(ver. 8.) The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day; as much as to fay, Every man is fo far a Lord of the Sabbath, that though Mercy and Sacrifice are both required, yet when it so happens, that the one cannot be performed but at the omiffion of the other, a Man is justified as LORD of the Sabbath, and beft fulfils the mind of the Inftitutor, to give Mercy the preference. That by Son of man he means Mankind in general, is evident from the parallel place to this in the Gospel of St. Mark, (ch. ii. 27.) in which the laft quoted fentence is introduced thus, -The Sabbath was made for Man, and not Man for the Sabbath, i. e. Man was not created for the fake of keeping a Sabbath;

but the Sabbath, after man was created, was inftituted for the fake of MAN: and according to Our Saviour's comment in the pasfages above mentioned, for the fake of BEAST likewife.

Remember the Sabbath Day, is but another phrafe for Remember Mercy; or, Remember that the Sabbath was ordained principally for the rest and refreshment of all concerned and mentioned in the commandment, whether child, or fervant, or beaft. That this was the principal defign of the institution, is further evident from the comment of the Lawgiver himself; (Exod.xxiii. 12.) On the feventh day Thou shalt reft; that thine OX and thine ASS may REST; (here they

are

are named first); and the son of thÿj handmaid and the Stranger may be refreshed. And in the repetition of the Law, (Deut. v. 14.) it is thus written in fuller terms with a Memento fubjoined; Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man fervant, nor thy maid fervant, nor thine OX, nor thine ASS, nor any of thy CATTLE, nor thy Stranger that is within thy gates REMEMBER that thou waft a fervant in the land of Egypt; i. e. Let the Recollection of thy former hard fervitude under the yoke of Egypt, teach thee the duty and reasonableness of compaffion and tenderness to ALL that labor on thy account, whether they be thy Children, thy Servants, thy CAT

and

TLE,

TLE, the OX that plows for thee, the ASS that carries thee or thy burden, or the Stranger in thy gates.

By the Stranger that is within thy gates, I fuppofe is meant, thy hireling, dayman, or journeyman, who is not of thy family, or fo wholly dependent upon thee, as thy children, fervants, or cattle. Therefore the Stranger is mentioned laft, because if you give him not Reft, he can leave you when he pleases, and give reft to himself. But thy children, fervants, and cattle, being always with thee, and under thy authority, and without redrefs, it is for their fakes the commandment feems principally intended; and there

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therefore they are named before the stranger, to whom you ought to give fuch allowance for his fix days work, that he may be able to maintain himself on the Sabbath day, without doing any manner of work; else you are inftrumental to his breaking the fabbath.

It is faid in the beginning of the Commandment, * Remember the

In the Church Catechism, the Order is changed thus, Remember that thou keep Holy the Sabbath Day, which feems to intimate that Holiness was the principal end of the inftitution. And again in the conclufion, instead of The Lord bleed the Sabbath Day, we read in the Catechism, The Lord bleffed the seventh day. Why the Order of the words was changed in the Beginning, or why the word Seventh was fubftituted for the word Sabbath in the Con

clufion,