*  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION,  
'CHAPTER I..  
THE CREATION.  
TIME, as distinguished from eternity, may be  
defined as that part of duration which is measured  
by the Bible. From the earliest date in the book  
of Genesis to the resurrection of the unjust at the  
end of the millennium, the period of 7000 years  
is measured off. Before the commencement of  
this great week of time, duration without begin- 
ning fills the past; and at the expiration of this  
period, unending duration opens before the people  
of God. Eternity is that word which embraces  
duration without beginning and without end.  
And that Being whose existence comprehends  
eternity, is he who only hath immortality, the  
King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise  
God.*  
When it pleased this infinite Being, he gave  
existence to our earth. Out of nothing God cre- 
ated all things; "so that things which are seen  
were4hot made of things which do appear." This  
act of creation is that event which marks the com- 
mencement of the first week of time. He who  
could accomplish the whole work with, one word  
chose rather to employ six days, and to accomplish  
the result by successive steps. Let us trace the  
*Isa. ]vii, 15; 1 Tim.   viitor    16 • i A  17 ; Ps. xc, 2.  oeffodw-4,_   
Anctoriurivwsli,


41 -   00 0  \kw, .  
•  
t 

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THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
footsteps of the Creator from the time when he  
laid the foundation. of the earth until the close csf  
the sixth day, when the heavens and the earth  
were finished, and God saw everything that he  
had made, and behold it was very good.*  
On the first day of the week God created the  
heaven and the earth. The earth thus called into  
existence was without form and void, and total  
darkness covered the Creator's work. Then " God  
said, Let there be light; and there was light."  
" And God divided the light from the darkness,"  
and called the one day, and the other night  
On the second day of the week " God said, Let  
there be a firmament [margin, Heb., expansion]  
in the midst of the waters : and let it divide the  
waters from the waters." The dry land had not  
yet appeared; consequently the earth was covered  
with water. Thick vapors Tisted upon the face  
of the water; but the atmosphere being now call- 
ed into existence by the word of the Creator, the  
fogs and vapors that had rested upon the bosom  
of the water are borne aloft by it. This atmos- 
phere or expansion is called heaven.r.  
On the third day of the week, God gathered  
the waters together and caused the dry land to  
appear. The gathering together of the waters God  
called seas ; the dry land thus rescued from the  
waters he called earth. " And God said, Let the  
earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,  
and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind ;  
and it was so." " And God saw that it was good."§  
*IIeb. xi, 3 ; Gen. i. j -   Gen. i, 1-5 ; Heb.  i.  
Gen. i, 5-8 ; Job xxxiii, 18.  
Gen. i, 9-13 ; Ps. cxxxvi, 6 ; 2 Pet. iii, 5.  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  3  
On the fourth day of the week " God said, Let  
there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to di- 
vide the day from the night • and let them be for  
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."  
" And God made two great lights ; the greater  
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule  
the night; he made the stars also." Light had  
been crrated on the first day of the week ; and  
now on the fourth day he causes the sun and moon  
to appear as light-bearers, and places the light un- 
der their rule. And they continue unto this day  
according to his ordinances, for all are his serv-
ants. Such was the work of the fourth day. And  
the great Architect, surveying what he had  
wrought, pronounced it good.*  
On the fifth day of the week " God created  
great whales, and every living creature that mov- 
eth, which the waters brought forth abundantly  
after their kind, and every winged fowl after his  
kind : and God saw that it was good."t  
On the sixth day of the week " God made the  
beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after  
their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the  
earth after his kind : and God saw that it was  
good." Thus the earth having been fitted for the  
purpose, was filled with every order of living crea- 
ture, while the air and waters teemed with animal  
existence. To complete this noble Work of crea- 
tion, God next provides a ruler, the representative  
of himself, and places all in subjection under him.  
" And God said, Let us make man in our image,  
after our likeness : 'and let them have dominion  
* Gen. i, 14-19; Ps. cxix, 91 ; Jer. xxxiii, 25.  
Gen. i,, 20-23.


•  
.4 4  

4  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the  
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,  
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon  
the earth." " And the Lord God formed man of  
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nos- 
trils the breath of life; and man became a living,  
soul. And the Lord God planted a garden east- 
ward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom  
he had formed. And out of the ground made  
the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant  
to the sight and good for food ; the tree of life  
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of  
knowledge of good and evil." Last of all God  
created Eve, the mother of all living. The work  
of the Creator was now complete. " The heavens  
and the earth were finished and all the host of  
them."  " And God saw everything that he  
had made and behold it was very  good."  Adam  
and Eve were in Paradise ; the tree of life bloomed  
on earth ; sin had not entered our world, and  
death was not here, for there was no sin. " The  
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of  
God shouted fm• joy." Thus ended the sixth day.*  
CHAPTEit II.    
THE INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH.  
The work of the Creator was finished, but the  
first week of time had not yet expired. Each of  
the six days had been distinguished by the  Crea- 
tor's  work upon it; but the seventh was rendered  
* Gen. i, 24-31 ; ii, 7-9,18-22 ; iii, 20 ; Job xxxviii, 7.  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  5  
memorable in a very different manner. And 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." In yet stronger  
language it is written : " On the seventh day he  
rested and was  REFRESIIED."4-  •  
Thus the seventh day of the week became the  
rest-day of the Lord. How remarkable is this fact  
" The everlasting  - God, the Lord, the Creator of  
the ends of the earth, fainteth not neither is wea- 
ry."T He needed no rest '  • yet it is written, " on  
the seventh day he rested and was refreshed."  
Why does not the record simply state the cessa- 
tion of the Creator's work ? Why did he at the  
close of that work employ a day in rest ? The  
answer will be learned from the _next verse. He  
was laying the foundation of a divine institution,  
the memorial of his own great work.  
" And God blessed the seventh day and sancti- 
fied it;  because that in it he had rested from all  
his work which God created and made." The  
fourth commandment states the same fact : JIe  
" rested the seventh day;  wherefore  the Lord  
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."  
The blessing and sanctification of the seventh  
day was because that kod had rested upon it. His  
resting upon it then, was to lay the foundation for  
*"  On the sixth day God ended his work which he had  
made ; and he rested on the seventh day" &c., is the  
reading of the Septuagint, the Syriac and the Samari- 
tan ; " and this should be considered the genuine read- 
ing," says Dr.• A. Clarke. See his Commentary on  
Gen. ii.  
t Gen. ii, 2 ; Ex. xxxi, 17.  Isa. xl, 28.  
Gen. ii, 3 ; Ex. xx, 11.


