PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

285
it on the se,'cnth day, to add, "and God blessed ttle
seventh day, aIld satlctified it, because that on it I ~
had rested froln all his l\"ork \vhicl1 God creatc(1 .• d
i!lade ;" although the blessing and sanctification, 1. c.
the religious di~tinLtion and appropriation of that day,
were not actually nlade tiil many ages ~fterwards.
l'he words uo not assert, that God thelZ "b!"~ssed"
and
"sanctified" the se,,..cnth day, but that he blessed and
sanctified it for that realC1!; and if any ask why the
:;abbath, or sanctification of the seventh day, was tho?
mentioned, if it was not then appointed, the answer
is at hand; the order of connexioD1 and not of tilne~
introduced the mention of the sabbath; in the hi:-.tory
of the subject which it was ordained ~o comrnemorate.
This interpretation is strongly supported by a passage
in the prophet Ezekiel, where the sabbath is plain.
Iy spoken of as given, and what else can that mean,
but as fin! inltituted~ in the wilderness? "\Vherefore
I caused them to go forth oct of (he land of Egypt~
and hl"ought them into the wilderness; and I gave
them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments~
which if a man dc, he shall even live in tllem: moreover
also I gave them nly lobbaths, to be a sign bet\\!eeIl
me and them, that they might know that I am the
Lord that sanctify them." Ezek. xx. 10, 11, 12.
Nehenliah also recounts the promulgation of tIle saIl ..
batic law amongst the transactions in the wilderness;
which supplies another considerable argument in a~d
of our opinion: "Moreover thou leddest them in tIlt~
day by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar 01
fire to give them light in the way wherein they should
go. Thou earnest down also upon Mount Sillai, and
spaked with them from heaven, and gavest them right
judgments aDd true laws, good statutes and com4
luandlnents, alzl/111adest kno·wn untotlJelJl II;yl)oly .rabball'~
,lod commalldest them precepts, statutes and la\\'.,~
by the hand of Moses thy servant, and gayest then1
brea(! from bea\'cn f()r their l1ullger, and brollgllte":
fortIl water for tllelU Ollt of tIle rock."'* Neh. ix. 12.
• Fromthe m~ntion oft.bcsa!lhathin so cinse a ronn~]:;\") \\·ith th~'o des(rr;~
'~f (;')'1 UP()!1 I\Jor,ut Si:2fzi,anJ !L:: ,h·:rr .. ·":,,- (Jt tt .. :.L".V f'",);n th~a~(:>u.t;,! \v~ru';i