^ PRINCETON, N. J. '^> Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa, BV 110 .C46 1850 The Christian sabbath THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH, CONSIDERED TN ITS VARIOflS ASPECTS. MINISTERS OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS. WITH PREFACE BY THE HON. AND REV. BAl^TIST W NOEL " lecttHl (!V(Mits ; the life of one j)atriarch alone occu- pies several cha})ters ; tho account of the plagues of Egyy)t spreads through many more. A]")ply Palcy's mod(3 of rejisoning to analogous cases, and into what palpable en'ors woidd it speedily conduct us? We have a comparativ(?ly full account of tho Jewish nation from Joshua to David, a pcu'iod of five lumdnul years, and y(^t we search in vain for one remote allusion to the Sabbath : were tho J ews then without a Sabbath during those five hundred years? The history from Joshua to J(H-emiali includes a period of (Mght hundred yeai's, in the course of which circumcision is never named. ITad the Jews then, duiing all this time, set aside this divines institutes and national badge? And yet, the inference would be quite as legitimate against the existence of the Sabbath and of circimicision in * Monil riiilnsophy, book V. .oil 7. NOT A MEIIK .niDAK'AI, AI'POINTMKNT. CO these two prriodH, m agaiiiHl, (lie «'xiHl,(!nl. juliiiil, liial., <'V('ii ill l,li(>S(! hricf reconln of iJic liiHl, .'i^^cs of liic world, no li;irrK ol' Mm- SaJ)I);i,lJi uh' to ho IoiiikI. Wo hIim.II not dcHcciiid to iiiiimt(Mii(,i('isni on dis|)iirod llohrow |»liras(5H, tlioii^di iit(;d iMct, whi(;h stJMidH out ko rrt But has it indeed come to this, that a duty may be '^ held as uncertain until there is perfect unanimity among Christians regarding it, and that so long as some great name can be quoted as speaking doubtfully on the sub- ject, the obligation is suspended? Admit this princi- ple, and then tell us what error or folly is there, that may not borrow the sanction of some gxeat name. Luther might then be quoted as advocating views of the Lord's Supper that savour of mysticism, if they do not border on absurdity ; the name of Calvin might be used to consecrate intolerance ; Milton might be brought in as the patron of lax and dangerous notions on the subject of divorce; Baxter might be appealed to as a believer in ghosts and apparitions ; one illus- trious name of our own times might be cited in favour of the use of the crucifix in our secret devotions ; and another, in opposition to the formation of Christians 96 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. into distinct and visible societies. But what would this be but falling back upon one of the worst, maxims of the Jesuits, that any practice is allowable to a dis- ciple in favour of which he can quote one of the fathers, and which drew upon that society the polished and scorching sarcasm of the " Provincial Letters." Has it yet to be proclaimed that true Protestantism involves in it not only the right but the duty of private judg- ment, and that, rising above all reformers and fathers, the Christian disciple has ever to remember that " One is his master, even Christ." Were it not that a far abler pen has already referred to another fallacy, we should have been tempted to notice it at some length. " Every thing ceremonial," it has been said, " was done away when Christ arose from the dead. Not one lingering shred of carnal or- dinances remains under this mature and spiritual eco- nomy." Admitted : but what then ? Is the Sabbath law therefore repealed ? Oh, most preposterous con- clusion ! The law which provides for the children of toil and the sons of commerce, " Hackney'd in business, wearied at that oar Which thousands, once fast chain'd to, leave no more," opportunity of undisturbed attention to spiritual things, this day the badge of an immature economy, a burden- some rite which was against us, and contrary to us, too carnal for Christianity or for Christians ! Surely it is enough to put such a suggestion as this in plain lan- guage, in order to expose it. Would not the real state of the case be found to be, not that the Sabbath was too carnal for those who speak thus, but that they are not spiritual enough for the Sabbath. At least, it is a NOT A MERE JUDAICAL APPOINTMENT. 97 significant fact which these objectors might do well to ponder, that the most eminently spiritual Christians have ever been those who relished the Sabbath most. " Oh, surely,'' was the frequent exclamation of the pious Philip Henry, at the close of a well-spent Sab- bath, "if this be not heaven, it must be the way to it!'' These and similar objections are easily disposed of, and yet their very existence and their public reiteration prove to us, that we have reached a crisis in the cause of the Sabbath in our land. And we shall be sinfully blind to the magnitude of the interests that are imperilled, and to our own responsibility, if we do not strain every nerve to make the crisis terminate favourably. It is a thing of no secondary or transient interest that is assailed, when the weapons of an unhallowed warfare are lifted up against this institute of heaven. With our Sabbath-day, all that is most valuable to us as citizens, and most sacred to us as Christians, stands in jeopardy. Call for testimonies to its importance and benignant influence, and what " a cloud of witnesses " instantly compass us about ! View it simply as a day of rest, and the whole medical world will arise to pro- claim its beneficent tendencies. View it in its relations to the industrial wealth of kingdoms, and statistical inquiries will attest that six days of labour, followed by the weekly rest, are more productive than a system of continuous toil. View it in its bearings on the sta- bility of commonwealths, and one of the greatest modern statesmen, Edmund Burke, will tell you that it is inestimable. View it as a bulwark against the inroads of infidelity, and Voltaire, who not only rejected Christianity, but vowed to crush it, will confess that /-• 98 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. he despaired of efiectmg his object so long as people would assemble every week for religions worship. View it as affecting the prosperity of Christian Churches, and all history will point to its observance or neglect as the infallible index of spiritual prosperity or decay ; and the Churches of Great Britain, of New England, and of the Waldenses, will be named as having been for ages the most Sabbath-keeping and the most pure. View it as contributing to fan the flame of personal piety, and to deliver the soul from the gathering mists of earthly feeling, and Wilberforce will hasten to assure you that it w^as his Sabbath-musings which raised his soul when it was ready to cleave to the dust, and saved him from plunging mto the troubled and turbid waves of party-warfare ; and every man of living piety will tell you that it accords with the mstincts of his new nature, and that, if God had not given him a Sabbath, he would have prayed for one. Oh, shall we lightly fling from us this blessed birthright ? or shall we not rather be jealous against even the least invasion of its integrity, and seek to transmit it to our children, and to our children's children, in unimpaired sanctity? How does its weekly return, bending over us like the bow in the cloud, with its sublime memorials of crea- tion and redemption, invite and attract our meditations upwards, and even seem to open a pathway for our feet into the heaven of heavens. Would we have this radiant memorial blotted out, and gaze upward only upon the dark clouds that have been gathered from our human cares and sorrows ? Or, remembering the truths which it commemorates, and the blessings of which it is the divinely constituted vehicle and guard, shall we not hail its earliest beams with those words of the \ NOT A MERE JUDAICAL APPOINTMENT. 99 Psalmist, " This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will be glad and rejoice in it?'' " O day most calm, most bright, The fruit of this, the next world's bud, The indorsement of supreme delight. Writ by a Friend, and with his blood; The couch of time ; care's balm and bay; The week were dark but for thy light ; Thy torch doth show the way. " Thou art a day of mirth : And where the week-days trail on ground. Thy flight is higher, as thy birth ; Oh let me take thee at the bound. Leaping with thee from seven to seven, Till that we both, being toss'd from earth. Fly hand in hand to heaven ? " 100 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. IV. THE ADAPTATION OF THE SAEBATH TO THE TEMPORAL WELLBEING OE MEN, AND MORE ESPECIALLY OE THE WOMING-CLASSES, APPLICATION OF THE ARGUMENT TO SABBATH RAILWAY TRAVELLING.* BY THE REV. DAVID KING, LL.D.^ DNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHCRCH, GLASGOW. The Sabbath is not secured from invasion by any na- tural fences. The winter presents impediments to labour ; and thus, in many instances, constrains masters to diminish the tasks assigned to the labourer. Night is still more obstructive to toil; and, therefore, still more conducive to needful repose. The sun goes down ; * Dr Chalmers had engaged, a short time before his death, to write one of the tracts of this series, and had chosen for his sub- ject that which is discussed in these pages. No one can feel more deeply than I do the loss which our enterprise has sustained by his lamented removal; and the accidental circumstance, that I had happened to select the same topic before I knew of his preference, is the only reason why it has been subsequently re- committed to my charge. The distinguished man who was to « ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 101 and, in the absence of his light, the field cannot be ploughed, nor the house built, nor the vineyard dressed ; and thus darkness itself shelters the couch of the labouring and heavy-laden. The Sabbath has no such bulwarks. It comes without note of its advent ; and all nature ^Ifils its functions on that day as on other days. The weather may then happen to be tem- pestuous, and may present no temptation to pleasurable excursions or exposed occupations ; but it is just as possible that it may be otherwise — that days preceding may have been boisterous and uncongenial, axid that the sun may then rise without clouds, and the reviving foli- age sparkle in his beams, and the birds of the air, with invigorated wing and enraptured song, salute the king of day ; and all that the eye sees or the ear hears may seem to invite the idle to enjoy themselves, and the industrious to secure, while they can, the benefits of their dihgence. The Sabbath thus appears, amidst periods of time, hke a small and level country in the midst of aggressive states, without sea, or alp, or den, to ward off invaders, or interpose the smallest check to their rapacity and ambition. Or, to use a scriptural figure, it resembles the vine described by the psalmist, when bereft of its hedges, which any boar out of the wood might waste, and any beast of the field might devour. But even the seasons, having a natural protection have performed this service, had his mind full of it. His con- ception and plan were formed, and he spoke with enthusiasm of giving them expression ; but what they were cannot now be ascertained, for no trace of them has been found among his writ- ings. His departure, in these circumstances, is admonitory to all survivors, and teaches us to observe the Sabbath on earth, as in the prospect of enjoying that better rest which remains for the people of God. If 102 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. from encroacliment, have yielded to the pressure of grasping and engrossing traffic. During winter, labour may be varied; in countries like our own it is rarely suspended; and even the release of the night — still more indispensable to our feeble frames — is disturbed and abridged till it inadequately suffices for its gracious purposes. In numberless instances the toilwom ply their functions while the shadow lengthens, and the sun sets, and the evening advances, and the night around them grows dark as their own condition. Or they are summoned from their beds before deep sleep has well fallen upon them, or exhausted nature has rallied its forces, that they may prosecute their vocation by the lurid glare of lamps and fires, ere the sun has yet arisen with his silvery beams. If, then, protected seasons have been invaded and trampled on by secular pursuit, must not the unprotected Sabbath be exposed to very special and imminent jeopardy? When we look at the state of Christendom, we perceive, as a matter of fact, that in a large proportion of it the Sabbath is prac- tically annihilated. Has France a Sabbath ? Its open shops, and restless engines, and empty cathedrals, and crowded theatres, answer in the negative. Other Euro- pean countries are in a similar condition; and with these facts before us, broad as nations, who can deny that a virtual suppression of the Lord's-day is both con- ceivable and possible ? Our own country is moving in the same direction. Every effort is made by a section of the community to disprove the scriptural obhgations of the Sabbath, and thus remove it from the only foun- dation on which it may impregnably stand; and, at the same time, usages are introduced and extended, which, if they do not differ in principle from Hberties formerly taken with the Sabbath, are, at all events, on ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 103 a new scale of magnitude ; and may soon come to be distinguishable from prior customs, as a hurricane is from a breeze, or a general inundation from a local flood. Is the Sabbath, then, an important institution? If it be of little or no value, we shall have some excuse for standing by and leaving it to its assailants. But if it be of real and incalculable moment to the interests of humanity, then surely we ought to display a reso- lute and efficient, though, at the same time, reasonable and enlightened, zeal in preserving the imperilled trea- sure, and do what in us lies to secure for posterity a blessing won for ourselves by the efforts, sufferings, and prayers of godly progenitors. Others have already pre- sented the proof for the Divine appointment of the Lord's-day. The argument appears to me decisive ; and where God commands, it is ours to obey. To admit that any precept emanated from God, and yet set it aside on some pretext of expediency, would be equal folly and presumption. We know, however, that all the ordinances of Jehovah must be worthy of him- self The Sabbath is frequently exhibited in his own Word as wearing a benignant character, which we are thus invited to contemplate. Numbers, indeed, think of it very differently. They conceive of the Sabbath as a day which God would keep from them, and reserve for himseK They regard it as an exaction or as a badge of servitude. The Scriptures, on the contrary, assure us that the Sabbath is a boon to be gratefully accepted. Jehovah, we are there told, has given us the Sabbath : it is a gift calhng for gratitude. The same principle is enunciated by our Lord, when he alleges that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sab- bath. In what respects, then, is the Sabbath a blessing 104 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. to man, sliomng adaptation to his constitution, and kind regard for his happiness ? It might be shown in many particulars, that a stated season of devotion is essential to our spuitual well- being. Admit that we are moral agents — that we must all give an account to our Maker — that we are to be for ever blessed or wretched, according to the use we make of existing privileges — and it appears almost self-evident, in these circumstances, that a por- tion of time should be regularly and sacredly appro- priated to the service of God and preparation for eter- nity. If the only rule in regard to religion were, that it could be attended to any time, the consequence would be, that it would receive attention at no time ; its duties would be now and again postponed, till they were eventually neglected. If the soul then is to walk with God, and cultivate meetness for a better world, there must be a day set apart for devotion — there must be a Sabbath, and that Sabbath must be reli- giously kept. The season is precious as the heavenly- mindedness to which it is indispensable. You read its worth in the gifts and graces of a spiritual creation; and short as its duration is, and occasional as is its coming, it ranks in importance with that glorious inheritance, to which, by such means of grace, Jehovah conducts his people, and where the noblest bliss is enjoyed in all its perfection, throughout all ages, world without end. My design at present, however, is to fix attention mainly on the tenvporal advantages of the Sabbath. These are most doubted of, and, on the part of not a few, are scouted with derision. The point in dispute is represented as a question between punctilious and ritual worship on the one hand, and a ft'ee enjoyment ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 105 on the other, of those palpable and substantial benefits which a bountiful Providence proffers to our reception. When the question is so stated, it is easy to insinuate that it answers itself, and that a preference of rigid forms to rich enjoyments cannot have been demanded l^y that God who desires mercy and not sacrifice. In opposition to such views, I will endeavour to show that the Sabbath is a great temporal blessing, and that man's worldly interests cannot be more seriously in- jured than by weakening respect for its claims. To establish this point, I remark — I. That our celestial and terrestrial interests are indissoluhly related, and that in advancing the former the Sabhath advances both. — If we turn from our own employments and pleasures on the Lord's-day to read the Scriptures or hear them expounded, what are the exhortations addressed to us ? We are counselled to be sober, chaste, upright, diligent ; to cherish, in other words, those principles and habits by which virtuous persons elevate themselves in society ; by which ruinous follies are avoided, and confidence in us is established, and influential observers are favourably disposed to- wards us, and our progress to useful and honourable station is in many ways expedited. There are excep- tions no doubt to the immediate secular advantage of faithful compliance with scriptural requirement, but many of these supposed exceptions would be found, if scrutinized, to be more apparent than real; and no general truth is better established than the fact, that godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to come. The frame of mind which a sacred observance of the Sabbath sustains, is itself a valuable antidote to worldly griefs, while it enhances the satisfaction of all innocent 106 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. gratifications. A vast proportion of the human race are so painfully situated in their relation to time, that if they look to their temporal lot only, it is difficult to imagine what cheering view of it they can discover. A prospect of toil, irksome in itself, molhfied by few comforts, aggravated by many hardships, and terminat- ing only in the grave, fills the vista of their teixestrial futurity. When these persons beheve in God, and hail, as their inheritance, the salvation of his Son, all things are then changed to them, and all things become new. The smallest mercies become great when the blood of Christ is behoved to have bought them, and the blessing^ from on his^h enriches them. The heaviest afflictions become supportable when they are seen to be commissioned in love, and are known, with all their severity and duration, to be light and momen- tary compared with the eternal weight of glory to which they are subordinate. The man who emanates from the house of God, or the more secret devotions of his sacred day, filled vdth such thoughts and animated by such hopes, is superior to encircling and assaihng vicis- situdes. He perishes not in his afflictions, because the law of God is his delight ; he faints not under present discouragements, because he hopes to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the hving. And though death should intercept the folfflment of these pleasing anticipations, he trusts that the loss will be infinitely transcended by accompanying gain, and that, when ab- sent fi'om the body, he will be present with the Lord. 11. The Sabbath is a great temporal blessing when viewed as a day of rest. — In this aspect the subject has relation mainly to the working classes : I say mainly, and not exclusively, because many who have not manual have yet mental toil, and the spirit needs ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 107 repose as well as the body. Anxious thoughts produce ruinous exhaustion; and nothing is so well fitted as the Sabbath, rightly observed, to withdraw the mind from worldly disquietudes, and to suspend the pressure of its wasting cares. Still the term rest points prima- rily to a cessation from bodily toil, and shows that the Sabbath breathes special sympathy for the labouring man. This is a pleasing view of its character. The classes whose hands minister to their necessities form the great bulk of society. A beneficent measure which does not reach them deals only with exceptions, and in essajdng to do a good work, stops at the commence- ment. The artisan has also a trying lot in comparison with the affluent, and his case, therefore, calls more parti- cularly for merciful consideration. It is true that a proportion of servants are well off. They have like shelter, like fare, like comfortable clothing as their masters and mistresses; and all their service involves little more effort than amounts to healthful exercise. But this is not the condition of all, or of most opera- tives. Look at the workshops, mills, and manufac- tories in which masses of them are congregated ; and is it not melancholy to contemplate the spectacle which these in general present ? The squahd throngs there immured live for others rather than for themselves, and expend their energies in the production of com- forts which they are sparingly to enjoy. Though cor- poreal employment should not be of an arduous de- scription, and should demand at no time extraordinary effort, there may be trial enough in its monotony, in its cheerless and dreary continuation. A sea without a harbour is an awful conception, and the experience that answers to the figure is a dismaying reahty. 108 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. It might have been anticipated that the improve- ment of machinery would have diminished human labour ; and some picture to themselves a period when the easy production of sustenance and raiment will redeem time from drudgery, and gam it for the nobler pursuits of literature and religion. But whatever may happen in the future, the improvement of the arts has not enlarged hitherto the leisure of the artisan. It is in barbarous countries we see slothfulness and inaction. Where man is civilised, competition keeps pace with civilisation, and the increasing tendency is to push commercial enterprise at all hazards, and by all ac- cessible resources, till j^leasures, comforts, health, and life are immolated for its sake ! In so speaking, I do not prompt the industrious poor to discontent or jea- lousy. Their hardships would not be lessened, but augmented and embittered, by such unworthy passions. I do not stir them up against others, but I plead with others to act humanely by them, and especially to beware of wresting from them that day which God has made their o'vvn — which a common nature needs, and a common salvation guarantees — and which no man, however high, can take from another, however mean, without a complex infliction of injustice and cruelty. Were the amount of gain resulting from Sabbath traffic ever so considerable, it could not justify or ex- tenuate the wickedness of becoming rich at the poor man's expense, and extending the roll of profits by overtasking his strength and shortening his days. But the policy of such oppression is more than questionable. The time spent in labour is only one element of its efficiency and productiveness. The spirit in which it is gone about, the vitality and buoyancy mth which it is prosecuted, are constituents which tell not less power- ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 109 fully on the magnitude of its effects. But secular toil cannot have such qualities, if prolonged without inter- mission. The constitution of our nature rebels against such unreasonable bondage; and however lures and tin-eats may be plied to quicken a fagging diligence, no efforts of the employer, no, nor of the employed themselves, can so defeat the purposes of God as to extract from human flesh and bones a ceaselessness of gainful service which they were not intended to afford. Despite of all arts and impulses, action, when so pro- tracted, loses its spring. Perpetual luxury palls on the taste ; how much more a perpetual vassalage ! Our nature loathes it, and languishes over it, and the hand is pithless when the heart is sick. It is of high consequence to masters to obtain ser- vants of good principles and conduct, as well as expert in their calling. But constant toil is no less degrading and vitiating than dispiriting in its tendency. The mechanic who is bound to his machine, who moves only with its movements, and cannot open his eyes but it is always present to him, as if it were a part of himself, becomes mean in his own estimation. He loses, and must lose, self-respect. His materialized conceptions hardly admit the behef of a God, or they generate the impression that God has made him in vain. He takes a low view of his destiny ; and, if we think inadequately of our destiny, we think inade- quately of its duties. A high-toned morality withers in such impoverished soil ; and they who place it there, and still look for its fruits, can reap only a harvest of disappointment from their own t3rranny and folly. You leave no room for devotion — you discourage it with all your might — and you expect that when God is not sensed you \\tI1 get the service denied him. In- 110 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. sane supposition ! In destroying fidelity to God, you demolisli the buttress on which faithfulness to you rested ; and when God is not feared, neither will man be regarded. Besides, the pursuit of happiness is in- separable from our nature. If denied the more pure and ennobling enjoyments, man will lay hold on such gratifications as he can find, and will yield himself to the domination of mischievous indulgences. When the pure and salutary delights of the Sabbath have been withdrawn, an equivalent for them will be sought in such enjoyments as drinking, and lewdness, and nocturnal revelry afford. How are servants so cor- rupted to be trusted with interests the most important, and have the lives of their fellow-men committed to their keeping ? Most justly did one of the dnectors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway observe — " If we give them the Sabbath, we shall have the choice of servants. If we do not, we must lose the services of those who would be most valuable to the company, and who would best secure the safety and comfort of the public." When workmen are compelled to labour on Sabbath, they are in extreme danger, whether others suffer by them or not, of becoming victims themselves. The parties who have made them immoral, will not, beyond a certain point, bear with their immoralities. When their faults have been now and again detected and reproved, they will be turned off, and others will be put into their room, to be subjected to the same in- fluences. The ejected operative disappears. His habits exclude him fi:om every desirable post, or deprive him of it so soon as it is obtained. He makes attempts to save himself from falling, but his unsteady hand can- not hold what it grasps; and still he descends m so- ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. Ill ciety till he reaches its depths — melancholy depths, where i]:idustr}^ is abandoned, and comfort is unknown, and hope itself hardly sheds a cheering ray to reheve the gloom of misconduct and despair. The case, though supposititious, is too often verified. Let the operative be admonished of his peril. Let him be assured that, if the moral element be eradicated from his constitution, he is irretrievably undone ; and that, when he lives in habitual rebeUion against his con- science, or even ceases to cultivate its sensibility and tenderness, he has entered on a course of which the end is destruction. A principal antidote to these evils of grasping and aggressive worldlings is the Sabbath — the seventh-day rest — the abidiag jubilee — the memorial of a paradise that is past, and earnest of a better yet to come. Thrice happy day ! It benefits the servant, and TVTongs not the master. It suspends the denunciation — " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread ;" and having existed before the curse, replaces for the time its thorns and briers by a benignant blessuig. On this day the sun arises with healing under his wuigs, and drooping energies revive at his approach. The servant is this day his own master; or, better still, is the Lord's free- man, and every comfort is enhanced and sweetened by the consciousness of liberty. By this day earth is dis- tinguished from hell where there is no Sabbath, and assimilated to heaven where all is Sabbath ; and if we only regard it mth an eye of faith, we shall discern in the gift an image of the giver, and find its transient privileges gilded by the beams of an unextinguishable glory. I may be accused of exaggeration, and may be pointed to necessary service as invalidating my argu- ment. But the needful exceptions to Sabbatical rest 112 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. are few in number, and instead of unsettling, they only establish the rule. The Sabbath, after all proper deductions from its quiet have been conceded, is a mighty boon, vf orthy of a divine munificence ; and all that mere philanthropy ever accomplished for mankind, is diminutive and insignificant beside this merciful provision for the happiness of our species. None but God would have given it — none but God has given it. The charter is written in the King's name, and sealed with the King's ring; and all who receive it, receive in it a melting assurance that he knows our firame, and remembers that we are dust. III. The Sahhath is a great temporal blessing^ as favouring a cultivation of all the proprieties of life. — One of the most important and palpable of these is cleanliness. If any imagine that this is a secondary matter, and very remote from morality, they are greatly mistaken. Let them explore the lanes and hovels of a crowded city, and they will find decency and weU-doing, filth and profligacy, most intimately associated. Nature itself teaches the irrational animals to wipe off pollutions from themselves and their young. The leopard's skin and the eagle's feathers owe not a little of their lustre to careful purification. You meet occasionally with such creatures in a neglected and dirty condition; but it is when they are enslaved and diseased; when the energy that bore them to the heights of the sky, or the extremities of the forest, is paralysed and defunct ; and they have become a fitting symbol of man denuded of his rights, riveted to ser- vitude, and lost to all sense of decency and shame. The respite of a few hours each day is of great con- sequence in securing personal and domestic order. But when the season is brief, and in close connection ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 113 with toil, the temptations are great to let slip its ad- vantages. How great is the difference in favour of the Sabbath — an entire day — a day on which the emancipated tradesman quits his cell, and walks the streets, and exposes himself in the light of the sun to general observation ! When he goes to church, the inducement is still stronger to do honour to the place, to the assembly, and to himself, by suitable outward preparations. It would be easy to enumerate many civilities and courtesies which enter into the amelioration and ele- vation of society, and which a stated day of rest is admirably calculated to promote. I remark on this topic with the more satisfaction, that numbers who plume themselves on politeness, seem to confound reli- gion and vulgarity, as if good manners were created and upheld by affluence and station: whereas the usages called fashions are capricious and worthless, extending at best to a limited circle; and we are in- debted to a divine religion, and specially to the divine institution of the Sabbath, for smoothing down, in all classes, the asperities of our nature, and comprehend- ing the hamlet as well as the palace within the ameni- ties of life. lY. The Sabbath is a great temporal blessing, as it aids natural affection and domestic felloiuship. — This topic will be discussed separately, in a subsequent essay, by an esteemed and able minister; and I there- fore content myself with the shortest paragraph on it that may complete the view of my argument. On week-days the members of industrious families are, in many instances, dissociated by their diversified employ- ments One labours in the house, another out of doors; one is cutting wood, another chiseling stone; H 114 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and a third is melting metals. If all days were work- days, these relations would never meet, or only momen- tarily, and then amid such haste and bustle, or exhaus- tion and drowsiness, as to divest communion of its ease, sprightliness, and charms. The Sabbath is the day of happy salutation ; the day on which the father holds converse with his son, and the brother with his sister. Nor is the interchange of their sympathies suspended or impaired when they go to the house of God in company, and lift up united devotions to a throne of grace, in the hope of at last meeting never to part in the realms of glory 1 It remains that I briefly apply the preceding argu- ment to the much-agitated question of Sabbath railway trains. Some advocate the running of these trains on grounds hostile to the observance and the very exist- ence of the Lord's-day; but others place the defence of the same measure on a different footing. They own the divine appointment and obligations of the Sabbath, and contend that railway travelling on this day is allowable, as pertaining to works of necessity and mercy. They insist that such means of transit are especially important for the workings-classes, and ought to be upheld, were it only on their account. The operative who, during the week, is immured in dust and smoke, seats himself on the Sunday morning in a good carriage at a small fare, and is smftly borne from rubbish and chimneys, to green fields, sparkling rivers, wa^ang forests, where the sun shining brightly above him, and the breeze blowing freely around him, and the charms of nature spread before him m magnificent prospect, elevate his depressed spirits, invigorate his debilitated frame, dissipate a remembrance of past woes, and embolden him for manly conflict \vith future ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 115 adversities. Nor is the traveller necessarily excluded from the house of God. By this magical conveyance he may be transported from shore to shore, find leisure for exploring the distant region he has reached, and yet ^ttend with scrupulous punctuality on the stated services of divine worship. Such is the plea most plausibly urged for Sabbath trains ; and it should be confessed in candour, that the character of not a few who advance such reasoning is sufficient guarantee for their sincerity, and should secure to them full credit for benevolent intentions. I bespeak their patient and ingenuous attention while I state my reasons for not acquiescing in their conclusions. Such pleas as I have noticed for travelling on Sab- bath seem to overlook the hallowed character of the day, and to set at nought its divine appointment and indestructible obligations. They suppose it to be rather a season of amusement, which a person may spend in any way he considers most agreeable. The possibihty of associating pleasure trips with religious services is no doubt asserted ; but the assertion carries with it no conviction of fitness or likelihood. If throngs are carried away from their own neighbour- hood and its places of worship, and cast upon strange to^vns and country-sides, how can it be imagined that they will commonly abridge their sights and rambles to attend the house of God ? The alleged practicability of so connecting piety and recreation, may so far lull scruples of conscience as to induce multitudes to make the experiment; but rarely will it avail to make that experiment successful. We are reminded, however, that the gin-shop is left behind, and that it is better to inhale the pm^e air than to drink ardent spirits. True : but the gin-shops are not confined to towns— 116 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. they are to be met with in the village or the glen, as well as in the city; and many who have no temptation to frequent them at home, may be lured into them at a distance by the plausible excuse of needing refresh- ments. There the young, mingling with companions as idle and giddy as themselves, are not so favourably situated for learning the lessons of moiulity, or improv- ing their relish for true enjoyment, as for initiating themselves in the usages of dissipation, and beginning a course of folly and ruin. Pause before you advocate such a system, in the name of philanthropy ! Look into the annals of society, and judge from experience whether it may not terminate in results alike deplor- able and irremediable — in guilty woes, which cannot be obliterated by the bitter tears of parental disappoint- ment, or the more terrible horrors of personal remorse I Should present pleasure, however, be insisted on as the sole test of beneficent tendency, let it be observed that, when working men are conveyed by railway trains, it is to the injury of other working men, who are thus deprived of a day of rest. The kind-hearted gentlemen who demand recreation for operatives seem to overlook this circumstance. If these benefactors were themselves to replace porters, stokers, engineers, and station-men, and to give effect personally to their beneficent designs, I could understand and appreciate their disinterestedness. But if they sunply compel one labourer to toil for another labourer's pleasure, the philanthropy of such a proceeding is not so very e^ddent. Read the following memorial, presented to the directors of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway by the servants of the company, and say whether mercy lie on the side of granting or rejecting its prayer : — ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEX. 117 " The memorial of the undersigned servants of the company humbly showeth, that your memoriahsts consist of persons engaged in various emplo3niients in the service of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company : that these employments are more or less severe and protracted; but in all, extending to such hours as to make the rest of the Sabbath-day a boon of no ordina^ry magTiitude ; and though many of them, from circumstances which it is unnecessary to specify, may be constrained to submit to a partial interference with its privileges and enjoyments, yet their labour on that day is reluctantly yielded, and is by no means satisfactory to their own minds, nor conducive to their religious, moral, or intellectual wellbeing and improve- ment; but, on the contrary, is attended mth serious evils in all these respects. " Without entering into any discussion of the many most important and interesting questions, both religious and economical, involved in the subject of the running of trains on the Lord's-day, your memorialists desire to approach your honourable board with an humble but heartfelt expression of gratitude for the rehef they have experienced by the resolution you have recently passed, to stop the running of passenger trains on the Lord's- day, and of their humble but most earnest hope, that by this resolution you will be enabled to abide. " They fondly trust that the public will not encou- rage any attempt to have this resolution rescinded, and will remember that God has given to every man the right of enjoying the day of sacred rest unbroken, to attend to his own highest interests as an immortal being, and those of his family, his dependents, and con- nections. "Your memorialists would conclude by an humble and 118 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. respectful expression of tlieii' confident opinion, that by adhering to the resolution to which the honourable the board of directors have recently come, they shall find that neither shall the company be less faithfully served, their general interests less anxiously and se- curely promoted, nor the true interests and lawful convenience of the public in the smallest degree in- jured. '• For these reasons, and for many others which your memorialists forbear to urge, they venture to renew the expression of their earnest desire and hope, that the prayer of this memorial may be gi'anted.'' — Signed by 57.* It may be said, perhaps, that the workmen on rail- ways lose only a part of the Sabbath, and have fuU opportunity to go to church. Although it were so, we have seen that a whole day of rest has distinguishing advantages which detached portions of a day cannot possibly possess. This consideration should have the more force in regard to a class of operatives who have not the hohdays granted to others, but are most occu- pied and overs\Tought in these very seasons of amuse- ment. A humane railway dnector, already referred to, observed with equal truth and feeling, " Unless you give these servants the Sabbath, they have no rest at all, no respite whatever from secular employment. Others have holidays, they have none; and shall we make om- emplo}Tnent such a cruel bondage to them?'' It is not easy to imagine how a benevolent heart can * It has been alleged in some quarters, that the servants of the Edinburgh and Ghisgow Railway Company, in consequence of getting the Sabbath to themselves, are more severely tasked on other days. I am able, on authority, to contradict the asser- tion. ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 119 withstand such reasoning. Add to all this, that the operatives have less work on Sunday only on some lines of railway, and that when a system of oppression is once introduced, no one can say how far it may be carried. A very considerable section of railway la- bourers are already subjected to its utmost rigour. But the workmen of this class are few in all, we have been told, and may therefore be warrantably and be- nevolently "sacrificed" to the general good. They are not so few as this humane argument supposes. The Government requires the Railway Company to carry the mail between Edinburgh and Glasgow on Sabbath, and six men are sufiicient for that service; but when passenger trains accompanied the mail, a hundred men were employed upon the line. It appears from "Brad- shaw's Guide" that eight hundred and fifty trains run upon the Enghsh lines of railway on Sabbath ; and if we suppose ten men to be required at an average for each of these trains, then from eight to nine thousand men are thus occupied. When we are told, therefore, that Sunday trains are vehicles of pleasure to working men, the statement must be received with a large deduction. We must remember that there are thou- sands of operatives to whom the allegation is inappli- cable, and that not only are these thousands deprived of the pleasure, but are compelled to furnish that pleasure by secular service. Even this representation of the facts falls far short of the truth. Railways bring innumerable vehicles into requisition on cross-roads and at stations. Steam-carriages have a connection, too, with steam-boats, and if the former nm the latter will sail. The supply of inns, porters, &c., must be in proportion to the amount of travelling, and a general system of traffic on the Lord's-day appears, in such 120 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. circumstances, to be almost inevitable. It will be very disastrous if this issue comes to be lamented when it can no longer be rectified, and still more deplorable if it sear us to its evils, and grow so familiar to observa- tion as to be looked upon with indifference. But, grant that railway labourers form a small pro- portion of the community, is their paucity of numbers any sufficient reason for disregarding their claims? When some shareholders of the Edinburgh and Glas- gow Kailway expressed a purpose to vote against Sab- bath trains, in deference to the general feehng in Scotland, they were vehemently told, in some of our leading journals, that the question was not one of numbers; and that, though the parties disposed to travel on Sabbath were the smallest fraction of society, they should have the means of keeping the Sabbath as they think proper. If the argument be sound, give the railway operatives the benefit of it. Whether they be few or many, aUow them to keep the Sabbath as they think proper; and if this sufferance be extended to them, the question of Sunday railway travelling will be practically settled. But the opponents of Sabbath trains are guilty, we are assured, of flagrant inconsistencies. Some of them drive their private carriages on the Sabbath; others come to church in cabs, and thus exclude the poor cab-drivers from pubHc worship. Others eat their rich dinners on the Lord's-day, and thus keep servants employed in cooking their dainties and waitmg at their tables. I shall not spend time in drawing distinctions between these alleged profanations of the Sabbath, and the case of railway travelling and traffic. I ad- mit at once that, independently of railways, the rest of the Sabbath is in many ways, and most seriously, ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 121 infringed. If the e^dl were examined into as it should be, its amount would be found to be enonnous. But concede the worst that can be alleged or imagined — concede that servants are variously as well as vexa- tiously toiled and enthralled on the day of rest and liberty, and that a large share of this \vrong is inflicted by the opponents of Sunday trains — what follows? That the inconsistent advocates of the Sabbath should be exposed or punished ? This conclusion would have some aspect of legitimacy. But the inconsistencies alleged are introduced for a totally different purpose — to load the parties injured with accumulated injury. The argument, as it affects the working-classes, amoimts to this — They have much work as it is on the Sabbath ; therefore, give them more of it, and harder. Their season of repose is molested in various ways already; therefore, make a present of it wholly to the gay and the sordid; and let it fr'om this time be trampled into a thoroughfare. Their yoke is even now heavy; then make it heavier. They have been hitherto chastised with whips; henceforth chastise them ^dth scorpions ! But a sufficient confutation of all such reasoning is found, to the satisfaction of many, in the plea of ne- cessity and mercy. It may be of great consequence to life or happiness, that individuals be furnished with the means of travelling on the first day, as on other days of the week. How important is the speedy arrival of a friend, and still more of a physician, in the abode of sudden and dangerous sickness ! The claims of such cases are allowed at once to be strong; if they formed the sole element of judgment, Sunday trains would be justifiable. But we must not dispense occa- sional mercy through wholesale cruelty. If a regiment of soldiers, falling into a dangerous position, were on 122 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the point of being cut do^vn by the enemy, and a com- mander-in-chief, on being implored to send them suc- cour, were to decline doing so, on the ground that more lives would be lost than saved by the measure recommended, it would be wrong to charge barbarity on such a refusal. The presiding officer would follow the dictates of humanity, as well as sound judgment, in concluding that the less deadly alternative was the more necessary and merciful. Let there be a like balanciuQ; of conflictins; claims in the case of Sabbath trains, and surely all the supposable cases of urgent convenience are not to be weighed against the certain injury inflicted on thousands who serve on the railway, and on tens of thousands whom it subjects indirectly to service, and on the hundreds of thousands who are thus lured to the scenes of gaiety and dissipation, and on the religion of the kingdom at large, by the great and growing desecration of a day, of which the keep- ing is essential to piety and morals. It will be a poor exercise of charity, if we accommodate a few by op- pressing or corrupting millions ! Various attempts have been made to enlist the work- ing-classes in the cause of Sunday trains. Most simple indeed would the mechanic be if he responded to such calls; for in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Appeals of the kind are about as insulting to his intelligence as they are menacing to his rights. These counsels have signally failed to accomplish their object. The working-classes have not moved, and never mil move, in behalf of Sabbath-day labour. They know that every species of toil is related more or less directly to every other; and that the weapon forged and wielded by a section of their number to wrest the Sabbath from another section, would prove ADAPTATION TO THE WELLBEING OF MEN. 123 speedily as fatal to the spoilers as to the spoiled. The policy of the Romans was to conquer by dividing. When they invaded a country, they tempted one por- tion of the inhabitants to help them in subjugating the rest: the result was, that the entire population was brought under their yoke. The advocates of Sab- bath labour follow the same course, enticing operatives in mills and other establishments to aid them in forcing- toil on railway servants; and soon the labourers who consent to be the tools of oppression will become its prey. The safety of the working-classes lies in their being true to each other, and in presenting a united resistance to all invasion of their privileges. They would resist the plundering of their abodes. Will they tamely endure a far more destructive robbing of their rights ? Will they see their own day — their only day — a day that brightens all days — a day important alike to their present comfort and eternal prospects — wrenched from one portion of servants after another, till hardly any of them are left with hands unshackled to help their fellows? Instead of aiding to oppress each other, will they not confederate their energies to defeat oppression, from whatever quarter it may pro- ceed? They have such an opportunity now of se- curing the Sabbath for themselves, as has not occurred before, and if carelessly suffered to pass, may not occur again. It is no easy matter to arouse public interest on such a question, and create a general stand for benefits that have been captured in detail — no easy matter to associate influential persons of all sects and classes, on behalf of " tlie cause of the afflicted, and the rights of the poor." The rare opportunity presents itself at present. Our artificers have now many with them who are both able and willing to help them, if 124 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. they will only help themselves. Arise, enlightened workmen, and show a just estimate of the crisis and its duties. Claim the rest of the Sabbath, and no power in these realms can withhold it from you: de- fend it when it is won ; and, all unsheltered as it ap- pears, it will find in your zeal and courage, sanctioned and blessed of God, a munition of rocks. Though kings should encamp against it, it will be to their own confusion and disgrace : they will pass by together, and haste them away from before the walls and bulwarks of such an impregnable fortress ! ADAPTATION TO MAN'S NATUKK 125 THE ADAPTATION 0? THE SABBATH TO MAN'S INTELLECTUAI AND MORAL NATUPtE. BY THE REV. JAMES HAMILTON, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LONDON. " The Lord is risen indeed ! And this is the day which he has made ! He has made it for me to rejoice and be glad. And so I shall. Last night I was fagged and weary; to-day I shall rest and be refreshed Last week, the long day was toil and hurry, and the jaded evening I gave to neighbours and the news. I fear that God was seldom in my thoughts, and the great realities were distant and very dim. But this is the Sabbath-day. Lord, help me to keep it holy. O fill it with Thyself, and make it a foretaste of heaven \" So mused a Clnistian tradesman, as he woke up to a Lord's-day morning; and in a few minutes he was ready for its endeared engagements. His closet had double doors that morning. No knock of secular im- portunity startled its tranquillity; and it was with a delighted sense of leisure that its occupant entered on 126 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. its exercises. He felt that he had time for every thing. He had time to think of the past — its progress and its shortcomings; and time to forecast the future — its dangers and its exigencies. And he had time to pray. Often on other days he grieved at stinted devotions, and went feebly through his work, from a fear that prayer had been stinted or restrained. But this morn- ing he had leisure for full and deliberate supplication; and, besides laying all his remembered wants and sins before his Heavenly Father, he was enabled to inter- cede with affectionate fervour for many dear to him. And whilst he was thus employed, those friends began to assume a new aspect in his eyes. One had not used him well, and to another he himself had acted very ill ; whilst many of them he had scanned with the hard and knowing eye of worldliness, or had raised a laugh against them by rehearsing their foibles and failings. But viewed beneath the Mercy-seat, a sacred light shone over them ; and he rose wondering at his wealth of friendship, and brimming with that benevolence which makes those better whom it loves; full of for- giveness, and resolved to make amends to his injured brother. And he had time to read the Word of God. Often had he been obliged to hurry out to business after a fl5^ng glance, a random snatch ; but this morn- ing he was able to peruse an entire Epistle. He was astonished at the insight afforded by reading the whole continuously; and, riveted by the parallel passages, he fastened many interesting particulars in his memory ; and having thus marked and inwardly digested it, he rose from his lesson with a pleasant consciousness of enlarged intelligence, and with the invigoration of one in whom the Word of Christ dwells richly. From this retirement he carried earnestness into his- ADAPTATION TO man's NATURE. ]27 family worship, and a more outspoken affection marked the intercourse of the little breakfast party. It was the only morning when Harry, the young engineer, shared that meal with his brothers and sister ; for every working day he spent the whole round of the clock at a distant foundery. And, to tell the truth, he was no great loser by his absence ; for the morning repast was seldom distinguished for its flow of soul. Little Wat would be smuggling his Latin rudiments under the table, and refreshing his memory with Gerunds and Supines, whilst his father glanced perpetually at the silver watch, standing sentry beside the saltcellar, and at every tinkle of the shop-bell started nervously ; and then some voice would be heard beneath, and pushing away the scalding cup, jerking the watch into the fob, and darting past his daughter, who had gone to express the toast up stairs, Mr T. was forthwith bowing behind the counter, whilst Mrs T. and her daughter mournfully finished the interrupted meal. But this morning the shop-bell was silent; the fidgety watch lay still in the fob ; and Wat's rudiments slept in the satchel. It was not only the quiet in the streets; it was not only the fresh faces and the Sunday attire; it was not only the piano closed, and the work-table locked, and the pamphlets and newspapers put away, which announced the Sabbath come again ; but it was the look of home and leisure which lit up the little parlour. The sun came clearer than usual through the casement, for yesterday the windows were cleaned. The fire burned more brightly, for happier eyes were around it. And the old cat, who in her kitten days had been Harry's playmate — an old cat now, for Harry was a baby then — the old cat felt the atmosphere domestic, and pre- ferred the carpet-stool at the fender to her usual dor- 128 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. mitory down in tlie kitchen. And though not very much was said, a great deal was seen and felt. Repose, affection, and a sacred calm filled the chamber, and the peace of God was keeping their hearts and minds. The bells were ringing. Harry and his sister walked on to church together. Harry was now something more than a schoolboy and so did not feel it unmanly to walk to church with his sister. And she was older than he, and sedate, and gentle; and, far better, she was a humble and earnest follower of the blessed Saviour. She was full of hope about her brother, and was this morning trying to persuade him to become her fellow-teacher in the Sabbath School. Their father and mother came after, and Wat, with his new Bible, had charge of little Benjamin. When they had taken possession of their pew — and they nearly filled it — there were still some minutes to the hour. The father sat at the lower end of the seat, and his Bible was open before him. He read the 128th Psalm. "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands ; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house ; thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.'' And when the service began, it was a full heart which accompanied the prayers, and an exulting voice which swelled the Psalms, That morn- ing a distinguished stranger preached. The sermon was one long and lofty argument. Mrs T. and the young people scarcely understood it. To the close attention and vigorous intellect of Mr T. it was a trans- cendent treat. On the way home, his wife and daughter complained that they could not follow it. ADAPTATION TO MANS NATURE. 129 " It wanted, stepping-stones. I know what he wished to prove, but I could not see how he made it out." "If there be a boat to the other side you don't need stepping-stones. Do you remember the curious ferry which we crossed last summer? There was a rope hung over, and the gimwale of the boat was fastened to it. The rope dipped under the current, but it rose as the boat moved on, and that rope and the rush of the river were enough of themselves to carry us across. The sermon to day had no stepping-stones, but the text and the landing-place were joined together by one strong line ; and if you did not see the full drift of it, that was only because the rope dipped under the river." And so the rest of the way he repeated the leading thoughts of the preacher, and brought them to the landing-place in their own style — by the easy stepping- stones. However, they were all glad when their own minister entered the pulpit in the afternoon. A smile of recog- nition rose to the frank and open features of Mrs T., and even little Benjamin felt that all was right, and whispered, "Mamma, that's Mr ." Wat was all attention; for he was sure there would be some story or something else which he could repeat on going home ; and Emily, who had aheady written out some volumes of sermon notes, had her nimble pencil ready. Harry was a zealot for his minister, and stood up for him as the best preacher in all the town ; and though Mr T. would sometimes have liked a little more system, or a somewhat closer exposition of Scripture, or a style of preaching more experimental, he felt gratitude and respect to a pastor whom his family loved, and was often impressed l)y his glowing earnestness. That afternoon the text was, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth I 1 30 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. to do, do it with thy might." And on the way home, Harry whispered to his sister, "Emily, 111 come and see your Sabbath class this evening." Mr T. had a little cabinet with glazed doors, which he called his Sabbath hbrary. There was a row of books for the younger folks, from Little Benjamin's Peep of Day up to the Pilgrim's Progress, and the Fair- child Family, and Todd's Lectures, and Abbot's Young Christian, and Janeway's Token, and the Night of Toil, and the Lives of Eliot and Martjra, and Mrs Judson. And there was an old ancestral copy of Henrj^'s Com- mentary, still wearing its snuff-brown coat, just as it used to do when grandmamma read till dusk, and put in for a marker, not her spectacles, but their round wooden case. And there were Fox's Martyrs, and Flavel's Works, and Thomas Boston's — tall folios, which could not stand upright, and could not stoop, and were therefore laid upon their sides. And there was many a less bulky volume, which bore the hallowed names of Owen, and Baxter, and Charnock, and Leighton, and Doddridge — names which it was solemn to look at. And on Sabbath evenings, when the sermons were repeated, and the hymns were said, and tea was over, this cabinet was opened, and one of its old worthies was brought down to edify the quiet hour. This even- ing the young people were all at the Sabbath school, and Mr T. had wheeled in the easy-chan, and was sit- ting with Cardiphonia open before him, but, as Mrs T. noticed, without ever turning the leaf At last he said, "Mary, I was thinking how good God has been to us. I trust it is long since, through grace, we our- selves were led to choose the better part; and now the Lord seems to be saying, 'I will be a God unto you, and your seed after you.' I hope we may always be ADAPTATION TO MAN's NATURE. 131 able to seek for them and for ourselves first the king- dom of heaven and its righteousness ; for I feel to-night that if we really seek them, our heavenly Father will give the best gifts to ourselves and our children. Dear Mary, goodness and mercy are following us. The Lord is our shepherd, and I feel to-night as if after this I could be careful for nothing. Oh, but he is a gracious God I" The tear was in his eye. His wife told him how Emily had taken in hand the country girl who had lately come to be their servant, and what progress her poor scholar had made in reading her Bible, and was going on to fiU his overflowing heart still fuller, when Benjamin's tug at the bell announced the return of the party. The news of the Sabbath school were told — the best being that Harry had given in his name as a teacher; and Hannah was called up to evening worship, and they sang — Ten thousand thousand precious gifts My daily thanks employ; Nor is the least a cheerful heart, That tastes these gifts with joy. Through ev'ry period of my life Thy goodness I'll proclaim : And after death, in distant worlds. Resume the glorious theme. Through all eternity to thee A joyful song I'll raise ; For, oh ! eternity's too short To utter all thy praise. Next morning Harry was early afoot. The road to the foundery lay through dingy lanes and miry streets, but that morning HaiTy had prayed more fervently than usual. The words, "This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," had 2^ot into his mind, and he could not help saying 132 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. them over and over again. A springy freshness mantled over the houses — a spring which none else noticed, for the singing-bird in his o^vn bosom made it ; and when Harry reached the forge he felt fresh as a lark and strong as a lion. Some of his comrades had arranged a pleasure-party for the bygone Sunday ; but their bleared eyes and earnest yawning, the vengeful way in which they jangled bars of iron, and cursed their tools, and jostled one another, were the only relics of the pleasure which survived on Monday morning. And, sooner up than usual, Harry's father got calmly through the morning worship, and breakfast being early ended, he was down in the shop betimes, and he could not help noticing to himself the readiness and recoUectedness with which he got through every thing that day. Indeed, had you seen the dexterity with which he served two customers at once, and the happy knack with which he fitted every taste, and the deft felicity with which he laid his hand on the very article wanted, and the agility with which he climbed the ladder, and actually vaulted over the counter, and the transfusive good-humour which sent every one away with a pur- pose to come back, you might have thought that Mr T., who had fully reached the middle age, had got a dip in the magic fountain which used to make old men young. And so he had. Yesterday he had renewed his youth, and he did it every week. And, reader, so may you ; for the magic fountain is a Sabbath sanc- tified. The reason why the Sabbath exercises such restora- tive influence on its observers is, because it is adapted to the physical and moral constitution of man. The same wise Being who made ourselves made the day of ADAPTATION TO MAN's NATURE. 