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Gi bE NS NY LOCEOCCOCCEEC Wat Pe Se pe, Fel? POR aS Pyar SESE ESE GASES Lava Bases ° Sas i, Neves Sara S pa a ape i PUR tay amas AANA ANAT ES LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. PRESENTED BY The Wi cow or F George Dugan, - AG uO BAe, L892 VE Ons } Living papers on present day themes | ie eae Dit Fo wh ro) c oe LIVING PAPERS SEND FOR A LIST OF CONTENTS FOR ENTIRE SERIES. A Library of Critical Learning. LIVING PAPERS ON PRESENT DAY THEMES. 3 haat volumes should be in the library of every thoughtful reader. The set cannot but be desired as soon as their worth is known. The subjects treated are the leading topics of the day, and the writers are acknowledged authorities on the particular themes | discussed. You can in no other shape add to your library so much valuable | material with so small an expenditure. Note the remarkable list of names included among the contributors. PRINCIPAL CAIRNS, Rev. James IverAcn, M.A., Rev. C. A. Row, A. H. Sayce, M.A., W. G. BLAcKIE, D. DLL Ds Rev. J. RapForp TuHomson, M.A., PREBENDARY Row, M. AL Rev. Wittiam ARTHUR, Rev. NoAH PorTER, iby De Sir W. Muir, Canon RAWLINSON, Rev. A. B. Bruce, IBD S. R.- Pattison, F. ven Sy ALEXANDER MACALISTER,. MA; Mops Dr. FRIEDRICH PFAFF, Rev. G. F. Mactear, D.D., DEAN OF spe apd it Rev. J. STouGHToN, D. Ds; HENRY yeas D.D. Rev. McCuEyne Epear, M.A., f Rev. F. WILKINSON, M.A., Rev. Joun Cairns, D.D., Fe Luccz, |e) ba BY Sir J. Witiiam DAwson, EARS: Rev. W. G. ELMsLIE, M.A., Rev. W. S. Lewis, M.A., DEAN OF CHESTER, — Rev. Joun KELLY, | J. Murray MitcHe i, LL.D., Rev. M. KAUFMANN, M.A., F. Gopet, D.D., CANON GIRLDLESTONE, Eustace P, ConbeER, M.A., D.Ds And others. | The above set is put up in a neat box and will be sent, post paid, | to any address on receipt of price. 10 Volumes, per set, $10.00. | New York :: FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY :: Cuicaco PREV UNG PA ON wy i present Day Tyemes —— e CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES, DOCTRINES AND MORALS VOLUME IX. FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY NEW YORK 5 CHICAGO 30 Union Square: East 148-150 Madison Street Publishers of Evangelical Literature Ph eA CE. ny this Volume fresh contributions are made to the branches of the Present Day Series, devoted to evolu- tionary speculation, comparative religion, and the place and claims of Christ. Two Tracts on questions relating to the Lord’s Day, and one Tract on the Conflict with Unbelief generally appear. Dr. Cairns shows, in a very convincing manner, the incredibility of the various attempts that have been made to trace Christianity to a merely natural origin. Mr. Lewis shows how Revelation and Science concur in establishing the claim of Christ to be the Crown of the Past and the Key of the Future, and draws the inference that He is moreover the Creator of all. Dr. Murray Mitchell treats the subject of ancient, but now extinct religions, and shows the unique position held by the Jewish religion among ancient forms of belief, and the relation of Judaism to Christianity. The Tracts on the Lord’s Day are by Sir Wiliam Dawson and Dr. Maclear. The former discusses the days of Creation, the true nature of the Sabbath law, the change and significance of the day, and draws some practical conclusions. The latter founds an argument for the reality v1 Preface. of Christ’s resurrection on the continuous observance of this day by Christians from the very beginning. The Editor of the Series gives a bird's-eye view of the whole conflict, the spirit of the combatants, the attitude of the different classes of opponents to Christianity, the chief points of attack and defence, and glances at the nearer and more remote issues of the conflict. The references given in this Tract to the various numbers of the Series will make it serviceable as a guide in the use of the Present Day Tracts. : Two of the writers, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Kelly, contribute to the Series for the first time. The evidence of the great usefulness of these Tracts which comes to light from time to time, and the wide acceptance they have met with everywhere furnish abun- dant reason for gratitude to God, and encourage the Society to go forward in this work, with the hope and expectation of still fuller and wider blessing upon it. October, 1887 CONTENTS. “Sse ete XLIX. IS THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY FROM MERE NATURAL SOURCES CREDIBLE ? By tux Rey. PRINCIPAL CAIRNS, D.D. LL.D. me THE DAY OF REST IN RELATION TO THE WORLD THAT NOW IS AND THAT WHICH IS TO COME. By Sir J. WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S. Lt. CHRISTIANITY AND ANCIENT PAGANISM. By J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D. : Lil. CHRIST AND CREATION: A TWO-SIDED QUEST. By THE Rev. W. SUNDERLAND LEWIS, M.A. ¢ Ll. THE PRESENT CONFLICT WITH UNBELIEF: A SURVEY AND A FORECAST, By THE Rev. JOHN KELLY LIV. THE EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY. By THE Rev. G. F. MACLEAR, D.D. q a a ae — 7 a . wte SaKs . . eh ak et ey ira il a oN oi a AR SI! ; be dB Va yh ttt no ie 2 ae ten Milpehicd Manne aldo se maa del ¥ np ss y J se thr Se ee ‘ ¢ 4) 4 tie en A ty i i be oe of 1)? 