the sanction of a divine commandment. Since then it is evident from more than one passage of Scripture, that the original Sabbath is abrogated, and since we are nowhere told that it has been transferred from one day to another, nor is any reason given why it should be so transferred, the church, when she sanctioned a change in this matter, evinced, not her obedience to God's command (inasmuch as the command existed no longer) but her own rightful liberty; for in any other view it can only be termed folly. To make any change whatever in a commandment of God, whether we believe that commandment to be still in force or not, is equally dangerous, and equally reprehensible; inasmuch as in so doing we are either annulling what is not yet repealed, or re-enacting what is obsolete. It ought also to be shewn what essential principle of morality is involved in the number seven; and why, when released from the obligation of the Sabbath, we should still be bound to respect a particular number possessing no inherent virtue or efficacy. The only moral sabbatical rest which remains for us under the gospel, is spiritual and eternal, pertaining to another life rather than the present. Heb. iv. 9-11. "there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God; for he that hath entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his; let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." If then the commandment of the Sabbath was given to those alone whom God had brought out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, it is evidently inapplicable to us as Christians; or if, as is contended, it is applicable to us inasmuch as we have been brought out of the slavery of a spiritual Egypt, the Sabbath ought to be such as the deliverance, spiritual and evangelical, not bodily and legal; above all, it ought to be a voluntary, not a constrained observance, lest we should be merely substituting one Egyptian bondage for another; for the Spirit

6

6 God delights not to make a drudge of virtue, whose actions must be all elective and unconstrained.' Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. Prose Works, III. 261.

7. What would ye say now, grave fathers, if you should wake and see unworthy bishops, or rather no bishops, but Egyptian task-masters of ceremonies, thrust purposely upon the groaning church, to the affliction and vexation of God's people?' Of Reformation in England, II. 376.

when God comes to visit upon you all this fourscore years' vexation of his church under your Egyptian tyranny?' Reason of Church Government,

cannot be forced. To contend therefore that what, under the new dispensation, ought to be our daily employment, has been enjoined as the business of the Sabbath exclusively, is to disparage the gospel worship, and to frustrate rather than enforce the commandments of God.

It is urged, however, that the church relies on the fourth commandment as its perpetual authority for the observance of public worship. That public worship is commended, and inculcated as a voluntary duty, even under the gospel, I allow; but that it is a matter of compulsory enactment, binding on believers from the authority of this commandment, or of any Sinaitical precept whatever, I deny. With regard to the doctrine of those who consider the decalogue as a code of universal morality, I am at a loss to understand how such an opinion should ever have prevailed; these commandments being evidently nothing more than a summary of the whole Mosaic law, as the fourth in particular is of the whole ceremonial law; which therefore can contain nothing applicable to the gospel worship.

Whether the festival of the Lord's day (an expression which occurs only once in Scripture, Rev. i. 10.) was weekly or annual, cannot be pronounced with certainty, inasmuch as there is not (as in the case of the Lord's Supper) any account of its institution, or command for its celebration, to be found in Scripture. If it was the day of his resurrection, why, we may ask, should this be considered as the Lord's day in any higher sense than that of his birth, or death, or ascension? why should it be held in higher consideration than the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit? and why should the celebration of the one recur weekly, whereas the commemoration of the others is not necessarily even annual, but remains at the discretion of each believer?

Neither can the circumstance of Christ's having appeared twice to his disciples on this day (if indeed the words after eight days, John xx. 26. are rightly interpreted the eighth day after) be safely adduced in proof of the divine institution of a new sabbath; inasmuch as there can be no doubt that he appeared on other days also, Luke xxiv. 36. and John xxi. ibid. 468. Populus universus, libera nimirum gens,.. a servitute, regum Ægyptiorum ideo liberatus, ut uni ex fratribus suis, duriore si libeat servitute, opprimendus traderetur.' Pro Populo Anglicano De fensio. Prose Works, Symmons' ed. V. 66.

3, 4. “Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing," which was not lawful on the Sabbath; so that the day following, on the morning of which Christ appeared, could not have been the first day of the week. Even supposing, however, that it had been so, still the assigning this as a reason for the institution of a new sabbath is matter solely of human inference; since no commandment on this subject, nor any reason for such institution, is found in all Scripture.

From commandments, of which we have proved the nonexistence, we pass to examples; although no example can weaken the force of a contrary precept. We shall proceed, however, to prove, that what are adduced as examples are not such in reality. First then, with regard to Acts xx. 7. where it is related that the disciples dwelling at Troas "came together to break brea upon the first day of the week," who shall determine with certainty whether this was a periodical meeting, or only held occasionally, and of their own accord; whether it was a religious festival, or a fraternal meal; whether a special assembly convoked on that particular day, or a daily meeting like those recorded in chap. ii. 42. compared with v. 46; lastly, whether this meeting was held by order of the apostles, or whether it was merely permitted by them in compliance with the popular custom, according to their frequent practice on other occasions?

The inference deduced from 1 Cor. xvi. 2. is equally unsatisfactory; for what the apostle is here enjoining, is not the celebration of the Lord's day, but that on the first day of the week (if this be the true interpretation of xarà uíar oaßßáruv, per unam subbathorum) each should lay by him (that is, at home) for the relief of the poor; no mention being made of any public assembly, or of any collection at such assembly, on that day. He was perhaps led to select the first day of the week, from the idea that our alms ought to be set aside as a kind of first-fruits to God, previous to satisfying other demands; or because the first day of the week was most convenient for the arrangement of the family accounts. Granting, however, that the Corinthians were accustomed to assemble on that day for religious purposes, it no more follows that we are bound to keep it holy in conformity with their practice, without a divine command to that effect, than that we are bound to observe the Jewish sabbath in con

xvii.

formity with the practice of the Philippians, or of Paul himself, Acts xvi. 13. "on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made." 2. "Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the scripture." xviii. 3, 4. "he abode with them and wrought.... and he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath;" following his own occupation at home, as we have reason to believe, during the six remaining days.

