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 ruxnjTJTnruiJxruTruTJTJUTJTnTLruTJxruxruij^^ 
 
 
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 The Sabbath Question 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. R F. Burns. D. D., 
 
 FDRT MASSEY CHURCH, HALIFAX, 
 
 With Appendix containing the Sabbath Bill, 
 
 HALIFAX, N.S.: 
 Printed by William Macnab, 3 Prince Street. 
 
 1889- 
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 The Sabbath Question, 
 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. R. F. Burns. D. D, 
 
 FORT MASSEY CHURCH; HALIFAX, 
 
 With Appendix containing the Sabbath Bill. 
 
 II A L I F AX, N . S . : 
 
 PUINTKI) HV Wll. 1.1AM MACNAli, 3 I'UINCE SlRKKr. 
 
 1889. 
 
Prefatory Note. 
 
 The discussion, that have recently taUen place on the Sabbath 
 Question m Halifax, have revealed the necessity ot ch.rus.ng 
 inrormation upon it, especially as regards its Scnptural Social 
 and Civil bearing.. The acco,npa,.ying Tractate i. a contnbu ,on 
 in this direction. It contains the substance of two out of four 
 discourses, prepared now and previously, and designed orig.nalb^ 
 for purely congregational purposes. In the Appendix will be 
 found the Old Law, and the New Bdl which has just passed 
 both Houses of our Local Legislature without a division. 
 
 Halifax, N. S., 22nd April, 1889. . R- ^^' ^- 
 
THE DIVINE AUTHORITY AND PERIVIANUT OBLIGATION 
 
 OP 
 
 THE SABBATH. 
 
 I. Thk Sabdath is co-eval witli creation. What saith tlie Scripture ? 
 (Gen. ii. 2, 3.) "On the seventh day God ended His work which He had 
 made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He 
 had made ; and God blessed the seventh day and sanctitietl it, because in it 
 lie had rested from all His work which God created and made." 
 
 The Revised Ver.tion uses "finished" for "ended," and "hallowed" for 
 " sanctified,'' but it is in every other respect precisely the same. It is irrele- 
 vant here and now, and would be unprofitable and vain, to discuso the nature 
 of the days, for, whether Dispensations or Literal days, the fact remains 
 that the Creator of tlie world first worked and then rested, and dcsipined 
 His newly-formed creatures in this to copy His example. We believe that 
 this tir.-<t week of the world's history was desi<i;ned to oe a model one, to 
 which the succeeding ones were to be conformed. It was " i)lessed " and 
 "hallowed," or '' sanctified," by Him for their benefit in all time coming. 
 The sixth primordial day closes'with the creation of man, and man's first day 
 on earth was the Sabbath. We find the seventh day what ilesiod calls the 
 " Hieron Hemar"— the sacred day— reverenced by Phcenicians, Kgyptians, 
 Assyrians, Chine.se, Arabs, the Brahmins of India, and Druids of iiritain ; 
 in short, all the leading nations of the world. The famous liaf'kce, in his 
 " Exposition of the System of the World," speaking of tlie weekly division 
 of time, remarks " that it circulates through the ages, mixing it.self with the 
 calendars of different races. The week is perhaps the most ancient and 
 incontestable monument of human knowledge. It appears to point out a 
 common source whence that knowledge proceeded." What that "common 
 source" is, the Bible reveals. This division of time into weeks, and the 
 universality of it, is singular. It is not a natural division. Astronomy does 
 not teach it. It is not suggested, as with the day, the month, the year, by 
 the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, yet, from'the world's dawn, we have 
 glimpses of it. Thus, at the gate of Eden, (Gen. iv. 3) we 'ead of the two 
 brothers bringing their respective offerings to the Lord. We are first told 
 that they worked, then, that they worshipped. When did they worship ? 
 It is written, *' in process of time?' or, as it is in the margin, which has gene- 
 rally the preferable r ading, " at thk end of thk days," i. e., " the last of 
 the days." It seems natural, after telling us what the young shepherd and 
 farmer did on the days of labor, to tell us what they did on the " last of 
 the days," which was the day of Rest. Pa.ssing down the stream of Time to 
 the era of the Deluge, we find yet clearer allusions to this hebdomadal divi- 
 sion which no solar, or lunar, or sidereal revolutions can exj.ilain. 
 
 " For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain on the earth," saith God 
 to Noah, with reference to the coming storm. *' And it came to pass after 
 
 ?7 ^''V. 
 
8KVKN dayp, that the waters," etc. (Cleii. vii. 4-10.) In the after-missions of 
 the Dove, we are informed, twice ever, tliat the i'ntriarcli " stiiyeil yet oriiKit 
 SKVKN flays," devoutly selecting the hkvknih day fur what he deemed a 
 SRcred act. Overleap eight eenturies, and two centuries and a half jtrior to 
 the exodua from Egypt, we find tie crafty Lahan .^aying to Jacob with refer- 
 ence to hi.s younger daughter, Rachel. " Fulfil hkh wkik,"' (den. xxix. 27,) 
 a week of years in this case, but i>loinly .suggested by the now generally 
 recognized week of seven days. So, also, in connect 6t\ with the funeral of 
 Jacob, when Jose])h came to the threshing lloor of Atad, " he made a m<>urn- 
 ing for /lis father hkvicn days," (den. I. 10.) Though these Sabbiitic 
 glimpses in the early Patriarchal timers may ,>-eem to some few and far be- 
 tween, yet be it remembered— 1, that the wliole lii>tory of the world for two 
 thousiiud yearx is compre.sjed into eleven chajjters of (ienesis, and that the 
 very silence and liieonic brevity of Scri])ture are amonp the collateral proofs 
 of its divinity ; 2, that Scrijiture is at least not less silent, for many centu- 
 ries, with reference to other institutions (Circumcision and Sacrifice, for 
 exam|ile), wlio.'^e existence is undeniable ; and 3, that there is a .similar 
 silence re-^ppcting the Sabbnth itself for some 800 j'ears, from the time of 
 Mo.'^es, when our objectors iidniit its existeiu-e, down to that of Isaiah. 
 
 The fact remains unimpeachable that God kejttthe fir.st Sabbath, and there- 
 in left us an example that we f'hould follow Ills stejjs, and that all tiirough 
 the ages, long before Sin or Sinai were reached, a sitecial sacredness attae.lied 
 to the seventh day —of which profane history and tradition furni.*ih corrobo- 
 rative proofs. 
 
 II. Let us now n«tice the circMni.stances connected with the /frnf 
 appenrame of the Snbhafli in the vihlcnicss. You will fiTid them narrated 
 iu the sixteenth chapter of Kxodus In the desert of Sin, the escaped 
 exiles murmur for food. God graciously lets the manna fall around 
 their tents. They go out to gather it, but find it will not keep, over a single 
 night. Nevertheless, when the sixth day comes round, they, of their own 
 accord, lay iu a double supply, which retains its freshness. Information is 
 lodged by the rulers of the coi.^regation — but Mosjs approves of the i)eoi)le'a 
 action— indeed anticipates it as a thing of cour.se— for (says he, verse 23), 
 this is that which the Lord hath said: to-moruow is tiik bkst of thk 
 HOLY Sahbath UNTO THE LoHD. He does not say "shall he"— as if this 
 were its beginning -but "is"— showing that it had existed before. The best 
 proof of this was the people's sallying forth of their own accord, without a 
 liint from anybody— to lay in the extra supply. They did what they were 
 used to. The language of their leader shows it was no new institution, but 
 one with which they were familiar. Had this been its first appearance, it 
 would not have been introduced thus. It would have been proclaimed in a 
 more formal way, and some expression of sentiment or feeling would have 
 been made by the camp of Israel regarding it. That it existed before, ap- 
 pears further from the fact that wdien the Sabbath dawned, Moses sa'.;', " P]at 
 that to-day for to-<l{iy is a Sabbath unto the Lord, — not henceforward, but 
 " is" now. " Six days shall ye gather it, but on the 7th day, which is thk 
 Sabbath, in it there shall he none." Keraonstrating with those careless Jews 
 who broke the Sai)bath by trying to gather the Manna, Moses continues: 
 " See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabl)atli. therefore He giveth you 
 on the .sixth day the Bread of two days. So the people rested on the seventh 
 day." Thus, previous to reaching Sinai and the publication of the Law, i. e., 
 prior to Judaism, we find the " Holy Sabbath " kept, and that in a way tof), 
 wnich convincingly shows that it was no new In.stitution, but one with 
 whose existence and obligations they were perfectly familiar. This, of itself, 
 effectually disposes of its Jewish origin and antecedents. 
 
