Page:Unlawfulmarriage00jane.djvu/65

what God has taught on one important subject, we may humbly and reverently infer He has not left us without instruction, on a kindred subject of similar importance to our purity and happiness. Look at the moral law. Mankind were not wholly ignorant of their duty. The inspired writer says, (Rom. 2:14, 15,) "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another." It appears, then, from the testimony of Paul, that the Gentile nations, while destitute of divine revelation, were acquainted with the great principles of the moral law; their moral sense and reason taught them, in some measure, the duties it required. But God did not leave his people to those imperfect sources of instruction. They needed greater light and more perfect instruction; and, in infinite mercy, He was pleased to impart what they needed. From the summit of Mount Sinai, the glorious Lawgiver proclaimed, in circum-