rules; but if you try always to apply rules which have been good for one age and country to every other age and country, you will very often end by violating the very principles which you desire to carry out.

Now to-day I shall try and show, as clearly as possible, what there is essentially transitory in the rules about the Sabbath day, and what there is permanent about that institution, which still lives on in our day of rest and worship, called the Lord's day.

And first, the old Jewish Sabbath has passed away entirely, as far as the letter is concerned. The day itself has passed, and the rules which regulated that day as a day of worship have also passed away. I will show that the Apostles believed that; that the Fathers of the Church taught and believed that; and then I should like further to show that the Sabbath day, or the seventh day, has never, as to its observance, been authoritatively transferred in the Bible to the first day; that there is no ground for your taking what you find said in the Bible-either in the Old Testament or in the New-about the Sabbath day, and fitting it on to the first day of the week. There has been no legitimate transference of its duties, or its ceremonies.

Then I propose to point out what the duties of the Lord's day-Sunday-are; and unfold to you, as best I can, the great principles of Worship and Rest, which we still enshrine and keep alive by going to church on Sundays.

91. Brethren, the Sabbath day has passed away. So

taught St. Paul. All you who have your Bibles in your hands can just open them at one or two places, and see for yourselves. Look at Romans, the 14th chapter, 5th and 6th verses: 'One man (says the apostle) esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it to the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.'

Now pass to Galatians, the 4th chapter, and 10th and 11th verses. 'Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.'

St. Paul of course alludes to Jewish festivals, of which the Sabbatical years, the Sabbath days, and the new moons were examples.

Then turn to Colossians, 2nd chapter, 16th and 17th verses: 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.' That is to say, the rules you have are transitory rules, as applied to certain days and the manner of their observance, but they are shadows of things to come. The body'-that is, the more real observance―the better understanding—the spiritual living insight into the whole matter; 'the body-is of Christ.' Here I think you will see that St. Paul in his own mind separated entirely between the Jewish Sabbath-which he considered had passed away, and which we are constantly informed is identical with the Lord's day-and

the Lord's day, or first day of the week; which, as we shall see further on, he fully recognises as a day of worship.

92. Then I come to the early Church, and ask, 'Did not the Fathers of the Church believe that the Jewish Sabbath had been transferred to the first day of the week?' 'No! they did not; for a great many of the early Christians kept both days; Saturday as a kind of honoured reminiscence of the Jewish Sabbath-or, according to some, as a kind of fast day, because Jesus Christ laid in the tomb on Saturday,—and Sunday, or the first day of the week, as a Christian festival, on account of the resurrection of Jesus. But when the early Christians met together on the first day of the week, they did not dream of taking the 4th Commandment, and putting that forward as prescribing an appropriate schedule of conduct for the religious observance of the first day.

Now I will read to you a passage from St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, in the year 345 :—

'Turn thou not out of the way into Samaritanism or Judaism, for Jesus Christ hath redeemed thee; henceforth reject all observance of Sabbaths, and call not meats, which are really matters of indifference, common or unclean.'

Then I read from St. Jerome, A.D. 392. He says:—

'On the Lord's day (and this shows you the manner of its observance amongst the early Christians) they went to church, and returning from church they would apply themselves to their allotted works, and make gar

ments for themselves and others;' so that the early Christians did not think it was absolutely wrong, even to make garments for themselves and others on the Lord's day. It probably never entered their heads to think that it was wrong at all. There was no Sunday League in those days, and the only Sabbatarians were Jews. It is curious to observe that whilst the Christians have seldom converted the Jews, the Jews have converted modern Christians in whole sects to Sabbatarianism. But to return to the Fathers. 'The day,' says St. Jerome, 'is not a day of fasting, but the day is a day of joy; the Church has always considered it a day of joy, and none but heretics have thought otherwise.'

93. And now I am almost afraid to read you a passage from Luther, for fear of perplexing any weak brethren, who may have hitherto regarded Luther as a shining light. The language I am about to quote is certainly strong, it is just an example of that impulsive strength so peculiar to Luther, which made men say that his words were half battles, that they had hands and feet; indeed, they do march, and strive, and conquer as they go. He says: 'If anywhere the day (that is, the Lord's day-the first day) is made holy for the mere day's sake; if anywhere, anyone sets up its observance on a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to feast on it, to do anything to remove this encroachment on Christian liberty!'

You see at once that Luther has been driven to overstating his case, because it had been understated; because

men had set up the Lord's day as a Jewish Sabbath, therefore Luther casts off the yoke, and tramples it in the dust, in order to restore the balance of truth on the subject.

But turning our backs upon Luther, shall we not find comfort in the stricter practice of Calvin? Calvin will not be a whit behind Luther in Sabbath-breaking; for upon one occasion when good John Knox paid him a visit on Sunday afternoon, he found the holy man enjoying a game at bowls; and I have no doubt that John Knox in the innocence of his heart, took a turn at the bowls with the great Reformer, and that neither of these good and apostolic men were any the worse for it in body or soul.

94. I have said enough to show that the rules of the Sabbath were not transferred to the Lord's day, either by the Apostles, the early Fathers, or the chief Continental Reformers. The Lord's day and Sabbath day were regarded by them as absolutely distinct, if not antagonistic institutions. How did we come to confound one with the other? I think, by a very slight reference to history, it will be easy to explain how the confusion

arose.

The Roman Church had a vast number of saints' days, fasts and festivals; indeed, so great was their number, that they were naturally enough neglected by the people at large; fine distinctions were not drawn, and so the Lord's day came in along with other holidays for general neglect as a day of rest and worship. And