The Ten Commandments are called the _Moral Law_, or more briefly the Law, and sometimes the Decalogue or the Ten Words. They make known to us God's will, which is the law for all His creatures. Each commandment has a _negative_ side, and _forbids_ something; each has also a _positive_ side, and _commands_ or enjoins something. The Giving Of The Law. The Law of God was originally written in man's heart at creation. [Rom. 2:15] We call that law in the heart, Conscience. After the fall into sin, the conscience became darkened, and men did not always know right from wrong, and fell into gross idolatry. [Rom. 1:21-23] God, therefore, through Moses at Mount Sinai, gave men His law anew, [Exod. 20:1] written on two Tables of stone. [Exod. 31:18] He also gave the Israelites national and ceremonial laws. These, being meant for a particular people and a certain era of the world, are no longer binding upon us. But the Moral Law has been expressly confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ as valid for all time and binding upon all men. [Matt. 22:37-40+] The substance of the law is, "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The purpose of the law is, 1. To put a check upon wicked men, [I Tim. 1:9] 2. To convince us of our sinfulness [Rom. 3:20+] and our need of the Saviour, [Gal. 3:24+] and 3. To be our rule and guide for Christian conduct. [John. 14:15+, Matt. 7:12+] It is especially with respect to the second purpose here mentioned, that the Ten Commandments were assigned by Luther to the first and not to a later place in his catechism. The Two Tables. The Ten Commandments may be divided into two parts, called the Two Tables of the Law. [Exod. 31:18] The First Table includes the first three commandments, and teaches us our Duty to God. The Second Table Includes the last seven commandments, and teaches us our Duty to our Fellow-men.[2] [Footnote 2: The Ten Commandments are not numbered in the Bible. A two-fold numbering is found among Christians. The first is that which is given in our Catechism, and which is accepted by the majority of Christians, The other numbering makes two commandments of our first (the second being the command not to make any images), and joins our ninth and tenth into one. This makes a difference in the numbering of all the commandments except the first.] * * * * *