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together to "break bread," and to hear Paul preach. (Acts xx. 7.) It appears, from the context, that the Apostle spent seven days at Troas, and, consequently, was there on the Jewish Sabbath; but no mention is made of any meeting of the church on that day; or, indeed, on any other, till the first day arrived; and then he sanctified it with them, by administering the Lord's supper, and by preaching, till midnight. It was on this day, too, that the Christians at Corinth, and in all the region of Galatia, assembled to wor ship God. (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2.) Hence the Apostle Paul directed that the collection for " the poor saints at Jerusalem," should be made when they were so assembled. Among the Jews, the giving of alms, and the casting of gifts into the treasury, were reckoned appropriate Sabbathday duties; and as the first day had taken precedence of the seventh in the Christian church, the Apostle taught the disciples to connect the exercise of benevolence with its sanctification, that in all things it might have the pre-eminence. By this arrangement, their convenience was not only met, but the day was honoured; their alms were made a part of their worship, a tribute of gratitude to their Lord, and an expressive memorial of brotherly love to their fellow-saints.

In Rev. i. 10, St. John calls the first day, the "Lord's day." "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." This was its common appellation among the early Christians; and its being so called by the disciple who leaned on the bosom of Christ, and who, at the time he wrote, was under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is, of itself, sufficient to prove, that the day was chosen and hallowed by Him whose royal name it bears. As the prayer which Christ taught his disciples is called "the Lord's prayer," because he dictated it; and as the sacrament which he instituted before his death is called "the Lord's supper," because he appointed it to be a memorial of his death, and a badge of discipleship among his people; it follows, that the Lord's day was so

called, because He ordained that it should be the Sabbath of his church, separated for holy uses, commemorative of his victory over the grave, and a chief means of perpetuating and of establishing his kingdom in the earth. If it be pleaded, that the Apostles and Evangelists frequently went into the synagogues of the Jews on their Sabbath, and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures; we reply, they did this on the same principle that Ministers and Missionaries, in our day, enter places of public resort, to secure a large congregation. They visited these places on the seventh day, on the principle of expediency; whereas they met, in their own assemblies, on the first day, from a deep conviction of duty.

Both sacred and profane history testify, that the first day of the week was the Christian Sabbath. Ignatius called it "the Queen of days;" and he enjoined, "Let all who love Christ keep holy the Lord's day, renowned by his resurrection, in which death is overcome, and life is sprung up in Him." Irenæus says, "On the Lord's day every one of us Christians keeps the Sabbath, meditating on the law, and rejoicing in the works of God." Origen explains, at length, the reasons why the Lord's day was substituted for the seventh day. Augustine says, "As the Virgin was blessed above all women, so the first day is blessed above all days:" and he asserts, that "the Apostles appointed the first day to be kept with all religious solemnity, because upon that day our Redeemer rose from the dead, which also is therefore called the Lord's day." But to cite individual testimonies comports not with the brevity of our plan; nor are they necessary; for the uniform tenor of ecclesiastical history teaches, that, on this day, Christians, in all countries, held their religious assemblies; and that, in these assemblies, the writings of the Prophets and Apostles were read, the doctrines of Christianity were explained, solemn prayers and praises were offered up to God, hymns were sung in honour of Christ, the Lord's supper was constantly celebrated, and collections

were made for the maintenance of the Clergy and the relief of the poor. On this day, too, the faithful abstained from bodily labour, as much as their persecuted and servile circumstances permitted. They looked upon it as a day of joy and gladness, and, therefore, all fasting on it was prohibited. Such was their zeal, that when they could not meet for worship in the daytime, because of their enemies, they assembled in the morning, before it was light; and severe censures were passed on all who absented themselves without necessity. When the Roman empire became Christian, Constantine prohibited all judicial pleadings and prosecutions in courts of justice, and also all unnecessary labour, as being inconsistent with the design and duties of the day.

Thus, it is proved, that, from the time of our Lord's resurrection, up to the close of the third century, the first day of the week was celebrated, in all the churches, as the Christian Sabbath. And when we take into account the unbending integrity of the Apostles and first Christians, their love to their Lord, and their steadfast adherence to the letter of his instructions; the name by which the day was distinguished; the total absence of all controversy in the church, on the subject of its sanctity, for several centuries; together with the marked preference which our Lord showed for it, in his example, and the high honour which the eternal Father has put upon it, in succeeding ages, by awakening and by saving sinners in its ordinances; we possess evidence, amounting to demonstration, that the change was made by the will, and with the sanction, of Him whom we adore as "LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH."

But to adduce proof of the lawfulness of the change, is only part of our design we think it admits of proof, that the change was necessary, as a part of the New-Testament economy; and that it had the direct sanction of apostolic authority. In illustration of its assumed necessity, we offer the following remarks :

1. The superior glory of the event

commemorated, rendered the change

necessary.

