The works of William Paley, D.D. To which is prefixed, the life of the author

public worship, is founded in the reasons which make public worship itself a duty. But the celebration of divine service never occupies the whole day. What remains, therefore, of Sunday, beside the part of it employed at church, must be considered as a mere rest from the ordinary occupations of civil life: and he who would defend the institution, as it is required by law to be observed in Christian countries, unless he can produce a command for a Christian Sabbath, must point out the uses of it in that view.

3. They, whose humanity embraces the whole sensitive creation, will esteem it no inconsiderable recommendation of a weekly return, of public rest, that it affords a respite to the toil of brutes. Nor can we omit to recount this among the uses which the Divine Founder of the Jewish Sabbath expressly appointed a law of the institution.

We admit, that none of these reasons show why Sunday should be preferred to any other day in the week, or one day in seven to one day in six, or eight: but these points, which in their nature are of arbitrary determination,

applies to the subsisting establishment, so long as we confess that some such institution is necessary, and are neither able nor attempt to substitute any other in its place.

First, then, that interval of relaxation which Sunday affords to the laborious part of man-being established to our hands, our obligation kind, contributes greatly to the comfort and satisfaction of their lives, both as it refreshes them for the time, and as it relieves their six days' labour by the prospect of a day of rest always approaching; which could not be said of casual indulgences of leisure and rest, even were they more frequent than there is reason to expect they would be if left to the discretion or humanity of interested task-masters. To this

CHAPTER VII.

CAL INSTITUTIONS.

The subject, so far as it makes any part of Christian morality, is contained in two questions:

I. Whether the command, by which the Jewish Sabbath was instituted, extends to Christians?

difference it may be added, that holy-days which OF THE SCRIPTURE ACCOUNT OF SABBATI come seldom and unexpected, are unprovided, when they do come, with any duty or employment; and the manner of spending them being regulated by no public decency or established usage, they are commonly consumed in rude, if not criminal pastimes, in stupid sloth, or brutish intemperance. Whoever considers how much sabbatical institutions conduce, in this respect, to the happiness and civilisation II. Whether any new command, was deliof the labouring classes of mankind, and re-vered by Christ; or any other day substituted flects how great a majority of the human spe- in the place of the Jewish Sabbath by the aucies these classes compose, will acknowledge the thority or example of his apostles? utility, whatever he may believe of the origin, of this distinction; and will consequently perceive it to be every man's duty to uphold the observation of Sunday when once established, let the establishment have proceeded from whom or from what authority it will.

In treating of the first question, it will be necessary to collect the accounts which are preserved of the institution, in the Jewish history: for the seeing these accounts together, and in one point of view, will be the best preparation for the discussing or judging of any arguments on one side or the other.

Nor is there any thing lost to the community by the intermission of public industry one In the second chapter of Genesis, the histoday in the week. For, in countries tolerably rian, having concluded his account of the six advanced in population and the arts of civil days' creation, proceeds thus: "And on the life, there is always enough of human labour, seventh day God ended his work which he had and to spare. The difficulty is not so much to made; and he rested on the seventh day from procure, as to employ it. The addition of all his work which he had made; and God bless. the seventh day's labour to that of the othered the seventh day and sanctified it, because that six, would have no other effect than to reduce in it he had rested from all his work which the price. The labourer himself, who deserved and suffered most by the change, would gain nothing.

2 Sunday, by suspending many public diversions, and the ordinary rotation of employment, leaves to men of all ranks and professions sufficient leisure, and not more than what is sufficient, both for the external offices of Christianity, and the retired, but equally necessary duties of religious meditation and inquiry. It is true, that many do not convert their leisure to this purpose; but it is of moment, and is all which a public constitution can effect, that to every one be allowed the opportunity.

