have been benefited, when they have incorporated into their laws the requisition to reverence and keep holy the Sabbath. In England it is a part of the common law. The Constitution of these United States recognizes the first day of the week as a Sabbath; as may be seen in Art. I. Sect. 7.

Nothing is clearer to our mind than that, even if there were no statutes against Sabbath profanation, the offence would be punishable by the common law. For it can be clearly shown, that disregard of this institution brings upon a community as many evils as that of any other of the commands. The evil consequences may not be as immediate, but are no less certain. No community can long prosper, without the sacred influence of that day.

In MOSHEIM's history, as translated by MACLAIN, it is stated, that in the first century, "All Christians were unanimous in setting apart the first day of the week, on which the triumphant Savior arose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This pious custom, which was derived from the example of the church of Jerusalem, was founded upon the express appointment of the Apostles, who consecrated that day to the same sacred purpose, and was observed universally, throughout all the Christian churches, as appears from the united testimony of the most credible writers."

HENRY, in his commentary, says, "All Christians unanimously observed the Lord's day. It is said that there was little dispute about the Christian Sabbath during the first three centuries. The whole church observed it.

Many of the authors above quoted were scattered about the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, Lybia, Egypt, Palestine, Bithynia, Gaul, Rome, Greece, Syria, and other places.

"The Sabbath has been changed," says BROWNLEE," from the seventh to the first day of the week; or rather, as we should say, it has probably now reverted to that day on which it was observed by Adam and the Patriarchs. It is certain that the first Sabbath of Adam, though the seventh day of time, was the first entire day that he saw, and it is most natural to suppose, and there is nothing repugnant to it in Scripture, that he began the computation of the days of the week from the first entire day that he beheld. 'Thus it may be fairly said, that the Sab

sun.

bath became in future generations the first day of the week. This argument receives additional strength from the following historical facts. When the descendants of Adam apostatized from the worship of the true God, they substituted in his place the sun, that luminary, which, more than all others, strikes the minds of savage people with religious awe; and which therefore all heathens worship. They carried with them indeed the day on which their fathers worshiped; but they worshiped the Hence the day was called the Sun's day, in the language of the respective nations. Hence, as the learned SELDEN has shown, Sunday, the day observed by the patriarchs as their Sabbath, was the first day of the week, in the nations of the East, and is so still. Thus the Sabbath of the patriarchs was the Sunday of the pagans. The Jews alone, of all the Eastern nations, seem to have had the day changed. As God altered the beginning of their year, so he changed the day of their worship from the first to the seventh day, to comport with their deliverance on that day from Egypt. Hence the fourth precept, viewed as a moral precept, and binding on the church in all ages, is enforced by the consideration of God's resting on that day, and sanctifying it. But, when it is applied to the particular case of the Jewish Church, that precept is enforced by another consideration'the Lord brought thee from Egypt,' &c.

"When therefore Judaism ceased, the seventh day Sabbath naturally ceased with it. And hence, considering the divine command that enjoined on Adam and his posterity the keeping of the Sabbath to be still in force (and it never has been repealed by God); it is easy to see, that on the abolition of Judaism, the Sabbath reverted from the seventh to the first day of the week, without the necessity of any additional command on the subject. The first man was created the last of living things, after the morning of the sixth day; hence the Jewish doctors say, man was created in the evening, that is, the beginning of the Sabbath."

Whether Dr. Brownlee's arguments and conclusions relative to the reckoning of time from the first day of Adam's existence, and its being observed as a Sabbath, and which go to prove that we now keep the same day that was originally kept, which is most probable, be correct or not, it should be distinctly under

stood that the settlement of this question, in no way affects the origin, perpetuity, or existence of the institution. We all agree on these points. Whether we keep the very day kept by Adam and the Patriarchs, we do not conceive essential, if one seventh part of the time be kept holy; and if all, for convenience sake, keep the same time, so far as may be. The inhabitants of China cannot keep the same hours we do, unless they observe another day as the Sabbath. The most conclusive proof that Dr. Brownlee is correct is, that when the attention of the Jews was turned anew to this institution, they, to distinguish them from other nations, and keep them a distinct people, were directed to keep another day than that which had been previously observed. Hence when the Jewish dispensation was abolished at the death of Christ, it was perfectly natural that the Jews should revert back to the observance of the original day, and that any new law, touching either the first or the seventh day Sabbath, should be wholly unnecessary; inasmuch as the original law of the Sabbath had never been repealed.

