Conclusion to the Ten Commandments

Thus we have in the Ten Commandments a summary of divine teaching. They tell us what we are to do to make our lives pleasing to God. They show us the true fountain from which, and the true channel in which, all good works must flow. No deed, no conduct, can be good and pleasing to God, however worthy or precious it be in the eyes of the world, unless it accord with the Ten Commandments. Now, let us see what our noted saints find to boast in their holy orders and the great and difficult tasks which they have invented for themselves, at the same time neglecting the commandments as if they were too trifling or had long ago been fulfilled. My opinion is that we shall have our hands full in keeping these commandments—in practicing gentleness, patience, love towards our enemies, chastity, kindness and whatever other virtues they may include. Such works, however, are not important in the eyes of the world; for they are not unusual or showy, they are not restricted to particular times and places, customs and ceremonies, but are common, everyday duties toward our neighbor, with no show about them.

But those other works captivate all eyes and ears; and those saints spare no pomp of ceremony, no expense, no beauty of architecture, to make as dazzling a display of their works as possible. They burn incense, they chant, they ring bells, light candles and tapers, until nothing else is to be seen or heard. They regard it a precious work, one which cannot be commended enough, for a priest to stand in a gold-embroidered surplice, or for a layman to continue all day upon his knees in church. But that a poor little maid takes care of a child and faithfully does as she is bidden—that is nothing. Otherwise, why should monks and nuns go into cloisters?

But consider, is it not detestable presumption in those desperate saints to try to find a higher and better life or estate than the commandments teach? They pretend—as has been said—that the life taught in the commandments is a simple life, for common men, but that theirs is for saints and perfect men! Poor, blind people! they do not see that no one can perfectly observe even so much as one of the Ten Commandments; but the Creed and the Lord's Prayer must help us—as we shall hear. Through them we must seek and beseech the grace of obedience, and receive it continually. The boasting of these saints, then, is much the same as if I were to boast: I have not a dime with which to pay, but I venture to make myself responsible for the payment of ten dollars without fail.

All this I say and urge, that we may get rid of a wretched abuse which is deeply rooted among us and everywhere in evidence, and that we may accustom ourselves in all conditions of life on earth to look only to these precepts and to heed them. For it will be long before a doctrine or rule of life equal to the Ten Commandments is constructed, because they are beyond human power to fulfil unaided. Whoever does fulfil them is a holy, angelic being, superior to all holiness on earth. Occupy yourself with them, trying with all your ability and power to obey them; you will find therein so much to do that you will not seek or need any other work or another kind of holiness. This much is sufficient for doctrine and exhortation as far as the first part of our Christian truth is concerned. But, in conclusion, we must repeat the text, which forms a part of the commandments and which we mentioned in connection with the first commandment, in order to know how earnestly God would have us strive to learn, obey and teach the Ten Commandments: "For I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

This added passage, although, as previously stated, attached to the first commandment, also bears upon all the others; it is the climax and end of the commandments as a whole. Therefore, I have said that it should be kept before the young and impressed upon them, that they may learn and remember it; that they may observe what those circumstances are that make obedience to the commandments imperative. They are to regard it as a seal to each commandment and as the soul which pervades them all.

Now, as I said, these words contain a threat of wrath and a promise of grace, to terrify and warn us and to allure and persuade us to accept and prize God's Word as an expression of divine earnestness. For he declares how intensely he has these commandments and our obedience to them at heart, and how severely he will punish those who scorn and violate them; while, on the other hand, he will richly reward, bless, and grant all good things to those who prize them and cheerfully act and live in accordance with them. Thereby he would impress upon us that all our acts should proceed from a heart that fears only God and has him always in view and, because of this fear, avoids everything contrary to his will, lest it anger him; and, again, that we should trust only in him and, for his sake, do all that he asks of us, for he shows himself a kind father and offers us his mercy and blessing.

This, then, is the meaning and the true interpretation of the first and chief commandment, from which all the others proceed. The words, "Thou shalt have no other gods," mean simply this: Thou shalt fear, love and trust me as thy one true God. When a heart occupies this attitude toward God, it has fulfilled this and all the other commandments. On the other hand, he who loves and fears aught else in heaven or on earth, necessarily keeps neither this nor any other commandment. So the Bible everywhere preaches and urges this commandment, emphasizing its two points—fear of and trust in God. The prophet David particularly teaches it when he says (Ps 147, 11): "Jehovah taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his lovingkindness." He seems to explain the whole commandment in one verse, as if saying: The Lord taketh pleasure in those who have no other gods.

The first commandment, then, is to illuminate all the others. Therefore, let these words run through all the commandments as a frame runs through the wreath, joining the end and the beginning and keeping the whole united. The words must be continually repeated and kept in mind. Thus, in the second commandment we are told to fear God and not to take his name in vain by cursing, lying, deceiving, and in other ways wicked and dishonorable; but to make worthy and good use of it, praying, praising and giving thanks to God in that love and confidence enjoined in the first commandment. Likewise this fear and love and trust in him should impel us not to despise his Word, but to hear it and learn it, to honor it and keep it holy.

So, through all the following commandments regarding our duty to our neighbor, all requirements are virtually those of the first commandment: we are to honor father and mother, masters and authorities, and obey them, not on their own account, but for God's sake. For you are not to respect or fear father or mother unduly, nor are you to do anything or to leave anything undone simply for their sakes, but to be careful to do what God would have you do and what he will certainly demand. If you neglect it, you will have an angry judge; but if you obey, a gracious father. Likewise, you are to do your neighbor no harm, no injury or violence, nor in any way to molest him, whether in respect to his body, his wife, his property, honor or rights, as enjoined, commandment by commandment, even though you have opportunity and cause to do it, and no one can punish you for it. On the contrary, you are to show kindness to all, to help them and promote their interests whenever and wherever you can, purely for God's sake and in the confidence that he will richly repay you for all you do. You see, then, how the first commandment is the fountain-head whence all the others have their source. To it they all revert, upon it they depend, and beginning and end are linked and bound together.

This, I say, is necessary and profitable ever to keep before the young. It will be to their profit. It must be urged upon them in teaching and exhortation, that they may be brought up, not with violence, like beasts in fear of the rod, but in the fear and reverence of God. When it is considered in sincerity of heart that these precepts are not human trifles, but are commandments of the most high God, who earnestly enjoins them and who in anger sternly punishes those who despise them but abundantly rewards those who keep them—then we shall of our own accord, and gladly, do God's will.

Therefore, not without reason is it ordered in the Old Testament (Deut 6, 7-9) that the Ten Commandments are to be written on every wall and corner and even on the garments. Not that we are to be satisfied with having them so written, an idle show, as were the Jews, but that we are to have them always before our eyes and constantly keep them in mind, so that we may follow them in all our life and in every action. We are each to make them our daily practice in all circumstances, in all doings and dealings, as if they were written everywhere we look, wherever we go, wherever we pause. Thus we would have occasion enough, in our own home and abroad among our neighbors, to obey the Ten Commandments, and none would need to search far for them.

From all this we see how far above all orders, commands and works otherwise taught and practiced, these Ten Commandments are to be exalted and revered. Here we can challenge: Let all the wise and all the saints stand forth and show us if they can produce any work like these commandments, upon the fulfilment of which God so sternly insists and which he enjoins under threat of his greatest wrath and punishment, though adding glorious promises of an outpouring of all manner of good things, all blessings, if we obey him. They are, therefore, to be taught above all other things, and to be prized and valued as the richest treasure God has given us.