 III. We are thus brought to "the Lotv as (/iven by Moaes" in which Sab- 
 hath keeping with sundry other duties was inculcated. We are not to suppose 
 that these other duties became binding only then. They were obligatory 
 
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from the I»os'""'"K-'*nt wore fornmliittMl in thn Ton f'niTimdndments. And 
 ao with tlio " Holy Siil)liiitli." To exp )Ui»il the Fourth t/'oimniiinliiioiit would 
 rni|uirH II InrturH of itself. W« ran hut touch on houib siiiient points, ivnd 1, 
 llie wold pri'llxed, " Rpincni/H-r." VVhiit doos tlmt imply '^ Mow is it olse- 
 whorer' "Son, rememhorl" Dons not "Kemnmh«r" thore tako the eye of 
 memory nnd conscietice in Dives, hank over his whole pust life '■f So, where 
 it is written "then shall ye hkmkmukh your own evil ways," Can wo 
 remumher what had no existence in the past:' The reason for the 
 rcmiiKler. in so far as it had special application to the Jews, js ohvious. 
 Uiirini,' their iionda^e in H;,'ypt, wheii compelled hy their hard taskmasters 
 to work every day alike, no marvel, if hy not a few of them the Sahltath had 
 heen for^'tten, aa evidenced hy those who went out on tiie Sahlmth for tlie 
 manna. They needed, therefore, now in a peculiar manner, to liave their minds 
 stirred up hy way of rememhrance. And do not we also ? •' Ilememher " 
 stands not in front of any other of the Commandments, as if to indicate that 
 there is not one of them we are apter to forget, and also the hi|j;h e.stinihte 
 set on it hy its Author. Indeed, in the remarkahle prayer in Nehemiah, 
 (ix. 13, 14), the Sahhath - the Holy Sahhatli — is the only one of tlie 
 Commandments specified, making it a touch stone— as if to indicate 
 that if right in that, we will he in all the rest, and that no greater boon 
 could he given u« : " Thou earnest down upon Mount Sinai and spakeat with 
 them from heaven, and gavest them right judgment and true laws, good 
 statutes and commandments, and inadest known unto them Thy Holy 
 Snbhath.and commandedstthem precepts, and statutes and laws hy the hand 
 of Moses Thy servant." 
 
 2. The reason annexed. Were it a mere Jewish institution, the reason 
 given for its observance would be drawn from some in-ominent event 
 in Jewish History. S(>me one or other of the great d diverances wrought out 
 for God's ancient pe )i)le would he the ground assigneil. It is so in the 
 case of any positive ceremonial observance reijui red i>f them. Something 
 strictly Jewish is adduced: "That it maj' be a sign between me and you, 
 and your seed after you." 
 
 Here, it is quite otherwise. The reason his no Hebrew reference at all. It 
 is of world-wide application. It takes us back to that creation where we 
 found our first argument. It keeps the Sabbath clear of any narrow Jewish 
 peculiarities. It links Sabbath-keeping, not with any event however im- 
 portant in the history of the commonwealth of Israel, but with the sublime 
 scene in the beginning of the Bible when " God rested on the seventh day 
 from all His work which He had made." " For in si.v days the Lord made 
 heaven and earth and rested on the seventh," itc. There would be no special 
 force or propriety in the argument, were remeitibering the Sabbath day a 
 Jewish and not a general duty. 
 
 IV. — This becomes clearer when you take into account the yosiion of the 
 Sabbath. It is not included among Jewish rites and ceremonies at all. 
 It belongs not to the ceremonial, but to the moral law. The Jews had what 
 was known as " Sabbaths " — which were purely ceremonial —certain festivals 
 which were local and temporary (Levit. xxiii, xxix, kc.) ; but what my text 
 calls "Tliy (i. e., God's") Holy Sabbath" was vastly diiferent. The Command- 
 ment res()PCting it, is enshrined amid all the sanctities of the Decalogue. It 
 stands at the close of the first and the commencement of the second table of 
 that great moral code, which is of Divine authority, universal application 
 and permanent obligation. It lies midway between the duties w^e owe to 
 our Creator and to our fellow-creatures. It is surrounded on all sides by 
 duties which belong not to the Jews in particular, but are binding upon 
 all. The other nine commandments of the Decalogue are regarded as of 
 universal obligation. What right have we to take exception to this one ? 
 If we are not bound to " remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy," then 
 we are not bound to perform the duties which the other precepts inculcate 
 
6 
 
 nnd to Avoid tli« sins tlif>y condemn. We liave no rijjtlit or reason to pre- 
 Herve intact iili tlit! rest of the Siuiiitic Code, wiiile wo apply Jeiioiakini s 
 penknife to lliis. .lesiis who came not to "destroy the law, but to fullil," 
 both by precejit ami practii'e sought to restore tlie true foundatiun and 
 features of tlie Salibatli Hn<l to remove tlio Hitualistic rulibifli which the 
 Scrilifis and Pharisees had ^fathered altout it. As they had made vuid th-^ 
 law by liieir traditions, so they inid virtually made void tlu; Sabbath by 
 tlieir iriviiliius nnd vexatious (reremonialisms. Christ fheiofore set Himself 
 to jiresent it in iU true character. This lie woulil not have been at smdi 
 pains til di>, had He not de>ijjjned it to contimu^ The wiwe master buililer 
 IS nut apt carefuHy to re]inir a hou-e he intends to take down. The law 
 of 8inai was but a reproduction, with fresh sanctions, of the law of Kden, 
 and Christ, in His teaching, never hinted a revocation, hut rather a revival 
 of both. The ceremonial laws re.'pectinp the I'assover, IVntecost, I'urim, 
 Tabernacles, the Sabbatical and .lubilee feasts, and such like were never 
 renewed by Christ, or reimposed by His Apostles, Ou the contrary, the 
 decrees of the first christiuu ceuncil announced a release fri m all such bur- 
 dens — "which neither we nor our fathers were able to benr." It is to puch 
 rites and ceiemonies Paul refers where he says : "Ye idiserve days and months 
 anil years, 1 am afraid of you," and "one man esteems one ilay above 
 another, and another esteemeth every ilay alike." He means such feasts as 
 were done away in Christ, like the days and monllis that have crept into 
 certain portions of the <-hurch since tlio Apo.^tolic age, which some oi)serve 
 even more scrupulously than that 'holy sabbath' piven us by (iod. And 
 when the AjKistle tells the christians of Colos.'-e as of Home to " let no man 
 judge them in respect to new moons or holy days or sabbaths,"' he refers 
 exclusively to thu.se Jewish festivals, whicli ceased when the Christian 
 Church was set up. 
 
 The ))lural number "sabbaths," (Sabbaton,) of itself, shows that i tis not 
 God's " holy sabbath " which i? meant, whic h is still further contirmed by 
 the company in which we find these '■ sabbaths " — they being as.>»ociated not 
 with God's holj' sabbath at all, but with " meats and drinks, and new moons 
 and holy days."— Col., ii. 10. 
 
 v. — Tlien consider thk oitJECT.s God's Holy Sabbath is designed to .■sub- 
 serve. These belong not to any particular period or i)eo])le. To give time 
 for phy.'ical. mental and spiritual rest. In this fast age, is not this needed 
 more than ever ? In every jirofession of life and department of business, 
 there is so much tug and toil, such a strain, such a struggle, that the rest 
 of the Sabbath is needed more than ever. , 
 
 Should WK not seek (Jod and serve Him, (|uite a much as the Jews, nay 
 are not our obligations to do so, much greatet than theirs? "Is he the God 
 of the Jews only, is lie not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the (ientiles also" 
 The very constituti )N ok our Bf.in(4 justifies— niy, demands the devoti n 
 of such a portion of our time — to purposes other than those which occupy 
 the ordinary working days. 
 
 VI.— There are scriii>iui'K passagi'S which may be adduced to con- 
 firm our argument, such as these. 1. Mark, ii. 27, where thrist says " The 
 Sabbath was made for man." This imi)lies (a) that the Irahbath was 
 made at the same time as man was made— which we have already (std)- 
 lished by Gen. ii. 3. The Sabhath was not first made, and then man for it- 
 observance ; hut man was tir.«t made, and then the Sahlmth for his benefit, 
 (b) The Sabhath was not mnde for the Jew only, but for " Man," in the widest 
 sense of the term. Man, with his Tiinity of Bodj', ?oul and Spirit, needs the 
 " rest and refreshing'' the Sabhath brings. With the greater innnids on our 
 time and energies, we need much more than our more slow-gidng Fath^'rs the 
 breakwater and breathing time the Sabbath furnishes. 2. Mark ii. 28, " The 
 Son of Man is Lord also of the ~ abhath Day." We never find Cliri.'-t speaking 
 of Himself as Lord of Sacritice, or Circumcibion, or any institution distinctly 
 
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 corj 
 
.lewixli, fiirtlioae wtrf>iuii<injj " tlio tilings .xliiik»Mi" ihni worw to l)o" rfuiovetl." 
 Wlieii, tliert'f"i)re li« hiIIh liiiiiHelf " Lord t)f the .Saliluitli." it is nianiffst tliat 
 tlie Siililiiitli WHS to roiitiniio urnlfT tliat new hid! imblor IMspensiition t)f 
 wliicli li»' is tlie n>(!(»gni /,♦'(! " Lurd.' 3. In coniietttinn with Iho terrihie jimIr- 
 int'iit.-i, wliicli, Wn» than t'Drty venrs nfter liis Ascension, were to overtake 
 .Icriisah'm, Clirist hmvh (in Alatt. xxiv. 20) " Pray ye tliat your MiRlit l)e. not on 
 the Saiima I II Day." Tiiis at least indioatPM that the Sahltath day was to con- 
 tinue a certain nninhi'r of years afier his departure, and if forty, why not as 
 manv iumdreclM 'r* Tlie |irinci|(le is admitted that it was not to jmss ;iway. 
 It was to exist and he riidi),Mti>ry af'er iiis K'dn^j away. IJut, that, it nmy he 
 said, applies to tiie sevenlli day. What ^'round have we for lielievinR that 
 the Sahhath has heon chanyed from the seventh to the first day of the weekp 
 
 On this department of tlio suhject we can hut imlicate the leading steps 
 of the argiinuMil witiiont any fullness of illustration. 
 
