tftfSsH

1 n Bisi

'4

I
I
H*

jjJESunriSKi

M\ X- lioikst
THE LORD'S DAY.
THE LORD'S DAY.

E. W. HENGSTENBEiiG,
DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AT BERLIN.

TRANSLATED BY

JAMES MARTIN, B.A.,

i)F LYMINGTON.

LONDON
WILLIAM FREEMAN, 60, FLEET-STREET.

1853.
 LONDON I

COC'RSHAW AND ROGKKSON, PRINTERS, HORSF.-SHOK COUKT, LUDGATE HILL.

 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

No Preface can be required for the purpose of introducing Heng-

stenberg to English readers. He is already sufficiently known and

appreciated, for his name alone to be all that is necessary, to secure

for any work of his their thoughtful perusal. But there are, perhaps,

few subjects on which a work from the continent would be looked

upon with greater suspicion than that of the present volume. Our
general horror of a " continental Sunday," and the prevalent idea

that laxity both of views and practice are universally characteristic of

foreigners, are enough to excite the instantaneous inquiry, Can any

good thing come out of Germany ?

These feelings do not exist without just cause. Our aversion to a

continental Sunday is certainly a right one. And, though the effect

upon foreigners is, perhaps, not so injurious as it would be upon us,

every true friend of his country, who has ever spent a Sunday abroad,
must have felt, as he marked the contrast between their Sundays and
ours, the earnest wish that we may for ever be preserved from the

temptation to spend our Sundays in the same way.

But the opinion is incorrect, that there are none in those countries

who deplore the evil. German tourists, who have visited England,

have often carried back a favourable impression of the English Sunday;

and, though unable to come to any other conclusion than that, out-

wardly, it is maintained with a rigour, and enforced by means, which

are characteristic of the Old Testament rather than the New, they
have yet returned, prepared to aid in any movement for promoting a
IV TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.

voluntary, spiritual, and, therefore, truly Christian observance of the

Sunday. With these feelings Hengstenberg strongly sympathises.

His professed and evident object is to encourage them ; and though,
in some respects, he objects to movements recently made, and endea-
vours to point out and correct certain evils connected with them,
his candour is but the proof of his sympathy; the only difference
being, that, whereas the over-zealous are for promoting a good object

in any way, seeking in the end the justification of the means, he is

desirous of promoting the same object in the best way. He is, there-

fore, not sparing in his condemnation of the use of arguments which

cannot be substantiated, as tending to do permanent injury to the
cause ; and is earnest in his warnings against any course which ignores

the peculiar spirit and precepts of the gospel, and which tends to fetter

the liberty, and cramp the energies, of the Church of the New Testa-

ment, by the attempt to force upon it the outward forms and letter of

the Old.

His free criticism of the English rigour and scrupulosity, and, espe-
cially, his reply to the arguments of Dwight, whom he takes as the
exponent of English as well as of American views, may, perhaps, pre-
vent a hearty welcome in some quarters. The possibility of settled

opinions being thereby disturbed, and the fears lest some should abuse

the Author's arguments to purposes the most remote from those which

he intended, may lead some to question the advisability of introducing

from Germany a work, which may unsettle here what it is intended to

establish there. To this it is sufficient to reply, by pointing to the

fact, that the disturbance of settled opinions has already taken place.

Recent events have brought to light, more clearly than ever, the extent

to which multitudes of our countrymen have not only broken away

from the authority, but have lost sight of the true worth and import-
ance of the " Lord's day." To stay the evil in time, and to bring

back those who are alienated, is a work, in which all earnest Chris-

tian men, with truly loving hearts, will be glad to engage.

But it is very certain, that this will never be accomplished by

making enemies of those whom we wish to gain, by appealing to the
 TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. V

law, to make our consciences the rule for others, or to thwart their

wishes, and prohibit their pleasures. And it is very doubtful whether

it will ever be of any use to trust to the arguments, which, till now,
have been found sufficient to defend what most men loved, and none

opposed. If this be the case, nothing can be more important than that
he who regards it as one of his greatest pleasures and advantages,
that he can spend the Sunday in purely spiritual engagements, and
in the worship of God, should, by a thorough investigation of the
whole question, and, by looking at it from all sides, ascertain on what
grounds he can most safely and forcibly impress on others (we do not
say the obligation), but the immense advantage of spending it in the

same way. In this task, he cannot fail to derive assistance from such

a work as the present.

There are some, no doubt, who think that if we have the right thing,

it matters little by what path we have reached it, or on what grounds

we maintain it. It would not be difficult to show that such an opinion

is utterly subversive of the teachings of the gospel, inasmuch as it has

been the chief characteristic of Pharisaism, both in and out of the
Church. The worth of the outward, for its own sake, even when not
the free utterance of the heart, but a form imposed, has been the
favourite doctrine of the Pharisee, the " whited sepulchre" in every age.

And there is always danger lest, after having secured the immense
boon, the one day free, we should not be content till we have canonized
the day, and thus made the words of Paul applicable to ourselves, " I

am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Ye

observe days." It is hard to say which extreme is most dangerous,
laxity or legality ; and, therefore, it is always important to examine our
position well ; lest, whilst rejoicing over our escape from the one, we
should unwittingly have fallen into the other. The whirlpool of

Charybdis is but too likely to draw in those who have only thought of

escaping the jaws of Scylla. We cannot watch too carefully that

" liberty be not used for an occasion to the flesh ;" nor can we be too

cautious that, in preventing the latter, we do not restrict the liberty

also.
VI TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.

It would not, perhaps, be difficult to point out in this work weak

points, as well as strong inferences which appear far fetched, and
applications which seem strained. But these do not affect the main
argument. A preface, however, is not the place for criticism. All

that a Translator has to do is to let the Author speak for himself, and
present the book to the English reader with all its merits and defects.

This is done, in the present case, with the hope, not only that it may
not lead any to value the " Lord's day" less, as a day of rest and

Christian worship, but that it may help to the discovery of the best
means of bringing back those who are estranged, to a right appreciation

of the worth of that worship, and those spiritual employments for

which a day of leisure affords so favourable an opportunity.

 PEEFACE.

Things old and new are offered here. The Second and Third Parts
have both appeared before. But it is twenty years since the former
was first published ; and it has undergone many alterations before its

incorporation in the present work. The Author would have cause to

be ashamed, if, during this time, he had neither learnt nor forgotten
anything. But the alterations only relate to details. The fundamental
principle remains the same ; and further investigation has fully esta-

blished the Author's belief in its correctness.

It is hoped, that the incorporation into one work of the productions

of different times will be rather advantageous than otherwise. In the
study of a subject, which ought to be looked at from different points of
view, it is difficult to avoid one-sidedness, if we only write under the

impressions and influences of one particular time. The Author has,

doubtless, not altogether avoided this danger. It was under the

influence of dissatisfaction, arising from the course adopted by the
English in Germany, that the Third Part was written ; and that
influence is probably too apparent, though he cannot erase anything
which he has said there. The First Part was written with reference
to the opposition which his published opinions had called forth. The
reader will, however, discover throughout the attempt to do equal

justice to all sides, and to bring clearly out, in one Part, whatever
points the others may have left in the shade. If any wish for more
than this, it is not in the Writer's power to satisfy them. The tendency
of the times, in most things, is to one-sidedness, extreme views, and
Vlll PREFACE.

the splitting of hairs. Even amongst religious men the same tendency
frequently appears. In this, as in other questions, the Author cannot

accompany them. He is no lover of a dull, heartless "Juste milieu;"

but he is anxious to have a good conscience with regard to all the

expressions of the Holy Scriptures, and neither to do violence to any,

nor, in his heart, wish any away ; but to occupy the same position,
with regard to all of them, in which the natural philosopher stands,

who looks at his objects again and again, places them under the

microscope, and then describes truly what he has seen.

Many persons will think they can discover contradictions in this

work. The Author does not believe that it contains any. Whoever is

anxious to do justice to every side of a question, which is not of the

simplest kind, will always come to the verge of contradiction, and

therefore be exposed to the appearance of it.

" For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy word is a
lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Thy testimonies are my
delight and my counsellors. Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy
statutes ; and I shall keep it unto the end."
 CONTENTS.

PART I.

THE OLD TESTAMENT : ITS LETTER AND SPIRIT.

PAGE
I. The rest of God on the seventh clay 1

II The fall of manna suspended on the seventh day . . . - . 5

........
.

III. The fourth commandment i)

IV. The Sabbath a sign between God and the people .... 20

V. The Sabbath not to be suspended in harvest 22

VI. No tire to be kindled on the Sabbath 23

VII. The shew-bread renewed on the Sabbath . . . . . .24

VIII. The Sabbatic year 30

IX. A man stoned for gathering wood . . . . . . .31

X. The Sabbath a day of pleasure ....... 32

XI. Blessing pronounced upon a proper observance of the Sabbath . 35

XII. Characteristics of a right observance of the Sabbath . . .36

XIII. A psalm for the Sabbath day ib.

XIV. Neglect of the Sabbath by the Jews 37

XV. The disciples charged with a breach of the Sabbath . . .38

XVI. Pharisaic scruples met by Christ 41

XVII. Healing, the proper work of the Sabbath 42

X CONTENTS.

FAGE

XVIII. Paul's choice of the Sabbath for his missionary work ... 43

XIX. Paul's warning against a distinction of days . . . . .44

XX. The Lord's day 46

PART II.

THE SABBATH OF THE JEWS, AND THE SUNDAY OF

CHRISTIANS.
I. History of opinions on the connexion between the Sabbath and Sunday. 52

II. Investigation of the connexion between the Sabbath and Sunday . 76

PART III.

REMEDIAL EFFORTS EXAMINED.

(Page 100).
 PAET I.

lire m Sotant 9aUntt(: its fetter Kirtr Sprat.

Ouk subject has been treated of late in a variety of ways; but the
conviction is still very general that it is not yet exhausted, and that
much of importance remains to be done. We intend in the present
article to examine chronologically the most important passages, pf the
holy Scriptures relating to the Lord's day, that we may ascertain to
what result we are brought in this way. This, method appears to be
the simplest and most natural, and if it cannot claim to be the only
one, it is yet indispensable to every other. The little room which it

leaves to doctrinal prejudice, which it rather serves to correct, is in

itself a reason that it should not be neglected. In every other method
we move too much according to inclination, and become one-sided, and
are too prone to select, even from the Bible, that which suits the direction

already taken by our own thoughts. The more closely we adhere to

the words of Scripture, the deeper will be the impression made upon
the heart by the truth we gain. The writer stands with his readers
before the Lord, and listens to his holy word.

I. The Rest of God on the Seventh Day.

" Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended
work which he had made; and he
his
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from
;

all his work which God created and made." (Gen. ii. 1 3.)
The first section of the Bible, in which the different events pass
before us with great rapidity, suddenly ends here. The description
B
 :

follows the action. Arrived at the rest of God, it also assumes a quiet
character of repose.
Particular notice must be taken here of the great importance, which
the Sabbath acquires from the fact, that God had it in view at the crea-
tion of the world, and that reference is made to it at the very com-
mencement of the Scriptures. This importance attaches chiefly to
the Sabbath of the Old Testament. But there is contained in this, at

the same time, the germ of the day of rest under the New. And,
moreover, in the Sabbath of the Old Testament the chief thing is not
that it is exactly the seventh day, but that it is the weekly returning
day of rest of the people of God, and, therefore, this early reference

is of great importance even for us.

In the opinion of many, no distinction is to be made between the
blessing, and sanctifying of "the seventh day. Thus Bonaventura
" He blessed it, not only in that he praised it or approved it, or gave to
it a peculiarly productive power, but, as immediately follows, by sanc-
tifying it, i. e., separating it from worldly or profane works, and setting
it apart for works of holiness." But blessing is, on the contrary,
quite distinct from sanctifying. As Isa. lviii. 13, " If thou turn away
thy foot from the Sabbath," &c, explains what is meant by, " God
sanctified the seventh day," and, " Remember the seventh day, that thou
sanctifiest* it;" so the following verse explains the expression, " God
blessed the seventh day." " 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." To delight ourselves
in the Lord is to know him to be gracious. A similar exposition we
find in Jer. xvii. 24, &c. " And if ye diligently hearken to me,
to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath
day, but sanctify the Sabbath day, to do no work therein ; then shall
there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon
the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, and this city
shall remain for ever. But if ye will not hearken unto me, then will
I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." He who sanctifies the
seventh day after the pattern which God has given him, is blessed by
him, according to the words, " Godliness is profitable unto all things,

* The -words are the same in the original. This is only one of numerous pas-
sages in -which our translators have, without reason, rendered the same word in
different ways, and thus prevented the Bible from being its own interpreter. Te.
 ;"
having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come
and, " Seek first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be
added unto you." The blessing which, according to the letter, is

promised to the day, belongs in reality to the observance of it, and to

those who sanctify it. It is the reward of their faithfulness. The
blessing precedes the sanctifying, to preclude from the first all idea
that the interests of men have been overlooked. God, who is rich in
love, only asks of us that he may give more abundantly to us. His
fountain of blessing is opened by every offering that we bring to him.

It is not indeed any one of the seven days which is blessed and
sanctified, but specially the seventh day, the Sabbath. We stand thus
already not on ground which is common to humanity, but on that
which belongs specifically to the Israelites. And therefore, here, not
less than in the ten commandments, it is thework of theological inter-
pretation to trace any applicability to the Church of the New Testa-
ment. This is not difficult ; the stress is not to be laid upon the

separation of this particular day, so much as of one clay in general.

Here, and in all the Old Testament, the essence of the institution is

evidently the gift to the Church of God of a day for rest and meeting
amidst the work and distraction of this earthly life, as a corrective for
inevitableills. " It is, indeed," says Calvin, " a meditation befitting
the whole life, the duty of every day, to contemplate the infinite

goodness of God, his justice and wisdom, displayed in this splendid

theatre of the heavens and the earth. But because men would most
probably engage in this with less zeal than they should, the seventh
day was especially chosen to make up for the want of constant medi-
tation." The seventh day, the Sabbath, is only positively, not exclu-
sively, appointed in the Old Testament. Even the Old Testament
recognises no holiness as existing in any day in itself. For instance,
circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day, but that it was
not unalterably confined to that day is evident from the account in
Joshua v., where the whole mass of the people, who had omitted it

during the journey, are said to have been circumcised on the same
day. The passover was to be eaten on the evening of the fourteenth
day of the first month. But if any were unclean at the time, it was
eaten by them a month later, with the same blessing (Num. ix. l,&c).
If, then, the chief festival of the Old Testament was not inseparably
attached to the day, this certainly applies to the weekly festival also.
The change might not, it is true, be made at pleasure, even in the case
of the passover. Such an alteration was only justifiable under such
b 2
circumstances, as evidently contained in themselves a Divine com-
mand.
The mentioned as the reason for that of man. " God
rest of God is

blessed the seventh day and sanctified

it, for on it he rested " " in six ;

days God made the heaven and the earth, therefore the Lord . .

blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." But in the rest of man we
see the reason for that of God. That the object of his rest was to instruct
by symbol, is apparent from the words, " On the seventh day he rested,
and refreshed himself" (Exod. xxxi. 17). If this be admitted, the
rest of the Sabbath is freed from its evidently forced isolation, and
placed on equal footing with that of all the festivals, from which
Lev. xxiii. prohibits its separation. And if the rest of the other
festivals was only designed to furnish the opportunity and means of
improvement, the same must be true of the Sabbath This idea, also.

too, coincides exactly with the whole character of the creation. " All
is yours " is true also of it. " God," says Calvin, " devoted six days
to the creation of the world ; not that he needed the succession of time,
for to him a moment is as a thousand years, but to detain us in the con-
templation of his works." It was for our good that the creation of the
world was spread over six days, in order that his creative power might
more deeply impress us that our gaze might be directed longer to this
;

grand display, and our hearts be filled with warmer love to the Creator;
and that, as we studied this universe, and learned what place we filled
within it, we might, in the words of the 8th Psalm, exclaim, " What is

man, that thou art mindful of him? " " How excellent is thy name in
all the earth." The symbolical and prefigurative character of the rest
of God was perceived by Calvin. " Because," he says, " men are so
slow to praise the justice, and wisdom, and power of God, and to con-
sider his benefits, that, although constantly reminded of them, they
remain unaffected, a powerful impulse is given in this example of God,
and the command shown to be one of love. Nothing can allure
is

more kindly, or draw more powerfully, than an invitation to be imitators

of him."
The rest, to which, with adorable condescension, God invites us by
his own example, ]^'estipposes work, hard, oppressive work, which tends
to draw away from God. Rest is the remedy for the ills which are
inseparable from this toil. If anything is clear, the connexion be-
tween the Sabbath and the Fall undoubtedly is. The work, which
needs intermission lest it should endanger the divine life, is not the
cheerful and pleasant occupation of which we read in Gen. ii. 15, but
the oppressive and degrading toil spoken of in the following chapter,
work in the sweat of the brow, upon the earth which brings forth
thorns and thistles. Liebetrut's assertion, that " the account of the
keeping of the Sabbath by God, at the termination of the week of
creation, proves indisputably that the occasion is not to be found in
the Fall and its consequences, but the idea of the festival is en-
tirely independent of human sin and weakness," could only be
correct, if here before the Fall we found the command, "Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy," attached to the announcement, " God
sanctified the seventh day." But since this is delayed till Exod. xx.,
and all that is said of the rest of God is contained in a book written

for men who lived long after the Fall, what hinders our concluding
that God rested, blessed, and sanctified, with reference to the mournful
fall already foreseen by him, that the eternal pity for the fallen cared
for them, even before they fell ? And if it be so, there is no ground for
believing, with the same writer, that the "just made perfect" will
celebrate the Sabbath " in a manner suited to the new Paradise." If
we deny in this way all connexion between the festivals, especially the
Sabbath, and human weakness, we must necessarily believe that they
are kept by angels also. But what employment, peculiar to such a
day, remains for those who " rest not day nor night, saying, Holy,
holy, holy?" Sabbaths for the just made perfect are opposed to
Rev. vii. 9 17, and especially ver. 15, they " serve him day and night
in his temple." The Christian's hope of eternal lifewould be dimi-
nished by the thought. Eternal life must set us free from the day of
rest also, delightful as it is on earth, for then we " rest from our
labours."

II. The Fall of Manna suspended on the Seventh Day.

Exod. In ver. 5, the Lord says to Moses, after telling him he
xvi.

manna, " And it shall come to pass that on the sixth day,
will send the
when they prepare what they bring in, it shall be twice as much as
they gather daily."
From ver. 22, it reads thus And it came to pass, that on the
:
"
sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each.
And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he
said unto them, This Lord hath said, To-morrow is
is that which the
the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake what ye will bake,
and boil what ye will boil and that which remaineth over, lay up for
;

you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morn-
ing, asMoses bade and it did not stink, neither was there any worm
;

therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day for to-day is a Sabbath ;

untn 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 none.
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my com-
mandments 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 manin his place, let no man go out of his place
on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day."
As we found in Gen. ii. the heavenly, so here we have the earthly
prelude to the institution of the Sabbath. But as it was not yet fully
established, the rulers and people could not perfectly understand what
Moses did. The exposition appeared later. Now it might have been
said, " What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know here-
after."
It shows the great importance of the Sabbath, that God here
first sanctifies it by an act, before the command is given on Sinai to

the people to sanctify it. This sanctification in act is shown in three

things. First, that God, because of the rest of the Sabbath, gave a
double portion on the day before. Secondly, that he kept in perfect
freshness, to the astonishment of the rulers and the people, a part of
that portion. And thirdly, that on the seventh day he rained no
manna, and in this way separated the seventh day from the other six.
This actual sanctification of the Sabbath is a sufficient reply to the
chief argument, which natural reason can bring against the keeping
of it. We may find in the fact, that on the sixth day the double
portion fell, on the seventh none, the lesson for all ages, that the
blessing of God, on which all depends, can indemnify those who offer
part of their time to him, and that they may labour in vain, who will
use for their own advantage the day which he selected for himself.
We are not to suppose, that by this act the Sabbath was fully intro-
duced amongst the Israelites. The keeping of the Sabbath is certainly
mentioned, but, as the connexion shows, only so far as the collection
and preparation of the manna were concerned. The instructions as to
the complete sanctification of the Sabbath were first given at Sinai. It
was not intended to enjoin this here, but, as Calvin has well and briefly
said, " by the act itself the seventh day was hallowed before the pro-
-
'
mulgation of the law.
 ;

The Sabbath could only exert its beneficent power in combination

with a complete system of divine arrangements ; as now all efforts

to promote the observance of the Lord's day, amongst those who sub-
mit to no other restraints, will be thrown away. It has no meaning
except as a link in a perfect chain. By itself it has as little life as a

single amputated limb of the human body.

The context offers a triple proof that the Sabbath tuas till then en-
tirely unknown to the Israelites. 1. When a double portion fell on the
sixth day (for which God had prepared Moses, though the latter had
certainly not mentioned it to the people), the rulers came and told it to
Moses. " They are astonished at the providence of God, that they had
found a double quantity of manna, and ask what they are to do with
it." The reply which Moses makes them, shows us the reason of
their bringing him the information. This, to them inexplicable, oc-
currence is first explained in his reply. Then follow directions how to
dispose of the surplus. Now, neither of these, the astonishment nor
the perplexity, could have arisen if the Sabbath had been already
known and observed. 2. We are led to the same conclusion, when
we find that, notwithstanding the instructions of Moses, some of the
people went out on the Sabbath to gather, showing how new a thing it
was to the people, and how difficult it was at first to conform. And,
3, we infer it also from the total absence in the words of Moses of a

reference to an already existing Sabbath ordinance. Liebetrut, indeed,

thinks that the words of Moses, " This is that which the Lord hath
said," &c, show that the Sabbath was already known, since no such
declaration is made in vers. 4, 5. But Moses is not referring here to an
Lord, but to something actually said by the
earlier revelation of the
Lord when pouring out the double portion of manna on the sixth day
this is that which the Lord says (by this occurrence), " To-morrow

is the rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord."

Let us add, to the arguments deduced from our narrative against a
pre-Mosaic Sabbath, that the second chapter of Genesis does not con-
tain the slightest trace of the promulgation of a Sabbath command,
but, on the contrary, in striking contrast to Exodus xx., simply men-
tions the Divine intention that the seventh day shall be sanctified, and
further, that there is not in the history the least reference to a Sabbath
before the time ofMoses and no doubt will remain that the Sabbath
;

was first instituted in connexion with the whole of the Mosaic

economy.
The name Sabbath first appears in this narration. It is not men-
 8

tioned in Gen. ii. There, only the seventh day is spoken of. We
may, indeed, discover a slight hint at the name, but this is left to grow
itself, which is at first independent of it.
out of the institution The
meaning of the name cannot be doubtful. The form denotes perfect
rest, in contrast with the six days of work, rOW, resting, rQtt> } the
perfectly tranquil (sc. day).
There are other days of rest in Old Testament besides the
the
weekly one. As a rule, its festivals But the name Sab-
are holidays.
bath is set apart and sacred to the seventh day of the week. There
are only two exceptions to this. In Lev. xxiii. 11 15, the first day
of the passover, which was distinguished from the others as a day of
rest, is called a Sabbath. There can be no doubt that the first day of
the passover is here referred to, not only from the context, but from the
testimony of the Septuagint, Philo, Josephus, and the Rabbinical
writers, without exception. The great day of atonement is also called
a Sabbath in Lev. xxiii. 32. This bears a greater resemblance to the
weekly Sabbath than the other days of rest, because on it no food was
prepared, which was permitted on the other festivals. But the excep-
tion is only partial in this case. For in the same verse with the words,
" Ye shall (on the day of atonement) keep your Sabbath," we find these
also, " a Sabbath of rest it shall be to you;" so that it is expressly
pointed out that, on account of the rest, the name of the Sabbath is
transferred to this day. " Ye shall keep your Sabbath," is therefore
the same as, " Ye shall rest on it as on the Sabbath." In the same
way we may regard the name as only transferred to the first day of the
passover, distinguishing it from the other festivals on which work was
allowed. This transference of the name, however, to the first day of
the passover and the day of atonement, is of importance, inasmuch as
it shows that we are not to regard the rest of the Sabbath as different
from that of other festivals, as they do who look upon the rest of God
on the seventh day as the precise reason for the rest of. man on the
Sabbath.
" The Lord gives you the Sabbath," were the words used by Moses.
Thus early the Sabbath appears not as a burden, but a pleasure (Isa.
lviii. 13), a costly privilege which the Lord gives to his people. To be
able to rest, without being full of care, to rest to the Lord and in the
Lord, how great a comfort amidst our toil and work on the earth which
God has cursed ! But just because the day of rest is a gift of the
merciful God, so much more grievous will be the consequence of
despising it.
 III. The Fourth Commandment.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour
and do thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God
all : :

in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man
servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
:

inthem is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and hallowed it." (Exod. xx. 8 11.)

We shall first compare this form of the commandment with that

which we find in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. In general the dif-
ference between the ten commandments as given in Exodus and in
Deuteronomy is this, that in the former we have the original con-
densed form ; in the latter a repetition, with exhortations. The latter
are always expansions, never abridgments ; less the demonstrative
speech of law, than the free utterance of the heart. The ten com-
mandments in Exodus are self-supported ; those in Deuteronomy refer
expressly to an earlier form. Instead of, " Remember the Sabbath day,
to sanctify it," we "Keep* the Sabbath day, to sanctify it, as the
read,
Lord thy God hath commanded thee."
The words, " remember the Sabbath day," contain a slight allusion
to the fact that the Sabbath was not altogether unknown to the
Israelites. Not that so much stress can be laid upon the word remem-
ber in itself (for one might commence a new command with the exhor-
tation to remember it, after it is once received), as upon the abrupt
manner in which the Sabbath day is mentioned in the Decalogue,
whereas, in the account of the creation, the name Sabbath does not
previously occur. But Moses had undoubtedly instructed the people
in this history of the creation at any rate the occurrence related in
;

Exod. xvi. had already happened, and to this he probably appended that
instruction. It will, however, be clearly seen, that the allusion to a
previous acquaintance with the Sabbath is very slight, and that it does
not involve sufficient knowledge of the* proper mode of sane^fying it,

to indicate command and observance (as

an earlier the advocates of a
pre-Mosaic Sabbath imagine), if we notice the full instructions given
after the"remember" as to the manner remembrance shall
in which this

be carried out. The " keep," on the other hand, shows expressly,
. that all that is required is, to hold fast what is already possessed. We

* That the word keep here means preserve, is evident from Isa. lvi. 2, " he
that keepeth the Sabbath, so as not to pollute it, and keepeth his hand from
doing any evil."
 10

find,too, in Deuteronomy, by the side of this, the words, " As the

Lord thy God has commanded thee," which decidedly refer to Exod.
xx. 8.

Instead of, " for in six days," &c, we find in Deut. v. 14, 15, " that
thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And
remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that :

the Lord thy God brought thee out thence with a strong hand and a
stretched out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to
keep the Sabbath day."
We have here an appeal to the hearts of masters in favour of their
servants, in the words, " that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant
may rest as well as thou." They are a digression from the immediate
question, and could not have occurred in the first strictly systematic

form. That which is contained there of the rest of servants, and

strangers, and cattle, does not rest on the ground of humanity, but is
intended to secure " that wherever the eyes of the Israelites turned,
they should be attracted to the keeping of the Sabbath, that nothing
which disturbed the Sabbath should come in their way." But here, on
the contrary, the heart of the Lawgiver, which is ever full of tender
love to the miserable, pours itself more freely out. Calvin regards it

from the right point of view when he says, " Because this belongs to
the rule of love, it could find no place for itself in the first table, and
is thus added by Moses only as an accidental advantage."
And the following words, " remember that thou wast a servant," &c,
are intended especially to induce them to allow cheerfully to men- and
maid-servants the Sabbath
rest. The parallel passages are proofs of
this. Thus Deut. xv. 15 "And thou shalt remember that thou wast
:

a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed
thee therefore I command thee this thing to-day." In ch. xvi. 12, after
;

an injunction to be benevolent to all who are in distress, there follows,

" and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt."