3 Ka ee coh at col racks é, ue , fey ky 4 ,/ ee Sere j et ‘y. ior , 3 t * ” he % al > , wer pene Se ied Shes hee: aha eel a iy Mierel ace feat fete Se ee TBI ‘ 5 ee iyi ea ae. Bee ee oe Wey he ' “fey 4 *y Ty %, 2 De aA de SiR ee ul : R * co xe As wt ly ab . ue Na pare ey 3 Wierd Wd oy a a - j . Pe Sf - te aire s. wh th . s P P « “h + * rid ea oe te ry wg Green SSA eS ¥ ria ‘ 5.4 --pae : - 0. TN) aes See oe a i TSS at ea : a a SI SA Rip ee SD cee es % cs i ps fd & Ae es , : : 5 1 Ree 2 bee > i oe : ¥ * € oe i.e ate * ee ’ eae wS¥ ry ibe rry oo Ts ‘ ie =, aa re) b « rae eh aan ha 3 A ) : ey Po eae’ Ma f dS 7 PL A oe 4 wt” ae ie. eke ; Se Fre IES id } p . a alee “ t yy 2 ne Cer ne tn of BRA hg pe ie ne eee $ : UN a sie + ad ~ eves aA IS THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY MERE NATURAL SOURCES CREDIBLE? BY THE REV. JOHN CAIRNS, D.D. Argument of the Cract, eormme QUI NR te ‘THE main sources to which evolutionary speculation traces Christianity are examined, and it is shown that it cannot be derived from Greek philosophy, because the resemblances between Christianity and Platonism are found chiefly in that which is not peculiar to Christianity ; that they, taken as a whole, amount only to the theistic and ethical pre-suppositions of Christianity ; because the distinctive doctrines of Christianity are not to be found in Platonism,—the Incarnation has no place in it,—the Atonement is not foreshadowed in it,—the doctrine of grace, especially in regeneration, has no forecast in it,—there is no Holy Spirit, and so no provision for the new birth as the beginning of the kingdom of God in it; nor does Platonism contain any foresight of the life and work of such a Saviour as enters into the substance of Christianity. It is further shown that Christianity cannot be derived in a ‘merely human and natural way from the whole of Jewish literature, including the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Talmud, taken together as a mere human formation. ‘The system of Strauss is examined, as the most celebrated discus- sion of this question in recent controversy. Its inadequacy is shown, because the scheme credited by Strauss is not Christianity in the proper sense. The Christ of Strauss is incongruous—a defective moral teacher, with a sense of failure and shortcoming toward God, yet capable of aspiring to do the work of a Messiah. Strauss’s theory of Christianity subsequent to the point at which Christ left it is proved to be artificial, inadequate, and inconsistent. It is shown also that Christianity cannot be derived from the Hellenic Judaism of Alexandria, of which Philo is taken as the representative ; because the doctrine of the Messiah in the teaching of Philo bears no proportion to its place in the Old Testament ; because the doctrine of Atonement is almost wholly lacking ; because Philo’s doctrine of the Logos in rela- tion to God is wavering and uncertain, and the relation of the Logos to redemption is very scantily set forth by Philo. The hopelessness of the failure of the most plausible natural- istic theories of the origin of Christianity, and the unique and impregnable position of Christianity is pointed out. [S THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIANITY FROM MERE NATURAL SOURCES CREDIBLE ? —S1FPeir— re ce Lace eta a vow @ ELIEF in Kvolution asa principleof natural i = é science has recently made rapid progress 59 44| and has been supposed to be capable of solving the greatest physical difficulties. Its range has hardly yet been made so extensive in the spiritual world; and it is rather in the adven- turous way in which old problems are dealt with, than in any absolute novelty of method, that any change is visible. It has always been felt to be necessary to give some plausible account of the origin of Christianity short of its divinity. The genesis of systems is a part of history; and if history by the application of its ordinary methods cannot explain this religion, as it does all others, on mere natural - principles, it must recognise a miracle. Has this task then, on the anti-supernatural side, been ac- complished? If so, out of what pre-existing materials did Christianity by a natural process of development arise? This is the subject of the present Tract, which takes up an inquiry at this _ day exciting more attention than ever before, and Progress of the prin- ciple of Evolution. The genesi# of systems ao Has Christianit een accounted or by evolution 7 4 Is the Evolution of Christianity from a The various schemes of derivation. Greek philosophy. Pre-existing Jewish theology morality. Philonism, Alleged derivation from Greek philosophy. gives reasons for holding that Christianity cannot be explained by any natural development. In discussing the subject we shall refer to the various schemes of derivation; and then, on the ordinary principles of historical criticism, seek to test their sufficiency. The main fountain-heads then to which specula- tions of this kind have endeavoured to trace up Christianity have been Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato; pre-existing Jewish theology and morality, especially the so-called Messianic pro- phecies of the Jewish faith ; and the combination of Greek and Jewish elements found in Alexandrine thought, especially as reflected in Philo. It will be to a brief examination of these sources and tendencies of belief and opinion, in the light of a possible derivation of Christianity from them, that this inquiry will be directed. We shall endeavour, without unfaithfulness to the conditions of strict inquiry, and also of intelligible exposition, to — convey the results in a brief sketch. CHRISTIANITY NOT DERIVED FROM GREEK PHILOSOPHY. I. Can we find then as the result of our first alleged origin, that Christianity can be historically derived from Greek philosophy, and as the question can hardly be proposed in regard to any other EEO OU Mere Natural Sources Credible ? system, specially from that of Plato (B.c. 429-347)? This is anything but a new suggestion. In point of fact, in the first recorded encounter of Greek - unbelief with Christianity, the Adyoc AAySie (“True Word”) of Celsus, preserved and replied to by Origen, and written near the end of the second century, the assertion is made and supported by instances, that Christianity is drawn from Platonism. It is not wonderful that Celsus, who understood Christianity very ill, supports this argument but feebly, and that Origen has no difficulty in replying to him, in his sixth book, where this discussion occurs. Thus, for example, among other things Celsus argues that Christ took his celebrated saying, ‘Tt is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” from the utterance of Plato in the fifth book of his Laws, “ That for one who is very good also to be very rich is impossible.” To which Origen