rarely, occur, when these rites must be dispensed with. There is scarcely a rule of law, or precept of morality, which can be acted upon without some exceptions, yet it would be absurd to infer that the rule and precept are therefore not binding upon the whole human race. As the non-observance of a rite, when compliance is impossible, is justified by the necessity, the obligation of the sabbath must cease where the observance of it is impracticable; but such extreme cases cannot in reason be pleaded against its divine origin, or universal obligation.

In the code of revelation, moral duties are required, the laws are promulgated in general terms, without specifying those exceptions to which every general rule is liable. As for instance, the duty of obedience to civil governors is laid down in comprehensive terms, without any limitations, or any reference to those occasions, when, through the wickedness or tyranny of rulers, resistance becomes imperative. In the same way the gospel precepts are delivered without stating such restrictions, as, in some cases, are imposed by the nature of things, and the circumstances attending them. Had the Deity, therefore, willed to bind all mankind to the duty of keeping the seventh day holy, he would declare it generally, as it is natural to suppose, and

without mentioning any of those exceptions which must eventually occur. And such is actually the fact; the law is promulged in general terms, in the same manner as the other laws of God, without a hint at any reservation, and without specifying the few cases when obedience, being impossible, cannot be required by eternal justice.

The allegation that the period which the Almighty blessed and sanctified agreeably to the account in Genesis, cannot be observed by reason of the annual and diurnal revolution of the earth, contains more of cavil than of serious objection. It resembles those fierce, but unprofitable disputes which disturbed the peace of the ancient church respecting the time for the celebration of Easter. No part of the law of God, we may be assured, was intended to depend upon curious astronomical calculations; and that obedience only is demanded which is yielded in spirit and in truth. The real meaning of the injunction is, that the seventh day, because in it the Almighty rested from his grand display of creative power, was to be set apart by his creatures, and dedicated to religious offices. If the seventh day, or, what is much the same thing, an equivalent space of time which may be measured by hours, be devoted to such purposes, the spirit and intention of the command is complied with, though nations

may differ as to the particular time". The sabbath, then, may be observed in all lands, not even excepting those which extend, in melancholy solitude, beneath the polar skies. Though the sun at one part of the year may be for months below the horizon, and at another part for months above it, a portion of time equivalent to a day in the temperate zones, may be sanctified even there with the exercises of religion. But if it were impossible, it would form only a trifling exception to the general applicability of the rule. Few are the inhabitants who obtain a scanty provision in these ungenial climates; a waste and barren soil bound by the rigours of an arctic winter, denies subsistence for a numerous population; and, if the observation of the sabbath be impracticable, the mercy of heaven will doubtless pardon the involuntary neglect among the hordes which must ever be thinly scattered over those bleak and frozen regions.

The alleged impossibility of the universal observance of the sabbath, therefore, forms no valid objection; but it is further urged, that the Hebrew doctors, whose authority is in this, if any subject, entitled to respect, believe it to be an ordinance peculiar to the Jews; a point which Sel

This subject is discussed at length in chapter iv. sect. 2. of this work.

den has laboured to establish with his usual profundity of erudition'. This learned writer, it is true, has accumulated a variety of testimonies in support of this statement; but the Rabbins, buoyed up with the notion that their nation was the favourite of heaven, and proud of the many privileges granted to it, very naturally supposed the sabbath to be, like the rest of the Levitical law, limited to the chosen race; for which reason their sentiments on this subject may well be suspected of being tinctured with prejudice and partiality. Yet some of them, as Aben Ezra, Maimonides, Abarbinel, Manasseh ben Israel, allow that the sabbath was instituted at the beginning of the world; and what may be deemed of still higher importance, Philo and Josephus speak of the sabbath as an universal institution. The former calls it " a feast, not of one city or country, but of the whole world1;" he pronounces it " the world's birth-day," (TOυ коGμOν yevεolov. ibid.) and "the festival of all people." (ravdnμov scil oprny, (πανδημον ἑορτην, ibid.) He also remarks, "who is there that does

1 Selden, De Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iii. cap. X. et seq. See Spencer, De Leg. Hebræor, lib. i. cap. iv.

* Proof of this may be found in Selden, ibid. ; and Dr. Owen, Exercit. on the Sab. Exerc. ii. § 5.; and Meyer, De Festis Hebræor. P. ii. cap. ix. § 24. et seq.

1 Εορτη οὐ μιας πολεως, ή χωρας ἐστιν, άλλα του παντος De Mundi Opificio p. 15. E. Ed. Colon. 1613.

not reverence that sacred seventh day which brings rest and relaxation to him and his domestics, to the bond as well as to the free, and moreover to the brute beasts themselves?" Josephus, in relating the works of the six days' creation, mentions the sabbath as if it were then instituted; and he elsewhere speaks of it as an universal ordinance, the observation of which had spread to every nation, Greek and Barbarian". It is not to be denied, however, that both these learned Jews sometimes speak of it as an ordinance pecu→ liarly Jewish, so that it is difficult to ascertain to which side their sentiments really incline. But whatever may be thought of their testimony, the

- Τις γαρ την ἱεραν ἐκείνην ἑβδομην οὐκ ἐκτετιμηκεν, ἀνεσιν ποιων και ῥαστωνην αύτω τε και τοις πλησιασουσιν, οὐκ ἐλευθεροις μονον, άλλα και δουλοις, μαλλον δε και υποζυγίοις διδους. De Vita Mosis, lib. ii. p. 508. E. Compare also De Decalogo, p. 585. B. C.; De Lege Allegor. p. 33. B. C. D.; De Vita Mosis, lib. iii. p. 529. B. et seq. "Antiq. lib. i. cap. i. § 1.; Contra Apion. lib. ii. §. 40.

• See Philo, De Decalogo, p. 585. B.; De Vita Mosis. lib. iii. p. 529. C. and p. 530. A. B.; De Abrahamo, p. 277. c.; De Migrat. Abrahami, p. 315. A.; De Profugis, p. 371. C.; Josephus, Antiq. lib. xvi. cap. ii. § 4. lib. xii. cap. 6. § 2. ; Jewish War, lib. ii. cap. xvi. § 4. lib. iv. cap. ii. § 3. ; Life, § 32.; Against Apion, lib. i. § 22. More passages might be cited, but a comparison of those here referred to, will be sufficient to shew, that there is an ambiguity, if not an inconsistency, in their declarations concerning the sabbath. See the acute observations of the Abbe Sallier in Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. iv. p. 50. et seq.