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amount of formalism among us, connected with this belief, than we are accustomed to think. To fix the comparative moral statistics of different nations is clearly a most difficult, if not quite an impossible problem; and so many elements of error must ever enter into the products thus obtained, that I think they ought to be used with great modesty. Should one be told that such and such views are 'purely infidel,' and that holding them he can be no Christian, he may deplore such rash anathemas, and tell his uncommissioned judges that the very opinions which they conceive themselves entitled thus to pronounce upon have been, and are held by very many learned, and wise, and Christian men, and by not a few of the best and wisest. Indeed, such expressions as those referred to do seem very inexcusable when it is considered that if the law of the Sabbath' can be established as a part of Christian doctrine, this can only be done (on the admission of all candid persons who have studied the question) by an elaborate argument, which must ever be a very bad foundation for any such denunciations. Whatever be the immediate issue of any discussion that may arise on this subject, I am unwilling to doubt that, ultimately, what I believe to be true,' will prove itself 'pure.' For myself, I desire to enter on all such inquiries, and to conduct them, under the consciousness of standing at each moment in judgment before God-a reflection which, while it must liberate from thraldom to any human authority, may well induce candour, seriousness, and humility." Mr Russell's answer to the argument from Mark ii. 27 for the universality and perpetuity of the law of the Sabbath, is quoted in Sabbath Laws, p. 509. In his Appendix, Note F., he gives extracts from M. Bailly and others to show that "there is more than considerable probability for the opinion that the week, like the other divisions of time, had an astronomical origin-being suggested both by the quartering of the lunar month, and by the 'seven planets,' from which among the Indians and Chinese, as well as among the Egyptians, and among ourselves, the days of the week have derived their names."-The Law and the Gospel, by the Rev. BADEN POWELL, in Kitto's Journal of Sacred Literature for April 1848, vol. i. p. 326; answered in an article on The Christian Sabbath in the same journal for July 1848, vol. ii. p. 128, by the Rev. PETER MEARNS; to whom Mr POWELL replied in an article in the Number for the ensuing October, p. 253, On the Application and Misapplication of Scripture.* Mr Powell re

* In Kitto's Journal for July 1849 (vol. iv. p. 140), there is an article on "the second Sabbath after the first" (Luke vi. 1), by J. vON GUMPACH; and the Number for October 1850 (vol vi. p. 437) contains " Observations on the verb 77 BÂREK, "to bless," the radical meaning of which, the writer, after adducing a great many examples of its use in the Bible, concludes, is to signalise, distinguish, make eminent. He thus renders Gen. ii. 3:"And God distinguished-signalised-the seventh day, and did set it apart."

published the substance of his two papers in a volume entitled Christianity without Judaism (Lond. 1857; post 8vo, pp. 263).—The Sabbath [vol. i.]; or, an Examination of the Six Texts commonly adduced from the New Testament in proof of a Christian Sabbath; by a LAYMAN [Sir WILLIAM DOMVILLE, Bart.] (Lond. 1849; 8vo, pp. 338): Supplement thereto (Lond. 1853; 8vo, pp. 36). Contents: 1. Introductory Remarks. 2. Examination of the six texts adduced from the New Testament in reference to the observance of the Sunday as a Sabbath. 3. Examination of the six texts in reference to the observance of the Sunday, not as a Sabbath, but as a stated day of assembling for the purpose of public worship and religious instruction. 4. Result of the examination. 5. Counter-evidence. 6. Of the Practice and Example of the Apostles with reference to the religious observance of the Sunday. 7. Examination of the non-scriptural evidence adduced in proof of a Christian Sabbath: The Epistle ascribed to Barnabas; the Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians; the Epistle of Pliny to Trajan; the Apology of Justin Martyr. 8. The origin of Sunday observance,—(1.) as a Sabbath; (2.) as a day of public worship only. 9. Supplement, containing additional evidence that no ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries has attributed the origin of Sunday observance either to an injunction or the example of the Apostles, or to any precept from Christ himself; and that they were at a loss to account for its origin.-This volume, and a second which Sir William published in 1856, are in my opinion the most valuable contribution made in this century to the literature of the Sabbath Question. The acute and thorough manner in which every point is handled, the careful research and consideration that appear throughout, and the perfect candour and courtesy with which the Sabbatarian writers are treated, give ample warrant for the eulogy of Arthur Helps, who says, "It is one of the ablest controversial works I ever read, written in the soberest and most pious spirit, with an abundance of learning admirably brought to bear upon the subject." (Fraser's Magazine, Jan. 1856, p. 7.) Some extracts, &c. above inserted (i. 121, 154; ii. 31, 45, 179, 180, 184, 261-7), exemplify the quality of the book, which, I may add, has not been answered, though it was noticed in the Church of England Quarterly Review and the British Quarterly Review, both for January 1855. Mr W. H. Johnstone, in the preface to his tract on Sunday and the Sabbath (Lond. 1853), which, according to his own statement, was originally intended as a review of Sir William's first volume, calls it "clever, but sophistical;" yet he unaccountably abstains from attempting to show wherein the sophistry consists, and, after employing the very arguments which Sir William has laboured to prove sophistical, concludes by acknowledging that the Scripture by itself does not afford conclusive evidence that the consecration of Sunday was sanctioned by the apostles! "We are not prepared," says he, "to assert that these six texts, if they stood alone, would settle the point; but we do not scruple to use them as apostolical authority, when we find such clear cor