God created and made." After this, we hear no more of the Sabbath, or of the seventh day, as in any manner distinguished from the other six, until the history brings us down to the sojourning of the Jews in the wilderness, when the following remarkable passage occurs. Up. on the complaint of the people for want of food, God was pleased to provide for their relief by a miraculous supply of manna, which was found every morning upon the ground about the camp: " and they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted and it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice

as much bread, two omers for one man; and bath, on account of God's resting upon that al: the rulers of the congregation came and day from the work of the creation, it was natold Moses: and he said unto them, This is tural in the historian, when he had related the that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is history of the creation, and of God's ceasing the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake from it on the seventh day, to add; "And God that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it be. that ye will seethe; and that which remain-cause that on it he had rested from all his eth over, lay up for you, to be kept until the work which God created and made;" although morning. And they laid it up till the morn- the blessing and sanctification, i e. the religi ing, as Moses bade; and it did not stink [as ous distinction and appropriation of that day, it had done before, when some of them left it were not actually made till many ages aftertill the morning,] neither was there any worm wards. The words do not assert that God then therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day: "blessed" and "sanctified" the seventh day, for to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord; to-day but that he blessed and sanctified it for that ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye reason; and if any ask, why the Sabbath, or shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which sanctification of the seventh day, was then menis the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And tioned, if it was not then appointed, the anit came to pass, that there went out some of swer is at hand: the order of connexion, and the people on the seventh day for to gather, not of time, introduced the mention of the and they found none. And the Lord said un-Sabbath, in the history of the subject which it to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my was ordained to commemorate. commandments and my laws? See, for that This interpretation is strongly supported by the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore a passage in the prophet Ezekiel, where the he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place: let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day." Exodus xvi,

Not long after this, the Sabbath, as is well known, was established with great solemnity, in the fourth commandment.

Sabbath is plainly spoken of as given, (and what else can that mean, but as first instituted?) in the wilderness. "Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness: and I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them: moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.' Ezek. xx. 10, 11, 12.

cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant, and gavest them bread from heaven for their hun. ger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock *." Nehem. ix. 12.

Now, in my opinion, the transaction in the wilderness above recited, was the first actual institution of the Sabbath. For if the Sabbath had been instituted at the time of the creation, Nehemiah also recounts the promulgation as the words in Genesis may seem at first sight of the sabbatical law amongst the transactions to import; and if it had been observed all in the wilderness; which supplies another conalong from that time to the departure of the siderable argument in aid of our opinion :--Jews out of Egypt, a period of about two" Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a thousand five hundred years; it appears unaccountable that no mention of it, no occasion of even the obscurest allusion to it, should occur, either in the general history of the world before the call of Abraham, which contains, we admit, only a few memoirs of its early ages, and those extremely abridged; or, which is more to be wondered at, in that of the lives of the first three Jewish patriarchs, which, in many parts of the account, is sufficiently circumstantial and domestic. Nor is there, in the passage above quoted from the sixteenth chapter of Exodus, any intimation that the Sabbath, when appointed to be observed, was only the revival of an ancient institution, which had been neglected, forgotten, or suspended; nor is any such neglect imputed either to the inhabitants of the old world, or to any part of the family of Noah; nor, lastly, is any permission recorded to dispense with the institution during the captivity of the Jews in Egypt, or on any other public emergency.

If it be inquired what duties were appointed for the Jewish Sabbath, and under what penalties and in what manner it was observed amongst the ancient Jews; we find that, by the fourth commandment, a strict cessation

* From the mention of the Sabbath in so close a connexion with the descent of God upon mount Sinai, and the delivery of the law from thence, one would be inclin. ed to believe that Nehemiah referred solely to the fourth commandment. But the fourth commandment certain.

