RESURRECTION RESURRECTION actually deserved; and that, if the reprover knew which proves its identity; it is the same body that all, whether the reproof would not be sharper is born that dies, and the same that dies that shall than what it is.-3. Whether, if taken humbly rise again; so that Mr. Locke's objection to the and patiently, it will not be of great advantage to idea of the same body is a mere quibble.-3. The us.-4. That it is nothing but pride to suppose resurrection will be at the command of Christ, that we are never to be the subjects of reproof, and by his power, John v. 28, 29.-4. Perhaps, since it is human to err. as to the manner, it will be successive; the dead in Christ rising first, 1 Cor. xv. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 16. This doctrine is of great use and importance. It is one of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; the whole Gospel stands or falls with it. It serves to enlarge our views of the divine perfections. It encourages our faith and trust in God under all the difficulties of life. It has a tendency to regulate our affections and moderate our desires after earthly things. It supports the saints under the loss of near relations, and en RESENTMENT, generally used in an ill sense, implying a determination to return an injury. Dr. Johnson observes, that resentment is a union of sorrow with malignity; a combination of a passion which all endeavour to avoid, with a passion which all concur to detest. The man who retires to meditate mischief, and to exasperate his own rage, whose thoughts are employed only on means of distress and contrivances of ruin, whose mind never pauses from the remembrance of his own sufferings, but to indulge some hope of en-ables them to rejoice in the glorious prospect set joying the calamities of another, may justly be numbered among the most miserable of human beings; among those who are guilty; who have neither the gladness of prosperity, nor the calm of innocence. before them. See Hody on the Resurrection; Pearson on the Creed; Lime Street Lect. ser. 10; Watt's Ontology; Young's Last Day; Locke on the Understanding, l. ii. c. 27; Warburton's Legation of Moses, vol. ii. p. 553, &c.; Bishop Newton's Works, vol. iii. p. 676, 683. RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. Few articles are more important than this. It deserves our particular attention, because it is the grand hinge on which Christianity turns. Hence, says the apostle, he was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification. Infidels, however, have disbelieved it, but with what little rea RESIGNATION, a submission without discontent to the will of God. The obligations to this duty arise from, 1. The perfections of God, Deut. xxxii. 4.-2. The purposes of God, Eph. i. 11.3. The commands of God, Heb. xii. 9.-4. The promises of God, 1 Pet. v. 7.-5. Our own interest, Hos. ii. 14, 15.-6. The prospect of eternal felicity, Heb. iv. 9. See articles AFFLICTION, DESPAIR, and PATIENCE; Worthington m Re-son we nay easily see on considering the subject signation; Grosvenor's Mourner; Brooks's Mute Christian; and books under AFFLICTION. RESTITUTION, that act of justice by which we restore to our neighbour whatever we have unjustly deprived him of, Exod. xxii. 1; Luke xix. 8. Moralists observe respecting restitution, 1. That where it can be made in kind, or the injury can be certainly valued, we are to restore the thing or the value.-2. We are bound to restore the thing with the natural increase of it, that is, to satisfy for the loss sustained in the mean time, and the gain hindered.-3. Where the thing cannot be restored, and the value of it is not certain, we are to give reasonable satisfaction, according to a middle estimation.-4. We are at least to give by way of restitution what the law would give, for that is generally equal, and in most cases rather favourable than rigorous.-5. A man is not only bound to restitution for the injury he did, but for all that directly follows upon the injurious act. For the first injury being wilful, we are supposed to will all that which follows upon it. Tillotson's Sermons, ser. 170, 171; Chillingworth's Works, ser. 7. "If the body of Jesus Christ," says Saurin, were not raised from the dead, it must have been stolen away. But this theft is incredible. Who committed it? The enemies of Jesus Christ Would they have contributed to his glory by countenancing a report of his resurrection? Would his disciples? It is probable they would not, and it is next to certain they could not. How could they have undertaken to remove the body? Frail and timorous creatures, people who fled as soon as they saw him taken into custody; even Peter, the