MR. TAYLOR' S FIRST REPLY. 33 



The Sabbath as clearl^- abrogated as circumcision. 



Jesse, "To it shall the Gentiles seek ; and Ms rest shall be 

 glorious !" {Isai. xi. 10; 2 Cor. iii. 11.) 



It is true that tlie church at Jerusalem continued to observe 

 the Sabbath, long after this repeal — as it did indeed the whole 

 IMosaic code — the first fifteen Bishops of that church being all 

 circumcised Jews ; but the repeal appears to have been ad- 

 dressed particularly ''unto the brethren which are of the G-en- 

 tiles'^ {Acts XV. 23), and not to the Jews; and accordingly 

 we learn from history that these Gentile Christians hept no 

 Sabbath. They did meet together early on Sunday ^^to break 

 bread" in commemoration of the " resurrection morn'' (appa- 

 rently occupying the remainder of the day with their usual 

 employments), but so far was this day from being regarded as 

 a Sabbath, that the Jewish Christians, while adopting the same 

 practice, still rigidly observed the seventh day in literal obe- 

 dience to the fourth commandment. 



The firm conclusion, then, at which we arrive, is this : that 

 the abrogation of the Sabbålh is as certainly and as distinctly 

 announced by this Jerusalem council, as is the abrogation of 

 circumcision. There is no suo;2;estion that can be offered to 

 preserve its vitality that will not equally apply to the latter. 

 Was the one symbolical ? so was the other ; was the one cere- 

 monial ? so was the other ; was the one unknown to the Greeks ? 

 so was the other ;* was the one excluded by silent neglect ? so 

 was the other; was the one distinctively referred to in the 

 subsequent Epi sties ? so was the other ; is the one abolished ? 



* Circumcision, indeed (although the great seal of the Abrahamic 

 covenant), was even less distinctive of the Israelite than was the Sab- 

 batic institution! Theodoketus, one of the Christian "Fathers," liaS 

 well remarked : "No other nation beside the Jews ever observed the 

 Sabbatic rest : neither did circumcision itself so perfectly distinguish 

 them from other nations as this Sabbath; for the Idumæans (who 

 are descended from Esau), as well as the Ishmaelites, and even the 

 Egyptians, also had circumcision ; but the Jewish nation alone had 

 the institution of the Sabbath." [Commeni. in Ezek. xx.) 