 CnAN«ii' OF Day.— 1. Tliere is I'uksi'mitivk evi Itnco for the clianfje. 
 The Sahliatli has in it hoth a moral and j)ositive element. That a seventh 
 portion ot oiii time Ite consecrated to God— ///yf< is .Moral— and admits m t 
 of alleraii.'ti, hut whether it he the seventh or first ilay is Positive — and 
 admits of change. I lenc;? the blessings spoken of i\\ the Kourth Command- 
 ment ntta(di to the institution — not t' the day. The Lord hles.<ied (not the 
 .seventh) lint the "Sahhath Day and hallowed it." We might e.vpect a change 
 — as at the opening of the Christian economy, everything was altered. The 
 change is, after all, in a sense of no vital moment, for whether it he first or 
 seventh, at the heginning or dose of t!ie week, the allotment of time is still 
 suhstantially the same. The Sahhath was originally ajipointed to commem- 
 orate the work of Creation, hut, if in the future, another work was achieved, 
 yet worthier of celebration, the chan<;e could he effected without in the least 
 affecting the integrity of the Institution. Such a work w«s the Redemption 
 of the World by ouv Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In comparison with it, 
 (Meation had no glory. On the seventh day, the ordinary Jewisli Sahhath, 
 .iesus lay in his grave. It was a day of gloom - u > feast, but a fast day. 
 Kut when the Sun of Righteousness that had temjjorarily set amid the dark- 
 ness of the tonil), gloriously ro.se on the first day of the week, there would 
 seem an admirable suitablene.ss in the traiisfer being made— and that in all 
 time C'lniing Christians should gather 
 
 " To Imil Hiy rise, thou better Sun." 
 
 We may in this connexion also note the fact that the penalty is not an un- 
 changing ajjpendi.x to the law. It, too, admits of change without affecting 
 the Conimandment itself. A law may be of jierpetual obligation while its 
 punishmr^nt nmy he discretionally changeable. " Whoso sheddeth man's 
 blood, by wixn shall his blood be shed." This is the Divine Law respecting 
 munier, _\et, as a matter of fact, the death penalty is not always nor every- 
 where infiicted. The Mosa^ic Law visited with temporal death the breaches 
 of the Fifth Commandment as well as the fourth. Those disobedient to their 
 j)arent8 were ordered to be stoned todeath (Dent. xxi. 18-21, Mk. vii. 10.) Has, 
 therefore, the Fifth Commandment been abrogated because such severe tem- 
 poral ])unishments are suspended ? By no means. The penalty may be sus- 
 jiended with the dispensation to which it belongs, while the precept lives on 
 as applicable to all dispen.sations. 
 
 2. There is Puovhktical F^vidrnck in favor of the change of the day. 
 
 («.) Prophets, s])eaking of CJosiiel times, tell of the " Eighth day of the 
 week" (ecpiiv-alent to the first), when the people were to gather for worship 
 under the Christian economy. 
 
 (b.) In the 1 18th Psalni, 22nd verse, the Divinely inspired Psalmist des- 
 cribes the stone which the builders disallowed, made the headstone of the 
 corner. Then in the 24th verse he .says of the day of this wondrous elevation: 
 "This i.s thk day which the Lord hath rnade,"- Peter, (in Acts iv., 
 
8 
 
 11), expressly applies tins to the period of Christ's Resurrection. Of that 
 which was the first day tlierefore is it written: " This (and not the other) 
 is the day which the Lord hath made— let us be glad and rejoice in it," 
 
 3. There is positivk evidence in favor of the chanffe. There are at least 
 links forming a solid chain of circunistiiiitial evidence in its favor, (a) We 
 know what the habit of Jesus was in the davs of His flesh. In Luke iv., 16, 
 we are told "A8 His custom was," Me went into the Synagogue on the 
 Sabbath day. During His life he habituated Himself to atteniling Church 
 and keeping the Sabbiith — i. e., the Jewish Sabl»ath. But after His resurrec- 
 tion, we never find Him doing so, but transferring His regards from the 
 seventh day to the first. Repeatedly on the first Christian Sabbath did He 
 show Himself to His Disciples. "Then tlie same daj' at evening being thk 
 FIRST DAY OF THK WKKK, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and after 
 KiHUT days again (not 7. according to the old usage, hut kioht.) His Dis- 
 ciples were within, and Thomas with them," and the stubborn scepticism of 
 the absent Disciple is made to blush and to bow before " the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus." John x.x. 19.20. (b) Ten days elapse nfter His Ascen- 
 sion, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with 
 one accord in one place. Acts ii. In the plenitude of His gifts, the 
 Holy Ghost was then given, because that Jesus was glorified. Now. 
 be it remembered, this memorable day that witnessed the furmal descent 
 of the spirit and the ingathering as its result of three thuu-<and souls, 
 was the '"first day of the week" The Thirii Person of the Trinity thus 
 endorsing the change, as at least twice previously it had received the 
 endorsation of the Second, while on the first Christian Sabbath He was 
 raised from the dead by the glory of the Fufher. so that each member of 
 the Holy Trinity virtually affixes to the change the seal of His approval. 
 
 (c) We have next the testimony of the Piumitivk Church : 
 
 Nigh thirty years have elapsed since their Lord went away, hut still 
 the Disciples gather together for worship on this new day. Paul sails 
 from Philippi to Troas. He arrives at tlie close of one Sabbath, and 
 waits on to another — knowing that then of their own acc(ud, without 
 any special notice, the scattered Disciples would convene. The first day 
 of the week had got to be the regular gK' tiering time. " We came tn Troas 
 (says Luke in Acts xx. 6, 7,) where we abode seven days, and upmi t/ujirsf. 
 day of the jreeA; when the Disciples came together to break bread, Paul 
 preached to them." They came together now as a regular thing— not on the 
 seventh day — though that was part of the yoke of bondage sought to be re- 
 imposed by Judaizing teachers against which I'aul in passages already con- 
 sidered indignantly protested, but "on the first day .)f the week." Hence 
 Paul when collecting for the poor Jerusalem Saints, gives out his collection 
 for the " first day of the week." 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Ujjon the first day of the 
 week let everyone of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him." 
 
 Towards the clo,se of the first century when John was a prisoner in Pat- 
 mos, the chief revelations with which he was favoured from the e.Ycellent 
 glory were on this day— known now as emphatically— the Lord's Day — " the 
 day which the Lord hath made — wherein we are expected to rejoice and he 
 glad." " I was in the Spirit ou the Loril's Day." 
 
 In the h^pistle of Barnabas, written probably about the beginning of the 
 2nd century, we have these words, ' We keep the 8th (i. e. the 1st) diiy with 
 joyfulness — the day on which Jesus rose from the deid." Ignatius soon 
 after writes. " Let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day — the Resurrec- 
 tion Day, the (fuean and the chief of all the days." Justin Martyr, in his fir.st 
 Apology, written about the middle of the 2nd century, writes, "Sunday is 
 the day on which we all hold common assembly— because Jesus Christ, on 
 theiame day, rose from the dead." 
 
 Irenaeus (we are told by Eusebius the historian), wrote, about the end of 
 the second century, a letter to Victor, P.ishop of Rome, in the name of the 
 
9 
 
 Of that 
 lie other) 
 
 it." 
 
 e at least 
 
 (a) We 
 
 ce iv., 16, 
 
 on the 
 
 a{ Church 
 
 resurrec- 
 
 froin tlie 
 
 (lid He 
 
 eiiig THK 
 
 fnici after 
 
 His Dis- 
 (ticism of 
 ks of the 
 s Ascen- 
 
 a)l with 
 oifts, tlie 
 Now. 
 il (le.*oent 
 iiul SOUlfi, 
 iiity thus 
 iiveil the 
 h He was 
 lenibor of 
 a|>pri)val. 
 
