MR. TAYLOR' S FIRST REPLY. 21 



A particular day eujoined by the law. The Manna— an authority. 



time'' for rest. In every variety, and on every occasion of its 

 enunciation, the law pertinaciously requires a particular day 

 for its observance ; and by wLatever means " the date of the 

 reckoning/^ and the identity of this period may be discovered, 

 it is obvious that, if once ascertained, it becomes the exclusive 

 object of the la Vs consideration, and engrosses its entire au- 

 thority. It is not true that any or " every seventh day for 

 devotional rest" will meet its requirements. Wherever the 

 Sabbath is enjoined, with a remarkable reiteration it uniformly 

 and expressly limits it to " the seventh day." The command 

 leaves no crevice for evasion. 



But " the Decalogue knows nothing of Saturday !" — that is, 

 not that " Saturday" was unknown in ancient Hehrew — being 

 plain modern Saxon — but the law does not define its terms, 

 and tell which is " the seventh day." " From the Decalogue 

 alone, I repeat it, no man could determine when the week 

 should begin or end." Most profound and undisputed truth ! 

 And the law does not define (which is far more practicable) 

 the very important word '^work." ^'From the Decalogue 

 alone, no man could" possibly know what the word signified. 

 And in point of fact, the first recorded case of conviction, 

 under the sabbath law, exhibits a difficulty of construction 

 upon this very word. (JVumh. xv. 34.) But it has never 

 yet been heard of, even among " the lawyers," that a doubt 

 could be raised as to its enacted day. Every child that could 

 count its fingers knew perfectly which was "the seventh day;" 

 — just as perfectly, and just in the same manner, as he knew 

 how many constituted "seven," — by unquestioned accep- 

 tation. An authority for " the date of the reckoning, and of 

 course for the day itself," will be found in Exod. xvi. 27. 

 That the received computation is identical with the ancient — 

 that Saturday is "the Sabbath enjoined in the Decalogue" — is 

 as certain as human knowledge can be, even concerning the 

 Bible itself. No historical monument is more reliable than 

 the Israelite's traditionary Sabbath. On one point at least, 



