The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Ver. 1. The first day of the week] Now the Christian sabbath, in honour of Christ's resurrection, and therefore called "the Lord's day,"Revelation 1:10; as the holy supper is called "the Lord's supper," 1 Corinthians 11:20; as the saints are called κυριακη, kirk, church. The title of the 24th Psalm is, "A Psalm of David." To this the Greek addeth, "Of the first day of the week," meaning that this psalm was wont to be sung in the temple every first day of the week, which now is the Christian's sabbath; and of Christ, his Church and kingdom, and the entertaining of his gospel, doth this psalm intreat. Let every one of us keep sabbath, saith Ignatius, in a spiritual manner, rejoicing in the meditation of the law, not in the rest of the body. εκαστος ημων σαββατιζετω πνευματικως. (Ignat. ep. iii. ad Magnes.) And in those primitive times when the question was asked, Servasti Dominicum? Hast thou kept the Lord's day? the answer was returned, Christianus sum, intermittere non possum: I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. The Jews gave that honour to their sabbath, that they named from it all the other days of the week, as the first, second, third day, &c., of the sabbath, which we from the heathens (a worse pattern) name Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, &c. Ex iustituto Mercurii Trismegisti.