MR. TAYLOR' S FIRST REPLY. 39 



Paurs Epistle to the Colossians. Distinguished expositors concurrent. 



complete dedication of himself to his service. See Athanasius, 

 Hom. de Sab. ; — Hieronymus, in Decalog. ; — Origen, Trad. 

 19 in Matt. ; — Chrjsostom, Hom. 39 in Matt. xii. ; — Justin 

 Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. ; — Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. 

 lib. iv. ) — and Augustine, passim ; — all of whom hold this 

 language. I refer, however," continues Whately, " to these 

 and other authorities, not as giddes to regulate our faith and 

 practiee, for I am*taught to 'call no man Master upon earth;' 

 but merely to show that the novelty which has heen attributed 

 to my views lies, in fact, on the other side.'^ {Essay v. Note 

 A. On the Sabhath.) 



But we must return to Paul. " Let no man judge you," 

 says he to the Colossians (ii. 16), ^' in respect of an holy day 

 . or of the Sabbath-days ; which are a shadow of 

 things to comej but the body is of Christ.'' At first sight, 

 this really looks as if the apostle intended to teach us that 

 the Sabbath was a " provisional type, fulfilled and superseded 

 by the Gospel dispensation V But my friend J. N. B. says 

 he did not " ref er to the Sabbath of the Decalogue, but only 

 to the ceremonial fasts and festivals of the Jews.*' How un- 

 fortunate for my hypothesis ! It is some encouragement, how- 

 ever, to find that John Calvin expressly quotes this text, 

 in his exposition of the fourth commandment, and approves its 

 literal application. • " Therefore the apostle says, in another 

 place, that the Sabbath was a shadow of something future, but 

 the body was in Christ that is, the real substance of the truth, 

 as he has there well unfolded.'' {Cahin^s Institutes, B. ii. ch. 

 8.) I have the satisfaction also of discovering that Martin 

 Luther, John Milton, Richard Baxter, Isaac Bar- 

 Row, John Bunyan, and a few other minds of the same 

 stamp, all apply this text to the fourth commandment. Jeremy 

 Taylor very concisely remarks : " That we are free from the 

 observation of the Sabbath, St. Paul expressly affirms in Co- 

 lossians.^' (^Ductor Dubitant. B. ii. ch. 2, rule vi. 52.) Arch. 

 deacon Paley, an able Biblical critic, and certainly a close 



