Of the origin of Sabbatarianism in Holland, however, we have no account; neither have the names of its teachers been handed down to us. Whether its first observers were led to its adoption by an examination of the sacred records alone, or whether the commandments there laid down, were argued and explained by some popular leader, I have at present no means of ascertaining. Certain it is that the Sabbath controversy became, in the commencement of the sixteenth century, the principal one of the age, in all those northern Germanic countries, and engaged not only the attention of prelates and doctors of divinity, but of princes and sovereign states. In this controversy learning was opposed to ignorance, and influence to obscurity. Wealth, talent, and civil power, were arrayed on the side of the No-Sabbath doctrine. Here I would remark, that the Sabbatarians in Europe, at this period, were engaged in a controversy, which, originating upon different principles, required to be managed in altogether a different manner, from the present controversial discussions of the Sabbath question. The change of the Sabbath at this time had not been broached. It was conceded by all that the Dominical day was a mere festival of the church, brought in and perpetuated by human authority, and the mass of the people, with the so-called great Reformers at their head, contended that all sabbatical statutes had been abrogated, and consequently that, under the present dispensation, it was a matter of perfect expediency, whether or not any day of rest was observed. On the contrary, the Sabbatarians maintained that a Divine law could only be abrogated by its institutor, that the law of the Sabbath had not been so abrogated, and consequently, that it must be still in force. They appealed to the Scriptures; the opposite party appealed to the sword: and though the arguments of the former could never be answered in a satisfactory manner, their upholders could be hushed in death or driven into exile. One of the most eminent and learned men of this age, was a Sabbatarian, and a bold advocate of Sabbatarian views. I refer to Grotius, who wrote and published a book, in which he proved that the ten commandments are moral and immutable, and consequently the law of the Sabbath is still binding. This book was condemned in the celebrated council convened at Dort in 1618, and its author denounced in the severest manner. But however much this distinguished man contributed to support the Sabbatarian cause, he was certainly not its founder. A Catholic historian, in treating of the Anabaptists in Holland, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, remarks, that, "these heretics, through the instigation of the devil, for their overthrow, were divided among themselves, part teaching one thing, and part another; for, though all unanimously rejected the holy sacraments of the church, and refused to obey its ordinances, a certain