apart Monday, or Tuesday, or any other day to God's service, as well
as Sunday; and so, by their own argument, the Lord's Day is no more
moral than any other day of the week. Their third proof is from the
title or name, _Lord's Day_, which (say they) cannot be for any other
reason, but because it is of the Lord's institution. We answer, this
is false; for the Lord's Day was not so called because it was
_instituted by the Lord_, but because it was _dedicated to the Lord_;
as we commonly say, Saint Mary's Church, or Saint Peter's Church;
which no man did ever imagine were built or founded by Saint Mary or
Saint Peter."
Near the close of his book, after having examined each of the
positions here referred to, he comes directly to his design, and
says:--
"In vain, therefore, it is, and most absurd, for you our opponents to
charge us with _befooling and misleading the people_. Your own
_practice_, your own _doctrines_, shall bear witness betwixt us.
"You who say one while, that God did not appoint _the_ seventh day,
the day on which he rested, to be kept holy, but _a_ seventh day, and
so one day in seven be observed, no matter which of them; another
while, that by this commandment God enjoins us to keep holy _the first
day of the week_ on which he _began_ his work of creation--Do you not
_befool and mislead the people_?
"You who (forgetting your own doctrine of the fourth commandment) do
teach, that the keeping holy the first day of the week, or Lord's Day,
was appointed and practised by Christ and his apostles, yet cannot
produce so much as one _example_ for it, much less a _precept_--Do you
not _befool and mislead the people_?
"You who infer, because St. Paul, and the disciples at Troas, spent
the whole night of the first day of the week in praying, preaching,
and heavenly conference, in regard he was to leave them and depart on
the morrow; _therefore_, St. Paul and the disciples at Troas met _that
night_ to keep holy _the day past_; _therefore_ the disciples at Troas
met _every first day of the week_, to keep that day holy; _therefore_
the Church at _Philippi_, the Church in _Cilicia_, and _all_ Christian
Churches, did then keep holy the first day of the week; _therefore all
the apostles_ did constantly keep holy that day; _therefore_ Christ
and his apostles _appointed the first day of the week_ to be for ever
celebrated, instead of the Sabbath--Is not this pitiful logic? Do you
not _befool and mislead the people_?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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