The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-04 00:00:00

. articles of faith. •+ilt take higher ground, if may 1
and show what the earliest Christians taught

.bout the

Sabbath, a

how they would refire to rank they

I mast first, however: have one word with Mr. Birdsley
respecting our pamphlet. He quotes the preface, which
asserts that the Sabbatarian party have perverted fact and
scripture. He quotes the passage,—le does not prove it
false. Perhaps he thinks it impossible that the public can

B inizzley that, since this controversy commenced, the public
are beginning to believe in much which their blind respect

from suip-ectin4

Meanwhile I will only remind Mr. Bardsley
versions of Scripture, whie4 he may explain if he ca

two pa-

I. Wra it not assert

a St. GeorzE

Llall that when our Saviour said, " lam t ord of the Sab-
bath," he thereby authori ed the .I,3wi,h Sabbath as a per-
manent institution of Christianity ? And could the speaker
have been ignorant that when our Saviour uttered these
words, he was himself vindicating a breach in the cbset v-
ance of that Sabbath, which ha is now represented as en-
joinin' on his disciples ?
2. Was not a circular published and distributed by the
evangelical clergy, which contained the 'following words,
" that Saviour who died to purchase the Sabbath and its
blessings for you," &c. ? And if it was, was not such a circu-

e and hi

. But I must now ac:.omplish the task I have proposed to
myself. I dare not venture to draw down the charge of
Socinianism, which I should of course incur, were I, with
Sir Charles liven, Professor Sedgwiclt, and Baden Powell,
to deny that the world was created in six days, and that i:s
;faker rested upon the seventh. I will not attempt to
prove that the Patriarchs had no Sabbath, for it rests with
our opponents to prove that they had. I will not show,
what has been shown again and again, that the Jewish
Sabbath, no less than all other Jewish ordinances, was
abolished by the Founder of Christianity. :IslJr will I again
quote St. Paul's unanswerable statement (Col. ii. l 6 ), nor
dwell upon the fact that if the Oriental day be reckoned (as
we know it was) from 6 p.m., to 6. a.m., St. Paul must
have himself set out upon his travels on a Sunday.
(Acts xx. 7.)

But, passing all this by, I am prepared to prove, from the
earliest and noblest Christian writers, that, in their day,
the Jewish Sabbath was not kept, and that the first day of
the week was observed as a joyous festival, commemorative
of the Lord's resurrection.

Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trvpho, observes
(p. 261, ed. Par )—" Ac, therefore. circumcision began
from Abraham, and the Sabbath, sacrifices, and oblations
from Moses, and these, it has been shown, were ordained on
account of your nation's hardness of heart,—sn, according
to the counsel of the Father, they were to end in Jesus
Christ, the Son of God."
Ignatius (ad. Meg., c. ix) says—" No longer observing
Sabbaths, but keeping the Lord's day, in which also our
life is sprung up in him" _

He also v says in the same treatise —4' Therefore
let us not keep Sabbarhs in the Jewish manner, as if we
delighted in idleness, for according to the sacred oracle,
whosoever 41,,th not work should not ear, and, in the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread. But let each of us sab-
bat;ze in a spiritual manner."
Tertul!ian (De Idolatria, car. xiv.) remarls " With
the heathen there is a festival day (,lies festue) once a sear,
but to thee every eighth day is a festival."

Clement of Alexandria, ('trom. Lib 7.)—" We ore com-
manded to worship God through Jesus Christ, not on chosen
day? as some others do, but continually through our whole
life"

I will not quote further from the Fathers, though I
might easily do so.

it is ceretin that the first authoritative injunction to keep
the Lord's Day of rest was the proclamation of the Emperor
Constmtine; and mark, how ju..t and sensible is the edict
of the civil head of the Christian Church in those days :-
1‘ Let all judges and townspeople, and the occupations of all
trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun. But let
those who are situated in the country have a full power
(libere licenterque) to attend to agriculture, because it °itch
happens that no other day is so fit fur sowing corn, or
planting vines, and, should the critical moment be allowed
to pass, mfbn would lose the blessings granted them by the
heavenly Providence."

Imnaiiemly aw.iting Mr Bardsley's answer and eon-
futation,—i am, sir. yours obediently, B.
March 1, 1856.

