fifth Chapter of Deuteronomy, the Creation is not mentioned, but the Redemption out of Egypt is made the Ground of the Defignation of that particular Day, after the preceding fix Days? Whether the Day, for the Obfervation of a Sabbath, were now changed on the Account of that Deliverance, or whether this Day happened to be the feventh Day that was appointed at the Creation, the greatest Man that ever lived could only conjecture, there being no pofitive Proof; but, if the Argument, here offered, proves any Thing, it proves, that the first Day of the Feaft, and not the laft, was the Day, becaufe, as the learned Bishop himself obferves, upon this Day the Jews were delivered out of Egypt, and were commanded to keep it Holy in Memory of that Deliverance,

In the fixteenth Chapter, we have an Account of God's fending the Jews Food from Heaven, of which every Man was to gather enough for his Subfiftence, daily, for five Days; and on the fixth Day a double Quantity, becaufe God would fend them none on the feventh Day, That being intended for a Day of Reft

At the twenty-fecond Verfe, begins the Account of this Inftitution. "And it came to "pafs on the fixth Day They gathered twice "as much Bread, two Omers for one Man: "and all the Rulers of the Congregation

came and told Mofes. And He faid unto "them, This is That which the Lord hath "faid, To-morrow is the Reft of the Holy Sab

bath unto the Lord: Bake that which ye

"will

will
bake To-day, and feeth that which
will feeth; and that which remaineth over

ye

"lay up for you to be kept until the Morn

"ing. And they laid it up till the Morning. " and it did not ftink, neither was there any Worm therein. And Mofes faid, Eat That "To-day; for To-day is a Sabbath unto the

Lord: To-day ye fhall not find it in the "Field. Six Days ye fhall gather it, but on "the feventh Day which is the Sabbath, in it "there fhall be none." And at the thirtieth Verfe we read thus: "So the People rested on "the feventh Day." From whence we may obferve, that, tho' This was a particular Inftitution, appointed the Jews in Memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt, and therefore no Mention is made here of the Creation of the World; yet, fo much of the Original Inftitution, was preferved as to make it a feventh Day Sabbath, tho' there were Circumftances added to it, that were adapted to their particular Condition*, At this Time, and not before, a Reft from all Work feems to have been appointed. There can be no reasonable Doubt but that under the patriarchal Difpenfation, all pious Perfons did perform religious Offices one Day in feven, in a manner beyond what was ufual upon the other fix Days in the

upon

*This Subject feems to have been embarraffed by learned Men, only for want of this plain Diftinction between the particular Institution given to the Jews in Memory of their Deli verance, and the general Inftitution appointed for all Mankind at the Creation, and confirmed by Mofes at the Publication of the Law from Mount Sinai.

Week;

Week; but did not ceafe from all kind of Labour until now. And this being a new Inftitution (new, in refpect of ceafing from all Work) it is called in Scripture a Sign or Token, that is, a Mark of Diftinction, whereby it was known to what God they did belong, as the Heathens made it known what God they worshipped, by their religious Rites. By keeping one Day in feven boly, we acknowledge ourselves Servants of that God, who in fix Days created the World, and refted from his Work on the Seventh. By refting from all Work on That Day, on which God delivered them from their Egyptian Servitude, the Jews acknowledged Him to be their Deliverer; fo that it was to them, a double Token, or Sign.

Α very little while after this, the Ten Commandments were published from Mount Sinai; and then the Sabbath was folemnly ratified, but in Terms more general, and applicable to all Perfons. In the former, the Jews were commanded not to bake, or feeth any Thing, to drefs no Victuals on the Sabbath-day, or to go out of the City where they inhabited. The latter being intended for perpetual Obligation, to out-live the Mofaick Inftitutions, and to bind all Mankind to the End of the World, there is no Mention made of the particular Prohibitions given in the former. Befides, if it had not been the Intention of God to make a Diftinction between the Sabbath which was purely Jewish, and a Sabbath which was to be more lafting, and of greater Extent, there feems to

have

22

have been no Occafion at all for the former Infitution, when the latter was to fucceed it fo foon after. That the Sabbath, appointed from Mount Sinai, was intended to be of perpetual and univerfal Obligation is evident, from its being join'd, and written upon the fame Tables, with the other Nine Commandments which are allowed to be fo.And what ftill farther confirms it is, the Reafon given for the Inftitution, which equally concerns all Perfons, in all Places, and in every Age of the World. Thus we find it at the xxth ch. of Exod. ver. 8. "Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy. "Six Days fhalt thou labour, and do all thy "Work. But the feventh Day is the Sabbath "of the Lord thy God, &c. For in fix Days "the Lord made Heaven and Earth, &c.

wherefore the Lord bleffed the Sabbath-Day " and hallowed it." Now, does not this Reafon for keeping the Sabbath concern all the World, as much as the Jews? All the World, therefore, are equally obliged to observe it.

Indeed, at the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomy, Ver. 15. Mofes tells the Jews, "That they had « been Servants in the Land of Egypt, and that the Lord brought them from thence;

and that, therefore the Lord commanded "them to keep the Sabbath-Day." But, this proves nothing more than that the Jews were under a double Obligation to keep the Sabbath; as Men, in Memory of the Creation; as fews, in Memory of their Redemption from

Bondage;

Bondage; even as we are under a double Obligation, as Men, and as CHRISTIANS.

But, if we proceed, we shall meet with many Occafions of repeating the original and general Inftitution of the Sabbath, without any Mention of any particular Circumftances refpecting the Jews,

At the xxiiid of Exod. we find it repeated, upon the Appointment of a fabbatical Year; which fabbatical Year, as well as the fabbatical "Day, was called a Sign, or Token.As God, by an Angel, delivered them from the Egyptians; and by Mofes's Wand drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, when They were in Purfuit of the Fugitives; fo, by fofhua, he fub'dued the Canaanites, and put the Ifraelites in Poffeffion of their Land; in Memory of which, God ordered that as foon as they came there, and had Reft in their new Poffeffions (reckoning from their peaceable Settlement) they fhould obferve the feventh, Year, and every feventh Year for ever, as a Year of Reft. The Law ftood thus, Chap. xxiii, ver. 10, 11.

Six Years fhalt thou fow thy Land, and ga"ther in the Fruits thereof: but the feventh

Year thou fhalt let it reft, and lie ftill.". With fome Variation in the Words it is more largely fet forth at the xxvth Chap. of Leviticus, v. 2, 3, 4. "Speak unto the Children of "Ifrael, and fay unto them, When ye come into the Land which I give you, then shall the Land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord.Six Years thou fhalt fow thy Field, and

prune