subject by Dr. Kennicot in the second of his two dissertations, no doubt can reasonably be entertained of the import of this passage, as relating the divine institution of the Sabbath, yet still the rapidity of the historian has left this rather as matter of inference: and it is certain, that he has nowhere made express mention of the observance of a Sabbath until the time of Moses."

6. Mr. Beausobre, in his Introduction to the New Testament, expressly allows, and gives his reasons for believing, that the Sabbath was not instituted till the time of Moses. He admits also, that when it was instituted, it was a festival, not a fast; and he points out the circumstance of Jesus going to a feast on that day, Luke xiv. 1. He asserts that it was given as a sign of the covenant, and was limited to one people, the Jews. He shows that the conduct of Jesus on the Sabbath places it on the same footing as the other Jewish ceremonies. He allows, that in Genesis the sanctifying the Sabbath-day was spoken by way of anticipation. He says, feastings and rejoicings were also thought essential to the Sabbath, according to Philo, Josephus, and the Thalmudists. -Beaus. Int. Part. i. p. 193, &c. He further says,

'The account of the creation was not given till after the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt, with a design to turn them from idolatry and the worshipping of creatures. Moses takes from thence an occasion of giving them to understand, that this is the reason why God hath sanctified the seventh day, and appointed this festival, to be by them celebrated every week. Upon this supposition, the sanctifying of the Sabbath does not relate to the creation of the world, where we find it mentioned, but to after ages.'-Ibid.

7. If the expression in the second chapter of Genesis had been understood by Moses or any of the Prophets to be applicable to all mankind, when they were reproaching the Gentiles for their sins in innumerable instances, and enumerating their offences seriatim, (to warn the Israelites against them,) they would some time or other have reproached them for their neglect of the Sabbath. The Bible is almost filled with the reproachings of the Israelites for their imitations of the vices of the Gentiles, and for their neglect of the Sabbath; but in no one instance is it ever hinted, that the neglect of the Sabbath was one of these examples of imitation. It also is quite incredible, that the Gentiles should not have been even once reproached, for the neglect of this very important rite, if it had been considered applicable to them; and if it were not applicable to them, it evidently cannot be applicable to us.

This book is peculiarly used as a lecture book by the University of Cambridge, and therefore it is fair to conclude, that this learned body, in which several of our most learned bishops are included, has no objection to its doctrines.

VOL. XXVII.

Pam.

NO. LIII.

M

8. We will now proceed to examine the passages in the Old Testament relating to this subject.

9. In the sixteenth chapter of Exodus the Sabbath is first instituted: as it is said in the fourth verse, in order that the Lord night know whether the Israelites would walk in his way or not. And in the fifth verse it is said, that twice as much manna was sent on the sixth day as on other days. In the twenty-second and twentythird verses, the rulers come to Moses for an explanation of the reason of the double quantity coming on the sixth day; and then Moses explains to them that the seventh day is to be a Sabbath, or day of rest; but he there gives them no reason why the seventh day was fixed on, rather than the sixth or any other day; and in this chapter it is merely stated to be ordered to try them if they would walk in the way of the Lord or not.

22. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning.

24. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

25. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field.

26. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

28. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29. See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30. So the people rested on the seventh day.

10. In several places of the quotation above a mistranslation has taken place; the definite or emphatic article has been used instead of the indefinite one. Thus, in the twenty-third verse it is said, the rest of the holy Sabbath, instead of a rest of a holy Sabbath. Again, in the twenty-sixth verse it ought to have been said, on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, in it, &c., not the Sabbath, &c.

11. In the twenty-ninth verse the emphatic or definite article is correctly used, the Sabbath, according to the Hebrew text, the Sabbath being there spoken of as instituted. The author has been the more particular in the examination of these texts, because he has met with several clergymen, not learned in the Hebrew language, who have maintained, that from the use of the emphatic

article in the places in question, a previous establishment, and an existence of the Sabbath must be necessarily inferred. But the fact is, that the contrary inference must be drawn from the Hebrew text and no Hebrew scholar will doubt a moment on the correctness of what is said respecting the Hebrew definite article. It is not one of the points of this language about which there has been any dispute.

