See, in general, Journ. of Sac. Lit. Oct. 1851, p. 70 sq. ; Ball, Ilorcc SabbaticcB (Lond. 1853) ; and the mon- ographs cited by Volbeding, Index I'rogrammatum, p. 112; and by Darling, Cyclopedia Bibliographica (see Index). See also the literature referred to under the article following and Lokd's Day.
SABBATH, Christian. Lender this head, we pro- pose to treat of the sabbatical institution as one of gen- eral and permanent obligation.
I. Concerning the time when the Sabbath was first instituted there have been different o|iinions. Some have maintained that the sanctification of the seventh day mentioned in Gen. ii is onh' there spoken of Sid TTpo\t)\pno£, or by anticipation, and is to be understood of^ the Sabbath afterwards enjoined in the wilderness; and that the historian, writing after it was instituted, there gives the reason of its institution : and tliis is sup- posed to be the case, as it is never mentioned during the
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patriarchal age. But against this sentiment it is urged («) that it cannot be easily sujiposed that the inspired penman would have mentioned the sanctitication of the seventh day among the primeval transactions if such sanctitication had not taken place until 2500 years af- terwards; (b) that, considering Adam was restored to favor through a Mediator, and a religious service insti- tuted which man was required to observe, in testimony not only of his dependence on the Creator, but also of his faith and hope in the promise, it seems reasonable that an institution so grand and solemn, and so neces- sary to the observance of this service, should be then existent. — Buck, s. v.
Some find the institution of it in the fourth command- ment (Exod. XX, 8-11); but the language employed is not apparently that of origination. The command to remember the Sabbath seems to imply that the Israel- ites were already acquainted with its existence and sa- credness. But such injunctions, we are told, have often prospective significance, e. g. " Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt" (xiii, 3) ; "Remember the word which jNIoses the servant of the Lord com- manded 3'ou" (.Josh, i, 13); "Remember now thy Crea- tor in the days of thy youth" (Eccles. xii, 1). In all these citations the meaning is — remember from this time. To this stricture it may be replied that such in- junctions have always relation to the future, but that they also suppose antecedent knowledge. Children, for example, would not be told to remember their Creator unless they had been previouslj' informed about creation — unless they had been instructed that one God has made us, and that we are all his offspring. That an or- dinance should be ushered into existence by the require- ment to remember it is a strange idea to which facts give no countenance. Besides, the fourth command- ment assigns a reason for observing the Sabbath, which, if good for the future, must have been always valid. We do not here enter into any disquisition about the days of creation. It is enough that God, in a manner befitting him, worked six days and rested on the sev- enth, and has required tliat, in a manner befitting us, we shall imitate his example. But how was it to be ex- pected that this consideration should weigh much with the Jews in time to come, if, in preceding ages, God himself had made no account of it in his regulation of human conduct?
Some, again, have contended that we do not require to go fiir back in order to find its commencement; they think they learn when and how it began in Exod. xvi, 19-30 : these verses have reference to the gathering and cooking of manna. That an institution so prominent as the Sabbath in the religion of the Jews should have been initiated in a manner so incitlental, and almost un- observable, is in contradiction to the whole genius of the economy. Nor does the passage countenance any such notion. "It came to pass," we are told (ver. 22), "that on the sixth daj"^ they gathered twice as much bread." In otlier words, they gathered on the sixth day enough for that day and for the day following. But why pro- vide beforehand for the Sabbath in order to respect and keep its rest, if not in supposed obedience to the will of God, as previously notified? It is alleged, in reply, that the order complied with is presented to us afterwards, and occurs in ver. 23, "This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remain- eth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning." By this exegesis the practice (ver. 22) is first related, and then we come to the injunction (ver. 23), of which it was the fulfilment! In such inversion of natural or- der there is obvious unlikelihood. But the exposition in question is otherwise untenable. The verses alleged to exhibit first the obedience, and then the statute obeyed, have no such intimacy of connection. They refer, in fact, to different things. Yer. 23 docs not touch on the collection of the manna at all, but has regard to
the baking of it — a new subject : and therefore the gath- ering of it on the sixth day in quantity sufficient also for the seventh day, not being here prescribed, remains without any explanation, except a (trevious appointment and prevalent knowledge of the sabbatical institution.