answers, that the point of the remark is greatly weakened in Plato by the absence of the camel, and also that it does not belong to so strict a system as that which laid stress generally on the strait gate and the narrow way. We learn also from this work of Origen that reprisals had already been made on the Platonic philosophy by Christian writers, who traced it back to Hebrew sources, which Plato is supposed to have studied in Egypt ; and while Origen, who does not dissent from this The assertion of Celsua. The reply of Origen, Reprisals of Christian writers who traced Platonic philosophy to Hebrew sources, 6 Is the Evolution of Christianity from view, does not practically apply it, we find that it had been attempted at some length before him in a hortatory treatise addressed to the Gentiles (Cohortatio ad Gentiles), which has often passed under the name of Justin Martyr, and in which Plato’s Plato is charged with borrowing his distinction distinction between 3 Reine that Detween Being that 7s only and never becomes Paae’* from the name of Jehovah, “I AM THAT I AM,” said to be . she . : borrowed and also with deriving his “ideas” from the from Moses, pattern showed to Moses in the mount. Eusebius As the summing up of this discussion, in the derives from the, early period of Christianity, we may mention the Scriptures, elaborate effort of the Church Historian Eusebius, in his great work entitled The Gospel Preparation —the fullest dissertation on the relations of Chris tianity to Paganism and philosophy which has come down from antiquity, and written in the first quarter of the fourth century,—in which three . books, x. x1. and xu.., are devoted to the proof of the derivation of the Greek philosophy, and specially that of Plato from the Hebrew Scriptures. Here, however, as in the case of the so-called Justin, the plea for Plato’s dependence is carried too far, Re blance esemblance is not derivation, unless it be so sarily Striking as to necessitate the idea, and unless there fenvane™ be some reasonable hypothesis of contact. Now modern scholars are slow to admit any contact between Plato and Hebrew thought in Egypt. The whole scheme therefore stands or falls with re- ee we Mere Natural Sources Credible ? semblance; and the question between those who with Celsus deduce the Christian faith from Plato, and those who with the early Fathers reverse the process, is just this, Is the resemblance so close as to make the idea of derivation probable, or even irresistible? Something is to be said for and against either view; but it does not follow that either system must be derived from the other. Modern opinion, on the side alike of Christian and non-Christian thought, is against the derivation of Plato. Must it now be held, that we have to go back to Celsus, and accept the evolution from Plato of Christianity? The question as to whether other worlds may be inhabited, The world before man appeared. The approaching condition of the world, Its history parallel to that of other worlds. 8 The Day of Rest. which may be more or less parallel to that of all other worlds. This truth also appears if we consider other The moon. planetary bodies. The moon may have been in- habited at a time when our earth was luminous and incandescent, but it has passed into a state of Mars. senility and desolation. The planet Mars, which seems physically not unlike the earth, may be in a condition similar to that of our world in the older Jupiter and geological periods. Jupiter and Saturn are pro- bably still intensely heated and encompassed with vaporous “deeps,” and may perhaps aid in sup- porting life on their satellites, while untold ages must elapse before those magnificent orbs can arrive at a stage suitable for maintaining life like that on the earth. Long after all these ages have passed, and when all the planets have grown old and lifeless, the sun itself, now a fiery mass, may arrive at a condition suited for living and rational beings. Ait wortule Lhus the physical conditions of our planetary wie iis system teach that if we suppose all worlds capable of supporting life, all are not so at one time, and that as ages pass, each may successively take up this réle, of which in greater or less degree all may at some time or other be capable. So when we ascend to the starry orbs, those suns ‘may have attendant worlds, some in one stage, some in another. There may also be stars and nebulze The Day of Rest. still scarcely formed, and others which have passed far beyond the present state of our sun and _ its planets. Thus the universe is a vastly varied and progressive scene. At no one time can all worlds be seats of such life as we know; but of the count- less suns and worlds that exist, thousands or millions may at any one time be in this state, while thousands of times as many may be gradually arriving at it or passing from it. Such are the thoughts which necessarily pass through our minds when we consider the existence of worlds in time. Now these ideas, though rendered more definite by modern discoveries, are very old, and they im- pressed themselves on the mind of antiquity before men could measure the vastness of the universe in space. They are also present in Divine re- velation, and it is necessary to have them before our minds if we would enter into the thoughts of the writers of the Old and New Testaments when they treat of time and eternity. The several stages of the earth in its progress from chaos, the prophetic pictures of its changes in the future, as stated in the Bible, alike embody the idea of time-worlds, or ages of God’s working. It is in this aspect that the universe is compared to a vesture of God, which He can change as a garment, while He Himself remains ever the same.! It is in contrast to the eternity of truth that the heavens 1 Psalm cii, 26. The universe a& varied and progressive scene, These ideas ancient, They are present in Divine revelation, The past and future stages of the earth according ta the Bible embody the idea of time- worlds, 10 The Day of Rest. and earth are