History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week

Chapter XXVII The Sabbath in America

The first Sabbath-keeping church in America—Names of its members—Origin of the second—Organization of the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference—Statistics of the Denomination at that time—Nature of its organization—Present Statistics—Educational facilities—Missionary work—The American Sabbath Tract Society—Responsibility for the light of the Sabbath—The German S. D. Baptists of Pennsylvania—Reference to Sabbath-keepers in Hungary—In Siberia—The Seventh-day Adventists—Their origin—Labors of Joseph Bates—Of James White—The Publishing Association—Systematic Benevolence—The work of the preachers mainly in new fields—Organization of the S. D. Adventists—Statistics—Peculiarities of their faith—Their object—The S. D. Adventists of Switzerland—Why the Sabbath is of priceless value to mankind—The nations of the saved observe the Sabbath in the new earth.

The first Sabbatarian church in America originated at Newport, R. I. The first Sabbath-keeper in America was Stephen Mumford, who left London three years after the martyrdom of John James, and forty-four years after the landing of the pilgrim fathers at Plymouth. Mr. Mumford, it appears, came as a missionary from the English Sabbath-keepers.1087 Mr. Isaac Backus, the historian of the early New England Baptists, makes the following record:—

“Stephen Mumford came over from London in 1664, and brought the opinion with him that the whole of the ten commandments, as they were delivered from Mount Sinai, were moral and immutable; and that it was the Antichristian power which thought to change times and laws, that changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Several members of the first church in Newport embraced this sentiment, and yet continued with the church for some years, until two men and their wives who had so done, turned back to the keeping of the first day again.”1088

Mr. Mumford, on his arrival, went earnestly to work to convert men to the observance of the fourth commandment, as we infer from the following record:—

“Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America, came from London in 1664. Tacy Hubbard commenced keeping the Sabbath, March 11, 1665. Samuel Hubbard commenced April 1, 1665. Rachel Langworthy, January 15, 1666. Roger Baxter, April 15, 1666, and William Hiscox, April 28, 1666. These were the first Sabbath-keepers in America. A controversy, lasting several years, sprung up between them and members of the church. They desired to retain their connection with the church, but were, at last, compelled to withdraw, that they might peaceably enjoy and keep God’s holy day.”1089 [Baxter is Baster in the S. D. B. Memorial.]

Though Mr. Mumford faithfully taught the truth, he seems to have cherished the ideas of the English Sabbatarians, that it was possible for first-day and seventh-day observers to walk together in church fellowship. Had the first-day people been of the same mind, the light of the Sabbath would have been extinguished within a few years, as the history of English Sabbath-keepers clearly proves. But, in the providence of God, the danger was averted by the opposition which these commandment-keepers had to encounter.

Besides the persons above enumerated, four others embraced the Sabbath in 1666, but in 1668 they renounced it. These four were also members of the first-day Baptist church of Newport. Though the Sabbath-keepers who retained their integrity thought that they might lawfully commune with the members of the church who were fully persuaded to observe the first day, yet they felt otherwise with respect to these who had clearly seen the Sabbath, and had for a time observed it, and then apostatized from it. These persons “both wrote and spoke against it, which so grieved them that they could not sit down at the table of the Lord with them, nor with the church because of them.” But as they were members of a first-day church, and had “no power to deal with them as of themselves without the help of the church,” they “found themselves barred as to proceeding with them, as being but private brethren. So they concluded not to bring the case to the church to judge of the fact, viz., in turning from the observation of the seventh day, being contrary-minded as to that.” They therefore sent to the London Sabbath-keepers for advice, and in the mean time refrained from communing with the church.

Dr. Edward Stennet wrote them in behalf of the London Sabbath-keepers: “If the church will hold communion with these apostates from the truth, you ought then to desire to be fairly dismissed from the church; which if the church refuse, you ought to withdraw yourselves.”1090 They decided, however, not to leave the church. But they told “the church publicly that they could not have comfortable communion with those four persons that had sinned.” “And thus for several months they walked with little or no offense from the church; after which the leading or ministering brethren began to declare themselves concerning the ten precepts.” Mr. Tory “declared the law to be done away.” Mr. Luker and Mr. Clarke “made it their work to preach the non-observation of the law, day after day.” But the Sabbath-keepers replied “that the ten precepts were still as holy, just, good, and spiritual, as ever.” Mr. Tory “with some unpleasant words said ‘that their tune was only the fourth precept,’ to which they answered, ‘that the whole ten precepts were of equal force with them, and that they did not plead for one without the other.’ And they for several years, went on with the church in a halvish kind of fellowship.”1091

Mr. Bailey thus states the result:—

“At the time of their change of sentiment and practice, [respecting the Bible Sabbath], they had no intention of establishing a church with this distinctive feature. God, evidently, had a different mission for them, and brought them to it, through the severe trial of persecution. They were forced to leave the fellowship of the Baptist church, or abandon the Sabbath of the Lord their God.”1092

“These left the Baptist church on December 7, 1671.”1093

“On the 23d of December, just sixteen days after withdrawing from the Baptist church, they covenanted together in a church organization.”1094

Such was the origin of the first Sabbath-keeping church in America.1095 The second of these churches owes its origin to this circumstance: About the year 1700, Edmund Dunham of Piscataway, N. J., reproved a person for labor on Sunday. He was asked for his authority from the Scriptures. On searching for this, he became satisfied that the seventh day is the only weekly Sabbath in the Bible, and began to observe it.

“Soon after, others followed his example, and in 1707 a Seventh-day Baptist church was organized, with seventeen members. Edmund Dunham was chosen pastor and sent to Rhode Island to receive ordination.”1096

The S. D. Baptist General Conference was organized in 1802. At its first annual session, it included in its organization eight churches, nine ordained ministers, and 1130 members.1097 The Conference was organized with only advisory powers, the individual churches retaining the matters of discipline and church government in their own hands.1098 The Conference now embraces some eighty churches, and about 8000 members. These churches are found in most of the northern and western States, and are divided into five associations, which, however, have no legislative nor disciplinary power over the churches which compose them. There are, belonging to the denomination, five academies, one college, “and a university with academic, collegiate, mechanical, and theological departments in operation.”1099 The S. D. Baptist missionary society sustains several home missionaries who labor principally on the western and southern borders of the denomination. They have within a few years past met with a good degree of success in this work. It has also a missionary station at Shanghai, China, and a small church there of faithful Christians.

The American Sabbath Tract Society is the publishing agency of the denomination. Its head-quarters are at Alfred Center, N. Y. It publishes the Sabbath Recorder, the organ of the S. D. Baptists, and it also publishes a series of valuable works relating to the Sabbath and the law of God.

During the two hundred years which have elapsed since the organization of the first Sabbatarian church in America, God has raised up among this people men of eminent talent and moral worth. He has also in providential ways called attention to the sacred trust which he so long since confided to the S. D. Baptists, and which they have been slow to realize in its immense importance.

Among those converted to the Sabbath through the agency of this people, the name of J. W. Morton is particularly worthy of honorable mention. He was sent in 1847 a missionary to the island of Hayti by the Reformed Presbyterians. Here he came in contact with Sabbatarian publications, and after a serious examination became satisfied that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. As an honest man, what he saw to be truth he immediately obeyed, and returning home to be tried for his heresy, was summarily expelled from the Reformed Presbyterian church without being suffered to state the reasons which had governed his conduct. He has given to the world a valuable work, entitled, “Vindication of the True Sabbath,” in which his experience is related, and his reasons for observing the seventh day set forth with great force and clearness.

The S. D. Baptists do not lack men of education and of talent, and they have ample means in their possession with which to sustain the cause of God. If in time past they have not fully realized that they were debtors to all mankind because of the great truth which God committed to their trust, there is reason to believe that they are now to some extent awakening to this vast indebtedness.1100

There is also in the State of Pennsylvania a small body of German S. D. Baptists found in the counties of Lancaster, York, Franklin, and Bedford, and in the central and western parts of the State. They originated in 1728 from the teaching of Conrad Beissel, a native of Germany. They practice trine immersion, and the washing of feet, and observe open communion. They encourage celibacy, but make it obligatory upon none. Even those who have chosen this manner of life are at liberty to marry if at any time they choose so to do. They established and successfully maintained a Sabbath-school at Ephrata, their head-quarters, forty years before Robert Raikes had introduced the system of Sunday-schools. This people have suffered much persecution because of their observance of the seventh day, the laws of Pennsylvania being particularly oppressive toward Sabbatarians.1101 The German S. D. Baptists do not belong to the S. D. Baptist General Conference.

We have already noticed the fact that Sabbath-keepers are numerous in Russia, in Poland, and in Turkey. We find the following statement respecting Sabbath-keepers in Hungary:—

“A congregation of seventh-day Christians in Hungary, being refused tolerance by the laws, has embraced Judaism, in order to be allowed to exist in connection with one of the ‘received religions.’”1102

The probability is that as the laws of the Austrian Empire bear very heavily upon all religious bodies not belonging to some one of the tolerated sects or orders, these “Seventh-day Christians” on “being refused tolerance” in their own name, secured the privilege of observing the seventh day by allowing their doctrine to be classed by the civil authorities under the head of Judaism, and so bringing themselves under the tolerance accorded to the “received religions.” We do not say that this was right, even as a technicality, but it is evidently the extent of what they did. There is no reason to believe that they abjured Christ. We also learn that there are Sabbath-keepers in the north of Asia:—

“There is a sect of Greek Christians in Siberia who keep the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday). Such sects already exist in the United States, in Germany, and we believe in England.”1103

The Sabbath was first introduced to the attention of the Advent people at Washington, N. H. A faithful Seventh-day Baptist sister, Mrs. Rachel D. Preston, from the State of New York, having removed to this place, brought with her the Sabbath of the Lord. Here she became interested in the doctrine of the glorious advent of the Saviour at hand. Being instructed in this subject by the Advent people, she in turn instructed them in the commandments of God, and as early as 1844, nearly the entire church in that place, consisting of about forty persons, became observers of the Sabbath of the Lord.1104 The oldest body of Sabbath-keepers among the Seventh-day Adventists is therefore at Washington, N. H. Its present number is small, for it has been thinned by emigration and by the ravages of death; but there still remains a small company to bear witness to this ancient truth of the Bible.

From this place, several Advent ministers received the Sabbath truth during the year 1844. One of these was Eld. T. M. Preble, who has the honor of first bringing this great truth before the Adventists through the medium of the press. His essay was dated Feb. 13, 1845. He presented briefly the claims of the Bible Sabbath, and showed that it was not changed by the Saviour, but was changed by the great apostasy. He then said:—

“Thus we see Dan. 7:25, fulfilled, the little horn changing ‘times and laws.’ Therefore it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the Sabbath, are Pope’s Sunday-keepers, and God’s Sabbath breakers.”1105

Within a few months many persons began to observe the Sabbath as the result of the light thus shed on their pathway. Eld. J. B. Cook, a man of decided talent as a preacher and a writer, was one of these early converts to the Sabbath. Elders Preble and Cook were at this time in the full vigor of their mental powers, and were possessed of talent and a reputation for piety, which gave them great influence among the Adventists in behalf of the Sabbath. These men were called in the providence of God to fill an important place in the work of Sabbath reform.

But both of them, while preaching and writing in its behalf, committed the fatal error of making it of no practical importance. They had apparently the same fellowship for those who rejected the Sabbath that they had for those who observed it. Such a course of action produced its natural result. After two or three years of this kind of Sabbath observance, each of these men apostatized from it, and thenceforward used what influence they possessed in warring against the fourth commandment. The larger part of those who embraced the Sabbath from their labors were not sufficiently impressed with its importance to become settled and grounded in its weighty evidences, and, after a brief period, they turned back from its observance. But enough had been done to excite bitter opposition toward the Sabbath on the part of many Adventists, and to bring out the ingenious and plausible arguments by which men attempt to prove that God has abolished his own sacred law.

Such was the fruit of their course, and such the condition of things at the time of their defection. But the result of their plan of action taught the Advent Sabbath-keepers a lesson of value, which they have never forgotten. They learned that the fourth commandment must be treated as a part of the moral law, if men are ever to be led to its sacred observance.

Eld. Preble’s first article in behalf of the Sabbath was the means of calling the attention of our venerable brother, Joseph Bates, to this divine institution. He soon became convinced of its obligation, and at once began to observe it. He had acted quite a prominent part in the Advent movement of 1843-4, and now, with self-sacrificing zeal, he took hold of the despised Sabbath truth to set it before his fellow-men. He did not do it in the half-way manner of Elders Preble and Cook, but as a man thoroughly in earnest and fully alive to the importance of his subject.

The subject of the heavenly Sanctuary began about this time to interest many Adventists, and especially Eld. Bates. He was one of the first to see that the central object of that Sanctuary is the ark of God. He also called attention to the proclamation of the third angel relative to God’s commandments. He girded on the armor to lay it down only when his work should be accomplished. He has been instrumental in leading many to the observance of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and few who have received the Sabbath from his teaching have apostatized from it.1106

It was but a few months after Eld. Bates, that our esteemed and efficient brother, Eld. James White, also embraced the Sabbath. He had labored with much success in the great Advent movement, and he now entered heartily into the work of Sabbath reform. Uniting with Eld. Bates in the proclamation of the doctrine of the advent and the Sabbath as connected together in the Sanctuary and the message of the third angel, he has, with the blessing of God, accomplished great results in behalf of the Sabbath.

The publishing interests of the Seventh-day Adventists originated through his instrumentality. He began the work of publishing in 1849, without resources, and with very few friends, but with much toil, self-sacrifice, and anxious care; and with the blessing of God upon his efforts, he has been the means of establishing an efficient office of publication, and of disseminating many important works throughout our country, and, to some extent, to other nations also. The publication of the Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath, the organ of the Seventh-day Adventists, was commenced by him in 1850. For most of the years of its existence, he has served as one of its editors; and for all its earlier years, he was both publisher and sole editor. During this time, he has also labored with energy as a minister of the gospel of Christ.

The wants of the cause demanding an enlargement of capital and more extensive operations, to this end an Association was incorporated in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, May 3, 1861, under the name of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association. This Association owns three commodious publishing houses, with engine, power presses, and all the fixtures necessary for doing an extensive business. There are about fifty persons constantly employed in this work of publication. The Association has a capital of about $82,000. Under God, it owes its prosperity to the prudent management and untiring energy of Eld. James White.

The Advent Review has at the present time (Nov., 1873) a circulation of about 5000 copies. The Youth’s Instructor, a monthly paper designed for the children of Sabbath-keeping Adventists, began to be issued in 1852, and has now attained a circulation of nearly 5000 copies.

The Advent Tidende, a Danish monthly with a circulation of 800, is published for the benefit of those who speak the Danish and Norwegian tongues, of whom a considerable number have embraced the Sabbath.

The S. D. Adventists have taken a strong interest in the subject of hygiene and the laws of health, and have established a Health Institute at Battle Creek, Mich., which publishes the Health Reformer, a monthly journal, magazine form, having a circulation of nearly 5000 copies.

Numerous publications on Prophecy, the Signs of the Times, the Coming of Christ, the Sabbath, the Law of God, the Sanctuary, &c., &c., have been issued within the past twenty years, and have had an extensive circulation, amounting, in the aggregate, to many millions of pages.

The ordinary financial wants of the cause are sustained by a method of collecting means known as Systematic Benevolence. By this system, it is designed that each friend of the cause shall pay a certain sum weekly proportioned to the property which he possesses. But there is no compulsion in this matter. In this manner the burden is borne by all, so that it rests heavily upon none; and the means needed for the work flows with a steady stream into the treasury of the several churches, and finally into that of the State Conferences. A settlement is instituted each year at the State Conferences, in which the labors, receipts, and expenditures, of each minister are carefully considered. Thus none are allowed to waste means, and none who are recognized as called of God to the ministry are allowed to suffer.

The churches sustain their meetings for the most part without the aid of preaching. They raise means to sustain the servants of Christ, but bid them mainly devote their time and strength to save those who have not the light of these important truths shining upon their pathway. So they go out everywhere preaching the word of God, as his providence guides their feet. During the summer months, the work in new fields is carried forward principally by means of large tents, which enable the preacher to provide a suitable place of worship, wherever he may think it desirable to labor.

The Seventh-day Adventists have thirteen State Conferences, which assemble annually in their respective States. These bear the names of Maine, Vermont, New England, New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, and California. These Conferences are designed to meet the local wants of the cause. There is also a General Conference, which assembles yearly, composed of delegates from the State Conferences. This Conference takes the general oversight of the work in all the State Conferences, supplying the more destitute with laborers as far as possible, and uniting the whole strength of the body for the accomplishment of the work. It also takes the charge of missionary labor in those States which have no organized Conferences.

There are about fifty ministers who devote their whole time to the work of the gospel. There is also a considerable number who preach a portion of the time and devote the remainder to secular labor. There are about 6000 members in the several Conference organizations. But such is the scattered condition of this people (for they are found in all the northern States and in several of the southern), that a very large portion have no connection with its organization. They are to be found in single families scattered all the way from Maine to California and Oregon. The Review and Instructor constitute, in a great number of cases, the only preachers of their faith.

