Apocryphal New Testament — Historical English Collection

Apocryphal New Testament — Hone/Wake/Jones — Section 21

FURTHERMORE it is writ- ten concern] g the sab- bath, in the Ten ^Command- ments, which God spake in the Mount Sinai to Moses, ^ face to face ; Sanctify the sabbath of the Lord with pure hands, and with a clean heart. 2 And elsewhere he saith ; ^° If thy children shall keep my sabbaths, then will I put my mercy upon them. 3 And even in the beginning of the creation he makes men- ^ Exod. xxxii. 7. Deut. ix. 12. ^ Vid. Lat. Interpret. Vet. ^Isaiah xlix. 6. ^ For salvation unto. ^ Isaiah xlii. 6. ^ Verse 7. '^Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2 Comp. Luke, iv- 18. ^ Words. ^ Exod. xx. 8. "Jer. xvii. 24. 160 i \ The temple BARNABAS. typical tion of the sabbath. ^And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the ^ seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. 4 Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this ; that in ^ six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. 5 For with him one day is a thousand years ; as himself tes- tifieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall ''all things be accom- plished. 6 And what is that he saith. And he rested the seventh day : he meaneth this ; that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the ^ Wicked One, and judge the ungodly ; and shall change the sun and the moon, and the stars ; then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day. 7 He adds lastly ; Thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart. Wherefore we are greatly deceived if we imagine that any one can now sanctify that day which God has made holy, without having a heart pure in all things. 8 Behold therefore he will then truly sanctify it with bles- sed rest, when we (having re- ceived the righteous promise, when iniquity shall be no more, all things being renewed by the Lord) shall be able to sanctify it, being ourselves first made holy.