“Thou shalt not murder.”
Murder is a most terrible thing; we shudder at the sound of the word,
even at the mere idea of it. We wonder how it is possible that a person
should be so wicked, so cruel, and so unnatural as to take the life of
another human being! One who can do such a thing must have lost all
human feeling, and is rather a brute than a being created in the image
of God. But, unfortunately, there have been and there are such wicked
people. We read in the Bible that a dispute arose between the two sons
of Adam, and the one, Cain, slew the other, Abel. He repented it, but
he could not restore to his brother the life which he had taken. The
severest punishment is therefore inflicted on those who have committed
this crime.
This commandment and those which follow it have their root in the
principle, “Love thy fellow-man as thyself,” applied to the life (sixth
commandment), the home (seventh commandment), the property (eighth
commandment), and the honour of our fellow-man (ninth commandment). We
wish to enjoy life as long as possible; it must therefore be our desire
to see our fellow-man enjoy the longest possible life. But we must not
rest satisfied with the mere desire. An earnest desire is followed by
acts dictated by it. We must try our utmost, even as we do with regard
to ourselves, to preserve the life of our fellow-man. We have, e.g.,
seen before how by obeying the fifth commandment we lengthen not only
our own life, but also that of our parents, whilst by breaking this law
we shorten their life as well as our own.
By supporting the poor and nursing the sick we may be the means of
increasing a human life by many days or even years, whilst by
neglecting the duty of charity we neglect to save the life of our
fellow-man when it is in our power to do so.—Another instance of
criminal neglect it would be if a person saw another in actual danger
of life, and did not try everything in his power to save him.
Without having directly broken the sixth commandment, without having
taken the life of our neighbour by violence, we may still be guilty of
having shortened his life and caused his untimely death. Talebearers
and slanderers, e.g., often undermine the peace and happiness of an
individual, and even of a whole family, and sow the seed of misery and
ruin where well-being and prosperity seemed well established.
The sixth commandment enjoins that we should respect the life of our
fellow-man, and forbids us therefore—
(1.) To take it by violent means.
(2.) To do anything by which the peace and well-being of our fellow-man
might be undermined.
(3.) To neglect anything in our power to save our neighbour from direct
or indirect danger of life.