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Patriarchs and Prophets
children not only to yield respect, submission, and obedience to their
parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their
cares, to guard their reputation, and to succor and comfort them in old
age. It also enjoins respect for ministers and rulers and for all others
to whom God has delegated authority.
This, says the apostle, “is the first commandment with promise.”
Ephesians 6:2
. To Israel, expecting soon to enter Canaan, it was a
pledge to the obedient, of long life in that good land; but it has a wider
meaning, including all the Israel of God, and promising eternal life
upon the earth when it shall be freed from the curse of sin.
“Thou shalt not kill.”
All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life; the spirit of hatred and
revenge, or the indulgence of any passion that leads to injurious acts
toward others, or causes us even to wish them harm (for “whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer”); a selfish neglect of caring for the
needy or suffering; all self-indulgence or unnecessary deprivation or
excessive labor that tends to injure health—all these are, to a greater
or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment.
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
This commandment forbids not only acts of impurity, but sensual
thoughts and desires, or any practice that tends to excite them. Purity
is demanded not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and
emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation
of the law of God, declared the evil thought or look to be as truly sin
as is the unlawful deed.
“Thou shalt not steal.”
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Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The
eighth commandment condemns manstealing and slave dealing, and
forbids wars of conquest. It condemns theft and robbery. It demands
strict integrity in the minutest details of the affairs of life. It forbids
overreaching in trade, and requires the payment of just debts or wages.
It declares that every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance,
weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books
of heaven.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
False speaking in any matter, every attempt or purpose to deceive
our neighbor, is here included. An intention to deceive is what con-
stitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an