64

CHAPTER 1.

THE LORD'S DAY.

Q. WHAT part of our time hath God appropriated to his immediate service?

A. God hath appropriated to his immediate service one day in seven, which he hath commanded to be kept holy.

Q. What day was originally set apart for this purpose? A. The seventh was originally set apart for this purpose For God having in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, he rested the seventh day, and hallowed it.

Q. What mean you by God's resting from his works?

A. This resting of God being spoken after the manner of men, implies not any weariness in him, for the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary; but that the creation of all things was finished, and the world entirely made. This hallowed rest on the seventh day was considered as the symbol of the rest of the just from all their labours; when all grief, sorrow, and sighing shall flee away, and God shall be all in all.

Q. Why was the seventh day, called Saturday, commanded to be observed by the Jews?

A. By sanctifying the seventh day, after they had laboured six days, the Jews avowed themselves worshippers of that God only, who created the heaven and the earth, and having spent six days in that great work, rested the seventh day; and who therefore commanded this suitable contribution of their time, as a badge that their religious service was appropriated to him alone. By sanctifying that seventh day, they also professed themselves the servants of Jehovah, as, in a peculiar sense, their God and Redeemer, who redeemed them out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage.' For upon the morning watch of that very day which they kept for their Sabbath, he overwhelmed Pharaoh, and all his host, in the Red Sea, and saved Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Q. How far, and in what manner, doth the observation bind Christians?

A. The Christian, as well as the Jew, after six days

→ Gen. ii. 3.

3 Is. xl. 2.

t Deut. v. 15.

spent in his own works, is to sanctify the seventh day, that he may profess himself thereby a servant to God, the Creator of heaven and earth. But, in the designation of the day, the Christian differs from the Jew. The Christian chooseth for his day of rest the first day of the week, that he may thereby profess himself a servant of that God, who, on the morning of that day, vanquished Satan, and redeemed us from our spiritual thraldom, by raising Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead, conferring on us a title, not to an earthly Canaan, but to an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens.

Q. What authority have we for the change of this day from the seventh to the first day of the week?

A. The authority and practice of the holy Apostles," the first planters of Christianity. It appears from the scriptures, that the first day of the week was their stated and solemn time of meeting for public worship. On this day the apostles were assembled, when the Holy Ghost came down so visibly upon them to qualify them for the conversion of the world. On this day we find St. Paul preaching at Troas, when the disciples came together to break bread," whereby is understood the celebration of the sacrament, or their feasts of charity, which were always accompanied with the Eucharist. And the directions the same apostle gives to the Corinthians, concerning their contributions for the relief of their poor suffering brethren, seem plainly to regard their religious assemblies on the first day of the week.

Q. How was this day observed in the primitive Church? A. The primitive Christians, both in city and country, had their public meetings on Sundays." In these assemblies the writings of the apostles and prophets were read to the people, and the doctrines of Christianity were further pressed upon them by the exhortations of the clergy; solemn prayers were offered up to God, and hymns sung in honour of our Saviour; the blessed sacrament was administered to those who were present, and the consecrated elements sent to those who were absent; and collections were also made for the relief of the sick and the poor.

Q. Why is the first day of the week called the Lord's day? A. The first day of the week is called the Lord's day, not

u Acts. xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2.

wo Acts xx. 7.

y Just. Mar. A pol. 2. Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 97.
z Rev. i. 10.

v Acts ii. 1.
x 1 Cor. xvi. 2.
Orig. lib. 3. cont. Cols.

only because it is immediately dedicated to the service of God; but because on that day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and rested from the work of our redemption, which he then completed by his resurrection.

Q. Though the most proper name of this day of public worship is the Lord's day," did the primitive Christians scruple to call it Sunday?

A. Justin Martyr' and Tertullian both call it Sunday, because it happened upon that day of the week which, by the heathens, was dedicated to the sun; and, therefore, as being best known to them, the fathers commonly made use of this name in their apologies to the heathen governors. And this day seldom passes under any other name in the Imperial edicts of the first Christian Emperors. It may, indeed, with great propriety, retain this name; because it is dedicated to the honour of that Saviour, who is, by the prophet, called the Sun of Righteousness, that was to arise with healing in his wings.

Q. Is it proper to designate the Lord's day by the name of the Sabbath?

A. The Lord's day may, in one sense, be called the Sabbath, because we rest on that day from the works of our ordinary callings, and all other worldly employments, and dedicate it to the immediate worship of God, whose service is perfect freedom. But by scripture, and all the primitive ecclesiastical writers, the term Sabbath is constantly appropriated to Saturday, the day of the Jewish Sabbath, and only within late ages has been used to signify the Lord's day. The charge of Judaism upon those who use this term in a Christian sense, may appear too severe; yet, upon many accounts, it is expedient not to distinguish the day of the Christian worship by the name of the Sabbath, that term being properly applied only to the day of the Jewish worship.

