rents at their creation in innocence; that it was observed by them even in Paradise, as well as after their fall; that the patriarchal church regarded it, and partook of its inestimable benefits; that it was inserted, with a clear specification of its requirements and prohibitions, in the moral code which was delivered to the Israelites at Sinai; and to show its high rank in the scale of moral obligation, as well as for its better preservation, it was, with three other precepts of a similar character, inscribed by the finger of God on the first table of moral duties: And if this be so, it puts to rest the question in regard to its being a part of the Jewish ritual. Being in its origin no part of that ritual, but an institution appointed by the Creator from the beginning of the world, and of an inherently moral kind, its observance is obligatory at all times, and among all people.

The answer of the catechism under consideration also states, that "from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath." There have been those, however, who have maintained with much ingenuity, learning and plausibility, that the first day of the week was the day of sacred rest originally appointed by God; that this appointment continued till the time of the Mosaick dispensation; and that the seventh day of the week was then appointed to be observed as the sabbath by the Israelites, for two powerful reasons, in addition to that which was given at the beginning-first, that their sacred day might be different from that of the idolatrous heathens, who had learned by tradition that the first day of the week was to be set apart for religious worship, and who observed it for the worship of the sun, and the other heavenly luminaries and secondly, in commemoration of the deliverance from

the Egyptian bondage, which is particularly mentioned by Moses in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, as a special reason why the Hebrews should remember the sabbath and keep it holy. It would follow from this hypothesis, that the day which Christians now regard as the sabbath, is that which was originally appointed by God; and that the Jewish sabbath was a part of their ritual, and a departure from the primitive order, which was restored when the work of our redemption was completed by the resurrection of Christ. The learned and distinguished Selden is the principal advocate of this system; but as he was a member of the Assembly of divines that framed our Catechism, he either did not lay his reasonings and opinions on this topick before that Assembly, or if he did, the answer before us shows that they were not adopted.

The question, you will observe, relates merely to a circumstance, in no wise affecting the great doctrine that a seventh part of our time is to be regularly and exclusively devoted to religious duties-This was required of the patriarchs and the Jews, and this is what is still obligatory on Christians. Dr. Doddridge has well observed, that as morning, noon and night, vary in different parts of our globe, this of necessity makes a variation in the reckoning of time, as to the beginning and ending of a day; and that of course the sabbath does not begin in one place till some hours after it has begun in another. Yet it is one whole day in seven, in regular succession, which all the inhabitants of the earth, according to their own reckoning of days, are required to keep holy-In this consists the essence of the duty: and it has been justly remarked, that the benediction of the fourth commandment is not pronounced on the seventh day from the creation, but on the sabbath day, wheresoever, and whensoever, it is properly ob

served. The opinion which has led to these remarks was adopted by the learned Dr. Kennicot-I shall lay before you his short statement, to which you will yield or withhold your assent, as you inay think proper.*

The concluding part of the answer before us states, that ever since the resurrection of Christ, till the end of the world, the first day of the week is to be observed as the Christian sabbath. This position is denied by a sect of Christians denominated Sabbatarians, on the ground that there is no explicit command in the New Testament for the observance of the sabbath on the first day of the week; and therefore that the seventh day, or the Jewish sabbath, is still to be held sacred. But we believe that no principle is more obviously reasonable and just, than that which is recognised in our Confession of Faith, that what is "deduced from scripture by good and necessary consequence," is of the same validity as that which is "expressly set down in scripture." The Bible would have been far too large a book for popular use-it would have extended to many volumes instead of one-if every duty, with all its circumstances, had been made the subject of an explicit command. Beside, it was manifestly the design of God in the revelation of his will, to afford scope for the exercise of the human faculties, and even to require their diligent and candid exercise, in order to the discovery of the real mind of his Holy Spirit, in various parts of the sacred scriptures. Now we assuredly believe, that we can deduce from the New Testament, by good and necessary consequence, that it is the appointment of God our Saviour, that the first day of the week is to be observed, from the resurrection of Christ to the end of the world, as the Christian sabbath.