Those subjects which more especially interest this people, are the fulfillment of prophecy, the second personal advent of the Saviour as an event now near at hand, immortality through Christ alone, a change of heart through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the divinity and mediatorial work of Christ, and the development of a holy character by obedience to the perfect and holy law of God.1107

They are very strict with regard to the ordinance of baptism, believing not only that it requires men to be buried in the watery grave, but that even such baptism is faulty if administered to those who are breaking one of the ten commandments. They also believe that our Lord’s direction in John 13 should be observed in connection with the supper.

They teach that the gifts of the Spirit set forth in 1 Cor. 12 and Eph. 4, were designed to remain in the church till the end of time. They believe that these were lost in consequence of the same apostasy that changed the Sabbath. They also believe that in the final restoration of the commandments by the work of the third angel, the gifts of the Spirit of God are restored with them. So the remnant of the church, or last generation of its members, is said to “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”1108 And the angel of God explains this by saying, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”1109 The spirit of prophecy therefore has a distinct place assigned to it in the final work of Sabbath reform. Such are their views of this portion of Scripture; and their history from the beginning has been marked by the influence of this sacred gift.

In the face of strong opposition, the people known as Seventh-day Adventists have arisen to bear their testimony for the Sabbath of the Lord. They have had perils from open foes, and from false brethren; but they have thus far overcome the difficulties of the way, and from each have gathered strength for the conflict before them. They have a definite work which they hope to accomplish. It is to make ready a people prepared for the advent of the Lord.

Honorable mention should be made of the Seventh-day Adventists of Switzerland. They first learned these precious truths from Elder M. B. Czechowski, who a few years since instructed them in the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Since his labors with them ceased, God has given them strength to stand with firmness for his truth, and has added to their numbers. They have a heart to obey the truth and to sacrifice for its advancement. They number about sixty persons. There are a few individuals of this faith also in Italy, Germany, and Denmark.

The observance of the Sabbath is sometimes advocated on the ground that man needs a day of rest and will grow prematurely old if he labor seven days in each week, which is doubtless true; and it has also been advocated on the ground that God will bless in basket and in store those who hallow his Sabbath, which may be true in many cases; but the Bible does not urge motives of this kind in respect to this sacred institution. Without doubt there are great incidental advantages in the observance of the Sabbath. But these are not what God sets before us as the reasons for its observance. The true reason is infinitely higher than all considerations of this kind, and should constrain men to obey, even were it certain that it would cost them all that is dear in the present life.

The Sabbath has been advocated on the ground that it secures to men a day for divine worship in which by common consent they may appear before God. This is a very important consideration, and yet the Bible says little concerning it. It is one of the incidental blessings of the Sabbath, and not the chief reason for its observance. The Sabbath was ordained to commemorate the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God. For the worship of God is based upon the fact that he is the Creator and that all other beings were created by him. The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and his creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten. To keep it in man’s mind, God gave to him the Sabbath. He received it in his innocency, and notwithstanding the perversity of his professed people, God has preserved this sacred institution through the entire period of man’s fallen state.

The four and twenty elders in the very act of worshiping Him who sits upon the throne, state the reason why worship is due to God:—

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”1110

This great truth is therefore worthy to be remembered even in the glorified state. And we shall presently learn that what God gave to man in Paradise, to keep this great truth before his mind, shall be honored by him in Paradise restored.

The future is given to us in the prophetic Scriptures. From them we learn that our earth is reserved unto fire, and that from its ashes shall spring new heavens and earth, and ages of endless date.1111 Over this glorified inheritance, the second Adam, the Lord of the Sabbath, shall bear rule, and under his gracious protection the nations of them which are saved shall inherit the land forever.1112 When the glory of the Lord shall thus fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, the Sabbath of the Most High is again and for the last time brought to view:—

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.”1113

Does not Paul refer to these very facts set forth by Isaiah when he says, “There remaineth therefore a rest [Greek, Sabbatismos, literally “a keeping of the sabbath”] to the people of God”?1114 The reason for this monthly gathering to the New Jerusalem of all the host of the redeemed from every part of the new earth may be found in the language of the Apocalypse:—

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing [literally, the service]1115 of the nations.”1116

The gathering of the nations that are saved to the presence of the Creator, from the whole face of the new earth on each successive Sabbath, attests the sacredness of the Sabbath even in that holy state, and sets the seal of the Most High to the perpetuity of this ancient institution.

Footnotes

1 For the scriptural and traditional evidence on this point, see Shimeall’s Bible Chronology, part i. chap. vi; Taylor’s Voice of the Church, pp. 25-30; and Bliss’ Sacred Chronology, pp. 199-203.

2 Isa. 57:15; 1 Sam. 15:29, margin; Jer. 10:10, margin; Micah 5:2, margin; 1 Tim. 6:16; 1:17; Ps. 90:2.

3 Dr. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on Gen. 1:1, uses the following language: “Created] Caused that to exist which previously to this moment, had no being. The rabbins, who are legitimate judges in a case of verbal criticism on their own language, are unanimous in asserting that the word bara, expresses the commencement of the existence of a thing: or its egression from nonentity to entity.... These words should be translated: ‘God in the beginning created the substance of the heavens and the substance of the earth; i. e., the prima materia, or first elements, out of which the heavens and the earth were successively formed.’”
Purchase’s Pilgrimage, b. i. chap, ii., speaks thus of the creation: “Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almighty, whereof, wherewith, whereby, to build this city” [that is the world].
Dr. Gill says: “These are said to be created, that is, to be made out of nothing; for what pre-existent matter to this chaos [of verse 2] could there be out of which they could be formed?”
“Creation must be the work of God, for none but an almighty power could produce something out of nothing.” Commentary on Gen. 1:1.
John Calvin, in his Commentary on this chapter, thus expounds the creative act: “His meaning is, that the world was made out of nothing. Hence the folly or those is refuted who imagine that unformed matter existed from eternity.”
The work of creation is thus defined in 2 Maccabees 7:28: “Look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise.”
That this creative act marked the commencement of the first day instead of preceding it by almost infinite ages is thus stated in 2 Esdras 6:38: “And I said, O Lord, thou spakest from the beginning of the creation, even the first day, and saidst thus: Let heaven and earth be made; and thy word was a perfect work.”
Wycliffe’s translation, the earliest of the English versions, renders Gen. 1:1, thus: “In the first, made God of naught heaven and earth.”

4 Heb. 11:3; Gen. 1.

5 Gen. 1:1-5; Heb. 1.

6 Gen. 1:6-8; Job 37:18.

7 Gen. 1:9-13; Ps. 136:6; 2 Pet. 3:5.

8 Gen. 1:14-19; Ps. 119:91; Jer. 33:25.

9 Gen 1:20-23.

10 Gen. 1:24-31; 2:7-9, 18-22; 3:20; Job 38:7.

11 “On the sixth day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day,” &c., is the reading of the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Samaritan; “and this should be considered the genuine reading,” says Dr. A. Clarke. See his Commentary on Gen. 2.

12 Gen. 2:2; Ex. 31:17.

13 Isa. 40:28.

14 Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11. In an anonymous work entitled “Morality of the Fourth Commandment,” London, 1652, but not the same with that of Dr. Twisse, of the same title, is the following striking passage:
“The Hebrew root for seven signifies fullness, perfection, and the Jews held many mysteries to be in the number seven: so John in his Apocalypse useth much that number. As, seven churches, seven stars, seven spirits, seven candlesticks, seven angels, seven seals, seven trumpets; and we no sooner meet with a seventh day, but it is blessed; no sooner with a seventh man [Gen. 5:24; Jude 14], but he is translated.” Page 7.

15 Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary on the words sanctify and hallow. Ed. 1859.
The revised edition of 1864 gives this definition: “To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Gen. 2:3. Moses... sanctified Aaron and his garments. Lev. 8:30.”
Worcester defines it thus: “To ordain or set apart to sacred ends; to consecrate; to hallow. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Gen. 2:3.”

16 Gen. 2:15; 1:28.

17 Morality of the Fourth Commandment, pp. 56, 57, London, 1641.

18 Hebrew Lexicon, p. 914, ed. 1854.

19 Josh. 20:7; Joel 1:14; 2:15; 2 Kings 10:20, 21; Zeph. 1 7, margin.

20 Ex. 10:12, 23.

21 Dr. Lange’s Commentary speaks on this point thus, in vol. i, p. 197: “If we had no other passage than this of Gen. 2:3, there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or seventh day, to be devoted to God, as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared. The first men must have known it. The words, ‘He hallowed it,’ can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy.”
Dr. Nicholas Bound, in his “True Doctrine of the Sabbath,” London, 1606, page 7, thus states the antiquity of the Sabbath precept:
“This first commandment of the Sabbath was no more then first given when it was pronounced from Heaven by the Lord, than any other one of the moral precepts, nay, that it hath so much antiquity as the seventh day hath being; for, so soon as the day was, so soon was it sanctified, that we might know that, as it came in with the first man, so it must not go out but with the last man; and as it was in the beginning of the world, so it must continue to the end of the same; and, as the first seventh day was sanctified, so must the last be. And this is that which one saith, that the Sabbath was commanded by God, and the seventh day was sanctified of him even from the beginning of the world; where (the latter words expounding the former) he showeth that, when God did sanctify it, then also he commanded it to be kept holy; and therefore look how ancient the sanctification of the day is, the same antiquity also as the commandment of keeping it holy; for they two are all one.”

22 Ex. 20:8-11.

23 Buck’s Theological Dictionary, article, Sabbath; Calmet’s Dictionary, article, Sabbath.

24 Ex. 16:22, 23.

25 John 1: 1-3; Gen. 1:1, 26; Col. 1:13-16.

26 Mark 2:27.

27 Barrett’s Principles of English Grammar, p. 29.

28 Job 14:12; 1 Cor. 10:13; Heb. 9:27.

29 Dr. Twisse illustrates the absurdity of that view which makes the first observance of the Sabbath in memory of creation to have begun some 2500 years after that event: “We read that when the Ilienses, inhabitants of Ilium, called anciently by the name of Troy, sent an embassage to Tiberius, to condole the death of his father Augustus, he, considering the unseasonableness thereof, it being a long time after his death, requited them accordingly, saying that he was sorry for their heaviness also, having lost so renowned a knight as Hector was, to wit, above a thousand years before, in the wars of Troy.”—Morality of the Fourth Commandment, p. 198.

30 Ex. 16:23.

31 Ex. 16.

32 Ex. 20:8-11.

33 Compare Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11.

34 Heb. 3:4; Jer. 10:10-12; Rom. 1:20; Ps. 33:9; Heb. 11:3.

35 Antiquities of the Jews, b. i. chap. i. sect. 1.

36 Works, vol. i. The Creation of the World, sect. 30.

37 Isa. 58:13, 14; Heb. 9:10.

38 Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12.

39 Gen. 9:5, 7.

40 Gen. 5:24; 6:9; 26:5.

41 See the beginning of chap. viii. of this work.

42 Ezra 3:1-6; Neh. 8:2, 9-12, 14-18; 1 Kings 8:2, 65; 2 Chron. 5:3; 7:8, 9; John 7:2-14, 37.

43 “The week, another primeval measure, is not a natural measure of time, as some astronomers and chronologers have supposed, indicated by the phases or quarters of the moon. It was originated by divine appointment at the creation—six days of labor and one of rest being wisely appointed for man’s physical and spiritual well-being.”—Bliss’ Sacred Chronology, p. 6; Hale’s Chronology, vol. i. p. 19.
“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons of it in his writings.”—Brief Dissertation on the first three Chapters of Genesis, by Dr. Coleman, p. 26.

44 Gen. 29:27, 28; 8:10, 12; 7:4, 10; 50:10; Ex. 7:25; Job 2:13.

45 Ex. 16:22, 23.

46 The interest to see the first man is thus stated: “Sem and Seth were in great honor among men, and so was Adam above every living thing in the creation.” Ecclesiasticus 49:16.

47 Gen. 26:5; 18:19.

48 Gen. 2-6; Heb. 11:4-7; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5.

49 Gen. 7; Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26, 27; 2 Pet. 3:5, 6.

50 Deut. 32:7, 8; Acts 17:26.

51 Gen. 11:1-9; Josephus’ Ant., b. i. chap. iv. This took place in the days of Peleg, who was born about one hundred years after the flood. Gen. 10:25, compared with 11:10-16; Ant., b. i. chap. vi. sect. 4.

52 Rom. 1:18-32; Acts 14:16, 17; 17:29, 30.

53 Gen. 12:1-3; Josh. 24:2, 3, 14; Neh. 9:7, 8; Rom. 4:13-17; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23.

54 Gen. 18:19.

55 Gen. 17:9-14; 34:14; Acts 10:28; 11:2, 3; Eph. 2:12-19; Num. 23:9; Deut. 33:27, 28.

56 Gen. 15; Ex. 1-5; Deut. 4:20.

57 Ex. 12:29-42; Gal. 3:17.

58 Ps. 105:43-45; Lev. 22:32, 33; Num. 15:41.

59 Gen. 2:2, 3; 26:5; Ex. 16:4, 27, 28; 18:16.

60 Ps. 90:2.

61 Ex. 19:3-8, 24:3-8; Jer. 3:14, compared with last clause of Jer. 31:32.

62 Ex. 20:2; 24:10.

63 Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14; Neh. 9:14.

64 On this verse Dr. A. Clarke thus comments:—“On the sixth day they gathered twice as much—This they did that they might have a provision for the Sabbath.”

65 The Douay Bible reads: “To-morrow is the rest of the Sabbath sanctified unto the Lord.” Dr. Clarke comments as follows upon this text: “To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath. There is nothing either in the text or context that seems to intimate that the Sabbath was now first given to the Israelites, as some have supposed; on the contrary, it is here spoken of as being perfectly well known, from its having been generally observed. The commandment, it is true, may be considered as being now renewed; because they might have supposed, that in their unsettled state in the wilderness, they might have been exempted from the observance of it. Thus we find, 1. That when God finished his creation he instituted the Sabbath; 2. When he brought the people out of Egypt, he insisted on the strict observance of it; 3. When he gave the law, he made it a tenth part of the whole: such importance has this institution in the eyes of the Supreme Being!”
Richard Baxter, a famous divine of the seventeenth century, and a decided advocate of the abrogation of the fourth commandment, in his “Divine Appointment of the Lord’s Day,” thus clearly states the origin of the Sabbath: “Why should God begin two thousand years after [the creation of the world] to give men a Sabbath upon the reason of his rest from the creation of it, if he had never called man to that commemoration before? And it is certain that the Sabbath was observed at the falling of the manna before the giving of the law; and let any considering Christian judge..... 1. Whether the not falling of the manna, or the rest of God after the creation, was like to be the original reason of the Sabbath. 2. And whether if it had been the first, it would not have been said, Remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day; for on six days the manna fell, and not on the seventh; rather than ‘for in six days God created heaven and earth, &c., and rested the seventh day.’ And it is casually added, ‘Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.’ Nay, consider whether this annexed reason intimates not that the day on this ground being hallowed before, therefore it was that God sent not down the manna on that day, and that he prohibited the people from seeking it.”—Practical Works, Vol. iii. p. 784. ed. 1707.

66 The Douay Bible reads: “Because it is the Sabbath of the Lord.”

67 Ex. 16.

68 It has indeed been asserted that God by a miracle equalized the portion of every one on five days, and doubled the portion of each on the sixth, so that no act of the people had any bearing on the Sabbath. But the equal portion of each on the five days was not thus understood by Paul. He says: “But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want; that there may be equality; as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” 2 Cor. 8:14, 15. And that the double portion on the sixth day was the act of the people, is affirmed by Moses. He says that “on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread.” Verse 22.

69 Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12; 29:27, 28; 50:10; Ex. 7:25; Job 2:13.

70 By this three-fold miracle, occurring every week for forty years, the great Law-giver distinguished his hallowed day. The people were therefore admirably prepared to listen to the fourth commandment enjoining the observance of the very day on which he had rested. Ex. 16:35; Josh. 5:12; Ex. 20:8-11.

71 The twelfth chapter of Exodus relates the origin of the passover. It is in striking contrast with Ex. 16, which is supposed to give the origin of the Sabbath. If the reader will compare the two chapters he will see the difference between the origin of an institution as given in Ex. 12, and a familiar reference to an existing institution as in Ex. 16. If he will also compare Gen. 2 with Ex. 12, he will see that the one gives the origin of the Sabbath in the same manner that the other gives the origin of the passover.

72 This implies, first, the fall of a larger quantity on that day, and second, its preservation for the wants of the Sabbath.

73 This must refer to going out for manna, as the connection implies; for religious assemblies on the Sabbath were commanded and observed. Lev. 23:3; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:16; Acts 1:12; 15:21.

74 John 7:22.

75 Gen. 17:34; Ex. 4. Moses is said to have given circumcision to the Hebrews; yet it is a singular fact that his first mention of that ordinance is purely incidental, and plainly implies an existing knowledge of it on their part. Thus it is written: “This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof; but every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.” Ex. 12:43, 44. And in like manner when the Sabbath was given to Israel, that people were not ignorant of the sacred institution.