12. If this related merely to the common affairs of life, no one would doubt that the coming of the rulers of the congregation to Moses showed clearly that they were ignorant of the Sabbath— that they had never heard of such a thing before for if they had known that it was unlawful to provide food, or gather sticks to light a fire to cook it, or to do any other act of work or labor, how could they have had any doubt what the double quantity was sent for on the day before the Sabbath? And the answer given by Moses in the next verse, This is what the Lord hath said, implies that the information given to them was new. If the practice of keeping the Sabbath had prevailed with the Israelites when in Egypt in their bondage, (a thing very unlikely,) or if it had been known to them that it was their duty to keep it when in their power, the book would simply have told us, that they gathered twice as much on the sixth day, because the next was the Sabbath: there would have been no coming together of the elders, or of speech-making by Moses. Besides, the text says, that it was ordered here to try them, whether they would walk in the way of Jehovah at this particular time or not. This is directly contrary to the idea of its being an established ordinance from the creation. It was here given as a test of their obedience-it was continued afterwards, as a sign of the covenant entered into betwixt God and them. Nor is there any where an intimation, that the appointment of the Sabbath was the renewal of an ancient institution, which had been neglected, forgotten, or suspended.

13. In the Decalogue which is ordained in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, the Sabbath is first given in all its plenitude; but it is with the remainder of the Decalogue expressly limited to the children of Israel. God begins with saying, I am the Lord thy1 God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Here he calls the Israelites thee; and he goes on throughout the whole addressing them in the second person singular, Thou shalt have no other gods but me, &c. If the language is to bear its common and usual signification, the law as here

The pronoun is here very correctly translated from the Hebrew it is precisely as it is in English. Not, the Lord God, as he is usually called, but, the Lord THY God. But it would have been still more correct to have said, Jehovah thy God, instead of, the Lord thy God.

given is limited to the Israelites. On the meaning of this passage may be applied, the very excellent rule of criticism laid down by Bishop Horsley in his controversy with Dr. Priestley.

'It is a principle with me, that the true sense of any phrase in the New Testament is what may be called its standing sense, that which will be the first to occur to common people of every country and in every age.'Horsley to Priestley, p. 23; Priestley's Letters to Horsley, p. 289.

14. In the twentieth chapter of Exodus, at the tenth verse, the emphatic or definite article has been substituted for the indefinite one, the same as has been done in the sixteenth chapter, as was before shown.

15. In this place, where it means to describe that the seventh day is to be a day of rest, it says, A Sabbath; but where it has reference to what had passed before, viz. to its previous institution, it says, THE Sabbath. This is all consistent with the arguments of the gentlemen before referred to. When the text is correctly translated, their arguments are in fact decisively against themselves.1

16. Again, the Sabbath is ordained, in the thirty-first chapter of Exodus and fourteenth verse; and it is here again expressly limited to the children of Israel, and declared to be for a sign of the covenant. God says, it is holy unto you, not unto all the world. Again, he says,

Wherefore the children of Israel (not all mankind) shall keep, &c. for a perpetual covenant, &c. It is a sign betwixt me and the children of Israel for ever.

17. How can more clear words of limitation be used? And, as Dr. Paley says,

'It does not seem easy to understand how the Sabbath could be a sign between God and the people of Israel, unless the observance of it was peculiar to that people, and designed to be so.'

13. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

The Hebrew is remarkable for its brevity, and words are often obliged to be inserted to make sense in our language; in almost innumerable places the helping verb is obliged to be added. Thus in the tenth verse it is said, but the seventh day is. There is no authority in the Hebrew for the word is. The literal translation of the words is, but the seventh day a Sabbath. The helping verb is here evidently wanting; and it must be discovered from the context, what part of the verb must be used. It is submitted to the Hebrew scholar, whether it would not be perfectly justifiable in this case to use the words will be, or shall be? and write, But the seventh day shall be a (day of rest) Sabbath. This would strengthen the argument. It is not of any consequence. But no one could say it was mistranslated, if it said, The seventh day shall be a Sabbath.

14. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

15. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath-day, he shall surely be put to death.

16. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

18. In the fourteenth verse God does not say that it is holy, but it is holy unto you. A clear limitation to the children of

Israel.

Exod. xxxiv. 28.-And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

19. How, after reading these passages, can any one deny, that the Decalogue was given as a sign of the covenant betwixt God and the Israelites? and it seems to follow, that when the covenant was fulfilled, the sign was abolished.

20. On the reason assigned in Exodus for the institution of the Sabbath, Dr. Paley justly observes :

'It may be remarked, that although in Exodus the commandment is founded upon God's rest from the creation, in Deuteronomy the commandment is repeated with a reference to a different event. 'Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day.' It is farther observable, that God's rest from the creation is proposed as the reason of the institution, even where the institution itself is spoken of as peculiar to the Jews. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.''

6

21. In the following places the order to keep the Sabbath is repeated; but in every one it is limited to the Israelites: Exod. xxxv. 2, 3. Lev. xxiii. 3. 15. xxv.

22. The limitation of the Sabbath to the children of Israel, and the making it a sign of the covenant betwixt God and them, expressly negatives the construction put on the expression in Genesis, that by it the Sabbath was instituted. It is making God act most absurdly, to make him first institute the Sabbath for the