being a portion of the Decalogue,* is of perpetual obligation. Hence, instead of regarding it as a merely Jewish institution, Christ declares that it "was made for MAN,"† or, in other words, that it was designed for the benefit of the whole human family. Instead of anticipating its extinction along with the ceremonial law, He speaks of its existence after the downfal of Jerusalem. When He announces the calamities connected with the ruin of the holy city, He instructs His followers to pray that the urgency of the catastrophe may not deprive them of the comfort of the ordinances of the sacred rest. "Pray ye," said he, "that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbathday." And the prophet Isaiah, when describing the ingathering of the Gentiles and the glory of the Church in the times of the gospel, mentions the keeping of the Sabbath as characteristic of the children of God. "The sons of the stranger," says he, "that join themselves to the Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant-even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar:§ for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." || But when Jesus declared that "the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath," He unquestionably asserted His right to alter the circumstantials of its observance. He accordingly abolished its ceremonial worship, gave it a new name, and changed the day of its celebration. He signalised the first day of the week by then appearing once and again to His disciples after His resurrection,** and by * Exod. xx. 1-17. Matt. xxiv. 20. + Mark ii. 27. § See Heb. xiii. 10, 15, 16; Ps. li. 17. || Isa. lvi. 6, 7. Compare with Isa. ii. 2. Mark ii. 28. ** John xx. 19, 26. According to the current style of speaking, "after eight days" means the eighth day after. See Matt. xxvii. 63. that Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit* which marks the commencement of a new era in the history of redemption. As the Lord's day was consecrated to the Lord's service,† the disciples did not now neglect the assembling of themselves together; and the apostle commanded them at this holy season to set apart a portion of their gains for religious purposes.§ It was most fitting that the first day of the week should be thus distinguished under the new economy; for the deliverance of the Church is a more illustrious achievement than the formation of the world; and as the primeval Sabbath commemorated the rest of the Creator, the Christian Sabbath reminds us of the completion of the work of the Redeemer. "There remaineth, therefore, the keeping of a Sabbath ¶ to the people of God, for he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." ** As many of the converts from Judaism urged the circumcision of their Gentile brethren, they were likewise disposed to insist on their observance of the Hebrew festivals. The apostles, at least for a considerable time, did not deem it expedient positively to forbid the keeping of such days; but they required that, in matters of this nature, every one should be left to his own discretion. "One man," says Paul, "esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." tt It is obvious that the *Acts ii. 1. That the day of Pentecost was the first day of the week appears from Lev. xxiii. 11, 15. The same inference may be drawn from John xviii. 28, and xix. 31, compared with Lev. xxiii. 5, 6. See also Schaff's "History of the Apostolic Church," i. p. 230, note, and the authorities there quoted. + In the same way the Eucharist is called the Lord's Supper: Kupiakov deinvov (1 Cor. xi. 20). Thus also we speak of the Lord's house, and the Lord's people. Heb. x. 25. § 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. ++ Rom. xiv. 5. ¶ Eaßßarioμós. See Owen "On the Hebrews," iv. 9. ** Heb. iv. 9, 10. || Isa. lxv. 17, 18. Lord's day is not included in this compromise; for from the morning of the resurrection there appears to have been no dispute as to its claims, and its very title attests the general recognition of its authority. The apostle can refer only to days which were typical and ceremonial. Hence he says elsewhere-"Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days-which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ."* Though the New Testament furnishes no full and circumstantial description of the worship of the Christian Church, it makes such incidental allusions to its various parts, as enable us to form a pretty accurate idea of its general character. Like the worship of the synagogue † it consisted of prayer, singing, reading the Scriptures, and expounding or preaching. Those who joined the Church, for several years after it was first organized, were almost exclusively converts from Judaism, and when they embraced the Christian faith, they retained the order of religious service to which they had been hitherto accustomed; but by the recognition of Jesus Christ as the Messiah of whom the law and the prophets testified, their old forms were inspired with new life and significance. At first the heathen did not challenge the distinction between the worship of the synagogue and the Church; and thus it was, as has already been intimated, that for a considerable portion of the first century, the Christians and the Jews were frequently confounded. It has often been asserted that the Jews had a liturgy when our Lord ministered in their synagogues; but the proof,adduced in support of this statement is far from * Col. ii. 16, 17. The ordinary temple service could scarcely be called congregational. It was almost exclusively ceremonial and typical, consisting of sacrificing, burning incense, and offering various oblations. The worshippers generally prayed apart. See Luke i. 10, xviii. 