108 ABROGATION OP THE SABBATH. 



The " week" Tvholly independent of the Sabhath. 



here confounded two tbings not only different in tlieir origin, 

 but entirely independent of each otber, as a very brief considera- 

 tion will illustrate. Time is necessarily measured by planetary 

 pbenomena : as is observed in days — montlis — years — witb tbeir 

 conventional subdivisions ; (sucb as tbe four seasons of the 

 year — tbe four watcbes of tbe nigbt — or tbe four quarterings of 

 tbe lunation, or montb.) Indeed tbe interval from new to 

 full moon (fourteen days) is almost as striking as tbat from 

 sunrise to sunset. But wbile tbe *' montb" itself is an absolute- 

 ly universal measure of time, nations of different origins have 

 made different suhdivisions of tbe "new moon."* Tbus, tbe 

 Oriental nations generally, adopted tbe most natural division of 

 it into quarterings (ov weeksof sevendays); tbe ancient Greeks 

 divided it into thirds (decliemera of ten days), wbicb was some- 

 wbat modified by tbe Romans; tbe Cbinese, into sixtlis (of five 

 days) ) tbe aborigines of America, into tbe same. Tbe instruct- 

 ive fact is, tbat tbe oriental week (of seven days) is unknown 

 and untraced, wbere tbe division of tbe crescent and waning 

 moon (eacb into two parts) bas not formed tbe basis of com- 

 putation !f Now tbe week was evidently familiar to tbe Pa- 



* "It is plainly to be gathered from maiiy evidences," says the 

 leamed Spenger, " that the nations of the earth observed the new- 

 moon as a sacred festival long before the time of Moses." (De Leg. 

 Heh. Lib. iii. Dissert. iv. cap. 1, sect. 1.) It is worthy of remark, 

 that while the Jewish nation have unanimously asserted the 3fosaic 

 introduction of the Sabbath, they have as unanimously assigned to the 

 festival of the new moon a long antecedent, and sometimes even a 

 Noachic origin. In perfect conformity, too, with this belief, we ob- 

 serve that while the Scriptures ordain and enforce the Sabbath with a 

 particularity and a frequency altogether unparalleled — the new-moon 

 is never expressly established, but always alluded to as a well-known 

 festival. [Numb. x. 10 ; xxviii. 11 ; 2 Chron. ii. 4 ; Ezra, iii. 5 ; &c.) 

 And to complete the demonstration, while the most ancient heathen 

 poets are absolutely silent on the subject of a " Sabbath," they fre- 

 quently speak of the "new-moon" celebration. 



f Hence the frequency with which "New-moons" and <' Sabbaths" 



