any of his works. God, therefore, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all his works, which he had ordained to do." This version, he says, is "in the supposition that the writer refers to the Jewish sabbath;" of course it was designedly adapted to an hypothesis; but, notwithstanding this suspicious circumstance, it is not easy to determine how it differs in sense from the received translation, as it leaves the question entirely undecided when this blessing and sanctification took place. The proposed version, however, is opposed by those in the Polyglott, and by the generality of translators, who render the particle vau at the beginning of the third verse as a copulative, not as an illative; and it is surprising how a sound Hebrew scholar can translate it otherwise. In short, nothing can be more violent and unnatural than the proleptical interpretation; and if we add, that it rests upon the unproved assumption, that the record in question was written after the delivery of the law, it must appear so devoid of critical support, as not to require a moment's hesitation in rejecting it ".

w Dr. Geddes, in his Critical Note in loc., says, 66 I still think that the vau here is equivalent to by; and is rather an inference drawn by the narrator, than a part of the narrative." But though may occasionally be rendered as

a point clearly ,על כן

Dr. Paley proceeds, "This interpretation * is strongly supported by a passage in the prophet Ezekiel, where the sabbath is plainly spoken of as given, (and what else can that mean, but as first instituted?) in the wilderness. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness and I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover, also, I gave them my sabbaths, to be a

established by Noldius, there is not the slightest ground for doing so in this place. Even those who adopt the same opinion of the sabbath as Dr. Geddes, take it in its usual copulative sense; as Dawson, whose version is, "And God hath blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his works which God had perfectly completed." For this criticism, however, the Dr. seems to be indebted to Dathe, who, arguing for the primeval institution of the sabbath, says, "Si Moses legem suam commendare Israelitis voluisset, profecto sua verba non conjunxisset per copulam vau, ut reliqua totius narrationis connectuntur; sed distinxisset ea per particulam propterea, uti cap. ii. 24. atque Exod. xx. 11, hac ipsà de re agens." (Nota to Latin Transl. in loc.) The examples here referred to form a strong argument.

על

It may be proper to observe, that, in the opinion of some critics, the insertion of the article three times in the word y shews it to be that very day on which God rested, and no other, that was sanctified. (Turretin, Inst. Theol. Elenctica P. ii. Loc. xi. Quest. 13. § 7.) But I do not see much force in the observation.

Viz. of Gen. ii. 1-3, before cited.

sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them"." He also cites another passage from Nehemiah', in which it is said, that God made known his holy sabbaths to the people of Israel; in evident reference, however, to the delivery of the law from Mount Sinai, and consequently irrelevant to the present question. Now the Almighty, it is not denied, is represented both here and in a passage formerly cited, as giving the sabbath to the Jews, and no one ever doubted that it was peculiarly given to them, so far as it was peculiarly Jewish. According to the Mosaic law, it was to be celebrated with some particular rites and ceremonies, as well as by a more strict rest, all which were peculiar to the Jews, and so far it may be said to have been ordained subsequent to the Egyptian exody. It was also in a special manner given to the Jews, inasmuch as they alone of all nations were enjoined to the observance of the sabbath by an express revelation. Hence nothing more is meant when the sabbath is said to be given to the Israelites, than that its observance was enjoined to them in a particular manner in the law of Moses.

An equally short answer will serve for Dr.

Paley's next argument, taken from those passages in which the sabbath is said to be a sign between Jehovah and the people of Israel. "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." Again, "And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; moreover, also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Now 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." But the answer is easy. By the term "sign," is meant that which should distinguish the people of God from the surrounding heathen nations; and the sabbath bore this distinctive character among the Hebrews, because, while every other people had forgotten or neglected this divine ordinance, they alone religiously maintained its sanctity. It was also peculiar to the Israelites, so far as regards the peculiar mode of observing it commanded in the law. "They were not so much distinguished, says Theodoret,

Exod. xxxi. 16, 17.

Ezek. xx. 12.

from other nations by circumcision, as by the sabbath, for, while the former rite was practised by the Idumeans, Ismaelites, and Egyptians, the Jews alone observed the sabbath d." Thus it was a sign, or distinguishing badge of the Hebrew family; and that which is given in common to all may be specifically given to some, as the bow in the cloud, though exhibited to all mankind, was specifically the token of the covenant which Jehovah established with Noah.

"The distinction of the sabbath," Dr. Paley proceeds to observe," is, in its nature, as much a positive ceremonial institution, as that of many other seasons which were appointed by the Levitical law to be kept holy, and to be observed by a strict rest; as the first and seventh days of unleavened bread; the feast of Pentecost; the feast of tabernacles; and in the 23d chapter of Exodus, the sabbath and these are recited together." How this bears How this bears upon the present ques

d Theodoret, Comment. in Ezek. xx. 13. See also Burnet, Epist. 2da. in Archæologiæ, p. 509, where he refers to a variety of pagan poets, historians, and philosophers, who assert the

same.

e Gen. ix. 8-17. See Turretin, Inst. Theol. Elenct. P. ii. Loc. xi. Quest, 13. § 16. Some, and particularly Spencer, who insists that the sabbath was "signi loco," cite in proof Deut. v. 15.-Exod. xx. 8-10. (De Leg. Heb. lib. i. cap. iv. § 7, 8.) but they are so little in point, that it is no wonder they were rejected by the sober judgment of Paley,