 , hut still 
 'aul sails 
 bath, aiKl 
 , without 
 
 first «lay 
 ) tn Troas 
 •n till first 
 read, I'aul 
 Hit on the 
 , to be re- 
 ■eadv con- 
 ." Hence 
 collection 
 lay of the 
 1 him." 
 3r in Pat- 
 
 excelleut 
 )ay-"the 
 ice and be 
 
 church of Gaul, over which he presided, "in which he maintains the duty of 
 celebratiufif the Mystery of the Resurrection of Our Lord, only on the day of 
 the Lord." 
 
 A testquestion put to the Primitive Christians was "Servasti Dominicum"? 
 " Hast thou observed the Lord's Day h" and the answer of the faitbful was, 
 "1 am a christianan I cannot omit its observance." 
 
 About the same time also, Eusebius informs u*, there were synods and con- 
 vocations respectinjjf the Pasclial controversy, and these "ail unanimously 
 drew up an efclesiastical decree wliich they communicated to ail the churches 
 in all the i)'fecA', " that vhe mystery of Our Lord's Kesur^cition should be cele- 
 brated on no other than the Lord's Day." The chan>,'e was in some cases 
 gradual, liut at last thoroutih and pjeneral. 
 
 There was no direct iejifislation respectiufif the chauo;e from the seventh to 
 the first day, any more than there was on the substitution of Circumcision 
 for Baptism, and the Passover for the Lord's Snipper. It was with the Sabbath 
 as with the Sacraments — very much a dissolving of the one into the other. 
 For a while, in each instance, both Days may have been observed. A judi- 
 cious toleration was allowed. 
 
 " Instead, then, of finding matter for difficulty (as has been said) in this 
 absence of express precei)t on this point, 1 find in it the strongest reasons for 
 satisfaction. In this wiihholding of precept I see the very hand of God. 1 
 see in it bright traces of inlinite wisdom and mercy adopting a course by 
 which the day of the divine rest was changed (umsistently with the best, 
 the eternal good of many of God's ancient people. This course was that of 
 silent change, initiated by the Divine Head of the Church, and perfected by 
 the force of noiselessly-growing and divinely-guided custom — and thus the 
 Christian Sacraments and Sabbaths gradually, silently, inoffensively grew 
 into credit anil reverence, till finally the mighty judgment of God came over 
 the unbelieving body of the nation, swe])t the r loved city and their lingering 
 tribes from their ancient resting i)lace, and left their empty rites and silent 
 Sabbath without observers, to dro]) away and vanish from the new and grow- 
 ingly vigorous fabric t)f the Christian institutes, which then, with their in- 
 cluded Sacraments and Sabbaths, rote peacefully and unopposed into universal 
 obs rvance in the church." 
 
 ling of the 
 day with 
 itius soon 
 Resurrec- 
 in his first 
 Sunday is 
 Christ, on 
 
 he end of 
 me of the 
 
10 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 THE SABBATH L\ ITS CIVIL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS. 
 
 Tlie friends of the Saliliatli are the beat friends cf the woikinKmfin. We 
 firmly believe that Sabbath labor means seven days work for six days wages, 
 and must prematurely break down those who attempt it. We wish to pre- 
 vent such cruelty. The laborers themselves feel it. Saj's one in a certnin line : 
 " I don't 80 much as get time to go to enrly mass, and I am compelled to keep 
 busy from morning till right. I can't refuse them, for if I do I shall lose my 
 business. I wish to heaven that some one would prosecute me ! " Phnjiloyers 
 also find it better. Say 9 a Mine superintendent in California: " When I close 
 the mine on Sablmth regularly I get a better class of workmen, more moral and 
 religious. They do as much work in six days as most others do in seven, take 
 it month in and month out. Then there is no quarrelling; no fighting; no 
 drunkenness. The employes feel an interest in the work, it is money in our 
 pockets to shut down on the Sabbath." John Stuart Mill, whom no one will 
 accuse of religious bigotry, says: " Operatives are perfectly right in thinking 
 that if there were no Sunday rest, seven days' work would have to be tziven 
 for six days' pay." Archdeacon Palej' puts it even move forcibly, thus — long 
 before Mill : " The addition of the seventh day's labor to that ot the other six 
 would have no other effect than to reduce the price. The laborer himself 
 would suffer most and gain nothing, while capital would be proportionately 
 endangered." Bianconi, the great Irish car proinietor, who, from being a 
 needy organ-grinder, rose to be the owner of 1400 horses, would never per- 
 mit one of them to be used on the Sabbath. Said this man of "enormous 
 exi)erience": " I can work a horse eight miles a day, for six days in the 
 week MUCH bkttku than I can six miles a day for seven dnys a week. By 
 not working on Sundays I save twelve i)er cent." Many a poor laboring 
 man can say amen to what a Lothian farmer overheard his ploughman saying 
 as he took the harness off his horse on a Saturday night—' God be thanked, 
 beastie, that there's a Sabbath for you and me." 
 
 Sir Robert Peel, himself a strict keeper of the Sabbath, testified: "I never 
 knew a man escape failure, either in body or mind, who worked seven days 
 in the week." The London " Standard " has a kindred testimony: "We 
 never knew a man to work seven days in the week who did not kill himself 
 or kill his mind. Vr'e believe that the 'dull English Sunday,' as it is stigma- 
 tised by fribbles and by fcxds, is tlie principal cause of the superior health 
 and longevity of the English i)eople." The London "Times" has a tdndred 
 eulogium: " How much we all owe to the observance of Sunday, it would 
 be difRcult to estimate. We may be allowed to think that the day has had 
 an influence on our national cliaracter, and contributed a sobriety, a steadi- 
 ness and a Ihoughtfulness to it, which it would otherwise have wanted." 
 
 Studebake, the famous waggon manufacturer, says: "My observation is, 
 that clerks and mechanics who spend their Sabbaths in church and Sabbath 
 School work are the best fitted for the duties of the office or shop on the 
 Monday morning." Col. Franklin Fairbanks, one of the manufacturers of the 
 "Standard Scales," says: "Those who attend church and Sabliath !?chool 
 on Sunday, are the most valuable to our business. I can tell the difference 
 between them and others by their work in the shop." 
 
 Louis Blanc, the famous radical Frenchman, when vainly trying to save 
 what remained of the Sabbatli law of France, declared "the diminution of 
 the hour's of lal).)r does not involve any diminution of production. In 
 England a workman produces in .'>6 hours as much as a trench workman in 
 7- hours, because his forces are better husbanded " 
 
 W. H. Ryder, D. D., Univer.salist, says: "Sabbath laws are justified 
 in a Republic on the ground of self-pre.servation. They are also Ju.sti- 
 fled by Divine command, and by the experience of mankind. They 
 
11 
 
 mfiii. We 
 lys \vap;es, 
 <h to pre- 
 itnin line: 
 ed to keej) 
 11 lose my 
 ^]mi)i(iyers 
 len 1 oloae 
 moral ami 
 even, takti 
 htinji;; no 
 ey in our 
 
 one will 
 thinking 
 
 ) be uiven 
 has — long 
 3 otlier six 
 ;r himself 
 rtionately 
 11 being a 
 lever per- 
 enornimis 
 ys in the 
 ^eek. By 
 Laboring 
 an saying 
 
 1 thanked, 
 
 " I never 
 veu days 
 y: "We 
 himself 
 8 stigma- 
 or heal til 
 
 kindred 
 
 it would 
 
 has had 
 a steadi- 
 ted." 
 vation is. 
 
 Sabbath 
 on the 
 
 rs of the 
 J^^chool 
 
 ifference 
 
 f to save 
 iition of 
 ion. In 
 kmaii in 
 
 justified 
 3(1 justi- 
 They 
 
 P 
 
 are justified because Sunday is the poor man's day of rest, -which neither 
 wealth nor wickedness has the right to take away. They are justified 
 up(m the principle that the privilege of est for each citizen depends upou a 
 day of rest by all citizens." 
 
 kdward Everett Hale, Unitarian, of Bos-ton, gives no uncertain sound in the 
 following bugle-call for a better Sabbath observance: '' Every conscientious 
 man must make up liis mind whether he thinks jniblic worship one day in 
 seven, a good thing or a bad tiling, and whether he considers this Sunday 
 rest, as i)rotected by slatute, a good thing or a bad thing, and then must 
 make it a matter of action also. He has no right to take the comfort of 
 Sunday and leave the maintaining of Sunday to ministers and church-goers. 
 The profanation of the day by high-minded, moral and intelligent young men 
 in amusement and recreation, helps the way to the secularization of all days. 
 Is the question to be always that miserable (juestion of MY good-' .... 
 Have we come to that !~iuk-hole of hoggishness thht we will do nothing that 
 we a'e not paid for on the nail ? What we say is. that public WMr.*hip is a ne- 
 ces^sity to the noblest life in the community. If you say so, you must act so. 
 You must visilily and with personal sacrifice, enlist yourself on that side. . . 
 The church-bell on Sunday, rings, not for Orthodoxy or .Methodism or Unit- 
 arianism, so much as it rings for public spirit, for mutual regard, for hu- 
 man freedom. If you chose to go sailing all day or to go off to worship God 
 on the mountains all day- as I observe is the cant phrase — or to spend Sunday 
 in lis:. ing or hunting, you do practically all you cau to break down the 
 institution." 
 
