command, there are some admirable observations in Mr. Gurney's little work, which is written with the clearness and simplicity which characterize all the writings of that excellent man. It is to the latter part of the following extracts that we more particularly call at tention.

"It is a remarkable fact, that the observance of the sabbath was the first moral duty which was then enjoined upon the Jews. We have already found occasion to remark, that when the manna was given in double quantity on the sixth day of the week, and ceased to fall on the seventh, this institution was afresh brought to their remembrance; and it was clearly manifested to them, that every recurring seventh day was thence forth to be dedicated to a holy rest, and to the worship of God.

"Afterwards, when the moral law was delivered from Mount Sinai, in the audible voice of Jehovah himself, the keeping of the sabbath was commanded as one of its essential parts, and was introduced by the term REMEMBER. 'Remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy. 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, thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.'

"Nothing can be more palpable than the distinction maintained in Scripture between the ten commandments thus delivered from Mount Sinai, and the civil and ceremonial institutions of the Mosaic code. The former were laws, as old as the world itself, applicable to all men, and essential to the maintenance of a true theology and of a righteous life. The latter, though mixed up with much that was moral, (or derived from these laws,) were intended for the national welfare, and adapted exclusively to the peculiar religious circumstances of the Hebrews. Accordingly, the former were pronounced by Jehovah himself, during a visible and awful display of his glory; whereas the latter were communicated to the people, only through the intervention of a human law-giver. On the same ground, while the civil part of the law of Moses was committed to the magistrate, and the ceremonial part to the N. S. NO. 93.

priest--and each was stedfastly maintained as important for its particular purpose-it was the moral part of that law, it was the ten commandments both in their principles and in their detail,—on which the preachers of righteousness ever delighted to dwell. These were the conties, and the exhortations of the prostant theme of the rebukes, the entreaphets.

"In taking this view of the subject, it seems impossible to separate the fourth commandment from those which precede and follow it. It was delivered with the same solemnity as its fellows, and was written on the table of the covenant by the same finger. It is moreover important to observe, that it fitly concludes the first table of the covenant, and as fitly introduces the second. The first table relates to the worship of the true God. It proclaims his unity, and the sanctity of his name, and forbids all idolatry. How could it be better concluded than by the law of the sabbath, which renders the regular worship of God practicable, by breaking the train of our temporal pursuits, and by setting apart one day in seven for this express purpose? So also the strength of the second table, which unfolds the moral obligations of man to man, will ever be found to lie in the remembrance of the universe; because on his will alone are these obligations founded. Now the sabbath was the appointed means of perpetually reminding man that he is himself a creature, and that God is his Creator and sovereign. It was a current saying among the Talmudists, 'He that denies the sabbath is like to him who denies the whole law.' Rabbi Levi, of Barcelona, says that the object of the Sabbath of the Israelites was, that having no other business, they might fasten on their minds that the world had a beginning, which is a thread which draws after it all the foundations of the law. Accordingly we find that while most of the ceremonial law was instituted by Moses prospectively with a view of its being put into practice after the Israelites had settled in the land of Canaan, the Sabbath was strictly observed, even during their journey in the wilderness.

Creator of the

"While this point is so plain that it can scarcely fail to be conceded by the impartial examiner of scripture, we ought not to forget that the Sabbath, under the Mosaic economy, served certain purposes, and was marked by certain characteristics, which had no relation except to that economy. This article of the decalogue was applied to the Israelites on a national, as well as on a more general principle, and in such a form or manner

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as suited the peculiar circumstances under which they were placed.

1. The Mosaic Sabbath was intended for a sign by which the Israelites might be distinguished from all the idolatrous nations which surrounded them. It was a visible and intelligible badge of their loyalty to the King of kings, - a public testimony, borne amidst all the heathen, to the authority of Jehovah. Verily

my Sabbaths ye shall keep,' said the Lord by Moses, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY you.

"2. As the Sabbath was a means of distinguishing the Israelites as the worshippers of the true God, so it was intended to remind them of the national redemption which Jehovah had wrought for them. As the creation of the world was the first, so the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt was the second event of which it was the appointed memorial. In the repetition made by Moses of the ten commandments, this latter event is alone alluded to in connection with the Sabbath, 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.'

...

"4. As the Israelitish Sabbath day was the seventh of the week, and as the Hebrews reckoned their days from evening to evening, it followed that their Sabbath began on what we should call the evening of the sixth day, and continued until the same hour on the day following. According to the Rabbins, it commenced and terminated with the appearance of the stars.....

