PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Sabbatical ltzltituli()llS
oy silence. If sects and schisms be an evil, they are
as much to b~ avoided by one side as the other. If
se(taries are blamed for taking unnecessary oience,
established churches are no less culpable for unneces.
sarily giving it.: they are bound at least to produce
a command, or a reason of equivalent utility, for
shutting out any from their communion, by mixing
with divine worship dOCIrines, which, whether true 0·:
.false, are unconnected, i:l their nature., with devotioJ j.
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE USE OF S~~BBl\. TICAL INS'U r i1U_
rfIONS.
AN assembly cannot be c.oUected, unle.s the
.ime of assembling be fixed and known before;nand ;
and if the design of the assembly require th;.t it be
peld frequently, it is easiest thai: it should r ~turn at
stated inten"als. 1"hi~ produces a necessitf of ap.
propriating set seasons to the social offices of religion.
1t is also highly convenient, that the sonIc ~ea~ons be
observed throu~hout the -COU!ltry, that a~1 may be
employed, or all at leisure together: for. if tht> re­
.cess from v;orldly occupati()n be not gl.!neral, one
man's business will perpetually interfere with anoth ..
er lnan's de,·otio11; the buyer will be c-llli:1g at the
shop \vhen the seller is gone to church. rl--his part,
therefore, of -the religious distinction o.f seasons,
namely, a general intermission of labour and business
during times previously set apart for the exercise
of public worship, is founded in the reasons which
make public worship itself a ~\lty. But the celebra ..
tion of divine service never occupies the whole day.
What remains, therefore, of Sunday, beside the
part of it employed at church, must be considered
as a mere rest from the ordinary occupations of civil
-life; and he who would defend the institution, as it is
required by law to be observed in Christian countries,
unless he can produee a conlmand for a Christiaq,
&abbath, must point out the uses of it in that view ..