the Jews to number their sabbaths" from even to even" implies, that the commencement of the sabbath was to be reckoned from the termination of the whole time called "the evening," and "between the evenings;" consequently the sabbath or sacred rest, began after sunset on Friday evening, and ended at the same time on Saturday evening.

The eve of the sabbath commenced with the first of the two Jewish evenings, about three o'clock in the afternoon, which was the time of the evening sacrifice, and lasted till sunset. This is called the preparation, because the people during that time ceased from their ordinary labour, cooked their victuals, and prepared whatever was requisite for the due observance of the sabbatical rest. Some, indeed, are of opinion that the preparation included the whole of the Friday, and the subject is confessedly involved in some degree of uncertainty. The most probable solution of the difficulty, perhaps, is, that the preparation, properly so called, commenced at three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, but that the whole day was sometimes from this circumstance so denominated c.

All these offices of the preparation are minutely described by Buxtorf, Synagoga Judaica, cap. 15. See also Ikenius, Antiq. Heb. P. i. cap. xx. § 22. et seq.

vouchsafed to man. From the patriarchal ages, then, we must descend to those of the Levitical dispensation. The sabbath was undoubtedly adopted by the Hebrew legislator, modified by certain regulations and ceremonies which distinguished its observance under the theocratic government. Was it to be abrogated with the essential ordinances of Judaism? Or, was there any thing accompanying it which marked it out as designed to survive the dissolution of that polity? These are questions in the solution of which Christians are deeply interested. But before entering upon this investigation it will be proper to inquire into the peculiarities of the Jewish sabbath, not only because these may have made some difference in the nature of the institution, but also because to these our Saviour and his apostles in what they deliver concerning it may be supposed to have had some reference. In the next chapter, therefore, it is proposed to examine the constitution of the sabbath under the Mosaic dispensation, and afterwards to inquire whether it was designed to be abrogated with, or to survive the extinction of the Jewish polity.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE SABBATICAL INSTITUTION UNDER THE MOSAIC

DISPENSATION.

SECT. I.

Of the Jewish Sabbath.

THE word "sabbath" has an extensive signification in the inspired writings, being applied to all the festivals, or times of sacred rest, ordained under the Mosaic dispensation; in particular, to the feast of unleavened bread", to the annual day of atonement on the tenth of the month Tizri, and to the feast of trumpets which was celebrated on the first day of the seventh month'. It also denotes the sabbatical year, which was kept among the Hebrews by allowing the land to rest every seventh year without cultivation; and in

Exod. xxxi. 13. Levit. xix. 3, 30.-xxvi. 2. Isaiah i. 13. Ezek. xx. 12, 13.

P Levit. xxiii. 15.

Ibid. 32.

Ibid. 24.

• Levit. xxv. 2, 4. xxvi. 34.

H 2

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the New Testament it is sometimes used for a week; but it most commonly denotes the seventh day, which was consecrated to Jehovah under the Jewish economy; in which acceptation it is used in the present section, though in other parts of this inquiry it is applied, for the sake of convenience, in a larger sense to denote the septenary rest, whether under the Patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian dispensations.

The sanctity of the sabbath, as we have seen, remounts to the beginning of the world, yet in considering it as adopted by the Jewish legislator, it is not very material what period may be assigned for the original command. Whether it was instituted immediately upon the first production of all things, or subsequently to the Exode at Marah, or on the occasion of raining manna, or at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, it makes little difference with respect to the object of this section, the design of which is to describe it as forming a part of the peculiar law of Moses. It was undoubtedly a festival under the Mosaic polity, and it is now proposed to investigate the time of its celebration, the peculiar services and ceremonies with which it was accompanied, and the object of its appointment.

'Matt. xxviii. 1. Luke xviii. 12.-xxiv. 1. John xx. 1, 19. Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. in the Greek text.

I. Whether the Jewish sabbath was actually celebrated on the seventh day in the hebdomadal revolution from the commencement of time, is, perhaps, impossible to be determined. Some suppose that the primeval or paradisiacal sabbath was, according to the true computation, that which is now called the first day of the week, or Sunday, celebrated by Christians, and that the Almighty, for wise reasons, changed the day when he appropriated it to the peculiar ritual of the Jews. But it may well be doubted whether we are furnished with sufficient data for deciding this question; for, when all things are taken into the account, the difficulty of such calculations, the imperfection of ancient astronomy, the design of revelation, and the brevity of the sacred history, the decision would seem to be but barely within the range of possibility. It would scarcely amuse the reader to recapitulate the slender conjectures, for they are nothing more, which learned men have advanced on a subject so intricate, and which, after all, is a matter of inferior moment". It is enough for our purpose to observe that the Jewish sabbath was kept on the day in the hebdomadal cycle answering to our Saturday. This is confirmed by the undeviating current of history,

• A succinct statement of them may be found in Jennings, Jewish Antiquities, lib. iii. cap. 3.