a weekly day of rest is evidently conducive to the civil and national welfare.

2dly, The religious reason for this institution was twofold; partly to keep up a thankful remembrance of blessings already received, and partly to be a means of their obtaining and enjoying future and heavenly blessings.

The blessings already received, of which the sabbath was instituted to be a memorial, were chiefly two, their creation, and their deliverance from bondage in Egypt.

1st, It was appointed to be kept in memory of God's creating the world, which is the reason assigned for the first institution, Gen. ii, 2, 3, because "on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made," or, as the word " vaichal should rather be rendered, "he had ended his work," for he did not work on the seventh day; it follows, "he rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made, and blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work." This, however, is not to be understood of his ceasing from any further operation and action, the contrary to which our Saviour asserts, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work," John v, 17, that is, in preserving, ordering, and governing the world. It is therefore commonly understood to mean, that he ceased from creating any new sorts or species of creatures; so that his has power ever since been exerted only in continuing and increasing the several species which he formed on the first six days. And certain it is, no instance can be given of any new sort or species having been since brought into being. Though various kinds of mules have been produced by creatures of different species, both in the animal and vegetable world, yet such are not to be reckoned distinct species, since none of them ever propagate their kind.

As for God's resting, we are not to understand it as opposed to toil or weariness; for "the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary," Isa. xl, 28. But it merely imports his ceasing to work as he had done for the preceding six days. Thus the word naw shabath is used for the manna's ceasing to fall, Josh. v, 12, and for the Israelites ceasing to be a nation, Jer. xxxi, 36. Nevertheless, it may probably import likewise, the complacency or delight which

he took in the works he had made, which were "all very good;" since, in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, God's resting on the seventh day is expressed by the verb m nuach, Exod. xx, 11, the same word which is used for his acceptance of Noah's sacrifice; "The Lord smelt a savour of rest," or, as we render it, "a sweet savour," Gen. viii, 21; importing, that his thankfulness and devotion, expressed by his sacrifice, were as grateful to God as sweet odours are to us. To preserve, therefore, a remembrance of his creating the world in six days, and his resting from his work on the seventh, God instituted a weekly sabbath, commanding men to work six days, and to lay aside all their worldly employments on the seventh. And no doubt the right remembrance of God's creating power, wisdom, and goodness, must include adoration, thankfulness, and praise to the great Creator.

2dly, The other blessing, which the Jews in particular were to commemorate, was their deliverance out of the Egyptian bondage; which is mentioned as the special reason of their being commanded to keep the sabbath, Deut. v, 15. The learned Mr. Mede endeavours to prove the seventh day of the Jewish week, which was appointed for the sabbath, to be the day on which God overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea, and thereby completed the deliverance of his people from the Egyptian servitude. And whereas a seventh day had before been kept in memory of the creation (but to what day of the Jewish week that answered we cannot certainly say), now God commanded them to observe for the future this day of their deliverance, which was the seventh day of their week, in commemoration of his having given them rest from their hard labour and servitude in Egypt*. And both these reasons for their observing the sabbath implied their obligation to observe it with devotion, gratitude, and praise.

The other religious end of the sabbath was to be a means of their obtaining and enjoying future and heavenly blessings. This is a principal design of all acts of devotion and worship; such as we have already shown ought to accompany the observance of the sabbath. The Jews accounted this holy day to be a type of the heavenly rest. On this notion the apostle evidently grounds his discourse in the fourth chapter of the * Mede's Diatrib. on Ezek. xx, 10.

epistle to the Hebrews, ver. 1-11. Origen makes the sabbath an emblem of that rest we shall enjoy when we have done our work, so as to have left nothing undone which was our incumbent duty*. In the same manner the Jewish doctors speak of the sabbath. It was a common proverb among them†, "Non datum est sabbatum, nisi ut esset typus futuri seculi." Remarkable to the same purpose are the words of Abarbanel: "Sabbata dixit in plurali numero, quandoquidem præceptum de sabbato non solum designat fundamentalem illum articulum de creatione mundi, verum etiam, mundum spiritualem, in quo erit vera quies, et vera possessio. Illic vera cessatio erit, ab omnibus operibus et rebus corporeis. Habemus ergo duo sabbata, unum corporale, in memoriam creationis, alterum spirituale, in memoriam immortalitatis animæ et oblectationis post mortem." The Jews, therefore, by no means count the sabbath a burthen, but a great blessing: they have it in high veneration, and affect to call it their spouse §. Leo of Modena tells us, that so far are the modern Jews from being inclined to shorten the sabbath, that they make it last as long as possible, prolonging their hymns and prayers, not only out of devotion to God, but charity to the souls of the damned, it being a received opinion among them, that they suffer no torments on the sabbath.

