History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

ook of Deuteronomy, a name which signifies
second law, and which is applied to that book,
because it is a second writing of the law. It is the
farewell of Moses to a disobedient and rebellious
people; and he endeavors to fasten upon them the
strongest possible sense of personal obligation to
obey. Thus, when he is about to rehearse the Ten
Commandmentshe uses language evidently
designed to impress upon the minds of the
Hebrews a sense of their individual obligation to
do what God had commanded. Thus he says:--
"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments
which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may
learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our
God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord
made not this covenant with our fathers, but with
us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day."
(Deut. 5:1-3)
It was not the act of your fathers that placed
this responsibility upon you, but your own
individual acts that brought you into the bond of
this covenant. You have personally pledged
116