than any of these. It even afforded special opportunities, for on this day there was a general resting among the Jews. They also assembled in their synagogues, and the first preachers of Christianity usually assembled with them, and there made known to them the Gospel of Christ. It was not therefore for the advantage of the Gospel that the Jewish Sabbaths should be discontinued, and it was not to be expected, that in these circumstances, the Christian Sabbath should, as a whole, be enforced. But there is yet another circumstance to be noticed. The observance of the seventh day was required and enforced by the Jewish law, and this law continued to be of authority till the breaking up of the Jewish polity. And, therefore, to attempt any infringement on the due observance of the seventh day would have been to incur special penalties. Had it been the will of heaven at once to abrogate the seventh and enforce the first day of the week, this would not have availed; but as it was the declared purpose of Providence that the Jewish polity should remain entire for forty years after, the obvious inference is, that the observance of the seventh day was not legally to cease till the expiry of that period. But all the books of the New Testament, with the exception of Revelations, were written before this, and, therefore, ought not to be expected to contain any history of the abrogation of the one, or formal institution of the other. And it is not to be overlooked that in that one book, and it alone, we have the proper designation of the Christian Sabbath formally introduced-" I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. i. 10.

These are the circumstances. Let us now examine the evidences, which, in these circumstances, have been vouchsafed. And, first, the Psalmist says, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. cxviii. 24. By turning to the context, it will be found, that the Psalmist is speaking, in the twenty-second verse, of the stone which the builders refused, being made the head-stone of the corner; and then, in the twenty-third, this is declared to be the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes; when it is immediately added, “ This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will be glad and rejoice in it." On now turning to the tenth and eleventh verses of the fourth chapter of the Acts, it will be farther found, that the stone which the builders rejected was Christ, and that he became the head-stone of the corner, when he rose from the dead, that is, on the first day of the week; which day the Lord hath made or appointed, that his people may be glad and rejoice on it, in commemoration of that great and marvellous event. This seems to be the natural and precise meaning of the passage; and if it be, then is it also a satisfactory proof, that the change of the day was of divine appointment. It was prophetically seen, even under the former dispensation.

After this, we come at once to the day of the resurrection the first Christian Sabbath. "Then the same day 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." John xx. 19. Here, we are first made sure, that all this happened on the evening of the first day of the week; that being the day on which Christ rose from the dead. Here, we find that the disciples were assembled together; and that, in this assembled state, they were in fear of the Jews, and, therefore, shut upon themselves the doors. The simple fact of their being together was not enough to occasion this fear: but if they were assembled, worshipping in the name of Christ, this was enough. And their very fear, connected as it is with other circumstances, renders it almost certain, that they were so employed. But it is farther stated, that Jesus appeared in the midst of them, blessing them. To see

this in all its force, it must be borne in mind, that a promise to this effect had been made by our Lord himself: "Where two or three are gathered together," that is, as a Church, "in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. xviii. 20. This promise is now fulfilled through the Spirit; but on the evening of the first Christian Sabbath, the Spirit had not yet been given, and our Lord had not yet left the world. And therefore did he appear, in the midst of his disciples, in fulfilment of that promise; which again confirms the belief of their being employed in Christian worship, and farther, that our Lord did thus countenance and sanction the observance.

This was the first Christian Sabbath. But " "after eight days, 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." John xx. 26. After eight days, was a week after; and which again brings us to the first day of the following week, the second Christian Sabbath. And here again, we have the same observances repeated, these also ir like circumstances, and countenanced by the same high authority.

The day of Pentecost comes next. This happened always fifty days after the Sabbath of the Passover; that is, seven entire weeks and one day over. Seven entire weeks bring us again back to the seventh day of the week; and the remaining day being added, fixes the occurrence of the Pentecost on the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath. "Now when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they (the disciples) were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting." Acts ii. 1, 2. It is not to be doubted, that the disciples were thus met for purposes of worship. And it is only a farther confirmation of this, that it was early in the morning; for it is well known, that the first Christians were accustomed to assemble for such purposes, early in the morning and again in the evening, the day itself not being usually at their disposal. But it is to be particularly observed, that, in these circumstances, they were visited by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had now left the world, and the period had come, when the promise of his presence was to be fulfilled, through the Spirit. And to assure the Church of this, and to connect it in a special manner with the observance of the Christian Sabbath, this first occurrence of the day, under the dispensation of the Spirit, was so observed, and so blessed.