There is a comparative importance, and a due order, in the scale of events, which is as real, as obvious, and, in some instances, as influential, as is the difference of numbers, or the distinction between primary and secondary principles in science and theology: and the Most High, because of the absolute perfection of his nature, cannot but respect this order in the one case, as well as in the others; that is, he cannot esteem, or teach his creatures to esteem, that as first, which is, in truth, last; nor that as secondary, which, in its nature and efficiency, is primary. That the redemption of our race, by the sufferings of " God manifest in the flesh," was a much more glorious event than the creation of the world by the word of his power, will not for a moment be questioned. It therefore became the wisdom of Him who is a God of order, and is not the Author of confusion, to appoint, that the greater should take precedence of the less; that the redeeming work of three-and-thirty years should be honoured above the creative effort of six days; and that the work in which the whole circle of the divine perfections shone with surpassing splendour, - by which the powers of hell were vanquished, the treasures of grace purchased, the redemption of our race accomplished, and the gates of heaven opened to all believers,-should be commemorated by the church, in preference to that work, in which certain of the divine perfections were quiescent; and which, though glorious, and worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance, "had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory which excelleth."

2. The change was necessary, to guard the disciples against the sin and danger of Judaizing.

The great error into which the early disciples of our Lord were in danger of falling, (they being, for the most part, Jews,) was that of blending Christianity with the abrogated rites of the law; an evil which

though less glaring than those to

which the servants of God, under preceding dispensations, were exposed-was equally inimical to the glory of God, the purity of his worship, the efficacy of his ordinances, and the spiritual interests of mankind. The apostolic Epistles afford abundant evidence of the proneness, both of the converted and unconverted Jews, to cleave to the ceremonies of the law, and of their inclination to force the observance of them on the consciences of the Gentile converts. And as they did this on the principle, that they were auxiliary to justification, the peace of the church, and the salvation of both classes, required that this proneness should not only be restrained, but cured and condemned; for, in seeking justification by the deeds of the law, in whole or in part, they fell from grace, and made Christ of none effect.

These ceremonies either pointed to the Messiah, as yet to come, or they prefigured the blessings of his reign. Many of them were performed on the Jewish Sabbath, and all of them were enjoined or eulogized in its appointed ministrations. The disciples who believed that Christ was already come in the flesh, and who had realized the good things of which the law was a shadow, could not, therefore, have kept the Jewish Sabbath, without tacitly conceding, that the objections of the unbelieving Jews were valid, that the prophecies respecting the Mes siah were unaccomplished, that the law was preferable to the Gospel, and that Moses was worthy of more honour than Christ. It was impossible for them to have taken part in the Jewish worship, without witnessing the performance of ceremonies which they knew had been abrogated, without sanctioning the perpetuation of a Priesthood which had been disannulled, and without listening to teachers who denied the divinity of their Lord, and who sought the destruction of his cause, and plotted their death, because they were his followers.

Thus, the essential difference between the Christian and Mosaic dispensations, taken in connexion with

the bigotry of the Jew, on the one hand, and the Judaizing tendencies of the disciples, on the other, required that a broad line of demarcation should be placed between them and their respective adherents; that there should be no mingling of the spiritual worship of the one, with the carnal ordinances of the other; and that everything which seemed to compromise the superiority of the Gospel, and its great Author, should be avoided, discountenanced, and condemned, as leading to apostasy, and as implying a renunciation of the truth. The destruction of Jerusalem was no less a blessing to the Christians, than it was a judgment to the Jews, because of the extinguishing effect it had on the question of the perpetual obligation of Mosaic rites. But, far and beyond all other events and arrangements, the change of the Sabbath proved the most effectual guard to the disciples, against their being entangled again with "the yoke of bondage." By this change the new dispensation was rendered complete; time was secured for the due performance of Gospel worship; an emphatic protest was instituted against modern Judaism; and the merited exaltation of the Lord Jesus as HEAD STONE OF THE CORNER," was secured and openly proclaimed.

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3. It was necessary to show forth the glory of Christ, his equality with the Father, and his Headship in his church.

Under the Christian dispensation, "the Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He which honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, which hath sent him.” The Old-Testament church honoured the Father, by keeping a Sabbath in commemoration of his resting from the work of creation; and it was meet that the New-Testament church should, in like manner, honour the Son, by commemorating his rest from the more arduous work of redemption. In doing this, we alienate none of the Father's claims; we only carry out his original design:

we do not disparage his work, we only combine it with that of his well-beloved Son; and, instead of establishing a rival worship, we glorify alike the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; for our Sabbath commemorates, and our Sabbathsongs celebrate, the wonders of creation, the mystery of redemption, together with the descent and gracious operations of the eternal Spirit.

The New-Testament church is Christ's household, kingdom, fold, temple, mystical body, and bride; and both his glory and the church's safety required that it should be made manifest to friends and foes, that he, and not Moses, nor any of the Apostles, was the Ruler of the household, the King of the commonwealth, the chief Shepherd of the sheep, the Glory of the temple, the Head of the body, and the Bridegroom of the bride. This was, in part, accomplished by the "new name which his people received, in virtue of their discipleship; but it was rendered much more palpable by the substitution of baptism for circumcision, the Lord's supper for the passover, the Christian ministry for the Jewish priesthood, and, especially, by the keeping of the firstday Sabbath in the place of the seventh, as commemorative of his entering into his rest.

