DISCOURSE XXIII.

A SABBATH DAY'S JOURNEY.

ACTS I. 12.

THEN RETURNED THEY UNTO JERUSALEM, FROM THE MOUNT CALLED OLIVET, WHICH IS FROM JERUSALEM A SABBATH DAY'S JOURney.

With the ancient Hebrews, the Sabbath was a day of rest and worship; and they were strict in keeping it. They performed no labor on that day. The master of the house, the man-servant, the maid-servant, the ox, and every other beast of burden, had that day as a day of repose. The old and young of all the Jewish tribes, in synagogue and temple, paid to the Lord God on that day their religions devotions.

Their manner of keeping the Sabbath was somewhat formal. They rested on the Sabbath day and kept it holy, not according to the law of Christ, but according to the law of an earlier teacher. With a good and determined spirit, yet quite mechanically, they occupied the Sabbath. And coming as they had from the shadows of heathenism, we cannot doubt that their Sabbath observances, such as they were, raised them above their Gentile brethren. Judging them by the standard of

their times, we must give them credit for the nobleness of their demeanor. Indeed there was much of spirituality in their worship. No one will deny this who has read the Hebrew Prophesies and the Hebrew Psalms. "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," and "Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart," are words as fit for the Christian's use as ever they were for the pious Hebrews.

As the tendency of the ancient Hebrews would be strong for a long time to return to Paganism and Pagan rites, Moses walled them in with a long code of statutes. As they would be for centuries but children of light, he prescribed many forms of duty for their observance. They were not sufficiently mature in rereligious thought to take a principle and go on with that as alone their guide in life. They needed all the divisions, all the details of law which their great leader gave them. Had they been without the letter of law a single hour, they would have been lost. They could not walk alone. Among the minor rules which governed the ancient Hebrews, was one saying how far they might walk or ride on the Sabbath. By this rule they were allowed to travel on the Sabbath only about seven hundred paces; and this distance was called a Sabbath day's journey. We will not question the propriety of this rule. Without in the least doubting its utility, we will admit that it was wisely made. At the same time we can see that it is not needed by those who dwell in the Christian light of the present day. That rule has answered its purpose. A

greater than Jewish Rabbis is our Lawgiver now, and from him we receive no long code of statutes, requiring mechanical obedience, but certain eternal principles, by which we are commanded spiritually to obey and worship God.

The ancient Hebrews had a Sabbath; and by them it was not entirely unspiritually kept. Yet in great part it was to them a day of forms, of rites, of ceremonies. It was a day of outward pomp and show; a day for the washing of hands, for burning incense, for offer ing sacrifice, for wearing broad phylacteries, and for saying long prayers. It was a day for short journeys.

We have a Sabbath the Christian Sabbath. It should be kept as a day of repose and of spiritual worship. I mean not by this that we should limit our steps, or labor by any letter of law, but that we should rest and worship on this day, in obedience to the great principles of him who said to the woman of Samaria, that the time would come when the true worshipper should "worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”

Truly Christian men keep the Sabbath, not in slavery to the letter of the law, but in willing and glad obedience to the spirit of Christ. Their steps are not circumscribed by a wall of precepts, but are free in the broad realm of Christian liberty, and are governed by the perfect example of the Son of God. They rest from their worldly labors because they need such rest; and they approach God in religious devotion, in religious service, in religious communion, because his spiritual presence and companionship and help they need. They do not feel that they are driven to any service, or for

bidden to attain any good on the Lord's day; but that on that day they are attracted actively and brought to the enjoyment of the highest and dearest blessings.

To the ancient Hebrews a Sabbath day's journey was a certain number of paces. This was its extent; but he was holiest among them who journied least.

What should be the Sabbath day's journey of Christians? While their feet are not hemmed in by arbitrary statutes, ought they not, on every Sabbath day, to journey in mind and heart in the cause of truth, holiness, and love? Ought they not, on every Sabbath day, to walk with God?

Spiritual progress should be made by Christians on every day. No doubt it is made by many day by day, through all the weeks, and through all the years of their lives. But the Sabbaths are opportunities peculiarly favorable to those who earnestly desire to advance in the divine life. On these holy days, worldly obstructions are out of the way, and it does not matter how long the journey may be.

The Christian Sabbath day's journey is not shortened by any law. There is never any barrier in the path of the struggling, faithful spirit, nor is he the noblest or best disciple of the great Master, whose progress is least on the Lord's day. The Christian who travels farthest, who climbs the highest, on the Lord's Day, is the loftiest, the purest, the happiest follower of Christ.

And what a high privilege this is which Christians can enjoy. While they rest from earthly toils, and are freed from the cares and anxieties and perplexities of the world and world's business, they can travel forward

on the bright road of knowledge and wisdom; they can journey towards heaven, and be favored as they advance, with the society of the wisest and best men who have lived upon the earth, and the companionship of the angels, of the Saviour, and of the Father. It is within one's power to describe the scenes, the new views, the grand prospects the soul may journey to and contemplate on a single Sabbath. The body would grow tired after a few miles' journeying, and its eye would be closed in sleep. But the soul, alive and awake in its spiritual course, does not flag. It attains more and more of vigor and activity, as it marches forward with unabating desire to see and enjoy the glorious displays of infinite love. The spirit is kept back by no restraint. It finds no obstruction in its course. There is no violation of law in its journeying. It is in obedience to the highest law, to the voice of God, that it makes advancement in the way of truth and holiness. No word comes to its ear that it should at certain points lie still and dormant; but the command ever sounding in its ear is, Forward! Follow me! Come up hither, where is light, where is joy!

How well it is, then, that there is a Sabbath, and a Sabbath day's journey for the spirit; that there so frequently comes around a period for its free activity, for the unrestrained play of its energies. How well it is that so often a time is presented, when it may hasten on with unembarrassed powers and unclogged feet, towards the undiscovered land where the Sabbath is without an end, and holy employments never cease. Inactivity would be the spirits death. Exertion, ad