(Compare xxiv. 12 18; Exod. xxii. 20 Lev. xix. 34.) But we must
;

not stop here. It is not, " remember the Sabbath to have it kept,"
but " to keep The words evidently correspond with the preamble
it."

to the ten commandments, " I am the Lord thy God, who brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." From
the position in which these words stand, we infer that they apply to
the whole commandment, and not merely to a subordinate part. We
must, therefore, supply in thought, " and let others keep the Sabbath,"
which indeed is included in the command to keep it. The conscious-
 11

ness of deliverance leads to both : first, he who is delivered will prove

his gratitude to the deliverer by serving him, a duty implied in the
preamble to the commandments, which speaks of the redemption as
the universal ground of obligation, saying, as it were, " This did I for
thee, what dost thou for me ? " and then he will cherish affection for
all who are in distress. For ye know from experience Avhat they
endure ;
" ye know the heart of a stranger," and so, too, ye know
from experience that the miserable are God's clients and the heart, ;

which is thankful for its own deliverance, will be cheerfully occupied

in reducing to practice the knowledge it has obtained.
Many have concluded from, this passage, that the Old Testament
Sabbath was a festival commemorative of the deliverance from Egypt.
This opinion is as far from correct as the other, that it is established in
Gen. ii. with specific reference to the creation. The deliverance from
Egypt appears here, not as the reason of the festival, but as the ground
of obligation to observe it, as also to keep the other commandments.
This deliverance would not have been thus introduced, had it not been
that at that time it held the first place amongst the works of God for
his people. was necessarily one of the chief
This being the case, it

subjects of meditation on the Sabbath, whose work it was to contem-

plate the works of God, and praise him for his manifestations. But
this did not constitute the essence of the institution, which would have

been the case if the Sabbath had been designated here as strictly a
memorial of the deliverance from Egypt. This belongs to its local,
temporary character alone. It can and must, therefore, change with
the circumstances.
It is very evident that the Sabbath commandment in this shape
could not be applied to the New Testament. But we must bear in
mind that the redemptionby Christ occupies in the New Testament
the position held by the redemption from Egypt in the Old. Not as
though the latter possessed no interest for the Church now but it has ;

lost its central importance, and appears only as a prelude to the redemp-
tion by Christ.
We shall now confine ourselves entirely to the commandment in its
original form. and second commandments relate to the
The first

heart, the third to the tongue, the fourth to the hand and foot. (Comp.
Isa. lviii. 13, "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from

doing thy pleasure.") The first and second command us to fear God,
the third to swear by his name, and the fourth to serve him. Service
embraces all the acts of life. In Josh. xxiv. 14, " Now, therefore,
 12

fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth," the service is

co-extensive with the fear, the practical proof of its existence. In

Job xxi. 14, 15, it is said of the wicked, " They say unto God, Depart
from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the
Almighty, that we should serve him ? and what profit should we have
if we pray unto him ? " In this passage, whilst the latter verse shows
that service involves worship in its stricter sense, the former proves
that it denotes the whole conduct so far as it is pleasing to God.
Service in this sense, which makes the whole life a worship, is used in
Job xxxvi. 11, and Luke i. 75, " that we might serve him in holiness
and righteousness before him all our days." But though this " pure
and undefiled service," of which James speaks, must be included in
the works of the Sabbath, yet it is evident that worship, in its stricter

sense, distinguished the service of the Sabbath, since the other duties
relating to superiors and neighbours are specially and fully prescribed

afterwards.
From the whole character of the ten commandments there can be
no doubt that Sabbath formed only a part of the worship of God;
the

that it is to be regarded only as a specimen and that, in reality, the ;

worship here required is one which runs through the whole life. This
commandment was perfectly obeyed by Anna, " who departed not from
the temple, but served with fastings and prayers day and night." And
not less so by " the women who assembled at the door of the congre-
gation" (Exod. xxxviii. 8), who withdrew from the world that they
might give themselves up entirely to spiritual exercises. Only the
pharisaic lovers of a mechanical religion could ever think that the
letter of the command expresses all that it requires. On the other
hand, however, we may learn, from the fact that only the Sabbath is

named in the ten commandments, whilst no mention is made of the

whole system of sacrifices, of festivals, &c, this alone being worthy to

represent the whole, how important a position the Sabbath held, how
all the rest settle in a group around it, and, therefore, to what inevit-
able ruin the Church is exposed when this is not preserved.
It is a question of importance, in what relation the command to rest
stands to the preceding one, " to keep it holy ;" whether this enjoins
the consecration of the day to God in every respect, of which the rest-
ing is but one prominent feature ; or whether the latter half of the
command explains the former, and the keeping holy involves nothing
more than resting. If the latter were correct, the bridge, which con-
nects the Sabbath of the Old Testament with the Sunday of the New,
 13

would be completely destroyed. If Riicker is right in saying, " The

essence of the Jewish Sabbath consists in this 1. That the creation
of the world was the object of contemplation 2. That it was kept on ;

the seventh day and 3. That it was a day of perfect rest," we must
;

grant that he also right in denying that there is any connexion

is

between the Sabbath and the Sunday. But more than this, if the
keeping holy of the Sabbath meant only resting, the divine character
of this institution, and indeed of the whole Mosaic law, would vanish.
A its sacred days by slothful inacti-
religion that could only celebrate
vity, would not bear on its forehead the seal of divine origin.
If there were no other ground for disputing the position, that the
sanctifying of the Sabbath involved only rest, we should find one in
its late and doubtful origin. Josephus and Philo know nothing of it.
To them the Sabbath is the day of devotion, of holy contemplation,
of meditation on the law of the Lord, and rest is but the means to
this end. Josephus says,* " He commanded, not that they should
hear it once or twice, or frequently, but that every week they should
leave their work and assemble to hear the law, and learn it accurately."
Philo,f in words more conformed to the taste and style of the -Gen-
tiles, says, " For it was always the custom to engage in philosophical

pursuits ((pi\ocro(pEiv) whenever an opportunity could be found, espe-

cially on the seventh days ; in these the teacher led the way and
taught what ought to be said and done, and the people applied them-
selves by purity and goodness to amend their manners and lives.
Hence, even now, on the seventh day the Jews study the philosophy
of their fathers, setting apart that time for the pursuit of knowledge
and the contemplation of the objects of Nature. For the houses of
cities, what are they but schools of learning?"
prayer in different
The originator of the opposite opinion was Spencer. In his work
on the ritual law of the Hebrews, which appeared in England towards
the end of the seventeenth century, at the time when Deism was gain-
ing strength, he opposes those who maintain that the Sabbath was
appointed for purposes of worship and devotion, and endeavours to
prove that the festival of the Sabbath consisted only in the ces-
sation of work. was not extraordinary that Spencer should express
It

this opinion. But it was strange that the pious and acute Vitringa
was so incautious as to fall in with, and even to refer to, him. Thus
he says, " The lawgiver commences with the summary of the com-

* Cont. Ap. b. ii. 17. t De Vita Mosis, p. 530.

 ;

14

mandment, '
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,' and then
explains, in the latter part, what keeping holy implies. This con-
tinuation contains directions to cease from work, and to extend this
rest to others. And wherever this command of God is repeated, we
find only the injunction to abstain entirely from work, which proves in

our opinion that the keeping holy of the seventh day consisted merely,
as the words of the commandment read, in entire abstinence from
work." (Obss. Sacr., b. i. p. 292-3.)
The safest mode of deciding this question, whether the keeping holy
consisted only in resting, or included something besides, will be to
examine whether in general the other books of Moses speak only of the
resting as that which distinguished the Sabbath, or whether they men-
tion other modes of sanctifying it, and lay stress on other things as
distinguishing this day from the rest of the week. We shall, if we do
this, find it impossible to reconcile what occurs in other passages with
the original command, unless we admit that even in the latter the
" keeping ]ioly" implied something more than rest.
The peculiar sacrifice offered on the Sabbath is at once a proof, that
the rest was not the only mark of the Sabbath. And even Vitringa
remarks on this, " God commanded that the offerings on that day
should be increased. But since the offerings were outward signs of
the worship of God, the Israelites were, as it seems, reminded by this,

that God required from them on this day more worship than on any
other."
Moreover, great stress is laid in this law upon the study of the laic
of the Lord, which contains not only his commandments, but, in close
connexion with these, all his past acts, in order that, in this exercise,
motives might be found to keep the commandments, and their hearts
warmed and made willing to obey. In Deut. vi. 6, 7, we read, " And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
of them when thou house, and when thou walkest by
sittest in thine

the way, and when thou down, and when thou risest up."
liest

Compare with this Deut. xvii. 19, in which the book of the law is to
be always by the side of their future king, and he is to read therein all
the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and ;

Josh. i. 8, " This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night." With this view of
the importance of the law, how is it possible to suppose that it was
not the intention of the lawgiver that the spare time, caused by the


15

leisure of the seventh day, should be employed in the study of this law ?

This followed so inevitably, that it did not require to be expressly said.

If the law really possesses the importance attached to it here, the
seventh day could not be perfectly and truly sanctified without giving
it a prominent place. And again, the duty of the Levites was to
" teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law" (Deut. xxxiii. 10) ;

and the work of the priests to " teach the children of Israel all the
statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them the hand
by Moses "
of
(Lev. x. 11). Now
was the task of the priests and Levites,
if this

who were scattered through all Israel, that it might be the more easily
discharged, how could the intention of the lawgiver have been any
other, than that they should especially employ in their calling, that
one day, which alone offered them a perfectly free scope for the
discharge of its duties ? This is especially confirmed by the analogous
arrangement made for the public reading of the law during the
Sabbatic year. From 2 Kings iv. 23, we learn that the free mode of
assembling adopted in the synagogues was very ancient. The pious
Jews of the ten tribes, as we may infer from this passage, were accus-
tomed to meet on the Sabbaths, with the prophets, who had taken the
place, in this kingdom, of the banished priests. Compare also Acts
xv. 21, according to which " Moses has of old time in every city them
that preach him."
All doubt, however, is removed by the fact, that in Lev. xxiii. 3,
assemblies for the worship of God are expressly enjoined on the Sabbath.
" Six days shall work be done : but the seventh day is the Sabbath of
rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein." How com-
pletely this fact overthrows the more contracted notion of the sanctifica-
tion of the Sabbath, is evident from the forced interpretation which
Vitringa and those who adopt this opinion are driven to employ, in
order to set it aside.*'

The most important duty of the " holy assemblies " at Jerusalem
was no doubt the offering of the sacrifices, which had to be pre-
sented as part of the worship of the Sabbath. The natural accompani-

The word here translated a holy convocation, Vitringa tries to deprive of

*
its by rendering it " a proclamation of holiness '* "it was announced by
force ;

the herald or by the trumpet that these days were holy." But the parallel
passages show that the word exactly corresponds with our word congregation,
e.g., Isa. iv. 5: "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of
Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies," &c. Num. x. 2 " Make two trumpets :

for the calling of the assembly."

 1G

ment of sacrifice is prayer. As early as the time of the patriarchs the

sacrifice was connected with " calling upon the Lord." That singing
alsoformed a part, is evident from the fact that one of the psalms is
headed " for the Sabbath day," for which its contents are specially
adapted. From the importance attached in the law itself to the public
reading of the law, this could scarcely have been omitted, and with the
reading, explanation and application would soon be connected. But
the bringing of offerings was confined to the national temple. In other
places the worship was free from all such restrictions.
We have thus clearly shown from passages occurring in the law of
Moses itself in reference to the sanctification of the Sabbath, that this
was never to be restricted to rest. We are led to the same result by
that which we read in the other books of the Old Testament. Every-
where we see that so contracted a sanctification was never thought of.
That all trade and commerce rested on the Sabbath, as well as on
the other festivals, even the least important, such as the new moon,
appear from Amos viii. 5, 6, where the wicked say, " When will the
new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the Sabbath, that we
may set forth wheat ?" &c. In Nehem. x. 32, it is ordered that if the
people of the land bring anything into the town on the Sabbath, even
though it could be taken in without interfering with the rest, and
without that work which was forbidden on the Sabbath, it was not to
be bought. Now in the Mosaic law the cessation of trade is not ex-
pressly commanded, so that here we have a proof that no one thought
of restricting the observance to rest. The sanctification of the Sab-
bath, and also of the festivals, the setting apart, and dedication of them
to God, precluded that trade, in which a man pursues his own interests,
seeks his own advantage, and which tends therefore to foster selfish-
ness and a worldly mind.
If the law of God had appointed rest alone as that which constituted
the sanctification of the Sabbath, Isaiah would be chargeable with pre-
sumption for including so much more, in his directions as to the mode
of keeping it. (Ch. lviii. 13.) All that devolved on him was to explain
the law. But there we read, " 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." Here the proper observance of the Sabbath is said
to comprise the unconditional and entire renunciation and denial of all

their natural desires, and complete self-consecration to God. We see

 17

therefore, that a man might be guilty of Sabbath-breaking, who pre-

served the outward rest most scrupulously ; that the command was not
limited to the external action, but that it applied to the tongue, which
was not to speak vain words on this day, but only such as promoted
the glory of God, and the improvement of one's neighbour and one's
self ; and the heart, which was not to feel the day to be a burden, but
to rejoice in it as a gracious invitation of God ; that, in fact, it was to

be a day of rest from the distractions, the cares, the labours and sins of
this miserable world. And when Ezekiel (xx. 13) condemns the
whole sinful life of the Israelites as a pollution of the Sabbath, it

is evident that he looks upon it as something more than a day of

rest.

There is yet another point of view which establishes the correctness

of our conclusion. By excluding everything but rest from the keeping

of the Sabbath holy, ice make a of the Sabbath,

difference between the rest
and that of the other festivals, in direct opposition to Lev. xxiii., where
they are all classed together. In this chapter the " rest" is clearly
pointed out, as only the means to the more important end of devotion.
This is shown particularly in ver. 28, " Ye shall do no work in that same

day : for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before

the Lord your God." Again, in ver. 32, the rest is brought into imme-
diate connexion with the " afflicting of their souls." And lastly, as in
this chapter, the cessation of all employment goes hand in hand with
the holy meeting and the sacrifice, and is evidently the means and con-

dition of a holy state of mind ;* so also in Exod. xii. 16, the connexion is

indicated between a day of rest and a holy meeting. " And on the first

day (sc. of the passover) there is a holy convocation, and on the

seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you ; no manner of
work shall be done on them ; save that which every man must eat,
that only may be done of you."
If, then, we have allotted to the rest of the Sabbath its proper place
and design, it follows that these words of Thomas Aquinas are quite
in accordance with the spirit of the divine law :
" Corporeal labours
are opposed to the keeping of a Sabbath, so far as they interfere with
a man's attention to divine things. And because sin interferes with
more than corporeal labour, he who
this far sins on the day breaks the
commandment more than he who works."
And, again, if the rest is neither the only keeping, nor in fact in

* Comp. vers. 3, 7, 21, 24, 25, 35, 36, 37.

c
 18

itself the " keeping holy" of the Sabbath at all ; if its only intention
is that it should furnish the means of devotion; the root of all

pharisaic scruples, and straining at gnats, is destroyed, for these spring

entirely from attributing importance to the rest itself, and looking upon
this as the essence of the ordinance. As far as the general arrange-
ments are concerned, it belongs to the Church, and as far as regards
particular ones, it must be left to the individual, to decide to what ex-
tent rest is required, for the purpose it is intended to serve. There are
circumstances under which it is not only allowable, but a duty to dis-
turb our which is only the means to an end, even for the
rest,

sake of the end, which the rest is intended to subserve. The priests,
in the words of Christ, profane the Sabbath and are blameless and ;

what is true of the priests must, in a certain sense, apply to all

who are a royal
believers, priesthood, a holy people. The Sabbath
commandment never seems to forbid works of love, and care for the
eternal good of our neighbours, except when a factitious value is set
upon the rest which it enjoins.
On the other hand, it cannot be without an important reason, that, after
the general command " to keep the Sabbath holy " is given, of all the
elements which enter into the keeping, only this one, of rest, is promi-
nently brought forward and fully developed. It proves to us that
rest is of supreme importance, not only to the celebration of the
Lord's day, but in general to our life in God, and to the continued exist-
ence of the Church. With this, observation and experience fully agree.
They show us that incessant work, by making men dull and sad, is a
most dangerous foe to religion and devotion ; that no one, professor or
working man, can withstand its destructive influence ; that worldly
amusements, if kept within certain bounds, and not leading to. sin, do
not produce by any means so injurious an effect, or so thoroughly
harden the heart; that, therefore, any attempt to improve the obser-
vance of the Lord's day must begin precisely here.
If we consider the great importance attached to rest in the law, even
the minister of the word will feel impelled to avoid breaking in upon
the rest of the Lord's day, as far as he possibly can. He will be far
from inverting the commandment for himself, so as to read, " Six days
shalt thou, in whole or part, rest, and on the seventh shalt thou labour ;"

he will endeavour, as far as possible, to perform in the week those

labours " by the sweat of his brow," which are necessary to prepare for
the duties of the Sunday. So, also, the efforts of others for the promo-
tion of religion, should be regulated in accordance with the necessity
 19

for a day of rest. It cannot be beneficial, that after six days' hard and
wearing exertion in same
business, a seventh should follow of the
character, except that the work is devoted to the good of others. If
this were carried to the same extent here, as we believe it to be in
England and America, of which, however, there is no immediate pro-
bability, the advantage to the kingdom of God would be only an appa-
rent one. Apart from the fact that such workers are injuring their
own souls, they are injuring their usefulness also, for only a mind which
is cheerful, strong, and invigorated by rest, is in a proper state for
exerting a truly holy influence upon others. Such a mind accomplishes
more, by its mere existence, than others with all their running hither
and thither ever can. The progress of the Church has' always been best
promoted by those whose chief care it was to keep their own lamps
bright. To them others were sure to come, and light their lamps at
theirs.

Lastly, if we rightly understand the on

meaning of the rest enjoined
the Sabbath, the close connexion between the Sabbath andSunday will
at once appear, and all must draw back ashamed, who will acknow-
ledge no thought, in the appointment of the Sabbath, of any but the
Jews. The meaning of the words of the Lord, that " no jot or tittle

of the law should pass," becomes strikingly clear. " This," says
Calvin, " we have in common with the people of the Old Testament,
that we require one day free, that we may thus be in a better condition,
both for learning and for attesting our faith."
Some have no
thought, that the Sabbath of the Old Testament
more affects Church of the New, than the other festivals. But
the
the express mention of the former in the ten commandments, without
the other, indicates a difference between them. The Sabbath has less
of a temporary, Old Testament, character than the others. The decision,
that every seventh day shall be devoted to God, is founded on a constant
and universal necessity of human nature, on the fact that men will surely
become ungodly, unless there is some arrangement for a. regular inter-
mission of the labours and cares of this earthly life. The festivals, on
the contrary, have either a natural origin, and were adopted, as it were,
by the Mosaic legislation, or else a specifically Jewish origin.
Some have thought (amongst others Neander), that the annual
Christian festivals stand in the same relation as the Sunday to the

Christian life. In both cases we must, in their opinion, recognise the

guidance of the Holy Spirit in their historical development, and a
divine purpose in the historical necessity which led under certain con-
c 2
 20

ditions to these results, and, therefore, should feel bound to follow

this guidance of the Spirit, and arrangement of God.
We fully acknowledge this common ground of obligation to cele-
brate both the Sunday and the other festivals. And had we no other
ground for retaining the Sunday, it would be still wrong to give it up.
In sentences such as this of Kraussold, "Jesus has set us free from the
ordinances of men. The Church has no right to make laws," we see
onlyhomage to historical rationalism, whose true successor is rational-
ism commonly so called. Still, on account of the great importance of
a weekly returning Lord's day, God in his love has set his seal on this
more clearly than on the rest,more expressly, and he,
has sanctified it

who opposes so evident an expression of the will of God, commits a

greater sin.

IV. The Sabbath a Sign between God and the People.

' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children
of Israel, saying, Verilymy Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between ;

me and you throughout your generations that men may know that I am the
;

Lord that doth sanctify you. 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 his
people. Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath, the
;

holy rest of the Lord whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall
:

surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sab-
bath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual cove-
nant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever ; for in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested, and was
refreshed."
(Exod. xxxi. 1317.)

The injunction to preserve the Sabbath, which is here repeated, as is

usual in the books of Moses, with greater fulness, concludes the in-
structions concerning the tabernacle, and the appointment, consecra-
tion, and clothing of the priests, and all that belongs to the service of
the sanctuary. We see again, in this combination, the close connexion
between the Sabbath and the sanctuary. Without the Sabbath the
sanctuary would have been instituted in vain, for worship would not
have been maintained. This confirms our view, that sacred meetings
were held on the Sabbath ; that the cessation of work was intended to

make room for the worship of God. Had it been kept only by rest,

there would have been no connexion between the Sabbath and the
sanctuary. The employment of the singular in ver. 14 proves that the
Sabbaths spoken of in ver. 13 denote the weekly day of rest, and not
the festivals in general.
 21

The Sabbath is to be a sign between God and his people on the :

part of God, who appointed it, a symbol of his choice (" that men
may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you ") on the side ;

of the chosen, a confession to God. The point to be regarded is not

exclusively, or even chiefly, this, that the seventh day particularly is

devoted to God, or even one in seven ; but the principal thing is the
manner in which it is to be kept. The whole essence of true religion
is brought to view on the Sabbath, the difference between the Church
and the world fully appears. In the wilderness of the world's indif-
ference to its Creator, where there is no recognition of God, there is

one oasis a people serving God in spirit and in truth, and entrusted
by himself with his own beautiful service. In the manner in which
the day of the Lord is celebrated, there is seen in the clearest light
the attitude in which a people stands to its Lord, and the Lord to it.
The day of the Lord is the gauge of the religious life. It is a great
error for any to attempt to erase and annihilate the seal, which God
thus set upon his Church, that he might separate it from the world,
and make it visible, and approachable by the world an error that can ;

only have its deepest root in ungodliness. And it is a mark worthy of

the Church's and each individual's aim, to preserve this seal from becom-
ing obliterated.
And because the Sabbath is a sign, it is " a sanctuary." " By this,"
says Calvin, " he urges his people to preserve this institution as a holy
and indestructible one, because with the neglect of it religion would
fall. It would show an inexcusable contempt wilfully to overthrow

that which God intended as a mark of distinction between his people

and the heathen nations." To wipe away the Sabbath would be to
make the Church unknown. And this, again, would be to dishonour
God, who can only be found in the Church, and to offend against one's
brethren.
" He who desecrates the Sabbath shall be put to death." The
Church of Christ has taken a right course, in never in any place visiting
upon those, who fail to observe the Sunday, the punishments with
which the Old Testament threatened those who broke the Sabbath
commandment, even where the strictest theory of the sanctity of the
Sunday has been adopted. The punishments appointed by the Mosaic
law are essentially distinct from its commandments. They presuppose,
for the moat part, the weakness and want of spirituality which charac-
terised the Old Testament times. As sin could not be successfully
attacked within and rooted out from the heart, the offender must be
 22

dealt with from without, by which he only received according to his

deserts. Under the New Testament all is changed. Since Christ has
appeared in the flesh, and especially since he has brought in eternal
redemption, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
since he has poured out his Spirit upon all flesh, the Church has been
happily delivered from the necessity of dealing with offenders in so
harsh a way. Still the punishments appointed by the law preserve
even yet their importance in reference to the Church of the New Tes-
tament, and the words of Christ, " no jot or tittle shall pass," apply
here. A by the law of God, under the Old Testament, was
sin which,
visited with death, must be a great and grievous one, and one with
which we dare not trifle now. To bring this to our consciousness,
there is still importance in the words, " he shall be put to death."
The Sabbath is designated " a perpetual covenant," " a sign for
ever." Some have found these words inconvenient, and wished to
.

weaken their force but it is clear that an abrogation, which puts a

;

smaller in its place, is not to be thought of; that the Sabbath, so far as
its substance is concerned, must belong to that which is the true con-
tinuation of the Old Testament Israel, the Church of the New Tes-
tament ; that only that, which is not essential, can pass away, and that
this could only die to rise again in a brighter and more glorious form.

V. The Sabbath not to be Suspended in Harvest.

" Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, in earing
time and in harvest thou shalt rest." (Exod. xxxiv. 21.)
The Sabbath is mentioned herewhich is rendered neces-
in a review,
sary by the renewal of the covenant, after had been broken by the it

people. The whole section has the appearance of being thrown in as

an episode.
Clericus remarks here, " ' in earing time and harvest,' that is, at the

time when work is especially necessary, in order that this might not be
used as an excuse for breaking the Sabbath on other equally urgent
occasions." The weakness of the spiritual powers, Avhich should have
preserved the Sabbath amongst the people, rendered it necessary that
under the Old Testament it should be the more carefully hedged
about. Works of necessity could not be permitted, for caprice would
soon have made them a cloak. The Church of the New Testament,
which possesses the more powerful weapons of the word and the Spirit,
makes the works of necessity an exception. It is in a condition to
guard against abuse. But even for it, this " in earing time and


23

harvest," has not been said in vain. It teaches it not to strain unduly
the notion of necessity. It imposes on masters the obligation to do all

in their power to diminish the necessity of their dependents.

VI. No Fire to be Kindled on the Sabbath.

" Six days shall work be clone, but on the seventh day there shall be to yon a
holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord ; whosoever doeth work therein shall be
put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the
Sabbath day." (Exod. xxxv. 2, 3.)

Moses begins here to communicate to the people the commands,

which the Lord gave to him after the conclusion of the covenant.
The covenant which was broken by the people is here renewed, and it
istherefore time to make this communication. As the instructions of
God to Moses end by inculcating the observance of the Sabbath, it is
with this that those of Moses to the people commenced. He then
turns immediately to the explanation of the arrangements for the
tabernacle.
Here, too, the close connexion is evident between the Sabbath and
the sanctuary, and hence its character as a day of worship. It is

separated from all the other times of worship, which are only acces-
sory ; and stands here as the representative of the whole.
We are not to regard ver. 3, as increasing the stringency of the law
by a new prohibition. The injunction, "Ye shall kindle no fire," is

simply an explanation of the commandment, " Ye shall do no work."

The law distinguishes between work and labour.* In Lev. xxiii., all
work is forbidden on the Sabbath and the day of atonement on the ;

other festivals, labour alone. This distinction is everywhere main-

tained. In Exod. xii. 16, in which all work is forbidden on the first
and seventh days of the passover, the lighting of fires and cooking are
expressly excepted, showing that these come under the denomination
of work.
However, since the term work
nowhere strictly defined, the
is

explanation given in this passage shows that it was necessary to guard

against making too many exceptions. Without imitating the Rab-

binical writers in their straining at gnats, it must still be admitted
that this injunction, "Ye shall kindle no fire," was intended only as
an example, showing that occupation on the Sabbath should be kept

* Rendered in our version " servile work ;

" more properly labour, including
business.- Th.
 24

within narrow bounds, so far as this was possible, without falling into
an anxious scrupulosity, which was foreign to the Sabbath, or an un-
sociable state, which would be decidedly opposed to it. This pro-
hibition, too, proves that the Sabbath commandment could not be
transferred without change to the Church of the New Testament.
Such a command is based upon the peculiarities of the climate, in
which the people lived.
The principal reason for the distinction made between the rest
enjoined on the Sabbath and that required on the other festivals
(though the difference is not great), was, evidently, because there is a
greater difficulty in steadfastly maintaining a weekly festival, and a
worldly mind more strongly tempted to break away. With us *
is

there is far less work done on the yearly festivals than on the Sunday.
For this reason, the requirements were made more stringent for the
Sabbath amongst the Jews. The main design is undoubtedly to pro-
hibit labour, but in order to guard more surely against any approach to
this, the adjacent ground is surrounded by a sacred fence just as the ;

Nazarite, to keep him more surely from drinking wine, was forbidden
even to eat grapes. If it be admitted that the greater amount of rest
required on the Sabbath than on the other festivals, was only intended
as means to an end, it follows that the greatest importance belonged to
that which was common to them all. That which is simply intended
as means, may, under other circumstances, give place to other means.
It assumes the eharacter of instruction rather than of a command.

VII. The Shewbeead renewed on the Sabbath.

11
And thou shalt take and take twelve cakes thereof two tenth
fine flour, :

deals shall be in one cake. And

thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row,
upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense
upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the
Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting
covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' and they shall eat it in the
;

holy place for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by
:

fire by a perpetual statute.'' (Lev. xxiv. 5 9.)

