"his house had been called a house of prayer for all people," and the Lord God had gathered unto Christ others than" the outcasts of Israel." The prediction therefore is completely fulfilled in the Christian dispensation, under which, it is declared in the prophecy, that the sabbath should continue a divine institution, and that those who keep from polluting it, taking hold of the new covenant, shall be made joyful in the church, which is the house of prayer for all people. The house of God was never "the house of prayer for all people," till the Gentiles, under the gospel dispensation, were admitted to all the privileges of grace; and under this dispensation the sabbath was not only to continue, but a special blessing is annexed to the observance of it. This interpretation is supported by a commentator whose sceptical notions on some important articles render his authority less suspicious where he agrees with the orthodox. "As the persons here intended, says he, are not proselytes to the Jewish religion, but mere Gentiles, who were under no obligation to observe any part of the Mosaic Law, as such, and yet are considered as highly commendable for keeping the sabbath, it seems to me that a strong argument may hence be drawn in support of the opinion, that the sabbath was instituted by God at the beginning of the world, and that it was obligatory on all men to whom that institution was made known. The promise in Isaiah is not confined to persons who might be desirous of living among the Jews, but extends to all strangers in any part of the world, who, not being proselytes to the Jewish religion, might be induced to forsake idolatry, and to observe the sabbath "." In another place Isaiah says, "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy-day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." This passage has primarily so evident a reference to the Jewish sabbath, that I have not scrupled so to apply it in the preceding section. But when it is con-. sidered that the Evangelical prophet is continually extending his view to the future kingdom of grace, that in these latter parts of his predictions he refers more particularly to the blessings of the gospel dispensation, and that he had a Dodson, Translation of Isaiah, note in loc. See also Dwight, Theology, Serm. 105. • Isa. lviii. 13, 14. little before, in the sixty-fifth chapter, referred to the Christian sabbath, it is highly probable that he here treats of the Jewish, with allusion to the Christian festival. "Perhaps, says Bp. Jebb, in no other passage are its duties, its enjoyments, and its rewards, so happily described, as in the text. The prophet writes, no less for Christians, than for Jews. He looks beyond a cold formality of ritual obedience, to the enlarged and free spirit of rational devotion. With him the sabbath breathes, as it ever ought to breathe, the cheerful animation of a festival "." Again, Isaiah says; "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." The chapter from which this is extracted, together with the preceding one, manifestly relate, as Bishop Lowth observes, to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction by the Romans. The application to the times of the gospel is so extremely P Bp. Jebb, Sermons on Isa. lviii. 13, 9 Isa. lxvi. 22, 23. 14. p. 140. evident, that those who are apt to be somewhat sceptical in the interpretation of prophecy have not denied it, as Grotius, Le Clerc, and Dathe. In the prophetical description of the new economy it is declared, that all flesh should worship the Lord," from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another;" that is, as many understand it, believers should offer up their public devotions, not only every month, but on every sabbath day. It must be allowed however, that the expressions may only be intended to signify generally, that public worship should be offered to the Deity, under the new economy, at the seasons appointed for it, without determining what those seasons should be ". The same doubt attaches to a passage in Ezekiel wherein mention is made of the sabbath, "Likewise the people of the Lord shall worship "Omnis generis gentisque homines venient oraturi in subdiali Gentium: idque non tantum fiet singulis mensibus, sed quâque hebdomade." Grotius in loc. Another eminent commentator says on the other hand. "Sensus simplex; conditorum perfectorumque Cœlorum novorum ac Terræ novæ consequens fore, ut tandem omnes per orbem homines, vera religione agnita, ingente zelo statis temporibus Deum publice colant ac venerabundi celebrent atque adorent, et quidem ritu spirituali." Vitringa in loc. A little after he says "Si sub nomine sabbati hic non tantum hebdomadalia, verum etiam omnia sabbata intelligantur; quod in medio relinquo; sufficit mihi, hebdomadalia non excludi." at the door of this gate before the Lord, in the sabbaths, and in the new moons. And the burntofferings that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day, shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish This description occurs in Ezekiel's grand but mysterious vision of a new temple and city, under which is represented the establishment of the universal church of Christ, and the prophet gives a particular direction concerning the service of the sabbath day in the new spiritual state. But whether it is meant that the sabbath should be continued under the new religion and polity, or merely that sacred offices should be performed at stated times, it is not easy to decide. While the general duty of public worship in the future economy is evidently set forth, we cannot but hesitate in inferring the particular manner of its performance from a description so highly parabolical, and abounding with such obscure imagery. The perpetuity of the sabbath has been argued from the language of the psalmist; "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord; this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee; for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the build no |