from all his work, which he had created (a): which words clearly evince a folemn confecration of the feventh day to God's fervice, by its being made a commemoration of his finishing the creation of the heavens and the earth.

But because it may be faid, that the intent of Mofes in this place was only to fet down the reason why God fet apart this day, of all others, to his fervice, by the law at mount Sinai, we are to take notice, that this appointment was made for man's fake already placed in the garden of Eden. This we may gather from the order Mofes obferves. For he fets down first the formation of man on the fixth day, and his being plac'd in Paradise, which he gives a more particular account of in the fecond chapter, and after thefe, he relates God's refting from his works, and the confecration of the fabbath with the reason of that law which he impos'd on man; and then adds, Thefe are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth. All that precedes these words, is only a relation of what pafs'd in the feven firft days, and that which Mofes fets down concerning God's bleffing of the feventh day, and his confecrating it, ought as well to be accounted a law appointing the feventh day for his fervice, as thofe other bleffings, given to the creatures according to their kinds, are acknowledged as inviolable laws of God, by virtue whereof they fubfift, and are perpetuated each according to their kind, by the way of generation.

In the fecond place, it is very remarkable, that the Patriarchs, maintain'd a publick worship, at least fince the time of Seth; which it was neceflary should be determined to fome certain day; and fince we find, that even at this time they diftinguish'd between beafts clean and unclean, with respect to their facrifices (which they could not do but from revelation) we have much more reason to conclude, that God had set apart a time for his own worship and service.

And indeed, there are many evident figns, that even then the 7 day was observed (b). I will not here peremptorily affert that antient tradition of the Jews, which tells us, that the ninety fecond Pfalm, whofe title is a Pfalm for the Sabbath, was made by Adam himself, who was made on the evening of the fabbath: but this I dare affert, that it is apparent, that what we read in the eighth chapter of Genefis (c) about the deluge, doth refer to this cuftom, where we find Noah fending forth the dove and the raven on the seventh day, which plainly hints to us his obferving of that day; for it seems, that Noah having, in an especial manner, on that folemn day, implored the affiftance of God in the affembly of his family, he expected a particular bleffing from it.

And we cannot but make some reflexion on that which we read in the XXIX of Genefis concerning the term of a week fet apart to the nuptials of Leah, where at the twenty feventh verfe Laban thus expreffes himfelf. Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this alfo, for the fervice which thou shalt ferve with me yet feven other years (d). This week here doth fo plainly fignifie a week of days that it cannot be more naturally express'd; and indeed, all generally understand by this week of the marriage feaft

(a) Gen. ii. 3.
(c) Gen. viii. 10. 12.

(b) Kimchi Præfat. in Pfalmos.

(d) Gen. xxix. 27.

of

of Leah, that term of time which in fucceding ages hath been customary to allot to nuptial feftivals, as appears from the book of Esther, where the wedding feaft of Vafthi lafted feven days, this term of seven days, having fo long fince been confecrated to nuptial rejoycings.

The fame we may also gather from the time which was ordinarily allotted to mourning for the dead, to which we find the Patriarchs allotted a' term proportion'd to that of their rejoicing. For as we fee that the Egyptians mourned ten weeks for Jacob, because of his quality, as being the father of Jofeph, fo we find that Jofeph, and those that accompanied him, mourned feven days at his enterment in the land of Canaan : and as we find, that this custom was perpetually afterwards obferv'd by the Jews, as appears from Ecclefiafticus XXII. 12. fo likewise we find the fame observed by the Afiaticks, as may be seen in the hiftory of Ammianus Marcellinus, at the beginning of his nineteenth book, and from them it paffed to the Chriftians, as we find in St. Ambrose (e).

Thirdly, It appears from Exod. VII. 25. that God obferved feven days (f) after he had fmote the river to change the waters thereof into blood; from whence the Jews conclude, that the three plagues, viz. that of blood, of frogs, and of lice, abode on the land of Egypt fix days, and were withdrawn on the seventh, which is the fabbath.

We may alfo gather, if we calculate the time exactly, that the Jews in Egypt obferved the fabbath. We find from the hiftory of their departure out of Egypt, that the fame happened on a Thursday, being the fifteenth of the month Nifan, and the day in which they fung thofe hymns of deliverance, was the fabbath which God had particularly set apart for this week.

It is alfo evident from Exod. XVI. that the keeping of the fabbath was obsery'd by the Ifraelites, before the law was given on mount Sinai. For we find God fpeaking there concerning the fabbath, not as of a thing newly instituted, but as of an antient law, which they were not to tranfgrefs by gathering the manna on that day; for he orders them to gather a double portion the fixth day, and not to gather any on the feventh. We fee that the Ifraelites refting on the feventh day is here supposed a known and customary thing, prescribed to them by a law of old.

