creed. And we are satisfied that it is not thus that either" sound doctrine" or unity of spirit" can be maintained. 66 We are not in a position to say how far Mr. Ransom's views on the Sabbath prevail among Congregational ministers. But our impression is, that those who abide by the older views immensely preponderate in number. And as a specimen of these older views and of the grounds on which they are based we quote a few passages from the Rev. Eustace Conder's admirable exposition of Matthew. Expounding our Lord's controversy with the Pharisees as recorded in Matthew xii., Mr. Conder says: "This simple, sublime and merciful institution-designed to release one seventh of human life from the burden of worldly toil and care, and provide regularly recurring leisure, not only for bodily rest, but for the culture of man's highest faculties and spiritual life,—must be carefully discriminated on the one hand from the severe penalties by which it was enforced in the law of Moses; and on the other hand from the traditions of the rabbies, from which Our Lord disencumbered it. The penalties were required (like those against idolatry) not by the nature of the Sabbath, but by the place it held in the fundamental laws of the Hebrew State. Sabbath-breaking, like idolatry, was not merely a sin, but a public act of rebellion against Jehovah as King of Israel. Ex. xxxi. 12-17; Num. xv. 32-36." "A great Of Pharisaic traditions and follies Mr. Conder thus writes:deal is often said concerning the austerity and gloom of the Jewish Sabbath,' which is unmeaning and untrue if applied to the original Divine institution; though true enough in reference to the heavy burdens and grievous to be borne' imposed by the rabbinical interpretation of the law. There is nothing gloomy or austere' in rest from labour; or in the employment of such rest in public assemblies for praise and prayer and teaching, and in the culture of the higher life in our own souls, and in our families. To the ignorant and ungodly, no doubt, all religious engagements appear joyless and burdensome; but this only shows their incompetence to judge." On the words "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath," Mr. Conder says:-"In these words Our Lord is not referring to His Divine nature, strictly considered; but is claiming as Messiah, King and Head of mankind, to possess sovereign authority, as Judge and Lawgiver, over all laws and institutions established for the benefit of mankind;-as the Sabbath, marriage, property, government, &c. His disciples were not to be bound by rabbinical authority, but to learn from their Master what was lawful or unlawful. It is important to observe (because the reverse is often assumed) that Our Lord intimates no intention to abrogate or undermine the observance of the Sabbath; but, on the contrary, always justifies Himself, when charged with breaking it, not only from Scripture, but from principles admitted and acted on by His accusers themselves." As to the great Sabbatic institution itself, we most cordially subscribe to Mr. Conder's testimony :-"The Sabbath shares with marriage (see Matt. xix. 4), the honour of having been 'instituted in the time of man's innocency,'-a law as old as our race: Gen. ii. 3. It was 'sabbath,'—a rest from work; blessed,'-a happy rest; 'sanctified,'-a holy rest. It was 'made for man' (Mark ii. 27)—for his comfort and benefit, not as a bondage but as a boon. Like marriage, it is a mixed institution, partly civil, partly sacred; the letter and outward form of which can be enforced by public law, but the spirit and highest aim are matters which concern individual conscience, feeling, and will. There can be no public rest but by public law; and so far the Sabbath, if observed at all, must be a civil institution. But what use a man will make of the precious leisure so secured, is a matter between his own conscience and God, which human law cannot touch, further than to forbid him from hindering others in their full use of the day. "The obligation of the Sabbath on Christians is often debated as if it were a burden to be got rid of; whereas in fact, the value of the Sabbath is such that its practical abolition would be the greatest blow which could be inflicted on religion, and its universal, intelligent, and reverent observance one of the greatest imaginable benefits to society. If the law of the Sabbath be not binding on Christians, then in this respect they are on a far lower level of privilege than Jews, and the provision made for human welfare by Christianity inferior to that made by Judaism. That Christians are to consecrate every day and hour to God, is true, but nothing to the purpose: for every day cannot be observed as rest or devoted to public religious worship and teaching; nor can the subtraction of so large a portion of time as one seventh from the useful work of the world be easily justified on any lower ground than a Divine law. "The chief arguments for the obligation of the Sabbath under the Christian dispensation, in addition to such considerations as those just suggested are: (1) The record of the primitive institution, Gen. ii. 3, confirmed by the indications of the observance of weeks, Gen. vii. 4, 10; viii. 10, 12; xxix. 27, 28; and by the manner in which the Sabbath is mentioned-not as a thing altogether new, though fallen into disuse-Ex. xvi. 23; xx. 8. (2) The place it holds in the Ten Commandments. All the other nine being of universal and permanent obligation, why should this law be introduced among them more than the law of circumcision or sacrifice, if only Jewish and temporary? True, the Ten Commandments as such were given to the Jews; but they express universal laws, and are so referred to in the New Testament; Rom. xiii. 8-10; Eph. vi. 1-3. (3) The Sabbath does not in the least resemble the Jewish ceremonies which are abolished; nothing can be less of a form, more of a reality, than rest from toil, prayer, praise, instruction in truth, and religious fellowship. (4) Non-observance of the Sabbath, by individuals and by communities, produces such serious evils as never arise but from the breach of some Divine law. If abolished, nothing could supply its place. "The grand objection-that if the Sabbath be binding at all, it must be binding on the last day of the week, not the first-seems to me of no weight. The substance of the law is, the keeping one day in every seven as a Sabbath: and whether we count the week from it or to it is a matter of mere form, not affecting the nature or design of the institution. We infer that this change was made by Christ's authority, from the fact that the Apostles called the first day of the week the Lord's-day,' and kept it as a season of worship and fellowship. Rev. i. 10; Acts xx. 6, 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2; comp. John xx. 19, 26. (It may be added, that if-as there is some reason to think-the ' days' of creation, mentioned Gen. i., are reckoned from noon to noon, then the first Sabbath, commencing at noon of the seventh day, would include half of the eighth day, or first day of a new week. At all events, the seventh day of creation was the first complete day of Adam's life. The question of the place of the Sabbath-at the commencement or the close of the week-appears still more a matter of mere form when we consider that it is impossible for the same twenty-four hours to be observed all over the world when it is Sunday in some parts of the globe it is Saturday in others; and the change of a day in reckoning has to be made by every ship's crew which sails round the world.)" 