Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/166

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same wicked lust of dominion, first over men's minds, and thereby over their persons and property. But that evil Power is now tottering to its downfall, and the time will soon come when will be wholly fulfilled that Scripture prophecy, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. With violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."[1]

But we must descend, now, from public to private concerns, and thus bring the Commandment nearer our own doors. We are to remember that the text forbids every form of the love of dominion, of ruling over others, of subjecting others to ourselves. For instance, in the household. And first of all,—between husband and wife; the love of rule on either side is especially to be avoided, for it is utterly destructive of true conjugial love. Let no man say, "My will shall be law in my household." A man's will should be law in no case whatever: the Lord's will should be law, and that alone: in other words, the right should prevail, and every one should give up his own will, and let the right be done: the endeavor of the spiritual man in every case will be simply and mildly to seek to ascertain what is right: for thus will the Lord's will be done, and all will be happy. The love of dominion, under the form of will or wilfulness, is one of the greatest disturbers of life, whether social, private, or public. When a man says "I will,'" all is over with him: he has given himself up to the dominion of internal spirits, and while he thinks he is master, he is actually himself the slave of invisible powers. He

  1. Rev. xviii. 2, 21.