In this passage instructions are given, that every Sabbath fresh

shew-bread shall be set before the Lord.
With regard to the meaning of the table with the shew-bread, the

* In Germanv.
 ;

25

following points may be regarded as indisputable, and help to a correct

interpretation of the institution: 1. This symbol is not to be regarded
as a promise, but as a precept ; it cannot, that is, denote what God
will give to the Church, but what the Church ought to present to God.
The name shew-bread indicates this. It was so called because it was
set by the people before God continually (Exod. xxv. 30). It is ex-
pressly mentioned (Lev. xxiv. 8) as a gift of the children of Israel to
God (not of God to them) :
" Every^Sabbath he shall set it in order be-
fore the Lord continually, an everlasting covenant on the part of the
children of Israel." Lastly, the loaves were dedicated and offered to
God by prayer, in its Old Testament form of incense " And thou shalt :

put pure frankincense upon the row, that it may be on the bread for a
memorial, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." Thus the loaves
themselves were regarded as offerings. It is evident that they were
considered as consumed in a spiritual sense, together with the incense,
from the words, " an offering made by fire." 2. In addition to the
bread, wine ivas placed upon the table. This is indeed nowhere ex-
pressly stated, but both in Exod. xxv. 29 and Num. iv. 7, the bowls
" with which the wine poured out," or of the drink-offering, are
is

mentioned, as forming part of the furniture of the table of shew-bread.

It follows from this that only that explanation can be the correct one,
which gives to the bread such a meaning, as makes the wine its
natural, and, indeed, inseparable accompaniment. 3. Every explanation
is to be rejected, which does not connect the table, on which stood the
bread and wine, with the provision made by subjects for their king
which denies the correctness of the view entertained by Dr. Paulus,
thatit was " the natural provision for the national king," and does not

recognise an analogy between the bread and wine, set by the Israelites
before their invisible King, and the supplies provided for his visible re-
presentative. 4. Itioouldbe absurd to suppose, that the bread and wine in
their material form are offered as gifts acceptable to God ; that they are
own sakes, and not for the sake of that which they
placed there for their
denote. The name, Jehovah, alone is sufficient to show the folly of such
an opinion for in this name so thoroughly are the depths of the Deity
;

explored, that he appears as pure absolute Being ; for that is the mean-
ing of this name. Before this such frivolities fall away. Whoever
can for a moment entertain them, has not the least conception of the
nature of the Old Testament religion. But apart from this, and the
consideration adduced by Bahr, that " only bread and wine were
offered, provisions found on the tables of the poor, instead of the im-
 26

posing banquets of a king," it cannot be right, where all else is

symbolical, enclosing a deep spiritual meaning in the outward form, to

come down in this case alone into the sphere of rude literality. How-
can we tear away the table of shew-bread from its connexion with the
candlestick and altar of incense ?

According to this, the following view appears to be the correct one.

The loaves, whose number, like the twelve stones in the breast-plate
of the high priest, refer to the twelve tribes, and the wine, are truly
the supplies which Israel offers to its King ; but this King is a spiritual,
heavenly one ; the supplies, therefore, though here presented in a
material form, must really be spiritual too. The bread and the wine
are spiritless unless they are representatives of good works. The
prayer to God, " Give us this day our daily bread," and the promise
on the strength of which it is offered, are accompanied by the demand
of God, my daily bread give me to-day; for as God never requires
without giving, so he never gives without requiring. And this demand
is complied with when the Church, by its diligence in good works,
presents to God those offerings for which he has given strength, and
blessing, and success.
This opinion is confirmed by comparison with the bloodless offering,
the so-called meat offering, which is indisputably related to the shew-
bread. The shew-bread was meat offering of the whole
the perpetual
community ; it was was continually before the Lord,
in this fact, that it
that it differed from the other meat offerings, which were only pre-
sented at certain times, on special occasions, and generally with refer-
ence to the circumstances of individuals. In other respects, both as to
the nature and the purport, they were exactly alike. The meat offer r

ings also were combined with wine, a proof that they too were
to be
symbols of the provisions to be presented to God. Bread and wine,
both in the Old and New Testaments, are the usual representatives and
symbols of nourishment. It is evident that the spiritual provisions, de-
noted by them, are good works ; since this is the only view which
brings out the meaning of the rite and The meat
all its particulars.
offerings were always to be accompanied by a bloody sacrifice. They
were not allowed, however, to accompany every sacrifice. They might
be brought with burnt offerings, and thank offerings ; but never with
sin offerings or trespass offerings. Expiation and reconciliation must
precede the ability to perform good works ; the unreconciled heart does
not possess this ability ;
good works do not accompany reconciliation,
they follow as a necessary consequence. He who has been reconciled
 27

by the sin offering, first devotes himself, his whole being, to the Lord,
under the symbol of the burnt offering he then, under that of the thank
;

offering, presents his thanksgiving and prayer and, lastly, consecrates ;

his works under the symbol of the meat offering. The last was to be
without leaven and honey. Leaven is in the Scriptures the symbol of
corruption. The name of the unleavened loaves, mazzoth, meaning
pure loaves, indicates the spiritual counterparts pointed out by Paul,
sincerity and truth. Thus the prohibition to mix leaven with the meat
offering taught them, that good works were not to be spoiled by any
admixture of unholy corruption, which would make them unfit to be
spiritual food for the holy God. The prohibition to use honey, which
resembles the grape cakes--1 mentioned in Hos. iii. 1, signifies, that he
who will perform good works must not give himself up to sensuality,
but practise self-discipline. By the side of the prohibition to use
leaven and honey, stands the command to mix salt and oil. Salt indi-
cates that which is sound, preserved from moral corruption. Oil is

here, as always, a symbol of the Spirit of God. It signifies that good

works, as they rest upon reconciliation, can never be performed with-
out the grace of the Spirit of God.
It has been objected by Kurz to this exposition that " it is harsh,
unsuitable, and repulsive, inasmuch as it regards the food, the bread,
as that which is necessary, indispensable to life, which cannot apply to
Jehovah, whose life is not dependent on Israel's performing its cove-
nant duties."
But the whole system of sacred symbols, including the Lord's parables,
would fall, if subjected to such a test as this. They have necessarily
a one-sided character. All that we have to do is to find out the sides,
in which the natural corresponds with the spiritual, and can, therefore,
be used as its representative. The point to be regarded here is not so
much the necessity of the Lord, though in a certain sense even this is

included, as the duty of his people. And there is the less reason for
objecting to this representation of the duties owed to the Lord, under
the figure of nourishment to be brought to him, since the same figure is
frequently met with in the Scriptures.
Abraham said to the heavenly guests, " I will fetch a morsel of
bread, and comfort ye your hearts ! And they said, So do as thou hast
said." Abraham did it and they ate. The Lord would certainly not
have accepted Abraham's offer if spiritual food had not been hidden in

* llendered in our translation, "flagons of wine."

 ;

28

the material ; if Abraham, that is, had not offered therewith a loving
heart. We have either a fable before us, or the transaction has a
symbolical character.
In Solomon's Song, iv. 16, the bride says to the bridegroom, "Let
my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." And
the bridegroom answers, " I am come into my garden, my sister, my
spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my
honeycomb with my honey ; I have drunk my wine with my milk."
The exclamation of the sacred poet, which concludes the section,
shows us in what the meal consisted. " Eat, friends drink, yea, ;

drink and be drunken with love." It is love, then, to the enjoyment of

which the bride invites the bridegroom.
Isaiah says, in the parable of the vineyard, ch. v. 2, " And he made
a winepress therein, and looked that it should bring forth grapes, and
it brought forth wild grapes." The grapes which the vineyard should
have brought forth to its Lord, are, as ver. 7 shows, justice and right-
eousness ; the wild grapes, which it really produces, oppression and a
cry. The expression, " he looked," shows with what certainty the
Lord had reckoned upon the fruit, as it is in the very nature of the
Church to provide food for the Lord.
Matthew narrates (ch. xxi. 18, 19) of the Lord, " Now in the morn-
ing as he returned into the city he hungered. And seeing a fig-tree
in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only
and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.
And presently the fig-tree withered away." The fig-tree is the Jewish
people. The words, " he hungered," should be particularly noticed.
It shows that, with reference to the good works of the members of
the Church, neither indifference, nor an absolute sense of need exists
on the part of the Lord. The latter could only exist if the laws of
his Being were not executed in their punishment of the unfaithful.
The Lord found only leaves, the decorations of their heartless hypo-
crisy. Mark adds, " for the time of figs was not yet." For the spi-
ritual fig-tree it should always be the time of figs ; it is its own fault
if it is not so, and this fault infallibly brings its own judgment.
In Rev. iii. 20 we read, " If any man hear my voice, and open the

door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me."
We have in these passages enough to prove that the objections
brought against our explanation have not force enough to shake it,

especially as it rests on such firm positive grounds.

We would just notice in passing the explanation given by Meier.
 29

" By it," says he, " they express their consciousness that they are
dependent on a higher power, and owe entirely to it their enjoyment
of the gifts of nature. They offer the bread to God, that they may
receive it again, not as procured by themselves, but as a gift
from the hands of God, and that as such it may be eaten by the priests,
the representatives of the twelve tribes." The shew-bread, then, is

the expression of thanks for the daily bread. In thanksgiving, in

Meier's opinion, prayer is also included.
But from this explanation there results a want of harmony between
the table of shew-bread, and the other furniture of the tabernacle,
namely, the altar of incense, which pointed out the people of the cove-
nant as a people of prayer, and the candlestick, which indicated that
they were a people of light. By the side of these there is something
very tame in mere thanks for daily bread.
The one task of the people of God, as pointed out as early as
Gen. xviii. 19, was to do justice and righteousness, and to keep the
way of the Lord. " To love God with all the heart, and with all the
soul, and their neighbour as themselves," is set forth, in a whole series
of passages in the law, as the highest claim which God makes upon
his people,and this could not fail to be exhibited in the sanctuary,
whose furniture set forth in symbol the duties of the people of the
Lord.
If we have meaning of the shew-bread, there
correctly explained the
will be being renewed every Sabbath.
no doubt as to the reason of its

Diligence in good works ought to pervade the whole life, but it would
soon flag, if not invigorated by days of rest and meeting before the
Lord. Without the day of the Lord, the Church can never attain its
end, to do justice and righteousness. When the observance of this
day is neglected, in the same degree will the observance of righteous-
ness be neglected too.
Every Sabbath (according to the catalogue of offerings given in
Num. xxviii. 9), a special burnt offering, meat offering, and drink offer-

ing, were to be brought, " beside the continual burnt offering, and his
drink offering." This doubling of the offerings corresponds with the
on the Sabbath, fresh shew-bread was laid on the table. If
fact, that,

the doubling of the offerings indicated that the Sabbath was the day
of increased devotion, it also pointed it out as the source of moral
vigour, as surely as good works are only performed in God ; and the
arrangement with regard to the shew-bread did nothing more than
unfold this intimation, and present it in a symbolical form.
 30

Let him who feels that he makes no progress, and must confess that
he is a barren tree, look first of all how he observes the Lord's day.

VIII. The Sabbatic Year.

" And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount
Sinai, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, When
ye come into the land which I
give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou
shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in
the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the
land, a sabbath for the Lord thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy
:

vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not
reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed for it is a year of rest :

unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you for thee, ;

and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy
stranger that sojourneth with thee. And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that
are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat." (Lev. xxv. 1 7.)
This passage contains the injunction that after the land is possessed

it shall be left untitled every seventh year. The year of rest is to be

also a year of communism, of suspension of ownership. All that
grows spontaneously is to belong, not to the possessor, but to the
public. It is, moreover, to be observed by the cancelling of all debts.
(Deut. xv.)
The close connexion between this year and the Sabbath is shown by
the transference of the name, " the seventh year shall be a sabbath of
rest to the land ;" " the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord." A
promise of special blessing during the sixth year is also given in Lev.
xxv. 20
22, analogous to that given with regard to the sixth day in
Exod. xvi. 5. And, lastly, the positive elements are accompanied by
negative ones of rest and suspension. In Deut. xxxi. 10 13, it is

decreed that the law shall be publicly read to all the people this year ;

from which we conclude that it is to be a year of devotion, of meeting,

and religious meditation.
The Sabbath and the Sabbatic year both assume that work and pos-
session promote selfishness ; that they stifle the divine life, unless a
period of respite is given, in which they are laid aside, and a free
course opened for the soul's progress towards God.
The institution of the Sabbatic year is everywhere mentioned as only
intended for the people of the Old Testament. It is confined to
Canaan, and nowhere is the intimation given that it is to be extended
beyond it. And even with reference to the Jews, the same importance
is never attached to it as to the Sabbath. Whilst the one is not spoken
 31

of till a late period, and then only in a few passages, the Sabbath
stands out prominently from the very first in the law of God, and is

introduced at every turn. It is not altogether without reason that

Calvin regards this command as a means of enforcing more strongly
the observance of the Sabbath. It is given, he says, that the sanctity
of the Sabbath may shine forth on every hand, and thus the children of
Israel may be instigated to maintain it by contemplating the land.
Yet certain as it is that this command is based upon the peculiar
circumstances of the Jewish people, and, as to the letter, in no way
affects us, it is as certain, that it contains a germ restricted to no age. It

teaches the Church in every age, that if men are for ever working,
scheming, grasping without intermission; if there are no periods of
respite, in which the hindrances to the higher life are removed, and the
spirit is left free to seek its Author, it will never prosper. It urges us
conscientiously to secure this respite, as far as we have it in our power.
The Sabbatic year has ceased, but all that is said of it serves to
enliven our zeal in the maintenance of the weekly festival which we
still possess. The Sabbath year grew out of the Sabbath; it served
also to make the latter fruitful.

IX. A Man Stoned fob, Gathering Wood.

" And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man
that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gather-
ing sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to
him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The shall be surely put to death mm :

all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all
the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones,
and he died as the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. xv. 32 36.)
;
A man who had gathered wood on the Sabbath is brought forth at

the command of the Lord, and stoned by the whole congregation before
the camp.
Calvin says rightly, " the guilty man did not fall through error, but
through gross contempt of the law, so that he treated it as a light
matter to overturn and destroy all that is holy." It is evident from the
manner of its introduction that the account is not given with any regard
to its chronological position ; it reads, " and when the children of
Israel were in the wilderness they found a man gathering sticks upc n
the Sabbath." It stands simply as an example of the presumptuous
breach of the law, of which the preceding verses speak. He was one
 32

who " despised the word of the Lord, and broke his commandment,"
(ver. 31) one who " with a high hand sinned and reproached the
;

Lord," (ver. 30).

Had he transgressed from want, even under the Old Testament, a

different sentence would have been passed. Under the New, even
transgressors of this kind are dealt with in a different way. The
Church of the New Testament happily does not make use of stones
against the sinner. But here, too, it is only the letter that has passed
away ; the Divine sentence, in the spirit of it, has importance still. A
sin which under the Old Testament was visited with stoning, is not
to be treated as a light matter, either by the individual or the Church.
By doing this, by substituting indifference for stones, whereas it is

its work, instead of stoning the body, to stone the conscience of the
sinnerby means of the word of God, the Church of the New Testa-
ment would sink below the level of that of the Old.

X. The Sabbath a Day of Pleasure.

" And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her
Sabbaths, and all her festive seasons." (Hosea ii. 11.)

The answered a double purpose they were days of holy

festivals
consecration, and days of pleasure. (Num. x. 10.) Israel had neg-
lected the first, and as a merited punishment God had deprived it of
the second. In proof of that he announces the cessation of the festi-
vals, as in itself the end of the days of pleasure he places in the fore- ;

ground all her mirth, and then passes from the general to particulars.
The prophet can only have referred here to the festivals which had
been instituted by God otherwise the notion of recompense would be
;

inapplicable. God only takes from the Israelites what they have first
taken from him. The festivals are mentioned in the same order as
in Col. ii. 16. The feasts are the three yearly festivals ; next in
order is the monthly festival of the new moon ; and lastly the weekly
one, the Sabbath. The phrase, " all her festive seasons," connects all

together under one general term.

The first thing which strikes us in this passage is the finger of God
raised to threaten, if his command, " Thou shalt keep the festival," is

not better observed. The year 1848 gave to us a taste of the import
of these words, " I make all your mirth cease." But this was but the
beginning of sorrows.
The Sabbatic years, which the people of the Old Testament had so
 33

wickedly neglected to observe, had to be observed afterwards. During

the period of the Babylonian captivity Judea lay waste, " until the
land had enjoyed her Sabbaths" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 21). Nor has the
righteousness of God lost its energy under the New Testament. Even
with us a reckoning will have to come, when we may have to say,
" The joy of our heart is ceased our dance is turned into mourning."
;

We may have to celebrate mournful Sundays and festivals then.

But the passage is of importance in another respect. The festivals,

and especially the Sabbath, appear here as days of mirth. This is

not indeed the principal feature, which, on the contrary, is said empha-
tically to consist in their being days of consecration, whilst it is de-
nounced as a sin that they should be changed entirely into days of
pleasure. But as a subordinate object, this is made very apparent,
and it is only as a punishment for the neglect of the other that the
pleasure is taken away. This design is indicated in the Mosaic law,
though it is placed far behind the more important object. In Num.
x. 10, the festivals in general are termed "days of gladness;" and in
Exod. xxiii. 12, the Sabbath is especially pointed out as a day of natural
refreshment and recreation to those who through the week have borne
the burden and heat of the day. With these expressions before~us,
we must acknowledge that Rothe is correct in saying, " the festivals
were essentially days of joy, and that not exclusively of a religious
character;" and with reference to the weekly festival, " this was to be
essentially a day of rest and refreshment, a breathing time amidst the
toil and trouble of the present state of being ; a day of joy, in which
a higher clement of life should both invigorate and exalt." It is not
for us to be more oppressive and severe than God, who knows our
labour and distress upon the earth, which he has cursed ; it is not for
us to deprive the poor and oppressed of the people of that recreation
and refreshment which his merciful love allowed in former times. We
must not expect to promote the chief end by opposing or ignoring the
minor object which was authorized by God himself. A melancholy,
dull, oppressed spirit may indeed be brought to a certain pietistic level,
but will never be able to soar with gladness to its God. And as God
deprived the people of the festivals as days of joy, when they had
refused to observe them as days of worship ; so, on the other hand, to
deny to the people all that is cheerful on such days as these, would
only lead them sinfully to neglect them as days of worship too.
In what way is the Church affected by this design of the festivals,
including the Sabbath, of the Jews ?
 34

The most evident duty of the Church is thus stated by Rothe :

" It
has not only to take care that its worship shall not be disturbed by
any other engagements of the day of rest, but to see also that these
shall never be of such a kind as to clash with that calm spirit of wor-
ship which should pervade the whole day." But it will not do for the
Church to rest satisfied with this exclusively negative, overwatchful
position. It will never succeed in checking the search for enjoyment
elsewhere, unless it learns how to provide it within its own circle, and
ceases to be so monotonous, so unbending, so stern and gloomy, so
sermon -mad, as to be unable to teach its children to rejoice before the
Lord.
(Lev. xxiii. 40.)
" Even enjoyment," says Hirscher, " is not without a good effect
upon the mind. It was, therefore, judicious and with good intention,
that the Church introduced into its service much which was designed
to help the poor and often downtrodden people to rejoice before the
Lord. And even if processions, for example, could do little to edify,
they were not without worth when regarded in this light, that they
ministered to religious enjoyment."
In this respect our Church has greatly erred, and if it would but
earnestly apply itself to the work, it might reap more fruit from this
than from the other Sunday arrangements, which, indeed, must also
continue, but to which many ministers of the Church are apt to attach
too great importance. There may be cases in which the magistrate
must be called upon to interfere, as, for instance, to protect servants
against their masters, who wish to rob them of the Sunday. But for
the Church to do this, is to proclaim its weakness and to disgrace
itself, for its calling is of a different kind from this. The more the
Church is in fault, for having by its austerity increased the disregard
of the Sunday, the farther must it be prepared to go, that it may bring
back to its worship, by the enjoyment it offers, those whom pleasure
has led away. Love must instigate it, not always to keep to the
well-trodden and easy road of sermon-worship ; must make it as fertile
in the discovery of attractions and sacred pleasures, as the world has
been in the invention of worldly amusements. Only this will make
the Sunday attractive to the people again. He who thinks that this
is beneath his dignity, forgets that he serves a church of the people,
which involves much that is difficult, but much also that carries a
blessing with it, as surely as we have a Saviour, who came to seek that
which was lost. If we look at the present condition of our people, we
cannot but smile, though with pain, at the attempts made to promote the
 35

keeping of the Sunday, without applying any but the ordinary means. All
that can be secured in this way will be, that there will be less work, but
more drinking, &c. We are glad, however, that a beginning has been
made, in a different way, and that it only remains to pursue a work,
already commenced with the evident blessing of God. To this begin-
ning we reckon the liturgical services, which, apart from other consi-
derations, are justified by this, that the great mass of the people are
still no further advanced than the stand-point of the Old Testament,
and must therefore be attracted by that which is suited to this condi-
tion. We reckon also the growing popularity of missionary festivals ;
and in connexion with these we notice the first signs of a renewal of
pilgrimages, but in an evangelical spirit. We have been particularly
struck by an arrangement lately made by several ministers of the pro-
vince of Saxony. In a certain neighbourhood a missionary festival is

held every Sunday at a particular place. The other congregations,

with their pastor at the head, proceed to this spot, singing " pilgrim
hymns." We have here a sign that the Church is thinking of pouring
the old wine into new bottles, since the old ones will not hold it any-

longer. Let us proceed in this course, and we may accomplish more

by it, than by Church ordinances and Presbyterian constitutions.

XI. Blessing pronounced upon a proper Observance of the

Sabbath.
" Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye justice and do righteousness, for my salvation
is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that
doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold upon it, that keepeth the Sab-
bath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." (Isa. Ivi.

1,2.)

In this and the following passage great importance is attached to the

preservation of the Sabbath. It opens the way to the enjoyment of
all the benefits of the house and kingdom of God. In the prophet's
view the Sabbath, in its essence, reaches beyond the Old Testament
period. In the whole section his eye is directed to the Messianic
time. The conditions, on which its salvation is to be secured, are here
laid down and, according to ver. 6,
; the Sabbath belongs to the Gentiles
who, in the day of salvation, will enter the kingdom of God.
The injunction to preserve the Sabbath is connected in vers. 2, 4,5,
with other demands, which preclude the supposition that its obser-
vance consists in rest alone. Against such an observance the prophet
D 2
 36

has already, in chap. i. 13, inveighed in the strongest terms. The

Mosaic idea of sanctification is embraced in its fullest extent. Those
who adopted the superficial view of Vitringa, that outward rest alone
constituted sanctification, felt themselves compelled to regard this as a
"mystical Sabbath" of a different kind from the legal one.
We must, however, distinguish between the form of the Sabbath,
which belonged specifically to the Old Testament, and its essence.
That our passage only serves to prove that the latter belongs also to
New Testament times, is evident from ver. 7, where the prophet
speaks in the same terms of the Sabbath, the temple, and the sacri-
fices : it was not the prophet's vocation to unfold the grand distinction
between the form and essence, the letter and the spirit. This must be
learned elsewhere.

XII. Characteristics of a Eight Observance of the Sabbath.

" 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, ho-
;

nourable and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine
;

own pleasure, nor speaking words." (Isa. lviii. 13.)

The prophet explains most clearly here, what the Sabbath is to him.
He gives a full explanation of the Mosaic, " Remember the Sab-
bath day to keep it holy." The foot, which moves to and fro on the
Sabbath in man's own ways, in worldly business and amusements,
trespasses as it were upon its holy ground. But, not the foot alone,
the mouth also receives its command. It is in vain that the feet rest,
if the mouth speaks words, empty words, such as have no substance
in them (Matt. xii. 36), but which the old man delights to indulge in.
And he who keeps a bridle in his mouth, that it may not offend, has
not yet done all. Every thing depends upon the heart after all. If
this finds no pleasure in the Sabbath, if it feels it to be a heavy burden,
if it regrets that foot and mouth may not wander freely amidst worldly
occupations and pleasures, if it seeks to compensate itself for these
restraints by satisfying more with the worldly passions
itself the
within, then the pretended holiness is in truth a more thorough de-

secration, and instead of the expected blessing there will come the
curse.

XIII. Psalm for the Sabbath Day.

Psalm xcii. This psalm is, according to the heading, " A song for

the Sabbath day." The proper positive employment of the Sabbath

 37

appears here to be, a thankful contemplation of the works of God, a

devotional absorption in them, which could only exist when ordinary
occupations are laid aside. " It is good to givethanks unto the Lord,
and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High." " O Lord, how
great are thy works." Amongst these works, one of the greatest, of
which the psalm speaks, is this, that, with the same power which he
put forth in the creation of the heavens and the earth, he also preserves
his Church in the midst of an evil world. The circumstances, under
which the psalm was composed, dictated this from which we may
;

learn, that the constant care of the Church on its days of rest should
be, to keep before it especially those sides of the works of God, in
which his nature has most prominently appeared, and which, there-
fore,under existing circumstances, most tend to edification. Our
Church would gain more ground, if we understood this better, and
were not so firmly attached to monotony and one-sidedness. The best
means of avoiding these, are, on the one hand, to study deeply the
whole Bible, that we may thus discover the whole image of God, and
all the riches of his works, and be able to draw from this treasure, as

circumstances require ; and on the other, to studyno less deeply, and

with a serious mind, the signs of the times, the spirit of the age, their

evils, and the best means of curing them. Churches would not be
empty, if the subjects introduced were such as must be at least in-
teresting to all, though many might still thrust them from them.
The mention of morning and evening (" to show forth thy loving
kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night"), probably
refers to the morning and evening sacrifice, and indicates that the
psalm was to be sung at the offering of theseon the Sabbath. sacrifices

This is confirmed by the next verse, " upon an instrument of ten

strings; and upon the psaltery upon the harp with a solemn sound."
;

These were evidently connected with the worship of God. Here,

then, we have the same exposition of the Mosaic command; the only
one consistent with the permanent character attributed by Christ to
the Mosaic law. It cannot belong to both the Old and New Testa-
ments, if we look at the surface alone.

XIV. Neglect of the Sabbath by the Jews.

" 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. But the house
of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness .... and my Sabbaths they
 38

greatly polluted." (Ezek. xx. 12, 13.) (Compare ver. 20.) " And hallow my
Sabbaths ; and they shall be a sign between me and yon, that ye may know
that I am the Lord your God."

If we understand by the polluting of the Sabbath, only the

here,
disturbance of outward rest, we involve ourselves in no little difficulty.
The prophet could evidently only refer to well-known facts, to such,
that is, as were contained in the authentic history of the Mosaic times,
the books of Moses. But these contain nothing, on which a charge of
this Hitzig, indeed, cites two cases,
description could be founded.
that of the few who went out to look for manna, and that of the man
who gathered sticks. But these examples have no weight. They only
speak of the acts of a few individuals, whilst Ezekiel has evidently in
view a national sin. The man who gathered sticks was taken prisoner,
and, at the command of God, stoned by the whole congregation. This
fact, therefore, shows, that at that time the Sabbath was, outwardly
at least, strictly observed. Further, nothing of this kind is ever re-
lated of the second generation in the wilderness ;
yet the same charge
is brought against them (ver. 24). We must, therefore, acknowledge
that Ezekiel looked upon the keeping of the Sabbath as something
deeper than the outward act, that to him the pollution of the Sabbath

consisted just in this, that they thought they had sufficiently sancti-
fied it by resting from work, and might then give themselves up to

the pleasures of an unrenewed heart. This was Calvin's opinion.

" The charge refers, not so much to the disturbance of rest, as to their
neglect of the design and proper use of the Sabbath." If we take
this view of the prophet's complaint, it is confirmed by all the accounts,
contained in the books of Moses, of the ungodly character of the
people in the times of Moses. It was on the Sabbath, which can
never come in as an oasis, when the six days are a perfect waste, that
this appeared in its most glaring light, and for this reason was just the
point on which the prophet seized.
The Sabbath appears here as the outward self-manifestation of the
Church, the practical proof of the lifeof God in it, and of its life in
God, the seal of its separation from the world. Alas, then, for him,
who ungratefully annuls this privilege of the Church, and causes it to

be ridiculed by the world, instead of giving to it an imposing aspect,

which shall attract rather than repel. This object, however, can never
be attained by rest alone. Lastly, the Sabbath is introduced here as
something characteristic of Israel alone. It is spoken of as given first

and exclusively to the Jews. They, therefore, who seek for " remains
 39

of the Sabbath amongst the heathen," are acting in opposition to the

teaching of the prophet.