From this we next pass on to the year 60 of the Christian era, which would be about twenty-seven years later than the day of Pentecost, and ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem. "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." Acts xx. 7. This happened in Troas, on the coast of Asia, and far from any part of the land of Canaan; yet here, the disciples were accustomed to come together for purposes of Christian worship, on the first day of the week. Their meeting on this occasion was in the evening; and one part of the service was the preaching of the Gospel, which, on account of Paul's being about to leave them, was continued till midnight. Nor is the practice spoken of as if peculiar to Troas, but rather as something common to the whole Church.

About the same date, we find the same apostle exhorting the Church of Corinth, on a subject connected with this. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the Churches of Gala. tia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there may be no gathering when I

come." 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. Here, again, we find, that the Church of Corinth, which was in Europe, and the Churches of Galatia, which were far north in Asia, were all of them in the habit of meeting, or in some other way of specially observing, the first day of the week. And as this could be in no other way than that already described, we thus find the practice to have been generally observed, over the whole Church, in less than thirty years after our Lord's resurrection.

But this does not exhaust the evidence contained even in these examples. It will be observed, that the term employed in these passages, as descriptive of the Christian Sabbath, is, "The first day of the week." Now it is an important fact, that while you have the seventh and first days of the week often repeated, you never hear of the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth. How is this? The obvious reason is, that the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth, would have meant nothing; there being nothing commonly understood, as connected with the recurrence of these. If any thing had been described, as happening on the second, for example, the mentioning this would have suggested nothing beyond the mere date; but if on the seventh, the occurrence would be immediately judged of, as connected with the Jewish Sabbath. And when we now find, that, from the resurrection of Christ, but not before, the Scriptures speak of the first day of the week, as they were wont to do of the seventh, the natural and, as we think, the necessary inference is, that the former had now come to be remarkable for some weekly observance; and as we know of none but the observance of the Sabbath, it farther appears, that this also is proved by the recurrence of the term.

Even this term, however, soon after gave way to another, for John says of himself, when in the isle of Patmos, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. i. 10. This, it is believed, was written about twentysix years after the destruction of Jerusalem, which affords time at least for the introduction of this other and more appropriate name. It is even remarkable, that it was on this day, this first day of the week, that God did vouchsafe to his servant John this special communication of his Holy Spirit, and the extraordinary revelations of his will, which were thus made known. But it is our duty at present particularly to notice the fact, that these revelations were addressed to the seven Churches of Asia, and through them to the Churches at large, all of whom are thus understood to be, by this time, familiar with the term" the Lord's day," and, consequently, with the special nature and observance of the day so denominated. The conclusion is, that, by this time, the Christian Sabbath was generally observed, and understood by the term " the Lord's day." But here the canonical Scriptures stop, and yet the full and practical observance of the entire day, as a weekly Sabbath, does not appear to have been yet attained. We must, therefore, have recourse to the authority of the fathers, as farther illustrative of the progress which we have already been tracing. Now, Ignatius, who is believed, by some very eminent critics, to have suffered martyrdom so early as the year 107, only about ten years after the writing of the book of Revelation, says, "Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable; for if we still continue to live according to the Jewish law, we do confess ourselves not to have received grace. For even the most holy prophets lived according to Christ Jesus: and for this cause were they persecuted, being inspired by his grace, to convince the unbelievers and disobedient that there is one God, who has manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son, who is his eternal Word, who in all things pleased Him that sent him. Wherefore, if they who were brought up in these ancient laws came, nevertheless, to the new

ness of hope, no longer observing Sabbaths, but keeping the Lord's day, in which also our life is sprung up with him, and through his death," &c. (1)

In the Epistle of Barnabas also, which, whether it be his or not, is at least very ancient, the writer says, "For which cause we observe the eighth day with gladness, in which Jesus rose from the dead; and having manifested himself to his disciples, he ascended into heaven." (2) This brief statement follows a somewhat lengthened discussion on certain speculative points, connected with Sabbath observance, and about which different opinions may be entertained; but the statement itself is simply descriptive of the then practice of the Church, and is thus altogether independent of mere opinions.