76 Eze. 20:12; Ex. 31:17.

77 Jer. 10:10-12.

78 That the Lord was there in person with his angels, see besides the narrative in Ex. 19; 20; 32-34, the following testimonies: Deut. 33:2; Judges 5:5; Nehemiah 9:6-13; Ps. 68:17.

79 Ex. 24:10; Lev. 22:32, 33; Num. 15:41; Isa. 41:17.

80 Ps. 147:19, 20; Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5. The following from the pen of Mr. Wm. Miller presents the subject in a clear light: “I say, and believe I am supported by the Bible, that the moral law was never given to the Jews as a people exclusively; but they were for a season the keepers of it in charge. And through them the law, oracles, and testimony, have been handed down to us. See Paul’s clear reasoning in Rom. chapters 2, 3, and 4, on that point.”—Miller’s Life and Views, p. 161.

81 Ex. 19; Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 2 Sam. 7:23; 1 Kings 8:53; Amos 3:1, 2.

82 Ex. 20:1-17; 34:28, margin; Deut. 5:4-22; 10:4, margin.

83 Deut. 5:22.

84 He who created the world on the first day of the week, and completed its organization in six days, rested on the seventh day, and was refreshed. Gen. 1; 2; Ex. 31:17.

85 To this, however, it is objected that in consequence of the revolution of the earth on its axis, the day begins earlier in the East than with us; and hence that there is no definite seventh day to the world of mankind. To suit such objectors, the earth ought not to revolve. But in that case, so far from removing the difficulty, there would be no seventh day at all; for one side of the globe would have perpetual day and the other side perpetual night. The truth is, everything depends upon the revolution of the earth. God made the Sabbath for man ; he made man to dwell on all the face of the earth [Acts 17:26]; he caused the earth to revolve on its axis that it might measure off the days of the week; causing that the sun should shine on the earth, as it revolves from west to east, thus causing the day to go round the world from east to west. Seven of these revolutions constitute a week; the seventh one brings the Sabbath to all the world.

86 Luke 23:54-56; 24:1.

87 See also Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2.

88 Neh. 9:13, 14.

89 This expression is strikingly illustrated in the statement of Eze. 20:5, where God is said to have made himself known unto Israel in Egypt. This language cannot mean that the people were ignorant of the true God, however wicked some of them might be, for they had been God’s peculiar people from the days of Abraham. Ex. 2:23-25; 3:6, 7; 4:31. The language implies the prior existence both of the Law-giver and of his Sabbath, when it is said that they were “made known” to his people.

90 It should never be forgotten that the term Sabbath day signifies rest-day; that the Sabbath of the Lord is the rest-day of the Lord; and hence that the expression, “Thy holy Sabbath,” refers the mind to the Creator’s rest-day, and to his act of blessing and hallowing it.

91 Ex. 20-24.

92 Ex. 23:12.

93 See also Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14; Isa. 56.

94 Ex. 12:43-48.

95 Ex. 24:3-8; Heb. 9:18-20.

96 Dr. Clarke has the following note on this verse: “It is very likely that Moses went up into the mount on the first day of the week; and having with Joshua remained in the region of the cloud during six days, on the seventh, which was the Sabbath, God spake to him.”—Commentary on Ex. 24:16. The marking off of a week from the forty days in this remarkable manner goes far toward establishing the view of Dr. C. And if this be correct, it would strongly indicate that the ten commandments were given upon the Sabbath; for there seems to be good evidence that they were given the day before Moses went up to receive the tables of stone. For the interview in which chapters 21-23 were given would require but a brief space, and certainly followed immediately upon the giving of the ten commandments. Ex. 20:18-21. When the interview closed, Moses came down to the people and wrote all the words of the Lord. In the morning he rose up early, and, having ratified the covenant, went up to receive the law which God had written. Ex. 24:3-13.

97 Ex. 24:12-18.

98 Ex. 25-31.

99 Ex. 31:12-18.

100 Eze. 20:11, 12, 19, 20.

101 See third chapter of this work.

102 “To sanctify, kadash, signifies to consecrate, separate, and set apart a thing or person from all secular purposes to some religious use.” Clarke’s Commentary on Ex. 13:2. The same writer says, on Ex. 19:23, “Here the word kadash is taken in its proper, literal sense, signifying the separating of a thing, person, or place, from all profane or common uses, and devoting it to sacred purposes.”

103 Gen. 17:7, 8; 26:24; 28:13; Ex. 3:6, 13-16, 18; 5:3; Isa. 45:3.

104 Lev. 11:45.

105 See chapter third.

106 As a sign it did not thereby become a shadow and a ceremony, for the Lord of the Sabbath was himself a sign. “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion.” Isa. 8:18. In Heb. 2:13, this language is referred to Christ. “And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against.” Luke 2:34. That the Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel throughout their generations, that is, for the time that they were his peculiar people, no more proves that it is now abolished than the fact that Jesus is now a sign that is spoken against proves that he will cease to exist when he shall no longer be such a sign. Nor does this language argue that the Sabbath was made for them, or that its obligation ceased when they ceased to be the people of God. For the prohibition against eating blood was a perpetual statute for their generations; yet it was given to Noah when God first permitted the use of animal food, and was still obligatory upon the Gentiles when the apostles turned to them. Lev. 3:17; Gen. 9:1-4; Acts 15.
The penalty of death at the hand of the civil magistrate is affixed to the violation of the Sabbath. The same penalty is affixed to most of the precepts of the moral law. Lev. 20:9, 10; 24:15-17; Deut. 13:6-18; 17:2-7. It should be remembered that the moral law embracing the Sabbath formed a part of the civil code of the Hebrew nation. As such, the great Law-giver annexed penalties to be inflicted by the magistrate, thus doubtless shadowing forth the final retribution of the ungodly. Such penalties were suspended by that remarkable decision of the Saviour that those who were without sin should cast the first stone. But such a Being will arise to punish men, when the hailstones of his wrath shall desolate the earth. Our Lord did not, however, set aside the real penalty of the law, the wages of sin, nor did he weaken that precept which had been violated. John 8:1-9; Job 38:22, 23; Isa. 28:17; Rev. 16:17-21; Rom. 6:23.

107 This fact will shed light upon those texts which introduce the agency of angels in the giving of the law. Acts 7:38, 53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2.

108 Ex. 32; 33.

109 Ex. 34; Deut. 9.

110 Ex. 34:21.

111 The idea has been suggested by some from this verse that it was Moses and not God who wrote the second tables. This view is thought to be strengthened by the previous verse: “Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.” But it is to be observed that the words upon the tables of stone were the ten commandments; while the words here referred to were those which God spoke to Moses during this interview of forty days, beginning with verse 10 and extending to verse 27. That the pronoun he in verse 28 might properly enough refer to Moses, if positive testimony did not forbid such reference, is readily admitted. That it is necessary to attend to the connection in deciding the antecedents of pronouns, is strikingly illustrated in 2 Sam. 24:1, where the pronoun he would naturally refer to the Lord, thus making God the one who moved David to number Israel. Yet the connection shows that this was not the case; for the anger of the Lord was kindled by the act; and 1 Chron. 21:1, positively declares that he who thus moved David was Satan. For positive testimony that it was God and not Moses who wrote upon the second tables, see Ex. 34:1; Deut. 10:1-5. These texts carefully discriminate between the work of Moses and the work of God, assigning the preparation of the tables, the carrying of them up to the mount and the bringing of them down from the mount, to Moses, but expressly assigning the writing on the tables to God himself.

112 Ex. 34:1, 28; Deut. 4:12, 13; 5:22.

113 Ex. 24:12.

114 Deut. 33:2. That angels are sometimes called saints or holy ones, see Dan. 8:13-16. That angels were present with God at Sinai, see Ps. 68:17.

115 Deut. 10:4, 5; Ex. 25:10-22.

116 1 John 3:4, 5.

117 Ex. 32; Josh. 24:2, 14, 23; Eze. 20:7, 8, 16, 18, 24.

118 Amos 5:25-27; Acts 7:41-43; Josh. 5:2-8.

119 Num. 14; Ps. 95; Eze. 20:13.

120 Eze. 20:13-24.

121 Ex. 32.

122 Num. 14.

123 Deut. 9:24.

124 Num. 14; Heb. 3:16.

125 Ex. 16; Josh. 5:12.

126 Num. 11; 21.

127 A comparison of Ex. 19; 20:18-21; 24:3-8, with chapter 32, will show the astonishing transitions of the Hebrews from faith and obedience to rebellion and idolatry. See a general history of these acts in Ps. 78; 106.

128 For a notice of this penalty see chapter 5.

129 Ex. 35:1-3.

130 Lev. 24:5-9; Num. 28:9, 10.

131 The Bible abounds with facts which establish this proposition. Thus the psalmist, in an address to Jerusalem, uses the following language: “He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.” Ps. 147:16-19. Dr. Clarke has the following note on this text: “At particular times the cold in the East is so very intense as to kill man and beast. Jacobus de Vitriaco, one of the writers in the Gesta Dei per Francos, says that in an expedition in which he was engaged against Mount Tabor, on the 24th of December, the cold was so intense that many of the poor people, and the beasts of burthen died by it. And Albertus Aquensis, another of these writers, speaking of the cold in Judea, says that thirty of the people who attended Baldwin I., in the mountainous districts near the Dead Sea, were killed by it; and that in that expedition they had to contend with horrible hail and ice; with unheard of snow and rain. From this we find that the winters are often very severe in Judea; and that in such cases as the above we may well call out, Who can stand against his cold!” See his commentary on Ps. 147. See also Jer. 36:22; John 18:18; Matt. 24:20; Mark 13:18. 1 Maccabees 13:22, mentions a very great snow storm in Palestine, so that horsemen could not march.

132 The testimony of the Bible on this point is very explicit. Thus we read: “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.” Ex. 23:12. To be without fire in the severity of winter would cause the Sabbath to be a curse and not a refreshment. It would ruin the health of those who should thus expose themselves, and render the Sabbath anything but a source of refreshment. The prophet uses the following language: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day: and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable,” etc. The Sabbath then was designed by God to be a source of delight to his people, and not a cause of suffering. The merciful and beneficent character of the Sabbath is seen in the following texts: Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 14:3-6. From them we learn that God regards the sufferings of the brute creation, and would have them alleviated upon the Sabbath; how much more the distress and the needs of his people, for whose refreshment and delight the Sabbath was made.

133 Ex. 29:9; 31:16; Lev. 3:17; 24:9; Num. 19:21; Deut. 5:31; 6:1; 7. The number and variety of these allusions will surprise the inquirer.

134 Ex. 16:23.

135 Ex. 12; Deut. 16.

136 The law of the passover certainly contemplated the arrival of the Hebrews in the promised land before its regular observance. Ex. 12:25. Indeed, it was only once observed in the wilderness; namely, in the year following their departure from Egypt; and after that, was omitted until they entered the land of Canaan. Num. 9; Josh. 5. This is proved, not merely from the fact that no other instances are recorded, but because that circumcision was omitted during the whole period of their sojourn in the wilderness; and without this ordinance the children would have been excluded from the passover. Ex. 12; Josh. 5.

137 Dr. Gill, who considered the seventh-day Sabbath as a Jewish institution, beginning with Moses, and ending with Christ, and one with which Gentiles have no concern, has given his judgment concerning this question of fire on the Sabbath. He certainly had no motive in this case to answer this popular objection only that of stating the truth. He says:—
“This law seems to be a temporary one, and not to be continued, nor is it said to be throughout their generations, as elsewhere, where the law of the Sabbath is given or repeated; it is to be restrained to the building of the tabernacle, and while that was about to which it is prefaced; and it is designed to prevent all public or private working on the Sabbath day in any thing belonging to that;” etc.—Commentary on Ex. 35:3.
Dr. Bound gives us St. Augustine’s idea of this precept: “He doth not admonish them of it without cause; for that he speaketh in making the tabernacle, and all things belonging to it, and showeth that, notwithstanding that, they must rest upon the Sabbath day, and not under the color of that (as it is said in the text) so much as kindle a fire.”—True Doctrine of the Sabbath, p. 140.

138 Lev. 19:1-3, 30.

139 Lev. 23:3. It has been asserted from verse 2, that the Sabbath was one of the feasts of the Lord. But a comparison of verses 2, 4, shows that there is a break in the narrative, for the purpose of introducing the Sabbath as a holy convocation; and that verse 4 begins the theme anew in the very language of verse 2; and it is to be observed that the remainder of the chapter sets forth the actual Jewish feasts; viz., that of unleavened bread, the Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles. What further clears this point of all obscurity is the fact that verses 37, 38, carefully discriminate between the feasts of the Lord and the Sabbaths of the Lord. But Ex. 23:14, settles the point beyond controversy: “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.” And then verses 15-17 enumerate these feasts as in Lev. 23:4-44. See also 2 Chron. 8:13.

140 Lev. 26:1, 2.

141 Eze. 20:15, 16.

142 Num. 13:14.

143 Num. 15:32-36.

144 Eze. 20:15, 16 comp. with Num. 14:35.

145 Num. 15:30.

146 Eze. 20.

147 Hengstenberg, a distinguished German Anti-Sabbatarian, thus candidly treats this text: “A man who had gathered wood on the Sabbath is brought forth at the command of the Lord, and stoned by the whole congregation before the camp. Calvin says rightly, ‘The guilty man did not fall through error, but through gross contempt of the law, so that he treated it as a light matter to overthrow and destroy all that is holy.’ It is evident from the manner of its introduction that the account is not given with any reference to its chronological position; it reads, ‘And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day.’ It stands simply as an example of the presumptuous breach of the law, of which the preceding verses speak. He was one who despised the word of the Lord and broke his commandments [verse 31]; one who with a high hand sinned and reproached the Lord. Verse 30.”—The Lord’s Day, pp. 31, 32.

148 Deut. 5:1-3.

149 See the pledges of this people in Ex. 19; 24.

150 See the second chapter of this work.

151 See chapter third.

152 Deut. 5:12-15.

153 Compare Ex. 19; 20; Deut. 1.

154 Ex. 20:8-11.

155 Ex. 12; 13.

156 Deut. 24:17, 18.

157 Deut. 4:12, 13.

158 Ex. 34:1; Deut. 10:2.

159 Ex. 34:28; Deut. 10:4.

160 Deut. 9:10.

161 Deut. 5:22.

162 Deut. 5:12-15, compared with Ex. 20:8-11.

163 Deut. 5, compared with Ex. 20.

164 Ex. 12; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8.

165 Lev. 23:10-21; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:9-12; Acts 2:1-18.

166 Lev. 23:34-43; Deut. 16:13-15; Neh. 8; Rev. 7:9-14.

167 Num. 10:10; 28:11-15; 1 Sam. 20:5, 24, 27; Ps. 81:3.

168 Ex. 12:15, 16; Lev. 23:7, 8; Num. 28:17, 18, 25.

169 Lev. 23:21; Num. 28:26.

170 Lev. 23:24, 25; Num. 29:1-6.

171 Lev. 23:27-32; 16:29-31; Num. 29:7.

172 Lev. 23:39.

173 Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:2-7.

174 Lev. 25:8-54.

175 Lev. 26:34, 35, 43; 2 Chron. 36:21.

176 Ex. 12:25.

177 On this point Mr. Miller uses the following language: “Only one kind of Sabbath was given to Adam, and one only remains for us. See Hosea 2:11. ‘I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.’ All the Jewish sabbaths did cease when Christ nailed them to his cross. Col. 2:14-17. These were properly called Jewish sabbaths. Hosea says, ‘her sabbaths.’ But the Sabbath of which we are speaking, God calls ‘my Sabbath.’ Here is a clear distinction between the creation Sabbath and the ceremonial. The one is perpetual; the others were merely shadows of good things to come.”—Life and Views, pp. 161, 162.

178 Ex. 12:16.

179 Ex. 20:10; 31:13; Isa. 58:13; compared with Lev. 23:24, 32, 39; Lam. 1:7; Hosea 2:11.

180 Lev. 23:37, 38.

181 Isa. 1:13, 14.

182 Isa. 56:1-7; 58:13, 14.

183 Hosea 2:11.

184 Lam. 1:7; 2:5-7.

185 Deut. 16:16; 2 Chron. 7:12; Ps. 122.

186 Jer. 17:19-27; Neh. 13:15-18.

187 Isa. 56. See the eighth chapter of this work.

188 See chapter x.

189 2 Kings 4:23.

190 1 Chron. 9:32. It is true that this text relates to the order of things after the return from Babylon; yet we learn from verse 22, that this order was originally ordained by David and Samuel. See verses 1-32.

191 Compare these two cases: Ex. 16:23; 1 Chron. 9:32.

192 See chapters ii. and iii.

193 Josh. 6.

194 See Dr. A. Clarke’s commentary on Josh. 6:15.

195 Josh. 10:12-14.

196 1 Sam. 21:1-6; Matt. 12:3, 4; Mark 2:25, 26; Luke 6:3, 4.

197 Lev. 24:5-9; 1 Chron. 9:32.

198 1 Sam. 21:5, 6; Matt. 12:4.

199 See the tenth chapter of this work.

200 1 Chron. 23:31; 2 Chron. 2:4; 8:13; 31:3; Neh. 10:31, 33; Eze. 45:17.

