224 ABROGATION OF THE SABBATE. 



No one day more " honored" than another. Five appearances. 



on the same day. He cannot fail " to perceive their force as 

 connected links." So Sunday Sabbatarianism is swimming 

 famously in the gospel waters ! 



Such, then, is the whole amount of Bible evidence (supposed 

 to indicate any recognition of a new " Sabbath/^ by the per- 

 sonal example of Jesus) which the diligence of J. N. B. has 

 been able to collect. 



The relevancy of the passages quoted to the question at issue 

 depends, in his opinion, on their connection as ^' links in a 

 chain of circumstantial evidence;" and from them he deduces 

 two assumptions : first, that Jesus ^' honored'^ a particular day 

 by his presence with his disciples ; and, secondly, that in so 

 doing he designed to establish that day as " the Sahhath of the 

 Christian Dispensation." Both of these assumptions are, how- 

 ever, singularly deficient in proof. No particular day was dis- 

 tinguished by any special " appearances,'^ and least of all can 

 we find in these appearances any indications whatever of a 

 JSahbatic distinction. 



a. Of the five specified apparitions of Jesus to his disciples, 

 after his resurrection (neglecting the indetermiuate instances 

 recorded in 1 Cor. xv. 6 — 8), but a single one was certainly 

 on the first day of tlie weeh ! and that one comprised the various 

 presentations (all casual, individual, and unexpected) necessa- 

 rily occurring on the day of the resurrection ! {Matt. xxviii. 

 9; Marh xvi. 9—12; Lidie xxiv. 15 — 31; Jolm xx. 14.) 



j3. The next appearance (if so I may venture to call what 

 the last evangelist, from its continuity, naturally associates 

 with the preceding) occurred on the eve of Monday. i^Marh 

 xvi. 14 ; Luke xxiv. 36 ; Jolm xx. 19.) 



y. The next appearance, if it took place " after eight days" 

 from the foregoing, was on the eve of Wednesday; if sevcn 

 days after, was on Monday ; and, on either supposition, was 

 certainly not on "■' the first day.'' (John xx. 26.) 



6. The foUoiving appearance also was certainly not on Sun- 

 day (the learned Harmonisfs " uniformity' notwithstanding), 