XV. The Disciples charged with a Breach of the Sabbath.

" At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his ;

disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
But when the pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do
that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them,
Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that
were with him how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-
;

bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with
him, but only for the priests ? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the
Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless ?
But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if
ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would
not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the
Sabbath day." (Matt. xii. 18.)

In this passage the Saviour leaves it undecided, whether the rubbing

out of the ears of corn belonged to the work forbidden on the Sabbath,
or not. It was a question that admitted of dispute, although Moses
would certainly not have answered in the affirmative. He first asserts,
in opposition to tbe views of the pharisees, that necessity breaks the
Sabbath ; the disciples had not rubbed out the ears wantonly, but they
hungred. Then again, they were the less in fault, because
it was their

working for his kingdom

had deprived them of the opportunity
that
of providing for their bodily wants. If work for the temple is not
opposed to the command, much less is work for Christ, and that which
is connected with it. The hunger of the disciples was the result of
their labours for Christ's kingdom, so that the question really resolved
itself into this are these allowable ? Love, in the exercise of which
the disciples had become hungry, is that which pleases God,
and not
an outward service, such as that with which the hypocrites sought to
quiet their consciences.
In general the attitude assumed by the Lord here, and on several
other occasions, shows that, with reference to the observance of the
Lord's day, there are other opponents to deal with besides the licen-
tious, and that it is important to be on our guard, lest, in opposing the
latter, in an imprudent and one-sided manner, we should fall into the
hands of the others. On wrong method to
the other hand, it is a
pursue, to form our views on the words of Christ, without remember-
ing that he assumes the basis of the Old Testament as already laid,
 40

and is speaking to those, who are attacked not by the licentious, but
by other foes. He who finds it difficult to fall in with the observance
of days, has first to turn to the Old Testament. False liberty must
find its corrective there. First Moses, and then Christ.
The Saviour expressly declares here, that real personal necessity jus-
tified the breach of the Sabbath, the disturbance ofits rest. David
had nothing but hunger to justify his eating the shew-bread in defiance
of the Mosaic law. The conscience must decide, what works of neces-
sity really are. But we must not impose too severe a task upon the
conscience. We must avoid compressing necessity into too narrow
bounds. Otherwise it is easy to fall into the error of the pharisees,
even whilst admitting the general principle, on the authority of the
Lord, that works of necessity are to be regarded as exceptions.
To the faithful Christian, indeed, the words of Paul are fully appli-
cable here " All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient."
:

But he will make only a sparing and prudent use of the liberty given
him by the Lord, because in a time of indifference to the Lord's day,
such as ours is, that which is in itself lawful may easily tend to con-
firm others in indifference, and lead them, without necessity, to disre-
gard the Lord's day.
The exception, pointed out by Christ, places on the same footing the
shew-bread and the Sabbath rest. They agree in this, that they are
both means, not ends. The shew-bread typified good works, and pro-
moted the performance of them the rest of the Sabbath was but the
;

means, of which devotion was the end. Now that, which is only
means to an end, can never be placed on an equality with that which
has its importance in itself. This should be impressed more strongly
on the minds of those, who maintain so earnestly that there is no dif-
ference between the fourth commandment and the others, amidst which
it stands. The latter are under all circumstances indispensable no ;

necessity can justify a breach of them. It will never do to stretch

the cords too tightly. The effect will then be just the reverse of that
which was intended. But in this, the Sabbath command agrees with
the others, that in its essence it cannot be abolished, without the moral
world falling into ruins. And he is no friend to the human race who
would substitute his own will for that necessity, which appears here
as a dispensation on the part of God.
The second exception pointed out by the Lord, is, that the com-
mand to rest is principally and absolutely directed only against work-
.

ing for one's own interest and the affairs of this life. To help others
 41

forward in the Divine life, can never be to act in opposition to a com-

mand to rest, but is rather embraced in it ; for this is but to advance
the end, of which the rest was appointed as the means. The Lord is
only speaking here of the undue straining of the idea of rest. The
pharisees themselves were obliged to admit the force of the argument,
from the work enjoined by the law itself upon the priests, as soon as
they caught a glimpse of the personal dignity of the Redeemer.
Their disputing this troubled him so much the less, because they were
convinced in their consciences, and only wilfully suppressed this testi-

mony within. It belongs to majesty to pass unnoticed the attacks,

which are foolishly and wickedly directed against it.

The fact, moreover, that under the law the priests were obliged to
break the Sabbath, makes a large rent in the pharisaic notion of the
Sabbath. If the prohibition of work stood on an equality with that
of murder, theft, and adultery, the priests would never have dared to
break their rest. In the parallel passage in Mark there is added,
" And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sab-
bath." The pharisees regarded the Sabbath as a power superior to
men. Rather let a man perish body and soul, than disturb the rest of
the Sabbath, which, in their opinion, was important for its own sake,

and to which they attributed an independent worth. The Lord regards

the rest, in harmony with Moses, as only a help to devotion. If, then,
it was appointed only for the sake of man, it could never present an
obstacle to the performance of anything which the Saviour, either
himself or through his servants, had to do for the good of men.

XVI. Pharisaic Scruples met by Christ.

" And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they
asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days ? that they might
accuse him. And he said unto them, "What man shall there be among you that
shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not
lay hold on it, and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep ?
Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." (Matt. xii. 10 12.)
Bengel remarks on this passage, " The subject of the Sabbath occu-
pies a considerable portion of the evangelical history." This fact is of
no little importance. It can scarcely be supposed that the Lord would
have taken so much care to correct the erroneous opinions which pre-
vailed as to the Sabbath, if this had been, in its essence, purely an Old
Testament institution. No one will take much trouble about the im-
 42

provement of a house, which is directly after to be pulled entirely

down. The Saviour does not oppose, with anything like the same
assiduity, the prevalent notions with regard to the temple.
Whilst it follows from what has been said, that the Sabbath was
intended to continue, in substance, under the New Testament, we are,
by the very nature of the Saviour's instructions, thrown back upon the
Old. These instructions have not an appearance of completeness. They
always presuppose the positive teaching of the Old Testament. They
correct particular mistakes, or fill up particular parts, which were there
not fully developed, and might easily be overlooked or misunderstood.
Still, all that the New Testament teaches with regard to the Sabbath is

of a fragmentary character, unless taken in connexion with the ground-

work of the Old Testament.
It is an important sentence to which the Saviour here gives utter-
ance :
" It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." It is closely con-
nected with the Old Testament point of view, though nowhere directly
expressed there. He who keeps to the letter only might indeed think,
that the Sabbath was intended purely as a day of worship. The act of
Christ shows, that the expression " it is lawful," is only chosen with
reference to the pharisaic expression, " it is unlawful," and really
means it is praiseworthy, that in fact he regards the Sabbath as the day,
to which, more than to any other the doing of good belongs. The disease
of the man was not one, in which danger would result from delay.
The healing could not be justified on the ground that it was lawful in
cases of necessity. How easily could Jesus have waited a few hours
till the end of the Sabbath ! The ruler of the synagogue would have
praised him then. But the fact that Christ so often healed on the
Sabbath, suggests the idea that he purposely chose this day. On the
Sabbath he taught Capernaum and cast out an unclean
in spirit. On
the Sabbath he healed a woman that was diseased, and the sick man at
the pool of Bethesda, and gave sight to the blind.
In order, however, to draw a correct conclusion from these occur-
rences, we must keep well in view their symbolical character. The
material side has throughout only subordinate importance. These
cures of the body were but typical of that which Jesus does as phy-
sician of souls. It is only in this light that Matthew regards them- as
fulfilling the predictions of Isaiah, " he took our infirmities, and bare
our sicknesses " (Matt. viii. 17). The cures of Jesus go hand in hand
with the fact, that he went into the synagogue and taught.


43

XVII. Healing, the proper work of the Sabbath.

" Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision ; (not that it is of Moses, but
of the fathers and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the
;)

Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken ;

are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sab-
bath day i "(John vii. 22, 23.)

We cannot agree with Bengel, that the words " not that it is of
Moses," were designed to raise circumcision above the Sabbath, and
bring to light its greater value. Apart from other reasons, it is

opposed to the context, in which the duty to circumcise is founded

upon the law of Moses alone. We look upon the remark as simply
a historical comment in passing. But, even in this light, it appears
to indicate that the Sabbath was first introduced in the time of
Moses. Had the Saviour considered that the notice of the Sabbath
in Genesis ii. denoted the period of its institution, he would cer-
tainly not have made a remark with regard to circumcision only,
which would then have been equally applicable to the Sabbath.
Jesus had made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath. On
this rests the similarity to circumcision. Had the cure been con-
fined to the body, it would have been inferior to circumcision, which
had reference to the health That the bodily disease,
of the soul.
in the case referred to by Jesus, was only the outward sign of an
inward spiritual disease, is shown by John v. 14, where Jesus says
to the healed man, " Behold, thou art made whole sin no more :

lest a worse thing come unto thee." As the evil had commenced
with the soul, so must the cure also. In Matt. ix. 2, Jesus says to
the palsied man, " Son, be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee."
;

Thus did the Lord point out the day of rest, as one intended as a
" medicina mentis " both to one's self and others.

XVIII. Paul's Choice oe the Sabbath for his Missionary Work.

" Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came
to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews ; as his manner
and Paul,
was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the
scriptures. Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and
risen again from the dead and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is
;

Christ. . And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded

. .

the Jews and the Greeks. (Acts xvii. 1 3, xviii. 4.)

These passages show, that on the Sabbath Paul performed nearly all
his missionary work. He was accustomed to go on the Sabbath into
 44

the synagogues and preach Christ, and in this way he converted

both Jews and Greeks. Hence we see that the practical importance
of the weekly festival was fully recognised by Paul. That, which he
had found so important, he was not likely to wish to set aside. We
may obtain from this a preliminary rule, which may help us to ascertain
the meaning of the expressions we are about to examine.

XIX. Paul's Warning against a Distinction of Days.

" One man esteemeth one day above another another considers all days;

alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (Rom. xiv. 5.)
" Let no man, therefore, judge you by meat or by drink, or in respect of a
festival, or a new moon, or Sabbaths -which are a shadow of things to come
; ;

but the body is of Christ." (Coloss. ii. 16.)
" But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Gal. iv.

9, 10.

It has been often thought, that the arguments of the apostle are
directed entirely against the transference of the Jewish festivals, as
such, to the Christian Church, and, therefore, concern us no further.
But, if this were the case, the apostle would mention them particularly
in all three passages, as he does in the second. The fact, that in the

first and second he speaks against all preference of days and times,
shows that the Jewish festive times are only regarded by him as speci-
mens of a class, and that his sentence of condemnation fixes upon
Christian festivals also, as soon as such views are entertained of them,
as placethem in the same category with those of the Jews.
The Jewish idea of the festivals, which is to be distinguished from

that of the Israelites contained in the Old Testament, was this, that
these festivals were the only bright points amidst the darkness of the
people's life, that they were, from the first, distinct from all other days,
and that they possessed an inherent holiness. They were not regarded
as means for promoting the holiness of every day but the keeping ;

them holy was thought to be in itself enough. The transference to

Christianity of this miserable view is nothing less than contempt and
denial of Christ. By his redemption he has made a full end of all

piecemeal religion ; and, since his atonement and the pouring out of
the Holy Spirit, nothing less than the filling of the whole life by Christ
will find acceptance ; and every setting apart of sacred times is worth-
less, except for the purpose of using them as means to this greater
 45

end. Their points of departure must be man's sinfulness and weak-

ness, which render it necessary to employ such means, and require
that at times we should concentrate the light, that we may the more
effectually contend against the darkness. The Jewish idea of the festi-
vals, which was objectionable even from the Old Testament point of
view, is, since the coming of Christ, an unpardonable anachronism.
We have passed the limits drawn by the apostle with regard to the
Christian festivals, if we think with Liebetrut, " that the necessity for
them is something more than practical, that it reaches beyond the mere
notion of their usefulness and adaptation ;" or if we hold with Riicker
that, " the setting apart of days may be imagined possible even in a

state of innocence ;" or ifwe agree with Kraussold that, " the Church
was not at liberty to choose any day but Sunday for its worship, and,
if it had chosen another day, this would not have been truly the

Lord's day, the festival of the New Testament." Even scrupulosity

and excessive rigour, in the observance of days, rest generally, though
perhaps unconsciously, upon a somewhat Jewish notion of sacred
days. It is not till they have been invested with a false halo of sanc-
tity, that there arises an anxious fear of desecrating them. But if

we regard them as means to an end, our relation to them will be one

of greater liberty, though, still, we shall not forget the warning of the
apostle, "use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh." In this case
the rule, by which to decide whether a certain thing is allowable on the
Lord's day or not, is to ascertain whether it helps or hinders the life in

God. It cannot be a harmless matter to cherish, however slightly, the

views which are condemned by the apostle. Were it so, he would not
have said so earnestly, " I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon
you labour in vain." In the warmth of our zeal against the frivolity
and wickedness with which the Lord's day is despised, we must never
forget that there are dangers, too, on the other side ; we must take
care that whilst calling attention to the former dangers, we do not con-
tent ourselves with a partial view, like those who oppose the interests
of the church.
The apostle speaks in the passage quoted from the Epistle to the
Galatians of the elements of the world. These elements are, as in

Heb. v. 12, the beginnings or first principles of religion.* In Gal.

* We
adopt the usual explanation of the elements of the world. (Thus
Ruclcert says, " First principles of knowledge such as the world possesses, in
contradistinction from the higher and more perfect wisdom of the children of
 ;

46

iv. 3, he speaks of the elements of the world in connexion with children.

Where we meet with such mere first principles of religion, we may be
sure that the cause is not to be found in God, but that the fallen, cor-
rupt world, has been at work. Compare 1 John ii. 16 and that ;

which is said in 1 Cor. i. 20 and iii. 19 of the wisdom of the world.

Such a worldly A, B, C, religion was heathenism with its worship of
Nature. Such a worldly A, B, C, religion was Judaism with its restric-

tion of the sphere of religion to the festivals, with its notion that the
observance of these was all that God required, that they were something
more than the firstamongst equals, and with its heartless celebration
of the festivals themselves, which was the necessary consequence of
such a notion " when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell
;

corn,and the Sabbath, that we may have wheat cheap making the ;

ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances ? That
we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes ?"
The apostle designates these elements of the world as " weak and
beggarly." They cannot fully and truly satisfy the spiritual wants
they look miserably poor by the side of the riches of Christ, which are
sufficient to sanctify the whole human life. The apostle speaks of a
slavish servicewhich is rendered to these elements. Wherever Christ
is not embraced in living faith, and the sun has therefore not arisen,

which enlightens the whole life, wherever a man is still devoted to a

piecemeal religion, which is confined to certain observances, and seeks
salvation in them, there he groans under a heavy yoke, " there the
spirit gnaws, and complains, and still pursues true pleasure in vain."
Real freedom is only to be found where the true and perfect Christ is,

with his spirit and gifts, and there all piecemeal religion is at an end.

XX. The Lord's Day.

" I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." (Rev. i. 10.)

There can be no doubt that the Lord's day here is our Sunday. A
comparison of ver. 5 and 18 leads to the conclusion that it was called

God.") In Neander's view, "the elements of the world are worldly, natural
objects, the world in general, the same as Paul generally speaks of under the
name of carnal things. This subjection to the elements of the world had its
culminating point in the deifying of Nature." But this does not explain why the
apostle speaks of the elements of the world. If we understand the" elementary
matter of nature, Time can scarcely be regarded as belonging to this, nor can we
see why it should be regarded as a slavish service jendered to Time, that the
Jews considered certain days as specially holy.
 47

so, as the day of resurrection, and, therefore, without any regard to

what the Church would do on it, but simply on account of that which
the Lord had done on it. Still, what the Lord had done on this day

was in itself an inducement to the Church to observe it and it was ;

by yielding to this, by giving himself up to the death-conquering power

of Christ, that the apostle became able and worthy to receive his reve-
lation.

We meet with the Sunday here for the first time under a spiritual
name. In the evangelical history, and in the epistles, it only appears
under its natural name. It is there always called the first day of the
week. The keeping of the day, however, preceded the new name.
On the very first return of the day on which Christ had risen, we find
the apostles assembled in remembrance of that which had occurred a
week before, hoping probably that the Lord would appear again and ;

this day is distinguished for the second time by the appearance of the
risen Saviour (John xx. 24 29).
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians,
appoints the first day of the week as the day on which each one should
lay by his gifts. On the first day of the week we find the Christians
in Troas assembled to " break bread " (Acts xx. 7). The apostle had
arrived just a week before, and was evidently anxious to be with them
a second time on the first day of the week.
How did the observance of Sunday originate in the Christian
church ? " The New Testament festival," says Kraussold, " has its

roots in the Divine act of redemption, is devoted to the praise and

honour of this act, and on this act and its meaning is the manner of
its observance founded." " The Lord's day ! this is in itself sufficient

to lead the Christian mind to regard it as sacred without a law, and to

shrink from neglect of it as from a desecration." This, however, is

more than we can say. For this event to exert precisely this influence,
the Church must already have been impressed with the unconditional
necessity of a weekly festival, and this conviction must have been first
derived from the scriptures of the Old Testament, especially from the
ten commandments, as well as from observing the blessing, which in
the Church of the Old Testament rested upon the fulfilment of this
command, in spite of all the corruptions which had crept in. And so
with regard to the manner of observing it, this, too, was decided with
reference to the Old Testament revelation. Without this the Chris-
tians would never have come to so universal an agreement to set apart
the whole day nor would it from the very first have been considered
;

of such great importance, that it should be a day of rest. The autho-

 48

rity of the apostles, which was nowhere exerted, as far as we can per-
ceive, must have been exerted, if there had not been in the Old Testa-
ment a safe regulator at hand.
In every century of the Church's history, the observance of the
Christian festival has been connected in some way with the Old Tes-
tament, and especially the ten commandments, even where there has
been the clearest conviction, that the letter of the Mosaic law was only
for the Jews. A consciousness which manifests itself so uniformly in
every age of the Christian Church, must have existed at its commence-
ment.
And if the necessity for a weekly returning day is to be gathered
from the Old Testament, the fact of the resurrection does not offer the

only reason why this day should have been chosen. The continuance
of the Sabbath, even in the Church of the New Testament, might have
been advocated on forcible grounds ; and history shows that it was
with a heavy heart that the Church left it at last. The historical
continuation of the kingom of God would thus have appeared in the
clearest light. The Sabbath, first consecrated to the contemplation of
the works of God, was well fitted to take into connexion with them the
completion of those works in Christ. The Church, however, was not
bound to this day. It knew that the letter of the Old Testament law
did not apply to it at all, and that the spirit of the command did not
consist in the observance of this day, but only in the keeping of some
one day. And all that could be adduced in favour of the Sabbath was
outweighed by one important reason for its discontinuance. A number
of false notions, prejudices and bad practices had become connected
with this day, and since, in the course of centuries, they had taken

deep root in Judaism, it would have been a difficult matter to pre-

vent their coming over into the Christian Church, especially as they
were strongly supported by the Judaizing party in the Church. The
choice of another day tore this danger up by the roots, When this
was once determined upon, the day of the resurrection, from the im-
portance of this event to the Church, would naturally offer itself. Still

we have no right to suppose that the Church was bound to this

day and the question started by Kraussold, " supposing the Church
;

had chosen another day for its worship, would this have been the
Lord's day, the New Testament must be unhesitatingly
festival ? "

answered in the affirmative. We have no more right

to say that Sun-

day was exclusively, or even chiefly, dedicated " to the praise and
honour of the fact of the resurrection," than that " the Old Testament
 49

Sabbath rests upon the completion of the creation, and is dedicated to

the praise of this creation, and the confession of God, who made the
heavens and the earth." The day of the New Testament is rather a
day of spiritual refreshment, a day for meeting together, and seeking
edification in the worship of God and on
; it all the works of God, from
the beginning of the world, are the proper objects of contemplation,
everything, in fact, by which God has made to himself a name, and re-
vealed his nature. If these events all culminate in the resurrection,
and the day of resurrection is thus especially recommended, still the
boundary line between this and other memorable days, such as that of
Christ's death, of his ascension, and the pouring out of the Spirit,

cannot be so clearly drawn, that the Church must be unconditionally

and under all circumstances bound to it. If, for instance, the day
of resurrection had been a Sabbath, the Church would have had
perfect freedom to choose another day, in order to keep clear of
Jewish corruptions. And even if we wished to place the New Tes-
tament festival in direct connexion with the resurrection, we should
not therefore be right in maintaining the absolute necessity of -choosing
just the Sunday. It is, indeed, pleasant, and more exciting, to keep

up the remembrance of an event on the day on which it happened.

But it is not absolutely necessary. No one would think of assert-
ing, that the keeping of a birthday materially suffers, because, from
some cause or other, it is held upon another day than the actual
day of birth. Or, to take a more pertinent case, the enjoyment of
the Christian Christmas festival is not really affected by the fact,

that we have no means of ascertaining whether it is really held upon

the day on which the Word became flesh. We cannot maintain
the necessity of choosing the day of the resurrection, " in praise and
honour of this event," without trespassing upon the view so expressly

condemned by Paul, according to which certain days are in them-

selves more holy than others, and coming into collision with the
Saviour's words to the woman of Samaria (John iv. 21), " Ye shall

neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father."

For what the Saviour says here of places of worship, is evidently as
true of times.
If, then, we inquire on what the Sunday festival rests, the first

ground is evidently the authority of the Church. " Everywhere," says

Liebetrut, with pe-fect correctness, " where the Church has been and
is, it has kept the Sunday as the Lord's day, and its own day. The
authority of the Church, so far as this is the bride of Christ, led by the
E
 50

Spirit of the Lord, is itself a divine authority, from which none of its
true members can withdraw." To cast away this authority altoge-
ther, is a sad symptom of historical rationalism, of which rationalism,
commonly so called, is but the necessary consequence, springing from
the common root of spiritual pride, which fancies that wisdom will die
with it, and that it has monopolized all its treasures.
He who with humility acknowledges this authority, which no one
can slight without at the same time slighting the Lord, who has pro-
mised his Spirit to his Church to lead it into all truth, who has pro-
mised also to be with it always to the end of the world, and has said,
" Whoso heareth you, heareth me ;" such a man will soon have his
eyes opened to perceive how great a blessing has attended this arrange-
ment of the Church, and will thus be confirmed in the conviction, that
ithas been made in the Spirit of the Lord. " The living practice pre-
ceded all theory, and decided long ago as to the undeniable necessity
for the regular Sunday festival, and as to the good resulting from it,

which nothing else could supply.'' He who has once acknowledged this
authority will perceive, more and more clearly, the internal grounds for
the necessity of preserving the Lord's day. He will see that without
such an arrangement the Church would soon cease to be a church,
amidst the labours, and cares, and distractions of human life ; that it
would perish through dulness,
indifference, and an animal nature that, ;

in fact, the best

means which Satan could apply in order to make the
Church's watchword, "Let the whole life be a Sabbath," but empty
words, would be to encourage doubt as to the utility of setting apart
particular days for rest.
But we must not stop here. We, who are evangelical, cannot deny
the abstract possibility that the Church has done wrong. All that the
authority of the Church does for us, is to excite a decidedly favourable
prepossession. The internal grounds, too, are still open to an impar-
tial sifting. They only suffice in cases, in which there is no inclination
to break through the fences of the day of rest, and no strong tempta-
tion from without. But these are, after all, but outworks; the real
citadel is still the command which sounded on Sinai, with all the words
of God which are connected with it, either preparing the way, or ex-
panding the letter, or confirming its importance, or guarding from
abuse. The institution is far too important, the temptations too
strong, for us to be able to dispense with a solid scriptural foundation.
The fact that the New Testament
r
presents one of so partial a descrip-
tion, refers us decidedly to the Old ; and if we but open this with the
 51

prayer, " Lord, open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out
of thy law," we shall find what we seek, and discover how good a
thing it is that the heart be established. It is clear that the force of

the Old Testament command has not diminished, but increased. This
is but a necessary consequence of the fact that the redemption effected
by Christ is incomparably more glorious than the deliverance from
Egypt, on which, in the introduction to the ten commandments, the
obligation to obey them is based. No ingratitude is so black as that
which refuses obedience to God, after he has given for us his only-
begotten Son.

E 2
 PAET II.

tfre 3tikM\ of tfo fetos, w& tlje ^uito of christians.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF OPINIONS ON THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE SABBATH

AND SUNDAY.
There can be no doubt, that the circumstances of the times render a
thorough examination of this part of our subject highly desirable. It

is unfortunate that this has been so long delayed. The numerous

accounts received from England and America of the agitation of the
question of Sabbath observance, have necessarily suggested the fre-
quent inquiry, what estimate ought we to form of the fundamental
doctrine held by English andAmerican Christians on this subject?
And the subject has excited the more attention in consequence of
attempts originating in England, but principally made through the
medium of the Tract Society of Lower Saxony, to introduce this doc-
trine Germany. Many adopt it without hesitation, because it
into
seems them the only remedy for the evils which prevail in reference
to
to the observance of Sunday the injurious effects of which are seen
:

most clearly by those who come most into connexion with the world.
Others, who are most interested in the doctrinal question, are driven to
the other extreme, and oppose this doctrine with all their hearts,
at the risk of thereby increasing the gaiety so prevalent on the Sunday.
Our intention here is to establish an opinion, which shall be satis-

factory both from the practical and doctrinal points of view. But
before we proceed to this, we think it necessary to glance at the
history of the opinions which have prevailed in the Christian Church,
 53

as to the relation of Sunday to the Sabbath, and thus prepare the way
for our own discussion of the subject.
To exhibit at the outset the chief design of the following historical
sketch, we give here an extract from Gemberg's " Scotch Church,"
which contains an outline of the opinions generally held in Great
Britain and America :

" The law of the Sabbath is of divine autho-
rity, given by God in the days of our first parents, and afterwards
repeated by Moses to the children of Israel. Christ did not repeal it,

but taught us how to interpret, and keep it rightly. It is not merely

a ritual law, but stands amongst the commandments of the Decalogue,
to which he gave, in theSermon on the Mount, a more spiritual
explanation, but which he did not repeal. Paul, in Rom. xiv. 5, 6,
Gal. iv. 10, Col. ii. 16, warns against a false Jewish mode of obser-
vance, and justly enforces the one thing needful, that Christ be formed
in us, without on that account treating as antiquated this primeval
command of God." According to this view the only difference be-
tween the Sabbath of the Old Testament and the Sunday of the New is,

that, under the latter, the first day of the week has taken the-place of
the seventh by divine command. With this exception, the Jewish
Sabbath and Christian Sunday are precisely the same.
This opinion, that the Jewish Sabbath has been simply transferred
to the Sunday was entirely unknown in the first ages of Christianity ;

so much so, that it is never even discussed; whilst the opposite opinion
is always mentioned, without any appearance of partiality, as that
which universally prevailed. And there was never any controversy in
reference to the Sabbath, except with the Jews, who required that the
Christians should observe the seventh day, and with the Manicheans,
who concluded that because the orthodox Christians did not keep the
Sabbath, they secretly distinguished between the God of the Old
Testament and the God of the New. An examination of a few wit-
nesses of great importance will prove the correctness of our assertion.
In this our object is simply historical, and we by no means wish to
defend the many obscurities and one-sided errors which are mixed up
with their testimonies. We shall pronounce upon these when we
state our own opinion, so that it will be unnecessary to do this when-
ever they occur. Our only concern at present is to ascertain the

leading principles, which were professed by the early Christian Church.

Justin Martyr* in his Dialogue,! introduces the Jew, Tryphon, as

Died " cum Tryph.

* a.d. 163. t Dialogus c. 10.

