28 THE SABBATH. 



In 1646 the * Confession,' after * endless janglings/ 

 being agreed upon, it was presented to Parliament, 

 which, in 1648, accepted and published its doctrinal 

 portion, thus securing uniformity of doctrine as far aa 

 it could be secured by legislation. There was no lack 

 of definiteness in the Assembly's statements. They 

 spoke as confidently of the divine enactments as if 

 each member had been personally privy to the counsels 

 of the Most High. When Luther in the Castle of 

 Marburg had had enough of the arguments of Zuin- 

 glius on the * real presence,' he is said to have ended the 

 controversy by taking up a bit of chalk and writing 

 firmly and finally upon the table ' Hoc est corpus 

 meum.' Equally downright and definite .were the 

 divines at Westminster. They were modest in offering 

 their conclusions to Parliament as 'humble advice,' 

 but there was no flicker of doubt either in their theo- 

 logy or their cosmology. * From the beginning of the 

 world,' they say, 'to the Resurrection of Christ the last 

 day of the week was kept holy as a Sabbath; ' while 

 from the Resurrection it ' was changed into the first 

 day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lord's 

 Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world as 

 the Christian Sabbath.' The notions of the divines, 

 regarding the ' beginning and the end ' of the world, 

 were primitive, but decided. An ancient philosopher 

 was once mobbed for venturing the extravagant opinion 

 that the sun, which appeared to be a circle less than a 

 yard in diameter, might really be as large as the whole 

 country of Greece. Imagine a man with the know- 

 ledge of a modern geologist lifting up his voice among 

 these Westminster divines ! ' It pleased Grod,' they 

 continue, ' at the beginning, to create, or make of 



breaking was either followed by death or ' grievously punished at 

 the judgment of the court.' 



