Chap. IV.]

OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY.

93

which the ten commandments are referred to as being still inforce.* * * § In all these various recognitions of the continued obli-gation of the ten commandments under the Christian dispensa-tion, no intimation is given that the fourth, pertaining to theSabbath, is less binding than either of the other nine. Finally,Christ himself vindicated the Sabbath from the traditional super-stition of the Pharisees, explained its nature, and showed, that, asit was designed for the benefit of mankind, it did not prohibitworks of necessity and mercy.f The divine origin and perpet-ual obligation of the Sabbath, then, do not seem to admit of fur-ther question. And this conclusion, moreover, gives us to un-derstand why no positive command to keep the Sabbath holy, isfound in the New Testament. Such a command would havebeen superfluous-!

The institution of the Sabbath consists of two parts ; — therest which it enjoins on one day out of every seven, — and theparticular day of the seven which shall be appropriated to thissacred rest. The former is the essential part of the institution ;the latter, if not incidental, is manifestly less important, cer-tainly not essential. The former has never been changed ;the latter, from commemorating the finishing of the creation , hasbeen changed to the day commemorative of the resurrection ofthe Saviour , the closing scene in the work of man’s redemption,and the pledge and earnest of our own resurrection.§

The Sabbath was made for man universally; — Christ de-clared himself to be “ Lord of the Sabbath ” ; that is, he claimedauthority over the day. A change in the day is no more thana change in the order of the successive days; —the original dayof the Sabbath was commemorative of the finishing of creation ;the Christian Sabbath (Sunday) || is commemorative of a still

* Mark x. 19; Luke xviii. 20 ; Rom. xiii. 9 ; Eph. vi. 2; James ii. 10,11.

t See Mark ii. 23-28; Luke xiii. 15; xiv. 5.

$ The argumentative part of this chapter is very much indebted to a PrizeEssay, written by William Jay, Esq., and printed at Albany, in 1827.

§ 1 Cor. xv. 12-17.

|| The day specially devoted throughout Christendom to rest, devotion, andmoral and religious improvement, is known by several names among Christians,— as the Lord’s day ( dies Dominica), the first day of the week, the Sabbath,the Christian Sabbath, and Sunday. I have determined to make use of the lastof these names, in this treatise, to designate the day, for the following reasons.