54

making the following objection to the Divine origin of Christianity :

" This is the strangest thing to us, that you, who pretend to be pious,
and think yourselves better than other men, are not in any respect
different from them, but still imitate the Gentiles in your lives, by
refusing to observe either the festivals, or the Sabbaths, or circumci-
sion.'" To this Justin replies, not that the Sabbath is transferred to
the Sunday, but that the whole Mosaic law is abolished. " The law
given on Horeb has now grown old, and belongs you alone the new
to ;

law is for all without distinction. But since one law has been given
in the place of another, the later has repealed the earlier, and the new
covenant fixes the termination of the old. To us, however, Christ is

given as a last and eternal law, the sure covenant, which contains no
law, no commandment, and no precept." He contrasts the spiritual
Sabbath-keeping of the New Testament with the outward observance
of the Old (c. 12). " The new law requires that you keep a. perpetual
Sabbath, and you fancy you are pious, if you spend one day in idle-
ness, without understanding why this was prescribed. If there is
amongst you a perjurer or a thief, let him leave his sins if an adul- ;

terer, let him repent thus will he keep the true and acceptable Sab-
;

bath to the Lord." He maintains (c. 18) that the keeping of the
Sabbath, and other similar things, were enjoined by God solely with
reference to the peculiar condition of the people of Israel, and were,
therefore, not an eternal law, but alterable according to circumstances.
" We would retain circumcision, and the Sabbath, and all the feasts,
without hesitation, if we did not know the reasons for which they
w ere
r
enjoined on you, namely, on account of your lawlessness and
hardness of heart." He speaks of the law of the Sabbath as a means
of reminding a rude people of its God. He answers the assertion,
that the law of the Sabbath is valid for ever, by remarking that in that
case, instead of being first given to Israel in the wilderness, it would
have been given from the very first to the whole human race, of which
we find no trace. " If we deny this (that the law of the Sabbath is
abolished, &c), we must entertain the preposterous opinion, that it
was not the same God who was the God of Enoch and of all those
who had no circumcision, and neither kept the Sabbath nor the other
things which Moses commanded. Or, if it were the same, that he
did not wish the whole human race to perform the same duties to him.
To suppose this would be ridiculous. But to maintain that he, who
is always the same, commanded this and other similar things on ac-
count of the sins of men, is but to represent him as the friend of man,
 ;

55

and good." " If no circumcision was neces-

foreseeing, perfect, just,
sary before Abraham, and no Sabbath, no festivals, and no sacrifices
before Moses, there is no necessity for them now, since the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, has been born of the Virgin, by the will of God,
of the seed of Abraham."
Tertidlian* argues at great length against the Jewish notion of the
perpetual obligation of the law of the Sabbath. He says, amongst
other things :
" Lastly, let them show that Adam kept the Sabbath ;

or that Abel, when he brought a sacred offering, pleased God by keep-

ing the Sabbath ; or that Enoch, who was translated to heaven, was
an observer of the Sabbath Noah, who prepared the ark on
; or that
account of the great flood, kept the Sabbath or that Abraham offered ;

his son Isaac in observance of the Sabbath or that Melchizedek in ;

his priesthood received the law of the Sabbath. But the Jews will
say, since this law was given by Moses it has been always necessary
to observe it. But we have here at the same time a confession, that
the commandment is not an eternal and spiritual, but a temporal one
one, therefore, which was to come to an end." f ;
Jrenceus\ expresses himself to the same effect.

Augustine ||
explains his views of the Sabbath in many places, but
most fully in his work against the Manichean, Faustus. He considers
the law of the Sabbath to be purely ceremonial the keeping of the ;

Sabbath a symbolical act, a type of the saints' rest from earthly labours,
which has been secured by Christ, and as having, therefore, ceased,
with all the shadows of the Old Testament, as soon as the essence

came. "We select a few passages B. vi. c. 1 " Faustus said, dost : :

thou accept the Old Testament ? What, accept that whose command-
ments I do not obey ? I believe that thou also dost not. For I reject
circumcision as repulsive, and I believe that thou dost the same. The
keeping of the Sabbath I look upon as something superfluous, and so
do you." C. 2 " Augustine said, I answer that they are thoroughly
:

ignorant of the great difference which exists between the precepts

which are to guide the life, and the precepts which are to indicate life.
For example, thou shalt not covet, is a precept which is to guide the
life; thou shalt circumcise every male, is a precept which is to indi-
cate it. From the stand-point of the present they blame the things
which were suited to that time, and which indicated as future that

* Died a.d. 220. f C. Judrcus, c. 4. X Died a.d. 202.

' C. Hser. iv. c. 30. ||
Died a.d. 430.
 56

which is now made known." C. 4 :

" The observance of the festival
of the Sabbath appears to us now superfluous, since the hope of our
eternal rest has been revealed. But it is not useless to read of and
understand it, because, as that which is now revealed to us was pre-
dicted in the prophetic times, not only by words, but also by actions,
so by this sign that which we now possess was prefigured." B. xvi. c. 28 :

" As what thou sayest about the Sabbath, and circumcision, and
to
difference of meats, Moses taught one thing, and, from Christ, Christians
have learned another ; thus we have said above, in the apostle's words,
all these are types for us. It is, therefore, not the doctrine, but the
age, which has changed. For the age, in which this could only be
taught by figurative prophecies, was different from that in which it is

fully revealed by the truth, which is made manifest, and has been im-
parted to us. But what wonder is it that the Jews, who only under-
stood the Sabbath according to the letter, resisted Christ, who inter-
"
preted it according the spirit ? to
In his 36th letter* he says :
" The Lord allowed the disciples to
rub out the ears of corn and eat on the Sabbath, in order that the
former might serve to refute those who advocated idleness on the Sab-
bath, and the latter those who would enjoin fasting showing that the ;

former is superstitious, since the times are changed ; the latter, both
under the Old and New Testaments, always free."
In the letter to Januarius,f he unfolds the spiritual meaning of the
Sabbath law, and then continues :
" And, for this reason, the only
one of the ten commandments, which refers to the Sabbath, is to be
regarded as figurative : and we have received the figure, that we may
understand it, but not that we may keep it by bodily inactivity. The
observance of it by the Jews themselves would have been justly pro-
nounced ridiculous, if it had not indicated another spiritual rest."
How far he was from placing the Sabbath and Sunday on an equality,
is evident from his attributing to the Sunday a spiritual meaning alto-
gether different from that of the Sabbath. The Sabbath denotes, in
his opinion, the rest of the whole earthly nature, the Sunday the new
heavenly life.

Jerome,\ commenting on Gal. iv. 10, starts the question, whether,

if, as Paul says, we are not to observe days, or months, or times,
Christians do not fall into this error in their observance of Sunday

* Opp. ii. p. 53. Bened. Cler. f Ep. 55. al. 119.

+ Died a.d. 420. Opp. t. ix. p. 142.
 57

and other festivals. He answers this question by pointing out that

the Christian festivals have an entirely different signification from those
of the Jews. To the Christian every day is a Sunday, a Whitsuntide
and Easter But to enhance enjoyment by intercourse, and
festival.

for the sake of the weaker Christians, who are too deeply engrossed

in the business of the world to be able to keep a perpetual festival,

the Church has chosen out of the days of the year, which are all equal
in themselves, some few in which especially to magnify the gifts of the
grace of God which have been bestowed upon them. He says,

amongst other things: " And lest disorder in the assembling of the
people should diminish their faith in Christ, certain days have been
appointed, that we may all meet at the same time. Not as though
there were any superiority in the day on which we meet, but in order
that, whichever day is chosen for our meetings, the sight of each other
may increase our pleasure. But if we were to give a strict answer to
the question started, we should say, that all days are alike, that not
Friday only is to be regarded as the day on which Christ was crucified,
nor Sunday only as the day on which he rose, but that every day is

to us the sacred day of resurrection, and every day we eat of the flesh
of the Lord."
Jerome agrees with Augustine as to the spiritual interpretation of
the Sabbath law, so far as Christians are concerned. He says on
Isa. lviii., " The Sabbath, which word means rest, must be always
sanctified by believers, by their doing continually not the will of the
flesh, but that of the Spirit."* And on Ezekiel xliii., " The literal
Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Jews, is properly neglected by those who
are a chosen, royal, priestly, race. He sanctifies God's Sabbath, who
bears on that Sabbath no burden of sin."
We may see from the following circumstances, how far the Chris-
tians of the early ages of the Church were from entertaining the opinion,
that the Sabbath was transferred to the Sunday :
1. Work was under
certain circumstances considered lawful. It is true, that Tertullian
says, " business is laid aside, in order that no place may be given to
the devil " in which Neander^: thinks, that a trace of the erroneous
;

opinion, that the law of the Sabbath was transferred to the Sunday
may be observed. But apart from other passages of Tertullian, which
are altogether opposed to the notion of such a transfer, the reason

* Opp. t. iv. p. 186. t De Orat. c. 17.

\ Church Hist. v. 1, p. 403. Clark's Ed.

 :

58

given by himself shows, that the cessation of work on the Sunday was
not, as theJews considered it, an act of religion in itself, but only an
ascetic means of promoting the worship of God. Work is to be
abstained from, because it draws away the thoughts from God, and
thus opens the door to the prince of this world. The council of
Laodicea enjoins, in its 29th canon, that " Christians are not to
imitate the Jews, and be idle on the Sabbath, but to work on that day ;

but on the Sunday, if circumstances allow, they are to abstain from

work as Christians." This, " if circumstances allow," is worth atten-
tion. Balsamon, a later writer on canon law, has this suitable com-
ment upon it (p. 839) " Our forefathers enjoined abstinence from
:

work on the Sunday, not as an inviolable command, but added, if be- '

lievers are not prevented by circumstances.' For if any one from

poverty, or other necessity, works on the Sunday, he is not to be con-
demned." And so Zonaras (p. 349) : " The canon adds, '
if circum-
stances allow.' The civil law, on the contrary, commands rest on the
Sunday, unconditionally, with the exception of the agriculturists for ;

these are allowed to work on the Sunday, because when work must be
done, they would probably not be able to find another day so suitable
for it." The Emperor Constantine forbade on the Sunday all judicial
processes, all work on the part of mechanics, and all military exercises,

but expressly allowed agricultural labour. Such a permission is in-

conceiveable if the Sunday was not distinguished from the Sabbath.
The third council of Orleans, in the year 538, says, in its 29th canon
" The opinion is spreading amongst the people, that it is wrong to
ride, or drive, or cook food, or do anything to the house or the person
on the Sunday. But since such opi?u'ons are more Jewish than Chris-
tian, that shall be lawful in future, which has been so to the present
time. On the other hand, agricultural labour ought to be laid aside,
in order that the people may not he prevented from attending church."
The reason here given shows clearly, that even the more stringent
edicts of the later Greek emperors, with regard to agricultural employ-
ment, on the Sunday, did not proceed from any idea that the law of
the Sabbath was transferred to the Sunday. They were dictated by
the same motive, which led both elders of the Church, and rulers in
the State, to unite in the effort to abolish theatrical exhibitions and
other public amusements on the Sunday, namely, from the desire to
remove everything which could interfere with devotion on that day, of
which Augustine says " This day is called the day of the Lord,
:

because on it the Lord rose from the dead ; and also, in order that the
 59

name may teach the importance of entire self- consecration to the

Lord."*
2. Mosheim f has already shown, that a distinction was made in
the primitive Church between the Sabbath and Sunday, from the fact
that the early Christians celebrated the Sabbath as well as the Sunday,
though not in a Jewish manner, by strict abstinence from work (which
is in itself a proof that it was not because the Mosaic law was

thought to be still binding), but by prayer and in remembrance of

the Creator, who finished his work on this day. Such an observance
of the Sabbath would have been altogether unmeaning, if the Sunday
had simply taken its place.
3. Even those theologians who were of opinion that the Sabbath
was instituted immediately after the creation, and kept by the pious
before Moses, never thought of inferring from this, as was afterwards
done, that the Mosaic law of the Sabbath is binding upon Christians
still.

If the opinion had not been so universally prevalent in the time

of the Fathers, that the Sabbath law applied only to Old Testament
times, it would be difficult to explain the fact that the same opinion
prevailed in the Middle Ages, when the inclination was so strong to
bring over that which belonged to the Old Testament into the sphere
of the New. But even here we find no trace of the opinion, that
the Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath, and that the law of
the Sabbath applies to it.

Bede\ says on Gal. iv., " The new covenant is manifestly promised
(in the Old Testament Scriptures), but not after the pattern of the
covenant which was made with the people, when they were brought
out of Egypt. Since, then, in that old covenant, precepts were given,
which are no longer binding upon us who belong to the New, why do
not the Jews confess, that they have remained behind amidst antiquities
which are now superfluous, rather than complain of us who have
new thing which was promised, because we do not ob-
received the
serve the old ? Since the day has thus dawned, the shadows may
well depart ; let the spiritual meaning shine forth, and the_ literal
observance fall. Since that keeping of the Sabbath which consisted in
a day's inactivity is done away, he keeps a perpetual Sabbath who
performs his works in hope of future rest, and boasts not of his good

* De Verb. Apost. serm. 15. f Ethics, P. 5.

t Died a.d. 735.
 60

deeds, as though they were his own, and he had not received them,
but confesses that He who, at the same time, works and rests, is
working in him. The Christian keeps the true Sabbath, when he
abstains from servile work, that is, from sin for he who sins is the ;

servant of sin."* The disciple of Augustine is unmistakeable here.

Thomas Aquinas,] who is renowned both for piety and sagacity,
expresses on this subject a more independent opinion. He regards
the command to keep the Sabbath as applicable, so far as the letter is

concerned, to the Jews alone ; but he endeavours to extract the

kernel from the shell, and to separate from the temporary form, which
belonged only to the people of the Old Testament, the eternal truth
which the commandment contained. To the form belonged, in his
opinion, the appointment of a particular day (which is to be borne in
mind, as showing that he did not derive the choice of Sunday, in the place
of the Sabbath, from divine appointment) and also the precepts as to ;

the manner of keeping it, which were not, in his opinion, inviolable, and
to be literally observed. The outward observance is only of worth as
means to an end ; and the mode is to be determined (a thing unlawful
under the Old Testament), according to its apparent fitness to promote
the end. " This command to '
keep the Sabbath holy,' is, literally

interpreted, partly moral and partly ceremonial. Moral, inasmuch as

men are to devote a certain portion of their time to an attention to
divine things. For men have a natural inclination to fix a certain
time for everything that is necessary, such as for bodily refreshment,
and other things of a similar kind. And, therefore, in compliance
with the dictates of natural reason, they devote a certain fixed time to
that spiritual refreshment by which their spirits are strengthened in
God. Thus it is a moral precept, which enjoins upon men to set apart
a certain time for the purpose of devoting it to divine things. But inas-
much as a special time is named in the commandment as a sign of the
creation, it is in this respect a ceremonial command. Servile works are
inconsistent with the keeping of the Sabbath, so far as they hinder us from
fixing the mind upon divine things. And because a man is kept away
from divine things more by sin than by work, even of the body, the man
who sins breaks the command, more than he who performs any lawful
bodily work. The observance of Sunday, under the new law, follows
the keeping of the Sabbath, not in consequence of a legal precept,
but from the decision of the Church, and the custom of Christians.

* Opp. i. 6, p. 662. t Died a.d. 1224.

 61

For this observance is not typical, as the keeping of the Sabbath was
under the old law. And, therefore, the prohibition of work on the
Sunday is not so strict as on the Sabbath, but some employments are
lawful on the Sunday which were forbidden on the Sabbath, such as
the cooking of food and other similar things. And with regard to
things not allowed, it is easier to obtain a dispensation in case of need
under the new law than under the old, since the design of a type is to
bear witness of the truth, and therefore must not be departed from in
the smallest things ; but works in themselves considered can be
changed according to the changes of time and place."
If, however, there had been anything like an established opinion,
that the Old Testament law of the Sabbath was binding upon the
Church, it would certainly have been overthrown by the powerful
attacks of the Reformers upon any mixture of the Old and New Testa-
ments.
Luther s opinion as to the law of the Sabbath can be easily inferred
from his views as to the Old Testament law in general, and especially
the ten commandments. The distinction, so current in later times,
between the moral and ceremonial laws, according to which only the
latter has been abolished by Christ, whilst the former is valid in all

ages and binding upon all men, received no support from him. He
looked upon the whole law as an outward compulsory letter, only
intended for the Jews ; a view, which, as we shall show in the second
chapter, can only be objected to by those who misunderstand it. Thus
he says, in the work entitled, " Instruction to Christians how to make
use of Moses," " The law of Moses belongs to the Jews, and is no
longer binding upon us. The words of Scripture prove clearly to us,
that the ten commandments do not affect us for God has not brought ;

us out of Egypt, but only the Jews. We are willing to take Moses as
a teacher, but not as our lawgiver, except when he agrees with the
New Testament and with the law of nature. . . . No single point in
Moses binds us. . . . Leave Moses and his people alone. Their work
is done. He has nothing to do with me. I listen to the word, which
concerns me. We have the gospel. . . . We do not read Moses,
because he concerns us, because we have to obey him, but because he
agrees with the law of nature ; and has expressed this law better than
the heathen ever could. In this way the ten commandments are a
mirror of our life, in which we see our defects."
To the same effect he says, in the explanation of the ten command-
ments :
" We must remark at the outset, that the ten commandments
 62

do not apply to us Gentiles and Christians, but only to the Jews. If

a preacher wishes to force you back to Moses, ask him whether you
were brought by Moses out of Egypt. If he says, No, then say, How
then does Moses concern me, since he speaks to the people that have
been brought out of Egypt ? In the New Testament Moses comes to

an end, and his laws lose their force. He must bow in the presence
of Christ. . . . The words, '
I am the Lord thy God,' apply to all of us,
to the whole world, not because Moses has written them, but because
God has created, and preserves and governs all." And in another
passage of the same work he says " We must stop the mouths of the
:

factious spirits, who say, '

Thus says Moses.' Then do you reply,
Moses does not concern us. If I accept Moses in one commandment,

I must accept the whole Moses. In that case I should be obliged to

be circumcised, and to wash my clothes in a Jewish manner, and to
eat and drink, and dress and do everything of this kind, in the manner
in which the Jews are commanded to do them in the law. Therefore,
we will not obey Moses, or accept him. Moses died, and his govern-
ment terminated when Christ came."
Luther's opinion of the Sabbath, in harmony with this general view,
is so clearly expressed in his larger Catechism, that there is no necessity

to bring forward other passages from his writings. " God set apart
the seventh day, and appointed it to be observed, and commanded that
it should be considered holy above all others ; and this command, as
far as the outward observance is concerned, was given to the Jews
alone, that they should abstain from hard labour, and rest, in order
that both man and beast might be refreshed, and not be worn out by
constant work. Therefore this commandment, literally understood,
does not apply to us Christians ; for it is entirely outward, like other
ordinances of the Old Testament, bound to modes, and persons, and
times and customs, all of which are now left free by Christ. But, in
order that the simple may obtain a Christian view of that which
God requires of us in this commandment, observe that we keep a
festival, not for the sake of intelligent and advanced Christians,
for thesehave no need of it but first for the sake of the body, because
;

Nature teaches that the working-classes, servants and maids, who have
spent the whole week in their work and occupation, absolutely require
a day in which they can leave off work, and rest and refresh them-
selves ; and, chiefly, in order that men may, on such a day of rest, have
time and opportunity, such as they could not otherwise have, to attend
to the worship of God, that so they may come in crowds, to hear the


63

word of God and it, to praise God, and sing, and pray.
practise But
this is not bound any particular time, as with the Jews, so that it
to

must be this day or that for no day is in itself better than any other,
;

but it ought to be performed daily; only, because this would be im-

possible to the mass of the people, we must at least devote one day to
this purpose. And because Sunday has been appointed from the
we ought to keep to this arrangement, that all things
earliest times,
may be done in harmony and order, and no confusion be caused by
unnecessary novelties."
Melancthon speaks just as decidedly in the Augsburgh Confession,
art. 28 :

" Those who maintain that the Sunday is necessarily insti-
tuted in the place of the Sabbath, are greatly mistaken ; for the sacred
Scriptures have abolished the Sabbath, and teach, that the ceremo- all

nies of the old law may be dropped since the introduction of the
gospel ; still, as it is requisite that a certain day should be appointed,
in order that the people may know when to assemble, the Christian
Church has appointed Sunday for this purpose ; and this change it has
made with the greater pleasure and good will, since it sets before men
an example of Christian liberty, and teaches that neither the keeping
of the Sabbath nor of any other day is absolutely necessary."
The Lutheran theologians of the century following the Reformation
remained true to the views of Luther and Melancthon. This could be
easily shown by copious quotations ; but for the sake of brevity we
shall content ourselves with one passage from a work by Chemnitz :

" It is a part of Christian liberty," he says, " that the consciences nei-
ther are bound, nor ought to be bound, to observe certain days or
times, in the New Testament sense of ' binding '
; but since it is the
will of God that the church should assemble at times, to hear the- word
of God, to partake of the sacrament, for public prayer and thanks-
giving, and for other united exercises of piety, and since Paul enjoins
that, in the meetings of the church, everything be done in order, a
certain day in the week was appointed in the days of the apostles, in
the exercise of Christian liberty, for the meetings of the church for
worship and this was done for the sake of order, to prevent confu-
;

sion,and irregular meetings, and that men might not neglect the
assembling of themselves together. And though the meetings of the
church are not necessarily bound to that day, in consequence of any
law or precept of the New Testament, it would bo an act of rude
caprice to refuse to conform to this custom of the apostolic and primi-
tive Church, which was established for the sake of order and union,
 "
64

since entire Christian freedomis left to the conscience, and it tends,

and can be employed, to the edification of the church." * And again :

" It is a remnant of Jewish leaven to be over anxious to forbid out-

ward employments on the festivals, whether they do or do not inter-

fere with those exercises, which constitute the observance of the Sab-
bath. They abuse the Sabbath most who employ it in sensuality,
frivolity, drunkenness, and other disgraceful practices ; which, how-
ever, are so frequent, that on hardly any day is God more grievously
offended than on those which have been especially devoted to his
service. It is also a remnant of Jewish leaven to contend, with too
great eagerness, that the observance of the day must extend exactly
from midnight to midnight, as many do." f
The Reformed Church held at first precisely the same doctrine as
the Lutheran. Those writings, which possessed the authority of arti-
cles, afford such positive proof of this, that we need search no further.

The Catechism of Geneva contains the following questions and answers

upon the fourth commandment? Q. "Does it forbid all work?"
A. " This commandment is one of a distinct and peculiar kind. For
the observance of rest a part of the ancient ceremonies ; it is, there-
is

fore, done away by the coming of Christ." Q,. " What part of this

commandment, then, applies to us ? " A. " That we do not neglect

the religious institutions which belong to the spiritual constitution of
the church, especially that we attend the religious meetings which are
held, to hear the word of God, and observe the sacraments, and offer

prayer." Q. " Is the framework, then, entirely useless to us ?

A. " By no means. But we must learn the truth which it teaches,

namely, that since we have been planted into the body of Christ, and
have become his members, we must cease from our own works, and
thus give ourselves up to the guidance of God."
In the Heidelberg Catechism, the 103rd question reads thus:
" What does God require in the fourth commandment ? " A. " God
requires, first, that preaching and schools should be maintained, and
that I come on the feast day, with the church of
diligently, especially
God, word of God, to observe the sacraments, publicly to
to learn the

call upon the Lord, and to give alms. Moreover, that I rest every
day of my life from my wicked works, that I let the Lord work in me
by his Spirit, and thus commence in this life the Sabbath of eternity."
The Helvetic Co?ifcssion, which was drawn up in the year 1566, and

* Examen Concihi Tridentini, b. iv. p. 155. f P. 15G.



65

adopted by the Reformed Churches in England, Scotland, France, the

Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Germany, reads as follows :

"Although religion is bound to no- particular time, yet it cannot be

fostered and carried out without a fixed arrangement and distinction
of times. Thus every church chooses for itself a certain time for
public prayer and the preaching of the gospel, as well as for the
observance of the sacraments. But it is not left free to every one
capriciously to overturn this arrangement of the church. And unless
sufficient leisure is reserved for the outward exercises of religion, men
will certainly be drawn away from them by their worldly affairs. We
find, therefore, that in the early churches not only certain hours in the
week were appointed for meeting together, but the Sunday was also
devoted to these meetings and to sacred leisure, even as early as the
times of the apostles : a custom which our churches very properly
retain for the promotion of love and the worship of God. But we do
not tolerate here either superstition, or the Jewish mode of observance.
For we do not believe that one day is holier than another, or that rest
in itself is pleasing to God. We keep the Sunday, not the Sabbath, by
a voluntary observance.
The Socinians, in the Rakow Catechism, which is acknowledged
as containing their confession, expressly deny the identity of the
Sabbath and Sunday. Q,. " What is your opinion as to the fourth com-
mandment ?" A. " I believe that, like the other ceremonies, it is

abrogated by the New Testament." " Q. Why, then, is it placed in

the Decalogue ?" A. " In order that it may be seen that the most
perfect part of the Mosaic law is still not perfect, and that thus an
intimation might be given, that a much more perfect law would super-
sede the law of Moses." Q. " Has not Christ enjoined that we should
keep the Sunday instead of the Sabbath ?" A. " By no means. For
the Christian religion puts an end entirely to the choice of days, as
it does to other ceremonies, as the apostle clearly shows in Col.
ii. 16. But, as we perceive that, from the earliest times, the Sunday
has been observed by Christians, we allow all Christians the same
liberty."
The wretchedness of the reason here given for the introduction of
the Sabbath commandment into the Decalogue, the fallacy of the
opinion on which it is founded, that the fourth commandment is a mere
shell, a mere letter without spirit, and the perversity of regarding the
observance of the Sunday only as a thing to be tolerated from compas-
sion to the weakness of others, were perceived to some extent by later

F
 66

Socinians. Thus Ruarus says, " I do not believe that we

Although
are under a direct obligation to keep the commandment of the Deca-
logue relating to the Sabbath yet I do think that we may argue cor-
;

rectly in this way, if the Israelites were commanded to devote the

seventh part of their life to the worship of God, what ought we then
justly to do ?"
Even the Romish Church did not venture directly to oppose the
views of the Reformers, in the face of the decided opinions expressed by
the Fathers. In the decrees of the Council of Trent, this subject is

passed by in silence ; the Catechismus Romanus discusses it, but with

evident wavering. The ten commandments are said to be binding,
not because they were given by Moses, but because they coincide with
the law of nature. There is a part of the fourth commandment,
however, which cannot be deduced from the law of nature, and is

therefore ceremonial, and subject to change, namely, the appointment

of the seventh day. This is repealed by Christ. In the place of the
seventh, the apostles established the first day. The fourth command-
ment teaches how must be observed.
it

The opinion that the Sabbath was transferred to the Sunday was
first broached in its perfect form, and with all its consequences, in the

controversy, which was carried on in England between the Episcopa-

lians and Presbyterians. The Presbyterians, who carried to extremes
the principle, that every institution of the Church must have its

foundation in the Scriptures, and would not allow that God had given,
in this respect, greater liberty to the Church of the New Testament,
which his Spirit had brought to maturity, than to that of the Old,
charged the Episcopalians with Popish leaven and superstition, and
subjection to the ordinances of men, because they retained the Chris-
tian " feasts." The Episcopalians, on the other hand, as a proof that
greater liberty was granted to the New Testament Church in such
matters as these, appealed to the fact that even the observance of the
Sunday was only an arrangement of the Church. The Presbyterians
were now in a position which compelled them either to give up the
observance of the Sunday, or to maintain that a direct appointment
from God separated it from the other festivals. The first they could
not do, for their Christian experience was too deep for them not to
know how greatly the weakness of human nature stands in need of
regularly returning periods, devoted to the service of God. They,
therefore, decided upon the latter. They maintained that the fourth
commandment was a perpetual one, binding upon all ages, and that
 67

the difference between the Old and New Testament consisted solely in
this, that at the command of God, given through the apostles, the first

day of the week was substituted for the seventh.

