The Divine Law and Administration
THE DIVINE LAW is contained in the Commandments, Statutes and Judgments of the Almighty, which are contained in the Scriptures, more particularly in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
It has often been suggested that these Commandments, Statutes and Judgments be consolidated or fixed into a code, One convention (not of this movement) actually resolved to have this done. It is quite beyond the power of man to accomplish that. Moreover, the prophetic course requires the return of the nation and people Israel, to the basic law. So sure is this trend that Our Lord on being asked by a lawyer the question, “which is the great Commandment in the law” said unto him, “thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great Commandment. And the second is like unto it, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” On these two hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22: 36-40. In these words, therefore, Our Lord codified all the law and if we took the same course as we should, it might be said that the economic law of the Lord is contained in the second law enunciated by Jesus, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Again Jesus summarized the law and the prophets in the sermon on the Mount in these words, “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7: 12. Here Jesus reduced the economic law to one paragraph. If, therefore, on these two great occasions Jesus designedly summarized the law in simple paragraphs that all can understand and transform into acts of everyday life, we too should seek to state and live out the law in basic principle rather than bind it in harsh and difficult code. Remember two things: First – That God makes a new Covenant with the same people to whom He gave the Commandments, Statutes and Judgments. The time for the granting of this Covenant is “after those days” i.e. after the House of Israel and the House of Judah had been “sown with the seed of man and with the seed of beast,” “watched over,” “built up,” “planted,” viz: after the period of expansion co-incident with the release from punishment, say from 1780 to 1936; “after those days” “this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people.” Jer. 31: 27-37. Now if the law as summarized by our Lord, above stated is written in the heart of every man, no other codification is necessary because the Golden Rule will become the custom rule, the custom law, i. e. the “common law” of the people.
The Second thing to remember is that this return to the law (including the economic law) of the Lord is accompanied by a return to the Divine Administration: for God has promised “I will turn my hand upon thee and purge away thy dross and take away all thy sin; and I will restore thy Judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning” Isaiah 25. 26. The ancient administration was under a form of Government known as the Theocracy, God the King, and under Him righteous leaders like Moses and Joshua, who were also Judges and with them sufficient Judges under Divine selection. This form of government was changed forever by the selection and Divine appointment of the House of David. But even under that form of government the King [or Queen] was chief judge and still is in his Privy Council. And in the appointing of our Kings, God is acknowledged to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords from whom the King receives his anointment, his sceptre and authority. It remains therefore that we shall have, not only a return to the Law of the Lord, but also to administration by righteous Judges and councillors as beforetime. The time for restoration is near at hand. We are clearly in the prophetic period described by Jeremiah as “after those days.”
The beauty of the “Common Law” is that it is the unwritten law. It is the basic law of the principles of righteousnes, settled in the hearts and lives of the Israel people by forty years practice in the wilderness where it became their custom law. It still remains the best of all law in the British Commonwealth and in the United States of America. It is also the envy and admiration of all nations.
One of the most inspiring of all unfulfilled prophecies is this, that God will so soon bestow upon this people a deeper work of grace by inscribing once more, in all its purity, this basic law of right eousness in every heart unwritten but indellibly fixed, so that it will be joyfully obeyed.
The amazing period of prosperity and economic and personal security achieved under the Common Law and Divine Administration during Solomon’s reign when “every man dwelt under his own vine and fig tree none daring to make him afraid” bespeaks a perfect society when we receive and work out the greater blessings of the “New Covenant” foretold in Jeremiah 31: 31. (the late Mr. Savage was author of the very fine booklet “The Ten Commandments,” an excellent Bible study available through our Bookstore at $4.00 postpaid)