would all acknowledge the propriety of serving him in con- cert ; but each would be ready to consult his own convenience ; a difference of sentiment also would obtain respecting the portion of time that should be allotted to his service : and thus there would never be one hour when all should join together in celebrating their Creator's praise. But by an authoritative separation of the seventh day, God has secured, that the whole creation shall acknowledge him, and that His goodness shall be had in everlasting remembrance. In this view, God himself, speaking of the Sabbath which he had instituted at the creation, and the observance of which he was, with some additional reasons, enforcing on the Jews, calls it " a sign " between him and them, that they might know that he is the Lordb.]
2. His people's good — [Though men might have worshipped God in secret, yet the appointment of "a certain day to be entirely devoted to His service, had a tendency to spiritualize their minds, and to make every one in some respect useful in furthering the welfare of the whole community. Sympathy is a powerful principle in the human breast : and the sight of others devoutly occupied in holy exercises, is calculated to quicken the drowsy soul. The very circumstance of multitudes meet- ing together with raised expectations and heavenly affections, must operate like an assemblage of burning coals, all of which are instrumental to the kindling of others, wlxile they receive in themselves fresh ardour from the contact.
A further benefit from the appointment of the Sabbath is, that the attention of all must necessarily be directed to the eternal Sabbath, which awaits them at the expiration of their appointed week of labour. Each revolving Sabbath, freed from the distractions of worldly care, and attended, not merely with bodily rest, but with a rest of the soul in God, must be to them an earnest and foretaste of heaven itself. Well therefore does Nehemiah number the Sabbath among the richest benefits which God had conferred upon his chosen people c.]
But as some have thought the Sabbath to be a mere Jewish institution, which, like the rest of the ceremonial law, is abrogated and annulled, we shall proceed to shew,
II. The continuance of its obligation —
That there was something ceremonial in the Jewish Sabbath, we readily acknowledge: but there was
t> Exod. xxxi. 18, 17. c Neh. ix. 14.