The right way

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Preface

to God's word. Those who " hunger and thirst after righteousness," are here taught what is acceptable to their final Judge. And the transgressor, comparing his life with the divine standard, measures his offences, and finds that " hj the law is the knowledge of sin." In reference to this world it is said, " If any man desireth life, and loveth many days that he may see good, let him depart from evil and do good." And in respect to the world to come, the revelator writes : " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of hfe, and may enter in, through the gates, into the city." The law is God's idea of the true, the wise, and the good. Compassing time, and stretching on to eternity, it teaches men how to secure their true interests here and hereafter.

But while all admit the necessity for a clear understanding of the law, it is somewhat singular that so little has been done to disseminate popular expositions of it. Search was made by the writer, not long since, for a book of thia

PKEFACE.

kind, at the publication rooms of several of our leading denominations, and in no case could the officials produce, at that time, more than a partial explanation of two or three isolated commandments. He therefore concluded, that to furnish a volume of small size and inconsiderable cost, giving, in familiar language, an exhibition of the vital truths graven by the finger of God on the tables of stone, would be doing a good work.

He proposed to himself the preparation, not of a ponderous treatise for the learned, but a plain, brief explanation of the Decalogue for the use of those not familiar with libraries, and especially for the young. There were times, indeed, when the idea of attempting something more voluminous and elaborate was suggested: but as this would frustrate the original design, it was not adopted. Consequently, an unpretending volume is laid before the public upon a subject which furnishes abundant material for a treatise of another literary order. The writer lays his little book before the public, saying, in

PREFACE.

the language of Bishop Home, in the preface to his Commentary on the •Psalms : —

"And now could the author flatter himself that any one would take half the pleasure in reading the following exposition which he hath taken in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour."

J. T. Craio).

€anhnts.

Lkctueb Paoe Introduction 9

I. — First Commandment 25

n. — Second Commandment 41

m. — Third Commandment 62

IV. — Fourth Commandment 79

V. — Fifth Commandment 102

VI. — Sixth Commandment 122

Vn. — Sixth Commandment, (The Peace Peinoiple) 144

Vm. — Seventh Commandment 159

IX. — ^EiaHTH Commandment 192

X. — ^NiNTH Commandment 216

XL — Tenth Commandment 246

The nature of Yirtue lias been a theme of discussion among thinkers of all ages of the world, from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, down to Hobbes, Bentham, Palej, and M'Intosh. But to the Christian philosopher there occurs a question far loftier than those which relate to mere human action and affection, and yet so intimately connected with the problem of human morals, that it seems to me that some clearness of view must be had upon it before any satisfactory light is thrown upon this subject of investigation. That question is this : "Wherein consists the holiness of God ?

It may be said that this matter is too high, and too deep, for human intellect ; and that to attempt investigation, however humbly and reverently, is presumptuous. Still, it must be admitted that, in His own word, holiness is ascribed to God ; and it becomes us, as grateful recipients of revelation, not to content ourselves with sounds without ideas, but to labour to comprehend what God has spoken. Every word is designed to

Introduction

convey a thouglit ; and though the idea conveyed may often fail to grasp the entire magnitude of the subject, yet it need never be self-contradictory, nor wholly confused. Let us then pause a moment, and ask, humbly but earnestly, what our great Teacher would have us understand by the various passages of Holy Writ, wherein, he claims that his nature is holy, and his acts right ?

One theologian defines God's holiness to be " the purity and rectitude of his nature but this merely substitutes other terms, which leave all as dark as ever. K it be said that he is holy, because all his acts accord perfectly with his divine nature, the reply may be made that the acts of all beings, so far as they are uninfluenced from without, are consistent with their nature. K we say that sin is transgression of law, and that God is free from sin, we assert merely that Jehovah has no superior whose laws he is bound to obey. K Satan, with all his mahgnity, were the most powerful being in the universe, and consequently exalted above all law, and all control, would holiness be an attribute of his character, as it now is of God's ? "Would the laws which he might impose upon other beings be holy, just, and right, simply because they sprung from an omnipotent will ? The supposition is absurd ; the reason and the heart revolt against it at once.

The holiness of God, then, must be something more than an incidental result of his supremacy.

INTBODUCTION.

It consists not in the fact tliat Ms acts are in harmony with his adorable nature ; since all uninfluenced action harmonizes with the nature of the actor, whether holj or unholy. If his laws are right, because Omnipotence wills them, then the laws of an omnipotent Apollyon would be right. After considerable reflection upon this interesting topic, the conclusion to which my mind tends is, that God is love; and his holiness consists in the fact that all the divine affections are in accordance with the spirit of benevolence ; and all the divine acts, laws, and plans, have for their object the accomplishment of good, and the promotion of happiness.