6  TILE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
blessing and sanctifying the day. His being re- 
freshed with this rest implies that he delighted in  
the act which laid the foundation for the memo- 
rial of his great work.  
The second act of the Creator in instituting    
this memorial was to place his blessing upon the  
day of his rest. Thenceforward it was the blessed  
rest-day of the Lord. A third act completes the  
sacred institution. Thb day already blessed of  
God, is now, last of all, sanctified or hallowed by  
him. To sanctify is " to separate, set apart, or  
appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use." To  
hallow is " to snake holy ; to consecrate ; to set  
apart for a holy or religious use."*  
The time when these three acts were performed  
is. worthy of especial notice. The first act was  
that of rest. This took place on the seventh day;  
for the day was employed in rest. The second  
and third acts took place when the seventh day  
was past. " God blessed the seventh day and  
sanctified it because that in it he  had  rested from  
work." Hence it was on the first day of  
the second week of time that God blessed the sev- 
enth day and set it apart to a holy use. The,  
blessing and sanctification of the seventh day,  
therefore relate not to the first seventh day of  
time, but to the seventh day of the week for time  
to come, in m 'mory of God's rest on that day  
from the work of creation.  
The days of the week are measured off by the  
revolution of our earth  on its axis ; and hence our  
seventh day, as such, can come only to dwellers  
*Webster's Unabridged Dictionary on the words  
sanctify and  hallow.  
  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  7  
•  

on this globe. To Adam and Eve, therefore, as  
inhabitants of this earth, and not to the inhabit- 
ants of some other world, were the days of the  
week given to use. Hence when God set apart  
one of these days to a holy use in memory of his  
own rest on that day of the week, the very essence  
of the act consisted in his telling Adam that this  
day should be used only for sacred purposes.  
Adam was then in the garden of God, placed there  
by the Creator to dress it and to keep it. He was  
also commissioned of God to subdue the earth.*  
When therefore the rest-day of the Lord should  
return from week to week all this secular employ- 
ment, however proper in itself, must be laid aside,  
and the day observed in memory of the Creator's  
rest.  
The Hebrew verb,  kadash,  here rendered  sane,  
tified,  and in the fourth commandment rendered  
hallowed,  is defined by Gesenius " to pronounce  
holy, to sanctify; to institute any holy thing, to  
appoint." -- It is repeatedly used in the Old Tes- 
tament for a public appointment or proclamation.  
Thus when the cities of refuge were set apart in  
Israel, it is written : " They appointed [margin,  
Heb., sanctified] Kedesh in Galilee in mount  
Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim," &e.  
This sanctification or appointment of the cities of  
refuge was by a public announcement to Israel  
that these cities were set apart for that purpose.  
This verb is also used for the appointment of a  
public fast and for the gathering of a solemn as- 
sembly. Thus it is written : Sanctify [i. e. ap-  
* Gen. ii, 15 ; i, 28.  
Ilebeew Lexicon, p. 914, Ed. 1854.


                  

  
S  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. •  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  9  

      

                  

          
der of it, for God was about to descend in majesty  
upon it. In other words, to sanctify or set apart  
to a holy use mount Sinai was to tell 'the people 
that God would have them treat the mountain as  
sacred to himself. And thus also to sanctify the  
rest day of the Lord was to tell Adam that he  
should treat the day as holy to the Lord.  
The declarition " God blessed the seventh day,  
and sanctified it" is not indeed a commandment  
for the observance of that day; but it is the rec- 
ord that such a precept was given to Adam. For  
how could the Creator " set apart to a holy use"  
the day of his rest, when those who were to use 
the day knew nothing of his will in the case ?  
Let those answer who are able.  
This view of the record in Genesis we shall  
find to be sustained by all the testimony in the  
Bible relative to the rest day of the Lord. The  
facts which we have examined are the basis of the 
fourth commandment. Thus spake the great  
Lawgiver from the summit of the flaming mount :  
" Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."  
" The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy  
God." " For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rest- 
ed the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed  
the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."*  
The term Sabbath is transferred from the He- 
brew language,  and signifies rest.f The command  
" remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" is  
therefore exactly equivalent to saying " remember 
the rest day to keep it holy." The explanation  
*Ex. xx, 8-11.  
Buck's Theological Dictionary, article, Sabbath,  

    
point] ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather  
the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into  
'the house of the Lord your God." " Blow the  
trumpet in Zion, sanctify [i. e., appoint] a fast,  
call a solemn assembly." " And Jehu said, Pro-
claim [margin, Heb., sanctify] a solemn assembly  
for Baal."* This appointment far Baal was so  
public that all the worshipers of Baal in all Israel  
were gathered together. These fasts and solemn  
assemblies were sanctified or set apart by a public  
appointment or proclamation of the fact. When  
therefore God set apart the seventh day to a holy  
use it was necessary that he should state that fact  
to those who had the days of the week to use.  
Without such announcement the day could not be  
set apart from the others.  
But the most striking illustration of the mean- 
ino. . of this word may be found in the record of  
the'sanctification of mount Sinai. - [ When God  
was about to speak the ten commandments in the  
hearing of all Israel, he sent Moses down from  
the top of mount Sinai to restrain the people from 
touching the mount. " And Moses said unto the  
Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai  
for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the  
mount and  sanctify it."  Turning back to the  
verse where God gave this charge to Moses we  
read : " And thou shalt set bounds unto the peo- 
ple round about,  saying,  Take heed to yourselves  
that ye go not up into the mount or touch the  
border of it." Hence to sanctify the mount was  
to command the people not to touch even the bor- 
* Josh. xx, 7 ; Joel i, 14 ; ii, 15 ; 2 Kings x, 20, 21.  
t Ex. xix, 12, 23. •  

