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one person in a million of those who read the sacred narrative, would ever dream that it was an anticipated history, or that it did not imply a most decisive command to keep holy the day of rest.

Here, then, we fix our foot.

facts to

II.

Now let us turn from

THE JUST INFERENCES to be drawn from them as to the glory and dignity of the Sabbath.

We learn from them, first, its ESSENTIAL NECESSITY to man as man. Though Adam was in a state of innocence, his all-wise Creator saw it necessary to call him off from even the moderate and gentle labor of dressing and keeping the garden, to the immediate contemplations and exercises of religion. Adam loved God "with all his heart and soul and mind and strength"-he required no season of repose to withdraw his mind from the eagerness of worldly pursuits, in the sense in which we require it, nor to recreate his body from excessive toil-and yet the Sabbath was necessary for him. Judge from this of its essential moral character. Judge from this how indispensable it is to fallen man, with that propensity to earthly things which now weighs down his soul, and that aversion and enmity to communion with a holy God which sin has superinduced.

Consider, further, that it was the FIRST COMMAND given by God to Adam, as soon as ever the work of creation was finished. Man never was without a Sabbath. The moment there was a creature formed capable of knowing and serving God, a special time was assigned for that end. The Sabbath is coeval with the human race. It takes precedence of the prohibition of the tree of knowledge. It rests on the essential relation of a creature with his glorious Creator.

Observe, further, that this command was not merely made known to man, in some of those ways in which his Maker afterwards communicated his will, but it was PLACED, AS IT WERE, ON THE FOOTING OF CREATION ITSELF. By the Almighty hand all nature might have been called into being in an instant. The distribution of the work over six days, followed by the repose on the seventh, was to infix this grand principle in the mind of every human being, that after six days' labor, one day of religious rest should follow.

God worked in a certain order, that

man might work in the same; God rested at a certain time, that man might rest likewise. In this glorious manner is the law of the Sabbath graphically set forth; this is the distinction which crowns the brow of the Queen of days. We have already noticed the proof this furnishes of the Sabbath having been instituted at the time assigned in the sacred story; but we now deduce from it the importance and dignity of the appointment itself. It is an appointment not written merely by inspired men, not graven on tables of stone, not indented in lead on the rock for ever, not uttered in the first instance from the summit of the mount by the voice of the Almighty and amidst the thunders and terrors of Sinai-but infixed in the creative order of the universe, inscribed on the heavens and earth, exhibited in the radiant character of the six days' work, associated with every commemoration of the wisdom and glory of God, promulgated with the majesty and example of the great Lord of all-and therefore requiring no subsequent enactments, except to incorporate it with the various dispensations of religion, and revive it when forgotten, that it may go on and accompany man so long as he continues upon earth.

We learn also, from this order of creation, that man was made, not for constant and unrelieved employment, or for earthly pursuits chiefly, but FOR LABOR WITH INTERVALS OF REPOSE, and IN SUBORDINATION TO THE GLORY OF HIS GOD: man was formed not for seven days' toil, but for six- -man was formed not for secular and terrestrial pursuits merely, but for the high purpose of honoring God, meditating on his works, and preparing for the enjoyment of him for ever. The essential nature of the institution obviously lies in the proportion of time fixed by his beneficent and all-wise Creator-for his body six days' labor, for his soul one day of religious rest; and this corresponds with his compound nature-his intellectual and moral part calling him up to the exalted and delightful offices of religion, and his bodily and animal part requiring recreation and repose. The Sabbath is the spiritual badge and char

ter of man.

What a dignity, then--what an importance--what an

obligation attaches to this sacred day! Well may it be

admitted by our chief opponent, that if "the divine command

was actually delivered at the creation, it was no doubt addressed to the whole human species alike, and continues, unless repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon all who come to the knowledge of it."*

III. Let us next show that, THERE ARE TRACES OF

THE OBSERVATION OF A WEEKLY REST DURING THE

PATRIARCHAL AGES. For it is upon this assumption, as we have stated, that the idea of an anticipated narrative is founded. "There are no vestiges, not a single allusion," say our opponents, "of the knowledge of a sabbatical rest, till the Mosaical law; and therefore the account in the book of Genesis is by prolepsis."