This doctrine
which many Puritan clergymen were deposed,
for
because they either would not read the proclamation of James I.,
issued in the year 1618, and renewed by Charles I., in the year
1633, that all kinds of public sports should be allowed on the Sun-
day, or, if they did read it, added the words, " Remember the Sab-
bath day to keep it holy," commended itself by the greater sanctity
which it gave to the Sunday in the eyes of the people, and its con-
sequent tendency to promote a Christian spirit and conduct. This
affords the best clue to the striking fact, that it was gradually adopted
even by the theologians of the Episcopal Church. There was less to
hinder this in England than elsewhere, because the Thirty-nine Articles
1

of the English Church do not teach the opposite doctrine, as is the

case with the other Reformed Confessions of Faith.
The following passage in Spencer's book, De Legibus Hebrgeorum
Ritualibus, shows how extensively this view had spread by the second
half of the seventeenth century :
" Many in the present day appear
under the Christian name, but in the character of Jews, and introduce
a religion, which troubles the minds of the weak with many scruples of
conscience ; saying, that we are bound, according to the fourth com-
mandment, to devote one day of the seven entirely to rest, and medita-
tion, and prayer, and other pious duties. Some even are so far gone in
their folly, as to think, that religion consists chiefly in keeping the
Sabbath. They allow no investigation of the subject, and regard all

as atheists, exposed to the wrath of God, who are so presumptuous as

to violate the rest and observance of the Sabbath (as they call it) by
any worldly occupation."
Spencer's vehement opposition to this view was insufficient to stay
its further spread ; the more so because he was unable to meet the
erroneous opinions with correct ones. He could not fathom the deep
religious meaning of the observance of the Sabbath, under the Old
Testament, nor could he see any meaning in the laws relating to it,

which could possibly affect the Church of the New Testament. He

maintained the harsh doctrine, that the observance of the Sabbath was
nothing more than a formal declaration on the part of the Jewish
people, that the world was created by God and not by idols, and was
therefore simply intended to preserve them from idolatry. The
f 2
 08

outward rest prescribed was not intended at all to promote inward

rest from worldly affairs, and raise th mind to God. It was only
ceremonial, an imitation of the rest of God after the creation. By
resting and working, according to the example of the work and rest
of God, the Jews were to signify clearly, that they continued to
believe in the completion of the creation in six days.
The stricter view of the Sunday, on the other hand, gained so per-
fect a victory, that it may now be regarded as the only one preva-
lent in England, Scotland, and America. It has scarcely an opponent
in the sphere of theology ; only the worldly and the sceptic oppose it,

and that with timidity, from the fear of public opinion, whose power is

so great in these lands.

The feeling which is now so general in these countries, that all

opposition to this doctrine must be the result of frivolity, is favoured

greatly by the striking proofs which have been given them through a
long series of years, and are still given every day, of the beneficial
effects of a strict observance of the Sunday. German travellers, whose
theological principles are opposed to this doctrine, have been so over-
powered by the sight of these results, as to be unable to refuse a
certain testimony to the value of the doctrine itself.
The German minister in London, Wendeborn, remarks in his book,
on the Condition of the State, of Religion, of Learning, and of Art in
Great Britain, at the end of the eighteenth century * " The respect :

shown in England to the Sunday, whatever it may spring from, cer-

tainly preserves a kind of outward reverence for religion. Criminals,
who have been executed at Tyburn and in other places, have often
been known to warn the crowd of spectators, present on such occa-
sions, to keep the Sabbath, as Sunday is generally called here, because,
in their opinion, their own miserable and untimely death is to be
ascribed to their neglect of it."

Dr. Sack, in his remarks on religion and the Church of England,f

says :
" Religious improvement and instruction are promoted generally
by the love of the people to the Church, which has never been alto-
gether destroyed, and by their deep respect for the worship of God,
and the day which is devoted to it. The strictness with which the
Sunday is observed in England is well known. So far as the irreli-
gious are concerned, the manner in which this day is spent, seems

* Berlin, 1785, pt. 3. f Berlin, 1818, p. 148.

 69

indeed often useless and spiritless ; and even the religious do not
always keep it in the free spirit of the gospel. But the number of
those who do keep it and this strictness is
in this spirit, is very great,
remarkable and of great worth, when considered as an expression of
the national sentiment. For thus it is and if the Government were
;

to endeavour to effect a change, most probably the strongest opposition

would be raised by all, from the lowest to the highest classes of the
people. Thus the restless driving of this ever busy people is quieted
on this day by a general voluntary rest ; and the strong feeling of a
higher order and repose is certainly sustained thereby. Fidelity to
this ancient custom of the Christian Church, respect for worship, and
the encouragement of peaceful meditation, present a strong and favour-
able contrast to the very dishonourable disregard of the Sunday by
work and pleasure, which is witnessed in so many of the large towns
in Germany.''
From England the doctrine of the obligation of the Mosaic law of
the Sabbath spread to Holland. Some English Puritans, who sought
an asylum in Zealand, introduced it. It was first published in two
works on Ethics, by Udemann in 1612, and Teelling, in 1617. Several
ministers embraced the new opinions ; others retained the old. The
Synod of Dortrecht attempted to put an end to the controversy ; but
they did not venture to do so by giving a positive decision as to the
doctrine. They sought to stifle the discussion. At last it was deter-
mined, that, in the reprint of their minutes, what had passed about the
Sabbath should be omitted. A commission of four theologians was
entrusted with the settlement of the question, and the preparation of
which both parties could accept. They accomplished this,
articles,

and both parties were at first really satisfied with their six articles.
At the same time it was decreed that these should be retained, and
that no one should preach or write against them, till a national synod

was held, which was not likely to be very soon.

As we may readily imagine, these means were not adapted to secure
the desired effect. It was not long before the controversy was renewed
with greater warmth than ever. From the ministers it soon passed to
the professors. It spread through all the academies of Holland, and
for a whole century was the cause of great and uninterrupted discord
in the Church.
At the commencement of the controversy, the principal opponent of
the validity of the Mosaic Sabbath law, was the renowned Gomarus,
who uublished his work, Examen Sabbathi, in the year 1628. In this
 70

he maintains, that the Sabbath was first instituted in the desert, and
was ceremonial. The chief writers on the other side were Rivet,
Walaeus, Amesius, and Boetius. No attention was paid to a moderate
theologian, Thysius, who warned them not to attach too great im-
portance to their differences, and either to be silent, or at least to
tolerate each other. At last, however, they grew weary of the con-
troversy, and it rested for a time, but only to break out again with the
greater violence.
The principal opponents of the validity of the Mosaic law in this
new period of the controversy, which commenced in the year 1658,
were Heidanus and Cocceius in Leiden the chief writers on the other
;

side, Hoornbeek and Essen in Utrecht. A long series of

in Leiden,
works appeared on both sides in Dutch and Latin, of which those of
Cocceius were the most important, whose opponents went so far as to
accuse him of Socinianism, on account of his views. At last the
The controversy was stopped
States-General were obliged to interfere.
by them at Leiden by the edict, issued by them on the 7th August,
1659, prohibiting any more writing upon the subject, and commanding
that the six articles of the Dortrecht Commission should be regarded
as final. But it continued at Utrecht with the greater warmth. There
Francis Burmann appeared as the opponent of the Jewish observance
of the Sabbath ; and was warmly opposed by his less known colleagues.
In Groningen, too, these contests were carried on ; Alting defending
against Maresius the universal validity of the Mosaic Sabbath law.
The controversy was kept up in Holland till the eighteenth century,
but with greater calmness. However, the more liberal views gradually
advanced, and became more and more prevalent throughout the Re-
formed Churches, with the exception of Great Britain.
In Germany, the agitation of this question in Holland was watched
with great attention. The more stringent views, which commended
themselves by the appearance of greater piety, and promised to do
much to stop the prevalent neglect of the Sunday, were preferred by
most of the theologians to those contained in the works of the Refor-
mers. But they were kept very quiet during the whole of the second
half of the seventeenth century, from a knowledge that they were
held in direct opposition to the powerful authority of the Confessions
of Faith. In 1688, however, Fecht, a theologian at Rostock, entered
the lists against these views, and, amongst other things, quoted the
whole list of historical witnesses against them, whom many would
gladly have buried in oblivion. No one ventured to oppose him. But
 71

this did not prevent their gaining fresh adherents, with such rapidity,
that at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the more zealous advo-
cates, believing that nearly all the orthodox theologians were on their
side, ventured to make a fierce assault upon the few who still defended
the more liberal views.
A slight contest arose as early as the year 1700, when Liinekogel,
a minister in Holstein, translated into German Francis Burmann's
work on the Sabbath ; and and notes defended his opinion,
in a preface
that the law of the Sabbath was purely ceremonial, and did not apply
to Christians. His superior, Schwarz, the general superintendent of
Holstein, wrote a reply. In the year 1701 appeared his " True Ac-
count of the Sabbath, in reply to Burmann's false doctrine, which a
minister in Holstein has sanctioned, and introduced into Germany,
with evil consequences to the Land."
Far more important was the agitation, caused by the work of Stryk,
a jurist in Halle, on the Sabbath. This man, who was actuated by
truly religious zeal, and inclined to the views of the pietists, was led
which had become prevalent regard-
especially to oppose the doctrine
ing the Sabbath, from the fact that it seemed to him to promote
generally a merely external fear of God, a kind of Christian phari-
saism. He himself says, in his answer to Mayer, which appeared in
1707: "This dissertation is written with no other object than to
show how, in the present day, men
upon outward worship
are relying
alone, so that the real inward worship, the worship in spirit and in

truth, is almost entirely forgotten." He borrowed his weapons chiefly

from Spencer. In the first part of the treatise, which consists of four
chapters, he treats of the origin and progress of the Sabbath, and
its force under the New Testament. He maintains, that the Sabbath
was not prescribed by any law before the time of Moses. From this
it follows, that it affects the children of Israel alone. This is still

further confirmed by the fact, that the reason stated for the institution
of the Sabbath, only applies to the Jews. It is said to be appointed,
in order that they may be reminded on the Sabbath of their bondage
in Egypt that the Sabbath may be a special sign between God and
;

the Jewish people and that the children of Israel may be preserved
;

by it from idolatry. If the commandment had been a moral one, no

alteration could have taken place under the New Testament in refer-
ence to the day. The Sunday of Christians does not stand on any
common ground with the Sabbath of the Jews. It has not been
introduced by a direct Divine command, for it cannot be proved that
 ;

72

the observance of it originated with the apostles ; and even if it could,

they evidently did not wish to lay down any law with regard to it.

The observance of the Sunday rests entirely upon a simple arrange-

ment of the Church. In the second chapter the author proceeds, on
this ground, to examine the rights and duties of a government with
respect to the Sunday. He maintains that a prince has authority to
appoint another day for public worship instead of Sunday, though this
would be a decidedly imprudent course.* His duty, in reference to
the Sunday, is to see that the design of it is secured. He must,
therefore, make a difference between his subjects. The rude and inex-
perienced in Christianity he must urge to attend upon public worship
but the more advanced, on the contrary, who no longer need a Sunday,
he has full liberty to leave to themselves. Such men serve God at all
times in spirit and in truth, and must, therefore, enjoy the full liberty

which Christ has gained for them. All worldly amusements, which
interfere with the design of the Sunday, ought to be forbidden. In
the third chapter he treats of the rights of individual Christians. He
maintains that the Christian ought to be bound to no day, as that on
which he must worship, but that he has a perfect right to set apart
now one day, and now another, for the worship of God, as the Spirit
prompts him. But this right does not belong to all who bear the
name of Christians, but only to the true members of Christ and of the
new covenant, with whom the whole life and every day is nothing else
than a Sabbath. But those who are not established in the true faith
are bound to keep the Sunday, not because of the commandment of
the Old Testament, but from a knowledge of their condition, which
makes the observance of the Sunday a useful arrangement of the
Church.
This work, as we may easily imagine from its contents, excited great
attention. It was soon translated into German
and by the year 1715;

had reached the fifth edition. The author, too, threw his opponents
into perplexity by a reprint of the treatise of Fecht, with a preface of
his own, in which he maintained, that he needed no further defence,
since this theologian, whose opinion agreed with his own, had never
been answered. The large number of his opponents showed, how
deeply rooted the views he attacked had by this time become. Nearly
all of them, however, instead of attacking the false spiritualism so

* The author writes, of course, from the stand-point of a State-church, and

from that with indisputable consistency. Tk.
 73

apparent in this work, and whose nakedness when applied to the Sab-
bath we shall discover, when we discuss the subject presently, directed
all their efforts to defend the moral nature of the Mosaic Sabbath
commandment. The "moral nature of the Sabbath" was a favourite
theme for academical exercises for many years.
The opponents of the Sabbath did not omit to appeal to the
authority of the articles of belief. " Our articles of belief," says a
writer in 1703, "are brought forward against the opinion of all our
teachers, with the complaint that the people are compelled to swear
upon these books, and yet those opinions are condemned which are in
accordance with them." We can see at once what perplexity would
be caused by such an appeal ; but the means resorted to for escaping
from the forced interpretations by which the clearest passages were
it

made obscure are too miserable deserve quotation. to

It worthy of notice, that the opinions expressed by Stryk were

is

rejected as warmly by the theologians of the pietist school, as by the

orthodox, and that, not only that they might avoid giving the latter an
occasion of commencing a doctrinal controversy, but, even more, be-
cause the practical result, at which Stryk aimed, was counterbalanced
by another which, in their estimation, was more important. The
result which, even in Stryk's opinion, the Sunday ought to ensure,
they believed to be unattainable unless the views, which he
opposed, were firmly maintained. And they knew too well, that,
even in believers, the conflict between the flesh and the spirit is not yet
who need no special times
terminated, to dream of perfect Christians
of devotion and meeting. Buddaeus and Walch defend the ordinary
view and so also Spener, who has written at greater length than
;

others on the subject. He thinks, however, that it is better not to

carry on the controversy in too public a manner ;
partly, because the
consequence will only be, that men will indulge a liberty injurious to
their souls and
their edification and partly because the Augsburg
;

Confession more against them than in their favour. It is better, he

is

thinks, to recommend the strict observance of Sunday on the ground

of experience. "I am convinced, that, if the people could be persuaded,
for a certain time, to spend the Sabbath sacredly in honour of God,
their own experience would advocate the practice most strongly, and
would show them so clearly the will of our heavenly Father, who has
granted us such rest for the good of our souls, that there would be no
necessity for further discussion on the part of those who watch over
their spiritual interests." He recommends others to test the question,
 ;

74

by the same means which were effectual in his own case. " I thank
my God," he says, " who caused me to learn this important lesson,
that I ought to abstain on the Sunday, not only from worldly amuse-
ments, but from studies also, even though theological, by which I was
seeking to advance in learning rather than in goodness or piety."
But Spener, though he regarded the Sabbath commandment as
part of the moral law, did not overlook another distinction between the
two Testaments in reference to it, besides the difference of days.
Under the Old Testament, in which everything was outward, the dis-
continuance of work, of that which was outward, formed a most essen-
tial part of the commandment ; but since worship, under the New Tes-
tament, consists more in that which is within, the sanctification of the
Sabbath is to be sought by us principally in the inward rest of the
soul, and in giving this up to the operations of God ; and outward rest
is connected with this, only as a help to the rest within. Therefore,
sports on the Sunday are more sinful under the New Testament, than
the performance of the duties of one's calling, even though these con-
sist in hard work. amusements do more to
For a few hours spent in

disturb the soul's rest in God, than a whole day spent in work since ;

the latter may have been accompanied with thinking upon the word of
God. The same is true of all worldly studies, of cares, of everything,
which rivets the mind and thoughts upon itself; for by this they all
hinder the keeping of the Sabbath, more than severe labour. The
fourth commandment differs, in his opinion, from the others in two
respects. First, in the fact, that what is forbidden in it, work on the
seventh day, is not wrong and sinful in itself, which is the case with
all that is prohibited in the other commandments, but something

which became so, simply in consequence of the divine prohibition

and therefore, even under the Old Testament, as Christ has explained,
some work ceased to be sinful when necessity compelled. And se-
condly, inasmuch as this commandment, according to Col. ii. 16, 17,
belongs in part to the shadows and types of the Old Testament, and
God appointed it especially as a sign between himself and the Is-
raelites. Therefore, not only does that, which was typical of the
future, cease in the New Testament, since the body itself has come
but all the different ordinances which are added in the Old Testa-
ment, beyond that part of the Sabbath which human nature requires,
and which gives the command its force, are no longer binding upon
us who are under the New Testament. Men, who are so far ad-
vanced in spiritual things, that they would not be hindered by outward
 ;

75

works, might even on the Sunday, to some extent, engage in them

without sin, and yet by inward spiritual exercise obey the command.

But engagements of this kind were, in the present day, to be at-

if

tended to by persons, who cannot comprehend this liberty, but feel

scruples about it, or who would do so in opposition to their con-
scientious convictions, it would be sin in their case, because of their

scruples ; it is better, therefore, not to use this liberty, but to avoid

evil, and the appearance of it. In cases of necessity, however, work
on the Sunday is right. To these belong commands of governors and
masters, which save those, who are under their authority, from the
charge of sin ; and also labour in the field.
IfSpener had thought out the views, which he expresses here, more
thoroughly, he would have seen that his agreement with the prevalent
opinion was much less than he imagined. He would have perceived,
that the Old Testament Sabbath commandment has quite lost its legal
power under the New Testament. For the application, which he
makes of it, can be made as powerfully by those who hold that the law
of the Old Testament, having been given by God, cannot be abro-
gated in the same sense as the laws of men, but must ever contain
a treasure of instruction, to which the free Church of the New Testa-
ment must always go for the material, with which to prepare its oivn
laics.

The prevailing doctrine, as to the Sunday, was not affected by the

theology, upon which the influence of Wolff's philosophy was exerted
but, in the second half of the last century, it began to lose its sway.
Mosheim arose as one of its most active and powerful opponents. He
rejects the Old Testament basis of the observance of Sunday alto-
gether. He goes in this respect to a decided and erroneous extreme,
and maintains that the Sabbath of the Jews has scarcely anything in
common with the Sunday of Christians, except that they both belong
to the seven days of the week. But he thinks that there is quite as
much cause for disputing the opinions of those, who hold that the
observance of the Sunday rests upon the authority of the Church.
Actuated by the same motive which led others to identify the Sabbath
and Sunday, he seeks to trace the obligation, to observe the Sunday, to a
direct precept from God. "The apostles of the Redeemer," he says, "at
the very commencement of the Church of the Lord, chose the first day
of the week, on which the Lord rose from the dead, for the Christians'
day of meeting. (Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 1; Rev. i. 10.) And they
themselves, as well as their disciples and fellow-workers, instituted it
 76

in every Church which they founded, and amongst all the nations of
the earth, to whom the gospel had been preached. This fact is suffi-
cient in itself to remove all doubts as to the claims of our Sunday, and
the duty of Christians to keep it holy."
A work, written by a cbristian-minded jurist, which appeared in
1830, with the motto, " Stand fast in the liberty, wherewith Christ
has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of
;

bondage, Gal. v. 1," deserves to be noticed here. The author has

written with the intention of opposing the doctrine of the identity of
the Sabbath and Sunday, which was coming over from England. He
maintains that the application of the Jewish law of the Sabbath to the
keeping of the Sunday, as the so-called Christian Sabbath, is a return
to weak and beggarly elements, and thoroughly opposed to the
the
gospel and that it is unwise to go so far, as some do, as to begin with
;

the unconverted, by attempting to terrify them with the consequences

of breaking the commandment to " keep holy the Sabbath day." The
observance of the Sunday he regards as a human institution, occa-
sioned by the weakness of man and the relations of society, but one
which stands in close connexion with another institution of divine
origin, that of the office of preacher of the gospel, and with the ne-
cessity of the godly man for Christian fellowship, in order that our
inward life may The design of Sunday is, in fact, to
be sustained.
give us time for availing ourselves of the means of grace. This time is
not holy in itself, and the mere cessation of work brings no advantage ;

but we gain advantage only when we so use the time, that we grow
in the work of faith, the labour of love, and the patience of hope.
We have now brought the historical account to a close. We shall
in the next chapter examine only those views, which are based upon
the common gi ound, that the
-
Mosaic law is to be received as divine.

CHAPTER II.

INVESTIGATION OF THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE SABBATH AND SUNDAY.

Our first course in making the investigation, which we are about to

attempt, is obviously to examine the arguments, by which the advo-
cates of the continuance of the Old Testament Sabbath under the
New support their views. We shall confine ourselves chiefly to those
 77

brought together by Dwight in his " Theology; " from the conviction
that this theologian, who is highly esteemed in England and America,
has collected all the arguments, including those which are only appa-
rent ones, which have ever been used in support of his views.
The perpetuity of the Sabbath, it is said, is evident from its original
institution, Gen.ii. 1 3. The Sabbath was instituted and commanded
human race, and therefore for their whole
for the first parents of the

posterity. The ground then given for rest on the seventh day, namely,
the rest of God on that day, is altogether a general one, and does not
affect the Jews more than other men. The example of God is set
before the whole human race for imitation.
Now it is very striking, in the first place, that, in the passage
appealed to, no mention of a command, nor even of God's
there is

having made it known to men, that he had blessed and sanctified the
seventh day. This impression is increased by a reference to Exod.
xx. 8, and the other passages in the Pentateuch relating to the
Sabbath. Looking now at the commandment, we see clearly how
necessary it is to distinguish between the decision of God, and the
revelation of it with a command, from the fact that this decision
supposes the fall of man, and, therefore, the execution of it could not
have been enjoined upon him before he fell. Where sin has not
entered, the whole life is one continued service of God ; and there is

no danger that attention to earthly things will be the cause of worldli-

ness, and, therefore, there is no necessity for the setting apart of

special times. And if it was not made known at once, it cannot be

maintained that it was known at all before the time of Moses.
No one can bring the smallest probable groundassuming that for

this was the case. The argument has indeed been often used, that
without a Sabbath the origin of the week cannot be explained, and
that in the earliest times, in Gen. xxix. 27, 28, even as early as
ch. vii. vers. 4 and 10, the division of weeks occurs. But the origin of
the week may be explained in another very natural manner. It is but
the subdivision of the lunar month instead of 7| days, which are the
;

average of a quarter moon, the nearest whole number was taken,

namely, seven days. This explanation is confirmed by the analogous
origin of days, months, and years, and by Gen. i. 14, in which the sun
and moon are to serve for signs, for division of time, and by the fact,

that the division of time into weeks of seven days does not exist in
some nations, where we might expect to find remains of a primitive
tradition, and does exist amongst some nations, which, like the Chinese
 78

and the ancient Peruvians,* are certainly out of the line of tradition

which has descended from the earliest times.

It is further asserted, that the seventh day of the week has been
considered sacred by the most different nations of the earth, without
the possibility of the idea having been obtained from the Jews ; and
that this is a proof that it was instituted in the earliest times of the
human race. And, certainly, when we look at the collection of passages,
cited by Dwight, or Spener, we cannot but be struck by them at first.
But when we see the test, to which these passages have been sub-
mitted by Selden and others,f we soon recover from our first astonish-
ment. It is proved, that the seventh day has not been kept by a
single people, except the Israelites, and that where a seventh day has
been observed, it has not been the seventh day of the week. The
argument then changes into one for the opposite side. If the Sabbath
had been instituted at the first, we should expect to find traces of its
observance elsewhere than amongst the Israelites. At any rate, this
argument against the institution at the first, serves to strengthen the
more important one, that, in the whole history of the times anterior to
Moses, no trace of the observance of the Sabbath occurs.
It is said also, that the account of the gathering of the manna,
related in Exod. xvi. 22
30, affords us ground for presuming that the
Sabbath was observed before the giving of the law. For the Israelites
gathered a double portion of the manna on the Friday, because they
would not gather any on the Sabbath. But this assertion rests upon
a misconception of the whole account. A correct interpretation, on
the contrary, shows evidently that the Sabbath was a Mosaic institu-
tion. The gathering of the double portion on the Friday was not an
arbitrary act of the people. They gathered every day all the manna
which was upon the ground, and, according to the Divine arrange-
ment, this was just sufficient for their wants. On the Friday they
found unexpectedly so much, that exactly twice as much as the usual
portion was gathered. Thus understood, we find in this a striking
parallel to another event. At the first passover the command to eat
unleavened bread was not given to the people, but God, contrary to
all expectation, so ordered the circumstances, that, without any inten-
tionon their part, they were compelled to eat their bread unleavened.
This Divine arrangement served to give a sanction to the Mosaic com-

* Ideler, Chronol. th. i. p. 87.

t Selden, de Jure Nat. et. Gentium, i. 3, c. 10, &c. Gomarus de Sabb. c. 4.
Spener and Ideler.
 79

mand, as to the future observance of the festival. In the same way

God sanctified the Sabbath, before he gave the people through Moses
the command to sanctify it. How could the people have been possibly
led to acknowledge this command in a more effectual manner ?
After it has been thus shown that there is every ground for doubting
the observance of the Sabbath before the time of Moses, those pas-
sages gain importance in which particular emphasis is upon the
laid
fact, that the Sabbath belonged peculiarly to the Israelites.Thus
Exod. xxxi. 12, Ezek. xx. 12, where it is said, in the summing up of the
mercies of God to Israel, after the giving of the law on Sinai has been
spoken of, " Also I gave them my Sabbaths ;
" and Neh. ix. 14, in the
statement of the acts of kindness on the part of God to Israel, " Also
thou madest known to them thy holy Sabbath." Nothing but the
most decided grounds for believing in a pre-Mosaic observance of the
Sabbath could justify us, in assuming that the Sabbath is here spoken
of as a new institution, peculiar to the theocracy, only because it now
received a new meaning.
But even granting that the design of God, that the Sabbath should
be sanctified, was made known to men before Moses, and that the
command was given and obeyed, this does not in itself justify us in
concluding with certainty that this arrangement was to last under the
New Testament. If it did, it would also follow, that the prohibition
to eat blood given to the descendants of Noah is still binding in New
Testament times, whereas it is evident that even before Christ this
prohibition might have been passed over without sin by a people, in
whose altered circumstances more effectual means were at work to
create a horror of murder. And so also the command to circumcise
would of necessity be binding, at least upon the descendants of Abra-
ham. The proper view of the subject is, that all commands which
occur before the time of Moses stand in the same relation to the New
Testament as the law of Moses itself, under which name they are all
referred to in the New Testament. In both cases the decision as to
their being still binding, rests upon the investigation of the relation
in which the commandment stands to the nature of the New Testament.
This investigation, however, so far as the Sabbath is concerned,
must lead, in all that is important, to a favourable result. It is

true that two things have been adduced with great, plausibility, as
showing that in the principal points, the Sabbath fails to harmonize
with the New Testament times, and, therefore, Gen. ii. 1 3 cannot
be regarded as applicable to them. But on a closer examination, it
 80

becomes apparent that both, of these are based upon an incorrect

interpretation. 1. It is said, "The essence of the Sabbath, accord-
ing to Gen. ii., consisted just in this, that it was instituted as a me-
morial of the creation. Because God worked six days for us, for
whom the whole creation was intended, we were from our
to cease
work, from seeking our own interests on the seventh day, and devote
it to him. Now, under the New Testament, the goodness of God in
the creation has been cast into the shade by the grace of redemp-
tion. It would be to place redemption below creation, in opposition
both to the Scriptures, and Christian consciousness, if a festival de-
voted to the latter were made the chief festival amongst Christians.
Such a course, with all the show of Christianity, would lead to the
principles ofDeism, and be only justifiable by them." But it is an un-
founded assertion that the Sabbath was instituted as a memorial of the
creation. The observance of the seventh day was funded, not on
the fact that God worked six days for us, but that he rested on the
seventh day. 2. It is said that, " The rest on the Sabbath was, ac-

cording to Gen. ii. 1

3 taken in connexion with the fourth com-
mandment, first and chiefly an imitation of God, though it might
have answered another end. It was a symbolical action. Whilst
men by their work and rest followed the example of God, they copied
the creation, and thus practically confessed that it was the work of
God's almighty power." But this symbolical representation appears

evidently calculated for a certain condition, with the termination of

which it loses its importance, as much as the prohibition to eat blood.
It no longer makes upon us, in whom the understanding is more pre-
dominant, the same impression which it made in ancient times, and
especially in the East. And in addition to this, since Christianity pos-
sesses more effectual means for exciting the consciousness of God, it

no longer needs for this purpose " the beggarly elements of the world."
But we must dispute such a symbolical character in the rest enjoined
on the Sabbath. This view is decidedly opposed to Lev. xxiii., where
the rest of the Sabbath is placed on the same footing with the rest of
the other festivals. It is not the rest of man, but that of God, which
possesses this symbolical character. The rest of man serves to pro-
mote devotion, and that of God was designed to invite to it. This
end it still subserves under the New Testament. And under this, too,

the loving condescension with which God gave us a type both in work
and rest, calls attention to the great importance of rest to the pros-
perity of the Church.
 81

But the fact remains unchanged, that the passage in Genesis con-
tains no command ; and that if it did, it would not, as a command, be
binding upon the Church of the New Testament. If these could not
be established on general grounds, there would be a sufficient proof in
the fact that it is not the observance of one day in seven which is com-
manded, but specially that of the seventh day. A command which
requires to be divided and changed, before its validity can be enforced,
may contain a rich store of instruction (and that is the case here, the
temporary element being quite a subordinate one), but its authority as
a command is gone.
The second strong argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath, to
which we now proceed, is founded on the fact that the commandment
to keep the Sabbath is placed amongst the ten commandments. This, it is
maintained, is an evidence that the Sabbath commandment belongs to

the moral law ; in which case it cannot have been abolished by Christ,
who only repealed the ceremonial law.
We shall commence our examination of this argument by asking,
What is the Decalogue ? In what relation does it stand to the other
laws of the Old Testament ? English theologians reply, The Deca-
logue differs entirely from the other laws of Moses. It contains the

purely moral law, and is binding upon all men and all times. The
arguments brought forward in defence of this are the following: The
rest of the law was written by Moses in a book ; the Decalogue was
first proclaimed by the voice of God, amidst fearful natural phenomena,
which called attention to its importance, and then written by the finger
of God upon tables of stone, the symbol of perpetuity.
But these arguments do not furnish the proof intended; full jus-
tice is done to them when we affirm, what every one will allow, that
the Decalogue contains the kernel and quintessence of the whole code
of laws of the Old Testament. It was important that, immediately after
the covenant was concluded, the chief points in the arrangements of the
new house should be sketched in rough lines upon the door-post. The
Decalogue is the sketch of all the legislation which follows and this ;

is the filling up of the former so that Calvin has adopted a correct

method, when he adds to every commandment all that belongs to it

throughout the Pentateuch. Thus he appends to the Sabbath com-

mand, not only all that occurs with direct reference to the Sabbath,
but all that relates to the Sabbatic year, the year of jubilee and the
festivals. From this view alone, that the Decalogue contained the
quintessence of the whole of the Mosaic laws, is the appropriateness of
G
 ;

82

the symbol of the stone tables made sufficiently apparent, and the
frequent allusions made commandments by Christ and the
to the ten
apostles, under the simple name of the commandments, explained.
For if they were indeed the most important part of the Old Testa-
ment legislation, it follows that the kernel in them must be of greater
worth than the shell the eternal than that which was merely tem-
porary ; though it by no means follows that there was no shell at all
in them, that no special ends were to be answered, and that they had
no exclusive reference to the people to whom they were first given.
On the contrary, there are several proofs that such a special purpose
did exist ; that the ten commandments are not to be applied in this
unhesitating manner to the Christian Church ; and that, in fact, regarded
as laws, they are no more applicable to it than the rest of the Pen-
tateuch. The words with which they are introduced " I am the Lord
thy God, which brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage," are sufficient in themselves to prove this. These words
establish the right of God to give the law, and the duty of Israel to
obey it. This right is claimed by God, not on the ground of his
general relation to the human race, but on that of the special relation
into which he has entered to Israel. He has bought it at a great price
from its former hard masters, the Egyptians, not that it may belong to

itself, but that it may belong to him. This ground of obligation does
not affect us, and therefore the obligation itself does not. This Luther
saw, who, in general, like all the Reformers, understood the nature of
the Decalogue far more correctly than many later theologians. He
says, in his " Instructions how to make use of Moses," " It is thus

clear enough that Moses was lawgiverto the Jews, and not to the
Gentiles. For Moses has given the Jews a sign, that, when
in this text

they address God, they may conceive of him as the God who brought
them out of Egypt. Christians have another sign, by which they con-
ceive of God as the God who has made his own Son wisdom, and
righteousness, and holiness, and redemption to them." Moreover.,
even in those commandments, which seem to be the most general of all

at first sight, a special Old Testament element is not to be mistaken.

