of two other
pinnacles Of religious thought, "In the
beginning Cod" Gen IL, and the
first two words of the disciples pray
er, "Our Father" Matt. SO. 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 had been
done for the Israelites. Hereafter they
must keep the law in order to obtain
- life, Rob. 1875; Gal. 3:12. 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 o
the law is fulfilled in the Christian
who walks after the spirit, Rom. S;4
The foundation of all Of this Is t.
"have no other gods before Cor be
side) me-" Matt. 4:10.
u. The Second Commandment, w
4-6. This is negative in that we shal
not attempt any visible representation
or likeness of God, and positive il
that we shall not bow down in woI
ship nor serve any such likeness. Th
wisdom of this is only too eviden
when we carefully study the degeneI
acy of all forms of heather religions
The creation of mans hands is woi
SHIPPED in lieu of the creature SUI
posed to be represented God di
sanction images, Elk. 37:7, 1920;
Kings 7:25. The service of art in tn
matter of religion Is freely aclInow
edged but nevertheless 1t is attende
by grave danger as Is evidenced b
Roman Catholic observances in man
parts of the world True worship mus
worship In spirit the God who is spil
1t, John 4:24; Phil. 3:3 r. V. He mus
be supreme in our hearts and our a
fections. The perpetuity Of eithe
blessing or curse for the observanc
or violation of this edict may at frs
seem to be rather harsh. Yet we mus
consider that posterity is the continu'
ton of ones self. We do what ou
fathers did, Heb. 7:9, 10. God ha
however made a merciful provisio
whereby we may turn the misery
sin into blessing, Ez. 1872, 10, 20 an
Rom 1928. Let us rather emphasiz
the converse of this law of heredit.
viz. that the blessing is likewise pc
petuated. ito thousand generations
Dout. 7:9; Ps. 1858, Rom. 11:2S, 6:2
Must Be Sincere.
III. The Third Commandment, v.
Here is demanded absolute sincerit
by all In the use of the divine nam
and thus forbids all forms of bla
phemy. This covers much more tina
ordinary vulgar profanity. The fiji
pant and sacrilegious use Of divir
terms and phrases; the use, wheth'
in prayer or praise of divine nam'
and expressions which are not pa
of our life experience is form
blasphemy. Vain, empty, false usat
of Gods name is blasphemous.
proper reverence towards God is fu
damental to any true love for God.
w. The Fourth Commandment, v
eli. Attention has been called to II
fact that nowhere does 1t say Il
seventh day of the week, though tn
Is what the Israelites observed. Th
is the Sabbath of Jehovah. While tn
was specially designated for the Je
(Deut. 5:1, 12, 15). and not literal
binding upon the Christian (Col. 2:1
IT., yet 1t has underneath 1t gre'