right to do works of necessity and mercy is fearfally abused in these latter days. Thousands of Christians appear to have thrown down the hedge, and burst the bounds entirely with respect to this holy day. They seem to forget that though our Lord repeatedly explains the requirements of the fourth commandment, He never struck it out of the law of God, or said that it was not binding on Christians at all.
Can any one say that Sunday travelling, except on very rare emergencies, is a work of mercy ? — ^Will any one tell us that Sunday trading, Sunday dinner parties, Sunday excursion-trains on railways, Sunday deliveries of letters and newspapers, are works of m^ercy ? — ^Have servants, and shopmen, and engine-drivers, and coach- men, and clerks, and porters, no souls ? Do they not need rest for their bodies and time for their souls, Uke other men P — ^These are serious questions, and ought to make many people think.
Whatever others do, let us resolve to "keep the Sabbath holy." God has a controversy with the churches about Sabbath desecration. It is a sin of which the cry goes up to heaven,^ and will be reckoned for one day. Let us wash our hands of this sin, and have nothing to do with it. If others are determined to rob God, and take possession of the Lord's day for their own selfish ends, let us not be partakers in their sins.
Notes. Luke. XIV. 1—6.
1 . — [He went into,., house. . . Pharisees.] Inns and places of recep-
. tion for travellers were doubtless far more uncommon in our
Lord's time than they are now. The duty of entertaining
strangers, in consequence, often devolved on the chief man in
each village or town.