a very early period, under the sanction of the apostles themselves, for the seventh, and not without reason, as the resurrection of our Lord from the dead on this day was an event in the highest degree worthy of such celebration, and especially as this celebration would serve for a perpetual memorial of the reality of that event; an event, next to the creation, the most interesting and the most important in its results of any that are recorded in the Scriptures. Accordingly there are several indications in the New Testament of the observance, before the death of the apostles, of what is called (Rev. i. 10) the Lord's-day.* It was on the first day of the week that the disciples were met together, when our Lord appeared to them immediate ly after his resurrection (John xx. 19); and again, "within eight days," or "eight days after," (ver. 26,) that is, on the first day of the following week, they were assembled, with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, when our Lord appeared to them a second time; and it is highly probable that these meetings were of a religious kind, for we find that their meetings afterwards generally were such. On the day of Pentecost, which appears to have been the first day of the week† also, the apostles and one hundred and twenty other disciples were assembled together for reli gious purposes, "with one consent," or were engaged in social worship. A considerable time after this, when Paul was at Troas, on the first day of the week," it is said, Acts xx. 7, "when the disciples came together to break bread," that is, as the phrase signifies, to celebrate the Lord's-supper, with which their usual religious worship was connected, Paul preached to them. This last passage is directly to the purpose; for it shews evidently, that in the times of the apostles themselves, it was the practice of Christians generally to meet on the first day of the week for religious worship, and it was most probably on this account that St. Paul exhorted the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 2) to lay up in store, on the first day of the week, for

That this was the first day of the week is evident from the circumstance that this day was generally known, among Christians of the first ages, by the name of the Lord's-day, and also because it was so called on account of our Lord's resurrection from the dead on this day.

† See Dr. Jennings' Jewish Antiquities, B. ii. Ch. v.; and Dr. Ben→ son's First Planting of Christianity, B. i. Ch. i. § i.

Acts ii. 1, compared with Ch. i. 15.

the relief of the indigent, as God had prospered them. All these are plain indications of the commencement of the practice in the days of the apostles, and, consequently, with their sanction, which afterwards substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, as the time to be set apart for public religious services. Whether it be called the Sabbath, the Lord's-day, or, as in the time of Justin Martyr, "Sunday," is of as little real importance as whether it be the first or seventh day of the week. The observance itself and the design of it are the same. If one day of the week be abstracted from secular employment, and devoted chiefly to religious worship and improvement, it is in fact the Sabbath, and in every view fulfils the purpose with which that most important of all institutions was originally appointed; an institution more evidently necessary to the practical influence and even the existence of Christianity than it was formerly to Judaism, since the latter had many other ordinances wonderfully adapted to the maintainance of its power over the minds of the people which the former has not.

The practice of the Christian churches, immediately after the apostolic age, with reference to this subject, is evidently of great importance, for it shews what was the practice that prevailed in the times of the apostles themselves, and with their concurrence and approbation. It was my intention, therefore, to have quoted the principal passages from the early Christian writers, which prove that it was at that time the custom of the churches in general to observe the first day of the week at least regularly, as their day for religious worship and instruction; which services were of considerable length, and in a great measure similar to those in use at present: but I have trespassed so much upon your indulgence already, that I shall not now attempt this. It is the less necessary, however, as these authorities may be seen in the Theological Repository, (Vol. VI. p. 463,) in one of Dr. Priestley's papers in defence of the Sabbath. These quotations serve to shew, that this is an historical fact of which there is not the slightest room to doubt. The well-known passage on the subject in Justin's Apology is itself sufficient, and is so expressly to the purpose, that I shall take the liberty of introducing it here: "On the day called Sunday," says he, "there is an assembling together, in one place, of all who live in the cities or the country; the records of the apos

tles," (that is, the books of the New Testament generally,) "or the writings of the prophets, are read, as time permits. When the reader has finished, the president delivers a discourse, admonishing the people and exhorting them to copy in their conduct the excellent things which they have heard then all rise together and pray; and when we have ceased praying, bread and wine and water are brought; and the president, in like manner, offers up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people express their concurrence by saying, Amen. Then all who are present partake of the elements, which are distributed among them, and portions are sent to the absent by the deacons."* There are various other pas sages in the early Christian writers, all of them giving express testimony to the same fact; some of them asserting, indeed, that they did not keep the Sabbath, that is the seventh day observed by the Jews, but the Lord's-day, which they sometimes call the eighth day, or the first day of the week, on account of bis resurrection from the dead. It was a mere change of the day, for both were devoted to similar purposes, namely, the social worship of God, reading the Scriptures, and religious instruction. I ask, then,* how came the practice of devoting the first day of the week to religious purposes to be universal among Christians immediately after, and indeed during the time of the apostles, if this custom received from them no sanction or authority?