They who went forth to gather manna on the feventh day are reprefented as tranfgreflors of a known law, as appears from the words of the Lord to Mojes. How long refufe ye to keep my commandments and my laws? Mofes alfo fpeaks of the fabbath which was to be the next day, as of a thing customary, and received amongst them. To morrow (faith he, at v. 23.) is the rest of the fabbath of holiness unto the Lord; words which would have been unintelligible to the Ifraelites, and exprefs'd a law, altogether impracticable, in cafe they had been deftitute of any further knowledge concerning it, and had not been acquainted, that it was the very day in which the great work of creation had been finished.

My fourth obfervation I take from the very words of the Decalogue, where firft of all we find God fpeaking in this manner, Remember the

Sabbath

(e) De fide Refur. in obitu Sat. p. 321. (f) Seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had fmote the river. Jalkut in h. 1.

u

fabbath day (g); which words clearly import, that the law he gave, was not a new law, but indeed as old as the world, and which had been obferved by their forefathers. It feems probable alfo, that God expreffes himself in these terms, because the tyranny of Pharaoh had forc'd them to break this law, by obliging them to deliver their tale of bricks every day, without excepting the fabbath, which before he had allowed them to keep.

This is explained very diftinctly in the fifth of Exodus, and feems to have been the occafion of Mofes's demanding ftraw of Pharaoh, for the Ifraelites to go and facrifice, in anfwer to which demand, Pharaoh (h) expreffes himself in terms which shew that formerly they had obferved a reft on that day: however it be, yet thus much is apparent, that God commands them to make their bond fervants to obferve the fabbath, be cause the Egyptians by their example inclin'd them not to be very careful in exempting them from all labour on that day.

Moreover, in the fecond place we are to take notice, that in the laft words of the fourth commandment, God fpeaks of it as of a thing formerly appointed and determin'd by him, faying, For in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth, and refted the feventh day, wherefore the Lord bleffed the fabbath day, and hallowed it; which words have a manifeft, and undeniable reference to that which happen'd the feventh day after the creation, and to the law then given to man concerning it.

We may gather from the fourth chapter of the epiftle to the Hebrews, that the sense which we have put upon the third verse of the second of Genefis, is the fame which the Jews have always had of it. The Apostle difcourfing from those words of David, Pfal. XCV. To whom I fware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my reft, doth suppose a threefold reft, the firft of which, is the reft of the fabbath, of which mention is made in the second of Genefis, where we have the first inftitution of it; the second was the reft in the land of Canaan promised to the Jews upon their enduring all those tryals in the wilderness: the third, the reft in heaven, of which the two foregoing were but the figures. He argues therefore, that thefe words of David could not be understood, concerning the fabbath day; forasmuch as from the beginning of the world men entred into that reft of the fabbath; and he proves this, by that paffage in Genefis, of which he only cites the firft words, viz. That God refted the feventh day from all his works, as fuppofing that the Jews, to whom he wrote, had no need of having the following words quoted to them, which tell us, that God bleffed the feventh day and hallowed it: that is, he confecrated the fame to his worship and fervice, forafmuch as nothing was more publickly and univerfally known amongst them, the obfervation of the fabbath being a thing generally received, even before the giving of the law.

And indeed, tho' Philo the few be of opinion, that the practice of folemnizing that day, had fuffer'd fome interruption; and that for this reason, the law of the fabbath was given to Mofes, yet it is well known firft of all, that Ariftobulus the Peripatetick (i), in a treatise dedicated by him to Ptolemy, furnamed Philadelphus, cites feveral paffages of Homer, Hefind, (b) Exod. v. 5.

(g) Exod. xx. 8.

(i) Eufeb. præp, Evang. 1. 13. c. 12,

Hefiod, and Linus, heathen poets, which mention the feventh day as a feftival, and folemn day, because all things were finifhed in the fame.

In the next place, it is notorious, that if fome of the fathers, as Juftin Martyr and Tertullian writing against the Jews, have deny'd that the Patriarchs obferved the feventh day, they did fo rather with regard to the rigor of that law, which forbad all manner of work on that day upon pain of death, (which was fuperadded by God to the firft law of the fabbath) than to the observation of the fabbath, as it was a day appointed to make a folemn commemoration of the creation of the world.