The objection that God demands obedience to laws which are sometimes burdensome to fallen man, has no weight ; since that which is distasteful to an evil nature may, nevertheless, prove its greatest good. 'Nor is the principle disproved by the fact, that in some cases we are unable to perceive how the penalties denounced against sin work for the beneflt of the sinner. That which is death to the offender, may, while it is no more than justice to him, work for the good of countless beings, who are warned by his fate. And even the bitter torments of eternal death may be less disastrous to an immortal spirit than to be suffered to exist forever in sin, unarrested and uncontrolled. To what enormous heights of wickedness such a being might rise if God should take off the restraining hand, and to

INTRODUCTION.

what depths of misery he might sink, we know not.

]^or would God's benevolence be cast into doubt, if we should be imable to perceive how some of his general laws produce happiness. What we now see of his plans and their results is a very small part of the whole ; and that which is now wrapped in darkness, may be plain when we shall view it with stronger vision and clearer light. An engine, constructed with consummate skill, may be performing its allotted work with exquisite precision and certainty ; and yet some person, ignorant of mechanism, looks in at some narrow aperture, where he can see but two or three of its numerous wheels, and he fancies that the whole is revolving in useless, aimless confusion. Thus vain man objects to the decisions of Jehovah, forgetting that, as in the prophet's vision, there are "wheels within wheels," and that what seems confusion to him may in truth be "order infinite." God will rule and overrule, and cause all to work harmoniously for his own glory, and the good of aggregated being.

If these opinions be correct, the laws which God has given man are right, not because they are enforced by infinite power, but because they originate in infinite love, directed by infinite wisdom ; and true virtue is conformity of heart and life to the will of God. The really virtuous man is a "partaker of the divine nature."

INTEODTTCTION.

2 Peter i, 4. In other words, genuine virtue is enlightened love, and " love is the fulfilling of the law." God's word is given to guide those who seek true rectitude. These blessed precepts spring from the fountain of infinitely wise be-, nevolence, and are a part of the stream which "makes glad the city of our God." He who obeys them has gained true wisdom, as well as true virtue. He is employed in the noblest work of created beings, the promotion of happiness — a work in which Jehovah himself delights.

But it does not follow from this that present utility is the test and measure of right. Poison may be sweet to the taste, while it "worketh death." That which gives temporary pleasure to ourselves and others, may, in the end, destroy ail happiness. Human wisdom, unaided, cannot determine at a glance the moral character of a given act. Not only must the immediate, palpable result be considered; but the most remote consequences of the act, its subtlest influences, its reflex power upon the character of the actor, and the degree in which it will modify the opinions, the affections, and the conduct of those who witness it at the time, or who shall hear of it, it may be, in far-off lands and distant ages, are all to be taken into the account. Where, then, shall we find a test of the wise and the right ? Here man sees but a part of the consequences of his own action. He casts a stone into the stream of time, and the rapid circles break upon shores

INTRODUCTION.

which his eye never saw, and sweep on downwards, even to the eternal ocean. To recur to an illustration already employed, we find ourselves unable to comprehend the details of the complicated engine. "We see but .a part of the levers and bands ; we behold a shaft, but fail to learn how it is attached to the rest, and perceive a wheel, without detecting those into which it plays. It is wise, therefore, not to depend upon our own limited reason and imperfect investigation, but to ask wisdom of the great Master-Builder who looks through the whole, and sees the end from the beginning. The conclusion of the whole matter is, that although the expedient is always the right, yet the expedient can be pointed out with certainty by God alone. Utihty, in the best sense of the term, may be the essence of practical virtue, but " the only wise God" alone can determine the truly useful.

Another inquiry intimately connected with the subject of morals is. What is Conscience ? And what are our obligations with reference to it? Yarious names have been given to this inward monitor, and various conflicting views have been taken of its nature. Some consider it merely the opinion which men form of their own acts, which opinion, they argue, is so modified by outward circumstances, as well as personal peculiarities, that conscience, so called, is but the creature of accidents, and its decisions are of no authority. Others, with Rousseau and Dr. Reid,

INTRODUCTION.

look upon it as tlie witness for God, direct, authoritative, and infallible. Without discussing the yarious theories which have been set forth, or affecting to correct what has been done by others, I may be permitted to state what seems to me, at least at this present time, a plain, satisfactory view of the matter. Conscience, in the true sense of the term, is that faculty of a moral agent which impels him to do what he believes to be right, and avoid what he believes to be wrong ; and which also causes emotions of pleasure or pain, as its impulses are obeyed or disregarded. The judgments upon which it acts are based upon what is supposed to be the will of God ; and it derives its beauty, strength, and value, from a feeling of obligation to obey God — a sense of subjection to divine law. There are, it is true, various mental promptings and retributions arising from the social affections, general benevolence, rational conviction of expediency, regard for civil law, dread of a human superior, or of public opinion ; but these, though they may often be valuable, do not seem worthy to be ranked with the impulsive and retributive influences of Conscience. As an endowment, this moral sense not only distinguishes those beings which are capable of moral action from those which are not, but also, I am inclined to think, distinguishes immortal beings from those which are created for time only.