most courageous, trembled at the voice of a servant girl, and three times denied that he knew him. People of this character, would they have dared to resist the authority of the governor? Would they have undertaken to oppose the determination of the Sanhedrim, to force a guard, and to elude or overcome soldiers armed and aware of danger? If Jesus Christ were not risen again (I speak the language of unbelievers,) he had deceived his disciples with vain hopes of his resurrection. How came the disciples not to discover the imposture? Would they have hazarded themselves by undertaking an enterprise so perilous in favour of a man who had so cruelly imposed on their credulity? But were we to grant that they formed the design of removing the body, how could they have executed it? How could sol over-reached by a few timorous people? Either, says St. Augustine, they were asleep or awake; if they were awake, why should they suffer the body to be taken away? If asleep, how could they know that the disciples took it away? How dare they, then, depose that it WAS STOLEN ?" RESURRECTION, a rising again from the state of the dead: generally applied to the resurrection of the last day. This doctrine is argued, 1. From the resurrection of Christ, 1 Cor. xv.-diers armed, and on guard, suffer themselves to be 2. From the doctrines of grace, as union, election, redemption, &c.-3. From Scripture testimonies. Matt. xxii. 23, &c.; Job xix, 25, 27; Is. xxvi. 19; Phil, ii. 20; 1 Cor. xv.; Dan. xii. 2; 1 Thess. iv; 14; Rev. xx. 13.-4. From the general judgment, which of course requires it. As to the nature of this resurrection, it will be, 1. General, Rev, xX. 12, 15; 2 Cor. v. 10.-2. Of the same body. It is true, indeed, that the body has not always the same particles, which are continually changing, but it has always the same constituent parts, The testimony of the apostles furnishes us with arguments, and there are eight considerations which give the evidence sufficient weight. 1. The nature of these witnesses. They were not men of power, riches, eloquence, or credit, to impose RESURRECTION REVELATION upon the world; they were poor and mean.2. The number of these witnesses. See 1 Cor. xv.; Luke xxiv. 34; Mark xvi. 14; Matt. xxviii. 10. It is not likely that a collusion should have been held among so many to support a lie, which would be of no utility to them.-3. The facts themselves which they avow; not suppositions, distant events, or events related by others, but real facts which they saw with their own eyes, 1 John i.-4. The agreement of their evidence they all deposed the same thing.-5. Observe the RETIREMENT, the state of a person who tribunals before which they gave evidence: Jews quits a public station in order to be alone. Reand heathens, philosophers and rabbins, courtiers tirement is of great advantage to a wise man. and lawyers. If they had been impostors, the To him "the hour of solitude is the hour of medifraud certainly would have been discovered.tation. He communes with his own heart. He 6. The place in which they bore their testimony. reviews the actions of his past life. He corrects Not at a distance, where they might not easily what is amiss. He rejoices in what is right; have been detected, if false, but at Jerusalem, in and, wiser by experience, lays the plan of his fothe synagogues, in the pretorium.-7. The time ture life. The great and the noble, the wise and the of this testimony; not years after, but three days learned, the pious and the good, have been lovers after, they declared he was risen; yea, before of serious retirement. On this field the patriot their rage was quelled, while Calvary was yet forms his schemes, the philosopher pursues his dyed with the blood they had spilt. If it had been discoveries, the saint improves himself in wisdom a fraud, it is not likely they would have come for- and goodness. Solitude is the hallowed ground ward in such broad day-light, amidst so much which religion in every age has adopted as its opposition.