statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant, and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock."* Nehem. ix. 12.

repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon all who come to the knowledge of it. If the command was published for the first time in the wilderness, then it was immediately directed to the Jewish people alone; and something further, either in the subject or circumstances of the command, will be necessary to show, that it was designed for any other. It is on this account that the question concerning the date of the institution was first to be considered. The former opinion precludes all debate about the extent of the obligation: the latter admits, and, prima 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:

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 work was enjoined, not only upon Jews by birth, or religious profession, but upon all who resided within the limits of the Jewish 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 Sabbath-day, he shall surely be put to death." Exod. xxxi. 15. Beside which, the seventh day was to be solemnized by double sacrifices in the temple:- The Sabbath is described as a sign between "And on the Sabbath-day two lambs of the first God and the people of Israel:-" Wherefore the year without spot, and two tenth-deals of flour for children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to oba meat-offering, mingled with oil, and the drink-serve the Sabbath throughout their generations, offering thereof; this is the burnt-offering of every for a perpetual covenant; it is a sign between me Sabbath, beside the continual burnt-offering and and the children of Israel for ever." Exodus his drink-offering." Numb. xxviii. 9, 10. Also xxxi. 16, 17. Again: "And I gave them my holy convocations, which mean, we presume, as- statutes, and showed them my judgments, which semblies for the purpose of public worship or re- if a man do he shall even live in them; moreover ligious instruction, were directed to be holden on also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign bethe Sabbath-day: "the seventh day is a sabbath tween me and them, that they might know that I of rest, an holy convocation." Levit. xxiii. 3. am the Lord that sanctify them." Ezek. xx. 12. Now it does not seem easy to understand how the Sab bath 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 labour; as from dressing meat, from travelling beyond a Sabbath-day's journey, or about a single mile. In the Maccabean wars, they suffered a thousand of their number to be slain, rather than do any thing in their own defence on the Sabbath-day. In the final siege of Jerusalem, after they had so far overcome their scruples as to defend their persons when attacked, they refused any operation on the Sabbath-day, by which they might have interrupted the enemy in filling up the trench. After the establishment of synagogues, (of the origin of which we have no account,) it was the custom to assemble in them on the Sabbath-day, for the purpose of hearing the law rehearsed and explained, and for the exercise, it is probable, of public devotion: "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day." The seventh day is Saturday; and, agreeably to the Jewish way of computing the 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?

If the Divine command was actually delivered at the creation, it was addressed, no doubt, to the whole human species alike, and continues, unless

• From the mention of the Sabbath in so close a con

nexion with the descent of God upon mount Sinai, and the delivery of the law from thence, one would be in clined to believe that Nehemiah referred solely to the fourth commandment. But the fourth commandment certainly did not first make known the Sabbath. And it is apparent, that Nehemiah observed not the order of events; for he speaks of what passed upon mount Sinai before he mentions the miraculous supplies of bread

and water, though the Jews did not arrive at mount Sinai, till some time after both these miracles were

wrought.

The distinction of the Sabbath is, in its nature, as much a positive ceremonial institution, as that of many other seasons which were appointed by the Levitical law to be kept holy, and to be ob served by a strict rest; as the first and seventh days of unleavened bread; the feast of Pentecost; the feast of tabernacles: and in the twenty-third chapter of Exodus, the Sabbath and these are recited together.

If the command by which the Sabbath was instituted be binding upon Christians, it must be binding as to the day, the duties, and the penalty; in none of which it is received.

The observance of the Sabbath was not one of

the articles enjoined by the Apostles, in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, upon them-" which, from among the Gentiles, were turned unto God."

St. Paul evidently appears to have considered the Sabbath as part of the Jewish ritual, and not obligatory upon Christians as such "Let no man therefore judge you in meat 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 is, that the reason assigned in the fourth commandment for hallowing the seventh day, namely, "because God rested on the seventh day from the work of the creation," is a reason which pertains to all mankind: the other, that the command which enjoins the observance of the Sabbath is inserted in the Decalogue, of which all the other precepts and prohibitions are of moral and universal obligation."

Upon the first objection it may be remarked, that although in Exodus the commandment is founded upon God's rest from the creation, in

house of Israel; neither hath defiled his neigh bour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman; and hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge; hath spoiled none by violence; hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; he that hath not given upon usury, nei ther hath taken any increase; that hath with drawn his hand from iniquity; hath executed true judgment between man and man; hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel xviii. 5-9. The same thing may be observed of the apostolic decree recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts:-" 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 instituted, 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.

