192 OBLIGATION OF THE SABBATH. 



Lax Ticws of Luther and Melancthon. " Fruits." Doctrine of Calvin. 



intimates, in Matt. v. 19, that lax views of the Ten Command- 

 ments, or some of them at least, miglit be embraced and pro- 

 pagated by some Ministers of tlie Gospel. My friend lias 

 chosen on this point the ungracious task of Ham to Noah. 

 Lax views of the Fourth Commandment by Luther and 

 Melancthon have borne tlieir natur al f mit m Germany. 

 What that fruit is may be learned from Dr. Robinson, in the 

 Biblical Repository, vol. i. pp. 440 — 446. I will quote a 

 single sentence from this impartial witness, written after long 

 residence in the land of Luther. " To an American it is 

 a striking and painful sight to enter the house of God, and find 

 it almost uniformJy destitute of icorshippers. The preacher is 

 there ; the services are there ; the voice of song rises from 

 the Choir and Organ ; but a worshipping assemhly can hardly 

 be said to be there !'' Can any one doubt, after this, whose 

 opinions of the Sabbath are right ? '^ Ye shall know them 

 hy their fruits.'' 



My friend has quoted a lax opinion from Calvin. Yet 

 Calvin's general doctrine and that of his school was sound. 

 The incontrovertible evidence of this is now before me, in the 

 ^^ Propositions and Principles of Divinity, propounded 

 and disputed [discussed] in the University of Geneva, under 

 M. Theodore Beza, and M. Anthonie Faius, Professors 

 of Divinity. Translated out of Latin into English. Edin- 

 burgh, 1591." I will quote from this rare book their well- 

 weighed conclusion {pp. 80, 81): " ^Ye may, thorefore, 

 justly affirm that the Apostles, by the direction of the 

 Holy Ghost, instead of that sevcnth day observed under 

 the Law, did appoint that day which was the first in the 

 creation of the former world ; yet not therefore because it was 

 the first in that work of the creation, but because that Christ 

 by His resurrection upon that day did bring forth that new and 

 eternal light of another world ; and therefore this day hath 

 been named the Lord's day, ever since the time of the Apos- 

 tles." — '^ The observance of the Lord's day doth not forbid 