After all this, are we to believe that the Apostle Paul, from whose writings most of the controversies so long existing among Christians have arisen, on his own authority alone, has removed all obligation from Christians to the sabbatical or religious observance of one day in seven? I say on his own authority alone, for he no where affirms that he had received a divine commission for this purpose, and there is not a syllable in the Epistles of the other apostles on the subject. There are three passages only in the Epistles of St. Paul that bear upon the subject, and these, upon examination, will be found to have no real hostility to this custom. To the Galatians, who had formerly been Pagans, the Apostle says, Gal. iv. 10, " Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I fear concerning you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in

* Apol. par. 87, p. 131, Oxon, 1700.

vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are.' All this, however, has reference to Heathen superstitions, to which the Galatians were still addicted, notwithstanding their conversion to Christianity; nor is there any reason to believe the Apostle had the Sabbath on this occasion in his mind. This will appear if we turn to the verses immediately preceding: "At that time when ye knew not God, ye were slaves to those who by nature are not gods; but now, after ye have known God, or rather have been known by him, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements to which ye desire to be again in servitude? Ye observe days," &c. So that the observance of days, and months, and times, and years, alludes entirely to the customs which were prevalent among them, when they were worshipers of false gods, and which the Apostle calls weak and beggarly elements. This passage, therefore, has no concern with our subject. Nor is it impossible that there might be a similar allusion in Rom. xiv. 5, &c.: "One man esteemeth one day above another; but another man esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He who regardeth the day, regardeth it to the Lord; and he who regardeth not the day, to the Lord he regardeth it not." That is, in both cases, each individual acts as the servant of God, and from a principle of obedience to his will. In the next verse he adds, "He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; for he giveth God thanks: and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself," &c. Here it is probable the Apostle refers to scruples of conscience then prevalent about the eating of meat that had been offered to idols; and if so, what is there to prevent our supposing he alludes, in the 5th and 6th verses, in what he says on the observance of days, to similar scruples relative to customs derived originally from Paganism? The Apostle's object, in the whole of this chapter, is to restrain the spirit of judging harshly of others, especially on subjects not essential to salvation; a spirit in direct opposition to the liberty introduced by the gospel. At any rate, supposing him to allude to the Sabbath, the whole amount of what he affirms is this, namely, there are different opinions on the subject, but whoever acts from a principle of conscience, whichever side of the question he adopts, is accepted of God; a position which no consistent

Protestant will impugn. He does not affirm that, in his opinion, it is matter of no importance whether one day in seven be devoted to religious purposes or not, and if he had, his practice would have been at variance with his doctrine, as well as with the conduct and instructions of his venerated Master. These passages, therefore, may be fairly set aside as containing nothing hostile to the Sabbath. The only remaining text on the subject is, Col. ii. 16, 17, "Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holiday," (a feast,) "or the new moon, or of the Sabbath days" (or day). That is, no man has any right to condemn you, in the use of your Christian liberty to judge for yourselves, because your practice respecting these things is different from his. "Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body" (substance) "is of Christ." Supposing the seventh-day Sabbath to be here alluded to, as Milton and others maintain, then f would refer to a passage in Clemens Alexandrinus, which may serve to illustrate this passage and remove the difficulty. After observing, that when God had created the world he gave the seventh day to us for rest, on account of the troubles and afflictions of life, since he himself is incapable of weariness or suffering, he intimates, that it was intended to prepare the way for the observance of the eighth day, as he calls it, that is, the first day of the week, which he styles the chief of days, in reference to the new creation, our rest indeed, and a day which brings with it the pure light of truth, free from all obscurity.* Thus, in the opinion of Clemens, the seventh-day Sabbath was introductory to, or a shadow of, the Lord's-day, that is, the Christian Sabbath; and I at least can see nothing in the words of St. Paul inimical to this supposition. We know that the first day of the week, on account of our Lord's resurrection from the dead, began to be observed by Christians in the earliest times, instead of the seventh, and the Apostle in this passage might very possibly allude to disputes then existing, as to which of the days ought to be observed, and all that can be inferred from what he says on the subject is, that no one had a right to condemn another because he differed from him in relation to it both in opinion and practice. But after the evidence that has been adduced in these letters in favour of the Sabbath,

Clem. Alex. Strom. L. vi. p. 810, Patt.