The Week 53 



Not only, however, is the great antiquity of the weekly 

 cycle sufficiently and conclusively established, but its wide 

 expansion over the world, even to islands of the southern 

 oceans, argues a far more ancient origin than that to which, 

 it has been commonly referred. If, as modern criticism 

 claims to have shown, the Hebrew Scriptures were not com- 

 piled before the time of Ezra, or Hilkiah, or Samuel at 

 farthest* (that is the 5th, the 7th, or the 11th century B.C.), 

 the Sabbath (and the Jews had no specific names for the 

 other days of the week*)-), which is not mentioned from the 

 40th to the 15th century B.C., was actually not instituted — 

 even for the Jews — according to their own records, until at 

 least 15 centuries (and probably many more) after the 

 septenary cycle was in use by the Chaldeans, the Hindoos, 

 and probably the Scandinavians and Chinese. But even 

 supposing for the nonce that Moses himself really had insti- 

 tuted the Jewish Sabbath, his reputed date is only the 16th 

 century B.C., while Fo Hi's in China was the 33rd ; the Kali 

 Yug in India was the 31st ; the Scandinavian was the 23rd; 

 and Egyptian records, according to Bunsen, extend back to 

 the 35th, when the astronomy from which their eras were 

 all derived was forgotten and lost. It has always been a 

 standing difficulty — why, if the Sabbath was, as such, 

 instituted at the supposed creation — or 40 centuries B.C., its 

 observance should never have been inculcated even on the 

 Jews for more than 20 centuries after. The accommodative 

 principle upon which the recorded six days of creation have 

 been expanded into as many geological periods, only 

 magnifies this difficulty indefinitely. 



This rough sketch of the materials for forming an opinion 

 respecting the age and origin of the week, is far from 

 exhaustive, or even satisfactory in itself; being based 

 necessarily upon anything but original authorities. But it is, 

 I think, amply sufficient for my purpose, which is simply to 

 show that though doubtless Sunday was always as sacred 

 for us in Europe as Friday is for a Hindoo or a Mahometan, 

 or Saturday for a Jew ; yet there is evidently nothing 

 intrinsic in the day itself, or in the septenary cycle, or in the 

 origin of either, to determine their perpetuation otherwise 

 than as they concur with human convenience. But if there 

 were other grounds for preserving either intact, still after 



* See Home's Introduction, and Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel. 

 t Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. iv. p. 413. English Cyclopaedia and Home's 

 Introduction. 



