Did  not  Noah  observe  the  holy  day,  when,  after
waiting  seven  days  for  divine  deliverance,  once  and
again  he  sent  forth  a  dove  to  discover  signs  of  answer
to  his  prayers?  Did  not  Israel  remember  it  when,
after  being  deprived  of  its  proper  freedom  and  promise
two  hundred  years,  they  demanded  from  Pharaoh  the
restoration  of  its  privileges  ?  The  first  act  of  rebel-
lion against  their  oppressors  seems  to  have  been  turn-
ing from  their  imposed  tasks  to  hallow  the  Sabbath.
Pharaoh  complained  to  Moses  that  the  people  wanted
to  "sabbatize."  Later,  Moses  demanded  release  for
the  people  that  they  might  go  out  of  the  cities,  and
in  the  retirement  of  the  wilderness  enjoy  a  prolonged
freedom  in  the  renewal  of  their  covenant  with  God,
and  in  their  Sabbath  worship.  After  they  began
their   Exodus,  how  rigorous    the    observance  of   the


ESTABLISHED    IN   EDEN.  23

Sabbath  !  How  plausible  the  right  of  a  people  to
gather  manna  on  the  seventh  as  on  all  other  days  !
But  the  prestige  of  an  accepted  divine  law  prevented
it.  Hundreds  of  thousands,  intoxicated  by  their  new-
found liberty,  and  impatient  of  all  restraint,  refrained
from  gathering  manna  on  the  Sabbath,  and  stoned  one
who  picked  up  sticks,  in  violation  of  the  holy  day.
There  is  no  more  intimation  of  the  abrogation  of  the
Sabbath  before  Moses  than  after  Moses.