The province of this witness for God is, then,

INTEODIJCTION.

to give an impulse in favour of the supposed right, and against the supposed wrong ; and to impart an emotion of pleasure for every effort after sincere obedience, and to inflict an emotion of pain for every act done in violation of the sense of duty.

With this brief expression of opinion with re gard to the theory, let us proceed to consider, with equal brevity, the duties pertaining to Conscience. For the sake of distinctness, I will treat of them under three several heads :• —

I. The impulsive and retributive power of Conscience should be cultivated.

This is done by cherishing the feeling of obligation to obey God — ^the sense of subjection to divine law. The soul should accustom itself to adore the majesty of Jehovah, exult in his goodness, and tremble at his power, and to hear, every moment, the dread words, "I am the Lokd thy God." Meditation upon the awful character of Him who thus lays claim to our reverence, love, and obedience ; upon the relation which we sustain to him ; and upon the infinite interests at stake, will tend to create and keep alive an intense desire to be conformed to that divine will, and kindle it into a ruling passion. Conscience should be prompt, energetic, and all-controlling in its appeals. Its undivided approval should be bliss, and its reproaches should fall upon the heart like the cutting lash of the scorpion. But to be thus influential, it must be strengthened,

INTRODUCTION.

as are our other powers, by right exercise. The power of conscience increases by conscientious action. The wise man "hungers and thirsts after righteousness." lie carefully examines the moral aspect of his actions, his plans, his words, and even the hidden thoughts and intents of his heart ; and for the sake of duty, he is ever ready to sacrifice worldly advantage, to face opposition, and suffer pain. By rigid adherence to the right, his virtue grows in vigour as life wears on ; and the temptations which beset his path are overcome with more and more ease, till they give way, without a conflict, before his steady steps, and he verifies the saying of the Patriarch of Uz : " He that hath clean hands, shall be stronger and stronger."

On the other hand, he who habitually disregards his convictions of duty, will find each transgression of a series attended with less remorse than the preceding, and each successive temptation armed with new power, till his conscience no longer lifts up the voice of remonstrance, and he is numbered among the unhappy souls who have gone astray till they " cannot cease from sin." True, some from their earliest years seem endowed with a more sensitive conscience than others : still, cultivation or neglect will work its appropriate results upon all. He who would have conscience exercise its due influence upon his character and his life, must bow his head and listen intently to the still small voice.

INTBODUCTION.

n. The Conscience must be duly directed.

Rousseau apostrophizes conscience as a " divine instinct, immortal and heavenly voice, sure guide of a being ignorant and limited, but intelligent and free ; infallible j udge of good and evil." But in what human breast is such a conscience to be found? The existence of an innate infallible conscience can be demonstrated neither by the present experience nor the past history of our fallen race. Children, whose training has been neglected, are as ignorant of ethics as of natural science. Even the strongest advocates of the infallibility of the inborn moral sense, when their attention is drawn to some intricate question in casuistry, have recourse, not to their "divine instinct," but to acknowledged rules, and to their ordinary powers of reasoning and comparing: and the more judicious and reliable the Christian becomes, the more carefully does he disregard unaccountable impulses, and seek to conform his life to the revealed standard of duty.

It is evident that there may be strong convictions of obligation, and strong desires to obey, where there are but confused and even totally incorrect views of the will of the lawgiver. The obedient son, who goes with cheerful step to labour in the vineyard, may mistake some noxious weed for the grape of Eshcol. Saul, breathmg threatenings and slaughter against the saints, "lived in all good conscience before God," as well as when he laid down his life and won a

IITTEODUCTION.

martyr's crown at Eome. The follower of Confacius, offering sacrifice at tlie tomb of Hs ancestors ; tlie Tartar, attaching his paper prayer to the windmill; the Hindu devotee casting himself down before the murderous wheels of his idol's car, may all feel an approying emotion. Conscientiousness may help on the folHes of the heathen, as well as the prayers, and praises, and good works of the Christian. The sense of obligation may be active and tender, and yet be so left in the dark as even to prompt to the wrong. It sounds a warning against sin, it demands that the supposed right be done, but does not inspire knowledge. If confused in his notions of duty, even the sincere follower of Christ may go astray in his ignorance, and thus his usefulness and his spiritual progress are obstructed, if not totally destroyed. Revelation, direct or traditional, is the only sure guide. If we turn away our eyes from its bright rays, we grope in uncertain twilight, or are lost in midnight darkness. Passion, appetite, interest, prejudice, may wrest judgment and darken counsel. The true standard, the law of right, and our only infallible guide, is God's word. The heathen may possess fragments of traditionary truth, but " we have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." Conscience and revealed morality are correlative, as Light and the optic nerve are created for each other.