133 rest. God made the Sabbath for man; and though the right motive for keeping it is simply the will of God, yet, like all the other commands of God — like chastity, temperance, honesty — we shall find Sabbath observance good for ourselves. Referring for its tempo- ral and social benefits to other treatises, I would notice very briefly a few of its intellectual and moral advan- tages to the individual who keeps it holy. Most likely the reader is engaged in handicraft, or some one or other of those many callings which ab- sorb the physical energies, and leave little time for mental culture. Toiling at the forge or in the fac- tory, in the shop or in the field, with the needle or the mallet, with the spindle or the spade, you often feel as if your soul would shrivel up, and leave you a mere muscular machine. And, to aggravate the evil, you have perhaps got into that whirlpool of competition in which our British mdustry is spinning round. You live in a hurry ; you feel as if every half-crown were a windfall, and the daily loaf could only be snatched by a scramble. Whatever wit and whatever strength you possess are all needed to earn a subsistence, and prac- tically you are in danger of devoting your life to the problem, " What shall I eat, and what shall I drink?" You are in danger of forgetting jour nobler nature altogether, and subsiding toward the level of those lower creatures or otoss materialisms in the midst of which you fret and moil. But agauist this brutifying process the great safeguard is a sanctified Sabbath. From the din of competition, and the dust of secula- rity, it is a calm asylum ; and to the mind which was growing torpid, it is a brisk restorative. It breaks the eagle's chain, and sends it up again into its native sky. It gives freedom to cramped or unprisoned faculties, 134 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and encourages the thoughts to attempt their loftiest flight. " Here, on this day of rest, the soul may re- ceive those impressions of divine truth which fashion it, by God's blessmg, to a sublimer mould of moral beauty. Here the mind, which has been denied the advantage of early culture, or which, by the stem ne- cessity of nature's &st law, is obhged to think through- out the six days on one theme, and that not calculated to enlarge its capacities, may come and sit at the feet of a Teacher who spake as man never spake ; and may weekly learn, from that Divine Teacher's lessons, what man, in his collected wisdom, could never impart." And in the boundless range of subjects which the Bible and the sanctuary bring before you — " the being of God ; the creation of the world ; man's origm, his innocence, and his fall ; the moral history of our race ; the attributes of God ; the duties we owe to him ; the nature and consequences of sin; the glorious work of redemption by Jesus Christ ; the mystery of the incar- nation ; the death and resurrection of Christ ; the accountability of man, and the day of retribution ; the glories of heaven ; the obligation of the moral law, em- bracing all the duties which we owe to our neighbours, as well as those which we owe to God,"* besides the inexhaustible field of sacred biography and history — in such subjects you will find at once a stimulus to your noblest faculties, and the lessons which make wise to everlasting life. But in order to get even the intel- lectual good of the Sabbath — its full result of mental invigoration — it must be reserv^ed for its own appro- priate and exalted exercises. A Sabbath of slumber may refresh the body, or a Sabbath of amusement may lighten the spirits; but it is only a Sabbath of * AVaterbury's Book for the Sabbath, pp. 27, 28. ADAPTATION TO MAN S NATURE. lo5 worship and holy resting, which, while it recruits the body and cheers the mind, enhances the intellectual powers, and leaves the observer a wiser and mightier man. But instead of working with their hands, some of our readers may be habitually engaged in mental labour. You conduct an extensive business, or are engrossed mth study, or some learned profession, and your mind is its own machine, but a machine incom- parably more delicate and precarious than the body. Roucrh usao'e will sooner ruin it, and a constant strain will sooner crush it. If you wish to get the fall good of your mind, you will give it the rest which its Creator indicates: you will give it sleep, and you will give it the Sabbath. The mind is not an Artesian well, but a land- spring. The supply is limited. If you pump continually, the water will grow turbid; and if after it grows turbid you continue still to work it, you will not increase the quantity, and you ^\ill spoil the pump. There is a difference of intellectual activity, but the most powerful mind is a land-spring after all ; and those who wish to preserv^e their thoughts fresh, pure, and peUucid, will put on the Sabbath padlock. In the subsequent clearness of their views, in the calmness of their judgment, and in the free and copious flow of ideas, they will find their speedy recompense. Dr Hope of London w^as an ardent student. When com- piling the works which created his fame, there were months together when he never opened a newspaper or an amusing book ; but then, in the fuU flush of his briUiant practice, he contrived to attend church twice a-day, and kept the Sabbath as devoutly as any private Christian. " During this disputed election,'' says his biographer, " Dr Hope did not depart from his old 136 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. principle of observing Sunday. All books and papers were cleared away on Saturday niglit, and, engrossing as the subject of the election was, it was not permitted to be mentioned in his family. While he was justified by the Scriptures in expecting the Divine blessing on such conduct, the actual relief afforded by this day of rest from agitating and laborious employment was so great, that a similar course might safely be recom- mended to those who seek no blessings beyond those of this life.'' Is the reader a student, or a lawyer, or one whose labour is literature? Setting altogether out of view that blessing which attends compliance with a Divine command, and that curse which must sooner or later overtake transgression, recollect that experi- ence, no less than revelation, teaclies that the mind requires its Sabbath — a vacancy from toil, or a variety of work ; and that to refuse it this periodical repose, is to violate its constitution and impair its powers. But we should convey a very erroneous impression if we represented the Sabbath as merely a bodily rest, or a means of mental invigoration. The Sabbath was doubtless made for man — for man the worker, and man the thinker; but much more for man the heir of im- mortality. In his tender mercy, God has sent us a Gospel — a revelation which not only proffers an end- less and blessed life hereafter, but undertakes to pre- pare us for it. Unhappily, however, the drift of this sinful world is all away from that Gospel ; and like weeds on the current, or insects wafted in the bosom of a sunny breeze, we have only to surrender ourselves to the course of this world — we have only to go with the jo\ial and godless multitude, and a few short years will plunge us in perdition. To get into the know- ledge of the Gospel, or the enjoyment of the Christian ADAPTATION TO MAN'S NATURE. 137 life, we have need of diligence. We would need to be rescued from the importunate cares, and still more im- portunate follies, on every side of us, and would need to get into some sequestered retreat where the voice of Jehovah may be heard, and where the infinite realities may have time to brighten on the view. The Sabbath is that noiseless retreat. It is the day most frequent when the Holy Spirit has revealed the Saviour to the soul. It is the day, more than any other da}^, when the Lord Jesus has said to the weary worldhng, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest.'' It is the day when the strait gate has oftenest opened and ushered happy pilgrims on the path of peace. Even the Gos- pel, without the Sabbath, would have done the world little good; for without the Sabbath the world would never have taken time to attend to the Gospel. And as it is the day from which most of God's people date theu' better life, so it is the day which has done the most to forward them in faith, and holiness, and meetness for heaven. In the outset of their Christian career, it was on these weekly stepping- stones that they were enabled to get over the Slough of Despond — the difficulties, and fears, and misgi"\dngs, which encountered their entrance on the life of faith : and since that period, along the steep and sultry pil- grimage, many a communion Sabbath, and memorable day of the Son of man, has proved the verdant arbour whence they could view the promised land, and where the willing soul was conscious of a nearer immortahty. On the ocean of life, these stated and seasonable days have been to the heavenward voyager as havens of refuge, into which he could escape from the windy storm and the tempest, and, hov/ever vexed and sorroAV-tossed before, was sure to find a sreat and 138 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. sudden calm ; and when his faith and love were failing, these blessed days have been like the timely entrepot, where the famished ship puts in and gets fresh-vic- tualled — the opportune occasion when his fainting spirit laid in a new supply of the bread and water of life. These are the days when the holiest feelings are created or increased, and when the most sacred joys come home. Like those brilliant dyes, which our cold and watery atmosphere refuses to bring out, but which we are compelled to send away to purer skies, and a less diluted sun, there are many devout emotions, and divine affections, which need a Sabbath atmo- sphere to give them their empyreal tone and heavenly hue ; and these have been the days when love to the Saviour, and zeal for God, and good-will to man, the most benevolent feelings, and the most unworldly, have glowed to intensest lustre. And like those birds which sing among the branches, but which the roar of battle scares away, many of our sweetest joys take wing, and quit the din of the daily battle ; but to the peace and quiet of these Sabbaths the startled happi- ness returns — the tender and hallowed love which always hovers over the Christian's home, but only alights on days of leisure — the communion of saints, which is in the creed all the week, but in the heart this day — the hope, and assurance, and joy, which are seldom more remote from a child of God than a Sab- bath-day's journey — these often return; and that bless- ing, comprehensive of every other, the Comforter returns, and the joyful, thankful believer, fmds himself " in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Dear reader, the God of grace has given you the Sabbath that you yourself may grow fit for glory, and that you may do good to others. It is the day when ADAPTATION TO MAN'S NATURE. 139 you may sit down to the Bible without fear of dis- turbance. It is the day when, with our sinless pro- genitors, you may take the tour of Paradise, and listen to the anthems of a newly created world. It is the day when, alongside of Enoch, you may feed the flame of devotion, and try to divine the wonder and imbibe the ardour of a walk mth God. It is the day when, according to your various mood, you may mourn with Abraham at Machpelah, or meditate with Isaac in the fields of Mamre, or go down into Egypt to view Joseph in all his glory. It is the day when you may bid Jacob's star twinkle anew, and Zechariah's fountain flow amain. It is the day when you may fill your ear with draughts of melody from David's sounding l3rre, or let your spirit ride aloft on Ezekiel's flying wheels. It is the day when you may take a pleasant walk to Bethany, or Emmaus, or, a fourth disciple, ascend Tabor with Peter, and James, and John. It is the day when, with Mary, you may clasp that cross which quivers no longer, and look up to those pale and pain- less lips which need never repeat, " It is finished,'' and gaze on that countenance in death so divine, and beneath its thorny crown so blissful and so benign, till it says to you, "Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.'' It is the day when, in the upper chamber, you may listen to a sermon of Paul ; or, a pilgrim to Patmos along with the beloved disciple, see Jesus again. And it is the day for prayer — the Sabbath itself one closet, and your quiet chamber another — a closet within a closet, when you may surely shut out the world and get very near to God; the day for looking back, for confession, for eyeing the Lamb that was slain; the day for looking forward, for self-dedica- tion, for holy resolutions, for obedience begun anew 140 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. And it is the day for public worship, when the glad bells say, Go ye up to the house of the Lord, and the willing worshipper answers, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. And it is the day for Christian converse ; when, coming from the house of God in company, pious friends take counsel one with another; and when, under the quiet roof, they read or go over the sermons, or commune together. And it is the day for family instruction, when the hymns are said, and the chapters read, and the truth in Jesus expounded; and when fatherly affection strives to leave the lessons of heavenly wisdom imbedded in filial love. It is the day for the Sabbath school, and the prayer-meeting, and the visit of mercy. It is the day when, so that you do not exhaust yourself or overtask others, you may give every moment to the one thing needful ; the day which is best employed when the soul gets all, and heaven gets all, and God gets all. Oh, what a happy world it would be, did it but reciprocate the Creator's kind design, and suffer itself to be as happy as the Gospel and the Sabbath are fit to make it ! Reader, be not you one of those who resist or neglect God's merciful provision for your owtq welfare. If conscious that hitherto you have not kept the Sabbath as you should, begin anew. Repentant for the past, enter, through the Saviour, into the peace of a reconciled God, and accept as a sign betwixt you and him this olive branch which he sends you, the gift of the Sabbath. For the sake of a peaceful con- science, for the sake of a prosperous week, for the sake of a happy home, for the sake of an approving God, " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy;" and you will shortly prove the truth of the promise, " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing ADAPTATION TO MAN's NATURE. 141 thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it/' 142 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. V VI. SEVER.IL PREY AILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION EXPOSED.* BY THE REV. PETER M'OWAN, MOUNT PLEASANT CHAPEL, LIVEKPOOL. Whilst the institution of the Sabbath is a fence to the general interests of religion, and a bulwark thrown up to repress the floods of ungodliness, it also operates as a moral and rehgious test to the children of men ; dis- covering either their love or their hatred, their loyalty or their rooted enmity to Jehovah, their sovereign Lord. In proportion as nations, churches, or individuals, rise in the scale of religion and morality, they venerate and religiously improve this holy day; and in the same degree as they dechne from the love of God, and the belief of his truth, they despise and profane it. The righteous call it " a delight, the holy of the Lord, hon- ourable;'' and they honour him, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking * Some portions of this essay have been extracted from a small work previously published by the writer, and entitled, " Practical Considerations on the Christian SABSAxn." PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 143 their own words. But the ungodly say, " When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell com ? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat V Some boldly deny its moral obligation; affirming that it originated in state policy or in priestcraft ; or that it is, at best, a fragment of the Jewish economy. Others admit its Divine origin, and concede that its de- sign is humane and wise ; but, on the plea of public utility, infirm health, or the heavy stake they have in the trade and commerce of the country, they pervert it, more or less, to purposes of secular toil or of worldly pleasure. The proud profane it, because it encroaches on their fancied independence ; the avaricious, because it limits their opportunities of amassing wealth ; the lovers of pleasure, because it interferes with the grati- fication of their lusts; the undevout, because of the spirituality of its duties and design ; and the unbeliev- ing, because it assumes the being of a God, the exist- ence of providence, the responsibility of man, and the truth of revealed religion. Convinced that the profanation of this blessed day is one of the great national sins on account of which God continues to visit us with judgment, and that its sanctification is essentially connected with our national prosperity, the advancement of the Divine glory, the salvation of the world, and the permanent revival of religion in the Churches of Christ — we proceed to point out " SOME OF THE PREVALENT FORMS," Or modeS, in which the day is desecrated by those for whose present and everlasting benefit it was instituted. I. The Sabbath is desecrated, the efficacy of its or- dinances is neutralized, and its benignant design is frustrated, when men are at no pains to prepare their hearts, or to set their affairs in order for its due sane- 1 44 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. tification, before it arrives. — True religion is no enemy to industry. On the contrary, the Scriptures commend it as a virtue, while they denounce idleness as an odious vice. The fourth commandment, in particular, is not more exphcit in enjoining that we rest on the seventh day, than that we *' labour and do all our work '' on the preceding six days. It is the divine will that we so dispatch and arrange our worldly and domestic af- fairs during the week, that they may stand still with- out detriment to them, or distraction to us, while we " wait only upon God," in his house, or in our closets, on his own day. The history of each well-instructed religious family and firm in the land, proves that such a plan of preparation is both practicable and profit- able. " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." — That is, look before you to the conclusion of the week ; anticipate the Sabbath, and do not allow yourselves to be so immersed in worldly pursuits that it shall come upon you unawares. Have respect to it through the whole of your week-day duties; and give no pledge, neither enter into any engagement, which will entangle your consciences, or lay you under temptation to ne- glect its ordinances, or to secularize its hours. The ancient Jews so venerated this solemn injunction, that they devoted the day preceding their Sabbath to pre- paratory duties, and hence it was called " The day of preparation.'' Had those professing Christians who are Share- holders in Sabbath-breaking railways, or partners in other companies which desecrate this day, remembered this injunction, they would have demanded a legal pledge that no Sunday trading would be allowed, be- fore they bought a share, subscribed a pound, or signed PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 145 a document. But they forgot, if they did not utterly disregard, the word of the Lord ; and many of them are now suffering the penalty of their unfaithfulness. Had some j^'^ofessing parents remembered it before they apprenticed their children to Sabbath-breaking tradesmen, they would not now have had to deplore the irreligion and undutifulness of those who ought to have been the joy of their hearts, and the glory of their declining years. And had some commercial travellers so remembered it, as to have stipulated with their em- ployers, that they should neither transact business at home, nor travel abroad, on this holy day, they would not have been so lost to God and to honour as they unhappily are. Neither the Sabbath nor its ordinances operate as a charm on the soul of man. It is awfully possible for us to observe the day without securing" Its design ; to be in the house of God without realizing his presence ; and to hear his gospel without feeling its power. These results are not only possible, but they will in- fallibly ensue unless we " set the Lord alway '' before us, and so subordinate our worldly affairs to our spi- ritual interests, that instead of hindering they may contribute to our being " in the Spirit on the Lord's- day." Considering how intimately the efficacy of ordi- nances, and the salvation of men, are linked with the observance of the Sabbath, and how necessary previous preparation is to its due sanctiiication — those Masters incur a fearful responsibility, who, by tasking their servants to perform an unreasonable amount of work, or who, by postponing the payment of their wages till a late hour on Saturday night, lay them under strong temptation, not only to neglect all preparation for the 146 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. services of the day, but to desecrate the day itself. Those Heads of Families also are culpable, who not only permit, but encourage, their servants and children to leave certain departments of household service to be performed on the Lord's-day morning, which, with forethought, might have been done on the previous night; or who teach them to anticipate certain duties on the Sunday evening, which properly belong to the following morning. The comparative inefficacy of gospel ordinances in these lands, is a ground of grief and surprise to all godly persons and faithful ministers. With an un- precedented number of faithful men in the ministry, who generally preach the gospel in a plain, powerful, and persuasive manner, and with the most unrestrained liberty to profess and practise true religion, a large proportion of those who attend our sanctuaries remain unsaved. Without denying the existence of auxiliary hindrances, it is our firm conviction that a chief cause of the inutility of gospel ministrations with multitudes, both men and women, is the hurry and distraction of mind, induced by the absorbing avidity and idolatrous devotedness with which they pursue the world, up to, and often beyond, the sacred precincts of the Sabbath- day. If the ground be unprepared, it avails nothing though the seed be good and the sower diligent, for it will lie on the surface; and, in that case, it will either be devoured by the birds of the air, or scorched by the sun, or choked by the briers and weeds. If we grieve away the Holy Spirit during the six days, how can we hope he will come and comfort us on the seventh ? If we do not supplicate his aid in private, and are unmindful of his monitions in our daily walk, how can we expect to be favoured with his celestial PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 147 influences in public, when, with minds pre-occupied, we go with the multitude who keep holy day ? "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap/' The Sabbath must be remembered before it comes, in order to be enjoyed when it comes. Sabbath ordinances must be approached in a Sabbath frame, otherwise they will harden rather than soften, and blind rather than enlighten ; and, to secure this frame, we must not only lay the world aside with our hands in proper time, but eject it from our hearts; prapng with all prayer, that the Lord of the Sabbath would possess them by his Spirit, — " casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalt eth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of himself" II. The Sabbath is desecrated when only a portion of its hours are devoted to sacred purposes, the re- mainder being spent in business or in pleasure. — The spirit, as well as the letter, of the Sabbath-law requires, that we consecrate each seventh day to the worship of God. No one doubts whether the six days given for worldly business are to be taken entire ; and were not the carnal mind enmity against God, and not subject to his law, the distinction of " church hours '' would never have been heard of This is one of the many ways in which the Church of Rome, and those who symbolize with her, make void the law of God by their traditions ; and the fact that some of our statutes, and many of our church-going population, still recog- nise "church hours'' as possessing an exclusive sanctity, and a special obligation, which do not apper- tain to the other parts of the day, proves that the Reformation was incomplete, and that Protestants 148 THE CHIIISTIAN SABBATH. have yet much to learn in respect of duty, as well as of privilege. This distinction has not even the shadow of scrip- tural authority; and, if admitted, it would utterly destroy the harmony which exists between the type and the antitype — the earthly and the heavenly rest. It is obviously based upon the assumption, that our obligations to keep the day holy are human and con- ventional ; and it involves the double guilt of taking from, and of adding to, the things written in the Book of God. It implies that the duty we owe to God is altogether public and ceremonial ; that family worship, the religious training of our children, and the cultiva- tion of a devout spirit in the use of closet exercises, are matters of trivial importance, and may be neglected without loss, or guilt, or any great risk, provided we spend a given number of hours in the gTeat congrega- tion. Nay, more, it implies an insinuation that God has claimed an undue proportion of our time ; that his Sabbath is a tax on our temporal interests, and a bar to om- happiness; and that, consequently, we do well to alienate part of it to business or pleasure, as we may feel inclined. These are some of the guilty implica- tions with which this irreligious mutilation of the Lord's-day is chargeable; and the bare mention of them is sufficient to draw forth the cordial condemna- tion of each lover of the Sabbath. Every sound argu- ment which can be adduced to prove that a part of the Sabbath ought to be sanctified, carried to its legi- timate issue, will prove that the entire day is holy, and ought to be employed in the public and private exercises of religion. Let none, therefore, deceive themselves by imagin- ing, that if they attend a place of worship once or PREVAILING FOKMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 149 twice, they are at liberty to spend the remainder of the day in journeying, pleasure excursions, domestic amusements, or preparatory arrangements for the business of Monday. The day, the luhole day, is the Lord's, and He commands us to " keep it holy." He scorns a divided allegiance ; and it is at our peril if we divide its hours between his worship and the service of Mammon. If we mar the type we dishonour its author, we destroy its efficacy, and we forfeit our interest in its heavenly antitype. To rob God of a part of his day in private, after we have been professing to worship him in public, is rank hypocrisy; it is to enact the sin of those deceivers who called Jesus " Lord, Lord,'' but did not the things he commanded them; and if we become partners in their guilt, we shall assuredly be made sha^rers in their punishment. If we condemn the secularity of the Jews, who turned the temple into a house of merchandise ; and abhor the impiety of Belshazzar, who, " "with his princes, his wives, and his concubines," in their proud revelry, " drank out of the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem : " let us shrink from the no less palpable sacrilege of prostituting the evening hours of the Lord's-day to writing letters of business, taking stock, fagging at the ledger, or a survey of the farm. If we would escape the curse of him " that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully," there must be no mistake in this matter, no halting between two opinions — no trimming between God and Mammon. The " sign "* will take effect, proving, either that we are for the Redeemer, or that we are against him ; that we are of those who gather with him, or that our perilous em- * Ezekiel xx. 12. 150 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ployment is to scatter and destroy. The command- ments of the Lord are not grievous ; and he will not allow us, with impunity, to treat them as if they were so ; or to asperse him by word or deed, as if he were an austere Master, " reaping where he had not sown, and gathering where he had not strawed.'' "But wisdom is justified of her children;'' and the people of God are forward to confess that his " service is perfect freedom;'' and that in keeping his com- mandments " there is great reward." " This is the DAY which the Lord hath made ; we will rejoice and be glad in it." " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper" (or as the margin reads, " I would choose rather to sit at the threshold ") " of the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." This is the genuine lan- ^age of all who love God, in all churches, and in all parts of the earth. To them the Sabbath-day is the best and brightest of the seven. They long for its dawn; they regret its decline; they rejoice to know that on it " God rested from all his work which he had made;" and that he " blessed it and sanctified it," from its commencement to its close. They exult in the fact that their Lord broke forth from the captivity of the grave, and entered into his state of meritorious REST, " very early in the morning, when it was yet dark;" and that he continued to commune, and to break bread with his disciples till it was " toward evening, and the day far spent" Whether they con- sider the example he has set them, the commandments he has given them, the claims of his love, the interests of his cause, the happiness of their fellow-men, the wants of their own souls, or the fatigues of their bodies, they dare not alienate any part of his day from its PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 151 divine and legitimate uses; and to all who tempt them to do so they say, " How can I do this great wicked- ness, and sin against God?" III. The Sabbath is desecrated when men enjoy its rest, and attend its ordinances merely out of defe- rence to public opinion, or a regard to outward de- cency. — The Sabbath is " the holy of the Lord ; " and it is never truly sanctified except when it is kept out of respect to his authority, and with a distinct reference to his glory. None but those who are in- fluenced by a high and reverential regard for the vital interests of spiritual religion, either enter into its lofty design, or yield a cheerful submission to its holy re- strictions. Though it is characterised by supreme wis- dom, enlightened benevolence, and tender humanity, and though it stands identified with the glory of God, the preservation of his truth, and the purity of his worship, it is slighted and profaned by aU who take up rehgion as a mere system of forms and opinions. Multitudes in these kingdoms regard abstinence from labour on the Sabbath as a venerable custom; attend- ance on a place of worship as a respectable practice; buying and selHng on that day as mean and vulgar; and journeying, or entertaining company, as habits dangerous to youth, and destructive of domestic order. If such persons carry on public works, these, as a mat- ter of course, are stopped on the Lord's-day; their dwellings are as still and orderly as a minute attention to the duties of the toilet, and the preparation of a somewhat sumptuous dinner, will permit; family prayer, though it may have been neglected the whole week beside, is this day duly performed; refigious books are brought out with much ostentation, and are to some extent read ; and the family pew, whether in ) 152 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. churcli or chapel, is both punctually frequented and well filled. And all this is done, their own conscience being witness, not out of reverence for the authority of God — not to advance the glory of God — not to promote spiritual religion in themselves or in others; — no ! but to keep caste among their neighbours, to show then' respect for the forms of rehgion, and there- by to patronise it in the eyes of the poor; or, it may be, to purchase the favour of God, and atone for the sins of the bygone week. This, alas ! is but too faith- ful a picture of the Sabbath-keeping of thousands; and we venture to pronounce it not only deficient, but sinful, in the motives from which it springs, in the spirit by which it is characterised, and in the end to which it is dfrected. The Scriptures abound with allusions to the motives from which human actions spring; and they contain numerous examples of God's displeasure against those who, through presumption, pride, or carelessness, vio- lated the instituted order of his worship, and perverted his service to selfish or secular designs. When Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered strange fire, the Lord slew them, and said, " I ^\dll be sanctified in them that come nigh to me ; and before all the people will I be glorified.''' The breach which was made upon Israel by the death of Uzzah, when the ark was brought up from the house of Aminadab in Gibeah, was occasioned by a disregard of the divine command respecting the mode in which that sacred vessel was to be carried. — (Numb. iv. 15, compared with 1 Chron. XV. 12, 13.) When the Jews ceased to respect the authority of God, and failed to make his glory their ultimate end in his worship, "he that killed an ox was, as if he slew a man ; he that sacrificed a lamb, as PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 153 if he cut off a dog's neck ; lie that offered an oblation, as if he offered swine's flesh ; and he that burned in- cense, as if he blessed an idol." And if we, on the Sabbath, abstain from labour, and attend ordinances, merely to refresh the body, to escape the charge of irreligion, or out of deference to human legislation and custom, or because we delight in pulpit oratory, in music, or in dress, he will scorn our worship, and punish us with those who sacrifice to their own net, and who burn incense to their own drag. For though a good motive cannot sanctify a bad action, a cor- rupt motive does vitiate a service which is outwardly correct. The Pharisees gave alms, but it was that they might have honour of men ; they made long prayers, but it was for a pretence; they fasted, but they disfigured their faces, that they might appear unto men to fast; and, therefore, they had their reward — that is, they gained the praise of men, and incurred the curse of God. The service of God is " a reasonable service;" and, to be " acceptable," it must be performed from pure motives, in the spirit of faith and love, and in harmony with the written word. " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." In his worship the posture of the body is important only so far as it expresses or promotes the lowliness and fervour of the mind ; the language of the Hps is valuable only as a vehicle for declaring the desires, and as an index to the dispositions of the inner man ; and unless our cessation from secular toil on the Sabbath be associated with a distinct recognition of the authority of God, a grateful recollection of his creative goodness and redeeming love, faith in the mediation of the Lord Jesus, and an unreserved sur- 154 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. render of ourselves to his service, our worship will be rejected as bodily exercise, and as mere lip-service. The Lord of the Sabbath trieth the hearts and reins of his worshippers. He knoweth what is in man ; and no language, however scriptural or eloquent — no offer- ings, however costly — can procure acceptance in his sight, if inward submission, and a single intention to please him, be wanting. Independently of profit or loss, praise or blame, popular custom or human cap- rice, we must KEEP THE Sabbath holy. Yes ! As we deprecate the curse, and as we desire the blessing of the Lawgiver of heaven and earth, we must keep it holy. We must keep it holy because it is His, set apart for his worship, claimed by his commandment, sanctified by his example, and associated with his honour and our salvation. Instead of resting in the form, we must subordinate that to the spirit of the ordinance, and maintain a heavenly harmony between the motives of our minds, the language of our lips, and the whole of our outward deportment. In the closet, in the sanctuary, and in the domestic circle — morning, noon, and night — we must honour him, not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words. And if we, and our re- spective households, thus delight ourselves in the Lord, and in his holy day, he " will cause us to ride upon the high places of the earth, and mil feed us with the heritage of Jacob; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.'' — (Isa. Iviii. 13, 14.) IV. The Sabbath is desecrated when it is devoted to secular pu^yoses and servile labour. — " In it thou shalt not do any work." — (Exod. xx. 10.) The nature of the case, as well as other texts of Scriptm-e, requires that this prohibition be interpreted so as to except PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 155 ivorks of necessity and mercy. Our Lord taught, that it was lawful on the Sabbath-day to heal diseases — to flee from danger — to do good — to satisfy hunger — to save life — to pull an ox or an ass out of a pit — and to loose and lead cattle away to watering. These exceptions are obviously specimens, rather than a per- fect catalogue, of permitted works. No one can doubt that it is lawful to quench fire ; to defend ourselves and our families from aggression, whether of war or of robbers ; to guide the helm and shift the sails at sea ; to visit the sick ; and to prepare necessary food for our households ; to make collections for the poor and the cause of God ; to teach the children of the destitute and the profligate to read the Word of God ; and, when it cannot be delayed without danger, to bury the dead. But while we glorify God, and exempHfy the benignant character of Christianity, by engaging in exercises which are clearly " works of necessity and mercy,'' we need to guard lest sloth or self-interest plead necessity where none exists. Medical men, we fear, often impose on themselves in this way. Except in seasons of epidemic disease, and on some other extraordinary occasions, they might generally, by dihgence and foresight, secure time for attending public worship. The scepticism which too much prevails in the medical profession, is no doubt nursed, if it be not occasioned, by habitual absence from the means of grace ; and young practitioners, who yet believe there is a God, that man has an immortal soul, and that Christianity is divine, ^vill do well to "remem- ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,'' lest they also be given up to " strong delusions." Many shipowners err in this matter. Under pretence that Sunday is a " lucky day," that the tide serv^es, or that the wind is 156 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. fair, they contrive to make it a common day for leav- ing harbour ; as if chance, and not Providence, ruled the winds of heaven, the tides of the ocean, and the affairs of men ; or as if God could be propitiated by a practice implying a direct breach of his law, or could permit those to be ultimate losers who prefer the inte- rests of eternity to those of time, and the glory of his name to the favour of men and the figments of super- stition. No class of men can be trained to habits of religion and morality without Sabbath worship ; and the proverbial irreligion of those sailors who are de- barred from it, constitutes an argument in favour of the sanctification of the day, which, we trust, will ere- long lead to the discontinuance of the practice we con- demn ; and which rehgious captains and seamen feel to be a great hardship. The owners of factories, and other public works, greatly err if they think they are justified in repairing their machinery on the Sabbath, under pretence that they thereby prevent their work-people from losing a day's wages. No ! Such employers seek their own interest, not that of the poor ; and while the harsh clanking of the Sunday hammer publishes their pro- fanity in the ears of men, the pretence on which it is wielded proclaims their hypocrisy in the ear of God. But, supposing their motive were benevolent, the prac tice is unjustifiable ; for we may not " do evil, that good may come.'" Neither can those shopkeepers be excul- pated who trade on the Sabbath, on the plea that they deal in " perishable articles." In most instances, the supply of such articles can be regulated according to the demand ; and, admitting that occasionally some loss be sustained by preserving a good conscience, it is our duty to keep the law of God at all hazards, and PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 15? despite of all sacrifices. We have known tradesmen and shopkeepers who were poor, embarrassed, and neglected, while they traded on the Sabbath ; but who, from the time they sacrificed their ungodly gains, prospered, and grew in favour both with God and man ; and we could specify some powerful firms that have been ruined, and rich families which have been impoverished, whose contempt of the Sabbath was notorious. In those factories in which the practice of repairing machinery on Sunday is kept up, repairs are continually required ; which may be accounted for on the ground, that fractures are aggravated by postpone- ment, that repairs made on Sunday are often neces- sarily supeiificial, and that they are effected by men destitute of religious principle. Those workmen who labour on the Sabbath in constructing railways (me- lancholy instances of which have occurred all over the country), generally spend more than their extra wages in purchasing strong drink, to supply stimulus to their exhausted powers ; and we have been assured, by an extensive and conscientious contractor, that the work which they execute in seven days is generally less in amount, and worse in point of execution, than that which is done by sober orderly men in six. It may be affirmed of all who buy, or sell, or labour on this holy day, that they neither fear God nor regard man ; for they violate the laws and invade the rights of both. They manifest an atheistical distrust in Pro- vidence ; they pour contempt upon one of the most merciful institutions to which the God of mercy has given existence ; they betray an utter indifference about the enjoyment of God's favour, and a total dis- regard of his threatened vengeance. It strikes us as a remarkable and melancholy fact, 158 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. that while common trading and ordinary shopkeeping are generally regarded as flagrant and disreputable breaches of Sabbath law, the sale of intoxicating liquors is scarcely regarded as a sin. In London, porter and beer are unblushingly hawked about the streets ; and those families are thought excessively precise who refuse to take it in on the Lord's-day. In towTi and country those public-house keepers who will not enter- tain company, nor sell spirits on this day, are spoken of as paragons of goodness. How comes this about ? How is this lenity to this most demoralizing practice to be accounted for ? In our estimation, those who retail intoxicating drinks on this day, and who afford harbour to the sons and daughters of dissipation, are pre-eminently guilty. They not only neglect the means of grace themselves, but they furnish that which unfits and indisposes thousands for worshipping God either in pubHc or in private. Though it might be an equal sra in the sight of God, it would be far less inju- rious to society were the mason to take his plummet, his trowel, and his other implements, and proceed with the building he had been erecting the preceding week. There is a woe recorded against the man who giveth his neighbour drink, that putteth his bottle to him, that maketh him drunken ; but a tenfold woe shall be the portion of those who make a trade of this practice on the holy Sabbath. " The closing of public-houses on the Sabbath-day is a measure which ought to receive the unanimous concun^ence and support of all moralists, philanthro- pists, and true patriots. The statistics of criminal business for the borough of Liverpool show a regular increase in the committals to the borough jail, com- mensurate with the increase of the population. In the PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 159 year 1841-2, the prisoners in the borough jail were 16,657; but in the next year, when the public-houses were partially closed on the Sabbath-day, the number sensibly diminished, instead of increasing with the m- creasing population ; and even after two or three years they fell short of the above number ; thus showing the beneficial effect of this merely partial restriction of the public-houses and beer-shops. The foUomng shows the number of prisoners in the borough jail for four years : — 1841-2. Total number of prisoners, . . . 16,657 1842-3. When the public-houses were partially closed on Sunday, 15,512 1843-4 15,790 1845-6 16,214 These data are as convincing as figures can be. The decrease in the committals appears as the necessary and natural consequence of the reduced temptations held out to the lower classes by the venders of beer and spirituous liquors. All we now require is to go one step further — close the public-houses altogether on that day of public rest. Let not the publican enjoy advantages of trading which no other class enjoys. It is an urgent matter, if morality and good conduct are essential to a nation's wellbeing. A strong public de- monstration ought to be instantly made in favour of the measure. The clergy should lead the van, and pioneer the way for so great and desirable an improve- ment. All lovers of sobriety, and virtue, and good order, would zealously support them ; and one general well-directed and mighty effort would soon destroy a system as repulsive to common sense and justice, as it is injurious to morals, and destructive of the sobriety and wellbeing of the lower classes.''* * Literj)ool Courier, August 11, 1847- 160 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. The persons immediately addressed in the fourth commandment are parents, masters, and magistrates ; and, under and through them, all others whatsoever are enjoined to abstain from servile employ on the Sabbath-day; hence the following injunctions : — 1. " Nor thy son nor thy daughter." — Though it is possible that our children might work by way of amuse- ment, and without being observed by neighbours, or censured by ministers ; and though their own depraved hearts might incline them to desecrate rather than to sanctify the Lord's-day, yet he v/ho made them, and who is entitled to their worshipful subjection, demands their obedience, and holds us responsible for their com- pliance. Therefore, as we love them, and value his favour, we must neither seduce them b^^ our example, nor coerce them by our authority, nor permit them, through mistaken fondness, to profane this holy day. On the contrary, we ought, by precept and example ; by the exercise of our authority; by the lure of our love; by the dread of our displeasure; and by a fre- quent and faithful exposition of the law, the promises, and the threatenings of God — to encourage, persuade, and constrain them to spend it in public worship, pri- vate prayer, religious reading, and godly discourse. Our own peace and our children's salvation are inti- mately involved in this matter. Juvenile delinquency generally commences in some form of Sabbath profan- ation; whereas early piety is uniformly fostered and confirmed by conscientious Sabbath keeping. 2. " Nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant" — In a community like that of the Israelites, among whom a limited bondage was tolerated, masters might have surmised that, though both they and their children were forbidden to labour on the Sabbath, their domes- PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 161 tics, whom they had bought mth their money or taken in war — who were bound to serve for a term of years, and who would probably rather work than wor- ship — might dispense with the obligation of the law, and prosecute at least in-door employments. But no such license was allowed. " The Sabbath was made for man'' — in all his various tribes, in all the diversity of his external circumstances, and in all the ages of his existence, it was made for the Gentile as well as the Jew ; for the servant as weU as the master ; for the maid as well as her mistress. The conventional en- gagements into which we enter with one another, can- not disannul the primary relations we sustain to God, nor free us from the obligations which these relations involve. Household servants ought therefore not only to stipulate for a certain rate of wages, but for liberty to worship God on his own day. The Sabbath is theirs for rest and for worship; not theirs to be let out for hire, or to be spent in pastime. The practice of allow- ing servants to spend the Sabbath out of their master's house is fraught with evil ; and ought never to be per- mitted except on special occasions, and when implicit confidence can be placed in the principles and piety of the individual so indulged. To prevent gossip and Sunday gadding, as well as to encourage punctual at- tendance and devotional habits, masters would do well to provide accommodation for their domestics, not only in their owu place of worship, but in their own family pew. Though the above injunction refers specially to domestic servants, and such as work on their masters' premises, or with then masters' tools and cattle, it obviously inculcates that we ought not to employ any who perversely violate the Sabbath, though they may 162 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. work in tlieir own houses and on their own account. The King of Israel said, " I will not know'' or approve of " a mcked person. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way shall serve me." Were Christians, generally, to imitate David in this godly resolve ; were they invariably to prefer and en- courage sober, conscientious, and Sabbath-keeping mechanics, carriers, and tradesmen ; and were they to discard and discountenance drunkards, socialists, and Sabbath-breakers, the benefit to the Church and the world would be great and lasting. By acting thus, we may expect to be stigmatized as persecutors and narrow-minded bigots by all who worship an infidel liberalism; but, if we fail to act thus, how can we acquit ourselves of the heavier charge of being " par- takers of other men's sins?" Most assuredly, if we love God more than ourselves; if his glory be dearer to us than our money; and if we are as impatient of the dishonour which sin casts on his name, as we are at the losses to which fraud and violence subject us, we shall act thus. But, alas 1 many masters care not how God's work is neglected, provided theh own be duly performed. Nay, some of them, to the scandal of the Christian name, refuse to take men into their employ, or to encourage them in trade, unless they for- mally stipulate to secularize the Sabbath as they may direct, and as circumstances may require. Need we wonder if the servants of such masters prove unfaith- ful; if, when they look for much fi^om labour so ob- tained, lo, it comes to little; and if, when they. bring it home, the Lord blows upon it ? 3. " Nor thy cattle^ — Beasts of burden are no more capable of sustaining incessant labour than men. Coach PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 163 proprietors, and others who let horses out on hire, know, that without a weekly rest their energies are speedily wasted, and their lives are materially short- ened. In this way God avenges the wrongs of these generous animals on such of their o^^^lers as abuse them. Previously to the introduction of steam con- veyances into this country, horses were made exten- sively subservient to Sabbath profanation ; pleasure excursions and business journeys having been effected chiefly by their means. So far as ill health, distance, or the inclemency of the weather, may render their services necessary to carry us to the house of God, or to the beds of the djmg, we may innocently use them ; but no further. To hire them, or to let them out for hire, for the purposes of trade, for the gratifying of pride, or the securing of pleasure on the Sabbath, are clearly violations of the law of God. It is a melancholy consideration, that in this Chris- tian country, aboundmg with the means of grace, many thousands of coachmen, omnibus and cab drivers, are as effectually debarred from the house of God as though there were no Sabbath kept, no gospel preached, and no worship performed in the land. We loudly complain of the impositions and flagrant wickedness of some of these men, without considering that we are accessories to their evil deeds, as far as we contribute to shut them out from the means of salvation by em- ploying them on the Lord's-day. Some of them are alive to their danger, and lament the necessity they are under of ruining their souls, or of leaving their families to starve. Others are as ignorant, and almost as insensible to moral propriety, as the beasts they drive ; and consequently have no deshe to mmgle with our worshipping assemblies: while many strengthen 164 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. themselves in wickedness by arguments drawn from the inconsistency of those who, though they profess to reverence the Sabbath, and to delight in the worship of God, pay them for breaking the former, and for slighting the latter. Many of the cab and omnibus owaiers in London are said to be Jews ; and it is an ap- palling consideration, that professing Christians should, by hiring their vehicles on the Lord's-day, teach — yea ! bribe — them to treat Christianity as an uninfluential fable. Should one of their drivers at any time be seized with compunction, and express a wish to attend a place of worship, it may be imagined with what unmeasured scorn the request would be rejected. How can we profess to love God or our neighbour ? — how can Ave stand clear of the blood of these men's souls, whether Jews or Gentiles, unless we determine that, as far as we are concerned, their Sunday driving shall cease ; and that we will no more cast a stumbHng- block in their way, nor contribute to rob them of those opportunities of grace, on the right use of which their salvation is suspended ? The practice of holding cattle-markets or fairs on Mondays is fraught with evil. It not only affords the iiTeligious a pretext for spending the Sabbath hours in travel, and railway directors a plea for running their Sunday trains, but it involves an extensive system of preliminary Sunday bargaining. It la3^s conscientious men under a necessity of being from home on the Lord's day, and thus subjects them to great tempta- tion and to much additional expense. It draws crowds of thoughtless youths away from their homes and Sun- day schools, and familiarizes them with scenes of cruelty and with the vilest language; and it greatly a,nnoys and distracts the relis^ious part of the community in PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 16o their going to and returning /rom their places of wor- ship. That the inhabitants of London, and other to^vns in the United Kingdom, should have tolerated the Smithfield and similar nuisances, can only be accounted for on the ground that the things of the world, even in their meanest and least inviting forms, are preferred by the majority to the glory of God and the interests of true religion. We are aware that these markets are established by law, and cannot be discontinued mthout magisterial, and perhaps parliamentary, interference ; but we feel assured, that were the Christian people in the towns and ^dllages which are subjected to their demoralizing influences, only to do their duty in en- lightening the public mind, and in memorializing the proper authorities, a speedy change would be effected, and that without damage to the legitimate interests of any party. To honourable and conscientious dealers the change would be a real boon ; and as to others, the notoriety they have earned for fraud, falsehood, and kindred vices, furnishes another convincing evidence, not only that an alteration is necessary on their ac- count, but that Sabbath worship is essential to the very existence of truth and righteousness among men. V. The Sabbath is desecrated luhen it is spent in convivial feasting, in worldly discourse, in visiting places of amusement, in light and unspiritual read- ing, or in walks and excursions of mere p)leasure. — Sunday ought to be a privileged day in food, in clothes, and in family fellowship, as far as its sanctity and the discharge of its appropriate duties will permit. All Christians ought to salute its dawn with songs, and Christian parents should endeavour to make their households happy when they meet at the family board. The trials and crosses of the past week should, as far as 166 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. possible, be forgotten and banisbed. The grace of re- demption, tbe care and kind intei'positions of Provi- dence, the progress of the work of God, the virtues and self-denying labours of the Lord's people, the wonders of creation, and the felicities of the heavenly rest, should be the themes of our Sabbath-day discourse. Shy distrust and lofty reserve ought to be banished from the family circle on this day especially; and all should be encouraged to join in spiritual conversation, in singing psalms and hymns, and in offering up prayer. At such a time, and in such circumstances, the parent and master, who is himself in the Spirit on the Lord's day, will feel his heart warmed and enlarged; and, anxious to diffuse the peace and joy which animate his own bosom, he will delight to bless his household, say- ing, " The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee ; the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." This would be to call the Sabbath " a delight.'' But we regret to say, that in many families in which God is not wholly forgotten, the evening of the day is spent in a very different manner. Relatives and near neighbours regularly congregate : and, after a few pious preliminary topics have been touched, they slide by degrees into a free conversation about politics, prices of gTain, growing crops, and passing events : and ere they break up they fix the times of projected journeys, repeat the scandal of the week, and discuss the characters of magistrates and ministers, to the infinite damage of the religious interests of their children and servants. This is a soul-destrojdng and a God -dishonouring custom. It has indeed an air of friendship to man, but it betokens enmity to God. If any of our readers have opened their houses for such PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 167 gatlierings, or have mingled in them, we entreat them, as they regard the favour of God, the credit of religion, and the salvation of their families, to give them up at once, and for ever. It matters not whom you of- fend, or what reproach you incur, the practice must be renounced, or the curse of God will rest on your souls, and abide in your houses. Religion enjoins hospitality, and it fosters friend- ship ; but it requires that our friendships be religious, and that our hospitality be administered in harmony with the law of God, and with the honour of his house. It is God who sets the solitary in families as a flock. He is the God of the families of the whole earth ; and as their God, he holds their heads respon- sible for the moral conduct of all under their roof, and he "svill require it at their hand if they permit even visitors to profane his holy day. " Nor the stranger within thy gates." Some of these may plead, that it is not their custom to keep the Sabbath so strictly as we do, and they may think us rude unless we relax our Sunday disciphne to gratify their gaiety. But the law is the Lord's ; our own obligations to obey are imperative ; and we possess no power to absolve others from bonds equally binding. Whilst, there- fore, we exercise all the warm-hearted amenities of Christian friendship, we must neither, through fear or favour, neglect the family altar and the great congre- gation, nor permit the intervals of public worship to be filled up with amusements or frivolous discourse. Parents cannot be too particular in this matter. The backsliding of many young disciples may be traced to intercourse with genteel Sabbath-breakers, whom they first met in their father's house ; and the conversion of others has been the result of a friendly visit to a 168 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. faithful Sabbath-keeping family. See, then, that you resolutely maintain the sanctity of the Lord's day ; and if reflections be at any time cast upon you for your fidehty, reply, in the language of the apostles, " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. But we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." The practice of walking out into the country on the Lord's day is, to say the least, highly inexpedient on the part of those who fear God. We admit that a survey of the works of God may assist us in forming lofty conceptions of his perfections, and in approach- ing his throne of grace with augmented confidence : but as we are surrounded with Sabbath-breakers, to whom we cannot explain our motives, nor tell the secrets of our hearts, and who are sure to justify their sinful excursions by an appeal to our brief meditative walks ; we are bound, alike by a regard for the glory of God and love to the souls of men, to abstain from that which might, under other circumstances, have been done without condemnation. " Let no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way ; " " Let not then your good be evil spoken of ; " are apostolic precepts, which have a distinct bearing on the case in hand. To walk or ride out on the Sab- bath, on pretence that health cannot otherwise be preserved, implies a reflection both on the wisdom and goodness of God, as if obedience to his law were necessarily incompatible with the enjoyment of his providential blessings. Thousands have ascribed their religious declension, and subsequent ruin, to the prac- tice of Sunday walking. Those who plead for it, who extol the beauties of nature, and magnify the advan- PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 169 tages to be derived from studying her lessons as por- trayed in the " cloud-capped mountain/' the verdant valley, the winding stream, and the forest's foliage, generally despise the beauties of Christian holiness, and scotf at the doctrines of revealed religion. As is their zeal for liberalizing the Sabbath-law, such is their laxity in practising the Christian virtues. With them the principles of morality are conventional ; Christian experience is enthusiasm ; the preaching of the gospel is an expensive expedient, which might be advantageously merged in a general and enlightened system of education ; and the God of grace is sup- planted in their creed and conversation by the God of nature. The limits of this essay forbid more than a passing censure on certain other refined, but bold and seduc- tive expedients, which have been recently invented to draw men into the habitual desecration of this holy day. Numerous lyceums and other reading-rooms have been opened in our large towns on the Sabbath, for news- paper reading and political discussion ; than which we know of no practices, short of absolute profanity, that have a more direct tendency to secularize the mind, obliterate serious impressions, foster scepticism, and beget a contempt for the word and ordinances of God. That the infidel and profligate who professedly trample truth under foot, and have laid the reins on the neck of their lusts, should frequent the news-room on the Lord's-day, is no matter for surprise ; but that profess- ing Christians, heads of respectable families, and gentlemen who are advocates of social order, should do so, is ground of astonishment. What ! have they no sense of shame ? no consciousness of responsibility ? no trust in Providence ? Is there no fear of God be- 170 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. fore their eyes? no gratitude in their souls for the distinguishing favours with which he has crowned them? Or do they think their pillared porticoes, their splendid halls, their commercial confederations, and their princely subscriptions, will purchase impu- nity from divine rebuke, though they thus openly pour contempt on that law which God spake with his own lips, wrote with liis own finger in tables of stone, and enshrined with his own glory ? Vain men ! Let the wrecked fortunes and blighted characters of their predecessors in Sabbath profanation — let the failure of their recent speculations, and the wide-spread em- barrassment of their railway schemes and manufactu- ring interests, admonish them of the certain and com- plicated ruin which must come upon all " who take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Tea-gardens have of late been multiplied; and in their season they exhibit on the Sabbath scenes of riot not to be described. Zoological and botanical gardens, also, draw multitudes away from their fami- lies, and from the house of God ; and by dissipating the mind, and by leading to unholy associations, they prepare for grosser scenes in places of less reputable resort. Musical concerts are held on Sunday evenings in public-houses of the very worst description, at which tea, coffee, and spirituous liquors are sold, sacred and profane music are impiously blended, and the praises of God and of his redeeming love are chanted to the sound of the viol and the organ, in connection with the foul orgies of Bacchus and Venus. On the plea of charity and economy, subscriptions to sick-clubs and political societies are extensively collected on PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. I7l Sunday mornings. Business letters are wiitten, stock in trade is taken, and shop-goods are arranged for Monday's sale ; all to save time, and supersede the necessity of employing an additional assistant. Many commercial travellers so contrive their journeys, that three-fourths of their Sundays are spent at sea in ships, or in railway-carriages on land : all to " cut up" a rival, and do "a capital stroke of business.'' Up- wards of fifteen thousand persons, it is computed, are employed in Great Britain on the Sabbath in post- office service. The author of ' ' Mammon " estimates the neglecters of public worship, in London alone, at six hundred and fifty thousand ; all of whom may be set down as systematic Sabbath-breakers. Four-fifths of these are probably volunteers in transgression ; while the remaining portion is composed of the poor en- slaved men and their families, who, in one capacity or another, are made to minister to the sinful gratifica- tion of the heedless but hard-hearted majority. The Paddington end of Marylebone parish has long been noted for the darkness and spiritual destitution of its inhabitants; and the fact is fully accounted for on the ground, that that neighbourhood, above most others, abounds with cab and omnibus drivers, and the families of men connected with the endlessly diversified forms of railway Sunday desecration. What a fearful account will the taskmasters and tempters of these men have to give in " that day ? '' " In 1843 (the last year in which official stamp re- turns were issued), three (London) Sabbath papers con- sumed 5,369,000 stamps — being nearly 2000 more than were consumed by the 77 papers published in Scot- land and Wales during the same period, and upwards of 1,600,000 more issues than of Bibles, Testaments, 1 72 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. portions of the Scripture, and religious books issued last year (1846), by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Trinitarian Bible Society, the Free Press Bible Company of Scotland, and the grants of the Religious Tract Society. Besides the three papers above named, there are three others of a similar cha- racter, but much smaller in chculation, whose united issues make a total of 613,800; thus the issues of these six stamped (Sunday) papers, which may be fairly characterised as exceedingly pernicious, amounted in 1845 to 5,982,800 Smce 1843 four weekly papers have arisen, and attained an equally extended circulation -with the three notorious papers previously named, while these last have increased rather than diminished their issues. The four new papers just alluded to, circulate a total of about 110,000 per week, or 5,720,000 per year. Let this be added to the year's circulation of the six pre\iously mentioned, namely 5,982,000, and we have a total circulation of Sabbath-breaking stamped literature, amounting to 11,702,000 Or we may view this subject in another way, and say, that as aknost all the twenty- eight millions of pernicious literature issuing from London in one year, is published on or for the Sab- bath, it may be safely affirmed that there are 500,000 Lords-day issues against 63,000 for any one day's issue of the entire daily press; or 500,000 Lord's-day issues against the whole week's issue to the daily press of 378,000.'' These startling statements are taken from an extraordinary pamphlet, published by Partridge and Oakey, London, entitled, " The Power of the Press : Is it rightly Employed ?" And the writer having given them, asks, " Who can contem- plate this fact unmoved ?" — Who, indeed ? We con- PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 17o fess we are more than moved : we are astounded, and almost overwhelmed ! The same writer assigns data for believing, that besides the 500,000 stamped papers which are pubhshed weekly by the London press, either "o?i or for the Sabbath," there are about 200,000 unstamped publications of an infidel and cor- rupting character, which issue from the same source during the same period. Thus (without mentioning works which are so bad, that, though published by thousands, they have to be circulated by stealth) we have an aggregate of 700,000 licentious, seditious, and Sabbath-breaking publications circulating weekly through the families of the United Kingdom, and read with avidity by those who sit in the parlour and who work in the kitchen, who lounge in the saloon and who brutalize themselves in the alehouse. Who can wonder that crime abounds, or that the judgments of God afflict the land ! Let all who fear God, who dread his wrath, who love their country, and who desire to see religion re- vived, and social order promoted, determine, " As for me and my house'' we will " remember the Sabbath- day to keep it holy." Let the Sunday newspaper be banished from the house, let the Sabbath evening gatherings be discontinued, let Sunday walking, and working, and riding, and letter-writing, and stock- taking, and book-keeping, all cease at once; and, in the strength of God, determine, that wherein you have done evil you will do so no more. Delays are dan- gerous ; especially when interest, and pleasure, and popularity plead against conscience, the rights of the poor, and the claims of an unseen Saviour. Your own eternal destiny, the destiny of your children, depen- dents, and acquaintances, tremble in the balances while 174 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. you hesitate ; and your decision will probably turn the scale for bliss or woe. Not only rest on the Sabbath, but keep it as a Jioly rest Be " in the Spirit/' esteem it as the " holy of the Lord and honourable," revere the sovereign authority by which it was instituted, meditate on the glorious events it commemorates, endeavour to realize its merciful design, and through faith in him whose name it bears, aspire after the rest which remains for the people of God. Having got our own hearts right with God in this great matter, let us labour to convince all with whom we have any influence, that the law of the Sabbath, like the other precepts in the Decalogue, stands uncan- celled; that its proper business is the pubhc and pri- vate worship of God ; and that its great and beneficent design embraces the protection of the poor, the diffu- sion of truth, the salvation of man, and the glory of God. Whatever labours or recreations are inconsis- tent with this design, and tend to indispose us for this worship, are clearly sinftil — ^though in themselves, and when practised on other days, they may be innocent. Let us testify to old and young, rich and poor, that if the threatenings of Almighty God are to be behoved, if his providential judgTQents have a voice, if all his- tory be not a lie, if it be notorious that those v\^ho desecrate this day are devoid of Christian experience, and if the recorded confessions which the profligate have made in our jails and on our gibbets are not sheer fabrications, then the face of the Lord is set against them that devote the Sabbath to pastime or to unnecessary servile toil. And further, let us publish, that if the promises of God are true, if the concurrent voice of sacred and profane history is to be believed, if the testimony of the holiest men in all lands and PREVAILING FORMS OF SABBATH DESECRATION. 