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|  |  | to effect sanctification of heart and life. They must therefore be accepted, not as the 
commandments of men, like those of all other religions except the Jewish, but as those of God 
Himself. All the precepts of the Gospel are summed up in the words, "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind . . . . Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself" (Matt. xxii. 37-39). These words are a slightly amplified quotation from 
the Torah (Deut. vi. 5; x. 12; xxx. 6; Lev. xix. 18). They thus show how completely the Old 
Testament and the New agree in their teaching as to what God demands, and what is the way to walk 
in. God requires of us that our hearts should be so filled with love towards God, who has first 
loved us, that all the powers of our bodies, souls, spirits and minds, during every hour and minute 
of our lives, may be gladly spent in endeavouring to serve and please Him: and that, as we seek our 
own profit and good, so we should with heart and soul seek to do good to our neighbours. We should 
also remember that even our enemies are, in God's sight, our neighbours (Luke x. 25-37). By so 
acting we shall be obeying Christ's Golden Rule, "All things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them" (Matt. vii. 12). Inasmuch as these precepts of the Bible unite man in love both to his Creator and to the whole of 
Adam's sons, and conduce to purity of heart and freedom from selfishness, they lead to happiness 
here and hereafter. They also agree with the Moral Law which God has inscribed upon the tablets of 
each man's heart and conscience. This is an evident proof that the teachings of the Bible are from 
the Creator of mankind and of the world. Hence its inspiration 
(إلهام) is clearer than the sun. Men 
who have not yet received the Holy Scriptures are not without a Law 
(شريعة), therefore, for God has 
placed this Moral Law in their hearts. Hence all men are responsible to God for their disobedience 
to what they themselves know to be right and incumbent |  |             
|  |  | upon them. The heathen are held accountable under this law, and they too must in some measure 
learn from their own consciences that, since they have not kept the law written in their hearts, 
they are sinners in God's sight and stand in need of a Saviour. The advantage of having received the 
Word of God, i.e. the Bible, is that the Moral Law within receives fresh testimony to its 
Divine origin from it. Moreover, men who accept the Holy Scriptures have their judgement enlightened 
to know their duty better, and are encouraged to seek help from God to do it.
 Holy Scripture also teaches us that to know what is right will not justify, but condemn us, 
unless we perform our duty (Matt. vii. 21-27; Luke x. 25-28; John xiii. 17; Rom. ii. 13). It states 
too that justice demands that there be no defect whatever in our obedience to the Divine commands, 
which clearly require perfection of character and conduct (Matt. v. 48). If any man were to obey the 
Divine Law in every point but one, he would, in that one point, be a transgressor (Jas. ii. 10, 11; 
Gal. iii. 10-12). So it is also with human law. The law in every civilized land forbids murder and 
theft. If a man is not a murderer, and steals only once, he is a malefactor, and is liable to 
punishment. Of Adam only one sin is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, yet that one sin brought 
condemnation and death. God's favour cannot be obtained by the observance of only certain parts of 
His Law. He who desires to please Him, and by his own acts to be justified in God's sight, must 
strictly and without a single failure or omission keep the whole of God's law. Transgression of the 
least commandment will render him a sinner, and liable to punishment and alienation from God Most 
High. But is there any man who has, day and right, during all his life, so perfectly obeyed God's law 
that he has never in any degree departed from it? Can anyone be found who has always loved God with 
all his heart and with all his soul and with all his mind, and who has |  |