creation of the world. The Sabbath, therefore, waited a day for the triumph of its divine Lord, and then took the precedence, and led on the other days. In all these dispensations, the proportion of time dedicated to the immediate service of God, in which the substance of the command lay, remained the same, as well as the anticipation and pledge of that rest in heaven in which our Sabbaths are to terminate.

And thus all the obligations that can combine to enforce a moral command on man, have been found to unite in the case of the Christian Sabbath. The argument has gone on accumulating through each part of our progress. The objections have not only been overcome, but turned into additional confirmations. We have seen that from the creation to the rest of eternity, a day of weekly repose and religious worship has been appointed for man. We have seen the six days' work laid out, and the seventh day's refreshment enforced by the Almighty; first in his own example, and then by his command. We have discovered the traces of this most ancient of institutions during the patriarchal ages. After the redemption from Egypt we perceived its re-enactment before the law of ceremonies: and its insertion in the moral law, in common with the other primary duties of a responsible creature. It enters the Mosaical economy, not as belonging to it, but as springing, with many other ordinances, from the patriarchal church. As it preceded the existence of the ceremonial dispensation, so it survived its extinction. Even during its passage through the parenthetical and temporary economy, we saw how it lifted up itself on high, above all mere figures and ceremonies. The Savior appears and reverences, honors, distinguishes the Sabbath by his doctrine and his miracles. The ten commandments he recognizes without omission or alteration. As the Jews had fallen into various superstitions contrary to the true import of the law of the Sabbath, he sweeps away these austerities, and leaves it in its genuine simplicity and grace-as being "made for man, and not man for it." He intimates, also, a change to be made in its observance, and claims to be its ruler, sovereign, and Lord. The particular day not being of the essence of the law, it is silently introduced. The very nature of the gospel as an universal religion might seem to

lead to it. The Lord of the Sabbath, he that was greater than the temple, he that wrought in the works of the new creation as Almighty God had in those of the old, laid the grounds for the change before his passion. After his resurrection he established the first day's rest by his gracious appearance on that day, and his mission of the Holy Ghost. The apostles follow their Master's example--they declare in their epistles the Mosaical law abolished. They tolerate indeed, till the destruction of Jerusalem, those who from prejudices and misapprehensions kept the Jewish Sabbath, and they attend the synagogues in order to meet the Jews and proclaim the gospel, but they themselves honor the Christian Sabbath; and, after the abolition of the Mosaical polity and state, they leave it as the badge of our faith in Christ, as our protest against Judaism, as our season of Paradisaical and Patriarchal repose transferred to the day of the gospel; as our pledge and anticipation of the rest and salvation of heaven -and they charge the universal church to celebrate on that day, not only the glories of creation, the blessings of redemption, and the hopes of a heavenly felicity, but the triumph of the Redeemer, in which they centre, and by which they are secured.

WISDOM AND GOODNESS

Let us then, in conclusion-I. ADORE in solemn acts of thanksgiving and praise, THE OF THAT GOD, who, seeing the end from the beginning, thus laid out the bountiful provision for man's religious repose in his first creation, carried it through all the dispensations of his mercy, and revived it with so many advantages in the Christian church! Yes; we magnify thy counsels of grace, Thou only wise God; we see something of that manifold and varied wisdom and prudence, with which thou hast abounded towards us. We glorify thy name not only for the revelation of thy grace in Christ Jesus, and for all the dispensations of it since the world began, but for that attendant ordinance which gives us time to meditate upon them, and to repose in Thee our great and final end. We discern the footsteps of an infinite wisdom, in the magnitude and boldness of that record of the institution of a Sabbath, which the six days' work exhibited; and which is large and clear enough to catch. every eye, to penetrate every conscience, to decide every

honest doubt. We adore Thee yet more, for that regard to human infirmity, which led thee to insert this command in the moral law, and thus bind it upon the hearts of the whole human race, in common with their other most indispensable duties. And in thy gospel, thy wisdom still strikes our view with brighter splendor, in the gracious explications of thy law, uttered by the lips of our Redeemer, and in the gradual and silent introduction of the change of the day of its observance made by thy apostles. O, teach us to adore thee, in this thy appointment! Let us believe, that every degree of evidence of the divine origin and permanent obligation of thy day, which is good for us in this imperfect state of trial, has been granted; that more evidence would probably have been unnecessary and injurious; and do thou cause us to acquiesce in thy mode of revealing this day of rest, in thy manner of transferring it to the day of the glorious resurrection of our Lord, and in the motives which thou hast accumulated, to urge us to sanctify it aright!

