MR. TAYLOR^ S SECOND REPLY. 115 



Ileathen testimonies concerniug the Sabbath. Agathakchides. 



tion to mj friend's cause, I suppose he will hardlj be desirous 

 of accepting. 



Sucb, then, is the whole amoiint of pagan authority J. N. B. 

 is able to present in attestation of " the sort of sanctitj attached 

 to the seventh day among the ancient heathen nations!" [p. 

 50.) The truth is, "we discover no trace of a Sahhath" even 

 among those oriental nations which had the he.hdomade or 

 week: but to the Greeks, the iceth ttself icas unknoicn! — thcir 

 smallest interval being the decade or period of ten days.* 



I will therefore make ''the bold and unfortunate assertion," 

 that neither in Hesiod, nor in Homer, nor in Callimachus, 

 the three classical writers adduced by J. N. B. from Dr. 

 Dwight {Theologi/, vol. iii. Serm. 107), and by Dr. Dwight 

 from element of Alexandria {Stromat. lib. v.), can the most 

 distant allusion be discovered to sabbatical or septenary in- 

 stitutions. And without having " read all history," I will 

 further venture to affirm that no such allusion can be found 

 throughout the entire range of Grecian literature ! I challenge 

 all the learning that is in the heads of all the Sabbatarians, 

 (and that is not little), to cite one solitary hint of a Sabbath, 

 or even of a week ! 



Since J. N. B. invites me upon classic ground, I accompany 

 him with pleasiire; and I have the satisfaction of affirming 

 (with a confidence which I hope will not be deemed presump- 

 tuous), that no Pagan writer ever alludes to the hebdomadal 

 " Sabbath,'^ otherwise than as a leading Jeunsli characteristic ! 



Agatharchides, a Greek writer, who flourished B. c. 120, 

 thought this observance one of the most remarkable of the 

 Jewish customs. Though none of his works are now extant, 



* "The ancient Greeks and Romans had no division properly an- 

 swering to our weeks ; although the former had their decade of days ; 

 and the latter their nundinæ, or market days, occurring every ninth 

 day. But the Egyptians and oriental nations had a iceek of seven 

 days." (Eschenburg's Ilanual of Class. Lit. edited by Prof. Fiske, 

 Part v. sec. 191; or of the 4th edition, Part i. sec. 191, b.) 