• See note at the end of the lecture.

To be convinced of this, consider

1. There is evidence that our Saviour himself met repeatedly with his disciples, when they were assembled together on the first day of the week, and pronounced a blessing on them in their collective capacity. We read, John xx. 19, "that the same day [on which our Saviour rose from the dead] 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, and said, peace be unto you." And in the 26th verse of the same chapter, we find that "after eight days [that is including the day on which this occurrence took place, which was the usual method of reckoning time among the Jews] again his disciples were within; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you." Although in both these instances, it is said that the doors of the place where the disciples were assembled were shut, and the fear of the Jews is assigned as the cause, yet this does not appear to be the reason of their meeting together; since they could much more easily have concealed themselves by keeping separate than by coming together. The doors, it is plain, were shut, after they came together, to conceal the place of their meeting. The meeting itself appears to have been for religious worship, and to commemorate the resurrection of their Lord: and he sanctioned this procedure, by appearing among them in person, and pronouncing a benediction on them, in two instances, and these the first, in which they adopted this practice.

2. It was on the first day of the week, when the primitive disciples

"were all with one accord in one place," and probably employed in acts of religious worship, that they received that great and special gift, the miraculous effusion of the Holy

order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." It is evident from this passage, that on the first day of the week, in a large number of the churches gathered from among the Gentiles by the apostle Paul, a religious duty was, by his order, to be statedly performed-the duty of making a charitable provision for the poor saints in Judea, then suffering both by famine and persecution. The distance was great between the churches of Galatia, in the north-eastern part of Asia Minor, and the church of Corinth, in Peninsular Greece; and here is a duty which was to be regularly performed, by apostolick command, on the first day of the week,in all these Christian churches, and probably in many others, if not in all, that had been planted by this apostle. The specifick duty was a contribution for the poor; but the reason why it was to be done statedly on the first day of the week, is well explained by Dr. Doddridge, in the following paraphrase of the passage "When you hold your Christian assemblies on the first day of the week, in commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord, which has made that day sacred amongst us, let every one of you lay something by, in proportion to the degree in which, by the divine blessing, he hath been prospered in his affairs; and let him bring it with him to the place of your publick worship; then treasuring it up in the common stock, that so it may be ready in one sum, and there be no necessity of making any particular collections when I come." The original words, which in our common version are rendered "let every one lay by him in store," Doddridge, you perceive, translates "treasuring it up," and in a note

he

says " "We render it, 'let every one of you lay by him in store.'

But the following words show, that it was to be put into a common stock. The argument drawn from hence for the religious observation of the first day of the week, in these primitive churches of Corinth and Galatia, is too obvious to need any farther illustration, and yet too important to be passed by in entire silence." Now as this epistle to the Corinthians is directed, not only to them, but to "all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ," it may fairly be considered as intimating, that the first day of the week is to be regarded as the Christian sabbath, among all people and "till the end of the world."

4. In Rev. i. 10, we find the apostle John using these words, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Does any one, I ask, entertain a doubt which day of the week the beloved apostle meant by the Lord's day? It is manifest that there was then in the church a day, which was so well known and discriminated by calling it the Lord's day, that no other explanation was needed to point it out. In fact, it appears that the Christians then, knew as well as we do now, what day a writer or speaker intended, when he mentioned the Lord's day

and it is equally palpable that they, as well as we; could mean by this designation no other than the first day of the week. It doubtless was called the Lord's day, because on this day he rose triumphantly from the tomb, completed on this day the work of our redemption-a work more arduous in itself, and more important to us, than the work of creation; and because, for these reasons, he claimed that this day should be regarded as his property, and should be observed thenceforth as "the sabbath of the Lord," in all succeeding generations. If then the example of the whole apostolick church, originating, we cannot doubt, in a command from the Redeemer himself— either in the forty days which he