therefore, in regular recurrence from that of the creation to the time of Moses, a period of 2500 years, continued to be blessed and sanctified; but, in the case supposed, it follows, that at the end of that period, this seventh day was thenceforth desecrated, deprived of its holy nature, and reduced to the level of an ordinary day, in deference to the new day designed for the Mosaic Sabbath. Such a course of Providence, first consecrating a particular day of the week for one purpose, and afterwards unconsecrating it for another purpose, appears utterly incredible, unless upon irresistible evidence, which there is not, that such, nevertheless, was the fact." (The Sabbath, &c., ii. 126.)

165. CLEADON, THOMAS, Rector of Radwinter, Essex. -A Serious and Brief Discourse touching the Sabbath Day. Lond. 1674. 4to. (First printed in 1665.)

166. CASE, THOMAS, an eminent English nonconformist divine (died 1680).—Of Sabbath Sanctification; a Sermon on Isa. lviii. 13, 14. 1674. 4to.

167. MILTON, JOHN, an English poet of the first rank, theologian, and political writer (born 1608; died 1674). -De Doctrinâ Christianâ, ex Sacris duntaxat Libris petita, Disquisitionum Libri duo posthumi, quos ex schedis manuscriptis deprompsit, et typis mandari primus curavit, Carolus Ricardus Sumner, A.M. Cantab. 1825. 4to.-A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, compiled from the Holy Scriptures alone. Translated from the Original by Charles R. Sumner, M.A., Librarian and Historiographer to His Majesty, and Prebendary of Canterbury. Camb. 1825. 4to.

This work, which Milton was known to have written, lay undiscovered in manuscript till 1823, when it was found in the State Paper Office at London, by Mr Lemon, the deputy-keeper. By command of George IV. it was edited and translated by Mr Sumner (now Dr Sumner, Bishop of Winchester); and from a document subsequently discovered, we learn that in 1675 Milton's friend Skinner had sent the manuscript to Daniel Elzevir of Amsterdam to be printed, but that the printer declined, having found in it many things which, in his opinion, had better be suppressed than divulged.

The translation was reprinted at Boston, U. S., in 2 vols. 8vo., 1825; and a revised edition of it is contained in the fourth and fifth volumes of Mr J. A. St John's edition of the Prose Works of Milton (Lond. 1853, post 8vo; Bohn's Standard Library).

Milton's opinions about the Sabbath are to be found in Book I. ch. x., "Of the special Government of Man before the Fall, including the Institutions of the Sabbath and of Marriage ;" and in Book II. ch. vii., "On the Time for Divine Worship; wherein are considered the Sabbath, Lord's Day, and Festivals" (Mr St John's ed., iv. 220-224; v. 64-74). The entire passages are here subjoined:—

"With regard to the Sabbath, it is clear that God hallowed it to himself, and dedicated it to rest, in remembrance of the consummation of his work, Gen. ii. 2, 3; Exod. xxxi. 17. Whether its institution was ever made known to Adam, or whether any commandment relative to its observance was given previous to the delivery of the law on Mount Sinai, much less whether any such was given before the fall of man, cannot be ascertained, Scripture being silent on the subject. The most probable supposition is, that Moses, who seems to have written the book of Genesis much later than the promulgation of the law, inserted this sentence from the Fourth Commandment, into what appeared a suitable place for it; where an opportunity was afforded for reminding the Israelites, by a natural and easy transition, of the reason assigned by God, many ages after the event itself, for his command with regard to the observance of the Sabbath by the covenanted people. An instance of a similar insertion occurs Exod. xvi. 33, 34. 'Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot and put an omer full of manna therein

so Aaron laid it up;' which, however, did not take place till long afterwards. The injunction respecting the celebration of the Sabbath in the wilderness, Exod. xvi., a short time previous to the delivery of the law, namely, that no one should go out to gather manna on the seventh morning, because God had said that he would not rain it from heaven on that day, seems rather to have been intended as a preparatory notice, the groundwork, as it were, of a law for the Israelites, to be delivered shortly afterwards in a clearer manner; they having been previously ignorant of the mode of observing the Sabbath. Compare ver. 5 with ver. 22-30. For the rulers of the congregation, who ought to have been better acquainted than the rest with the commandment of the Sabbath, if any such institution then existed, wondered why the people gathered twice as much on the sixth day, and appealed to Moses; who then, as if announcing something new, proclaimed to them that the morrow would be the Sabbath. After which, as if he had already related in what manner the Sabbath was for the first time observed, he proceeds, ver. 30, so the people rested on the seventh day.'

"That the Israelites had not so much as heard of the Sabbath before this time, seems to be confirmed by several passages of the prophets. Ezek. xx. 10-12: 'I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness; and I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments

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over also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctify them."

...

Neh. ix. 13, 14: thou camest down also upon mount Sinai and gavest them right judgments and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.' This subject, however, will come again under discussion." (Book I. ch. x.)

Accordingly, in Book II. ch. vii., he resumes it as follows:"Thus far of the parts of divine worship. We are now to consider its circumstances.

"The circumstances of worship are the same as of all things natural, place and time.

"Public worship, previously to the law of Moses, was not confined to any definite place: under the law it took place partly in the synagogues and partly in the temple; under the gospel any convenient place is proper. John iv. 21, 23: Ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father; but the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth;' as Malachi had also prophesied, i. 11: in every place incense shall be offered unto my name.'

