the churches of Galatia and Corinth to make first day of the 66 'I was in the This is all the collections for the poor on the week; and St. John tells us, Spirit on the Lord's day."1 positive information which the scriptures afford respecting the observance of the first day of the week. The want of all apostolical precept, either enjoining the observance of the Lord's day in lieu of the Jewish Sabbath, or directing in what manner and for what purposes it ought to be observed, is the more remarkable, when we consider that the great importance which the Mosaic law attached to the times and circumstances of divine worship, made it more necessary for the apostles to notice these points, especially in their addresses to their Jewish converts. But neither in the epistle to the Hebrews, nor in any of the exhortations to the practical duties of Christianity, with which most of his epistles are concluded, has St. Paul once mentioned this subject; neither did the apostles, in their council at Jerusalem, think proper to include the mention of the Lord's day among those things which it was necessary for the Gentiles to observe. Such is the profound silence of scripture. on this head, that, except from the uniform tradition and practice of the Church, we could not certainly have known that the apostles set apart the first day of every week for the purposes of religious worship, in commemo 1 Rev. i. 10. ration of the resurrection of Christ, for the celebration of the Eucharist, and for the relief of the necessities of the poor. These, Justin informs us, were the ends for which Christians assembled on the Lord's day. His account is not only in perfect harmony with scripture, but it supplies the deficiencies of the scripture narrative, and justifies us in inferring, from the scattered notices of this subject in the Acts of the Apostles, and the epistles of St. Paul, that the Lord's day was consecrated by the apostles themselves to these pious and charitable uses. As there is no divine or apostolical precept enjoining the mode in which the Lord's day ought to be observed, we can follow no better guide than the tradition and usage of the Catholic church. Much, therefore, is left to the authority of every particular church, in defining the circumstances of the public worship on that day; and something is left to the conscience of every private Christian, in deciding in what manner the remainder of the day should be spent after the public worship is ended. The reasonableness of devoting this day to God's service, is so evident, and its conduciveness to our spiritual improvement, is so undeniable, that every good man will use his liberty in this respect with the utmost caution; and, rather than give offence even to his weaker brethren, will carefully conform to the customs of his country, and to the very prejudices of his fellow Christians. 66 EXTRACTS FROM THE APPENDIX TO ESSAYS ON SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WRITINGS OF ST. PAUL," &c. By R. WHATELY, D. D.-2d Ed. p. 337. THE opinion, that Christians are bound to the hallowing of the Lord's-day, in obedience to the fourth commandment, implies that there is a part, at least, of the Mosaic law binding on Christians; I should say, the whole; for since the fourth commandment is evidently not a moral, but a positive precept, (it being a thing in itself indifferent, antecedent to any command, whether the seventh day, or the sixth, or the eighth, be observed,) I cannot conceive how the consequence can be avoided, that "we are debtors to keep the whole Law," ceremonial as well as moral. The dogma of the "Assembly of Divines at Westminster," -(in their "confession of faith," chap. xxi. §. 7.)—that the observance of the Sabbath is part of the moral law,—is to me utterly unintelligible. Yet unless we assent to this, adopting some such sense of the term " 'moral," as it is difficult even to imagine, I do not see on what principle we can, consistently, admit the authority of the fourth commandment, and yet claim exemp |