The passage in the second chapter of Genesis, ly did not first make known the Sabbath. And it is apparent, that Nehemiah observed not the order of events, which creates the whole controversy upon the for he speaks of what passed upon mount Sinai before he subject, is not inconsistent with this opinion: though the Jews did not arrive at mount Sinai, till some mentions the miraculous supplies of bread and water, for as the seventh day was erected into a Sab-time after both these miracles were wrought

from work was enjoined, not only upon Jews other. It is on this account that the question by birth, or religious profession, but upon all concerning the date of the institution was first who resided within the limits of the Jewish to be considered. The former opinion precludes state; that the same was to be permitted to all debate about the extent of the obligation : their slaves and their cattle; that this rest the latter admits, and, primâ facie induces a was not to be violated, under pain of death: belief, that the Sabbath ought to be considered "Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath- as part of the peculiar law of the Jewish policy. day, he shall surely be put to death." Exod. Which belief receives great confirmation xxxi. 15. Beside which, the seventh day was from the following arguments: to be solemnised by double sacrifices in the The Sabbath is described as a sign between temple:-"And on the Sabbath-day two lambs God and the people of Israel :-" Wherefore of the first year without spot, and two tenth- the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with to observe the Sabbath throughout their geoil, and the drink offering thereof; this is the nerations for a perpetual covenant; it is a sign burnt-offering of every Sabbath, beside the between me and the children of Israel for ever." continual burnt-offering and his drink offer- Exodus xxxi. 16, 17. Again: "And I gave ing." Numb. xxviii. 9, 10. Also holy con- then my statutes, and shewed them my judgvocations, which mean, we presume, assem-ments, which if a man do he shall even live in blies for the purpose of public worship or re- them; moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, ligious instruction, were directed to be holden to be a sign between me and them, that they on the Sabbath-day: "the seventh day is a might know that I am the Lord that sanctify sabbath of rest, an holy convocation." Levit. them." Ezek. xx. 12. Now it does not seem xxiii. 3. easy to understand how the Sabbath could be a sign between God and the people of Israel, unless the observance of it was peculiar to that people, and designed to be so.

And accordingly we read, that the Sabbath was in fact observed amongst the Jews by a scrupulous abstinence from every thing which, by any possible construction, could be deemed The distinction of the Sabbath is, in its na. labour; as from dressing meat, from travelling ture, as much a positive ceremonial institution,as beyond a Sabbath-day's journey, or about a that of many other seasons which were appointsingle mile. In the Maccabean wars, they ed by the Levitical law to be kept holy, and to suffered a thousand of their number to be slain, be observed by a strict rest; as the first and rather than do any thing in their own defence seventh days of unleavened bread; the feast on the Sabbath-day. In the final siege of Je-of Pentecost; the feast of tabernacles: and in rusalem, after they had so far overcome their the twenty-third chapter of Exodus, the Sab. scruples as to defend their persons when at-bath and these are recited together, tacked, they refused any operation on the Sab- If the command by which the Sabbath was bath-day, by which they might have inter-instituted be binding upon Christians, it must rupted the enemy in filling up the trench. Af-be binding as to the day, the duties, and the ter the establishment of synagogues, (of the ori-penalty; in none of which it is received. gin of which we have no account,) it was the The observance of the Sabbath was not one custom to assemble in them on the Sabbath-of the articles enjoined by the Apostles, in day, for the purpose of hearing the law re- the fifteenth chapter of Acts, upon themhearsed and explained, and for the exercise, it" which, from among the Gentiles, were turnis probable, of public devotion: "For Mosesed unto God."

of old time hath in every city them that preach St. Paul evidently appears to have considerhim, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath-ed the Sabbath as part of the Jewish ritual, day." The seventh day is Saturday; and, a- and not obligatory upon Christians as such : greeably to the Jewish way of computing the "Let no man therefore judge you in meat day, the Sabbath held from six o'clock on the Friday evening, to six o'clock on Saturday evening. These observations being premised, we approach the main question, Whether the command by which the Jewish Sabbath was instituted, extend to us?

or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." Col. ii. 16, 17.

