found, from subsequent ecclesiastical history, that the first day, called Sunday and Lord's day, was not regarded by Christians in the first centuries after the apostles as _a Sabbath_, nor as _substituted therefore_, but only as a _festival_ in commemoration of the resurrection--a _festival_ observed in connection with the Sabbath, but not accompanied with a _resting from worldly labor_, till the time of Constantine the Great; yea, if but a part of those who are considered experimental Christians, look upon it _now_ as properly _a Sabbath_, or day of _holy rest_, while others regard it merely as a day for _public worship_, and even such as call it a Sabbath conceive, in many instances, that the _strict_ observance formerly required is somewhat _modified_; we can easily perceive, that it wants that _explicit sanction_--that _high_ and _overpowering authority_--which will be likely to awe the public into obedience--which is necessary, indeed, to give Christians themselves a proper sense of its sanctity, and of the evil of its desecration--to induce them "not to do their own ways, nor to find their own pleasure, nor to speak their own words," in it. In vain do its friends procure for it the resolutions of churches and synods, the essays of the learned, and the decrees of the State; if it fails of being expressly supported by the supreme authority of God, to whom all must render a final and strict account, it will lack the main motive to obedience--it will be unattended with that power which, above all others, acts upon the conscience, and makes men feel their obligation. And as such authority does not pertain to a first-day Sabbath, but is limited to the seventh day, it is manifest that no thorough check to Sabbath desecration can be imposed, till men change their views and practice, and place the institution on its original and proper basis.