roborative testimony to the meaning we would fix upon them, from the custom of the Church in the next succeeding age" (p. 47). Now, it is not so much this custom, as the ground anciently assigned for it, that is important; and Sir William has clearly shown in his Supplement, that, among the various and sometimes fanciful reasons given by the early Fathers for the practice of assembling on Sunday for worship, neither the command nor the example of Jesus or his apostles is ever once mentioned.The Christian Sabbath and the Post-Office, a discourse occasioned by the new postal arrangements, by JAMES CRANBROOK, minister of the Unitarian Church, Birmingham (Lond. 1849; 12mo, pp. 24). The theological ground of Lord's-day observance being in Mr Cranbrook's opinion untenable, he thinks that were it placed on a natural foundation its utility would be increased, especially to the labouring classes.-The Christian Sabbath, a Tract for the Times, by a MINISTER OF CHRIST (Warwick, 1850; 12mo, pp. 24).—Israel after the Flesh; the Judaism of the Bible separated from its Spiritual Religion; by WILLIAM HENRY JOHNSTONE, M.A., chaplain of Addiscombe (Lond. 1850; 8vo, pp. 308). Contents: 1. The Old Covenant. 2. Federal institutions. 3. Holiness. 4. A future state. 5. The faith of Israel. 6. Rabbinical errors. 7. The Judaism of Jesus. 8. Christian Jews. 9. Israel in the future. The views expressed in this book are off the beaten track, and, in reference to the Sabbath, the 7th and 8th chapters in particular deserve attention. The observance of the Lord's-day is advocated on grounds apart from the law of the Sabbath; which law, moreover, is held to have enjoined only cessation from work, as the mode of keeping it holy, and nowhere to have required attendance at public worship thereon. (Pp. 139, 214). The author thinks that neither Jesus nor his apostles abolished Judaism, which therefore may still co-exist with Christianity, as it did among the Apostles themselves. As to the Sabbath, he observes: "Before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians kept both the Sabbath and the Lord's day, and therefore did not regard the meaning of the two to be identical. It is also evident that the Sabbath was not considered binding upon Gentile Christians, for two reasons: first, if it had been, it would certainly have been mentioned as one of the necessary things in the Apostolic decree; and secondly, a Gentile, if poor, and especially if a slave, could not have observed the Sabbath in a heathen country. The magistrate would have forced him to work. Were there no natural reason for observing a day of rest, the fourth commandment would have no claims upon us. But there is natural reason. For, even waiving the two facts; first, that the artificial division of time into weeks was not confined to the Hebrew nation; and secondly, that the only additional service enjoined in the Law was a holocaust, and therefore not of Jewish significance; we have the truth, universally admitted, that the Christian day of rest is a vast blessing to mankind. Hence, as soon as we are satisfied that a general violation of the Sunday would induce evil, then it follows that any

