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BV 113 .F8 1883 Fuller, Morris J. The Lord's Day, or

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THE LORD'S DAY

OR

CHRISTIAN SUNDAY

THE LORD'S DAY

OR

CHRISTIAN SUNDAY

ITS UNITY, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND PERPETUAL OBLIGATION

^^{ OF PRIf:C£7j

SERMONS

BY

y

REV. MORRIS FULLER, M.A.

VICAR OF ST. PAUL'S, EAST MOULSEY, BY HAMPTON COURT LATE RECTOR OF LYDFORD-CUM-PRINCETOWN, DEVON

AUTHOR OF "our ESTABLISHED CHURCH," "a VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS" "the COURT OF FINAL APPEAL," ETC.

u .. L SL^i:^

¥

i>

Thucydides

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MOSTLY PREACHED (iN SUBSTANCE)

IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. PAUL's,

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WITH THE BEST WISHES, AND EARNEST PRAYER,

OF THEIR FRIEND AND PASTOR,

THE AUTHOR.

/ PE

PREFACE

The growing interest in this most important subject, Sunday observance, must be the author's apology for submitting this volume of sermons to the notice of the pubHc. It is most desirable that every information should be offered to those who are seeking to find the true grounds and origin of our great Sabbatic institution ; and it is incumbent upon all to have well-balanced opinions, and to form their own conclu- sions from the arguments adduced on this subject, " and few things," the Bishop of Oxford said at his inaugural address at the Reading Church Congress, just held, "are of more immediate concern."

The advantage of this treatment of the subject will be found to be twofold, (i) The sermons can be read in the order of logical sequence laid down in the selection and order of subjects issued to the competitors, which will enable the reader to form a consequential judgment of the results obtained by the investigation. Thus taken in their proper order, a review of the Sermons will exhibit the various steps proved in the series at a glance, and will enable the thoughtful and un- prejudiced reader to pursue his scriptural investigation, in orderly sequence, from point to point. And (2) it is hoped that there will be found that close continuity of thought which is secured by placing all the subjects in the hands of a single writer, which though it may lead to an occasional over- lapping or repetition, yet the great subject will be found treated as a whole by one mind, from a consistent standpoint throughout, the argument being based upon a critical scrip-

viii PREFACE.

tural exegesis, and reference to well-known authorities of the Anglican Church, and the ante-Nicene period.

The origin of these sermons may be briefly stated. When five years ago the author left his country parish in Devon- shire, where the Sunday was duly observed, he found himself, in his new suburban parish at Hampton Court, startled at the amount of Sabbath desecration, which seemed to be localized and focalized at this spot. The level roads of the neighbourhood tempted the cyclists, the charming grounds and picture galleries of Hampton Court invited the loungers, and the silvery stream of " hoary Thames " attracted the pleasure seekers in countless numbers, while the churches were by comparison badly attended. On an average five hundred boats passed the locks of Moulsey and Sunbury on Sundays alone, and hundreds of spectators lined the banks. Such an amount of Sunday desecration he had not seen before except on the continent, and he was led once more to investigate the origin of the day of rest, and the grounds of Sabbatic observance. This assured him more than ever of its true history, and perpetual obligation. Going carefully over the old ground, he felt more than ever convinced that we must look beyond ecclesiastical and even Judaical times for the origin of the Sabbath. It has become abundantly evident that this " Queen of days " was instituted in Paradise, re-affirmed in the wilderness, re-enacted in the moral law of Moses, and substituted or transferred to its present august position as the weekly festival of the resurrection. These views the writer would have gladly enforced at the late Congress if opportunity had been accorded him, but his carefully compiled statistics would only have illustrated the remarkable passage in the inaugural address of the President of the Reading Church Congress (Dr. Mackarness) on the Sunday question, which concludes as follows —

"Amongst other subjects connected with education you will have noticed that of Sunday teaching for the children of the upper classes, a matter which seems to have had less attention at Church Congresses and elsewhere than it deserves. Sunday observance in general is on our list ; and few things

