that even the Mosaic account of the creation is agreeable in every part to the theories of philosophy which are now in vogue, and with which, according to some, it hath a seeming dissonance. I have presumed," says he, to think that the design in the first three chapters of Genesis may have been to give such a popular account of the several subjects they treat of, as should be sufficient for the religious faith and practice of mankind, while the true theory of them is rather veiled than revealed, and was designed to be so, under a mixture of allegorical representations and original facts, in consequence of which it hath hitherto been hidden, and ever will be so, from the busy curiosity and useless knowledge of mankind. Nor will they be hasty to condemn this mode of interpretation who shall consider that even Jesus, the greatest teacher of men, did deliver his heavenly doctrine in like manner, and sometimes for reasons which seem not to have been altogether dissimilar. John iii. 11, 12; Luke viii. 10; John vi. 63." (Pp. 63, 64.)

In this passage we see the influence of the general reception which had now been given to the Copernican System and the Newtonian Philosophy. By many theologians besides Mr Amner, the difficulty of giving any longer a literal interpretation to the narrative of the creation was frankly acknowledged: See, for instance, Dr Conyers Middleton's Essay on the Allegorical and Literal Interpretation of the Creation and Fall of Man, and several other pieces, in his Miscellaneous Works, ii. 123, 189, 208, 272, 286 (Lond. 1752); Bishop Newton's Dissertation on the History of the Creation, in his Works, ii. 65, 71 (Lond. 1782); Dr Price's Sermons on the Christian Doctrine, p. 376 (Lond. 1787); Dr Geddes's Preface to his Translation of the Bible, p. vii. (Lond. 1790), and his Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures, p. 23 (Lond. 1800). I have elsewhere quoted several of these writers (Sabbath Laws, &c., pp. 89, 90, 548); besides showing, in opposition to Archbishop Sumner, that Sir William Jones was of the same opinion (lb. p. 92).* In the same book, p. 189, may be seen also the

* Dr Owen in the previous century had listened with apprehension to the advocates of the Copernican System (see above, p. 25); but when the Newtonian Philosophy had been introduced, some forty or fifty years later, into the course of study at Cambridge, Dr Samuel Clarke, who was a friend of its illustrious author, and the chief promoter of its study at the University, found reason to suggest, in his Exposition of the Church Catechism, that "possibly the six days of creation might be a typical representation of some greater periods." (Clarke's Works, iii. 681.) His ingenious contemporary Dr Thomas Burnet, more boldly asserted this theory in the Second Epistle appended to his Archæologie Philosophica. (No. 246; above, p. 176.) He there expresses to a friend the opinion that, as the Sabbath was a shadow or type of that heavenly repose which the righteous will enjoy when this world has passed away," so these six days of creation are so many periods, or millenniums, for which the world, and the toils and labours of our present state, are destined to endure." (P. 511; 2nd ed., Lond. 1728.) After combating the hypothesis of a primeval Sabbath, and adducing various Scripture passages which,

opinions of Bishop Conybeare, Dr James Foster, and Dr Paley, on the question, Whether Christians are bound to defend the truth of all the historical narratives in the Old Testament?

The Sabbath of the Jews, Mr Amner holds, "cannot be always and absolutely a rule and reason of behaviour to any other people than themselves; because the ordinance of the seventh day seems to have recommenced among them with new circumstances, and to have been modelled after the genius of their extraordinary law.

"I presume to say," he adds, "that the Fourth Commandment has not the nature and force of law with respect to us. The words of introduction, 'I am Jehovah, thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,' sufficiently characterize the persons for whom the whole system was designed; and the words wrought into this very law of the Sabbath concerning the stranger which should be within their gates,' shew that it had, and was meant to have, a legal obligation upon none but Hebrews and Hebrew proselytes. And if we had none other instruction than what may be drawn from the Decalogue respecting this matter, the only question which could interest us would be this, How far it was our duty to conform to a law of God expressly given to another people, when the reason of it might seem to reach unto ourselves?" (Pp. 100–102.)