We allow that there are no express notices of a weekly Sabbath as observed by the patriarchs. We allow that the detailed scenes in the lives of Abraham and Jacob are without any direct declaration on the subject. That there are allusions and vestiges we shall presently show. But we admit the difficulty so far as the objection is founded. But what does it amount to, even supposing it be conceded in all its extent? Would the loss of the original law of the Sabbath for two thousand five hundred years, amidst the corruption flowing from the fall, prove that no such law had been enacted at the creation? The original law of marriage was lost during a much longer period, but was it the less reasserted by our Savior, as the primary and binding appointment of the Almighty? But we admit not that the observation of the Sabbath was wholly forgotten during this period. The objection can only pretend to rest on the silence of Scripture. Now to argue from that silence, is most unfair and most injurious to the interests of revelation.

An objection derived from things, not being expressly mentioned so often as we might please to expect, is wholly inconclusive. No mention is made of sacrifices from the time of Abel till the deluge, a period of fifteen hundred years, nor from the arrival of Jacob at Beershebat till the deliverance from Egypt, a space of two or three hundred more; but does this prove that sacrifices were not offered? We read nothing about circumcision from the death of Moses to the days of Jeremiah, an interval of eight centuries; but does any one imagine that circumcision was not

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performed? No mention of the Sabbath occurs in the histories of the books of Joshua, Ruth, first and second of Samuel, and first of Kings, which are so much more detailed than those of Genesis; and yet this was during the Mosaical law, when the institution was confessedly in its fullest vigor. The ordinance of the red heifer, again, is never once noticed from the period of the Pentateuch, till the close of the Old Testament; but the apostle refers to it, and argues from it in the New, as a rite well known, and in constant use. Even in the book of Psalms and in the Prophets, the Sabbath is seldom expressly mentioned, except when the neglect of it provoked the indignation of the Almighty.

So little force is there in the objection, even allowing it all it demands. It is not for us to prescribe to the Almighty how often, or under what circumstances, any of his commands should be repeated. It is enough for us to know with regard to the Sabbath, that it was instituted in the most solemn and resplendent manner. From this we may justly infer, that the observation of it was never wholly lost amongst the descendants of Seth, and in the line of Abraham, and the other patriarchs; though the celebration of it is not expressly recorded. It is thus we deduce from the continual offering of sacrifices, that that institution was divinely appointed, though we have no express mention of that appointment. The cases, indeed, of sacrifice and of the Sabbath are in one respect similar. The record is not complete: but we infer what is wanting from what is expressly stated. Of sacrifice, the celebration by the patriarchs after the deluge is perpetually recorded, though we have no direct account of its institution. Of the Sabbath, the original law is distinctly given, though the continued observance by the patriarchs is not expressly mentioned. If objections are urged on the ground of these omissions, it is surely permitted to us to reply, that from the celebration of sacrifices by Abel and the patriarchs, we justly infer its divine appointment: and from the glorious and singular institution of the Sabbath, its subsequent observance by the holy seed.*

* Owen.

But we are proceeding too long upon the concession that there are no traces in Scripture of a weekly rest, from the creation to the time of Moses. For in truth there are traces, faint, perhaps, if taken by themselves and separated from the first record of the institution in paradise, but sufficiently discernible in that connection, for the purpose of rebutting a mere objection.

The very first act of divine worship after the fall affords indications of a day of religion. Cain and Abel brought their offering "in process of time," as the common reading has it, but literally, and as it is in the margin, "at the end of the days."" Thus we have in the sacred narrative, the priest, altar, matter of sacrifice, motive, atonement made and accepted, and appointed time-indications these entirely consistent with the supposition of a previous sabbatical institution-and indeed proceeding upon it-for that is the meaning of the expression, "at the end of the days." But one division of days had been yet mentioned, and that was of the days of the week, the Sabbath being the last or seventh day we may, therefore, reasonably suppose that holy season to be here termed, "the end of the days."

Again, we read that "men," in the days of Seth, (two hundred years, perhaps, after Abel's sacrifice,) "began to call upon the name of the Lord," or "to call themselves by the name of the Lord;" and four hundred years later, "that Enoch walked with God"-terms of large import, and which, when illustrated by the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, where the faith of the patriarchs in the divine order of creation so highly extolled, are, to say the least, entirely consistent with the observation of a day of religious worship.

We come to the flood. Sixteen centuries have elapsed since the institution of the weekly rest. And now we find the reckoning by weeks familiarly referred to as the ordinary division of time. The Lord said unto Noah, "Yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth." And again, "It came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth." These passages occur in the seventh chapter. Then in the next, when the flood is decreasing, Noah sent out a dove, which returned; he then stayed "yet other seven days," and again sent it forth. And again in the same terms, "And he stayed

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