of the Hebrew text is attested by the whole stream of translators, all of whom, with minute verbal differences, accord substantially in sense. What, then, are we taught by this part of the narrative? Does it imply the moral and perpetual obligation of the sabbath? This is the question which we are now to examine.

Now if the sabbath was instituted at the time of the creation, it is reasonable to infer that it is obligatory upon all mankind. Our first parents were the only human beings in existence, and an ordinance appointed for them, in no respect limited to the paradisiacal state, must surely have been designed to extend also to their posterity. This, as it seems, is universally conceded"; but it is proper to guard against the inference, that, if it was not appointed at the creation, the account in Genesis will not render the observance of the sabbath binding upon the whole human race. Supposing it to have been first ordained in the

fect tense "he ended," but in the plusquam-perfect "he had ended," the difficulty is obviated. Besides the commentators see Pfeiffer, Dubia Vexata, Cent. i. loc. 4. where the various opinions of the critics are enumerated.

+ b If the divine command was actually delivered at the creation, it was addressed no doubt to the whole human species alike, and continues, unless repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon all who come to the knowledge of it." Paley, Moral and Political Philosophy, lib. v. cap. vii. So Limborch, Theologia Christiana, lib. v. cap. xxviii. § 7.1

age of Moses, it may nevertheless be designed for universality. There may be, and, as we shall see afterwards, actually are reasons, shewing that the divine command recorded by Moses, whenever delivered, is of universal obligation. Hence the question of time involves another, namely, the question of extent, that is, whether the command was given by the Supreme Governor to a select people only, or was addressed to all mankind who come to the knowledge of it. If, however, it can be satisfactorily proved that the command was given at the creation, and that, independently of this circumstance, there are reasons shewing it not to be limited to the Israelitish nation, it must still remain in force, unless abrogated by a subsequent revelation.

Among those who have held that the Pentateuchal record above-cited is proleptical, and that the sabbath is to be considered a part of the peculiar laws of the Jewish polity, no one has displayed more ability than Dr. Paley. Others on the same side have exhibited far more extensive learning, and have exercised much more patient research; but for acuteness of intellect, for coolness of judgment, and a habit of perspicacious reasoning he has been rarely, if ever, excelled. The arguments which he has approved must be allowed to be the chief strength of the cause; and, as he is at once the most judicious and most

purpose

of

popular of its advocates, all that he has advanced demands a careful and candid examination. The doctrine which he maintains is, that the sabbath was not instituted at the creation; that it was designed for the Jews only; that the assembling upon the first day of the week for the public worship, is a law of Christianity, of divine appointment; but that the resting on it longer than is necessary for attendance on these assemblies, is an ordinance of human institution; binding nevertheless upon the conscience of every individual of a country in which a weekly sabbath is established, for the sake of the beneficial purposes which the public and regular observance of it promotes, and recommended perhaps in some degree to the Divine approbation, by the resemblance it bears to what God was pleased to make a solemn part of the law which he delivered to the people of Israel, and by its subserviency to many of the same uses. Such is the doctrine of this very able writer in his Moral and Political Philosophy; a doctrine which places the sabbath on the footing of civil laws, recommended by their expediency, and which, being sanctioned by so high an authority, has probably given great encouragement to the lax notions concerning the sabbath which unhappily prevail. I design therefore to examine every thing he has advanced in defence of it; but in the present chapter I

D

shall confine myself to a review of his arguments in proof of the position that the sabbath was not instituted at the creation, but in the wilderness for the Jews only; adding thereto such as appear deserving of consideration, collected from Selden, Spencer, Rivetus, Limborch, Curcellæus, Jurieu, Gomarus, Bauer, Altingius, and others.

Dr. Paley's principal argument is, that the first institution of the sabbath took place during the sojourning of the Jews in the wilderness. Upon the complaint of the people for want of food, God was pleased to provide for their relief by a miraculous supply of manna, which was found every morning upon the ground about the camp: ' and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, twoomars for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow 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. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, (as it had done before, when some of them left it till the morning), neither was there any worm

therein. 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. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh-day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found And the Lord said unto Moses.

none.

How

long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 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. So the people rested on the seventh day."

From this passage Dr. Paley infers that the sabbath was first instituted in the wilderness; but to preclude the possibility of misrepresenting his argument I will quote his own words. "Now, in my opinion, the transaction in the wilderness above recited, was the first actual institution of the sabbath. For if the sabbath had been instituted at the time of the creation, as the words in Genesis may seem at first sight to import; and if it had been observed all along from that time to the departure of the Jews out of Egypt, a period of about two thousand five hundred years; it

• Exodus xvi. 21-30.