one's individual violation helps that evil, and is consequently sin, according to St Paul's definition (Rom. i. 18 and vi. 23). And yet it seems unaccountable that, if this were so, the founders of the Christian church did not perpetuate the observance. To this it may be answered; first, that their not doing so no more removes our obligation, than their not promulgating a decree concerning perjury, sanctions false or profane swearing; and secondly, that it was manifestly impossible for Christians to observe a general day of rest, while the state remained antichristian; and therefore the first few generations of believers were not instructed to look upon a Sabbath as necessary. It would appear as if, for some years, things were in this condition. The great body of Christians knew of no Sabbath, but kept their religious meetings on the first day of the week. Afterwards, when Christians sat on the tribune, and hoped to wear the purple, the duties of the Jewish Sabbath were transferred to the Sunday, for two reasons, the one a worthy, and the other an unworthy one. The first was the evident good which a holy day of repose effected; the second was the misapprehension that the Mosaic Law was a spiritual, eternal Law. My own convictions are firmly settled, that it is the duty of us all—a duty that may not be lightly considered-to refrain from our secular occupations, and to bless God in the congregation, on the Lord's day. But so long as these duties are regarded as morose, burdensome, and unnatural, so long will religion maintain only a secondary rank in social estimation." (Pp. 214-216). The book is noticed in Kitto's Journal of Sacred Literature for April 1852, p. 187.- Sabbaths: an Inquiry into the origin of Septenary Institutions, and the authority for a Sabbatical Observance of the modern Sunday; revised by the author, and reprinted from the Westminster Review for October 1850 (Lond. 1850; 8vo, pp. 56). This pamphlet is noticed in Kitto's Journal for October 1851, p. 70. Its reputed author is Mr W. E. HICKSON, who edited the Westminster Review in 1850; and it is included in a work mentioned below, entitled Time and Faith, 1857.-The Sunday not the Jewish Sabbath; in a Letter to Sir Andrew Agnew, Bart.: together with Calvin on the Jewish Sabbath, or Seventh day of the Week (Lond. 1850; 8vo, pp. 38 and 16).-The Whole Doctrine of the Sabbath, as set forth in the Holy Scriptures, in the writings of the Fathers, and by the most eminent Reformers and orthodox modern divines; in opposition to the prevailing errors and delusions of the present time; by J. W. [JOHN WAUCHOPE] (Edin. 1850; 12mo, pp. 24: new edition, entitled The Sabbath Handbook: the Whole Doctrine, &c., Edin. 1851; 12mo, pp. 60).—Sunday Trains may lawfully be used, and Sun day Letters may lawfully be written and delivered; by A CHRISTIAN, BUT NO FANATIC (Lond. 1850; 18mo, pp. 24).—The Post-office and the Sabbath Question (Lond. 1850; 8vo, pp. 20).—The Sabbath; four Discourses, by WILLIAM M KEAN, Unitarian minister, Oldbury (Lond. [1851]; 12mo, pp. 88).-The Sabbath, the Crystal Palace, and the People, by JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, A.B., minister of Claylands Chapel, London (Lond. 1853; 18mo, pp. 36).- Sermons on the

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Sabbath Day, &c., by FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, M.A., Professor of Divinity in King's College, London (Lond. 1853; 12mo, pp. 127). Sermon I. The Old Testament Sabbath; II. The New Testament Sabbath; III. The Crystal Palace. In the last of these, Mr Maurice states why he cannot with so many of the clergy protest against allowing the Crystal Palace to be open to the public on Sundays; and objects to the sense in which the phrase religious duties" is usually employed.-The Crystal Palace and the Golden Day; or Sunday Blessings to Body and Soul; by EDWARD HIGGINSON reprinted from the Christian Reformer for Jan. 1853 (Lond. 1853; 8vo, pp. 20).—Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties considered in Relation to their Natural and Scriptural Grounds, and to the Principles of Religious Liberty, by ROBERT Cox (Edin. 1853; 8vo, pp. 600). This is not a methodical treatise, but a discursive ocasional production, which in its passage through the press increased from an intended pamphlet to a goodly volume. Hence the whimsical appearance which the arrangement of its matter presents. It was called forth by the stoppage of Sunday (morning and evening) trains for passengers on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, by Directors helped into office by Sir Andrew Agnew and his friends, and who were defended on theological grounds by clerical shareholders at meetings of the Company. This entire suspension of the means of communication between two great cities for a whole day in the week is objected to by the writer, as alike at variance with the conditions on which the Company got its powers from the Legislature, and unwarranted either by a rational interpretation of Scripture, or by regard to the public good. The volume contains articles headed thus :-A Plea for Sunday Trains on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. The Victories of the Sabbatarians. The Right to act according to one's Religious Belief. God's Truth and Man's Truth. The Duty of preserving Health. History of modern Sabbatarianism. Clerical Dogmatism and Lay Servility. Public Opinion in Scotland as to Sunday Trains. Grounds of Legislation for Sunday Trains. The Causes and Cure of Drunkenness. Recreation a Sabbath Duty. God's Vengeance against Sabbath-breakers. The Scottish Memorials against Sunday Trains. Protestant Principle and Protestant Practice. The Duty of acting according to one's Religious Belief. Curiosities of the Sabbath Alliance. The Scriptural Grounds of the Sabbath.-To the multifarious topics here discussed, and facts collected, for the use of students and disputants, guidance is afforded by an ample table of contents and a copious index. The book is noticed in the Westminster Review for Jan. 1854, p. 241, and April 1856, p. 429; also in the Church of England Quarterly Review for Jan. 1855, p. 103. The writer says to his fellow-shareholders: "We all agree that although the Fourth Commandment expressly forbids those who are bound by it, to do any work whatsoever on the Sabbath-day, a strict and literal interpretation of it would be unreasonable, inasmuch as total abstinence from labour is not only inexpedient but beyond our power. We all perform, or countenance others in performing,

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