1 75 in all ages is entitled to credit; and if the joyous ex- perience, the domestic happiness, the sanctified pro- sperity, and the peaceful and triumphant deaths of God's people are to be regarded as evidences of his favour, then it is demonstrated that God loves and honours all those who " Remember the Sahbath-day to keep it holy." 176 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. VIl. THE SABBATH A HAPPY DAY, YIEWED ESPECIALLY IN ITS INFLUENCE, WHEN RIGHTLY OBSEEVED, ON THE RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. BY THE REV. JOHN HANNAH, D.D., WESLEYAN COLLEGE, DIDSBURY. " God blessed the seventh day." — (Gen. ii. 3.) He did so when he sanctified it, or set it apart as a day of holy rest. The seventh day, then, or the Sabbath, was designed in its original institution to be a blessed day, and a day of blessing to all who should duly observe it. So it was regarded under former dispensations — not as a day of painful restraint, but as a day of peace and good. " Blessed is the man, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.'' — (Isa. Ivi. 2.) The Sabbath was to be called " a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; " and to every one who should honour him, in the faithful maintenance of its offices and claims, was the promise made, with singular and impressive emphasis, " Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the A HAPPY DAY ON KELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 177 high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heri- tage of Jacob thy father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it/' — (Isa. Iviii. 13, 14.) When the Lord " caused '' the children of Israel "to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness," he " gave '' them his " Sabbaths '' as an invaluable privilege, which they were taught by new instructions and precepts to remember and apply to their proper purpose ; " to be a sign,'' it is added, " between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." — (Ezek. xx. 10-12.) Did not our Saviour also supply a similar representa- tion of the Sabbath, and confirm these testimonies by his own authority, when he said, " The Sabbath was made for manV — (Mark ii. 27.) It was made for man's religious use, improvement, and advantage — as a day of rest, of sanctity, and of blessing. Such was its character at the beginning ; and such also was its character in the successive ages of the Mosaic economy. It was a happy day. When the observance of the Sabbath was transferred, under the guidance of him who is " Lord also of the Sabbath " (Mark ii. 28), from the seventh day of the week to the first, its happy character, or its character of blessing, still remained ; but it remained with a multiplication and increase of such benefits as our better dispensation brings. Every thing connected with the institution of the Christian Sabbath, which is celebrated on the first day of the week, marks it as a season of joy. Was it not on that day that Jesus our Lord, when he had " once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust" (1 Pet. iii. 18), rose from the dead in our nature and name, and thus sealed the blessing of life and immortaUty to man? — (See and compare M 1 78 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Matt, xxviii. 1 ; Mark xvi. 1, 2 ; Luke xxiv, 1 ; John XX. 1, 19.) Was it not on that day that he appeared to his assembled disciples in regular and repeated visi- tations, each one distinguished by the bestowment of extraordinary blessing ? — (Luke xxiv. 36 ; John xx. 19-23, 26-29.) Was it not on that day, " when the day,'' indeed, " of Pentecost was fully come,'' and the disciples, accustomed now to meet in thek more solemn assemblies on the first day of the week, " were all with one accord in one place," that the Holy Spirit descended in the plentiful effusions of his grace, and opened the promised kingdom of heaven among men ? — (Acts ii. 1-4.) Was it not on that day that Christians of the apostolical age met together, from the time of our Lord's resurrection, to unite in peaceful worship, to hear the Word of God, to partake of the Lord's Supper, and to lay up in store for the assistance of others ? — (Acts XX. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 2.) Was it not on that day, significantly denominated " the Lord's-day," * that St John, being " in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," " was in the Spirit," and was favoured with a glorious manifestation of his Lord's presence — another appear- * The first day of the week appears to have been denominated the Lord's-day, because it was the day on which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and because, by rising from the dead on that day, he instituted it as a day of Christian rest, and appropriated it to himself as his own peculiar day. " It is called ' the Lord's-day ' for the same reason that the holy supper of the Eucharist is called the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. xi. 20); that is, because it was both instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, and ought, in its end and use, to be referred also to the same Lord. That the last day of the week is now changed into the first day, was done, not by human, but by divine authority. For he only could change the day of the Sabbath who is Lord of the Sabbatli, Christ (Mark ii. 28.)" — {Hornheck, Inst. Theol., cap. xiii. sect. 25.) A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 179 ance of Jesus on the first day of the week — immediately followed by the most sublime discoveries of things in heaven and earth, and a prediction of events which were to take place in the several ages of the Church to the end of time ? — (Rev. i. 9, 10.) It is this day of which grateful mention is made in the epistle ascribed to Barnabas (cap. xv.) : " We celebrate the eighth day with joy, in which Jesus also rose from the dead, and having appeared" to his disciples, "ascended toheaven." And it is this day of which Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Mag-nesians (sect, ix.), says, " They who were conversant in ancient things," or who lived under the old dispensation, "have come to a newness of hope, no longer observing Sabbaths " — that is, Jewish Sabbaths in the Jewish way — literally, " no longer sabbatizing " — " but living according to the Lord's life," or, rather, " the Lord's day," according to its rule and privileges ; " in which our life also has risen up through him and his death." These particulars are enumerated here, not to prove that, under the Christian dispensation, the observance of the Sabbath really is transferred from the seventh day of the week to the first. Undoubtedly they do prove that point, as is ably evinced elsewhere. But they are now alleged to show that all things relating to the appointment and celebration of the Christian Sabbath present it to us as a happy day, or a day of blessing. The ancient Sabbath, the Sabbath of the patriarchs and the Sabbath of Israel, was blessed ; and blessed likewise, but in a yet higher degree, is the Sabbath which we are now taught to observe — the Sabbath of Christians. The argument which we wish to pursue at present is grounded on this fact^ or is drawn from this parti- cular character of the Sabbath. It is a happy day, or 180 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. a day of blessing, more especially as it is a chosen means of promoting the religion of individuals, and of thus assisting them in their preparation for man's true and permanent happiness in the world to come. Re- view the history of the Christian Church, and, in that history, examine the course of the most circumspect and consistent Christians. Do you not see how the devout observance of the Christian Sabbath contri- buted, by the grace of God, to their spiritual advance- ment and prosperity ? Have not the most exemplary Christians, in different ages, and of different commu- nities, been most regardful of that day ? Could you easily find patterns of eminent Christianity in any who were negligent of it, or careless of its pecuhar obliga- tions ? To record biogTaphical instances in evidence and support of this truth, where instances abound in such numbers, is too copious a plan for a single treatise. But to famish a brief description of the happiness which springs from God's blessing on the observance of the Sabbath, and which the best biographical notices of Christians would illustrate and confirm, may be attempted. This will prepare the way for an earnest recommendation of the Sabbath as a day of inestimable good, and for an affectionate expostulation with those who oppose or neglect its proper require- ments. I. The Sabbath is a happy day, or a day of blessing, to the Christian man, because it is a day on which HE HAS A PEACEFUL RESPITE FROM ALL THAT FATIGUES, MOLESTS, AND DISTRESSES HIM, IN THE ORDINARY PROSECUTION OF HIS WORLDLY CONCERNS. A true Christian will indeed strive to consecrate every day to God, and to intermingle the duties and exercises of devotion with its several engagements; but he feels A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 181 it to be a great and unspeakable prerogative that he has one day granted to him in seven — a day returning at intervals regularly appointed, and occupying its due place in the system of life, on which he may mthdraw himself from every thing secular, and " may attend upon the Lord without distraction/' — (1 Cor. vii. 35.) Secular affairs must of necessity, and in harmony with the arrangements of Divine Providence, engage his attention at other times. But how grateful and seasonable a relief it is, when, on the Lord's-day, he can say to them all, " Abide ye here, and I will go yonder and worship ! '' — (Gen. xxii. 5.) Is it not a relief to many Christians, especially in the humbler walks of life, to be exempted for a season from the hard toil in which they are at other times almost incessantly employed ? Persons who cherish a considerate and kindly regard for human nature in its labour and weariness, and who think of the continued efforts which some are compelled to make, early and late, to procure daily sustenance for themselves, and for those who, in the order of Providence, axe dependent upon them, will rejoice that such a day of rest is pro- vided — that on one day in seven man may pause from toil, and taste the sweets of undisturbed quiet. The language of God's own commands on this subject expresses a condescending and merciful regard to man in every station, not excepting the lowest, and even to beasts — a regard w^hich claims our most thankful attention. " Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed " — " that,'' as you elsewhere read, " thy man-servant and thy maid- servant may rest as luell as thou." — (Exod. xxiii. 12; 182 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Deut. V. 14.) When a Christian man is closing his weekly labours, whatever those labours may have been, and particularly if they have been severe, what a solace it is for him to think, " To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord;" it is "the Sabbath of rest — the Sabbath of the Lord in all our dwellings ! " — (Exod. xvi. 23; Lev. xxiii. 3.) He welcomes that rest; he values the comfort which it brings to his weary nature; and he seeks to enjoy its yet higher advantages. Is it not also a relief, of which considerable numbers of Christians cannot but be deeply sensible, to cease a while from the incursions of cares and anxieties which, in many posts of life, are so apt to assail them — ^to harass and distract the mind if they remit the spirit of vigilance and self-recollection — to fatigue it in all its thoughts and powers — and to damp or abate the flame of habitual devotion? This respite, also, the Sabbath brings. When that day da^vns upon the Christian disciple, he is taught by duty, and invited by privilege, to awake, not to the perplexities which so often beset and obstruct his daily path, but to a season of peace — to a cessation from all that might otherwise embarrass and disturb his meditations on better things. He is instructed and encouraged to lay aside earthly cares with earthly employments, and to find, in this temporary relaxation, a needful refresh- ment for the soul as well as for the body. With what a grateful feeling may he say, on the calm morning of the Sabbath, " Return unto thy rest, O my soul ; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully A\4th thee?" — (Ps. cxvi. 7.) And how delightfully may he learn, amidst the tranquil engagements and privileges of that day, to resign himself to the consolatory direction, " Be A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 183 careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplication vnth thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God ! '' — (Phil. iv. 6.) Cares and anxieties will indeed follow the Christian, and seek to intrude themselves into the sanctities of the Sabbath. But in the special aids of that day he finds a remedy for them. He spreads his sacrifice of a spiritual ser- vice before the Lord ; and if, like the " fowls '' in the case of Abraham's offerings, busy, intermeddling, anxious cares should " come down '' to mar that sacri- fice, he learns, with the patriarch's watchfulness and promptitude, to " drive them away,'' while he also waits until the Lord passes by in the sure sigTis and tokens of his presence, and especially in the " burning lamp" of covenant truth and peace. — (Gen. xv. 11, 17, 18.) Is it not, yet further, a relief to be separated for one day in seven from the hustle and turmoil of worldly society and intercourse, which tend so forcibly to draw down the mind to earthly things, and to restrain or impede its flight to things divine and heavenly? Christians are often called, in the ordinary commerce of life, to interchange sentiments, words, and actions, with persons " who mind," who relish, affect, and pur- sue " earthly things" (Phil. iii. 19), and earthly things only. How can they be otherwise than sensible of the influence which such persons diffuse around them, in their habitual tempers, maxims, and usages ? They breathe, and they feel that they breathe, an atmo- sphere impregnated with much that is evil ; and who but themselves can tell how reviving it is to escape from such an atmosphere into one more balmy and pure ? But in these times especially, when so many are daily assembled together in large masses to pursue 184 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. their joint occupations, Christians are not unfrequently exposed to taunts, opposition, and manifold reproach from persons who encourage and harden each other in their resistance of all that is good. They some- times find it no easy matter to maintain their firmness and consistency, and not supply any occasion of offence. Are there not seasons when many a one of them is constrained to say, " Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar ! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war?" — (Ps. cxx. 5-7.) And is not the wish occasionally ex- torted, " Oh that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest?'' — (Ps. Iv. 6-8.) To the man who is thus surrounded, during the week, with what tries and distresses him, the Sabbath opens a welcome refuge — an asylum of security and peace. He can rest in its quiet obser- vances, and can turn in meek confidence to Him who will "hide" his people "in the secret of his presence from the pride of man," and " keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." — (Ps. xxxi. 20.) It is as if, in the joumeyings of the wilderness, he came like Israel to " Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees ; " and like them, also, he rejoices for the season which the Lord graciously assigns to him, to " encamp there by the waters," that, re-invigorated and comforted, he may resume his pilgrimage with alacrity, following "the pillar of the cloud," which the Lord will not take away " by day," and " the pillar of fire," which he will not take away " by night, from before the people." — (Exod. A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 185 XV. 27, xiii. 22.) If the Christian man, then, expe- rience on the Sabbath, in accordance with its own merciful provisions and designs, such relief from toil, from care, and from that worldly intercourse which exposes him to pain and detriment, is it not for this reason a happy day — a day of blessing — a day which affords welcome opportunities of rest and good ? II. The Sabbath is a happy day, or a day of bless- ing^ to the Christian man, because it is a day which, in its OAvn institution and objects, directly suggests TOPICS OF MOST PLEASING AND EDIFYING MEDITATION — topics, indeed, which comprehend no small portion of divine truth. Why was the Sabbath instituted ? One reason assigned for its particular observance by the children of Israel is, their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, which seems, as Ainsworth thinks, to have been accomplished on the Sabbath-day, and which, as he adds, " was a figure of deliverance out of spiritual bondage by Christ." * " Remember," says the law of the ten commandments as recited in the Book of Deuteronomy, " that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched- out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." — (Deut. v. 15.) But this reason was comparatively of a local and tempo- rary nature. The more general reasons, which extend to mankind at large, and which know no Hmits of place or time, are, that the Sabbath was first instituted to recall the memory of creation — that it was after- wards instituted, with a change of the day, to celebrate * See Ainsworth on Deut. v. 15, compared with his note on Exod. XX. 10. 186 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. tlie work of redemption, finislied and confirmed — and that, in each of its institutions, it was intended to sup- ply a pledge and foretaste of the future rest of glory. The topics, then, to which the Sabbath in its imme- diate appointment and purpose invites our attention, are — Creation, Redemption, Glory ; — Creation, which is the birth of being in its several kinds and orders; Redemption, which yields provision for man's full re- covery, by whom, through sin, the bliss of being had been forfeited and lost; and Glory, in which all our good shall be for ever consummated and crowned. Let us, for a short space, dwell upon these topics. The Sabbath recalls the memory of Creation, which the Sabbath first of all instituted was expressly de- signed to celebrate. " God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." " And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.'' For this reason it was that he " blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." — (Gen. i. 31, ii. 2, 3. Compare Exod. XX. 11, xxxi. 17; Heb. iv. 4.) The Sabbath was there- fore appointed to commemorate the Lord's rest from creation, and to recall to man's mind the ama7.ing act of creation itself — that act of His who " spake, and it was done " — who " commanded, and it stood fast." — (Ps. xxxiii. 9.) When the Lord rested, did he not review the works of his own hands ? and did he not require that man, placed at the head of this lower world, bearing his Maker's image, and set apart to minister in his service, should survey creation, and adore its author ? Man was formed by the Lord for himself, and formed to " show forth his praise." — (Isa xliii. 21.) It is his prerogative, beyond all that infe- A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 187 rior creatures possess, to give utterance to the praises of creation, and to offer spiritual and supreme worship to Him who " hath prepared his throne in the hea- vens,'' and whose " kingdom ruleth over all/' — (Ps. ciii. 19.) " The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." — (Ps. cxL 2.) And when such as these have taken the largest and most exact view of them, how truly may they exclaim, " Lord, how great are thy works ! and thy thoughts are very deep." " How manifold are thy works 1 in wisdom hast thou made them all." " The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord ! " — (Ps. xcii. 5, civ. 24, xxxiii. 5.) Who that contemplates the mighty sweep and compass of created being — the structure of the heavens and the earth, with their several inhabitants and furniture — all that is vast, all that is minute, all that is complicate — each system with its own peculiar wonders — and the magnificent universe of systems wrought into one harmonious whole — sustained by the hand, regulated by the skill, and filled with the blessing, of the Lord — who that contemplates these can fail to be affected with the proofs which creation every where presents of the glorious perfections and imperative claims of the Most Hidi ? " For the invisible things of him firom the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- stood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; " so that even pagans, unen- lightened by the gift of a direct and written revelation, " are without excuse,'' if they " hold the truth " which these witnesses for God supply " in unrighteousness." — (Rom. i. 20.) But let all Christians unite Avith the "four and twenty elders," who "worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their cro^^Tis," with 188 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. themselves, " before the throne, sajdng, Thou art wor- thy, Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power : for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created/' — (Rev. iv. 10, 11.) Is it not happy — is it not improving — when Christians cease from their own temporal works, while they, at the same time, raise their minds in devout meditation to the works of their almighty Father and Friend, and when they joyfully ascribe to "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,''' the glory " which is due unto his name ? '' — (Isa. xl. 28 ; Ps. xxix. 2.) Shall we not remember the Sab- bath of Creation, " when the morning stars sang to- gether, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? '' — (Job xxxviii. 7.) " The heavens are thine,'" O Lord ; " the earth also is thine." — (Ps. Ixxxix. 11.) But the Sabbath, in its institution under the evan- gehcal economy, leads us more especially to celebrate the work of Redemption, now fuiished and confinned. Every Christian Sabbath may be ushered in with that glad declaration, "The Lord is risen indeed ! " — (Luke xxiv. 34) He who condescended to become man's representative, " the last Adam, a quickening spirit — the second man, the Lord from heaven " (1 Cor. xv. 45, 47) ; He who, in "the mystery of his holy incar- nation," assumed our nature and sojourned on our earth ; He who, for our sakes, " humbled himself" to a yet deeper abasement, " and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross " (Phil. ii. 8) ; He who " once in the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself " — first, " to minister," and then, "to give his life a ransom for many" (Heb. ix. 26 ; Mark x. 45); He "is risen!" for he " was delivered for om* offences, and was raised A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 189 again for our justification/' — (Rom. iv. 25.) The re- surrection of Jesus is the great miracle of Christianity ; and as following his most meritorious death, and inseparable from it, forms a prime part of the apostles' testimony. They were "witnesses of his resurrection ; " and, in the execution of their oJBfice, "with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus."— (Acts i. 22, iv. 33.) When St Paul was at Athens, " he preached Jesus and the re- surrection.'' — (Acts xvii. 18.) And St Peter ascribes blessing to " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ " for this unspeakable gift, that, " according to his abundant mercy," he " hath begotten us again unto a Uvely hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." — (1 Pet. L 3.) " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ," who " is risen from the dead, and be- come the first-fruits of them that slept," " shall all be made alive ; " for he is " the resurrection and the life." —(1 Cor. XV. 20, 22 ; John xL 25.) Can you dwell on the theme of our Lord's resurrection without ad- verting to the entire scheme of redeeming grace, of which that resurrection is so glorious a seal and ratifi- cation ? Do you not also, in that great event, see a chosen emblem of man's spiritual resurrection from death to life? How powerful are the instructions connected with this particular lesson ! "As Christ was raised up fi:om the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." — (Rom. vi. 4, 11 ; Col. iiL 1.) Are we not, yet further, invited and encouraged to 190 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. look forward to the future resun'ection of the saints, of which the resurrection of Jesus may be regarded as at once the proof, the pattern, and the pledge ? What prospects rise to the eye of faith and hope ! — ^prospects of the regeneration and renewal of all things by the omnipotent power of our risen Lord. Creation is tainted and injured by the sin of man ; and by sinful man it cannot now be contemplated with unmixed delight. Its groans are heard ; its painful travail is felt. But when we think of Jesus raised and for ever exalted, we may think of creation too, renovated, re- stored, and invested with unfading glory. " He that sat upon the throne said. Behold, I make all things new."— (Rev. xxi. 5.) Visions and assurances of this recovery of creation from the burden of sin and death are also granted. " I saw a new heaven,'' says St John, " and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.'' — (Rev. xxi. 1.) " We, according to his promise," Avrites St Peter, " look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." — (2 Peter iii. 13.) Shall we not, then, remember the Sahhath of Redemption, and humbly trimnph in the provisions which our crucified and risen Saviour has made for man's full recovery to God, as also for the reparation of all the injuries which sin has inflicted on the works of creation, once so beautiful and pure ? Great as it was originally to create, it is acknowledged to have been yet greater to redeem and restore. Let the Sabbath remind us, above all things, of our Christian redemption ; and let us not forget the high praises of " the Lord God of Israel," who " hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us." — (Luke i. 68, 69.) Once more, the Sabbath supplies us with a pledge A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 191 and foretaste of the future rest of Glory, where the true followers of our Lord shall for ever " rest from their labours/' — (Rev. xiv. ] 3.) This is emphatically called " His rest," and " My rest/' the rest of God himself " A promise is left of entering into it/' and the exhortation is enjoined upon us, " Let us labour to enter into that rest." — (Heb. iv. 1, 3, 5, 11.) When the working-days of time are over — when the Sabbath of Sabbaths, the Sabbath of eternity, shall have come — when the Church, now militant on earth, shall, not in joyous anticipation only, but in full com- munion, join " the general assembly and church of the first-bom, which are written in heaven" (Heb. xii. 23) — when the "restitution of all things" shall appear (Acts iii. 21) — then shall the Lord's rest be finally gained, and then shall the Christian man " cease fi'om his own works, as God did from his." — (Heb. iv. 10.) But who can form a due estimate of that future rest ? Generally, indeed, we may say that it will be a rest from all spiritual danger and apprehension, from the assaults of sin and the pressure of infirmity, from the allurements and trials of temptation, from the artifices and efforts of evil men and evil spirits, and, in a word, from every peril of the ivilderness which we are now called to traverse. " My people shall dwell in a peace- able habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." — (Isa. xxxii. 18.) We may also say that it will be a rest from toil, pain, and molestation, from the hard travel of our earthly journey, from suf- fering of body, from ang-uish of spirit, from perplexity, and all inquietude. " Thou shalt weep no more." — (Isa. XXX. 19.) " I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his 192 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things have passed away." — (Rev. xxi. 3, 4.) Yet, again, we may say that it will be a rest with God in Christ ; for which reason, in part at least, it is perhaps emphatically called " His rest" — the rest which he provides, the rest which he bestows, the rest which he hunseK ineffably possesses. How will man's intellectual powers rest in the calm con- templation of His glory, who miveils all knowledge, all msdom, all truth ! The shadows of time will then pass away; toilsome and uncertain investigations shall cease; the saints shall " see hght" in "God's light.'' — (Ps. xxxvi. 9.) " When that which is perfect is" thus " come," they shall " see face to face," and " know even as also they are known." — (1 Cor. xiiL 10, 12.) How will man s affections rest in the full fruition of His love, who is " mighty," who " will save," who " will rejoice over" his people " with joy," and " will rest in his love !" — (Zeph. iii. 17.) How shall man's active powers rest in ceaseless services, which occupy but cannot tire, when the saved of the Lord shall " serve him day and night in his temple" (Rev. vii. 15), when they shall rest from labour, but shall never rest from praise ! Meditations like these we may employ on the heavenly rest, though we are constrained to feel that, in reference to this high subject, we do in- deed " see through a glass darkly," and " know" but '• in part." Is not the Sabbath on earth a happy day, and a day of blessing, when it pelds an earnest of that future Sabbath of heaven ? Can a Christian man, who regards the Lord's-day in this light, fail to A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 193 obtain a higher degree of heavenly-mindedness, and to see what just occasion he has to refresh his worn and weary spiiit with the prospect and assurance that " when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall'' his faithful followers " also appear with him in glory/' and " shall be like him," in the clear discoveries and assimilations of that vision beatific ; "for they shall see him as he is ? " — (Col. iii. 4 ; 1 John iii. 2.) Let us, then, direct our thoughts to the Sabbath of Glory, in which every other Sabbath shall finally issue ; and let us reflect that if the Sabbath, in the direct lessons of its own several institutions, teaches us to recall the memory of creation, to celebrate the mercies of re- demption, and to anticipate the rest of future glory, it cannot but, for this reason also, be a happy day. III. The Sabbath is a happy day, or a day of bless- ing, to the Christian man, because it is a day of the MOST CHOSEN AND PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT, in which the views which we have already advanced find a fit and practical application. There is the public worship of God, to which the Christian rejoices to devote a due share of the rest which he has obtained from worldly toil, care, and intercourse, and in which he has most seasonable aid in his contemplation of things divine. Is it no privi- lege, no blessing, to repair to the Lord's house, to mingle with the companies of his worshippers, to en- gage in singing his high praises, to unite in prayer and supplication, to hear the truths of Holy Scripture ex- pounded and applied, to commemorate our Saviour's dying love, and to attend all the other ordinances which beautify and bless our Christian sanctuaries? The language of the Lord's servants on this subject, under an inferior and preparatory dispensation, de- 194 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ** clares how they vakied the blessings of his house. " I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord/' " Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth/' " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple/' — (Ps. cxxii. 1, xxvi. 8, xxvii. 4.) Right-minded Christians dehght to entertain such sentiments as these, and to know how applicable they are to the economy under which we are permitted to live. When they return from the happy and improving exercises of public worship, are not they also heard to say, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.'' — (Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, 10.) Prophecies which speak of the glory of the latter day, mention this, which man is so apt to de- spise and neglect, as a conspicuous sign of that glory. " The mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- lished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us his ways, and we ^vill walk in his paths." — (Isa. ii. 2, 3.) " Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also." — (Zech. viii. 21.) It is in the Lord's house especially, and amidst the solemnities of his worship, that the snares of tempta- tion are broken, that the oppressive weight of trial is relieved, that the " end" of the wicked in prosperity, A HAPPY DAY ON EELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 195 as well as of the righteous in affliction, is more clearly discerned (Ps. Ixxiii. 1 7) ; and that the Lord's dispen- sations, in providence and grace, so marvellously ap- pear, that his people are constrained to say, " Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?'' — (Ps. Ixxvii. 13.) Public worship, then, marks the Sabbath as a happy day. But there are likewise the privileges of searching the Scriptures in private, of reading useful hooks on practical religion, of engaging in peaceful meditation, and of applying every thing to ourselves, and our own particular cases, in retired devotion. It is in these exercises, annexed to the offices of public worship, or intermingled with them, that a Christian man may inspect his own state, note his failings and declensions, reconsider the truth of God in its adaptation to his particular wants, and obtain, by this means too, a re- newal of his spiritual strength. Public ordinances, as we have endeavoured to show, are of unspeakable value ; but their value is more fully experienced and secured when they are associated with seasons of pri- vate retirement. When public ordinances alone are attended, and are crowded together with little or no discrimination or interval, they may, through a person's inadvertency and misuse of them, lead to a dissipated rather than to a composed and tranquil state of mind. But when accompanied and interchanged with the observance of private duties, their own profit is more largely enjoyed. Truth shines with a brighter lustre, right impressions are deepened and strengthened, holy purposes are matured, and the real edification of the Christian life is advanced. " Enter," then, on the Lord's-day, but not on the Lord's-day only, " into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy 196 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Father which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." — (Matt. vi. 6.) " Hide" the " "Word" of God in your " heart," that you may " not sin against him," and that " none" of your "steps may slide." — (Ps. cxix. 11, xxxvii. 81.) " Search and try" your " ways, and turn again to the Lord. Lift up" your " heart with" your " hands unto God in the heavens." — (Lam. iii. 40, 41.) Let your " meditation of him be sweet," and seek to be " glad in the Lord." — (Ps. civ. 34.) They who avail them- selves in such a way as this of the opportunities which the Christian Sabbath affords for intercourse with truth, themselves, and God, in a temporary withdraw- ment from the society of others, will prove in the end that, for this reason as well as the former one, the Sabbath is a happy day. One consideration yet remains, that, on the Lord's day, there are offices of mercy to the ignorant, sick, and poor, in which Christians have the privilege of imparting instruction, comfort, and relief, and to which, in their proper place and order, we are invited to attend, with the expectation of a blessing, not only to others, but to ourselves. The gTeat Lawgiver of the Church has decided that " it is lawful to do well," or '' to do good," " on the Sabbath-days." — (Matt. xii. 12; Mark iii. 4 ; Luke vi. 9.) And who can doubt or deny the happiness attendant on doing good ? If the Sab- bath is a day of Christian beneficence, it is, on that ground, a blessed day. But to guard against misap- prehension and mistake on this particular topic, it • is needful that we examine the law of the Sabbath, as it has been interpreted by our Saviour, and prescribed by his authority to his disciples. Can any quote his language as giving encouragement to persons who, A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 197 on the Lord's day, pursue works of pleasure, works of temporal emolument and gain to themselves, or even works whicli may be classed under the general head of charity, but which partake too largely of a secular character for the Christian Sabbath, and whicli might be more fitly and advantageously performed at other times ? The works which he allows on the Sabbath may be reduced to three classes — works of necessity, works of religion, and works of mercy; — works of necessity, as when a sheep, an ass, or an ox shall " fall into a pit on the Sabbath-day,'' and its owner shall " lay hold on it, and lift it out," or " straightway pull it out," to rescue it from a jeopardy so threatening (Matt. xii. 11; Luke xiv. 5) — works of religion, as when " on the Sabbath-days the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, and were blameless, and as when " a man on the Sabbath-day received circumci- sion" (Matt. xii. 5; John vii. 23) — and works of mercy, as when Jesus restored the helpless and un- friended sufferer at the pool of Bethesda, who had laboured under " an infirmity thirty and eight years" (John V. 5-9) — as when he healed the man " whose right hand was withered," a miracle which three evangelists record (Matt. xii. 10-13; Mark iii. 1-5; Luke vi. 6-10) — as when he opened the eyes of him "that was born blind," a thing that had not been "heard since the world began" (John ix.) — as when he " made " that poor woman " straight," who for eighteen years had been " bowed together " by a spirit of infirmity, and " could in no wise lift up herself" (Luke xiii. 11-13) — and as when, in the house of " one of the chief Pharisees," he "took" the man who had the dropsy, " and healed him, and let him go." — (Luke xiv. 1-4.) He vindicated the conduct of his disciples. ] 98 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. • who, to appease the cravings of hunger, " began to pluck the ears of com'' on a Sabbath-day, " and to eat;'' and to " the ruler of the synagogue" who " an- swered with indignation because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath-day," he said, " Thou h3rpocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to water- ing?" — (Luke xiii. 14, 15.) Works of considerate kindness are due on the Sabbath-day to cattle; and much more are they due to man. But let every one beware lest he pervert this evangelical law of the Sab- bath. Shall works under the plea of necessity be multiplied beyond necessity ? Is it right and seemly that, in performing works of religion, Christian minis- ters or Christian people should engage in uncalled-for journeyings, or in other toils which might well be spared without detriment to religious duty and privi- lege? Ought works of mercy themselves to be so crowded into the Lord's-day as not to leave sufficient time for its other prerogatives? Duties need not clash. None ought to excuse themselves from a due attendance on the public and private means of grace and spiritual improvement, under the pretext of being fully occupied mth works of charity. There is space for each and for all; and in offices of mercy sweetly blended with offices of religion how many blessings may a Christian find ! From a review of all that has been advanced, we may securely rest in this conclusion — that if the Sab- bath provides such relief from toil, care, and inter- course with worldly men and worldly things — if it leads our thoughts, in its very institution, to the great truths which are associated with creation, redemption, and glory — and if, in its appointed ordinances and A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 199 services, it engages us in the offices of public worship, of private reading, meditation, and devotion, and of mercy to the ignorant, sick, and needy, it cannot be any other, when observed in a right manner, and with a proper regard to its own merciful design, than a happy day, or a day of blessing. Who can tell how largely it contributes, by the gift of him from whom all good comes, to the promotion of religion in in- dividuals, and, in its wider and more diffusive influ- ences, among communities at large ? Shall not professed Christians, then, be more particularly careful of its scriptural observance ? Is it not their duty and advantage so to arrange and settle their temporal affairs that these may never be allowed to trench, directly or indirectly, on the sacred hours of the Sabbath ? Ought not they to seek a prepara- tion of mind and heart for the grateful and profitable emplo3Tiients to which that day invites them ? Is it not of importance to them that they should sedulously guard against every thing which might rob them of Sabbath good, and strive to avail themselves of the several privileges which each returning Sabbath 3delds ? The more Christians value and use the Sab- bath for its own peculiar purposes, the more vdll they themselves prosper in spiritual attainments — the more will the Church in general prosper — and the more will heedless persons be likely to be impressed by the force of example, with some sense of the sanctity and happiness of a day which they have so criminally dis- regarded and profaned. It is related of the excellent Philip Henry, that "the Lord's-day he called and counted the 'queen of days,' and observed it accord- ingly. He would say sometimes to those about him, when he had gone through the duties of a Sabbath, 200 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 'Well, if tliis be not the way to heaven, I do not know what is/ In pressing people to remember their days, he would especially exhort them to number their Sabbath-days, how many they have been, and how ill they have been spent ; how few it is likely they may be, that they might be spent better ; and to help in the account, he would say, ' That for every twenty years of our lives we enjoy above a thousand Sab- baths, which must be accounted for in the day of reckoning.' " Is it not the duty of persons who plead for luhat they may term recreatio7i on the Lord's-day, to pause and consider ? Are they not proving themselves, far as this may be from their intention, to be adverse to man's true happiness ? If they allege that the ad- vocates of the Sabbath are seeking to make it a day of Pharisaical strictness, austerity, and gloom, we would ask, Do they really and seriously believe their own allegation? Can they forget that those who most prize the Sabbath, prize it because it is a happy day, or a day of blessing ? When it is contended that people may allowably indulge themselves on the Lord's-day in journeys of pleasure, in parks, and other entertainments, ought the many who toil to provide these unseasonable gratifications, and to whom the Sabbath itself brings no relaxation or rehef, to be lost sight of in the question ? What recreation have they? Is it not of consequence also to reflect on the money which is expended in these pursuits ; on the pernicious society into which persons, and especially young per- sons, are so often thrown ; on the temptations to which they are exposed, and the evils into which many of them almost inevitably fall ; and on the various miseries which are thus entailed on individuals, on A HAPPY DAY ON RELIGION OF INDIVIDUALS. 201 families, and sometimes on yet larger societies of mankind ? As a brief experiment, let any one go, on a Monday morning, to those who have wasted the Sabbath in worldly pleasure, recreation, and revelry, and let him then go to those who have spent it as a day which the Lord has " blessed '" and " sanctified/' Is there no difference? none in the persons them- selves, in their connections, in their preparation for the several claims and duties of life? May we not even now, and in many instances connected with the profanation of the Sabbath on the one hand, and its devout observance on the other, "return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not ? '' — (Mai. iii. 18.) Sabbaths of dissipation cannot be Sab- baths of blessing. Man's happiness is found in the favour and service of God. That favour is life — that " service is perfect freedom.'' Let all, then, who cultivate sincere bene- volence towards man, and desire to promote his proper bliss, while they, at the same time, form a right estimate of the provisions which God himself has made to bestow and protect that bliss, maintain the sacred claims of God's own day. Let them do it by precept, by example, and by encouragement, as heads or members of famihes, and as parts of the general community. Let them do it from a motive of supreme love to God, and of the kindliest charity to man. Let them not fear the charge of singularity ; let them not be swayed or shaken by evil maxims and evil patterns, wherever they may be heard or seen ; and let them not listen to the solicitations of worldly gain. If opposed, let them be firm ; if dis- appointed in some of their most cherished hopes, yet 202 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. let them meekly persevere ; and if unexpected and apparently insurmountable difficulties arise, let tliem remember how easily the Lord can remove these, or even press them into the service of his own cause. " It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." — (Gal. iv. 18.) And to the patient, mild, and affec- tionate spirit of a truly Christian zeal, what obstacle can be regarded as formidable or invincible ? Passion is weak, but principle is strong. Let Christians rest on the principle of truth, combined -with the feeling of prompt and assiduous charity ; let them be " stead- fast '' in what is right, and " unmovable '' by what is wrong ; and let them " not be weary in well-doing,'' with respect either to this or any other province of faithful service ; "for in due season " they will " reap, if" they "faint not."— (Gal. vi. 9.) ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 203 VJII. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES ON THE SUBJECT OF SABBATH 0Bj>ERVANCE, SHOWING ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. BY WILLIAM INNES, MFNISTBR OF ELDER STREET CHAPEL, EDINBDRGH. In writing a treatise on this subject, it must be mani- fest to every one that the great difficulty is to select examples, among the many that occur, of the close connection between the observance of the Sabbath and the influence of personal piety. I rather put the case so, because I conceive the influence is reciprocal. Where there is personal piety it will lead to the obser- vance of the Sabbath; and this observance will, in its turn, keep alive and strengthen the piety from which it flows. The first case I mention is that of SIR MATTHEW HALE. Sir Matthew Hale, an eminent English judge, speak- ing of the Sabbath, gives the following as the result of 204 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. liis own experience: — "God Almiglity is the Lord of our time, and lends it to us ; and, as it is right tliat we should consecrate this part of that time to him, so I have found, by a strict and diligent observation, that a due observance of the duty of this day has ever had joined to it a blessing on the rest of my time ; and the week that has been so begun has been blessed and prosperous to me; and, on the other hand, when I have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest of the week has been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own secular employments ; so that I could easily make an estimate of my success in my own secular employ- ments, the week following, by the manner of my pass- ing this day; and this I do not write lightly or incon- siderately, but upon a long and sound observation and experience/' THE REV. JONATHAN EDWARDS. The next example I quote of the connection between eminent piety and a sacred observance of the Sabbath, is President Edwards of America. How much he was distingTiished by personal devotedness to the service of God, is known to all who are even shghtly acquainted with his character and history; but he was no less distinguished by a most conscientious regard to the obsei'vance of the Sabbath. He had such exalted views of the importance of improving every portion of the sacred day, that, to my best recollection, his bio- grapher mentions that he carefully made such family arrangements as to have the sacred hours as Httle interrupted as possible. I cannot notice this without observing how tmly worthy it is of imitation. The comfort and edification connected with attending divine ordinances, or even improving the other parts of the ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 205 day, much depends on such arrangements. He care- fully avoided all frivolous or worldly conversation. This appears from the seventy resolutions he wrote in early life, as those by which he was determined, through grace, to regulate his conduct. The foUomng are a specimen of these, and suffi- ciently show the devotedness of the ^vriter: — " Resolved, Never to do any manner of thing, whe- ther in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God ; nor be nor suffer it, if I can pos- sibly avoid it. " Resolved, Never to do any thing which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. " Resolved, N^^^er to utter any thing that is sportive, or matter of laughter, on the Lord's-day.'' Many a reader will here be apt to exclaim, " Well, this is too strict ; it is carrying things too far ! '' I am aware there is no religion in gloom ; that the Sabbath is a festal day ; and that every thing in Christianity is calculated to inspire the mind with cheerfulness, gra- titude, and joy. But if this resolution should seem to present one extreme, how often is there a danger of running into the opposite? Frequently have we ob- served, that if one amusing or ludicrous incident is introduced, the example becomes infectious ; it sug- gests others; and it thus throws the mind off its proper balance, and leads to trains of thought that are by no means in keeping with the duties and exercises of the day; and such as, on the retrospect, can never be satisfactory. While it becomes Christians to manifest that cheerfulness and holy joy which they are called to feel and cherish — avoiding any approach to morose- ness on the one hand, and unbecoming levity on the other; I would say the former extreme is less danger- 206 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ous than tlie latter. The one will produce no painful recollection on a death-bed ; the other may. JOHN HOWARD. This name cannot be mentioned without calling up, in every well-constituted mind, the warmest feehngs of veneration, affection, and esteem. All are ac- quainted with his unrivalled philanthropy, and the efforts and sacrifices that he made to carry his original plans of benevolence into effect ; but he is here quoted on account of his sacred regard to the Sabbath; and how he spent that holy day, is seen from the following extracts from his diary. I am happy to be able first to introduce here an original anecdote regarding this great and good man. It is one which I heard mentioned in early life by the late Rev. Dr Erskine of this city, a clergyman that will be long remembered as an eminent ornament of the Scottish Church, and who was equally distinguished by theological literature and personal piety. Mr Howard, having been introduced to Dr Erskine when he visited Edinburgh, dined with him in the course of the week, after having been one of his hearers on the preceding Sabbath. On that occasion, the doctor had been discoursing on the imputed right- eousness of Christ as the only foundation of a sinner's hope. Mr Howard took occasion to introduce the subject ; and, after mentioning the satisfaction -with which he had heard the discourse, he distinctly referred to this doctrine as the source of his own comfort and hope, as well as the spring of all his public labours. How he was employed on the Sabbath, is seen from the foUomng extract. When at the Hague, he inserted the following remarks in his memorandum ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 207 book: "Hague, 1770, Sunday evening, 11th Feb. — I would record the goodness of God to the unworthiest of his creatures. For some time past an habitual serious frame, relenting for my sin and folly, applpng to the blood of Jesus Christ, solemnly surrendering myself and babe to him, begging the conduct of his Holy Spirit. I hope a more tender conscience, by a greater fear of offending God — a temper more ab- stracted from this world — more resigned to death or life — thirsting for union and communion with God as my Lord and my God. Oh ! the wonders of redeem- ing love ! Some faint hope, even I, through redeeming mercy in the perfect righteousness, the full atoning sacrifice, will erelong be made the monument of the rich free gTace and mercy of God, through the divine Redeemer. Oh ! shout, my soul, grace, gTace, free, sovereign, rich, and unbounded gTace ! not I, not I, an ill-deserving, hell-deserving creature ! but where sin has abounded I trust gTace superabounds ; some hope — what joy in that hope ! — that nothing shall separate my soul from the love of God in Christ Jesus ; and my soul, as such a frame is thy delight, pray fre- quently and fervently to the Father of spirits to bless his Word and your retired moments to your serious conduct in life. Let not, my soul, the interests of a moment engross thy thoughts, or be prefen-ed to my eternal interests. Look forward to that glory which AviH be revealed to those who are faithful to death. My soul, walk thou with God; be faithful, hold on, hold out — and then — what words can utter.'' I subjoin the following extracts from his diary, as sufficiently indicating the Christian principles by which he was influenced. " Health, time, powers of mind, and worldly posses- 208 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. sions, are from God ; do I consecrate them all to him ? So help me, my God ! " The peculiar doctrines of Christianity, the degrada- tion of human nature, our inability to restore ourselves, our need of a Mediator and of divine aid, are doctrines which strike at the root of vainglory ; we are justified by faith, by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Where, then, is boasting ? it is excluded. — (Rom. iii. 27.) Aim at what is praise- worthy, and then at the approbation of God, who alone is an impartial, infallible judge. Let it be my earnest inquiry how I shall best serve God in the sta- tion which he has assigned me.'' Another fine specimen of his musing, on another Sabbath evening, March 15, 1760, we have in the fol- lowing extract : — " Our superfluities should be given up for the con- venience of others — " Our conveniences should give place to the neces- sities of others — " And even our necessities give way to the extremi- ties of the poor. " God ! may the angel which conducted the Israehtes through the desert, accompany and bless me ! " In all my dangers and difficulties may I have fuU confidence in that unseen power, to beheve in hope, as the Lord orders all things; therefore I leave every thing to him, trusting he will always give his angels charge concerning me, and then I am equally safe in every place ; therefore I will fear no evil, for thou art my God." Again he thus earnestly supplicates divine assistance to support him in his course, and to enable him to finish with joy the race that was set before him. ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 209 " God ! succour me in time of trial, and help me to maintain my integrity. My eyes are up to thee, God ! to help me to encounter the danger. Leave me not to my own strength ; but may I rely on Him in whom is everlasting strength ! I come to the throne of God for mercy and help in time of need, and that 1 may finish my course in peace. Be diffident of yourself, and look up to God. Where there is most holiness there is most humihty. Never does our understanding shine more than when it is employed in religion. In certain circumstances retirement is criminal — ^^ith a holy fire I would proceed. What is our profession of religion if it does .lot affect our heart ? Shall I desert his cause and God ? May I, through divine grace, persevere to the end ! My end, too, is approaching. Do thou, Lord ! visit the pri- soners and captives. Manifest thy strength in my weakness. Help, Almighty God! for in thee I put my trust, for thou art my rock. I would rejoice in a sense of thy favoiur. And may not even I hope, that God, who spared not his own Son, but dehvered him up for us all, but that he shall not with him freely give us all things, even me, life everlasting? The doctrine of merit is diametrically opposite to the genius of the gospel. By grace we are saved ; not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. My desire is to be washed, cleansed, and justified in the blood of Christ, and to dedicate myself to that Saviour who has bought us with a price.'' Mr Howard was seized with fever at Cherson, where he died. His friend, Admiral Priestman, ha\ing called upon him, he found him weak and ill, sitting before a stove in his bedroom. On inquiring after his health, he rephed that his end was approaching very fast, that 210 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. * he had several things to say to him, and thanked him for having called upon him. The Admiral, concluding from his answers that he was in a melancholy mood, endeavoured to turn the conversation, imagining the whole or the principal part of his disorder might be the mere effect of low spirits. Mr Howard, however, assured him that it was not; and added, in a very- impressive yet cheerful manner, " Priestman, you style this a dull conversation, and endeavour to divert my mind from dwelling upon death, but I entertain very different sentiments. Death has no terrors for me; it is an event I always look to with cheerfulness, if not with pleasure; and be assured, the subject is more grateful to me than any other. I am well aware that I have but a short time to live.'' Then turning from that subject, he spoke of his funeral, and cheerfully gave directions where he would be buried. I have dwelt more particularly on the case of How- ard, as from his eminent philanthropy he is justly a subject of universal admiration, and this must give a great weight to his example. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. The name of William Wilberforce cannot be men- tioned without exciting similar emotions with those produced by the name of John Howard. But our ob- ject in introducing that name here is simply to show, by some extracts from his Diary and Life, the sacred veneration he had for the Christian Sabbath, and how closely he considered the strict observance of it con- nected with personal piety. " Often (says he) in my visits at Mr Pitt's, when I heard one or another speak of this man's place, or that man's peerage, I felt a rising inclination to pursue the ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 211 same objects; but a Sunday in solitude never failed to restore me to myself." Again: " Sunday, 1790. Oh! blessed be God, who hath appointed the Sabbath, and interposes these sea- sons of serious recollection. Oh ! what a blessed thing is Sunday, for giving us an opportunity of self-exami- nation, retrospect, and drawing water out of the wells of salvation ! " In the winter 1809, Mr Wilberforce, undertaking a trip to Bath, wrote to Mr Perceval to ascertain the day of the meeting of Parliament. " Parliament (was the reply) will not meet, unless something unforeseen should occur, until Monday the 16th of January. I hope, then, you will lose no time in getting your health well set up at Bath." The watchfulness for public morals at once suggested to him the amount of public travelling which such a day of meeting would create ; and he begged in answer that it might, if possible, be altered. " I thank you for your note of yesterday," rejoined the conscientious minister, " and am really sorry that I should have given occasion for it. I feel myself the more to blame, because the receipt of your note brought back to my recollection (which I had till then forgot) some observations which the Speaker made to me some time ago on the same subject; if they had been present to mind when we settled the meeting of Parhament, I would not have fixed it upon Monday. We were, however, almost dra^vn to that day." Two days after, he wrote again : "Dear Wilberforce, you will be glad to hear that it is determined to postpone the meeting of Parliament till Thursday the 19th, instead of Monday the 16th, to obviate the objections which you have suggested to the meeting on that day. Yours very truly — Spencer Perceval." 