Q. How ought Christians to observe this day?

A. It is not enough that we rest on Sunday from the works of our calling, and abstain from worldly affairs and recreations: our time must be employed in all such religious exercises as tend to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls. We must regularly frequent the worship of God in the public assemblies, join in the prayers of the Church, hear his holy word, receive the blessed sacrament when ad

a Rev. i. 10.

c Tert. Apol. v. ad Nation. 1. 1.

b Just. Mar. Apol. 2.

d Mal. iv. 2.

ministered, and contribute to the relief of the poor, if there be any collection for their support. In private, we ought to enlarge our ordinary devotions, and to make the subject of them chiefly to consist in thanksgivings for the works of creation and redemption; recollecting also all those particular mercies which we have received from the bounty of Heaven, through the whole course of our lives. We should devote a portion of the day to reading and meditating upon divine subjects; and we should make it our business to instruct our children and families; to visit the sick and the poor, comforting them by seasonable counsel and charity.

Q. What seems to be the principal duty on this day?

A. The principal duty on this day is the being present at the assemblies at public worship, from which nothing but sickness or absolute necessity should detain us. For the day being dedicated to the honour and worship of God, and also appointed for the purpose of openly professing ourselves Christians, it will be an evidence that we are insensible both to the honour of God and to our Christian profession and privileges, if we neglect the duty of public worship. Nothing troubled the primitive Christians more, when sick and in prison, or under banishment, than that they could not come to the public worship of the Church.

Q. What are the great advantages of the religious observation of the Lord's day?

A. The religious observation of the Lord's day keeps up the solemn and public worship of God, and thus preserves the knowledge and visible profession of the Christian religion in the world. Considering how much time is taken up, by the greatest part of mankind, in providing for the necessaries of life; and how negligent and careless, in the concerns of their souls, they are who enjoy plenty and abundance; this stated season is highly useful to instruct the ignorant, by preaching and catechising, and to put those in mind of their duty, who, in their prosperity, are apt to forget God. Moreover, by spending this day in religious exercises, we acquire new strength and resolution to perform God's will in our several stations, the week following.

Q. Where are the acts of public worship to be performed? A. In the Church, the house of God, so called, because solemnly dedicated and set apart for his public worship and service, and because it may be considered as the place of his peculiar presence."

e Exod. xx. 24. Hab. ii. 20 Matt. xviii. 20.

Q. Did the Apostles and primitive Christians set apart particular places for public worship?

A. Even in the times of the Apostles, there were places set apart for the performance of divine worship. Though these places for public worship were concealed from the Jews and Heathens, being either part of the houses of Christians, or within the compass of them, yet they were sufficiently known to the faithful.

Q. How ought we to show our reverence for holy places A. By building and erecting such places where they are wanting, and furnishing them decently for the worship of God; by repairing and adorning them, when time, or the iniquity of an age, has made them ruinous; by keeping them from all profane and common uses, and applying them wholly to the business of religion; by offering up our prayers in them with fervour and frequency; by hearing God's word with attention and resolutions of obeying it, and by celebrating the holy mysteries with humiliation and devotion; by using all those outward testimonies of respect which the Church enjoins, or which may be established by the custom of the age in which we live, as marks of honour and reverence; and, above all, by governing our whole behaviour in such places, with a due regard to those ends and purposes for which they were dedicated and set apart; abstaining from conversation, and from all negligent and light behaviour, when assembled in them.

Q. What preparation of mind is necessary for our joining in the public prayers?

A. We should endeavour to abstract our thoughts as much as we can from our worldly business and concerns, that we may call upon God with attention and application of soul; to keep our passions in order and subjection, that none of them may interrupt us when we approach the throne of grace; to possess our minds with such an awful sense of God's presence, as may lead us to behave with gravity and reverence; to work in ourselves such a sense of our own weakness and insufficiency, as may make us earnest for the supplies of supernatural grace, such a sorrow for our sins, such humiliation for them, and such a readiness to forgive others, as may prevail upon God, for the sake of Christ's sufferings, to forgive us; and, lastly, we should endeavour to recollect those many blessings which we have received, f1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. 1 Cor. xi. 22. Rom. xvi. 5. 1 Cor. xvi. 19. Col. iv. 15. Philem. i. 2. Rom. xvi. 10, 11.