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THE
LORD'S-DAY,
OR
CHRISTIAN
SABBATH.
{SEAM.
VI.
the observation
of
one day in seven,
even
the first day
of
the
week,
for christian worship
;
and they
taught
it
to
the churches."
It
was on
the first day when the disciples
met
together
with
the doors shut for fear of the Jews,
that
the Saviour arose and appeared
to them
more than
once; John
xx.
19-23.
and 26
-30.'
It
was
on this
day
that
pentecost
fell
out
on
that
year, when the
Spirit
was
poured
down
upon the
disciples, as
learned
men
as-
sure
us by
their calculations,
and then were
three thou-
sand
converted at Peter's
sermon
;
Acts
ii.
1---4, 41.
It
was on
the
first day
of
the week when the disciples came
together
to
break
bread
at
Troas, and
Paul
preached to
them
;
Acts
xx. 7.
It
is
on
this day
that
St.
Paul
gives
orders
for
a
collection
for
the saints,
or at least
that
every
one should then
lay
by
him
in
store
for
this
purpose,
in
1
Cor.
xvi.
1,
2.
This
same
order
he gave also
to
the churches of
,Galatia.
Thus
the collection for the
poor,
which was
made
in
the
Jewish
synagogues
on
the
Sabbath,
seems to
be
transferred
to the
first day
of the
week
among christians.
Let
it
he
further.added, that
the
religious
appointment
and
observation
of
the
first
day
of
the
week
was so
uni-
versal and
so well
known,
that
it acquired
an
honourable
title
in
early
times, and
was
called the Lord's
-day;
Rev.
i. 10.
even
as
the breaking
of
bread and
the
drinking
of
wine was called the
Lord's-
supper, both
having
a
refer
-
40
it
ence to
The
appointment
and
honour of our
blessed Savi-
our
;
_1
Cor.
xi.
20, 23.
This practice
also
was
continu-
ed
by
a!Í those who
professed the christian religion
in
the
primitive
times,
and they were
known
and distin
guished from the heathens
as well as
from the
Jews
by
this
particular
character of
observing the Lord's
-day.
If
we
take
all
these things
together, they
give us
a
great
deal
of
reason
to
infer,
that our
blessed
Saviour himself
ap-
pointed
the
celebration of
this
day,
and
gave the
apostles
notice
of
it among the
rest
of
those
things which he
taught
them
in
the
forty days
after
his
resurrection,
when
he appeared
to them,
conversed
with them,
and
instruct-
ed them in things
that pertained
to the kingdom
of God,
or
the
institution
or
support of
this visible
church;
Acts
1.
3.
5.
"
Consider
the reasonableness
and
the necessity
of
such an
appointment
in
order
to keep up
religion
in
the