          

          

          

          

          

          

          




10  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
which follows sustains this statement : " The sev- 
enth day is the Sabbath [or rest day] of the Lord  
thy God." The origin of this rest day is given  
in these words : " For in six days the Lord made  
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is,  
and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord  
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." That  
which is enjoined in the fourth commandment is  
to keep holy the rest day of the Lord. And this  
is defined to be the day on which he rested from  
the work of creation. Moreover the fourth com- 
mandment calls the seventh day the Sabbath day  
at the- time when God blessed and hallowed that  
day, therefore the Sabbath is an institution dating  
from the foundation of the world. The fourth  
commandment points back to the creation for the  
origin of its obligation ; and when we go back to  
that point, we find the substance of the fourth  
commandment given to Adam : " God blessed the  
seventh day and sanctified it," i. e., set it apart to  
a holy use. And in the commandment itself the  
same fact is stated : " The Lord blessed the Sab- 
bath day and hallowed it," i. e., appointed it to a  
holy use. The one statement affirms that " God  
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it," the oth- 
er that "the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hal- 
lowed it." Because the word Sabbath does not  
occur in the first statement it has been contended  
that the Sabbath did not originate at creation.  
From the second statement it has been contended  
that God did not bless the seventh day at all, but  
simply the Sabbath institution. But both state- 
ments embody all the truth. God blessed the  
seventh day and sanctified it ; and this day thus  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  11  
blessed and hallowed was his holy Sabbath or rest  
day. Thus the fourth commandment establishes  
the origin of the Sabbath at creation.  
The second mention of the Sabbath in the Bi- 
ble furnishes a decisive confirmation of the testi- 
monies already adduced. On the sixth day of the  
week, Moses in the wilderness of Sin said to Isra- 
el, " lb-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath  
unto the Lord."* What had been done to the  
seventh day since God blessed and sanctified it as  
his rest day in Paradise ? Nothing. What did  
Moses do to the seventh day to make it the rest  
of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord ? Nothing.  
Moses on the sixth day simply states the fact that  
the morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto 
the Lord. The seventh day had been such ever  
since God blessed and hallowed the day of his rest.  
The testimony of our'clivine Lord relative to the  
origin and design of the Sabbath is of peculiar  
importance. He is competent to testify, for he  
was with the Father in the beginning of the cre- 
ation.t " The Sabbath was made for man" said  
he, " not man for the Sabbath.1 The following  
grammatical rule is worthy of notice : "A noun  
without an adjective is invariably taken in its  
broadest extension, as : Man is accountable."§  
The following texts will illustrate this rule, and  
also this statement of our Lord's. " Man lieth  
down, and riseth not : till the heavens be no more  
they shall not awake." " There hath no tempta-  
*Ex. xvi, 22, 23.  
fi John i, 1-3 ; Gen. i, 1, 26; Col. i, 13-16.  
Mark ii, 27.  
Barrett's Principles of English Grammar.


12  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
tion taken you but such as is common to man."  
" It is appointed unto men once to die."* In  
these- texts man is used without restriction, and  
therefore all mankind are necessarily intended.  
The Sabbath was therefore made for the whole  
human family, and consequently originated with  
mankind. But the Saviour's language is even yet  
more emphatic in the original : " The SAbbath  
was made fOr  THE  man, not  THE  man for the  
Sabbath." This language fixes the mind on the  
man Adam, who was made of the dust of the  
ground just before the Sabbath was made for him,  
of the seventh day. This is a striking confirma- 
tion of the fact already pointed out that the Sab- 
bath was given to Adam the head of the human  
family.  
" The seventh day is tblos Sabbath of the Lord  
thy God ;" yet he made the Sabbath for man.  
God made the Sabbath his by solemn appropria- 
tion, that he might convey it back to us under  
the guarantee of a divine charter, that none might  
rob us of it with impunity.  
But is it not possible that God's act of blessing  
and sanctifying the seventh day did not occur at  
the close of the creation week ? May it not be  
mentioned then because God designed that the  
day of his rest should be afterward observed ? Or  
rather, as Moses wrote the book of Genesis long  
after the creation, might he not insert this account  
of the sanctification of the seventh day with the  
record of the first week, though the day itself was  
sanctified in his own time ?  
*Job xiv, 12 ; 1 Cor. x, 13 ; Heb. ix, 27.  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  13  
It is very certain that such an interpretation of  
the record cannot be admitted unless the facts in  
the case demand it. For it is, to say the least,  
a forced explanation of the language. The record  
in Genesis, unless this be an exception, is a plain  
narrative of events. Thus what God did on each  
day is recorded in its order down to the seventh.  
It is certainly doing violence to the narrative to  
affirm that the record respecting the seventh day  
is of a different character from that respecting the  
other six. He rested the seventh day ; he sanc- 
tified the seventh day because he had rested upon  
it. The reason why he should sanctify the sev- 
enth day existed when his rest was closed. To  
say, therefore, that God did not sanctify the day  
at that time,  but did it in the days of Moses, is  
not only to distort theltiparrative, but to affirm  
that he neglected to do that for which the reason  
existed at creation, until 2500 years after.  
But we ask that the facts be brought forward  
which prove that the Sabbath was sanctified in  
the wilderness of Sin and not at creation. And  
what are the facts that show this ? We answer,  
such facts do not exist. It is an hypothesis in- 
vented to sustain the theory that the Sabbath  
originated at the fall of the manna and not in  
Paradise.  
Did God sanctify the Sabbath in the wilderness  
of Sin ? There is no record of such fact. On  
the contrary, it is mentioned at that time as some- 
thing already set apart of God. On the sixth day  
Moses said, " To-morrow is the rest of the holy  
Sabbath unto the Lord."* Surely this is not the  
* Ex. xvi, 23.


