Works of the Right Rev. Bishop Hay of Edinburgh/Volume 1/Chapter 14
CHAPTER XIV.
Of The Law Of God In General
Q. 1. What is the law of God?
A. It is the manifestation of the Divine will to man, declaring what he is required to do and to avoid, in order to please God and save his own soul.
Q. 2. In what light ought we to consider the law of God?
A. We ought to consider it, (i.) As our rule and guide given to direct us in our pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world, and to conduct us to true happiness both here and hereafter. (2.) As our Judge, because it is by this law that we shall be judged at the last day, and be either rewarded with eternal happiness, or condemned to eternal misery, according as we have obeyed this law, or transgressed it in our present life.
Q. 3. When did God give His law to man?
A. At three different times: First, at the creation, by what is called the light of nature, or of reason; by which he imprinted in the heart of man the sense of right and wrong, the knowledge of good and evil, and gave him that inward monitor his conscience, moving him to do the one and avoid the other. By the sin of Adam, and the subsequent corruption of our nature, this light was greatly diminished; and, as the world advanced in years, the wickedness of man becoming greater and greater, it was still more and more obscured, so as in the generality of mankind to be almost extinguished; for which reason, when the posterity of Abraham were grown into a great nation, and God took them under His particular protection, to preserve them from the general corruption, He made a second publication of His law to them, comprising the whole in Ten Commandments, which He wrote on two tables of stone, and gave them for their rule and direction. They continued to be so for many years; but their carnal hearts in process of time overcoming their sense of duty, they very much corrupted the meaning of the law by the interpretations they put upon it; for, as the law itself was given in the words, and contained many duties which were not clearly expressed in it, they explained it, with regard to these duties, in the way most agreeable to their own inclinations; and therefore, when Jesus Christ came into the world. He published it a third time in His Gospel, with the full explanation of its true sense and meaning; and established it on such a solid foundation in His Church, that it shall continue now uncorrupted among His followers to the end of the world, as the sum of all their duties, and the guide to conduct them to eternal happiness.
Q. 4. Are we strictly obliged to obey the law of God and His Gospel?
A. Undoubtedly we are; because, (i.) God, Who is the Lawgiver, is our sovereign Lord and Master, "Who created us out of nothing, and gave us all we are and all we have. Who has the most absolute dominion over us, and can do with us whatever He pleases; consequently we are wholly at His disposal, and therefore are strictly obliged to do whatever He requires of us. (2.) We have seen above that He has made our obedience to His law an essential condition of our salvation; and consequently, if we refuse this obedience, we shall be punished with eternal misery. (3.) Because the Scripture assures us that " the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with the angels of His power, in a flame of fire, yielding vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction," 2 Thess. i. 7 .
Q. 5. Are we obliged to obey the whole law in order to be saved?
A. We are; for the Holy Scripture says, " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all," James, ii. 10 - that is, he becomes a transgressor of the law in such a manner, that the observing of all the other points will not avail him to salvation.
Q. 6. Are we able, by the strength of nature alone, to keep the commands of God?
A. By our own natural strength alone, without the help of God's grace, we are not able to keep His commands, nor, indeed, so much as to think a good thought towards our salvation. Thus the Scriptures declare " that we are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God," 2 Cor. iii. 5 . " And no man can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost," I Cor. xii. 3 - that is, no man can say it, so as to be conducive to his salvation. And our Saviour Himself, to show our total inability of doing any good of ourselves, and without His Divine assistance, says, "Without Me you can do nothing," John, xv. 5 ; and He confirms the same truth by the similitude of a vine and its branches, saying, " As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me," ver. 4.
Q. 7. Are we able to keep the commandments by the help of God's grace?
A. Yes, we are; and God, who requires us to keep His commands, is never wanting on His part to give us sufficient grace for that purpose. The tmth of this is shown from several reasons: (i.) The Scriptures are full of the warmest exhortations to all to keep the commandments, which certainly would be unbecoming the Divine wisdom if it were impossible to keep them with the help of God's grace, or if that grace were ever refused us. (2.) God everywhere obliges man to keep His commandments, under pain of eternal punishment. Now it is totally inconsistent with his justice, and makes God a cruel tyrant, to say He would punish us for breaking His commands, if it were impossible to keep them. (3.) We read of several in the Scripture who actually did keep them perfectly, and are highly praised on that account, such as Abraham and Job, and particularly the parents of St John Baptist, of whom the Scripture says, that " they were both just before God, walking in all THE COMMANDMENTS and justifications of the Lord without blame," Luke, i. 6 . (4.) God Himself declares, in the very first commandment, that He "shows mercy to thousands of those that love Him and keep His commandments," Exod. XX. 6 . (5.) And St Paul assures us that God is never wanting on His part to give us all necessary assistance to keep them, saying, "God is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but will make also, with the temptation, issue," (that is, a way to escape), "that you may be able to bear it," i Cor. x. 13 .
Q. 8. How are the Ten Commandments divided?
A. Into two tables: of which the first consists of three commandments, and contains all the duties we owe to God; and the second includes the other seven, in which are laid down all the duties we owe to our neighbours and to ourselves.
Q. 9. Why do you say the first table contains only three commandments?
A. Because, though some people divide the first commandment into two, and by this means place four in the first table; yet in reality it is only one and the same: for when God says, " Thou shalt have no other gods but Me," He plainly forbids us to worship any other being whatsoever as God, but Himself alone; and when afterwards He says, " Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven thing, etc. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: for I am the Lord thy God," - He only explains in particular what He had before declared in general terms, and forbids the worship of idols as gods.
Q. 10. But what need was there for this particular explanation?
A. Because, as the worship of idols was then prevalent in the world, and the people of Israel were exceedingly prone to this vice, as appears from their whole history, it pleased Almighty God to caution them in particular against so detestable a breach of it.
Q. II. How then do you make out all the Ten Commandments, if this be joined in one?
A. Those who divide this first commandment into two are obliged to join the two last together; for, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," and " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods," are manifestly two distinct commands.
Q. 12. How can this be shown?
A. Because they forbid the internal acts of two totally different and distinct sins - the one a sin of lust, the other a sin of injustice; and as the external acts of these sins are forbidden by two distinct commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and "Thou shalt not steal," because they are two distinct sins, so the inward acts, or desires of these vices, being equally distinct sins, require likewise to be forbidden by two distinct commands.