IV._ "But we maintain, that the harmony of the church is no more broken by variations in such _human ordinances_, than it is by variations in the natural length of the day in different places.

Yet we like to see the _general ceremonies_ uniformly kept, for the sake of harmony and order, as in our churches, for instance, we retain (behalten) the _mass_, the _Lord's Day_, and _other great festivals_.
"And we approve, all _human ordinances_ which are good and useful, especially those which promote good external discipline among youth and the people generally.

But the inquiry is not, shall human ordinances be observed on account of external discipline and tranquillity?
[sic] The question is altogether different; it is, is the observance of such human ordinances a divine service by which God is reconciled; and that without such ordinances, no one can be righteous before God?
This is the chief inquiry, and when this shall have been finally answered, 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, '_Remember_ the Sabbath day--because in six days God made heaven and earth--and rested on the _seventh; wherefore_ he, (_then_, in the beginning,) _blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it_.' Now this reason has no more reference to the Jews than to any other nation, and if it was sufficient to make the observance of the Sabbath obligatory on them, it must be equally so for all other nations before and after them.
'Since therefore the observance and sanctification of a portion of his time, is based on universal reasons in the nature of man, especially as a religious being, and the proportion of time was fixed at a _seventh_, by the example and precepts of the Creator in the beginning; the Sabbath or religious observance of one day in seven, must be universally obligatory, and the abrogation of the Mosaic ritual, can at most only repeal those ceremonial additions which that ritual made, and must leave the original Sabbath as it found it.

Now whilst the apostles, and first Christians under the inspired guidance, for a season also attended worship on the Jewish Sabbath, they observed the day of the Lord's resurrection, the first day of the week, as their day of special religious convocations; and this _inspired example_ is obligatory on Christians in all ages.

Still the essence of the institution consists, not in the particular day of the week, though that is now fixed, but in the religious observance of one entire day in seven." [Note 8] We do not, indeed, maintain that the conduct of the apostles was inspired on all occasions; but it seems just and necessary to maintain, that when engaged in the specific and appropriate duties of that office, for which they were inspired, they were as much under the guidance of the Spirit in their _actions_, as their words.
On the divine institution and obligation of the Christian Sabbath, we refer the reader to an extended argument in its favor, in the author's Lutheran Manual, pp.