I.

THE

CHAPTER IV.

THE GIVING OF THE LAW.

HE law was first given from Sinai two thousand five hundred and thirteen years after the creation. It is now, (1864,) three thousand three hundred and fifty-five years since this code was delivered to mankind in writing. To those living previous to the time of Moses, many of its precepts seem to have been pretty clearly taught by the light of nature, as indeed they are to all men. Paul says, As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law." Rom. ii. 12. Speaking of the heathen he adds, that "the work of the law is written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness" to it. Rom. ii. 15. Doubtless also, much of the divine will was known to eastern nations, by revelations with which they were made acquainted from time to time, before and during the existence of the theocracy. Melchisedec, Job, and the wise men who brought their gifts to the infant Saviour, are illustrations of what is here meant. It has always been true that, "in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." Acts x. 35.

II. In giving the law, God exercised an unques

tionable right. Every one's conscience says as much. Man is a creature. Surely his Creator has a right to direct him. In this very connection God claims universal sovereignty, saying, "All the earth is mine." Ex. xix. 5. Calvin: "God asserts his authority and right of giving commands, and thereby lays his chosen people under the necessity of obeying him." Man is dependent. If he, on whom he depends may not direct him, surely none else can, and man is not fit to direct himself, for he is blind, foolish and perverse. That God is fit to be a lawgiver, it is blasphemy to deny. The act of God in giving this law is therefore no usurpation, no encroachment upon our rights. It is but controlling, regulating, and asserting his own sovereignty over that which belongs to him by every conceivable tie. Weak as men are, they claim the right of doing as they please with their own. Who can deny the same to God? He is infinitely wise. None of his enactments are foolish or mischievous. In their operation they produce good only. Even the best temporal princes have err d for lack of wisdom. To charge the same on God is trocious wicked

ness.

God is good. He has no evil designs. Malevolence is as far removed from him as folly. He is the most loving Being in the universe. Such a governor could not enact unrighteous laws.

III. In giving the law, God delivered it not as counsel or advice but as law. The very form of enactment indicates this-"Thou shalt," "Thou shalt not," "Honour thy father," and "Remember the Sabbath day." None but the perverse can misunderstand such language. Besides, God annexes sanctions to some of the precepts in immediate connection with

them, and sanctions to the whole code in many gene ral teachings of Scripture. These sanctions consist of rewards promised, and punishments threatened. All, therefore, which could prove any writing to be a law in the highest sense of the term, is found here. Competent authority enacts. The enactment has all the form of statute. The statute is supported by adequate sanctions. Stowell: "Obedience and blessing, disobedience and a curse, holiness and heaven, impurity and hell; these are the unalterable connections which constitute the sanctions of the law of God."

IV. In giving a law, we should expect God to enact nothing dishonourable to himself. This is just what we find in the moral law. There is no objection to the assertion that this law is a transcript of the moral character of God. He is not dishonoured by such a remark. The law is worthy of its author. The glory which Jehovah gets from the holy angels arises from their conformity to it. A great end accomplished by the gospel is the recovery of believers from sin to an agreement with the excellence of this law. In it there is nothing derogatory to the character of God. The only perfectly happy society in the universe is that of heaven, where every member is wholly conformed to the requirements of this code. The only perfectly wretched community in the universe is that of the world of darkness, where every member is entirely opposite and contrary to all the provisions of this law. On earth bodies of men are found to be either happy or miserable in proportion as they are more or less conformed to this code, so far as it regulates their intercourse with each other.

V. This law was given amidst the most extraordinary displays ever made upon earth, or ever to be made until the last day. The Jews have a tradition that there were seventy thousand angels present at the giving of the law. This may be a very incorrect enumeration; probably it is. The number may have been far greater; for "the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." The number present was probably "innumerable." Heb. xii. 22. We have the best authority for stating that the law was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Gal. iii. 19. The whole visible church of God on earth was also assembled around Mount Sinai on that occasion.

The greatest of all was that God himself was there -God, who is a consuming fire, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, whose dwelling-place is eternity, and before whom all nations are as a drop of the bucket. Yes, Jehovah was there in the brightest robes of glory and the most august and overpowering tokens of divine majesty. "So terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.' Heb. xii. 21. If such was the effect upon Moses, who spake to God face to face, it requires no stretch of the imagination to conceive how terror must have seized the people. Ex. xx. 19; Deut. v. 5, 23-28. Nor was God angry with them for being thus alarmed. The sight must have been terrific. The poetic description given by Moses is in these words:

"The LORD came from Sinai,

And rose up from Seir unto them;
He shined forth from Mount Paran,

And he came with ten thousands of saints:

From his right hand went a fiery law for them.
Yea, he loved the people."

VI. The moral law was given in a way altogether peculiar. God never made to man in like manner any other communication. In the midst of the grand and awful appearances already alluded to, it was spoken by the Almighty in an audible voice from the top of Sinai, in the hearing of all the people. No other part of the law of Moses was thus uttered by Jehovah. Deut. iv. 33; v. 4, 22. Without any variation it was also twice written on tables of stone by the finger of God himself. Ex. xxxii. 15, 16; xxxiv. 1; Deut. x. 4, 5. The Lord would have it graven on a rock. These tables were long preserved in the ark of the testimony, covered with the divine glory. Ex. xxv. 16, 21; xxxvii. 1-9. Moreover, great preparations were, by divine command, made by the people for the space of two days together. They cleansed themselves and their raiment from all pollutions that they might come and stand before the Lord. Ex. xix. 10, 11. Every man seems to have been anxious to make himself ready for that great and dreadful day of hearing the law; a day more great and dreadful than ever any shall be, except that of judging men according to the law.

Besides, a strict injunction was given them to beware of touching the mount, or offering to ascend it, a fence was placed around it, which was not to be violated on pain of death. Ex. xix. 12. "If so much as a beast touch the mountain, it was to be stoned, or thrust through with a dart." 20. And even after God had descended upon the mountain, and the people had been brought out of the

Heb. xii.