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The keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath, under the old dispensation, was a sign whereby the worshippers of Jehovah were distinguished in all the earth, from atheists and idolaters. But when it pleased the Father to place the Son upon his holy hill of Sion, and to set him "forth as the Propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world," it became indispensable that the sign should be changed and Christianized for the enemies of God then became the enemies of the cross of Christ, and his people were confined to such as believed in the name of Christ. The great truths which had then to be demonstrated, in opposition to Jews, atheists, and idolaters, were, the Deity of Christ's person, the atoning character of his death,

and his Headship in the church. As the salvation of men, and the very existence of Christianity in the earth, hinged on these truths, their easy and triumphant establishment was a point of paramount importance. Had they been left to be reasoned out by laboured deductions, or proved only by refined and learned criticisms, the progress of the Gospel must have been impeded, and the sphere of its triumphs circumscribed, especially among the uneducated classes. It was, therefore, not only kind and wise, but necessary, that our Lord should render the form, the character, and even the names of his Gospel ordinances declarative of these cardinal truths; and that the fact of his resurrection, which demonstrated the truth of each and all of them, should be commemorated in his church by the keeping of a weekly rest. In this commemoration the most unequivocal evidence is given, that Jesus is "the Son of the Highest," "the Saviour of the world,” and "Head over all things to his church;" and its efficiency as a sign is most marked; for in no one point is there a more manifest difference between his friends and his foes, than in the religious observance of his day.

Nothing can more clearly indicate the antichristian character of Socinianism and Popery, than the studied obscuration of the Redeemer's divine supremacy in his church, with which they are respectively chargeable. On the Socinian hypothesis, no satisfactory reason can be assigned why Jesus should have taken precedence of Moses, and of all the Prophets; why his advent should have formed the commencement of a new dispensation; why his death should have been commemorated by a sacrament, or his resurrection by a Sabbath. Instead of leaving Him in the possession of a legitimate and divine Headship, the abettors of this system, by denying his Deity, tacitly charge him with blasphemy and usurpation, in altering God's ordinances, in appointing that they should be called by his name, and should be adminis

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tered to his honour, jointly with the Father and with the Holy Ghost. As for Popery, the prayers which its devotees address to Christ are "few and far between," compared with those they offer to the Virgin, and to other saints. Their fellowship with Him is made to serve only as a foil, to set off their imaginary connexion with the Apostle Peter, and his boasted successor, the Bishop of Rome. For once that they appeal to the inspired testimony of Christ and his Apostles, in attestation of the dogmas of their creed, they appeal a hundred times to tradition, and to the writings of the Fathers; and their profanation of the Sabbath stands in appalling contrast with their superstitious reverence their numerous holy-days, instituted in honour of real or fictitious saints, and in commemoration of the lying wonders said to have been wrought at their shrines. The title of "the Lord's day," which St. John gave to the Christian Sabbath, stamps it with a dignity and sacredness so peculiar and transcendent, that, to a well-instructed mind, it appears sacrilegious, either to profane it, or to exalt other days into rivalship with it: this-that Iman of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God"-has done; and for this, and his other blasphemous usurpa tions, the Lord of the Sabbath, the true Head of the church, "shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming."

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One thing remains to make this argument complete; and that is, to furnish a brief exposition of those passages in St. Paul's Epistles, which some have misconstrued into meditated censures on the strict observance of the day, whether held on the first or the seventh day.

The first of these to which we shall allude, is Gal. iv. 8-11: "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God,

or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." A slight attention to this passage and its context is sufficient to discern, that the observances here condemned had no connexion either with the Christian Sabbath, or with any branch of Christian worship; but that they were such as the Galatians had practised, when they "knew not God." These " "days, and months," &c., were obviously parts of that "service" which they rendered to " them which by nature were no gods;" and which they renounced when they were "known of God." The sin with which they were chargeable, therefore, was not that of keeping the Christian Sabbath with too great strictness, but that of turning to "the weak and beggarly elements" of astrological signs, and of heathen superstitions, relating to lucky and unlucky days, to which the Heathen were then, and are still, in bondage; and from the whole of which the Gospel was intended to free them. To suppose that the Apostle Paul could have calmly condemned the religious observance of the day on which his Lord rose from the dead, and which the Holy Ghost, by the pen of the beloved disciple, called "the Lord's day," or that he should have stigmatized the day itself as a weak and beggarly element," is a stretch of credulity, of which ignorance and infidelity alone are capable.

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Rom. xiv. 5, 6: "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.' From this text it has been inferred, that Christians are left at liberty to keep the Sabbath with more or less strictness, according to their inward convictions and inclinations; or not to keep it at all, if they are so minded. But the context proves,

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