force or juftice in them, the matter of duty muft be made plain and evident.

To trust to tradition, the practice of past ages and probable hints from the new Teftament, is not enough. Tradition is not fufficient, even though we could prove it to be true. For if the fabbath is any thing, it is a pofitive law, and the obfervation of it must be confidered as obedience

to a peremptory command.

We ought then to enquire diligently, whether the fourth command is moral? and fo, whether in force under the gospel?

And to begin, the morality, or neceffity of the fourth command, may be juftly argued from its being engraved upon ftone, by the finger of God; and joined with nine more; which are confeffedly moral. The first being against politheism, the second against idolatry, the third against blafphemy, the fifth against rebellion, the fixth againft murder, the feventh against adultery, the eighth againft theft, the ninth against perjury and the tenth against avarice.

This is the great law of the universe; by which the behavior of all reasonable creatures is, and for ever must be regulated. There never will be

therefore

therefore a time, in which this can be fpared, being the perfect rule, and exact measure of right and wrong. God therefore wrote it twice over with his own hand; and as far as we know, the only thing he ever did write; rather engraved it upon ftone, to fignify the fublimity of the fubject, and the duration and perpetuity of the rules therein enjoined.

Among these stands the precept for the fabbath, and ftands there with confpicuity,

And

among the primary commands, in the first table; worded with evident emphasis, and fulness of expreffion. fince it is fo, it is wonderful that any man could venture to fay, or even to fuggeft, that the law for the fabbath is not moral, but pofitive and arbitrary.

Our Lord in his fermon upon the mount, has given us a very different view of the subject Think not that I am come to deftroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to deftroy but to fulfil. For verily I fay unto you, till heaven and earth pafs, one jot, or one tittle fhall in no wife pafs from the law till all be fulfilled. Whofoever therefore fhall break one of the leaft commandments,

and fhall teach men fo, he fhall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whofoever fhall do and teach them, the fame fhall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

He teaches us that fome precepts of the law are greater than others, but that the very leaft of them is so great, that fooner might the creation pass away, than that any portion of it fhould be loft. He came not into the world to repeal any one of the commandments of the law, not even the least. He knew that fome people would think so, and teach others to think the fame; but fays he, Let it be very

think it not. Very far from it.

diftant from your thoughts. I am come to fulfil
the law. I am
not come to deftroy, nor leffen
it in quantity, quality, number, force or authority.

dropped, but

or

Not only no command must be no punctilio must be paffed by. The jot, Hebrew i, which is one of the smallest letters in the world, muft not be loft therein, which might alter the grammar of it, in time, number, perfons, or emphafis. The tittle, or little fpeck, which is upon the points of fome of the letters for diftinction fake, muft not be paffed by. Not

only

only each command must be taken care of, but each word, each letter and each speck.

Sooner then may man be loft for ever; fooner may the universe vanish into nothing, than that the leaft command, or the leaft letter of the leaft command, or the leaft fpeck of the least letter of the law, by which its fenfe, grammar and power is known, fhould be loft or flighted. Yea, the heaven and the earth as to their present state fhall vanish away, and they fhall undergo a great change, but the law fhall never change; all its commands, in number, fenfe, power, and force, must remain eternally unchangeable.

then came not to reduce the law, nor

Our Lord

to nullify

not the

any one command or precept of it; leaft, nor the least thing in the leaft precept. Earth may, and fhall pas away, heaven may, and fhall pass away, men may ruin themselves for ever by tampering with, and attempting to leffen the law, and lay fome of it afide, but the law cannot change. Even the leaft precept of it, must remain in eternal force.

But the precept for the fabbath is not the least, but one of the greateft. It appears to be the

very firft that was formally delivered to man, and the first that he had occafion to put in practice; for the first thing that Adam did after he was created, was to keep the fabbath.

This is evident by the divifions of time given us in the first and fecond chapters of Genesis. The firft is a horizontal one, dividing the four and twenty hours into day and night, wherein the half of the earth, fhaded by the darkness, is called night; the other half irradiated by the light, is called day; a horizontal dufk or twilight, making the divifion between both.

Then follows a meridional divifion, fixing paradife for the firft meridian. The whole western fide of the earth from noon to the oppofite midnight point, is called evening; and the whole eaftern fide of the earth, from midnight to noon again, is called morning; and the horizontal dusk or twilight cutting them acrofs, and dividing them into two evenings, and two mornings. The first evening is light, running from noon to fun fet; the second evening is dark, running from fun fet to midnight. Also the first morning is dark, running from midnight to fun rifing; the fecond morning is light, running from fun rifing to noon again.

Agreeable