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Therefore, the Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment, with everything contained under the word Sabbath, or akin to it, days and times and years, the strongholds and yet the weaknesses of the Law, is abolished. was a positive ordinance of Judaism, and with Judaism has disappeared. But this is without prejudice to the establishment of the Lord's Day, and without its being at all necessary to seek for the Lord's Day, either identity in substance, or directly antitypical connexion, with the Sabbath. How far the Lord's Day, besides being, as I showed in an earlier Lecture, a positive ordinance of Scriptural and Apostolical Christianity, is one of the forms in which the oaßßarioμòs which remaineth for the people of God would naturally and of course find expression; how far it is analogous to the Sabbath, and whether it may not contain in it the same elements though in a different order, and arranged in the spirit of love which casteth out fear, I shall consider in the next Lecture.

LECTURE V.

HEBREWS IV. 8, 9.

FOR IF JESUS (JOSHUA) HAD GIVEN THEM REST, THEN WOULD HE NOT AFTER

WARDS HAVE SPOKEN OF ANOTHER DAY.

THERE REMAINETH THEREFORE A REST (A KEEPING OF SABBATH) FOR THE

PEOPLE OF GOD.

Εἰ γὰρ αὐτοὺς Ἰησοῦς κατέπαυσεν, οὐκ ἂν περὶ ἄλλης ἐλάλει μετὰ ταῦτα ἡμέρας.

̓́Αρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ.

I CONCLUDED my Fourth Lecture with three remarks:

First, that the Sabbath properly so called, the Sabbath of the Jews, with everything connected with it as a positive ordinance, was swept away by Christianity.

Secondly, that this is without prejudice to the Lord's Day; and

Thirdly, that it is not necessary to seek for the Lord's Day, either identity in substance, or directly antitypical connexion, with the Sabbath.

Certain passages however have been brought forward, as tending to invalidate these propositions. Three of them are of the nature of prophecies, uttered respectively by Isaiah, by Ezekiel, and by our Lord. From these it is argued that the Sabbath is still of obligation. Three of them occur in the writings of St. Paul. It is said of these, that

if they are understood as destructive of the Sabbath, they render all Christian Holy-days, the Lord's Day amongst them, indifferent, not to say unlawful. Another passage is that contained in my text. This has been understood in two very different ways, each of them, I believe, containing an element of truth, but each of them blended with some

error.

The course of my present Lecture will be-first to discuss the three prophecies to which I allude: then to inquire into the true meaning of the passages adduced from St. Paul's writings: and lastly, so far as I may be able, to grasp the argument in the Hebrews;

"For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day. "There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God."

We shall, I think, as we proceed, find the solution of various questions which have hitherto been left open till the time for their discussion should arrive.

And first of the three prophecies.

It is said in one of Isaiah's visions, (lxvi. 23), which is obviously not to be limited to the Jews and their fortunes, that "from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before God." Now from this it has been urged that the Sabbath cannot be of a transitory nature, or it would not have been mentioned thus. It has, however, escaped the notice of those who hold this argument, that if the continuance of the Sabbath Festival is proved by this passage, so is the continuance of the New-moon Festival.328 This they would hardly be inclined to allow. And yet by their own showing they must allow it. No less is said of the one than of the other, and, we may add, no more. I see not then what can be gathered from it, except an assurance, expressed in the language of the Jews, on God's part, that in the glorious

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dispensation which He will manifest, whether on earth or in heaven, His worship will never be intermitted, will never be broken off by fits of neglect or rebellion, as was too frequently the case with the Jewish nation.

The passage alleged from Ezekiel, (xlvi. 3, 4),329 is very similar to that from Isaiah, and may be disposed of in the

same way.

But granting that no real difficulty is caused by these prophecies, what, it is said, can be made of our Lord's own words, "Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day?" 330 He is speaking, be it observed, of the difficulties which would meet the disciples in their flight, just before the siege of Jerusalem. Now that siege was to occur many years after His words were uttered. Do they not then imply, that at that time, (and if then, why not for ever?), the Sabbath day would exist with all its religious obligations? that it would be as grievous to the religious man to employ it in flight, as it could be to the man of flesh and blood to encounter the horrors of winter, without having where to lay his head?

A very few moments' thought will show the untenableness of this argument. In a nation like that of the Jews, in which the fiction of the "Sabbath-day's journey " prevailed extensively, it was no doubt considered wrong to assist the traveller, however urgent his errand, in his movements on the Sabbath day. All possible impediments, therefore, would be thrown in the way of the fugitives, by those who were still zealous for the supposed requirements of the law. They would render them no aid, they would assail with obloquy, if with nothing worse, the violators of the sanctity of the Sabbath. A Roman Satirist asserted of the Jews that they considered it to be their duty

"Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,

Quæsitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos; "331

if this were so, they would certainly be yet more uncharitable to those who were in their eyes not merely aliens, but apostates; not merely ignorant of their law, but despisers of it and contributors to its overthrow. What wonder then, that our Blessed Lord, foreseeing that the Sabbath would still exist as a fact though no longer obligatory as an institution, and would still be cherished by the Jews, should have bid His disciples pray, that their flight be not cast, not merely in the time of winter, but on a day which would expose them to the yet keener blasts of those who would resent a violation of their ancient day of rest? It may be that our Lord foresaw a lingering regard on the part of His disciples for this remnant of the Jewish law, such as we know the Nazarenes long entertained, and that He hinted at what their personal feelings would be. Of this, however, we have no evidence. Perhaps then it is safer to conclude that He spoke merely of a certain external circumstance, the averting of which, as its presence would increase their trials, should be made the subject of

prayer.

I have only noticed these passages,332 because they have been sometimes urged in support of the Sabbatarian view of the Lord's Day. It has been imagined that whatever evidence can be brought that the Sabbath exists still, will assist in the transfer of the spirit of the Sabbath, or of the Sabbath itself, to the Lord's Day. It would do nothing of the sort. It would merely strengthen that very extreme opinion that the seventh day, or Saturday Sabbath, is binding upon Christians. The difficulty of the transfer would remain. Scripture does not sanction it. The Fathers do not sanction it. Both Scripture and the Fathers speak of the Lord's Day as distinct from the Sabbath. Both Scripture and the Fathers speak of the Sabbath as done

away.

Yes, but, says an objector, maintaining what we have