It is related of a clever infidel that he sought an acquaintance with
the truths of the Bible, and began to read at the books of Moses. He
had been in the habit of sneering at the Bible, and in order to be
able to refute arguments brought by Christian men, he made up his
mind, as he knew nothing about it, to read the Bible and get some idea
of its contents. After he had reached the Ten Commandments, he said to
a friend:
"I will tell you what I _used_ to think. I supposed that Moses was the
leader of a horde of banditti; that, having a strong mind, he acquired
great influence over a superstitious people; and that on Mount Sinai
he played off some sort of fireworks to the amazement of his ignorant
followers, who imagined in their fear and superstition that the
exhibition was supernatural. I have been looking into the _nature_ of
that law. I have been trying to see whether I could add anything to
it, or take anything from it, so as to make it better. Sir, I cannot!
It is perfect!
The first commandment directs us to make the Creator the object of our
supreme love and reverence. That is right. If He be our Creator,
Preserver, and Supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat Him, and _none
other_, as such. The second forbids idolatry. That certainly is right.
The third forbids profanity. The fourth fixes a time for religious
worship. If there be a God, He ought surely to be worshipped. It is
suitable that there should be an outward homage significant of our
inward regard. If God be worshipped, it is proper that some _time_
should be set apart for that purpose, when all may worship Him
harmoniously, and without interruption. One day in seven is certainly
not too much, and I do not know that it is too little.
The fifth commandment defines the peculiar duties arising from family
relations. Injuries to our neighbor are then _classified_ by the moral
law. They are divided into offences against life, chastity, property,
and character; and I notice that the greatest offence in each class is
expressly forbidden. Thus the greatest injury to life is murder; to
chastity, adultery; to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now the
greatest offence must include the least of the same kind. Murder must
include every injury to life; adultery every injury to purity; and so
of the rest. And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command
forbidding every improper _desire_ in regard to our neighbors.
I have been thinking, Where did Moses get that law? I have read
history. The Egyptians and the adjacent nations were idolaters; so
were the Greeks and Romans; and the wisest or best Greeks or Romans
never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses obtain that
law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened
ages? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous; but he has given a
law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can
detect no flaw. Where did he obtain it? He could not have soared so
far above his age as to have devised it himself. I am satisfied where
he obtained it. It came down from heaven. It has convinced me of the
truth of the religion of the Bible."
The infidel, (now an infidel no longer), remained to his death a firm
believer in the truth of Christianity.
We call it the "Mosaic" Law, but it has been well said that the
commandments did not originate with Moses, nor were they done away
with when the Mosaic Law was fulfilled in Christ, and many of its
ceremonies and regulations abolished. We can find no trace of the
existence of any lawmaking body in those early times, no parliament or
congress that built up a system of laws. It has come down to us
complete and finished, and the only satisfactory account is that which
tells us that God Himself wrote the commandments on tables of stone.