PREFACE. IX

are of more immediate concern. In relaxing those restraints which seemed to belong to a Judaical idea of the Sabbath, Churchmen have sometimes neglected to ascertain the real nature and limits of the obligation to keep the Lord's day. There is some reason to fear a growing tendency not to observe it at all. Look again to the valley where * hoary Thames pursues its silver-winding way,' by the pleasant country towns of this diocese, and you will see, as you come nearer to London, a scene of Sunday desecration, distressing to those who remember how the oars, which we had plied so busily all the week, lay untouched on Sunday, however brightly the summer sun might shine. Now the' skiff and the canoe dart in and out among barges laden with revellers ; and the steam-launch, especially odious at all times to the veteran oarsman, troubles the vexed river with its ceaseless whirl. The idlers cannot omit one day in the week from their quest of pleasure, cannot grant their dependents one day's exemption from work. This is but one local illustration of a general change. I do not forget that like complaints have been heard in former generations. Sunday was ill spent in the days of the Regency, if we may trust Bishop Horsley's eloquent sermon " (the Bishop might have said sermons, for there are three) " for an account of it. But it was badly spent by bad men then. Against the disregard of Sunday now, good Christians seem to be at a loss to know on what grounds, or to what extent, they ought to protest. Such discussions as ours ought to do something to clear their minds, something to give them firmness and consistency in their practice too." — Bishop of Oxford's Inaugural Address, Church Congress, Reading, Oct. 2nd, 1883.

As the argument in the following pages often turns on the niceties of the original languages, the texts of the sermons are given in Greek, for the assistance of the general reader.

May the Lord of the Sabbath bless their perusal, and deepen in the hearts of our people the inestimable value of their sacred day of rest and worship, to His greater Glory !

LIST OF TEXTS AND SUBJECTS.

SERMON PAGE

I. P Gen. i. I, 2 ; Heb. i, 2 ; iv. i, 2 ... ... ... ... i

" The Beginning and Ordering of theWorld, wliich tvas to be the theatre 0/ Sabbath Law and Observance." II. Gex. ii. I, 2, 3 ... ... ... ... ... ... 25

" The Original Institution of the Sabbath"

III. * ExoD. xvi. 22-31 ... ... ... ... ... ... 45

' ' The Sabbath known to Israel before the Promulgation of the Sinaitic Lata."

IV. ExoD. XX. 8, II ; Deut. v. 12-15 ••• •■• ■•• ••• ^7

" The Sabbath Institution as a Law, its character, and the motives to its Promulgation.^'' V. * ExoD. xxiii. 10-13 ; .xxxv. 2, 3 ; Levit. xvi. 12 ... ... 89

" The weekly Sabbath of the Decalogue distinguished from purely Javish Sabbaths." VI. Psalm cxvdii. 19-24 ... ... ... ... ... ... 109

/ " The Day wliich the Lord hath made."

jo' VII. Isaiah Iviii. 13, 14; Psalm xcii. ... ... ... ... 138

" The strict, spiritual, and joyful Observance of the Sabbath." VIII. Matt. xii. i, 9 ; Mark ii. 27, 28 ; Luke vi. i, 12 ... ..164

" The character of the Sabbath declared by the Lord of the Sabbath." IX. * Matt. xii. 12 ... ... ... ... ... ... 1S9

^ ' ' Rightful Sabbath activity. "

X. * John ix. 16... ... ... ... ... ... ... 212

" Jcxvish Condemnation of Jesus Christ as a Sabbath breaker." XI. * Matt, xxviii. 1-6 ; Mark xvi. 1-6 ; Luke xxiv. 1-6 ; John xx. 1-9 235

1/ " The Resurrectio7t and First Day of the Week." XII. * Mark xvi. 12-14 ; Luke xxiv. 36 ; John xx. 19, 26 ... ... 256

^ " The First Day of the tveek and the Risen Saviour."

XIII. * Gen. ii. 1-3; Exod. xx. 8-11 ; Matt, xxviii. i ... ... 280

" Rest and Labour : Order before the Fall, under the Latv, and after the Resurrection."

XIV. * Acts ii. 1-4 ... ... ... ... ... ... 303

' ' The Holy Ghost given to the Church oit the Lord^s Day. "

P Sermons adjudged Prizes by the Lord's Day Observance Society. * Sermons which received Honourable Mention by the E.xainlners.

xii LIST OF TEXTS AND SUBJECTS.

