_Direct._ I. Be well resolved against the cavils of those carnal men, that would make you believe that the holy spending of the Lord's day is a needless thing.[43] For the name, whether it shall be called the christian sabbath, is not much worth contending about: undoubtedly the name of The Lord's Day, is that which was given it by the Spirit of God, Rev. i. 10, and the ancient christians, who sometimes called it, The Sabbath, by allusion, as they used the names, sacrifice, and altar: the question is not so much of the name as the thing; whether we ought to spend the day in holy exercises, without unnecessary divertisements? And to settle your consciences in this, you have all these evidences at hand. 1. By the confession of all, you have the law of nature to tell you, that God must be openly worshipped, and that some set time should be appointed for his worship. And, whether the fourth commandment be formally in force or abrogated, yet it is commonly agreed on that the parity of reason, and general equity of it, serveth to acquaint us, that it is the will of God, that one day in seven be the least that we destinate to this use: this being then judged a meet proportion by God himself, (even from the creation, and on the account of commemorating the creation,) and christians being no less obliged to take as large a space of time, who have both the creation and redemption to commemorate, and a more excellent manner of worship to perform. 2. It is confessed by all christians that Christ rose on the first day of the week, and appeared to his congregated disciples on that day, and poured out the Holy Ghost upon them on that day; and that the apostles appointed, and the christian churches observed, their assemblies and communion ordinarily on that day; and that these apostles were filled with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, that they might infallibly acquaint the church with the doctrine and will of Jesus Christ, and leave it on record for succeeding ages;[44] and so were intrusted by office, and enabled by gifts, to settle the orders of the gospel church, as Moses did the matters of the tabernacle and worship then; and so that their laws or orders thus settled, were the laws or orders of the Holy Ghost, John xx. 1, 19, 26; Acts ii. 1; xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2; Rev. i. 10; Matt. xxviii. 19, 20; John xvi. 13-15; Rom. xvi. 16; 2 Thess. ii. 15.