Deuteronomy the commandment is repeated with, a reference to a different event:-"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou: and remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day.' It is farther observable, that God's rest from the creation is proposed as the reason of the institution, even where the institution itself is spoken of as peculiar to the Jews:"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant: it is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." The truth is, these different reasons were assigned, to account for 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 The practice of holding religious assemblies he asked, why was the same rest indulged to upon the first day of the week, was so early and slaves? his law bade him remember, that he also universal in the Christian Church, that it carries was a slave in the land of Egypt, and "that the with it considerable proof of having originated Lord his God brought him out thence." In this from some precept of Christ, or of his apostles, view, the two reasons are perfectly compatible though none such be now extant. It was upon with each other, and with a third end of the in- the first day of the week that the disciples were stitution, its being a sign between God and the assembled, when Christ appeared to them for the people of Israel; but in this view they determine first time after his resurrection; "then the same nothing concerning the extent of the obligation. day at evening, being the first day of the week, If the reason by its proper energy had constituted when the doors were shut where the disciples were a natural obligation, or if it had been mentioned assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and with a view to the extent of the obligation, we stood in the midst of them" John xx. 19. This, should submit to the conclusion that all were for any thing that appears in the account, might, comprehended by the command who are concerned as to the day, have been accidental; but in the in the reason. But the sabbatic rest being a duty 26th verse of the same chapter we read, that which results from the ordination and authority "after eight days," that is, on the first day of the of a positive law, the reason can be alleged no week following, "again the disciples were withfarther than as it explains the design of the legis-in;" which second meeting upon the same day of 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.

the week looks like an appointment and design to meet on that particular day. In the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find the same custom in a Christian church at a great distance from Jerusalem :-" And we came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven With respect to the second objection, that in- days; and upon the first day of the week, when asmuch as the other nine commandments are con- the disciples came together to break bread, Paul fessedly of moral and universal obligation, it may preached unto them." Acts xx. 6, 7. The manreasonably be presumed that this is of the same; ner in which the historian mentions the disciples we answer, that this argument will have less coming together to break bread on the first day weight, when it is considered that the distinction of the week, shows, I think, that the practice by between positive and natural duties, like other this time was familiar and established. St. Paul distinctions of modern ethics, was unknown to the to the Corinthians writes thus: "Concerning the simplicity of ancient language; and that there are collection for the saints, as I have given order to various passages in Scripture, in which duties of the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye; upon the a political, or ceremonial, or positive nature, and first day of the week let every one of you lay by confessedly of partial obligation, are enumerated, him in store as God hath prospered him, that there and without any mark of discrimination, along be no gathering when I come." 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. with others which are natural and universal. Of Which direction affords a probable proof, that the this the following is an incontestable example. first day of the week was already, amongst the "But if a man be just, and do that which is law-Christians both of Corinth and Galatia, distinful and right; and hath not eaten upon the moun-guished from the rest by some religious applicatains, nor hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the tion or other. At the time that St. John wrote

the book of his Revelation, the first day of the ment; the resting on that day from our employweek had obtained the name of the Lord's day;-ments longer than we are detained from them by "I was in the spirit," says he, "on the Lord's attendance upon these assemblies, is to Christians day Rev. i. 10. Which name, and St. John's an ordinance of human institution; binding neveruse of it, sufficiently denote the appropriation of theless upon the conscience of every individual of this day to the service of religion, and that this a country in which a weekly Sabbath is estaappropriation was perfectly known to the Churches blished, for the sake of the beneficial purposes of Asia. I make no doubt that by the Lord's which the public and regular observance of it proday was meant the first day of the week; for we motes, and recommended perhaps in some defind no footsteps of any distinction of days, which gree to the Divine approbation, by the resemcould entitle any other to that appellation. The blance it bears to what God was pleased to make subsequent history of Christianity corresponds a solemn part of the law which he delivered to the with the accounts delivered on this subject in people of Israel, and by its subserviency to many Scripture.

It will be remembered, that we are contending, by these proofs, for no other duty upon the first day of the week, than that of holding and frequenting religious assemblies. A cessation upon that day from labour, beyond the time of attendance upon public worship, is not intimated in any

of the same uses.

