tax, are evidence of its being far less ancient than the Celtic. It also contains many words of the same sound and import with the Celtic, and which may have been borrowed from the language of the ancient Druids."

The same writer may be quoted still further. "It is asserted that an inwrought feature of the Hebrew language evinces the institution of the weekly Sabbath, to have been coetaneous with the human species. ~ That feature is borne by the Hebrew word which represents the word seven.'

Will it be said, that "all those nations were originally indebted to the Jews," for a knowledge of this institution? Would they borrow from, or pattern after the Jews?—The Egyptians, who abhorred them; the Assyrians, who hated them; the barbarous Arab; the proud and haughty Greek and Roman? Surely they would not. God had caused that institution to come down to each of them, independently of the Jews.

An interesting document, recently published in the ASIATIC JOURNAL, respecting a Jewish colony in China, throws light on this subject. We shall make but a single extract from it.

"The prime minister of the empire affirms that the Sabbath was anciently observed by the Chinese, in conformity to the directions of the king, [Canonical books,] and that the Jewish letters approach nearly to the form of the ancient Chinese char

acters."

"The EASTERNS counted time by nights"-seven nights. We infer from the above, that the Chinese, from the commencement of their language, were acquainted with a Sabbath, and observed

it.

"The Celts kept as holy time, the nights before and after the seventh day."

From JEWITT's account of the natives of Nootka Sound, whose language he thinks was mainly Hebrew, it would seem that religious rites were observed by that people, and lasted, on some occasions, seven, and on others fourteen days.

What but a traditionary knowledge of the six days' labor, and the seventh day of rest, at the creation of the world, could have induced, all nations, scattered and diversified as they are and have been, to agree on this division of their time?

OBJECTION II.-"THIS AUTHORITY BINDS ONLY THE JEWS." It is believed, that all who embrace the religion of the Bible, as their religion, acknowledge that the Jews were bound to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, holy. They must do no work. "Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates."

But when it is said, that the fourth commandment is binding equally on the Gentile as on the Jew; that it is equally important for the Gentile to remember the work of creation, and no less necessary and desirable, that he and his household, the stranger and his cattle, should rest one day in seven, then we find those who do believe, or affect to believe, a very different doctrine. They deny that the Sabbath was ever intended for any other people than the Jews; and say, that it had its origin when given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and was done away at the coming of Christ.

That blessed book which contains this law, together with the New Testament in Christ's blood, has reached us Gentiles. It contains the same moral law which governed the inhabitants of the old world; and if this law is not designed for us, then we have no law. Not even a traditionary notion of any exists; and none is now to be found for us, unless what is contained in the word of the Old and New Testament is for us.

If then we are governed by any law, it must be the law given to the Jews; would we know the character of the true God, we must learn it from the Bible.

CONSEQUENCES TO THE GENTILES, IF THERE IS NO SABBATH FOR

THEM.

Before undertaking to prove, that the Sabbath was designed for the Gentiles as well as the Jews, it may be well to consider the consequences to us, if intended only for the latter. Suppose it could be proved, that we are not bound to keep the Sabbath, would Christians rejoice in the discovery, and gladly neglect to keep it holy? No. The Christian's enemies would rejoice-it would create a triumph through all their ranks. If it were proved that we Gentiles are not bound by the moral law, would

the Gentile have cause to rejoice? Is it such a favor to be left without law? Then is it a favor to be without any claim to one of those promises, which the Bible holds out to the Jew. Then is it a favor to be cast out from the friendship of God, to wander hither and thither, through this unfriendly world, without guide or protector, or any knowledge of what we shall be when death shall close the scene. For, aside from the commands and revelations in the Bible of the Jews, which are closely connected, there is not a single clear intimation of the will of God concerning us, nor a ray of hope to the desponding soul. Instead of its being a favor to be released from obligation to keep God's Sabbath, the knowledge of such release would be misery to his children. It is chilling to our heart's blood to think of our Father in heaven excluding us from the circle of his protection and control. We would infinitely rather be accountable and responsible creatures, amenable to his tribunal, and under all the moral obligations which rested on the Jews. Let us have a Sabbath, in which we may enjoy sweet intercourse with our Maker; let us look with an eye of favor on the evidence that we Gentiles are not shut out from the inner circle of his presence, and the light of his countenance, on that blessed day. If God is willing to honor us with such an opportunity of exalted intercourse, let no man rob us of the privilege, and thus degrade us.