-8. Lastly, the motives which induced own. There her sacred inspiration is felt, and them to publish the resurrection: not to gain her holy mysteries elevate the soul; there devo fame, riches, glory, profit; no, they exposed them- tion lifts up the voice; there falls the tear of conselves to suffering and death, and proclaimed the trition; there the heart pours itself forth before truth from conviction of its importance and cer- him who made, and him who redeemed it. Apart tainty. from men, we live with nature, and converso with God." Logan's Sermons, vol. ii. ser. 2; Blair's Sermons, ser. 9, vol. i.; Bates's Rural Philosophy; Brewster's Recluse; Zimmerman on Solitude. his work finished; and a future state proved. It is a ground of faith, the basis of hope, a source of consolation, and a stimulus to obedience. See Saurin's Sermons, ser. 8. vol ii.; Robinson's Translation; Ditto, and West on the Resur rection; Cook's Illustration of the general Eri dence establishing the Reality of Christ's Resurrection, p. 323, Ecc. Rev. vol. iv. but especially a small but admirable Essay on the Resurrection of Christ, by Mr. Dore. "Collect," says Saurin, "all these proofs together; consider them in one point of view, and see how many extravagant suppositions must be advanced, if the resurrection of our Saviour be denied. It must be supposed that guards, who had been particularly cautioned by their officers, sat down to sleep; and that, however, they deserved credit when they said the body of Jesus Christ was stolen. It must be supposed that men, who have been imposed on in the most odious and cruel manner in the world, hazarded their dearest enjoyments for the glory of an impostor. It must be supposed that ignorant and illiterate men, who had neither reputation, fortune, nor eloquence, possessed the art of fascinating the eyes of all the church. It must be supposed either that five hundred persons were all deprived of their senses at a time, or that they were all deceived in the plainest matters of fact; or that this multitude of false witnesses had found out the secret of never contradicting themselves or one another, and of being always uniform in their tesmony. It must be supposed that the most expert courts of judicature could not find out a shadow of contradiction in a palpable imposture. It must be supposed that the apostles, sensible men in other cases, chose precisely those places and those times which were most unfavourable to their views. It must be supposed that millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures, and crucifixions, to spread an illusion. It must be supposed that ten thousand miracles were wrought in favour of falsehood, or all these facts must be denied; and then it must be supposed that the apostles were idiots; that the enemies of Christianity were idiots; and that all the primitive Christians were idiots. REVELATION, the act of revealing or making a thing public that was before unknown; it is also used for the discoveries made by God to his prophets, and by them to the world; and more particularly for the books of the Old and New Testaments. A revelation is, in the first place, possible. God may, for any thing we can certainly tell, think proper to make some discovery to his creatures which they knew not before.. As he is a Being of infinite power, we may be assured he cannot be at a loss for means to communicate his will, and that in such a manner as will sufficiently mark it his own.-2. It is desirable. For, whatever the light of nature could do for man before reason was depraved, it is evident that it has done little for man since. Though reason be necessary to examine the authority of divine revelation, yet, in the present state, it is incapable of giving us proper discovenes of God, the way of salvation, or of bringing us into a state of communion with God. It therefore follows.-3. That it is necessary. With out it we can attain to no certain knowledge of God, of Christ, of the Holy Ghost, of pardon, of justification, of sanctification, of happiness, of a future state of rewards and punishments-4. Na revelation, as Mr. Brown observes, relative to the redemption of mankind, could answer its respective ends, unless it were sufficiently marked with internal and external evidences. That the Bible hath internal evidence, is evident from the ideas it gives us of God's perfections, of the law of nature, of redemption, of the state of man, &c. The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ As to its external evidence, it is easily seen by affords us a variety of useful instructions. Here the characters of the men who composed it, the we see evidence of divine power; prophecy ac-miracles wrought, its success, the fulfilment of as complished; the character of Jesus established; predictions, &c.-[See SCRIPTURE.