simplicity of ancient language; and that there are various passages in Scripture, in which duties of a political, or ceremonial, or positive nature, and confessedly of partial obligation, are enumerated, and without any mark of discrimination, along with others which are natural and universal. Of this the following is an incontestable example. "But "if a man be just, and do that which is law"ful and right; and hath not eaten upon "the mountains, nor hath lifted up his eyes "to the idols of the house of Israel; neither "hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither "hath come near to a menstruous woman; "and hath not oppressed any, but hath re"stored to the debtor his pledge; hath

66

spoiled none by violence; hath given his "bread to the hungry, and hath covered the "naked with a garment; he that hath not

given upon usury, neither hath taken any

"increase; that hath withdrawn his hand "from iniquity; hath executed true judge"ment between man and man; hath walked "in my statutes, and hath kept my judge

86

ments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall 66 surely live, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel xviii. 5-9. The same thing may be observed of the apostolic decree recorded in

the fifteenth chapter of the Acts:" It: "seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to

66

"us, to lay upon you no greater burthen "than these necessary things, that ye abs"tain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well."

66

66

II. If the law by which the sabbath was instituted, was a law only to the Jews, it becomes an important question with the Christian inquirer, whether the founder of his religion delivered any new command upon the subject; or, if that should not appear to be the case, whether any day was appropriated to the service of religion by the authority or example of his Apostles.

The practice of holding religious assemblies upon the first day of the week, was so early and universal in the Christian Church, that it carries with it considerable proof of having originated from some precept of Christ, or of his Apostles, though none such be now extant. It was upon the first day of the week that the disciples were assembled, when Christ appeared to them for the first time after his resurrection; "then the

66

same day at evening, being the first day of

"the week, when the doors were shut where "the disciples were assembled, for fear of "the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the "midst of them." John xx. 19. This, for any thing that appears in the account, might, as to the day, have been accidental; but in the 26th verse of the same chapter we read that" after eight days," that is, on the first day of the week following, " again the dis

66

ciples were within ;" which second meeting upon the same day of the week looks like an. appointment and design to meet on that particular day. In the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the same custom in a Christian Church at a great distance from Jerusalem:-" And we came "unto them to Troas in five days, where we "abode seven days; and upon the first day

of the week, when the disciples came to"gether to break bread, Paul preached unto "them." Acts xx. 6, 7. The manner in which the historian mentions the disciples coming together to break bread on the first day of the week, shows, I think, that the practice by this time was familiar and established. St. Paul to the Corinthians writes thus: "Concerning the collection for the "saints, as I have given order to the

"Churches of Galatia, even so do ye; upon

66

the first day of the week let every one of

you lay by him in store as God hath pros"pered him, that there be no gathering when "I come." 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. Which direc◄ tion affords a probable proof, that the first day of the week was already, amongst the Christians both of Corinth and Galatia, distinguished from the rest by some religious application or other. At the time that St. John wrote the book of his Revelation, the first day of the week had obtained the name of the Lord's day;" I was in the spirit," says he, "on the Lord's day." Rev. i. 10. Which name, and St. John's use of it, suffi ciently denote the appropriation of this day to the service of religion, and that this propriation was perfectly known to the Churches of Asia. I make no doubt that by the Lord's Day was meant the first day of the week: for we find no footsteps of any distinction of days, which could entitle any other to that appellation. The subsequent history of Christianity corresponds with the accounts delivered on this subject in Scrip

ture.

ap

It will be remembered, that we are contending, by these proofs, for no other duty

upon the first day of the week, than that of holding and frequenting religious assemblies. A cessation upon that day from labour, beyond the time of attendance upon public worship, is not intimated in any pas sage of the New Testament; nor did Christ or his Apostles deliver, that we know of, any command to their disciples for a discontinuance, upon that day, of the common offices of their professions: a reserve which none will see reason to wonder at, or to blame as a defect in the institution, who consider that, in the primitive condition of Christianity, the observance of a new sabbath would have been useless, or inconvenient, or impracticable. During Christ's personal ministry, his religion was preached to the Jews alone. They already had a sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that economy, they were obliged to keep; and did keep. It was not therefore probable that Christ would enjoin another day of rest in conjunction with this. When the new religion came forth into the Gentile world, converts to it were, for the most part, made from those classes of society who have not their time and labour at their own dispo→ sal; and it was scarcely to be expected, that unbelieving masters and magistrates, and they