friends in Britain, who have sent them the gospel. In the forenoon there is usually a very full attendance. Some of the chapels are so crowded, that many persons have to sit outside. On these occasions most of them are neatly dressed. Many of them take paper and pencils, and write the particulars of the discourse. But few congregations in England surpass them, in serious attention and decent behaviour in the house of God. At the close of the afternoon service many of them frequently stop, to talk over what they have heard through the day, and to pray that the seed which has been sown may spring up and produce an abundant harvest. Besides attending schools daily, they have two religious services each week."1 We find the same spirit among the converts of New Zealand : "It was customary with the missionaries on their first settling in New Zealand to erect a flag at their station on the Sabbath-day, and this was the sign for many distant tribes of natives to desist from work, or from war; indeed, they seem to have shown at a very early period of the mission a decided respect and honour for the Sabbath, which the missionaries told them was set apart by them in honour of the Atua nue,' the Great Jehovah."2 Mr. Davis, a missionary, says, "Our chapel could not contain the whole of our congregation yesterday; so that we shall have to enlarge it as soon as possible. Ripi and his party continue to listen with attention, and are steady in their attendance on the means of grace. The manner in which the Lord's day is kept by this tribe would shame many country parishes in England, even where the gospel is faithfully preached. Their firewood is always prepared, and their potatoes scraped and got ready, on the Saturday afternoon, to be cooked on the Sunday; and this is no new thing, as they have proceeded in this way now for a long time."3 We must content ourselves with only a few more illustrations, derived from the lately published and very interesting volume, Nineteen Years in Polynesia, by the Rev. George Turner: "We had the pleasure of spending a Sabbath at Eromanga, and met with about one hundred and fifty of the people in their little chapel. were quiet and orderly. It thrilled our inmost soul to hear them, 1 Pritchard's Missionary Reward, p. 78-80. 2 Missionary Guide-Book, p. 279. 3 Ramsden's Missions, p. 164. All as led by Mrs. Gordon, strike up the tune of New Lydia,' and also the translation and tune of 'There is a happy land.' Mr. Macfarlane and I addressed them through Mr. Gordon. They were startled and deeply interested, as I told them of former times, and to show them that we were different from other white men who had visited their shores" (pp. 487, 488). "We left Uea early on the morning bound for Guamha, Mr. Creagh's station, there to land Mr. Jones, and the supplies of Mr. Creagh, and his native teachers. We were close in by nine A.M., on Sabbath, when Mr. Jones, Mr. Turpie, the first officer, and I went on shore in the whale-boat. As we reached the beach, I had a vivid recollection of the naked savage crowd Mr. Murray and I saw there on my first visit fourteen years ago. Then some were painted from head to foot, and all were armed with clubs, spears, or tomahawks. Old Ieui gave the word of command, when an avenue was formed for us to walk up through the motley group, to his large round house, where we talked to them of Christ, and his peaceful kingdom, and entreated them to abandon heathenism and embrace the gospel. But how changed the scene now! As Mr. Jones, Mr. Turpie, and I walked up from the boat, all was quiet. It was the hour of Divine service, and the people were assembled in the chapel on the rising ground a little to the left. We walked up to the place, a stone building eighty feet by sixty, looked in at the door, and saw that it was filled with 900 attentive worshippers. Mr. Creagh was in the pulpit, and a black precentor stood leading the whole in one harmonious song of praise. I felt it quite overpowering, as we walked up the aisle, and took our places in the missionary's pew. Mr. Creagh preached, and as it was their day for administering the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we had the further pleasure of uniting, at the close of the morning service, with the church of ninety-four members, in commemorating the death of Christ" (pp. 513, 514). "In summing up our progress in these islands just visited, where twenty years ago we had not a single missionary, or a single convert from heathenism, and at the very entrance to which John Williams then fell, we find that, out of a population, in the twelve islands which we now occupy, of about 65,500 souls, we have 19,743 who have renounced heathenism, and are pro fessedly Christian. Of these there are 645 church members, and 689 who are candidates for