And, moreover, concerning the sabbath it is written in the ten commandments, in which he spake on Mount Sinai unto Moses face to face: Sanctify ye the sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and a pure heart.
And in another place he saith, If my sons shall keep my sabbath, then will I place my mercy upon them.
He speaketh, too, of the sabbath in the beginning of the creation: And God made in six days the works of his hands, and finished them on the seventh day, and rested in it and sanctified it.
Consider, my children, what signify the words, He finished them in six days. They mean this: that in six thousand years the Lord will make an end of all things, for a day is with him as a thousand years. And he himself beareth witness unto me, saying: Behold this day a day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, my children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, shall all things be brought to an end.
And the words, He rested on the seventh day, signify this: After that his Son hath come, and hath caused to cease the time of the wicked one, and hath judged the ungodly, and changed the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall he rest well on the seventh day.
And further he saith, Thou shalt sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart. Who, therefore, can sanctify the day which the Lord hath sanctified, unless he be pure of heart? If, therefore, we think that any one can sanctify the day that the Lord hath sanctified, unless he be pure of heart in all things, we are deceived.
Behold, therefore, who it is that resteth properly and sanctifieth it; even when we ourselves, having first been sanctified, having been justified, and having received the promise, when iniquity exists no longer, but all things have become new, we shall then be able to sanctify it.
And, further, he saith unto them, Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot endure. See, now, what he meaneth. Your sabbaths, as they now are, are not acceptable unto me, but that which I have made is, even that in which, after that I have brought all things to an end, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, which thing is the beginning of another world.
Wherefore we keep the eighth day as a day of gladness, on which also Jesus rose from the dead, and after he had appeared ascended unto heaven.