Murder is a most terrible thing; we shudder at the sound of the word, even at the mere idea of it. We wonder how it is possible that a person should be so wicked, so cruel, and so unnatural as to take the life of another human being! One who can do such a thing must have lost all human feeling, and is rather a brute than a being created in the image of God. But, unfortunately, there have been and there are such wicked people. We read in the Bible that a dispute arose between the two sons of Adam, and the one, Cain, slew the other, Abel. He repented it, but he could not restore to his brother the life which he had taken. The severest punishment is therefore inflicted on those who have committed this crime. This commandment and those which follow it have their root in the principle, “Love thy fellow-man as thyself,” applied to the life (sixth commandment), the home (seventh commandment), the property (eighth commandment), and the honour of our fellow-man (ninth commandment). We wish to enjoy life as long as possible; it must therefore be our desire to see our fellow-man enjoy the longest possible life. But we must not rest satisfied with the mere desire. An earnest desire is followed by acts dictated by it. We must try our utmost, even as we do with regard to ourselves, to preserve the life of our fellow-man. We have, e.g., seen before how by obeying the fifth commandment we lengthen not only our own life, but also that of our parents, whilst by breaking this law we shorten their life as well as our own. By supporting the poor and nursing the sick we may be the means of increasing a human life by many days or even years, whilst by neglecting the duty of charity we neglect to save the life of our fellow-man when it is in our power to do so.—Another instance of criminal neglect it would be if a person saw another in actual danger of life, and did not try everything in his power to save him. Without having directly broken the sixth commandment, without having taken the life of our neighbour by violence, we may still be guilty of having shortened his life and caused his untimely death. Talebearers and slanderers, e.g., often undermine the peace and happiness of an individual, and even of a whole family, and sow the seed of misery and ruin where well-being and prosperity seemed well established. The sixth commandment enjoins that we should respect the life of our fellow-man, and forbids us therefore— (1.) To take it by violent means. (2.) To do anything by which the peace and well-being of our fellow-man might be undermined. (3.) To neglect anything in our power to save our neighbour from direct or indirect danger of life. SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”