 Not merely "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are jn'omoted by 
 " keeping our foot from the Sabbath," but the value of j>roperty, all the ma- 
 terial interests of the community. .Judge Strong of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, quotes with emphasis the saying, " There is a profound politi- 
 cal economy in the (piestion, what would a house and a lot be worth 
 in Sodom without a Sabbath, a church and a preacher," He then goes on to 
 say; " There are unhappy comujunities to be found in our ovn country where 
 Sunday is not observed ns a day of rest for the people ; where it is totally dis- 
 regarded. What is the condition of morals there. What protection is there 
 given to life, the person, or property ? I verily believe were our civil 
 laws prescribing the ob<iervan<'e of Sunday as a day of rest, for all our 
 ])eo])le, universally obeyed, in their true spirit, life and property would be 
 far more secure than thej' are now." 
 
 The illustrious William Ewart Gladstone says: "Believing in the author- 
 ity of the Lord's Day as a religious institution, I must, as a matter of course, 
 desire the recognition of that authority by others. But, over and above this, 
 1 have myself, in the course of a laborious life, signally experienced both its 
 mental and physical benefits. I can hardly overstate its value in this view, 
 and for the interest of the workingmen of this country, alike in these, and 
 in other yet higher respects, there is nothing 1 more anxiously desire than 
 that they should more and \nore highly appreciate the (Uiristian day of rest." 
 Lord Beaconsfield's opinion, given in the House of Lords, may be linked 
 with Gladstone's. " of all Divine Institutions, the most Divine is that which 
 secures a Day of Rest for men. 1 hold it to be the most valuable blessing 
 ever conceded to humanity." 
 
 Is it not worth preserving? "Oh! what a blessing is Sunday (says the 
 celebrated William Wilberforce. the friend of the slave) interpiised between 
 the waves of worldly business like the divine jinth of the Israelites through 
 Jordan I There is nothing in which 1 would advise you to be more strictly 
 conscit'Utious than in keeping the Sabbath holy. I can truly declare that to 
 me the Sabbath has been inuiluable." It was to his unvarying observing of 
 tl e day of rest that he asciibed his continued ability to attend to business so 
 long. Once in 180(1, when parliament was fi.\ed to meet on Monday, Jan. ir», 
 p 8 soon as Wilbeiforce heard of it he immediately wrote a protest to Mr. 
 
12 
 
 Percival, retnonstratinfjf against the Sunday travelling which would thus he 
 ocensioiied, and the day was immediately altered, through his intervention, 
 to ThurBday, the IDth. 
 
 Coleridge once said to a friend on Sunday morning: " 1 feel as if God had, 
 by giving the Sabliatli, given tne fifty-two Spriiigsi in every year." 
 
 AVorkingmen are beginning to find out who their true friemls are, and on 
 whose side the tyranny lies. The Juggernaut Car of IJusiness and of [Measure 
 tiireatens to euish the manhood and tlie morality out of them, and the 
 Simot)m of Worldiiness to blight every Tree in tiie Jiden of (iod and Man that 
 is good for foiid and pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make man 
 wise. Behold the hire of the laborer, kept back by fraud and force, crieth. 
 What doth it cry H One of their own ])oets portrays the overtaxed and 
 underpaid Labourer pouring forth his anxious plaint, despairing of relief : 
 
 " Torn from every tie that gladdens 
 Every humble cottage hearth. 
 Home, a garden, lies unweeded ; 
 Children, Howrets, that, unheei'ed, 
 Rise, uncultured from their birth. 
 
 " Why, ye sordid sons of Mammon, 
 Hew for brother man a tomi) ; 
 Hob his children of the Heaven 
 He could make, one day in seven, 
 Of his poor, but happy JKjme. 
 
 " Know ye, worshippers of pleasure, 
 While, in haste, along the line. 
 Like a Juggernaut you're rnlling^ 
 In ycmr carriage listless lolling. 
 Ye are crushing souls divine." 
 
 It has been wisely remarked that " 77/0 Z«h" of lii-st for All is nccessari/ to 
 the Liberty of Rest for Eiichy In the alenil)ic of that short, suggestive sen- 
 tence, is enclosed the pith, the very elixir of the whole argument for Sabbath 
 legislation. As the London Times puts it, "If the sacred character of Ihe 
 day be once obscured, and human law withdraw its shield, there would not 
 remain behind, any influence strong enough to keep a thrilty tradesman from 
 his counter for twelve hours together. Competition and imitation would at 
 length bring all to the common level of universal profaneness and continuous 
 toil." 
 
 Figures issued by the Lord's Day Observance Society years ago (they are 
 considerably higher now) show that, besides multitudes employed on the 
 Sabbath in connection with newspapers, stage coaches ami steamers, over 
 1(10,000 are employed on railways ; 100,OL)0 on canals and navigable rivers; 
 20,1K)1 in the I'ost Office; 24,000 connected with busses and cabs in London 
 alone ; licensed Postmasters, 80,000 ; on licensed victuallers' in-emises, 
 300,000 ; licenses to trade in snuff and tobacco, "J.'iO.OOO ; 5410 passengers and 
 l(i20 goods trains every Sunday ; besides the vast number employed in glass 
 and gas works, breweries, bake houses and dairy farms. 
 
 In the United States, it is calculated that a million mul a linlf of wage 
 workers, or one in eight families, are deprived of their Rest Day, On the 
 Continent the amount of Sabbath labor is enormous. 
 
 The law serves as a barrier — a breakwater — against the in-rolling tide of 
 the world, a fence around the exjjosed garden of the soul and the family. 
 But for the Sabbath Law and Sabbath Laws, eveiy day would be alike, and 
 80 Stuart Mill's vision be a verity. 
 
13 
 
 1(1 tluis lie 
 ervention, 
 
 f God hiid, 
 
 re, and on 
 )i' IMeasiire 
 1, and the 
 I Miin tliat 
 niiike man 
 rce, crietli. 
 taxed and 
 g (if relief : 
 
 ucesmrji to 
 
 stive sen- 
 
 ir Sahbatii 
 
 ter of llie 
 
 rvoiild not 
 
 man from 
 
 would at 
 
 ontinuous 
 
 (they are 
 ed on the 
 iiers, over 
 le rivers ; 
 n London 
 premises, 
 nt^ers and 
 in 
 
 d 
 
 glass 
 
 /"of wage 
 On the 
 
 IS tide of 
 le family, 
 ill ike, and 
 
 " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," is the motto of the Sabbath Law. It puts 
 all on the same level —preventinp: any man taking undue advantage of his 
 fellow. Why should the Sabbath keeper be punished for his conscientious- 
 ness by having the Jess scrupulous get his correspondence a day ahead P It 
 (tannot be necessary, when in the colossal Capital of the world there i.'^ no 
 Postal delivery. 
 
 The law may servo to clie(;k Sabbath travelling, to reduce it at least to 
 a minimum. The well-known iM . P. for Ivlinburgli, and one of the best 
 statisticians in Britain, the Into Diuuaii Maclaren. brother-in-law of the 
 universally lamented John Bright, declared himself prepared to prove from 
 the booksjof any Sabbnth-tradiiig Kailway Co., that Sabbath traffic diminished 
 instead of increased, the proHtsi. At a great Sabbath Convention held in 
 KS7G, at Geneva, attende<l i)y 400 or 500 delegates, managing and chief-engin- 
 eers of French and Swins Railways conferred together and came to the 
 unanimous finding that Sabbath labour could be greatly abridged on their 
 respective lines without any loss to their corn])anies ; that so far from h)sing 
 they would tind that in the 'keeping of this commandment, there is great 
 reward." 
 
 A remarkable document was published in May, 188.1. which be.'irs on its 
 cover the following statement: " Working class organizations and the Sun- 
 day opening of Museums, list of 2,412 Tnides Unions, Friendly Societies, 
 Working Men's Clubs and Institutes, and other working class organizations 
 having 501,705 members, who have approved the following amendment pro- 
 posed by Mr. Henry Broadhurst, M, F., in the House of Commons on the 
 19th May, 1882. • 
 
 "That in the opinion of this house, it is undesirable that Parliament should 
 further promote the employment of Sunday labour by authorising the opening 
 of Naticmal Museums and Galleries, which are now closed on that day, but 
 that such Museums should be open between the hours of 6 and 10 p. m.,on 
 at least three evenings in each week. Thisre^sult whs all the more striking, 
 that at the same time a determined effort was made, sti etching over f everal 
 months, by a League in London, to obtain signatures on the other side, but 
 did not reach one eighth the numlter, being, for Sunday opening ()2 organ- 
 iiatioiis with 45,482 members, as against 2412 organizations and 501,705 
 members against Sunday opening. It has been proven also, that the Sabbath 
 is the protection of the workman's halt holiday, which continental workmen 
 do not enjoy. Over four /iiillion petitioners have asked Congress for a law 
 prohibiting Sunday trains and other forms of Sabbath desecration in the 
 U. S. 
 