But perhaps some may think, we need not fear nor be ashamed of our degradation, because they imagine the hour at hand, when we shall die like brutes, considered like them too mean to be raised from corruption. Consolation in being annihilated! Scarce consolation to the inmates of the pit.

Our thoughts involuntarily recur to the state in which we should be, without law, or God, or Friend, or Protector. Are we then less thought of or cared for than brutes that perish? God heareth the young raven, when he cries, and supplieth his need. The young lions, when they roar and suffer hunger, receive their meat from his hand. He clothes the lily in robes more gorgeous than Solomon's. But we, poor Gentiles, must we, ignorant of our duty to Him, without revelation of His will to us, toil on without Sabbath, without joy, without communion with the Father of our spirits?

MAN'S RELATIONS AND OBLIGATIONS.

Man, from his relation to his Creator, has always been under obligation to love him supremely, and from his relations to his fellow men to love them as himself; hence the duty of dealing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, before the ten commandments were given to the Jews as well as after. For, previously to that time, all men were as really under law, and accountable to God, as the Jews have been since. Though the will of God was more clearly revealed to the Jews than to any other nation; though they had more blessings and privileges secured to them than their idolatrous neighbors; yet this, while it increased the weight, did not alter the nature of their obligations. God's people, now, though composed principally of Gentiles, are as much his people, and as much entitled to all the privileges which are suited to make them happy, as the Jews were. God's moral claims on them are the same, and they are under no less obligation to walk in the ways of his commandments blameless. The same moral laws which bind the righteous in every age, to fulfill the great Law of Love, extend to the wicked also. If these obligations should be met and fulfilled by the Jews, as sacred obligations which they owe to God and man, and as productive of the happiest consequences, why not by the Gentiles for the same reason?

If it be objected, that a change has taken place since the coming of the Savior, it may be answered, that the change consists in breaking down the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and by this means making the latter, equally with the former, participate fully in all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel. Whatever the Jews were bound to do under the Old Testament dispensation as typical of Christ, ceased of course to be obligatory on them, when Christ had, by his sufferings and death, fulfilled the types and promises: so that what is peculiar to that dispensation is now no more binding on either Jew or Gentile. If then the ten commandments are to be regarded as peculiar to the ancient dispensation, and are not binding on the Gentile, they are not on the Jew. And as Christ gave no new law, the Gentiles are of course utterly destitute of law, and so

are the Jews. We are therefore brought to the conclusion, that all persons are now left as destitute of written law as were the antediluvians. Has God then finally concluded, since his creatures have broken all his laws, that they may go on without any? If not, all the moral laws, which were binding on the Jews before the coming and crucifixion of the Savior, are and were equally binding on the whole human family. If any benefit was derived to the Jews from the keeping of a Sabbath, then the same benefit belongs to us and to our children. For he hath made us both one, so that in Christ Jesus there is no longer either Jew or Gentile.

Thus it clearly appears, that if the Sabbath was designed only for the Jews, then we Gentiles are under no obligation to observe any of the ten commandments, for they, all alike, were given either to the Jews alone, or to both Jews and Gentiles.

This is sound logic, and, if the objector's premises are correct, leaves the Gentile without law, without Gospel, without Sabbath, without promised blessings, temporal or spiritual; without a guide or friend when he leaves this world, and consequently without hope. To this conclusion we have been laboring to bring the reader. O, wicked man, do you rejoice that you have no one to look after and provide for you-no promise of future good? If you are free from the obligation of any one of the ten commands, you are free from them all. And not a ray of light shines from the Bible, by which you can look into the future: all beyond the grave is dark uncertainty; you know not whether you are to be annihilated, whether there is for you a heaven or a hell; or whether you are to live in the form of a reptile. In this situation, you may look upon yourselves, wretched outcasts from God, from heaven, and the blessings of Revelation; no one to hear your prayers, listen to your sighs, and still the troubles of a disordered mind. The state of the heathen philosophers, who wept because they knew not what was before them, in another world, was far preferable to yours; for they knew of no Bible, of no people who had been so highly distinguished above them, as the Jews have been above you. The Jews are going to heaven or to hell: you know not to what you are going!