"With regard to the time of public worship, what this was before the law does not appear. Under the law it was the Sabbath, that is, the seventh day, which was consecrated to God from the beginning of the world, Gen. ii. 2, 3, but which (as stated in Book I. chap. x.) was not, so far as we can learn, observed, or commanded to be observed, till the second month of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Exod. xvi. 1, 23, 25, 29, when it was enforced with severe prohibitions: ver. 23, 'To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto Jehovah; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.' xx. 8, &c., ' Remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy;' that is, remember it according to the previous commandment in the sixteenth chapter, referred to above; or it may be an emphatic manner of admonition. [Here Milton adds quotations from Exod. xxxi. 14 ; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 2, 3; Lev. xxiii. 3; Numb. xv. 32; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20, 21; Jer. xvii. 21, 22; Neh. x. 31; xiii. 15, &c.]

"The command to observe the Sabbath was given to the Israelites for a variety of reasons, mostly peculiar to themselves, and which are recorded in different parts of the Mosaic law. First, as a memorial of God's having completed the work of creation on the seventh day. Exod. xx. 11; xxxi. 15-17: 'wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.' Here, although the reason given for the celebration of the Sabbath applies equally to all other nations, the Israelites alone are enjoined to observe it; as is also the case with the command to abstain from creeping things, Lev. xi. 44: 'ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy; neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing

that creepeth upon the earth;' with the law against disfiguring the body, and other similar commands, Deut. xiv. 1, &c., 'ye are the children of God;' for the reasons on which these precepts are founded apply equally to believers in general, and to all ages, although the precepts themselves are no longer obligatory. This has been remarked by our countryman Ames.* Non est catholicæ veritatis illa regula interpretandi scripturas quæ tradi solet a quibusdam, officia illa omnia esse moralia et immutabilia quæ rationes morales et immutabiles habent sibi annexas; nisi sic intelligatur ut illa officia sequantur ex illis rationibus, nullo singulari Dei præcepto intercedente.' (Ames, Medull. Theol. lib. ii. c. 13.) This, however, cannot be said either of the precepts above mentioned, or of the Sabbath.

"Secondly, because God was pleased by this distinguishing mark to separate the Israelites from other nations. Exod. xxxi. 13, &c. it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you; ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you.' Ezek. xx. 12; 'to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctify them.' See also ver. 20. "Thirdly, that the slaves and cattle might enjoy a respite from labour. Exod. xxiii. 12: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.' Deut. v. 12, 14: keep the sabbath-day that thy manservant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.' This reason applies only where servants are in a state of slavery, and subject to severe labour; the condition of hired servants, who are now generally employed, being much easier than that of purchased slaves in old time.

"Fourthly, in remembrance of their liberation from Egypt. Deut. v. 15: remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm; therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day.'

"Dr William Ames, a Puritan divine in the time of James and Charles the First, and Professor of Divinity in the University of Franeker, a town of the Netherlands, in Friesland. It was partly from the work quoted above, and partly from The Abridgement of Christian Divinitie by Wollebius, that Milton, according to Phillips, compiled for the use of his pupils a system of Divinity, which they wrote on Sundays at his dictation. An English translation of Ames's treatise was published by order of the House of Commons in 1642, under the title of The Marrow of Sacred Divinity, drawne out of the Holy Scriptures and the Interpreters thereof, and brought into method. The translation is very badly executed, as the version of the passage quoted in the text will show. That rule, therefore, of interpreting the Scriptures which is wont to be delivered by some, is not universally true: that all those duties [are] morall and immutable, which have morall and immutable reasons joyned to them, except it be thus understood, that those duties doe follow upon those reasons, no special command coming betweene."" (Note by Sumner.) Ames (Lat. Amesius), who died in 1633, wrote a book De Origine Sabbati et Die Dominico. Amst. 1658, 12mo.

VOL. II.

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"Fifthly, as a shadow or type of things to come.

Col. ii. 16, 17: in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days; which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ.' Of what things to come the sabbaths are a shadow, we are taught, Heb. iv. 9, 10, namely, of that sabbatical rest or eternal peace in heaven, of which all believers are commanded to strive to be partakers through faith and obedience, following the example of Christ.

"Works of charity and mercy were not forbidden on the Sabbath, upon the authority of Christ himself. Mark ii. 27: the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.' iii. 4 : 'is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?' Luke xiii. 15, 16: doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox-? ought not this woman to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath-day?' xiv. 5: 'which of you shall have an ox or an ass fallen into a pit,' &c. John vii. 23: are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath-day?' Even for a man to take up his bed, ver. 11, although consonant to the spirit of the law, was contrary to its letter, Jer. xvii. 21, 22.

"Since then the Sabbath was originally an ordinance of the Mosaic law, imposed on the Israelites alone, and that for the express purpose of distinguishing them from other nations, it follows that, if (as was shown in the former book) those who live under the gospel are emancipated from the ordinances of the law in general, least of all can they be considered as bound by that of the Sabbath, the distinction being abolished which was the special cause of its institution. It was for asserting this in precept, and enforcing it by example, that Christ incurred the heavy censure of the Pharisees, John ix. 16, this man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath-day.' Gal. iv. 9, 10; 'how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.' Col. ii. 16, 17: let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days.' If it be contended, that it is only the septennial, and not the seventh-day sabbath which is said by St Paul to be abrogated, I reply, first, that no exception is here made; and, secondly, that it may as well be contended that baptism is not meant, Heb. vi. 2, on account of the plural noun baptisms. Besides, it is certain that the words sabbath and sabbaths are used indiscriminately of the seventh day, Exod. xxxi. 13, 14; Isa. lvi. 2, 4, 6. Whoever, therefore, denies that under the words of the apostle, ' in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbathdays,' the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is comprehended, may as well deny that it is spoken of 2 Chron. ii. 4, or viii. 13, or xxxi. 3, from which passages the words of St Paul seem to be taken.

"The law of the Sabbath being thus repealed, that no particular day of worship has been appointed in its place, is evident from the