strate the absolute necessity of such institutions? and prove that it is agreeable to the will of God to lay fetters on taste and genius and contemplation, and tie them down to the marking of days, or the complying with set forms?

Moral philosophy, then, has little or nothing to do with positive institutions. Yet a better philosophy teaches that they have been always enjoined; and without shutting out inquiry into their usefulness, bids us look to the authority which has in all ages required their observance, and silences cavil, or rather excites our admiration, by showing that the Almighty has himself provided for perpetuating the remembrance of his mighty works, and elevating the heart and mind of the creature to the contemplation of the Creator. Thus the duty of worshipping God does not rest on the arguments of philosophy, or the feelings of enthusiasm. God has not suffered it to depend upon these. The former may be combated by conflicting arguments; the latter may be extinguished amid the cares, and pleasures, and seductions of an alluring world, or it may die in unprofitable abstract meditation. He who knows what is due from his creatures, and how the debt may be paid,-what is best to promote his own glory and a just sense of religion among men, has placed the rules of worship upon the firm incontrovertible ground of his own will.

sense.

The history of the Sabbath, to return to the point at which we set out, has always appeared to us no less simple than solemn and edifying; and, if we may be permitted to vary our phrase a little, such (we suspect) it will be in the eyes of all who read for the sake of receiving instruction, not with a desire to exercise their own ingenuity. Ingenuity is not to be indulged in the interpretation of Scripture. It will, indeed, discover much that is interesting and curious, and much that will escape common observation; but it will miss the plain truth which will meanwhile be found by simple docility and good Let any one of plain understanding read the account of the institution of the Sabbath as reported by Moses in the second chapter of Genesis, and we will venture to predict, that he will detect no other meaning than that which has prevailed in the church. "On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he 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." What is this but a regular unbroken history of what took place at the creation of all things? The world having been finished in six days, the Almighty was pleased to rest on the seventh, and for a memorial

thereof, to bless that day, and set it apart to be religiously ob served; that it might have, as Chrysostom speaks, the privilege and pre-eminence. But, say Dr. Paley and others, this did not take place immediately after the creation. This is only written in anticipation of what afterwards occurred. The blessing and hallowing of the Sabbath actually happened when the children of Israel were fed with manna in the wilderness; at which time it was first appointed to be observed as a religious ordinance, This is very far from according with our own opinion, and very far from agreeable to our thoughts and feelings upon the religion of the Patriarchs. Upon this latter point we shall speak presently. In the mean time we shall, as in duty bound, bring the author of the volume before us in reply to Dr. Paley.

"That the Hebrew historian uses a prolepsis or anticipation, and alludes to the Mosaical institution of the Sabbath, is maintained by some of the ancient Fathers, by Waehner, Heidegger, Beausobre, by Le Clerc, Rosenmüller, Geddes, Dawson, and other commentators, and by the general stream of those writers who regard the Sabbath as peculiar to the Jews. Yet this opinion is built upon the assump tion, that the book of Genesis was not written till after the giving of the law, which may be the fact, but of which most unquestionably there is no proof. But waving this But waving this consideration, it is scarcely possible to conceive a greater violence to the sacred text, than is offered by this interpretation. It attributes to the inspired author the absurd assertion, that God rested on the se venth day from all his works which he had made, and THEREFORE about 2500 years after God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. It may as well be imagined that God had finished his work on the seventh day, but rested on some other seventh day, as that he rested thẻ day following the work of.creation, and afterwards blessed and sanetified another. Not the slightest evidence appears for believing that Moses followed the order of connexion, and not of time,' for no reasonable motive can be assigned for then introducing the mention of it, if it was not then appointed. The design of the sacred historian clearly is to give a faithful account of the origin of the world, and both the resting on the seventh day and the blessing it, have too close a connexion to be separated; if the one took place immediately after the work of creation was concluded, so did the other. To the account of the production of the universe, the whole narrative is confined; there is no intimation of subsequent events, nor the most distant allusion to Jewish ceremonies; and it would be most astonishing if the writer der serted his grand object to mention one of the Hebrew ordinances which was not appointed till ages afterwards." P. 49.

From this passage our readers will perceive which side Mr. Holden espouses in the controversy respecting the Sabbath, and they will thence readily infer the general nature of his

opinions, and style of his arguments. Prefixing a preliminary chapter, on what he calls "the political advantages of the sabbatical institution," though it may be more properly said to comprise all the advantages civil and political, moral and religious, of this ordinance, he proceeds to argue its "perpetual obligation from its first appointment," and then to trace its history under the Mosaic and Christian dispensations; adding a chapter on the Testimony of the Primitive Church to the Sabbatical Institution, and another on the Duties of the Christian Sabbath.

Of a treatise which enters at large into such a subject, and is extended to above 500 pages, it is manifestly impossible for us to do more than either give a very brief analysis of the whole, or select a few portions particularly worthy of attention. We prefer the latter mode; and shall begin with that which is matter of curious inquiry, but on which little that is satisfactory can be said in reply-how far religious ordinances were observed in the patriarchal ages. Of the Sabbath there is literally no mention at all from the date of its first institution till the exodus from Egypt. There are two or three circumstances, however, worthy of observation. The first is the established "division of time into weeks. Noah, we read, "stayed seven days," and again "other seven days," when he sent forth the dove from the ark. "The term week is used by Laban in reference to the nuptials of Leah," where "a week of days is plainly signified." And that the computation of time by weeks obtained from the most remote antiquity appears from the traditionary and written records of all nations."

