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of the sabbath; but in the priests who were engaged in the duties of religion it was not.

These arguments addressed to a Jew were in themselves unanswerable; because they appealed to the prac tice of persons whom the Jews held sacred, and whose conduct they durst not condemn. But they went still further than this; they went to establish this general principle, that there might be obligations of a force superior even to the law of Moses, and to which it ought in certain cases to give way; as in the first instance to the pressing demands of necessity, in the other to the services of the temple.

If then in these cases the law might be dispensed with, still moré might it be overruled by a power paramount to every other power, by him who was far greater and holier than the temple itself, who was Lord even of the sabbath, who was indeed supreme Lord over all, and might, therefore authorize his disciples, in a case of real urgency, to depart a little from the rigour of the sabbatical rest.

It should be observed here, that where St. Matthew says, "the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbathday;" St. Mark, in the parallel place, expresses himself thus: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." That is, the sabbath was given to man for his benefit, for the improvement of his soul, as well as for the rest of his body; and the latter, when necessary, must be sacrificed to the former. For man was not made for the sabbath; was not made to be a slave to it, to be so servilely bound down to the strict pharisaical observance of it, as to lose by that rigourous adherence to the latter, opportunities of doing essential service to himself and his fellow creatures.

To this irresistible force of reasoning our blessed Lord adds another argument of considerable weight; "If ye had known, says he, what this meaneath, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." The quotation is from the prophet Hosea; the words are supposed to be those of God himself; and the meaning is, according to a well

known Jewish idiom, I prefer mercy to sacrifice; that is, when any ceremonial institution interferes with the execution of any charitable or pious design, the former must give place to the latter; as in the present instance, a strict observance of the sabbath must not be suffered to deprive my disciples of that refreshment which is necessary to support them under the fatigue of following me, and dispending to mankind the blessings of the gospel, We see then with what superstitious rigour the Jews adhered to the letter of their law respecting the Jewish sabbath; and with what superior wisdom and dignity our Lord endeavoured to raise their minds above such trivial things to the true spirit of it, to the life and soul of religion.

The fault however here reproved and corrected is not one into which we of this country are likely to fall, nor is there any need to warn us against imitating the Jews in this instance. There is no danger that we should carry the observance of our sabbath too far, or that we should be too scrupulously nice in avoiding every the minutest infringement of the rest and sanctity of that holy day. The bent and tendency of the present times is too evidently to a contrary extreme, to an excessive relaxation instead of an excessive strictness in the regard shewn to the Lord's day. I am not now speakingof the religious duties appropriated to the Lord's day, for these are not now before us, but solely of the rest, the repose which it requires. This rest is plainly infringed, whenever the lower classes of people continue their ordinary occupations on the sabbath, and whenever the higher employ their servants and their cattle on this day in needless labour. This, however, we see too frequently done, more particularly by selecting Sunday as a day for travelling, for taking long journies, which might as well be performed at any other time. This is a direct violation of the fourth commandment, which expressly gives the sabbath as a day of rest to our servants and our cattle.

This temporary suspension of labour, this refreshment and relief from incessant toil, is most graciously

allowed even to the brute creation, by the great Governor of the universe, whose mercy extends over all his works. It is the boon of heaven itself. It is a small drop of comfort thrown into their cup of misery; and to wrest from them this only privilege, this sweetest consolation of their wretched existence, is a degree of inhumanity for which there wants a name; and of which few people I am persuaded, if they could be brought to reflect seriously upon it, would ever be guilty.

These profanations of the sabbath are however sometimes defended on the ground of the very passage we have been just considering. It is alledged, that as our Lord here reproves the Jews for too rigorous an attention to the rest of the sabbath, it conveys an intimation that we ought not to be too exact and scrupulous in that respect; and that many things may in fact be allowable which timid minds may consider as unlawful. But it should be observed, that Jesus condemns nothing in the conduct of the Jews but what was plainly absurd and superstitious; and he allows of no exceptions to that rest from labour which they observed on the sabbath, except simply works of necessity and charity such for instance as those very cases which gave occasion to the conversation in this chapter between Christ and the Jews, that of the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath-day to satisfy their hunger, and that of our Saviour's restoring the withered hand. It is lawful, in short, as our Saviour expresses it, to do well on the sabbath-day; to preserve ourselves, and to benefit our fellow creatures. Thus far then we may go, but no farther. In other respects, the rest of the Lord's day is to be observed; and those very exceptions which our Saviour makes are a proof, that in every other case he approves and sanctions the duty of resting on the sabbath-day. It is also remarkable, that our own laws, grounding themselves no doubt on this declaration of Christ, make the same exceptions to the rest of the sabbath that he does; they allow works of necessity and charity, but no others.* To these, there

* See the Statute of 29 C. 2, c. 7.

fore, we ought to confine ourselves as nearly as may be ; and with these exceptions, and these only, consecrate the sabbath as a holy rest unto the Lord.

This rest the Almighty enjoined, not, as is sometimes pretended, to the Jews only, but to all mankind. For even immediately after the great work of creation was finished, we are told," that God ended his work that he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."* It is evident, therefore, that the seventh day was to be a day of rest to all mankind, in memory of God having on that day finished his great work of creation; and this seventh day, after our Lord's resurrection, was changed by his apostles to the first day of the week, on which our Lord rose from the dead, and rested from his labours; so that the rest of this day is now commemorative of both these important events, the creation and the resurrection.

I now proceed to consider the consequences of this conversation between our Lord and the Pharisees on the subject of the sabbath. One should have expected that so wise and rational an explanation of the law respecting that day, releasing men from the senseless severities imposed upon them by the servile fears of superstition, but at the same time requiring all that respite from labour which is really conducive to the glory of God and the happiness of man; one should have expected, I say, that such wisdom and such benevolence as this would have triumphed over even Pharisaical obstinacy, and extorted the admiration and applause of his hearers. But stubborn prejudices, and deeprooted malignity, are not so easily subdued. For see what actually followed. "The Pharisees went out," says the evangelist, "and held a council how they might destroy him." Destroy him! for what? Why for giving ease to timid minds and scrupulous consciences, and for restoring the withered hand of a poor decrepid

*Gen. ii. 2, 3.

man.

And were these deeds that deserved destruc- ́ tion? Would it not rather have been the just reward of those inhuman wretches who were capable of con ceiving so execrable a project: and would not our Saviour have been justified in calling down fire from heaven, as he easily might, to consume them? But his heart abhorred the thought. He pursued a directly opposite conduct; and instead of inflicting upon them a punishment which might have destroyed them, he chose to set them an example that might amend them. He chose to shew them the difference between their temper and his own, between those malignant vindictive passions which governed them, and the mild, gentle, conciliating disposition which his religion inspired: between the spirit of the world, in short, and the spirit of the Gospel. He withdrew himself silently and quietly from them; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; and, to avoid all irritation. and all contest, he charged them that they should not make him known. "Thus was fulfilled," says the evangelist, that which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying," Behold my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judg ment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry; nei ther shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory."* A most sublime passage; which may thus be paraphrased. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased! I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall teach true religion, not only to the people of Israel, but to the heathens also; and this he shall do with the utmost tenderness, mildness, and meekness, without contention and noise, without tumult and disturbance. A bruised reed shall he not break; he shall not bear hard upon a wounded and contrite, and truly humble and penitent heart, bowed down with a sense of its infirmities. And smoking

* Isaiah xlii. 1-3.

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