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From the internal evidence in the Scriptures, it is shown that the Divine laws have never been abrogated. Law-abiding Christians, Bible teachers, and every student of political economy, should read and study the whole body of the laws of God given in the Scriptures, for while they are frequently mentioned, their application is usually misunderstood.
Digest of the Divine Law points out the fact that we face the rule of law or chaos.
It sets forth the justice, equity and righteousness of the Law of the Lord, which is destined to become the law of our land.
When the entire range of Divine jurisprudence is comprehended, and its precepts are obeyed, individual prosperity and national well-being will be the beneficent result.
DESTINY PUBLISHERS, MERRIMAC, MASS. 01860
FOREWORD
THE BIBLE contains precepts and commands which are the God-given authority for the direction and control of humanity. God speaks through various channels. Invariably He chose those through whom He conveyed to His people His commands and through whom He spoke to the people. These men, who were thus used by God to record and transmit His directions to the people for their guidance, were known of old as the priests of God and the prophets. The Bible is a continuous living book composed of numerous books of vast antiquity, and it sets forth four great bodies or sources of Divine Law, viz: The Commandments, the Statutes, the Judgments and the Ordinances, from which are derived all our rights and duties.
As long as the children of Israel obeyed God’s laws, they prospered in all things but when they turned away from these laws dire trouble and defeat attended them until they finally came back under the Divine Laws, - our God being a forgiving God.
The source or foundation of all law, order and society rests
upon authority. Our human lawgivers declare that all power
is from the people and in the people, but how blind are these lawgivers, for the Bible tells us that “there is no power but of God.” Again in Isaiah 33:22, we read, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.”
These statements are the underlying principles of all just governments. When the body of the citizenry realize this
fact, then and then only will Satan and his kingdom be destroyed.
Human systems are outgrown. Our human lawgivers and rulers pass on and are succeeded by other humans, who in turn supersede the authority of their predecessors. Old laws are repealed and new ones imposed upon the people, and the vicious circle goes on.
It has been justly stated that all equable codes of jurisprudence are founded upon Biblical teaching, for as Blackstone says: “An enactment is not a law when it conflicts with the law of God.”
After thousands of years of struggle along the lines of reform, the world has failed to find any system of ethics which can compare with that which is taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Whenever we meet the Divine, and we meet the Divine element daily, we come to the tribunal from whence there is no appeal. When God speaks, man can only obey. The truth of a statement depends upon its own nature, but its authority depends upon its origin. That which comes from God, therefore, is, and forever will be, absolute, supreme and final in its authority.
In my experience as a lawyer, a judge and a soldier, I have found the operation of human laws inadequate; and I have become convinced that the Divine Laws, set forth in the Bible, meet every need of man.
General William George Shedden Dobbie, a God-fearing man and the hero of Malta, says: “At the end of everything it is God on whom we must rely.” Captain Eddie Rickenbacker tells us that he and his comrades, after the second day of their terrible ordeal, turned to the Bible and read there from morning and evening and Divine Providence answered their prayers for food and deliverance.
A more intimate knowledge of the Bible and the Divine Laws set forth therein becomes increasingly necessary for our preservation as individuals and as a nation, and it is indeed fortunate at this time when our need is so great, that Mr. Howard B. Rand has written this book expounding the Divine Laws to us. He is well qualified by long years of intelligent Bible study to give to the reader a clear interpretation of the Divine Laws, and a thoughtful reading of his book, I am sure, will richly repay the reader.
Joshua 1:8 says: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.”
COL. JAMES H. HAYES
Rockerfeller Plaza
New York City
December 29, 1942
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