chapter of Exodus the fabbath and these are re

cited together.

If the command by which the fabbath was inftituted be binding upon Chriftians, it must be binding as to the day, the duties, and the penalty; in none of which it is received.

The obfervance of the fabbath was not one of the articles enjoined by the Apoftles, in the fifteenth chapter of As, upon them "which, "from among the Gentiles, were turned unto "God."

St. Paul evidently appears to have considered the fabbath as part of the Jewish ritual, and not obligatory upon Chriftians as fuch: "Let no man "therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in refpect of an holy day, or of the new moon,

ર

or of the fabbath days, which are a fhadow of "things to come, but the body is of Chrift." Col. ii. 16, 17.

I am aware of only two objections which can be opposed to the force of these arguments: one is, that the reafon affigned in the fourth commandment for hallowing the seventh day, namely, "because God refted on the feventh day "from the work of the creation," is a reafon which pertains to all mankind; the other, that the command which enjoins the obforvance of

the

the fabbath is inferted in the decalogue, of which all the other precepts and prohibitions are of moral and univerfal obligation.

Upon the first objection it may be remarked, that although in Exodus the commandment is founded upon God's reft from the creation, in Deuteronomy the commandment is repeated with a reference to a different event: "Six days fhalt "thou labour, and do all thy work; but the "seventh day is the fabbath of the Lord thy "God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, "nor thy fon, nor thy daughter, nor thy man"fervant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, "nor thine afs, nor any of thy cattle, nor the ftranger that is within thy gates; that thy man"fervant and thy maid-servant may rest as well

46

as thou and remember that thou waft a fer"vant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a ftretched-out arm;

56

66

therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee "to keep the fabbath day." It is farther obfervable, that God's reft from the creation is proposed as the reason of the institution, even where the inftitution itself is fpoken of as peculiar to the Jews:-"Wherefore the children of Ifrael "shall keep the fabbath, to obferve the fabbath "through

G 2

"throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant it is a fign between me and the "children of Ifrael for ever; for in fix days the "Lord made heaven, and earth, and on the "feventh day he refted and was refreshed." The truth is, thefe different reafons were affigned to account for different circumftançes in the command. If a Jew enquired why the feventh day was fanctified rather than the fixth or eighth, his law told him, because God refted on the feventh day from the creation. If he afked, why was the fame reft indulged to flaves,, his law bid him remember, that he alfo was a flave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord his God brought "him out thence." In this view, the two reafons are perfectly compatible with each other, and with a third end of the inftitution, its being a fign between God and the people of Ifrael; but in this view they determine nothing concerning the extent of the obligation... If the reafon by its proper energy had conflituted a natural obligation, or if it had been mentioned with a view to the extent of the obligation, we should fubmit to the conclufion, that all were comprehended by the command who are concerned in the reafon. But the fabbatic reft being a duty which refults from the ordination and authority of a pofitive

pofitive law, the reafon can be alleged no far ther than as it explains the defign of the legifla tor; and if it appear to be recited with an intentional application to one part of the law, it explains his defign upon no other; if it be men tioned merely to account for the choice of the day, it does not explain his defign as to the extent of the obligation.

With respect to the fecond objection, that inafmuch as the other nine commandments are confeffedly of moral and univerfal obligation, it may reasonably be prefumed that this is of the fame-we anfwer, that this argument will have leís weight, when it is confidered that the dif tinction between positive and natural duties, like other diftinctions of modern ethics, was unknown to the fimplicity of ancient language; and that there are various paffages in fcripture, in which duties of a political, or ceremonial, or pofitive nature, and confeffedly of partial obligation, are enumerated, and without any mark of difcrimination, along with others which are natural and universal. Of this the following is an inconteftable example: " But if a man be just, and do that "which is lawful and right; and hath not eaten the mountains, nor hath lifted up his eyes "to the idols of the house of Ifrael; neither hath

upon

"defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come "near to a menftruous woman; and hath not op"preffed any, but hath restored to the debtor "his pledge; hath spoiled none by violence; "hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath "covered the naked with a garment; he that "hath not given upon ufury, neither hath taken any increafe; that hath withdrawn his hand from " iniquity; hath executed true judgment between "man and man; hath walked in my ftatutes, " and hath kept my judgments to deal truly; he "is juft, he fhall furely live, faith the Lord God." Ezek. xviii. 5-9. The fame thing may be observed of the apoftolic decree recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts" It seemed good to "the Holy Ghoft, and to us, to lay upon you no

་

greater burthen than these necessary things; "that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and "from blood, and from things ftrangled, and

66

from fornication: from which if ye keep yourfelves, ye fhall do well."

II. If the law by which the fabbath was instituted, was a law only to the Jews, it becomes an important queftion with the Christian enquirer, whether the founder of his religion delivered any new command upon the fubject; or, if that fhould not appear to be the cafe, whether any

day