201 See chapter vii. of this work.

202 1 Chron. 9:32.

203 Cotton Mather says: “There is a psalm in the Bible whereof the title is, ‘A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day.’ Now ’tis a clause in that psalm, ‘O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are very deep.’ Ps. 92:5. That clause intimates what we should make the subject of our meditations on the Sabbath day. Our thoughts are to be on God’s works.”—Discourse on the Lord’s Day, p. 30, A. D. 1703. And Hengstenberg says: “This psalm is according to the heading, ‘A Song for the Sabbath day.’ The proper positive employment of the Sabbath appears here to be a thankful contemplation of the works of God, a devotional absorption in them which could only exist when ordinary occupations are laid aside.”—The Lord’s Day, pp. 36, 37.

204 2 Kings 4:23.

205 Isa. 66:23; Eze. 46:1; Amos 8:5.

206 Ex. 16:29.

207 2 Kings 11:5-9; 2 Chron. 23:4-8.

208 Amos 8:4-6.

209 2 Kings 16:18.

210 Isa. 56:1-8.

211 For the coming of this salvation see Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:9.

212 Ex. 12:48, 49; Isa. 14:1; Eph. 2:12.

213 See chapter vii.

214 Deut. 28:64; Luke 21:24.

215 Isa. 58:13, 14.

216 Matt. 8:11; Heb. 11:8-16; Rev. 21.

217 On this text Dr. A. Clarke comments thus: “From this and the following verses we find the ruin of the Jews attributed to the breach of the Sabbath: as this led to a neglect of sacrifice, the ordinances of religion, and all public worship; so it necessarily brought with it all immorality. The breach of the Sabbath was that which let in upon them all the waters of God’s wrath.”

218 For an inspired commentary on this language, see Neh. 13:15-18.

219 This language strongly implies that the violation of the Sabbath had ever been general with the Hebrews. See Jer. 7:23-28.

220 Jer. 17:20-27.

221 Eze. 22:7, 8, 26; 23:38, 39.

222 Eze. 20:23, 24; Deut. 32:16-35.

223 Eze. 23:38, 39.

224 2 Chron. 36:16-20.

225 Eze., chapters 40-48.

226 Eze. 43:7-11.

227 Eze. 44:24; 45:17; 46:1, 3, 4, 12.

228 Eze. 46:1.

229 Neh. 9:13, 14.

230 Neh. 9:38; 10:1-31.

231 Neh. 10:31.

232 A few words relative to the time of beginning the Sabbath are here demanded. 1. The reckoning of the first week of time necessarily determines that of all succeeding weeks. The first division of the first day was night; and each day of the first week began with evening; the evening and the morning, an expression equivalent to the night and the day, constituted the day of twenty-four hours. Gen. 1. Hence, the first Sabbath began and ended with evening. 2. That the night is in the Scriptures reckoned a part of the day of twenty-four hours, is proved by many texts. Ex. 12:41, 42; 1 Sam. 26:7, 8; Luke 2:8-11; Mark 14:30; Luke 22:34, and many other testimonies. 3. The 2300 days, symbolizing 2300 years, are each constituted like the days of the first week of time. Dan. 8:14. The margin, which gives the literal Hebrew, calls each of these days an “evening morning.” 4. The statute defining the great day of atonement is absolutely decisive that the day begins with evening, and that the night is a part of the day. Lev. 23:32. “It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” 5. That evening is at sunset is abundantly proved by the following scriptures: Deut. 16:6; Lev. 22:6, 7; Deut. 23:2; 24:13, 15; Josh. 8:29; 10:26, 27; Judges 14:18; 2 Sam. 3:35; 2 Chron. 18:34; Matt. 8:16; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:40. But does not Neh. 13:19, conflict with this testimony, and indicate that the Sabbath did not begin until after dark? I think not. The text does not say, “When it began to be dark at Jerusalem before the Sabbath,” but it says, “When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark.” If it be remembered that the gates of Jerusalem were placed under wide and high walls, it will not be found difficult to harmonize this text with the many here adduced, which prove that the day begins with sunset.
Calmet, in his Bible Dictionary, article, Sabbath, thus states the ancient Jewish method of beginning the Sabbath: “About half an hour before the sunset all work is quitted and the Sabbath is supposed to be begun.” He speaks thus of the close of the Sabbath: “When night comes, and they can discern in the heaven three stars of moderate magnitude, then the Sabbath is ended, and they may return to their ordinary employments.”

233 Neh. 13:15-22.

234 Speaking of the Babylonish captivity, in his note on Eze. 23:48, Dr. Clarke says: “From that time to the present day the Jews never relapsed into idolatry.”

235 1 Mac. 1:41-43.

236 1 Mac. 2:29-38; Josephus’ Antiquities, b. xii. chap. vi.

237 2 Mac. 5:25,26.

238 1 Mac. 2:41.

239 2 Mac. 6:11.

240 2 Mac. 8:23-28.

241 1 Mac. 9:43-49; Josephus’ Antiquities, b. xiii. chap. i.; 2 Mac. 15.

242 Antiquities of the Jews, b. xiv. chap. iv. Here we call attention to one of those historical frauds by which Sunday is shown to be the Sabbath. Dr. Justin Edwards states this case thus: “Pompey, the Roman general, knowing this, when besieging Jerusalem, would not attack them on the Sabbath; but spent the day in constructing his works, and preparing to attack them on Monday, and in a manner that they could not withstand, and so he took the city.”—Sabbath Manual, p. 216. That is to say, the next day after the Sabbath was Monday, and of course Sunday was the Sabbath! Yet Dr. E. well knew that in Pompey’s time, 63 years before Christ, Saturday was the only weekly Sabbath, and that Sunday and not Monday was the day of attack.

243 Sabbath Manual of the American Tract Society, pp. 214, 215.

244 Gal. 4:4, 5; John 1:1-10; 17:5, 24; Heb. 1.

245 Dan. 9:25; Mark 1:14, 15.

246 Luke 4:14-16.

247 Luke 4:30-39; Mark 1:21-31; Matt. 8:5-15.

248 See, on this point, the conclusion of chapter viii.

249 Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:40.

250 Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.

251 Mark 2:27, 28.

252 Comp. John 1:1-3; Gen. 1:1, 26; 2:1-3.

253 See chap. viii.

254 Num. 28:9, 10.

255 Lev. 24:5-9; 1 Chron. 9:32.

256 Hosea 6:6.

257 Thus the Greek Testament: Καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· Tὸ σάββατον διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐγένετο, ουχ ὁ ἄνθρωπος διὰ τό σάββατον.

258 1 Cor. 11:9.

259 Gen. 2:1-3, 7, 21-23.

260 Matt. 19:3-9.

261 Ex. 16:23; 23:12; Isa. 58:13, 14.

262 See conclusion of chap. ix.

263 Matt. 5:17-19; Isa. 42:21.

264 Matt. 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11.

265 Mark 6:1-6.

266 John 5:1-18.

267 Dr. Bloomfield’s Greek Testament on this text; family Testament of the American Tract Society on the same; Nevins’ Biblical Antiquities, pp. 62, 63.

268 Compare Jer. 17:21-27 with Nehemiah 13:15-20.

269 Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Isa. 56; 58:13, 14; Eze. 20.

270 Gal. 4:4; Matt. 5:17-19; 7:12; 19:17; Luke 16:17.

271 John 5:19.

272 John 7:21-23.

273 Grotius well says: “If he healed any on the Sabbath he made it appear, not only from the law, but also from their received opinions, that such works were not forbidden on the Sabbath.”—The Truth of the Christian Religion, b. v. sect. 7.

274 John 9:1-16.

275 Luke 13:10-17.

276 1 Pet. 3:6.

277 Luke 14:1-6.

278 Matt. 23:23.

279 Matt. 24:15-21.

280 Dan. 9:26, 27.

281 Luke 21:20.

282 Jewish Wars, b. ii. chap. xix.

283 Id. b. ii. chap. xx.

284 Eccl. Hist. b. iii. chap. v.

285 Jewish Wars, b. ii. chap. xix.

286 Deut. 16:16.

287 Thus remarks Mr. Crozier in the Advent Harbinger for Dec. 6, 1851: “The reference to the Sabbath in Matt. 24:20, only shows that the Jews who rejected Christ would be keeping the Sabbath at the destruction of Jerusalem, and would, in consequence, add to the dangers of the disciples’ flight by punishing them perhaps with death for fleeing on that day.”
And Mr. Marsh, forgetting that Christ forbade his disciples to take anything with them in their flight, uses the following language: “If the disciples should attempt to flee from Jerusalem on that day and carry their things, the Jews would embarrass their flight and perhaps put them to death. The Jews would be keeping the Sabbath, because they rejected Christ and his gospel.”—Advent Harbinger, Jan. 24, 1852. These quotations betray the bitterness of their authors. In honorable distinction from these anti-Sabbatarians, the following is quoted from Mr. William Miller, himself an observer of the first day of the week:—
“‘Neither on the Sabbath day.’ Because it was to be kept as a day of rest, and no servile work was to be done on that day, nor would it be right for them to travel on that day. Christ has in this place sanctioned the Sabbath, and clearly shows us our duty to let no trivial circumstance cause us to break the law of the Sabbath. Yet how many who profess to believe in Christ, at this present day, make it a point to visit, travel, and feast, on this day? What a false-hearted profession must that person make who can thus treat with contempt the moral law of God, and despise the precepts of the Lord Jesus! We may here learn our obligation to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”—Exposition of Matt. 24, p. 18.

288 Jewish Wars, b. ii. chap. xix.

289 Id. b. ii. chap. xix.

290 See chap. xvi.

291 President Edwards says: “A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matt. 24:20: ‘Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.’ Christ is here speaking of the flight of the apostles and other Christians out of Jerusalem and Judea, just before their final destruction, as is manifest by the whole context, and especially by the 16th verse: ‘Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.’ But this final destruction of Jerusalem was after the dissolution of the Jewish constitution, and after the Christian dispensation was fully set up. Yet it is plainly implied in these words of our Lord, that even then Christians were bound to a strict observation of the Sabbath.”—Works of President Edwards, vol. iv. pp. 621, 622, New York, 1849.

292 Matt. 27; Isa. 53.

293 Dan. 9:24-27.

294 Col. 2:14-17.

295 For an extended view of these Jewish festivals see chapter vii.

296 Deut. 10:4, 5, compared with 31:24-26. Thus Morer contrasts the phrase “in the ark,” which is used with reference to the two tables, with the expression “in the side of the ark,” as used respecting the book of the law, and says of the latter: “In the side of the ark, or more critically, in the outside of the ark; or in a chest by itself on the right side of the ark, saith the Targum of Jonathan.”—Morer’s Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 211, London, 1701.

297 See chap. vii.

298 See chap. ii.

299 Mark 2:27.

300 Lev. 23:37, 38.

301 Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20; Matt. 5:17, 19.

302 Isa. 66:22, 23. See also the close of chap. xxvii of this work.

303 Luke 23:54-56.

304 James 2:8-12; Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 3:19, 31.

305 Heb. 9; 10; Luke 23:46-53; John 19:38-42.

306 Luke 23:54-56.

307 Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2, 9; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John 20:1, 19.

308 Eze. 46:1.

309 See the origin of the ancient Sabbath in Gen. 2:1-3.

310 Mark 16:14. That this interview was certainly the same with that in John 20:19, will be seen from a careful examination of Luke 24.

311 Matt. 19:26; Titus 1:2.

312 Isa. 65:16; Ps. 119:142, 151.

313 Rom. 1:25.

314 It is just as easy to change the crucifixion-day from that day of the week on which Christ was crucified, to one of the six days on which he was not, as to change the rest-day of the Creator from that day of the week on which he rested, to one of the six days on which he wrought in the work of creation.

315 John 20:26.

316 John 21.

317 Acts 1:3. Forty days from the day of the resurrection would expire on Thursday.

318 When the resurrection day was “far spent,” the Saviour and two of the disciples drew near to Emmaus, a village seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. They constrained him to go in with them to tarry for the night. While they were eating supper they discovered that it was Jesus, when he vanished from their sight. Then they arose and returned to Jerusalem; and after their arrival, the first meeting of Jesus with the eleven took place. It could not therefore have lacked but little of sunset, which closed the day, if not actually upon the second day, when Jesus came into their midst. Luke 24. In the latter case, the expression, “the same day at evening being the first day of the week,” would find an exact parallel in meaning, in the expression, “in the ninth day of the month at even,” which actually signifies the evening with which the tenth day of the seventh month commences. Lev. 23:32.

319 Those who were to come before God from Sabbath to Sabbath to minister in his temple, were said to come “after seven days.” 1 Chron. 9:25; 2 Kings 11:5.

320 “After six days,” instead of being the sixth day, was about eight days after. Matt. 17:1; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28.

321 That sunset marks the close of the day, see the close of chapter viii.

322 Acts 2:1, 2.

323 Luke 24:49-53; Acts 1.

324 Horatio B. Hacket, D. D., Professor of Biblical Literature, in Newton Theological Institution, thus remarks: “It is generally supposed that this Pentecost, signalized by the outpouring of the Spirit, fell on the Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday.”—Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts, pp. 50, 51.

325 In 1633, William Prynne, a prisoner in the tower of London, composed a work in defense of first-day observance, entitled, “Dissertation on the Lord’s Day Sabbath.” He thus acknowledges the futility of the argument under consideration: “No scripture... prefers or advanceth the work of redemption... before the work of creation; both these works being very great and glorious in themselves; wherefore I cannot believe the work of redemption, or Christ’s resurrection alone, to be more excellent and glorious than the work of creation, without sufficient texts and Scripture grounds to prove it; but may deny it as a presumptuous fancy or unsound assertion, till satisfactorily proved, as well as peremptorily averred without proof.”—Page 59. This is the judgment of a candid advocate of the first day as a Christian festival. On Acts 20:7, he will be allowed to testify again.

326 Luke 21:28; Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:13, 14; 4:30.

327 Eph. 1:7; Gal. 3:13; Rev. 5:9.

328 1 Cor. 11:23-26.

329 Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12.

330 Ps. 118:22-24.

331 Eph. 1:20-23; 2:20, 21; 1 Pet. 2:4-7.

332 1 Thess. 5:16.

333 John 8:56.

334 See chap. iii.

335 Matt. 5:17-19.

336 Eph. 2:13-16; Col. 2:14-17.

337 Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15.

338 Dan. 9:24-27; Acts 9; 10; 11; 26:12-17; Rom. 11:13.

339 1 Cor. 11:25; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12; Dan. 9:27; Eph. 2:11-22.

340 Matt. 5:17-19; 1 John 3:4, 5; Rom. 4:15.

341 Heb. 9:1-7; Ex. 25:1-21; Deut. 10:4, 5; 1 Kings 8:9.

342 Heb., chaps. 7-10; Lev. 16.

343 Heb. 8:1-5; 9:23, 24.

344 Rev. 11:19.

345 Ex. 25:21, 22.

346 Rom. 3:19-31; 5:8-21; 8:3, 4; 13:8-10; Gal. 3:13, 14; Eph. 6:2, 3; James 2:8-12; 1 John 3:4, 5.

347 Ex. 19; 20; 24:12; 31:18; Deut. 10.

348 Lev. 16.

349 Rom. 3:19-31; 1 John 3:4, 5.

350 Ps. 40:6-8; Heb. 10.

351 Heb. 9; 10.

352 Jer. 31:33; Rom. 8:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:3.

353 Ps. 19:7; James 1:25; Ps. 40.

354 Rom. 5.

355 Rom. 3:19.

356 Rom. 3:31.

357 Rom. 3:20; 1 John 3:4, 5; 2:1, 2.

358 Jer. 11:16; Rom. 11:17-24.

359 Rom. 4:16-18; Gal. 3:7-9.

360 Ex. 19:5, 6; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10.

361 Gen. 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11.

362 Rom. 7:12, 13.

363 James 2:8-12.

364 See chapter x.

365 Acts 13:14.

366 Verse 27.

367 Dr. Bloomfield has the following note on this text: “The words, εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ σαββ., are by many commentators supposed to mean ‘on some intermediate week-day.’ But that is refuted by verse 44, and the sense expressed in our common version is, no doubt, the true one. It is adopted by the best recent commentators, and confirmed by the ancient versions.” Greek Testament with English notes, vol. i. p. 521. And Prof. Hacket has a similar note.—Commentary on Acts, p. 233.

368 Verses 42-44.

369 Acts 15.

370 Acts 15:10, 28, 29; James 2:8-12.

371 Verses 1, 5.

372 Verse 29; 21:25.

373 Ex. 34:15, 16; Num. 25:2; Lev. 17:13, 14; Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; Gen. 34; Lev. 19:29.

374 Acts 15:19-21.

375 Acts 16:12-14.

376 Paul’s manner is exemplified by the following texts, in all of which it would appear that the meetings in question were upon the Sabbath. Acts 13:5; 14:1; 17:10, 17; 18:19; 19:8.

377 Acts 17:1-4.

378 1 Thess. 2:14.

379 1 Thess. 1:7, 8.

380 Acts 18:3, 4.

381 Acts 10:2, 4, 7, 22, 30-35; 13:43; 14:1; 16:13-15; 17:4, 10-12.

382 1 Cor. 16:1, 2.

