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The seventh day is called the Sabbath and signifies rest. For in it
God rested from all His works, as the divine Scripture says: and so
the number of the days goes up to seven and then circles back again and
begins at the first. This is the precious number with the Jews. God
having ordained that it should be held in honour, and that in no chance
fashion but with the imposition of most heavy penalties for the
transgression. And it was not in a simple fashion that He ordained
this, but for certain reasons understood mystically by the spiritual
and clear-sighted.
So far, indeed, as I in my ignorance know, to begin with inferior
and more dense things, God, knowing the denseness of the Israelites
and their carnal love and propensity towards matter in everything, made
this law: first, in order that the servant and the cattle should rest
as it is written, for the righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast: next, in order that when they take their ease from the
distraction of material things, they may gather together unto God,
spending the whole of the seventh day in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs and the study of the divine Scriptures and resting in God. For
when the law did not exist and there was no divinely-inspired
Scripture, the Sabbath was not consecrated to God. But when the
divinely-inspired Scripture was given by Moses, the Sabbath was
consecrated to God in order that on it they, who do not dedicate their
whole life to God, and who do not make their desire subservient to the
as though to a Father, but are like foolish servants, may on that day
talk much concerning the exercise of it, and may abstract a small,
truly a most insignificant, portion of their life for the service of
God, and this from fear of the chastisements and punishments which
threaten transgressors. For the law is not made for a righteous man
but for the unrighteous. Moses, of a truth, was the first to abide
fasting with God for forty days and again for another forty, and thus
doubtless to afflict himself with hunger on the Sabbaths although the
law forbade self-affliction on the Sabbath. But if they should
object that this took place before the law, what will they say about
Elias the Thesbite who accomplished a journey of forty days on one
meal? For he, by thus afflicting himself on the Sabbaths not only
with hunger but with the forty days' journeying, broke the Sabbath:
and yet God, Who gave the law, was not wroth with him but shewed
Himself to him on Choreb as a reward for his virtue. And what will
they say about Daniel? Did he not spend three weeks without food?
And again, did not all Israel circumcise the child on the Sabbath,
if it happened to be the eighth day after birth? And do they not hold
the great fast which the law enjoins if it falls on the Sabbath? And
further, do not the priests and the Levites profane the Sabbath in
the works of the tabernacle and yet are held blameless? Yea, if an ox
should fall into a pit on the Sabbath, he who draws it forth is
blameless, while he who neglects to do so is condemned. And did not
all the Israelites compass the walls of Jericho bearing the Ark of
God for seven days, in which assuredly the Sabbath was included. As
I said, therefore, for the purpose of securing leisure to worship
God in order that they might, both servant and beast of burden,
devote a very small share to Him and be at rest, the observance of the
Sabbath was devised for the carnal that were still childish and in the
bonds of the elements of the world, and unable to conceive of anything
beyond the body and the letter. But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth His Only-begotten Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we
might receive the adoption of sons. For to as many of us as received
Him, He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on Him. So that we are no longer servants but sons: no longer under
the law but under grace: no longer do we serve God in part from fear,
but we are bound to dedicate to Him the whole span of our life, and
cause that servant, I mean wrath and desire, to cease from sin and
bid it devote itself to the service of God, always directing our whole
desire towards God and arming our wrath against the enemies of God:
and likewise we hinder that beast of burden, that is the body, from
the servitude of sin, and urge it forwards to assist to the uttermost
the divine precepts.
These are the things which the spiritual law of Christ enjoins on us
and those who observe that become superior to the law of Moses. For
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done away: and when the covering of the law, that is, the veil, is
rent asunder through the crucifixion of the Saviour, and the Spirit
shines forth with tongues of fire, the letter shall be done away with,
bodily things shall come to an end, the law of servitude shall be
fulfilled, and the law of liberty be bestowed on us. Yea we shall
celebrate the perfect rest of bureau nature, I mean the day after the
resurrection, on which the Lord Jesus, the Author of Life and our
Saviour, shall lead us into the heritage promised to those who serve
God in the spirit, a heritage into which He entered Himself as our
forerunner after He rose from the dead, and whereon, the gates of
Heaven being opened to Him, He took His seat in bodily form at the
right hand of the Father, where those who keep the spiritual law shall
also come.
What belongs to us, therefore, who walk by the spirit and not by the
letter, is the complete abandonment of carnal things, the spiritual
service and communion with God. For circumcision is the abandonment
of carnal pleasure and of whatever is superfluous and unnecessary. For
the foreskin is nothing else than the skin which it superfluous to the
organ of lust. And, indeed, every pleasure which does not arise from
God nor is in God is superfluous to pleasure: and of that the
foreskin is the type. The Sabbath, moreover, is the cessation from
sin; so that both things happen to be one, and so both together, when
observed by those who are spiritual, do not bring about any breach of
the law at all.
Further, observe that the number seven denotes all the present time,
as the most wise Solomon says, to give a portion to seven and also to
eight. And David, the divine singer when he composed the eighth
psalm, sang of the future restoration after the resurrection from the
dead. Since the Law, therefore, enjoined that the seventh day
should be spent in rest from carnal things and devoted to spiritual
things, it was a mystic indication to the true Israelite who had a
mind to see God, that he should through all time offer himself to God
and rise higher than carnal things.
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