14  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
institution of the Sabbath, but the familiar men- 
tion of- an existing fact. We pass on to mount  
Sinai. 'Did God sanctify the Sabbath when he  
spoke the ten commandments ? No one claims  
that he did. It is admitted by all that Moses  
spoke of it familiarly the previous month.* Does  
the Lord at Sinai speak of the sanctification of  
the Sabbath ? He does ; but in the very language  
of Genesis he goes back for the sanctification of  
the Sabbath, not to the wilderness of Sin, but to  
the creation of the world.t W e ask those who  
hold this theory, this question : If the Sabbath 
was not sanctified at creation,  but was sanctified  
in the wilderness of Sin, why does the narrative 
in each instance: record the sanctification of the  
Sabbath at creation, and omit all mention of such  
fact in the wilderness ofAin ? Nay, why does the  
record of events in the wilderness of Sin show  
that the holy Sabbath was at that time already in  
existence ? In a word, How can a theory sub- 
versive of all the facts in the record, be maintain- 
ed as the truth of God ?  
We have seen the Sabbath ordained of God at  
the close of the creation week. The object of its  
Author is worthy of • especial attention. Why  
did the Creator set up this memorial in Paradise ?  
Why did he set apart from the other days of the  
week that day which he had employed in rest ?  
"Because that in it," says the record, " he had  
rested from all his work which God created and  
made." A  rest necessarily implies a  work ,per-  
* Ex.  t Ex. xx, 8-11.  .  Compare Trani, 1-3; Ex. xx, 8-1  
40  

THE SABBATIt INSTITUTION.  15  
pined.  And hence the Sabbath wqk ordained  
of God as a memorial of the work of creation.  
And therefore that precept of the moral law which  
relates to this memorial, unlike every other pre-  
cept of that law begiv with the word " remem- 
ber." The importance of this memorial will 
be appreciated when we learn from the Scriptures  
that it is the work of creation which is claimed  
by its Author as the great evidence of his eternal  
power and Godhead, and as that great fact which  
distinguishes him from all false gods. Thus it is  
written : " He that built all things is God." " The  
gods that have not made the heavens and the  
earth,eeven they shall perish from the earth, and  
from under these heavens." " But the Lord  
the true God, he is the living God, and an ever- 
lasting King." " He haph made the earth by his  
power, he bath established the world by his wis- 
dom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his  
discretion." " For the invisible things of him  
from the creation of the world are clearly seen,  
being understood by the things that are made,  
even his eternal power and Godhead." " For he  
spake and it was done; he commanded, and it  
stood fast." Thus " the worlds were framed by  
the word of God, so that things which are seen  
were not mact? of things which do appear."*  
Such is the estimate which the Scriptures place  
upon the work of creation as evincing the eternal  
power and Godhead of the Creator. The Sabbath  
stands as the memorial of this great work. Its  
observanee is an act of grateful acknowledgement on  
iii, 4; Jer. x, 10-1  20 ; Ps. xxxiii,  
9;  i, 3.


16  THE SABVATIC INSTITUTION.  
the part of its intelligent creatures that he is th(  
Creator, ant that they owe all to him ; and that for  
his pleasure they are and were created. How ap- 
propriate this observance for Adam ! And when  
man had fallen, how important for his well being  
that he should " remember the Sabbath day to  
keep it holy." He would thus have•been pre- 
served from atheism and from idolatry • for he  
could never forget that there was a God from  
whom all things derived their being ; nor could  
he worship as God any other being than the Creator.  
The seventh day as hallowed by God in Eden  
was not Jewish, but divine ; it was not the memo-
rial of the flight of Israel from Egypt, but of the  
Creator's rest. Nor is it true that the most dis- 
tinguished Jewish writers deny the primeval ori- 
gin of the Sabbath, or claim it as a Jewish me- 
morial. We cite the historian Josephus and his  
learned cotemporary, Philo Judus. Josephus,  
whose " Antiquities of the Jews" run parallel with  
the Bible from the beginning, when treating of 
the wilderness of Sin makes no allusion whatever 
to the Sabbath, a clear proof that he had no idea 
that it originated in that wilderness. But when  
giving the account of creation he bears the follow- 
ing testimony :  
" Moses says that in just six days the world and  
all that is therein was made. And that the sev- 
enth day was a rest and a release from the labor  
of such operations;  WHENCE  it is that we cele- 
brate a rest from our labor on that day, and call it  
the Sabbath; which ward denotes rest in the He- 
brew tongue."*  
* Antiquities  ews, Book I, cllap. 1  
jo k    

TILE rABBATIQ INSTITUTION.  17  
And Philo bears an emphatic testimony relative  
to the character of the Sabbath as a memorial.  
Thus he says :  
" But after the whole world had been completed  
according the perfect nature of the number six,  
the Father hallowed the day following, the seventh,  
praising it and calling it holy. For that day is  
the festival, not of one city or one country, but of  
all the earth; a day which alone it is right to call  
the day of festival for all people, and the birth  
day of the world." *  
Nor was the rest-day of the Lord a shadow of  
man's rest after his recovery from the fall. God  
will ever be worshiped in an understanding man- 
ner by his intelligent creatures. When therefore -  
he set apart his rest-day to a holy use, if it was  
not as a memorial of his work, but as a shadow of  
man's redemption from the fall, man in his unfal- 
len state could never observe the Sabbath as a de- 
light, but ever with deep distress as reminding  
him that he was soon to apostatize from God. '  
Nor was the holy of the Lord and honorable, one  
of the "carnal ordinances imposed until the times 
of reformation." t For there could be no refor- 
mation with unfallen beings.  
But man did not continue in his uprightness ;  
Paradise was lost, and Adam was excluded from  
the tree of life. The curse of God fell upon the  
earth, and death entered by sin, and passed upon  
all inenI After this sad apostasy, no farther  
mention of the Sabbath occurs until Moses on the  
*Works, Vol. I, sec. 30.  
t Isa. lviii, 13, 14 ; Hob. ix, 10.  
illi 
liv  
  -,'  $ Gen. iii ; Rom. v, 12.  
2


