Abram Herbert Lewis - Spiritual Sabbathism

most remarkable: in
SABBATARIANISM 177
1658 Alexander Calrnie "was
delaltit for brak of Sabbath, In bearing ane sheep
from the pasture to his house."
In vain did Alexander
plead that the sheep would have died in
the
storm. He was "rebukit for the same, and admonished
not to do the like." We can imagine
how the Good Shepherd would have commented on
this "brak of Sabbath."
A fuller test of Puritan Sabbatarianism was made
in the American colonies. Our Puritan ancestors
modeled the New England colonies after the Hebraic
theocracy.
The result was a state in a church.
There was vitality in the laws of the colonies,
and
In the execution of them. There was at first a
rigid common law, founded on the Mosaic codes.
Later, special Sunday statutes became necessary.
In 1658 Plymouth forbade burden bearing, etc.,
with a fine of twenty shillings or a four hour imprisonment
in the stocks. In 1665 Plymouth attached
similar penalties to sleeping in church. In
1629 Massachusetts required labor to cease on Saturday
at three, in order to give time for proper
preparation for Sunday. Massachusetts referred
difficult questions to the Reverend Elders for advice,
and In 1644 that body declared that "any sin committed
with a high hand, as the gathering of sticks