Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Genesis

5. 17, 'My Father worketh hitherto and angels and the spirits of the blessed are, I work.'

it is one continued Sabbath. It is a 3. God blessed the seventh day. day, a perpetual day of rest, of holy peculiar eminence and distinction are rest; and in that, there is perpetual here clearly attributed to the seventh enjoyment. And to as many as are day above the other six, for upon it waiting and desiring this rest of heavalone was bestowed the express bene- en, the rest of the Sabbath will be a diction of the Deity. As it cannot be source of happiness. To as many as conceived how any particular day can are sensible of the influence of worldly be said to be blessed,' otherwise than things, in hindering their growth in by being made the appointed time for grace, and preventing nearness of acthe communication of some benefit or cess to God, the holy rest of the Suohappiness to intelligent creatures, when bath will be longed for and enjoyed. God blessed the seventh day, he must Far from us then be the feeling which have pronounced it to be the time for con- would count the Sabbath other than a ferring his choicest blessings on man. delight, which would esteem its services He blessed it, therefore, by connecting grievous, and its hours a weariness. inestimable blessings with the proper The Sabbath was made for man; it is observance of it. He consecrated it as among the kindest provisions of heava day of holy rest and worship; as a en for his happiness; and nothing but season set apart for the devout contem- a state of mind fearfully estranged from plation of the Creator's works, and the the loye of God, and at variance with divine perfections manifested in them, peace, can prevent us from realizing and whoever honours the day with a and enjoying it as such.-It is obsercorresponding observance will not fail vable that this day is not described by to experience the peculiar blessings of evening and morning, like the other Heaven in consequence. We shall, days, which consisted of light and darktherefore, entertain very inadequate ness, but this is all day or light, repreviews of this institution, if we do not senting that glorious sabbatical state of regard the Sabbath as emphatically de- the world yet future, spoken of Is. 60. signed to be a day, not of joyless con- 20 Rev. 21. 25; and to which the anstraint, or irksome penance, but a day cient Rabbinical writers thus allude: of positive happiness to man. The 'And if we expound the seventh day of grand scope of its observances, is to the seventh thousand of years, which bring the creature into nearer commun- is the world to come, the exposition is, ion with the Creator, and whatever has and he blessed, because in the seventh this effect cannot but be a source of thousand, there shall be there an augaugmented blessedness to the subject of mentation of the Holy Ghost, wherein it. The withdrawment of the mind we shall delight ourselves. And so our from all worldly cares, the hallowed Rabbins of blessed memory have said calm of the season, the exercises of in their commentary, God blessed the prayer and praise in the closet, the in-seventh day,' i. e. the holy God blessed structive ministrations of the sanctua- the world to come, which beginneth in ry, the devout perusal of the Holy the seventh thousand of years.' AinsScriptures, the fixed contemplation of worth. Time alone can determine the the wisdom, power, and goodness dis-justness of such an interpretation. We played in the works of creation, of cite it merely as an historical fact.providence, and grace; all tend to diffuse an ineffable peace and joy over the soul, and impart to it a foretaste of the very bliss of heaven. There, where

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And sanctified it. Heb. kadash. It is by this term that the positive appointment of the Sabbath as a day of rest to man, is expressed. God's sanc

traces of a Sabbath from the begin ning of the world. For if no Sabbath had ever been given, whence came the practice of measuring time by weeks? Yet that custom obtained both in the antediluvian and the patriarchal ages, Gen. 8. 10, 12.-29. 27, 28. Again, although the observance of the Sabbath had no doubt been much neglected in Egypt, yet the remembrance of it was not wholly effaced; for Moses, before the giving of the law, speaks of the Sabbath as an institution known and received among them, Ex. 16. 23. And without any express direction, they gathered on the sixth day a double portion of manna to serve them on the Sabbath, which surely it could not have been expected that they would have done had no such institution existed. It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, that the Sabbath is as old as the creation, and of the wisdom of such an ap