19  18  TIIE SABBATIC INSTITUTION,  Trig SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
sixth day said, " To-morrow is the rest of the holy  
Sabbath unto the Lord."  
It is objected that there is no precept in the  
book of Genesis for the observance of the Sabbath,  
and consequently no obligation on the part of the  
patriarchs to observe it. There is a defect in this  
argument not noticed by those who use it. The  
book of Genesis was not a rule given to the patri- 
archs to walk by. On the contrary, it was writ- 
ten by Moses 2500 years after creation, and long  
after the patriarchs were dead. Consequently the  
fact that certain precepts are not found in Gene- 
sis is no evidence that they were not obligatory up- 
on the patriarchs. Thus the book does not com- 
mand men to love God with all their hearts, and  
their neighbors as themselves; nor does it prohib- 
it idolatry, blasphemy, disobedience to parents,  
adultery, theft, false witness or covetousness.  
Who will affirm from this that the patriarchs were  
under no restraint in these things ? As a mere  
record of events, written long after their occur- 
rence, it was not necessary that the book should  
contain a moral code. But had the book been  
given to the patriarchs as a rule of life, it must of  
necessity have contained such a code. It is a  
fact worthy of especial notice that as soon as Mo- 
ses reaches his own time in the book of Exodus,  
the whole moral law is given. The record and  
the people were then cotemporary, and ever after- 
ward the written law is in the hands of God's peo- 
ple, as a rule of life, and a complete code of mor- 
al precepts.  
The argument under consideration is uAsound.  
1.  Because based ett the supposition that  the book   

of Genesis was the rule of life for the patriarchs.  
2. Because if carried out, it would release the  
patriarchs from every precept of the moral law  
except the sixth.* 3. Nor is this all. The act  
of God in setting apart his rest-day to a holy use,  
as we have seen, necessarily involves the fact that  
he gave a precept concerning it to Adam, in whose  
time it was thus set apart. And hence, though 
the book of Genesis contains no precept concern- 
ing the Sabbath, it does contain direct evidence  
that such precept was given to the head and rep- 
resentative of the human family.  
After giving the institution of the Sabbath, the  
book of Genesis, in its brief record of 2370 years,  
does not again mention it. This has been urged  
as ample proof that those holy men, who, during  
this period, were perfect, and walked with God in  
the observance of his commandments, statutes and  
laws,t all lived in open profanation of that day  
which God had blessed and set apart to a holy  
use. But the book of Genesis also omits any  
distinct reference to the doctrine of future pun- 
ishment, the resurrection of the body, the reve- 
lation of the Lord in flaming fire, and the judg- 
ment of the great day. Does this silence prove  
that the patriarchs did not believe these great  
doctrines ? Does it make them any the less  
sacred ?  
But the Sabbath is not mentioned from Moses  
to David, a period of five hundred years during  
which it was enforced by the penalty of death.  
Does this prove that it was not observed during  
*Gen. ix, 6, 7.  t Gen. v, 24 ; vi, 9 ; xxvi, 5.


20  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
this period ? The jubilee occupied a very promi- 
nent place in the typical system, yet in the whole  
Bible a single instance of its observance is not re- 
corded. What is still more remarkable, there is  
not on record a single instance of the observance  
of the great day of atonement, notwithstanding  
the work in the holiest on that day was the most  
important service connected with the worldly  
sanctuary. And yet the observance of the other  
and less important festivals of the seventh month,  
which are so intimately connected with the day of  
atonement, the one preceding it by ten days, the  
other following it in five, is repeatedly and partic- 
ularly recorded.* It would be sophistry to say  
that this silence respecting the day of atonement,  
when there were so many instances for it to be  
mentioned, proves that that day was never observ- 
ed; and yet it is actually a better argument than  
the similar one urged against the Sabbath from 
the book of Genesis.  
The reckoning of time by weeks is derived  
from nothing in nature, and can only be traced to  
the six days of creation, and to the rest of the  
Sabbath.  
The reckoning of time by weeks was estab- 
lished in Gen. i, ii. This period of time is mark- 
ed only by the recurrence of the sanctified rest- 
day of the Creator. That the patriarchs reckoned  
time by weeks  and by sevens of days, is evident  
from several texts.t That the reckoning of the  
*Ezra iii, 1-6 ; Neh. viii, 2, 9-12, 14-18 ; 1 Kings  
viii, 2, 65; 2 Chron. v, 3, vii, 8, 9 ; John vii, 2-14, 37.  
t Job, ii, 13.  
j-Gen. xxix, 27, 28, viii, 10, 12, vii, 4, 10, 1, 10 ;  

THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  21  
week was rightly kept appears evident from the  
fact that in Ex. xvi, Moses on the  sixth  day de- 
clares that " to-morrow is the rest of the holy  
Sabbath unto the Lord."*  
The brevity of the record in Genesis causes us  
t o overlook many facts of the deepest interest.  
Adam lived 930 years. How deep and absorbing  
the interest that must have existed in the human  
family to see the first man ! To converse with  
one who had himself talked with God ! To hear  
from his lips a description of that Paradise in  
which he had lived ! To learn from one created  
on the sixth day the wondrous events of the cre•  
ation week ! To hear from his lips the very words  
of the Creator when he set apart his rest-day to a  
holy use ! And to learn, alas ! the sad story of  
the loss of Paradise and the tree of life !  
It was therefore not difficult for the facts re- 
specting the six days of creation and the sanctifi- 
cation of the rest-day to be diffused among man- 
kind in the patriarchal age. Nay, it was impossi- 
ble that it should be otherwise, especially among  
the godly. From Adam to Abraham a succession  
of men—probably inspired of God--preserved the  
knowledge of God upon earth. Thus Adam lived  
till Lamech, the father of Noah, was 56 years of  
age; Lamech lived till Shem, the Son of Noah,  
was 93 ; Shem lived till Abraham was 150 years  
of age. Thus are we brought down to Abraham,  
the father of the faithful. Of him it is recorded  
that he obeyed God's voice and kept his charge,  
his commandments, his statutes and his laws.t  
* Ex. xvi, 22, 23.  t Gen. xxvi, 5.  
3efor tot  frOdenitst  
AWN** Unvesit‘s