-5. The com Arch. Campbeli m Revelation; Elies on Divine REVENGE means the return of injury for injury, or the infliction of pain on another in consequence of an injury received from him, farther than the just ends of reparation or punishment require. Revenge differs materially from resentment, which rises in the mind immediately on being injured; but revenge is a cool and deliberate wickedness, and is often executed years after the offence is given. By some it is considered as a perversion of anger. Anger, it is said, is a passion given to man for wise and proper purposes, but revenge is the corruption of anger; is unnatural, and therefore ought to be suppressed. It is observable that the proper object of anger is vice; but the object in general of revenge is man. It transfers the hatred due to the vice to the man, to whom it is not due. It is forbidden by the Scriptures, and is unbecoming the character and spirit of a peaceful follower of Jesus Christ. See ANGER. REVEREND, venerable; deserving awe and respect. It is a title of respect given to ecclesias tics. The religious abroad are called reverend fathers; and abbesses, prioresses, &c., reverend mothers. In England, bishops are right reverend, and archbishops most reverend; private clergymen, reverend. In France, before the revolution, their bishops, archbishops, and abbots, were all alike, most reverend. In Scotland, the clergy individually are reverend; a synod is, very reverend; and the general assembly is, venerable. The Dissenters, also, in England have the title of reverend; though some of them suppose the term implies too much to be given to a mere creature, and that of God only it may be said with propriety, "holy and reverend is his name," Ps. cxi. 4. tents of revelation are agreeable to reason. It is true, there are some things above the reach of reason; but a revelation containing such things is no contradiction, as long as it is not against reason for if every thing be rejected which cannot be exactly comprehended, we must become unbelievers at once of almost every thing around us. The doctrines, the institutions, the threatenings, the precepts, the promises, of the Bible, are every way reasonable. The matter, form, and exhibition of revelation are consonant with reaon.-6. The revelation contained in our Bible is perfectly credible. It is an address to the reason, judgment, and affections of men. The Old Testament abounds with the finest specimens of history, sublimity, and interesting scenes of Providence. The facts of the New Testament are supported by undoubted evidence from enemies and friends. The attestations to the early existence of Christianity are numerous from Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenæus, Justin Martyr, and Tatian, who were Christians; and by Tacitus, Suetonius, Serenus, Pliny, &c. who were heathens. [See CHRISTIANITY.]-7. The revelations contained in our Bible are divinely inspired. The matter, the manner, the scope, the predictions, miracles, preservation, &c. &c. all prove this.[See INSPIRATION.]—8. Revelation is intended for universal benefit. It is a common objection to it, that hitherto it has been confined to few, and therefore could not come from God, who is so benevolent; but this mode of arguing will equally hold good against the permission of sin, the inequalities of Providence, the dreadful evils and miseries of mankind, which God could have prevented. It must be farther observed, that none deserve a revelation; that men have despised and abused the early revelations he gave to his people. This revelation, we have reason to believe, shall be made known to mankind. Already it is REVERENCE, awful regard; an act of obeispreading its genuine influence. In the cold re-sance; a submissive and humble deportment. See gions of the north, in the burning regions of the LORD'S NAME TAKEN IN VAIN. south, the Bible begins to be known; and, from RIGHTEOUSNESS, justice, holiness. The the predictions it contains, we believe the glorious righteousness of God is the absolute and essential sun of revelation shall shine and illuminate the perfection of his nature; sometimes it is put for whole globe.-9. The effects of revelation which his justice. The righteousness of Christ denotes have already taken place in the world have been not only his absolute perfection, but is taken for astonishing. In proportion as the Bible has been his perfect obedience to the law, and suffering the known, arts and sciences have been cultivated, penalty thereof in our stead. The righteousness peace and liberty have been diffused, civil and of the law is that obedience which the law remoral obligations have been attended to. Nations quires. The righteousness of faith is the rightehave emerged from ignorance and barbarity, ousness of Christ as received by faith. The saints whole communities have been morally reformed, have a threefold righteousness. 