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A. So Moses. tells us, Gen. ii. 2, 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because, that on it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made.

And it is not to be doubted, but that accordingly, such a Sabbath did continue to be observed, so long as any sense of true religion remained upon the earth.

5. Q. How then did it become needful for God to renew it again in this place?

A. As it was needful for him to renew many other precepts which yet were certainly both given by him, and observed in the world long before. No body questions but that Adam, and his first descendants, both knew and worshipped the true God: yet this was provided for again now. So, immediately after the flood, the law against murder was solemnly promulged. Gen. ix. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man. Yet nevertheless the same command was here again repeated.

As for the case before us; as men lived farther off from the creation, and wickedness prevailed over the face of the earth, and the true worship of God was corrupted by almost an universal idolatry, so was the solemn day of his worship neglected likewise. And though it may have in some measure been revived after the flood, and continued in some part of Abraham's family; yet in their Egyptian slavery it was utterly abolished; so that the very memory of it seems to have been lost among them.

6. Q. When did God renew this command to them?

A. Presently after their passing through the Red

sea, Exod. xvi. 5; when he began to give the manna to them. For then he commanded them to gather it every morning for six days; but on the sixth day to provide a double quantity for the next day, because that thereon they should keep the Sabbath to the Lord, and no manna should fall, or be gathered upon it. Verse 22 to 25. 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, two omers 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: 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, neither was there any worm therein.

7. Q. On what day of the week did that Sabbathday happen?

A. On that which they, from thenceforth, observed for their Sabbath-day, and which answers to our Saturday.

8. Q. Was that the same day on which God rested from the creation, and which he had before commanded Adam to keep in memory of it?

A. That we cannot tell: by the providence of God so it may have been; but that it was so, God has not declared to us, nor is it possible for us (without a particular revelation,) to come to the knowledge of it. That which is more certain is, that God designed this particular day to be kept by the Jews in memory of his final deliverance of them out of their

Egyptian slavery, by destroying, on that day, Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea; and of his miraculous feeding them with manna in the wilderness. For which reason it was that he required that strict rest of them upon it, of which we read; Exod. xxxi. 12, 14, &c. (And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among the people. Nehem. xiii. 15, 17. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath-day? Isaiah, lviii. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father.)

That thereby they might both keep up the memory of the hard work they had been held to during their abode in Egypt, where they were not suffered to rest on the Sabbath-day; and be the more engaged to serve that God, who had so wonderfully delivered them from that wretched estate.

9. Q. How then, upon the whole, are we to consider the Jewish Sabbath here established by God?

A. It is evident, from the several reasons given for it, in the command itself, that it must be considered in two different respects: first, as a day to be kept holy by them in memory of the creation, Exod. xx. 11; and to declare themselves thereby to be the worshippers of that God who created the heaven and earth and to this end they were required to observe a seventh day of rest, after six of labour; because God wrought six days, and rested the seventh.

And, secondly, as a day to be observed in memory of their Egyptian bondage, and of God's delivering them out of it. Deut. v. 15. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt.

And thus the Jews were tied to observe not only the proportion, but the very day of the week too; as being that day on which they had passed the Red sea, and so were set entirely free from their slavery. For which reason also they were obliged not only to worship God upon it, but, moreover, to abstain from all bodily labour, and that under the pain of death. Exod. xxxi. 12, &c. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death. Numb. xv. 32, 35. And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day. And the Lord said unto Moses, the man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

10. Q. How far do you suppose this commandment obliges us now?

A. As much as ever it did the Jews, though not

exactly after the same manner. We worship, as they did, that God who in six days created the heaven and earth; the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: and in acknowledgement thereof we stand obliged, with them, to keep a seventh day of rest after six of labour.

But then as they worshipped this God under the peculiar character of the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; so were they determined to take that particular day, the seventh of the week, for their Sabbath, upon which he completed their deliverance, and strictly to abstain from all bodily labour upon it. Now, in this respect we differ from them. We worship God, the Creator of the world, under a much higher and more divine character; as he is our Father and Deliverer, by Jesus Christ our Lord, who, upon the first day of the week rose from the dead, and thereby put an end to the Jewish dispensation. And in testimony hereof we keep the first day of the week for our Sabbath; and so profess to be the servants of the true God, through the covenant which he has been pleased to make with mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord.

11. Q. Upon what authority was this change of their Sabbath-day made?

A. Upon the greatest that can be desired; the reason of it has been already mentioned; viz. Christ's rising on this day from the dead. The thing itself was done by the apostles; who, no doubt, had in this, as in all the rest that they did in pursuance of their office, the direction of the Holy Ghost. And as for the Jewish Sabbath, which is the seventh day, besides that the ground of it does not concern us, St. Paul speaks of it as ceasing, together with the

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