 " Shorten the week," says Proudhom, the French socialist, " by a single day 
 and the labour bears too small a proportion to the rest. Lengthen the week 
 to the same extent and the labour becomes excessive. Establish every three 
 days and a half of rest and you increase by the fraction tlie loss of time, 
 while in severing the natural unity of the day, you break the numerical 
 harmony of things. Accord, on the other hand, 48 hours of rest after 12 
 consecutive days of toil, you kill the man with inertia after having exhausted 
 him with fatigue." 
 
 The London Standard said years ago, " We never knew a man work seven 
 days a week who did not kill himself or kill his mind." An eminent finan- 
 cier who bad to pass through the commercial storm of 183()-7, attributes to 
 his strict observance of the Sabbath, the preservation of his mental balance: 
 " I should have been a dead man had it not been for the Sabbath. Obliged 
 to work from morning to night thro' the whole week, I felt, on Saturday, 
 especirtlly Saturday afternoon, as if I must have rent. It was likegoiiig 
 down into a dense fog— everything looked dark and gloomy, as if nothing 
 could be saved. I dismissed all and kept the Sabbath in the good old way. 
 On Monday it wfis all bright and sunshine. I could see through and I got 
 through. But had it not been for the Sabbath I have no doubt I should have 
 
14 
 
 !ll I 
 
 been iu the grave." Montaletnbert writes : " There ia no religion without 
 worship and no worship without the Sabbath." John Foster declares the 
 day to be *' a remarkable appointment for raising the general tenor of moral 
 existence." Sir Waltor Scott truly said : " Give to the world one half of 
 Sunday, and you will il?/' that religion has no strong hold of the othar." The 
 working man would be made more a slave than ever. At one ot the Pan-Pres- 
 bytrjrian Councils the case was put thus: "The history of our country and 
 our working men would resemhle Samson. It would be a tragedy iu three 
 Acts. The first Act would be the working man resting, like SiUason, in the 
 lap of sensual pleasure. The second would present him grinding at the 
 wheel and treading his monotonous round of '* Work, Work, Woik,'' amid 
 intellectual darkness and moral night. And when once this Avas the case 
 might not the 3rd Act of the uloomy tragedy be expected soon to follow 
 and the working man be seen seizing the pillars of the social edifice and in- 
 volving himself and his oppressors, in a common ruin." 
 
 " It prevents strong temptations to intemperance (says GilfiUan) by giving 
 rest instead of unnatural stimulant to further activity." The Chaplain of the 
 Model Prison, London, says : "We are called to minister to few but Sabbath 
 breakers," and the Chaplain to Clerkenwall testifies, "1 do not recollect a 
 single case of capital offence where the party has not been a Sabbath breaker. 
 Indeed I may say, in reference to prisoners of all classes, that, in 19 cases 
 out of '20, they are persons who have not only neglected the Sabbath, but all 
 religious ordinances." 
 
 " There is not (says a w.)rking m m) a neighborhood, village or township 
 tliat is notable for its profanation of the sacred day, but is proverbial for its 
 poverty and crime." 
 
 French Roman C.itholics, visiting the United States have felt the humaniz- 
 ing and order-fostering iuHuonce of Sabbath ordinances. Pierre Duval 
 writing after a trip thither, expresses himself thu.« : — " When I bethink me 
 that this medley of m n have witlulrawn themselves for prayer and medita- 
 tion, I Confess that I feel myself impresseii. I understand whj' this people 
 is a great pe )ple, I know why, for a century it has been free. As to France, 
 I understand why this people, so in love with liberty, is not yet tree." 
 
 The SaDbath supplies the salt which can alone preserve from corruption 
 the country whose civil institutions are dependent on the people's will. 
 Universal suffrage involves national suicide, unless there be a basis of intelli- 
 gence and integrity. Without the Siibbith these are impossible. 
 
 The necessity of the Sabbath for the preservation of good order an 1 discip- 
 line, is reflected in the order of Abraham Lincoln, dated Nov. 16, I8()2. " The 
 President, Commander-in-Chief of tiie Army and Navy, desires to enjoin 
 the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men, in the mili- 
 tary and naval services." 
 
 In a yet earlier order (of date Sept 0, 1801) six months after the great 
 Civil war broke out, issued by General McCleilan : " The (Jeneral Command- 
 ing regards this as no idle form. One day's rest in seven is necessary to men 
 and animals. More than that, the observance of the Holy Day of the God 
 of Mercy and of Battles, is a sacred duty." 
 
 The illustrious historian, Lord Macaulay, has been (pioted against the 
 Puritans in the mitter of the Sabbath. Would that his splendid eulogy in 
 his Milton Essay had also been quoted ! and likewise a portion of the speech 
 he delivered on the fi )or of tiie llouse of Commons, in July, 184(), in favor 
 of rest for the weary sons of toil — meeting the objection, " If this ten hour 
 law be good for the working people, rely on it, they will themselves establish 
 it without any law." "Why not reason, (answered Macaulay) in the same 
 way about the Sunday ? Why not say, if it be a good thing for the jjeople 
 of London to shut their shops one day in seven, they will find it out, and 
 shut their shops without a law P Sir, the answer is obvious. I have no 
 doubt that if you were to poll the shopkeepers of London, you would find an 
 
 I 
 
15 
 
 igion without 
 declares the 
 enor of moral 
 d one half of 
 leothar." The 
 the I'an-Pres- 
 • oouiitry and 
 Sedy iu threo 
 liiiaaon, in the 
 inding at tlie 
 Woik,'' auiid 
 was the case 
 )on to follow 
 edifice and in- 
 
 ian) by giving 
 :haplain of the 
 ,v hut Sabbath 
 not recollect a 
 bbath breaker, 
 at, in 19 cases 
 bbatii, but all 
 
 ; or township 
 verbial lor its 
 
 the humaniz- 
 I'ierre Duval 
 1 betliink me 
 r and medita- 
 ly this people 
 Aa to France, 
 t tree." 
 
 )ni corruption 
 people's Avill. 
 asis of intelli- 
 sbible. 
 
 ler anldiscip- 
 5, 13()2. "The 
 res to enjoin 
 1, in the mili- 
 
 f ler the great 
 ral Command- 
 pessary to men 
 ly of the God 
 
 I against the 
 ulid eulogy in 
 of the speech 
 184(), in favor 
 this ten hour 
 elves establish 
 in the same 
 or the people 
 d it out, and 
 s. I have no 
 would find an 
 
 'j immense majority, probably a hundred to one, in favor of closing shops on 
 , the Sunday ; and yet, it is absolutely necsssari/ to give to the wish of the majofity 
 the sanction of a law ; for, if there were no such laro, the ininortti/, by opening 
 their shops, would toon force the major ily to do the same." 
 
 Macaulay, on anotlier occasion, remarked: "If the Sunday had not been 
 observeil ai a da^' of rest, but t!ie axe, the spade, the anvil and the loom had 
 been ,it v/ork every day during the past three centuries, I have not the 
 Hmallast doubt that we should have been, at this moment, a poorer people, 
 and a less civilized, than we are." 
 
 In yet another of his memorable speeches he says : " Rely on it, that 
 intense labor beginning too early in life, stunting the growth of the body, 
 •i and of the mind, leaving no time for healthful exercise, leaviug no time for 
 ? intellectual culture, must impair all those high qualities which have made 
 our country great. Ou the other hand, a day of rest recurring in every week 
 must improve the whole man, physically, morally, intellectually, and the 
 improvement of Jie mau will improve all that the man produces." 
 
 Our legislation has been classed with the Blue-laws. It ought to be pretty 
 generally known by this time that the oft-(pioted " Blue-laws" of Connecti- 
 cut are a pure fiction, first published in Load m in 1781 by Samuel Peters, in 
 revenge for being driven from the Colony on account of his obnoxious 
 Foyalism. The Sabbath laws of Connecticut were in some respects less 
 strict than the British laws on which they were founded, and of which they 
 were an improved edition. Strange to say, the model f"r our modern Sab- 
 bath legislation is to be found, not under Puritan rule at all, but in the reign 
 of the rollicking, dissolute Charles II., and when Puritanism was outlawed 
 and ostracised. These laws date back of the Puritan era and i)eyond it. 
 They antedated Puritanism and outlived it. Those passed in the reign of 
 Elizabeth and James I. allow work, but make church-going compulsory. The 
 . Act of Charles ll.'s reign (dated 1670), entitled " An Act for the better ob- 
 servance of the Lord's L»ay," forbad labor, and required the jteople's repair- 
 ing to Church, and " exercising themselves in the duties of piety and true 
 religion, publicly and privately." Our modern Sabbath laws retain the 
 former, but omit the latter element, recognizing their province as having to 
 do with public order, not with private conduct. In every Province of our 
 Dominion, such laws exist, and in every State of the Union, except Louisiana 
 and California and the Territories of Arizona and Idaho. Dominion legisla- 
 tion goes further than our Provincial legislature felt disposed to go tvvo 
 years ago. The expression, in an existing Strtute against Fishing on Sab- 
 bath, which coupled " other apparatus" with fishing by nets, was found 
 ambiguous, and a year ago an Order-in -Council was passed, directly forbid- 
 ding fishing by rod, with tly, alljishiii/ uihatever, in fact, within the three- 
 mile limit, between Saturday night and Monday morning. 
 
