In the latter part of December, 1848, I was unexpectedly called upon to defend the practice of keeping holy the first day of the week, in place of the seventh. I had been taught from my infancy, that the moral law, "summarily comprehended in the ten commandments," is the only rule of moral conduct; and I had supposed, that it required me and everybody else to keep the "Christian Sabbath" on the first day of the week. On examination, however, I was forced to the conclusion, that the fourth commandment enjoins nothing else than the sanctification of the seventh day. Of course, then, I must either renounce this precept, as a part of the rule of my life, or endeavor to keep holy the seventh day of the week. The former I might not dare to do; the latter I knew I might _attempt_, without offending God, or insulting the majesty of his law. The question then came up, Is there any scripture authority for keeping holy the first day? Does God require it? I knew very well, that if God does _not_ require it, I could not, as a Reformed Presbyterian, bind my conscience to it. I took up the Bible, resolved on a prayerful and thorough search. I wished to assure myself of the divine authority of the first day, even after I was satisfied that the claims of the seventh are indisputable. But how was it possible to gain this object? Every text to which I was referred for proof seemed to lack the very thing that I most wanted, _a certain testimony to the institution of a Christian Sabbath_. I reasoned thus:--The fact that Christ appeared once or twice to his disciples on the first day of the week, and the fact that the disciples met _once_ on that day to break bread, and the fact that Paul commanded the Corinthians and Galatians to 'lay by them in store' on that day, as God had prospered them--these facts, with a few others, _might_ shed light on the _institution_, if _one single text_ could be found, to prove its _existence_. But if this can not be found, they do not touch the question at issue. And how I did long for that _one text_! How I chided with the Apostles for not having made known more clearly what I had determined to be the will of God! Never did Rachel mourn for her children, as I mourned for that _one text_; but, like her, I could not be comforted, because _it was not_! I was thus driven to the conclusion, that, should I make conscience of keeping holy the first day of the week, I would offer to God a service that he did not require, and could not accept at my hands.