383 Vindication of the True Sabbath, Battle Creek ed., pp. 51, 52.

384 Greek Testament with English Notes, vol. ii. p. 173.

385 Sabbath Manual of the American Tract Society, p. 116.

386 Family Testament of the American Tract Society, p. 286.

387 Eze. 46:1.

388 Prof. Hacket remarks on the length of this voyage: “The passage on the apostle’s first journey to Europe occupied two days only; see chapter 16:11. Adverse winds or calms would be liable, at any season of the year, to occasion this variation.”—Commentary on Acts, p. 329. This shows how little ground there is to claim that Paul broke the Sabbath on this voyage. There was ample time to reach Troas before the Sabbath when he started from Philippi, had not providential causes hindered.

389 Acts 20:6-13.

390 Thus Prof. Whiting renders the phrase: “The disciples being assembled.” And Sawyer has it: “We being assembled.”

391 1 Cor. 11:23-26.

392 Matt. 26.

393 Acts 2:42-46.

394 This fact has been acknowledged by many first-day commentators. Thus Prof. Hacket comments upon this text: “The Jews reckoned the day from evening to morning, and on that principle the evening of the first day of the week would be our Saturday evening. If Luke reckoned so here, as many commentators suppose, the apostle then waited for the expiration of the Jewish Sabbath, and held his last religious service with the brethren at Troas, at the beginning of the Christian Sabbath, i. e., on Saturday evening, and consequently resumed his journey on Sunday morning.”—Commentary on Acts, pp. 329, 330. But he endeavors to shield the first-day Sabbath from this fatal admission by suggesting that Luke probably reckoned time according to the pagan method, rather than by that which is ordained in the Scriptures!
Kitto, in noting the fact that this was an evening meeting, speaks thus: “It has from this last circumstance been inferred that the assembly commenced after sunset on the Sabbath, at which hour the first day of the week had commenced, according to the Jewish reckoning [Jahn’s Bibl. Antiq., sect. 398], which would hardly agree with the idea of a commemoration of the resurrection.”—Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, article, Lord’s day.
And Prynne, whose testimony relative to redemption as an argument for the change of the Sabbath has been already quoted, thus states this point: “Because the text saith there were many lights in the upper room where they were gathered together, and that Paul preached from the time of their coming together till midnight,... this meeting of the disciples at Troas, and Paul’s preaching to them, began at evening. The sole doubt will be what evening this was.... For my own part I conceive clearly that it was upon Saturday night, as we falsely call it, and not the coming Sunday night.... Because St. Luke records that it was upon the first day of the week when this meeting was... therefore it must needs be on the Saturday, not on our Sunday evening, since the Sunday evening in St. Luke’s and the Scripture account was no part of the first, but of the second day; the day ever beginning and ending at evening.”
Prynne notices the objection drawn from the phrase, “ready to depart on the morrow,” as indicating that this departure was not on the same day of the week with his night meeting. The substance of his answer is this: If the fact be kept in mind that the days of the week are reckoned from evening to evening, the following texts, in which in the night, the morning is spoken of as the morrow, will show at once that another day of the week is not necessarily intended by the phrase in question. 1 Sam. 19:11; Esth. 2:14; Zeph. 3:3; Acts 23:31, 32.—Diss. on Lord’s Day Sab., pp. 36-41, 1633.

395 See the conclusion of chap. viii.

396 Luke 23:56; 24:1.

397 Rom. 14:1-6.

398 James 2:8-12.

399 Rom. 7:12, 13; 1 John 3:4, 5.

400 Rom. 3.

401 Ex. 20.

402 Lev. 23. These are particularly enumerated in Col. 2, as we have already noticed in chapter vii, and in the concluding part of chapter x.

403 Acts 2:1-11; Rom 2:17; 4:1; 7:1.

404 Ex. 16:4, 21, 27, 28.

405 Cor. 15:27; Ps. 8.

406 Rev. 1:10.

407 To show that Paul regarded Sabbatic observance as dangerous, Gal. 4:10, is often quoted; notwithstanding the same individuals claim that Rom. 14 proves that it is a matter of perfect indifference; they not seeing that this is to make Paul contradict himself. But if the connection be read from verse 8 to verse 11, it will be seen that the Galatians before their conversion were not Jews, but heathen: and that these days, months, times, and years, were not those of the Levitical law, but those which they had regarded with superstitious reverence while heathen. Observe the stress which Paul lays upon the word “again,” in verse 9. And how many that profess the religion of Christ at the present day superstitiously regard certain days as “lucky” or “unlucky days;” though such notions are derived only from heathen distinctions.

408 See chapter x.

409 Rev. 1:9-11.

410 Dr. Bloomfield, though himself of a different opinion, speaks thus of the views of others concerning the date of John’s gospel: “It has been the general sentiment, both of ancient and modern inquirers, that it was published about the close of the first century.”—Greek Testament with English Notes, vol. i. p. 328.
Morer says that John “penned his gospel two years later than the Apocalypse, and after his return from Patmos, as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and Eusebius, affirm.”—Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, pp. 53, 54.
The Paragraph Bible of the London Religious Tract Society, in its preface to the book of John, speaks thus: “According to the general testimony of ancient writers, John wrote his gospel at Ephesus, about the year 97.”
In support of the same view, see also Religious Encyclopedia, Barnes’ Notes (gospels), Bible Dictionary, Cottage Bible, Domestic Bible, Mine Explored, Union Bible Dictionary, Comprehensive Bible, Dr. Hales, Horne, Nevins, Olshausen, &c.

411 The Encyclopedia Britannica, in its article concerning the Sabbath, undertakes to prove that the “religious observation of the first day of the week is of apostolical appointment.” After citing and commenting upon all the passages that could be urged in proof of the point, it makes the following candid acknowledgment: “Still, however, it must be owned that these passages are not sufficient to prove the apostolical institution of the Lord’s day, or even the actual observation of it.”
The absence of all scriptural testimony relative to the change of the Sabbath, is accounted for by certain advocates of that theory, not by the frank admission that it never was changed by the Lord, but by quoting John 21:25, assuming the change of the Sabbath as an undoubted truth, but that it was left out of the Bible lest it should make that book too large! They think, therefore, that we should go to Ecclesiastical history to learn this part of our duty; not seeing that, as the fourth commandment still stands in the Bible unrepealed and unchanged, to acknowledge that that change must be sustained wholly outside of the Bible, is to acknowledge that first-day observance is a tradition which makes void the commandment of God. The following chapters will, however, patiently examine the argument for first-day observance drawn from ecclesiastical history.

412 Gen. 2:3.

413 Ex. 16:23.

414 Ex. 20:8-11.

415 Isa. 58:13, 14.

416 Mark 2:27, 28.

417 An able opponent of Sabbatic observance thus speaks relative to the term Lord’s day of Rev. 1:10: “If a current day was intended, the only day bearing this definition, in either the Old or New Testament, is Saturday, the seventh day of the week.”—W. B. Taylor, in the Obligation of the Sabbath, p. 296.

418 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xv.

419 Acts 20:29, 30.

420 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 7, 8.

421 2 Tim. 4:2-4; 2 Pet. 2; Jude 4; 1 John 2:18.

422 Book ii. chap. i. sect. 1.

423 Eccl. Researches, chap. vi. p. 51, ed. 1792.

424 The Modern Sabbath Examined, pp. 123, 124.

425 Rose’s Neander, p. 184.

426 Hist. of the Popes, vol. i. p. 1, Phila. ed., 1817.

427 History of Romanism, book ii. chap. i. sects. 3, 4.

428 Lectures on Romanism, p. 203.

429 Commentary on Prov. 8.

430 Autobiography of Adam Clarke, LL. D., p. 134.

431 Christianography, part ii. p. 59, London, 1636.

432 Translation of the Apologies of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and others, vol. ii. p. 375.

433 John 21:20-23.

434 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

435 Note of the Douay Bible on 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

436 Obligation of the Sabbath, pp. 254, 255.

437 Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10.

438 A Treatise of Thirty Controversies.

439 The writer has prepared a small work entitled, “The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the first Three Centuries concerning the Sabbath and First Day,” in which, with the single exception of Origen, some of whose works were not at that time accessible, every passage in the fathers which gives their views of the Sabbath and first-day is presented. This pamphlet can be had of the publishers of the present work for fifteen cents. To save space in this History, a general statement of the doctrine of the fathers is here made with brief quotations of their words. But in “The Complete Testimony of the Fathers” every passage is given in their own words, and to this little work the reader is referred.

440 Those who dispute these statements are invited to present the words of the fathers which modify or disprove them. The reader who may not have access to the writings of the fathers is referred to the pamphlet already mentioned in which their complete testimony is given.

441 See the testimony on page 189 of this work.

442 Justin Martyr’s First Apology, chap. lxvii.

443 Eusebius’s Eccl. Hist., book iv. chap. xxiii.

444 See chap. xviii. of this History.

445 See his Ecclesiastical History, book iv. chap. xxvi.

446 Sabbath Manual, p. 114.

447 See chap. xvi. of this work; and also Testimony of the Fathers, pp. 44-52.

448 The Miscellanies of Clement, book v. chap. xiv.

449 The Miscellanies of Clement, book vii. chap. xii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 61.

450 The Miscellanies, book vii. chap. vii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 62.

451 Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, original edition, article Lord’s Day.

452 Tertullian on Prayer, chap. xxiii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 67.

453 On Idolatry, chap. xiv.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 66.

454 Ad Nationes, book i. chap. xiii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 70.

455 De Corona, sects. 3 and 4; Testimony of the Fathers, pp. 68, 69.

456 An Answer to the Jews, chap. iv.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 73.

457 Against Celsus, book 8. chap. xxii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 87.

458 Eusebius’s Eccl. Hist., book v. chap. xxiv.

459 Socrates’s Eccl. Hist., book v. chap. xxii.

460 Anatolius, Tenth Fragment.

461 Socrates’s Eccl. Hist., book v. chap. xxii.

462 Sozomen’s Eccl. Hist., book vii. chap. xviii.; see also Mosheim, book i. cent. 2, part ii. chap iv. sect. 9.

463 Socrates’s Eccl. Hist., book v. chap. xxii.; McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. iii. p. 13; Bingham’s Antiquities, p. 1149.

464 Maclaine’s Mosheim, cent. 1, part ii. chap. iv. sec. 4. I have given Maclaine’s translation, not because it is an accurate version of Mosheim, but because it is so much used in support of the first-day Sabbath. Maclaine in his preface to Mosheim says: “I have sometimes taken considerable liberties with my author.” And he tells us what these liberties were by saying that he had “often added a few sentences, to render an observation more striking, a fact more clear, a portrait more finished.” The present quotation is an instance of these liberties. Dr. Murdock of New Haven who has given “a close, literal version” of Mosheim, gives the passage thus:—
“The Christians of this century, assembled for the worship of God, and for their advancement in piety, on the first day of the week, the day on which Christ reassumed his life: for that this day was set apart for religious worship, by the apostles themselves, and that, after the example of the church of Jerusalem, it was generally observed, we have unexceptionable testimony.”—Murdock’s Mosheim, cent. 1, part ii. chap. iv. sec. 4.

465 Neander’s Church History, translated by H. J. Rose, p. 186. To break the force of this strong statement of Neander that “the festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday,” two things have been said:—

1. That Neander, in a later edition of his work, retracted this declaration. It is true that in re-writing his work he omitted this sentence. But he inserted nothing of a contrary character, and the general tenor of the revised edition is in this place precisely the same as in that from which this out-spoken statement is taken. In proof of this, we cite from the later edition of Neander his statement in this very place of what constituted Sunday observance in the early church. He says:— “Sunday was distinguished as a day of joy, by being exempted from fasts, and by the circumstance that prayer was performed on this day in a standing and not in a kneeling posture, as Christ, by his resurrection, had raised up fallen man again to Heaven.”—Torrey’s Neander, vol. i. p. 295, ed. 1852. This is an accurate account of early Sunday observance, as we shall hereafter show; and that such observance was only a human ordinance, of which no feature was ever commanded by the apostles, will be very manifest to every person who attempts to find any precept for any particular of it in the New Testament.

2. But the other method of setting aside this testimony of Neander is to assert that he did not mean to deny that the apostles established a divine command for Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, but meant to assert that they did not establish a divine command for Sunday as a Catholic festival! Those who make this assertion must know that it is false. Neander expressly denies that the apostles either constituted or recognized Sunday as a Sabbath, and he represents Sunday as a mere festival from the very first of its observance, and established only by human authority.

466 See chapters x. and xi., in which the New Testament has been carefully examined on this point.

467 Epistle of Barnabas 13:9, 10; or, as others divide the epistle, chapter 15.

468 Eccl. Hist., cent. 1, part ii. chap. ii. sect. 21.

469 Historical Commentaries, cent. 1, sect. 53.

470 Rose’s Neander, p. 407.

471 Note appended to Gurney’s History, Authority, and Use of the Sabbath, p. 86.

472 Ancient Church, pp. 367, 368.

473 Commentary on Acts, p. 251.

474 History of the Church, cent. 1, chap. xv.

475 Cyc. Bib. Lit., art. Lord’s day, tenth ed. 1858.

476 Encyc. of Rel. Knowl., art. Barnabas’ Epistle.

477 Eccl. Hist., book iii. chap. xxv.

478 The Sabbath, or an Examination of the Six Texts commonly adduced from the New Testament in proof of a Christian Sabbath, p. 233.

479 Ancient Christianity, chap. i. sect. 2.

480 Epistle of Barnabas, 9:8. In some editions it is chap. 10.

481 Coleman’s Ancient Christianity, pp. 35, 36.

482 Ancient Christianity Exemplified, chap. 26, sect. 2.

483 Buck’s Theological Dictionary, art. Christians.

484 Tertullian’s Apology, sect. 2.

485 Obligation of the Sabbath, p. 300.

486 Historical Commentaries, cent. 1, sect. 47.

487 1 Pet. 1:1. See Clarke’s Commentary, preface to the epistles of Peter.

488 Ignatius to the Magnesians, 3:3-5; or, as others divide the epistle, chap. 9.

489 Ancient Church, pp. 413, 414.

490 Id. p. 427.

491 Future Life, p. 290.

492 Examination of the Six Texts, p. 237.

493 Ecclesiastical Researches, chap. vi. pp. 50, 51, ed. 1792.

494 Ignatius ad Magnesios, sect. 9.

495 Cyc. Bib. Lit., art. Lord’s day.

496 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, pp. 206, 207.

497 A first-day writer, author of the “History, Authority, and Use, of the Sabbath.”

498 Examination of the Six Texts, pp. 250, 251.

499 For a more full statement of the case of Ignatius, see the “Testimony of the Fathers,” pp. 26-30. The quotation from Ignatius examined in this chapter is there shown, according to the connection, to relate, not to New-Testament Christians, but to the ancient prophets.

500 Sabbath Manual, p. 120.

501 See his “History, Authority, and Use, of the Sabbath,” chap. iv. pp. 87, 88.

502 Examination of the Six Texts, pp. 258-261.

503 The date in Baronius is A. D. 303.

504 Examination of the Six Texts, pp. 263-265.

505 Note by Domville. “Dominicum is not, as may at first be supposed, an adjective, of which diem [day] is the understood substantive. It is itself a substantive, neuter as appears from the passage, ‘Quia non potest intermitti Dominicum,’ in the narrative respecting Saturninus. The Latin adjective Dominicus, when intended to refer to the Lord’s day, is never, I believe, used without its substantive dies [day] being expressed. In all the narratives contained in Ruinart’s Acta Martyrum, I find but two instances of mention being made of the Lord’s day, and in both these instances the substantive dies [day] is expressed.”

506 This testimony is certainly decisive. It is the interpretation of the compiler of the Acta Martyrum, himself, and is given with direct reference to the particular instance under discussion. An independent confirmation of Domville’s authorities, may be found in Lucius’s Eccl. Hist., cent. 4, chap, vi.: “Fit mentio aliquoties locorum istorum in quibus convenerint Christiani, in historia persecutionis sub Diocletiano & Maximino. Et apparet, ante Constantinum etiam, locos eos fuisse mediocriter exstructos atque exornatos: quos seu Templa appellarunt seu Dominica; ut apud Eusebium (li. 9, c. 10) & Ruffinum (li. 1, c. 3).”
It is certain that Dominicum is here used as designating a place of divine worship. Dr. Twisse in his “Morality of the Fourth Commandment,” p. 122, says: “The ancient fathers, both Greek and Latin, called temples by the name of dominica and κυρίακα.”

507 Domville cites St. Augustine’s Works, vol. v. pp. 116, 117, Antwerp ed. A. D. 1700.

508 Examination of the Six Texts, pp. 267, 268.

509 Id. pp. 270, 271.

510 Id. pp. 272, 273.

511 Historical Commentaries, cent. 1, sect. xxxii.

512 The Sabbath, by James Gilfillan, p. vii.

513 To break the force of Domville’s statement in which he exposes the story originally told by Bishop Andrews as coming from the Acta Martyrum, it is said that Domville used Ruinart’s Acta Martyrum, and that Ruinart was not born till thirty-one years after Bishop Andrews’ death, so that Domville did not go to the same book that was used by the bishop, and therefore failed to find what he found. Those who raise this point betray their ignorance or expose their dishonesty. The Acta Martyrum is a collection of the memoirs of the martyrs, written by their friends from age to age. Ruinart did not write a new work, but simply edited “the most valued collection” of these memoirs that has ever appeared. See McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. i. pp. 56, 57. Domville used Ruinart’s edition, because, as he expresses it, it is “the most complete collection of the memoirs and legends still extant, relative to the lives and sufferings of the Christian martyrs.” Domville’s use of Ruinart was, therefore, in the highest degree just and right.

