about which the best and wisest men have come, and apparently will always come, to discordant conclusions. Surely it is high time that Christians should cease to torment themselves with the notion that a right decision upon such questions is of vital importance to their welfare; and that the clergy, instead of wasting their strength in fruitless logomachy, should labour more exclusively and earnestly in that department of duty which Bishop Butler lays out for them in a sermon elsewhere quoted: "Our province," says he, "is virtue and religion, life and manners; the science of improving the temper, and making the heart better. This is the field assigned us to cultivate; how much it has lain neglected is indeed astonishing." EDINBURGH, 11th September 1853. CONTENTS. Civil right of the public to the use of the Sunday trains, Suppose that Jews had the management of the railway, and What reply could you make to their reasons (which would Let us do as we would be done to, The Sabbath not endangered by Sunday trains, APPENDIX. NOTE A.-THE VICTORIES OF THE SABBATARIANS, Agitation in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company ཙཙས£ How the Board managed to give the Sabbatarians a victory Protest of certain Shareholders against the manœuv Proceedings at the Meetings in March and August 1850, NOTE B.-THE RIGHT TO ACT ACCORDING TO ONE'S Page 28 The principles of religious liberty long since shewn to give NOTE C.-GOD'S TRUTH AND Man's Truth, Two meanings of "Truth" distinguished and illustrated, The "religious truth" of individuals often undergoes change, Reflections on such cases, Doctrine of original sin and the corruption of human nature, 29 30 31 31 32 34 50 39-42 50-53 Influence of extension of one's religious studies, The motion of the Sun round the Earth, once an in- 60 The existence of witchcraft, formerly a "religious truth" in Britain, 64 The creation of the universe in six days, a "religious 72 74 The Hebrew cosmogony now discovered to be of the narrative of the creation in Genesis, 89-93 The copy of the Fourth Commandment in Exod. xx. 8-11 must be abandoned, and Both copies cannot be genuine, Extravagant assertions of sundry evangelical writers as to the Hebrew cosmogony, &c., The argument that Geology is an immature science considered, Difficulty of ascertaining God's truth, Consequent natural tendency of mankind to repose on some fancied infallible authority, Roman Catholic notion of the Infallibility of the Pope, human authority, Abject deference formerly paid to the authority of Aristotle and Hippocrates in Philosophy and Medicine, Men of Science now liberated from such bondage, Test of "general consent," Its uselessness, Employment of this test by a Sabbatarian writer, Reply to his argument, The rights of laymen asserted, Page 109 110-111 Doctrine of the Church of England and the Reformers con cerning the Sabbath, Doctrine of John Knox, Difficulty of knowing which is "the true Church," 112 113 113 113 114 115-116 117 Divine right claimed alike by Episcopacy and Presbytery, Practical lesson from the diversity of religious opinions, In Scotland, the Westminster Confession virtually the standard of religious truth, 132 History of the Westminster Assembly, 133 No such authority claimed by it as that with which it has been invested, Completion of its Confession and Catechism, Circumstances tending to bias the assembled Divines in their interpretation of Scripture, Reaction against the Prelatic government of oppressors, 141 Reaction against their aggressive Arminianism, Reaction against the Anti-Sabbatarianism of the authors and abettors of the Book of Sports, History of the Book of Sports, and exposure of Sabbatarian misrepresentations concerning it, The old Puritans ignorant of the principles of religious liberty, 142 142-154 142-149 150 Two different systems of "religious truth" endowed by the Demand by members of the dominant sect in Scotland, that the public funds shall be applied to the exclusive support Noble protest of Milton against the authority of Ecclesiastical ture over those enjoyed by the Westminster Divines, The true principles of interpretation unknown to the Puritans at the time of the Assembly, 155 158 Their introduction by Owen and Locke, 158 Folly of setting up the Westminster Confession as a standard of truth, 160 Page 162 Effects of the erroneous mode of exegesis of the old theolo- Whether now binding even on the Jews, Special proof that the Fourth Commandment was an exclu sively Jewish law, Revival of Judaism in the Christian Church about the be- This corruption transmitted through the Puritans to Belief of Knox and others that idolaters ought to be 164 166 167 173 Notion that the capital punishment of murder is pre- 189 Notion that marriage with a deceased wife's sister is 190 Old notion that the Divine right of kings is counte- 195 In what respects the Mosaic Law is of value to the The law of nature and the law of Christ are the true foun The law of nature the perpetual and universal law, 198 Its obligation acknowledged by the Sabbatarians when they find it expedient to do so, 200 Resemblance of their conduct to that of the Jesuits, 210 The proposition controverted, that, if you slight the Sabbath, you slight religion, and strike at the roots of morality, Prevalence of religious insincerity, or cant, 214 briety, 215 Alleged moral character of the Sabbath law, 217 Natural laws embodied in the Jewish code, bind us only by their own independent authority, 222 Stated seasons of repose from labour, the spirit of the Jewish 225 Ambiguity of the word "moral," 227 The opening of the Crystal Palace on Sundays, improperly affirmed to be "immoral," 228 The reverse is the fact, 229 Recreations on the Sabbath were not forbidden to the Jews, 229 229 by the clergy, 230 |