said to be passing away, but the words of the Redeemer shall never pass away. It is with the same reference that we are told that “the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are unseen are eternal.” ? The The use made of the Hebrew word o/am and the Hebrew and s . : Greek words (treek aion in the sense of age, or even of eternity, olam and aion bring brings before us still more clearly this Biblical idea before us the idea of . : the idea of of time-worlds. In that sublime “ prayer of Moses the man of God” which we have in the 90th Psalm, God, who is the “dwelling-place of man in generation to generation,” who existed before the mountains were brought forth, with whom a thousand years are “as a watch in the night,” is said to be from “olam to olam,” from “ everlasting to everlasting,” as the English version has it, but more properly from age to age of those long cosmic ages in which He creates and furnishes successive worlds. So when God is said to be the “ High and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity,’* it is not abstract eternity, but these successive olams, or time-worlds, which are His habitation. In the God awetls Old Testament, God as revealed to us in His works, in the successionof dwells in the grand succession of worlds in time, worlds in time. thus continuously and variously manifesting His power, a much more living and attractive view of di- vinity than the mere abstract affirmation of eternity. 1 Matt. xxiv. 25. 32 Cor. iv. 18- 8 This is retained in the Revised Version, which I think . unfortunate. * Isaiah lvii, 15. The Day of Rest. The same thought is taken up and amplified in the New Testament. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who treats very specially of the relations of the Old Testament to the New, speaks of Christ as God’s Son, “ whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds,” ! more literally ‘ constituted the aidns or ages.” He does not refer, as one might conceive from the English translation, to different worlds in space, but to the successive ages of this world, in which it was being gradually prepared and fitted up for man. So Paul, in his doxology at the end of the third chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, ascribes to the Redeemer glory in “all generations of the ages or aidns ;””? and in the ninth verse of the same chapter he speaks of the gospel as “the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things.” So, also, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we are told that by faith we understand that “the ages were con- stituted by the Word of God.” Another fine illustration of this idea is in Paul’s familiar and business-like letter to Titus, where he says that he lives “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath in due time manifested His word.”? The expression “the world began” here represents the 1 Heb. i. 2, R.V. margin. 2 R.V. margin. § Titus i. 2. 1] The same thought in the New Testament, Christ con- stituting the ages, in all gener- ations of the ages. The ages constituted by the Word of God. 12 The Day of Rest. i The life of the ages, The relation of the whole duration of God’s working to us. The light thrown on the day of rest by the creative days of geology. “ages of time,” and the “eternal life” is the “life of the ages.” Thus what the Apostle hopes for is life through the unlimited ages of God’s working, and this life has been promised, before the beginning of the time-worlds of creation. So the whole past, present, and future of God’s working has its relation to us, and is included under this remarkable idea of ages or time-worlds, and is appropriated by faith and hope as the pos- session of God’s people. God, who cannot lie, has pledged Himself to us from the beginning of those long ages in which He founded the earth; He has promised us His favour in all the course of His subsequent work; He has sealed this promise in the mission of His Son, that same glorious Beg through whom He arranged all those vast ages of creation and providence; and in the strength of this promise we can look forward by faith to an endless life with Him in all the future ages of His boundless working. The long creative days of geology may thus be shown to throw a most important light on the in- stitution of the weekly Sabbath and its continuance as the Lord’s day. If it is true that the seventh or Sabbath Day of creation still continues, and was intended to be a day of rest for the Creator and for man made in His likeness, we find in this a substantial reason for the place of the Sabbath in the Decalogue. Further, by means of our Lord’s The Day of Rest. 13 declaration in reply to the Pharisees, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work,” though God has finished His work of creation and now only works in providence and redemption, as well as by the argument in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we can carry this idea forward into the Christian dispensation. But these facts are so important to the right understanding of our subject, that it seems necessary to examine them in some detail, and in a humble and earnest spirit, ready to receive new light and to relinquish old pre- possessions, if found to be contrary to the testimony of Scripture. At first sight, as already hinted, the place of the fourth commandment in the Decalogue, and the vast importance attached to this law by the Hebrew writers, strike us as strange aud anomalous. The Sabbath stands as the sole example of a ritual observance, in those “ten words,” which otherwise mark the most general moral relations of man to God and to his fellow-men. Farther, the reason given seems trivial. If it is meant that God worked on six natural days, and rested on the seventh, the question arises, what is He doing on the subsequent daysP Does He keep up this al- ternation of six days’ work and one day’s rest ; and if not, how is this an example to us? If it is argued that the whole reason of God’s six days’ work and the seventh day’s rest was to give an The idea of the Sabbath as a day of rest for the Creator and man carried further. The place of the Sabbath law at first sight strange and anomalous. 