-"Now this," Mr. Holden argues, "must have originated from one common source, which cannot reasonably be supposed any other than the memory of the creation preserved in the Noahic family, and handed down to their posterities. The computation by days, months, and years, arises from obvious causes, the revolution of the moon, and the annual and diurnal revolution of the [earth round the] sun; but the division of time by periods of seven days, has no foundation in any natural or visible septenary change; it must therefore have originated from some positive appointment, or some tradition anterior to the dispersion of mankind, which cannot well be any other than the memory of the creation and primeval blessing of the seventh day." P. 41.

Mr. Holden notices also the expression used by Moses in relating the circumstance of the sacrifice offered by Cain and Abel, and another in the book of Job, mentioning the time when "the sons God came to present themselves before the Lord;" hich are interpreted by Dr. Kennicott to point out

the Sabbath. Nothing more perhaps can strictly be determined of either, than that there were stated seasons, in which certain acts were performed. The passage in Job appears to us not only to admit, but to require a stronger sense than that which our author is willing to put up with. He says "the expression may only denote, that it came to pass on a certain day." It seems to us that it can scarcely fail to point to a fixed day. Such is the use of the phrase in telling of Elkanah's offering at Shiloh. It may be said indeed, that it has no more connection with the Sabbath than with any monthly or yearly ordinance; and we do not go so far as Dr. Kennicott in supposing the Sabbath to be necessarily intended. But we think it of importance; as we would not on the one hand draw inferences which cannot be fairly made out, or on the other interpret expressions so loosely as to lead to conclusions equally unwarrantable. The conclusion which we have at present in our mind is, that in the patriarchal age, and prior to the delivery of the Law of Moses, there was no settled day of worship.

The proper character of the Jewish Sabbath, and the services and duties belonging to it are detailed at considerable length and with great correctness. There is one point upon which some further investigation is perhaps not unworthy of being made; we mean-how far the first day of the week was marked for observance under the Mosaic Law. Many persons have supposed that a change was made respecting the day of keeping the Sabbath upon the departure from Egypt. It is one of those conjectures in which it is pleasant to indulge, but perhaps it is nothing more. When we consider the Jewish Law, however, as introductory to the Christian Dispensation, if we meet with any provision such as that just hinted at,—and it may be traced in the appointment of the day of Pentecost,there seems to be something more than the pleasure of mere conjecture; we discover a connecting link between the two Covenants, and a proof of one regular system pervading both.

There is another subject which is examined at considerable length and with much ability by Mr. Holden-the obligation of ceremonial laws, and how far the Decalogue, as part of the Mosaic Law, ought to be classed among them. Although we have not space for admitting much of the discussion, we shall present our author's opinion upon the questions in the following passages.

"That the Hebrew ritual, with its typical rites and emblematical ordinances, was superseded by the introduction of Christianity, is a truth which no believer in the divine mission of our Lord will dispute; NO. VI. VOL. III.

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and the obligation of the Sabbath so far as it was peculiar to that ritual, must have ceased. It was declared in the law, that the chil dren of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS, for a perpetual covenant;' that is, I conceive, so long as their state and constitution should endure; and St. Paul pronounced it to be abolished among the other ceremonial institutions of the Mosaic economy. The cessation of the Jewish Sabbath is unequivocally allowed; but it does not follow from this admission, that Christians are released from the duty of keeping the Sabbatical ordinance according to its original appointment. Though its peculiar observance expired with the peculiar polity to which it belonged, in its essential nature and spirit it may still be binding upon all mankind. peal of the Levitical rites accompanying the Sabbath does not necessarily involve the sanctity of the seventh day; since that which is essential to an institution may remain, while adventitious appendages may be abrogated. Whether this is the case with the Sabbath must finally be determined by the Christian Scriptures; yet some considerations, independently of their infallible authority, and derived solely from the Jewish Scriptures evince, that it was not to be annulled along with the Levitical ordinances.

The re

"The appointment of the Sabbath has been shown before, to be coeval with the world, addressed to all mankind, and consequently obligatory upon the whole human race. It was received into the Levitical code with certain modifications, a circumstance by no means converting it into a mere Jewish festival, binding only upon the Hebrew nation. The relation in which it stood to all mankind from its aboriginal institution cannot be altered by its adoption into the religious polity of a particular people; for, though it was adopted by the direction of the Deity, it does not thereby lose the character of universality which he had antecedently given to it. Deriving no part of its sanctity from the Mosaic Law, it is no more cancelled by the abrogation of that polity, than the injunction to practise the moral duties. The obligation of the Sabbath, as the prohibition to abstain from adultery, murder, theft, and other crimes, is independent of the Jewish dispensation, with the dissolution of which it cannot therefore be affected. It is an institution of divine origin, of an earlier age, of universal interest, and, while the peculiar observance of it established by the Law of Moses has expired, will remain in force to the latest generations." P. 141-144.

"No reason appears for restricting any part of the Decalogue to the peculiar situation of the Jews under the Levitical economy; the whole of it is applicable to the present state of things under the reign of grace, and those parts which may at first sight appear to be especially referable to the Theocracy are supported by corresponding declarations in the New Testament. But supposing it to have an especial relation to the Hebrew polity, this circumstance will not of itself evince its abrogation under the Christian religion. Allowing it to be, in some instances, adapted to the state of the Jews, to whom it was first pro