Justin Martyr is supposed to have suffered about the year 165 or 168, and he says, "On the day called Sunday, all who live either in town or country meet together, and the discourses of the apostles and writings of the prophets are read," which he explains by adding, "that this was the day on which God began the creation of the world, and on which our Saviour rose from the dead." (3) In this quotation we have the name Sunday introduced, probably because the statement occurs in an Apology, addressed to the emperor and others, who were heathens. And it is observable, that he speaks of the Christian Sabbath, as now understood to commemorate creation, and also our Lord's resurrection from the dead. And this shows that the observance of the Jewish Sabbath had, by this time, been generally discontinued.

Dionysius of Corinth also, who lived during the next reign, that of Marcus Antoninus, says in a letter addressed to the Church of Rome, This day, therefore, being the holy day of the Lord, we have now passed over, wherein we read over your epistle, which, as also the former epistle of Clement's, written to us, we continuing to read henceforward, shall abound with most excellent precepts and instruction." (4)

But we must now come to the last portion of evidence on this subject. The Christian Sabbath continued to be observed, as circumstances permitted, till the Roman empire became Christian. Constantine the Great succeeded his father in 306. In 312, the Christians were admitted to the free exercise of their worship, in all its forms and observances; and on the 6th of March 321, an imperial edict was passed, forbidding all manner of work on the Lord's day. "He ordained that a particular day should be set apart, as fit and convenient for devotional exercises, that day, namely, which is really the chief and first of the other days, and which is truly the Lord's day, the day of salvation." (5) The enactment itself is declared by Valesius, in his notes on Eusebius, and also by Dupin, to be engrossed in the Theodosian code; and Sozomen describes it as requiring the courts of justice to be shut up, all kinds of employment to be stopped, and the day to be spent in devotional exercises. Dupin says that certain parts of husbandry were excepted.

From this review, it will be found that there was a progressive transference of religious service from the seventh to the first day of the week, going on from the resurrection of Christ, down to the time of the full establishment of Christianity throughout the Roman empire From the resurrection of Christ till the destruction of Jerusalem, the seventh day of the week was practically observed as the weekly Sabbath, and from the edict of Constantine down to the present time, the first has been observed in its stead. And between these two points-the year 70 and the year 321-there was, as we conceive, a process of transference going on. The Lord's day was all along observed as commemorative (1.) Ignatius ad Magnesianos. (2.) Barnabæ Epistola. Secunda.

(3.) Justini Apologia (4.) Eusebii Historia, lib. iv., c. 23. tini, lib. iv., c. 18.

(5.) Eusebii Vita Constan

of our Lord's resurrection, but it was not, and could not be, generally observed as a day of entire rest. This could be obtained only by a national edict, and that again was dependent on a national profession of Christianity. And as soon as the one was made, the other was obtained. We also enjoy this blessing, and it becomes us not only to improve it, but also to be jealous of whatever would impair so precious a privilege.

"And now let the candid examiner of these statements reflect, whether it will be easier to get quit of evidence, thus pervading the history of our race, and mingling itself with the government of the world and the whole framework of human society, than to get over the difficulties, which are accounted for, from the circumstances in which they occur. And let him farther reflect, whether, if similar evidence were set against the authority of the Sabbath, it would not be thought sufficient. And, finally, whether an unwillingness to be bound by the obligations of the Sabbath has not a chief share in determining his opinions. A coming judgment will finally determine which party is in the right; but there will not then be time to retract, and each of us will be found accountable for his opinions, as well as conduct. May God, therefore,

enable all of us to know and obey the truth."

of the Messiah, at once despised the miracles which he wrought, and discredited the doctrines which he taught, because they saw him detect that spirit of hypocrisy in which all their public acts were done, and because they knew that the establishment of his kingdom of righteousness would obscure, and at last destroy, that sunshine of reputation in which they had so long and so undisturbedly basked.