14 The Day of Rest. The sup- ition that ustifies it. How the Sabbath becomes the central point of all religion, The Sabbath he Gospel in the DVecalogue, example, this conveys the absurdity of doing what is infinitely great for an end comparatively in- significant, and which might have been attained by a command without any reason assigned. But let us now suppose that when God rested on the seventh day He entered into an eon of vast dura- tion, intended to be distinguished by the happy Sabbatism of man in an Edenic world, and in which every day would have been a Sabbath; or if there was a weekly Sabbath, it would have been but a memorial of a work leading to a perpetual Sabbath then enjoyed. Let us farther suppose that at the fall of man the Sabbath Day was instituted, or obtained a new significance as a memorial of an Edenic Sabbatism lost, and also as a memorial of God’s promise, that through a Redeemer it would be restored. Then the Sabbath becomes the central point of all religion, the standing and perpetual memorial of an Eden lost, and of a paradise to be restored by the coming Seed of the woman, as well as a time to prepare our- selves for this future life. The commandment, ‘“Remember the Sabbath Day,” called upon the Israelite to remember the fall of man, to remember the promise of a Saviour, to look forward to a future Sabbatism in the reign of the Redeemer. It is thus the Gospel in the Decalogue, giving vitality to the whole, and is most appropriately placed, and with a more full explanation than any Pa ad ee ee ee ee ee ee The Day of Rest. 15 Le other command, between the laws that relate to God and the laws that relate to man. The argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ch, iv.) may help us to understand this; and it is the more valuable that it is not an argument about the Sabbath, but introduces it incidentally, and that it seems to take for granted the belief in a long or olamic Sabbath on the part of those to whom it is addressed. It may be freely rendered as follows: “For God hath spoken in a certain place (Gen. ii. 2) of the seventh day in this wise: ‘And God did rest on the seventh day from all His works ;’ and in this place again: ‘ They shall not enter into My rest’ (Psa. xcv. 11). Seeing, therefore, it still remaineth that some enter therein, and they to whom it (God’s Sabbatism) was first proclaimed, entered not in because of disobedience (in the Fall, and afterward in the sin of the Israelites in the desert), again He fixes a certain day, saying in David’s writings, (long after the time of Joshua,) ‘ To-day, if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts.’ (Psa. xcv. 8.) For if Joshua had given them rest in Canaan, He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There is therefore yet reserved a keeping of a Sabbath for the people of God. For He that is entered into His rest (that is, Jesus Christ, who has finished His work and entered into His rest in heaven), He Himself also rested from His own works, as God did from His own. Let us therefore earnestly strive to enter into that rest.” It is evident that in this passage God’s Sabbatism, the rest intended for man in Eden, and for Israel in Canaan, Christ’s rest in heaven after finishing His work, the rest which may now be enjoyed by Christians, and the final heavenly rest of Christ’s people, are all indefinite periods mutually related, and are all Sabbatisms of which the weekly Sabbath is a continuous reminder and token. The argum in the Epistle to the er. Hebrews. A free rendering of it. The varioua Sabbatisms indefinite periods mutually related, 16 The Day of Rest. Another In the repetition of the decalogue, in the fifth reason for th f t * command. chapter of Deuteronomy, another reason is an- t. Gack nexed to the fourth commandment: “Remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence,” Betis This is in perfect harmony with the reason in between the Exodus, and merely a further development of it. The first reason refers to the rest of the Creator, the second to the rest from Egyptian bondage and the promised rest of Canaan. Both are refer- red to by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who clearly sees the connection between them. phe ur The mistake of supposing them to be mutually that they contradictory is peculiar to a certain stage of ae, modern hypercriticism. hypercriti- ca If this is a correct view of the relation of the Jewish Sabbath to the Creation and the Fall, it enables us to appreciate the force of the injunction to “remember” the Sabbath day to keep it holy, for in this case the Sabbath must have been no new chee institution, but one of primitive obligation, and obligation dating from the fall of man at the latest. It also Sabbath. ~_ enables us to understand the prevalence of Sabba- a tical ideas among nations independent of Hebrew sacredness influence, and more especially among the Chaldeans, Sabbath . among the 270m Whom Abraham came. With them, as cnt oka. recent investigations have shown, the seventh day nations outside of had a certain sacredness attached to it from very ebrew ’ influence. early times.? 1 Bayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, The Day of Rest. But what evidence does the Bible itself offer as to this? We have no Sabbath law till the time of the Exodus, and there is scarcely any reference previously to other religious ordinances than those of sacrifice and circumcision. Still there are in- dications of a Sabbath. We need not perhaps attach much importance to the expression “in _ process of time,” or more literally, “at the end of days,”! applied to the time when Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices, as we do not certainly know whether a weekly, monthly, or yearly interval is intended, We find, however, Noah reckoning by weeks in sending out birds from the ark.2 Laban and Jacob also reckoned by weeks.2 In Joseph’s time also, the Hebrews reckoned by sevens in the division of time* So in the early part of the Exodus before the giving of the law, the Sabbath is incidentally mentioned, in connection with the gift of the manna, and in terms which show that it was already known as “a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord.”