22  THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION.  
And of him the Most High bears the following  
testimony : "I know him, that he will command  
his children and his household after him, and  
they shall keep the way of the Lord."* The  
knowledge of God was preserved in the family of  
Abraham; and we shall next find the Sabbath  
familiarly mentioned among his posterity, as an  
existing institution.  J. N. A  
*Gen. xviii, 19.  

THE TWO LAWS.  
" THERE is but one God, the Father, of whom  
are all things." 1 Cor. viii, 6. From him all  
beings derive their existence. He who creates  
and upholds has certainly the right to govern and  
control. Hence it is that he is represented in  
the Scriptures as the one Lawgiver who is able to  
save and to destroy. James iv, 12. Existence  
being derived from the benevolence of the Creator,  
all intelligent creatures are amenable to his just  
government. Of all the creatures made by God  
to inhabit the earth, man alone is capable of learn- 
ing the distinction of right and wrong, and he  
alone is placed under the control of moral law.  
Deriving his existence from a Being of infinite'  
purity, he was himself once innocent, pure and  
upright. He was the creature and the loyal sub- 
ject of God, and God was the author of his exist- 
ence and his rightful Sovereign. But God did  
not sustain toward man the character of a Saviour  
and Redeemer, for man needed not pardon.  
As a creature owing all to Goal, the author of  
his existence, it is self-evident that he  was  under  
the highest obligation to love him with all his  
heart. The existence of other human beings orig- 
inates a second great obligation, viz., to love our


24  THE TWO LAWS.  
neighbor as ourselves. This precept is also one  
of self-evident obligation ; for others are equally  
the creatures of God with ourselves, and have the  
same rights that we also have. These two pre- 
cepts are the sum of all 'Loral law. And they  
grow out of the fact that we owe all to God, and  
that others are the creatures of God as well as  
ourselves.  
In rendering obedience to the first of these two  
precepts, man could have no other gods before the  
Lord ; nor could he worship idols ; neither could  
he speak the name of God in an irreverent man- 
ner ; nor could he neglect the hallowed rest-day  
of the Lord, which was set apart at creation in  
memory of the Creator's rest.  
Equally evident is it that our duty toward our  
fellow men comprehends our duty to our parents,  
and the strictest regard to the life, chastity, prop- 
erty, character and interests of others.  
The moral law thus divided into two parts, and  
drawn out and expressed in ten precepts, is of ne- 
cessity unchangeable in its character. Its exist- 
ence grows out of immutable relations which man  
sustains toward God, and toward his fellow man.  
It is God's great standard of right, and after man's  
rebellion, the great test by which sin is shown.  
Where shall we look for the record of such a  
moral code as we have noticed ? In the earliest  
possible place in the Bible, certainly. And yet  

THE TWO LAWS.  25  
•  
the book of Genesis contains no moral code what- 
ever. How can this mystery be explained ? A  
few facts will remove the difficulty. The book  
of Genesis was not written until about 2500 years  
after the creation. As it was written long after  
the patriarchs were dead, it could not have been  
a rule of life for them. It is a brief record of  
events that occurred during that period, and con- 
tains several allusions to an existing moral code.  
But the book of Exodus which brings the narra- 
tive down to the author's own time, introduces  
this code under circumstances of the greatest so- 
lemnity. In this book is found the law of God  
as given by himself in person, and written with  
his own finger on stone. Indeed, the evidence  
indicates that no part of the Bible was written un- 
til after the ten commandments had been spoken  
and written by God, and consequently that code  
is the earliest writing in existence.  
Such was the origin of the moral law, and such  
the character of its precepts. Its proclamation by  
God himself, prior to his causing any part of the  
Bible to be written sufficiently attests the estimate  
which he placed upon it. From its very nature it  
exists as early as the principles of morality ; indeed  
it is nothing but those principles expressed or writ- 
ten out. These principles do not owe their exist- 
ence to the fall of man, but to relations which ex- 
isted prior to the fall.


26  THE TWO LAWS.  
But there is a system of laws that, does we its  
origin to sin ; a system that could have had no  
existence had not man become a transgressor.  
The violation of moral law was that which gave  
existence to the law of rites and ceremonies, the  
shadow of good things to come. There could be  
no sacrifices for sin until man became a sinner.  
In Eden there could be no types and shadows  
pointing forward to future redemption through  
the death of Christ; for man in his uprightness  
needed no such redemption. Nor did God place  
upon man before his fall the obligation of carnal  
ordinances which look forward to the time of ref- 
ormation; for man was innocent and free from  
guile. That it was the violation of moral law that  
caused the fall of man may be seen at a glance.  
The motive set before Eve by Satan was that they  
should become as gods if they ate of that tree  
[Gen.  ; and as Adam was not deceived [1 Tim.  
ii, 13], it is evident that he chose to follow his  
wife rather than to obey the Lord ; an open vio- 
lation of the first commandment in each case.  
When man had thus become a sinner, and God  
had promised the means of his redemption, a sec- 
ond relation toward God was brought into exist- 
ence. Man was a sinner needing forgiveness, and  
God was a Saviour offering pardon. It is plain  
therefore that the typical law pointing forward to  