1. The righteousunnatural practices abolished, and wise laws in-ness of their persons, as in Christ, his merit being stituted. Its spiritual effects have been wonderful. Kings and peasants, conquerors and phi losophers, the wise and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, have been brought to the foot of the cross; yea, millions have been enlightened, improved, reformed, and made happy by its influences. Let any one deny this, and he must be an hardened, ignorant infidel indeed. Great is the truth, and must prevail. See Dr. Leland's Necessity of Revelation. "This work," says Mr. Ryland, "has had no answer, and I am persuaded it never will meet with a solid confutation." Halyburton against the Deists; Leland's Vicw of Deistical Writers; Brown's Compendium of Natural and Revealed Religion; Stilling fleet's Origines Sacra, perhaps one of the ablest defences of revealed religion ever written. Delany's Revelation examined with Candour; imputed to them, and they accepted on the account thereof, 2 Cor. v. 21; Eph. v. 27; Is. xlv. 24.-2. The righteousness of their principles being de rived from, and formed according to, the rule of right, Ps. cxix. 11.-3. The righteousness of their lives, produced by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, without which no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xiii. 14; 1 Cor. vi. 11. See IMPUTA TION, JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION; Dickin son's Letters, let. 12; Witherspoon's Essay on Imputed Righteousness; Hervey's Theron and Aspasio; Dr. Owen on Justification; Watts's Works, p. 532. vol. iii. oct. ed.; Jenks on Submission to the Righteousness of God. RITE, a solemn act of religion: an external ceremony. (See CEREMONY. For the rights of the Jews, see Lonoman's Hebrew Ritual; Spencer de Heb. Leg.; Durell on the Mosaic In SABBATARIANS stitution; Bishop Law's Theory of Religion, p. 89. 6th ed.; Godwyn's Moses and Aaron; Ed wards's Surrey of all Religions, vol. i. ch. 9; Jennings's Jewish Antiquities. SABBATARIANS country is estimated at half a million. The have in the United States an archbishop, war resides at Baltimore, and nine bishops. Th sum of $24,000, raised in Europe by the Ass ciation for the Propagation of the Faith, a assigned in 1828, to the missions of America, ta be appropriated more especially to the benefit a the great Valley of the West. They have e RITUAL, a book directing the order and manner to be observed in performing divine service in a particular church, diocese, or the like. ROGERENES, so called from John Rogers, their chief leader. They appeared in New Eng-riodical publications at Charleston, (South Ca land about 1677. The principal distinguishing lina,) Hartford, and Boston. A convention of tenet of this denomination was, that worship prelates met at Baltimore in October, 1992), an performed the first day of the week was a species addressed a pastoral letter to the laity of idolatry which they ought to oppose. In con- United States. The principal matters of err requence of this, they used a variety of measures tion are, the necessity of greatly increasing th to disturb those who were assembled for public number of the priests; the importance t worship on the Lord's day. education of children; influence through m ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN of the press; interpreting the Scriptures THE UNITED STATES. The earliest cording to the unanimous consent of the chuck, settlement of Roman Catholics in this country, adherence to the principles and government a appears to have been made in Maryland. In church; urgency of efforts to disseminate the 1632, a Jesuit accompanied the emigrants to this true faith, &c. On the whole, the state state; and from that date till the period of the prospects of the Papal church in the revolution, the American Catholics in Maryland States are such, that protestants are beginning te and Virginia were constantly served by Jesuit regard them in a very serious light. See Quar missionaries, successively sent from England.-terly Register and Journal of the Ame The Rev. Dr. John Carroll having been elected Education Society for February, 1830-B. the first bishop, by the clergy, through a special ROSARY, a bunch or string of beads on indulgence granted them by the pope, Pius VI., which the Roman Catholics count their praves a see was constituted, and the bishop elect con- ROSICRUCIANS, a name assumed by a secrated in England, August 15, 1790. He had sect or cabal of hermetical philosophers, wh been chosen by twenty-four out of twenty-six arose, as it has been said, or at least became first priests assembled for the purpose. At length, in taken notice of, in Germany, in the beginning 1810, the increase of the Romish communion of the fourteenth century. They bound themhad become so great in the United States, it was selves together by a solemn secret, which they all judged best at Rome to erect the Episcopate of swore inviolably to preserve; and obliged themBaltimore into a Metropolitan or Archi-episcopal selves, at their admission into the order, to a see, and to establish four new suffragan dioceses, strict observance of certain established rulesviz. