ments to substantiate this assertion, which bears its own refutation on the face of it. Are there ever bare announcements "of what God did," without some moral duty implied as incumbent on man? Besides, what did God do? He "sanctified" (i. e. consecrated) as a holy thing the seventh day. This cannot mean that He kept it more holy than another day, for days exist not with Him. It must therefore mean that the creatures whom He had made were to keep it especially holy, in commemoration of the completed work. Feeling probably the weakness of this position, Dr. Hessey goes on to inquire how it is possible that God should then and there institute the ordinance of the Sabbath "before the cycle of days had begun, or labour had become laborious enough to necessitate repose?" But surely the cycle of days had begun six days before the day in question; and it is preposterous to suppose that the Lord, who is represented as holding intimate communion with Adam, could not make the idea of a sanctified seventh day intelligible to him. Besides, if not, why is the sanctifying of the seventh day mentioned here at all? Dr. Hessey replies, in the words of Bishop Bramhall, "that the sanctifying of the seventh day there, is no more than the sanctifying of Jeremy 'from his mother's womb,'-that is, the designing or destinating of him to be a prophet, or than the separating' of St. Paul from his mother's womb?" But Dr. Hessey does not seem to perceive that he has granted us all, or almost all, that we demand; namely, that from the very beginning God looked upon the seventh day as one which He would have to be specially honoured, in memory of creation completed. And if this much be granted, why not go on to take the full meaning of the passage in question, to which neither reason nor Scripture is opposed, that God

revealed to Adam at that time His will that the Sabbath should be kept, and that six days of labour should always be followed by a day of rest. But, says the lecturer, the observance of the Sabbath is not mentioned any more till the time of Moses. We may reply by asking, Why should it have been mentioned? If instituted, it was handed down by tradition, neglected by the godless, but observed in the families of the godly till the time of Noah; and the fact that the command was not given to Noah is rather a proof that Noah did keep the Sabbath, than that he did not. The institution of marriage shared the same treatment throughout. God ordained it to Adam. The wicked forgot it, and multiplied their wives. Noah preserved it in his family, for we find that each of his sons had only one wife, so that it was unnecessary to renew the command on the subject. Again, with regard to the fact that the division of time into weeks is mentioned in several places in Genesis, the lecturer argues that "if it is to be found out of Scripture (i. e. in the

East generally, on monuments, &c.), without a Sabbath, why should it not be found in Scripture without a Sabbath?" This, however, is a petitio principii; for the real question is whether the septenary division of days did not originate in both cases from the universal institution of the Sabbath, though it may have continued long after the religious idea connected with the day had died out. Dr. Hessey's own account of the origin of the seventh-day division shall speak for itself:-"The full moon would supply the fortnight, and the half of it each way, as men grew more and more exact, would supply an approach to a perfect septenary division of time: (!) (p. 142.) Thus the origin is found in "man's reason acting upon the luminaries." We cannot help wishing that Dr. Hessey's "luminaries" had not been so blinded by the veil of his system that fails to see what we hope we have clearly shown, viz., that there are difficulties in the theory that the Sabbath is not of primæval origin; but that they vanish if we take the natural interpretation of the earliest record of the dealings between God and man, and allow that sabbatical observance is primæval and universal in its origin, and therefore moral.

We now pass on to Ex. xvi. 4, 5, where the observance of the Sabbath is commanded to Israel in connection with the giving of the manna. The lecturer quotes Hengstenberg to prove that the language made use of by God through Moses shows that Israel knew nothing about the Sabbath; hence it follows that the Sabbath had never been instituted. But this does not follow. We might as well argue from the same passage, that the Sabbath had been instituted, but had died out. Moreover, when we consider the state of spiritual destitution and moral darkness which had fallen upon Israel, and the impossibility of keeping a Sabbath in the midst of their ill-treatment and bondage, we cannot wonder that, when sabbatical observance was appointed for them, they should speak of it as if it were a new thing. But there is something in this passage which neither Dr. Hessey nor Dr. Hengstenberg seems to have discovered, and that is (speaking reverently), that God evidently had a special feeling about the observance of the seventh day, and introduced it as soon as the people were in a condition to bear it, making the observance of this primary law a test of all their future obedience: "that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." (Ex. xvi. 4.)

If there were no further mention of the Sabbath, we might feel a doubt arise as to the mode of sabbatical observance, though the fact of its being a duty incumbent on man would remain. But there is further mention, and that in such a place, and under such circumstances, that we cannot feel a moment's doubt either as to the fact of the obligation, or as to the manner of the observance of the day. Few can read

the account of the giving of the law, the words of which were the immediate expression of God's omnipotence, accompanied with all that could impress the mind with awe, without feeling that here, at least, we have the will and pleasure of Jehovah. Fourth amongst the ten commandments, and to a certain extent connecting man's duty to God with his duty to his fellows, we find the observance of a day of rest ordered for man and beast, and reasons given for the command. Were it not for the fact stated in Genesis (ii.3), we should look with the utmost surprise at the appearance of this commandment; and had not the children of Israel been prepared by the command in reference to the manna, they would have been surprised also. But as they had already been taught that God had a special regard to the day, they were ready to receive the commandment as part of the revealed will of God, by which they were to bind themselves. Similarly as we are taught that God set apart the day on which He rested for Himself, we recognize the wisdom of God in appointing this law as part of his covenant; and we obey it thankfully, and look upon the reasons thus set forth, not as suited only to the particular circumstances of Israel, but as intended to account for the ordinance from the beginning of days till time shall be no longer. Before entering upon a consideration of these reasons, we may mention that we agree so far with Dr. Hessey in regard to the word "remember," as to allow that it may refer not only to the past but to the future observance.