Nevertheless, he approves of" the very pious and laudable customs of causing the evidently reasonable and most important precepts of the Decalogue to be inscribed within our churches, and to be inserted in the forms of public devotion, and of catechetical instruction; by which means it is hoped that they will be frequently suggested to the mind, and may serve as a synopsis, or commonplace, of universal duty, whither and whence particular branches of it may be drawn or referred. In this view of them, the application of the Fourth Command to our times and circumstances is as easy as the application of any of the other; and the legal obligation of any of them is not, as I suppose, designed." (Pp. 102-3.)

In quoting the Fourth Commandment from Exod. xx., he gives its conclusion thus: "Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it." "Such," he observes, "is the version in other offices of the Church; and not the Sabbath-day, as in the authorized translation. And so, says Mr Hallet, the true reading is, as appears from the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic versions of this place, and

however historical they may seem, it is impossible to interpret literally (e.g., Exod. xxiv. 9-11; xxxiii. 8-23), he concludes his epistle with the following candid appeal: "Only shew me that the letter of the narrative of the Six Days is consistent with the nature of God and of things, and most cordially will I embrace your manner of expounding it. But until you have healed this wound, in vain you will seek a remedy from any other quarter, and as it were from a new blow. You see me held fast by inflexible reasons; strike off these chains, unlock for me these fetters, and I will gladly accompany you in your path." (P. 542.) See also Michaelis, below, p. 219.

from the original passage, Gen. ii. 3.' See his Notes and Discourses, vol. iii." (P. 52.)

In pages 59-65, Mr Amner endeavours to reconcile Deut. v. 15 with Exod. xx. 11, 12, but as unsuccessfully as the others who have ignored the fact that the Decalogue in Deut. v., equally with that in Exod. xx., is given as a transcript of what was written on the tables of stone. (See above, i. 156; ii. 105, 157, 173.)

As for the hypothesis that the primeval Sabbath was the first day of the week, he thinks we are nowise concerned to prove it, and that the grounds on which it has been contended for are in no small degree uncertain and fanciful. (P. 109.)

Concerning the manner in which the Lord's Day should be spent, he agrees with Watts and Chandler.

280. SECKER, THOMAS, LL.D., Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1693; died 1768).-Lectures on the Catechism of the Church of England. Lond. 1769. (In his Works, vol. x.; Lond. 1771.)

In Lecture 21st, on the Fourth Commandment, the Archbishop expresses opinions similar to those of Dr Sharp (above, p. 141). There are three sermons on the Sabbath in vol. vii. of his Works, pp. 295-374.

The twelve volumes of his Works have been reprinted in six ; Lond. 1811.

281. ORTON, JOB, D.D., an eminent Dissenting Minister at Shrewsbury (born 1717; died 1783).-—Religious Exercises recommended; or, Discourses on Secret and Family Worship, and the Religious Observation of the Lord's Day; with two Discourses on the Heavenly State, considered under the Idea of a Sabbath. Shrewsbury, 1769. (In his Practical Works, vol. ii.; Lond. 1842. 8vo.)

The opinions of the Puritans about the Sabbath are here taught by Dr Orton.

282. GILL, JOHN, D.D., a learned Baptist Minister, Pastor of a Chapel in Carter Lane, near London Bridge (born 1697; died 1771).-A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, book iii. chap. 8. Lond. 1769. 3 vols. 4to. (Reprinted in 2 vols. 8vo. 1839.)

Lond.

283. MICHAELIS, Sir JOHN DAVID, Professor of Theology and Oriental Literature in the University of Gottingen (born 1717; died 1791)-Commentaries on the Laws of Moses. Translated from the German by Alexander Smith, D.D., Minister of Chapel of Garioch, Aberdeenshire. Lond. 1814. Lond. 1814. 4 vols. 8vo.

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"The Mosaisches Recht' of the learned Michaelis," says Dr Smith in the preface to his spirited translation, "was originally published at Frankfort on the Mayn, in six parts or volumes, between the years 1770 and 1775; and it appears, from the list of the author's works annexed to Professor Hassencamp's Collection of Memoirs relative to his life and writings, that a second edition of the first five parts was completed between 1775 and 1780, and that the work had, before the year 1793, been translated into Dutch and Danish.