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Bards- They pretended to know all sciences, and chiefy town, Kentucky. This was, accordingly, carried medicine; whereof they published themselves into effect with great pomp and solemnity. Pre- the restorers. They pretended to be masters of vious to this period, New Orleans had been erect- abundance of important secrets, and ed into a bishopric; and in 1820, those of Rich- others, that of the philosopher's stone; a wand mond and Charleston were added. All these they affirmed to have received by tradition from receive their titles from the places where they are the ancient Egyptians, Chaldeans, the Magi constituted, as in countries connceted with the Gymnosophists. They have been distingusbed Romish government, or as is done in episcopal by several names, accommodated to the even England. Singular, therefore, as is the sound, branches of their doctrine. Because they pre Boston, the capital of the Puritans is designated tend to protract the period of human er as an episcopate subject to Rome, an event doubt means of certain nostrums, and even to s less regarded with triumph at her court. To the youth, they were called Immortales; as they above Episcopal sees, that of Ohio has been sub- tended to know all things, they have been ca sequently added, and is denominated from Cin- Illuminati; and, because they have made ne ap cinnati, the principal town, where the bishop's pearance for several years, unless the sect of like cathedral was consecrated December 17, 1826.—minated on the continent derives its orgin Mobile has also been created an episcopate by them, they have been called the Inte Pius VIII. the present pope. The diocese of Bardstown possesses a Dominican convent, two nunneries, and thirty churches. Nunneries are also connected with most of the other dioceses. The population belonging to the Roman Catholic church in this SABBATARIANS, those who keep the seventh day as the sabbath. They are to be found principally, if not wholly, among the Baptists. They object to the reasons which are generally alleged for keeping the first day; and assert, that the change from the seventh to the first S. thers. Their society is frequently signed by the letters F. R. C. which some among them ates pret Fratres Roris Cocti; it being pretended th the matter of the philosopher's stone is dew cos cocted, exalted, &c. RUSSIAN CHURCH. See GREEK CHURCH was effected by Constantine on his converses to Christianity. The three following proposa contain a summary of their principles as to t article of the sabbath by which they stand tinguished. 1. That God hath required the servation of the seventh, or last day of every SABBATH week, to be observed by mankind universally for the weekly sabbath.-2. That this command of God is perpetually binding on man till time shall be no more.-And, 3. That this sacred rest of the seventh-day sabbath is not (by divine authority) changed from the seventh and last to the first day of the week, or that the Scripture doth no where require the observation of any other day of the week for the weekly sabbath, but the seventh day only. They hold, in common with other Christians, the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity. There are two congregations of the Sabbatarians in London; one among the general Baptists, meeting in Mill Yard; the other among the particular Baptists, in Cripplegate. There are, also, a few to be found in different parts of the kingdom, and some, it is said, in America. A tract, in support of this doctrine, was published by Mr. Cornthwaite, in 1740.– See Evans's Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World; and books under next article. SABBATARIANS IN THE UNITED STATES. The Sabbatarians in this country are more generally known by the name of Se renth-day Baptists, and differ from the Baptists generally in no respect, but in regard to the sabbath, believing that the seventh, and not the first day of the week, is the day which ought to be religiously observed. In 1668, there were a few churches of this connexion in England. The first Sabbatarian church in America, was formed in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1671. They are confined principally to that state. A few years since they numbered about 1000 communicants. In the United States there are about 2000 members united together in an annual conference. Population 10,000.-B. SABBATH, in the Hebrew language, signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week; a day appointed for religious duties, and a total cessation from work, in commemoration of God's resting on the seventh day; and likewise in memorial of the redemption of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. SABBATH Moses to the end of David's reign, which was near 440 years.