MR. TAYLOR' S THIRD REPLY. 253 



Saturday, the only Apo^tolic Sabbath. — Luke xxiii. — Acts xiii. — xv. 



^^Sabbath dajs/^ If this does not refer to the first day, it is 

 positive proof that Sunday was not then a ^' Sabbath;'^ if it 

 does refer to the first day, it is equally positive proof that Sun- 

 day was not then a " Sabbath/' 



Secondli/; I shall establish that Satiirday alone is the Sab- 

 bath recognized in the New Testament. 



1. It is unquestioned that, during the ministry of Jesus, the 

 only day characterized by that name is ^'day the seventh'' of 

 the week. {Matt. xii. 2 ; Marh iii. 2 ; vi. 2 ; Luke iv. 16 ; 

 xiii. 10, 14; JoJi^i v. 10, 16; ix. 14, 16, &c.) 



2. After the crucifixion (indeed, on the very day following 

 that event — Saturday), we read that the disciples "rested 

 the Sabbath day, according to the coinmandment.^' (Luke 

 xxiii. 56.) A satisfactory proof, as my friend J. N. B. has 

 justly remarked, '^ that up to that time the Saturday Sabbath 

 was held sacred by Chrisfs disciples.^' (^. 183.) I thank him 

 for this frank avowal (demanded alike by his intelligence and 

 his candor) that it was " Saturday" which was observed " ac- 

 cording to the commandment." 



3. The next mention we find of the Sabbath is in Acts xiii. 

 14, after an interval of more than ten years from the preceding 

 instance, a lapse of time fully adequate to the complete estab- 

 lishment and universal recognition of a new Sabbath, had any 

 such been contemplated; but, as we have seen, none such was 

 knoicn! If any one could be artless enough to question 

 whether the day mentioned in this text was Saturday, the cir- 

 cumstance of the open synagogue will establish, above all con- 

 troversy, that " the Sabbath day'' here noticed could have been 

 no other than ^' the seventh day." 



4. Overlooking the week immediately succeedino- to this 

 (verse 44), the next mention of the Sabbath is in Acts xv. 21 

 seven years later. On this oecasion the liberal-minded bishop 

 of the Jerusalem church, in warmly advocating before the 

 general council there assembled the exemption of Gentile be- 

 lievers from the observance of the Mosaic institutions (see ante, 



22 



