All Christian nations have accepted these Ten Commandments, even
Mohammedan nations, as appealing to the universal conscience,--not a
mere Jewish code, but a primary law, susceptible of boundless
obligation, never to be abrogated; a direct injunction of the Almighty
to the end of time.

The Ten Commandments seem to be the foundation of the subsequent and
more minute code which Moses gave to the Jews; and it is interesting to
see how its great principles have entered, more or less, into the laws
of Christian nations from the decline of the Roman Empire, into the
Theodosian code, the laws of Charlemagne, of Ina, of Alfred, and
especially into the institutions of the Puritans, and of all other sects
and parties wherever the Bible is studied and revered. They seem to be
designed not merely for Jews, but for Gentiles also, since there is no
escape from their obligation. They may seem severe in some of their
applications, but never unjust; and as long as the world endures, the
relations between man and man are to be settled on lofty moral grounds.
An elevated morality is the professed aim of all enlightened lawgivers;
and the prosperity of nations is built upon it, for it is righteousness
which exalteth them. Culture is desirable; but the welfare of nations is
based on morals rather than on aesthetics. On this point Moses, or even
Epictetus, is a greater authority than Goethe. All the ordinances of
Moses tend to this end. They are the publication of natural
religion,--that God is a rewarder of virtuous actions, and punishes
wicked deeds. Moses, from first to last, insists imperatively on the
doctrine of personal responsibility to God, which doctrine is the
logical sequence of belief in Him as the moral governor of the world.
And in enforcing this cardinal truth he is dogmatic and dictatorial, as
a prophet and ambassador of the Most High should be.