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and known more of what was at that time taking place, as when they did watch they saw their MASTER'S glory. It may be so with us. We see here, in this sanctuary, what to the careless appears to be but a splendid room. We see in the font nothing more than a basin of stone. We see in the altar nothing more than a decorated table. But if we are watchers; if we watch unto prayer, and give our minds unto meditation, we shall then penetrate below the surface. We shall, with the eye of faith, see the glory of the LORD filling the House of the LORD'. We shall behold the regenerating SPIRIT acting at the Font2. We shall behold the great HIGH PRIEST, the one, the only SAVIOUR, ready to bless us at the Altar3. We shall look on the things which are temporal and visible, but we shall be in communion with the things that are invisible and eternal. then, my Brethren, Watch and pray!

Watch,

2 Gen. i. 2. Heb. x. 22.

' 1 Kings, viii. 11.

3

John, vi.

SERMON X.

THE LORD'S DAY.

COLOSSIANS, II. 16, 17.

"Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come."

THAT the first day of every week should be devoted to GOD and the services of religion, works only of charity and necessity being permitted, this is a point upon which all parties and persons, in this country, seem, at this time, to be agreed. There may be a difference of opinion as to the propriety of making the civil laws more stringent upon that subject; but no one professing Christianity wishes to relax the laws as they now are.

Again there may be some

dispute as to the best mode of observing the day, but as to the fact that the first day of the week ought to be kept as a Holy Day there seems to be no controversy.

To the serious thinker who investigates this subject, this unanimity of sentiment among all classes, persons, denominations, and persuasions calling themselves Christians, must appear the more remarkable, because there are many other duties for which much higher sanction can be produced from Scripture on which such unanimity is not found to exist. If men reply sincerely to the question, 'Why do you observe so strictly the LORD's Day?' the answer must generally be, Because I have been taught from my childhood to regard that day as holy; because I see it to be so regarded by religious persons around me; because I feel that in acting contrary to this general practice I should be doing wrong. There is, in short, a traditionary reverence for this institution. We see in its observance a remarkable instance of the silent force of custom and tradition; and we can always reply to gainsayers who ask our reason for this observance, "It is the custom of our Church and of all the Churches of GOD". Much more than this may

1 1 Cor. xi. 16.

be said on the subject, but before we proceed to the further investigation of it, let us examine what is asserted with respect to it by those who set out with calling upon men to be guided by the Bible, and by the Bible exclusively of all other modes of ascertaining the Divine Will, and then insist upon the LORD's Day being kept with all the strictness of a Jewish Sabbath1.

For this purpose they quote the Fourth Commandment as given in the Twentieth Chapter of Exodus, and maintain that this commandment, as one of the ten, is still obligatory. But what says the Fourth Commandment? It says, indeed "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day"; but then it expressly adds, "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD"; "the LORD blessed the seventh day and hallowed it". Now by the Jews this commandment is kept; they observe the Sabbath on the seventh or last day of the week, Saturday. But where do we find any denomination of Christians so doing? There have been Christian sects which have done so; but if there be any such now,

obscurity as not to be known.

they are in such

Indeed, men are

not likely to subject themselves, in these days, to

Exod. xx. 10.; xxxi. 15.; xxxv, 2. Lev. xxiii. 2.

Deut. v. 14.

great inconvenience for their religious principles; and as the inconvenience would be great, were Christians to be divided in their practice in this respect, we do not expect the custom extensively to prevail of keeping the Sabbath on the Saturday.

We see, then, that a reference to the Fourth Commandment is insufficient to establish the sanctity of the LORD's Day. The plain Christian is referred to the Fourth Commandment, but that Commandment his very teacher violates. The Fourth Commandment directs the observance of a particular day; the seventh day of the week. And if you neglect, therefore, to observe that special day, but still hold the Commandment to be binding, you must bring forward some passages of Scripture which expressly state that the day has been changed by that same Divine authority by which it was originally fixed. When was that change of day enacted? Where are the passages of Scripture which say, Remember that thou keep holy, not the seventh, but the FIRST DAY of the week?

Now, the usual answer given to these questions is this: It appears from Scripture that the Apostles and first Christians were accustomed to come together for public Worship on the first

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