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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

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

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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.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.,

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.

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

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

;

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

!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

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-

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,

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"

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

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

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

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."