with them; and even showed by their own occasional conformity, that they considered their prepossessions to be, under the circumstances, excusable, and in themselves harmless. Besides, as

in the words of Bishop Stillingfleet," "The laws of Moses were incorporated into the very republic of the Jews, and their subsistence and government depended upon them, and their religion and laws were so interwoven one with the other, that one could not be broken off from the other," the Apostles no doubt considered this adherence to the old forms to be a matter of national usage, with which, so long as it was not absolutely anti-Christian, Christianity was not bound to meddle. The Jewish ceremonies, 142 (says one of old), though mortua, were not mortifera. And the same charitable and wise forbearance was exercised even after the destruction of the Temple. The Nazarenes, 143 (a name at first applied to all Christians, but eventually limited to Judaizing Christians, especially those who withdrew to Pella as the last days of Jerusalem seemed nigh), were connived at, and, in their origin at least, considered to be orthodox, on this principle, that they merely took the law upon themselves without making any attempt to impose it on the Gentiles. But forbearance had its limits, even in Apostolic times. St. Paul would not circumcise Titus, who was a Greek; and so the Ebionites of the second century and later, who, besides their other errors,

considered the Sabbath, which they rigorously observed themselves, to be of universal obligation, were held to be heretics. It is one argument14 against the genuineness both of the larger edition. of Ignatius' Epistles and of the document called "the Apostolical Constitutions," that they go counter to the whole stream of ante-Nicene testimony and teaching, the former in asserting that the early Church observed, the latter in asserting that it ought to observe, the Sabbath as well as the Lord's Day. (See Lardner, c. 85, and PseudoIgn. to Magn. μerà тò σaßßarioai, &c.) It is true, again, that other Festivals began to be added to the Christian ritual, and that certain Fasts began to be instituted, probably in development of an idea which is apparent in the New Testament, and which no doubt, under the divine guidance, influenced the Apostles in the choice of the day of the Resurrection as a weekly Christian Festival; that Christ is to be seen in everything, and that His course is a type and allegory and earnest of the Christian's life. But side shoots from a tree, so far from altering the character of the parent stem, rather evidence its vigorous existence, and the distance to which its roots have spread themselves in the adjacent soil.

And what if the Sabbath was considered in the Western Church, (with the exception perhaps of the Church at Milan), to be a Fast, before the end of the third century had quite set in? It was so

considered, not in right of its being a Jewish institution, i.e. not as the Sabbath, but in connexion with something altogether Christian. Friday had become a Fast, in commemoration of our Lord's Crucifixion; bye and bye this Fast was continued into the Saturday. Thus the Sabbath came to be observed by way of inépleois or super-positio, not for its own sake, but as a corollary to the day which preceded it. Somewhat later it formed a recognised part of the discipline and preparation for the Kupiain, the day of joy. The Eastern Church, professedly for reasons of its own, which will be noticed hereafter, but, no doubt, in consequence of the greater proportion of Jewish elements in its composition, gradually came to rank the Sabbath as a Festival, coordinate, or nearly so, with the Lord's Day. It is not exactly known when this became general in that branch of the Church. It may have become so in the ante-Nicene period; but probably, not for some time afterwards. It finds its chief encouragement in the Apostolical Constitutions, which relate principally to the Eastern Church. For the Western practice of fasting on the Sabbath another excuse was discovered in later times: "St. Peter fasted 145 on that day to prepare himself for the dispute with Simon Magus.” With such points, however, as the origin and obligation of Holy Seasons and Holy Days, beyond and besides the Lord's Day, we are not here concerned. The sole object of the latter part of this present

Lecture has been to inquire whether at the end of the Third Century the Lord's Day remained the same simple and unencumbered ordinance which the Apostles beqeathed to the Church. I think we have answered this question in the affirmative. Whether it continued such, in the centuries from that date to the Reformation, I shall consider in the next Lecture.

LECTURE III.

GALATIANS II. 18.

FOR IF I BUILD AGAIN THE THINGS WHICH I DESTROYED, I MAKE MYSELF A TRANSGRESSOR.

Εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα, ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω.

It is very difficult to determine in what manner the celebrated edict of Constantine, which introduces a new era in the history of the Lord's Day, should be regarded, or how his motives should be interpreted. There is scarcely a single portion of it which has not been criticised, and criticised in different ways. The document itself is as follows:

IMPERATOR CONSTANTINUS AUG. HELPIDIO.

Omnes judices 146 urbanæque plebes et cunctarum artium officia venerabili die Solis quiescant. Ruri tamen positi agrorum culturæ liberè licenterque inserviant, quoniam frequenter evenit ut non aptius alio die frumenta sulcis aut vineæ scrobibus mandentur, ne occasione momenti pereat commoditas cœlesti provisione concessa. Dat. Non. Mart. Crispo II. et Constantino II, Coss.

THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE AUG. TO HELPIDIUS.

On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in the work of cultivation may freely and lawfully continue