And it was also a caution against the doctrine of the Sadducees,-against the principles of that class in Judea to whom the grave was the boundary of anticipation, who sought to subvert religion altogether, by attempting to cut off the hopes of futurity, by seeking to destroy all the incentives to good action, and all the restraints against sin, which are furnished by the views of that responsible hereafter of which Christianity doth give us the assurance,-against the principles of those men, in our own day, who trifle away this life in the confident belief that there is not to be another, who laugh at the very idea of unembodied intelligence, who reject a religion of comfortable promise, and

SEES AND SADDUCEES.

A DISCOURSE.

BY THE REV. JOHN PAUL,

One of the Ministers of St. Cuthbert's Parish, Edinburgh.

"Then said Jesus unto them, Take heed and beware

of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." &c.-MATT. xvi. 6-12.

In a former discourse upon this subject, I directed attention to one grand lesson inculcated by the | text the obligation of considering and applying the miracles of our Lord. The present discourse shall be dedicated to a consideration of the second lesson in which the passage instructs us,—to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

The text was intended as a caution against two very different, although equally pernicious systems of doctrine. It was a caution against the precepts of the Pharisees, against the precepts of the men of that class amongst the Jews, who were fond of showy virtues, and thought, by the discharge of small duties, to atone for the omission of those that were more important, who brought down the high and supreme authority which the law of God did so justly claim for itself, and invested their own frivolous traditions with the title of a more incumbent obligation,-men who, notwithstanding their great professions of religion, and the many seemingly fervent protestations which they made of devotedness to its services, were yet utterly destitute of the power of piety in their hearts, who placed the substance of true religion and acceptable worship in a round of mere outward performances that did avail nothing to true sanctification, who abhorred personal godliness, and every excellence that was inward and real, while yet they set themselves to profess it with care and ostentation, and who hated with a consummate hatred both the person and the character

despondency, who, void of care, and incredulous of eternity, endeavour, both by the maxims which they inculcate, and the example which they set, to stir up a spirit of reckless depravity amongst men, spread the most ensnaring temptations before the eyes of the ignorant and inexperienced, and insult the feelings, and despise the understandings of the more virtuous and more wise.

I. Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees. And that doctrine may be viewed as dividing itself into two great departments.

1. Beware of that mere external righteousness in which the men of this sect were wont to pride themselves.

In their self-delusion, they taught the people, that the great object to be aimed at, was a conformity of the outward appearance merely to the maxims of virtue; that, provided there was nothing vulnerable in the external conduct, it was of but little moment what impurities might be reigning within; that if the outside of the cup was clean, they need make it a matter of no concern though the inside were full of rottenness and corruption, and need take no care about the spirit of sanctity being in the heart, if they but maintained the semblance of sanctity in the manners. These were the Pharisaical opinions which it was the great object of our Lord to refute, in that memorable discourse which he addressed to them, contained in the chapter preceding that of our text; and the great practical lesson which the discourse itself was designed, and is fitted, to teach us, relates to the obligation of cultivating personal holiness, of keeping with a jealous care the man within, as St. Paul says, "the hidden man of the heart," as St. Peter calls it; of watching with a suspicious eye, not so much over our outward behaviour, for which our mere worldly reputation is often a sufficient guarantee, as over those hidden imaginations and affections, which nothing but

