l the reign of David, four hundred and six
years, as no mention is made of it in the history of that period. But
who can be persuaded that Samuel and the pious Judges of Israel did not
regard the Sabbath. What does God say of Abraham? that he "obeyed my
voice, and kept my charge, my _commandments_, my _statutes_ and my
_laws_." (See what he calls them in Exo. xvi: 27, 30.) This, of course,
includes the whole. Then Abraham reverenced God's Sabbath. Once more,
there is no mention of the circumcision from the days of Joshua till the
days of Jeremiah, a period of more than eight hundred years. Will it be
believed that Samuel and David, and all those pious worthies with the
whole Jewish nation, neglected that essential seal of the covenant for
eight hundred years? It cannot be admitted for a moment. How [5]then
can any one suppose from the alleged silence of the sacred history that
Adam, Enoch, Noah and Abraham, kept no Sabbath, because the fact was not
stated? If we turn to Jer. ix: 25, 26, we find that they had not
neglected this right of circumcision, only they had not circumcised
their hearts; so that the proof is clear, that silence respecting the
keeping any positive command of God, is no evidence that it is not in
full force.

Again, if the Sabbath was not instituted in Paradise, why did Moses
mention it in connection with the creation of the world? Why not reserve
this fact for two or three thousand years in his history, until the
manna fell in the wilderness, (see Exo. xvi: 23) and then state that the
seventh day Sabbath commenced, as _some_ will have it? I answer, for the
very best of reasons, that it did not commence there. Let us examine the
text. "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as
much bread as on any preceding day, and _all the rulers of the
congregation came and told Moses_. And he said unto them this is that
which the Lord hath said, _to-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath_,
bake that which ye will bake, &c. &c." If this had been the establishing
of the holy Sabbath and Moses had said to-morrow _shall be_ the Sabbath,
then would it have been clear; but no, he speaks as familiarly about it
as we do when we say that to-morrow is the Sabbath, showing conclusively
that it was known before, or how could the people have known that they
must gather two day's manna on Friday the sixth day, unless they had had
some previous knowledge of the Sabbath? for Moses had already taught
them