> It is interesting, how- ever, to observe that there seems to have been no pre-intimation of the day, except the gathering of a double quantity of manna on the sixth day, and that the rulers reported the fact to Moses, as if asking instruction, This would seem to imply either that the day of rest had fallen into disuse in Egypt, Genesis iv. 3. 3 Toi. viii. 12, * Tbid. xxix: 27. 4 Joid. 1. 3, 12. 5 Exod. xvi. 23, R.V. Cc 17 Bible evidence, Early indications of a Sabbath. The Sabbath and manna; Moses’ in- terpretation of the in ij unction with reference to the gathering of a double portion of manna on the sixth day. 18 The early notices casual; but sufficient when taken in connec~ tion with other passages, Israel in Egypt. ‘Lhe Hebrews’ experience of ceaseless labour in Egypt. The Day of Rest. or that its occurrence had not at first seemed to the people likely to be recognised as interfering with the gathering of necessary food; but Moses at once interprets the fact as God’s recognition of His own day. These early notices of the Sabbath are, it is true, few and casual, and remind us of the informal way in which the Lord’s Day is introduced in the New Testament. But when taken in connection with the statement as to God’s hallowing the day at the close of His creative work, and with the word “remember” in the commandment, they are suffi- cient to show the Patriarchal origin of the rest of the seventh day, and to carry it back to the gate of Eden. Israelites when enslaved in Egypt must have been, to a great extent at least, deprived of the Sabbath rest. The Egyptians, even if they had themselves some notion of a Sabbatism, whether on the tenth or the seventh day, were not likely to have con- sulted the scruples or the comfort of their foreigu slaves in such matters, any more than modern pleasure-seekers are disposed to regard those of railway employés or museum curators. The Hebrews had thus known the bitterness of ceaseless labour, and so are reminded in Deuteronomy of those past sufferings as a reason for their holding fast to the privilege restored to them in their newly-found freedom. It would be well if those We may further note here that the L - -_ 2 ea wt ‘~ eee eee The Day of Rest. Be modern nations which neglect the Lord’s day could see it in this light, and receive it as a part of that liberty with which Christ makes His people free. The post-Mosaic stages of Jewish history show Th that the ideas of the connection of the Sabbath with the primitive promise of redemption and with the liberation of the chosen people, are carried onward to the time of Christ. At some periods of Jewish history the Sabbath no doubt fell greatly into neglect, but these were times of general decadence and of lapse into idolatry, and every prophetic or priestly revival of religion exalted the obligations of the Sabbath. Isaiah laments the misuse and neglect of the day, and promises even to the eunuchs and the strangers in Palestine that if they will “keep the Sabbath, and hold fast by God’s covenant ”’ implied in it, He will give them ‘*a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters . an everlasting name.” ‘‘I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer,’ It is the same prophet who intensifies its blessings, while connecting it with the patriarchs and with the covenant of God, in the grand words :— “Tf thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, From doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; And shalt call the Sabbath a delight And the holy of Jehovah honourable, And shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways, Nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; 1 Isa. lvi, 4-8. e Sabbath in the post- Mosaic stages of Jewish history till the time of Christ. In the time of Isaiah. 20 The Day of Rest. Jeremiah’s view of it. Ezekiel’s view. The significance of prophetic doctrine. The effect of prophetic statements. The con- sistency of Bible history on the subject throughout. Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah, And I will make thee ride upon the high places of the earth, And I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, Tor the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.” } Jeremiah connects in the strongest manner its observance, as an efficient cause, with God’s blessing, and with prosperity, and regards the keeping of the Sabbath as an essential condition of national welfare? Ezekiel expressly calls the Sabbath a sign or pledge that God would sanctify His people. The profound significance of this prophetic doctrine becomes evident only when we connect the Sabbath with God’s olamic rest, with man’s fall and with the promise of a final and eternal Sabbatism, in the manner explained in the passage already quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews. There can be no doubt that these strong statements of the prophets were influential with the Jews in the captivity, and were important means of preserving them from idolatry and for- getfulness of their God, and that when they were again delivered from bondage they would return with enhanced ideas of Sabbath obligation, akin to those of their fathers at the time of the Exodus. We see this in the legislation of Nehemiah, and in a debased and ritualistic form in the Pharisaic strictness of the time of Christ. Let us further note here that there is a strict consistency throughout in the Biblical history of 1 Isa, lviii. 