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Showing that the very Being and Existence of God himself is dependent upon the
Law, and that the Law cannot be abrogated, nor destroyed, no more than God himself can be
abrogated or destroyed.
If God be Incorporeal, he can only have a Moral Existence, and that
is the constitution of his Divine Law.
There are certain Principles that we attribute to the Divine Being, and that therefore
are called Attributes. These are Power, Wisdom, Righteousness, Justice, Mercy,
Goodness and Truth. The very existence of his Unity and Being as God, cannot be
sustained without them not even for a moment; because his Being is incorporeal,
"without BODY and PARTS," and is therefore a Moral Being, or Divine Existence,
composed alone of the above Attributes. The Law of God given to Moses upon Mount Sinai and
Horeb, is the most complete and simple exposition and declaration, in One Indivisible
Unity, of all the above Attributes or Principles, that it is possible to be conveyed
to man in words. And its Height and Depth, Length and Breadth, no mortal ever has, or ever
will, fathom or exhaust.
These Divine Attributes are clearly manifest in the whole visible Creation of
God, and
this is Revelation; but more particularly in the Ten Commandments; which is the
best and most perfect law that ever has or can be given to show man his duty to his
God,
his neighbor, and himself.
The Divine Law is very different from those properties or qualifications that
we may attain, and are to be obtained, by mere qualification. These may properly be called
attachments, or attainments, and may exist, and do exist, without destroying the existence
of the Being himself. Not so much with the Principles, or Attributes, of Power, Wisdom,
Righteousness, Justice, Goodness, Mercy, and Truth, for upon these the very existence of
God, as a Moral Being, depends; and whenever we hear of the most Holy Law of God being "abrogated,"
"destroyed," and "finished," as Christians say it is, be
assured that this is just as impossible as for God himself to be "abrogated,"
"destroyed," and "finished."
And if Christians had never gone any farther than to assert the existence of
that Divine Being, whose constitution of Existence consisted alone of the Divine
Attributes, or powers, or virtues that we attribute to him, and which are so
clearly and visibly manifested in the whole visible creation, would there be an infidel in
the whole world? Surely not. And why, because these cannot be denied.
And this is a Revelation Thomas Paine could not deny, because "The
Heavens declare (or Reveals) the Glory of God; and the firmament shows his
handy work." Ps. 19:1.
Christians speak of Loving the Lord our God "with all our heart, and with all
our soul, and with all our might, and our neighbor as ourselves," (Matt. 22:37 and
39,) for "on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets,"--but
surely this does not mean to the total exclusion of all the rest of the commandments,
and that the other eight Commandments have no claim upon our obedience. But it
was so declared only to let us know, that upon these two great commandments, first, Love
to God, and second, Love to Man, are the two great Principles that all the other
commandments are to hand and work upon, but by no means to the exclusion and non-performance
of all the rest of the commandments. Permit me to ask where were these two
commandments of "Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul,
and with all our might, and our Neighbor as ourselves," first taken from?
Ans., from God's most Holy Law. See Deut. 6:5-10, 12 and Lev. 19:18. Why not give
Moses the credit of them?
And were Christians ever so foolish as to believe, or are they so ignorant and foolish
in this day as to believe, or to suppose that there exists a single rational Jew,
who thinks, that any commandment or requisition of God's most Holy Law can possibly be
acceptable to God without Love to God and Love to man, as the great principle of
action? Most surely not. Why then the need of the vain attempt to set up a New Testament,
or a New Law, with the whole MARROW and PRINCIPLE has been set up for thousands of years before,
in that most Holy Divine Law that can NEVER be ABROGATED and FINISHED, any more than
God
can be abrogated and finished, because it is the constitution and declaration (as I said
before) of his moral existence, which is self-evident, if God has no physical or
corporeal existence?
And all God's Glory, Honor and Strength are dependent upon his Attributes of Power,
Wisdom, Righteousness, Justice, Goodness, Mercy, and Truth; and these all center and are
embraced in the Unity of God's most Holy Divine Law.
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