tifying the day is equivalent to his commanding men to sanctify it. As at the close of the creation the seventh day was thus set apart by the Most High for such purposes, without limitation to age or country, the observance of it is obligatory upon the whole human race to whom, in the wisdom of Providence, it may be communicated. This farther appears from the reason why God blessed and sanctified it, viz., 'because that in it he had rested,' &c., which is a reason of equal force at all times, and equally applying to all the posterity of Adam; and if it formed a just ground for sanctifying the first day, which dawned upon the finished system of the universe, it must be equally so for sanctifying every seventh day to the end of time. The observance of the day is moreover enjoined in the decalogue, which was not abolished with the peculiar polity of the Jews, but remains unalterably binding upon Chris-pointment a moment's reflection will tians in every age of the world. Some commentators and divines have indeed thought that the mention here made of the Sabbath is merely by anticipation; and that the appointment never took place till the days of Moses, Ex. 20. 11. But if this were the case it is not easy to see how Moses came to specify the circumstance of God's resting on the seventh day, as the reason for that appointment. It would have been a good reason for our first parents and their immediate descendants to hal-ety of serving him in concert; but each low the day; but it could be no reason would be ready to consult his own conat all to those who lived almost five venience. And probably a difference of and twenty hundred years after the sentiment would arise as to the length of event; more especially, when so obvi- time to be allotted to his service. Thus ous and cogent a reason as their de- there would never be one hour when liverance out of Egypt was assigned at all should join together in celebrating the very same time. But if the com- their Creator's praise. But by an aumand given to the Jews was a repetition thoritative separation of the seventh day, of the injunction given to Adam, then God has provided that the whole race there was an obvious propriety in as- of men shall acknowledge him, and signing t e reason that was obligatory that his goodness shall be had in everupon all, as well as that which formedlasting remembrance. This act of sepan additional obligation on the Jewish aration he has seen good to express nation in particular. Besides, there are by the word 'sanctify,' which is used

convince us. As God made all things for himself, so he instituted the Sabbath in order that his rational creatures might have stated opportunities of paying him their tribute of prayer and praise. If no period had been fixed by him for the solemnities of public worship, it would have been impossible to bring mankind to an agreement respecting the time when they should render to him their united homage. They would all acknowledge the propri

had been designed only as a cessation of bodily labour, to a large proportion of mankind it would have been inapplicable.

But this is not the case.

in the Scriptures primarily to denote is, both are, on the whole, capable of the setting apart, devoting, or appro- doing as much, with this weekly alterpriating any thing from a common to nation of rest, as they could confortaa peculiar and generally to a sacred use. bly perform without it. The rest of the Thus God is said to have 'sanctified,' Sabbath, therefore, is to be considered or set apart for a holy use, the first- as an indispensable part of its due obfruits of the earth, the tabernacle with servance; nor can we rid ourselves of its various furniture, the tribe of Levi the obligation by merely abstaining to the office of priests, &c. In this from bodily labour, while we are othsense to sanctify is the same as to 'hal-erwise occupied as during the week. It low,' and is opposed to calling or treat- is the allotment of one man to be eming any thing as 'unclean,' or 'common.' ployed at manual labour, and of anothThe sanctification of the seventh day er to be employed chiefly in mental exin the present case, can only be under-ertion; and if the rest of the Sabbath stood of its being set apart to the special worship and service of God; for it is to be remembered, that at this time, every thing was holy as far as moral purity was concerned. Every day of the week, as well as the seventh, was in this sense kept holy to God, and it could only be sanctified or set apart, by being set apart for the objects just stated. Thus the rest of the Sabbath was to be from the beginning a holy rest; and as these ideas enter so essentially into the nature of this institution, it may be proper to dwell upon them a little more at length. (1.) The Sabbath is to be a day of rest. This formed a prominent part of its original design, and is in fact the most elementary view which can be taken of the institution. Rest is essential to the Sabbath. It is this which constitutes it a Sabbath; and which must be observed on the part of all for whom the Sabbath was intended. The day is, under every dispensation, a portion of time which the Crea-ily and cheerfully to forego our enjoytor has reserved for the rest of all his creatures that require it-for the rest of man and as many of the inferior animals as are subservient to his use and sharers of his toil. It is thus to the other days of the week, what night is to day, and winter to summer; nor is there reason to believe, were there no such rest allowed, that either men or beasts of burden would be able to sustain, for any length of time, the unabated waste of continual labour. But as it

Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work'-whatever it may be 'but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.' Ex. 20. 9, 10. The rest of the Sabbath is here made obligatory on all classes in general, whether accustomed to manual labour or not, and it cannot be disputed, that the precept applies to every species of occupation. It is indeed, true, that from this universal rest of the Sabbath, there are certain exceptions, usually comprised under the head of works of necessity and mercy, and so far as our circumstances place us under any of these exceptions, we ought read

ment of rest, and to fulfil every duty. But let us not be partial judges. We ought to judge and feel, not as if we wished to get rid of the restriction, but as if, desirous of observing the Sabbath, we yielded ourselves to another duty according to the will of God. In the exercise of such feelings we are little likely to err on this head; and in the absence of them, there can be no right observance of the Sabbath, under any circumstances. (2.) The Sabbath is to