 Who would wish for Old Scotia or for New— for Old England or for New 
 — the turmoil and tumult of a Continental Sabbath ? During the past summer 
 as well as previous years, we have witnessed both modes of Sabbath keeping 
 and cannot hesitate for a moment which is preferable. A clever writer in 
 that able periodical— tlie " Nineteenth Century" — chaunts the praises of the 
 " Continental Sabbath"— counting it but a bug-bear conjured up by hysterical 
 ■fanatics to frighten the timid and the simple — yet we have not to go beyond 
 his own graphic and faithful presentation of it, to shrink from its introduc- 
 tion amongst ourselves. " Open stores," "men going about with beer and 
 paraffine un long drays," an "eternal walking about," "the one great means 
 of getting rid of Sunday," "oi)eras in full swing," bars and toy stalls, con- 
 juring exhibitions, *' men repairing gas pipes or mending roads, or, taking 
 ^a girder to a house in course of erec'ion ;" the number of people in the streets 
 ""enormous, the trains and omnibuses crowded, the noise of voices, wheels, tram 
 horses, very trying to any but robust ears, theatre doors crowded, &c.,&c." The 
 .essayist may think these but innocent amusements, and deem their introduc- 
 
16 
 
 liii 
 
 tion an iinprovemont en our mod'', of keeping t'-.i LovdN day. but we con- 
 ceive they would ht a sorry substitute for the old tiiuo Sa'ilath scenes 
 which some of us can reciil— and which Burns and flrahaiu have im- 
 mortalized. The Holiday as disiinguished from tlie Ilolj' iDay— id tolt to 
 he a burden by many, even only occasionally occurring, yet more, were it 
 to come round weekly. 
 
 It is a weariness to the pleasure seekers therastlves, and yet more, to thos'> 
 who have to carry them and to cater to their enjoyment. " There is rest 
 for the weary," hut none fur them, in their giddy gin horse round. Ou one 
 occasion, in connwition witii a 8team l»oat explosion, on the Thames, the 
 stokers deponed that the steamboat blew up because they were worn out and 
 disturbed in mind by Sabbath work which made them reckless. This shows 
 how abuse of the Sabbath destroys property. William E. Dodge, of New 
 York, long clusely c )nnected with railroads, says: — "You go on Mondaj' 
 morning and see a poor haggard engineer, all dirty kept up all day Sunday 
 and all uigb.t, and worn out perhaps. He steps upon the engine. If you 
 are a railroad man you feel intense an.\ietj' all the time." With the march 
 of industry and invention, with the marvellous material development of 
 the present, there is a growing tendency to encroach on the Sabbath, and 
 to snatch from the laboring man this jtriceless boon. It is needless to talk 
 about his l)eing under no compulsion to work on the Sabbath. We know 
 what that means. The man who is willing to obey the behests of his mas- 
 ters and without scruple, to do their bidding will get the advantage. How- 
 ever apparent even to self-interest and common sense it may be that the 
 workman who retains his conscience -who, ou no connideratiim Avill '• rub 
 God " is likely to prove the most trustworthy employee, that he who keeps 
 the 4th commandment is more likely to keep the 8th ; yet the making of 
 such exceptions is found troublesome, tind as substitutes (it is said) are so 
 easily found, they will gradually su[)plont the others. 
 
 The Sabbath is a "garden enclosed." (^iiHtaiists covet it. They say 
 with Ahab, ♦* Give me thy Vineyard." Would that the working man felt 
 always disposed to give the prompt and decided rejoinder of Naboth, "The 
 Lord forbid it me, that 1 should give the inheritance of my fathers unto 
 thee." 
 
 Can I do better than insert at this point the expressive language of the 
 present Roman Pontiff Leo. Xlli. "The observance of tlie Sacrecl day whicli 
 was willed expressly by God, is imperatively demanded by the absolute 
 and essentia, dejjendance of the creatui'e on the Creator. And, this law, 
 mark it well, my beloved, which, at one and the same time so admirably 
 provides for the honor of God, the spiritual needs and dignity of man, and 
 the temporal well-being of human life; this law, we say, touches not only 
 individuals, but also peoples and nations, which owe to Divine Providence, 
 the enjoyment of every benefit, und advantages which is desired for civil 
 society. And, it is precisely to this fatal tendency which to-day prevails, 
 to desire to lead mankind far away from God, and to order tiie aflfairs of 
 kingdoms and nations, as if God did not exist, tliat, to-day is to be 
 attributed the contempt and neglect of the day of the Lord " 
 
 The Sabbath is indeed the River that makes glad the City of God ; it 
 brings life and healing whtrever it flows. We wish to guard this nver of 
 Gcd's pleasures, to fence it, to give direction to it, to have it How every- 
 where, and not to have its cleansing and curing waters adulterated or 
 absorbed. We wish it to How into hut and hall — amongst the lofty ad 
 lowly alike. They are no true friends of the poor who would try to dam 
 up or dry up these waters. It is not a stream that first rose in the arid 
 wastes of the wil erness, though it be as Elim, with its wells and palm trees 
 to every weary, thirsty traveller. It took its rise in the Everlasting Hills. 
 It gushes from the Living Rock. It still flows on, as one has beautifully 
 said, "not now, as under Judaism, a canal betwixt straight and rigid walls, 
 
but we coD- 
 
 •)bath scenes 
 u have im- 
 y— id tclt to 
 noro, were it 
 
 lore, to tlioat> 
 riiere is rest 
 nd. Oil one 
 Tlianies, the 
 vorn out and 
 ThisshowH 
 3ge, of New 
 
 on Monday 
 day Sunday 
 ine. If you 
 ;h the march 
 dopment of 
 ahbatli, and 
 dless to talk 
 We know 
 
 of his uias- 
 tajife. ri,)w- 
 
 ho that tlie 
 1 will '• rol) 
 e who keeps 
 
 niakinfT of 
 said) are ao 
 
 They say 
 ]g man felt 
 iliolh, "The 
 athers unto 
 
 .ii\^e of the 
 day which 
 he absolute 
 il, this Jaw, 
 ' admirably 
 of man, and 
 es not only 
 Providence, 
 3d for civil 
 ly prevails, 
 e affairs of 
 Y is to be 
 
 )f God; it 
 lis river of 
 How every- 
 Iterated or 
 ) lofty ad 
 ;ry to dam 
 in the arid 
 palm trees 
 ting Hills, 
 beautifully 
 rigid walls, 
 
 17 
 
 but a river, and free— free to flow, not to stop. Sliame on the Christian men 
 who would stop it ! With God'g Word and God's Spirit in it, it is the near- 
 est earthly symbol of the river of the water of .ife. Its fountain is in the 
 Throne of God. Its waters, compared with other streams, are clear as crys- 
 tal and on either side of it is the Tree of Life, whose leaves are for the 
 healing of the nations. 
 
 Yet Christian men make it serve their uses like a common river. They 
 ' cover Jfc with barges of trafflc and gayety. They crowd it with the piers of 
 their thundering bridges. They dam it with causeways and turn it into 
 sluices to drive their mills and water tlieir pleasure-gardens. And over many 
 a tired labc tr, who would sit dowu on its margin to bathe his brow and 
 drink, they lift the lash of capital, more cruel often than that of slavery, 
 and force him away. 
 
 Do they dream that there shall be no reckoning ? Shall some paltry argu- 
 ments about ancient ceremony unmake the lasting reality of things ? Is rest 
 a ceremony ? Is worship a ceremony ? Is a poor man's day with his family, 
 and his own soul, and with God, a ceremony ? If the cries of the laborers, 
 whose hire is kept back by fraud, are entered into the ears of the Lord of 
 Hosts, shall He be deaf to the cry of that increasing generation of men who 
 within the sound of church bells, are, for the sake of dividends, degraded 
 below the possibility of piety, by endless work 'f" 
 
 
18 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THK ORKIINAL SABBATH ACT, " OF OKFKXCKS AGAINST RKMOION." 
 
 CiiAPTKH 15!), Sec. 2. —Any I'orson who aliall be convicted before a Jus- 
 tice of the Peftce, of .shooting;, ^i;!imb!int( or sporting, of freiiuenting tipplinj» 
 houses, or of servile labor, works of necessity and inercj' excepted, on tiie 
 liord's Diiy. sliaU, for every offence, forfeit not less than one nor more than 
 ei>j;ht dullars, and, in default of payment shall be committed to jail for a 
 term not less than twelve hours nor more than four days. 
 
