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all his work which God created and made; Gen. 2: 3. Again, we read in Exod. 20: 11, For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; WHEREFORE the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. God created man in his own image," after his " likeness," Gen. 1: 26; from which expressions it may be inferred, that man, in a variety of respects and in a certain degree, was to be conformed to the attributes of God. Endued with the faculty of reason, with power over all inferior animals, with an immortal soul, and above all with moral virtues, he was destined to afford an infinitely diminished, yet lively, representation of the Author of his being. Now the keeping of the Sabbath was one of those particulars of conduct, by the observance of which man was to be characterized, after the model of his Creator. It cannot be conceived, I think, that a duty required of us on this peculiar ground-a duty so plainly contributing to the maintenance in man of the image of God-can be otherwise than of universal and permanent obligation.

We cannot, indeed, form any just notion of the Sabbath of Jehovah, i. e. what was the nature of the rest of God, or what the period through which it might extend. Yet this rest, as a model, is presented to our notice in an intelligible shape, and man is commanded to cease from labour every seventh day, after the example of his Maker. And further, although we are not aware what relation the Sabbath of

Jehovah might have to his moral attributes, it is unquestionably true, that the observance of the Sabbath is required of man, as a moral and spiritual being-one who is accountable for all his actions, and who has eternal interests at stake.

In order to form a just view of the moral importance of the institution, we need only call to mind, that man, in his present state of probation, is encompassed with things which are temporal in their nature, and which meet his senses and engross his attention; that he has within him, nevertheless, an immortal part, which, amidst all these perishing scenes, is here to be prepared for an invisible and eternal world. How evident is it, therefore, in the very nature of things, that a proportion of our time must be set apart for this object! Not only should every day bring with it its hour of private devotion; not only should a spirit of piety pervade the whole business of life; but at some frequently recurring period, our temporal engagements should entirely cease, and opportunity be given to the soul to commune at leisure with its Creator, and to deal deliberately with the eternal future. The Jews themselves were well aware, that the bodily rest ordained on the Sabbath was essential to the strength and refreshment of the mind, which, thus invigorated, was to apply its undivided powers to holy things. "This," says one of their doctors, "is the sanctification of the Sabbath, that on that day the human mind

should fix itself on no worldly business, but only on things divine."

It may be objected, that these remarks are applicable only to persons who enjoy the light of revelation; because merely natural religion does not, with clearness, teach us the doctrine of our immortality, and therefore makes no demand on our reason for the observances of a Sabbath. To this objection it is a sufficient answer, that God did reveal his truth to our first parents and their immediate descendants; that although, therefore, our fallen race soon sunk into a state of corruption and ignorance of their Creator, pure religion and its accompanying Sabbath were nevertheless intended for all mankind. They are, and ever were, of universal applicability to our species.

Innocent and at peace with God, as our first parents were before the fall, we may still conclude, that even for them the dedication of every seventh day to a holy rest, was both a duty and a privilege. They must surely have delighted in the frequent recurrence of an interval, which was to be devoted to uninterrupted communion with God, and to the joyful remembrance of their own immortality. But for man in the fall, who must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow; whose affections naturally tend only to earthly and sensual things; who is laden with innumerable infirmities and is corrupt at core; whose passage to the eternal world lies through death-for

* Aben Ezra, apud Selden de Jure Nut. et Gent. Lib. 3. c. 13.

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such a being under such circumstancesweekly Sabbath of rest and devotion may well be deemed indispensable. This, like every other part of the moral law of God is precisely adapted to our need, and the observance of it is essential to our virtue and happiness.

There is another point of view, in which the keeping of the Sabbath must be regarded as a sacrifice well pleasing to God, and as necessary to the formation in man of the religious character. It is an act of faith in Jehovah, i. e. of trust that he will be sure to provide for the temporal as well as spiritual wants of those who serve him. Man is required to cease from his labour every seventh day; and thus is he made to feel, that even for the supply of his bodily need he may not depend exclusively on his own exertions. By the silent admonition of a weekly Sabbath, he is taught to place a calm reliance on that glorious Being, who of his own free bounty feeds the sparrow and provides for man.

The scriptural record, that God, after finishing the work of creation, set apart the seventh day for holy uses, together with the reasonableness and necessity of the service, affords a strong presumption, that amidst the general corruption of mankind this institution continued to be observed, both before and after the flood, by the patriarchal church. Of the existence of such a church from the date of the creation to that of Moses, various hints are scattered over the book of Genesis. Brief and undetailed (for the most part) as is this

inspired history, it contains many incidental allusions to a system of worship, to a priesthood, to places for worship, altars, sacrifices, prayers, and peculiar religious rites.* There were preachers also in those early days. The apostle Peter speaks of our Saviour's preaching by his spirit to the world before the flood, 1 Pet. 3: 19; and who can doubt that this was through the instrumentality of his appointed ministers? Accordingly, the same apostle elsewhere calls Noah a preacher of righteousness; 2 Pet. 2: 5.

Now for the maintenance of such a system of worship, a Sabbath would appear to have been essential; nor does the absence, in the history of the Patriarchs, of any express mention of its observance, materially weaken the probability that, under these circumstances, it was actually observed. It is always to be remembered, that the records of the Old Testament are in many parts extremely abridged, and that the silence of these narratives respecting any supposed fact which collateral evidence renders probable, affords scarcely any degree of evidence that such a fact was not real. We know that after the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, the law of Moses, and the Sabbath as forming a part of it, were publicly recognized and in full force; yet no mention is made of the Sabbath in the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, and

*

Ample evidences on this subject are adduced by J. J. Blunt, in his useful little work, On the Veracity of the Five Books of Moses.