It seems very strange to some that a feature of Judaism so strongly marked, has so little formal recognition and reinforcement in the New Testament. What is the foundation of the Christian Sabbath? On what ground of reason or of law does it rest? Of law, none whatever. To the Pharisees, the men who sat in Moses’ seat, Christ appeared to be a Sabbath breaker. Whatever His estimation of it, His conduct with regard to it was such, that it could at any rate be said, with a colour of truth, “_This man is not of God_, _because he keepeth not the Sabbath day_.” On every occasion on which there is a question on the subject, Christ appears in strong antagonism to the Churchmen of his time; and on one occasion he defends himself by an appeal to an irregularity of David, which he justified on the ground of necessity; a mode of defence which must have greatly surprised them, which surprise he takes no pains to mitigate. And yet, mark you, he never allowed that he violated the spirit of the Sabbath institution; nay, he charged the rigid Sabbatarians with the violation, giving them a new lesson to learn—“_Go ye_, _and learn what that meaneth_, _I will have mercy and not sacrifice_.” For the rest, we have to gather the Sabbath law out of the New Testament in the following fashion:— On the first day of the week, the Saviour arose from the dead, and laid the foundation of a new creation. On the first day of the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples, (John xx. 19 and 26.) On the first day of the week, the Apostles were baptized with tongues of fire. On the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread at Troas, (Acts xx. 7.) On this day Paul thinks a work of charity specially graceful and appropriate, (1 Cor. xvi. 2.) There is little doubt, but no decisive evidence, that the assemblies of Christians alluded to “passim” in the Epistles, are to be referred to this day; and John, in Patmos, “_was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day_.” As far as the New Testament is concerned, we believe that this is all. Some, then, might say that it is simply by implication and inference, and not by distinct commandment, that the Church keeps a Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath, with all its awful sanctions, vanishes, and no one can quote any law of the New Testament which sets up anything in its place. No one can show by what authority the day was altered, nor tell how far the authority, which changed the day, could transfer the sanctions and penalties from the old day to the new. In mere word, this is true enough. It is untrue enough, at heart. How does the Sabbath come down to us? As a day set apart, through all Christian ages, by the deliberate consecration of the whole Catholic church from apostolic times. We must not rail too much at tradition. The Lord’s day is certainly more a tradition than a commandment. And what, in the Christian church, is the office of the Spirit in relation to