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AD

THE LORD'S-DAY,

OR

CñRISTTAN SABBATH.

[SEAM.

v1.

pointed

the first day

of the

week

for a season

of

the wor-

ship

of God,

he

appointed it

also to be a season

of rest

from the cares and labours

of

this

life,

that

this

worship

might

be

better

performed, and

the

great ends

of

it best

secured.

Question

III.

"

When must

the

christian

begin his

sabbath,

or.

the

Lord's

-day,

how

must

it

be

spent, and

when must it end

?"

Here I

answer,

Answer.

That

whatsoever

is

the usual

and customary

beginning and ending of the

days

of

common

labour

and

business

in

the

nation

where

we

live,

such should be

the

beginning

and ending

of

the Lord's -day, or day of rest.

The

one

day

of rest

answers to the

six

days

of labour

in

the

words

of

the

fourth

command,

and

must

begin

and

end

like them.

The

Jews

began

their

day

at

the evening

er

setting

sub, and

it

ended

the

next

evening.

The

nations of

Eu-

rope

where

we

dwell begin

and

end

the day

at

twelve

o'clock

at

midnight. But

as

the design

of rest and

wor.

.

ship

on

the

Lord's-day

is

to

bear

a

proportion

of one in

seven to the business

and labours of

life

on

the

other

six

days,

we

may

reasonably suppose

that

the command ne-

ver requires

any thing more, than

that

the

same hours be

spent

at

home or abroad,

in

public or private, for

the'

general purposes of

religion

upon the Lord's

-day, which

are

spent

in

the common

affairs

of

life

on

other

days

;

and

consequently

that

the

time which

is

devoted to

eat-

ing,

and

sleeping,

and

the necessities

of nature and short

intervals

of

refreshment

on

other

days, may be

employed

to the

same

purposes

on this day also.

Public

worship

seems to be

the

chief

design

of the

day

;

but

when

we

are not

engaged

in

public

worship,

we

need not

be,

and

indeed

we

ought

not

to

be,

idle,

but

we

should

employ,

ourselves,

as

far

as

health and other circumstances

will

allow, in

reading

or

hearing

divine things

at

home, in

prayer,

singing psalms,

alone

or

in

families, in

medita-

tion,

in

holy conferences,

or any

of

those actions which

have a more

direct

and

immediate

tendency

to the know-

ledge

and

worship

of God,

to the

improvement of

reli-

gion and virtue, and to

our preparation

for the

everlast-

ing

rest and

worship

of

heaven.

Question

IV.

"

May

we

not labour

or work

on the

Lord's

-day to preserve

ourselves from

imminent dangers