mutual concord with one another, and the charitable
distribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades,
and our fortitude in undergoing the distresses we are in, on
account of our laws; and, what is here matter of the greatest
admiration, our law hath no bait of pleasure to allure men to
it, but it prevails by its own force; and as God Himself
pervades all the world, so hath our law passed through all the
world also."[289:1]

Philo, the Jew, bears equally distinct testimony to the fact that
wheresoever the Jews were carried in their dispersion, their laws and
religious customs, especially their observance of every seventh day,
attracted attention, and even secured a certain amount of acceptance.
The Jews, therefore, even when, as a nation, they were ruined and
crushed, proved themselves possessed of such vital force, of such
tenacity, as to impress their conquerors with interest in, and respect
for, their sabbatic customs. Of their tenacity and force in general, of
their power to influence the nations amongst whom they have been
scattered, the history of the last two thousand five hundred years is
eloquent. It is not reasonable, nor scientific, to suppose that this
nation, steel since it returned from its captivity in Babylon, was wax
before.

But the third suggestion as to the origin of the week of seven
days,--that it was derived from the influence of the planets,--makes the
matter clearer still. This suggestion has already been noticed in the
chapter on "Saturn and Astrology." It is sufficient to say here that it
presupposes a state of astronomical advancement not attained until long
after the sabbath was fully known. The Babylonians did observe the seven
planets, but there is no trace of their connection with the Babylonian
week. But when the Greek astronomers had worked out that system of the
planetary motions which we call after Ptolemy, and the planets had been
fitted by the Alexandrian observers to the days of the Jewish week and
the hours of the Egyptian day, then the Babylonian astrologers also
adopted the mongrel combination. Thus indirectly Babylon received the
free week from the Jews, and did not give it.

"The oldest use of the free and uniform week is found among
the Jews, who had only a most imperfect knowledge of the
planets. The identity of the number of the days in the week
with that of the planets is purely accidental, and it is n