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OFFICE

OF

PRIVATE DEVOTION

FOR THE

LORD'S DAY.

IN TWO SECTIONS.

SECT. I. ON the LORD'S DAY:-with a Preparative for its devout observance both in public and in private.

SECT. II. Private DEVOTIONS for the MORNING,-AFTERNOON,-and EVENING-of the LORD'S

DAY.

SECTION I.

On the LORD'S DAY:-with a PREPARATIVE for its DEVOUT OBSERVANCE both in public and in private.

Preliminary instructions concerning the observance of the Lord's Day.

THE duty of devoutly observing the Christian sabbath, or Lord's Day, is most strongly enforced by the following considerations, drawn from holy Scripture and the practice of the primitive Church, viz.

1. that God, the Maker of all things, instituted a weekly sabbath, and commanded one day in seven to be kept holy in memory of the creation; p. 168.

2. that Christ, the Saviour of the world, on the first day of the week finished the work of redemption by His resurrection from the dead;-and that the first day, from thenceforth called the Lord's Day, was, in conformity with the doctrine and practice of the Apostles, religiously observed by the primitive Church; p. 169–171.

1. That God instituted a weekly Sabbath &c.

On the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed

the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all his work, which God created and made 1.

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy'.

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God 3.

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you.

Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed*.

2. That on the first day Christ finished the work &c. thenceforth called the Lord's day.

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene'.

The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, peace be unto you.

And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, peace be unto you'.

Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them ®.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day',

1 Gen. ii. 2, 3.
4 Exod. xxxi. 14-17.
7 Ibid. ver. 26.

2 Exod. xx. 8.
5 Mark xvi. 9.
8 Acts xx. 7.

3 Deut. v. 12-14.

6 John xx. 19.

⚫ Rev. i. 10.

If Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins1.

We declare unto you glad tidings; how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee".

This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it 3.

The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath *.

ye.

Concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Upon the day called Sunday all that live either in city or country meet together at the same place, where the writings of the apostles and prophets are read, as much as time will give leave. When the reader has done, the bishop makes a sermon, wherein he instructs the people, and animates them to the practice of such lovely precepts. At the conclusion of this discourse we all rise up together and pray. And prayers being over there is bread, and wine and water offered; and the bishop, as before, sends up prayers and thanksgivings with all the fervency he is able; and the people all conclude with the joyful acclamation of Amen. Then the consecrated elements are distributed to, and partaken by all that are present, and sent to the absent, by the hands of the deacons.

1 1 Cor. xv. 17. 2 Acts xiii. 32, 33. 3 Ps. cxviii. 22-24. 4 Mark ii. 27, 28. 51 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. 6 Justin Martyr's Second Apology.-Reeves, p. 98.

Upon Sunday we all assemble, that being the first day in which God set Himself to work upon the dark void, in order to make the world; and in which Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead. For the day before Saturday He was crucified; and the day after, which is Sunday, He appeared to His apostles and disciples, and taught them what I have now proposed to your consideration 1.

A preparative to the observance of the Lord's day, in public and private.

THE devout reader needs not to be told, that the rest of the Christian sabbath is not such a strict ceremonial rest as was enjoined the Jews, but purely a religious rest, or a cessation from the works of our ordinary callings to the end that we may have more leisure to attend upon God, and the concerns of our souls, in a diligent and conscientious performance of the more solemn duties of religion. He will consider likewise, that though it is highly fitting that we enlarge our private devotions on this day, (God having expressly appropriated it to His peculiar service;) yet they must never prove an occasion of our neglecting any part of the public worship; in a due attendance on which the sanctification of the Lord's day principally consists.But because the benefit we shall receive from our public devotions depends, in a great measure, upon the preparation of our minds before we enter upon them, and this preparation properly belongs to the duties of the closet, some passages of Scripture relating-to the public worship of God,-and the sacredness of such places as are set apart for that purpose,are here inserted, together with a declaration of God's

1 Justin Martyr's Apology.—Reeves, p. 99.

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