SERMON * PAGE

/^ XV. * Acts ii. i ; Acts xx. 6, 7 ; i Cor. xvi. 2 ; Rev. i. 10... ... 327

" Tlie Apostolic Church and the First Day of the IFeeh." XVI. Rom. xiii. 8-10 ... ... ... ... ... ...355

" Love the ftdjilling of the Law." XVII. P Rom. xiv. 1-9 ... ... ... ... ... ... 370

" Christian Indifference to Days." XVIII. * Gal. iv. 9-11 ; Col. ii. 16, 17 ... ... ... ... 400

' ' Days, Sabbaths, Months, and Years — Beggarly Elements and Shadozvs." XIX. * Heb. iii. 7 ; iv. 11... ... ... ... ... ... 423

" Rest and Sabbath-keeping, as in the Divine Plan.'" XX. Rev. i. 10 ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 447

'' The Lord's Day."

PRIZES FOR SERMONS ON THE SABBATH.

REPORT OF THE ADJUDICATORS.

The Committee of the Lord's Day Observance Society having been enabled, by the kindness of a friend, to offer a sum of ^^200 in Prizes for Twenty Competitive Sermons on specified Texts of Scripture, and having made known the fact by advertisements and distribution of programmes, received in the month of September, 1881, six hundred and ninety-six Manuscripts for Examination.

These Manuscripts were submitted to twenty-one gentle- men, who most kindly undertook the long and difficult task of adjudication.

The objects of the scheme had been declared to be the following : —

To secure able statements of the many aspects in which

the Sabbath is presented in the Word of God. To show the unity of the Weekly Sabbath of Eden, and of the Decalogue, with the Lord's day, or Weekly Memorial of the Resurrection of our Redeemer : To elucidate the character of the Day, and to remove difficulties which lie, or are supposed to lie, against the Sabbatic basis and authority of the Lord's day, from passages in the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles. The Examiners were instructed to keep these ends before them in their examination and adjudication.

After ten months of earnest labour, the Examiners have been enabled to make their award.

XIV

PRIZES FOR SERMON'S ON THE SABBATH.

The following Twenty Sermons have been adjudged worthy of the Prize of Ten Pounds each : —

I.

2.

3-

4- 5- 6.

"The Sabbath known to Israel before the promulgation of the

Sinaitic Law." "The First Day of the Week and the Risen Saviour." " Rest and Labour — Order before the Fall, under the Law, and

after the Resurrection." " The Apostolic Church and the First Day of the Week." " Days, Sabbaths, Months, and Years, Beggarly Elements." " Rest and Sabbath-keeping, as in the Divine Plan."

These six are written by the Rev. F. M. Cameron, Rector of Bonnington, Kent, who gained also Honor- able Mention for two other Sermons.

7. "The Beginning and Ordering of the World, which was to be

the Theatre of Sabbath Law and Observance."

8. " Christian Indifference to Days."

These two Sermons are written by the Rev. MORRIS Fuller, M.A., St. Paul's Vicarage, East Moulsey, who gained also Honorable Mention for eleven other Sermons.

9. " The character of the Sabbath declared by the Lord of the

Sabbath."

10. "Jewish Condemnation of Jesus Christ as a Sabbath-breaker."

These two are written by the Rev. James Smith, M.A., Free Church, Tarland, Aberdeenshire, who gained also Honorable Mention for three other Sermons.

11. "The Weekly Sabbath of the Decalogue distinguished from

purely Jewish Sabbaths."

12. " The Resurrection and the First Day of the Week."

These two are written by the Rev. Matthew Hutchi- son, Afton Free Church, New Cumnock, Ayrshire.

13. "The original Institution of the Sabbath." By the Rev. Dr.

Grant, St. John's, Dundee, who gained also Honorable Mention for one other Sermon.

14. " The Sabbath Institution as a Law." By Rev. Samuel

Miles, Wesleyan Minister, North Shields.

15. "The Day which the Lord hath made." By Rev. Richard

Cooper, M.A., Swayfield Rectory, Grantham.

16. "The Strict, Spiritual, and Joyful Observance of the Sabbath."

By Rev. William Allen, Wesleyan Minister, Great Yarmouth.

17. "Rightful Sabbath Activity." By Rev. THOMAS PiTT, Wes-

leyan Minister, Alexandria, Dumbarton.

18. "The Holy Ghost given to the Church on the Lord's day."

By the Rev. William Ingram, Free Church, Rothiemay, Huntley.

19. " Love the Fulfilling of the Law." By the Rev. William

Sandford, B.A., Edlaston Rectory, Derbyshire.

20. " The Lord's Day." By the Rev. George Wallace, M.A.,

St. John's Free Church, Hamilton, Scotland.

PRIZES FOR SERMONS ON THE SABBATH. XV

Eighty-three Sermons have received Honorable mention by the Examiners.