212 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. Mr Wilberforce has in his diary, without any allu- sion to the part he had in it : — " The House put off nobly, by Perceval, because of the Sunday travelling it would have occasioned/' The following passage occurs in a letter to his sis- ter: — " My judgment is decidedly and strongly in favour of your taking an early dinner on Sunday, and going to church in the afternoon. I do not say it lightly. I beheve the contempt into which the Sab- bath has fallen, bids fair to accelerate the ruin both of Chm^ch and State more than any other single circum- stance whatever; and it is the bounden duty of every friend to our civil happiness, no less than our religious interests, to hold up its authority." Again, writing to Mr Ashley, he says, " There is no- thing in which I would warn you to be more stoutly resolute than keeping the Sabbath holy; and by this I mean, not only abstaining on that day from all unbe- coming sports and common business, but from consum- ing time in frivolous conversation, paying or receiving visits, which, among relations, often leads to a sad waste of this precious day. Self-examination and much private prayer should never be omitted on this day. I can truly declare to you, that to me the institution of Sabbath has been most invaluable. I need not sug- gest, likewise, the duty of searching into our hearts on that day, examining ourselves as to our love of God and of Christ, and of purging out all malice and ill-will towards any one who may have offended us ; trying hkewise, when opportunity offers, to make peace. In all we should ever associate the idea of our blessed Master, and render him as much as possible present to our minds.'' At a time when the question has been agitated, ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 213 Whether it would be more for the benefit, both of the individual and the community, to confine labour to six days, or extend it to seven? — it is interesting to find an opinion expressed by Mr Wilberforce, many years ago, on this subject. It occurs in a letter to Christophe, King of Hayti, dated October 8, 1818. After recommending to his people to abstain from their ordinary labours on the Sabbath, assuring him that at the year's end the sum of their labour -will not be found to be lessened by this abstinence, he adds : " I well remember that, during the war, when it was proposed to work all Sunday in one of the royal manu- factories (for a continuance, not for an occasional ser- vice), it was found that the workmen who obtained government consent to abstain from working on Sun- days, executed in a few months even more work than the others.'' Additional testimonies might be produced from his diary and correspondence, proving, in the most satis- factory manner, not only his sacred regard for the day of rest, but also showing the very exalted tone of Christian feehng which on that day he studied to maintain. DR CHALMERS. The way in which this great and good man, who was so suddenly taken from us, enjoyed and spent the Sab- bath, is very clearly seen from his solitary musings on that sacred day, recorded in the beginning of the lately gubhshed volume of his posthumous works, and which form a very interesting portion of that pubhcation. We insert the follomng specimen : — " Edm. Aug. 30, 1835.— In reading the fife of Sir Matthew Hale, I find that he employed the pen to aid 214 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. him in his spiritual meditations. He wrote as he thought ; and hitherto my attempts at the sustained contemplation of divine things have been so confused and unsatisfactory, that I am glad to try the same expedient. May the Spirit of God, who worketh not without means, but by them, bless this humble endea- vour after a nearer approach to the viewless objects of faith and eternity! Guard me, heavenly Father! against the illusions of fancy. Suffer me not to walk in sparks of my own kindling. In thy light may I clearly see hght ; and let me never abandon the guid- ance and supreme authority of that Word which thou hast exalted above all thy name. Teach me the habit of communion with thyself ; and may those imperfect aspirations after thee upon earth, open the way for the full enjojrment of tliine immediate presence and of thy revealed glory in heaven ! '' " . To express my religious state in one sen- tence : — I have a strong general desirousness towards God, though often suspended by the avocations of life, and daily overborne amidst its manifold and besetting influences. And it is a desirousness not satisfied — as if knocking at a door not yet opened, with a sort of earnest and indefinite longing after a good not yet attained. Perhaps the experience I have oftenest realized is that of the Psalmist, when he said, ' My soul breaketh for the longing it hath unto thy judg- ments at all times.'" " Oct. 2. — AVhen in a state of physical exhaustion or discomfort, I am the more apt to give way under the power of any ^vrong or wayward instigation. On all hands I stand gTeatly in need both of prayer and watchfulness. O, my God! make me more habitual in my supph cations at a throne of grace, and let me ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 215 proceed on sanctification as a business. Oh, that I were more intent upon it ! that I made it the distinct and the main object of my Hfe, and suffered nothing to interfere with it ! Let me not remit the cultivation of my heart, but give myself wholly thereto. And oh, that my converse in society, as well as my whole con- duct in life, so bespeak the altogether Christian, that my life in itself should be a continual confession of the Saviour before men ! " In his observations on Exodus xxxi., Dr C. thus writes : — " Let me drink the spring of all that is here said about the Sabbath — an observance as much distin- guished from the temporary and ceremonial law of Moses as any other of the decalogue. Let me never lose sight of the sign or memorial, first of creation, and then of redemption. Let it, therefore, be upheld as part and parcel of a perpetual covenant — a day of holy rest, and the delighted obsei^vance of which is one of the most decisive tests of a renewed and godly nature. And let it not be a fatiguing but a reposing cessation from the toils and cares of the everyday world. And let such be my meditations and exercises, that I may not be exhausted, but strengthened and refreshed thereby.'' THE LATE REV. CHARLES SIMEON. The next case I select is that of the late Kev, Cha,rles Simeon of Cambridge, who was so bright and shining a light in his day. I can speak of him more easily, firom my having had the high privilege of en- joying his society under my roof, about half a century ago. It was manifest that he had a special regard for the sacred hours of the Sabbath, and kept at the 216 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. greatest distance from any trifling or worldly conver- sation on that day. In one point of view it was less conspicuous in him than in others, because the whole tenor of his conversation was so spiritual, that it could be hardly said that any part would have been out of keeping with the saci^d day of rest. Let it not, however, be supposed from this, that there was any thing gloomy in it. Quite the reverse. There was a chastened liveliness which could not but delight every Christian who came into contact with him. He presented the idea of a faithful and zealous servant of Christ, truly happy in his own mind, de- riving his happiness from the highest sources, and ever looking with Christian benignity on all around him. He was a iine illustration of that trying text — " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.'' In looking at this feature of Mr Simeon's character, that his everyday conversation was becoming the day of rest, I am reminded of an objection which has been brought against the necessity of observing a special day — ^that with the Christian every day ought to be a Sabbath. This I have heard urged even by some good men, but surely -without due consideration. Such must have forgotten that it is as much a divine precept " six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work,'' as that " on the seventh thou shalt rest." The rest and the labour are here contrasted, plainly indicating that what is proper, nay duty, in the one case, would be sinful in the other. It has often been observ^ed, that those who have made the highest attainments in the eyes of others, are most deeply sensible of their own deficiency. This is finely illustrated in the history of this man of God. In a letter to a Christian friend, that occurs in his Life, ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 217 lately published (a most interesting volume), he thus expresses himself: " What a blank, I should rather say a blot, is my whole life ! God knoweth I loathe myself, and that because I cannot loathe myself more. The Lord send us better days 1 " Every Christian will understand this language, and none but a Christian can. We are here reminded of an anecdote told of the late Mr Newton of London. He had published three letters under the title of A, B, C, describing the progress of divine grace in the soul — the last, of course, describing the highest attainments. He, some time afterwards, received a letter from a young clergy- man, expressing a hope that he had reached this point. In reply, Mr N. remarked, that he had unfortunately omitted one thing in that letter — that those who reached these attainments never knew it themselves. THE KEV. JOSHUA GILPIN. One of the most lovely pictures I have met with of the consecration of the hours of the Sabbath to exer- cises appropriate to the day, is found in the foil owing- extract from a small but interesting volume, entitled, " A Monument of Parental Affection to a Dear and Only Son.'' By the Rev. Joshua Gilpin. " Every day was a day of tranquil satisfaction, in which we had little to wish, and much to enjoy; but the Sabbath presented us with peculiar consolations. We saluted every return of that holy day with undis- sembled joy, cheerfully lajring aside all our usual studies and employments, except such as had a mani- fest tendency, either to enlarge our acquaintance with, or to advance our preparation for, the kingdom of God. It was a day truly honourable in our eyes, and marked as a season of sacred delights. Its various exercises. 218 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. whether pubhc or private, produced an exhilarating effect upon our minds, and never failed to set us some paces nearer the object of our supreme desires. It was a kind of transfiguration-day, shedding a mild glory upon every creature, and inviting us to view the con- cerns of time in connection with those of eternity. Through all its happy hours we sat, as on the holy mount, looking backward with gratitude, and forward with confidence, taking sweet counsel together for the advancement of our highest interests, and scarcely con- sidering ourselves as mhabitants of this lower world. The company of even our most intimate friends on these occasions, would have rendered our intercourse with each other more reserved, and our pleasure pro- portionably less lively : but, unrestrained by the pre- sence of witnesses, we gave an unlimited indulgence to all our affectionate and devotional feelings. We conversed together as parts of the same family; we congratulated each other as members of the Christian Church; we rejoiced over one another as heirs of the same glorious promises. Some interesting passage of Scripture, or some choice piece of divinity, generally furnished the matter of our discourse; and while we endeavoured to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of the subject under consideration, a divine light would sometimes break in upon us, satisfying our doubts, exalting our conceptions, and cheering our hearts. We have then, with one consent, laid aside our book, that we might uninterruptedly admire the beauties, and enjoy the sweets, of the prospect opening before us. And still, as the scene has become more luminous, we have proceeded from wonder to wonder, with a degree of delight far surpassing that which experimental phi- losophers ever felt on discovering some grand secret in ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 219 the operations of nature. Through these flowery paths we have continued to alkire each other onward (first one of us taking the lead, and then another), refreshing our spirits, and feeding our immortal hopes, amid a thousand glorious appearances — till the New Jerusa- lem itself has burst upon our eyes, even that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God ; whose inhabitants are the spirits of just men made perfect ; and from whose holy walls we heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. Here our happy progress was stayed ; and, while standing to solace ourselves with a view of the goodly object before us, the scene of our future enjoyments, and the place of our final destination, we have solemnly renewed our vows, resolving, for the joy that was set before us, to endiure the cross, despising the shame, in humble imi- tation of our adorable Master. In such a frame of mind, we found it possible to speak of probable suffer- ings and painful separations with the utmost com- posure. And with such a termination of our course in sight, we could cheerfully leave all the casualties of that course to the divine disposal ; fully persuaded, that, whatever evil might befall us by the way, an abundant compensation would be made for all, on our arrival at home. Many a joyful Sabbath have we thus spent together, especially during the latter years of our Joshua's continuance with us. And now, when his mother and I are disposed, on the return of these sacred seasons, to look with regret towards his vacant place, we endeavour to animate each other with the hope of shortly following our dearest son to the cele- bration of that eternal Sabbath above, of which we have enjoyed so many sweet anticipations here below." Where shall we find, in scenes of worldly mirth or 220 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. amusement, any thing that can furnish such a rational and exalted source of enjo3mfient, and which will so well bear the retrospect as in this? THE MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN. A good many years ago I had the pleasure of know- ing an excellent Christian lady, who moved in the higher circles, who thus employed herself on the morn- ing of the Sabbath : — Ha\ing a large family, she collected around her such of them as were able to engage in such an exercise ; and after reading, or making them read, an appropriate passage of Scripture, accompanied with such a commentary as was suited to the capacities of her interesting little charge, for which she had a peculiar talent, she commended them to God, praying for a blessing on the exercises of the day. It is impossible to conceive a better preparation for the services of the sanctuary. She has been for many years removed to her heavenly home ; but, in so far as her family have grown up, a signal blessing seems to have attended her labours. We have here a fine model for the imitation of Christian mothers placed in similar circumstances. With this account I connect a beautiful representa- tion of a mother spending an hour of the Sabbath afternoon with her children, found in " Abbott's Young Christian.'' It is too long to quote at large, but it is in substance as follows: — Mamma proposes to Mary, the eldest girl, to spend an hour in looking back to the faults of the past week. She cheerfully agrees ; and three or four of the children, from six to fifteen years, come round her. Mamma asks Mary if she recollects doing any thing wrong ; saying, now mention it or not, as you please. Maiy thinks a little ; at last says, that ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 221 John and she had quarrelled in the nursery. John interposes, "But you know, Mary, you began." Mamma interferes, " Remember, my dears, we did not meet to revive former quarrels, and blame one another ; but to improve for the future, and to guard against again doing what is wrong." She then prays with them for pardon for the past, and grace that they may be kept from future evil. How much more likely is this kind of exercise to be useful than that stem severity which was often prac- tised in a former age, when what was required was merely committing to memory some questions or por- tions of Scripture, without any explanation to render the exercise interesting ; and when the memory of the child was so burdened as to make the Sabbath, instead of a day of rest, a day of'more mental labour than any other day of the seven ! Let it not be supposed by this observation, that we undervalue the importance of storing the memory with select passages of Scrip- ture. It is a most useful exercise, as it is matter of, I may almost say, universal experience, that portions thus committed in early life, are rarely if ever for- gotten. What we object to is, merely loading the memory, and thus creating disgust, without exercising the intellect. But this subject is now better under- stood; and, by a proper appeal to the understanding and the heart, what was formerly a day of weariness, is in many families a day of thankful relaxation from the incessant cares of life, and of genuine, calm, and peaceful enjojnnent. If I may be allowed to refer to my own observation (and I have had at least a pretty ample field, in a pastorate of more than half a century, and mingling 222 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. with Christians of almost every denomination), I can confidently say that I never met with a truly pious man — one who, in the language of Scripture, was " spiritually-minded," and in the general tenor of his conduct showed that he was influenced by divine authority — who had not a sacred regard to the day of rest, and who did not consider it an inestimable boon bestowed on man by its divine Author. This is so much the case, that if I find a man disposed to treat it with contempt, or even indifference, I should be dis- posed to move a previous question — Does such a man profess at all to acknowledge the authority of the Lord of the Sabbath ? If not, I expect nothing from him but the desecration of it. An avowed infidel * * It is a melancholy fact, brought under our notice by our city missionaries, that the open avowal of infidelity is very pre- valent among the working-classes in the present day. It is much to be feared, in many such cases the language of Dr Johnson in reference to Foote, the comedian, is too applicable. When Boswell asked him, Was not Foote an infidel ? — " Yes, sir (he replied), Foote was an infidel, as a dog is an infidel ; he never thought on the subject." With others infidelity is re- sorted to as an apology for indulging in their licentious habits, which they know well Christianity condemns. There are others who have much goneral information on other topics, and who profess to have in some degree examined the subject of religion, but many of whom, there is reason to fear, have read only on one side. I have at least met with some whose prejudices were so strong that they would listen to notliing on the otlier. They pick up a few objections to Christianity which have been refuted a hundred times. To these they tenaciously cling, but will not examine the reply to them. Surely, while such profess to be guided by reason, they act here a very unreasonable part. They do themselves material injustice; or, to use a Scriptural expres- sion, " they wrong their own souls," As it is not improbable that, from the intended extensive cir- culation of this treatise, it may fall into the hands of some who avow infidelity— could I obtain their ear, I would kindly remind ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 223 acts in character in doing so, while his maxim is, " Let us eat and drink, for to-mon'ow we die/' But suppose a man professes to acknowledge the divine authority of Scripture, and what does he profess to admit ? That we are immortal beings — that there is an inseparable connection between this world and the next — that, as transgTessors of the divine law, all are under condemnation — that there is only one way of salvation, through faith in the atoning merits of Jesus — that those who thus believe must walk in ne^vaess of life — that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. These are gTeat leading principles, in which, it will be admitted, that all who are entitled to the name of Christian are agTeed. Now, looking at the them there is a material difference between doubting that there is a future state of existence aud a day of reckoning, and being certain there is none. This is what no man can be. It may he found true that there is. It may be found that there was sufficient evidence given on the subject. It may so happen ihsit i\\e man who had that evidence placed within his reach, and treated it with neglect and contempt, shall be found guilty. To such I would recommend a small volume that has been extensively circulated in this city, by the Scottish Association for Opposing Prevalent Errors, Dr Bogue's " Essay on the Divine Authority of the New Testament; " and I would add one still smaller, " Lessons on the Christian Evidences." Two instances of the happy result of a candid examination of the evidence in support of the Divine authority of the Bible have come under my own observation. The one was that of a barrister of highly respectable talents, extensive information, and much acuteness, who informed me that his attention had been, by some circumstances, directed to the subject of Chris- tianity; and that, till he examined it, he had no conception of the force of moral evidence by which it was supported. He added, that from all his conversation with his brethren at the bar, he was convinced that most of them had never paid any serious attention to the subject. The other case was that of a gentleman distinguished by a 224 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. great mass of tlie community, labouring from morning to night through the week for daily bread ; while others in the better walks of life are equally har- assed with the cares and pursuits of business — can it be viewed in any light than that of a high privilege to have the day of rest devoted to the contemplation of subjects which, if a man reflects at all, are infinitely more important than any that can possibly occupy human thoughts ? All that I ask here, then, to se- cure agaiast the desecration of the Sabbath, and to lead a man highly to prize it as a privilege and a blessing, is consistency — consistency with his pro- fessed principles. That man violates the first prin- ciples of his rational nature, if he professes to beheve the truths above stated, and allows his mind to be incessantly and supremely occupied with those objects most powerful mind, and who spent an ample fortune in diflPusing the knowledge of the gospel, simply as the result of a most minute and careful examination of the evidence of its Divine authority. He engaged in that examination on this principle : Christianity is every thing or nothing. If it be true, it warrants every sacri- fice and every effort to promote its influence. If it be not, let us give up the hypocrisy of professing to receive it. He rose from the perusal of the evidence with such a strength of convic- tion as manifested itself by the practical result already mentioned. I shall here add one case more, showing the happy effects of an avowed infidel being led to examine the Christian evidences. Though it is already before the public in the new series of " The Church in the Navy and Army," it will probably be new to most of my readers, and cannot, I think, fail to be interest- ing. It is entitled, "His Grace the Duke of Wellington the Instrument of the Conversion of an Infidel," but it might with great propriety have been called, " Candid Inquiry Rewarded." " In the early part of his Grace's singularly successful career, when as Sir Arthur Wellesley, in India, an officer dining at the mess where he presided was sporting his infidel sentiments. Sir Arthur, wishing to put down such conversation, said, S , did you ever read Paley's Evidences ? The reply was in the ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 225 which he knows perish with the using of them, while he allows to pass unregarded that vast futurity to which he is hastening ; or who does not thankfully improve the precious hours of the Sabbath, by em- ploying them in the most serious and dehberate consideration of the solemn scenes that He before him.* So obviously necessary and important is the insti- tution of the Sabbath, that had it not been found in Scripture, there would have been a material want, a desideratum — a something T\^hich needed to be sup- plied, to be in keeping mth the rest of the book. The case would have stood thus : Every portion of Scripture reminds us of the vanity of this world, and the infinite importance of being prepared for the next. But while constantly and necessarily occupied with negative. Well then, said Sir Arthur, you had better read that book before you talk in the way you are doing. The occurrence passed away, and the conversation was soon forgotten; but the reference to Paley's work led Colonel S to inquire after it, and having obtained a copy, he read it with the most serious at- tention. He rose from the perusal of it with the fullest convic- tion of the falsehood of the system he had formerly adopted, and of the Divine origin of Christianity. But he did not stop here; he was determined to examine the book itself, which he was thus satisfied was a revelation from God. The result was, that he cordially received this revelation of mercy, saw and felt his need of a Saviour, and, believing in Jesus, became a Chris- tian, not in name only, but in deed and in truth." * I may here mention an incident which shows how our countrymen, forty years ago, valued the Sabbath as a day of rest. I had it from the late INIr Brown of Markle, an intelligent farmer in East Lothian, and then editor of the Farmer's ^laga- zine. One Saturday evening one of his ploughmen was heard to say, when he thought no one was present, when removing the harness from off one of his team, or, as a Scotchman would say, taking off the graitk, " God be thanked, beast, that there is a Sabbath both for you and me ! " P 226 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the business of this life, is it not of the most obvious importance that some time should be set apart for the serious contemplation of that which is to come? Should it be said, Let every man judge of this for him- self, it is plain there would be no regular meeting for public worship, which is such a blessing to many, and so necessary to keep alive the influence of divine truth in men's minds. If observed at all, one class would select one day ; another, another ; and the utmost confusion would prevail. Here we see the wisdom and goodness of a divine and authoritative appoint- ment on the subject, when one special day is by the great Lawgiver set apart for all. This very necessity of such an appointment, to follow out the design of the Bible, is no mean subsidiary argument that the institution is found there. As some objects are best seen by contrast, I shall here mention two cases in which the contrast between the evil connected with desecrating the Sabbath, and the blessed effects that afterward resulted from the proper improvement of it, is finely brought out. These, I trust, will be considered quite in keeping with the design of this essay. The first is that of John Williams, the distinguished missionary of the South Sea Islands. I the rather mention this case here, because it does not occur in that very fascinating book, his " Missionary Enter- prises,'' but in his " Life," — a work less kno"\vn. Not having the work by me, I cannot quote the author's words, but the facts are substantially these : — In early life Mr Williams was a very thoughtless young man. He had made an appointment with a companion to spend the Sabbath evening at one of those places of amusement to which so many in ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 227 London resort in the evening of the Lord's day. They had agreed to meet at a particular part of the street. While he was lounging there, waiting for his companion, a pious lady who knew him, who was passing on her way to the evening service at the Tabernacle, accosted him, and invited him to accom- pany her. At first he seemed rather unwilling, but partly from being a little chagrined from his friend disappointing him, he agxeed to go. This was the grand tmning-point in his liistory. It pleased God that night to arrest him by his almighty grace — to show him his guilt and danger, and to bring him to the foot of the cross for mercy. From that night he became a changed man. On the subsequent steps in his history we do not enter. We only mention one incident. Having offered himself to the London Missionary Society, he was accepted, and sent to the Islands of the Pacific. Twenty years afterwards, when he returned from his mission, addressing a large audience in the Tabernacle, he spoke to this effect : — " I can point out the very seat I occupied in this house on that memorable night when the Lord ar- rested me by his precious grace." Here we have a fine contrast between the previous desecration of the Sabbath, and the blessed effect of observing it by at- tending the pubhc preaching of the gospel. How conspicuously do we mark here the finger of God, in what appears so incidental ! Had it not been for that interview, John AVilhams would, in all probability, have sunk into the grave with the mass of other Sab- bath breakers ; and the name of this eminent mission- ary, and the martyr of EiTomango, would have been for ever unknown. The other case to which I refer, and which bears a 228 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. considerable resemblance to the former, is one that occurred a good many years ago in London. A tradesman who had got into dissipated habits, was married to a pious wife. He frequently spent his wages on Saturday evening, in drinking with his dis- solute companions ; and his wife naturally remonstrated with him, in bringing nothing home to support his family. On one occasion, instead of spending his wages in drinking, he spent them in gambling ; but, in order to avoid the lecture he expected, he feigned himself drunk, and tumbled into bed. When in this state,he overheard his wife earnestly prayiug to God that he would arrest her poor, unhappy husband, show him his guilt and danger, and bring him to himself This deeply affected him ; and, though he still appeared to be asleep, he rose earher than usual next morning, and, while he commonly spent the Sabbath with his dissipated companions, he desired his wife to get breakfast early, as he intended to go with her to chapel that day. The reader may conceive, if he can, the thrill of holy gratitude and joy which passed through the heart of this good woman at so unex- pected an intimation. He did accompany her to the chapel; and there was fulfilled that declaration, " My words shall not return unto me void." He was awakened to a sense of his guilt, and led to the Saviour for mercy. The last information received re- garding him was, that, if not a deacon, he was a re- spectable and consistent member of a Christian Church. What a blessing was it to this man — what a blessing to any man — to have a wife given to prayer ! To this case I shall add one which came under my own notice many years ago, which furnishes a strik- ing illustration of the sad effects of desecrating the ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 229 Sabbath, especially when it was done in the face of parental admonition. A gay and thoughtless young man, who had often opposed a pious father's wishes, by spending the Sab- bath in idleness and folly, instead of accompanying liis parents to the house of God, had hired a horse to ride to the country on a Sabbath morning. After riding for some time at great speed, he hastily pulled up his horse, while the animal, by stopping more sud- denly than he expected, gave him such a sudden jerk, that it injured the spinal marrow ; and when he came to his father's door, he had totally lost the use of the lower extremities of his body. He was lifted from the saddle, and laid on that bed which was destined to prove to him the bed of death ; and there he had leisure to reflect on his ways. It was when in this situation I was asked to visit him; and he then dis- covered the deepest solicitude about the things that belong to his eternal peace. He eagerly listened to the representation that was given him of the evil of sin, its dreadful consequences, and the ground of hope to the guilty. He seemed much impressed with a sense of his need of pardoning mercy, and thankfully to receive it in the way that God hath revealed. Many parts of the conversations I had with him have now escaped my recollection ; but some of his expressions I shall not easily forget. On one occasion, when referring to his past life, and finding himself, at the time I visited him, unable to attend public wor- ship, he exclaimed, " Oh ! what would I give now for some of those Sabbaths which I foraierly treated with contempt 1 '' He seemed deeply to feel and to deplore his guilt in having so heinously misim- proved the precious opportunities of waiting on the '2S0 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. public ordinances of religion, which in the day of health, he had enjoyed. While, on another occa- sion, he expressed his sense of the infinite importance of the gospel, I suggested to him the proj)riety of his mentioning to his dissipated companions, when they called upon him, the light in which his for- mer life now appeared to him. He told me in reply, that though he would be most happy to do so, he had no opportunity. His former companions had now quite deserted him ; that if they called at all, it was merely to inquire about his health, but that they seemed quite uneasy while they remained, and would not spend even a few minutes in his company. Ah ! what a picture of the friendship of the world ! It possesses no ingTedients which can furnish a topic of consolation in the day of adversity. It was in refer- ence, however, to this subject, and to the hope that, though he had no access to his former associates, his history might prove useful to them, that he uttered the last expression I shall quote. With an ardour and an emphasis which I cannot describe, he said to me, at one of the last interviews I had with him, " I earnestly pray that I may be a warning to them that forget God ! " May this solemn and affecting exclama- tion of a young man, on the bed of sickness and of death, be fastened on the recollection especially of every young reader, that, instead of forgetting God, he may remember his Creator in the days of his youth, and be found, in the season of youth and of health, supremely valuing that gospel which alone can give solid happiness in hfe, comfort in affliction, and peace in death ! ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PIETY OF INDIVIDUALS. 231 CONCLUSION. It has often been observed, that many of those who have been called to expiate their crimes against society by suffering the last penalty of the law, have dated their first departure from the right path to their early neglect of the Sabbath. Such cases I have met 'svith, in visiting in their cells those condemned to death. But let it not be supposed that such feeHngs of anguish and remorse are confined to these. On different occa- sions I have witnessed a degree of mental agony, felt on the bed of sickness, on the simple ground of ne- glected or abused privileges, which it is impossible to describe, and which it is equally impossible for any one to behold without trembhng at the thought of ever personally experiencing it. How are we to guard against this? In the prospect of death, when tried by that law which reaches our every thought, all must be conscious that they are chargeable with innume- rable transgressions. " We have truly done those things we ought not to have done, and left undone those things we ought to have done.'' I have known more cases than one in which, by a single sinful grati- fication, a man lost his character, destroyed his peace, subjected himself to the infliction of a wounded con- science, and ruined all his prospects for life. Oh ! how would such have wished that they could have rolled back the wheels of time, and placed themselves in the position they occupied before they indulged in that sin which was so fatal to their happiness and hopes ! But the deed was done, and could not be undone. In our sins of omission, too, the opportunity of useful- ness is lost, and cannot be recalled. Here, then, whatever our guilt may have been. 232 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. whether on a larger or lesser scale, if we would enjoy any solid comfort, all must fall back on that precious and soul-sustaining truth, that " the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin/' But, while nothing but the atonement made by Jesus Christ can bring well-grounded peace to the troubled conscience, what does true wisdom here dic- tate ? — Let every one in the day of health study so to act, as that he shall have as limited a field of painful reflection as possible, when called on the bed of death to look back along the whole line of his moral history, and to contemplate it in connection with the judgment to come, and as viewed in the hght of an opening eternity. ITS INFI.UENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 233 II. THE INFLTJENCE OF THE SABBATH ON DOMESTIC PIETY. BY THE REV. WILLIAM GLOVER, A.M., MINISTER or GRKENSIDE, EDINBURGH. At a period which is unhappily distinguished by avowed and systematic opposition to the strict and scriptural observance of the Lord's day, it is peculiarly incumbent upon all who name the name of Christ to have their minds thoroughly informed, and their prin- ciples established and fortified, by a careful and candid consideration of the subject in all its aspects and bear- ings. And more especially there is one view of it, the habitual contemplation of which will be a power- ful preservative both against unhallowed sophistry and evil example. I allude to the character of this divine institution as being in its object, obligation, and ad- vantages, fitted and intended for human beings as such. " The Sabbath was made for man;" not for a sect or a nation, or those hving under any one dispen- sation, or in any age of the world's history, but for 234 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. man ! Language, assuredly, whicli cannot possibly be mistaken ; indicating, on the authority of tlie true and faithful Witness, not only its institution by Him who made and appointed all things, but its being a gracious provision adapted alike for the benefit and advantage of all; and, therefore, any thing but a yoke of bond- age, or a local and temporary appointment, or a mere Jewish peculiarity. And, indeed, we are shut up to this conclusion by every view that we can take either of the nature of the ordinance, or of the account given us in Scripture of its institution and history. It is not, and it cannot be, a Jewish peculiarity : for it is equally appropriate and equally indispensable to every human being — to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; all being equally bound to commemorate what applies to all, and equally under the necessity of retiring from the cares and the perplexities of a vain and an evil world, and of gi\ing their attention with- out distraction to the one thing needful. It is not, and it cannot be, a Jemsh peculiarity : for it is actually part and parcel of the moral law of the ten commandments, which the Almighty inscribed with his own hand on the tables of stone ; after doing which it is emphatically said, that he added no more, placing none of the ceremonials, not even the Passover, alongside of that unchangeable and indestructible in- stitute, whose authority was indelibly stamped on that memorable day, when the Almighty with his own voice, and not by the mediation of Moses, as in all the other requirements, uttered the ten awful words, amid the thunders of Sinai. It is not, and it cannot be, a Jewish peculiarity : for it was instituted when no distinction existed between Jews and Gentiles; before Abraham, the great pro- ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 235 genitor of the peculiar people, was bom; nay, before Adam fell from his primeval innocence. It is not, and it cannot be, a Jewish peculiarity : for even during the existence of the Mosaic economy we find the Almighty drawing a most intelligible distinc- tion between the performance of its ceremonies and the moral and practical obser\^ance of his own Sab- batic rest. I refer to the charge so frequently and solemnly prefeiTed against a h}^ocritical people, that while they attached an undue and superstitious impor- tance to the observances of the ceremonial institute, they neglected the weighter matters of the moral law, and brought lurath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath-day ! It is not, and it caimot be, a Jewish peculiarity : for, as it was instituted centuries before Judaism was heard of, so it was destined to be the distinction of God's people when Judaism had ceased to exist. The time of the Messiah is described by the Spirit of prophecy as a bright and blessed era, when the wall of partition was to be throwTi down, and strangers of the Gentile nations were to flock into the Church ; and this happy consummation, which has already been realized in the experience of m}T:iads, is described in the sure word of prophecy, by the sons of the stranger taking hold of God's covenant; and, in token of this, keeping his Sabbath from polluting it. It is not, and it cannot be, a Jewish pecuharity: for the strongest of all reasons for observing it did not exist till the Jewish economy had been brought to a final termination. I allude to the glorious resurrection of our Redeemer-Lord ; when, after finishing the work of a new and better creation, he entered upon his Sabbath rest, as the Creator did of old. This is stated 236 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. by the apostle to the Hebrews as pre-eminently the reason why there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God ; and hence the beautiful connec- tion of those successive verses in the prophetic psalm, which set forth the signal triumph of our Lord after his apparent defeat, the blessed inference resulting from this victory, and the consequent exultation of the faithful on God's day of thanksgiving and rejoicing : " The stone tuhich the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes; this is the day which the Lord hath made, lue will rejoice and be glad in it." It is not, and it cannot be, a Jewish pecuharity: for the fact is undeniable — and a most important one it is, as bearing on its perpetual obligation — that the blessing of the Lord of the Sabbath on his own ordi- nance has descended in far more copious effusion in New Testament times than it ever did under the ancient economy. Who, indeed, can form any esti- mate of the multitudes who, since the Saviour's resur- rection, have been fitted, by the instrumentality of a Sabbath upon earth, for the hoher and happier em- ployments of an endless Sabbath on high ! And if this process of training souls for heavenly bliss is still going on wherever true Christianity is promoted, and is, in fact, the very object for which the Church en- joys any ordinances whatever — if being in the Spirit on the Lord's day is still the pledge and means of attaining to that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand; where is the Christian man that would not tremble at the idea of cherishing, for a single moment, any thoughts of hostility, or even indifference, to that blessed ordinance, which is so pre-eminently the path- way of transition from a life of faith in a weary mlder- ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 237 ness, to tlie enjoyment of that repose which is undis- turbed and everlasting? Yes; the Sabbath was made for man. Let us be thankful for the privilege. While all equally require it, with exquisite wisdom it is suited to the condition and circumstances of our common nature ; and, with an adaptation peculiar to itself, it enables the child of immortality, even while sojourning in the world, to live above the world — above its cares, its tumults, its temptations, and its unhallowed influences. All these, through the sweet and solemn recurrence of the Sab- batic rest, are, in one degree or another, counteracted by the powers of the world to come ; and there is not, in truth, a relation in which we can be placed, nor a comfort we can enjoy, nor a trial even to which we can be subjected, which may not be converted, through the regulating and hallowing influence of this blessed ordinance, into a bond of alliance with that better world, where no temptation shall ever entice us from our highest happiness, and no care shall ever disturb us in the worship of Jehovah. Of the adaptation of the Sabbath to our nature and circumstances, some important views have already been presented in this series of essays. The subject, in its various aspects and bearings, is one of vast amplitude, as well as primary consequence; and I am sure that to those who have any just conception of the real position of human beings — their duties, their diffi- culties, and responsibilities — the particular part of the subject which we have now to consider — The influence of the Sabbath on domestic piety — ^will not appear the least interesting and important. When we consider man in a moral and religious point of view, the domestic constitution under which 238 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. God has placed him, is one of the first things that is fitted to attract our notice ; and the more attentively we consider this peculiar constitution, the more hkely are we to be impressed with the divine wisdom and goodness in thus setting the solitary in families. In veiy deed, this constitution is no less than invaluable — most exquisitely adapted to our circumstances; as fruitful in blessed results as it is natural and easy in its operation; essential, in one degTee or another, to the continued preservation of human society; and what bears more immediately on the subject we are endeavouring to illustrate — absolutely indispensable to the right exercise of every ATitue to which human natm-e can be tramed, and the full enjoyment of every comfort in which human beings can participate. Of the entire race of mankind, how small indeed is the proportion, at any given period, of those who are not actually reaping happiness or miseiy from the good or ill behaviour either of their parents on the one hand, or their oflfsprmg on the other ! And even in the case of the few who sustain neither of the endearing relations of parent or of child, how unquestionable is it, that the effects of home influences and associations, once in existence, still continue, in spite of the opera- tion of other causes, to tell more or less powerfully on their pursuits, th^eh character, and theh happiness ! Nor can we fail to admire not only the efficiency of the domestic constitution, but the msdom and bene- volence displayed in it, when we consider what are the pro^dsions of this gTacious economy ; and that even in our fallen state — where the mechanism of the moral system is still more shattered and impau'ed than the framework of material nature — the results which it produces are as numerous as they are exquisitely ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 239 beautiful, and as beneficial as they are various; leaving us, or rather impelling us, to draw the inference. If such are its effects even in our present state, how lovely and blessed would its operation have been throughout the successive generations of an unfallen world, living in purity and bliss amidst the unfading verdure of the garden of the Lord ! For even in this world of guilt and woe, what are some of its manifold and merciful provisions ? Provision is thereby made, in the mutual affection of those who are nearest and dearest to one another upon earth, for alleviating by holy sympathy the burden of every sorrow which they are destined to endure, and for doubling by the same sympathy the amount of every comfort which they are permitted to enjoy. Provision is thereby made in the strong and untiring operation of parental love for the secure preservation of the young amidst the perils of imconscious infancy; and afterwards, when they be- come alive to the endeannents of that love which watched over their helplessness, for the supply of their ever-returning wants, by a channel of conveyance truly grateful to those who receive, and still more so to those who are the means of imparting. Provision is thus also made when parents are, by God's grace, in any measure what they ought to be, for the moral and religious training of the young, in a way which human wisdom has never ventured to displace by any substi- tutes or inventions of her own without miserable failure ; the moral forces, which are found to be most effective even when acting individually, being here brought at once into powerful and harmonious co-operation — the commanding influence of that authority which of all created powers is the most venerable — and the voice of that instruction which, of all human lessons, is the most 240 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. * persuasive — and all these, strengthened and confirmed in their operation, wherever the heart feels as it ought to do, by affection as strong as it is simple, gTatitude as enduring as it is Hvely, S3mapathies as tender as they are sacred, and by nameless, numberless, holy and happy associations, which all the vicissitudes of after hfe are unable to destroy. Now, where all these influences are brought to bear on the nurture and admonition of the young, may we not, by God's blessing, expect the most precious and happy results? More especially when we further consider, that, by the existence of fraternal ties and the cultivation of fraternal affections, and the common experience of the same joys and sor- rows under the same loved and venerated parental sway, the young are prepared, with a success which we could anticipate from no other traming, for the duties to be discharged and the sympathies to be exercised on the wider theatre of after life. Yes, the hallowed retirement of the parental dwelling is the true school of virtuous training both for the sufferings and the ac- tivities of our present existence ; and when it is added that not for temporal purposes only, but also and chiefly with a view to eternity, the only wise God has set the soHtary in families ; and that a peaceful and holy and happy home, sanctified by the special presence of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, is at once a preparation for heaven, and not unfrequently a humble foretaste of its bliss ; — who will not readily admit that every thing having a bearing on domestic piety and virtue, is, in a moral and Christian point of view, of incalculable im- portance ? Who, let me further ask, can fail to per- ceive, that that infidel philosophy, most assuredly falsely so called, which sneers at the provisions and obligations of the domestic economy, is as ruinous in ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 241 its tendency as it is false in its principle — as insane as it is impious ? And who does not recognise it as one of the loveliest and most obvious proofs of the divinity of the Bible, that it not only adds its sacred sanction to all those provisions and obligations, but represents them as the very mechanism by which Christianity, as a social system, is chiefly to be developed, and identi- fies the pious observance of them with the very essence of practical godliness ? Who, therefore, can fail to be alive to the immense importance of bringing the fear of God to bear on this class of feelings and obligations, and, by thus impregnating a system so lovely and in- fluential with the living principle of holiness, securing the most precious and extensive results for time and for eternity ? And if it can be easily made to appear that the gTeat, and I may add indispensable, means of inspiring a religious spirit into all the feelings and re- lationships of home, is no other than the due improve- ment of the holy rest of the Sabbath, with the advan- tages and opportunities which it brings along with it, who does not acknowledge a most affecting illustration of the divine wisdom and goodness in saying to us, amidst the cares and the sorrows of the world, " Re- member the Sabbath-day to keep it holy?" Oh yes! the love and observance of that hallowed season is the life of all that is hohest, and happiest, and best, in our domestic — that is, our real — existence. " The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." The illustration of the domestic influence of the Sab- bath, in a few obvious particulars, is all that the Umits of this treatise \vill admit of ; but the application of the argument to the various details and relationships of Q 242 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. private life is what the attentive reader, if really soli- citous to see its bearing on his own character and cir- cumstances, can easily accomplish for himself. To begin with those parties whose piety, if simple and devoted, is likely, by the divine blessing, to diffuse itself over the whole domestic circle, it is impossible to overlook the influence of the Sabbath on parents them- selves, both as regards their own spiritual prosperity, and their fitness for discharging the momentous duties which they owe to their offspring. It is too apt to be forgotten, that the bond which unites human beings together as husbands and wives, is not only the nearest and dearest, but the holiest of all earthly ties. It is selected by God himself to shadow forth that ineffable and indissoluble union which subsists between the Church and her Eedeemer-Lord ; it is a rare and pre- cious relic, amidst all the imperfections that adhere to it, of the estate of primeval innocence and bliss; and, in alluding to the connection between the duties of the married life and the use of means and ordinances, it is a striking fact, that almost the only other peculiarity of paradise which has survived the ruins of the fall, is to be found in that gTacious appointment which perpe- tuates the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. And close, indeed, is the connection that subsists between the right and holy observance of this primi- tive institution, and the right and holy fulfilment of conjugal obligations. To husbands and wives having the light of the Gospel to guide them, it is the plainest of all requirements, that they live as heirs together of the grace of life, helping and encouraging one another in the way that leads to heaven. But how wilhngly will all testify, who know the thing experimentally, that but for the stated return of the day of holy rest, ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 243 with its quietness, its sacredness, and its seasonable aids and opportunities, the things that remain would soon sicken and die ! Not that I mean to insinuate — far be the thought from every Christian husband and wife — that it is not both binding and attainable on other days to walk together as in the Lord's holy presence, and to supplicate together His gracious and effectual benediction. Nay, the mutual and holy obligation lies on them continually to care for one another's souls, to watch over one another in love, to take sweet and holy counsel together for the godly upbringing of their offspring, to bear one another's burdens in that strength which God alone can impart, and to seek from him the sanctified use of every comfort and of every trial. And evident, most evident it is, that this cannot be attained without the daily reading of God's Word, maintaining of spiritual converse, and bowing together at the footstool of the throne. But still, in the over- whelming majority of instances, the daily opportuni- ties for these are comparatively brief, imperfect, and interrupted. To this the experience of thousands — sincerely desirous it were otherwise — will readily and abundantly testify ; to say nothing of the undeniable fact, that but for the full flood of Sabbath opportuni- ties, under the scorching influence of worldly cares and temptations, these precarious brooks by the way would speedily disappear and be forgotten. And it is only when the hallowed mom returns, that those who have been harassed and exhausted, and sometimes even tempted to relinquish their efforts, can count upon sure and satisf}dng opportunities of helping one another to make up their spiritual way, and to recover their spiritual strength and comfort. Then it is, that the world's din being hushed into a blessed silence, they 244 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. can listen Avitli holy composure to the still small voice of divine Avisdom and consolation, and, without hin- drance or interruption, repair often to the footstool, and linger together there. Then it is, that with glad and thankful hearts they walk to the house of God in company; and having beheld the beauty of the Lord, and been satisfied with his goodness in the secret of his tabernacle, they return with renovated faith and patience to discharge their respective obhgations, and to bear one another's burdens. And then it is, that after the public service is over, being furnished out of God's own house, and having bread to eat Avhich the world knoweth not of, they are able, w^ith singular advantage, to confer together about their doubts and their duties, theh^ hopes and their fears, their sorrows and their privileges; the Christian husband sustaining with peculiar effect the comely and venerable character of a king and a priest in his own house ; and the Chris- tian wife, sitting beside him in meek and matron-like submissiveness, and hearing, in the accents she loves best, the words of eternal hfe. It should of course be carefully remembered, that this implies the exercise of foresight and previous arrangement, to prevent worldly cares, and sometimes v\^orldly visitors, from intruding on their sacred seclusion, and also much prayerful fidelity in appropriating the Sabbath of the Lord to its own sacred employments ; but when it is thus wisely provided for, and faithfully devoted, how often is it found, even fi'om the influence it sheds on the days that follow, to have been a day of the Mediator's power, and a season much to be remembered ! But this naturally leads to another view of the sub- ject closely connected with the foregoing. To Chris- tian parents it belongs, not only to comfort and ediiy ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 245 one another, but to train up their children in the nur- ture and admonition of the Lord ; to watch for their souls, as they that must give account. Interesting and momentous charge ! awful responsibility ! the thought of which might well discourage the most assiduous, were they not abundantly furnished with God's own instituted means, and animated to the diligent improve- ment of them by his exceeding great and precious pro- mises. But here, again, it cannot but be evident, and the most faithful and diligent parent will most readily verify the assertion, that were it not for Sabbath advantages and Sabbath opportunities, the result of all other efforts would be unsatisfactory indeed. Here, however, let me again guard myself, and that most carefully, against misconception. I do not mean to insinuate — and far be the thought from every Chris- tian parent — that there should not be, as far as possible, amidst all the acti"vities of life, the daily use of means and apphances. That would be a strange engrossment mth the concerns of a present world, that would lead us to Tvithhold from our tender offspring what is need- ful, from day to day, for thek bodily sustenance ; and surely it will scarcely be denied by any genuine Chris- tian, that the health of the souls of his offsprmg is at least as precious and important as this temporal life. And accordingly, in pious and well-ordered families, the daily emplo}TQent, as far as may be, of the follow- ing simple but important means of grace, will not be neglected. In addition to reading by themselves a short portion of the Word of God, as a strictly devo- tional, and not merely rational or scholastic exercise (and to this children should be trained as soon as they can read at all ; and that they may feel rehgion to be a strictly personal concern, no domestic duty, 246 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. however sacred, should be allowed to supersede this exercise) — in addition to this, there ought to be the daily reading, in the presence of the assembled house- hold, of a portion of that holy Word, from which parents derive their authority and children their en- couragement ; which is the appropriate means of spiri- tual nourishment to a Christian family as such ; and which, in order to the right discharge of every relative as well as holy duty, they all constantly stand in need of, for a light unto their feet, and a lamp unto their path. Besides, also, secret prayer — one of the first and most precious lessons that the young can be trained to, and which they will not easily forget altogether, if early and duly impressed on them with the sacredness of a father's authority, and the tenderness of a mother's love — there should be statedly offered on the domestic altar, however humble, the morning and evening sacri- fice of prayer and supplication with thanksgiving ; old and young bowing together at the throne of the hea- venly grace, and pleading with united hearts for all that they stand in need of, from Him who is their Father in heaven, the Maker, the Preserver, and the Saviour of them all. And, in addition to that blame- less example which every parental movement should exhibit to the filial eye, there should be seen, at all times, a practical and intelligible reference to Him who is the guide of all his people's footsteps, the strength of their hearts, and their everlasting portion. But here, again, it must be equally obvious, as in the case formerly illustrated, that, without the advan- tages of a Sabbath, shutting out the cares of a present world, and affording time, and quiet, and seclusion for more sustained and concentrated efforts, and more abundant supplication — it must be evident, especially ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 247 to parents themselves, and that exactly in proportion to the experience they have had in the discharge of their heavy responsibilities — ^that without the protec- tion, the opportunities, and the precious privileges of the Lord's day, all their other efforts would be ex- tremely apt to be given up, and, while they continued to be put forth, would be of little avail. Wherever the Sabbath is honoured, there are asso- ciations of sacredness, arising from the very return of that day which is called the Lord's, and is devoted to his service, which tell powerfully on the tender minds of the young, and which, among other endeared asso- ciations, recur frequently even to those who have bid adieu to their native country, when they travel back in imagination to the scenes of their early days in this chosen land of Sabbaths and of ordinances. This feeling is capable of being turned to the very best account by pious and judicious parents; not, indeed, by making the blessed day a season of gloom or of melancholy (an error to be sedulously avoided), but by strictly guarding it against the intrusion of worldly cares and occupations, and associating it in the youth- ful mind with all that is attractive and interesting in the discharge of pious obligation, in the knowledge of a once crucified but now risen Saviour, and in the experience of the powers of the world to come. When in the morning of life the Lord's day is thus rightly understood, and truly honoured, it is often the happy means of producing impressions which are never after- wards effiiced; and then what a wide and effectual door does it open for the full influence of all that is most precious and venerable in the domestic economy — parental instruction, parental authority, parental wisdom, parental piety, and parental love ! Sacred, 248 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. indeed, is a parent's authority, and more than usually depraved is that youthful heart which is not alive to its sacredness; but assuredly it has double efficacy when, the evil influences of the world being for a season altogether suspended, the domestic king and priest, in the name of the Lord of the Sabbath, commands his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, and leads them to the mount of ordi- nances, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to in- quire in his temple. Venerable and lovely indeed is the example of a pious parent, and fitted at all times and in all circumstances