514 Ibique celebrantes ex more Dominica Sacramenta.—Baronius, Tome 3, p. 348, A. D. 303, No. xxxvi. Lucæ, A. D. 1738.

515 Qui contra edictum Imperatorum, & Cæsarum Collectam Dominicam celebrassent.—Baronius, Tome 3, p. 348, A. D. 303, No. xxxix.

516 Utrum Collectam fecisset. Qui cum se Christianum, & in Collecta fuisse profiteretur.—Id. Ib.

517 Nam & in Collecta fui, & Dominicum cum fratribus celebravi, quia Christiana sum.—Id. No. xliii. p. 344. This was spoken by a female martyr.

518 Dominicum celebravimus. Proconsul ait: Quare? respondit: Quia non potest intermitti Dominicum.—Id. No. xlvi. p. 350.

519 In cujus dome Collecta facta fuit.—Id. No. xlvii. p. 350.

520 Intermitti Dominicum non potest, ait. Lex sic jubet.—Id. No. xlvii. p. 350.

521 In tua, inquit proconsul, domo Collectæ factæ sunt, contra praecepta Imperatorum? Cui Emeritus sancto Spiritu inundatus: In domo mea, inquit, egimus Dominicum.... Quoniam sine Dominico esse non possumus.—Id. No. xlix. pp. 350, 351.

522 Non quaero an Christianus sis sed an Collectam feceris.... Quasi Christianus sine Dominico esse possit.—Id. No. li. p. 351.

523 Collectam, inquit, religiosissime celebravimus; ad scripturas Dominicas legendas in Dominicum convenimus semper.—Id. Ib. p. 351.

524 Cum fratribus feci Collectam, Dominicum celebravi.—Id. No. lii. p. 351.

525 Post quem junior Felix, spem salutemque Christianorum Dominicum esse proclamans.... Ego, inquit, devota menta celebravi Dominicum; collectam cum fratribus feci, quia Christianus sum.—Id. liii.

526 Utrum egeris Dominicum. Cui respondit Saturninus: Egi Dominicum, quia Salvator est Christus.—Id. Ib. p. 352.

527 Per Collectam namque, & Collectionem, & Dominicum, intellegit semper auctor sacrificium Missæ.—Baronius, Tome 3, A. D. 303, No. xxxix. p. 348.

528 Scilicet lex Christiana de Dominico, nempe sacrificio celebrando.—Id. No. xlvii. p. 350.

529 De celebratione Dominici; Quod autem superius in recitatis actis sit demonstratum, flagrantis persecutionis etiam tempore solicitos fuisse Christianos celebrare Dominicum, nempe (ut alias pluribus declararimus) ipsam sacrosanctum sacrificium incruentum.—Id. No. lxxxiii. p. 358.

530 Quod etsi sciamus eamdem vocem pro Dei templo interdum accipi solitam; tamen quod ecclesiæ omnes solo æquatæ fuissent; ex aliis superius recitatis de celebratione Dominici, nonisi sacrificium missæ posse intelligo, satis est declaratum.—Id. lxxxiv. p. 359.

531 Collecta, Dominicum, Missa, idem, 303, xxxix. p. 677.

532 Missa idem quod Collecta, sive Dominicum, 303, xxxix. p. 702.

533 Dominicum celebrare idem quod Missas agere, 303, xxxix.; xlix.; li. p. 684.

534 Vol. xviii. p. 409.

535 Verstegan’s Antiquities, p. 10, London, 1628.

536 Antiquities, p. 68.

537 Jewish Antiquities, book iii. chap. i. See also McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, 4, 472, article Idolatry; Dr. A. Clarke on Job 31:26; and Dr. Gill on the same; Webster under the word Sabianism, and Worcester, under Sabian.

538 Id. book iii. chap. iii.

539 Vol. xviii. p. 409.

540 Pp. 61, 62.

541 2 Kings 23:5; Jer. 43:13, margin.

542 Dialogues on the Lord’s day, pp. 22, 23.

543 Apology, chap. lxvii.; Testimony of the Fathers, pp. 34, 35.

544 Apology, sect. 16; Testimony of the Fathers, pp. 64, 65.

545 Ad Nationes, book i. chap. xiii.; Testimony of the Fathers, p. 70.

546 Eccl. Hist., cent. 1, part ii. chap. iv. note ‡ to sect. 4.

547 Eccl. Hist. cent. 2, part. ii. chap. i. sect. 12.

548 History of the Sabbath, part ii. chap. i. sect. 12.

549 Id. part ii. chap. iii. sect. 4.

550 Hist. of the Sabbath, part ii. chap. i. sect. 10.

551 Examination of the Six Texts, Supplement, pp. 6, 7.

552 Du Pin’s Eccl. Hist. vol. i. p. 50.

553 Hist. Church, cent. 2, chap. iii.

554 Justin Martyr’s First Apology, translated by Wm. Reeves, p. 127, sects. 87, 88, 89.

555 The Spirit of Popery, pp. 44, 45.

556 Ductor Dubitantium, part i. book ii. chap. ii. rule 6, sect. 45.

557 Brown’s Translation, pp. 43, 44, 52, 59, 63, 64.

558 Sabbath Manual, p. 121.

559 Dialogue with Trypho, p. 65.

560 Sabbath Manual, p. 114.

561 Examination of the Six Texts, pp. 131, 132.

562 Id. p. 128.

563 Id. p. 130.

564 See his full testimony in the Testimony of the Fathers, pp. 44-52.

565 Against Heresies, book iv. chap. xvi. sects. 1, 2; Id. book v. chap. xxviii. sect. 3.

566 Id. book iv. chap. xvi. sects. 1, 2.

567 Id. book v. chap. xxxiii. sect. 2.

568 Against Heresies, book iv. chap. xv. sect. 1; chap. xiii. sect. 4.

569 Bower’s History of the Popes, vol. i. pp. 18, 19; Rose’s Neander, pp. 188-190; Dowling’s History of Romanism, book i. chap. ii. sect. 9.

570 History of the Popes, vol. i. p. 18.

571 History of Romanism, heading of page 32.

572 History of the Popes, vol. i. p. 18.

573 Id. pp. 18, 19; Giesler’s Eccl. Hist. vol. i. sect. 57.

574 History of the Sabbath, part ii. chap. ii. sects. 4, 5.

575 Boyle’s Historical View of the Council of Nice, p. 52, ed. 1842.

576 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. ii. sect. 5.

577 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xxvii.

578 Id. chap. xxxviii.

579 Tertullian’s Apology, sect. 16.

580 Tertullian Ad Nationes, book i. chap. xiii.

581 History of the Sabbath, part 2, chap. ii. sect. 3.

582 Sermons on the Sacraments and Sabbath, p. 166.

583 Neander, p. 186.

584 Ancient Church History, part i. div. 2, A. D. 100-312, sect. 69.

585 Enquiry into the Constitution of the Primitive Church, part ii. chap. vii. sect. 11. See also Schaff’s “History of the Christian Church,” vol. i. p. 373.

586 Epistle of Barnabas, chap. xv.

587 Justin Martyr’s First Apology, chap. lxvii.

588 Lost Writings of Irenæus, Fragments 7 and 50.

589 Book of the Laws of Countries.

590 Tertullian’s Apology, sect. 16.

591 On Idolatry, chap. xiv.

592 Hist. Sab. part 2, chap. viii. sect. 13.

593 On Prayer, chap. xxiii.

594 De Corona, sect. 3.

595 Ad Nationes, book i. chap. xiii.

596 Canon 15.

597 Ante-Nicene Library, vol. xiv. p. 322.

598 Apostolical Constitutions, book ii. sect. 7, par. 59.

599 Id. book v. sect. ii. par. 10.

600 Id. book v. sect. iii. par. 20.

601 Epistle to the Magnesians (longer form), chap. ix.

602 Syriac Documents, p. 38.

603 Epistle of Barnabas, chap. xv.

604 Justin’s First Apology, chap. lxvii.

605 Id. Ib.

606 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. xxiv.

607 Id. chap. xli.

608 Clement’s Miscellanies, book v. chap. xiv.

609 De Corona, sect. 4.

610 Origen’s Opera, Tome ii. p. 158, Paris, A. D. 1733, “Quod si ex Divinis Scripturis hoc constat, quod die Dominica Deus pluit manna de cælo et in Sabbato non pluit, intelligant Judæi jam tunc prælatam esse Dominicam nostram Judaico Sabbato.”

611 Cyprian’s Epistle, No. lviii. sect. 4.

612 Peter’s Canons, No. xv.

613 Apostolical Constitutions, book vii. sect. ii. par. 23.

614 Epistle to the Magnesians, chap. ix.

615 Syriac Documents, p. 38.

616 Id. Ib.

617 Id. Ib.

618 Id. Ib.

619 Fragment 7.

620 Tertullian on Prayer, chap. xxiii.

621 De Corona, sect. 3.

622 Origen against Celsus, book viii. chap. xxii.

623 Instructions of Commodianus, sect. 75.

624 Apostolical Constitutions, book v. sect. 3, par. 20.

625 De Corona, sects. 3 and 4.

626 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. x.

627 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. xi.

628 Id. chap. xii.

629 Tertullian on Idolatry, chap. xiv.

630 Id. Ib.

631 Tertullian Against the Jews, chap. iv.

632 Epistle of Barnabas, chap. xv.

633 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. xii.

634 Id. chap. xviii.

635 See the third chapter of this History.

636 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. xxiii.

637 Id. chap. xxix.

638 Id. chap. xi.

639 Lost Writings of Irenæus, Fragment 7.

640 Against Heresies, book iv. chap. viii. sect. 2.

641 Id. book iv. chap. xvi. sect. 1.

642 Irenæus against Heresies, book v. chap. xxxiii. sect. 2.

643 Id. book. v. chap. xxviii. sect. 3.

644 Ex. 31:17; Eze. 20:12, 20.

645 Isa. 66:22, 23; Dan. 7:18, 27.

646 Answer to the Jews, chap. ii.

647 Tertullian against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

648 Compare his works as follows: Answer to the Jews, chaps. ii. iii. iv. vi.; Against Marcion, book i. chap. xx.; book v. chaps. iv. xix. with De Anima, chap. xxxvii.; and, On Modesty, chap. v.

649 Isa. 1:13, 14.

650 Answer to the Jews, chap. iv.; Against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

651 Isa. 56:2; 58:13.

652 Answer to the Jews, chap. iv.; Against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

653 Against Marcion, book ii. chap. xxi.

654 Against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

655 De Principiis, book iv. chap. i. sect. 17.

656 Ex. 16:29; Lev. 23:3.

657 Creation of the World, sect. 4.

658 Id. sect. 5.

659 Id. Ib.

660 Creation of the World, sect. 5.

661 Irenæus Against Heresies, book iv. chap. xv. sect. 1.

662 Jer. 31:33; Rom. 7:21-25; 8:1-7.

663 Irenæus Against Heresies, book iv. chap. xvi. sect. 4.

664 Matt. chapters 5, 6, 7.

665 Theophilus to Autolycus, book ii. chap. xxvii.

666 Id. book iii. chap. ix.

667 Id. Ib.

668 De Anima, chap. xxxvii.

669 On Modesty, chap. v.

670 Recognitions of Clement, book iii. chap. lv.

671 Novatian on the Jewish Meats, chap. iii.

672 Apostolical Constitutions, book ii. sect. 4, par. 36.

673 Id. book vi. sect. 4, par. 19.

674 Epistle of Barnabas, chap. xv.

675 Irenæus Against Heresies, book v. chap. xxxiii. sect. 2.

676 De Anima, chap. xxxvii.

677 Tertullian Against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

678 Origen Against Celsus, book vi. chap. lxi.

679 Novatian on the Jewish Meats, chap. iii.

680 Divine Institutes of Lactantius, book vii. chap. xiv.

681 Poem on Genesis, Lines 51-53.

682 Apostolical Constitutions, book vii. sect. 2, par. 36.

683 Tertullian Against Marcion, book iv. chap. xii.

684 Id. Ib.

685 Tertullian Against Marcion, book iv, chap. xii.

686 Disputation with Manes, sect. 42.

687 Dialogue with Trypho, chap. xlvii.

688 Id. Ib.

689 Clement’s Miscellanies, book vi. chap. xvi.

690 Id. Ib.

691 Compare Clement of Alexandria, vol. ii. pp. 386-890, Ante-Nicene library edition, or the Miscellanies of Clement, book vi. chap. xvi. with Bohn’s edition of Philo, vol. i. pp. 3, 4, 29, 30, 31, 32, 54, 55; vol. iii. p. 159; vol. iv. p. 452.

692 Bohn’s edition of Philo Judæus, vol. i. p. 4.

693 Tertullian on Prayer, chap. xxiii.

694 Origen’s Opera, Tome 2, p. 358, Paris, 1733, “Quæ est autem festivitas Sabbati nisi illa dequa Apostolus dicit, ‘relinqueretur ergo Sabbatismus,’ hoc est, Sabbati observatio, ‘populo Dei’? Relinquentes ergo Judaicas Sabbati observationes, qualis debeat esse Christiano Sabbati observatio, videamus. Die Sabbati nihil ex omnibus mundi actibus oportet operari. Si ergo desinas ab omnibus sæcularibus operibus, et nihil mundanum geras, sed spiritalibus operibus vaces, ad ecclesiam convenias, lectionibus divinis et tractatibus aurem præbeas, et de cœlestibus cogites, de futura spe sollicitudinem geras, venturum judicium præ oculis habeas, non respicias ad præ sentia et visibilia, sed ad invisibilia et futura, hæc est observatio Sabbati Christiani.”—Origenis in Numeras Homilia 23.

695 Epistle to the Magnesians (longer form) chap. ix.

696 Ancient Church, p. 212.

697 Historical Commentaries, cent. 1. sect. 51.

698 Apostolical Constitutions, book ii. sect. 4, par. 36.

699 Id. Ib.

700 Id. book vii. sect. 2, par. 23.

701 Id. book vii. sect. 2, par. 36.

702 Apostolical Constitutions, book ii, sec. 4, par. 36.

703 Id. book viii. sect. 4, par. 33.

704 Id. book vii. sect. 2, par. 36.

705 Victorinus says, “Let the sixth day become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews.”—On the Creation of the World, sect. 4. And Constantine says, “It becomes us to have nothing in common with the perfidious Jews.”— Socrates’ Eccl. Hist. book v. chap. xxii.

706 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 189.

707 Morality of the Fourth Commandment, p. 9, London, 1641.

708 1 Cor. 5:6-8.

709 Eccl. Hist. vol. i. chap. ii. sect. 30.

710 Eccl. Hist. book i. cent. 1, part ii. chap. iv. sect. 4. Dr. Murdock’s translation is more accurate than that above by Maclaine. He gives it thus: “Moreover, those congregations, which either lived intermingled with Jews, or were composed in great measure of Jews, were accustomed also to observe the seventh day of the week, as a sacred day: for doing which, the other Christians taxed them with no wrong.”

711 Id. margin.

712 See chap. xiv. of this History.

713 Ancient Christianity Exemplified, chap. xxvi. sect. 2.

714 Anc. Christ. Exem. chap. xxvi. sect. 2.

715 Id. Ib.

716 Id. Ib.

717 Ductor Dubitantium, part i. book ii. chap. ii. rule 6, sect. 51.

718 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 66.

719 A Treatise of the Sabbath Day, containing a “Defense of the Orthodoxal Doctrine of the Church of England against Sabbatarian Novelty,” p. 8. It was written in 1635 at the command of the king in reply to Brabourne, a minister of the established church, whose work, entitled “A Defense of that most Ancient and Sacred Ordinance of God’s, the Sabbath Day,” was dedicated to the king with a request that he would restore the Bible Sabbath! See the preface to Dr. White’s Treatise.

720 Dec. and Fall, chap. xv.

721 See chap. x.

722 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 67.

723 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, p. 8.

724 Antiquities of the Christian Church, book xvi. chap. vi. sect. 2.

725 Page 280. Cox here quotes the work, entitled “The Modern Sabbath Examined.”

726 Learned Treatise of the Sabbath, p. 77, Oxford, 1631.

727 This edict is the original fountain of first-day authority, and in many respects answers to the festival of Sunday, what the fourth commandment is to the Sabbath of the Lord. The original of this edict may be seen in the library of Harvard College, and is as follows:—

IMP. CONSTANT. A. ELPIDIO.

