Page:Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1.djvu/141

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THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS.
127

And again, the prophet saith, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the humble: He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense; to comfort all that mourn."[1]


Chap. xv.The false and the true Sabbath.

Further,[2] also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, "And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart."[3] And He says in another place, "If my sons keep the Sabbath, then will I cause my mercy to rest upon them."[4] The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: "And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it."[5] Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, "He finished in six days." This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is[6] with Him a thousand years. And He Himself testifieth,[7] saying, "Behold, to-day[8] will be as a thousand years."[9] Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." This meaneth: when His Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man,[10] and judge the ungodly, and change the sun, and the moon,[11] and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day. Moreover, He says, "Thou

  1. Isa. lxi. 1, 2.
  2. Cod. Sin. reads "because," but this is corrected to "moreover."
  3. Ex. xx. 8; Deut. v. 12.
  4. Jer. xvii. 24, 25.
  5. Gen. ii. 2. The Hebrew text is here followed, the Septuagint reading "sixth" instead of "seventh."
  6. Cod. Sin. reads "signifies."
  7. Cod. Sin. adds, "to me."
  8. Cod. Sin. reads, "The day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years."
  9. Ps. xc. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 8.
  10. Cod. Sin. seems properly to omit "of the wicked man."
  11. Cod. Sin. places stars before moon.