admission to the church. And there are now labouring among them ten European missionaries, and 231 native teachers and assistants. Three printing-presses, also, are at work, especially devoted to the Papuan vernacular of the respective islands" (p. 533). Thus the terms of prophecy respecting the Sabbath of Christianity, have been fulfilled only by the theory which recognises the first day of the week as consecrated by Divine authority to sacred rest and service. While other theories, when tried by this test, are found wanting, that which has been generally received and practised by Christians proves itself to be of God, and destined to continue to the end of time, as well as to be universal in the earth. CHAPTER IV. PROPOSED SUBSTITUTES FOR A HOLY SABBATH. THERE are not a few men who seem to be deficient in the capacity of knowing when it is well with them in any situation, and consequently to be wanting in the wisdom that would direct them to "let well alone." It is worse still when any one is ignorant of his highest mercies, "the things that belong to his peace." Those who quarrel with the day of rest combine both kinds of folly. Not content with the worry of six days, they must prolong it into the seventh, and, grudging the pause and respite of one day in the week, they will not, on the one hand, avail themselves of it as an indispensable means of preparation for "the rest that remaineth for the people of God;" or, on the other, take the full use of its facilities for mere repose of mind and body, as some compensation for the coming long future when they can have no rest day or night. It is such men, we believe, who are satisfied neither with the outer nor with the inner peace of the Sabbath, and would have a sacred day mutilated or abolished. It is not to be supposed that with such blindness to their own weal, to what is "well in their lot, they should be fully aware of the true reason for their wishes respecting the institution. At all events they have assigned a reason, and one involving a fiction as great as ever was invented, or attempted to be palmed on human credulity-the notion that a carefully observed Sabbath injures health, and genders and fosters vice, especially a desire for intoxicating drink. For these evils they propose, as a remedy, the removal of their supposed cause, and the substitution for a day of sacred rest, of one devoted in part at least to recreation and amusement, or to the study of science and of the arts. It will be the object of this chapter to show that such expedients are insufficient and unnecessary for their alleged purpose. Let us look, in the first instance, to the scheme which proposes an entire or partial holiday, and we shall see that it is condemned by all experience, alike by that of a sacred and by that of a merrymaking day. The necessity of a weekly day of rest to the physical welfare of men is admitted even by those who are unfriendly to a holy Sabbath. "The infidel," says one, 66 can have no interest in revoking its blessings, or accelerating its ruin. He may laugh at the ravings of fanaticism, or sneer at the fears and reasoning of inflamed zeal; but the substantial benefits of the Sabbath he is as anxious to preserve as any." "There is no one," observes another, "who denies that a day of repose and relaxation from labour once a week is for the benefit of the working-classes, and there is no one who would wish to do away with that usage. It is nearly the only breathing-time in a life of toil which the poor man enjoys."2 We accept these statements as in so far a testimony, and, coming from such quarters, an important testimony, in favour of a Sabbatic institution. But when we are told, as we are by the former writer, and by others, that in advancing proofs of the physical advantages of the institution we only "beat the winds," we must crave liberty to dissent from the opinion, and to show that such a task, so far from being bootless, as merely establishing a dogma generally received and plainly true, is one that is called for, just because it is fitted to produce the convictions which the quotations now given express, and to lead their authors and others to the further knowledge and conclusions on the subject which it is evident they have not yet reached. Let it be remarked, that certain views may not be rejected, and yet not be sufficiently influential on the conduct, and that it is on this account requisite frequently to re-produce, illustrate, and enforce them, that they may take more of the shape of living, practical principles in the minds of those by whom they are professedly held. But we confidently deny the allegation of a universally existing belief as to the utility of the Sabbath, viewed even simply as a day of rest. Who does not know that 1 A Voice from the Workshop, p. 15. |