FRANCIS WHARTON, the distinguished American jurist and writer on ecclesiastical and international law, in his Law Lexicon divides the law into two main branches, namely, the "laws between man and God" and "laws between man and man." In classifying the Decalogue under these two headings we find that the first four commandments deal with the relations between man and God, while the remaining six cover the relations between man and man. Jesus evidently recognized this dual nature of the law when, in answering the question of the Jewish lawyer respecting the greatest commandment, he said: "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and . . . thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
In studying the Mosaic law in this twofold aspect, we find that on the one hand it stands for an absolute monarchy or divine theocracy, and on the other hand for an ideal commonwealth or spiritual democracy. The harmonious conjunction of these generally considered opposite and incompatible systems in a perfect unity of Principle and practice furnishes a field of study that is at once interesting and instructive. When Moses came down from the mountain, after having received the law from God on Sinai, he wrote down all the words of the Lord in the book of the covenant; and when he had read them in the audience of the people, they answered with one voice and said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient."
In the light of the Hebrew Scriptures it is apparent that the Decalogue as authorized by God and proclaimed by Moses constituted in effect a theocratic democracy, for it was spontaneously adopted with one voice by the people. It provided for a form of government in which the legislative power was derived from God, the judicial power was exercised by divinely appointed judges, and the executive power was vested in the people. The spirit of the law, like the gospel which followed it, was that of peace on earth and good will toward men. The preparation of a willing and obedient state of consciousness in the people seems therefore to have been the chief consideration of both Moses and Jesus. Speaking of this state of mind as a sanctuary, in which He might dwell, God further said, "There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee ... of all things which I will give thee in commandment." The construction of the ark of the covenant, with all its appointments, was but an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual idea. It stood for that consecrated state of mind, or holy of holies, into which the pure in heart alone can enter to commune with God, and from whence the covenants of God shall be given out continually to meet the growing requirements of advancing understanding.