CHAPTER VIII.

By what Acts and Omissions the Duty of the

Christian Sabbath is violated.

authority of the apostolic practice, the manner of
observing it ought to be that which best fulfils
these uses, and conforms the nearest to this prac
tice.
The uses proposed by the institution are:
1. To facilitate attendance upon public wor-
ship.

2. To meliorate the condition of the laborious classes of mankind, by regular and seasonable returns of rest.

3. By a general suspension of business and amusement, to invite and enable persons of every description to apply their time and thoughts to subjects appertaining to their salvation.

passage of the New Testament; nor did Christ or his apostles deliver, that we know of, any com- SINCE the obligation upon Christians to command to their disciples for a discontinuance, upon ply with the religious observance of Sunday, arises that day, of the common offices of their profes-from the public uses of the institution, and the sions; a reserve which none will see reason to wonder at, or to blame as a defect in the institution, who consider that, in the primitive condition of Christianity, the observance of a new Sabbath would have been useless, or inconvenient, or impracticable. During Christ's personal ministry, his religion was preached to the Jews alone. They already had a Sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that economy, they were obliged to keep; and did keep. It was not therefore probable that Christ would enjoin another day of rest in conjunction with this. When the new religion came forth into the Gentile world, converts to it were, for the most part, made from those classes of society who have not their time and With the primitive Christians, the peculiar, labour at their own disposal; and it was scarcely and probably for sometime the only, distinction of to be expected, that unbelieving masters and the first day of the week, was the holding of remagistrates, and they who directed the employ-ligious assemblies upon that day. We learn, ment of others, would permit their slaves and labourers to rest from their work every seventh day or that civil government, indeed, would have submitted to the loss of a seventh part of the public industry, and that too in addition to the numerous festivals which the national religions indulged to the people; at least, this would have been an incumbrance, which might have greatly retarded the reception of Christianity in the world. In reality, the institution of a weekly Sabbath is so connected with the functions of civil life, and requires so much of the concurrence of civil law, in its regulation and support, that it cannot, perhaps, properly be made the ordinance of any religion, till that religion be received as the religion of the state.

however, from the testimony of a very early writer amongst them, that they also reserved the day for religious meditations;-Unusquisque nos• trum (saith Irenæus) sabbatizat spiritualiter, meditatione legis gaudens, opificium Dei admirans.

WHEREFORE the duty of the day is violated, 1st, By all such employments or engagements as (though differing from our ordinary occupation) hinder our attendance upon public worship, or take up so much of our time as not to leave a sufficient part of the day at leisure for religious reflection; as the going of journeys, the paying or receiving of visits which engage the whole day, or employing the time at home in writing letters, settling accounts, or in applying ourselves to studies, or the reading of books, which bear no relation to the business of religion.

The opinion, that Christ and his apostles meant to retain the duties of the Jewish Sabbath, 2dly, By unnecessary encroachments on the rest shifting only the day from the seventh to the first, and liberty which Sunday ought to bring to the seems to prevail without sufficient proof; nor does inferior orders of the community; as by keeping any evidence remain in Scripture (of what, how-servants on that day confined and busied in preever, is not improbable,) that the first day of the parations for the superfluous elegancies of our week was thus distinguished in commemoration table, or dress. of our Lord's resurrection.

The conclusion from the whole inquiry (for it is our business to follow the arguments, to whatever probability they conduct us,) is this: The assembling upon the first day of the week for the purpose of public worship and religious instruction, is a law of Christianity of Divine appoint

3dly, By such recreations as are customarily forborne out of respect to the day; as hunting, shooting, fishing, public diversions, frequenting taverns, playing at cards or dice.

If it be asked, as it often has been, wherein consists the difference between walking out with your staff or with your gun? between spending

The prohibition of the third commandment is recognised by Christ, in his sermon upon the mount; which sermon adverts to none but the moral parts of the Jewish law: "I say unto you, Swear not at all; but let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil." The Jews probably interpreted the prohibition as restrained to the name JEHOVAH, the name which the Deity had appointed and appropriated to himself; Exod. vi. 3. The words of Christ extend the prohibition beyond the name of God, to every thing associated with the idea :-"Swear not, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King." Matt. v. 35.