INTRODUCTION.

Every one then to whom the word of God is given, is bound in reason and in conscience to " search the Scriptures," asking wisdom of Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. He thus shall tread the noblest field of knowledge open to human investigation. Recourse should be had to every available means to gain clear ideas of what Jehovah demands. Reading, reflection, prayer, the advice of the pious and the judicious, may all be employed with advantage. The divine law must be studied diligently, perseveringly, and with sincere and eager desires to learn the whole truth, till its golden precepts are graven upon the memory, and its pure spirit fills the heart.

IS'othing is more common among men than perverted and defective conscientiousness. The ignorant Papist, who, apparently without any compunctious visitings, can drink to intoxication, fight, lie, and profane the Sabbath, is overwhelmed with horror at the idea of eating flesh on Friday ; and if he has even tasted, is haunted by keen remorse till penance and priestly pardon have lulled his conscience to rest. But every branch of the Christian Church is shorn of a part of its strength, by the fact, that some of its members cannot be made to see that to practise certain things which they neglect, and to abstain from certain others to which they are given, is a Christian duty. From the errors of early training, from personal peculiarities, or fi-om the force

INTRODUCTION.

of appetite, passion, and prejudice, they find it well-nigh impossible to reason correctly when certain moral questions are brought to the bar of judgment. ISTay, the easily-besetting sin may be complacently exalted into a cardinal virtue — or, at the worst, the accidental excess of a virtue. A defect in temper or habit may hang like a millstone about the neck of a man, and he, nevertheless, be so infatuated as to pride himself upon it, and count it his strength. At the same time, he will reason very justly respecting the errors and defects of others ; and the magnitude of the beam in his own eye does not prevent his detecting the smallest mote in his brother's. How common it is to see men in extreme distress about the sins of other people, while they bestow hardly a glance upon their own! A very tender conscience may be palsied on one side, and be totally blind in one eye. What we would denounce as avarice in another, in ourselves we defend and approve as prudence ; that which in another we would style stubbornness and passion, we call, in ourselves, due firmness and generous spirit; and every moral deformity which we condemn and hate in others, we baptize by a very smooth name, when we detect its presence in ourselves.

Again, men are acute in detecting, and severe in condemning, those sins to which they themselves are not given. The passionate man, forgetful of his fierce anger and its guilt, is zealous

INTRODUCTION.

in Ids efforts to reform his neighbour, whom he suspects of being covetous. The volatile professor, whose endless levities render his sincerity questionable, lashes the more sober Christian for his gloomy repulsive countenance ; while the sour ascetic frets even at the cheerfulness of youth, as if it were the worst of sins. The one who is careless in his business rails at the man who is careless in his language ; and the one who is very slow to give his money to good objects, sees his brother's sin of pride in all its horrors ; while the officious, censorious brother, by his unsparing reproofs, and ungenerous insinuations, keeps the whole Church in angry ferment, and atones for his own deficiency in spiritual things by calling attention to the spiritual defects of the rest. Thus it goes, through the whole roxmd of peculiarity and circumstances, and each

" Compounds for sins he is inclined to, By damning those he has no mind to."

This tendency to a one-sided conscience makes it the duty of every man to scan closely his opinions upon moral subjects, and see whether any error has been introduced by circumstances. Happy is he who has been able to escape the entanglements of passion and prejudice, and who, at all times, sees every sin in its deformity, and every virtue in its true beauty and glory.

ni. The Conscience must be obeyed in all things.

INTEODUCTION.

This proposition needs no argument or illustration, as it teaches merely that men should do, in all cases, what they honestly believe to be right. Each is responsible for his own action. He may seek light from his fellows, but he is bound to follow his own clearest convictions. He may, without guilt, defer to the opinions of others so far as to refrain from what he deems allowable ; but he cannot, for the same reason, neglect what he believes to be obKgatory, or do what he considers wrong. After an earnest and honest examination of controverted points, he must take that course which will enable him to " have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." The enticements of sin, the frowns of the world, and even the terrors of death, must never induce him to abandon his integrity. And he who gives himself up to the guidance of an enlightened conscience, will find a plain and a safe, as well as a high and holy way. ^^JVb lion shall le there^ nor (my rcmenous 'beast shall go 'wp thereon^ it shall not te found there} hut the redeemed shall walk th&reP

THE RIGHT WAT.