II. But let us notice as a further thought by way of application, that the changes in the circumstances of the law of the Sabbath HAVE SPRUNG UP FROM NEW BENEFITS CONFERRED ON MAN, and should increase his sense of obligation and gratitude. Every change is a fresh blessing. Every new dispensation is a new grace. Every alteration is an advance in the developement of redemption. on the one hand, and in the uses and importance of the institution on the other. The various modes in which the Sabbath has been presented to man, have not been isolated, much less arbitrary enactments, but economies of mercy, divisions in the grand progress of man's salvation by Jesus Christ, new pledges of "the rest remaining for the people of God." Every re-enactment, then, has brought with it new bonds, new obligations, new attractions, towards the spiritual observation of the sacred season. Creation poured its first benefits upon man, the offspring of his God, and bound upon him the day of rest, by all the ties of gratitude to an all-bountiful Lord. The separation of a particular family, to be the repository of truth, and the confessors of the one living God, amidst surrounding idolatry, brought with it new calls to duty, new reasons of religious worship and praise. The covenant of Abraham, the promise

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of "the seed in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed," the imputation of faith to him for righteousness, augmented the obligations of sacrifice, of circumcision, and especially of the Sabbath. The establishment of the Mosaic dispensation on the footing of the redemption of Egypt, and with the promise of the rest in Canaan, placed the Sabbath in yet a new and more inviting light, shed upon it richer grace, made it the commemoration of mightier blessings. The promulgation of the moral law, as connected with the dispensation of Moses, and subservient to the promises of grace typified in that dispensation, was an inconceivable favor to a wandering, and yet responsible creature, uncertain of his duties, surrounded with temptation, lost amidst the corruption and darkness of the world. Every hymn of the royal Psalmist, every prediction of the inspired prophets, augmented the materials of sabbathpraise and meditation, and increased the duty of making such a return of gratitude to God. At last, Messiah appears. Blessed Immanuel, we hail thy birth! Thou art the King, and Priest, and Prophet of an universal dispensation. Thy infinite benefits bind us to thyself. "Whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do every thing to thy glory." All thy mercies flow together into this thy day, which thou hast transferred to be the trophy of thy resurrection. This is the field where all thy blessings flourish; this the scene where all thy operations of grace are carried on; this the season when all thy praises are set forth.

Yes, my brethren, it is to this Savior's love that we owe our Christian Sabbath; it is by this Savior's death and passion, that its duties are bound upon us; it is by this Savior's Spirit, that its consolations are poured into our hearts.

And mark, I entreat you, that in proportion as THE BENEFITS, AND LIBERTY, AND SPIRITUAL CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL ARE MORE EXALTED, so should our hearts catch the intimations of our Lord's will with more alacrity, and fulfil them with warmer delight. He re-enacts not in direct terms his day of rest, because all the previous publications of it will act with a thousandfold more force upon the mind of his true people. He leaves it to be inferred from his own example and doctrine, and that of his apos

tles; because under his gospel the love of his person, name, worship, will be a spontaneous and overflowing principle, dictated by his Spirit bursting forth from every heart which is touched with the benefits of redemption, and constituting the very badge and characteristic of his kingdom.

Here then, we close the first division of our series of discourses--the Divine Authority and Obligation of a weekly day of rest in God, is under all dispensations the same; but under the gospel shines forth with the concentrated light of each preceding period; and is clothed with all the additional majesty which infinite grace and love throw around it. Every thing illustrates the duty, and exalts the privilege of that institution, which before the fall was needful to man; but which, in his corrupted and sinful state, is the grand means of preserving religion in the world; the noblest rite of the Christian faith; the substratum and ground-work on which are erected all the means of grace, and all the hopes of glory.

And let it be remembered, that the objections raised against the several branches of our great argument, having been satisfactorily answered, they should no longer be allowed to harass our minds, or weaken our faith, or contract our obedience. THE FULL AUTHORITY OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTION should be admitted; and our efforts turned to those practical questions, which will be the subject of the remaining division of our discourses.