Those therefore, who on the authority of an expression occurring only once in Scripture, keep holy a sabbath-day, for the consecration of which no divine command can be alleged, ought to consider the dangerous tendency of such an example, and the consequences with which it is likely to be followed in the interpretation of Scripture.

Hence we arrive at the following conclusions; first, that under the gospel no one day is appointed for divine worship in preference to another, except such as the church may set apart of its own authority for the voluntary assembling of its members, wherein, relinquishing all worldly affairs, we may dedicate ourselves wholly to religious services, so far as is consistent with the duties of charity; and, secondly, that this may conveniently take place once every seven days, and particularly on the first day of the week; provided always that it be observed in compliance with the authority of the church, and not in obedience to the edicts of the magistrate; and likewise that a snare be not laid for the conscience by the allegation of a divine commandment, borrowed from the decalogue; an error against which St. Paul diligently cautions us, Col. ii. 16. "let no man therefore judge you," &c. For if we under the gospel are to regulate the time of our public worship by the prescriptions of the decalogue, it will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to the express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first. I perceive also that several of the best divines, as BUCER, CALVIN, PETER MARTYR, MUSCULUS, URSINUS, GOMARUS, and others, concur in the opinions above expressed."

8 As therefore the seventh day is not moral, but a convenient recourse of worship in fit season, whether seventh or other number-.' The Likeliest Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church. Prose Works, III. 18.

• Several of these divines are elsewhere mentioned by Milton in terms

of commendation. Bucer (whom our famous Dr. Rainolds was wont to prefer before Calvin) in his comment on Matthew, and in his second book of the kingdom of Christ This book he wrote here in England, where he lived the greatest admired man.' Tetrachordon. Prose Works, III. 427. See also the address to the Parliament, prefixed to the Judgement of Martin Bucer concerning Divorce, Ibid. 278-287. Peter Martyr is twice quoted with reference to the same subjects. Ibid. 277,428. Musculus is also called a divine of no mean fame.' Ibid. 428. In proof of Milton's assertion that these divines agree with him ou the subject of the sabbath, the following passages may be cited from their respective works. 'Sic. de sabbatho. Quod septimo die, illa quæ a Judæir observatur numeratione, ab omni opere servili vacandum erat, præcep tum legis externum fuit, solis Judæis, quibus datum exstitit, observan. dum, &c. . . . Hæc ergo ad nos pertinent, illa Judæis recte relinquntur.' BUCER in sacra quatuor Evangelia Enarrat. Perpet. ad Matt. x. 9. 'Cæterum non dubium quin Domini Christi adventu, quod cæremoniale hic [in sabbatho] erat, abolitum fuerit. Ipse enim veritas est, cujus præsentia figuræ omnes evanescunt. . . . . . Ideo sublatam umbram fuisse rei futuræ alibi scribit apostolus; corpus exstare in Christo, hoc est, solidam veritatis substantiam, quam illo loco bene explicavit. Ea non uno die contenta est, sed toto vitæ nostræ cursu, donec penitus nobismetipsis mortui, Dei vita impleamur. A Christianis ergo abesse debet superstitiosa dierum observatio,' &c. &c. CALVIN. Instit. Christian. cap. viii. Sect. 31. See also Comment. in quinque libros Mosis, nearly at the end of the preface to the remarks on the Mosaic law. Deinde quod locum Pauli Heb. iii. et iv. concernit, notandum est illud hodie non esse alligandum septimo diei, sed exigere a nobis perpetuam obedientiam verbo Dei præstandam. Est enim nobis perpetuus sabbathismus, quo coram Deo in spiritu comparentes, majestatem illius celebramus, cum adoratione invocamus, ac vocem illius audimus; verum hic sensus et modus iste mystici sabbathismi non excludit ecclesiasticorum conventuum usum, sicut hodie fanatici quidam homines somniant, ac seipsos una cum aliis ab ecclesiæ conventibus abducunt.' MUSCULUS, Comment. in Psalm. xcv. 8. Cum igitur sabbathum septimani diei typus fuerit, admonens populum et de suo officio, sive de pietate erga Deum, et de beneficio Dei erga populum per Christum præstando, una cum aliis cæremoniis, adventu Christi, per quem est impletum quod illa significabant, abrogatum est. Quod etiam Paulus testatur Col. ii.' &c. &c. URSINUS, Tractat. Theolog. in Expositione Quarti Præcepti. Christiani respondent Judæis....sabbathum abrogatum ratione cæremoniæ et geminæ circumstantiæ, &c. ... deinde observatione septimi illius diei definiti. Quo modo appendix erat legis moralis, ad populum Judaicum solum pertinens.' GOMARUS, Oper. Theolog. in Explicatione Ep. ad Colossenses, cap. ii. PETER MARTYR, however, seems to hold a different opinion. Qui autem robustiori fide erant præditi, illi omnes dies perinde habuerunt. Dominicam tamen diem excipimus; pertinet enim ad decalogum, ut ex hebdomada integra unus dies divino cultui consecretur,' &c, Comment. in Ep. ad Romanos, cap. xiv.