The Committee of the Lord's Day Observance Society record their gratitude to the Donor of the Prizes, and to the gentlemen who have so kindly acted as Adjudicators. The Committee are thankful that so many persons have been induced to think and to write on the important subjects contained in the programme, and they pray that the Lord of the Sabbath will graciously bless all those who have taken any part in the movement, and that He will use the accepted Sermons for the advancement of His own truth among men. By order of the Committee,

JOHN GRITTON, D.D.,

Convener of the Sermon Committee.

20, Bedford Street, Strand,

London, W.C, September, 1882.

ADJUDICATORS.

Badenoch, Rev. Dr.

Baker, Rev. W.

Ballantyne, Rev. W.

Cadman, Rev. Canon (of Canterbury).

Carlyle, Rev. Gavin.

Chambers, G. F., Esq,

Chase, Rev. C. F.

Hankin, Rev. D. B.

Harke, Rev. F.

Holt, J. Maden, Esq.

Jacob, Rev. Dr.

Karney, Rev. Gilbert.

Langdon, a. W., Esq.

Mummery, Rev. J. Vale.

Nev^^man, Right Rev. Bishop.

Prest, Ven. Archdeacon (of Durham).

Raitt, Rev. Dr.

Russell, Rev. J. S.

Smith, Rev. Canon Saumarez.

Tyler, Rev. W.

Waller, Rev. C. H.

.^^

THE LORD'S DAY;

OR,

CHRISTIAN SUNDAY.

I.

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD, WHICH WAS TO BE THE THEATRE OF SABBATH LAW AND OBSERVANCE.^

Genesis i. i, 2 ; Hebrews i. 2 ; iv. i, 2.

" Ev dpx'l) itroiriffev 6 @ehs rov ovpavhv Ka\ ti]v y^v. 'H Se yrj ?iv aSparos Kal UKaTacTKevacTTos, Kal (tkotos eirdvai rf/s afivcraov kol Tryiv/xa @eod i-Ki<p4piro iinivdj rod liSaros.

" 'Ett' eVxcTOii Tu>v Tjixepcoy rovrwv eKaKriffey Tifuv ev vlqi, tv tdriKev KKr)p6vo^ov irai/Tcof, 01 ov Kai eTroirjaev tovs atcovas.

" ^oPrjdw/xep ohv /xr] itots KaTaXenrofi-ivris 4irayyf\ias elffeXdtlv els -r^v KaTanavaiv avTov. SoKrj tis vpLuiv ii(rrepr]Kevaf Kal yap ea/xev evriyye\ta/j,4vot Kadaizep KaKitvot. aW' ovK oi<pf\7j(rey 6 \6yos rrji aKorjs iKfivovs, fj.ri (TvyKeKepa(rfx.i>/ovsT§ Tricrrei rots aKovaaoTiV.

" Primo dierum omnium. Quo mundus extat conditus, Vel quo resurgens conditor Nos morte victa liberat."

(I/i Dominicis ad Matutinas, E. Brev. Sav.)

The due observance of the Sabbath day concerns the glory of God, and the welfare of man. It is the Lord's day, and we should reverently accept whatever He has said about it. The day which we call by the name of Sunday, or Lord's day, can be traced through Apostolical times to the Sabbaths of the

^ This Sermon was adjudged a Prize by the Lord's Day Observance Society. A,

ij^\ B

2 THE LORD'S DA Y ; OR, CHRISTIAN SUNDA V.

law and the prophets, when it was for the time incorporated with the Mosaic economy and other Judaical statutes ; and, emerging therefrom, we follow it through the patriarchal church, far back to the rest of creation, and the Sabbath of the Garden of Eden. Whatever name it may be called, or with whatever sanctions it may be connected, the same blessed fact meets us at every point in the ages — a seventh-day period of rest, the great sabbatical institution. Without the obser- vance of such a Sabbath, the Church, whether Jewish or Christian, must languish ; for the desecration of this day tends to annihilate the blessings of revelation, to deprive the world of any visible token of the power of Christianity, and leave the Church without adequate means of openly testifying its faith and obedience. Without the Sabbath, where would be an opportunity, in the case of the masses, of worshipping Almighty God, instructing children, pious meditation deepen- ing the spiritual life, hearing God's Word read and preached, celebrating the sacraments of the Gospel, and preparing for the rest (the sabbatism, or keeping of a Sabbath) which remaineth to the people of God ? Without a regular day for the worship of God, recurring at fixed periods, there would soon be no worship at all, and men would forget their Maker. For where the solemn services of the sanctuary are duly performed, there Christianity is honoured and respected by the weekly return of the day. As piety declines or revives, there is a marked difference in the appreciation of the means of grace, of which the Sabbath is first in importance and dignity.

