I have spoken of the law of Sinai as a manifestation of God to man at once sublime in its majesty and most benignly practical in its moral bearings. The civil code――“the statutes and judgments”――carry out yet more fully the practical unfoldings of God’s wisdom and of his sense of justice and right as between man and man. It is not easy to select the most striking cases to illustrate this point, for the whole code is radiant with divine wisdom and aglow with testimonies of his love, manifesting itself in wisest legislation for human welfare.――――Confining our attention to the second table of the law of Sinai――man’s relation to his fellow-man――we may consider how much there is here adapted to conserve all the best elements of society――in securing the honor due to parents and rulers; in guarding human life and providing the means for its protection; in making the marriage covenant sacred; on the one hand shielding the sexual relation of the race against abuses most pernicious; and on the other, providing agencies which may enrich man’s social life with priceless blessings. So also the statutes in detail respecting rights of property and rights of reputation are replete with fresh testimonies to the wisdom and the love of the Great Father.――――Speaking frankly of the impressions made on my mind by this study of the code of Moses, I must say that no part has seemed to me more deeply imbued with the tenderness and pity of the Lord than the provisions made for the poor, and the restrictions and limitations upon personal servitude. In all his utterances on these points the Lord assumes that no interests of man more need his protection than these, and he comes promptly to the front to give it. He would have us know that over these interests his watchful eye never sleeps; his quick ear is never shut to any cry for help. The rich and the mighty may get on without his special aid; the poor are his own wards and shall never lack his sympathy nor his present hand. Human laws are in great part worthless――at least they miss their most important function――unless they make it their chief endeavor to protect the interests and rights of those who, powerless in themselves, drop upon the strong arm of law for their defence. Society and legislation might as well not be as to forget that they exist as appointed of God mainly for the sake of the poor and the otherwise unprotected and unbefriended. Such needy ones every human society will have for the moral trial of those who control society, and I may add, to draw out the sympathy of the Great Father.