In a word, we are to take notice, that the difference which God makes between the fabbath, obferv'd by the Patriarchs, and that which he appointed to the Jews, did confift in two things: Firft, in that God did impose an abfolute neceffity upon the Jews to abstain from all manner of work, even to the very dreffing of meat, neceflary for the fupport of life: we find this diftinétion clearly exprefs'd in the law which God gave concerning the first and feventh day of the feaft of unleavened bread, for he abfolutely forbids all manner of work on these two days, as much as on the fabbath, even the preparing of neceffary food, which he permits the five other days, forbidding only fervil laborious works.

Secondly, In that the working on that day by the law is made punishable with death, which was not fo before; which innovation, and new rigour of the law, eftablished by God, was authorized, by the punishing of him who had gathered sticks on the fabbath day, whereas we find, that before the law was given upon mount Sinai, God did not command thofe Jews to be punished with death, who went forth the feventh day to gather manna, according to their ancient cuftom of dreffing their meat on that day.

Let me add this further, that tho' the Apoftles had abolished the rigour of the law concerning the fabbath, introduced by Mofes, yet they themfelves obferved it; which practife of theirs, in all probability, gave occafion to the Chriftians, for almoft four centuries, to keep the fabbath as well as the first day of the week, folemnizing both thofe days, the one as a commemoration of the creation of the world, and the other of the resurrection of our Saviour Jefus Chrift.

But whatever judgment may be paft on this laft remark, it is very evident from Genefis and Exodus: firft, that the law of the fabbath was obferved before Mofes : fecondly, that this obfervation was by the firft Patriarchs propagated among the heathens alfo, as well as the idea of the creation; or as the practice of facrificing, with the other parts of religious worship, the original whereof, may be feen in the book of Genefis, as we fhall make appear in our following difcourfe.

After all this, we must conclude against the Atheift, that either Mofes muft imprudently have laid a fnare for himself, in forging a matter of fact, of which, not only the Jews, but all the world were able to convince him, fince there were none amongst them but must needs be conscious whether they had obferved the fabbath in commemoration of the creation, as he relates it, or no; or elfe, that the creation of the world, being a matter of fact fo generally known, and the memorial of it folemnized every seventh day by all thofe who preceded him, must needs be an uncontested and immoveable truth, which I fhall farther evince

by

by thofe obfervations which I fhall raife from the dependance and connexion, which the matters related by Mofes in Genefis, have with the creation, and the promise of the Meffiah. This is my business at prefent, in performing of which I fhall make it appear, that nothing can be imagin'd more rational and coherent, than the relations of Mofes, in which the Atheists imagine, that they discover so great abfurdities.

CHA P. VIII:

That ADAM was convinced of his Creation, by Reafon and Authority.

T

HO' it might be thought more natural in these our difquifitions about the history of Genefis, to begin with thofe matters which happened near the time of Mofes, and from them to pass to those at a greater diftance, yet I have chofen rather to follow the thread of Mofes his difcourfe, hoping that this method will afford more light to thefe our Reflexions: at leaft, it will fpare me the trouble of frequent repetitions, which in the other way I fhould be neceffarily oblig'd to. I begin then with this, That Adam was convinced of his Creation, both by Reason and Authority.

The creation of Adam being a thing of that nature, that he must first be convinced of it himself, before he could perfwade his pofterity to entertain the belief of it, it is worth our enquiry to know what way's he had to affure himself, that he was indeed created in that manner as Mofes relates. And, forafmuch as the certainty of this tradition depends upon the authority of Adam, whom Mofes fuppofes to have been the first deliverer of it: it is plain, that we must be affured that Adam could not deceive himself in this matter, as it is evident enough that he would not deceive his children, when he took care to inftruct them concèrning it.

As to his own existence, he could not but be as ftrongly perfwaded of it, as we are of ours, all the difficulty lying in the manner how he came to exift. Now there were two ways by which Adam might inform himfelf of this, viz. by reason, and the teftimony of authority. He could eafily find out this fecret by a rátional reflexion: or, he might also be perfwaded of it by God himself, who had created him, not to mention now any information which he might have from the angels who were witneffes of his creation.

It appears, that Adam, whofe tradition Mofes has recorded, fuppofes, that he had learnt of God himself the manner of his own formation. God fpeaks to Adam, and fanctifies the feventh day; that is, obliges Adam to keep the memorial of his creation, he ties him by a law to commemorate his creation fifty two times a year, and to render him continual thanks for the being he had received.

But, forafmuch as Adam was capable of making reflexions upon those feveral matters, which God had made known to him concerning his VOL. I.

e

creation: