Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/133

 command is usually an ordinance of labor, this is an ordinance of rest. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." For one day in seven the perpetual grind of life ceases; the wheels stand still; the laborer lays down his burden. This is a blessing disguised as a command, a Divine benediction on an overburdened world.

Next to the reverence which we owe to our Maker, is that which we owe to those who are, in another sense, the authors of our being, and so to the command to worship God follows "Honor thy father and thy mother." This consecrates the family relation. "Honor" includes love, reverence, and obedience — a trinity of virtues, out of which flowers and blossoms all that is most beautiful in human character.

And now follow five commands regulating the relations of men to each other, which are the most remarkable summary of law in all the annals of legislation — remarkable because they compact into few words the sum of all wisdom, as approved by the universal experience of mankind. For example, in these two commands, "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not steal," each of which is stated in four words, and four words of one syllable, is contained the seed-principle of protection to person and property, which is the germ of all civilized society. These precepts, so brief — we might almost say, so minute in their brevity and condensation — comprehend all the laws that were ever enacted to guard the lives and the possessions of men.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery" — thou shalt not sin thyself, nor tempt others to sin. This guards, as a holy shrine, the virtue of man and woman; it watches like an angel over the purity of domestic life, and drives away the