32 THE SABBATH. 



this opinion, or else I see not how he will know when 

 midnight is come." In 1590 the Presbytery of Glasgow 

 enjoined that the Sabbath should be " from sun to sun." 

 In 1640 the Sabbath was declared to extend from mid- 

 night to midnight. Uncertainty reigned, and innocent 

 people were prosecuted for beginning to work imme- 

 diately after sunset. Already, prior to the date last 

 mentioned, voices were heard refusing to acknowledge 

 the propriety of the change from Saturday to Sunday, 

 and tne doctrine of Seventh Day observance was after- 

 wards represented by a sect.* The earth's sphericity 

 and rotation, which had at first been received with 

 such affright, came eventually to the aid of those 

 afflicted with qualms and difficulties regarding the re- 

 spective claims of Saturday and Sunday. The sun 

 moves apparently from east to west. Suppose then we 

 start on a voyage round the world in a westerly direc- 

 tion. In doing so we sail away, as it were, from the sun, 

 which follows and periodically overtakes us, reaching 

 the meridian of our ship each succeeding day somewhat 

 later than if we stood still. For every 15 of longitude 

 traversed by the vessel the sun will be exactly an hour 

 late; and after the ship has traversed twenty-four times 

 15, or 360, that is to say, the entire circle of the 



* Theophilus Brabourne, a sturdy Puritan minister of Norfolk, 

 whom Cox regards as the founder of this sect, thus argued the 

 question in 1628 : "And now let me propound unto your choice these 

 two days : the Sabbath-day on Saturday or the Lord's Day on Sun- 

 day ; and keep whether of the twain you shall in conscience find 

 the more safe. If you keep the Lord's Day, but profane the Sab- 

 bath Day, you walk in great danger and peril (to say the least) of 

 transgressing one of God's eternal and inviolable laws' the Fourth 

 Commandment. But, on the other side, if you keep the Sabbath 

 Day, though you profane the Lord's Day, you are out of all gun- 

 shot and danger, for so you transgress no law at all, since neither 

 Christ nor his apostles did ever leave any law for it." 