Omnes Judices, urbanæque plebes, et cunctarum artium officia venerabili die solis quiescant. Ruri tamen positi agrorum culturæ libere licenterque inserviant: quoniam frequenter evenit, ut non aptius alio die frumenta sulcis, aut vineæ scrobibus mandentur, ne occasione momenti pereat commoditas coelesti provisione concessa. Dat. Nonis Mart. Crispo. 2 & Constantino 2. Coss. 321. Corpus Juris Civilis Codicis lib. iii tit. 12. 3.

728 Encyc. Brit. art. Sunday, seventh edition, 1842.

729 Encyc. Am. art. Sabbath.

730 Eccl. Hist. cent. iv. part ii. chap. iv. sect. 5.

731 Chap. xiv.

732 Duct. Dubitant. part i. book ii. chap. ii. rule 6, sect. 59.

733 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 233.

734 Examination of the Six Texts, p. 291.

735 Cox’s Sabbath Laws, &c. pp. 280, 281. He quotes The Modern Sabbath Examined.

736 Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, p. 60.

737 History of Christianity, book iii. chap. i.

738 Id. book iii. chap. iv.

739 These dates are worthy of marked attention. See Blair’s Chronological Tables, p. 193, ed. 1856; Rosse’s Index of Dates, p. 830.

740 Imp. Constantinus A. Ad Maximum. Si quid de Palatio Nostro, aut ceteris operibus publicis, degustatum fulgore esse constiterit, retento more veteris observantiae. Quid portendat, ob Haruspicibus requiratur, et diligentissime scriptura collecta ad Nostram Scientiam referatur. Ceteris etiam usurpandae huius consuetudinis licentia tribuenda: dummodo sacrificiis domesticis abstineant, quae specialiter prohibita sunt. Eam autem denunciationem adque interpretationem, quae de tactu Amphitheatri scriba est, de qua ad Heraclianum Tribunum, et Magistrum Officiorum scripseras, ad nos scias esse perlatum. Dat. xvi. Kal. Jan. Serdicae Acc. viii. Id. Mart. Crispo ii. & Constantino ii. C. C. Coss. 821. Cod. Theodos. xvi. 10, 1.—Library of Harvard College.

741 See Jortin’s Eccl. Hist. vol. i. sect. 31; Milman’s Hist. Christianity, book iii. chap. i.

742 See Webster; for an ancient record of the act, see Eze. xxi. 19-22.

743 Historical Commentaries, cent. iv. sect. 7.

744 Dec. and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xx.

745 Marsh’s Eccl. Hist. period iii. chap. v.

746 Dec. and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xviii.

747 Sunday and the Mosaic Sabbath, p. 4, published by R. Groombridge & Sons, London.

748 See chap. xviii.

749 Omnium vero dierum per septimanam appellationes (ut Solis, Lunae, Martis, etc.), mutasse in ferias: ut Polydorus (li. 6, c. 5) indicat. Mataphrastes vero, nomina dierum Hebraeis usitata retinuisse eum, tradit; solius primi diei appellatione mutata, quem Dominicum dixit. Historia Ecclesiastica per M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. iv. cap. x. pp. 739, 740, Ed. Basilea, 1624. Library of Andover Theological Seminary. The Ecclesiastical History of Lucius is simply the second edition of the famous “Magdeburg Centuries,” which was published under his supervision.

750 Quoted in Elliott’s Horæ Apocalypticæ, fifth edition, vol. iv. p. 603.

751 McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. iv. p. 506.

752 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iii. sect. 12.

753 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iii. sect. 1.

754 Id. Ib.

755 Dec. and Fall, chap. xxviii.

756 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iii sect. 5.

757 Eccl. Hist. book i. chap. iv.

758 Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms, quoted in Cox’s Sabbath Literature, vol. i. p. 361; also in Justin Edward’s Sabbath Manual, pp. 125-127.

759 Id. Ib.

760 Id. Ib.

761 Eusebius’ Life of Constantine, 3, 33, quoted in Elliott’s Horæ Apocalypticæ, vol. i. p. 256.

762 Cox’s Sabbath Literature, vol. i. p. 361.

763 Appendix to Gurney’s History, &c., of the Sabbath, pp. 115, 116.

764 Sermons on the Sacraments and Sabbath, pp. 122, 123.

765 Quod non oportet Christianos Judaizere et otiare in Sabbato, sed operari in eodem die. Preferentes autem in veneratione Dominicum diem si vacare voluerint, ut Christiani hoc faciat; quod si reperti fuerint Judaizare Anathema sint a Christo.

766 Dissertation on the Lord’s-day Sabbath, pp. 33, 34, 44. 1633.

767 Sunday a Sabbath, p. 163. 1640.

768 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 188; Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, pp. 72, 304, 305.

769 Tertullian’s De Corona, sections 3 and 4.

770 Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 138.

771 Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 138.

772 Cyc. Bib. Lit. art. Lord’s Day; Heylyn’s Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. ii. sect. 7.

773 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iii. sect. 9.

774 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 234; Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iii. sect. 7.

775 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, pp. 236, 237.

776 Treatise of the Sabbath, p. 219.

777 Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 284.

778 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iv. sect. 8.

779 Sabbath Manual, p. 123.

780 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 259.

781 Id. p. 260.

782 Socrates, book v. chap. xxii.

783 Sozomen, book vii. chap. 19; Lardner, vol. iv. chap. lxxxv. p. 217.

784 2 Thess. 2.

785 Dan. 7.

786 Shimeall’s Bible Chronology, part ii. chap. ix. sect. 5, pp. 175, 176; Croly on the Apocalypse, pp. 167-173.

787 Dan. 7:8, 24, 25; Rev. 13:1-5.

788 Rev. 12.

789 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iv. sect. 1.

790 Learned Treatise of the Sabbath, p. 73, ed. 1631.

791 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. ii. sect. 12.

792 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, p. 202.

793 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 13.

794 Id. part ii. chap. v. sect. 6.

795 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, pp. 217, 218.

796 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, pp. 263, 264.

797 The Lord’s Day, p. 58.

798 Dictionary of Chronology, p. 813, art. Sunday.

799 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 265.

800 Id. pp. 265, 266; Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. iv. sect. 7.

801 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 68.

802 Historical and Practical Discourse on the Lord’s Day, p. 174.

803 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 282.

804 Fleury, Hist. Eccl. Tome viii. Livre xxxvi. sect. 22; Heylyn’s Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 1. Dr. Twisse, however, asserts that the pope speaks of two classes. He gives Gregory’s words as follows: “Relation is made unto me that certain men of a perverse spirit, have sowed among you some corrupt doctrines contrary to our holy faith; so as to forbid any work to be done on the Sabbath day: these men we may well call the preachers of Antichrist.... Another report was brought unto me; and what was that? That some perverse persons preach among you, that on the Lord’s day none should be washed. This is clearly another point maintained by other persons, different from the former.”—Morality of the Fourth Commandment, pp. 19, 20. If Dr. Twisse is right, the Sabbath-keepers in Rome about the year 600 were not chargeable with the Sunday observance above mentioned.

805 The idea is suggested by the language of an anonymous first-day writer of the seventeenth century, Irenæus Philalethes, in a work entitled “Sabbato-Dominica,” pref. p. 11, London, 1643.

806 Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, p. 267.

807 Id. p. 283.

808 Dialogues, &c. p. 268.

809 Id. pp. 283, 284.

810 Id. p. 268.

811 Id. p. 284.

812 Dialogues, &c. p. 269.

813 Id. p. 270.

814 Id. p. 271.

815 Dialogues, &c. p. 271; Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 7.

816 Dialogues, &c. p. 272.

817 Dialogue, &c. p. 261.

818 Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 33:2.

819 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 7; Morer, p. 272.

820 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 7; Morer, p. 272.

821 Dialogues, &c. pp. 261, 262.

822 Id. pp. 284, 285.

823 Dialogues, &c. p. 274.

824 Id. p. 285.

825 Id. p. 286.

826 Id. Ib.

827 Id. pp. 286, 287.

828 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 2.

829 Dialogues, &c. p. 274.

830 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 2.

831 Dialogues, &c. p. 68.

832 Binius, vol. iii. p. 1285, ed. 1606.

833 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. v. sect. 13.

834 Morer, p. 288; Heylyn, part 2. chap. vii. sect. 6.

835 Roger de Hoveden’s Annals, Bohn’s ed. vol. ii. p. 487.

836 Id. Ib.

837 Hoveden, vol. ii. pp. 526-528.

838 See Matthew Paris’s Historia Major, pp. 200, 201, ed. 1640; Binius’ Councils, ad ann. 1201, vol. iii. pp. 1448, 1449; Wilkins’ Concilia Magnæ Britaniæ et Hibernæ, vol. i. pp. 510, 511, London, 1737; Sir David Dalrymple’s Historical Memorials, pp. 7, 8, ed. 1769; Heylyn’s History of the Sabbath, part ii. chap. vii. sect. 5; Morer’s Lord’s Day, pp. 288-290; Hessey’s Sunday pp. 90, 321; Gilfillan’s Sabbath, p. 399.

839 Maclaine’s Mosheim, cent. xiii. part ii. chap. i. sect. 5.

840 Murdock’s Mosheim, cent. xiii. part ii. chap. i. sect. 5, note 19.

841 Matthew Paris’s Historia Major, p. 201. His words are: “Cum autem Patriarcha et clerus omnis Terræ sanctæ, hunc epistolæ tenorem diligenter examinassent; communi omnium deliberatione decretum est, ut epistola ad judicium Romani Pontificis transmitteretur; quatenus, quicquid ipse agendum decrevit, placæt universis. Cumque tandem epistola ad domini Papæ notitiam pervenisset, continuo prædicatores ordinavit; qui per diversas mundi partes profecti, prædicaverunt ubique epistolæ tenerem; Domino cooperante et sermonem eorum confirmante, sequentibus signis. Inter quos Abbos de Flai nomine Eustachius, vir religiosus et literali scientia eruditis, regnum Angliæ aggressus: multis ibidem miraculis corruscavit.”—Library of Harvard College.

842 History of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 535.

843 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. iv. p. 590.

844 Id. vol. iv. p. 592.

845 See page 274 of this work.

846 Hoveden, vol. ii. p. 528.

847 Hoveden, vol. ii. p. 528.

848 Id. p. 529.

849 Hoveden, vol. ii. pp. 529, 530.

850 Id. Ib.

851 Dialogues, &c. p. 290.

852 Gilfillan’s Sabbath, p. 399.

853 Binius’s Councils, vol. iii. pp. 1448, 1449; Heylyn, part ii. chap. vii. sect. 7.

854 Heylyn, part ii. chap. vii. sect. 7.

855 Dialogues, &c. pp. 290, 291.

856 Id. p. 291.

857 Id. p. 275.

858 Id. Ib.

859 Id. pp. 293, 294.

860 Id. p. 279.

861 Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:9.

862 Morer, p. 280.

863 Id. pp. 281, 282.

864 Mr. Croly says: “With the title of ‘Universal Bishop,’ the power of the papacy, and the Dark Ages, alike began.”—Croly on the Apocalypse, p. 173.

865 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. iv. p. 591.

866 History of the Baptist Denomination, p. 50, ed. 1849.

867 Dan. 8:12.

868 Ps. 119:142, 151.

869 See chap. xx. of this work.

870 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii. pp. 600, 601; D’Aubigné’s History of the Reformation, book xvii.

871 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 601.

872 Id. Ib.

873 Id. Ib.

874 Butler’s Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and principal Saints, article, St. Columba, A. D. 597.

875 The Monks of the West, vol. ii. p. 104.

876 Gilfillan’s Sabbath, p. 389.

877 Id. pp. 32, 33.

878 Waddington’s History of the Church, part iv. chap. xviii.

879 Jones’s History of the Church, vol. ii. chap. v. sect. 1.

880 Jortin’s Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. sect. 38.

881 Edward’s Hist. of Redemption, period iii. part iv. sect. 2.

882 Hist. Bapt. Denom. p. 33.

883 Id. p. 31.

884 Variations of Popery, p. 52.

885 Eccl. Hist. of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, p. 167.

886 History of the English Baptists, vol. i. pref. p. 35.

887 Mr. Jones, in his “Church History,” vol. i. chap. iii., note at the end of the chapter, explains this charge as follows: “But this calumny is easily accounted for. The advocates of popery, to support their usurpations and innovations in the kingdom of Christ, were driven to the Old Testament for authority, adducing the kingdom of David for their example. And when their adversaries rebutted the argument, insisting that the parallel did not hold, for that the kingdom of Christ, which is not of this world, is a very different state of things from the kingdom of David, their opponents accused them of giving up the divine authority of the Old Testament.”

888 Eccl. Hist. Ancient Churches of Piedmont, pp. 231, 236, 237.

889 Id. pp. 175-177.

890 Id. p. 209.

891 Hist. Church, chap. v. sect. 1.

892 Gen. Hist. Bapt. Denom. vol. ii. p. 413, ed. 1813.

893 Ecclesiastical Researches, chap. x. pp. 303, 304.

894 Jones’s Hist. Church, vol. ii. chap. v. sect. 1.

895 General Hist. Baptist Denom. vol. ii. p. 413.

896 Circumcisi forsan illi fuerint, qui aliis Insabbatati, non quod circumciderentur, inquit Calvinista [Goldastus] sed quod in Sabbato judaizarent.—Eccl. Researches, chap. x. p. 303.

897 Thomas’ Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, article Goldast.

898 D’Aubigné’s Reformation in the time of Calvin, vol. iii. p. 456.

899 Nec quod in Sabbato colendo Judaizarent, ut multi putabant, sed a zapata.—Eccl. Researches, chap. x. p. 304; Usher’s De Christianar. Eccl. success. et stat. cap. 7.

900 Jones’s Church History, vol. ii. chap. v. sect. 2.

901 Reformation in the time of Calvin, vol. iii. p. 249.

902 Id. pp. 250, 251.

903 Reformation in the time of Calvin, vol. i. p. 349; D’Aubigné cites as his authority, “Histoire des Protestants de Picardie” by L. Rossier, p. 2.

904 Jones’s Church History, vol. ii. chap. v. sect. 4.

905 History of the Vaudois by Bresse, p. 126.

906 Benedict’s Hist. Bapt. p. 41.

907 Hist. Church, chap. iv. sect. 3.

908 Eccl. Hist. of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, pp. 168, 169, Boston, Pub. Lib. The author, Rev. Peter Allix, D. D., was a French Protestant, born in 1641, and was distinguished for piety and erudition.—Lempriere’s Universal Biography.

909 Id. p. 170.

910 Horæ Apocalypticæ, vol. ii. p. 291.

911 Eccl. Researches, chap. x. pp. 305, 306.

912 Horæ Apocalypticæ, vol. ii. p. 342.

913 Eccl. Hist. cent. xii. part ii. chap. v. sect. 14.

914 General Hist. Bapt. Denom. vol. ii. p. 414, ed. 1813.

915 Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper, p. 158, London 1694.

916 Eccl. Hist. of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, p. 224.

917 Id. p. 225.

918 Hist. of the Church, chap. iv. sect. 3.

919 Treatise of the Sabbath day, p. 8.

920 Eccl. Hist. of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, p. 162.

921 History of the Sabbath, part ii. chap. v. sect. 1.

922 Bower says of Gregory: “He was a man of most extraordinary parts, of an unbounded ambition, of a haughty and imperious temper, of resolution and courage incapable of yielding to the greatest difficulties, perfectly acquainted with the state of the western churches, as well as with the different interests of the Christian princes.”—History of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 378.

923 History of the Popes, vol. ii. p. 358.

924 Theological Dict. art. Anabaptists.

925 Hist. Church, vol. i. pp. 183, 184.

926 Treatise of the Sabbath day, p. 132. He cites Hist. Anabapt. lib. 6, p. 153.

927 The Rise, Spring, and Foundation of the Anabaptists or Rebaptized of our Times. By Guy de Brez, A. D. 1565.

928 Acts 8:26-40.

929 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia, vol. i. p. 40.

930 Dec. and Fall, chap. xlvii.

931 Maxson’s Hist. Sab. p. 33, ed. 1844.

932 Church Hist. of Ethiopia, p. 31.

933 Id. p. 96; Gibbon, chap. xv. note 25; chap. xlvii. note 160. M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. i. p. 40.

934 Church Hist. Ethiopia, pp. 34, 35; Purchas’s Pilgrimage, book ii. chap. v.

935 Ch. Hist. Eth. pp. 87, 88.

936 Id. Ib.

937 Gibbon, chap. xlvii.

938 Ch. Hist. Eth. pp. 311, 312; Gobat’s Abyssinia, pp. 83, 93.

939 Gibbon, chap. xlvii.

940 Continental India, vol. ii. p. 120.

941 Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper, preface.

942 Continental India, vol. ii. pp. 116, 117.

943 East Indian Church History, pp. 133, 134.

944 Id. pp. 139, 140.

945 Buchanan’s Christian Researches in Asia, pp. 159, 160.

946 Purchas His Pilgrimes, part ii. book viii. chap. vi. sect. 5, p. 1269, London, 1625. The “Encyclopedia Britannica,” vol. viii. p. 695, eighth ed., speaks of Purchas as “an Englishman admirably skilled in language and human and divine arts, a very great philosopher, historian, and theologian.”

947 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. vi. sects. 3, 5.