13, R.V. 7 Jer. xvii. 24, 25. % Ezek, xx. 12, The Day of Rest. the Sabbath, from the first announcement of the rest of the Creator in the second chapter of Genesis till the advent of the promised Redeemer, and no room is left here for attributing a late origin to the Sabbath law, without throwing the whole history into confusion. The Sabbath of Exodus is meaningless without the Creative days, the Fall, and the promise of Redemption. The testimony of the Psalms and Prophets pre-supposes the Sabbath law, and its spiritual relations. The attitude of the post-exilic Jews pre-supposes and results from the law and the prophets. Among the sectaries of the time of our Lord, the Sabbath had only ex- perienced the fate of other spiritual elements of the old dispensation which they had ‘“ made void by their traditions,’ substituting form for sub- stance. These considerations not only give a high and spiritual significance to the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day, and connect them with God’s great working in the universe, and with the fall and redemption of man, but they give us practical information respecting the manner of keeping the Lord’s _ Day and its relation to Christian doctrine and practice. | We can thus understand the attitude of Christ Himself with regard to the Sabbath. While He denounced that Pharisaical rigidity which made the day a burden rather than a privilege, and which 21 The pre- suppositions of the Sabbath of the Exodus and of the Psalms and Prophets, The Sabbath in our Lord’s time, The Sabbath in its various relations, The attitude of Christ to the Sabbath, a2 How the Lord’s Day is to be kept. How God occupies His Sabbatism, and how Jesus occupies His. The Day of Rest. directed attention to minute details of its observance rather than to its higher significance, neither His example nor His teaching took away from its sacredness or diminished its obligation, except when opposed to works of necessity or mercy, or of direct service to God. The Sabbath was made for man as— ‘*a means, and not an end; worth nothing unless it conduced to the end—man’s welfare, man’s refreshment in body, mind, and spirit.” } Thus if we ask how the Lord’s Day should be kept, we are referred at once to the examples of God the Father and of God the Son. The Creator’s rest with reference to this world, is one of contem- plation, and of beneficent and merciful attention to its interests. He regards His work and pro- nounces it good, and then enters into His rest. So the Redeemer entered into His rest when He could say, “It is finished.”’ God in His Sabbath sustaims and nourishes all His creatures, and relieves their wants. This is the force of our Lord’s reply to the Pharisees: “My Father worketh even until now, and I work,” and they seem so to have understood the reference to the creation and to Divine providence, that they had no rejoinder to make. God occupies His Sabbatism, lost to man by the fall, in that work of redemption by which it is to be finally restored. The rest 1 Sunday, by Plumptre, 1866. The Day of Rest. into which Jesus entered is occupied in preparing a place for us, and in acting as our great High- Priest in the most holy place on high. In like manner our Sabbath should bea time of communion 0 with God, and a time for acts of love and mercy to our fellow-men. There is a Divine activity which is not incompatible with, but a fulfilment of the Sabbath law, and the examples given by Christ, as that of the ox fallen into a pit, the healing of diseases, and the Temple service, all point with perfect consistency to the ultimate and higher benefit of man. This was the ground of the often-recurring con- flict between the Christ,who knew what the Sabbath really means, and the Pharisees, whose tradition had turned it into a day of mere austerity and unmeaning ritualism. Surely if this was true of the Jewish Sabbath, it is true of the Lord’s Day. It is to be observed in this connection that when Christ claims the Lordship of the Sabbath, He does this in the capacity of the Son of Man, “the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath,” for it is essentially as Redeemer that He is the Fulfiller of the Sabbath law, and so its Lord. May we not also see in this a prescience on the part of Christ of that change in the day which would be a neces- sary consequence of His resurrection on the first day of the week, and which world mark the com- mencement of the new dispensation by a day com- 23 ur Sabbath should be a time for communion with God, and for acts of love and mercy to man. as to the Sabbath, 24 The connection between the 1d Testament Sabbath and the Lord’s Day f 0 Christians, How the Lord’s Day comes to occupy the place formerly occupied by the Jewish Sabbath. What it links together The Day of Rest. memorative of this rather than of the work of creation. The right understanding of the Old Testament Sabbath aids us in comprehending the con- nection of the Lord’s Day of Christians with the Jewish Sabbath. If the latter had a reference to a Sabbatism lost by the fall and restored by the Redeemer, the Son of Man must be “ Lord of the Sabbath,” in the sense of fulfilling and realizing its prophetic import. Therefore, the day on which He finished His work and entered into His rest must of necessity be that to be commemorated by Christians, until the time when the return of Christ shall inaugurate that final and eternal Sabbatism which remains to His people. Thus the Lord's Day comes to occupy the same important place formerly occupied by the Jewish Sabbath. In this as in other things, the Old Testament saints with- out us are not complete, for our Lord’s Day is the completion of their Sabbath. It links together God’s creative work and Christ’s work of redemp- tion ; the Sabbatism lost in the fall and restored in the Saviour ; the imperfect state of the militant Church, still having only a pledge of a rest to come, and the Church triumphant, which will enjoy this rest for ever. If the Sabbath that carried with it the mournful memory of the first sin was holy, much more that which points forward, through -Ohrist’s finished work and present rest, tn a- The Day of Rest. 25 heavenly paradise. If the obligation to remember it was to the Hebrew equal to that of the most binding moral duties, still more must the Lord’s Day be a day