-4. That the Sabbath was mentioned as a well-known solemnity before the promulgation of the law, Exod. xvi. 23. For the manner in which the Jews kept it, and the awful consequences of neglecting it, we refer the reader to the Old Testament, Lev. xxvi. 34, 35; Neh. xiii. 16, 18; Jer. xvii. 21; Ezek. xx. 16, 17; Num. xv. 23, 36. Under the Christian dispensation, the Sabbath is altered from the seventh to the first day of the week. The arguments for the change are these: 1. As the seventh day was observed by the Jewish church in memory of the rest of God after the works of the creation, and their deliverance from Pharaoh's tyranny, so the first day of the week has always been observed by the Christian church in memory of Christ's resurrection.2. Christ made repeated visits to his disciples on that day.-3. It is called the Lord's day, Rev. i. 10.-4. On this day the apostles were assembled, when the Holy Ghost came down so visibly upon them, to qualify them for the conversion of the world.-5. On this day we find St. Paul preaching at Troas, when the disciples came to break bread.-The directions the apostles give to the Christians plainly allude to their religious assemblies on the first day.-7. Pliny bears witness of the first day of the week being kept as a festival, in honour of the resurrection of Christ; and the primitive Christians kept it in the most solemn manner. These arguments, however, are not satisfactory to some; and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day. However, it may be observed, that it is not so much the precise time that is universally binding, as that one day out of seven is to be regarded. " As it is impossible," says Dr. Doddridge, "certainly to determine which is the seventh day from the creation: and as, in consequence of the spherical form of the earth, and the absurdity of the scheme which supposes it one great plain, the change of place will necessarily occasion some alteration in the time of the beginning and ending of any day in question, it being always at the same time, somewhere or other, sun-rising and sun-setting, noon and midnight, it seems very unreasonable to lay such a stress upon the particular day as some do. It seems abundantly sufficient that there be six days of labour and one of religious rest, which there will be upon the Christian and the Jewish scheme." Concerning the time when the Sabbath was first instituted, there have been different opinions. Some have maintained that the sactification of the seventh day mentioned in Gen. ii. is only there spoken of days, or by anticipation; and is to be understood of the sabbath afterwards enjoined in the wilderness; and that the historian, writing after it was instituted, there gives the reason of its institution; and this is supposed As the sabbath is of divine institution, so it is to be the case, as it is never mentioned during to be kept holy unto the Lord. Numerous have the patriarchal age. But against this sentiment been the days appointed by men for religious serit is urged, 1. That it cannot be easily supposed vices; but these are not binding because of huthat the inspired penman would have mentioned man institution. Not so the sabbath. Hence the sanctification of the seventh day among the the fourth commandment is ushered in with a primeval transactions, if such sanctification had peculiar emphasis-" Remember that thou keep not taken place until 2500 years afterwards.holy the sabbath day." This institution is wise 2. That considering Adam was restored to favour as to its ends: That God may be worshipped; through a Mediator, and a religious service in- man instructed; nations benefited; and families stituted, which man was required to observe, in devoted to the service of God. It is lasting as testimony not only of his dependence on the to its duration. The abolition of it would be Creator, but also of his faith and hope in the unreasonable; unscriptural, Exod. xxxi. 13; and promise, it seems reasonable that an institution every way disadvantageous to the body, to society, so grand and solemn, and so necessary to the to the soul, and even to the brute creation. It is, observance of this service, should be then exist-however, awfully violated by visiting, feasting, ent.-3. That it is no proof against its existence indolence, buying and selling, working, worldly because it is not mentioned in the patriarchal age, amusements, and travelling. "Look into the no more than it is against its existence from streets," says bishop Porteus, "on the Lord's |