Only prejudice has ever led, or can lead, men to deny that the term
" neighbour" denotes the members of the people of the covenant. Not
as though this limitation gave permission to do wrong to those who
were not Israelites. On the contrary, if we trace the special command
to its idea, we see that it did apply to those who were not Israelites
just as in the command to love the brethren there lies wrapt up, also,
 83

the command to love all men. But still the special reference made
here to the members of the people of Israel in their relations to each
other, shows that the letter of the Decalogue was intended for this

people alone.
And not only does the Decalogue not contain a purely moral law, but
the whole distinction between moral and ceremonial law, such as is

generally made, namely, that the first is for all ages, the latter

entirely done away, not foundedis on the law itself, but is a mere
invention of theologians, who fancied that to deny the validity of the
moral commands of Moses was equivalent to cancelling the obligation
to obey the moral law. The whole Mosaic law forms an indivisible
whole ; in one sense it is all abolished by Christ, and no longer affects

the Church of the New Testament ; in another sense it is all esta-

blished by Christ, the ceremonial part no less than the moral.

These two are the principal arguments of our opponents. The
others, adduced in support of these, are so unimportant, as to need no
elaborate reply. "The perpetuity of the Sabbath," they say, "is clearly
taught in Isaiah lvi. 6 8. If the house of God is a house of prayer
for all nations, then the Sabbath is a divine institution. And the house
of God became a house of prayer for all nations under the New
first

Testament." They might quite as correctly prove from this passage,

that the temple of Jerusalem is to continue under the New Testament,
in its former dignity (" I bring them the heathen
to my holy
mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer ;") and also
the whole of the sacrificial worship (" their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar"). If, now, we must admit
that, throughout, the prophet has clothed the idea, which belongs alike
to the Old and New Testaments, in Old Testament drapery, according
to the prophetic style ; that he points out the kingdom of God by that
which was its centre and seat under the Old Testament the temple ;

and the acceptance of the homage rendered by a pure mind, by the

well pleased acceptance of the sacrifices ; how can any one be justified
in, immediately after, pressing the letter, in reference to the Sabbath ?

The passage shows, undoubtedly, that the Old Testament command-

ment contains a germ which lives through all ages but cannot prove, ;

what is said to be proved, that the letter of this commandment retains

its force in the Church of the New Testament.
The weakest argument is that which is founded on the 118th Psalm,
ver. 24 :
" This is the day which the Lord hath made." It is said to

follow from this, that there was to be still a Sabbath under the gospel,
g 2


84

or after the resurrection of Christ ; and, consequently, that it must

continue to the end of the world (D wight, p. 10). Now, supposing,
what is by no means granted, that the Messianic interpretation of
the psalm is the right one, the day cannot, certainly, be any other than
the day of the deliverance or resurrection of the Messiah. But there
is nothing said of the institution of a perpetual festival in honour of
it ; and if there were, still what connexion would there be between
this and the Sabbath ? The day, however, is rather the day on which
the foundation stone of the temple was laid, in the second year after the
return from exile. The Lord had made this day, inasmuch as his
salvation had occasioned its celebration.
The last appeal is to the passage in Rev. i. 10: "I was in the
spirit on the Lord's day." But the argument, " there was according
to this passage a Lord's day under the New Testament : therefore the
Old Testament Sabbath must be perpetual under the New Testament,"
is most unfortunate. The first thing to be proved is the exact identity
of the Sabbath and the Lord's day ; and that has not been done.
In the refutation of the arguments used for the perpetuity of the

Sabbath, which we have just concluded, there have appeared several

important proofs of the contrary, whose force we have only to

strengthen by the following observations :

The first thing which strikes us here, is the inconsistency of the

advocates of the Sabbath. They, themselves, partially break the com-
mandment, whose perpetual validity they uphold, and thus give a
practical proof of the incorrectness of the doctrine.
It is certainly indisputable, that, if the proof of the perpetuity of the
Sabbath is a conclusive one, it is not the first, but the last day of the
toeek which should be observed. It must not be overlooked that the day
enjoined in the Sabbatic law, even if not the chief thing, is not a
matter of indifference. Because God rested on the seventh day, it is

not one day in seven, but precisely the seventh day which is to be
observed by rest. It was the seventh day which God blessed and
sanctified. And to observe another day instead of it, is not to observe
it at all.

In reply to this, our opponents say : 1. " That a distinction was made
between the Sabbath, or the sacred rest, and the day on which it was
held, even under the Old Testament. It is said expressly in the Deca-
logue : The Lord rested on the seventh day and blessed (not the
seventh, but) the Sabbath day, and sanctified it ; so that the blessing
is not fixed to the day, but follows the Sabbath, to whatever day it is
 8o

transferred." But, to this we say, it is evident that the " Sabbath-day"

ishere the seventh, and no other, partly from the words contained in
Gen. ii. 3, where it is expressly said, " And God blessed the seventh
day;" partly from the article, the Sabbath-day, the precise day just
spoken of; and partly also from the therefore. The connexion between
the two parts, " he rested on the seventh day," and " he blessed the
Sabbath," is only intelligible if Sabbath and seventh day are identical.

The opponents, indeed, are aware that, even if the correctness of this
untenable position be granted, they will still have objections to meet.
For if we may at will consider one part of the law as abrogated, it is

not easy to see why others may not do the same with regard to other
parts. But a law ceases to be a law, as soon as criticism has liberty
to deal with it in this way. They declare, therefore (2), that the
seventh clay would still have to be observed, if it were not that we
could produce an express declaration, on the part of the same authority
by which the Sabbath was instituted, to the effect that it had been
transferred from the seventh to the first day. Of this transfer they
adduce the following proofs : 1. " In the nature of the case there is an

d, priori probability, that the Sabbath of the New Testament would be

celebrated on a different day from that of the old. The blessings of
God, to commemorate which the seventh day was kept under the Old
Testament, namely the creation and the deliverance from Egypt, are
infinitely surpassed in value by the redemption by Christ. After the
accomplishment of this, therefore, the earlier observance ceases to be
in its proper place." But this argument proves nothing in favour of the
alteration of the day, but rather of the abolition of the Sabbath itself.

If the creation and deliverance from Egypt no longer affect the Church
of the New Testament, as they did that of the Old, then the ground
on which the Sabbath was blessed and sanctified by God has no longer
any force, so far as the former is concerned. But if it is, notwith-
standing, still affirmed that the Sabbath continues under the New
Testament, it can only be so by those who allow themselves at pleasure
to remove some of the characteristic marks of the Sabbath of the Old
Testament, and add new ones in their place. Now this was unlawful
under the Old Testament ; the law of the Sabbath must, therefore,
necessarily stand in a different relation to the New Testament ; and,
therefore, as an outward letter, requiring unconditional obedience, is

abolished. 2. It is said to be expressly predicted by Isaiah lxv. 17, 18,

4i
That the work of redemption is to celebrated, rather than that of
creation." The answer to this is the same as to the former. 3. " The
 86

118th Psalm contains a direct prediction, that the day of Christ's

resurrection will be the day on which the Sabbath will be observed
under tbe gospel. '
This is the day which the Lord has made.' " We
have already remarked that here nothing is said of a perpetual celebra-
tion. And even if it were so, how can any one prove that this day is

the Sabbath ? 4. " The apostles taught, by their example, that the
day of Christ's resurrection was to be the Christian Sabbath." In sup-
port of this, the well-known passages, Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 2 ;

Acts i. 10, are quoted. But in none of these is there any mention of
the Sabbath being transferred to the Sunday. 5. " The transference
of the Sabbath to the Sunday is evident from the important fact, that

God has conferred so great a blessing upon the observance of this

Christian Sabbath." This fact we have no wish to dispute ; but it is

no proof of the doctrine, unless we erroneously imagine that the Church

of the New Testament is still in a state of Old Testament pupilage ;

and that every arrangement which it makes, without a direct command

from God, is under the curse. And, even if we granted this, it would only
follow that the Christian Sunday is of divine appointment ; still

nothing could be decided from this as to its relation to the Sabbath.

Every one can now decide for himself, whether our opponents have
accomplished what they themselves confess that they are bound to
perform ; whether they have succeeded in proving the transference of
the Sabbath to the first day of the week, from an express testimony on
the part of God. And if it is evident that they have followed in this
respect, not the commandment of the Old Testament, but their own
views, how can they any longer maintain, in other respects, its binding
power as a laio ?
But there is another thing still, in which the inconsistency of our
opponents appears. We will not here lay stress upon the argument,
that, since, as we have already shown, the distinction between the
Decalogue and the rest of the laws is a purely arbitrary one, they
ought, for the sake of consistency, to apply to themselves everything
which occurs in them in reference to the Sabbath, everything which is

decreed as to the punishment of a breach of it, and, in the same way,

all the precepts relating to the Sabbatic year and year of jubilee, which
are so closely connected with the Sabbath commandment ; in fact, that

they ought to return to the observance of the whole law, and again
become perfect Jews. But we will, on the contrary, suppose that this

theory of a separation between the Decalogue and the other laws is a

correct one. Now, it is said in the fourth commandment, " Thou shalt
 87

not do any work, thou and thy son," &c. The question occurs here,
What is work ? Even if the force of law is denied to the other Mosaic
precepts in reference to the observance of the Sabbath, it must be con-
fessed that they are to be regarded as the safest commentary upon the
command in the Decalogue. Now let these other passages be com-
pared, and it will be evident that this prohibition of all work (as the
word itself shows, being used in distinction from labour) is to be taken
in its strictest sense a sense so strict that even the most zealous
friends of the Sabbath do not follow it. Thus the lighting of fires and
preparation of food belonged to the prohibited works ; compare
Exod. xxxv. 3, where this special prohibition is expressly mentioned
as contained in the general prohibition of work. From this Michaelis
correctly infers the restriction of the law of the Sabbath to Israel. In
the East, where the time of the principal meal is the evening, and the
want of food is less during the day on account of the great heat, and is

altogether not so great as in our climate, this arrangement could easily

be carried out ; not so with us, at least not without interfering with
the chief design of the Sabbath. And as the adaptation of the law of
the Sabbath to the Old Testament alone is evident from its requiring
abstinence from employments, which even the advocates of its per-
petuity allow ; so is it, also, from its laxity with regard to other things,
which the earnest-minded man considers highly prejudicial on the day,
which, under the New Testament, is devoted to God. There can be
no doubt that sensual enjoyments are inconsistent with the idea of
such a day; and yet these are not expressly forbidden, either in the
commandment itself or the frequent repetitions of it. Michaelis, indeed,

goes to the extreme in saying, " If some of the Israelites spent the
Sabbath in the enjoyment of dancing, this was not only not opposed
to the Mosaic institution, but even in accordance with its principal
design." It can be shown that, if we trace the Sabbath commandment
to its idea, which we shall presently do, the moral unlawfulness of
sensual pleasures may be inferred from that idea. But the fact, that

the moral obligation can only be inferred, and no civil obligation

existed, whilst both the moral and civil obligation to abstain from
work are expressly declared, and repeated again and again, proves that
under the Old Testament the relation of the two to each other was
different from that which exists under the New.
We have only to add, in order to complete our view of the incon-
sistency of our opponents, that the truths which were to occupy the
minds of the Israelites during their outward rest were very different

88

from those which the Christian should make the theme of his medi-
tation there the creation and the deliverance from Egypt, here the
redemption by Christ. It is true that Dwight observes, that " the Sab-
bath is still a memorial of the creation, though the institution is so
enlarged as to take in the celebration of the redemption also." But
this "also" is unfounded, unless the facts, on which the observance

under the Old Testament were based, still occupy the chief position.
Since, however, this is not the case, but, on the contrary, as the
alteration of the day proves, and the consciousness of every Christian
attests, the redemption by Christ is the one great fact which is cele-
brated, whilst the other derives its importance only from its connexion
with this, it will be readily seen that the advocates of the validity of
the Sabbath commandment depart from their own principles, and
ought, for the sake of consistency, to raise the celebration of the work
of creation to its central position again.

The negative portion of our work is now complete. After destroy-

ing, it becomes our duty to build. It might appear, from what we
have said, as though we denied the Old Testament basis of the observ-
ance of Sunday altogether. But this is not the case ; and we believe
that, in this respect, Luther and others have, in many cases, expressed
themselves in an imprudent and one-sided manner. We must com-
mence with an examination of the relation in which the Christian
Church stands to the whole Mosaic law. If once we acknowledge this
law as truly divine, we cannot possibly regard it as repealed, like the
Code of Napoleon, or its precepts as no more affecting us than those of
the Koran. Since the will of God is the expression of his nature, no
caprice can be attributed to him, and it is impossible that any merely
temporarxj laws can be given by him. Melancthon's expression, " The
law of Moses is not binding upon us, though some things which the
law contains are binding, because they coincide with the law of nature,"
is only partially correct. There certainly existed a temporary ingre-
dient in the Mosaic law ; and for this reason it has no longer any force
as an outward letter, and may often be neglected with propriety, so far
as the letter is But if this form, which was only intended
concerned.
to last for a time, be removed, and thus the spiritual element be
obtained in its purity, the latter is of no less importance to us than to
the people of the Old Testament. We are not free to choose whether
we will follow it or not. To reject it, would be to resist God.
This view of the importance of the Mosaic law to the Church of the
 89

New Testament, has been assented to by M. Weber, amongst modern

theologians, but not fully developed. He confines it to the Decalogue,
instead of extending it to the whole of the Mosaic law, not excluding
that part of it which is commonly called the ceremonial law. The
separation of the Decalogue from the rest of the Pentateuch, of the
moral law from the ceremonial, is here also an arbitrary proceeding.
The moral law is no less abolished than the ceremonial ; the ceremonial
law is as eternally binding as the moral. To maintain the opposite is

to deny the divine origin of the former. For if it be divine, it must

contain revelations of the nature and will of God, which are simply
clothed in a form suited to the peculiar necessities of the people of
Israel. But Weber's fundamental idea is perfectly correct, that the
commandments are not simply binding, because they are coincident
with the law of nature, but also because they are repeated by God in
the Old Testament Scriptures. Bialloblotzky has attempted in vain a
refutation of this. " If," says he, " a man observes only those laws
of a legislator which appear good to him, and leaves the others at
his pleasure, he does not follow this outward legislation, so much as
himself, even though his actions express at times the purport of the
law, in such a manner that he appears to regulate his life by it." If in
this argument the supposition applies to the present case, the conclusion
would be equally applicable. But is this the fact ? It is not at plea-
sure that the eternal substance is separated from the temporal form,
but according to fixed laws. To the latter, only that can belong, which
can be proved from the nature of the theocracy to refer especially to it.

There may be differences of opinion as to particular points ; but where

these do not arise, it is not left to a man's own pleasure to obey or not.
He who does not obey, manifests his contempt of God, as clearly as a
disobedient member of the old covenant. Upon this view the entire
question of the validity of the Decalogue in the Christian Church rests.
The effect which it has produced upon the Church in every country
proves that its commands are something very different from friendly
counsels. They are not subordinate to the law of nature, but on a par
with it ; the manner in which they drawn up, the events which
are
attended their promulgation, and the solemn sanction which they
received from God, secure for them effects which the law of nature,
however drawn up, will never produce. Many a man has been kept
from the sin, by the law of Sinai, " Thou shalt not commit adultery,"
echoed loudly within him, when the law of nature, which is so easily
obliterated and silenced, would never have preserved him from it.
 ;

90

We have so striking a confirmation of the views we have just stated,

in an expression of Christ's, that we need not look for any further
scriptural proofs. It is the passage contained in Matt. v. 17 19,
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets ; I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of
these leastcommandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called
kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and teach
the least in the :

them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." The
prophets are mentioned here, not as foretellers of the future, but as
preachers of the law, as in ch. vii. 12, xxii. 40. This appears from the
use of the word or, not " and," and is confirmed by the whole con-
nexion, especially by the word for in ver. 18, in which the law and the
prophets are classed under the general name of law. In ver. 19, too,
only the commandments are mentioned ; and the design of the whole
paragraph, to which these verses serve as an introduction, is evidently
to prevent a false opinion as to the relation of the law to the new eco-
nomy ; so that a reference to prediction would here be out of place.
Destroying and fulfilling are the direct opposites the one of the other,
and, therefore, the explanation given of the latter, that it consists in
doing and teaching, shows that destroying denotes not doing, and not
teaching. The former are performed first by Christ himself, and partly
by his members. The parallel passage in Luke xvi. 17, explains what
the Saviour means by, " till all be fulfilled ;" where he says, " It is
easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail."

From this it is evident that the simplest meaning is the correct one
namely, the law will continue for ever, and not fail in any point, till it

is entirely satisfied.
Here, then, the perpetuity of the law, and its demands upon the
members of the New Testament, are expressly maintained. And we
have no right, arbitrarily, to restrict to one part of the law, the moral
law, what is said of the whole. But there is just as little reason to
understand " one jot or meaning " one jot or tittle" of the
tittle," as
letter. The words of Christ would then stand in direct and evident
contradiction to other statements of the New Testament ; but the dis-

course of Christ which immediately follows, demonstrates the fallacy of

such an opinion. The Saviour, in this discourse, goes far beyond the
letter of the Mosaic law; whilst he unfolds the idea, which Moses
himself could not fully express, on account of the hardness of the
 91

people's hearts. But, if that which is contained in the idea, is to be

regarded as a real ingredient of the law, this mode of treatment must
be consistently carried out, and the accidental be separated from the
essential the conditional from that which is independent of all condi-
tions. And thus no jot or tittle of the true spirit of the law can fail.

What passes then, and what remains of the Sabbath commandment ?

If we follow Spencer and his school, very little remains. The " keep-
1

ing holy' ''

consists in his opinion only in the setting it apart for a certain

object devoting it to rest instead of work. The outward rest is not
related in any way to the inward. It is simply a symbolical represen-
tation of the rest of God after the creation, except that it is designed
to secure refreshment to slaves. This completed the observance of the
Sabbath in his estimation. If any one, in addition to this, devoted the
day to meditation on divine things, and the worship of God, he did it of
his own accord.
According to this view, the law, under the Old Testament, was fully
carried out by those who abstained from outward work they might ;

turn their thoughts and feelings entirely away from God, or even
indulge in gross excesses, without breaking the law. But the expres-
sions, " God sanctified the Sabbath," and, " Remember the Sabbath, to

sanctify it," are in themselves sufficient to prove this to be false. This

one word, " sanctify," expresses the whole idea of the Sabbath. The
passages brought forward by Spencer are not sufficient to prove that
sanctifying meant merely setting apart, nor are there any passages from
which can be proved. Who, for instance, can fail to see that the
it

words of Joel, ii. 15, " sanctify a fast," mean not simply, fix a time for
fasting, but appoint a holy fast ; one which is, outwardly and inwardly,
truly devoted to God ? And again, the expression in Joshua xx. 7,
'*
and they sanctified Kedesh in Galilee," indicates not only that they
appointed it for an asylum, but that they consecrated it to God, so
that it was an attack upon the rights of God, for any one to endeavour
to execute his right of vengeance upon a fugitive who had fled thither?
Sanctifying the seventh day, therefore, can only mean the dedication of
it to God. How this is to be performed must be determined from the
idea itself, and from the accounts contained in the records of the Old
Testament religion. The offering of a special sacrifice, and the holding
of a sacred assembly (Lev. xxiii. 3), are a sufficient proof that the
observance of the Sabbath demanded something more than mere in-
active repose.
The full extent and import of the sanctification enjoined were im-
 92

pressed upon the people, who were too ready to rest satisfied with the
outward observance, by the prophets, who were raised up as the legal
expositors of the law. It is true, that, in cases in which men went so

far as outwardly to break the law, this was punished as a gross exhi-
bition of ungodliness, just as the murderer is punished without any
mention of his neglect of the duties of Christian love. But even where
the day was outwardly observed, they still declare, most emphatically,
that this is not all, and that, in fact, it cannot be regarded as a fulfilment
of the law at all, unless the inward emotions correspond. Isaiah says,
that a merely outward observance of the Sabbath is an " abomination
toGod" (Isa. i. 13); and afterwards explains, in a positive manner, in
what the true sanctification of the Sabbath consists :
" If thou turn

away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day, and callest the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and
honourest it, not doing thine own ways, nor seeking thine own pleasure,
nor speaking words" (Isa. lviii. 13). In this passage the following
points deserve to be noticed, as showing, in the clearest light, the pro-
phet's idea of sanctification. He indicates as the opposite of this,
doing one's own pleasure and one's own Avays : these are, in his esti-
mation, the real desecration of the Sabbath, a daring attack upon it,
whilst the opposite is called " turning away the foot." He grasps so
thoroughly the idea of doing one's own pleasure, following one's own
inclination (for which Gesenius, in defiance of all the rules of interpre-

tation, would substitute work, simply because the idea is too deep for
him) in all its extent and depth, that he includes in it speaking words,

that is, such words as are words only, mere gossip, and do not promote
either the glory of God, or the improvement of one's self and others.
The prophet lays such stress upon the feelings of the heart, that he
requires that the Sabbath shall not be felt as a heavy burden, by which
men are kept, against their will, from their own occupation ; but as a
delight, a gracious privilege, which God has given to his people, that
they may turn to him amidst the distractions and cares of the world.
And he requires that the Sabbath shall be honoured, because the
lastly,

Lord hath sanctified it which honouring consists in this, " thou shalt
;

abstain from thine own work, that God may have his work in thee."
"With this view of the nature of sanctification, which was evidently that
held by the prophets, we may understand how it was that they held
meetings for instruction on that day, to which the faithful came even
from a great distance, of which a notice is contained in the narrative
of the Shunammite (2 Kings iv. 23).
 93

This more spiritual meaning of the Mosaic institution was also

recognised by the later Jews, and on that their custom, of devoting it

to the exercises of worship, was founded. Philo, the Alexandrian,

says :
" It is a custom received from our forefathers, and still conti-
nued, to consecrate this day to science, the study of the nature of '

things.' " And Josephus says

" Moses commanded them not merely
:

to read the law once, or twice, or more frequently, but to leave their
other works every week, and meet together to hear the law." And it

is no light thing to maintain, as Spencer does, that this view was em-
braced by the whole people from a misunderstanding of the law.
If now we have succeeded in ascertaining, in this way, the funda-
mental idea of the Sabbath under the Old Testament, it will not be
difficult to determine to what extent it applies to us, and what duties
it devolves upon us. 1. It shows us, that whilst God does not, like a
Pharaoh of the moral law, demand without giving, yet he does not
give without requiring, so that every one of his benefits brings with it

the obligation that we sanctify ourselves to his service. If this obli-

gation was so great under the Old Testament on account of the crea-
tion, and the deliverance from Egypt, how much greater must it be

under the New Testament, in which " he spared not his only-begotten
Son, but freely gave him up for us all !
" 2. We learn from it, that
human weakness, which is ever too ready to forget this duty, stands
in need of fixed and periodical occasions, on which all outward hin-
dranees are removed, that they may be devoted exclusively to the per-
formance of it. The notion, that this want only existed under the Old
Testament, that, because every day is a Sabbath to the Christian, the
setting apart of certain days is only desirable for those who are merely
outwardly members of the New Testament, but inwardly belong to
the Old, will certainly find no advocate in the truly advanced Chris-
tian, but only in those who have been so absorbed in their imaginary
self, as to lose sight of what they The false spiritualism,
really are.
from which such assertions spring, worm, which gnaws more de-
is a
structively at our spiritual life than legality ever can. That which is
true in theory, is not always true without restrictions when put into
practiceby individuals and ; this is more than ever the case in our
day, whose impurities are so great, whose faith is so feeble, and whose
seeking for holiness is so destitute of earnestness. If we were mem-
bers of Christ, and nothing else, we should no longer require to set
apart certain times ; for our whole life would be an uninterrupted wor-
ship. But the flesh still exists in us as well as the Spirit, and its
 94

strength is always so much the greater in proportion to our uncon-

sciousness of its existence. And, therefore, the louder and more con-
fident a man's assertions that fixed times for assembling are superflu-
ous, and the more he despises those who still think them necessary,
as though they could not tell the signs of the times, the stronger is

the proof that he needs them still. For flying, something more is re-

quired than simply to fancy we have wings. He who is conscious

that he has none, and pursues his pilgrimage humbly leaning on his
staff, will have made the greatest progress at the end. The continu-
ance of sin in us brings with it always susceptibility to external im-
pressions, and to the influence of evil around us, together with wan-
derings of mind. The spark may fall upon iron without danger, but
not upon tinder. For this reason, in order that we may pray without
ceasing, in a manner befitting our station, we must sometimes " enter
into our chamber, and shut the door behind us ;" and in order to keep
every day as a day of the Lord, we must keep one day free from every-
thing that can disturb our devotion. Such disturbance arises most of
all from earthly employments. But the extent to which these should
be avoided, and the measure of our obligation to abstain from them,
must be regulated according to the position of the individual and it ;

is, therefore, impossible to lay down any general rules. But this must
be noticed, that hard bodily labours, though generally regarded as
most incompatible with the rest of the Sabbath, are generally less so
than mental ones, even including such as relate to a learned research
into the words and ways of God. These tend more than the others to

occupy the whole man, both body and soul.