to be remembered by the Christian, as the memorial of Christ’s finished work, and of our heirship of all the divine ages, past, present, and to come. Thus we see that the moral and spiritual dignity and obligation of the Lord’s Day rise far above those of the Jewish Sabbath, and we Gan understand how naturally the apostles and primitive Christians, almost without note of the change, and without requiring any positive enact- ment, transferred their allegiance from the seventh to the first day of the week. It may be useful to mention in this connection the strong statement in relation to the Jewish } Sabbath contained in the Epistle to the Colossians (ii. 16). The Christians of Colossee had appa- rently been urged by some of their teachers to keep the Jewish Sabbath as a matter of legal obligation, either along with or instead of the Lord’s Day. Paul repudiates this in the words, ‘‘TLet no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a Sabbath day ;” adding as @ reason, ‘“ which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body (or Substance) is Christ’s.” There can scarcely be a question that the Old Testament Sabbath is intended here, and the as- The enhanced obligation of the Lord’s Day Colossians The Old Testament Sabbath intended, 26 The assertion in harmony with other parts of Scripture. The description of the day as observed by Christians, The meanin of Christ’s saying that ** the Sabbath was made for man.,”? The Sabbath a spiritual privilege to fallen man. sertion that it was a ‘ The Day of Rest. — “shadow” of the future coming of Christ is in perfect harmony with the testimony of other parts of Scripture, and with the idea that when Christ, who is the Substance, had come, the old Sabbath, as the anticipatory shadow, must pass away. It is to be noticed, in accordance with this, that where the day observed by Christians is mentioned in the New Testament it is called simply “the first day of the week,” except in that passage of the Apocalypse where for the first time we find the term, afterwards general, “the Lord’s Day.”? We learn also from this view of the day of rest the full meaning of that weighty saying of Jesus: ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Man, as originally created, needed no Sabbath law, for he had entered into the perpetual rest of the Sabbatism of his Creator. But when he fell from this high estate the Sabbath was made for him, not as a mere legal obligation, For this reason faithful men and women in Israel of old clung to it as the earnest of the great salvation which was to restore the lost paradise for which their but as a great spiritual privilege. hearts yearned, and with reference to which their ery was, “O that I had wings like a dove, then 1 Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; Rev. i. 10. In the Peschito version the expression “Lord’s Day” occurs in 1 Cor. xi 20. (Etheridge’s Translation, p. 272.) The Day of Rest. 27 ae ee would I fly away and be at rest”! So it 1s in regard to the Lord’s Day. Just as we honour and trust in the Saviour, so shall we regard the day which commemorates His entering into His rest. Just as we appreciate that rest which He gives us in part here, and as our hearts long for that rest which remains in the Father’s house, so shall we hold in loving remembrance the day which points to it, and which enables us to have some faint realization of it in the midst of sorrow and trouble. In a lower sense the Sabbath was made for man as a relief from the heavy curse of unremitting labour, and though the world will never gain much spiritually by a merely legal observance of the Sabbath, even this is of priceless value to the working man in a moral, social, and physical point of view. It is thus not merely an arbitrary en- actment, but a statement of an effect depending on an adequate cause, that the man or the nation honouring God’s day of rest will itself be honoured and prospered. The primitive Sabbath of Genesis and of. the Moral Law has thus a definite connection with human labour and with the physical well-being of man. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” ig the doom of fallen humanity—a doom too fear- fully felt in the whole history of the world, and strange to say, apparently not less so in our times 1 Psalm lv. 6, R.V. As we honour the Saviour we shall regard lis day. The Sabbath a relief from unremitting labour. The connection of the primitive Sabbath with labour 28 The Sabbath the only means of alleviating the life of labour. The law extended even to domestic animals, The phy- siological necessity for a eriodical mterruption of toil for man or beast attirmed. A nation without a Sabbath must pre- maturely decay. The Day of Rest. of mechanical invention and mastery over nature, than in ruder ages. How terribly would this doom have been aggravated had man been expelled from Eden to a life of unremitting toil. But the Sabbath stood between him and this fate, and so far as human experience has shown, was the only possible means of alleviating his life of labour. Hence Moses impresses on his nation of emancipated slaves the constant remembrance of this day, and enjoins on them the extension of its benefits to their own slaves and to strangers within their gates, even though not believers in Jehovah. Hence also the provisions of the law are extended even to domestic animals, which, though destitute of spiritual natures, have bodily organisms, which under ceaseless labour will be worn out prematurely and subjected to a living death while they survive. These lower animals have no share in the moral law directly, but it is immoral to deprive them of the little happiness of which they are capable, and to subject them to conditions inconsistent with their physical well-being. The physiological necessity for a periodical interruption of toil, whether for man or beast, is thus affirmed in the law, and it is verified by all that we have learned of the constitution of living things. It is con- firmed by the experience of all thoughtful men and of all nations.