The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-25 00:00:00

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH

" TII

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40u hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine
own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out
the mote out of thy brother's eye."—MATTnEw, chap.
v., verse 7.
The Directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway, held a meeting last week, to take
into consideration the propriety of not running
carriages on the line, either for the royal mail
or for passengers, on a Sunday, and after mature
deliberation, the motion for " not running" was
negatived. The Directors deserve credit for this
straightforward manly conduct in a country so
priest-ridden and so excited at present by-
the henwigues made at every meeting of a
MIMI Court about the heinous sin of trans-
gressing the Divine command, to keep the Sab-
bath holy. Synods, had addressed them on the
subject;
the PrPstoeries in great numbers followed
exAkople i the mania at Edinburgh was at the
444105 t height; yet, notwithstanding all these
threatening appearances, commonsense and true
religion prevailed. Thia subject is now one of
vital importance to the community. The inter-
ference of fkke, Chatreh with the liberty of the
Pe014.),114 almost every transaction of ordinary
1i.,:i4.,,, has become so insupportable that we con-
sider it only just to the Directors of Railroad
Cr_',inpanies, to the oppressed members of the
Church of Scotland, and to the Christian reli-
gion—the purest, most benevolent, and most cha-
ritable ever presented to the human race-t—to
point out the wickedness, the hlasphemy, the
slavish doctrines, and the hypocrisy of the men
who are now moving heaven an'; earth to coun-
teract the glorious reform which our SAVIOUR
effected in the Je*;risli religion, in the worship of
the SUPR.E.ME BEING, and the. moral duties
of one man to another. The dominant portion of
the Church of Scotland, and a certain number of
the members of the Church of England, as
well as some of the Dissenting body, have
within these few years adopted the doctrine that
the strictest observance of the Sabbath is of
Divine authority, and that it is the duty of the
Legislature and the Executive to carry their
ordinances into effect by pains and penalties.
In England, however, these doctrines only par-
tially prevail, and we shall, therefore, direct our
remarks entirely to the system adopted in the
sister kingdom. Any clergyman who asserts
that the observance of the Sunday, as defined
by the Edinburgh clergy, is of Divine autho-
rity, is either grossly ignorant of the Holy
Scriptures, or guilty of stating what he knows
to be a direct falsehood. On this point, there-
fore, we are at issue with the Agnewites. The
Jewish Sabbath, which is kept by the Jews now
as it has ever been since its first institution by
the command of the ALMIGHTY, is abolished by
the universal consent of all Christians. The
Jews alone were enjoined to observe it, on the ex-
press ground that it was a sign between Gon
and his chosen people; nay, it was instituted
to commemorate an event which had reference
to them only—namely, their deliverance from
Egyptian bondage. When MOSES descended
from Mount Horeb, he called all Israel, and
said, " Hear, 0 Israel, the statutes and judg-
ments which I speak in your ears this day.
The LORD our God made a covenant with us in
Horeb." He then promulgated the ten Com-
mandments, and at the conclusion of the fourth,
added these remarkable words—" And remem-
ber that thou wart a-servant in the land of Egypt,
and that the LORD thy God brought thee out
thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched
out arm; therefore, the Lord thy God com-
manded thee to keep the Sabbath day." We must,
therefore, look to the New Testament for that
Divine authority which is constantly preached
up by the clergy of the North, and it is certainly
remarkable that our SAVIOUR never commanded
the Jews, much less the Heathens, to observe the
Sabbath, but, on the contrary, was at
constant war (if we may use the phrase
in conjunction with such a, sacred name)
with the priests of that day for their bigoted ad-
herence to a law which was to pass away under
a new and a better dispensation. He lost no
opportunity of reproving them for their hypo-
crisy. When they asked why his disciples
plucked the ears of corn, and why they did
" on the Sabbitthday that which is not lawful,"
what was his answer? " The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sabbath." His
habitual disregard of the Sabbath was their
constant theme of discussion. They followed
after him—they appointed spies to watch his
movements, and were azxious to convict him of
some extraordinary breach of it, in order to put
him to death. " And it came to pass also on
another Sabbath," says ST. LUKE, " that he en-
tered into the synagogue and taught, and there
was a man whose right hand was withered. And
the Scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether
he would heal on the Sabbath-day, that they
might find an accusation against him. But he
knew their thoughts, and said to the man which
had the withered hand, Rise up and stand forth in
the midst. And looking round about upon them
all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy
hand, and he did so, and his hand was restored
whole as the other. And they were filled with
madness and communed what they might do to
JESUS." When he healed the man who had
an infirmity for thirty-eight years, and said
" Rise, take up thy bed and walk," the Jews
exclaimed against this desecration of the Sab-
bath, " and sought to slay JESUS because he
bad done these things on the Sabbath-day."
Well might he exclaim in turn to these Sabbath
worshippers, " 0, generation of vipers, how can
ye, being evil, speak good things?" On sevPral
occasions he was asked what were the cethmand-
mentahe enjoined them to obey? To a lawyer,
tempting him, he said, " Thou shalt love the
LORD thy God with all thy heart, and all thy
soul, and all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like
unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy
self. On these two commandments hang all the
law and the Prophets.",-, Not a word about the
Sabbath. On another occasion (we quote from
ST. MATTHEW)—" One came and said unto him,
Good Master, what good things shall I do that
I may have eternal life ? And he said unto him,
why callest thou me good ? there is none good
' but one, that is Gon : but if thou wilt enter into
' life, keep the commandments: He saith unto
him, which? JESUS said, thou shalt do no mur-
der, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness.
Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young
man saith unto him, All these things have I kept
from my youth up : what lack I yet ? JESUS said
unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that
thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven : and come and follow me.'
Here the commandments which CHRIST said
were binding are all enumerated, but not the
slightest allusion is made to the fourth on this oc-
casion or on any other. We defy the Agnewites to
refute us. Let us come to the first day of the week,
and ask what " Divine authority" they can pro-
duce for the observance of that day as a Jewish
Sabbath? We answer, absolutely none ; but we
can produce on the other side the highest autho-
rity, after CHRIST, St. PAUL, the great Apostle,
sent to teach and convert the Gentiles. On re-
ferring to his Epistles we
find that he preached
on the last as well as the first day of the week. .

On the former day we find that he preached five
times, and on the latter only twice,so that if
this circumstance has any weight, the balance is

al favour of the Jews, and against the Agnewites.

But, thank Gon, this Apostle did not leave the
question in doubt. He followed the example of
his great Master and denounced these Sabbath
worshippers. To the Colossians he said—" Let
no man judge you in meat or in' drink, or in re-

spect of a holiday, or of the new moon, or 'of
the Sabbath day," all rites and ceremonies pecu-
cullar to the Sews. Nay, he goes further, and
expresses fear that these worshippers of particular
days are not real Christians. Speaking of the
glorious change introduced by the Christian dis-