THE TWO LAWS.  27  
redemption through Christ owes its origin to man's 
rebellion, and to God's infinite benevolence. If  
man had not sinned he would have needed no  
types of future redemptioh, and if God had not  
determined to give his Son to die he would have  
instituted no typical system pointing forward to  
that great event. The existence of such a code  
therefore is in consequence of sin, its precepts are  
of a ceremonial nature, and its duration is neces- 
sarily limited by the great offering that could take  
away sin. From the fall of Adam till the time of  
Moses the typical system was gradually developed  
and matured ; and from Moses' time until the death  
of our Lord, it existed as the shadow of good things  
to come.  
At mount Sinai, as we have seen, God pro- 
claimed the moral law, speaking it with his own ,  
voice, and writing it with his own finger. By his  
direction the two tables on which the law was  
written were placed in the ark of the covenant,  
which was made on purpose to receive it. Ex.  
xxv, 10-22; Dent. x, 1-5. And this ark con- 
taining the law of God was placed in the second  
apartment of the earthly sanctuary—the most holy  
place. Ex. xl ; Heb. ix. The top of the ark  
was called the mercy-seat, because that man who  
had broken the law contained in the ark beneath  
the mercy-seat could find pardon by the sprink-


28  THE TWO LAWS.  
ling of the blood of atonement upon this place. The  
whole system of ceremonial law was ordained to  
enable man to approach again to this broken law,  
and to typify the restitution of the pardoned to  
their inheritance, and the destruction of the im- 
penitent.  
The law within the ark was that which de- 
manded an atonement; the ceremonial law which  
ordained the Levitical priesthood and the sacrifi- 
ces for sin, was that which taught men how the  
atonement could be made. The broken law was  
beneath the mercy seat; the blood of sin offering,    
was sprinkled upon its top, and pardon was ex- 
tended to the penitent sinner. There was actual  
sin, and hence a real law which man had broken;  
but there was not a real atonement, and hence  
the need of the great antitype to the Levitical  
sacrifices. The real atonement when it is made  
must relate to that law respecting which an atone- 
ment had been shadowed forth. In other words  
the shadowy atonement related to that law  
which was shut up in the ark, indicating that a  
real atonement was demanded by that law. It is  
necessary that the law which demands atonement  
in order that its transgressor may be spared,  
should itself be perfect, else the fault would in  
part at least rest with the lawgiver, and not whol- 
ly with the sinner. Hence, the atonement when  
made does not take away the broken law, for that  

THE TWO LAWS.  29  
is perfect, but is expressly designed to take away  
the guilt of the transgressor.  
In the New Testament we find the great anti- 
type of all the offerings and sacrifices—the real  
atonement as contrasted with the Levitical one.  
The death of our Lord Jesus Christ as the great  
sacrifice for sin, was the antitype of all the Levit- 
ical sacrifices. The priesthood of our Lord Jesus  
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary is the great an- 
titype of the Levitical priesthood. Heb. viii.  
The heavenly sanctuary itself is the great origi- 
nal after which the earthly one was patterned.  
Heb. ix 23 ; Ex. xxv, 6, 9. And the ark of  
God's testament in the temple in heaven [Rev.  
xi, 19] contains the great original of his law.  
And thus we see under the new dispensation a  
real atonement instead of a shadowy one; a High  
Priest who needs not to offer for himself; a sac- 
rifice which can avail before God; and that law 
which man had broken, magnified and made hon- 
orable at the same time that God pardons the  
penitent sinner.  
We shall find the New Testament to abound  
with references to the essential difference between  
these two codes. And that the distinction in the  
New Testament is made as clear and obvious as  
it is made by the facts already noticed in the Old  
Testament.  
Thus the one code is termed " the law of a car-


30  THE TWO LAWS.  THE TWO LAWS.  31  
nal commandment" [Heb. vii, 16], and of the  
other it is affirmed, " we know that the law is  
spiritual." Rom. vii, 14." The one code is term- 
ed "the hand-writing of ordinances," "which  
was contrary to us," and which was nailed to the  
cross and taken out of the way [Col. ii, 14]; the  
other code is "the royal law," which James af- 
firms that it is a sin to transgress. Chap. ii, 8-12.  
The first is a code of which " there was made of  
necessity a change" [Heb. vii, 12] ; the second  
is that law of which Christ says, " Till heaven  
and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no  
wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Matt.  
v, 18. The one law was a " shadow of good  
things to come" [Heb. x, 1], and was only im- 
posed " until the time of reformation" [leb. ix,  
10]; but the other was a moral code of which it  
is said by John " Whosoever committeth sin  
transgresseth also the law, for sin is the trans- 
gression of the law." 1 John iii, 4. The one is a  
yoke not able to be borne [Acts xv, 10]; the oth- 
er is that " law of liberty" by which we shall be  
judged. James ii, 8-12. The one is that law  
which Christ abolished in his flesh [Eph. ii, 15];  
the other is that law which he did not come to  
'destroy. Matt v, 17. The one is that law which  
he took out of the way at his death [Col. ii, 14];  
the other is that law which he came to magnify  
and make honorable. Isa. xlii, 21. The one   

was a law which was disannulled "for the weak- 
ness and unprofitableness thereof" [Heb. vii, 18] ;  
the other is a law respecting which he inquires  
" Do we then make void the law through faith ?  
God forbid; yea we establish the Law." Rom.  
iii, 31. The one is that law which was the mid- 
dle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles  
[Eph. ii, 14]; the other is that law the work of  
which even the Gentiles are said to have written  
in their hearts [Rom ii, 12-15], and to which all  
mankind are amenable. Rom. iii, 19. The one  
is the law of commandments contained in ordi- 
nances [Eph. ii, 15] ; the other law is the com- 
mandments of God which it is the whole duty of 
man to keep [Eccl. xii, 13], which are brought to  
view by the third angel [Rev. xiv. 12], which  
the remnant of the seed of the woman were keep- 
ing when the dragon made war upon them [Rev.  
xii, 17], and which will ensure to those who ob- 
serve them, access to the tree of life. Rev. xxii, 14.  
Surely these two codes should not be confound- 
ed. The one was magnified, made honorable, es- 
tablished, and is holy, just, spiritual, good, roy- 
al; the other was carnal, shadowy, burdensome; 
and was abolished, broken down, taken out of the  
way, nailed to the cross, changed, and disannull- 
ed on account of the weakness and unprofitable- 
ness thereof.  
Those who rightly divide the word of truth