"5. The Sabbath of the Hebrews was distinguished by the performance, in the temple, of a double ceremonial; And on the Sabbath-day (thou shalt offer) two lambs of the first year without spot, and two-tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drinkoffering thereof. This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.' This double service may be regarded as a figurative indication that the Sabbathday has a double claim upon us for the duties of worship. The figure is Jewish; but the lesson derived from it is applicable to the Christian.

"6. Under the Mosaic economy the sabbatical principle took a wider range than appears to have been enjoined or authorized by the original law. Not only was every seventh day to be a day of rest, but during the whole of every seventh year,

(reckoned, as is supposed, from the month Tizri, or September) the Israelites were to cease from agricultural labour. They and their land were to keep holy day; and the natural productions of their fields were to be the portion only of the poor. At the same period every debt was to be cancelled, and every Hebrew slave restored to freedom; and the whole population was to unite in praising and blessing God. The observance of the sabbatical year was inseparably connected with the peculiar dispensation under which the Israelites lived.....

"Another extension of the sabbatical principle under the law of Moses, was the appointment of one day or more of holy rest during each of their great festivals, the Passover and the feasts of weeks, trumpets, and tabernacles. On these

high days, there was held, as well as on the usual Sabbath, a holy convocation,' and no servile work was permitted to be done in them. This prohibition did not exclude the preparation of food. But on

the great day of atonement-the tenth of the seventh month-no work at all was allowed, and the Sabbath was kept fully. It was probably in allusion to these wellknown holy days, that the Jewish festivals were sometimes designated by the general name of sabbaths.

"7. Lastly, the Sabbath day, under the law of Moses, was required to be observed with a strictness, and the breach of it was punished with a severity, which may fairly be regarded as appertaining solely to the dispensation then in force. The commandment, 'In it thou shalt not do any work,' &c., as interpreted by the Law, was far more rigid and comprehen. sive than it is possible for us to regard it as it is interpreted by the Gospel. Although our Saviour, the Lord of the Sabbath, made a clear exception in favour of works of mercy and necessity, it may be questioned whether such an exception (unless within narrow limits) was either contemplated by Moses, or maintained by his followers.

"I conceive that the distinction between these two branches of the Mosaic sabbatical code, is clear and palpable. The former branch contains a law which has been binding on man in all ages, and under the influence of the gospel, must flourish with fresh vigour. The latter branch was in its nature temporary, and under the same influence, has withered away for ever."-pp. 22-42.

The inferential arguments from the New Testament for the change of day from the seventh to the first we shall give from Dr. Burder's little volume, where all the rea

soning which it appears to us is available on the subject is brought into a narrow compass with that happy art of condensation and selection so characteristic of the author.

"I. To our Lord Jesus Christ belonged full authority, to effect a change in the day of the Sabbath.

"It has been admitted, in a former discourse, that no authority, except that which originally instituted the Sabbath, could transfer the obligation to its observance, from one day to another-from the seventh day of the week to the first. That authority, however, must, of necessity, belong to the Son of God. Was he not the Creator of the heavens and of the earth.".

.." On the seventh day he ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Now to him who in the beginning instituted the law of the Sabbath, and appointed the day of the Sabbath, must belong the authority requisite for transferring the appointment and the benediction from one day to another. Nothing less than such authority did he himself seem to assert and to claim, even in the days of his voluntary humiliation on earth. When he vindicated his disciples from the charge of profaning the Sabbath, as they were passing through the fields of corn, his language was:--I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple; the Son of Man is lord also of the Sabbath.'.

"II. Our Lord gave full authority to his Apostles, to regulate the faith, the discipline, and the observances, which the interests of his Church required.

"Of the correctness of this comprehensive statement, no other proof can be necessary than that which is contained in the grand commission which the Saviour granted to the Apostles. After asserting his own mediatorial authority in heaven and in earth, he added;- Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.' Had not our Lord been engaged, in repeated interviews during forty days after his resurrection, in giving to his Apostles instructions in the things pertaining to his kingdom?' Does it not also distinctly appear, from the Acts of the Apostles, and from many of the Epistles, that the Apostles were favoured with special revelations, whenever it was necessary that

they should know more fully the will of all error and guided into all truth, by the Christ? Were they not preserved from direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Were they not favoured with a rich variety of miraculous gifts? Did they not carry with them these miraculous credentials, into all the places in which they formed and organized Christian churches? Were not those miraculous powers the attestation, on the part of the Holy Spirit himself, that their doctrine and their discipline, and all their regulations, were in full accordance with the will of Christ? Is it not evident, then, that our Lord gave full authority to his Apostles, to regulate all the religious observances which the interests of his Church required?

