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"By silence, death's peculiar attribute ;

By darkness, guilt's inevitable doom;

By the long list of swift mortality,

From Adam downward to this evening knell,
Which midnight waves in fancy's startled eye;

And shocks her with a hundred centuries,

Round death's black banner throng'd, in human thought;

By thousands, now resigning their last breath,
And calling thee-wert thou so wise to hear!
By tombs o'er tombs arising: human earth,
Ejected to make room for human earth:

The monarch's terror! and the sexton's trade!
By groans, and graves, and miseries, that groan
For the grave's shelter! By desponding men,
Senseless to pains of death, from pangs of guilt!
By guilt's last audit: by yon moon in blood,
The rocking firmament, the falling stars,
And thunders' last discharge, great nature's knell !
By second chaos, and eternal night,

BE WISE."

Young. Consolation, 2093.

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SERMON VIII.

THE PERPETUITY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE

SABBATH.

GENESIS, 2: 2, 3.—And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and rested on the seventh day from all his works, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

THERE is no book, which may, with so much propriety as the Scriptures, be denominated the history of religion. This history is naturally divided into three parts, corresponding with the era preceding any written revelation, the era of the Mosaic law, and that of Christianity. Of the last period it is only the commencement, concerning which the sacred writings give us any historical information. In making preparation for this period, the divine attention seems to have been employed during those which preceded. The first age of the world is that, about which curiosity is peculiarly excited. We are earnest to know, whether religion existed; and, if it did, what form it assumed, when the succession of human beings commenced, and the world was new.

Nearly connected with religion is the appointment of a day to be appropriated to divine worship. That a seventh part of the time was once consecrated to this purpose by the direction of God, will be questioned by no one, who receives the writings of Moses, either as inspiration or authentic history.

Our present object is to show, First, the perpetuity; and, Secondly, the importance of this institution.

I. The perpetuity will be considered as proved, if it can be made to appear, that the consecrating of one day in seven to religious purposes, has been expressly required, or approved by

the Deity, under those three successive dispensations, which have been already mentioned.

1. That such an institution was established immediately after the creation, is obvious from the words of our text; in which it is said, that God rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. By this benediction cannot be meant, that Deity spends the seventh part of the time differently from the rest. To him all times and places are alike. The words must therefore have relation to the conduct and feelings of men. It is the will of God, that they should separate and devote to religious purposes a seventh part of the time.

It is material to notice, that, though this institution was binding on man previously to the Mosaic revelation, its obligatory power was not confined to that early age, nor to any period of the world. Much less was it confined to any nation in exclusion of others; for, as yet, national divisions, and civil compacts were unknown. If it were possible for Deity to give a command under such circumstances, as to show the universality of its obligation, he seems to have done it in the instance contemplated. It was given at creation. It was given not to a family, a church, or a nation, but to human beings. In addition to this, the reason assigned for the institution has in regard to all men the same applicability. The Lord rested from all the work, which he had made.

If, in opposition to this, it should be objected, that we have no evidence to prove, that the seventh day was religiously observed by the patriarchs, the reply usually made seems altogether pertinent;* namely, that during a period of about twenty centuries, innumerable events of no inconsiderable importance must have occurred, which could not obtain a place in the short account, which is transmitted to us relating to that period.

That the seventh day was divinely designated, as a season for religious worship, we have the express testimony of Moses. If

* Argumentum a non dicto nullum est, quum in contrarium est ratio. Capellus de sabbatho.

the patriarchs were regardless of this designation, it proves only an unaccountable omission of their duty. But that these venerable men were thus guilty, we are without a syllable of positive evidence.*

First to take this for granted, and then on such presumption to build an argument, disproving the existence of the Sabbath in the patriarchal age, in opposition to the declaration of Moses, would be treating his authority and the dictates of common sense with equal disregard.

It may be further objected, that if any divine precept universally binding on men were given at the beginning of the world, that precept must have been moral, and the duty, which it required, a moral duty; but that the Sabbath can be no other than a positive institution. +

I answer that a positive precept becomes binding on all to whom it is made known. The two Christian sacraments are positive institutions, but will remain obligatory unto the end of the world. By the Lord's Supper Christians are to show forth their Master's death till he come. It is perfectly immaterial, whether the will of God is revealed by his works or by his word. When once revealed it is in both cases equally binding. But the fact is, that the Sabbath is by no means wholly a positive institution. As to the worship of God, in general, no duty is more undeniably moral. The propriety of worshipping God, is as little questionable, as the truth of his being. That this worship should be rendered in public, and at stated periods, is thought likewise to be a moral duty. "The dictate of nature being common to all," says Bishop Stillingfleet, "nature re

Capellus exhibits no inconsiderable evidence, that the seventh day was observed by the patriarchs; and Grotius, (de Veritate Religionis Christianae,) quotes many remarkable passages from pagan writers, to show, that peculiar regard was among them paid to the seventh day.

I here use the distinction of Bishop Butler: "Moral precepts are precepts, the reasons of which we see; positive precepts are precepts the reasons of which we do not see. Moral duties arise out of the nature of the case itself, prior to external command; positive duties do not rise out of the nature of the case, but from external command."

quires some kind of mutual society for the just performance of their common duties." (Irenicum, p. 72). " And, among all nations, that have had any form of divine worship, particular periods have been established, in which this worship was to be performed." (Irenicum, p. 96.) Reasons for the public and stated worship of God are numerous and obvious; and so they appear to have been generally considered by mankind.

As to the particular proportion of time to be assigned to this purpose, it is doubtless the result of a positive precept. Independently of revelation; we know not why a seventh, rather than a sixth, an eighth or a tenth part, should be thus appropriated. On the other hand, we can see nothing in any of these propositions, rendering it preferable to that, which is actually established. As the appointment was made by a Being of infinite wisdom, we know that nothing pertaining to it, could have been the result of caprice or casualty. There are solid reasons, therefore, for that particular portion of time, which is consecrated, not less than for the consecration itself.

2. After many centuries from the creation, God gave to the descendants of Abraham a national religion. In this religion, the appointment of the Sabbath, far from being abrogated, was expressly recognized: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. Here, it will be observed, the same reason is assigned, that was given for the original appointment. All this is precisely what we should expect. The primitive institution was made at the commencement of the world, and was evidently represented, as being of universal obligation. Deity having selected the Jewish people as his peculiar treasure, and known them above all the families of the earth, it was to have been presumed, that an establishment, so important as that of the Sabbath, would make part of their national code.

The place which this command holds in the Mosaic law, ought not to escape our notice. It was found in that part which

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