Chapter XXVII: The Sabbath in America (2)

[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.