In fact, the necessity of a stated period for rest and worship is acknowledged even by those who do not trace back the sabbatical institution to the rest of Paradise. If we are ex- pected to give a certain tribute-time to our Maker, then there is an antecedent probability that the proportion will be duly revealed to, and regulated for, us. We can hardly imagine that a point of such paramount importance could be left to chance, or evolved out of our inner consciousness.

Now, whatever view may be taken of the original institu- tion of the Sabbath, there is a wonderful unanimity of senti- ment as to the absolute necessity of setting apart some day for special religious worship. If there is to be worship of the Almighty at all, there must be regularly recurring periods for

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD. 3

such worship to be ofTered, or it would quickly fall into desue- tude. Thus, Paley (whose views on the origin of this institu- tion are diametrically opposed to our own, and, though supported by most incisive reasoning, fail to carry conviction with them) opens his chapter on the " Use of Sabbatical Institutions," taken from his Moral and Political Philosophy, in the following trenchant words : — " An assembly cannot be collected unless the time of assembling be fixed and known beforehand ; and, if the design of the assembly require that it be holden frequently, it is easiest that it should return at stated intervals. This produces a necessity of appropriating set seasons to the social offices of religion. It is also highly convenient that the same seasons be observed throughout the country, that all may be employed, or all at leisure, together ; for if the recess from worldly occupation be not general, one man's business will perpetually -interfere with another man's devotion : the buyer will be calling at the shop when the seller is gone to church. This part, therefore, of the religious distinction of seasons — namely, a general intermission of labour and business during time previously set apart for the exercise of public worship — is founded in the reasons which made public worship itself a duty." And, again, after giving his own reasons for the necessity of a Sunday, he concludes '• " Our obligation applies to the subsisting establishment, so long as we confess that some such institution is necessary, and are neither able nor attempt to substitute any other in its place." ^ Again, Mr. Robertson, of Brighton, says : " If the Sabbath rests on the needs of human nature, and we accept His decision that the Sabbath was made for man, then you have an eternal ground to rest upon, from which you cannot be shaken." "You may abrogate the formal rule, but you cannot abrogate the needs of your own soul. Eternal as the constitution of the soul of man is the necessity for the existence of a day of rest." And again : "It is perfectly possible that, for human convenience, and even human necessities, just as it became desirable to set apart certain places in which the noise of earthly business should not be heard, for spiritual worship, so it should become desirable to set apart certain days for special worship" (vol. ii. 183). Dr. Hessey, in his Bampton Lectures on " Sunday " (4th), written also from a very deter"

* Paley's Moral Philosophy, book v. c. vi.

4 THE LORD'S DA V; OR, CHRISTIAN SUNDA Y.

mined anti-sabbatarian standpoint, says that the two following propositions are discoverable by the light of reason — namely, (i) that our Creator demands our gratitude and worship ; and (2) that these are best exhibited and most surely paid by periodic appropriation of time to Him. We need not multiply authorities. Even the opponents of our views main- tain with us (i) that public worship is essential to Christianity, and (2) that such worship would be impossible without some fixed day being set apart for it.

But Sunday is a day of rest as well as worship ; and just as man requires a certain amount of sleep every twenty-four hours, so his physical nature requires rest after many days of work and toil — a rest-day after six days' labour, a division of time apart from revelation, based on experience and the requirements of the case. Now, surely God, who had made man, must have known what was in man — must have known the requirements of the creature whom He had formed, and understood the nature which had just come into existence, minted with His own Divine image and superscription. He knew that man could not always be working and toiling, but that his physical condition required rest at regularly recurring intervals ; and this being so, it would have been very strange, and unlike His Divine love and faithfulness, if God at creation did not provide for man's necessities being fully met ; and, therefore, as God Himself had rested from all His works on the seventh day, this was proposed to Adam as his day for rest and worship. He would not hide from Adam what he knew was essential to his well-being — what, in fact, was indis- pensable to his very nature — that without which his future posterity w^ould never be able to fulfil their highest duties — the cultivation of men, the higher products of their nature, their moral and spiritual welfare, and their advancement in spiritual knowledge and goodness. And if this Sabbath rest was to be (as it has proved to be) for universal humanity, is it likely God would not have revealed it from the first, and not allowed His creatures to wander over the earth for 2500 years — and then only to reveal it to a fraction of the race in the wilderness — to find out for themselves one of the deepest necessities of their being, when He might have re- vealed it to them to start with, knowing all the time it was there, and bound to be evolved as a fundamental law sooner

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD. 5

or later, as indispensable, " eternal as the constitution of his soul " ?

