It is certain that some commandments are of more importance than others —
[There can be no doubt but that the moral precepts, which are founded in our relation to God and to each other, are of more importance than the positive institutions, which are founded only in the sovereign will of God. Our Lord himself, comparing the divine institution of paying tithes with the ex- ercise of judgment, mercy, and faith, calls the latter "the weightier matters of the law :" though at the same time he de- termines, " These ought ye to have done ; and not to leave the other undone."
The positive institutions may even be set aside, if they inter- fei'e with our discharge of moral duties. A strict observance of the Sabbath is enjoined : but, if a work of necessity or of mercy demand our attention, we are at liberty to engage in it, notwithstanding we thereby violate the sacred rest of the Sab- bath : for God has said, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice."
Indeed, even in the moral law itself, there is a difference between the duties of the first and of the second table ; those which relate to God being more important than those which relate to man. Hence our Lord says, that " to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, is the first and great commandment."]
But the authority on which every one of them stands is the same —
[God is the great lawgiver : and whatever his command be, it is, as long as it is in force, binding upon all to whom it is given. We are no more at liberty to abrogate one than to set aside another. If we allowedly violate any one of them., we do, in effect, violate them all^. If any two be absolutely in- compatible, the positive precept, as I have observed, gives way, and ceases for the time to be a command. So if two moral precepts such as that of obeying a parent, and of obeying God, be iri-econcileable, obedience to God is then of superior and paramount obligation. God himself has assigned limits to man's authority, beyond which we are not commanded to obey him. Man cannot dispense with any of the divine commandments : they can be repealed by that authority only which first esta- blished them. Neither in theory nor in practice are we at liberty to make them void: we must both "do" them our- selves, "and teach" the observance of them to others. We must not add any thing to them, nor take any thing from them. The injunctions which God has given us on this head are strict and solemn '^ : and, if we presume to violate them, it is at the peril of our souls'^.]
a Jam. ii. 10, 11. ^ Prov. xxx. 5, G. Deut. xii. 22.
<= Rev. xxii. 18, 19. Deut. xxvii. 26.