268 ABROGATION OF THE SABBATH. 



The Decalogvie entirely "local and temporary." 



lu thus maintaining for it the character by which ''it is 

 distinctly recognized by Christ and his Apostles/' it will ne- 

 cessarily be shown that J. N. B. has wholly misconceived this 

 character. " Not a trace of anything local, temporary, cere- 

 monial, or shadowy, is in it !'^ says he. Unfortunate error ! 

 '' I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the 

 land of Egypt.'' Is there nothing '' local or temporary" here? 

 (Jer. xvi. 14; Heb. viii. 9.) — " Visiting the iniqidty of tlie 

 fathers upon the third and fourth generation.'' Nothing 

 " local or temporary" here ? {Ezeh. xviii. 20 ; Jer. xxxi. 29, 

 30; Gal. vi. 5.) — "Thou wast a servant in the land of 

 Egypt — tlierefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to kcep 

 the Sabbath day." Nothing '' local or temporary" here ? 

 {Iscd. xliii. 18; Jer. xxiii. 7; Gal. iv. 3— 5.)— "The seventh 

 day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Nothing " local 

 or temporary" here? {Exod. xxxi. 15, 17; Heb. iv. 4 — 10; 

 hal. Ixv. 17.) — " Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy 

 days may be long upon tlie land ivliich the Lord thy God giveth 

 thee.*' Nothing " local or temporary" here? (Josh. i. 11.)* 

 Alas ! for the cause whose advocacy involves such reckless as- 

 sertion. Every syllable of the Decalogue is made " local and 

 temporary" by its very Preamhle: the universal criterion of 

 the object of a law, and its prime interpreter. And be it 

 carefully remembered, that the Decalogue has never heen en- 

 acted with any other "preamlÅe ! 



Is this " Anti-nomianism ?" Weak indeed is the faith, and 



* " Why," says Selden, " shoulcl I tliink all the fourth commancl- 

 nient belongs to me, when all the fifth does not ? What land will the 

 Lord give me for honoring my father ? It was spoken to the Jeies with 

 reference to the land of Canaan." [Tahle Talk.) 



Dr. Gill justly remarks of the promise given in the fifth command- 

 ment, " This further confirms the observation made, that this body of 

 laws belonged peculiarly to the people of Israel." [Com. in loco.) 



Paul, with his characteristic love of illustration and adaptation, 

 has extended this "promise" by a liberal paraphrase. [Eph. vi. 3.) 