    

32  THE TWO LAWS.  THE TWO LAWS.  33  
will never confound these essentially different  
codes, nor will they apply to God's royal law the  
language employed respecting the hand writing  
of ordinances.  
That the ten commandments are a perfect code  
of themselves appears from several facts. 1. God  
spake them with his own voice, and it is said  
" he added no more" [Deut. v, 22], as evincing  
that he had given a complete code.  2. He wrote  
them alone on the two tables with his own finger,  
another incidental proof that this was a complete  
moral code. 3. He caused these alone to be  
placed under the mercy seat, an evident proof  
that this was the code that made an atonement  
. necessary. 4. He expressly calls what he thus  
wrote on the tables of stone, a law and command  
meats. Ex. xxiv, 12.  
The precepts of this law are variously inter- 
spersed through the books of Moses, and mingled  
with the precepts of the ceremonial law. And  
the sum of the first table is given in Dent. vi, 5 ;  
and that of the second table in Lev xix, 18; but  
there is only one place in which the moral law is  
drawn out in particulars and given by itself with  
no ceremonial law mixed with it, and that is in  
the ten commandments.  
An examination of the royal law in James ii,  
and of the hand-writing of ordinances in Col. ii,  
will further illustrate this subject; the one is in   

force in every precept while the other is abolished.  
" If ye fulfill the royal law according to the  
scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,  
ye do well ; but if ye have respect to persons ye  
commit sin and are convinced of the law as trans- 
gressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole  
law, and yet offend in one point he is guilty of  
all. For he that said Do not commit adultery,  
said also Do not kill. Now if thou commit no  
adultery, yet if thou kill thou art become a trans- 
gressor of the law. So speak ye and so do, as  
they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.  
Verses 8-12  
1. The law here brought to view is an unabol-  
ished law, for it convinces men of sin who trans- 
gress it. 2. It is an Old Testament law—it is ta- 
ken from the Scriptures. 3. The second divis- 
ion of the law is quoted because he was reproving  
sin committed toward our fellow men ; and hence  
he takes the second of the two great command- 
ments, the sum of the second table [Matt. xxii,  
36, 40; Rom. xiii, 9], and cites his illustration  
from the second table of stone. 4. His language  
shows that the ten commandments are the pre- 
cepts of the royal law, for he cites them in illus- 
trating the statement that he who violates one  
precept becomes guilty of all. This is a most sol- 
emn warning against the violation of any one of  
the ten commandments. 5. He testifies that  
3


34  THE TWO LAWS.  
whoever violates one of the precepts of this code  
becomes guilty of breaking the whole code. 6.  
And last of all he testifies that this law of liberty  
shall be the rule in the judgment. The unabol- 
ished law of James is therefore that code which  
God gave in person and wrote with his own finger.  
" Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances  
that was against us which was contrary to us and 
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.  
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in  
drink or in respect of an holy day, or of the new  
moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shad- 
ow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."  
Col. ii, 14, 16, 17. If this hand-writing of ordi- 
nances is the same as the royal law of James,  
then Paul and James directly contradict each  
other. But they wrote by inspiration and each  
wrote the truth of God. We have seen that  
James' unabolished law refers directly to the ten  
commandments. Hence, it is certain that the  
law which Paul shows to be abolished does not  
refer to that which was written with the finger of  
God. It is to be noticed that the code which is  
done away was a shadow extending only to the  
death of Christ. But we have already seen that  
the law shut up in the ark was not a shadow, but  
the very code which made it necessary that the  
Saviour should die. Not one of the things abol- 
ished in this chapter can be claimed as referring to  

THE TWO LAWS.  35  
the ten commandments except the term Sabbaths,  
for the term holy day is literally feast day  [Gr.  
ioprik] and there were three feasts appointed by  
God in each year. Ex. xxiii, 14. The term  
Sabbath is plural in the original. To refer this  
to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to  
make Paul contradict James. What are the  
facts in the case ?  
The ceremonial law did ordain at least four  
annual Sabbaths, viz., the 1st, 10th, 15th and 23d  
days of the 7th month. These were besides  
the Sabbath of the Lord, and were associated with  
the new moons and feast-days. Lev. xxiii, 23- 
39. These exactly answer Paul's language. Hence  
it is not necessary to make Paul contradict James.  
But the Sabbath of the Lord was "set apart  
to a holy use" (this being the literal meaning of  
sanctify) in Eden. It was " made for man" before  
he had fallen. Hence it is not one of the things  
against him and contrary to him, taken out of the  
way at Christ's death.  
It was not a shadow pointing forward to the  
death of Christ; for it was ordained before the  
fall. On the contrary it stands as a memorial  
pointing backward to creation, and not as a shad- 
ow pointing forward to redemption.  
It is plain therefore that the abrogation of the  
hand-writing of ordinances leaves in full force ev-


36  THE TWO LAWS.  
cry precept of the royal law. And also that the  
law of shadows pointing forward to the death of  
Christ, must expin when that event should occur.  
But the moral law was that which caused the Sav- 
iour to lay down his life for us. And its sacred- 
ness may he judged of by the fact that God gave  
his only Son to take its curse upon himself, and  
to die for our transgressions. Reader, are you in  
rebellion against the law of God ? If so, I be- 
seech you to lay down your arms and seek pardon  
in the blood of Jesus before the curse of the law  
falls upon you.  J. N. A.