These arguments, it is true, are not satisfactorj' to some, and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Test, concerning the first day. However, it may be observed that it is not so much the precise time that is universalh" binding, as that one day out of seven is to be regarded. "As it is impossible," says Dr. Dod- dridge, "certainly to determine which is the seventh day from the creation ; and as, in consequence of the spherical form of the earth, and the absurdity of the scheme which supposes it one great plain, the change of place will necessarily occasion some alteration in the time of the beginning and ending of any day in ques- tion, it being always at the same time, somewhere or other, sunrising and sunsetting, noon and midnight, it seems very unreasonable to lay such a stress upon the particular day as some do. It seems abundantly sufficient that there should be six days of labor and one of religious rest, which there will be upon the Christian and the Jewish scheme." See Sunday.
As soon as Christianity was protected by the civil government, the Lord's day \vas ordered by law to be kept sacred. All proceedings in courts of law, except- ing such as were deemed of absolute necessity, or of charity, as setting slaves at liberty, etc., were strictly forbidden ; and all secular business, excepting such as was of necessity or mercy, was prohibited; and by a law of Theodosius senior, and another by Theodosius junior, no public games or shows, no amusements or recreations, were i^rra^itted to be practiced on that day (see Cod. Theod. lib. ii, tit. 8, " De feriis ;" Cod. Justin. lib. iii; Cod, Theod. lib. xv, " De spectaculis," lit. 5, leg. 2). Tiie day was consecrated by all the primitive Christians to a regular and devout attendance upon the solemnities of ]uiblic worship, and other religious exer- cises; and, as Bingham says in his Christian Antiqui- ties, "they spent it in such employments as were proper to set forth the glory of the Lord, in holding religious assemblies for the celebration of the several parts of di- vine service — psalmody, reading the Scriptures, preach- ing, praying, and receiving the Comnuniion ; and such was tlie flaming zeal of those pious votaries that noth- ing but sickness, or a great necessity, or imprisonment, or banishment, could detain them from it." A further proof of the sanctity in which they held the Sabbath was their pious and zealous observance of the Saturday
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evening, or, rather, from midnight to break of clay on tlie Lord's day. This time the early Cliristians spent in the exercises of devotion ; and persons of all ranks employed it in preparation for the sacred day. It must also be further observed that, in many places, particu- larly in cities, they usually had sermons twice a day in the churches, and that the evening was as well attended as the morning service ; but in such churches as had no evening sermon, there were still the evening prayers, and the Christians of those limes thought themselves obliged to attend this service as a necessary part of the public worship and solemnity of the Lord's day. The better to enforce this observance upon such as Avere un- godly or careless, ecclesiastical censures were inflicted upon them, whether thej- frequented places of public amusement or spent the day in indolence at home. These observations chiefly refer to the period between the publication of the Gospel by the apostles and the latter end of the 4th century — a period when this day might be expected to be observed more in accordance with the command of Christ and the will of the Holy Ghost.
IV. As the Sabbath is of divine institution, so it is to be kept holy unto the Lord. Numerous have been the days appointed by men for religious services; but these are not binding, because of human institution. Not so the Sabbath. Hence the fourth commandment is ush- ered in with a peculiar emphasis — " Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day." This institution is wise as to its ends: that God may be worshipped, man in- structed, nations benefited, and families devoted to the service of God. It is lasting as to its duration. The abolition of it would be unreasonable, unscriptural (Exod. xxxi, 13), and every way disadvantageous to the body, to society, to the soul, and even to the brute creation. It is, however, awfully violated bj' visiting, feasting, indolence, buying and selling, working, worldly amusements, and travelling. "Look into the streets," says bishop Porteus, " on the Lord's day, and see whether they convey the idea of a day of rest. Do not our ser- vants and our cattle seem to be almost as fully occupied on that da}- as on any other? As if this were not a sufficient infringement of their rights, we contrive, by needless entertainments at home and needless jouruej's abroad, which are often by choice and inclination re- served for this very day, to take up all the little remain- ing part of their leisiue time. A Saljbath-day's jour- ney was among the Jews a proverbial expression for a very short one; among us it can have no such meaning affixed to it. That day seems to be considered by too many as set apart, b}' divine and human authority, for the purpose, not of rest, but of its direct opposite, the labor of travelling, thus adding one day more of tor- ment to those generous but wretched animals whose services they hire; and who, being generally strained beyond their strength the other six days of the week, have, of all creatures under heaven, the best and most equitable claim to suspension of labor on the seventh."