91 



7's'. cxviii. — ncither a Snbbath, nor a worship-day inculcatod. 



by the identical original institution which specifies Dec. 22(1 1 

 Two puggcstions might be presentcd in palliation of the change; 

 — tirat, that the institution (or hypothctical statutc) Joes not 

 itself ''fix'' the date December 22d, to any part of the year ; 

 and secondly, that the wholc authority of the one memorial 

 7)1(17/ for sufiicicnt rcasons be transferred to the other; and wo 

 shall still have an annivcrsary, if it be not t/ie anniversary. 



" This is the d((t/ which tlie Lord hath made ; we will 

 rejoice and be glad in it/' (Ps. cxviii. 24.) On this, J. N. 

 Ji. remarks : " The day of Christian worship ia manifestly 

 made to correspond to, and celcbrate that glorious cvent. If 

 sOj then a Sdbhath is predictcd under the gospel dispensation." 

 (p. 51.) Admittiiig his postulate, this is a manifest non fsequi- 

 tur: if a 'May of (Hiristian worship '' were necessarily a 

 divinelt/ appointed Sabbath (the only cssential point), we 

 should ccrtainly have many more than are sct down in tho 

 calendar; but a "Sabbath" can only be cstablished by an 

 explicit and authoritative command, and it can only be "pre- 

 dicted'' (prcdetcrmined) by an C((ually explicit dcaijiKtfion. 

 This text gives not a hint of any '' Habbatli day.'' But in 

 the next place I totally deny the premises. I deny that we 

 have any warrant whatever for assuming that tho passage 

 rcfers to a ''day of Christian worship" — to a weckly or any 

 other periodical recurrcnce of time. The most that my friend 

 can possibly make of his quotation, is that the Psalmist (or 

 the faithful) — gladdcncd by the anticipation of an era ("the 

 Messiuh's cxaltation") — rejoiced in "the day" not as the' 

 commencement of a wee/c, but as the commencemcnt of a dla- 

 pensation.^ 



"If, according to Isaiah (Ixv. 17, 18), the glory of the first 

 creation is so to fade in comparison, as to cease from the com- 



* " A morning tlicn dawnccl," says Birtliop IIounk, *' which is to bo 

 followed by no evcMing ; a bvightcr 8un aroHC upon tho -vvorM, whicli is 

 to sct no more; a 'day' bcgan which will never end." {Commcntary 

 on Ihe 1'mlias: in loco.) 



