, it
will be easy to judge whether the unity of the church requires
uniformity in such ordinances." [Note 7]

Here again the Lord's day (_a_) is classed in the category of _human_
ordinances, the observance of which is free, and may differ in
different places.

(_b_) Yet uniformity in general ceremonies is pleasing, such as "the
mass, the Lord's day, and other great festivals."

(_c_) It is classed again with _human_ ordinances which promote good
external discipline among the people.

And now having proved that the lax views of the Christian Sabbath,
charged by the Platform on the Augsburg Confession, are attributed to
it by the learned in Germany generally, that Luther and Melancthon
teach them in their other writings: in view of all these evidences, we
ask every impartial, conscientious reader, whether it is possible to
doubt the accuracy of the positions maintained by the Platform on this
subject--namely, that the Augsburg Confession treats the Sabbath, or
religious observance of the _seventh_ day of the week, as a mere
Jewish institution, an institution appointed of God for the Jews alone;
whilst the propriety of retaining the _Lord's day_ or Christian Sabbath,
as a day of religious observation and worship, in their judgment, rests
on the appointment of the church, and the necessity of having some one
day for the convenience of the people in assembling for public worship.
The act of keeping any one day _entirely_ for religious observance,
they regard as ceremonial and temporary, and the moral or common part
of the precept, as stated in our extract from Melancthon, they resolve
into the general duty of preaching and hearing the gospel, and of
sustaining public assemblies for this purpose; that is, of bearing the
expenses incident to the support of the ministry and the ordinances of
God's house.

"Our American churches, on the contrary, as well as some few in
Germany, believe in the divine institution and obligation of the
Christian Sabbath, or Lord's day, convinced that the Old Testament
Sabbath was not a mere Jewish institution; but that it was appointed by
God at the close of the creative week, when he rested on the seventh
day, and blessed it, and sanctified it, (Gen. ii. 2, 3,) that is, set
it (namely, one whole day in seven,) apart for holy purposes, for
reasons of universal and perpetual nature, Exod. xx. 11. Even in the
re-enactment of it in the Mosaic rode, its original appointment is
acknowledged, '_R