We would that Dr. Hessey agreed with us that this word "remember" has not yet lost its significance! We cannot help regretting that whilst so many lectures are taken up with historical discussions, a few pages only are devoted to the important subject before us; and that the reader is left to examine for himself into the reasons of the fourth commandment. This, however, we must do, in order to confirm our assertion that there is nothing exclusively Judaic in the reasons given for Sabbath observance. The first and most obvious principle involved is, that we should imitate the example of God as far as we can do so. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." "Rest after six days' labour, for I rested after six days' labour." We have not time or space to follow out this idea, though much might be said upon it. Suffice it to remark, that this is a universal and, in an especial sense, a Christian principle. Secondly, the Sabbath is allied with the creation, and the keeping of a seventh day commemorates the completion of God's six days' work. This commemoration, inasmuch as it is of a universal work, should be universal also. Here, says an objector, you prove too much, for you are binding the world to a particular seventh day. No, we confidently answer; no particular seventh day is appointed in the commandment. God had specially guarded

against this objection by providing a seventh day beforehand for Israel, and not propounding it in the moral law. The Jewish day of sabbatical observance depended not on the fourth commandment, but on a previous ordinance; and the Christian day: of sabbatical observance depends not on the fourth commandment, but on a subsequent ordinance. We beg to call our readers' special attention to this fact, as it completely throws over an argument of which the anti-sabbatarians are very fond, and which Dr. Hessey endorses; namely, that we must either take the particular day that the Jews had, or else deny the seventh-day principle altogether. How carefully the omniscient Jehovah provided against this error! Thirdly, the necessity of having set times for religious service is involved. This, again, is universal, and is the only moral element which Dr. Hessey could discover in the commandment. Besides these three distinct principles of Sabbath observance, we find other principles involved which have not so much connection with the particular day, but have reference rather to the universal need of rest, and the duty of giving to others what God has given to us. But these are extraneous. to the question before us. Sufficient, we hope, has been said to show that the fourth commandment takes its place amongst the rest, and must be viewed as a moral law, obligatory in all times and in all places; so that when we pray in church that we may be enabled "to keep this law," we need not to descend to the frame of mind which Dr. Hessey would have us adopt, when he tells us that "we read the com mandments as we do David's psalms; not that all there con, cerns us, but a great deal of them does." (Quoted from Selden, p. 145.)

There is one other argument which Dr. Hessey advances, namely, that the Sabbath on the seventh day was but part of a great sabbatical system which extended to months, and even years. It was so; but that does not account for its appearance in the decalogue, nor does it account for the extreme frequency of the exhortations to keep the Sabbath, and the sanctions dependent on its observance or non-observance, throughout the Old Testament. Even if it were otherwise, no argument can be founded on the existence of the sabbatical system to disprove the morality of the Sabbath.

The lecturer has remarked that the Sabbath is often spoken of to the Jews as a sign; but he does not see the full force of this title, which undoubtedly points to the great and notable truth, that the Creator of the world and all things therein was that same person who had delivered Israel from Egypt, and was giving laws for their guidance. The idea of the spiritual unity of God had not entirely passed away from the Israelite mind; but as the affair of the golden calf proves, its hold had been relaxed by their intercourse with the heathen. But the

decalogue reasserted the great truth that God is one, that He is spiritual, and to be worshipped spiritually; while at the same time it taught that He was to be loved as their Deliverer, and worshipped as their Creator. The idea of the Sabbath as "a sign" is as valid now as ever. Nay, more so; for we may trace a progressive significance in the Sabbath. In the patriarchal ages it would be viewed simply as commemorative of creation. By the decalogue a second idea is added, namely, that the Great Benefactor of Israel was personally identical with the Creator. But when the gospel of the resurrection was preached, a more glorious truth was proclaimed, namely, the identity of the Creator with the Redeemer, of the God of nature with the Lord of life and grace. This doctrine was brought forward very prominently in the apostolic preaching; miracles bore testimony to it; the Lord's-day, devoutly kept every seventh day after the resurrection, was "a sign" of it. The old creation is brought to our minds by the septenary division; the new creation, and the acceptance of the Son's work by the Father, are brought before us by the fact that this seventh day is kept on the Lord's-day.

Here we may close the discussion of the nature and obligation of the Lord's-day. Before touching on the application of the subject, we would briefly sum up what we have advanced, so as to show what is the Christian view of the obligations of the Sabbath. The Christian is no longer under law but under grace, i. e., he is no longer a servant but a son; he has entered into a new covenant, and the law is within his heart; in other words, he is stimulated to obedience not by fear, but by love. The Bible tells him how to please his Father. He examines it on the Sunday question and finds that God rested on the seventh day from his work, and sanctified the day; and hence he feels it is God's pleasure that the day should be kept holy. Passing to the decalogue, he feels that, "being under the law to Christ," he must obey God's will and follow God's example in resting after six days' labour. In giving rest as far as possible to man and beast, he looks to the example and teaching of Jesus, and finds himself confirmed in the idea that "the Sabbath was made for man," and that "it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day." He will endeavour to spend his time in that which tends most to the service of God, and the spiritual welfare and true rest of man. He feels grateful to God for the wise appointment of a day of rest which neither comes too often nor too seldom, but is exactly adapted for the physical, mental, and spiritual wants of his creatures. Turning to the apostolic times, he finds the Lord's-day kept in memory of the resurrection; and history tells him that as the old day of sabbatical rest died out, the Lord's-day enabled Christians to keep up the religious observance of one day in seven, which