And with regard to this second particular, the Old Testament

arrangement has gained in power. We have much more reason for

observing everything with the greatest care, on which the health of

our spiritual life depends. Csesarius, of Aries (in the fifth century),
said with propriety in this respect :
" I say with truth, that it is wrong,
and indeed ungodly, for Christians to have less respect for the Lord's
day, than they see the Jews show to the Sabbath. For if these unhappy
men keep the Sabbath so strictly, that they avoid every earthly work
on that day, how much more ought we, who are redeemed, not with
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, to think of the

price paid for us, and on the day of the resurrection to consecrate our-
selves to God, and to reflect with the greater earnestness upon the
salvation of our souls." We cannot infer the obligation to devote
exactly one day in seven exclusively to the worship of God, with the
 95

same certainty with which we conclude that there must be some times
appointed. For it is doubtful whether this arrangement is founded
upon a natural want, which is common to all, or whether it is only
made with reference to the history of the creation, in which case it

would lose its application to us. It seems, however, to be confirmed

by the experience of every age, which has discovered the adaptation
of this arrangement to the nature of man, both in the inferior and
nobler nature, that whilst the reference to the creation is not to be
lost sight of, it is founded upon the former also. Further study of this
subject increases our conviction, that the dedication of one day in
seven to the worship of God belongs to the essence of the command-
ment. The rest of God after the creation is not the real ground of
the observance, but serves to recommend it.

3. We perceive from the law, that the appointment of certain sea-

sons for worship is not only the duty of individuals, but also of the
whole Church. Not only was the Sabbath kept by every one in his
own house, but there were united religious services, the offering of the
sacrifices, the holy assemblies, in which men were not inactive, but
joined together in the praise of God, and acknowledgment of his ways.
He who neglects the assembly, as some do, may be convinced of sin
even from the Old Testament ; and so also he who fancies that, having
selected certain times, he has only to think of his own necessities.
It only remains now to examine the basis of the duty of the Chris-
tian, and the whole Church, to regard and observe Sunday in particular
as a day set apart for edification. Two different views have been
Some appeal to the custom of
entertained on this subject. the Church.
Thus an author who wrote in 1702* says: " The fixing of one day
in seven is a Divine ordinance, which cannot be overthrown ; but the
choice of Sunday is an agreement of the whole Church, which is not
to be attributed to any private individual, still less to the Government."
Others look upon this view as very suspicious. Thus Mosheim says :

" The Church, say they, has appointed Sunday, and we are bound
to submit to it. How weak is this support ! Jesus has made us free
from the ordinances of men, and, therefore, the Church has no right
to make laws." The advocates of this view appeal to a Divine com-
mand issued through the apostles.
There can be no doubt that the Sunday was generally observed as
early as the days of the apostles. This can be proved from the New

* Unschuldige Nachrichten.
 96

Testament. The three passages, which are commonly adduced in

support of it, are each decisive on the matter ; but they afford a much
stronger proof, when taken in connexion with each other.
The first passage is 7. From this it appears that the
Acts xx.
church at Troas, at the time when Paul visited it, was in the habit of
meeting for worship on the first day of the week. The same name is
given to the day as to the day on which the Redeemer rose, in Matt,
xxviii. 1, and John xx. 1. The different parts of the service alluded
to are, the preaching, which was customary, as we find from Acts ii. 42,
in the meetings of Christians, from the very first, on this occasion,

Paul took the place of the ordinary preacher, the Lord's Supper and
the feast of love. It is true that Franke and Neander both dispute
the argument from this passage, thinking that the assembly was an
extraordinary one, called in consequence of the apostle's intention to
depart on themorrow and that, therefore, it happened to fall on a
;

Sunday. But a closer inspection of the passage will show, that the
assembly, and the breaking of bread which was the chief object,
were altogether independent of the apostle's departure, and only gave
him the opportunity of speaking, and that at such great length.
The second passage is 1 Cor. xvi. 2 in which the apostle writes,
;

that on the first day of the week every one is to lay by, according to
his ability, for the contribution to the saints. Relieving the wants of
the saints is an occupation worthy of the day. The heart isthen more
open, and inclined to give. The apostle's remark, that he had written
the same to all the churches in Galatia, shows that there also the
Sunday was already observed. Franke and Neander, indeed, remark
here, that all this may be understood if we suppose it to refer merely
to the ordinary commencement of the civil week. But it seems to be
overlooked, that the church at Corinth, which consisted for the most
part of Gentile Christians, had no civil commencement of the week,
since the Jewish division of weeks was not customary amongst the
Greeks and Romans. And if this had been the only reason for the
apostle's fixing the first day, he would certainly have mentioned this,

and would scarcely have spoken with such decision, but would rather
have simply advised, and recommanded it to their consideration. If
we were required by any one to contribute on the Sunday to religious
objects,no further explanation would be necessary the reason for ;

choosing this day would be obvious ; but any one, wishing to fix on
Monday, would certainly think it necessary to give a further explanation.
The third passage is Rev. i. 10 "I was in the spirit on the Lord's
:
 97

day." That we are to understand by the Lord's day the Sunday, and
some do, Easter day, is evident from the fact, that the oldest
not, as
Greek and Latin ecclesiastical writers universally apply the term, the
Lord's day, to the Sunday, and never to Easter. This is now generally
acknowledged. The application of this name to the Sunday, however,
is closely connected with the observance of
it and the fact that the ;

apostlewas honoured on that day with extraordinary communications

of the Holy Spirit, seems to indicate that he was then especially
engaged in those exercises of devotion which prepared him for them ;
whilst, on the other hand, these communications necessarily helped to
increase the sanctity of the day. For they contained a kind of prac-
tical declaration that the observance of this day was well pleasing to
God.
We'arrive at the same conclusion from an examination of the diffe-

rent sources of the earliest history of Christianity. Unless the

observance of the Sunday originated in the days of the apostles, it is

difficult to explain how it is that we find it, immediately after, in the

most distant regions ; whilst, amidst all divisions, secessions, and con-
we meet with none affecting
troversies, this question, and no heretical
church had another day for meeting. We shall quote some of the
most important witnesses. Pliny, in his well-known epistle, says that
the Christians were in the habit of meeting for worship on one regular
day. It is evident, from a comparison of this passage with statements
made in other places, that this could not have been the Sabbath, as
some have imagined. Barnabas, the disciple of the apostles, says, in
his epistle, which has been suspected on insufficient ground, " The
Christians no longer observe the Sabbath, which has been abolished,
but they spend the first day of the week as a day of enjoyment, as the
beginning of the new world, the day on which Jesus rose from the
dead." In the epistle from the Corinthian bishop Dionysius, to the
Roman bishop Soter,we read, " To-day we have kept the sacred day
of the Lord." He says, too, that the Ebionites observe the Lord's day
as a memorial of the Saviour's resurrection. So, also, Justin says that
the observance of the day, on which God chased away darkness and
chaos, and created the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from
the dead, is practised by all Christians.

But, even if it must be unreservedly admitted, that the Sunday was

observed as early as the days of the apostles, under the eyes of the
apostles, and that they approved of, and joined in the observance, it

does not follow from this that a direct command had been given by
 98

God. Such a command would certainly have been more clearly re-
vealed to us, and not have been left to mere inference. And such a
command would be as much opposed to the very nature of the New
Testament Church, as the Old Testament law of the Sabbath, and
would confound the two economies, not less than the literal transfer of
that law. The Church of the New Testament has been brought to
maturity by the Spirit of Christ, so far as all outward arrangements are
concerned. If this is not the case, how is it that we find no directions,
which are general in their form and valid for every age, with regard to
the most important outward institutions, such as the constitution of
the Church ? To say, with the Puritans, that whatever arrangements
the Church makes in this respect, are ordinances of men, in a bad sense,
is only to set up an ordinance of one's own, namely, the baseless

assumption that the law of the Old Testament ought to be transferred

to the New without modification or change, and forces into a number
of arbitrary practices. For, so far as those outward institutions are
concerned, which we want to preserve, we are compelled to invent a
direct sanction on the part of God, as is evident from the transfer of the
Sabbath to the Sunday, and the change of the apostolic injunctions in

reference to the constitution of the Church, which were evidently in-

tended only for the apostles' times, into universal laws, which shall be
valid under all circumstances. Nor is it less evident from the fact,
that it is also necessary to do away with many things, whose retention
is loudly demanded by the consciousness of Christians, such as the
Christian festivals, the observance of which rests upon the same basis
as that of the Sunday. If this is observed as a memorial of the resur-
rection of the Lord, why should not the anniversary of that event be
observed as well ; and if this, why not the day of his birth, of his
death, of his ascension, and of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ?

The distinction which men feel themselves compelled to draw between

things which must stand or fall together, ought to be sufficient to prove
that the whole principle is false. The episcopal theologians, in their
controversy with the Puritans, pointed out how, even under the Old
Testament, the freedom of the Church was not so fettered, with refer-
ence to outward institutions, as some would have it now ; as we may
see from the feast of Purim, which was instituted by Esther and Mor-
decai, without a direct command from God ; and the feast of Dedication,
which was established at a period in which direct Divine communica-
tions had ceased, but which the Saviour himself, nevertheless, joined in

celebrating.
 99

How, then, are we to account for the origin of the observance of

Sunday in the primitive Church ? It arose, undoubtedly, in a sponta-
neous manner, on the same ground on which all nations, however
unconnected, commemorate the birth and death of friends, or kings, or
benefactors ; a practice the more naturally complied with in this case,

on account of the infinite extent to which father and mother, and child,
and earthly kings or benefactors, are surpassed by our Lord and Saviour.
Where this natural emotion found expression, it was encouraged by

intercourse with those who had already adopted the practice of observ-
ing the Sunday. The apostles, who united in this observance, did so,
not as apostles, but as standing, in this respect, on a perfect equality
with the other members of the Church. Their example is only of im-
portance to us, as it removes every doubt as to the fact, that it is a
true and Christian feeling, from which the observance of the Sunday
springs.
On what, then, is our duty founded, to select Sunday as the day to
be observed, since, as we have shown, we cannot dispense with a fixed
and regularly returning period, exclusively devoted to the worship of
God ? We reply, in the first place, on the same feeling which first

dictated that selection. This reason must have the same force as ever,
since Christ the same Saviour, and his resurrection, the climax
is still

of his whole work of redemption, must have the same importance for
us, as for those who saw him, when risen, with their bodily eyes.
There is yet another reason, which was unknown to the primitive
Church, and, therefore, gives the Sunday a stronger claim upon us,
than it had in the days of the apostles. For now nearly eighteen
centuries it has been observed as the Lord's day. The prayers and
supplications of millions have been offered on it to the Lord ; an infi-

nite fulness of blessings has been poured out upon the Church on this
day. It is still observed in every quarter of the globe by all peoples
and tongues. By this observance of the Sunday we enter into the
closest fellowship with the whole Christian Church of the present and
the past ; and the consciousness of this fellowship must of necessity
exert a lively influence upon our devotion.
In closing this part of our work, and seeing the injurious effects
which the neglect of the Lord's day is producing amongst us, a neglect
which cannot but react upon the ungodliness from which it springs,
we would summon every one, who has received from God strength and
talents for the work, to help in this respect to rebuild the walls of Zion.

h 2
 PART III.

8*meMi oBforts femineb.

The year 1850 was distinguished for the zeal and energy with which
efforts were made to promote the observance of Sunday. Societies
Avere formed, prizes offered, a periodical started, and a large number
of publications issued, and put in circulation. We heartily rejoice in
this fact. And if we venture some objections to the course
to express
pursued, we do so, not with the intention of impeding the movement,
but with the sincere desire of assisting it.

We think, in the first place, that it is necessary to guard against

overrating the effects which will be produced by these means. We
admit that there is a certain truth in the assertion that " without a
proper observance of the Sunday the Church will never be edified and
restored to purity again ;" but we believe that itwould be more cor-
rect to say that, " unless the Church is built up and purified, there
cannot be a proper observance of the Sunday at all." From the
inward to the outward is the New Testament way, it was the way
spoken of by Jeremiah,* under the Old Testament ; and this, too, is

the way peculiarly befitting the evangelical Church. From the expe-
rience of the past, derived from similar efforts, as, for example, those
of temperance societies, we expect nothing like complete success, even
with reference to the immediate object of this movement. But it will
have this great advantage, that by thoroughly exposing the evils re-

sulting from the habits of the people in this respect, it will help to
bring them to a " knowledge of sin." And it may lead some to avail
themselves of the means of grace. If anything beyond this could be
effected by such outward means, how is the fact to be explained that
the epistles to the Seven Churches, in the Revelation, are addressed

* Yid. ch. xxxi. 3134.

 101

exclusively to that which is within, and do not advance beyond the

preaching of repentance, and that, in the whole of the New Testament,
no commandment and no exhortation is given with reference to the
Sunday ? It brings us to this, that the really royal way to that which
is outward, is through the heart ; that the former will follow of itself,

when once a man is right within. What has been said of kingdoms,
is true of churches, " they are fortified by the same means by which
they are founded." " Kepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,"

was the proclamation which announced the kingdom of heaven ; and

when these words fail, with which the Saviour, like John the Baptist,
began his work, very little will be accomplished by any other means.
Still, in miserable times, we must be content with miserable success.
Only it is necessary to guard against expecting too much, otherwise
the enthusiasm will soon cool ; and, what is worse, it will interfere

with the concentration of all the strength upon the more important
work, on the earnest prosecution of which the success even of this
movement must depend.
The second thing is, that the agents of this movement are acting im-
prudently upon the principle, that " it is their duty to lay aside all fear and
all learning, and to keep before them but one thing, namely, the miser-
able condition of both high and low amongst the people, who are wickedly
robbing God of every seventh day," and are, therefore, without hesi-
tation spreading publications amongst the people, which advocate the
English view of the Sunday, a view which, according to our conscien-
tious conviction, is opposed to the Scriptures, and which is certainly
at variance with the doctrine held by our church, and with the view
which prevailed throughout the early ages of Christianity. And this
view they are themselves ready to adopt, thinking that " it is of little

consequence whether it is theoretically right or wrong, seeing that

practically the English view has certainly accredited itself.'' But we
have not to do with human learning in this case, but with the know-
ledge of the word of God and all indifference, in reference to this, is
;

sin. Our people have specially the commission to explore the depths
of the word of God and everything which tends to draw them away
;

from this work, in favour of a false estimate of the practical, must

injure their souls. Moreover, just because this is our work, anything,
which is weak and untenable, will be of far less service
theoretically
amongst us than elsewhere, as the groundwork of a solid practical
edifice. It will not be long before criticism will begin its work and ;

the proverb will be verified, " lightly come, lightly go." And from
 :

102

its indefensible position and weak foundation, the cause itself will fall

into disgrace.
It is of the greatest importance that a clear idea he first obtained of
the meaning of the fourth commandment ; and when this is done, that

the question be satisfactorily settled, whether (a strange question,

which should never have been raised), and how far, this commandment
affects the Church of Christ.
If this commandment contains the injunction to worship God, it is
evident that we are not to content ourselves with the letter, " Remem-
ber the Sabbath day ;" but that we can only regard the observance of
the one day, as the climax of this worship, according to the plan
usually adopted in the ten commandments. They generally select one
out of a number of equally important examples. Thus, in the third
commandment, literally only perjury is forbidden ; but the chief design
is to name of God.
impress the importance of a sacred reverence for the
And we content ourselves with the Sabbath, and think that the
so, if

worship of God is limited to that, this commandment would present a

poor contrast to the grand declaration, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength." How could it be possible to icorship but once a week a
God thus loved? Such an idea, too, would clash with the rest of the
laws of Moses, which contain nothing of which the germ does not exist
in the Decalogue. Even in these laws, the worship of God occupied a
far larger space than this one day; for, by the side of the Sabbath, we
find the observance of the festivals, and the morning and evening
sacrifice, expressly required.

The complete fulfilment of this command, in spirit as well as in

letter, is to be found in the life ofAnna, of whom it is said, " She

departed not from the temple, but served, with fastings and prayers,
night and day." The injunction of Paul, " Pray without ceasing,"
contains, undoubtedly, the New Testament development of the spirit

of the command. The opinion expressed in a prize essay, lately pub-

lished, that, " the eternal and essential germ of the Sabbath command-
ment is this, that every seventh day is to be devoted to our heavenly
calling, is too contracted." Such a view certainly resembles too much
the righteousness of the Pharisees, so strongly condemned by Christ.
And it is incorrect, inasmuch as it overlooks the fact, that the seventh
day in the Old Testament was not merely the day of worship, but de-
signed also to be the day of rest, of refreshment, and of humanity
qualities which should be distinguished from each other much more
 103

than they generally are. The old Heidelberg catechism has certainly
expressed the meaning of the commandment far more correctly and
perfectly :* " First that I meet with the Church of God, &c. And
besides, that I keep every day of my life holy, by abstaining from evil

works, that I let God work in me by his Spirit, and thus begin in this
life the Sabbath of eternity."
If the commandment be thus understood, the observance of a day
acquires, on the one hand, greater meaning and importance ; in the
same way commandment, " Thou shalt not kill," is first seen
as the
in its true light, when we learn that even anger is criminal in the sight
of God and the seventh commandment, " Thou shalt not commit
;

adultery," when we consider the sentence pronounced by Christ upon

its secret commencement in the heart. If, then, we ought to serve

God without ceasing, what must be the condition of those who will
not serve him at all, but who do all they can to keep back the least
they could give him, the observance of a seventh day. On the other
hand, however, the scruples of legality are prevented by this interpre-

tation ; since the seventh day is only separated from the others by a
fading boundary line. In cases of necessity, and when it can be done
without offending the consciences of others, the observance of it may
be neglected. And that which has been necessarily left undone on the
one day, can be performed at another time. Again, the more earnestly
we seek to fulfil the commandment on other days, the less reason is

there for scrupulous strictness with regard to this. The amount of

obligation, to keep the day strictly, varies according to circumstances.
It is strongest in reference to nations, times, and individuals, in whom
the divine life, and, therefore, the worship of God, are at the lowest
ebb. But the most enlightened Christian, and the most eminent
church, are not altogether free from it.

Obedience to this command of God, however, requires in our day

that we do something more than merely seek to promote the observ-
ance of Sunday. It demands as loudly that we seek to fill up the other
days with the pleasant worship of God.
With this interpretation of the Old Testament command, the expres-
sions of Paul completely harmonize, whilst those who favour the Eng-
them inconvenient, and seek by forced interpretations
lish opinion find

to explain them away. This is seen most clearly in the remarks of

Haldane on " certain expressions in the New Testament." No one,

* See page 64.

 a;

104

on reading his work, can help feeling that the author would be glad if

these " certain expressions" were not there. In Rom. xiii. 5, 6, the
apostle speaks indulgently of those who esteem one day above another.
He has in his mind those, who do not seek to enforce upon others the
practices which they cannot relinquish themselves Christians, who
;

have come over from Judaism, and who, therefore, require time before
the new principle can have its perfect power. In Col. ii. 16, however,
he warns them to beware of those who wish to judge others in meat,
and drink, and festivals, and new moons, and Sabbaths, " which are a
shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ," who gives his
own people the power to rise above the Jewish, piecemeal religion
religion not favoured by the Old Testament and serve God without
ceasing. But he speaks most strongly in Gal. iv. 9 11 " How turn
:

ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire

again to be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times,
and years." The preference of certain days, whatever they may be,
whether called Sundays or Sabbaths, or by any other name, appears
here as a return to an elementary and child's religion, such as the
Galatians had submitted to before, when in their heathen condition
and is denounced as unworthy of Christians, who are to be a godly
people, walking constantly before God, and presenting themselves con-
tinually unto Him, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.
These expressions are certainly opposed to every view of the Sunday,
which leads being regarded as the only day of religion, the
to its
" pearl of days," the " light of the week," if by this is meant that
the other days belong to man, and this alone to God. They show the
fallacy of every view which supposes that God is satisfied with one day,
and which, in order that this day may be invested with a brighter halo,
allows deep shadows to rest upon the other days of the week. Sacred
days and hours are a part of Judaism, not of the true religion even of
the Old Testament ; they are well suited for Rationalism, but not for
the Christian Church. To seek to introduce them is to misunderstand
Christ. It cannot, however, be doubted that those who hold the Sab-
batarian view are inclined to this ; although, by carrying it out, we
frustrate the lofty aim which ought never to be lost sight of by the
Christian Church.
With regard to individual Christians, these expressions show, as the
Mosaic command also does, that the Sunday can only be regarded as a
crutch, the use of which is rendered necessary by the weakness of men,
though not in all cases to the same extent. Thus Bengel says, " For
 ;

105

those who are deeply engrossed in the business of the world, a fixed
day is not only useful, but necessary ; but they who keep a constant
Sabbath enjoy the greater liberty ;" to which, however, we must add
that, in general, they require it most, who think they can do without it

and that nothing more repulsive than to hear men talk with boasting,
is

as though they had reached the summit of Christianity, when they

hardly possess the first elements of the Christian life and worship. It

was not without good reason, that in a church of brethren, such as the
primitive church was
whose earnest prayer was ever, " Lord Jesus,

come quickly " the Sunday stands out with far less prominence amidst
the other days, than elsewhere; and less in the Catholic Church, which
has its services every day, than in the Evangelical. Nor is it without
good reason, that England the Sunday is held with almost a convul-
in
sive grasp. With this restless, busy people it is but the impulse to
spiritual self-preservation which dictates this strict observance. And
there is also good reason why, amongst us, zeal should be kindled for
the observance of the Sunday, just at the time in which the stormy
waves of worldly mindness are threatening to spread universal desola-
tion. But we must avoid making a virtue of necessity, and gilding
over the calamity, by upholding that which is only the result of a
return to the imperfect condition of the Old Testament, as though it
belonged peculiarly to the New and by picturing as an ideal condition
;

that which in reality resembles the last effort of a drowning man. If

the days of her first love could return to the Church, the difference
between the Sunday and the other days would be scarcely perceptible.
What could there be to distinguish the Sunday, where all were of one
heart and of one soul, and were daily together in fellowship and
breaking of bread ? Only as the first amongst equals could it possibly
appear then.
With reference, however, to Sunday as the chief day of ivorship,
the words of Chemnitz are important. " Although the Christian
meetings are not bound by any law or precept of the New Testament
to a particular day, it would be an act of wanton caprice to refuse to
observe, for the sake of order and union, the custom of the apostolic
and primitive Church, since it certainly tends to the improvement of
the Church, and does not interfere with Christian liberty." Apart from
a man's own wants, it is a work of love, and a duty binding upon
every member, as related to the whole body, to join with heart and
soul in the meetings for worship on the Sunday, and in every respect
so to spend the day that his example shall be beneficial to others.
 106

He who neglects this, has not only his own fault to bear, but, in part,

that of others also.

But we tremble at the mass of untenable arguments which are put
in circulation in support of the strict Sabbatarian view of the Sunday.
By these arguments, the observance of the Sunday is unhappily
damaged by its friends ; not less than its opponents. "We regret to
find many of these in Oschwald's prize essay, whose merits, in a prac-
tical point of view, we cheerfully admit ; whilst that of Liebetrut,
though it contains a smaller number, is not entirely free. Thus the
injunction of Christ to his disciples, " Pray that your flight be not in
the winter or on the Sabbath," is brought forward as a proof of the
stress laid upon the observance of Sunday in the New Testament,
without the possibility of proving that the Sunday is ever called the
Sabbath by the New Testament writers. It is also overlooked, that,
if the meaning which is here attached to the words be the correct
one, the Saviour is but helping to build up, what he always aimed to
overthrow, the scruples of the Pharisees with regard to the outward
observance of the Sabbath. All that can be gathered from this

advice is, was likely, from the arrangements of that

that the Sabbath
time, to present as great an impediment to their flight as the winter
itself. But if the modes of expression peculiar to the Saviour's dis-
courses are lost sight of in this way, we shall be brought to the conclu-
sion that, under certain circumstances, it is our duty to pluck out the
right eye, and cut off the right foot or right hand.
Let us not throw away our gifts, or prove unfaithful to our calling,
when attracted by a mere delusion. Let us not overlook the fact, that

the English Sunday, which has made so deep and favourable an

impression upon many, as to enlist them as advocates of the theory
which prevails there, is not the product of the theory itself, but
results partly from the Christian fear of God, so deeply rooted in the
hearts of the people ;
partly from the ceaseless bustle and restlessness,
which characterise so large a part of the population both of England
and America ; and, lastly, from the love of law which is so prevalent
there. This last, however, when applied to religion, has its dark, as
well as its bright side, and easily leads men to despise the noblest
cravings of the Christian life as impracticable idealism. To those who
look deeper than the surface, even the English Sunday has its dark
side.


THE SABBATH QUESTION.

HENGSTENBERG ON THE LORD'S DAY. Translated from

the German by James Martin, B.A., of Lymington. Cloth, price 2s. 6d.

THE AGITATION AGAINST THE OPENING OF THE

CRYSTAL PALACE ON SUNDAYS. Reprinted from the " Noncon-
formist." Price Id., or 6s. per hundred.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE AND THE WORKING MEN:

Opinions of Clergymen and others on the question of opening on Sunday.
Price Id.

THE PEOPLE'S PALACE AND THE RELIGIOUS WORLD;

or,Thoughts on public Agitation against the promised Charter to the New
Crystal Palace Company, and on " Sabbath Desecration." By a Layman.
Price 6d.

"This able and seasonable pamphlet." Gateshead Observer.

" The religious subject is very ably reviewed." Spectator.
" A well-reasoned pamphlet. which we commend to the perusal of our
. . .

readers." Norfolk News.

" The subject is calmly and ably discussed." Leeds Times.
" The writer of The People's Palace and the Religious World,' has much to
'

say on the other side, and we commend his pamphlet to careful attention."
The Critic.
" A well-timed, moderate, and sensible pamphlet. which well deserves
. . .

attention, as it is written in an eminently religious spirit." Leader.

" These are neither loosely devout nor coldly intellectual Thoughts.' They '

are the product of a mind accustomed to bold and correct thinking, and of a
heart warm with religion and philanthropy." Leicester Mercury.
" We recommend the pamphlet to the careful consideration of our readers."
Western Times.

" The tone is argumentative the reasoning firm the taste displayed correct
the side taken the right one. The author is a religious man, writing to reli-
gious men, in quiet, gentlemanly language, and showing them the want of scrip-
tural ground for their opposition to opening the Crystal Palace on Sunday,
while it warns them against bringing religion into disrepute by associating it
with asceticism." Economist.
" Penned with great skill, moderation, judgment, and ability, it is a pamphlet
calculated to set every Christian man thinking. The writer's arguments
. . .

we believe to be unanswerable, and his general -views have our entire concur-
rence." Hants Independent.
" The pamphlet deserves perusal." London Weekly Paper.
"We recommend the perusal of this sensible pamphlet to all those friends of
religious liberty who feel somewhat in doubt on this head. It is as forcible in
argument as it is admirable in temper." Weekly News.

LONDON W. FREEMAN,
: 69, FLEET STREET.
 In One Vol., price 2s. 6d. cloth,

SIX VIEWS OF INFIDELITY.

By J. FLETCHER.

1. THE CREED OF INFIDELITY.

2. THE BIOGRAPHY OF INFIDELITY.
3. THE MORALITY OF INFIDELITY.
4. THE CONSOLATIONS OF INFIDELITY.
5. THE CHARMS OF INFIDELITY.
6. THE ANTAGONIST OF INFIDELITY.

LONDON: W. FREEMAN, 69, FLEET STREET.