The earth was created to form an abode suitable for man; the varied forms of organic life were brought into existence to prepare the way for and minister to him. For what was man himself made, and made in the image of God, but that he might know God and have communion with Him? To this the sabbath day gave the call, and for this it offered the opportunity.
"For what are men better than sheep or goats,
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer?"
FOOTNOTES:
[284:1] This is learnt from a single tablet of a Babylonian Calendar (preserved in the British Museum), which unfortunately contains one month only.
[285:1] Babel and Bible, Dr. Fried. Delitzsch, Johns' Translation, pp. 40, 41.
[289:1] Flavius Josephus against Apion, book ii. 40.
[290:1] Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament, p. 135.
[290:2] Ibid., p. 133.