But if it be (i) objected that Adam might have been left to his own sense of propriety, to his own gathering of the lessons of experience, to settle what set times he should sanctify to God, we must remember that there is a great difference between the independent discovery of truths and laws, and their verification. By experience we often discover the utility of a thing which we should never have evolved for ourselves out of our own inner consciousness. And the fixing of a seventh portion of time was a contrivance of unerring wisdom — the necessary outcome of the Divine plan of the great Architect — not a haphazard or unimportant matter. As Robertson remarks, " The contrivance of one clay in seven was arranged by unerring wisdom." Reflect, also, upon the confusion — for an indefinite length of time, too — which must inevitably have prevailed if the Almighty had not revealed the due proportion, and without such revelation, where would have been the justice of condemning man for not sanctifying the due proportion ? for " where no law is, there is no trans- gression."

And if it be (2) further objected that Adam had no need, in a state of innocence, of any Sabbath institution whatever — he had no sense of fatigue, nor required to be bound by stated times, but his whole life was full of communion with God — we reply that, knowing nothing for certain what the federal head of our race was like when he came forth perfect from his Maker's hands, we have no right to dogmatize on such a matter ; and if there w^as no need of a rest-day till after the Fall, how can we believe that God Himself rested, and was refreshed ? Besides, we know nothing of Adam's needs or habitudes in Paradise. After his labours he would need a special time, we might suppose, if not for rest, at least for worship. Are we not told that the sons of God came together, to present themselves before the Lord, into one place ; and is there any improbability of the necessity of holy convocations on the part of the angels themselves for worship .-' And if we are called upon to give reasons why a Sabbath was needful to Adam in Paradise, may it not have served to symbolize his dependence upon his Creator, to secure his permanent spirituality of soul, to facilitate his progress in the higher

6 THE LORD'S DA Y ; OR, CHRISTIAN SUNDA Y.

departments of experimental knowledge as to God's character, work, and purposes, and to bind his descendants for ever till the end of time to united acts of social and religious worship, in obedience to the command, " Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth " ?

These are, at least, probabilities which point out the neces- sity for some command at creation to hallow one day in seven. They tend to show the great beneficence and probability of such a command, and that we know nothing of Adam's con- dition in Eden to make a Sabbath any more unsuitable for /lijn than it is for us. We are led to conclude that the con- stitution of the world and our own complex nature have been so contrived, in some unchangeable way, that the keeping of a seventh day period — a sabbatism — is physically and morally incumbent upon us. Should it be thought a thing incredible that God — who made man at the first, and redeemed him after his Fall by the precious blood of His dear Son — should start us on our journey through life with some indication of the plan on which He fashioned us, and of the rule of living which is indispensable to our well-being to follow, if we would enjoy His blessing, grace, and favour?

But we must now proceed to discuss the beginning and ordering of the world, which was to be the theatre of Sabbath law and observance.

I. And, first of all, let us look at the historical foundation of the Sabbath. Now, turning to the Book of Genesis, we observe that two accounts are given of creation. The first account begins with the first chapter and extends to the third verse of the second ; and the second account is contained in this second chapter ; and these accounts are differenced in some particulars. This division is now recognized by the new Lectionary. The language of the opening of the second account runs thus : " These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created " (ii. 4) ; and we therefore conclude one account is supplemental of the other, and both are linked together. In the first the order of man's creation is narrated, and in the second his spiritual history. In the first we are told of God as a Creator, and in the second of God as a Moral Governor of the universe. In the first the name applied to the Deity is simply " God " (Elohim), and in the second that of " Lord God " — i.e. Jehovah Elohim. The

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD. 7

first gives us a history of man's creation, and the second his moral history — the creation of male and female, and the in- stitution of marriage. In the first the sabbatical institution is announced as the foundation of worship, and in the second, marriage, which is the foundation of society. In the first we have the gradation of things as they were created, and in the second some things added. If in the first we have the rest, the Sabbath rest of God, given, and in the second not men- tioned, we say there was no need to repeat what had been once instituted, especially as in the case of the Fourth Com- mandment and the two Tables — if it stands at the end of the one, it also stands at the head of the other, linking the two together. Moses was no doubt inspired by God to make this second account supplemental to the first, and that, in point of fact, we have one, or a unified whole.

