Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/78

 rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work on that day shall surely be put to death."

Further particulars in regard to the manner of observing the day, we find in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus. In that chapter is described the remarkable circumstance of manna being "rained down" upon the Israelites for food. They were told that they were to go out every morning to gather it, except on the Sabbath: on that day they were not to go out, but were to collect enough on the previous day, to serve for two days. They were also to cook their food on the previous day, and not on the Sabbath. The command is expressed in the following words: "This is what the Lord hath said: To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake what ye will bake to-day, and boil what ye will boil; and what remains over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find it in the field. See, the Lord hath given you the Sabbath; therefore, he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place: let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day."

They were also forbidden to kindle a fire on the Sabbath-day. The reason was, that fire signifies love and the life thence derived: hence, to kindle a fire or make a fire for one's self, represented love derived from self, or self-love, which is evil, In like manner, to work on the Sabbath represented to act from self or