66 66 "The obligation to observe the Lord's-day as a day of rest," according to Mr. Ransom, "is derived from the spiritual and physical wants of man." And the Lord's-day (he tells us) has been observed as a day of rest from the time of Constantine. What then of the 300 years that went before? Were the wants of man" unknown and unfelt those three centuries? And if they were, what of the "obligation" which is "derived" from them? As we understand the Scriptures, we reach our conclusion as to the 'obligation" to observe a day of rest by a surer road. He who knows our "frame," our "spiritual and physical wants," provided for these wants from the beginning by that most beneficent ordinance, the Sabbath. And from the beginning man has been under this "holy, just, and good law.” The law has been adapted to the various dispensations under which man has been placed. And now the Lord's-day is not a new institution, but the old blessed Sabbatic rest in a Christian form, and with Christian sanctions and reasons. THERE REMAINETH A REST. Он, for some rest! how blest, how blest! And nothing vain for hand or brain Beneath the smiting of the sun. TYNEMOUTH. Oh, for for some life exempt from strife! Aye, hand in hand, and heart with heart. Oh, for some friend sweet aid to lend, There is that Rest-so blest, so blest! ALFRED NORRIS. COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY CHRONICLE. THE Committee of the Colonial Missionary Society have been in correspondence about Bush Missions with the Home Missionary Societies and Congregational Unions of Australia, and they are glad to find their proposals taken up in an earnest and practical way. They have been disappointed somewhat, however, in the comparative reserve with which their friends in England have treated the matter, and with the small number of responses with which they have been favoured to their appeal for special contributions. They have no doubt that this is owing to an imperfect realisation of the urgency of the case on the part of those by whom the Society's ordinary operations are sustained; and they must therefore repeat their appeal from time to time, until such feeling and pecuniary help are evoked as shall be worthy of the Churches, and equal to the demands of the occasion. In a letter which has just come to hand from Queensland, the writer says: "I am heartily glad that your Committee have been led to take up the subject of Bush Missions. It is indeed of pressing importance. The want has been felt, but the Churches here are too weak to do much without such aid as your Society can afford. If suitable men be found, I believe the Mission may be to a considerable extent self-sustained." Another correspondent writes: "If you refer to your map, you will see what an extent of country there is between this (Rockhampton) and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Cape York in the north, and the whole back countr for 400 miles from the coast. All this country is taken up, and has a population scattered over the whole of it; and to supply the spiritual necessitie of this lukewarm field there is one minister at Springhorn, one at Mackay, one at Bowen, and five in Rockhampton, and these have to attend to the Sabbath services in the several places in which they are settled, so that their itinerant labours must be very limited. The Bush, therefore, remains absolutely neglected. Ten ministers could at once be advantageously settled in Northern Queensland, and that number at least would be required to pay periodical visits to all the stations." The Committee are glad to be able to report that already one minister has been found with Colonial experience, ready to enter on the arduous and, in some respects, perilous service. The Rev. T. Jenkyn, M.A., late of Clermont, singularly well qualified, according to the testimony of all who know him and his labours in the colony, to initiate the good work, has agreed to enter upon it immediately. The Committee hope to be able soon to strengthen his hands by sending out one or more fellow-labourers. The Committee have received, too, an urgent application for a minister for the new gold fields in the province of Auckland, New Zealand. The following extract from the report which accompanies the application will show the nature of the necessity which has called the application forth :— "In this township, which extends a distance of one mile along the seaboard, there are at present four places of worship, viz., one Church of England, one Presbyterian, one Wesleyan, and one Roman Catholic, with an average accommodation of, say, 350 each at most. "Twelve miles further south (the limit of country at present open to European enterprize), at Puriri, there are about 100 miners and others 66 "On the east side of the peninsula there are four harbours: Kennedy's Bay, Wangapaoa, Mercury Bay, and Tairau, with an average population of 125 adults each, principally employed in saw-mills and bush work; but gold is being obtained in these places, and the population is increasing. 66 'With the exception of Shortland, the whole peninsula is totally unfurnished with places of worship, or religious agencies of any kind. "The population of the district is, as may be expected, of a very varied character. Amongst the roughest you will find many well-educated men, who from intemperance, love of change, and carelessness for the future, are living without hope, and without God in this world; but these would gladly hear the Gospel if brought home to them. Many who have thrown aside all care for religion, still cherish religious associations of other days and many lands, which would be quickened by contact with the Gospel; some preserve an uncorrupted Christian character, who, if opportunity offered, would gladly rally round any centre of religious influence. 66 'It must be remembered that nearly the whole of this population has been gathered in this district during the past 18 months—more, probably, than one-half of them being drawn from other parts of the province, thereby weakening established Churches, which were then suffering severely from the |