But these two accounts give us two fundamental institu- tions or laws on which all society is based, by marriage and worship, which the Sabbath gives us. "At the beginning," referred to by Christ Himself, marriage and the Sabbath were equally fundamental elements ; therefore, one has been no more abolished than the other. Both are permanent condi- tions or relationships of life : the one belongs to man's social life, as the lasting foundation of human society, and the other to the immutable relation of man to God, as a creature owing obedience and worship to his Creator. But these laws will be abolished when these relationships cease, in the same way as sacrifices and ceremonies ceased when they no longer fore- shadowed the great sacrifice of the Cross "once oftered." Can the same, we ask, ever be said of the law of the Sabbath, which recognizes God as the Creator and Maker, any more than that of marriage as the foundation of human society ? These, we all must know, are bound to last as long as man lives in that world which in six days the Lord made "suit- able for human habitation," and in which He placed man " to subdue " the earth for the good of mankind, in dependence on, and acknowledgment of, the Divine goodness. In Heaven we have our Saviour's express intimation there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage ; but this is, for all that, a part of the constitution under which man lives on this earth, and is as permanent as man's continuance in the world. This is equally true of the Sabbath, for as long as human nature

8 THE LORUS DAY; OR, CHRISTIAN SUNDAY.

remains what it is, man needs both rest and the opportunity of going out of himself in worship to his Maker. There must ahvays be a " keeping of a Sabbath." " Nothing could be gained," said the Bishop of Oxford in his Charge, 1878, "by the attempt to explain away the Divine command for the sanc- tification of one day in seven coeval with the earliest page of human history. Nor could the observance of a fragment of the day, early or late, be maintained if the truth, that the whole day was in a special sense the Lord's, was withheld."

2. Now the account in Genesis of the beginning and order- ing of the world represents God as a Creator. In those early times there was, we may believe, a good deal of atheism, and the question of questions was how the world had come into being. There were those who held the atomic theory, and believed in the power of atoms to unite in some mysterious manner ; while others said that the world was Divine, but denied the existence of a spirit or a God. There were mate- rialists and pantheists then as there are now. In opposition to these and other views, those guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit came forward and declared the everlasting dis- tinction between creation and the Creator, between the creature and Him who made it. The heavens, the sun, moon, and stars were not God, but came from the hand of God ; in fact, this great truth was at once revealed — the distinct per- sonality of God. " In the beginning God." ^ Before day periods, or <^oiis, or the earliest days recorded on the stone book of creation, God was. Go back as far as you will, you cannot get farther than the beginning. In this beginning — iv apxy — then God existed as a several personality. Now, for personality there are three requisites — self-consciousness, will, and character. But you may have self-consciousness, and not be a person. If the lake on which the sun is reflected were self-conscious, but had no power of moving, it would have no personality. Suppose the case of a living thing, with only self-consciousness and choice, you would have an animal only, but no character. Therefore it is that Moses tells us that

' 'Er apxri, " in the beginning." Not " first in order," but "in the beginning of all things." The same expression is used in John i. i, of the existence of the " Word of God : " " In the beginning was the Word." The one passage illus- trates the other, though it is partly by the contrast of thoughts. The Word ivas when tlie world was created. — Bishop Harold Browne, Speaker's Commentary, vol, i. p. 33.

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD. 9

God, in the first place, created the world in His self-conscious- ness : " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ; " in the second, by His will, for He said, " Let there be light ; and there was light ; " thirdly. He filled creation by His character as He went on creating, for the Lord looked upon the world which He had made, when " the sons of God shouted together" for joy, and "behold, it was very good." In other words, Moses reveals the personality of God. The Almighty Father, then, is declared as the " one God, Maker of heaven and earth," as the Creed says. And in this Godhead we have Three Persons engaged in the world's creation. St. Paul says, speaking of the Son, " By whom also He made the worlds" (Heb. i. 2); and again, St. John, "In the beginning was the Word," and "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made" (i John i. I, 3). Then "the Spirit of God moved upon the waters;" and God said, " Let us make man in our image, after our like- ness " — the blessed Trinity.