I am aware of only two objections which can be opposed to the force of these arguments; one If the Divine command was actually deliver- is, that the reason assigned in the fourth comed at the creation, it was addressed, no doubt, mandment for hallowing the seventh day, nameto the whole human species alike, and conti-ly, "because God rested on the seventh day nues, unless repealed by some subsequent reve- from the work of the creation," is a reason lation, binding upon all who come to the know-which pertains to all mankind: the other, that ledge of it. If the command was published the command which enjoins the observance for the first time in the wilderness, then it was of the Sabbath is inserted in the Decalogue, immediately directed to the Jewish people a- of which all the other precepts and prohibilone; and something further, either in the sub-tions are of moral and universal obligation. ject or circumstances of the command, will be Upon the first objection it may be remark. necessary to show, that it was designed for any ed, that although in Exodus the commandment

is founded upon God's rest from the creation, distinction between positive and natural du. in Deuteronomy the commandment is repeat- ties, like other distinctions of modern ethics, ed with a reference to a different event:- was unknown to the simplicity of ancient lan"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy guage; and that there are various passages in work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Scripture, in which duties of a political, or cethe Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any remonial, or positive nature, and confessedly work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, of partial obligation, are enumerated, and withnor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, out any mark of discrimination, along with nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy others which are natural and universal. Of cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy this the following is an incontestable example. gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-" But if a man be just, and do that which is servant may rest as well as thou: and remem. lawful and right; and hath not eaten upon ber that thou wast a servant in the land of the mountains, nor hath lifted up his eyes to Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought the idols of the house of Israel; neither hath thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord near to a menstruous woman; and hath not thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath- oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor day." It is farther observable, that God's rest his pledge; hath spoiled none by violence: from the creation is proposed as the reason of hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath the institution, even where the institution it- covered the naked with a garment; he that self is spoken of as peculiar to the Jews: hath not given upon usury, neither hath taken "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep any increase; that hath withdrawn his hand the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath through- from iniquity; hath executed true judgment out their generations, for a perpetual covenant: between man and man; hath walked in my it is a sign between me and the children of statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he Lord God." Ezekiel xviii. 5—9. The same rested and was refreshed." The truth is, these thing may be observed of the apostolic decree different reasons were assigned, to account for recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts: different circumstances in the command. If a Jew inquired, why the seventh day was sanctified rather than the sixth or eighth, his law told him, because God rested on the seventh day from the creation. If he asked, why was the same rest indulged to slaves? his law bade him remember, that he also was a slave in the land of Egypt, and "that the Lord his God brought him out thence." In this view, the two reasons are perfectly compatible with each other, and with a third end of the institution, its being a sign between God and the people of Israel; but in this view they determine nothing concerning the extent of the obligation. If the reason by its proper energy had constituted a natural obligation, or if it had been mentioned with a view to the extent of the obligation, we should submit to the conclusion that all were comprehended by the command who are concerned in the reason. But the sabbatic rest being a duty which results from the ordination and authority of a positive law, the reason can be alleged no farther than as it explains the design of the legis lator and if it appear to be recited with an intentional application to one part of the law, it explains his design upon no other; if it be mentioned merely to account for the choice of the day, it does not explain his design. as to the extent of the obligation.

"It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things, that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well."

II. If the law by which the Sabbath was in- . stituted, was a law only to the Jews, it becomes an important question with the Christian inquirer, whether the Founder of his religion delivered any new command upon the subject; or, if that should not appear to be the case, whether any day was appropriated to the service of religion by the authority or example of his apostles.

The practice of holding religious assemblies upon the first day of the week, was so early and universal in the Christian Church, that it carries with it considerable proof of having originated from some precept of Christ, or of his apostles, though none such be now extant. It was upon the first day of the week that the disciples were assembled, when Christ appeared to them for the first time after his resurrection; "then the same day 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." John xx. 19. This, for any With respect to the second objection, that thing that appears in the account, might, as to inasmuch as the other nine commandments are the day, have been accidental; but in the 26th confessedly of moral and universal obligation, verse of the same chapter we read that "after it may reasonably be presumed that this is of eight days," that is, on the first day of the week the same; we answer, that this argument will following," again the disciples were within :" have less weight when it is considered that the which second meeting upon the same day of