"From the time of his first appointment to a professorship of philosophy at Gottingen, in the year 1746, Michaelis, already eminent as an Oriental scholar, appears to have directed his chief attention to the critical illustration of the sacred writings; and the unrivalled success with which he prosecuted this most important branch of theology has been universally acknowledged in this country, since his valuable Introduction to the New Testament, rendered still more valuable by the notes and chastenings of Dr Marsh, has become accessible to English readers, by the elegant translation of that learned theologian."

The Mosaisches Recht is characterized by Professor Eichorn, in a Memoir of the Literary Character of his colleague Michaelis, as "a work before which every prior attempt of antiquarians and politicians vanishes like a shadow;—a work truly original, and to which we have scarcely anything on the subject of any government, ancient or modern, that is worthy to be compared. In all preceding treatises on the subject, every thing had been jumbled together in the most heterogeneous manner; ancient laws and institutions mingled with modern; ordinances truly Mosaic confounded with those of later times, as introduced, reformed, or, at least, altered, by the Persians, Greeks, or Romans; and the real statutes of Moses exchanged for mere Rabbinical regulations, originating either in excessive scrupulosity or silly misconception. In this state of things, and while, in their inquiries and speculations, authors on this subject betrayed only their credulity, and ignorance of political science, Michaelis made his appearance. In conducting his work, he examined the sources of information with all the aid of his historical skill and philosophical discrimination, and thus gave the subject an interest, which it could never have commanded, had he confined his attention to the mere illustration of the Mosaic constitution alone. For, those materials of that constitution, which every author before him had regarded with indifference, as mere matters of antiquarian speculation, he exhi

bited in a political point of view; endeavouring to penetrate into the nature and origin of all its parts; illustrating these from analogous circumstances in the laws and government of other nations; and, with those general remarks which he offered relative to the end and design of the several statutes, combining others respecting their local or temporary expediency; together with such farther observations as are calculated to interest, and even to instruct, the philosopher, the politician, the historian, and the antiquarian, in their several pursuits." (Quoted in the Preface, p. xix.)

As the reader may desire to know fully how the Sabbath was regarded by so sagacious and learned a thinker as Michaelis, and as the book is both voluminous and scarce, I shall extract from it every important passage in which his views of this festival are contained. To what he says of it in its minor aspects, mere references, it is thought, will be enough.

Preliminary Observations on the Sabbath.-"The seventh day of the week was ordained to be a day of divine worship, of rest, of complete freedom from bodily labour, and of recreation. It is sufficiently known by the name of the Sabbath. The statutes respecting it are recorded in Exod. xvi. 22-30; xx. 8-11; xxiii. 12; xxxi. 12-17; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 1-3; Numb. xv. 32-36; Deut. v. 12-15.

"I do not mean to speak of it here as a day of divine worship, but only as a day of recreation; partly because the former purpose more properly belongs to the province of theology and morals, and partly also because we know little as to the manner in which the Sabbath was, in the most ancient times, devoted to what we call divine worship. For from the practice of the Jews after their return from Babylon, when they assembled for prayer in their synagogues, heard the Bible read and explained, and received exhortations to duty, we can draw no inference as to the time of Moses, concerning which we know nothing but what he himself records, and in which the law not requiring explanation (because the language in which it was written was neither dead nor antiquated, but their mother-tongue understood by all), was only to be read over once every seven years.

"For the better understanding of the Mosaic law on this subject, and its comparison with the general rules of legislative policy, I must premise a few observations.

"That every people interested in the preservation of their religion must set apart, I will not say a day, but certainly a specific time, for divine worship, is obvious. This is a point, the proofs of which I willingly leave to theology, or even to philosophical ethics, from which I may here assume it as well understood. But besides this (and here I must beg leave, as it is more agreeable to present usage to employ the word days for times, without meaning, by day, either the precise period of twenty-four hours, or that from sunrise to sun-set), there is a necessity for days of rest and pleasure.