Page:The old paths, or The Talmud tested by Scripture.djvu/153



"At the seventh hour of the day, on the eve of the Sabbath, the first Adam was introduced into Paradise; and the ministering angels were engaged in lauding and introducing him. But between the suns, on the eve of the Sabbath, he was driven out, and went forth; and the ministering angels were calling to him, and saying, 'Adam being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.' It is not written, 'like a beast that perishes,' but 'like the beasts that perish;' i.e., they both. The Sabbath-day came, and became an advocate for the first Adam. It said before God, Lord of the world, in the six days of the creation, nothing in the world was killed, and wilt thou begin with me? Is this my sanctification, and is this my blessing, as it is said, 'And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Therefore by the merit of the Sabbath-day Adam was delivered from the judgment of hell; and when Adam saw the power of the Sabbath, he said, It was not for nothing, that the Holy One, blessed be He, blessed and sanctified it, so he began singing and chanting to the Sabbath-day, as it is said, 'A psalm or song to or for the Sabbath-day.' (Psalm xcii. 1.) Rabbi Ishmael says, This psalm was said by the first Adam, but was forgotten in all the generations, until Moses came and restored it." (Pirke Eleazar, fol. 13, col. 3.) The Yalkut Shimoni gives the story substantially the same, excepting that when Adam said, "A psalm or song to the Sabbath-day," the Sabbath reproved him, and said, "Dost thou sing hymns to me? Come and let us both sing hymns to the Holy One, blessed be He, 'It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.'" (Ps. xcii. 1.) This, then is the story which the prayer-book of the synagogue authenticates, by interweaving, in its addresses to the God of Israel, the above-quoted words concerning the Sabbath, "It redeemed the first created man from judgment; he chanted a song, and appeased the wrath of God." From first to last it bears the plain marks of mendacity. It misrepresents the merciful character of God, as if he would have destroyed Adam, had it not been the Sabbath-day. It ascribes a certain degree of merit to Adam, who had been guilty of the most inexcusable ingratitude to his Divine Bene