32 THE SABBATH. 



give a certain sound. A poor Christian man had need 

 to be a good and watchful mathematician that holds 

 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 the doctrine of Seventh Day observance was after- 

 wards represented by a sect. 1 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 

 respective 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, reach- 

 ing the meridian of our ship each succeeding day 

 somewhat later than if we stood still. For every 1 5° 

 of longitude traversed by the vessel the sun will be 

 exactly an hour late ; and after the ship has traversed 



1 Theophilus Brabourne, a sturdy Puritan minister of Norfolk, 

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

 tion in 1628 : ' And now let me propound unto your choice these two 

 days : the Sabbath-day on Saturday or the Lord's Day on Sunday ; 

 and keep whether of the twain you shall in conscience find the more 

 safe. If you keep the Lord's Day, but profane the Sabbath 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, o'x 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 apostlea 

 did ever leave any law for it.' 