all debate about the extent of the obligation : the latter admits, and, primâ facie induces a belief, that the Sabbath ought to be considered as part of the peculiar law of the Jewish policy, Which belief receives great confirmation from the following arguments:

from work was enjoined, not only upon Jews other. It is on this account that the question by birth, or religious profession, but upon all concerning the date of the institution was first who resided within the limits of the Jewish to be considered. The former opinion precludes state; that the same was to be permitted to their slaves and their cattle; that this rest was not to be violated, under pain of death: "Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbathday, he shall surely be put to death." Exod. xxxi. 15. Beside which, the seventh day was to be solemnised by double sacrifices in the The Sabbath is described as a sign between temple:-"And on the Sabbath-day two lambs God and the people of Israel :-"Wherefore of the first year without spot, and two tenth. the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with to observe the Sabbath throughout their geoil, and the drink offering thereof; this is the nerations for a perpetual covenant; it is a sign burnt-offering of every Sabbath, beside the between me and the children of Israel for ever.” continual burnt-offering and his drink offer- Exodus xxxi. 16, 17. Again: "And I gave ing." Numb. xxviii. 9, 10. Also holy con- then my statutes, and shewed them my judgvocations, which mean, we presume, assem-ments, which if a man do he shall even live in blies for the purpose of public worship or re- them; moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, ligious instruction, were directed to be holden to be a sign between me and them, that they on the Sabbath-day: "the seventh day is a might know that I am the Lord that sanctify sabbath of rest, an holy convocation." Levit. them." Ezek. xx. 12. Now it does not seem xxiii. 3. easy to understand how the Sabbath could be a sign between God and the people of Israel, unless the observance of it was peculiar to that people, and designed to be so.

And accordingly we read, that the Sabbath was in fact observed amongst the Jews by a scrupulous abstinence from every thing which, by any possible construction, could be deemed The distinction of the Sabbath is, in its na. labour; as from dressing meat, from travelling ture, as much a positive ceremonial institution,as beyond a Sabbath-day's journey, or about a that of many other seasons which were appointsingle mile. In the Maccabean wars, they ed by the Levitical law to be kept holy, and to suffered a thousand of their number to be slain, be observed by a strict rest; as the first and rather than do any thing in their own defence seventh days of unleavened bread; the feast on the Sabbath-day. In the final siege of Je-of Pentecost; the feast of tabernacles: and in rusalem, after they had so far overcome their the twenty-third chapter of Exodus, the Sab. scruples as to defend their persons when at-bath and these are recited together. tacked, they refused any operation on the Sab- If the command by which the Sabbath was bath-day, by which they might have inter-instituted be binding upon Christians, it must rupted the enemy in filling up the trench. Af-be binding as to the day, the duties, and the ter the establishment of synagogues, (of the ori-penalty; in none of which it is received. gin of which we have no account,) it was the The observance of the Sabbath was not one custom to assemble in them on the Sabbath-of the articles enjoined by the Apostles, in day, for the purpose of hearing the law re-the fifteenth chapter of Acts, upon them— hearsed and explained, and for the exercise, it" which, from among the Gentiles, were turnis probable, of public devotion: "For Moses ed unto God."

or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." Col. ii. 16, 17.

I am aware of only two objections which can be opposed to the force of these arguments; one If the Divine command was actually deliver- is, that the reason assigned in the fourth comed at the creation, it was addressed, no doubt, mandment for hallowing the seventh day, nameto the whole human species alike, and conti- ly, "because God rested on the seventh day nues, unless repealed by some subsequent reve- from the work of the creation," is a reason lation, binding upon all who come to the know-which pertains to all mankind: the other, that ledge of it. If the command was published the command which enjoins the observance for the first time in the wilderness, then it was of the Sabbath is inserted in the Decalogue, immediately directed to the Jewish people a- of which all the other precepts and prohibilone; and something further, either in the sub- tions are of moral and universal obligation. ject or circumstances of the command, will be Decessary to show, that it was designed for any

Upon the first objection it may be remark. ed, that although in Exodus the commandment

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