Now, what is Creation ^ in the biblical sense of the word ? It must mean that the universe originally owed its form and its substance to the creative fiat of God. This is the natural

' '"God created' (Gen. i. i). In the first two chapters of Genesis we meet with four different verbs to express the creative work of God — viz. (i) to create; (2) to make ; (3) to form ; (4) to build. The first is used of tlie creation of the universe (i. i) ; of tlie great sea-monsters, wliose vastness appears to have excited special wonder (i. 21) ; and of the creation of man, the head of animated nature, in the image of God (i. 27). Everywhere else we read of God's making, as from an already created substance, the firmament, the sun, the stars, the brute creation (i. 7, 16, 25), or of Wx's, forming \\\& beasts of the field out of the ground (ii. 19), or, lastly of His building up (ii. 22) into a woman the rib which He had taken from man. In Is'aiah xliii. 7, three of these verbs occur together, ' I have created him for My glory, I have formed him ; yea, I have made him. ' Perhaps no other ancient language, however refined or philosophical, could have so clearly distin- guished the different acts of the Maker of all things, and that because all heathen philosophy esteemed matter to have been eternal and uncreated. It cannot justly be objected that the verb create, in its first signification, may have been sensuous, meaning probably to heiv stone, or fell timber. Almost all abstract or spiritual thoughts are expressed by words which were originally concrete or sensuous, and in nearly all the passages of Scripture in which the verb in question occurs, the idea of a true creation is that which is most naturally implied. Even where the trans- lators have rendered it otherwise, the sense is clearly the same — e.g. in Numbers xvi. 30 : 'If the Lord make a neiv thing (lit. create a creation), and the earth open her mouth;' or again, Psalm Ixxxix. 47: 'Wherefore hast Thou made (Heb. created) all things for nought ? ' The word is evidently the common word for a true and original creation, and there is no other word which can express that thought.'' — Bishop Harold Browne, Speaker's Commentary, vol. i. p. 31.

lo THE LORD'S DAY; OR, CHRISTIAN SUNDAY.

sense of this much-disputed passage. The Christian Bible begins with stating, hke the Christian Creed, that all that is not God owes its being to the will of God. " I believe in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth." " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It is remarkable that the Bible does not begin by saying that God exists, or that there is one God, but it begins by exhibiting God in action. Why is this ? Because the correctness of our belief about God, or indeed, our having any serious belief about Him at all, depends altogether upon the idea which we form of His relationship to all besides Himself When we look forth from ourselves at the vast system of being in which we are placed, and of which we each one consciously form a part, we cannot, as thinking men, content ourselves with simply registering the surface im- pressions which we gain. We cannot scratch off, with science, a little of the surface, and penetrate to what we call the second cause that lies immediately beneath it, and there stop. No, we ask for an adequate explanation of what we see. The problem of existence is indeed settled for the Christian who believes his Bible, although the believing Christian, as he believes, gazes with more and more of awe and wonder at the beauty, at the mystery of existence arovmd him. But con- ceive the case of a thoughtful man, in the full maturity of his powers, without any previous instruction, without any pre- vious contact with our Christianity and European civilization, suddenly placed in this beautiful system of natural life. His eye rests upon the forms and colours around him with the keen, fresh delight of an unexpected sense. Earth, sky, sun, stars, clouds, mountains, valleys, rivers, seas, trees, animals, flowers, fruits, in groups and separately, pass before him. His thought is still eager and curious. It has not yet been vulgarized and impoverished down to the point at which existence is taken as a matter of course. The beauty, the mysteriousness, the awfulness of the universe elevates and thrills him ; and his first desire is to account to himself for the marvellous spectacle on which he gazes. " What causes it, this procession of beauty } What upholds it in being .-• Why is it here? Whither is it tending.-' Dores it exist of itself? Is it its own ruler and upholder ; or is there a Cause — a Being in existence — who gives it its substance and its shape .-' " From these questions there is no escape. We cannot, as

THE BEGINNING AND ORDERING OF THE WORLD. ii

thinking beings, behold the vast flood of Hfe sweep before our eyes without asking, whence it takes its rise. We cannot read one page of that marvellous book of nature, and be indifferent to the question whether it has an Author. That stone book of geologists, who wrote it ? Now the Christian says the Bible solution is the only one which seriously respects the rights, the existence of a God. It tells us God created the world out of nothing, for in His original creative act, God did not merely fashion existing materials into new forms ; but He called into being the very material (wXrj) which He subsequently fashioned. Neither created spirit