holy because devoted in a special manner to holiness and to religion. It was also a sign, and, as it were, a memorial, of the stupendous work of the creation. To the Jews it was also a traditional sign, reminding them that they had been delivered by the hand of God from the galling yoke of Egyptian bondage. This the Almighty himself declares in these words: " Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the Sabbath day."
It is also a sign of the spiritual and celestial Sabbath. The spiritual Sabbath consists in a holy and mystical rest, wherein the old man, being buried with Christ, is renewed to life, and studies to act in accordance with the spirit of Christian piety: " you were, therefore, darkness," says the Apostle, " but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light; for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice and truth, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." [1] The celestial Sabbath, as St. Cyril observes on these words of the Apostle, " There remaineth therefore a day of rest for the people of God," [2] [3] is that life which we shall enjoy with Christ, in the fruition of all good, when sin shall be no more, according to these words of Isaias: " No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go it, nor be found there; but a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way;" [4] for the souls of the saints enjoy the plenitude of happiness in the vision of God. The pastor therefore will exhort and animate the faithful in the words of the Apostle: " Let us hasten there fore to enter into that rest." [5]
Besides the Sabbath, the Jews observed other festivals which were instituted by the divine law, and the end and aim of which was to awaken in the people the recollection of the principal favours conferred on them by the Almighty. On these festivals the pastor will see Leviticus, [6] Numbers, [7] and Deuteronomy; [8] and on the moral objects contemplated in the institution of such festivals, he may also consult St. Cyril, [9] and St. Thomas. [10]
But the Church of God has in her wisdom ordained that the celebration of the Sabbath should be transferred to " the Lord's-day:" as on that day light first shone on the world, so by the resurrection of our Lord on the same day, by whom was thrown open to us the gate to eternal life, we were called out of darkness into light; and hence the Apostle would have it called "the Lord's-day." We also learn from the sacred Volume that the first day of the week was held sacred for other reasons: on that day the work of the creation commenced, and on that day the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles. From the
