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requiring notice; nothing that affects the main argument.、

P. 80. 1. 34. The wilderness.-One question,' &c.-The reason assigned for the law having been given in a wilderness contains no argument, and has not much plausibility. It is probable, however, that the apostles at first thought, that the Gentiles would share the blessings of Messiah's reign by submitting to the law of Moses, and, as proselytes to Judaism, embracing also Christianity. But they were afterwards led to a different view of the subject. The ceremonial law of Moses never could combine with a religion which was. to fill the whole earth.

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. P. 81. 1. 12. The Sabbath.'-(L. 25.) Every person knows,' &c.—This pairing of the days, and pairing of the nations, is so entirely without foundation in, scripture, and so remote from all deduction of reasoning or analogy, that one can hardly refrain from asking, Can any man be serious in maintaining such notions? In the pairing of the nations, we ought to have known which were joined together: and it can hardly help occurring to the reader, that, on the supposition of any thing of the kind having indeed taken place, it certainly was an introduction to stated and habitual quarrelling and fighting: for which pair have not repeatedly gone to war one with the other?

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P. 82. 1, 8. The world compared to a ship ' without a rudder.'-If Israel, as a nation, be the rudder to this ship, as the rudder was made so very long after the ship, and has had so very little connexion, in any age, with the greatest

part of it; no wonder that the ship has been tossed about by storms. But it is wonderful that men will amuse themselves and one another with these fancies, on the brink of death, and of an eternal state of happiness or misery; and upon subjects intimately connected with that awful alternative.

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P. 82. 1. 22. This compass,' &c.-That Israel should be the foundation of the law of Moses, and that law the compass of a ship, and that ship the world; and that law of Moses, the ritual part especially, never known to one part out of a hundred, or a thousand, of the world; these are very wonderful things: but they do not at all affect the question, whether Jesus be the promised Messiah or not.

P. 83. 1. 2. Come then,' &c.-God gave Israel his sabbaths, but they greatly polluted them. 1 This seems the short history of this blessed pair." -The question about the sabbath, as far as Christianity is concerned, will ere long be considered: and I by no means deny, that the sabbath, as given to Israel, was an honourable and important distinction and advantage; but merely to state, that they have little reason to glory in what has been so grievously neglected and perverted.

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P. 83. 1. 29. Millennium and properly,' &c.the word millennium is not found in scripture; it simply means a thousand years. It is generally agreed that these thousand years, of which no intimation is given in the Old Testament, or in

Ezek. xx. 12, 20, 21.

the New, except in the Revelation of St. John, will be passed under the especial rule of the Messiah, as the acknowledged, and willingly obeyed, King over all the earth: but that they comprise the whole term of his reign is not only not said, but it is directly contrary to many scriptures; especially that of Isaiah; "Of the increase of his

government and peace there shall be no end: "1 and that of Daniel, concerning "the stone cut "out of the mountain without hands," which "became a great mountain, and filled the whole "earth." 2

P. 83. 1. 31. The opinion of the Gentiles con'cerning the sabbath.' The views of Christians concerning the law of Moses have been sufficiently explained. Some things further concerning the abolition of the ritual law, as predicted in the Old Testament, will come under consideration, · when the priesthood of the Messiah (a subject wholly omitted by Mr. C.) will call for our attention.

We certainly consider the dedication of a portion of our time, even of one day in seven, as a part of the moral law. It was appointed, as it appears evident to me at least, from the creation; and was merely incorporated into the law of Moses, being of previous and universal obligation. But perhaps it is not so easily ascertained, as at first glance it may appear to be, which of the seven days that constitute our weeks answers to the seventh day at the creation. A voyage round the world, whether it be entered upon in a wes

1 Is. ix. 7.

2 Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44, 45.

terly, or an easterly direction, always gains or loses one day in the computation. Two navigators setting sail on the same day, one taking his course to the East Indies, and returning by South America; and the other going by South America, and returning by the Cape of Good Hope; would vary two days in their computation of time: as one would proceed according to the daily course of the sun, and lose one whole day; and the other against the course of the sun, and would have one day over. Now which would be the seventh day of the week, to these two navigators? If the sabbath were only obligatory on the inhabitants of one small country, as Canaan, the difficulty would not be found: but, if extended to all nations, the sabbath would not consist of precisely the same individual hours, in any of the countries, either to the east or to the west.-But, however that may be, it appears to many Christians, provided one day in seven be thus consecrated to the worship and service of God, to the exclusion of all worldly employments, however lawful, if neither necessary, nor connected with piety and charity, that the moral obligation is satisfied. Not that we are to choose the day for ourselves: but that the determining which of the days, by our great Lawgiver, is a matter of positive appointment, and not of moral or immutable obligation. From the creation to the giving of the law, the seventh day was appointed, in commemoration of the creation being completed, " pronounced very good," and rested in by the great Creator. And, though the intervention of the fall greatly altered the state of this lower creation, and of man espe

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cially, the original appointment continued. It appears to me also, (though this is not undisputed,) that the Mosaic sabbath was instituted on the same day of the seven: but the redemption from Egyptian bondage was added, as one great benefit to be commemorated by Israel on the sabbath; and this redemption we consider as typical of spiritual redemption by Jesus Christ. We, however, are satisfied, that "the Lord even of the "sabbath day," Jesus Christ the Son of God, has, by his authority, changed the instituted part of the command, and has appointed the first day of the seven, instead of the last, in commemoration of his resurrection: because that event, as completing his work of redemption, was of far greater importance, and an infinitely greater benefit to fallen man, than creation without redemption would have been. Our observation of the first day, as the Christian sabbath, is not derived 'from what Paul said;' but from the general language of the New Testament, and the general practice of the primitive Christians, in the apostles' days. It is by the apostle John called "the "Lord's day: "2 rî Kupiaxî huéfa, as St. Paul calls the eucharist, Kuplaxov deivov.3 The same authority which, as we suppose, abolished the other festivals of the ceremonial law, changed the ceremonial part of this law. "The first day of the week" is, subsequently to our Lord's resurrection, distinguished from other days; and sabbaths are put among those ritual observances which are no

11 Cor. xvi. 2.
John xx. 19, 26.

2 Rev. i. 10.
Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2.

31 Cor. xi. 20.

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