42 ABROGATION OF THE SABBATH. 



Luther. Taul to the Galatians : — Sabbath observance condemned. 



commiseration. But at present I am only concerned to sliow, 

 first, that this observance is not required by the fourtb com- 

 mandment {vide Proposition I.), and secondly, that, if it were, 

 this commandment has been, in PauFs expressive language 

 (unconsciously used by my friend), completely " blotted 

 out." {Col ii. 14, 16.) If J. N. B. will esteem Sunday as 

 more " holy" than any other day, I leave him to escape PauVs 

 implication of " weakness in the faith/' as best he can. To con- 

 sole him, I will remind him of the opinion of Martin Luther, 

 as quoted in Coleridge's Tahle-Talk: (vol ii. J/«y 19, 1834 :) 

 *' If anywhere the day is made holy for the mere days sake, 

 if anywhere any one sets up its observance upon a Jeivish 

 foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to 

 dance on it, to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment 

 on the Christian spirit and liberty." 



" 0, foolish Galatians,'^ says the apostle once more, (iii. 1,) 

 " who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth V 

 "Ho w turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, 

 whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ? Ye observe 

 days!" {Gal. iv. 9, 10.) "Sabbaths:" says Grotius. {Anno- 

 tations m loco.') "These days," says a note in yALPY's Greek 

 Test., "are the Sabbaths.'^ " This expression," says Bloom- 

 riELD's (rreeÅ; Tes^., "refers to the Sabbath." "Bydays," 

 says Macknight, " the apostle means the weekly Sabbaths." 

 {Commentary in loco.) Dr. Clarke paraphrases it: "Ye 

 superstitiously regard the Sabbaths." (_ui loco.) And Dr. 

 Gill says: "By ^days^ are meant their seventh day Sab- 

 baths ; for since they are distinguished from ^ months' and 

 ^ycars,' they must mean such days as returned weekly ; and 

 what else can they be but their weekly Sabbaths ?" {Coin. ut 

 loco.) 



If my friend J. N. B. thinks these " days," so warmly con- 

 demned by the apostle, do ?iot refer to the Sabbath of the 

 fourth commandment, I shall be very happj to learn the 

 grounds on which such an opinion is based, Meauwhile, I 