words; then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord,' &c. Anything short of
this is a virtual desecration of this holy
season, which not only deprives us of its
inestimable benefits, but lays us open to
the nost marked tokens of the divine dis-
- Because that in it he had
pleasure.
rested, &c. These words assign a rea-
son for the institution, and a powerful
motive to its observance. The appoint-
ment of the Sabbath as a day of rest
is here enforced by the example of God's
rest after the completion of the six
days' work.
presented to us not merely in the light
of an arbitrary enactment, but as cloth
ed with the constraining moral power,
which naturally attaches to such a pre-
cedent. Such is the innate and invet-
erate apathy of our nature to exercises
of a purely spiritual character, that in-
finite wisdom sees fit to superadd the
force of endearing motives to naked
precepts, and thus allure an obedience
which it might properly compel. True
it is that the Sabbath was subsequent-
ly changed from the seventh, to the
first day of the week, but this change
of the day under the Christian dis
pensation, makes no essential differ-
ence in the character of the season, or
of the duties which it demands. Ad.
ditional considerations do indeed, con-

The institution is thus

be a day of holy rest. We have hitherto considered the day, simply as a day of rest, and in this light, the invasion of its sanctity may be summed up under the general fault of carrying forward the employments of the week into the rest of the Sabbath. But mere abstinence from worldly labour, so far from being all that the appointment requires of us, only affords an opportunity for the due discharge of other duties, on which its observance more strictly depends. We come short of the divine requisition, unless we hallow or set apart the rest thus reserved to the special service of the living God, as a day to be religiously observed, as a season to be spent in the various appropriate exercises of public and private worship. It is to be feared that this duty is but imperfectly appreciated even by many who admit, and, in form, observe the Sabbath as a day of rest. It is to be feared that there are many who discontinue their ordinary occupations on the Lord's day, and are nevertheless Sabbath profaners, inasmuch as they carry their observance no farther. Are they not such who rest upon the Sabbath only by resting a great part of the day in their beds, and spend the remainder of it in idle sauntering or vain recreation? 'Is this the rest that I have chosen?' may the Lord very prop-nect themselves with the spiritual duerly say of such a mode of devoting the consecrated hours. We have only to revert to the original design of the institution to see that this is a most gross perversion of the rest which it enjoins. God intended by its appointment to secure to all men a seventh portion of their time for the special business of eternity, and how this end is to be at tained his own word explicitly instructs us, Is. 58. 13, 'If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable; and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own

ties of the day, enforced by more solemn and sublime sanctions, but the essence of the institution is the devoting of one seventh part of our time to the more immediate service of God, and whether this comes on the seventh or the first day of the week is immaterial. It is plain from the drift of the passage that the Sabbath is to be regarded as a commemorative institution. Its stated recurrence was designed to remind our first parents of the finished work of creation and lead them to a devout contemplation of those perfections of the Deity which it displayed. And to place this consideration in its proper light, it is to be borne in mind, that at the

earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

and made. Heb. created our heads. Which God created to make, or to do. This, though different from our mode of expression, is an idiom of the original, implying its being done in the most perfect, excellent, and glorious manner. The word

time of its first appointment, there was no Bible. The revelations which it records had not then been communicated. There was as yet no history of past times to illustrate the character of God, in the works of his providence. What is now called the book of nature, was therefore then the only book to to make, or to do, is frequently which man had access. But with us the case is different. We have other the idea of intensity or of the utmost subjoined to another word, to convey things to celebrate with the periodical degree of the action specified. Thus, returns of this holy day. To us, it is Eccl. 2. 11, 'The labour that I had lathe memorial of a finished redemption, boured to do (baby).' Ps. 126. as well as of a finished creation. While

The Lord hath done great things for them (hath magnified to do).' Judg 13. 19, And the angel did wondrously wrought miraculously to do).'

therefore, the primeval ends of the in-2, stitution of the Sabbath hold equally with regard to us, and we are called to observe the day as a season of devout meditation and grateful remembrance of God, as the Creator and bountiful Benefactor of mankind, yet under the Christian dispensation, the day brings with it far more interesting associations, and the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and mediatorial reign of Christ, all lay claim to our contemplations, and our praises. This great work of the Saviour should in fact, constitute the main, the central theme of our meditations. Our services and devotions should have a special reference to him; for the day is now honoured by a designation that makes it peculiarly his 'the Lord's day.' On this day his resurrection occurred, and in commemorating that event, we are to look forward to the resurrection of believers, and their entrance upon the promised glory. Thus the Sabbath becomes to us, a prefigurative sign of the rest of heaven. We are to look upon it as a pledge of that eternal salvation, into which we may even now enter by the anticipations of faith, and place ourselves among the ransomed captives, returning to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon

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Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Genesis: Designed as a General ...