a sincere desire after real righteousness will take the trouble to guard; of never, for one moment, forgetting, that though the tongue may be kept from wicked discourse, and the eyes from wandering after wicked objects, and the feet from declining into wicked paths, yet the heart, all the while, may be revelling in the very excesses of wickedness; of seeking after that excellence which arises from the secret gratulations of a man's mind, and meets with the acceptance of that God, who is greater than the heart, and who knoweth all things; and of never, on one occasion, supposing that though the fame of our virtuous conduct may have been hitherto unquestioned, and our character not only beyond impeachment, but even above suspicion, that this will be of any moment, unless all this be a true symbol, and literal reflection, of that purity, and that sincerity, which do reign triumphantly within. Our Lord does not find fault with the practice, which obtained among the Pharisees, of washing their hands before they eat bread, but he enters his solemn protest against supposing such a practice to possess that virtue and validity which they ascribed to it; and it is the great object of his discourse to show, that in itself the washing of our hands is a thing of little moment, that the whole of that external righteousness, as to the exhibition of which that class was so particular, is, comparatively speaking, a thing of no significance, and however plausible it may seem, and however popular it may be, that it will never make up for the absence of that righteousness within, of which outward propriety is, in every case, designed to be symbolical, that it will never atone for the want of that custody of the heart which ought to form, with us all, a subject of impressive duty; that the heart is the real source whence all righteousness and unrighteousness proceeds, and that, if but its thoughts, its affections, its passions, its designs, which may be, which need to be, which ought to be, be in fact made the object of our sacred keeping, and brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, it matters but little though our public acts be less jealously guarded. We are not, however, to lay aside an outward appearance of decency and propriety. We are not to despise the washing of our hands, or the observance of any other outward acts, to which we may be led by the instincts of nature, or the common courtesies of society, or the dictates of self-interest. We must take care, that, in avoiding the extreme of mere outward righteousness, we run not into the opposite extreme of fanaticism, and make ourselves ridiculous in the hope of being religious; but while we observe these acts, and perhaps more than these, we are solemnly charged, at the same time, to be as pure within as we are exemplary without; to have the passions as controlled as the actions of our bodies are correct; to have an entire accordance subsisting between the unobserved thoughts of our hearts and the audible words of our lips; to have the semblance of godliness issuing forth out of the reality of godliness. the formal com

pliance which we give to God's law, emanating from the deep-rooted attachment which we feel to God's law, and the outward service which we render to him with our mouths, an honest and undissembled transcript of the sincere and unaffected homage which we yield to him in the inward man. I am well aware that amongst some who are ignorant, and some who are deluded, and some who are insincere, a very different doctrine doth in practice prevail, and that though they have no fear of God in their hearts, no controlling image of his purity in their thoughts, no love toward him, swaying with an ascendant power over their affections, yet they reckon upon their welfare both for this world and the next, because they are blameless in their external behaviour, because they observe the practice of the cardinal virtues, because they are regular in their attendance upon the solemnities of religion, and because they present in their conduct nothing that is glaringly offensive. But such people would do well to consider the utter emptiness of all this, if it spring not from the heart. They would be wise to ponder upon what our Saviour here says, when, in opposition to the common and current path, he points out the more excellent way, and it would be their interest to remember that the Pharisees themselves, they who professed a sense of religion which they never felt, and made a show of good works which they never performed, that they were all this before them, and that upon their external righteousness, which it is difficult to equal, and almost impossible to surpass, the great Searcher of hearts did put the stamp and impress of his abhorrence.

That inward excellence, it is true, which God requires of each of us, we cannot, by our own efforts, attain, and not more unable are we to atone for the guilt of sin than we are unable to wash ourselves from the stains and the spots of sin. But consolatory it is to know that He is ever ready to assist us whose office it is to sanctify us wholly, that He will not be wanting to us if we are not wanting to ourselves, and that the Holy Spirit will be given to us if we but ask the Holy Spirit. Let all of us, therefore, lift up the Psalmist's prayer, "Create in us a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit away from us ;" and under the solemn conviction of sincerity in all the outward acts of obeisance which we perform, under the solemn impression of His discourse who desireth truth in the inward parts, and who will never accept of mere outward conformity in the place of solid and substantial righteousness, under the still more solemn idea of at last appearing to be judged by Him who comprehends our very thoughts afar off, who discerns, with a discriminating eye, the secret purposes which we conceal, and who fathoms, with an infallible intelligence, that holy temper which many are as careful to profess as they are careless to cherish; under these impressions, let us give to the winds that righteousness of every kind which cometh not from within, let us resolve to be no