to exert a most salutary in- fluence, and that in many different ways ; for it is one of the admirable provisions of the domestic constitu- tion, that he whom God has placed over them, in- vested with a portion of his own authority, and whom they are to " obey in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord " — supposing him to be a Christian in- deed, conformed to the image of the great Master of the household, and behaving himself wisely in a perfect way — is an object in every Avay fitted to tell power- fully and beneficially on the tender affections of the young ; at once commanding their veneration, engaging their undoubting confidence, inspiring them with gra- titude, awakenmg their strongest sympathies, and by all these concurring influences attracting them to the imitation of those virtues which are the daily objects of their admiration and love. Of all this, every one knows the influence is proverbial, and peculiarly fitted to impress the minds of the young both while the loved example lives and moves before them, and still more when he whom they trusted and venerated comes to be laid in the silent grave. But now, of all that is interesting and sacred in a parent's worth and a parent's ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 249 tender love, what, I would ask those who can speak from experience, affects the young so strongly at the time, or recurs so readily to the memory afterwards, when dwelling on holy and happy passages of their history that will be repeated no more on earth, as Sabbath scenes, and Sabbath lessons, and Sabbath sanctities, and Sabbath endearments ? And how easy an explanation does this admit of, when we think either of those public privileges or those private oppor- tunities which the Sabbath brings along with it, and to both of which I have alluded already. It cannot fail, one would think, to have some powerful and per- manent effect on the young, when they go with their parents to the house of God, at their desire, under their authority, after theii' example, and in their loved society; and there, in solemn fellowship with God's people, and in the way of God's appointment, imite in adoration of that gracious Being whom their parents worship, and wait on the preaching of«that gospel which, while it is the power of God unto salvation, ever tends, in proportion as it is received into the heart, to draw closer those pure and happy ties which God himself has aiDpointed. And when the solemn assembly is over, a blessed influence goes home upon the family, which tells, both at the time and after- wards, on their character and conduct; prompting to the discharge both of pious and relative duty; strength- ening and sanctifying the filial as well as the parental affections ; and producing a result which even the world can appreciate, and which should always distinguish the dwelling-places of the righteous — the comely and con- sistent exhibition of " the tilings luhich are true, and just, and honourable, and pure, and of good report." This, of course, by all means supposes that private 250 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. duties are not neglected ; but tliat the public services are preceded and followed by such domestic exercises as are appropriate to the great object of the day, and, indeed, are essential to the right performance of the duties of the sanctuary, and necessary to warrant the expectation that any permanent good results will flow from them. I allude more particularly to family de- votion and instruction, directed, as both of them ought to be, to the important object of not only commanding the attention, but engaging the affections of the young, and bringing them, by God's blessing, to feel that wis- dom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and that their hearts should be joyful in the house of prayer. With a view to this, as access to their hearts must always be through the medium of the imderstanding, the practice of family catechising on the Sabbath evenings, so faithfully and successfully followed by our godly ancestors, should again be generally adopted and uni- versally puasued. That precious form of sound words, the Shorter Catechism, which after being sadly ne- glected, perhaps for two generations, has again begun to resume its proper place both in jDubhc and private instruction, with other valuable helps, of which there are not a few in the present day, should be diligently and systematically employed for the purpose of fur- nishing the opening understanding of the young with the first principles of the oracles of God. And, espe- cially, the sacredness of the Sabbath, with the quiet- ness of a Christian home on that day, should be improved, in the exercise of parental wisdom and gentleness and love, for plainly and familiarly remind- ing them of what has been said in public ; elucidating such things as may require to be brought nearer to the level of their capacities, and urging on them those ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 251 which may be most suitable to their age and circum- stances. Above all, the opportunity should be im- proved for convincing them, gently and lovingly, but thoroughly and strongly, of the folly, the guilt, and the danger, of all sin and all sinful companionship ; the authority, omniscience, holiness, and goodness of God ; the all-transcending love of Jesus, in dying for poor sinful creatures such as we are; the new and living way of reconciliation through him ; the neces- sity and efficiency of the Spirit's influence ; the blessedness as well as importance of early piety and prayer ; the practical character of true Christianity, as exemplified in the faithful discharge both of relative and religious duty ; and the immeasurable, the infinite inferiority of worldly riches, and pleasures, and dis- tinctions, to that honour which cometh from the Lord, and that inheritance which is incorruptible and unfading, and those joys which are at God's right hand, and which are full and everlasting. Who can estimate the advantages resulting to families from such Sabbath lessons as these ? — advantages which, in numberless instances, could not be realized in the most imperfect degree on ordinary days; whereas on this there is a blessed cessation from worldly toil and anxiety. Six days they have laboured and done all their work, but this is the Sabbath of the Lord their God, and the door is shut against every unhallowed in- truder; and while the question goes round fi-om one loved one to another, accompanied by the simple com- ment of parental piety, there radiates, even through the humble dwellings of poverty, the light of divine truth and holiness and joy; and thus in numberless instances unnoticed by the world, in one day at least of the seven, " the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous." 252 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. But here again we suppose, as already hinted, not only the exercise of family catechising, but the keep- ing up of family worship ; for which also the return of the sacred day affords peculiar facilities. Not, I re- peat again, that an exercise so essential to the spiritual prosperity of a family should be confined to this day (this in the case of a faithful man, who knows his Bible, may be pronounced to be impossible) ; but of the happy families where it is estabhshed, how few, if any, are the instances where its origin may not be traced back to opportunities famished by the Sabbath 1 Now, where is the Christian who requires to be in- formed, that family worship, when maintained not in form merely but in power, is the very stay and support of domestic haraiony, domestic holiness, and domestic comfort ? By this solemn act, the family, as such, ex- press their dependence upon God, their adoration of his glorious perfections, and then obligations to his love. It is, likewise, the instituted means of their obtaining the supply of their wants, the assurances of God's favour, and the communications of his grace. Wherever, therefore, this is wanting, the instructions given by the parent to his children cannot seem to be thoroughly sincere, or at least they will be apt to perplex them as glaringly inconsistent ; while, on the other hand, notliing is more likely, by a divine influence, to sub- due their waywardness, and melt their hearts, and sanctify their affections, than bowing with the authors of their existence at the footstool of eternal love, and hearing him, whom of all others upon earth they con- fide in most simply and reverence most sincerely, casting them on the merits and the all-sufficiency of a Saviour-God, and pleading mth a simple earnestness, which no human eloquence can equal in its power ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 253 over their feelings for tlie supply of their wants and the salvation of their souls. These are Sabbath scenes, whose hallowing and improving influences are not easily forgotten or speedily effaced ; and not unfre- quently has the Christian felt and acknowledged, amidst the vicissitudes of after life, not only that these simple ministrations were the means of his conversion to God, but that never did he feel nearer to the gate of heaven than when kneeling before the footstool at his father's bidding, and at his father's side, amidst the Sabbath evening sanctities of his father's house. But the subject widens as vfe advance, and we must hasten to a close. The effects of this ordinance upon families are so various as to be obvious even to the eye of outward observation; and those especially whose duties call them to the promiscuous visitation of the poor in crowded cities, are often struck with the re- markable distinction which at once presents itself be- tween the families who observe the Lord's day, and those who observe it not. There is a decency of exter- nal appearance, which is often no ambiguous token of something good existing within ; there is a system and comely order in the very arrangements of the house- hold ; there is, even in humble life, a civility of man- ners and gentleness of demeanour, contrasting strikingly with the heathenish roughness of the avowed violators of the Sabbath ; there is a liking also for home enjoy- ments and home society, which has a natural and close connection with the decent domestic observance of the sacred day ; and in addition to that fervent filial piety which the members of a Sabbath-keeping family are so likely to exemplify, there is generated, by the same dis- cipline and the same holy observances, that strong and sacred affection between brothers and sisters which con- 254 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. stitute so much of the happiness of a family while the parents are alive, and which tends so powerfully to keep them together after their parents have been laid in the grave. As we said already, this is another gi'acious pro- vision of the domestic constitution under which God has placed us, that the same training which produces veneration for their parents, and submission to their authority, gives birth also to that strong mutual affec- tion among those bom under the same roof, revering the same authority, enjoying the same advantages, and toiling together under the same burdens, which no at- tachment, however fervent, to any casual friend can come up to. In this way, by a beautiful but effectual provision, they are prepared for the various duties of after life — not only those which imply respectftil sub- mission to their superiors, but such as include equity, forbearance, and friendship to those who are on a level with them. And therefore, where domestics also are cared for as they ought to be in Christian families, there is thus, under the paternal roof, a wise and gra- cious discipline of the most comprehensive character ; the young being thereby trained for exercising all the virtues and sympathies of Christian society; for main- taining the honour, and 'performing the duties belong- ing to every one in their various stations and rela- tions, as superiors, inferiors, and equals. To refer aeain to those sacred fraternal attachments which are essential, in the first place, to the real wellbeing of a Christian family, and afterwards to the healthful con- dition of Christian society — ^they too, like the filial affections, are at once hallowed and most abundantly strengthened by the solemnities, the sympathies, and the privileges of a domestic Sabbath ; and in multitudes of instances, especially in the present state of society, ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 255 SO various are their cares and occupations, that brothers and sisters would scarcely meet together at all, at least so as to allow of Christian converse, were it not for the opportunities secured to them by the day of sacred rest. Then, however, if they are really seeking Jesus, they hold interviews with him and one another, as happy as they are holy ; and, while cherishing those kind Christian affections which are the true prepara- tion both for time and for eternity, they can say, with as glad and thankful hearts as the mightiest and the wealthiest in the land, " This is the day which the Lord hath made, lue will rejoice and he glad in it" It should have been earnestly insisted on, had space allowed, that the benefits accruing to domestics from the due improvement of the Sabbath in families where they are rightly treated, would form, if fully illustrated, a powerful additional argument in proof of the practical value and importance of that sacred institution. How often do we hear complaints of the thoughtlessness of servants, and their unfaithfulness to their earthly supe- riors ! and yet how rarely is the lamentation taken up, that they are not faithful to themselves, and have no loyal attachment to a Master in heaven, being alienated from the divine life through the ignorance that is in them, and living without God and luithout hope in the world! Should not Christians consider, that such being often in their early days cast abroad on the wide world with none to care for their souls, it devolves, as a solemn obhgation, on those under whose roof they come, to improve the opportunity presented to them by the Lord of the Sabbath, for instructing them re- specting a blessed Saviour and a coming eternity, and for bringing them, if possible, by the divine blessing, to be fellow -citizens with the saints, and of the house- 256 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. hold of God? Sucli, assuredly, should not be excluded, either from pride on the one hand, or spurious humi- hty on the other, from fully participating in the bene- fits of domestic instruction and devotion : they should be taken, if possible, with the family, after the good fashion of the olden times, to enjoy with them the pre- cious blessing of a gospel ministry ; and when we con- sider the advantages which may, in these ways, accrue to them from the Christian observance of the Sabbath in a truly Christian family — advantages, be it observed, which in many cases are attainable by no other means — who, that has any true philanthiopy, any friendship for the friendless, any compassion for precious souls, would not count " the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honourable?" From the views now propounded, however imper- fectly illustrated, we may learn how important, in a practical point of view, is the sanctification of the Sab- bath. We have seen that family rehgion can scarcely be conceived to have any permanent existence without it; and this, therefore, identifies its obsei-vance with the present and eternal wellbeing of innumerable mul- titudes. And if it be also undeniable, that the true prosperity both of nations and churches is inseparably connected with the right condition of families, or rather, that the announcement of this prosperity is merely an aggregate statement of their virtue, and piety, and true happiness, how essential to the best interests of society must be the protection of that institution ! and what enemies must they be to the human race who would wish to lower its sanctity, or weaken its obHgation ! Again, how preposterous is the arg-umentation of those who would pretend to reason against the distinct observance of the Lord's day, by alleging, that if men ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 257 would be tiaily religious, every day should be a Sab- bath ! The emplopuent of such language betrays the absence, if not of common candour, then assuredly of common sense and observation. That the true Chris- tian, in the busiest avocations of daily life, will seek to set the Lord before him and to hold communion with him continually, is most freely admitted, and cannot indeed be too strongly affimied; and the enemies, as well as the friends, of Sabbatic obsei^ances, might be improved by deeply realizing this great practical truth. But, most obviously, this is not the point at issue ; the real question is — in the present chcumstances of man- kind, amidst the hurry and the cares of this restless world, would there be time without the Sabbath for quiet meditation? Would there be opportunities for awakening, or conversion, or edification, or spi- ritual converse? Would there be facilities, or even possibilities, of recovering from our conflicts with the world, and preparing to renew the combat with the enemy of our souls? The experience of Chris- tians in every age has proved, that without such quiet breathing-times as the Sabbath affords, they could not either cherish the inspirations of piety in their own souls, or be the means of conveying them to their offspring; and, accordingly. He who knoweth our frame has wisely and graciously provided for the dif- ficulty of our position and the infirmity of our nature by distinctly enjoining, ^^ Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; hut the seventh day is the Sab- hath of the Lord thy God." But, again, if these views be correct, how indispen- sable is it for heads of famihes to exercise wisdom and foresight, if they would secure to themselves and their households the advantage of the Sabbath rest ! There 258 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. * was once a good law in England, that no business should be transacted after nine o'clock on Saturday evening. It is then the preparation, and the Sabbath draweth nigh. In our o^vn families, at least, we should make pnident arrangements, and steadfastly adhere to them; and by carefully disposing of our worldly concerns beforehand, by preventing the wasting of the Sabbath morning in sloth or idleness, and the paying or receiving of idle visits on that day, and by systema- tically keeping the household by itself, we should la- bour to secure the fuU benefit of the ordinance. It becomes parents solemnly to consider, that Sabbath opportunities are a precious trust committed to them, not only for their own profit, but for the advantage of others ; and that, to remind them at once of their duty and their responsibility, God has addressed the fourth commandment to them, not only in their indi\idual capacity, but as heads of families; "m it, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant." In conclusion, how deeply it concerns us all, more especially as our Sabbaths upon earth may be fast hastening to a close, to take ourselves strictly to account in this important matter. Are we keeping the Sab- bath from polluting it? Are we counting it ^^the holy of the Lord, and honour able V And are we and our families carrying the power and the spirit of it through the daily avocations of life? What has been said of prayer may be said of the observance of this ordinance ; we may and should judge of our performance of the duty, not only from the spirit that animates us at the time, but from the practical effects that result from the discharge of it. For, after all, the Sabbath, precious ns it is, is but a means of grace ; the great end is prac- ITS INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC PIETY. 259 tical godliness; ceasing from the commission of sin; living to the praise of a risen Saviour; glorifying "God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his." In what degi-ee is this the attainment of our- selves and our families? What loud and solemn calls there are for strict self-examination! What a blessed thing it is, when we think of our fearful shortcomings, to be able to repair to the blood of sprinkling; but, at at the same time, with what solemn emphasis should the recollection of every departed Sabbath say to us. Be up and doing? And when we feel most deeply interested in those who are nearest and dearest to us, besides looking back with humility and penitence on the pastjliow thankful should we be that it is at once our privilege and our duty to look forward to the future, often cherishing the lively anticipation of that better Sabbath, whose brightness no cloud shall ever overcast, whose peace no care shall disturb, and whose holy and happy exercises shall never end I 260 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. X. HISTORICAL NOTICES ON THE SUBJECT OP SABBATH O^ERYANCE, SHOWING ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PROSPERITY OE CHURCHES. BY THE REV. W. M. HETHERINGTON, LL.D., FRKE CHURCH, EDINBURGH. It may be fairly assumed that the blessings promised by God ^\ill Qoav most fully in the channel which he has himself appointed. The direct converse may be also assumed, that if men forsake the channels of God's appointment, they cannot expect the promised bless- ings in equal fulness. If, then, the Sabbath be the day which God has appointed for the communication of spiritual blessings, those blessings will be obtained in largest measure by its sacred observance, and will be forfeited by its neglect and desecration. This pro- position we have begun by stating as assumed ; but if it be true, it must be capable of being verified. The Christian Church has been now upwards of eighteen centuries in existence, and has experienced many vicissitudes, passing through periods of prosperity at one time and of adversity at another, of light and ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPEKITY OF CHURCHES. 261 purity, or of darkness and impurity, of spiritual energy, or of spiritual torpor and corruption. Can it be shown by a series of historical notices, that there has been in a very remarkable degree a close correspondence in all these periods between the observance of Sabbath sanctity and the spiritual prosperity of the Churches on the one hand, and the neglect of Sabbath sanctity and the spiritual declension of the Churches on the other ? To furnish a brief answer to this question is the object attempted in this treatise, so far as its limits will permit. Let it be observed that in this treatise we are war- ranted to hold, as already proved, that the Christian Sabbath is, under the Christian dispensation, the day which God has appointed for the communication of spiritual blessings in a special manner; on that the assumption which we are to prove rests ; but that it- self is not an assumption — it is a primary position already proved. And let it further be observed, that while it is not our province to prove the moral and rehgious identity of the Hebrew and Christian Sab- bath, or, in other words, the divine authority and per- petual obligation of the Sabbath, we are equally war- ranted in holding that point also as already proved. We might therefore, with perfect propriety, devote a portion of our space to the selection of passages from the Old Testament Scriptures, in which are exhibited the influence of Sabbath observance on the prosperity of the Hebrew Church and nation. But we forego that advantage, and content ourselves with directing the attention of our readers to that view of the sub- ject, it being quite impossible for any intelhgent or attentive reader of the Bible to avoid perceiving that, in exact correspondence with the religious observance 262 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. or neglect of the Sabbath, was the Hebrew Church and nation blessed with prosperity and happiness, or smitten with those chastisements which manifested divine displeasure. There is still another remark of a preliminary cha- racter which must be made. It ought to be constantly borne in mind, that at the origin of the Christian Church, it was absolutely impossible that the Christian Sabbath could be kept with the same sacred strictness with which the Old Testament Sabbath had been kept. So long as the Christian Church was confined within the limits of Palestine, and restricted to native Jews and Proselytes, as it was for some time, it was neces- sary for the converts to continue the exact observance of the Jewish Sabbath, in compliance with the law of the land. They might, and there is reason to believe they did, observe the Lord's day so far as that could be privately done, but they had it not in their power to render it a day of holy rest. When the Christian Church began to be diffused throughout the Gentile world, it had to encounter almost innumerable ob- stacles, and was exposed to almost constant persecu- tion. In such a condition, it was of course impossible for the Church to secure any thing even approaching Sabbath observance, so far as that implies the settmg apart of the Lord's day to public and private worship, and the prohibition of ordinary secular employment, or servile work on that day. But there is sufficient proof that the first day of the week was termed the Lord's day; that it was devoted to the worship of God to the utmost degree which the depressed and perse- cuted state of the Church rendered possible ; and that the ideal standard of religious observance which the early Christians longed to realize, was the transference ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF CHURCHES. 263 of Old Testament principles from the seventh day to the first; in other words, the identification of the fourth commandment with the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath. These three points contain all that in that age was possible ; and, therefore, all regarding which we can reasonably be expected to furnish evidence. The Christians of the apostolic period assembled to- gether for the worship of God and for the advance- ment of piety on the first day of the week, or on some part of that day, which was early distinguished by the significant designation of " The Lord's day.'' In proof of this, it is only necessary to refer to Acts ii. 1, xx. 7; ] Cor. xvi. 1,2; Rev. i. 10. That the stated and regu- lar obsen^ance of this day, so far as practicable, by the early Christians, had attracted the notice of the heathen, is evident from the well-known letter of Pliny to Tra- jan : — " They (the Christians) were accustomed on a stated day to meet before daylight, and to repeat among themselves a hjmin to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath to abstain fi:om the com- mission of any ^vickedness; after which it was their custom to separate, and to meet again at a promiscuous harmless meal." The language of Justin Martyr, in his Apology (a.d. 150), is very distinct. " On the day which is called Sunday, all, whether dAvelling in the towns or in the callages, hold meetings, and the memoirs of the apostles and the ^wiutings of the pro- phets are read, as much as the time will permit ; then the reader closing, the president in a speech exhorts and incites to an imitation of those excellent examples ; then we all rise and pour forth united prayers; and when we close our prayer, as was before said, bread is brought forth, and wine, and water; and the presi- 264 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. dent utters prayers and thanksgiving according to his ability, and the people respond by saying, Amen; and a distribution and participation of the things blessed takes place to each one present, and to those absent it is sent by the deacons. Those who are pros- perous and willing give what they choose, each accord- ing to his own pleasure; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who carefully relieves the orphans and widows, and those who from sickness or other causes are needy, and also those in prison, and the strangers who are residing with us ; and, in short, all who have need of help. We all commonly hold our assemblies on Sunday, because it is the first day on which God converted the darkness and matter, and framed the world; and Jesus Christ, our Saviour, on the same day rose from the dead." To the same effect is the statement of Tertullian, only that his account is somewhat more minute. One of the most direct and intelligible statements of the view taken by the early Christians of the Lord's day is that of Eusebius, to the follomng effect : — " All things whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have trans- ferred to the Lord's day, as more appropriately belong- ing to it, because it has a precedence, and is first in rank, and more honourable than the Jewish Sabbath. It is dehvered to us that we should meet together on this day, and it is ordered that we should do those things announced in this Psalm." — Comment on Ps. xcii. Our space will not permit us to multiply examples; but there is one which deserves particular notice. It appears from the Acts of the Martyrs, as cited by Bishop Andrews, that one of the usual questions put to a person accused of being a Christian during the ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF CHURCHES. 265 times of persecution was, Dominicum servasti ? Hast thou kept the Lord's day? The answer which an unshrinking behever generally returned was, " I am a Christian, and cannot omit its observance." And yet that observance could often be nothing more than attending the worship of God in some private dwelling- place, or some secret cave, or in the vaulted burying- grounds among the bodies of the dead. Yet so far as was possible they kept it holy, devoted it to the wor- ship of God, and were ready to suffer the tortures of the most cruel martyrdom, rather than disregard or deny the Lord's day. While such was the spirit in which the Lord's day was observed by the early Christian Church, the ques- tion arises, " What was the state of the Chinch with regard to its religious prosperity?" Let it be distinctly observed, that the rehgious prosperity of a Church is not to be estimated by the amount of favour which it obtains from the world. Very much the reverse indeed. "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore doth the world hate you." The world's hatred, rather than the world's love, indicates the true prosperity of a Christian Church. But its true pros- perity consists in its successful diffusion of the glad tidings of salvation throughout the vrorld in spite of all opposition, and in winning souls to Christ. During that age, when the Lord's day was so faithfully kept in caves, and tombs, and surrounded by every form of peril, the Church continued to advance with the most marvellous rapidity. It had its early abode in an upper room in Jerusalem. It was soon found in Samaria. Antioch received its influence, and called its teachers Christians. Damascus heard its voice. 266 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and the deserts of Arabia were conscious of its pre- sence. The temple of Diana at Ephesus was deserted, and Asia began to despise its long-worshipped goddess. Inquisitive and fickle Athens heard and wondered, as the groves of Academe and the tribunal of Areopagus resounded with the proclaimed gospel of the no longer " unknown God.'' Stem and haughty Rome was constrained to pause and listen, while Paul, a Roman citizen, althousrh in bonds, defended and asserted that heavenly truth which no bonds could fetter, till even "they of Caesars household'' received it -with faith and love. It pierced the darkness of Eg-j^t, dispelled the gloomy mysteries of that land of ancient and fabu- lous renown, and diffused the mild and benignant lio'ht of the Sun of Rio'hteousness throuoiiout the swarthy regions of Africa. For a time it seemed as if it would indeed soon conquer the world. The blood of the mart}Ts seemed to be in reality the seed of the Church; and the fires in which Christ's faithful wit- nesses were consumed were but the signal-fii^es, con- veying with the speed of light the message of salvation to another and another startled and awakening country. But this period of rehgious prosperity came suddenly to a close. And it is most instructive to mark how exactly the first symptoms of its cessation coincide with the appearance of a new and delusive element. The Christian heroism of the early martyrs had gained the highest admiration of the suffering yet prospering Church. This Avas not strange, nor even censurable, within due limits. But the praises of the martyrs became extravagant. The places where they had suffered — theu* gathered ashes — the graves in which their mangled remains had been interred — ^these began to be regarded with superstitious veneration. Ere- ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF CHURCHES. 267 long the days of their martyrdom began to be viewed as comparatively sacred to their memories, not only for the purpose of keeping their faith and fortitude in recollection, but to be set apart for worship, as in some measure hallowed by their death. Not only were their \Trtues then commemorated in the most pompous and extravagant language, but it began to become customary to offer up prayers, at first for the souls of those martyrs, and erelong to those martyrs themselves, as to a kind of subordinate mediators. These saints' days very soon interfered with the veneration which had previously been entertained for the Lord's day alone; and before the power of Pagan Rome to suppress the public obsen^ance of the Christian Sabbath had en- tirely passed away, its sole and separate sanctity had been invaded by a legion of those spurious holy days of man's devising. In vain did Constantino frame laws requiring the inhabitants of cities, and all me- chanics, to suspend their ordinary business and their labours on the Lord's day, closing also the courts of justice and all other pubhc offices. This clearly proves in what manner the early Church had desired to observe the Christian Sabbath; but the laws of Con- stantino introduced a most pernicious element. The Lord's day and the other festivals were placed by these laws on the same level ; and as those other festivals were not of divine authority, the inevitable effect was to degrade the sacred sanctity of the Lord's day from its sole supremacy over the conscience of the worship- pers. This effect was very soon apparent, and it very rapidly increased. It could not indeed be otherwise; for the attempt to raise any human invention in mat- ters of religion into an equality with what is of divine institution, tends directly, and in the first instance, to 268 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. lower the authority of the divine to the level of the human. But it also tends in the next instance to elevate the human above the divine, in consequence of the indulgence which it gives to man's naturally rebellious will. What has been termed will-worship is inevitably false worship ; and as inevitably, by almost a single step, abolishes, or at least degrades, true worship. The Church was ready to take that step before the time of Constantine. It was taken then ; the progress of defection and error went on v/ith increasing rapidity and power, till within a short period the whole year was overrun with saints' days and festivals, and the Lord's day was almost entirely disre- garded, or changed into a day of mere amusement, recreation, and festivity, or of kinds and degrees of desecration too sinful and shameful to be described. The question need scarcely be put, whether the Church enjoyed religious prosperity during that period? It was a dark and adverse time, fitted only for the development of the antichristian kingdom, which in- deed " practised and prospered." The setting up of saints' days, and the degradation of the Lord's day, may, with great propriety, be regarded as a character- istic of the rise of that dread and desolating power; and the growth and aggrandizement of the Komish apostasy cannot be viewed as any thing else than the measure of adversity and depression endured for a permitted season by the tme Church of Christ. But where was that Church then to be found ? Chiefly among the Yaudois valleys of the Alps, — among that people so generally known as the Waldensians. Scarcely had the antichristian aspect of Rome begun to appear, when the dwellers in those secluded valleys of Piedmont began to be known as peculiarly dis- ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF CHURCHES. 269 tingnished by their strict adherence to the simplicity of worship, and purity of morals, which characterised the earliest ages of the Church, and by their refusal to adopt any other standard of faith than the Bible alone. To those acquainted with Church histoiy we need but mention such names as Vigilantius, and Claude of Tui'in, to remind them at once of the early purity and zeal of that remnant of true Christianity, But the scope of this essay requires us to furnish some proof that the Waldensian Church was distinguished by Sabbath observance. And happily this can be done, although the wTitings of that simple people were not numerous, and although many of those writings perished in the devastating persecutions by which Papal Rome strove to exterminate them. In one of then- ancient writings of a metrical construction, en- titled The Noble Lesson, of date about 1100, there is not only a distinct recognition of the divine authority of the Moral Law, consequently of the Fourth Com- mandment, but a clear indication of a very important principle, well fitted to explain the relation in which the whole of that law stands to the gospel : — " Christ did not change it that it should be abandoned, but renewed it that it might be better kept." In the Confession of Faith of the same Church, the feasts and vigils of saints are denounced as " an unspeakable abomination.'' In an " Exposition of the Command- ments," the following passage occurs : — " They that wiU keep and observe the Sabbath of Christians — that is to say, will sanctify the day of the Lord — must be careful of four things; the 1st is, to cease from all earthly and worldly labours ; the 2d, not to sin ; the .3d, not to be idle in regard to good works; the 4th, to do those things that are for the benefit of the soul." 270 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. And in another Confession, drawn up at a later period, the following article occurs: — "That on Sundays we ought to cease from our earthly labours, through zeal for God, and love towards our servants, and that we may apply ourselves to hearing the Word of God/' These notices are enough to prove that the Waldensian Church was specially distinguished by its sacred ob- servance of the Lord's day. But was the religious prosperity of that Church equally remarkable ? If to endure all hardships, all sufferings, all tribulations, with constancy unshaken, patience invincible, and faith victorious, be religious prosperity, the Waldensian Church was most pros- perous. If to continue steadfast through a long agony of centuries, glorifying God in. the midst of the furnace of persecution, even when it was heated seven times, maintaining still imperishable life, and heavenly hope triumphant over all, be religious prosperity, that Church in the wilderness was marvellously prosperous. And if, in the midst of all its fiery trials, to strive to its power, and beyond its power, to act as a missionary Church, not only upholding its own testimony to the truth, but striving to diffuse around it that priceless blessing, thus both continuing and extending true Christianity in spite of all the deadly efforts of anti- christ, be religious prosperity, the faithful and zealous Waldensian Church was gloriously prosperous. The teaching of that Church pervaded the south of France, and became instrumental there in winning many souls to Christ. Its living truths ran along the Rhine, communicating spiritual life to numbers, and preparing a way for future gospel progress. Bohemia caught some rays of the saOFESS0R OF ECCLESrASTICAL KISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP GLASGOW. The wisdom of God is truly infinite. He seeth " the end from tlie beo^inuins^, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.'' — (Isa. xlvi. iO.) He imeningly adapts all agencies, whether material or mental, to their work, and overrules them to the accom- plishment of his eternal purposes at the time and in the Avay he had foreseen and appointed. Consequently the means which he employs for attain- ing any proposed end can never fail. His dispensations always fulfil their mission. His institutions unfailingly effect the precise purposes for which they were estab- lished ; though we may not be able in all cases to dis- cern what these purposes were, nor how they have been 292 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. accomplished. Nay more: divine ordinances do not merely fulfil their special and primary objects, but, while realizing these, they are designed and calculated to promote many other beneficial ends. The highest effort of human wisdom is to devise means which may, with certainty, accomplish some single purpose ; and all experience testifies how seldom this measure of success is attained. But such are the inexhaustible resources of divine wisdom, that His appointed means. His insti- tutions, never fail to confer almost countless blessings on those who reverently observe them; so that, amid this multiplicity of attendant blessings, it is often dif- ficult to distinguish between those which were pri- marily, and those which were indirectly, designed to be bestowed. Thus it is with the Sabbath. Tried by this test, it approves itself to be truly a divine ordinance. It has not only answered the special purposes of heavenly wis- dom and love to man in its appointment ; it has at the same time been attended with so many other beneficent results, that one often feels at a loss to determine which of these are the special blessings its divine Founder intended it primarily to confer, and which are the sup- plementary ones that follow in their train. How numerous, varied, and precious are the objects which the Sabbath, from the day of its institution, was designed to accomplish ! Under the Patriarchal dispensation it was a mute but eloquent witness for the existence of God, his unity, his creative power, his sovereignty over his creatures, and their responsibility to him. Under the Mosaic economy, the Sabbath bore continued testimony not only to these truths, but also to the providential and moral government of God in its preservation and re-enactment, and his supreme ITS INFLUENCE OX PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 293 light to the homage and worship of his people ; it bore testimony to his beneficent regard for their temporal and eternal welfare ; it taught them to look, through its hallowed use, for blessings on themselves and their nation ; and it indicated a future period which would be pregnant with richer blessings and ennobled with a purer worship. Under the Christian dispensation, while all these fundamental truths are still emphatically inculcated by the Sabbath, it has moreover become a memorial of redeeming love — a witness for the com- pletion of that "better covenant'' which was ratified by the resurrection of its Surety — a remembrance of Him "who died for our sins, and rose again for our jlistification" — an attestation to the deity of Him who had " power to lay do^svn his life, and power to take it again" on this day — and a manifestation of His kingly prerogatives when he proclaimed himself to be the " Lord of the Sabbath." It has become a source of still more precious blessings to the people of God, refreshing, edifying, sanctifying them ; a season for meditating on past sin and present infirmity, and for rejoicing in a finished salvation and a purchased inheritance. And it still continues to be a type of that heavenly " Sab- bath that remaineth to the people of God," and one of the most efficient means of preparing them for its en- jo}Tiient. These are some of the primary and special ends which the Lord of the Sabbath had in view when he instituted it, and which it has never failed to answer. But, true to its divme origin, a long train of attendant blessings, corporeal and mental, intellectual and moral, personal and domestic, social and national, temporal and eternal, flow from its sanctified observance. Several of these have been fully unfolded in other treatises of this series. 294 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. Its blessed influence on the temporal wellbeing OF MEN, AND MORE ESPECIALLY OF THE WORKING CLASSES;* its HAPPY ADAPTATION TO MAN's INTEL- LECTUAL AND MORAL NATURE; f its benign influence on the religion and piety of INDIVIDUALS^ FAMILIES,§ and CHURCHES, || have all been separately discussed and clearly demonstrated. It has been allotted to this treatise to illustrate the influence of the Sabbath in another and still wider sphere — IN promoting the GENERAL PROSPERITY AND WELLBEING OF NATIONS. That a right observance of the Lord's day lies at the foundation of NATIONAL happiness and prosperity, is a truth which follows necessarily from the proofs already given, in other treatises of this series, of its hallowed influence on individuals, families, and churches. Let these be advancing in "whatsoever things are true, honest, and just — pure, lovely, and of good report,'' and the community at large cannot fail to participate in this moral proficiency, and to be elevated in reputation and influence. A nation is but an aggregate of indi- viduals. Its character is, sooner or later, determined by theirs; and oscillates towards good or evil just as an influential, though it may not be always an actual, ma- jority of its people are rising or falling in the scale of moral excellence. This connection is so obvious and immediate, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it. It is alluded to here, simply because on this connection rests one of the most direct and satisfactory proofs which can be adduced in favour of the national value of the Sab- bath. The community at large is benefited in the same proportion and in the same respects in which * Essay, No. 4. f Ibid., No. 5. t Ibid., No. 7 and No. S. § Ibid., No. 9. II Ibid., No. 10. ITS INFLUENCE ON PKOSPERTTY OF NATIONS. 29-^ individuals are profited by the Sabbath. What then are the blessings which it confers on those who " re- member'' its holy purposes, and who "keep" it in a right spirit and manner? and what connection have these blessings with national prosperity? Let us enu- merate a few of these. The Sabbath rests both the wearied and toilworn body, as well as the overwrought and overstrained mind ; and it successively renovates and invigorates both, for their daily corporeal and in- tellectual labour. It brings together in the sanctuary employers and employed, masters and servants, for one day at least, under circumstances calculated to promote mutual respect and confidence, and to give 'each a deeper interest in the other's welfare. It secures to aU classes the opportunity of spending an unbroken day amid the dear domestic circle, and of promoting the highest and noblest interests of themselves and their families. It deepens their reverence for the sovereign authority of the Lord of the Sabbath, who every week appeals .to them for the homage of this one day in seven. It brings them into ennobling con- verse with the Word of God, and with the great and the good of past generations. It strengthens and ex- pands the minds even of the best educated classes, and still more of those who have not been so favoured, by engaging them at stated periods in meditations on the elevating truths of revelation, and those sublime mys- teries of godliness into which angels themselves desire to look. It controls and purifies the moral sensibili- ties, by exhibiting week after week, in the solemn assembly, a perfect standard of virtue in the divine law, and by urging its imperative obligations on con- science and life by the weightiest considerations which can be addressed to rational beings. It counteracts 296 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the chilling selfishness which uninterrupted contact with the world never fails to engender, by breaking in at short and regular intervals upon its engagements, dissipating its anxieties, and giving room for all the generous sensibilities of the heart to be cherished and expanded in the delightful int^course of children, friends, and fellow-worshippers. It reminds men of the inalienable right of God to their whole time, though in condescension and mercy he demands the special consecration of only a seventh portion of it. And it teaches them, that for the " six days" in which they are permitted to " labour,'' and commanded to " do all their work,'' they are as responsible to God as for the Sabbath itself ; and that they are bound to live every day, not merely for themselves, but for others, for their country, their religion, the world — for Him " who died for them and on this day rose again." In a word, the direct and obvious tendency of the Sabbath, is to render those who " remember to keep it holy" diligent and industrious, enlightened and intelligent, upright and conscientious, disinterested and patriotic, pious and religious. And, by gradually augmenting the number and influence of such men in a community, it controls and modifies public opinion ; it diffuses social order among all classes — the result of mutual respect and confideilce ; it purifies the legislation and policy of a nation; it expands and elevates its views, arms it against every species of oppression and injustice, and fills it with generous impulses towards the attainment of the highest good for itself, and the whole family of man. If these be the invariable fruits of a well-directed Sabbath observance, is not this institute inseparably bound up with the general wellbeing and prosperity of ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 297 nations? Can any community undervalue and neglect it with impunity? Must not its desecration, especially that systematic desecration which is enforced by the authority of a nation, in the shape of Sabbath mails, and Sabbath travelling, and Sabbath recreations, and, in some kingdoms, of national assemblages, processions, and ceremonials on this day — must not such authori- tative desecration, sooner or later, by disparaging divine authority, perverting individual conscience, and diminishing facilities for religious instruction, deterio- rate the moral feelings and principles of a people, weaken their convictions of duty, and thus directly injure the character and happiness of a nation? Can the good of a people be promoted by rendering them less intelligent, less religious, and less moral, than they might otherwise have been? Can that kingdom enjoy substantial prosperity, the mass of whose population are retained within the bounds of an outward decency and morality, merely by the conventional restraints of society, and not by deep and honest convictions of duty? And how are these salutary convictions to exist apart from a well-grounded knowledge of God, and an intelligent acquaintance with the principles of Christian doctrine and morals? How are the mass of a community to acquire this religious knowledge, which is the only stable foundation of a holy life, if there be no Sabbath cessation from daily toil, no Sabbath assem- blies, no Sabbath instruction in and out of the church ; and if there be, for the rising generation, no Sabbath training at home, and no early familiarity with the soul-stuTing and life-giving themes of religion? The history of nations amply confirms these views of the national value of the Sabbath. Look where we may, we find them corroborated in the progTess and 298 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. advancement of the Sabbatli-lionouring and Sabbatli- keeping communities, and in the partial and unstable progress of those that profane and abuse this day. The scale of national prosperity, whether in the Old World or in the New, may be graduated by the degree of respect and reverence for the Sabbath which is preva- lent in each state. In the Old World, let Britain be contrasted with Spain; or in the New, let the United States be contrasted with Mexico or any of the South American republics — and the result will amply confirm the truth of these observations. And even in distinct portions of the same state, a similar connection is ob- vious. The contrast between Scotland and Ireland, between Holland and Belgium when united, and between the Northern and Southern States of the North American Republic, still more emphatically evinces (let it be explained as it may) how closely allied Sabbath-keeping is with the prosperity, and Sabbath profanation with the limited progress and partial development, of a community. It may therefore be affirmed as a,n undoubted truth, that the right observance of the Sabbath is indissolubly connected with the general wellbeing of kingdoms. But so prolific of good is this blessed day, that its aus- picious influence on national interests may be distinctly traced in various directions. It may be shown to exert a beneficial interest on — I. the intelligence ; II. the trade and COMMERCE; III. THE SOCIAL ORDER ; and IV. THE liberties of nations. I. The Sabbath elevates the general intelligence of a nation. This term is not meant to apply to the proficiency of a people in science or literature. To aid in the advancement of mere intellectual education, does not by any means lie within the province of the ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 29.9 Sabbath. Such an object, though most valuable and indispensable in its own place, is wholly unsuited to the spirit and purport of the Lord's day; which was set apart by Jehovah, and all worldly pursuits enjoined to be laid aside, in order that higher themes than any connected with science or learning might engage the attention and occupy the minds of men. But so far from the weekly suspension of these studies being cal- culated to injure, its tendency is to promote the pro- gress of education and secular knowledge among a people. For the mind can no more work incessantly, day after day, than can the body. By the operation of that law which renders the seasonable rest of a seventh day absolutely necessary to fit the corporeal frame for resuming daily toil with renewed activity; so the Sabbath suspension of mental toil braces and strengthens all the intellectual faculties, and starts them afresh every week with invigorated energy in the pursuit of knowledge and of truth. In this way, as well as in others, it were easy to show that the mere phy- sical rest of the Sabbath is not remotely connected with the progress of a community even in scientific acquire- ments and secular knowledge. But it is not under this aspect that we consider the Sabbath as calculated to promote the intelligence of a nation. That national quality is estimated, not so much by the brilliant achievements of a few profound philosophers and men of genius, as by the mental activity, the practical sagacity, and prudent forethought of the general population. An intelligent people is not necessarily a learned, nor even what is called a clever, people; unless these qualities are under the control of sound judgment, and accompanied with a due sense of personal responsibility. There is an 300 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ob\ioiis distinction, too, between a skilful and intelli- gent people. A skilful man knows thoroughly his o\vn special emplo}Tnent, and is expert in perfonning all its pecuhar fimctions. But unless liis mind rises above the naiTow limits of his handicraft or profession, unless to his manual or mental dexterity he conjoins moral elevation of character, unless he has ascertained his o^NTi position and duties in the community, and knows what is Anthin and what is beyond the sphere of his hopes and responsibilities, he cannot be properly con- sidered an intelligent indi^'idual. An idolatrous or profane people may be clever and skilful ; but it would be a gross perversion of terms to call them intelligent or enlightened, so long as they are ignorant of God and of themselves, of the moral economy in which they form a part, of the true end of their being, and the means of its attainment. Now, while the Sabbath does not profess to add to the learning or skill of a people, it has a direct ten- dency to augTQent their intelligence. And this it accom- plishes principally by brmging them into close and familiar contact with moral and rehgious truth. '• The law of the Lord maketh wise the simple." Nothing expands and quickens the mind so effectually as those sublime and exciting contemplations of the divine nature, of the ruin and recovery of man, of the pro\d- dential government of God, of the eternal obligations of the moral law, and the harmony of human experi- ence there^\ith, which Sabbath ordinances and exercises statedly present to the mind and heart of their ob- servers. These exercises elevate every man above the dull round of daily employments and the narrow range of worldly speculations, which contract and enfeeble the mind. They enlarge his \dews, quicken his sensibilities, ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 301 and invigorate his intellectual powers. They hal)ituate him to weisrh the force of evidence, and estimate the strength of arguments applied to subjects of the highest and noblest kind. They train him, with more or less success, to habits of reflection and consideration, and insphe him with the hope and desire of attaining to something better and higher than what this world can oifer. Finally, these Sabbath exercises impart to him who joins in them, however humble in station, great strength of character. They enable him to look beyond present allurements, to sacrifice immediate advantages for future o-ood, and to hold in check the lower and sensual, while he cherishes the higher and spiritual, tendencies of his nature. In these results of Sabbath obseiTance lie the ele- ments of tme intellectual and moral elevation. A Sab- bath-keeping labourer under influences such as these from his youth up, however uneducated in other respects, becomes an intelligent man. The most enlightened in the realm have not unfrequently been indebted to his powers of observation and reasoning for accessions to their knowledge. Some of the most valuable improve- ments in arts and manufactures have emanated from men who had scarcely any intellectual culture beyond what their Sabbath occupations had imparted to them. In our own day we have seen the bounds of natural science enlarged, and the regions of literature and philosophy adorned by the pens of humble but Sab- bath-keepmg artisans. Godless critics, undervaluing the influence of such Sabbath-training as this, have vainly endeavoured to account for the intellectual superiority of one in whom the world saw only an illiterate tinker. Nor can any explanation of that unprecedented phenomenon in the world of letters — 302 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. The Pilgrim's Progress — be accepted, save that whicti traces it up to the Sabbath-keeping, with all the attendant scriptural training, of its otherwise un- educated author. What a delightful confirmation of these remarks has been recently fiunished by the Prize Essays of the Sabbath-honomTQg workmen of Britain I These pro- ductions, amid their other excellencies which it does not he within the scope of this treatise to notice, display in general gi^eat intelhgence and shrewdness of obser- vation, mth admirable powers of reasoning, sound judgment, and well-balanced minds, firmly poised on the stable pillars of pure morality and true rehgion. We meet in them with no narrow prejudices nor con- tracted views, no idle theories nor Utopian schemes for the elevation of their own class, no pee^dsh discontent with their position in the social scale, nor selfish jealousy of their more highly favoured brethren. How did these " sons of toil" acquire the intelligence and elevation of mind which characterise these Essays ? Not certainly from any special advantages of secular education, but almost entirely from the happy influ- ence of their Sabbath-keepiQg habits and exercises. How much hic/her amono- the nations would even Bri- tain stand in the scale of intelhgence, if the soimd sense and enlarged views, the genuine patriotism and the well-directed philanthropy of these thousand arti- sans, were more generally diffused among the millions of her population ! What might not our coimtry be- come, if the principles inculcated in these Essays were steadily actuating and guiding the private and pul^lic enterprises of all classes in the nation, from the highest of her nobles and legislators down to the humblest of her mechanics and labourers ! ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 303 In fine, to secure an undisturbed weekly Sabbath rest for weekly Sabbath duties, ought to be an object of national anxiety and national legislation, because it would undoubtedly elevate the intellectual as well as the moral character of the people, and prove an unfail- ing source of national superiority. II. The Sabbath is also instrumental in benefiting the TRADE AND COMMERCE of a nation. This position might be established by a variety of considerations, on which it is unnecessary to enlarge here. Thus, it might be proved by referring to the well-kno\^Ti influ- ence of a sanctified weekly rest, which, by emancipat- ing the mind from the corroding anxieties of business, recreating it by a change of occupation, and strength- ening it by religious exercises, fits men week after week for resuming then employments ^^dth renovated vigour both of mmd and body. It might also be shown that the Sabbath, by its tendency to quicken the intellect, augment the intelligence, and expand the views of those who rightly keep it, is thereby also qualifying a people for conducting then secular affairs all the more wisely and successfully. Nor must it be omitted, in estimating the benefits which the Sab- bath confers on the trade and commerce of a nation, to point to its tendency to train up a community not only in habits of steady diligence in their call- ings, which is one of the chief sources of success in business, but also in habits of economy, self-control, and prudent forethought, by which capital is accumu- lated, the wealth of a nation increased, and its com- onercial prosperity extended and consolidated. But without dwelling on these topics, there are other considerations which are deserving of special notice. The successful prosecution of trade aud com- 304 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. merce depends not merely on the skill, energy, and perseverance, but also, and that chiefly, on the honesty, integrity, and patient industry of those en- gaged therein, whether they be employers or em- ployed. These moral, rather than any physical or even intellectual, qualities lie at the foundation of mercantile prosperity. Mutual confidence, founded on inflexible uprightness, is the very soul of trade. It cannot flourish without it. So obvious is this connec- tion, that even mere worldly policy compels many an unprincipled scoffer at religion and its Sabbaths to be faithful to his engagements. But this conventional honesty is never able to withstand sudden or urgent temptations. It is only that integrity which springs from religious principle, from the fear of God, the sense of obligation to divine mercy, the love of holi- ness, and settled convictions of duty to others, which will prove firm and incorruptible. Now, this personal integrity is invariably co-exis- tent with personal religion, and is inseparable from it. Whatever promotes the one, sustains the other. The more prevalent genuine religion is in a nation — that is, the greater the number of those vrho are sincerely actuated by its motives and upheld by its principles, the more prevalent, assuredly, will commercial fidelity and mutual confidence become ; and the more steadily will a high standard of mercantile integiity be main- tained throughout the community. But such a religious influence as this cannot possibly be upheld among a people without the Sabbath : — First, Because its authoritative rest is absolutely ne- cessary, to enable mankind in general, or as a nation, to acquire religious knowledge, which is not intuitive, but, like every other species of knowledge, must be ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 305 taught and learned. Secondly, Because the holy obser- vance of the Sabbath is the only efficient means of preserving and extending this knowledge, when once introduced among a people. Tliii^dly, Because all genuine morahty is so indissolubl}^ allied to religious knowledge, that it cannot exist independently of it. Public opinion, which is the result of whatever amount of religious knowledge and principle may be prevalent in a community, may create a factitious standard, and uphold a code of honour which has been mistaken for genuine morality. But let this amount of religious knowledge in a nation decline, and the Sabbath, its indispensable handmaiden, be despised, and then this fluctuating standard of a con- ventional morahty will decline too; until, among a people enslaved by superstition or perverted by infide- Hty, where the Sabbath is violated by secular business or frivolous amusement, there will be no such thing left as true Christian integrity between man and man. Under such a state of things, self-interest becomes the sole regulating motive. So long, indeed, as men are persuaded that it is their interest to act uprightly, truth and integrity may possibly be respected and maintained. But let some pressing contingency offer a tempting ad- vantage in return for violating these obligations, and forthwith the standard of duty is fatally lowered, unless it be counteracted by the prevalence of religious prin- ciple. Not merely individuals, but entire communities have not been able to -withstand a ^temptation of this sort. The world has seen the portentous spectacle of palpable dishonesty being converted, by the force of a vicious public opinion, into unquestioned probity and virtue. It need scarcely be added, that the fabric of com- TJ 306 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. mercial prosperity can never be built on such a shift- ing quicksand as a conventional morality dissociated from religious principle and Sabbath obseiTance. The history of commerce amply corroborates this assertion. Has manufacturing or mercantile enterprise ever con- tinued to flourish where religion is corrupted, and the Lord's day profaned ? Has that incorruptible integ- rity and that mutual confidence, which constitute the sole vitality of trade, been ever maintained, except in connection with a pure gospel and an un violated Sab- bath ? Has infidelity or superstition ever allured trade and commerce to abandon the security afforded by Christianity and the Sabbath, and take refuge under the delusive protection of godless legislation or of priestly supremacy, where there is virtually no Sab- bath, nor any rehgion save that which is emotional, unreal, and inoperative ? But farther, while the maintenance of Christian integiity among all classes is essential to the prosperity of the trade and commerce of a nation, we wish to draw attention to the fact, that its prevalence is espe- cially necessary among the employed classes. If a comparison were admissible in such a case, it might be maintained that it is even more necessary among them than among the class of employers. Among the lat- ter, a higher secular education, enlarged knowledge of the world, and the influence of pubhc opinion, often operate in sustaining personal integrity where true re- ligion is wanting. ,But the employed classes ordinarily are not subject to these extraneous influences. If they possess not Christian principles, founded on rehgious knowledge and maintained by Sabbath observances, there is nothing to presei've them from becoming care- less, dishonest, profligate, and unworthy of confidence. ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 307 It need not be asked, Could either the production or interchange of manufactures flourish, where, through the neglect of religion and its Sabbaths, this has be- come the prevalent character of workmen, artisans, overseers, or agents ? Universal experience has de- clared it to be impossible. Trade and commerce must sooner or later decline, wherever the employed classes, through want of early education, over-v/ork, and ne- glect of the Sabbath, are permitted to sink in the scale of morality and religion. It is from a conviction of the truth of this state- ment that Britain has, from time to time, had recourse to various legislative expedients, in order to elevate the character of her employed population. One only of these may be adverted to here, from its connection with our present subject. I refer to the lessening of the hours of labour on the Saturday, evidently with the view of enabling certain working-classes to wind up their weekly dealings, and arrange their outdoor family affairs, in order that there may be no tempta- tion to encroach on the leisure and the duties of the Sabbath. But it may weU be asked. How comes it that the legislature, or rather the nation, so considerately secures a portion of the Saturday for a large section of her employed population, and yet persists in condemn- ing another large section to lose the benefit even of the Lord's day itself ? Is it not strangely inconsistent to compel the many thousand officials connected with railways and the post-office to labour on the Sabbath, to the whole of which day God has given them an ab- solute right, at the very same time that other classes are relieved from their workshops and manufactories on a part, of the Saturday, for which indulgence no such claim can be pleaded ? 308 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. The inconsistency and impolicy of snch a course be- come still more obvious, when it is remembered, that the class who are thus cut off from the full enjoyment of the blessed Sabbath, who are prevented from devot- ing themselves, in the midst of their famihes, to the religious exercises of this " Pearl of days,'' and whose moral and religious character is thereby to a certain extent impaired, are the very class on whose fidelity and uprightness one of the most important operations of commercial activity depends for its success. What is more essential to the prosperous prosecution of trade than the faithful transmission of its correspondence ? And yet, as a nation, w^e blindly and perversely in- trust this operation to persons whose fidelity we at the same time undermine by compulsory labour on the Sabbath. We force them on that day to leave their domestic circle, to attend at their post of weekly la- bour, to receive, weigh, assort, take money for, convey, and, in some thousand localities, deliver letters, to the violation of the rest of that day so authoritatively en- joined by God, and to the neglect of their religious duties, on which their integrity is alone based ; for it can never for a moment be admitted, that the design of the Sabbath, as embodied in the fourth command- ment, is complied with, when merely the hour or two occupied m public worship is left free. Ought not this day, therefore, to be given, whole and entire, to this important class of public functionaries ? Could the nation do any thing more essential to uphold the moral and religious character of these men, on whom commercial intercourse and prosperity so much de- pend, than secure to them what God has expressly de- clared to be their right — the free and uninteiTupted enjoyment of Sabbath rest and Sabbath ordinances ? ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 309 One step, at least, ought to be taken without delay. Let the post-office officials in every town in the king- dom enjoy the same privilege of an unbroken Sab- bath, which their brethren in labour and responsibility enjoy in London. No inconvenience from such an arrangement is experienced in that immense empo- rium of trade and commerce, whose population now equals that of the entire kingdom of Scotland only a few years ago. And how can any other city consis- tently demand, as necessary to their interests, what the merchants of that vast metropolis have so frequently and so decidedly repudiated as unnecessary, and even injurious ? * In every view of the subject, the trade and com- merce of a nation are essentially benefited by the right observance of the Sabbath. III. The Sabbath is intimately connected with the preservation of social order in a nation. That com- munity is in a state of the highest social organization in which all classes enjoy protection and security; in which justice is impartially administered, the law re- spected and reverenced, vice discountenanced and punished, authority faithfully exercised, and obedience cheerfully rendered; in which all ranks know their respective rights and duties, and neither injure nor encroach upon each other; and in which every act of injustice, tpanny or rebellion, meets with a prompt and indignant resistance. The chief dangers to social order arise either from the oppressions of the higher, or from the turbulence of the lower classes. On the one hand, let the ruling power in a nation disregard the claims of its subjects to • See Essav, No. 12. 310 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. enjoy the fruits of their industry; let it abandon them to the heartless gi'asp of avarice, till their overwrought frames are ready to sink in despair; let it deny them reasonable protection against manifest injustice and oppression; let it heap privileges on the wealthy and powerful, while proportionable advantages are withheld from the less favoured classes; — and it vn\l be impos- sible but that outraged humanity will, sooner or later, burst the ordinary restraints of authority, and in the rude effort to obtain the redress of its grievances, in- volve the nation in niinous disorder. On the other hand, let the productive classes, while they may have few real grievances to complain of, be suffered to grow up in ignorance and vice; let them be cut off from the elevating^ influence of relioion and her Sabbaths, and be exposed to the demoralizing fallacies of infidehty; let them become alienated from domestic ties, and un- influenced by the restraints of character and the sym- pathies of pious friends and fellow-worshippers; let them be familiarized with all that is squalid, unhealthy, and comfortless in their dwellings and among their households; — and the community, which makes no effort to rescue its working population from these debasing influences, will assuredly one day pay the penalty of its suicidal neglect. The mass of the people will become disaffected, discontented, and turbulent Imaginary grievances will chafe and UTitate them. Utopian schemes for bettering their condition, by some organic change, mil easily delude them. Political theories for a new distribution of wealth and power will tempt them to look upon all wealth as robbery, all rulers as t}Tants, and all employers as oppressors; until at length the bonds of society and the restraints of law -win be violated, and one wide-spread revolt against all ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 311 order and authority will sweep with desolating fury over the nation. These are no imaginary forebodings. They have been realized again and again in the history of nations. The recent revolutions in several of the continental states? have supphed additional illustrations of the truth of both sides of the pictiure. On the one hand, we have seen in Italy the revolt of oppressed subjects against the mal- administration and arbitrary power of their rulers, spreading disorder and violence throughout the land, and probably retarding it by a century in the career of social improvement. And, on the other hand, in France we have seen a noble country convulsed by the insurrection of a demoralized working population, de- luded by the wild theories of an infidel socialism, to seek the overthrow of all law and order, as an indis- pensable step to their own aggrandizement. Assuredly, the highest interests of a nation are never in more im- minent danger, than when its employed classes are thus perverted and demorahzed. Its position is perilous, for its base is undermined ; and if it fall, the calamity will be overwhelming ; for, as an eminent stateman has remarked, " In policy, as in architecture, the min is greatest when it begins with the foundation.'' Every lover of his country will anxiously inquhe — How are these perilous evils to be obviated? How can that well-regulated social order, so essential to the well- being and prosperity of a nation, be permanently main- tained? In reply, it may be observed, that while poli- tical measures may do much, and have done much, to preserve the peace and secmity of a community, they cannot do all that is necessary. The best governed states have failed, by mere constitutional safeguards, or legislative enactments, or coercive restraints, to 812 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. remedy or prevent the social evils referred to. One thing is essential to their cure, and if this be wanting all other measures will be ineffectual; and this one thing is — the conservative influence of true religion, with its Sabbath rest, its Sabbath assemblies, and its Sabbath exercises. Or, to state the same truth in another form, the Sabbath, rightly observed, is the great preserver of SOCIAL ORDER : — First, Because it is indispensable to the existence and extension of religion in a community. It is rehgious influence, sustained by Sabbath observances, which will alone teach the ruling classes to be just and impartial, and to respect and maintain the rights of all under their authority ; which will render them the consistent enemies of oppression, and the true friends of consti- tutional order and liberty. And it is religion, with her Sabbaths, which will alone preserve the employed classes from being the dupes of pohtical agitators and infidel schemers; which, by teaching them to be indus- trious, temperate, and provident, surrounds them with comforts adequate to their position; which cheers and elevates them by the domestic enjoyments and social blessings it collects around them; and which thereby makes them prosperous and contented, and converts them into the best upholders of lawful authority and social order. We need never be apprehensive of find- ing a lawless or turbulent population, where their Sab- bath leisure is employed in the solemnizing exercises of rehgion, in drawing closer the endearing ties of do- mestic fellowship, and in deepening the influence of moral obligation on the heart and conscience. A well- spent Sabbath, by upholding and difiusing religion, becomes a powerful barrier against social convulsions. Hence it is that the enemies of peace and order are ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 313 invariably profaners of the Sabbath ; and almost the first lesson which they teach their unhappy dupes is, to disown and violate it. Their unhallowed discus- sions, their public meetings, and their private cabals, are all held on this holy day; and, true to their voca- tion, this section of the community are always found to be the most clamorous for legalizing every species of Sabbath profanation. Secondly, The Sabbath is a powerful conservator of SOCIAL ORDER, by its tendency to unite all classes of its observers in the bonds of a common brotherhood. It places on an equality both rich and poor, employers and employed, for at least a seventh portion of their tune. It reminds them that they have interests in common, which far exceed, in importance and value, the worldly distinctions by which they are separated. It collects them, week after week, in one assembly, where the artificial disparities of rank and station have no place ; where all are actuated by the same emotions, sit under the same instruction, and are admitted to the same privileges. It inspires the affluent with feelings of sympathy and respect for their less favoured brethren, associated ^vith them in the same Sabbath exercises. It inculcates on the industrious classes the compara- tive worthlessness of those worldly advantages which inflame the cupidity and incite the restless passions of others, while it teaches them to aim at the possession of more permanent and satisfying blessings. And it fixes the attention of all on that sabbatical rest in a future world, where all that separates class from class in this world will be for ever excluded, and where the sovereign and the subject, the rich and the poor, wiU stand on the perfect equality of sinners redeemed by divine grace, and \vill sing the same song of praise to 314 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. " Him who loved them and gave himself for them." Thus has the Sabbath a powerful tendency to remove that jealousy and alienation among the different classes of society which often lie at the bottom of social dis- organization, and which, if suffered to fester in a com- munity, are sure to break out in acts of disorder and turbulence. It exerts the same happy influence in binding class to class which mutual intercourse among nations, and their uniting in enterprises of common benefit to all, are well known to exert in removing national prejudices, and allaying national jealousies and antipathies. He is therefore a true friend to the preservation of the social order of his country, who faithfully observes the Sabbath, interests his family or friends in its delightful exercises, promotes its general sanctification, and protects its hallowed rest from all encroachments. An American reviewer has pertinently observed in connection with this topic — " The regular congregating of friends and neighbours on the Sabbath in the place of worship, to mingle their feelings before the throne of God, tends to unite them in the purest and strongest bands. The differences arising from wealth and other adventitious circumstances, here disappear. The high are humbled without being depressed. The low are exalted without being elated. The chord which vibrates in one breast is felt in all the others, awakening the consciousness of community of origin and of nature. They learn that God has made of one flesh all the dwellers upon earth ; that he has breathed one spirit, bearing his own image, into them; placed all under the same benevolent laws; offers the same glorious immortality to all, and has thus bound them together as one great brotherhood. It is hence obvious, that of ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 815 all institutions the Sabbath is the most directly effi- cacious in promoting peace, charity, justice, sympathy, and all other amiable feelings." IV. The Sabbath is favourable to the preservation of the LIBERTIES of nations. Christianity has always been the sole foundation of genuine liberty. Wher- ever, by means of its Sabbaths, its healthful spirit has breathed upon a nation, there freedom has flourished ; and both despotism in the ruler, and servility in the ruled, have withered and died. True religion uniformly inspires its disciples with that reverence for constituted authority as " the ordinance of God,'' and that sense of personal responsibility in every relation, out of which, when combined, spring loyalty and obedience in the subject, " not for wrath, but for conscience sake;'' and in the sovereign, rectitude, impartiality, and respect for the rights of all classes of the people. The very same influence which Sabbath assemblies and Sabbath exercises exert in securing uprightness and confidence between employer and employed, extends to both governors and governed, teaching them to abstain con- scientiously from all encroachments on each other's rights, and to fulfil with fidelity their reciprocal duties. And should the deplorable contingency occur, of either class being so unmuidful of their mutual obligations as forcibly to violate the rights and privi- leges of the other, — in such a painful case. Christian rulers and Christian subjects feel themselves equally bound to maintain, with moderation and firmness, their respective constitutional rights, as ahke essential to the welfare and happiness of the entire community. Hence it is that true liberty has blessed those nations only, among whom religion and her Sabbaths have been reverenced and obeyed. And as the amount of 316 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Sabbath obsei-vance is an infallible criterion of the amount of rehgious influence actuating a community; so, by the manner in which the Lord's day is observed, the degTee in which rational freedom prevails may be almost unerringly measured. The fact is unquestion- able, that the Sabbath-honouring nations are the free- dom-blessed nations; and that those who honour it the most enjoy the fullest amount of civil liberty. Let the non-religious politician account for this social phe- nomenon as he may, he must admit its reality. The Christian philosopher rejoices to recognise in it the natural product of an adequate cause; and his faith would receive a shock if history exhibited a different result. Hence also it is, that wherever the Sabbath is systematically profaned as a day of labour or mere amusement, and wherever superstition has enjoined the observance of saintly holidays, and abandoned the Lord's festival-day to be violated ^ith impunity, — from eveiy such countiy true libeiiiy has invariably fled, and oppression and slavery have become the inheritance of its deluded people. Stript of their right to an undis- tm'bed Sabbath, enjoying no edifying or ennobling Sabbath exercises, either in their churches or their families, and deprived of such Sabbath instruction as would expand their minds, teach them their duties, or cherish a sense of personal responsibility, — among a people so trained, despotic rulers, aided and often in- stigated by a crafty priesthood, have easily triumphed over the social and political rights of their subjects, and despoiled them of their inalienable liberties. And lest a season of solemn consideration on the Sabbath might, by some mischance, awaken them to a consciousness of their degraded condition as rational and accountable ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 317 beings, the invariable policy of such rulers is, to en- courage public diversions on the Sabbath, and by an unceasing round of frivolous amusements on that day, to expel all serious thought, and keep the people, if possible, contented in their chains. It is with this view that the Romanist sovereigns in Italy and else- where, and, one blushes to add, some of the Prot(3stant princes of Germany, who disregard the rights of their subjects, appropriate no inconsiderable portion of the public revenue to defray the expense of operas and other theatrical entertainments on the Sabbath, in order to bring these perverting amusements within the reach of as many of their subjects as possible. Expe- rience has taught them, that they need not dread trampling on those whose minds have been enfeebled, and then' moral principles corrupted, by Sabbath pro- fanation in these odious forms. These sovereigns know full well, how intimate is the connection between the maintenance of \iolated Sabbaths and the preserva- tion of their usurped and irresponsible power. They bear unconscious but conclusive testimony to the truth of our position — that well-spent Sabbaths are among the most efficient supports of civil liberty. But we need not look abroad for illustrations of this truth. The history of our own country has confirmed it by many instructive proofs. Who were they that laid the foundation of the noble fabric of British freedom — the admiration of the civilized world ? Let the historian and philosopher, Hume — all whose prejudices as an infidel were opposed to religious men — answer the inquiry. He freely acknowledges in his History, that the precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone; and that it was to this sect, exemplary above all others for Sabbath 318 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. observance, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution. Yes ! It was these God-fearing and Sabbath-honouring men who nobly resisted arbi- trary power; and who, after the struggles of nearly three generations, at length succeeded in establishing the respective rights of ruler and ruled on a constitu- tional basis, which has secured a larger amount ot honour and obedience to the sovereign, and of freedom and protection to the subject, than has ever been en- joyed elsewhere. And what, we may ask, sustained the resolute resist- ance of these men to what they then considered to be, and what has since been freely admitted to have been, a galling tyranny in both sacred and secular concerns ? It was the hallowed influence of their Sabbath services, and Sabbath exercises, which, by teaching them their duty to God, and to one another, and endearing to them their faith and their families, inspired them with indomitable ardour in the cause of civil and religious liberty. Some of the ill-advised monarchs, whose arbitrary measures they were constrained to resist, clearly discerned the influence which sanctified Sab- baths exerted, in cherishing among the people a spirit of freedom and independence. Hence one of their artful schemes for quenching this spirit, so hostile to their projects, and rendering the general population insensible to the value of their civil rights, was to break down the authority and right observance of this holy day. Accordingly they pubHshed, more than once, that obnoxious proclamation called " The Book of Sports," which authorized public games, such as danc- ing, shooting, leaping, &c., on every Sabbath afternoon ; and commanded all bishops and ministers to recommend their observance to their people. This deep-laid plot ITS INFLUENCE ON PROSPERITY OF NATIONS. 319 against both the religion and the liberties of the nation, was providentially defeated. But it stands in history, as a beacon to warn us in all time coming, that every sanctioned desecration of the Lord's day is, among its many other evils, an offence against the constitution of the nation ; that it is calculated to destroy a sense of personal responsibility, and a love of freedom ; that it fosters either a spirit of unreasoning and abject ser- vility on the one hand; or, on the other, a dangerous spirit of turbulence and sedition, which, under the name of liberty, is often aiming at the overthrow of social order and legitimate authority. Let every lover of his country, therefore, firmly uphold the divine authority of the Sabbath as one of the best bulwarks of national safety and prosperity, ahke beneficial in its influence on the intelligence, the trade and commerce, the social order, and the hberties of his native land. 320 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. XII. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAIIS. BY THE REV. ANDREW SYMINGTON, D.D., REFORMED PKESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PAISLEY. In an^anging a series of treatises on the Sabbath, it was impossible, with any consistency, to omit one on the Sabbath Mail — the sin being manifest on the grand principles on which we advocate the Sabbath cause, and the evils being great and widely spread. Since the trea- tises were announced, the interest of the public mind has been awakened to the great argument in general, and to this practical part of it in particular; and move- ments have been made in several quarters, which have given expression to public opinion on the evil of the Sabbath mails, and the press has given forth publica- tions on the subject, of less and greater extent, as al- most to supersede the execution of the task we had prescribed to ourselves. Though unable to present the subject in new or stronger lights, or to give strength to the argument, or to make appeals of even equal power, we feel our obligation to redeem our pledge. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 321 We are fully aware that we encounter, in the outset, a strong prejudice from the universally felt and ac- knowledged benefits of the Pubhc Post. We entertain a high estimation of these advantages, and regard with admiration the pitch of improvement which the postal estabhshment has now reached. In despatch, punc- tuality, diffusion, and safety, it exceeds any thing that could have been anticipated, and meets almost every thing that could be wished. Persons prevented inter- course by local separation and other causes, can now communicate daily, and even oftener, at a trifling ex- pense ; and intelligence in business, science, literature, politics, and in every matter of pubhc interest, circu- lates widely and gTatuitously, like the light of day or the air of heaven. Nor is this confined to a favoured locality, but spread over the length and breadth of the land — we may almost say the world; for persons sun- dered by the globe's diameter can now correspond in comparatively a brief period of time. Any attempt, therefore, to place the mail under restriction, is ready to be regarded with apprehension and offence, as the individual would be who would maliciously shut for a time the sluice which supplies a large community with water; or the person who, to indulge some capricious freak, or cover some selfish or resentful purpose, would stop the supplies of a gasometer, and place the streets and dwellings of a great city in midnight darkness. We deprecate every unjust interference with the oper- ations of the Post-office, and we hope to make it evident that the restriction for which we are to plead is not only required by high moral considerations, in deference to an authority which should not be ques- tioned, but contributes in no small degree to the in- terests of individuals and of society. Regulations are X 322 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. necessary to efficiency and safety, and restrictions pro meting these and other objects are not to be disre- garded; as in the supplies of water and light, just alluded to, regulations are not to be scouted which are required to purify the water and improve the light, and, withal, to prevent and provide against the casual- ties of inundation and explosion. To come to our subject. Our argument may be con- ducted upon two principles ; — the one is the economical principle ; the other by appeal to Scriptural authority. In the one case the question is treated in its bearings upon the temporal interests of individuals and com- munities; in the other, we view the subject in the lights of morality and rehgion, and in connection with the duties and interests of our holy Christianity. In this series of treatises, the former of these principles has not by any means been overlooked; but the latter principle of argument is regarded as first, and chief, and last — the main principle according to which the question is to be discussed and settled in the Christian commimity. At the same time, it is our firm per- suasion that the subject of the Sabbatical institute, soundly expounded on the high principle of Scriptural authority, Tvill bring out the argument on the principle of sound economics, and establish satisfactorily that the observation of the Sabbath conduces in a very high degree to the temporal wellbeing of man, individually and socially. We regard it as an axiom not requiring proof, and not to be questioned, that the law which God has enacted for man, the whole moral law, while declaring the di\dne supremacy, and as such demand- ing obedience, is calculated to promote the greatest good. We do not, we dare not, lay utility, expediency, or self-interest at the foundation of moral obligation. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 323 " True indeed it is, that conformity to the approving will of God is conducive to individual happiness and the general good, and must produce the highest degree of both. This is, therefore, a sound accessory reason of moral obligation: our objection lies against raising it into the primary reason." We shall, however, leave the economical utility to show itself, while we deal with the argument on the high principle of the revealed will of God. We are fully aware, that to give our argument conclusiveness, so far as founded on the Fourth Commandment, it is necessary to establish its abiding moral obligation. " The requirements of the moral law,'' it is justly regarded, " are not the dictates of the mere or sovereign will of God, but are the re- sults of the real nature of things and the propriety of relations, and so of immutable obligation. The ap- pointment of a specified time for the celebration of worship is partly positive, but not positive as the cere- monial law. It is founded on the constitution of things as ordained by God, and on the divine proce- dure in creation ; and it is wise and good, while the })resent system of the world and constitution of man continue. The antiquity of the Sabbath, as instituted before the entrance of sin — the occasion and reference of its first institution, in God's creatmg the heavens and the earth in six days, and his resting on the seventh — the position which it holds in the midst of unre- pealed moral statutes — its benevolent design, as pro- viding a season of rest from labour — its recognition in the history and predictions of the Old Testament, and in the doctrine and practice of Christ and his apostles, and the history of the Christian Church — supply materia] for satisfactory argumentation on the subject. These and other argi^ments have been elaborated in 324 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. former treatises, and we do net feel ourselves called to reiterate what has been already written. We now assume the moral obligation of the Fourth Command- ment, and deal with persons acknowledging it. God has spoken, and he has written, and caused it to be " written in a table and noted in a book for the time to come'' — " Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy ; six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt NOT do any work.'' We revere this as the law of God, obligatory wher- ever it is made known; — a law obvious to the most feeble capacity; authoritative and majestic to command the attention of the most heedless ; impartial and com- prehensive, embracing the whole circle of superiors, in- feriors, and equals; withal, at the same time, so bene- volent, as to be regarded not merely as the utterance of absolute moral sovereignty, but as a grant of Divine goodness, to be received and highly appreciated. They judge falsely as presumptuously, who place their own will and pleasure in opposition to the authority, and wisdom, and goodness of God. Great as are the ad- vantages of the postal establishment, it is under law to society and to God. It is under law to society, and cannot, must not, under any pretext, infringe upon the liberties of men, trifle with their lives, or inflict cruelties upon the mute creation. In the hands of moral and accountable beings, it is under law to God, and men cannot, in conducting it, violate innocently and with impunity the wise, benevolent, and authoritative legis- lation of the most high God. We are constrained to regard Sabbath mails, in the ordinary circumstances of society, as a violation of the letter, the spirit, and the SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 325 design of the Divine law ; and because " sin is the trans- gression of the law," we must speak of the siN of Sab- bath mails. According to every just interpretation of the Fourth Commandment, civil labour, not required by necessity or mercy, or the observance of religious ordinances, is interdicted on the holy Sabbath. " Thou shalt not do any work.'' But the systematic and regu- lar running of the mail is ordinary civil labour, and, when not specially required as above, is a violation of the law of God. The carrying of mails by men on foot or on horseback, by gig or coach, boat, steamer or loco- motive, is ordinary civil work, required and lawful on six days of the week, but forbidden, and therefore un- lawful, on the Sabbath. By the persons employed in the various services of the Post-office on the Lord's day, there is an appropriation of time in direct contra- vention of the law of God. Thus occupied, they are performing their everyday secular work by which they provide for themselves and their families. Attendance in the place of civil business, receiving letters and mails, sorting and stamping letters, sealing bags, despatching mails, and delivering letters, newspapers, and small packages of various character, form the ordinary work of the Post-office; and in many cases the work is onerous and exhausting. The work done within the Post-office, the work of the persons carrying letters and packages, or conveying them by coach or train, is not distinguishable, by the persons engaged or by others, from the work of the other days of the week. God has said of the Sabbath, " On it thou shalt not do any work;" and in the things of which we complain, the authority and goodness of God, thus interposed, are resisted and set at nought. The lightnings, it is true, do not flash in our eyes as in the eyes of ancient Israel ; 326 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. the tluinders are not reverberating from the trembhng mountain; the voice is not giving forth the audible utterances which made those who heard it entreat that it should not be spoken to them any more ; yet the commandment stands on the sacred page unrevoked by the authority by which it was enacted, and by which alone it can be repealed, and is recognised by prophets and apostles, and by Him who came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil and establish them — the Lord of all, and the " Lord also of the Sabbath/' The civil labour in the matter in question is in dis- obedience to the authority of God ; it is breaking down that reverential acknowledgment of the Deity which the rest of the Sabbath is expressly designed and ad- mirably fitted to cherish and maintain, and treating that honour which is due to God, and required by him, with neglect and contempt. Is there obligation in the commandments, " Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal,'' and the other precepts of the Decalogue, and none in the precept addressed, with so marked specifications, to the parent, to the child, to the master, to the ser- vant, and to him that sits in the gates to administer righteousness? Is no heed whatever to be given to the Divine caveat which introduces this commandment, "Remember the Sabbath-day?" Is no deference to be paid to the Divine Wisdom, in distributing the time of labour and of rest ? Is no grateful return to be made to the Divine Benevolence, in granting us six days for our own work ; nor reverential obedience to be yielded to the Divine Supremacy, in challenging a special pro- priety in the seventh portion of time? Is there to be no sense nor acknowledgment of the Divine Mercy, in instituting a day of rest from labour and toil to man and to cattle, and giving opportunity to man of moral SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 327 and spiritual improvement? Is the Divine Benedic- tion, which was conjoined with the keeping of the Sab- bath when God first consecrated it to his special ser- vice, to be treated as a thing of nought? Is there no fear of the blisfht or moth of the curse on the work of the six days, in treating with neglect the day which He who blesses and it shall be blessed, has specially blessed and hallowed? Is there obligation in the command- ments of the second table, in which God has set the fence of his high authority around our honour, life, sub- stance, and character, and no obUgation in the precept in which God has appointed a season for the special acknowledgment of his being, the celebration of his worship, and the hallowing of his name ; and in which, while consulting his own glory, He has at the same time regarded the true interest of man, ordaining that this portion of time shall be a season of relief to the body fi'om laborious toil, and escap^ to the mind from en- grossing secular care? We are, of course, addressing ourselves particularly to persons acknowledging the obligation of the Fourth Commandment, and find it utterly impossible to reconcile the practice condemned with such acknowledgment. The claims and urgencies of business are brought forward in defence of Sabbath mails. In a manufac- turing and commercial country like ours, speedy and regular communications involve deeply the interests of the several classes of the community; and diligence in business is commended by the obligations of virtue and of religion. But let us hear the Divine command- ment, " Six days shalt thou labour, and do ALL thy work. On the Seventh thou shalt not do ANY work." The hebdomadal rest from civil labour is the law of God, and, wherever this exceeding broad command- 328 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ment finds man, it demands respect and obedience. It addresses itself with equal authority to the parent and the child, the master and servant, the husband- man, the artisan, the merchant, the rich man and the poor man, the monarch and the subject, the legislator, the judge, the magistrate, and the community at large. This law is obligatory in the city and in the field, in the house and on the highway, in the factory, in the counting-house, and in the shop, on the land and on the water, on shipboard at sea and in the harbour. Rest on the Sabbath is the LAW of God, and in no ordinary state of things is it to be set aside. The very supposition lays the wisdom of God under imputation. To the man who works with his hands, or otherwise pursues civil business, the weekly rest is matter of duty, right, and mercy; and there must lurk some fallacy or evil principle when, in prosecuting the ordi- nary business of life, a plea of necessity is urged in opposition to the law of God. Two facts may be ad- duced in opposition to this plea, the one of long stand- ing, the other of recent date. The city of London has no mail on the Sabbath. With what plausibility or propriety can provincial towns and rural districts set up the plea of business for Sabbath mails, when the General Post-office of the commercial metropolis of the wide world issues no letters, and employs no ser- vants on the Lord's day? Is it not matter of fact, that when proposals have been made for opening the Gene- ral Post-office on the Sabbath, remonstrances have poured in against it from all quarters ? As in other cases, so in this, let the Divine command, " On the seventh day thou shalt rest," take effect over all the land. From midnight to midnight let the Sabbath be a season of rest to man and beast employed in this SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 329 as in every other ordinary work. There is neither im- possibihty nor inipracticabiHty here ; and the impor- tance of the thing- demands effort and sacrifice to carry it into effect. Were this arrangement gone into uni- versally, there would of course be no blank day (as merchants have been accustomed to call the day when no mails arrived from London), with the exception of the Sabbath ; and this, though a day of cessation from toil and trade, not a blank day, but a business day of incalculable profits to those who rightly improve it. The Sabbath would not be a blank day even to the men of corporeal labour and commercial occupation ; for mind and body would by rest be prepared for more vigorous and correct application to business, and work and business would be done better and in greater amount than could be compassed by continuous appli- cation. The rest of the Sabbath will not prove lost time to the man of business and work, any more than the time employed in oiling the wheels of a carriage to give it both a sweeter and a swifter motion. This gone into, a public homage would be done to religion over the land; thousands would be released from op- pressive drudgery; and the men of business would be reheved from close application, without the fear of being anticipated or overreached, as is done or dreaded, in the eager competitions of mercantile life. But could there be a plea for Sabbath mails on the score of busi- ness — a plea that we deem inadmissible — it would be altogether set aside by the recent improvements in locomotion. What ! mails from London every day excepting the Sa]j])ath ! twice every day, and often er in many cases, and yet cry for business letters on Sab- bath ! There must be something altogether undue and excessive here. Why not urge the same plea for 330 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. other public establisliments ? Banks are closed on the Sabbath. Courts of law are shut on the first day of the week. Other business and government offices are shut on the Lord's day. flight not the plea of busi- ness be urged for opening the Exchange for commercial transactions, and warehouses and shops for sales, as in France and other countries on the Continent ? Why does the Judge not hold his court, and admit the Lawyer to plead the cause of his chent on the Sabbath ? Why are the Houses of Parhament not opened on the Sabbath ? We can easily conceive of cases involving deeply the temporal interests of parties, their personal convenience, and even their liberty, in which urgency might be pleaded with gi^eater plausibility for opening the courts of law, than for the ordinary despatch of mails on the Sabbath. Why should the distinction of lawful days be kept up in the several departments of legislative, judicial, and civil business, and broken down in the Post-office ? It is alleged in defence of Sabbath mails, that they do not demand the whole time of the Sabbath, oppor- tunity being given to the servants for attendance upon pubhc worship. This is so far, apparently at least, if it be not constrained, a concession to the Sabbath cause ; but it will not stand the test of sound principle, practicabihty, or facts. It is wrong in principle. It implies an unjustifiable infringement upon sacred time, and the principle requiring the concession of a portion of the day demands the whole. Considered practically, it is incompatible with the due and profitable obser- vance of the Sabbath. Attendance at the place of business, occupation in the morning, or at inten^als, with civil duties, and these not unfi^equently of a chaf- ing description, break in upon the quiet and sacred- SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 331 ness of the day, interfere with the personal retirement, domestic duties, regular attendance on public worship, and subsequent reflection, which make the Sabbath a season of profit and hallowed dehght to those entering into the spirit of its sanctification. Nor will this plea stand the light of facts. It is certain that the services connected with the Post-office and the Mails interfere with composed and regular attendance on religious worship, and that this is felt to lie heavily oppressive on the spirits of individuals, tempted by the necessities of their circumstances to enter into engagements and perform services in opposition to the dictates of their consciences and their best feelings. All this must operate with a very injurious influence. Partial ab- sence from public worship and familiarity with civil employment on the Sabbath, tend greatly to diminish conscientious impressions, induce callousness of moral and religious feeling; and, working insensibly and gradually, may issue in settled indifference to religion altogether. It is to no purpose to allege, that many persons do not avail themselves of the partial opportu- nity of attending religious ordinances, but betake to excursions of pleasure, and mingle in scenes of frivohty and immorality. In this case, the blame is so far with the parties themselves ; but it is not so altogether : and it merits gTave consideration, how far in such cases the result is to be ascribed to the insinuating influence upon the mind and heart of civil employment on the Sab- bath, and partial absence from religious ordinances; the evil of the Sabbath mail being thus the occasion and cause of the alleged profanations. But, does not the law of the Sabbath admit of work in cases of necessity and mercy ? It is at once con- ceded, but not that the mail in ordinary circumstances X 332 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. is such a work. Let the Lord of the Sabbath be the expositor of its obligation, and let the examples which he has adduced be exponents of works of necessity and mercy. When expounding the Sabbatic law, and vindicating it from the traditions and extreme exposi- tions of the Pharisees, he gave no sanction to the per- formance of ordinary civil labour on the Sabbath. The manual labour required of the priests in the sa- crificial services, his own heaHng of the sick, the dis- ciples plucking the ears of com when they were hungry, the taking of an ox or ass to the water, and the lifting of a sheep that had fallen into a pit, are the things adduced by him as works lawful to be done on the Sabbath. None of these are works of ordinary civil labour, but works connected with the appointed services of religious worship, or works of mercy to our- selves or fellow-creatures, or works of humanity to the animal creation — works that cannot be anticipated on the previous day, nor postponed to the following. He vindicates his disciples in plucking the ears of com, from the example of David and from a scriptural prin- ciple ; but he does not command them to take the sickle and reap the harvest. He authorizes that the ox or ass be led out to water, but does not command that it be put into the yoke and employed in ordinary labour. Nothing more is required to show the utter irrelevancy of calling up the Saviour's doctrine in the advocacy of Sabbath mails than to say, that the carrying of mails on the Lord's day is not an act of worship to God pre- scribed in his "Word and required on that day, nor is it an act of necessity to ourselves in the preservation of hfe, nor an act of mercy to our fellow-creatures, nor an act of humanity to the animal race. In all these cases man and beast may be lawfully employed on the SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 333 Sabbath, and we must beware, in condemning the pro- fanation of the Sabbath, not to weaken the argument by running into the extravagant views of the Pharisees. So far are the Saviour's expositions of the Sabbath from giving countenance to Sabbath mails, it is obvious they supply most powerful argument against them, inasmuch as the Sabbath requires acts of worship to God, and merciful rest to ourselves, and works of com- passion to fellow-creatures, of which Sabbath mails prevent to many the opportunity; and it requires humanity to the beast of burden, which Sabbath mails in many cases deny. The Sabbath mail is, in ordinary circumstances, common civil labour, labour immediately and chiefly subservient to secular objects, and so re- ceives no sanction from Christ's exposition of the Sabbath. The occurrence of sickness and death, requiring the immediate attendance of Mends, is adduced in justifi- cation of Sabbath mails; and from the readiness and frequency with which cases of this kind are urged, one would be led to conceive that they usually occur on the Sabbath. We say nothing to quench the sympa- thies of nature, or to treat lightly the calls of Christian duty. It may be well, however, to remind masters and servants of the duty of providing for visits of sym- pathy and mercy on the other days of the week. Is nothing to be said of the cupidity of masters denying their servants, and the cupidity or other evil of servants denjdng themselves such opportunities? When the necessities alleged occur on the Sabbath, the highway is open, and conveyances accessible in cases clearly requiiing the use of them. Such cases must be dealt with as specialties, and provided for accordingly. Though mails were to run at every hoiu- of the day 334 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and of the night also, it would be impossible to meet every emergency; nor will occasional disappointment, from the want of a Sabbath mail, however trying to feeling, warrant the sacrifice and the wrong which would be inflicted, by involving thousands of persons in an open breach of the law of God fifty-two days in the year to meet a contingency. We can easily con- ceive of cases of public and private interest in which the conveyance of the mail on the Lord's day would be amply justified, but justified in the special circum- stances of the case, and only when these circumstances continue. In the days of Esther, when the Jews were called to defend themselves from a bloody plot, posts were despatched " on horseback, and riders on mules, and camels, and young dromedaries;" and in such a case, though the Jews were forbidden to journey on the Sabbath, the despatch of couriers, in the extra- ordinary circumstances, would have been lawful. In these eventful days, when the wheels of providence revolve with so grand and accelerated movement, we know not what necessity may occur requiring mails at their utmost speed, nor how intimately our duty and our safety may be connected with speedily-communicated intelligence. These chcumstances will speak for them- selves, and they form exceptions from the general rule. Nor will it avail to plead in behalf of Sabbath mails upon the principle of liberty. Upon the principle of sound economics, it will not be questioned that it is com- petent to society to enact laws regulating the hours of civil labour, and to protect the dependent classes of the community from the exorbitant demands of cupi- dity or competition, by providing for regular cessation from work and the requisite repose of the night; and upon the same principle to protect the periodical SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 335 return of a day of rest. Whatever individuals may do for themselves, they cannot claim a right, upon their own private view and pleasure, to oppose the united wisdom and benevolence of society, and to compel others to labour for their interest or pleasure, either constraining them by oppressive exaction, or tempting them by special remuneration, to violate authoritative enactments, founded on equity, humanity, and liberty. In every well-ordered social state, individual view and right must, in some degree, be conceded to the public good, in which all are made equally to participate; society having rights and liberty to be respected and maintained as well as individuals. We applaud dili- gence in business, we respond to the calls of necessity and mercy, we respect the sjrmpathies of relationship and of friendship, we revere liberty ; but we cannot urge any or all of these in vindication of a systematic infrac- tion on the rest of tlie holy Sabbath by regular mails. Has man more wisdom than God, who has distributed time for labour and rest? has he more equity and mercy than God, who has said, " Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt not do any work?" There is reason to apprehend, that there prevail great ignorance and mis- apprehension of the nature and design of the Sabbath ; and that in many cases, under the specious pretexts of diligence, necessity, mercy, and liberty, there lurk principles of less excellent name, — covetousness, love of superiority, if not a spirit of ungodliness in hostility to the sacred restraints of religion, and aversion to its holy duties. Constrained to regard the employment of men in the conveyance of mails, in ordinary circumstances, as a transgression of the law of God, a sin, an immorality, 336 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. disobedience to the authority of God, let us direct our attention to some of its numerous evils. Sabbath mails deprive the persons employed of a respite from civil labour, to which their Maker has given them a title, and of which no man has a right to denude them. It is thus an infliction of wrong, a con- structive invasion of a liberty which Divine benevolence has bestowed, and protected by a law. Voluntary en- gagement, or the unconsciousness of \^Tong on the part of many or most of the persons concerned, does not extenuate the sin. Not to dwell on higher considera- tions, it is impossible to tell in what extent excessive and exhausting labour has depredated upon the lives of individuals, by depriving them of the rest required to recruit the animal frame. Sabbath mails deprive great numbers of the means of intellectual and moral improvement which the Lord's day supplies. By infringing on the weekly rest, indi- viduals are unfitted for sacred duties where there may be partial opportunity of waiting on them, while others are entirely deprived. Although persons are not com- pelled nor impressed into the service of the Post-office, a temptation is presented, it works gradually, freedom is used Avith sacred time ; and the result is, in many cases, settled indifference to all religion. It is altogether vain to think of promoting by physical force the religious observation of the Sabbath ; yet all should have the opportunity, and none should directly, or even con- structively, be compelled to its open profanation. The Sabbath mail deprives the public of the services of many persons, who are deserving objects of their confidence and complacency. There are not a few who cannot engage in the services of the mail, because of its violation of the Sabbath — persons of sobriety, in- SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 337 tegrity, and activity, whose semces on the six days of the week would be eminently useful. Yes, those who feel the obligation to keep the Sabbath, are not hypo- crites and weaklings, as is often ignorantly and gia- tuitously alleged. There are many persons of muscular strength, mental ingenuity, prompt activity, and kind and obliging manners, who cannot make engagements which involve their consciences in a violation of the law of God. This holds true in a large extent where the mail is conveyed by railway. It demands serious consideration, whether there be not, in the case of the persons alluded to, a twofold invasion of right — their civil right to compete for employment for which they are qualified, and their Christian liberty, when esteem- ing it their duty to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Sabbath mails supply largely the means of Sabbath desecration. The eager merchant has thus an oppor- tunity of receiving and answering letters of business; the men of law and their clients, if disposed, are sup- plied with their papers; the worldly politician has his journals; the man of pleasure his assignations; parlours and reading-rooms of every description are supplied with their newspapers. It is impossible to tell the multifarious matters served out on the Sabbath from the letter- bag, or to estimate the extent in which the Post-office contributes to emplojmients adverse to the sanctification of the day of God. True, the individuals referred to cannot be forced to the performance of re- ligious duties, and may contrive to find employment congenial to their dispositions. Still the Sabbath mails contribute directly and extensively to Sabbath profa- nation, and persons supporting and abetting them participate in the guilt. y 838 THE CHEISTIAX SABBATH. Sabbatli mails obtmde over the length and breadth of the land, spectacles that are offensive to a great part of the community. The running of horses, carriages, and trains, the blowing of whistles and horns, the bustle at Post-offices, the delivery of letters and papers, the movements of runners carrying letters and parcels, and the multitudes of porters and caniages in attend- ance and in motion, break in upon the sacred stillness and quiet of the holy Sabbath. Is nothing due to the feelings of a great part of the Christian community in this matter? Is nothing due to Christian men of character and influence, and to the ministers of rehgion, who, while they are supporting all the interests of society and of the country, feel themselves called upon to plead for the sanctity and the utility of the Chiis- tian Sabbath ? We might almost make oiu- appeal here to courteousness and good feeling, and inquhe whether, m the tenns and tone in w^hich this subject is sometimes treated in some quarters, there be not a violation of the ordinary proprieties and amenities of respectable society. Scoffing and ridicule are neither argTunent nor politeness. We cannot omit to notice here the demoralizing tendency of Sabbath mails. Besides the influence which they exert upon the individuals employed, the open disrespect of the law of God, and the neglect and disregard of the duties of rehgion, tend to diminish in others who witness them, that reverence of the Deity, that sense of accountabihty to God, and fear of Divine displeasure, which operate in many cases with a stronger influence than even legal penalties. Men are ready to become seared in conscience, and reckless in conduct, when they witness the open habitual viola- tion of religious obligations; and this, too, imder the SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 339 authority of law, and in the face of the earnest remon- strances of a large portion of the community. The neglect and profanation of the Sabbath, it has often been confessed, have been initiatory to the state of feeling, and to those courses of conduct which have issued in crime and ruin. But in cases not of flagrant crime, the Sabbath mail has contributed to relax the sense of moral and religious obligation. How can it be otherwise, when a law, so much appreciated by a large part of the community, is habitually slighted ? And what a baleful influence must it exert upon youth, servants, and dependants, to witness the constant vio- lation of the Sabbath in this respect? Should the head of a family send a child or a servant to the Post- office for letters and newspapers ; or should he himself call, and it may happen, on his way to, or on his re- turn from the house of God; or should professional gentlemen burden their apprentices and servants with the duty of calling for or posting letters on the Sab- bath, the sense of the obligation of the Sabbath must be diminished, and views formed of Christian character far below the proper standard. Even the interests of the Post-office itself, and of the public, are deeply implicated here. Money, to a large amount, is trans- mitted through the post, and in spite of the utmost vigilance gi'eat sums are abstracted; and it becomes a matter of grave inquiry, how far the plunder of money- letters may be traced to familiarity with the desecra- tion of the Sabbath. The efficiency of the Post-office establishment is involved here. But, independently of this, the wide-spread example of the Sabbath mail must exert so far an influence upon the multitudes that devote themselves to idleness and folly on the Lord's day, sealing them up against the occasional 340 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. rebukes of their own consciences, and counteracting the word of kind and faithful admonition which may sometimes be addressed to them. It is no doubtful consideration, that the profanation of the Sabbath, be- sides originating crime, cherishes in no small degree the indolence, intemperance, sensuality, and insubordi- nation, which prey so deeply on the very vitals of society. And to all this the Sabbath mails lend their aid. Believing in the doctrine of a Providence, and in the moral character of that Providence, and in the connection between national sin and punishment, we deprecate the Sabbath mails on the score of national judgment. The providence of God is not a mere mechanical rotation, like the stellar movements, nor a mere natural succession, as in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, but a moral administration, indicating the favour or displeasure of a moral Governor. National sins, in the moral working of their proper effects, and in course of a moral administration, bring national suffering; and, when not repented of and forsaken, they bring national ruin and extinction. With the world's history before our eyes, and the Bible in our hands, we must urge this consideration. The Sabbath stood high among the privileges of the Jews, and its profanation has a specification and a reiteration in the indictment of their sins, a.nd stands connected with their awful judgments.* Though the peculiarities of the Jevv^ish polity have now passed away, there is a resi- duum of moral instruction and admonition in such passages of Scripture which it would be equally foolish and criminal to overlook. While the recorded judg- * Jtr. xvii. 21, 22; Ezek. xx. 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 24; Uosea ii. 11: &c. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 341 m.^nts happened unto the Jews for ensamples, they are Avritten in the Word of God and in the historic page for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come. Let us not be high-minded, but fear. Our Sabbaths have been profaned by business and by pleasure, and to these the Sabbath mails have largely contributed. Oh, for some noble-minded and disinterested Nehemiah, braced with moral courage, to speak to nobles, to rulers, and to bearers of burdens, to merchants, and sellers of all kinds of ware; and wise in counsel to devise, and resolute in j)urpose to prosecute, legitimate measures of reformation ! "What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath- day ? Did not our fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and our city ? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sab- bath.'^ It may be well, before closing this part of our argu- ment, to advert to the extent of the sin and evils of Sabbath mails. The moral character of an act, or course of action, is the same, whether viewed in a single instance or in a multitude of instances; but in the latter case, the offence against God, and the dan- ger to society, affect more strongly the obligation to endeavour after the removal and subsequent preven- tion of the evil ; as the wide-spreading prevalence of a malignant disease, more than a single insulated occur- rence, affects the duty of society to employ means of removal and prevention. There is reason to appre- hend that the evil complained of is seldom contem- plated in its wide-spread extent. Reflect on the fact. Cast your eye over the map of the British isles, and look northward and southward, and eastward and westward, and how few are the spots wdiere the sin of 342 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. which we speak is not enacted fifty-two Sabbaths in the year ! Think on the number of offices, and the attendance required in many of them ; the letters and packages sent to be forwarded; the mails received; the sorting, stamping of letters, sealing of bags, and other services connected with the forwarding of mails ; the delivery of letters called for or sent out to be deli- vered by runners ; then think on the number of chil- dren, servants, apprentices, news-room keepers, and others calling at the offices. Then take into account the conveyance of the mail, the stable-boys, hostlers, coachmen, and guards, and horses, that are employed; the attendance of porters and waiters at the different stages; the number of persons employed in conduct- ing the mail trains, and the servants, porters, and coachmen, in attendance at the termini and the inter- mediate stations. And after all this, call up into your thought the multitude of individuals supplied in their houses, hotels, and reading-rooms, and the occupations that follow. The amount is appalling. Even of per- sons directly and immediately employed about the Post-offices, the number is great. In Edinburgh up- wards of a hundred persons are on duty in the Post- office on the Lord's day, and letters and newspapers are called for in thousands. In Glasgow upwards of fifty are known to be similarly employed. Extend the calculation to populous and busy England, where the Sabbath has not been held so sacred. In the city of London, though the General Post-office be shut, several hundreds of persons are employed on the Lord's day in the London District and Mail Coach offices. In Liverpool and Manchester upwards of a hundred are regularly employed on the Sabbath; and in the other large business places in proportion. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 343 Transfer the calculation to Ireland. In the General Post-office of Dublin alone, upwards of a hundred are employed on the Sabbath. Direct your calculation to the wide extent of the British colonies, whither the evil takes its range. Upon the whole, reflect upon the persons employed in serving the mail, conducting the business of the offices, conveying it, and employed in consequence of its supplies, and the amount will be told, not in hundreds, nor in thousands, nor tens of thousands, nor in hundreds of thousands, but in thou- sands of thousands manifold. If there be sin and evils in the Sabbath mails, they are numerous and wide- spread on an alarming scale; and to all regarding the subject in the light in which we are constrained to view it, there is a loud and solemn call for faithful remonstrance, earnest appeal, and enhghtened and persevering effort. If we have succeeded in establishing the Sin and Evils of Sabbath mails, two inquiries arise : — At whose door do this sin and these evils lie ? and, By what means shall they be removed ? The sin, of course, must lie at the door of the legislature, or company originating and authorizing these mails — at the door of those who conduct them, and of those who avail themselves of them without any call of necessity or mercy — at the door, also, of those who abet and vin- dicate them, and of those who, acknowledging the evil, sit still in apathy and indifference, without protesta- tion against it, or effort to have it removed. And what is to be done, or what can be done ? It is not enough to grieve in secret, and satisfy ourselves with expressions of deep regTet to Christian friends, or to make an occasional reference to it in prayer to God, or even to write a Tract or a Book. It is our duty to 344 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. give a distinct and emphatic testimony against the sin — to keep ourselves clear, to the utmost of our power, from all participation in the sin and evils — to employ our influence, as parents, masters, ministers, rulers, as well as private individuals — to instruct and impress others in our respective spheres — to remonstrate with influential individuals as we have access — to address ourselves respectively, argumentatively, and firmly to companies — and, so far as the sin has the sanction of Government, to petition and memorialize — to co- operate in all sound measures — and that we prosecute these measures unweariedly, not yielding to discou- ragement from opposition, or fi'om the scoff or from cold -breathing apathy — and to do all this in the spirit of humble and prayerful dependence upon God, who has the hearts of all men and all influences in his hand, and, as the rivers of water, turneth them whithersoever he will. Under these views, we now address ourselves to the sound economist, the patriot, the philanthropist, and the Christian. We make an appeal in behalf of the servants connected with the postal estabhshment. These servants are thousands in number, and, with the exception of a partial release during the hours of pub- lic worship, and the exemption lately granted them from money-order transactions, they drudge in the routine of the duties of the other days of the week. In their case there is a regular systematic encroachment upon the rest of the seventh portion of time, — a rest allowed to other public sei'vants, — a rest necessary to the physical wellbeing of man, according to the sound- est medical science; — a rest, too, acknowledged in the law of the land, as well as gxanted in the benevolence of God. In theii' behalf, therefore, we make an appeal SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 345 to justice against a wrong inflicted upon them in the deprivation of a well-founded right which others enjoy. And we make our appeal to mercy. Is it not a draw- back upon the pleasure of a generous and benevolent mind, that persons should be drudging in exhausting labours on a day of rest to all others? They know it and feel it, and it is undeniable that to them release would be a boon of gTeat value. Irrespectively of the Divine interposition, it can be sho^\^l that a periodical respite from labour is requisite for the wellbeing of the physical system; and the wisdom and goodness of God in ap- pointing a portion of time for this may be fully vindi- cated. In view of the presumptuous proposal in France to reduce it from a seventh to a tenth, well may the la- bouring man say, " Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hands of man,'' And shall no pity be shown to wives and children who are deprived, by Sabbath occupation, of the society of husbands and parents, and of the ad- vantage and pleasure of leisurely domestic intercourse to unite them more closely in the bonds of virtuous affection? We urge our appeal also on the score of liher^ty — yes, civil and religious liberty — civil hberty to enjoy exemption from labour on the Sabbath, a liberty to which the parties concerned have a right by the laws of God and man, — and rehgious hberty, liberty to appropriate time for worshipping God in private and in public. We are not speaking, because not thinking, of forcing men to the performance of religious duties, or compelling attendance on rehgious ordinances, but we are pleading for lil)erty to those who deem it their duty to worship God in a season generally appropriated to it; and we protest against the invasion of religious liberty by deprivation, by legislation, and by a vir- 346 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. tual compulsion of multitudes to do what is wrong; and this too in many cases, in the first instance at least, contrary to their religious convictions. And we urge our plea on the score of public morals, persuaded from the nature of the case, and assured by observation and satisfactory informations, that the Sabbath mail operates with a baneful influence on the virtue and morals of society, by diminishing respect for the Sab- bath, and breaking in upon attendance on religious ordinances. Is it not matter of fact that those districts where the first day of the week is kept sacred, are dis- tinguished by a less amount of crime, and by peace and good order? We ask the patriot, the economist, and the philanthropist, whether our a2:)peal to justice, to mercy, to liberty, and to morality, be not well founded, or can be any thing on our part than disinte- rested ? We beg to ask, in a country where mails are delivered six days of the week, What privation would be inflicted — v/hat injury would be done to business, to politics, to science, to any interest whatever of indi- vidual or society — by a discontinuance of Sabbath mails? We deprecate opposition, if there can be such, on the mere principle of not making a concession to the professors of religion. We beg, also, to remind our readers of some impor- tant connections in which this particular aspect of the Sabbath question stands. You cannot fail to observe that it is placed in very close connection with the still- agitated question of Sabbath trains, the alleged neces- sity of the case, and the apparent reservations made for it in the Acts of Parliament, and the fact of many railway trains being already employed on the Sabbath, being adduced in all adverse pleadings. When, we re- flect on the flood of immorality and ungodliness which SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 347 Sabbath railway trains are diffasing over society in the places where they run, on the threatened extension of this evil, and this too by legislation, and on the cer- tain results of the greater extension, it is of importance to anticipate and preclude any advantage that may be taken from the Sabbath mail in subsequent argumen- tation. Besides, it is not to be overlooked that the question of Sabbath mails is excitmg interest in diffe- rent parts of England, as well as Scotland, at present, and that the opportunity should not be lost, when, in influential quarters, there is manifested a disposition to seek and to grant the desiderated reformation. Una- nimous, extensive, and persevering application is re- quired at the present time, and is not without some prospect of success. But there is not a day to be lost. — The agitation of the question in America, the able and well-founded pleadings on the subject from the press, and the practical effect which these pleadings are producing in the restraint of Sabbath profanation, par- ticularly in the matter of Sabbath travelling, demand the approbation, sympathy, and co-operation of the mother country. — Besides, the discontinuance of Sab- bath mails might exert an influence in aiding suppres- sion of other abuses that presently obtain, and in the prevention of others to which there is manifested a growing tendency. It is believed that in certain de- partments of commercial and legal business, in the printing of newspapers, in different departments of the arts, and great public works, infractions are made on the Sabbath which are altogether unjustifiable; and that they, too, are operating with a demoralizing influ- ence on the persons implicated. The petitions pre- sented lately to the legislature, to protect tradesmen and shopkeepers in England from opening their places 348 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. of business on the Lord's day, show strongly the evil tendency of the present time, from the eager pursuit of business and competition of those engaged in it, and give additional urgency to our appeal against the Sab- bath mail, which ministers so largely to these evils. Its discontinuance might be the means of suppressing some existing evils, and preventing other threatened profa- nations. Our appeal addresses itself to Christians as members of the Church, and interested in her spiritual good. The eager pursuit of business, the love of money, and the " pride of life,'' are making inroads upon the spirituality and devotion of the members of the Church, occupying time, engrossing conversation, secularizing the spirit, and greatly unfitting for the profits and pleasures of the Holy Sabbath. Many, it is confidently hoped, main- tain a conscientious and strict separation from commer- cial business, and from all connection with Sabbath mails on the Lord's day. But there is reason to fear that in other cases the temptation is too strong, and that, covertly or more openly, occasionally or statedly, encroachments are made on the Sabbath; and that in this case much injuiy is done to spirituality of charac- ter, while an unfavourable influence is put forth on children, domestics, and servants, even though the evil be kept in some measure from the public eye. Con- cern for the revived and invigorated spirituality of the Church of God, calls us to earnest efforts to have the insinuating temptations of Sabbath mails taken out of the way. In conclusion, we urge our argument by regard to our national peace and prosperity. We reckon it neither superstitious nor fanatical to refer to the moral indications of Providence in our recent commercial SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH ALA.ILS. 349 distresses and other sufferings, and to the present com- motions of Europe. We have referred above to the moral character of Providence, and feel ourselves called loudly, at the present tune, to "learn righteousness." It may be justly inquired, whether our profanation of the Sabbath by secular business, by civil recreations, and abounding immoralities connected with them, does not stand connected with our late suffering in the manufacturing, and commercial, and monetary depart- ments, involving capitalists, merchants, and men of property and wealth in embarrassment, and followed with the destitution and moral deoTadation of a great part of the population. Cast your eye on the historic page, and let the desolation of maritime and wealthy Tyre, and the howling ships of Tarshish, admonish of sin and danger. Was there not a cause ? Yes. Tyre's merchandise and hire were not "holiness unto the Lord." Call up unto remembrance the desolation of ancient Jerusalem, read in history the exact fulfilment of the prophetic word, and inquire into the cause. Not the grasping power of haughty Babylon, but the holy displeasure of Him who places high and chief in the indictment of Jerusalem's crimes, they polluted my Sabbaths.* Look abroad to Paris and to the Conti- nent, where the Lord's day is habitually devoted to secular business and pleasure, and often selected, as if for marked desecration and contempt, for every great public demonstration and festivity, and inquire whether this one prevailing sin does not stand in connection, morally and judicially, with the immorality, ungodli- ness, infidelity, atheism, confusions, murders, which liave been working of late with so appalling effect? * Jer. XX. 12-24. 350 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. And, in the light of the prophetic page, cast your eye forward to the near-coming future, when, in the judg- ment to come in one hour on the mystic Babylon, "the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn ; for no man buyeth of their merchandise any more : and every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, shall stand afar off, and cry, and weep, and wail."* Then, as in the days of old, "one post shall rise to meet another, to show that the city is fallen ;"-j- and carry the tidings to the ends of the earth. Alas for that devoted pursuit of merchandise, and gain, and misappropriation of wealth, to which the Sabbath mail has so extensively minis- tered ! Let us hear the voice of warning. If our iand is to be saved amid the present and coming WTecks of nations, and our swift electric telegraphs not charged to tell our own fall in the antichristian ruin, it must be by some specially-redeeming consideration. And what is this? Not wealth, not arts and sciences, not politi- cal freedom in its most unexceptionable form, not the most enlightened economic legislation, not the most penetrating acumen of far-seeing statesmen, not armies and navies, nor the prowess of soldiers and sailors, can save our land. Our disease is a moral one, inward, deep, wide-spread; and the remedy must cor- respond to it. " Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shomng mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." " At what instant I speak concerning a nation, to pluck, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation agaiQst which I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them." " Right- * Rev. xviii. 11, 17. f Jer. li. 31. SIN AND EVILS OF SABBATH MAILS. 351 eousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach (ruin) to any people." The holy Sabbath unites in it the interests of God and man, of individuals and communi- ties; it binds together the whole moral law; and from its very nature, and from the history of its worldng, is the best defence of religion and morality, the grand conservatory of universal righteousness. While it proves to the Christian a season of great spiritual good, and an earnest of everlasting rest, the practical respect of it brings with it a temporal blessing, as its violation exposes, in this respect, to a curse. It sets before us, in the sacred Scriptures and in the page of history, " the blessing and the curse." Encouraged by the one and awed by the other, let us turn our foot away from every profanation of the Sabbath, and in the discon- tinuance of Sabbath mails. Holiness unto the Lord shall be inscribed on the bells of our horses, on the front of our mighty locomotives, and on the prows of our gallant steamers; and by an abandonment of the evils connected with Sabbath mails, and other con- genial profanations, our people shall be " Holiness unto the Lord," and our merchandise and our liire shall also be "Holiness unto the Lord." " If thou shalt turn thy foot from doing thy pleasure on my holy DAY; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, NOT DOING thine own WAYS, NOR find- ing THINE OWN PLEASURES, NOR SPEAKING THINE OWN WORDS : Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." " But if ye will not hearken unto me to HALLOW THE SaBBATH-DAY, and NOT TO BEAR A BUR- 352 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. DEN, EVEN ENTERING IN AT THE GATES OF JERUSALEM; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched/'* * Isa. Iviii. 13, 14 : Jor. xvii. 27. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 353 xin, THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON, LL.D., D.D.* The Law of the Sabbath — through all times and dis- pensations identical in principle and invariable in force — is the proper statute of religion. It would be diffi- cult to find another, certainly any so direct. Only man could be thus addressed. Thus addressed, he is marked out for the duty of piety and worship. Given to the new-made Adam, it expounded his nature, un- * The present treatise in the series of " Tracts for the Times," comes before the pubHc with aU the solemnity of *' last words." It is an impressive circumstance, that two of the most distin- guished men engaged to write in this series — Dr Clialmers and Dr Hamilton — should have been summoned away, ere it wa.s closed, to the congenial Sabbath of Heaven. In the case of Dr Chalmers, the treatise, from the short time between the engage- ment and his death, was not prepared; in that of Dr Hamilton, the subject grew in interest and attractiveness as he meditated on it, so that "he could not let it go," and what he intended as a tract, swelled into a volume. No one will regret that his powerful and sanctified mind was induced to linger over such a Z 354 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. folded his capacity, and publicly stamped him a reli- gious being. The frame of nature, the different orders of sentient life, might benefit from it : he alone could rise to the elevation and sanctity of its idea. It was briefly announced, but it is full of inferential meaning. It is prophetic and germinant. Doubtless much accom- panied, interpreted, and enforced it, which it fell not within the province of the historian to record. It was adapted to the circumstances of innocence. We do not, therefore, read in it any restriction upon labour, any injunction of bodily rest. How could it contain that clause which in the future became so invaluable ? Spontaneously and lavishly did the earth yield its in- crease. Man, soon as Eden was planted, was " put into it, to dress it and to keep it.'' But he knew no harassing toils. To train the flower, to prop the fruit, to prune luxuriant excess, to separate tangled redun- dance, were his only arts of husbandry and tasks of la- bour. Not then did he need the weekly rest. Other- wise it revolved to him unwearied and unspent. From his everyday occupation, simple and untiring, he would indeed abstain. It was still the season of rest. His body craved it not. It was the rather addicted to that mental activity of love and adoration which is the true repose of holy minds. To him it could only theme; or that ainono- his lapt and most eloquent pleadings with men ere he passed into eternity, was the call to " Itemember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." This treatise forms part of the volume " Horse et Vindicise Sabbaticse," and is printed from it by Dr Hamilton's own permission. Written at any period of his public life, it would have expressed the deep and intelligent convictions of a great mind; written when the presentiment of death was upon him, and "eternity beginning to throw on him its mysterious gleams, through the growing shades of his even- ing life," it is like his dying message to the Church and to the world. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 355 be the intei^al of a more intense and festal devotion. He had but with deeper solemnity to summon him- self : " Return unto thy rest, O my soul !" He was a temple of the living God, in which was perpetual sacri- fice : always holy, this was the most prepared offer- ing, this was the most intimate visitation, of the God. But when the " ground was cursed for man's sake,'' when he was sentenced to " eat of it in sorrow all the days of his life," when it " brought forth thorns and thistles to him," when he must " in the sweat of his face eat bread till he returned to the dust," — then did the statute of religion require the weekly suspension of muscular labour, to secure the opportunity of the spiritual rest. It gave relief to the body — a merciful relaxation of the doom of labour — but the Sabbath thus established its own protection and safeguard. It was the same it always was; but, by its blessed ex- pansiveness, it adapts itself to fallen man, and to all the conditions of his fall. It can be con- strued to all circumstances. The change is not in itself, but in the altered case. Touch not its life, impair not its sanctity, but leave it to its divine generosity. Having been granted for the holy rest of man ere he transgressed and bore a daily burden, it being perpetually binding upon him whatever might be his moral relations, it demanded for its due regula- tion, that labour should be intermitted. Now, He, who had exacted this punishment of sin, was pleased to mitigate it upon his oiun day. We consequently find — when this statute is specifically connected with Judaism, though laid upon a moral basis which con- firms it to all mankind — that this mitio'ation is made a part and test of it. This is necessary to its own con- sistency. It must have been always so fi'om the 356 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. period of the malediction of the ground : it must be always so while man goeth forth to his labour. The spirit and observance of the Sabbath would be incompatible with quotidian life : they who treated days indifferently would fail of all its profit. This ac- commodation of it is in vain pleaded against its real uniformity. In vain is it contended that we have two different commands. For the statute of religion main- tains its primordial character, wdien incorporated with the code of Sinai. The mechanical rest, though made necessarily prominent, is not the end. It is but an in- cident. It is the precaution and guide to something better. Such abstinence from " any manner of work'' would not of itself be to " keep holy the Sabbath-day." It is but a means to an end. Now, where, through- out this code, is the statute of religion, if it be not in its fourth precept ? Where else is it written, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart ? " Not in those which precede it : they are only inter- dicts upon polytheism, idol-worship, and profanity. Not in those which follow : for they only regard the ethics of man, and of man in the present state. But " on those two commandments,'' or summaries and heads of commandments, " hang all the law and the prophets." Here is it to be found, if found at all. Therefore, the law of the Sabbath, as the statute of religion, must always survive, and always oblige, as long as man 3'emains what he is. He never can be so considered, that it shall not be his duty to love God, lis principle requires, with an indefeasible right, this expression of religion fi'om him : it demands, for its respect and hallowing, the laying aside of every busi- ness and care which would interfere with it. Sabbath is Jwly rest : it only involves, by condition and conse- THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 357 quence, animal rest. That is its vitality and essence : this is but corresponding facility and form. Who, then, can conceive of its repeal? It is an everlasting ordinance. The thought of its abrogation has no place in Scripture. It travels with every age : it coalesces with every economy. Whatever is wanting, whatever is superseded, it endures. It renews itself as the bow in the cloud, it completes itself like the horns of the crescent moon, it journeys with the circuit of the sun. The things of earth no more affect it than they can those wonders of the sky. It is established in the foundations of immutaJjle morality and religion. Whatever the modification of its circumstances and its periods, it is still the Sabbath. So, when Prophecy builds the temple* of an unknown magnificence, show- mg in vision what vvas never substantiated in a material frame, — that pile of spiritual architecture which is to grace the millennird age (an interpretation v/hich its unaccomplished model and indefinable mysteriousness compel us to assume), the glorious Church, — then is it commanded that " the gate of the inner court shall be shut the six working days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened." It comes not in mind that the Sabbath should cease, though it is never entitled the seventh day. Sabbath is the proper nam.e for the thing, what- ever the time in which it may recur. After the same manner, our Lord forewarns the destruction of Jerusa- lem : " Pray ye that your flight may not be on the Sabbath-day." No doubt can exist that this was counsel to his disciples to fly the impending doom. Forty years, at least, elapsed from his ascension ere that judgment fell. Christians would at that era keep * Ezek.xi. 858 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the Sabbath-day, or his counsel would be unavailing. We need not go into the reasons which would make their escape more perilous on the Sabbath: it suffices that it might so have happened, and hence it is clear that such was their practice. They had a Sabbath, full of duty and observance, whose stillness might ex- cite a sense of false security, whose hallowing might leave them unguarded and unprepared. The name changed it not ; for whatever the modification, it was the holy rest, bringing with it the secular remission, — it was none other than the Sabbath of God. Our previous argumentation authorizes us to expect, and prepares us to allow, enlargement of blessing and sanctity in this institute, when it comes into contact and cohesion with Christianity. If it refined with Judaism, gathering up all its revelations, and filling itself with all its hopes, what must be the influence of this relation? " For even that which was made glori- ous had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory which excelleth." It is not uncommon, in human legislation, to promul- gate new declaratory acts in exposition and enforcement of older statutes. Their authority is thus assumed: they are only the more confirmed and extended. A chief glory of this dispensation is constituted in the dignity of the Messiah's person and work. " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." Other messengers are postponed to him in a manner which annihilates comparison and competition. " For this apostle and high priest of our profession was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 359 builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some one ; but he that built all things is God.'' But while this language, attesting supreme divinity, throws back to an infinite distance all created claim, it proves that He " thinks it not robbery to be equal with God.'' If the analogy of the " house" is to the Church, and the " all things built" refer to its dispensations and interests, and not to proper creation, still it is " his own house," and he is therefore God. It is the care of Scripture to invest him with all religious control : " he is both Lord and Christ." He is " set as king upon the holy hill of Zion." He is " a priest upon his throne." He is *' exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour." Nor must this be forgotten in any argument that may arise as to the modification of law, if he shall will it. The essence of moral law cannot be changed : the form of its insti- tutions may. If it need be proved that the first day of the week is appointed by him for the keeping of the holy rest, it cannot be doubted that it is his right and his power to decree it. " He is head over all things to the Church." It is his prerogative, for it is " He who changeth the times and the seasons," and " all power is given to him in heaven and in earth." Every thing that can enter into the category 9f Chris- tianity is impropriatedly his. View it as a kingdom : it is the kingdom of Christ. View it as a faith : he is the Author and Finisher of our faith. View it as a church: it is his body. His is the sole authority. A change in the accidents of the Sabbath must be within his competence and jurisdiction. But some collateral illustrations may be found to prove that " his right it is." These may, at the same time, answer many a rising objection. For it is not 360 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. unlikely, it is not unnatural, that difficulties may be felt in such a re-arrangement of the Sabbath, unless the precise authority thus order it which at first com- manded it. It may, perhaps, be deemed doubtful whe- ther an equal authority could so decide. The require- ment may be of the evidence that it is the very same. We suppose, then, that it is alleged that no autho- rity, save that of the Creator, could alter jot or tittle of the original Sabbath : since it was the record and celebration of his recent work, he alone can be entitled to be heard in its revision. The proper Maker of all things must interpose : no delegated power can de- serve a momentary attention. We received it from his mouth, and his mouth only can supplement or transform it. He who " bound'' exclusively can " loose.'' " For ever is it settled in heaven," except he who speaketh from heaven can express, in a new sanction to its force, a new application of its principle. All that can be required is, that it shall gain in impor- tance, and strengthen in edification. We may then ask, Is Christ so fully and distinctly this very Creator, that his edict concerning the Sab- bath may be affirmed as the will of him who, at the close of creation, ordamed it ? Was the Sabbath dic- tated by Himself, he being really the Creator ? This is not left for doubt and controversy. " All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." " He was in the world, and the world was made by him." " For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible : all things were created by him, and for him : and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." " And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 361 earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands/'* The argTiment is perfect. Testimony cannot be more explicit. That which was necessarily a divine act is his established claim. For, even on the sixth day, per- sonal Deity is revealed : " Let us make man ! '' The style is sustained : " Behold the man is become as one of us ! '' The Second Person immediately creates. It is because he is the Mediator. It is a great prospec- tive arrangement. " God created all things by Jesus Christ.'' All divine acts are common to the Divinity, but they may be also specific, and even subordinate. The development of Subsistences in the Godhead is a development of offices and relations undertaken by them. This work is ascribed to the Son. Therefore, if any mistrust arose in our mind, whether the Sabbath might, in any wise or sort, be governed by the Saviour, his direct and specific Creatorship furnishes the most unequivocal waiTant. He "made" it. It is his own ordination. But a jealousy of any interference with what is so solemnly fixed, may be felt on account of the ratifica- tion of the Sabbath-law to "the ancient people." " The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of samts : from his right hand went a fiery law for them." Who shall disturb in any way or to any degree a rule so peremptory, precise, and plain ? What hand can touch the tables which came from that " right hand?" What power dare trench upon that " fiery law ?" Yet may we inquire : AVho then propounded it ? The Avriter of the epistle to the Hebrews gives an indubitable answer. " And to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood * Jolini. 3, 10; Col. i. 16, 17; Heb. i. 10. 362 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. of sprinkling, that speaketli better things than that o£ Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven : Whose voice then shook the earth I''* Therefore we read, in the defence of Stephen, that Moses " was with the an- gel who spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with the fathers." -[* This Angel is evidently distinguished from the " disposition,'' or marshalling, '"' of angels," — when the law was ordained, or marshalled " in the hand of a mediator,";]: — He is paramount. He is the Angel of the flaming bush, the Angel of the Divine presence, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Lord of Hosts, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, Jehovah 1 Therefore Paul, in ad- dressing the Corinthians, says, " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were de- troyed of serpents." Were not the indication clear, we must remember that the Jews, until the days of Christ, had " not heard the Father's voice at any time, nor seen his shape." But would we identify the Declarer of the law, we must ponder the words of David in spirit — " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast received gifts for men." The application of this prediction is unquestionable. § The same retinue crowded Olivet which erst had shone on Sinai, and the same Personage ascended from the blooming brow of the one, that had, in distant ages, descended upon * Heb. xii. 24, 25, 26. f Acts vii, 38. :|: Gal. iii. 19. § Psa.lxviii; Eph. iv. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 363 the stem peaks of the other. So, should there be any suspicion that a change, of whatever kind, cannot take place in the circumstances of the Sabbath, because of its absolute promulgation in the desert — the proof is at hand to relieve and to obviate it, in the assured fact that the Lord Jesus was himself the asserting Lawgiver. Nor is there less reason to gather from Scripture, that to Him was committed the entire economy of re- vealed truth and worship since the creation of the world. " By him God constituted the ages" or dis- pensations : " According to the disposition of the ages which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord.'' * We must believe that he " walked in the garden,'' when the doom of the tempter and the deliverance of man were in one oracle pronounced. We trace him in phantom guise, from tent to tent of patriarchs, and from altar to altar of saints. " The Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets, signified to them, and tes- tified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." " Esaias saw his glory and spake of him," — adored by the seraph, enthroned in the temple, summoning the messenger, issuing the command, inflicting the judgment, preserving the " holy seed," and ordering all the events of universal Providence and Religion. To this view there are who oppose the authority of Christ in the present eco- nomy ; they press us with our own argument, that the peculiar honour of this economy consists in the imme- diate intervention of Christ. But an important dis- tinction is overlooked. The government of the former dispensation was in him, that of this is directly by * Keb. i. 2; Eph. iii. 11. 364 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. him. His was fonneiiy tlie superintendence : his is now the administration. The act of anticipative, sha- dowy, outward form is most inferior to his personal incarnation, which abideth for ever. None intervene — no king in Jeshurun, no mediator on Sinai. He stands alone. And therefore, as all religious dispen- sation has ever been placed under him, so is he en- titled, by his more dhect sovereignty of this, to select any appointment common to them to all, and, while fully preserving it, variously to mould it. It is right to chase and stamp his own image and superscription up- on it. Intromitted into each, traversing their series, the Sabbath may only be more amassed, more honoured, more infused with life and power, until it shall throw around it all the lights which have successively fallen on it, and shall embody "the manifold wisdom of God.'' This may be the fitting stage of the argument at which to inquire whether the Messiah — in " the days of his flesh,'' during the full execution of his Mediato- rial work — so delivered his mind concerning the Sab- bath, that he challenged pecuhar property in it, that he asserted perfect right over it ? Did he ever proclaim his power in respect of it ? We find a remarkable ut- terance — three evangelists record it — such as the Crea- tor might have spoken while he ushered in the first Sabbath — such as the '' only Potentate" might have resounded through Sinai's trumpet — only to be justi- fied by the preface, " But I say unto you, that in this place is one gi'eater than the temple," — an absolute, imperial utterance : " For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath-day."* Not less stupendous is his announcement, when, on another occasion, he is arraigned for his violation of the Sabbath : " My * ^latt. xii. S; Mark ii. 28 ; Luke vi. 5. THE CHllISTIAN SABBATU. 365 Father worketli hitherto, and I work/' It is a co-or- dinate claim ! It is an awful parallelism ! " Just as my Father worketh hitherto, though he rested from all his works, in governing and blessing the worlds he made, so I work, with no more infraction of that holy rest, in exercising miraculous power and healing human woe ! What we affirm is, the alteration in the time of the holy rest, together Avith its aggrandizement of meaning : it is to be celebrated by Christians upon the first day of the week instead of the last, and it is lienceforth to be specifically commemorated by them in honour of the resurrection of their Lord. Though we do not perceive how any such change of time can affect the essence of the Sabbath-law, and must maintain most strenuously that it does not — yet, as this is a very palpable alteration, it may be proper to learn whether this be the first of the kind, whether some transposition has not far earlier occurred. This would prepare every mind and reconcile every scruple. Such an aiTangement we think may be detected in the history of the Old Testament. In the exode of the Jews, thefr leader enters upon a new computation of time. The commencement of the year was changed. The passover was henceforth to date it. From " even unto even" is the day commanded to be regarded — the original order, but evidently not so calculated at that time, or the first regulation would not need to be renewed. A general, though not exact, reckoning of the Sabbath might nevertheless be maintained. But one important event seems to necessitate the conclu- sion of a change. On the fifteenth day the tribes took their journey from Elim to Sin. They marched not on a Sabbath, and therefore it was not one. But the Sabbath followincr this, must have been the tv/enty- 366 TPIE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. second of the montli; wlien it rained neither quails nor manna. The miracle began upon the evening of the fifteenth, and intermitted after the morning of the sixth day from it. If, therefore, this latter was the sacred day, so was that which ended the former week. The probability is, that then the holy rest Avas moved ; whether forward or backward concerns not the case. A chano^e in the time will account for that decree of uncertainty which the inspired historian intimates to have pervaded the minds of the people. The Sabbath was for the next forty years to be denoted by the ces- sation of diurnal miracle. Might it not mark a new series ? Thus early, if this collation be true, and this inference be just, was it shown that the period of Sab- bath was indifferent, if otherwise its due sanctity and proportionate time were but guarded. It will now be necessary to demand, Wliether Chris- tianity be itself a sufficient reason to justify this change in the circumstances of the Sabbath, the supreme au- thority having assented. We speak of the Incarnation, the Sacrifice, the Resurrection, of the Eternal Son. We cite the facts and doctrines and operations of Re- demption. What must not these overshadow ! What may not these displace ! These are wonders, and depths, and unsearchable riches ! i\.ngels desne to look into them ! They are past finding out ! These are the final causes of Creation. — We have but to think of " the Lamb who was verily fore- ordained before the foundation of the world," — but to recollect, that " it became Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation pei-fect through sufferings," — to seize the mighty con- ception that this universal frame is but mere platform THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 367 and scaffolding to a pur]oose older than time, and with which no material fabric can compare. No form of the divine character can be so glorious as that which is acquired here. No confirmation of justice and \si^v can be so perfect as that which is thus consummated. The handiwork, the beauty, the wisdom in Avhich all is made, the establishing of the world, the deep places of the earth, the streni^th of the hills, are nothincr but subserviences to a gTeat moral scheme, which is itself swallowed up in this great salvation. " He has mag- nified his word above all his name." The birthday song of creation may well rise and louden into " a new song ! '' It finds a nobler burden ! The festival of nature may w^ell adorn itself with new badges and strains! It receives a surpassing memorial! The Original Sabbath gracefully merges into the fulness of the Christian Sabbath. Until then its use was partial, now it is complete — until then nascent, now mature — until then enigmatic, now deciphered — until then a truncated pillar, now elevated to its height and deco- rated with its capital! A Spiritual creation, being superior to that luliich is material and even intellectual, deserves its distinct remembrancer and honour. The Sabbath of innocence did not long renew itself It then was adapted to the condition of sin. Infinite mercy suffered not man to be bereft of it. Its call was still to him, and it pointed the way to a refuge- altar. But Christianity was sent to retrieve. This it had, in some measm'e, done by what was kno^vn to them who lived in fonner ages. This is even strongly taught us: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them." Now, however, it is fully known, and is in full operation. It is a great renovating 368 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. vScheme and process. It is to make all things new. It is to apply a creative power to the salvation of man. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ/' These are the effects to which prophecy directs our eye : — " For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remem- bered, nor come into mind/' And, therefore, is it most reasonable and congruous, — when a spiritual energy is breathed into the elements of the soul, when a divine image is impressed upon it fairer than that it lost, when a divine nature is imparted to it more perfect than it ever could have otherwise received, when an eternal life is lavished, when a paradise is prepared in comparison with which all the charms of Eden are as withered leaves, — that there should stand forth a memorial and sign of this intensest agency, which fills the understanding with knowledge and the affections with purity, which insures freest choice, and necessitates spontaneous delight! How appropriate that the Sab- bath, the monument of the first and inferior creation, should be exalted, by a characteristic accommodation, by a fresh trophy, as the monument of this ! " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incor- ruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, re- served in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." * * 1 Pet. i. 3-5. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. S69 ■^—The Jewish dispensation could 7iot debar the juster and higher appropriation of the Sabbath. It had been renewed to Israel, a people which had no more peculiar right in it than any other. It was the property of the human race. We own its solemn incorporation with their religion. But that religion looked favourably upon all. It was a refuge to every stranger who would embrace it. It snatched the Sab- bath from none. It was its guardian, but not its jailer, — it held it not as captive, but entertained it as guest. When that angel -visitant would depart, and take its lot with a universal dispensation, it was but restored to its proper range. No wrong was done. The Jewish Sabbath — which was its incidental and temporary and local fomi — must cease. Judaism was ready to vanish away. This had been foretold by its own seers. " And it shall come to pass, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more. The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it ; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more." " If that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." The Sabbath, by its Christian appropriation, reverts to the universality, and rests on the perpetuity, for which it was designed. Christianity becomes its dehverer — its exponent and security. Our blessed Lord came to " fulfil all righteousness," to exhibit all obedience. He enforced the law of Moses and those who sat in his seat. " He was a min- ister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." He kept the seventh-day rest, according to commandment and not tradition. " As his custom was, he went into the syna- 2 A 370 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. gogne on the Sabbath-day." In the violations of it charged upon him, we see but its true import. He did not formally inculcate the Sabbath, but he did unfold the law which contained it. It was already kept with an external precision. There was no need to impress it. All his teachings, however, — those which correct its abuses, — go to prove that it was most holy and beneficiaL They are not idle pains and cares for that which was nearly obsolete, and on the eve of its dissolution. But his every rebuke or precept was designed to show the necessity of a piety more than ceremonial " Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."' " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass fi'om the law, till all be fulfilled." He, there- fore, virtually urged the Sabbath, that greatest com- mandment, in its spirit and its influence, while he flid not neglect the least. But immediately after his resurrection, " when he came into his kingdom," we lose sight of the seventh day as the interval of rest, and find substituted for it the first Yet this is only true of Christian obser- vance : " in every city was Moses preached, being read in the synagogue ever}^ Sahhath-day" We trace the change in his own mj^sterious visitations to his assembled disciples, and in their own practice. Having risen firom the tomb on the first day of the week — being seen of four several parties during the earlier hours of the day — having vanished from the travellers to Emmaus after sitting at meat with them — he suddenly stood among his disciples, then collected together, and saluted THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 371 them. It wears the character of a reHonous meetinor. o o The record warrants the conclusion. " Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus." Why is it added, "being the first day of the week?" Is it not as an index to the reader that it was a, particular day? All knew what day it was, its number ; this is the memento of its sacredness. The Jew would know what was meant by the notice that an event occurred on the seventh day: a Christian would equally understand an aUusion to the first* It should be remembered, for a future argument, that it was then that the apostles received their full commission and investitiu-e — when the Saviour spoke to them — " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Then did he also renew the Sacrificial feast. " When he sat at meat with them " — the common meal having terminated, he repeated the significant actions peculiar to this — " he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave unto them." It was understood. "Their eyes were opened, and they knew him!" * It is quite clear that Sa/S/SarM is sometimes employed to ex- press the iceek. So the Pharisee boasted : " I fast twice in the week," literally, on the Sabbath, which could not be, for it was a festal day. Similar instances are probably in Mark xvi. 1, 9. The Septuagint always uses "E/B^j^*?. It seems that the singular number only is then employed. But a peculiar phrase repeatedly occurs as to the first day after the resurrection of Christ : M/a fxQ,^ccru*, strictly the first of the Sabbaths. In this connection, as would be necessary for syntax, the plural is always adopted. But another syntactical form, it is evident, might have been in- troduced. The Sabbath, the seventh day of the Jews, was fre- quently spoken of in the pluial, sometimes absolutely, more generally tiu-'ioac. being understood. Now this langijage becomes, we think, significant. " The first of the Sabbaths " is applied to 372 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Thomas was absent on tliat occasion, and expressed, when he heard of its marvels, a vehement distrust. Throughout that week did not Jesus re-appear. When the second week commences, " the disciples are within, and Thomas with them." They are all gathered to- gether, a religious conclave. Once more Jesus stands among them, triumphing over material resistance, and, as at the first, salutes them. It is religious recogni- tion and gTeeting. Is there nothing marked in this interval of time? His other interviews are not thus marked. That of Tiberias reveals the apostles in their secular calling, and becomes the occasion of the final miracle. That of the mountain in Galilee, and that of the five hundred brethren, requiring absence from home and open air muster, debarred the strictness, and were inappropriate to the obligation of the holy rest. Let us now follow the course of the apostles. Let us revolve their acts. Christ has descended. Until then he had met them at appointed seasons. We may believe that he had passed six first-day Sab- baths with them. He had " assembled together with them." " They were come together." Thus are their the day of the resurrection, that phiral never denoting the week. The four evangelists thus specifically, uniformly give it. The last repeats it when describing the visit of the risen Jesus to his assembled disciples on the evening of that day — " being the first of the Sabbaths," evidently, as argued in the text, the first day of the week — but with stronger intention and import. Again we find the phrase, where its meaning cannot be doubted. — (Acts XX. 7 ; 1 Cor, xvi. 2.) The first of the Sabbaths may, without violence, describe a new series — the resurrection-day actually the first, and successive days still reckoned from that first. I accept this evidence — it seems to me just and beautiful : others may deem it more fanciful than cogent. 1 learn more and more to forbear with others as to the impression of any evidence. Quantum Valeat. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 373 communions described. They then wait for " the pro- mise of the Father, which, said he, ye have heard of me/' On the next first day of the week, which we ascertain by the epoch of Pentecost, we discover " them all with one accord in one place." The anniversary of the Giving of the Law would not be selected for an innovation which dishonoured that law. The descent of the Spirit crowns that Christian festival. The first Christian sermon is preached, and victories of conver- sion are multiplied. The first Christian Church is formed, and the benign influences of that holy organi- zation and fellowship are dispread. The first public "breaking of bread'' is celebrated, and the feast is crowed ed with guests. This must be periodical. It is distinguished from " the daily breaking of bread," which was only " eating their meat at home." * There- fore, this publicity is always noted in connection with it — " "When ye come together into one place, is it not to eat the Lord's Supper ?"-|- In the same manner, while it is said : " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together " (not an un- meaning reference to his appointed day), it is immedi- ately subjoined : " Let us keep the feast." An incidental light is thrown upon the very day, for it is declared just before this exhortation, " Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."| Now that Paschal feast commenced on the first day of the week, wdiich * In our translation it is given, " from house to house," but "xar eiKov^ will not bear such a rendering. It is to be feared, like some other interpolations in this particular book (chap. xii. 4 ; xix. 37), that the motive was to idejitify the Lord's Supper with this domestic meal, and thus to justify its private administration. t 1 Cor. xi. 20. This is the true pointing. X 1 Cor. V. passim. 374 THE CHRISTIAN SABJ3ATH. day was to be kept as a Sabbath, even as the follow- ing seventh day. — Plistoric proof generally consists of cncumstances which seem to arise without design, and to be recorded without care. These, without any con- sciousness or art of order, readily combine. The " un- designedness"* furnishes a most convincing argument for then truth. Such is that which we obtain. Easy, simple, natural passages supply it. The account of the visit of Paul and his companions, at Troas, is of this kind. They tarried seven days. Yet is there only one worshipping day. It cannot be anticipated. It is not the seventh-day Sabbath. Then might he have de- parted on the sixth day of his sojourn. This he would have desired to do. All bespeaks haste. " He had no rest in his spirit.'' -[• " And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread " (an evident usage), " Paul preached to them." He had waited six days for this opportunity. It was his only one : " ready to depart on the morrow." So must we understand his visit to Tyre : " Having found disciples, we tarried there seven days." — " Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." The idea is not of a weekly hoard, but contribution. It was a part of " the fellowship," the collection. It was to be "gathered" then and there, that there might be no "gatherings" when he, who " gave this order to the Churches," should " come." But does it not say more than that the first day was the Sabbath-rest? Does it not imply that the six preceding days were spent in labour whose profits God had prospered? Does it not remind of the ancient cast of expression, — In it thou * Palev's term. f 2 Cor. ii. 13. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 375 shalt do no work, six days slialt tliou do all thy work ! Does it not establish the disuse, the negation of the seventh-day rest? And Paul may be considered an independent witness. He did not receive the gospel of men. Speaking of the Lord's Supper, so intimately identified with the Christian Sabbath, he exclaims: " For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.'' — Amidst the solitudes of his rock, John kept the account of his exiled days. What dif- ferent scenes and seasons had he known! " When he remembered these things, he poured out his soul in him." But a Christian Sabbath came as the "halcyon of the storm, an iris of beauty and of hope : " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," — " I was full of inspi- ration, kindled with prophetic rapture, on a day too appropriate for the vision not to be particularized, too fiixed in its revolution not to be certified, too precious in its suggestion not to be rehearsed." We behold, then, that holy rest which began in Paradise still breathing around Patmos, — that dial, which first caught the sun of the seventh day of creation and circled that Sabbath, now throws its mystic shadow forward four thousand years, and lights up that Lord's day in the ^gean deep. The testimony was soon to l^e sealed up : all vision was about to close : but ere its comple- tion a holy dignity is added to the day, and its highest appropriation is asserted. The Lord will have it be known as his ! " Lord of the Sabbath," — this is his holy, peculiar, — it is his day ! Agreeable to this new denomination is the hymn of the ancient Church. It is raised in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ. " The stone which the builders refused is be- come the headstone of the comer." This is repeatedly quoted by our Lord and his disciples, and applied by 376 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. them to his triumph over death in a way not to be mistaken. The Church then swells the canticle of vic- tory: " This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." That is prophecy : this is its fulfilment. It is immediately associated with a nobler order of worship : " This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter." — Perhaps a direct testimony is borne to this change, in the time of the institution, by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews. He speaks of three rests: that of the day of the com- pleted creation, that of the promised land, and that of heaven. But, as if it might be supposed that, amidst varying dispensations, the Sabbath was lost, he adds, " There remaineth," there survives, " a Sab- batism for the people of God."* Only in tliis place of the chapter does the word occur. It would be very difficult to give any other explanation of the reason assigned, if this be not intended to express the Lord's day, the resurrection day: " For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." It is the day when he rested from the toils and suffering s of redemption — the day consecrated to them and their reward." " He had finished the work given him to do." " It is finished !" How due the remembrance and the honour to him of whom it was foretold: " His rest shall be glorious!" There may be an easy reason assigned why a more early recognition of the Christian Sabbath is not found in the history of the Church. After the Pentecost, re- * Heb. iv. 9. The general reluctance to this opinion seems to arise from the belief, that the conclusion of tlie whole argument is from the 9th verse, whereas it is plainly in the 11th. From the 7th unto the 11th is a parenthesis, and the inference of the 9th is from what is raised therein. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 377 ligion seemed fully to possess the converts. Every feeling and interest was swallowed up in it. " Great grace was upon them all.'' Weeks could they not suf- fer to intervene between their assemblies. " They continued do,ily with one accord in the temple." The claims of labour and the importunities of want were obviated. " All that believed were together,* and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all as every man had need." This continued at least a year. The judgment on Ananias and Sapphira prevented the increase of this sodality, which was always perfectly voluntary ; an'd as always independent of, though perhaps coincident with, the Church. Speedily it came to a close. Hospitality and alms succeeded to intercommunity of property. But thus we see not only how the fervour of the first believers carried them over the distinctive first day, though never to forget it, sanctifying all days, — but how they were enabled to do this. They economized at once their means and their wants. Supei-flux coun- terveiled deficiency. In their holy transport, the six days' occupation ceased. This was most undesirable as a permanent state of things. Presently all resumed their social places, and henceforth signified how possi- ble and convenient it is to be " diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." We only seize the historic notice, to account for the omission of spe- cified mention as to the Sabbath, when joy could not stint it within literal rule, and when the necessity of daily work was superseded. It may be thought that an immediate commandment was necessary to authenticate any such change. It will * Acts ii. 44. " ffctv i-ri to a.vra'' it should be " were engrossed in this." 378 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. be often found that this is unnecessary. That goes for- ward, that continues in force, which is not abrogated. We do not want the proof of its enforcement, in such an instance, but of its repeal. Two views may be pre- sented of the case before us. 1. If it can be shown that the apostles, in their pub- lic character, and with their unanimous sanction, pro- ceeded in any uniform course and custom, that becomes to us a rule. Their regulated example has all the authority and all the ])inding force of a promulgated law. Their practice of the Christian Sabbath, their non-observance of the seventh day, may be proved. This, then, is the ordinance which they have delivered unto us. 2. If we can establish that the a]Dostles were taught Christianity beyond all that direct information tells us — that they were made its depositaries and magistrates — then may we expect their practical judgments upon all duty. Forty days were they in dnect and awful communication with their Lord between his resurrec- tion and ascension. This was the term of the continu- ance of Moses in the mount. " Clu^ist showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, speak- ing of the things jjertaining to the kingdom of God." " He gave commandments unto the apostles whom he had. chosen.'' This is the gospel administration. How did they magnify their office! "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordi- nances, as I delivered them to you." These ordinances might be " by word or epistle." We see them acted upon, and thus learn them as embodied for ourselves. " So ordain I in all churches." We see in this man- ner the reflected will of Christ. Here are these " com- THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 379 mandments/' Here are the " things pertainmg to the kingdom of God." The apostles would be, of all men, most reluctant to " break one of these least command- ments, and to teach men so ;'' they would not have thus decided, had not their credentials been explicit and un- impeachable. They were not men given to cha^nge. None of them were superior to strong prepossessions. These large views of the gospel found but slow entrance into their minds. While " Peter was to be blamed," the vow of Paul in Cenchrea scarcely seems to have been clear of undue concession. Any wise, they were not eager or precipitate for innovation. They were slow of heart to believe. Now, that they had inno- vated upon some religious usages is abundantly evident. The charge against Stephen was, " that he had said that Jesus of Nazareth should change the customs which Moses delivered." When in Corinth, "the Jews made insurrection against Paul," their accusation was, that " he persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law." It is more agTeeable to the spirit and general conduct of the apostles, though they often spake of " their com- mandment," to leave the institutions of the ancient law to sink of themselves into desuetude. Their authority had expired. They had answered their end. They were fulfilled. To borrow the legal language of our country, their demise was determined. A sort of respect was still inseparable from them. They were not, therefore, harshly condemned, or abruptly abo- lished. Christians were committed to the working of their own minds to lay them aside. Confidence was felt that they must outgrow them. So ceased circum- cision and many a ceremonial observance; so ceased, gently, gradually, the seventh-day appropriation before 380 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the Christian enactment of the first. That from the beginning of the dispensation was peremptory; all being changed, "there was made of necessity a change also of the law.'' And we, therefore, observe certain statements of a more decisive kind as this dispensation advances. The Judaising influence is sternly de- nounced. At last, the incompatibility of any adherence to the law with Christian privilege is asserted : " We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat who, serve the tabernacle. Let us go forth unto Jesus without the camp, bearing his approach.'' * The Sabbath, we have seen, was a part of the Moral Law. There it not only had a place, but it gave a meaning and motive to it. With that Christianity cannot interfere. " Yea, we establish the law." Never is it represented to be a part of the ceremonial eco- nomy. It is not a type of any thing but itself It is archetype and antitype. With nothing can it ex- change. Circumcision may pass into baptism. The Passover may be translated into the Lord's Supper. But the Sabbath is the Sabbath, and nothing but the Sabbath can it be. It owed a particular construction to Judaism; it owes a specific application to Christi- anity. But to no dispensation owes it existence, or authority, or right. It is from the beginning. It is the parent of dispensations. It is the root of religions. " Its tabernacle is in the sun." We are aware that Scripture has been quoted to render the question of its observance indifferent, to expose it rather in the light of a burden than of a blessing. It would be strange, could this be established. Laxity is abhorrent to the spirit of revelation. The statement, upon which this doctrine of indifference is * Heb, xiii. 10, 13. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 381 founded, proceeds from Paul : * " One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day." Our translators have added "alike," which has no pretext of place in the original Greek. This must refer to the Jewish feasts. He who had been educated beneath their associations, would feel much scrupulous- ness in renouncing them. If he " regarded it unto the Lord/' he was not to be "judged" by them who " re- garded it not unto the Lord.'' Also, in the warning of the same writer: "Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths/' — we trace the same rule of interpretation. These are all confessedly " shadows of good things to come." They rise in a gradation. They first respect offerings, then religious times. We have previously remarked, that Sabbath not only is used in Levitical language to denote, as it properly does, that of the week, but that of years, the seventh and the forty-ninth. The holy-day was an addition to the Sabbath, the new moon was a feast of blowing of trumpets, and sabbaths of years must be impracticable, apart from the miracles of the soil with which formerly they had been attended. To these no adherence could "he obligatory. Apart from a spiritual appropriation, they were always disavowed and denounced : " The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assembhes, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." Here certainly the weekly Sabbath cannot be understood. The ceremonial, when abused, may be slighted and revoked; the moral, however perverted, must be retained in honour and force. But we can feel no sympathy with them who would draw from these and similar passages an obHque attempt to inva- * Rom. xiv, 5. 