em. "The Lord
hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath
promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to
make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in
name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the
Lord thy God, as he hath spoken."[700] To vow unto him singly, or
unitedly, was a duty of his covenant. To do this his people were
sanctified. And hence, of this, as well as of each other religious
service, the sabbath was a sign.

Those who keep the sabbath will enjoy the privileges of God's people.
"If thou turn away from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."[701] But Covenanting is one of the
privileges of the heritage of Jacob. Those, therefore, who keep the
sabbath, that they may enjoy in full the gracious benefits promised to
them, will have it put into their hearts individually, and often in a
social capacity, to enter into and renew, solemn covenant engagements
with the Most High.

The institution of the sabbath itself has afforded calls for engaging in
the practice of vowing to God. Moved by a sense of duty, Nehemiah and
others returned to Jerusalem, contemplating the evils to which they were
exposed from the example of the heathen, with a zeal worthy the adoption
of all in times of abounding sin, engaged in solemn covenant with God to
keep the sabbath, as well as discharge other bounden duties. "They clave
to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an
oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God,
and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his
judgment and his statutes; and that we would not give our daughters unto
the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons: and if
the people of the land bring ware, or any victuals, on the sabbath-day
to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the
holy-day."[702]

The continuation of the sabbath is a provision for the observance of
every religious service. In opposition to the world