v: 5, 6.--"One man esteemeth
one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man
be persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it
unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth
not regard it." Does the apostle here mean to say, that under the new or
Christian dispensation it is a matter of indifference which day of the
week is kept as a Sabbath, or whether any Sabbath at all is kept? Was
that institution which the people of God had been commanded to call a
delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, now to be esteemed of so
carnal a nature as to be ranked among [10]the things which Jesus "took
out of the way, nailing it to his cross." If this be true, then has
Jesus, in the same manner, abolished the eight last verses in the
fifty-eighth of Isaiah, and the 2d, 6th and 7th verses of the 56th
chapter have no reference to the Gentile since the crucifixion. O Lord
help us rightly to understand and divide thy word. But is it not evident
from the four first verses in the same chapter of Romans, that Paul is
speaking of feast days; giving them again in substance the decrees which
had been given by the Apostles in their first conference, in A. D. 51,
held at Jerusalem. See Acts xv: 19. James proposes their letter to the
Gentiles should be "that they abstain from pollution of Idols, and from
fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood;" to which the
conference all agreed. Now please read their unanimous _decrees_ (xvi:
4,) from twenty-three to thirty verses. "For it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary
things." "That ye abstain from meats offered to Idols, and from blood,
and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if ye keep
yourselves ye shall do well." Reading along to the 13th of the next
chapter, we find Paul establishing the Churches with these decrees; (see
4, 5,) and at Philippi he holds his meeting, (not in the Jews Synagogue)
but at the river's side, on the _Sabbath_ day. A little from this it is
said that Paul is in Thesalonica preaching on the Sabbath days. Luke
says this was his _manner_! What was it? Why, to preach on the Sabbath
days, (not 1st days.) Observe here was three Sabbaths in succession.
xvii: 2. A little while from this Paul locates himself in Corinth, and
there preaches to the Jews and Greeks (or Gentiles) a year and six
months _every Sabbath_. Now this must h