EARLY CLOSING

din limit
retail to a
o ~
TO THE EDITOR OF THR NoRTIIERN TIMF
Fir,— As the ti vie is rapidly .irawing near, which we's' •
3reat extent, the leisure hours t f persons enge.
business of various branches, I think it a duty which eeyeleeson
all pereet s who wish for :he welfare of their f llow-m-n, to exert
th twelves in pubic and private, to cut , ff these lone hours of
business, which are. about to rush upon us, to incr ase one toil, ,
to de' reaite our strength of body tell of mind, and press heavily
tiro i us, so as to make us absolutely slaves, not *sta search of '
knowledge to enrich cur minds, not In pursuit of virtue to
moisten our heeds. and prepare for that In g journey, which
all and every one of ur must ultimately undertake ; and, for all we
know, the hour may not be far d:stant when our starting p tints
will be death. tine our journey will be Eternity. Theo, when
the employer, as well as the employed, know such is the
law of nature, and that the ete ges of sin is d-ath,
and that the sentence passed on the seed of Adam is irrevocable,
then I say, when we all feel convinced that tha• tribute must be
p did to,the eternal justice of 0 ,r 1 for the transvression 4 of our race,
why are we so aeltish? Why do we prefer adding to our richer, and
tali the mlse,tble coffers dedicated to n ammon at the expense of
those we employ in the shop an 1 in the counitng.houee, to keep
them there an hour or two 10-g-r, as the days are ma e longer by
the omnipotent power it a mighty God, who never intended that
those cre.titres, stamoed with his own image. should be foreetfel
of everything else, but at all tim-s wide awake to accumul. te
money, from which spring all the evils that surround us to the nine-
teenth century : frAn that mine of mammon gushes forth all the
murders, t
ur beueicrit: of al p 48.
f7rgeeri g, and robbs rcs which disgust and Oise
hthe haCeful and wweal
01 -td. :sop
ffy s)h
ud
mpt '.anit y
and virtue only. It throws
a cloud over the eyes of worldly-minded-miworldly-mindedmen, so at to make teem
absolutely blind to the calls,and
In a lamer and important, town like Liverpool, things ought to assume
a far different aspect; as it rises LI wealth and importance—its
advance
virtue, and point the way to other towns
ought also to rise and practise fibers itv,
which are ago buried in
ignorance and slavery,
e wo ild suggest tile importance of all persons in trade, no matter
what that trade is, to form an association, and call a public in eting
(which may be held at the Concert Hall Lord N I
,e s in-street), at the
same time, send a deputation to . wet i n the Mayor, that he may
preside at the meeting, also , the clergymen of various denomina-
tions, and other gentlemen of standing
and influence in the town.
If this course •is adopted, I am convinced success is certain, and that
the hours of beslnees will be s ) a-ranged as to meet the views of
the most sanguine trader; and that the employed will It ,ye more
time te c .Itivate his mind. and exercise his body in t e open atmos-
rhere, which is necessary for the preservadon of health and lorg
life, as fee dis for the body. When this course Is adopted, it is then,
and only then, the employer wi'l b, empty r warded for hi gene.
rod y, for wish the gilt of enlightenment and liberty, will fallow
in a train, sobriete. hone•ty• sincerity, grarttu le, and good con-
duct. Now. I say. If such an example wilt be shown .0 other
towns, veal it not elev to Liverpool in the estimation of th country ?
and its p-op e will lie looked on with respect and confidence, if they
abolish the In- g hours of business, and instead of a hering to th
present system of t septet; shops Osten until tight, nine, ten, arid
eleven o'clock at night, tempt another and a better i ourse, whicri
well be more conducive of good to all parties—that is, to terminate
busine a at I alt4ast sir o'cloek p.m., all through the yea-. It this
course is adopted. it will be a standing monument to the Lonouf
and res ecteielity of our town. I fervently hope some men of '-pint
will rep fo•werd and raise their voice in the ca ise of humanity,
and support the cause of those who are cumpeled to .d t, t such
ay, cutitins for tee maintenance of themse,see and families. We
hate a great maey :thread and c ever men abi.ut us —men who make
brl Haut appeals to the pub is at e,ec ton times, who appear to
vrapo,e with things in the distance (such as high positions,
honours, Ike.), to wolch are always attached disappol. tments, vexa-
tions. and sorrow. But far different would it be with these gentle-
men if they spent a purion of that time they a minder so extrava-
gantly, In prnmoting the we.fare a d happiness of those
whom they employ, and liberate them from eoofinernent
—that species of slavery under which thee groan. Ther e
are a great many stave drivers in the wo Id— there is the
public, as well at the private, slave driver; but, in my esttmetion.
the man who owns publicly his adhesion to such pr.ceip!es is far
more honourable, than the man who waleis about with liberty
written on in. forehead to disguise him in that p eh which is etc.
era ed by all men and in all generations. From sunrise in the
morning unul long after its dep inure to the antipodes, no matter
what the heat of the summ is day may be, no matter whit crest
labours the victims of close confinement may
go through, still the
long hour must pass away before they are allowed to
the f-esh air of heaven, given them without price. go and inhere
The heavy and
fetid a mosphere of the large, as well as of the small shop, weakens
its victims, and also the dust makes rapid wa to their f .st-dec tying
longs. All. all visit them without y sympathy, as it were, driving
them front life to death, to become
n
grave. when their toil will cease andimates of a cold and lonely
blended with the Gust of ages, to where th it bodies will be
sleep in pet. e wit' the trumpet
sounds to wake the slumbers of the dead, when the te rants
of many a lonely tomb evil, ,'
c ii
And it may h Dpen that mai g y Ilse to obey the call to judgment.
iy, and very many, of those gentlemen,
eho are at present obs acles io the instruction of their young men
(by keeping them too la
said young met for their te at bu.iness), will be ct arged by these
illiberality in the cause of knowledge.
The lathes also ought to use their influence with all friends to
refrain from shoppine at late hours which gives ill. avaricious
trade a license for tats trading.—Yours, etc..
Liverpool, Feb. 27.

VitRITAS,

TRH APPROACIIING A CCOUCLIFM RIFT. The rooms of
Mdlle. Felicie, one of the principal linen warehouses in
Paris, have been thronged during the last few days by
ladies desirous of inspecting the garments prepared for
the first Imperial ihant. Although the ladies of the
Court seem to take it for granted that a boy will be born,
two sets of clothes are prepared ready for either event.
Blue ribbons are used for ths boy's, red for tho girl's.