MR. TAYLOR';? THIRD REPLY. 201 



No "proportion of days" specified by the fourth commandment. 



the Decalogue itself [?], is tlie seventh in succession — no 

 other — no less — no more. ' Every word of God is pure. 

 Add tliou not imto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou 

 be found a liar/ is a warning that shoiild pierce every con- 

 seience to the quick." (j^- l^^O 



My friend is still in the fog. ^^The projoortion of oiir days 

 to be kept holy" is not specified at all in the fourth command- 

 ment ! There is not one syllable of the kind in it.* This is 

 an " addltion unto His words !" The command is not to keep 

 a seventh '^ proportion" of time; but to '^remember the 

 Sabbath day, which is [yom ha-shihingi] 'day the seventh/ " 

 the day in which God rested ; the only day that can be 'Hhe 

 Sabbath o/the Lord thy God/' as the Bible tells not that He 

 ever kept any other "Sabbath." (^Gen. ii. 3; JoTinY. 17.) 

 " 'The seventh day' of the Decalogue, as f ar as it is defined 

 hy the DecaJogue itself ^^ is NOT " the seventh in succession/' 

 nor anything else. The idea is a chimera, utterly unworthy 

 '' a sober logician." '"'' As far as it is defined by the Decalogue 

 itself/' the expression yom, ha-shihingi might be '' day of the 

 new moon/' or " all-fools day." The Biblical interpreter 

 should know that "definitions" are derived from the traditions 

 of language, and the comparisons of application. 



J. N. B. tells us that "the Decalogue says : 'Remember 

 the Sahhatli day to keep it holy/ not 'Eemember the seventh 



•5^ " The proportion of days to be kept holy to the Lord" is a much 

 larger one than J. N. B. has been pleased to assume. If he will turn 

 to Levit. xxiii. he will find in this one chapter no less than eight different 

 "Sabbaths" enjoined. 1. The weekly Sabbath {verse 3); 2. The 

 first of unleavened bread [v. 7) ; 3. The seventh of iinleavened bread 

 {v. 8) ; 4. The Pentecost {v. 21) ; 5. The Sabbath of trumpets {v. 24) ; 6. 

 The day of atonement {v. 32) ; 7. The first of tabernacles {v. 35) ; 8. The 

 seventh of tabernacles [v. 36). In no single instance, however, is any 

 "proportion" of time "specified." This can only be discovered by 

 computation. The requirement of the law is, in every case, a well- 

 determined " day," — no other — no less — no more. 



