[TO THE EDITOR 01' THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sia,—I am glad to see Professor IIuxley's startling article at length noticed, and noticed in the Spectator, and even those who " cannot quiet their own consciences " in the matter of the Fourth Commandment by either of Mr. Gurney's interpretations, will readily thank him for his generous pleading against the "exacer- bation of the febrile symptoms" on both sides of the discussion.
But, excepting the exacerbation, who will be bold enough to say that Mr. Huxley is not really and substantially on the right side? Take in mind the chronology printed " by authority" in our Bibles, the natural meaning of the words of the Bible, and the interpretation of the latter enforced in the Homily on " The Place and Time of Prayer," and surely and simply the assertion is, that about 5,874 years ago God began the creation on a Sunday ; that He worked on till Friday, and then rested (as if fatigued?) on the Saturday, and bade us rest on the same day. Those who believe this, and none but they, have any real quarrel with Professor Huxley's strictures. But there is another point connected with our use of the Fourth Commandment which deserves notice as well as the point noticed by the Professor, viz., " Sunday after Sunday, in innumerable churches," we read out God's plain direction to keep the Saturday holy, just in the same common-sense way that we read out His direction not to commit adultery, and the people in the innumerable churches pray to God in the same common-sense way to incline their hearts to keep both of these laws To say in explanation that Saturday is Sunday, as our Homily doth vainly talk, is to talk like the Homily ; and to pretend to reason that because we are bid to keep holy Saturday, we therefore are bound not to keep it, and to keep another day, is the same as if a man were to argue that because he is bid not to commit adultery, there- fore he is bound to keep a mistress.
Similar remarks might be made about the non-naturalness and unreality of the Second and Fifth Commandments. We openly violate and defy the former (notwithstanding the Homily which reasserts it); and no living father or mother that ever grieved over a good child's grave believes the latter. How many Huxleys will it take to teach our 64 guides " that in this matter we " fall below the moral standard of the much abused Jesuit " 7-1 am,
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