10, 11. satisfactory; and their prayers which are still extant, and which are said to have been then in use, must obviously have been written after the destruction of Jerusalem.* It is, however, certain that the Christians in the apostolic age were not restricted to any particular forms of devotion. The liturgies ascribed to Mark, James, and others, are unquestionably the fabrications of later times; † and had any of the inspired teachers of the gospel composed a book of common prayer, it would, of course, have been received into the canon of the New Testament. Our Lord taught His disciples to pray, and supplied them with a model to guide them in their devotional exercises; but there is no evidence whatever that, in their stated services, they constantly employed the language of that beautiful and comprehensive formulary. The very idea of a liturgy was altogether alien to the spirit of the primitive believers. They were commanded to give thanks "in everything,"§ to pray "always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit," and to watch thereunto "with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;" ¶ and had they been limited to a form, they would have found it impossible to comply with these admonitions. Their prayers were dictated by the occasion, and varied according to passing circumstances. Some of them which have been recorded,** had a special reference to the occurrences of the day, and could not have well admitted of repetition. In the apostolic age, when the Spirit was poured out in such rich effusion on the Church, || See these eighteen prayers in Prideaux's "Connexions," i. 375, and note. Bingham admits (Orig. iv. 194), that these are their "most ancient" forms of devotion; and, of course, if they were written after the fall of Jerusalem, it follows that the Jews had no liturgy in the days of our Lord. Had they then been limited to fixed forms, He would scarcely have upbraided the Scribes and Pharisees for hypocritically "making long prayer." Matt. xxiii. 14. + See Palmer's "Origines Liturgicæ," i. pp. 44-92; and Clarkson's "Discourse concerning Liturgies;" "Select Works," p. 342. Matt. vi. 9-13. ¶ Eph. vi. 18. § 1 Thess. v. 18. || Eph. vi. 18. the gift, as well as the grace, of prayer was imparted abundantly, so that a liturgy would have been deemed superfluous, if not directly calculated to freeze the genial current of devotion. Singing, in which none but Levites were permitted to unite,* and which was accompanied by instrumental music, constituted a prominent part of the temple service. The singers occupied an elevated platform adjoining the court of the priests; t and it is somewhat doubtful whether, in that position, they were distinctly heard by the majority of the worshippers within the sacred precincts. As the sacrifices, offerings, and other observances of the temple, as well as the priests, the vestments, and even the building itself, had an emblematic meaning, § it would appear that the singing, intermingled with the music of various instruments of sound, was also typical and ceremonial. It seems to have indicated that the tongue of man cannot sufficiently express the praise of the King Eternal, and that all things, animate and inanimate, owe Him a revenue of glory. The worship of the synagogue was more simple. Its officers had, indeed, trumpets and cornets, with which they published their sentences of excommunication, and announced the new year, the fasts, and the Sabbath; || but they did not introduce instrumental music into their congregational services. The early Christians followed the example of the synagogue; and when they celebrated the praises of God "in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs," their melody was "the fruit of the lips." "¶ For * See Lightfoot's "Temple Service,” ch. vii. sec. 2; "Works," ix. 56. + Lightfoot's "Prospect of the Temple," ch. xxxiii.; "Works," ix. 384. The multitudes who assembled at the great festivals in the temple could not well unite in one service. The wall of the building was more than half a mile in circumference. See Lightfoot, ix. 217. There were various courts and divisions in the building. § Heb. ix. 9-12, x. 1; John ii. 19-21; 1 Pet. ii. 5. Vitringa, "De Synagoga," p. 203. ¶ Eph. v. 19. According to some, the Psalms were divided into these three classes. ** Heb. xiii. 15. |