the evening at home, or in a tavern? between | ligion and devotion, to express our anger, our passing the Sunday afternoon at a game of cards, earnestness, our courage, or our mirth or indeed or in conversation not more edifying, not always when it is used at all, except in acts of religion, or so inoffensive to these, and to the same question in serious and seasonable discourse upon religious under a variety of forms, and in a multitude of subjects. similar examples, we return the following answer:-That the religious observance of Sunday, if it ought to be retained at all, must be upholden by some public and visible distinctions: that, draw the line of distinction where you will, many actions which are situated on the confines of the line, will differ very little, and yet lie on the opposite sides of it-that every trespass upon that reserve which public decency has established, breaks down the fence by which the day is separated to the service of religion:-that it is unsafe to trifle with scruples and habits that have a beneficial tendency, although founded merely in custom-that these liberties, however intended, will certainly be considered by those who observe them, not only as disrespectful to the day and institution, but as proceeding from a secret contempt of the Christian faith:-that consequently, they diminish a reverence for religion in others, so far as the authority of our opinion, or the efficacy of our example, reaches; or rather, so far as either will serve for an excuse of negligence to those who are glad of any that as to cards and dice, which put in their claim to be considered among the harmless occupations of a vacant hour, it may be observed that few find any difficulty in refraining from play on Sunday, except they who sit down to it with the views and eagerness of gamesters-that gaming is seldom innocent:-that the anxiety and perturbations, however, which it excites, are inconsistent with the tranquillity and frame of temper in which the duties and thoughts of religion should always both find and leave us: and lastly, we shall remark, that the example of other countries, where the same and greater licence is allowed, affords no apology for irregularities in our own; because a practice which is tolerated by public usage, neither receives the same construction, nor gives the same offence, as where it is censured and prohibited.

CHAPTER IX.

Of Reverencing the Deity.

In many persons, a seriousness, and sense of awe, overspread the imagination, whenever the idea of the Supreme Being is presented to their thoughts. This effect, which forms a considerable security against vice, is the consequence not so much of reflection, as of habit; which habit being generated by the external expressions of reverence which we use ourselves, or observe in others, may be destroyed by causes opposite to these, and especially by that familiar levity with which some learn to speak of the Deity, of his attributes, providence, revelations, or worship.

God hath been pleased (no matter for what reason, although probably for this) to forbid the vain mention of his name:-"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Now the mention is vain, when it is useless: and it is useless, when it is neither likely nor intended to serve any good purpose; as when it flows from the lips idle and unmeaning, or is applied, on occasions inconsistent with any consideration of re

The offence of profane swearing is aggravated by the consideration, that in it duty and decency are sacrificed to the slenderest of temptations. Suppose the habit, either from affectation, or by negligence and inadvertency, to be already formed, it must always remain within the power of the most ordinary resolution to correct it; and it cannot, one would think, cost a great deal to relinquish the pleasure and honour which it confers. A concern for duty is in fact never strong, when the exertion requisite to vanish a habit founded in no antecedent propensity, is thought too much, or too painful.

A contempt of positive duties, or rather of those duties for which the reason is not so plain as the command, indicates a disposition upon which the authority of Revelation has obtained little influence.-This remark is applicable to the offence of profane swearing, and describes, perhaps, pretty exactly, the general character of those who are most addicted to it.

Mockery and ridicule, when exercised upon the Scriptures, or even upon the places, persons, and forms, set apart for the ministration of religion, fall within the meaning of the law which forbids the profanation of God's name; especially as that law is extended by Christ's interpretation. They are, moreover, inconsistent with a religious frame of mind: for, as no one ever feels himself disposed to pleasantry, or capable of being diverted with the pleasantry of others, upon matters in which he is deeply interested; so a mind intent upon the acquisition of heaven, rejects with indignation every attempt to entertain it with jests, calculated to degrade or deride subjects which it never recollects but with seriousness and anxiety. Nothing but stupidity, or the most frivolous dissipation of thought, can make even the inconsiderate forget the supreme importance of every thing which relates to the expectation of a future existence. Whilst the infidel mocks at the superstitions of the vulgar, insults over their credulous fears, their childish errors, or fantastic rites, it does not occur to him to observe, that the most preposterous device by which the weakest devotee ever believed he was securing the happiness of a future life, is more rational than unconcern about it. Upon this subject, nothing is so absurd as indifference; no folly so contemptible as thoughtlessness and levity.

Finally; the knowledge of what is due to the