* Origen. contra Celsum, lib. vi, p. 317, edit. Spencer. Cantab. 1677. + Vid. Buxtorf. Florileg. Hebr. p. 299..

On Exod. xxxi, 13.

§ Selden. de Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iii, cap. x, Oper. vol. i, p. 326, 327; Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. cap. xv, p. 299, 300, edit. Basil. 1661.

On the subject of the sabbath, consult Selden. de Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iii, cap. viii, et seq.; Capelli Disputatio de Sabbatho, apud Comment. et Not. Critic. in Vet. Test. p. 263 et seq. Amstel. 1689; Spencer. de Leg. Hebr. lib. i, cap. v, sect. vii, et seq.

CHAP. IV.

OF THE PASSOVER AND FEAST OF UNLEAVENED

BREAD.

THE Jewish festivals were either weekly, as the sabbath; monthly, as the new moons; or annual, as the passover, the pentecost, the feast of ingathering or of tabernacles, and the feast of trumpets; to which we may add the annual fast, or day of expiation. Besides these, there were others that returned once in a certain number of years; as the sabbatical year, and the jubilee.

Of the anniversary feasts the three former were the most considerable, the passover, the pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles. At each of these all the males were to appear before the Lord at the national altar, Exod. xxiii, 14, 17; xxxiv, 22, 23; Deut. xvi, 16. The design of this was partly to unite the Jews among themselves, and to promote mutual love and friendship throughout the nation, by means of the whole body of them meeting together so often: to which the Psalmist seems to refer, when he saith, “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord," Psal. cxxii, 3, 4. And it was, partly, that as one church they might make one congregation, and join in solemn worship together; for I apprehend the scripture idea of one particular church is only one worshipping assembly. And it was further, by so large an appearance and concourse of people, to grace these sacred festivals, and add greater solemnity to the worship; and partly, likewise, for the better support of the service and ministers of the sanctuary; for none were to appear before the Lord empty, each person was to bring some gift or present with him, according to his ability, and as God had blessed him, Deut. xvi, 16, 17. Further, as the Jewish sanctuary and service contained in them a shadow of good things to

come, and were typical of the gospel church, this prescribed concourse from all parts of the country to the sanctuary might be intended to typify the gathering of the people to Christ, and into his church, from all parts of the world, under the Christian dispensation. Hence the apostle, in allusion to these general assemblies of the Israelites on the three grand feasts, saith, "We are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born," Heb. xii, 23.

The law required only the males to appear before the Lord on these solemn occasions. But, though the women were exempted from a necessity of attending, yet they were not excluded if they pleased to do it, and could with convenience; as appears from the case of Hannah, who used to go with her husband yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh, 1 Sam. i, 3, 7; and from the case of the Virgin Mary, who went with her husband Joseph every year at the feast of the passover to Jerusalem, Luke ii, 41. Mr. Mede assigns three reasons for the women's being exempted from the duty of attending the feasts:

1st, The weakness and infirmity of the sex, they not being able, without much trouble and danger, to undertake so long a journey from the remote parts of the country.

2dly, The hazard of their chastity in so vast a concourse of people.

3dly, The care of their young children, and other household affairs, which must have been wholly abandoned if they; as well as the men, had been absent from their houses so long at the same time*.

To these reasons probably another and more considerable may be added, namely, the legal uncleannesses to which they would be liable in so long a journey.

Though the law required all the males to appear before the Lord, in the place he should choose, at these three feasts; no doubt it was to be understood with some restriction, it not being likely that young children or decrepid old men could give their attendance+. Mr. Mede‡ conceives the law is to

* Mede's Diatrib. discourse xlvii, on Deut. xvi, 16, Works, p. 261. + These, among others, are expressly excepted, Mishn. tit. Chagigah, cap. i, sect. i, tom. ii, p. 413, edit. Surenhus.; see also the Gemara in loc. ‡ Mede, ubi supra.