THE DESIGN AND NECESSITY OF THE MORAL LAW.
At this stage of our progress it will be useful to recapitulate the
conclusions at which we have arrived, and thus make a point of rest
from which to extend our observations further into the plan of God for
redeeming the world. This review is the more appropriate as we have
arrived at a period in the history of God's providence with Israel,
which presents them as a people prepared (so far as imperfect material
could be prepared) to receive that model which God might desire to
impress upon the nation.
1. They were bound to each other by all the ties of which human nature
is susceptible, and thus rendered compact and united, so that
everything national, whether in sentiment or practice, would be
received and cherished with unanimous, and fervent, and lasting
attachment: and, furthermore, by a long and rigorous bondage, they had
been rendered, for the time being at least, humble and dependent.
Thus, they were disciplined by a course of providences, adapted to fit
them to receive instruction from their Benefactor with a teachable and
grateful spirit.
2. Their minds were shaken off from idols; and Jehovah, by a
revelation made to them, setting forth his name and nature, had
revealed himself as a DIVINE BEING, and by his works had manifested
his almighty power: so that when their minds were disabused of wrong
views of the Godhead, an idea of the first, true, and essential nature
of God was revealed to them; and they were thus prepared to receive a
knowledge of the attributes of that Divine essence.
3. They had been brought to contemplate God as their Protector and
Saviour. Appeals the most affecting and thrilling had been addressed
to their affections; and they were thus attached to God as their
almighty temporal Saviour, by the ties of gratitude and love for the
favour which he had manifested to them.
4. When they had arrived on the further shore of the Red Sea, thus
prepared to obey God and worship him with the heart, they were without
laws either civil or moral. As yet, they had never possessed any
national or social organization. They were therefore prepared to
receive, without predilection or prejudice, that system of moral
instruction and civil polity which God might reveal, as best adapted
to promote the moral interests of the nation.
From these conclusions we may extend our vision forward into the
system of revelation. This series of preparations would certainly lead
the mind to the expectation that what was still wanting, and what they
had been thus miraculously prepared to receive, would be
granted--which was a knowledge of the moral character of God, and a
moral law prescribing their duty to God and to men. Without this, the
plan that had been maturing for generations, and had been carried
forward thus far by wonderful exhibitions of Divine wisdom and power,
would be left unfinished, just at the point where the finishing
process was necessary.
But besides the strong probability which the previous preparation
would produce, that there would be a revelation of moral law, there
are distinct and conclusive reasons, evincing its necessity.
The whole experience of the world has confirmed the fact, beyond the
possibility of scepticism, that man cannot discover and establish a
perfect rule of human duty. Whatever may be said of the many excellent
maxims expressed by different individuals in different ages and
nations, yet it is true that no system of duty to God and man, in
anywise consistent with enlightened reason, has ever been established
by human wisdom, and sustained by human sanctions; and for reasons
already stated,[11] such a fact never can occur.
[11] See chap. i. p. 9, _et seq._
But, it may be supposed that each man has, within himself, sufficient
light from reason, and sufficient admonition from conscience, to guide
himself, as an individual, in the path of truth and happiness. A
single fact will correct such a supposition. Conscience, the great
arbiter of the merit and demerit of human conduct, has little
intuitive sense of right, and is not guided entirely by reason, but is
governed in a great measure by what men believe. Indeed, faith is the
legitimate regulator of the conscience. If a man has correct views of
duty to God and men, he will have a correct conscience; but if he can,
by a wrong view of morals and of the character of God, be induced to
believe that theft, or murder, or any vice, is right, his conscience
will be corrupted by his faith. When men are brought to believe--as
they frequently do believe in heathen countries--that it is right to
commit suicide, or infanticide, as a religious duty, their conscience
condemns them if they do not perform the act. Thus, that power in the
soul which pronounces upon the moral character of human conduct, is
itself dependent upon and regulated by the faith of the individual.
It is apparent, therefore, that the reception and belief of a true
rule of duty, accompanied with proper sanctions, will alone form in
man a proper conscience. God has so constituted the soul that it is
necessary, in order to the regulation of its moral powers, that it
should have a rule of duty, revealed under the sanction of its Maker's
authority; otherwise its high moral powers would lie in dark and
perpetual disorder.
Further, unless the human soul be an exception, God governs all things
by laws adapted to their proper nature. The laws which govern the
material world are sketched in the books on natural science; such are
gravitation, affinity, mathematical motion. Those laws by which the
irrational animal creation is controlled are usually called instincts.
Their operation and design are sketched, to some extent, in treatises
upon the instincts of animals. Such is the law which leads the beaver
to build its dam, and all other animals to pursue some particular
habits instead of others. All beavers, from the first one created to
the present time, have been instinctively led to build a dam in the
same manner, and so their instinct will lead them to build till the
end of time. The law which drives them to the act is as necessitating
as the law which causes the smoke to rise upwards. Nothing in the
universe of God, animate or inanimate, is left without the government
of appropriate law, unless that thing be the noblest creature of
God--the human spirit. To suppose, therefore, that the human soul is
thus left unguided by a revealed rule of conduct, is to suppose that
God cares for the less and not for the greater--to suppose that he
would constitute the moral powers of the soul so that a law was
necessary for their guidance, and then reveal none--to suppose,
especially in the case of the Israelites, that he would prepare a
people to receive, and obey with a proper spirit, this necessary rule
of duty, and yet give no rule. But to suppose these things would be
absurd; it follows, therefore, that God would reveal to the Israelites
a law for the regulation of their conduct in morals and religion.
But physical law or necessitating instinct would not be adapted in
its nature to the government of a rational and moral being. The
application of either to the soul would destroy its free agency. God
has made man intelligent, and thereby adapted his nature to a rule
which he understands. Man has a will and a conscience: but he must
understand the rule in order to will obedience, and he must believe
the sanction by which the law is maintained before he can feel the
obligation upon his conscience. A law, therefore, adapted to man's
nature, must be addressed to the understanding, sanctioned by suitable
authority and enforced by adequate penalties.
In accordance with these legitimate deductions, God gave the
Israelites a rule of life--the Moral Law--succinctly comprehended in
the Ten Commandments. And as affectionate obedience is the only proper
obedience, he coupled the facts which were fitted to produce affection
with the command to obey; saying, 'I am the Lord thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of
bondage'--therefore, love me and keep my commandments.[12]
[12] Deut. v. 6, _passim_.