MORAL LAW
568
MORAL LAW
mit to them or not ; for it would be the height of ab- j surdity to make his puny rebellion or insolent disregard operate their abrogation. The penalty may be sus- pended at the divine pleasure, but it is sure in the end to overtake every transgressor with a complete vuidi- cation.
2. Its Extent.— This likewise is self-evident. As the "natural" laws of God are coextensive with the uni- verse, so his " moral" laws are oljligatory upon all his moral creatures, i. e. those endowed with a capacity for understanding the relations of right and wrong. Hence the enactments of the Decalogue have been essentially accepU'd in all ages and countries as the foundation of the civil code, and religious usages have generally con- formed to the prescriptions of the first table (those re- lating to God and his worship, the family, etc.), not ex- cepting even the seeming conventionality of a stated day of rest. But the two fundamental prinei|)les under- lying these Jlosaic statutes, so admirably summed up in the New Testament as/eul/i/ to God and cquit;/ to ni<ni, have never failed to be admitted, theoretically at least, as the only secure basis of social organization. How it is with other worlds, if such exist, we are not called upon to speculate ; but this fact of the universality of the di- vine law on the globe is so emphatically attested by all history and legislation that we need dwell no further upon it.
3. Its Duration. — It f(jllows from the above views of the cause and character of moral law that it must for- ever remain essentially the same, and of permanent ob- ligation on all its legitimate subjects throughout their being. It is a peculiar trait of the divine creations that while thciry;>/7?i changes to suit the varied circumstan- ces of diversified beauty and harmonious co-operation, their substance ever remains, imperishable except by the fiat which first called it into existence. Annihila- tion is not God's method; he never absolutely extin- guishes any light of his own kindling. Man's works, as they are not real creations, pass away into a non- entity that leaves only their memory ; but God builds for eternity. Especially is this true of the divine ad- ministration: amid all the variety of his different and successive dispensations the same fundamental prin- ciples, as we have seen, prevail; and even in the fut- ure world the obligations of supreme allegiance to God and mutual regard for each other will beatify the in- habitants of bliss by their spontaneous and full dis- charge, or torment the denizens of hell by their re- lentless and irksome grasp. The joy of conscious recti- tude is the greatest bliss of which a rational soul is ca- pable, and the remorse for an irremediable violation of clearly known (hity we may well imagine to be the most poignant ingredient in the cup of endless damnation.
4. This brings us, lastly, to the jxiuill// of moral law. Statutes without awards attached to their observance or neglect are valueless and ineffectual. The rewards and punishments of moral law are, as its nature implies, and as we have already seen, chiefly and properly of a moral character. Yet we see no impropriety in the cur- rent belief — sanctioned by the figurative language of Scripture — that the immunities and penalties experi- enced in the other world are likewise — at least after the resurrection state (which by its renewed bodilv organ- ism furnishes at once the means and the pledge of cor- poreal enjoyments and sufferings) — of a jihysicul nature, suited to the new conditions of being then entered upon. Precisely what will be the form of either kind of award, be3'ond the presumed — and indeed promised — emotions from the genial or uncomfortable society and surround- ings, we can only conjecture; but this much we may safely argue from the well-known C(inse(itu'nccs of obe- dience or transgression in this life, that tliey will be of the highest pungency of which the human spirit is sus- ceptible; and we may infer from (Jod's justice and im- partiality— no less than from the express statements of the IJible (Prov. xvi, 5; ICccles. xii, 14: John v, 29; Kom. ii, G; Gal. vii, ")— that they will be exactly meted
out in accordance with the real merits or demerits of each individual. In this life we know that this ret:-i- bution or compensation does not in all cases precisely occur — virtue often lies oppressed, and vice stalks about triumphant ; hence the greater presumption that in the coming world all this will be balanced (Luke xvi, 25), and a necessity indeed arises for such a state in order to the proper adjudication (I'sa. Ixxiii). There re- main under this head three points of much importance to be briefly discussed.
(1.) £ack class of lau-s is in the viain administered separately yet co-ordinately u-ith the rtst. — Thus a viola- tion of or a compliance with any physical law is invari- ably followed by its corresjionding penalty or disadvan- tage, and this without regard to the religious character of the subject himself (Matt, v, 45) ; on the other hand, moral delinquency or exemplariness will ensure its ap- propriate meed or degradation, whatever be the care or negligence of the actor in temporal concerns. A good child is as likely to be burned if it thrust its finger into the flame as a bad one, and a pious traveller is as liable as a wicked one to lose his life by venturing on board an insecure train or vessel. Yet the practice of virtue tends to habits of thrift, economy, and prudence, thus natural- ly promoting earthly welfare (1 Tim. iv, 8), and a spe- cial divine blessing may also be expected upon the good man's affairs (Psa. xxxvii, 25). On the other hand, since great prosiierity is inimical to piety, the Lord often afliicts his children with temporal reverses for their spiritual benefit (John xvi. o3). It thus ap- pears that while physical laws regularly have their own course, and the physical effects duly follow, yet I'rovi- dence specially watches over those who commit their ways to the divine keeping, and they are accordingly saved from many of the consequences which their own inadvertence might bring upon them. This, however, is not effected by miracle (except in a few anomalous cases), )ior by extraordinary interference with the usual operation of law, but by those secret and delicate con- nections which pervade the whole economy of nature, and perhaps by an unseen touch of the divine hand di- rectly upon the inscrutable springs of human inter- course. Indeed, as it is the same Being who adminis- ters both series of laws, we might reasonably expect that he would make them co-operate in harmony for the higher — i. e. moral — ends (Kom. viii, 28). See Prov-