It was given?" Was it not in paradise as soon as ever man was created that God claimed one day in seven for his own worship, as well as gave it unto Adam for his rest and release from labour in the garden of Eden; Now there is at least as much reason and as much need for all the sons of Adam in all ages and nations, in their feeble and sinful state, to have a day appointed for their own rest and for the worship of their God, as there was for Adam himself in paradise and in a state of innocence; for his body was then in perfection of health and vigour, and his mind more inclined to remember God and worship him.

2. Consider the original reason that is given for one day in seven to be sanctified," and this seems to confirm the perpetuity of it. God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation: The sabbath was given to man to put him in mind of the creation of the world by the true God in six days, and to do honour to God the Creator. But all mankind in all ages, as well as Adam their Father, should preserve this truth in their remembrance: And the continual return of a seventh day of rest is an everlasting memorial of it, and gives opportunities continually for paying homage to that Almighty Being that made us.

3. "Consider the place which this command of the sabbath bears in the law of God, when it was renewed and enjoined to the nation of Israel: This doth in the opinion of most divines add considerable weight to this argument. It is one of the commands of the moral law, that was pronounced by the mouth of God himself on Sinai, with much glory and terror. It stands amongst those laws in Exodus xx. I-17. which are conceived to be moral and perpetual, except in some small limitations and accommodations to the Jewish state. Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh is the sabbath of the Lord thy God, &c. It was written with the rest in the two tables of stone, which perhaps in that typical dispensation might denote perpetuity, and that it must last like a rock for ever. It was written by the finger of God himself, which gives a peculiar honour to it, and it was laid up in the ark of the covenant on which God dwelt in a bright cloud, or a blaze of glory behind the cloud; and thus it was put under God's own eye and care, together with those laws which are of perpetual obligation. It is granted indeed that in the books of Moses there are some peculiar rigours and ceremonies, and severe prohibitions of every earthly work under capital penalties added to the sabbath and enjoined to the Jews, but these do not belong to the sabbath considered in itself, but are properly the ceremonial and Jewish appendages of it.

4. When the apostles by divine appointment had abolished all the Jewish sabbaths, and all those ceremonies and peculiar austerities which belonged to the observation of the seventh day in the Jewish state; Gal. iv. 9-11. and Col. ii. 16, 17. yet "they still practised the observation of one day in seven, even the first day of the week, for christian worship; and they taught it to the churches." It was on the first day when the disciples met together with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, that the Saviour arose and appeared to them more than once; John xx. 19-23. and 26-30. It was on this day that pentecost fell out on that year, when the Spirit was poured down upon the disciples, as learned men assure us by their calculations, and then were three thousand converted at Peter's sermon; Acts ii. 1-4, 41. It was on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread at Troas, and Paul preached to them; Acts xx. 7. It is on this day that St. Paul gives orders for a collection for the saints, or at least that every one should then lay by him in store for this purpose, in 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. This same

order he gave also to the churches of Galatia. Thus the collection for the poor, which was made in the Jewish synagogues on the sabbath, seems to be transferred to the first day of the week among christians.

Let it be further added, that the religious appointment and observation of the first day of the week was so universal and so well known, that it acquired a honourable title in early times, and was called the Lord's-day; Rev. i. 10. even as the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine was called the Lord's-supper, both having a reference to the appointment and honour of our blessed Saviour; 1 Cor. xi. 20-23. This practice also was continued by all those who professed the christian religion in the primitive times. And they were known and distinguished from the heathens as well as from the Jews by this particular character of observing the Lord's-day. If we take all these things together, they give us a great deal of reason to infer, that our blessed Saviour himself appointed the celebration of this day, and gave the apostles notice of it among the rest of those things which he taught them in the forty days after his resurrection, when he appeared to them, conversed with them, and instructed them in things that pertained to the kingdom of God, or the institution or support of his visible church;Acts i. 3.

5. Consider the reasonableness and the necessity of such an appointment in order to keep up religion in the world, as well as to give rest to the animal bodies of men and beasts. This is another proof of the morality or perpetuity of it. The seasons of worship which men would have chosen, and even of natural

rest which some men would have allowed either to themselves or their servants, probably would have been short and few enough, if God had not always devoted one day in seven to these purposes. It is evident in common experience and by observation made upon persons and churches and nations, that where no sabbath is observed, where one day in seven is not separated to God by a rest from the usual labours of life and a dedication to his service, religion is in a very decaying state, and in great danger to be lost. As it is a common confession of persons who fall into the vilest crimes and are executed by the public justice of the magistrate, that their disregard of the sabbath was the beginning of their guilt and ruin, and led the way to all iniquity; so a careful observation of one day in seven for religious purposes has been the great spring and support of virtue and piety amongst mankind, and the constant guardian of it in its purity and power.

Now if all these considerations put together will but go so far as to make it highly probable that one day in seven has been always the proportion of time which God has appointed for a sabbath, that is, for rest from labour and divine worship, this probability as to the time and manner of a duty should go for evidence, where no further evidence can be procured, and where the duty itself is clear and certain: And since some rest from labour, and some seasons for worship are necessary, we cannot do a more reasonable thing than to separate that proportion of time which the wisdom of God has certainly separated in some of his dispensations to men, and most probably in all of them. Before we proceed, it will be necessary to answer a few enquiries.