"III. The practice of the first Churches (under the guidance of the Apostles), as recorded in the New Testament, is equivalent in value and authority, to direct precept.

"The Apostle Paul thus addresses Titus:-- For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.' In addressing the Corinthians, on a certain point regarding propriety of demeanour, the Apostle says; 'If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God.' In these passages he represents the usages introduced or sanctioned by himself, as having an authority which no man, which no Church, could be permitted to call in question.

"The usages of Churches, under apostolic superintendence and control, must have grown out of apostolic precept; they must, therefore, be equivalent to apostolic precept. The conciseness of scripture narrative has not always allowed the insertion of the precept, the end being sufficiently answered by the record of the usage. We are no more at liberty to deviate from the recorded usage, in regard to regulations which were neither local nor temporary in their character, than we are at liberty to deviate from an express precept. Nothing, therefore, could be more unreasonable or unscriptural than to maintain, that a direct injunction must be necessary to authorize the change of the day of the Sabbath, from the seventh day of the week to the first. The Christians who enjoyed the ministry of the Apostles, must have received the precept, or they could not have established the usage. We have that which is equivalent to the precept, by having the record of the usage.......

IV. The primitive Churches, during the ministry of the Apostles, observed

the first day of the week, as the day of their social worship and most solemn services.

"There are two passages which, on this point, appear to be decisive. The first you will find in the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, at the sixth and seventh verses: 'And we sailed away from Philippi, after the days of unleavened bread, and came to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.' It would seem, then, that the Apostle was anxious not to protract his stay at Troas a single day, after he had enjoyed an opportunity of meeting the assembled Church; that the day of their meeting was the first day of the week; and that for the arrival of that day the Apostle had waited an entire week. Now, from all this we should infer, that no special and extraordinary meeting had been called, but that he waited for the day on which they were accustomed to assemble. It appears also that the primary purpose for which they assembled, was the observance of the Lord's Supper; an ordinance which the primitive Christians were accustomed to celebrate every Lord's day. The general inference, then, which we are autho rized to draw from this narrative of facts is, that the disciples at Troas were accustomed to assemble on the first day of the week, for the purposes of Christian fellowship.

"The second passage to which I re. ferred is the sixteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the first and second verses. Our translation of these verses does not appear to do justice to the original. They are thus rendered by Dr. Macknight. Now, concerning the collection which is for the saints, as I ordered the Churches of Galatia, so also do ye. On the first day of every week, let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I come there may be then no collections.' The wish of the Apostle was to prevent the necessity of making collections on his arrival. This object could not be secured, unless the brethren not only set apart their respective contributions, but also collected them together, so as to form one common fund. They could only pour them into one common treasury, when they assembled together in one place. They were directed, therefore, to make a weekly collection on that day on which they were accustomed to meet as

a

Church. The day specified is the first day of the week. On the first day of the week, then, they were accustomed to meet together for religious observances. There was an obvious propriety, it may also be observed, in connecting with their social worship and Christian fellowship the expression of their fraternal love, in contributions to their poor and persecuted brethren; and it is worthy of remark, that the Jews had been accustomed to make weekly collections of alms for the poor, which were usually distributed on the evening of the Sabbath. It is intimated by the Apostle, in the first of these verses, that the regulation he here intro. duces into the Church at Corinth, he had previously introduced into the Churches of Galatia. We infer, then, that the Churches of the entire region of Galatia were also accustomed to hold their solemn assemblies on the first day of the week. Now, a usage which, at so early a period, was already prevalent in places so remote from each other as Corinth, Galatia, and Troas, may be justly supposed to have become the general, the universal custom of the Churches of Christ.

"As the two passages now adduced refer, however, to a period twenty years or more after the ascension of Christ, it is natural to enquire,-are there any intimations at an earlier period, of the change of the day of the Sabbath?

"Let us turn to the record given by the Apostle John of the transactions of our Lord, in the interval between his resurrection and his ascension. "The same day (on which he arose from the tomb) 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, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.'-'And after eight days, (that is, reckoned inclusively,—on the return of the first day of the week,) again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.' On both these occasions, the disciples were assembled on the first day of the week; and on both, their risen Lord honoured the day and the social meeting with his presence and his benediction.

"It is related, in the beginning of the second chapter of the Acts, that' when the day of Pentecost was fully come, the disciples were all, with one accord, in one place.' Now, the most careful and accurate calculations support the opinion, that the day of Pentecost must have fallen on the first day of the week.