 TIIK AMENDED ACT AS PASSED. 
 
 1. All the words in said section two, after the words "shall for" in the 
 fourth line thereof, shall be struck out, and the following shall be inserted 
 in their place: " he first offence forfeit not less than #2 nor more than SIO, 
 and in default of payment shall be committed to jail for a term of not less 
 than forty-eight hour? nor more than five days, and shall for a second or any 
 subseipient offence, forfeit not less than SIO nor more than $20, and in default 
 of payment shall be committed to jail for a term of not less than 5 nor more 
 than 20 days. 
 
 2. The word i)ersou in said section shall extend to bodies-corporate 
 as well as individuals, and .shall include employer as well as employee, but 
 the penalties against corporations shall be — for fir^t offence, to forfeit not 
 less than S5 nor more than S20, and for a second offence, and every subse- 
 quent offence, not less than $20 or more than $50. 
 
 3. Ail prosecutions against a corporation shall be had against it in its 
 'Corporate name, and the sums mentioned as penalties in this Act may be 
 collected by seizure and sale of its personal property, as in the case of an 
 individual convicted under Chapter 103, of the Revised Statutes, 5th Series, 
 entitled, "Summary Convictions and Orders by Justices of the Peace." 
 
 4. All api)eals from convictions under this Act and the amended Act 
 shall in the County of Halifax te to the Supreme Court en banco, and to 
 the Supreme or Count.y Courts, at the option of the appellant party in all 
 other counties. 
 
 5. The party appealing shall, within five days after the date of convic- 
 tion give notice to the party prosecuting of appeal. 
 
 The appellant shall also, within ten days after giving notice of appeal, 
 file a 'bond with two sureties of $80, conditioned to i)ay and satisfy any 
 judgment that may be given on appeal. On the perfecting of the appeal, 
 the convicting magistrate shall return all papers with the evidence to the 
 court. 
 
 6. No particular form of summons or conviction shall be necessary, but 
 the forms under Chapter 103 of the Revised Statutes, 5th Series, may be 
 followed. 
 
 It has been advanced against this and similar measures that they are in 
 direct opposition to the fundamental "law of christian liberty." Be it 
 remembered, liberty is not license — is not lawlessness. We cannot do as 
 we like. We are fenced round by law. We have laws protecting public 
 health, regulating education, forbidding lotteries and all kinds of gambling, 
 protecting the home, fixing certain holidays, interfering in various ways 
 
 i 
 
 ^\ 
 
10 
 
 IKMUIOX." 
 
 efore n Jiis- 
 iiig tipplinf* 
 )tefl, on tlie 
 more than 
 to jail for a 
 
 for " in the 
 be inserted 
 3 re than SIO. 
 of not lesa 
 cond or any 
 id in default 
 1 5 nor more 
 
 es-corporate 
 
 iployee, Imt 
 
 forfeit not 
 
 svery subse- 
 
 ist it in its 
 Act may be 
 case of an 
 5th Series, 
 Peace." 
 mended Act 
 mco, and to 
 party in all 
 
 ;e of convic- 
 
 e of appeal, 
 
 satisfy any 
 
 the appeal, 
 
 lence to the 
 
 icessary, but 
 :ies, may be 
 
 thpy are in 
 ty." Be it 
 mnot do as 
 cting public 
 jf gambling, 
 arious ways 
 
 i 
 
 with vested rights and personal liberty. When thene are regardei] aa clanh- 
 ing with the welfiire of the coniinunity. "Sam'h I'oi'in.i, sui'rkma i.kx." 
 "The safety of the I'Dople is the highest Fiaw." " No niiin liveth to himself." 
 In England's glorious history, tlii^ strictest, sternest Salibatarians were the 
 bravest, truest friends of civil and reHgious lilierty. Hugh Millar puts it 
 wisely and well, ♦hus: "The old despotic Stuarts were tolerable adepts in 
 the art of king-oraft, and knew well what they were doing when they backed 
 with their authority the " Huok of Sj)orts." The merry, unthinking serfs, 
 who, early in the >eign of ("Inules the First, danced on Sabbaths round the 
 May pole, were nfteiwanls the ready tools of despotism, and fought that 
 Knglantl might be enslaved. The Ironside^, who, in the cause of religious 
 freedom, bore them down, were staunch Sabl)atarians." 
 
 Ilallam, the hi.-itorian nf the Middle ages, charges despotic rulers on the 
 continent of Kurojie with "cultivating a luve of pastime on Sumlays," the 
 more effectually to keep them in subjectii'n under "political distresses." 
 The great Republic near us was founded by a hardy race, who indignantly 
 protested against those loose Sabbaths wiiich despotism and the devil im- 
 posed. These brave Sabbath advocates, true knights of labour and of libeity, 
 though often sneered at as snivelling, canting hyi)ocrites, by the ignorant 
 and the prejudiced, soiiglit on the bleak Now England shore 
 
 '* Freedom to worship God." 
 
 They knew that there was " no hope of freedom where the Sabbath was a 
 holiday," therefore did they cross the sea to keep 
 
 " Their Sabbaths in the eye of God alone, 
 In His wide temple of the wilderness." 
 
 The advocates of the Sabbath are after all the true friends of liberty, for " he 
 is the freeman whom the truth makes free and all are slaves besides." 
 
 The constitutionality of this measure has been questioned. " It is doubt- 
 ful," (says one of its critics) " if it is competent for the Provincial Legisla- 
 ture to enact such legislation as that pmposecl, as the matt*»r of Criminal 
 Ijaw, according to Chapter 9, Section 27, B. N. A. Act, comes exclusively 
 within the powers of the Dominion Parliament." 
 
 The very reverse of this has been proved to be the case. In 1884 a Bill 
 was introduced into the Dominion Pailiament by Mr. John Charlton, 
 and received its first reading. When brought up for its second reading, 
 Mr. Charlton delivered in its support, what was described, at the time, 
 as one of the ablest and most comprehensive speeches ever delivered on 
 the Sabbath (juestion before any legislative body. Exception was taken to 
 the bill by the Secretary of State, (Sir Hector Langevin) and the first Minister 
 (Sir John A. Macdonald) on the ground that the matter with which it pro- 
 posed to deal, falls within Provincial jurisdiction, as affecting civil rights, 
 if Parliament were prepared to assume the responsibiliiy of declaring a breach 
 of the Sabbath a crime, instead of merely an unlawful act, the matter might 
 thereby be brought within tlie competence of Parliament. On this ground 
 the bill was declarad "ultra vires of the Dominion Parliament." So far as 
 Ontario is concerned, that decision was promptly accepted. A bill substan- 
 tially the same as Mr. Charlton's, was introduced by ilr. Wood, M. P. P., 
 during the 1885 session of the Ontario Legislature; was at once put through, 
 and has been for about 4 years in operation. 
 
 To the first section dropped from the bill just passed, its friends attach 
 little importance, as the words "servile labor" in the existing Statute, 
 properly interpreted, fully covers all that it embraced, and for the interpre- 
 tation of " necessity and mercy " we would have to go to the Judiciary at 
 
20 
 
 any rate. The utiier three poiata, which they valued moit, reninin in their 
 integrity, viz. : 
 
 1. The riRht of api>eal to the SuiMjrior Court, previously denied, and, in 
 the case of llalifax, in the first instance passing by the County Cuuit. 
 
 'J. The power given to come upon corporations or companies as distinct 
 fri'tn individuals. 
 
 3. Tht largely increased amount of fines. 
 
 These, which are by far the most important sections of the bill, have been 
 retained. The bill Ims not been " strangled and kicked out of the House with 
 the contempt it deserves," as its enemies |)olitely recommended, but in its 
 main features has been passed unanimously in both Houses, and is NOW 
 THE LAW OF TH1<: LAND. 
 
 In one of the noblest extracts from his famous Law Commentaries, 
 Blackstone says :— " Profanation of the liord's Day, called Sabbath breaking 
 is a ninth offence against God and religion, punished by the Municipal Law 
 of England. For, besides the notorious indecency and scandal of perniit- 
 ting any secular business to be publicly transacted on that day, in a 
 country professing Christianity, and the corruption of morals which usually 
 follows its profanation, the keeping one day in seven holy, as a time of 
 relaxation and refreshment as well as of public worship, is of admirable 
 service to a State considered merely as a Civil Institution. It humanizes 
 by the help of conversation and society, the manners of the lower class 
 ■which would otherwise degenerate into sordid ferocity, and savage selfish- 
 ness of spirit. It enables the industrious workman to pursue his occupation 
 in the ensuing week with health and cheerfulness. It imprints on the 
 minds of the people that sense of their duty to God, so necessary, to make 
 them good citizens, but which yet would be worn out and defaced by an 
 unremitted continuance of labor v ithoutany stated times of recalling them 
 to the worship of their Maker." 
 
I