the duties and instruction which that prohibitory injunction was designed and calculated to teach. All that remains therefore to be observed respecting this tree, which was, it would seem, placed near the tree of life, is, that it sealed both the promise and the penalty of the covenant of works.

1. It was clearly, respecting the reward promised, a confirmatory symbol: for it was called 'the tree of knowledge of good.' Obviously to intimate to Adam, that in the way appointed he should obtain that substantial good, even eternal life which (so great a boon should it be) could only be perfectly known by possession. And as this tree was the only apparently desirable thing Paradise afforded of which our first parents were debarred, by this they were taught, that if they persevered in well doing, the time would arrive when they should be denied no truly desirable good whatever.

2. This tree sacramentally sealed the threatening of the legal compact, for it was called the tree of the knowledge of evil,' as well as of good.' Clearly signifying to the probationers, that if they did not stand to the stipulations of the contract, they should come to the possession of a knowledge of which they had better remain ignorant, namely the knowledge of evil-the knowledge of sin and sorrow. By this sacred symbol, it is therefore obvious, our first parents were forewarned of the consequences of disobedience; and likewise taught the nature of their state, that it was mutably good

that they were capable of sinning, which if they did, the good they possessed, and the still greater good promised would be forfeited, and to the threatened evil they would become obnoxious.

IV. The fourth sacrament of the covenant of works was the first Sabbath; of which we read, Gen. ii. 2, 3, And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his 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.' Notwithstanding what some, strangely enough, have conjectured to the contrary, it is quite plain that Moses here speaks of the first seventh day the day which first beheld God's work of creation completed. Nor is there any difficulty in interpreting these words; for when it is said God rested on the seventh day,' who does not understand the meaning to be not only that God ceased from creating, but as an excellent divine well expresses it, 'took complacency in the work which he had now finished, especially in man, who was formed after his image, and furnished with those faculties by which he was enabled to acknowledge and celebrate the perfections of God, shining forth in his works.'

Again, it is here said, that God'sanctified and blessed the seventh day.' By the former expression is meant, that both by precept and example God set apart the seventh day, especially and ex

clusively to be employed in his worship; and by the latter, that he would make his Sabbaths a blessing, by bestowing the choicest favours upon his servants in the use of holy ordinances.'

These things imply certain duties obligatory on man respecting this day of sacred, heavenly, and bodily rest. And here we shall only remark, that this divine institution required man wholly to desist from all bodily toil, and to spend the whole of this sacred and memorable day in a manner comporting with the purposes for which it was set apart or sanctified. On these duties more presently. These observations are made with a view briefly to explain the nature of the first Sabbath What the Scriptures teach concerning which, ought to be considered as of moral obligation to us, according to the observation of Calvin, that it was the will of God his own example should be a perpetual rule to us.' He speaks of God's resting on the seventh day, and sanctifying it as above explained. And his meaning is, that God's appointing a Sabbath to man in a state of innocence, obliges us to devote one day in seven to the worship and service of God. And we doubt not, that they whose custom it is to make the Sunday, or a great portion of it, a day of labour or of pleasure to themselves or others, are doing it at their peril.

But it is with the first Sabbath, considered as a sacrament, that at present our business lies. In this view we remark that the term Sabbath signi

fies rest. The Apostle, Heb. iv. 4, says 'there is a rest' or Sabbath, remains for the people of God. From this and such like language, judicious men have inferred, that the Sabbath, according to the commonly received opinion of the Jews, was a designed emblem of the eternal rest of glory, and of this rest it is believed the first Sabbath was a sacramental pledge to Adam. For as it was a day of rest, both to man and his Maker, so by it Adam was taught that he and all his posterity should at length attain to an eternal Sabbath, if like God's work of creation, he brought his own to a successful termination.

Moreover as man on the Sabbath day was released from all earthly labour, and was wholly to be employed in the immediate service and enjoyment of his God, in heavenly contemplations and praise, so he was each day of sacred rest elevated as it were to a nobler kind of being, employment, and happiness. Teaching him, perhaps, that if found faithful he should, throughout an eternal Sabbath, be advanced to a more exalted state of existence, be for ever excused from all worldly toil, and spend an eternity in pleasure and in praise. And this is a Lord's day meditation in which the 'heirs of salvation' may safely and profitably indulge. For does there not remain a rest for you in heaven? Why then should not each sweet day of sacred rest, its acceptable exemptions, interesting employments, and heavenly enjoyments, put us in mind of it, and cause the tear of gratitude for a Sabbath here, and

the tear of joy for a Sabbath hereafter to glisten in the eye. Why should not our Sunday's apparel remind us of the robe of immortality,—our earthly temples (praised be God for them) of the temple of glory, our meeting together in the house of the Lord, of the gathering together of the Saints in the 'house not made with hands eternal in the hea vens.' And why should not such of the fold of Christ as are called by Providence, lonesomely like a sheep severed from the flock to spend their Sabbaths at home, reflect that the period hastens on with the speed of the wind, when they shall enjoy a Sabbath without an end, and make one of that glorified assembly which shall never break up. In short, not only should these interruptions, but the innumerable annoyances that spoil, and the imperfections which mark our sabbatic duties and privileges should, make us anticipate with pleasure that rest when our souls shall for ever rest from all these and from all sorrow.

2. Having thus considered the first Sabbath, as a sign and seal to Adam of the heavenly felicity, let us add a word more on the duties which this sacrament was calculated to inculcate, and press on the attention of our first parents. Undoubdtedly their being enjoined to devote one day in seven entirely to God, was calculated to keep upon their hearts a vivid impression of the several duties they owed to him. That is, of their obligation to be mindful of him, to obey him, to seek their happiness in God, to consider him not only as their au