After the explicit, decisive, and concurrent testimony of the foregoing extracts, touching the practice of primitive Christians, can it be reasonably doubted whether the Christian Sabbath was observed by the Apostolic Fathers and their followers, who during the first three centuries, almost uniformly kept the first day of the week as the Sabbath, instead of the seventh day, though some kept both? Are not the objectors' assertions, extracts, and arguments annihilated by the weight of evidence which has been adduced?

It is not a new thing to find men publishing assertions without proof. Those who write to destroy the Sabbath, rather than not effect their object, assert many things which need proof to gain credence among intelligent readers. Such we consider the assertions, that "There is no authority for the Sabbath,""This authority binds only the Jews,"_" The law is abrogated," "The early Christians did not understand that they should *keep it,"—" They did not keep it ;" and "The New Testament nowhere, either directly or by inference, teaches men to observe a Sabbath," &c. &c.

But, it is presumed, no one who lays any claim to intelligence and candor, will again, after duly considering this subject, assert

that we have no testimony for the Sabbath. All such declarations have no foundation in truth. No one should be misled by

them.

We have brought forward but few of the Scriptural arguments, in support of the positions taken, for they are mainly before the public, and in as favorable light, as can be desired; and they should be familiar to the minds of all who would benefit man or glorify God.

OBJECTION VI.-" DEUT. V. OPPOSED TO Ex. XX."-" The com mand respecting the Sabbath in Ex. xx. is opposed to that in Deut. and the latter, if any, should be observed."

V.,

It is said that we ought to take the commandments as recorded in Deut. v., for the moral law, instead of those in Ex. xx., because Moses says, "These words the Lord spake unto all your assemblies; and he added no more." Thus they endeavor to avoid the difficulty of explaining away the reason given in the fourth commandment, as contained in Ex. xx., why the Sabbath should be kept. But let us see how it is.

From Ex. xix., it appears that the people were commanded to prepare themselves to hear what the Lord was about to say to them, that they might believe Moses forever. The children of Israel not only heard the thunderings and the voice which caused them to tremble, but saw the lightnings, the thick cloud and the smoke. The Lord talked with them face to face in the mount; and the people were greatly afraid. They heard the commands, and then said to Moses, "Speak thou with us," &c. Accordingly he did, and declared to them the ceremonial laws. Under these circumstances, the law was given, and written on tables of stone, and carried down the mountain, to be delivered to Israel. But the two tables containing them were broken.

Now what was done? In Ex. xxxiv., we learn that the Lord said to Moses, "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest." Here we have the promise of God, that he would write, not only the substance of the commands, but the words, that were written on the first tables. This promise he must have broken, if there was the least variation in them.

When the commands were written the second time, no such display was made, as in the first instance. Moses went up to the mount without ceremony. The people were not summoned to attend. While Moses was on the mount, the Lord talked with him about the ceremonial law, what he would do for his people, &c.; and it would seem that as soon as Moses had reached the place where God communed with him, the Lord took charge of the tables; and after forty days, when he had made an end of talking with Moses, God gave him the two tables, on which he had written the ten commandments, as he had promised, Ex. xxxiv. In all probability, these moral precepts were not again recapitulated in the mount.

But in Deut. v., it appears that Moses, now the preacher and not the lawgiver, called the people together, and said, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears," not which the Lord speaks or spake, but which I speak. "The Lord made a covenant," not makes a covenant, but made, forty years ago, at a great distance, in Horeb. "The Lord talked," not talks; "I stood between the Lord and you at that time," not stand; that, not this time; "for ye were," not are, "afraid." Now under these circumstances, and just before his death, he recapitulates, nearly verbatim, the ten commandments as written on the tables, which were then, and had long been in the ark. Here, in this recapitulation, Moses mentions an additional reason, "and remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt," &c., which the Lord had previously given, why Israel should keep the Sabbath. This reason was applicable to the Jews only, hence this only was mentioned; while the first reason, viz. "for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, wherefore" &c., was left out; that being applicable to the whole world. As the law, the ten commandments, as God wrote them, was given for all men, in every age, the reason was given as in Ex. xx. That reason was applicable to Jew and Gentile, while the last reason was applicable to the Jew only, and must have been spoken at another time, as was this also, "that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou."

"These words," [or similar,]" the Lord spake unto all your assemblies in the mount," &c. Now if it be not true, that