948 Cox’s Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 287.

949 Id. Ib.

950 Cox’s Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 287.

951 Id. p. 286.

952 Id. Ib.

953 Id. p. 289.

954 Tyndale’s Answer to More, book i. chap. xxv.

955 Hessey, p. 352.

956 Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, book ii. chap. viii. sect. 34, translated by John Allen.

957 Quanquam non sine delectu Dominicum quem vocamus diem veteres in locum Sabbathi subrogarunt.

958 Calvin’s Institutes, book ii. chap. viii. sect. 34.

959 Calvin’s Harmony of the Evangelists on Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24.

960 Calvin’s Commentary on John 20.

961 Calvin’s Commentary on Acts 2:1.

962 Calvin’s Commentary on Acts 20:7.

963 Id. Ib.

964 Calvin’s Commentary on Acts 20:7.

965 Calvin’s Commentary on 1 Cor. 16:2.

966 Id. Ib.

967 Calvin’s Institutes, book ii. chap. viii. sect. 34.

968 Hessey’s Bampton Lectures on Sunday, p. 201, ed. 1866. In the notes appended, p. 366, he says: “At Geneva a tradition exists, that when John Knox visited Calvin on a Sunday, he found his austere coadjutor bowling on a green.” Dr. Hessey evidently credited this tradition.

969 Beza’s Life of Calvin, Sibson’s Translation, p. 55, ed. 1836.

970 Id. p. 115.

971 Eccl. Researches, chap. x. p. 338.

972 Id. p. 339.

973 Beza’s Life of Calvin, p. 168.

974 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. i. p. 663.

975 Hessey, p. 341, gives a clue to the title of Barclay’s work. It was Parænesis ad Sectarios hujus temporis, lib. 1, cap. 13, p. 160, Rome, 1617.

976 See Heylyn’s Hist. of the Sabbath, part ii. chapter vi. sect. 8; Morer’s Lord’s Day, pp. 216, 217, 228; An Inquiry into the Origin of Septenary Institutions, p. 55; The Modern Sabbath Examined, p. 26, Whitaker, Treacher, and Arnot, London, 1832; Cox’s Sabbath Literature, vol. i. pp. 165, 166; Hessey, pp. 141, 142, 198, 341, and the authors there cited.

977 Morality of the Fourth Commandment, pp. 32, 36, 39, 40.

978 In fact, the story told by Twisse that Barclay is not to be believed in what he says of Calvin because he was treacherous toward King James I., who for that reason would not promote him at his court, appears to be wholly unfounded. The Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. iv., p. 439, eighth edition, assigns a very different reason. It says: “In those days a pension bestowed upon a Scottish papist would have been numbered among the national grievances.” That is to say, public opinion would not then tolerate the promotion of a Romanist. But this writer believes that the king secretly favored Barclay. Thus on page 440 he adds: “Although it does not appear that he obtained any regular provision from the king, we may perhaps suppose that he at least received occasional gratuities.” This writer knew nothing of Barclay as a detected spy at the king’s court. Of his standing as a man, he says on p. 441: “If there had been any remarkable blemish in the morals of Barclay, some of his numerous adversaries would have pointed it out.” M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 663, says that he “would doubtless have succeeded at court had he not been a Romanist.” See also Knight’s Cyclopedia of Biography, article Barclay.

979 Cox’s Sabbath Laws, &c. p. 123; M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. v. pp. 137-140.

980 Quoted in Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, p. 200.

981 Id. p. 201.

982 Westminster Review, July, 1858, p. 37.

983 Westminster Review, July, 1858, p. 37.

984 Hessey, p. 203.

985 Dr. Priestly, as quoted in Cox’s “Sabbath Laws,” p. 260.

986 Life of Luther by Barnas Sears, D. D., larger ed. pp. 400, 401.

987 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 123.

988 Id. Ib.

989 D’Aubigné’s Hist. of the Ref. book ix.

990 Mosheim’s Church Hist. book iv. cent. xvi. sect. 3, part ii. paragraph 22, note.

991 Life of Luther, p. 401.

992 D’Aubigné’s Hist. Ref. book ix. p. 282. I use the excellent one-volume edition of Porter and Coates.

993 Life of Luther, pp. 402, 403.

994 Id. pp. 401, 402.

995 Mosheim’s Hist. of the Church, book iv. cent. xvi. sect. 3, part ii. paragraph 22, note.

996 Life of Luther, p. 402.

997 D’Aubigné’s Hist. of Ref. book x. p. 312.

998 Life of Luther, p. 403.

999 D’Aubigné’s Hist. Ref. book x. pp. 314, 315.

1000 Id. Ib.

1001 M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 123.

1002 Id. Ib.

1003 Life of Luther, p. 400.

1004 D’Aubigné’s Hist. Ref. book x. p. 312.

1005 Id. book x. p. 315.

1006 Hist. Ref. book x. p. 315.

1007 Life of Luther, p. 403.

1008 Mosheim’s Church Hist. book iv. cent. 16, sect. 3, part ii. paragraph 22, note.

1009 Id. Ib. Very nearly the same statement is made by Du Pin, tome 13, chap. ii. section 20, p. 103, A. D. 1703.

1010 Hist. Ref. book x. p. 315.

1011 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, p. 8.

1012 Life of Luther, p. 402.

1013 Quoted in the Life of Martin Luther in Pictures, p. 147, Philadelphia, J. W. Moore, 195 Chestnut street.

1014 M’Clintock and Strong, vol. ii. p. 123; Dr. A. Clarke’s Commentary, preface to James.

1015 M’Clintock and Strong, vol. iii. p. 679; D’Aubigné’s Hist. Ref. book xviii. pp. 672, 689, 706, 707; book xx. pp. 765, 766; Fox’s Acts and Monuments, book viii. pp. 524-527.

1016 Frith’s works, p. 69, quoted in Hessey, p. 198.

1017 Eccl. Researches, chap. xvi. p. 630.

1018 Id. Ib.

1019 Id. p. 631.

1020 Eccl. Researches, chap. xvi. p. 636.

1021 Id. pp. 636, 637.

1022 Eccl. Researches, chap. xvi. p. 640.

1023 Mosheim’s Hist. Church, book iv. cent. 16, sect. 3, part ii. chap. iv. par. 23.

1024 Lamy’s History of Socinianism, p. 60.

1025 “Nunc audimus apud Bohemos exoriri novum Judæorum genus, Sabbatarios appellant, qui tanta superstitione servant Sabbatum, ut si quid eo die inciderit in oculum, nolint eximere; quasi non sufficiat eis pro Sabbato Dies Dominicus, qui Apostolis etiam erat sacer, aut quasi Christus non satis expresserit quantum tribuen dum sit Sabbato.” De Amabili Ecclesiæ Concordia; Opera, tome 5, p. 506, Lugd. Bat. 1704; quoted in Cox’s Sabbath Literature, vol. ii. pp. 201, 202; Hessey, p. 374.

1026 Cox, vol. ii. p. 202.

1027 Such statements respecting the observers of the seventh day are very common. Even those who first commenced to keep the Sabbath in Newport were said to “have left Christ and gone to Moses in the observation of days, and times, and seasons, and such like.”—Seventh-day Baptist Memorial, vol. i. p. 32. The pastor of the first-day Baptist church of Newport said to them: “I do judge you have and still do deny Christ.”—Id. p. 37.

1028 The Present State of the Greek Church in Russia, Appendix. p. 273, New York, 1815.

1029 Murdock’s Mosheim, book iv. cent. xvii. sect. 2, part i. chap. ii. note 12.

1030 See the twenty-first chapter of this work.

1031 Id. Ib.

1032 Maxson’s Hist. Sab. p. 41.

1033 Manual of the Seventh-day Baptists, p. 16.

1034 Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation. From the Dutch of T. J. Van Braght, London, 1850, vol. i. pp. 113, 114.

1035 Id. p. 113.

1036 Manual of the S. D. Baptists, p. 16.

1037 Wall’s History of Infant Baptism, vol. ii. p. 379, Oxford, 1835.

1038 I know of no exception to this statement. If there be any it must be found in the cases of those observing both seventh and first days. Even here, there is certainly no such thing as sprinkling for baptism, but possibly there may be the baptism of young children.

1039 Hist. English Baptists, vol. ii. pref. pp. 43, 44.

1040 Maxson’s Hist. Sab. p. 42.

1041 Gen. Hist. Bapt. Denom. vol. ii. p. 414, ed. 1813.

1042 Hengstenberg’s Lord’s Day, p. 66.

1043 Coleman’s Ancient Christianity Exemplified, chap. xxvi. sect. 2; Heylyn’s Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. viii. sect. 7; Neal’s Hist. Puritans, part i. chap. viii.

1044 Sabbathum Veteris et Novi Testamenti; or, the True Doctrine of the Sabbath, by Nicholas Bound, D. D., sec. ed. London, 1606, p. 51.

1045 Id. p. 66.

1046 True Doc. of the Sab. p. 71.

1047 Id. p. 72.

1048 Hist. Sab. part ii. chap. viii. sect. 8.

1049 Prælectiones Theologicæ, vol. i. part ii. sect. 2, cap. i. p. 194. “Propositio. Præter sacram Scripturam admitti necessario debent Traditiones divinæ dogmaticæ ab illa prorsus distinctæ.”

“Non posse praeterea, rejectis ejusmodi traditionibus, plura dogmata, quæ nobiscum retinuerunt protestantes cum ab Ecclesia catholica recesserunt, ullo modo adstruis, res est citra omnis dubitationis aleam posita. Etenim ipsi nobiscum retinuerunt valorem baptismi ab haereticis aut infidelibus administrati, valorem item paedobaptismi, germanam baptismi formam, cessationem legis de abstinentia a sanguine et suffocato, de die dominico Sabbatis suffecto, praeter ea quæ superius commemoravimus aliaque haud pauca.”

1050 Backus’ Hist. of the Baptists in New England, p. 63, ed. 1777.

1051 Chambers’ Cyclopedia, article, Sabbath, vol. viii. p. 402, London, 1867.

1052 Gilfillan’s Sabbath, p. 60.

1053 Observation of the Christian Sabbath, p. 2.

1054 See the fifteenth chapter of this work.

1055 Gilfillan’s Sabbath, p. 88.

1056 Id. Ib.

1057 Pagitt’s Heresiography, p. 209, London, 1661.

1058 Pagitt’s Heresiography, p. 209.

1059 Id. p. 210.

1060 Id. p. 164.

1061 Pagitt’s Heresiography, pp. 196, 197.

1062 Id. p. 161.

1063 Manual of the Seventh-day Baptists, pp. 17, 18; Heylyn’s Hist. of the Sab. part ii. chap. viii. sect. 10; Gilfillan’s Sabbath, pp. 88, 89; Cox’s Sabbath Literature, vol. i. pp. 152, 153.

1064 Manual of the S. D. Baptists, p. 18.

1065 Dr. Francis White’s Treatise of the Sabbath Day, quoted in Cox’s Sab. Lit. vol. i. p. 167.

1066 Heylyn’s Cyprianus Anglicus, quoted in Cox, vol. i. p. 173.

1067 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, p. 110.

1068 Hessey’s Bampton Lectures, pp. 373, 374; Cox’s Sab. Lit. vol. ii. p. 6; A. H. Lewis’s Sabbath and Sunday, pp. 178-184. This work contains much valuable information respecting English and American Sabbatarians.

1069 Treatise of the Sabbath Day, p. 73.

1070 Manual of the S. D. Baptists, pp. 19, 20.

1071 Cox, vol. i. p. 268; vol. ii. p. 10.

1072 Id. vol. ii. p. 35.

1073 Hist. English Baptists, vol. i. pp. 365, 366.

1074 Hist. Puritans, part 2. chap. x.

1075 Crosby’s Hist. Eng. Baptists, vol. i. pp. 366, 367.

1076 Hist. Puritans, part 2, chap. x.

1077 Calamy’s Ejected Ministers, vol. ii. pp. 258, 259; Lewis’ Sabbath and Sunday, pp. 188-193.

1078 Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. iv. p. 123.

1079 Crosby, vol. i. p. 367.

1080 Ex. 16:23; Gen. 2:3.

1081 Judgment for the Observation of the Jewish or Seventh-day Sabbath, pp. 6-8, 1672.

1082 Calamy, vol. 2, p. 260.

1083 Crosby, vol. 2, pp. 165-171.

1084 When asked what he had to say why sentence should not be pronounced, he said he would leave with them these scriptures: Jer. 26:14, 15; Ps. 116:15.

1085 Manual, &c. pp. 21-23.

1086 Crosby’s Hist. Eng. Bapt. vol. iii. pp. 138, 139.

1087 “When the London Seventh-day Baptists, in 1664, sent Stephen Mumford to America, and in 1675 sent Eld. William Gibson, they did as much, in proportion to their ability, as had been done by any society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts.”—Seventh-day Baptist Memorial, vol. i. p. 43.

1088 Ch. Hist. of N. England from 1783 to 1796, chap. xi. sect. 10.

1089 Hist. of the S. D. Bapt. Gen. Conf. by Jas. Bailey, pp. 237, 238.

1090 Seventh-day Baptist Memorial, vol. i. pp. 27, 28, 29.

1091 Records of the First Baptist Church in Newport, quoted in the S. D. Baptist Memorial, vol. i. pp. 28-39.

1092 Bailey’s Hist. pp. 9, 10.

1093 Id. p. 237.

1094 Id. p. 238.

1095 Manual of the S. D. Baptists, pp. 39, 40; Backus, chap. xi. sect. 10.

1096 Hist. S. D. Baptist Gen. Conf. pp. 15, 238.

1097 Id. pp. 46-55.

1098 Id. pp. 57, 58, 62, 74, 82.

1099 Sabbath and Sunday, p. 232.

1100 Much interesting matter pertaining to the Seventh-day Baptists of America may be found in Utter’s Manual of the S. D. Baptists; Bailey’s Hist. of the S. D. Bapt. Gen. Conf.; Lewis’s Sabbath and Sunday, and in the S. D. B. Memorial.

1101 Rupp’s History of all Religious Denominations in the United States, pp. 109-123, second edition; Bailey’s Hist. Gen. Conf. pp. 255-258.

1102 New York Independent, March 18, 1869.

1103 Semi-Weekly Tribune, May 4, 1869.

1104 This sister was born at Vernon, Vt. Her maiden name was Rachel D. Harris. At the age of seventeen, she was converted and soon after joined the Methodist church. After her marriage, she removed with her husband to central New York. There, at the age of twenty-eight, she became an observer of the Bible Sabbath. The Methodist minister, her pastor, did what he could to turn her from the Sabbath, but finally told her she might keep it if she would not leave them. But she was faithful to her convictions of duty and united with the first Seventh-day Baptist church of Verona, Oneida Co., N. Y. Her first husband bore the name of Oaks; her second, that of Preston. She and her daughter, Delight Oaks, were members of the first Verona church at the time of their removal to Washington, N. H. The mother died Feb. 1, 1868; the daughter, several years earlier.

1105 Eld. Preble’s article appeared in the Hope of Israel of Feb. 28, 1845, published at Portland, Maine. This article was reprinted in the Advent Review of Aug. 23, 1870. The article, as rewritten by Eld. Preble and published in tract form, was also printed in the Review of Dec. 21, 1869.

1106 He fell asleep March 19, 1872, in the eightieth year of his age.

1107 For a further knowledge of their views, see their weekly paper, the Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath, published at Battle Creek, Michigan, at $2.00 per year, and the list of publications advertised in its columns.

1108 Rev. 12:17; 14:12.

1109 Rev. 19:10.

1110 Rev. 4:10, 11.

1111 2 Pet. 3; Isa. 65; Rev. 21, 22. Milton thus states this doctrine:—
“The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring
New heaven and earth, wherein the just shall dwell,
And after all their tribulation long,
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth.”

—Paradise Lost, book iii, lines 334-338.

        “So shall the world go on,
To good malignant, to bad men benign;
Under her own weight, groaning; till the day
Appear of respiration to the just,
And vengeance to the wicked, at return
Of Him so lately promised to thy aid,
The woman’s seed; obscurely then foretold,
Now ampler known thy Saviour and thy Lord:
Last, in the clouds, from heaven to be revealed
In glory of the Father, to dissolve
Satan with his perverted world; then raise
From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,
New heaven, new earth, ages of endless date,
Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love;
To bring forth fruits, joy, and eternal bliss.”

—Id. book xii, lines 537-551.

1112 Dan. 7:9, 10, 13, 14, 17-27; Ps. 2:7-9; 37:9-11, 18-22, 34; Mal. 4:1-3.

1113 Isa. 66:22, 23.

1114 Heb. 4:9. The margin renders it “a keeping of a Sabbath.” Liddell and Scott define Sabbatismos “a keeping of the Sabbath.” They give no other definition, but derive it from the verb Sabbatizo, which they define by these words only, “to keep the Sabbath.” Schrevelius defines Sabbatismos by this one phrase: “Observance of the Sabbath.” He also derives it from Sabbatizo. Sabbatismos is therefore the noun in Greek which signifies the act of Sabbath-keeping, while Sabbatizo, from which it is derived, is the verb which expresses that act.

1115 See the Lexicons of Liddell and Scott, Schrevelius, and Greenfield.

1116 Rev. 22:1, 2.