Question I. "Why was the first day of the seven appointed for christian worship rather than any of the others ?"

Answer. When God rested from his work of creation he appointed the seventh day for the ancient sabbath, to keep in mind the Creator of the world and his work; and so when Christ rested from his works of redemption, he appointed the first day, even the day in which he arose from the grave, as most proper to keep the great work of our redemption in memory. That the first day of the week was observed by the apostles and first christians in honour of the resurrection of Christ, and the finishing of their redemption, is evident from several hints of scripture, and many plain expressions in the history of the primitive church*.

* There have been some very great and learned men who suppose that the apostle Paul in the fourth chapter to the Hebrews builds a christian sabbath on this principle. See verse 4. He spake in à certain place of the seventh day on this wise,

I might add here also, that as the redemption or rest from Egyptian bondage given them by God and Moses is mentioned in Deut. v. 15. as one reason of the Jewish sabbath, so our greater redemption by Christ or rest from the bondage of sin and satan being on this day completed, seems by parallel reasoning to be a very proper argument for observing the christian sabbath. Besides, it is worthy of our notice that by chusing the first day of the seven for a sabbath after the seventh day was abolished, there remains still one day in seven to perpetuate the memory of the creation, and it is the first day of the seven to perpetuate the memory of the work of redemption. Thus our Lord's-day includes both.

Question II. But what need is there of a whole day devo ted to this purpose under the New Testament? Is it not enough to perform christian worship in public assemblies, and thereby answer the purposes of the day, without observing that day as a sabbath, or day of rest?".

I answer, It is too evident an observation, that unless the whole day be separated from the business and pleasures of this life, the hours and minutes of worship will for the most part be but poorly improved, and become much less profitable to our spiritual interest. It is hardly possible to attain the best ends of preaching and hearing, praying and praising, administering and receiving of the Lord's-supper, if we come into the sanctuary with our heads and hearts full of the affairs of this life, and all our earthly cares buzzing about our souls. And how much less good will a sermon do us, if, as soon as the hour of worship is ended, we run immediately from God, and plunge ourselves into worldly affairs, without giving our thoughts leisure and leave to reflect on what we have heard? And much worse would it be still for religion if we spent the rest of the day in recreations and sports, for these carnalize the spirit and estrange it from God and things heavenly much more than the common labours of life.

Alas! how difficult a matter do we find it to disengage our thoughts from this world when we come into the presence of God,

And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. Verse 7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts. For if Jesus, that is Joshua, had given them rest, that is, if he had given them all that complete rest in the land of Canaan which was typified by the Jewish sabbath, then he would not afterwards have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest, or “sabbutism,” as the Greek word is, there remaineth the keeping of a sabbath to the people of God; for he that is entered into his rest, which they refer to Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, he hath also ceased, or rested from kis own works as God did from his. See Doctor Owen," in his Treatise of the Sabbath." Thus the Son of God, the Redeemer, is supposed to have appointed a day or sabbath to celebrate his rest from his labours and sufferings, as God, the Father, the Creator, did, when he rested from his works.

even though we have a day appointed for this purpose? How hard it is to shake off all the dust of this earth when we would arise to God in devotion? And though we have bid farewell to our secular concerns the night before, and have had a long interval of sleep to divide our thoughts from this vain and busy life, yet how do the weighty cares of it hang continually upon our spirits, or the trifles and amusements of it hover and play about our souls, and divert our hearts from the exercise of godliness! And let us think with ourselves, how much harder it would be to fulfil the duties of the sanctuary with any good success, to improve public worship to our further acquaintance with God and things heavenly, to our greater delight in him, our mortification of sin and our growth in holiness, if there were no time devoted to religion but only that hour or two while we are at church? How would the words of the preacher run off from our souls, like a stream of oil gliding over a marble, if there were no recollection to fix it in our memory? How easily would Satan pluck up the good seed that was sown in the heart, if we join to assist him by giving a loose immediately to the cares or delights of this life, and call them to break in upon us when the sermon is ended? We may reasonably conclude, if Christ appointed the first day of the week for a season of the worship of God, he appointed it also to be a season of rest from the cares and abo rs of this life, that this worship might be better performed, and the great ends of it best secured.

Question III." When must the christian begin his sabbath, or the Lord's-day, how must it be spent, and when must it end?" Here I answer,

Answer. That whatsoever is the usual and customary beginning and ending of the days of common labour and business. in the nation where we live, such should be the beginning and ending of the Lord's day, or day of rest. The one day of rest answers to the six days of labour in the words of the fourth command, and must begin and end like them.

The Jews began their day at the evening or setting sun, and it ended the next evening. The nations of Europe where we dwell begin and end the day at twelve o'clock at midnight. But as the design of rest and worship on the Lord's-day is to bear a proportion of one in seven to the business and labours of life on、 the other six days, we may reasonably suppose that the command never requires any thing more, than that the same hours be spent at home or abroad, in public or private, for the general purposes of religion upon the Lord's-day, which are spent in the common affairs of life on other days; and consequently that the time which is devoted to eating and sleeping, and the necessities of nature and short intervals of refreshment on other days, may be em