382 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. liclate the Sabbath's holy rest. Was its enforcement by Christianity to put a " yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither the Jewish fathers nor their children were able to bear?" Had they complained of it? Did they esteem it a grievance? It was a law fulfilled by love. Well, then, did the Church in Jeru- salem, — apostles, elders, brethren, omit all thought of it when " it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to lay upon " the Gentiles " no greater burden than these necessary things.'' Why should they have adverted to it more than to any other part of the De- calogue? They left it as the rest, inviolate. If it be rejoined that the seventh commandment is enforced, the answer is, — that fornication means here either idolatry or the impurity of its orgies. It is inconceiv- able that the Christian Hebrew should hail the loss of such a boon, or that the Christian heathen should not welcome such a privilege. How could the one part with it? How could the other reject it? Were they to be told that this was the liberty wherewith Christ made them free? Were they to be directed to the cross, which taketh away sin, to learn that the Sabbath, — the inheritance of all ages, the glory of all dispensa- tions, — was the handwriting of an ordinance that was against us, and was contrary to us, — and to behold it blotted out — taken out of the way ; and, as an erased, a cancelled, a repudiated thing, nailed contemptuously to the cross? It may not be, it cannot be. Cross of our Lord ! Thy nails are to sustain him ! To pierce his hands and his feet ! Not to dishonour the Sabbath with thy open shame for the weakness and unprofit- ableness thereof ! There is no enmity in this law to abolish in his flesh ! Thou takest away our sin, our every e^dl, but abstractest from us no good : thou dost THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 383 not only reserve and save, but dost inaugurate our Sab- bath, and becomest its life, its soul, its stay, its glory ! It may deserve a momentary notice, tliat the Sab- bath question was never brought into dispute amon^- the first Christians. The eating of blood, circumcision, and other injunctions or interdicts, were strenuously agitated ; but this, which was a far more likely occa- sion and subject of debate, seems never to have dis- turbed the early Church. The general assent proves that it was formed under a decisive authority. We knoiu that they did not observe the seventh-day rest. Judging from the facts before us in those primitive records, there is no other alternative than this: that the disciples either kept Sabbath on the first day of the week, or that they kept none at all. The same notice may be taken of later controversy. Councils and diets were held during^ the dawnincr cen- turies of Christianity ; fierce and subtle were their con- tentions; but a doubt of the validity of the Dies Dominica, the Christian Sabbath, was never raised. Whether the seventh da}^ was to be kept likewise, was often brought into debate. Whether it was not a pre- paratory fast, was fiercely contended. But this was left unimpeached. A few dreamers have, at intervals, endeavoured to restore the Jev/ish hours ; but no seri- ous opposition has been entertained. They who irre- legioiisly attack it because of its Christian alliance, would as readily assail it by any other way, their only aim being to release themselves from any. The ground of authority being laid, it is only fair to admire the fitness of the aiTangement. How, other- wise, were the Christians to be distinguished? How withdrawn from Judaic attachments and scruples? How gathered into assemblies and organized into 384 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Churches? How taught and discipled ? They were a pecuhar people, most social, most devout, thek faith and worship most loving and fraternal : a specific day- was most due and essential to them. The Christian Sabbath ought to be transfused with Christianity. It requires, for its due celebration, that it be impregnated with its most pecuhar doctrines and hopes. The risen Saviour must be prominent, exclu- sive, in it. He is its Priest. His " excellent minis- try" is its basis and genius. Our prayers are only heard as he is our Intercessor, receiving them and offering them in his censer. Our thanksgivings are only ac- cepted of God, because " in the midst of the Church he sings praises." Our preaching were vain, but that " he preaches righteousness in the great congregation." All is in his name, in his stead, for him and by him — he is its Lord. We obey his authority. We inquire his will. " The -word of Christ" is its one theme. On "his day," to the solitary captive, was the vision of the candlesticks and the stars. Still that day witnesses the vigilant care of his Churches and his ministers. He walketh among them. He holdeth them in his right hand. If it can da^vn without bringing his person and his work fully before us, if its moments be not instinct with his redemption, if he be not our one thought and imao'e, the bond of association is broken and the tablet of memory erased. Alpha and Omega of all mediatorial dispensation — he is the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, of his own consecrated day. He is its blight and morning star. He is the Sun of Righteousness that gilds it. His all hail, meets us with its earliest beam: and when its shadows lengthen, our prayer is not in vain, " Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent." THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 385 Specially should this day be given to the Comme- moration Feast. It was of old called the Day of Bread.* Unworthy is our regard to it, low is our state of devotion, if its weekly repetition could pall. It is unimaginable that the early Churches ever assembled and this was not the act of their highest transport — that Christian strangers when they met found not in this their familiar home-feast and endeared banquet — that martyrs ever took their last embrace of each other without being fortified by the holy signs. They died in a profession of which they were not ashamed. Amidst the gorgeous, but monotonous, ceremonies of a Paganised Christianity, we behold the foremost rank which the Lord's Supper held in primitive times. It was the nucleus of all worship and instruction. It gave significance and weight to all. The table of the Lord was ever spread. There the saints discerned the Lord's body, and had communion of his flesh and of his blood. It was the feast of charity. Blessed scenes ! Why past ye so soon away ? Why do not our hearts burn mthin us ? Why is not this the never-faihng staff of our pilgrimage? Why is not this the characteristic haunt of our discipleship ? It cannot return too frequently. "As often as ye do it" — do we not mock that word ? — " remember Christ Jesus." This is to be " done in remembrance of him." — " Ye do show the Lord's death till he come." " Before our eyes he is evidently set forth crucified among us." — The practice of the first Churches should be revived : the Spirit who sat upon them might then visit us with their pentecost.-)- * jyies Panis. See Bingham's Origlnes Ecclesiastics. t The Separatists, our fathers, received it weekly. — See Han- bury's Historical Memorials, vol. iii, 147. 2 B 386 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. O Sabbath! Needed for a world of innocence — witbout thee what would be a world of sin ! There would be no pause for consideration, no check to pas- sion, no remission of toil, no balm of care ! He who had withheld thee would have forsaken the earth ! Without thee, He had never given to us the Bible, the Gospel, the Spirit! We salute thee, as thou comest to us in the name of the Lord — radiant in the sun- shine of that da\vn which broke over creation's achieved work — marching downward in the tract of time, a pillar of refreshing cloud and of guiding flame — inter- weaving with all thy light new beams of discover}^ and promise — until thou standest forth more fair than when reflected in the dews, and imbibed by the flowers of Eden — more awful than when the trumpet rung of thee on Sinai ! The Christian Sabbath ! Like its Lord, it but rises again in Christianity, and henceforth records the rising day. And never since the tomb of Jesus was burst open by Him who revived and rose, has this day awakened but as the light of seven days, and with healing on its wing^s ! Never has it unfolded without some witness and welcome, some song and salutation ! It has been the coronation-day of martyrs, the feast-day of saints ! It has been from the first until now the sublime custom of the Churches of God ! Still the outgoings of its morning and its evening re- joice ! It is a day of heaven upon earth ! Life's sweetest calm, poverty's best birth-right, labour's only rest ! Nothing has such a hoar of antiquity on it ! Nothing contains in it such a history ! Nothing draws along with it such a glory ! Nurse of virtue, seal of truth ! The household's richest patrimony, the nation's noblest safeguard ! The pledge of peace, the fountain of intelligence, the strength of law ! The oracle of in- THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 387 struction, the ark of mercy ! The patent of our man- hood's spiritual greatness ! The harbinger of our souFs sanctified perfection ! The glory of religion, the watch-tower of immortality! The ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reacheth to heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it ! 388 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. XIV. THE SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAT. BY THE REV. EDWARD BICKERSTETH, RECTOR OF WATTON, HERTS. The Lord's day is a beautiful and endearing title given to the Christian Sabbath in the New Testament. This title is recorded on a most interesting occasion. The apostle John was banished by the Emperor Do- mitian to the Isle of Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. While thus suffer- ing for the truth, it pleased the Lord Jesus, who always regards his suffering people with special kindness, to favour him with those sublime and glorious visions of all that should happen to his Church, till its full and everlasting triumph, which we have recorded in the Book of Revelation. These visions were revealed to him when he was " in the Spirit on the Lord's day/' — that is, he was brought under the immediate impulse of the spirit of prophecy. As we read afterwards, the voice as it were of a trumpet talking with him, said, " Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter; and immediately I was in the SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 389 Spirit." The Holy Ghost thus honoured the Lord's day by communicating upon it those invakiable pro- phecies, — prophecies so to be studied by us, that He has begun and closed the Book of Revelation with pro- mising the divine blessing (Rev. i. 3, xxii. 7) on read- ing and keeping them. The peculiar title given to the Sabbath — THE Lord's day — may impress our minds so as to help us duly to observ^e it. This title (Rev. i. 10) can- not mean the great and final day of the Lord's advent anticipated ; the words which immediately follow show that the instruction was adapted to the state, and suited to the circumstances, of the then existing Churches in Asia. The expression xv^iaxfi is peculiar, and applied only in the New Testament to the Lord's day and the Lord's Supper. This divinely-inspired title, then, points out to us an ordinance set apart by the authority, and for the special honour of our Re- deemer. Thus it signifies to us the passing away of the pecu- liarities of the Jewish Sabbath. The Sabbath-day was indeed appointed at the creation, and made thus imiversally obligatory on every human being. But when the law of Moses was given for the Jewish nation under peculiar circumstances, in addition to the explicit command of the Sabbath, as a moral duty included in the Ten Commandments, there were special directions as to their observance of it, which were of a positive character, imposed by the command of the great Law- giver with reference to that particular nation. As the Sabbath was made for man, and not for the Jews only, and as it is natural and reasonable that we should give portions of our time to the worship of God, it is a na- tural and moral law. As to the appointment of the 390 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. particular day, it was positive and changeable ; and the Son of Man, who is Lord of the Sabbath, has in this particular changed it, and so made the pecuharities of the Jewish Sabbath no loncrer bindino-. — fExod. xxxv. 2, 3; Numb. xv. 30-35; Ps. cx\'iii. 22-24; Acts XX. 7; Gal. iv. 10; Col. ii. 16.) But the command- ment of the Sabbath, as a natural and moral law, given at the creation, has never been repealed. It was spoken by the mouth of God himself to Israel, as a transition- stage between duties to God and duties to man, in the midst of the Ten Commandments, which he lurote himself, and added no more. Thus it was proclaimed with a solemnity, gi^^g to the obligation additional force and weight, which should impress every mind. It was also solemnly declared, as a law to all men, and confirmed by our Lord's assurance, that '' the Sabbath was made for man.'' The Lord's day has the same reason for its observance as the Lord's Supper. It is specially appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is set apart from common uses for a special religious end — for His service, honour, and worship. It was predicted that the day on which the Lord rose from the grave should be a special day devoted to the honour of Chi'ist. — (Ps. cxviii. 17-24.) The Lord would have us thus commemorate and rejoice in those great things which took place on this day — the com- pleted work of redemption in the resurrection of Christ, and the fulfilled outpouring of his blessed Spirit What weighty, solemn reasons then have all who re- ceive the Bible as the Word of God for sanctifying this day ! Appointed from the beginning, given again with unequalled solemnity to Israel, modified for then* use, and appointed by Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath, with a removal of every thing restricted to one nation, SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 39 1 and with statements that make it specially universal and evangelical ; and then, in the last book of Scrip- ture, having a title given to it that cannot but endear it to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, — how pre- cious should our Sabbaths be ! If Nehemiah singles it out as a special favour to Israel, " Thou camest do^vn also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and tiaie laws, good statutes and commandments, and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath;" much more should Christians now view it as eminently riglit, and true, and good. In considering the spiritual obser\^ance of this day — I. The laying aside of every thixg that may IMPEDE this spiritual OBSERVANCE, MAY FIRST BE NOTICED. The Lord's day is invaluable, as it is a mighty help towards being spiritually-minded. " To be spiritually- minded is life and peace; to be carnally-minded is death.'' But that it may be this help, the day must be trully consecrated to God, and forethought and PREPARATION are required for this. The direction, " Remember the Sabbath-day,'' may not only have a reference to its being appointed from the beginning, but also to the forethought requisite for the sanctifying of the day. The Jewish Sabbath began in the even- ing, — " from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath;" — and it may furnish us Avith a hint to have nothing of work that can be done on the Saturday de- ferred to the Lord's day. Let us prepare to meet our God in his courts, by having as little as possible of in- terruption. Oh, that rich and poor did but attend to this — the rich requiring nothing that can be avoided 392 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. from their dependants, and the poor forecasting things so, that all cleaning of the house, purchase of food, washing of clothes, and even sitting vip late on Satur- day night might be avoided ! Where there is a real desire to do it, it may generally be done. No doubt a worldly heart is one great thing to be striven against. How shall we get a mind undistracted with " the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things ! " Some have found it to be an advantage to have a little social prayer-meeting with their neighbours on Saturday evening, for a blessing on the Sabbath. Where this can be attained, it calms the spirit, and prepares us for the holy day, by bringing down the divine blessing, given specially in answer to social prayer. The things to be actually laid aside concern daily business, worldly pleasures, idle conversation, and vain thoughts. As to DAILY BUSINESS, we must lay aside all our ordinary earthly employment. The acting out this must be left in the main to each man's conscience. The command of God is most explicit : " In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is -within thy gates ; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it." Works of necessity and works of charity are, it is true, excepted. Our Lord defended his dis- ciples — (availing themselves of the permission of the Jemsh law to pluck the ears of corn ; Deut. xxiii. 25) — for doing this, when they were hungT}^ on the Sabbath- SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 393 day. — (Matt. xii. 1-8.) But let us be careful not to make the necessity where God has not made it. The zeal of Nehemiah led him to testify against " treading wine-presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also, wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jeru- salem, and selling victuals on the Sabbath-day." This seems, afterwards, to have given grea.t comfort to him, when he prays, " Remember me, O my God, concern- ing this also, and spare me according to the gTeatness of thy mercy.'' This sanctifying of the Sabbath will indeed, to a worldly mind, be dull work. It is a de- tection and disclosure of such a state of mind. Amos describes such as saying, " When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell com, and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat ? '' But this is a part of the blessedness of the Sabbath to the Christian ; it enables him to withstand the stream of worldliness, with v/hich the daily employments of life would otherwise over- whelm him.* * There is one serious obstruction to the Sabbatii which government might easily remove, were it really to set about it in earnest, but wliich, till this be done, Christians have to watch against; namely, the snares of the Post on this day. In London, Christians have the truly valuable spiritual privilege of no Post on this day— as valuable to the public as it is to those engaged in the Post-office. If all who call themselves Christian in the country were alive to this subject, and would unite, it might be so there, and government might well act on the general desire already existing; but till this be done, and in cases where the letters are delivered on the Sunday in the country, private Christians have need to be watchful, to piit aside letters of busi- ness; not to make the Sabbath a day of correspondence or of attending to letters, but to keep it undisturbed for its own holy and heavenlv work. S94 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. As to mere worldly pleasures, we must separate wholly from tliem. The Scripture promises of Sab- bath blessedness are founded on our doing this: — "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." — " Blessed is the man .... that keepeth the Sabbath from pol- luting it." If you take your worldly pleasures, you forfeit divine and heaventy blessings, and the superior joys which God gives to his people. You commit two evils. You are at gTeat cost for human cisterns that will not hold the refreshing stream you thirst after, and 3^ou forsake the living fountain which would sup- ply all your wants. No wonder those who only desire worldly pleasures find the service of God wearisome and contemptible. "Ye said also. Behold what a weariness is it, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts."— (Mai. i. 12.) O how sad is the fallen state of that man, whom the Lord has created for himself, and to show forth his praise, when his Creator has to say to him, " But thou hast not called upon me, Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel!" — (Isa. xliii. 21, 22.) This was the case with Israel, and brought down the threatening, " I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." And when this was fulfilled, what a picture we have, in the lamentation of Jeremiah, of the deso- lation of Zion ! The whole countiy was ruined, and the neglected house of God overthrovvTi. " He hath despised his places of assembly. The Lord hath SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORDS DAY. 395 caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten m Zion." — (Lam. ii. 6.) As to IDLE CONVERSATION, watchfulness will be very requisite. This naturally creeps in at every corner. The meeting with our fellow-worshippers, and walking with them to and from the house of God, is a temptation. It is so convenient, and seems to save such trouble, to get some worldly plan settled, men easily get into the habit of it, and think there is no harm in it. Satan seems to delight to tempt us in this way. In the family cii^cle it is very difficult to preserve the Sabbath spirit, and have our time, our heart, our whole spirit really consecrated to God. We need, then, David's prayers: " Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips; incline not my heart to any evil thing. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God ; thy Spirit is good, lead me into the land of uprightness.'' Nor imagine that this is needless rigour and preciseness. Our Lord himself admonishes us: — " I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy works thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." We shall most effectually guard against frivolous conversation, by giving to the sacred services of the day, and to meditation, reading the Scriptures and private prayer, their appointed time, and then in any leisure intervals, as far as practicable, rising to the apostolic rule : " Let no corrupt communication pro- ceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.'' — This is enforced by the touching motive, " And gTieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.'' 396 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. But we must go yet deeper to the root of all that is contrary to the due observance of the Sabbath — the evil heart of unbelief. To keep OUR HEART FROM VAIN THOUGHTS is requisite for sanctifying the Sab- bath. This cannot be attained in. any degree accep- table to God \vithout real conversion. When our Lord is giving directions, then, about abstaining from evil words, he says, " Make the tree good and his fruit good.'' Without a converted heart, we cannot truly ser\'e God in any thing, and, oh, what cause we have to bless his name, this he has promised to give ! — (Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.) "Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Christ Jesus.'' This is the main thing first to be attended to, a thorough sound conversion of the heart to God. " Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit." God looks at the heart. He asks for that. " My son, give me thine heart." He charges us, " Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." This grieves him in Jerusalem, " O Jeinisalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved ; how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ! " Oh, let not such empty unprofitable usurpers take possession of that, which might be the dwelHng-place and the throne of the Most High, the inner temple, where he would delight to manifest his presence. Such are the things to be laid aside. How can all this be done? How can our dead and dull hearts be quickened, our grovelling spirits be raised to things above? Through Christ only — Christ crucified; this is the great hfe-giving spectacle on which we must gaze. SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 397 " We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stum- bling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.'' Come to the foot of the cross. Gaze on the dying Saviour. Think who he is, the Creator of all worlds, the only-begotten Son of God. See what form he wears: Even ours. Learn why he suffers and dies: " He was wounded for our transgressions. He bare our sins in his own body on the tree.'' His blood cleanses from all sin. Here learn to believe God loves you with intense, unutterable love. Notwithstanding all your sins, He cares for you ; He is not wilHng that any should perish ; it pleases Him to bruise his Son that you might be forgiven and accepted of him. Jesus died for you. Believe this blessed truth. may the Holy Spirit so set it before us, that he may soften the hardest stone; subdue, and melt, and warm the most cold ; and create in us the new heart, perfectly to love God, and worthily to magnify his holy name ! And when you have realized such love as this, then remem- ber that the Lord's day is his day, and its due obser- vance specially honours him. Having noticed those things which we are called on to lay aside on the Lord's day, let us consider — II. Those duties which we are specially CALLED ON TO PRACTISE. The Sabbath, though a day of rest, is not one of indolence, but of blessed and holy diligence. It is an emblem of that future rest during which, it is said, " his servants shall serve him ; they rest not day or night." The duties of this day are eminently spiri- tual; they are such as of ourselves we are quite unable 3?* dav SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAY. 399 and free from the interruption of worldly feasting and company; he finds the real and highest enjoyment, with those nearest and dearest to him at home, in the de- lightful communion of the family circle. How short, how happy the day is; how gladly its return is wel- comed, and what a secret strength it gives for every duty ! When the heart is fixed for God, and full of his truth and love, the lips delight to speak of him, and for him. Thus when the two disciples went to Em- maus on the Lord's day (though not yet appointed as the Christian Sabbath), their conversation was all about Christ, their minds being filled with the giT.at things which had just taken place, and presently Christ him- self drew near, and their hearts burned within them. If our conversation on the Lord's day be spiritual and edifying, and turned as much as may be to the eter- nal Sabbath in the mansions above, — that counterpart of the Sabbath on earth, — we may have, even here, foretastes of our eternal rest to come. 2. Our meals on this day should be simple AND PLAIN. — It is not required to make this a day of fasting; but to make it a day of mere feasting, or to make the meals occupy the chief part of the time at home, is wholly unsuitable to its highest and best ob- jects. It is desirable that the wives of the poorer classes, and the servants of the richer, should have no needless trouble in preparing our food, or in connection with our table. The baker or other tradesmen should not have his Sabbath rest disturbed for our indulgence. By prudence and forethought, in most places, not one of the family, whose health or age allow of attendance, need be hindered from due attendance on public wor- ship. Especially should a violation of the day, far too common, be watched against and avoided — the making 400 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. it a day for giving and attending dinner-parties. This is just to prefer the world to God : to refuse to give time to our friends on the week-day, and to rob God of his time on the Sabbath. How many poor servants gi'oan under the distractions of bustle, and company, and feasting on the Lord's day — a practice which brings double guilt on their masters ! 3. Our public devotions should be regular AND serious, earnest AND CONSTANT. — To be at the house of God before the service begins, to be there regularly and constantly every Sabbath, to be there twice on the Sabbath ; this is the general practice of the most valuable members of our congregations. In most parishes, in larger places, there are now three services in the day; and in such parishes ordinarily the parishioners may attend twice in the day. Thus Anna " departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers, night and day."" Yet there may be a formal self-righteous attendance, which may puff up and harden. The great thing is not merely to be present, but to offer " a pure offering " accept- able by Christ Jesus ; to have the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit, and to attend on the Lord without distraction. " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.'' This should be our constant aim ; for this we should struggle through the services; and as we fail in this, should be deeply humbled under the iniquities of our holy things. In them we may learn the reality of Isaiah's confession, that " all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,'' and be led more simply and entirely to look to our inter- ceding High Priest for acceptance. Let us earnestly, then, strive to enter his courts with thanksgiving; to seek a calm and fixed mind, and a holj^^ fervour of SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD S DAY. 401 spirit ; to go heartily along with the whole service : de- siring with the prayers, grieving in the confessions, grateful in the praise, sympathizing in the intercessions, mixing faith with the word we hear, and uniting in spirit in the sacraments, rejoicing in the admission of each fresh member by baptism, and feeding on Christ in our heart, by faith with thanksgiving, at the holy communion. For all this, we specially need to attend to that full direction, " Ye, beloved, building up your- selves in your most holy faith, pra}'ing in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life/' 4. Family instruction is also a very import- ant DUTY OF THIS DAY. — How many thousands and tens of thousands of children and servants owe their religion, under God, to the Sabbath catechising. Scrip- ture reading, religious instruction, and simple and fer- vent prayers of a pious mother or father, mistress or master! It is a golden opportunity for children and servants; and half an hour or an hour redeemed be- tween or after the public ser\aces for this duty, is the most precious seed-time that we perhaps ever have for doing good to those nearest and dearest to us. From the beginning, the Word of God has made this duty clear. Abraham had special honour for this (Gen. xviii. 19); and God thus explicitly commands it to Israel, " These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them dihgently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Texts, and collects, or short prayers, hymns, and catechisms, treasured up in the minds of the young, 2 c 402 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and repeated to their parents on this day, have en- riched many a mind with seeds of blessing for future Kfe. This good and venerable family custom, this habit of our Protestant forefathers, will not, it is hoped, die out of practice, but be revered and extended in our time. 5. The employment of retired moments should BE devotional AND SCRIPTURAL. — Our religious •reading should be of a practical and devotional cha- racter. Critical or controversial works, books of a meta- physical or intellectual cast, may be valuable on other days, but they nourish not the holy feelings we wish to cultivate on the Sabbath. The Bible is always specially precious on this day ; and happily there is no want of devotional works calculated equally to edify and instruct, to quicken every devout and holy and heavenly affection, and to direct and assist us in the daily course of the Christian life. Time should also be taken for meditation and calm reflection on our situation, our duties, our defects, our mercies, and our hopes; on the character and glories of the one God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; on death and judgment, heaven and hell, and eternity. It is a day also for self- examination, with a direct vieYN^ to humiliation and re- pentance, gratitude and newness of life. The season, thus diligently redeemed for God, becomes the very best seed-time for a harvest of future peace, holiness, and happiness. 6. Works of charity, again, become the Sab- bath-day. — This accords with the special instruction of our Lord : it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath- day; it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day. Thus, to visit the sick and the poor ; to read the Bible to those who cannot or would not read it themselves; to do SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 403 acts of mercy and compassion to those needing our help ; to be teachers of the yomig in Sunday schools, and care for the souls of those in obscure hamlets and villages, or neglected streets and courts in our great cities, is the duty and the privilege of all who know and love the truth, and can command leisure for it. Many a one who loves Christ, and is confined closely to the desk and the shop during the week, has risen on the Sabbath to the self-denial and the pri- vileges of a faithful missionary, and has been honoured of God in turning many to righteousness, while he has been obtaining showers of blessings for his own soul. " For he that watereth shall himself also be watered." May every reader, whose situation allows him to attain such usefulness, gladly thus employ himself for God ! In the work of Christ every one may be fully employed, and the hearty zeal of the weakest, as well as of the strongest, is needed for the full triumph of his blessed kingdom. 7. The magnifying of our Lord Jesus Christ, is another part of the blessedness of this day duly ob- served. Unto all that believe, Jesus is precious — " the chief among ten thousand" — he is their " all in all." In the prophecies of the Old Testament, we are assured in the last book, " From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering ; for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." The prayers of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, end with the fervent aspiration, " Blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen." One of the glowing and splendid featm^es of the highest glory of the saints 404 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. in the everlasting kingdom, as given in the last book of the New Testament, is, " They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads." Thus, every where is this precious name set before us as ointment poured forth, full of fragrance and refreshment to the children of God. It is the glory of our Sabbath to be the Lord's day. In it we are specially called to com- memorate his glorious resurrection, with all the inesti- mable blessings that flow from it. It is the first fruits of a harvest of bliss and glory, of which millions will partake in the swiftly-coming day of Christ. Let us, then, with our whole heart, on this day enter into its sacred joy of glorifying the Saviour. Let us exhort each other : " O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together ! '' As Jesus is magnified in our thoughts and affections, in our conversation and instruction, in our hymns and praises on this day, we do really rise to its full blessedness. Then we come nearest to that scene of glory, where they say, " with one voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to re- ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Such are some directions which may assist the reader in rightly employing the precious hours of the Sab- bath. Only begin; only try and see- if the Sabbath thus spent be not a day full of interest and full of profit. III. Let us now, lastly, notice the blessedness of SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 405 SUCH AN EMPLOYMENT OF THE SaBBATH-DAY. — And tnily this command kept, abundantly verifies the pro- raise, " In keeping of his commandments there is great reward." 1. It gives solid peace of mind. — Persons who strive to make the Sabbath a day of pleasure do not find real satisfaction ; they miss the very thing they sought. Persons who give the day to business, besides the slavish toil they go through, do not find it answer in the long-run for profit. Their end is unhappy. We have seen it again and again. I have seen families returning from wasting a Sabbath in parties and tea- gardens, the pictures of disappointment, weariness, and vexation ; vexed with themselves, and uncomfortable as it regards all around them. But, on the other hand, " great peace have they which love thy law, and no- thing shall offend them.'' To have the calm peace which arises from the approval of our conscience, and the sense of the acceptance and approval of our hea- venly Father, is indeed a sweet recompense for any self-sacrifice and self-denial, in going through the du- ties which have been pointed out to the reader. " taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed is the man that trusteth in him!'' Letting " our requests be made known unto God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving," is the way to that " peace of God which passeth all understanding, and keeps the heart, and mind through Christ Jesus." 2. It obtains A direct blessing from the Lord on our own souls. — He himself has pronounced it. He has made it a sign to assure us that he is our Lord, and will sanctify us: " Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep ; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the 406 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Lord that doth sanctify you." — (Exod. xxxi. 13.) Nor was this confined, even under the Jewish dispensation, to Israel. We read in the same chapter, not only, " Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it ; " but, " Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer.'' — (Isa. Iviii. 2, 6.) Indeed, we may be assured, that, as God from the beginning blessed and sanctified the Sabbath-day, so he has to those obeying his com- mand made it full of sanctifying power and blessing; and millions of happy Christians have found, by their joyful experience in keeping holy the Sabbath, that " they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.'' They have had every spiritual grace quickened and refreshed, and can say with the psalmist, " He restor- eth my soul." 3. It diffuses a large blessing on all around us. — The example of every one, however humble, is influential on all within his circle. As an evil exam- ple infects others, and soon spreads pollution, so, blessed be God, a good example has great weight, and that to a larger extent than is at first manifest. Even those who mock at what they call the precise scrupulosity of the strict Sabbath-keeper at the time, are, in their in- ward conscience, often thinking the more highly of him, and approving a course which they have not the Christian courage to follow. By and by, also, when the fruit of such a course begins to appear, perhaps one and another will say, " We will go Avith you ; for we have heard God is with you." A family brought up SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 407 in the strict observance of the Sabbath generally turns out well ; and, on the other hand, religious professors, who yet see much company on the Sabbath, soon de- teriorate, and their children often go off to the world. What day can be more suitable for fulfilling the com- mand, to make known to our children the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done, to which is annexed the promise, that the " generation to come shall set their hope in God, and not forget his works, but keep his command- ments?'' — (Ps. Ixxviii. 4-7.) Diffusive blessings follow, then, the due observance of this day. 4. National judgments follow violations of THE Sabbath, and national blessedness is di- rectly CONNECTED WITH KEEPING THE SaBBATH HOLY. — In the present state of Great Britain, it is a most solemn and awakening fact, that through rail- ways and steam vessels, there has been a prodigious increase of Sabbath profanation.* It has been proved by, in this respect, that national self-condemning BOOK, " Bradshaw's Railway Guide,'' that Sabbath trains through the land are more than half as many as week-day trains. Above 800 trains are weekly insulting the Lord of the Sabbath, and proclaiming in the face of the sun, that tens of thousands of English Christians, in despite of the Christian example of Scot- land, prefer their profit or their pleasure to obeying the plain command of God Almighty, and disbelieve * Modern worldliness, complaining of the interruption which the Sahbath gives to commerce, and railing against those with- standing the desecration of this day, has become a worse Pharaoh than that hardened king of Egypt, who said, " Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works ? Get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold the people of the land are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." 408 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. equally his threatenings and his promises. Thus, every shareholder in every railway, who does not openly pro- test against this, and strive to remedy it, is involved in the guilt of thousands of travellers, ?ind of all en- gaged in this unholy traffic. This was the crowning sin of Israel : " My Sabbaths they greatly polluted ; then I said I would pour out my fury upon them." Jeremiah was to proclaim to Judah and Jerusalem the way of duty and safety in these words: " Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath-day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sab- bath-day, neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers; but they obeyed not.'' Still God promised, if they would heark- en, the throne of Israel should be safe, and the city remain for ever ; but added the solemn warning : " If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath- day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.'' After our more open profanation of the Sabbath in railway traffic and travelling, and increased Sabbath violation, WE ARE SPECIALLY EXPOSED TO THIS THREAT- ENING, and in the increase of very calamitous fires since, have seen something of its fulfilment. Among the sins of the last days of Jerusalem, this is recounted : " Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast pro- faned my Sabbaths." There is, then, gi'eat national danger from neglect of the Sabbath. Oh, that God's Word was but believed by British Christians ! It is disregarded and slighted, and so our sins become aggra- vated till there is no remedy. But would we repent. SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 409 would we " call the Sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, honourable, and honour him," immediately national blessings follow: " I will cause thee to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 5. Real help is gained for all week-day duties, both physically and spiritually. — A re- markable testimony was given by an able physician, Dr Farre, before a Committee of the House of Com- mons, of the necessity and advantage of one day's rest in seven from our ordinary employment, mth reference to bodily health and mental powers, apart from all religious considerations. No human being can stand incessant toil and labour Avithout rest, change, and re- laxation. The suicides of some of our leading states- men and lawyers has been attributed to their not giving the Sabbath to those sacred duties, which would have reheved and refreshed their minds from the wearing toil of their ordinary work.* A Sabbath given to God procures bodily and spiritual strength. Sh Matthew * Mr Wilberforce, speaking of Lord Londonderry's destroying himself in 1822, says — " The strong impression of my mind is, that it is the effect of the non-observance of the Sunday, both as abstracting from politics, and from the constant recurrence of the same reflections, and as correcting the false view of worldly things, and bringing them down to their true diminutiveness. It is very curious to hear the newspapers speaking of incessant application to business, forgetting that by the weekly admission of a day of rest, which our Maker has graciously en- joined, our faculties would be preserved from the effects of this constant strain. I am strongly impressed by the recollection of the endeavour to prevail on the lawyers to give up Sunday con- sultations, in which poor Romilly (who destroyed himself in 1818) would not concur. If he had suffered his mind to enjoy such occasional remissions, it is highly probable the strings would never have snapped as they did from over-tension." 410 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Hale, two hundred years since, testified this to his children: " I have found, by a strict and diligent ob- servation, that a due observance of this day has ever had joined to it a blessing on the rest of my time ; and that the week that has so begun, has been blessed and prosperous to me ; and on the other side, when I have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest of the week has been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own secular employments/' And if it be so in earthly things, it is yet more so in spiritual things. The divine life is feeble when the Sabbath is carelessly spent — the divine life is ordinarily prosperous when the Sabbath is strictly observed. The soul is again and again re- vived, strengthened, and invigorated by Sabbath duties and privileges, for the daily, arduous, and self-denying duties of the Christian life. 6. This observance of the earthly Sabbath PREPARES us FOR THE HEAVENLY AND ETERNAL SaB- bath ABOVE. — The Sabbath is not only a shadow of good things to come, a t3rpe of the future rest, and some foretaste of its employments and joys; it directly assists us in preparation for the happy enjoyment of them for ever. Remarkable are the words of St Paul to the Hebrews, " There remain eth a rest," a keeping of the Sabbath, " to the people of God;'' as if he would thus join together Sabbath observance here with eter- nal rest hereafter — one a symbol, a stepping-stone, and a preparation for the other. Certain it is, the children of God delight in this holy day, and have been noted for remembering to keep it holy. The conscientious and constant observer of the Lord's day, in the Church of Christ on earth, is the least likely to fall short of the heavenly rest. Availing himself of one of the most important means of grace which God gives, he is SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD's DAY. 411 in the way for receiving those supplies of grace which make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. O Christians, cultivate then a heavenly spirit on earth ; try to rise, on the wings of faith and love in a due observance of the Sabbath, to those heavenly joys which are above, where Christ sitteth at God's right hand, looking forward to the happy time " when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, and we also shall appear with him in glory ! " It may be an effort and struggle at first, it may be a self-denial and sacrifice at the beginning, but it will become your rest and re- laxation, your richest joy and consolation. I do not feel it necessary to enter at large into the OBJECTIONS that men make to this duty. They have often been considered and fully answered. They all proceed not from faith, but from sight and sense ; they would all set the flesh before the Spirit, and man before God : or the second table above the first, while the Lord of the Sabbath says plainly, " The first of all the commandments is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;'' placing duty to God first, and duty to man second. I deny not the very great cost of fulfilling this com- mand, in the case of many servants, clerks, office- bearers, and persons now in situations which require a constant breach of God's law; and which, if they retain, they are disabled from keeping holy the Sab- bath. It may be like a mart}Tdom. Families may be dependent on them. Long habits may have made it familiar to them. It may seem like total ruin. Count the cost well. But then remember, a pure con- science is worth every sacrifice; the martyrdoms of faith are the way to its most blessed triumphs. Never did Latimer and Bradford, Cranmer and Ridley, do so 412 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. much for tlie gospel, and so much for their eternal blessedness, as when they gave their bodies to the flames. " If we suffer mth him, we shall also reign with him.'' Be assured, also, that God is mighty enough and faithful enough, rich enough and kind enough, to make the faith that would sacrifice even an Isaac in obedience to his i3lain command, fruitful in blessings in this life, as well as the world to come, infinitely beyond any that you could have had in the path of disobedience. Let me, then, earnestly exhort every reader, cost what it may, to begin at once a strict and conscientious observance of all the hours of the Sab- bath ; sanctifying the whole day to God. You must have seen, in the numerous passages of Scripture already quoted, how much God's heart is set on this subject! How repeated are his testimonies upon it! He knows how important this is to our salvation. He foresees all the ruin which the violation of the day brings on each soul, each family, each neighbourhood, and each kingdom ; and, full of wisdom and love, he repeats admonitions in every age of the Chmxh. His first book begins, in one of its early chapters, with an account of the sanctif}dng the day for all mankind. The law, the prophets, the evangelists, and the apos- tles, repeat the admonitions, or show the continued observance of one day in seven ; and the closing book of Scripture, again, in its first chapter, stamps it with its most endearing title, " the Lord's day." If you neglect it, the whole voice of Scripture condemns you ; and remember the solemn warning of your Redeemer : " He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him ; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day." Consider, then, every thing that would lead you to live in the SPIRITUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD S DAY. 413 neglect of the Sabbath, as Satan's snare to entrap that he may destroy your soul. And let those readers who are aiming at obedience to this command, and to bring others to the enjoyment of its blessedness, be encouraged to persevere. We are going in the way all the children of God before us have trodden. Our great Head and Leader, when on earth, regidarly observed the Sabbath. We read, " He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day.'' The apostles seem from the beginning to have observed the first day of the week for assem- bling together. On the very next Sunday after that on which the Lord arose, they were gathered together. — (John XX. 26.) The primitive Christians did so. " Up- on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them," — (Acts XX. 7.) This made it easy for all the Church, whether of Galatia or of Corinth, to make their charita- ble contributions on the first day of the week. — (1 Cor. xvi. 2.) This, then, is the pathway they have gone to meet their Saviour on earth, and to share his glory above. " Go thy way forth, then," Christian reader, " by the footsteps of the flock." Be watchful against all temptations, which will continually arise for the trial of your faith, and love, and patience ; and in this and all other respects, " be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." 414 THE CHEISTIAN SABBATH. XV. THE BLESSING PPtOiTISED ON THE SABBATH SANCTIFIED, AND THE PENALTY ANNEXED TO THE NEGLECT OR PROFANATION OF IT. BY STEWART BATES, D.D., MINISTER OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WEST CAMPBELL STREET, GLASGOW. It is said of the first Sabbath, that God " blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." — (Gen. ii. 3.) The blessing spoken of has evi- dently respect to those sentient creatures which had just been called into existence, and especially to man, whom God had made in his own image, and placed at the head of this lower creation. And if the Sabbath was needful for him, and calculated to be a blessing and a benefit even in his state of innocence, how much more in his fallen condition? It is one of the blessings of paradise preserved — a memorial of communion with God in a state of perfect holiness — and a blessed prelude of re- stored communion through the mediation of the Seed of the woman — the Saviour of the world. BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 415 It is all the more indicative of the supreme wisdom and goodness displayed in this institution, that the benefits of it were not confined to man: The suffer- ings of an oppressed creation under the tyi^anny of a fallen race, were foreseen by the Creator; and the Sabbath was intended to set limits to that oppres- sion. " Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.'' — (Exod. xxiii. 12.) The benefit was every way enhanced by its being thus ex- tended. Had the labour of cattle been permitted, the rest of the Sabbath to man would have been endan- gered. But he who made the inferior animals has a regard also to their wellbeing in this commandment. It brings a jubilee to the irrational creation. The cattle which labour are on that day released from the yoke. The finny tribes may sport in their native element, for the fishermen does not spread his net. The feathered classes may forget their shyness, for the sportsman dis- charges not his deadly shot. The herds and the flocks are not led to the slaughter-house. What a sweet memorial of paradisaical harmony, where the whole animal kingdom, happy as their natures were capable of, did willing homage to their new created lord ! where neither fierceness nor timorousness could be dis- cerned in any of them. And what a blessed prelude of a coming period when the sufferings of an oppressed creation shall come to an end ! " The w^olf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid ; the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.'' 416 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. It may serve to elucidate THE BLESSING which be- lonsrs to the Sabbath, to consider the connection in which it is placed with some of the mightiest or most merciful works of the Most High. Vsi. It was constituted a MEMORIAL OF CREATION. " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy ; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is; and rested the seventh day : where- fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.'' — (Exod. XX. 8, 1 1 .) The reason here assigned for the institution of the Sabbath demonstrates its universal obligation. It is not a reason which applies to any one age, or to one class of men, rather than to another. All classes of men, in all ages of the world, are bound to worship and glorify the Creator, and the devout ob- servance of the Sabbath is one of the methods di\inely appointed for that end. It recalls the time when the Supreme Architect " prepared the heavens, and set a compass upon the face of the deep; when he estab- lished the clouds above^ when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his command- ment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth.'' In six days was this work completed, and on the seventh the Creator rested and was refreshed ; not that he could know weariness or exhaustion, but to in- timate the perfect complacence he had in the contem- plation of his own glorious work. '• God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." And that man might participate in the blessedness of his Creator, by a delighted survey of the stupendous fabric, the Lord gave him the Sabbath." And so from the beginning, the Sabbath was a means and a pledge of blessing to the whole sentient creation. The infe- BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 417 rior animals exulted in the freshness and vigour of their new existence. Man was summoned to an intelligent and admiring contemplation of the divine workman- ship, and to adore the almighty Author of the universe. And the heavenly hosts, whose loftier powers enabled them more fully to appreciate the grandeur of the scene, gave utterance to their emotions in loud accla- mations. " The morning stars sang together, and all the soifs of God shouted for joy.'' 2d To the seed of Abraham the Sabbath was also A MEMORIAL OF THEIR DELIVERANCE FROM EgYPT. " Keep the Sabbath to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm : THEREFORE the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sab- bath-day.'' — (Deut. v. 12, 15.) This was no repeal of the original reason for keeping holy the Sabbath. That reason was embodied in the commandment itself, and cannot be repealed. But this was a new and su- peradded reason. Next to the benefit of existence, the Israelites never had received so great a boon as their emancipation from Egyptian bondage. It was an ex- change of excessive toil for rest, of cruel servitude for freedom, and of dark despair for comfort and joy. Then let them, on every return of the blessed day, remember their escape, and give praise to their merciful Deliverer. " Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing." Sd. The Sabbath was A symbol of sanctification. This is evident from the following passage : " Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations, that ye may 2 D V \ 418 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY YOU. Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy unto you." — (Exod. xxxi. IS.) In this language there may be an allusion to the separation of the seed of Jacob as a peculiar people to the service of God ; but we should come far short of the blessing intended, should we confine it to the visible or national holiness of that people. That glorious effect of divine power by which a sinner is delivered from the dominion and defilement of sin, is certainly included. Until man shall cease to need sanctification, the Sabbath remains a divinely appointed emblem of it, and a most effective means of promoting it. Where the Sabbath is lightly regarded, there are few persons truly converted, and religion acquires little strength. It cannot reasonably be doubted that the Sabbath has been the birth-day of a large portion of the family of the first-born — the day of their new and better birth ; and that it has done more for sustaining and perfecting the sanctification of believers than any other day — perhaps than all the other days together. 4^th. The Sabbath has been constituted the EMBLEM AND MEMORIAL OF REDEMPTION BY JeSUS ChRIST. This fact was, perhaps, indicated by the prophet, when, in the same passage in which he foreshows the resur- rection of Christ, he intimates that the day on which this event should take place would be a day of joy and gladness to the people of God (Ps. cxviii. 22, 24), in which sense the prophecy has been undeniably ful- filled for eighteen hundred years. The change of the day, however, at the opening of the Christian dispen- sation, from the seventh to the first day of the week, was the most unequivocal proof of the fact specified, that while previous benefits should not be overlooked BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 419 or forgotten, one stupendous blessing, which transcends all others, or in which all previous blessings are com- prehended, should henceforward have the chief place in the hosannahs of the Sabbath. If the first creation was a blessing — to be " created in Christ Jesus unto good works" is a still higher blessing. If the escape from Egypt was a gTeat deliverance — a mai'vellous dis- play of divine power and goodness, the redemption of lost souls from the guilt and power of sin is a more astonishing display of the love of God toward sinful men. Let this work, then, have the first place in the grateful recollections and joyful praises of the Sabbath. There was no need for any formal repeal of the spe- cification concerning the seventh day. The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath; and he chose to mark, in the most emphatical manner, the relation it should bear to his great work, by providing that ever after, until the end of time, the day of his rising from the dead should be kept holy to God, and acknowledged and honoured as the Lord's day. The inspired apostles embraced the opportunity of preaching to the Jews in their synagogues on their Sabbath, and pro- bably, in condescension to their weakness, the change was introduced with the utmost tenderness ; yet these honoured ambassadors of Christ, whose miracles at- tested their divine commission, established in the Church, as a perpetual ordinance, the observance of the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. From the very day on which Jesus arose from the tomb, the first day of the week appears to have been observed for public solemn religious worship, — for united prayer, the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the Lord's supper, and making contributions for pious 420 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. purposes. Thus, with unanimous consent, while di- vinely inspired teachers were still in the Church, this day was received and acknowledged as entitled tc bear all the honours of the ancient Sabbath, and the super- added honour of being THE APPOINTED MEMORIAL OF A COMPLETED REDEMPTION IN ChRIST. What more could have been done to raise the Sabbath in our esteem than to find it thus associated, in every instance by divine appointment, with all the mightiest displays of the divine beneficence towards man, — the creation of the world, the deliverance of the chosen people from Egypt, the renovation of the heart unto holiness by the Spirit, and the eternal salvation of the soul. In order to ascertain, clearly and certainly, what the blessing is which belongs to the Sabbath, the main question is. What saith the Scripture? The institution is from God; and his own word must determine the nature and the measure of the benefit to be expected from it. Hear, then, the testimony of an inspired pro- phet: " Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.'' — (Isa. Ivi. 2.) The connection in which the passage stands leads our thoughts to New Testament times. The preced- ing chapter details a series of blessings which never were realized by the Church until the coming of Christ. And this prophecy contemplates a period when the house of God shall be called " an house of prayer for all people.'' At that period, the man who keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, shall inherit the bless- ing of God. When it is alienated from his service, and yielded to sloth and the indulgence of the flesh ; BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 421 when it is spent in secular labour, or in the commis- sion of sin, it is polluted, and the blessing is forfeited. To keep the Sabbath is of the same import as to sanc- tify it; to employ the time of it in those holy exercises in which man holds fellowship with his Maker. The man who does so is blessed : — 1st. He is exempted from, and raised above, the toils and solicitudes which are the common lot of men on other days. The supreme Lord of all has given him a release. By royal charter there is secured to him rest on that day — rest to his cattle, to his servants, to his family, and to himself What multiplied bene- iits are comprehended in this appointment ! The merciful Saviour often performed his miraculous cures on that day; and even since miracles have ceased, it continues to be the great healing day still, relieving the overstrained muscles, and curing the wounds and bruises of the flesh. Nor is its soothing and sanatory power less needed, or less sensibly felt, by the harassed and jaded spirit. Its welcome repose, and calm but reviving religious exercises, impart an energy and elas- ticity to the mind, unknown to those who profane the Sabbath in the pursuit of sensual pleasure, or who barter it away for secular gain. 2d. He is blessed in the cultivation of his intellec- tual and moral nature. Whether he possesses five talents or but one, the Sabbath is his chief day for exercise and improvement. On that day he holds converse with the wisest and best of men that ever lived, becomes familiar with their character, and makes their knowledge and their principles his own. He has opportunity for cultivating the hallowed domestic aftections, which to the purest minds constitute so large a part of earthly enjoyment; of being a blessing to his 422 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. family, if he has one, and of being blessed in their society in return. Who can doubt that the want of family training is one chief cause why morality and religion sink so rapidly among a people who have lost the Sabbath ? How much of blessing is there in the devout perusal and study of the sacred volume ! He who is so employed, however limited his attainments in secular learning, will not fail to derive elevation and refinement from the exercise — more exalted views, more enlarged benevolence, and a more thorough per- ception of all that is honest, and lovely, and of good report. As a consequent blessing, it is found that Sabbath observers, as a class, are more successful in their secular pursuits than Sabbath \TLolators. They are more steady in their application to business, and more careful to keep a conscience void of offence. Hence even the men of the world, who are far from loving religion for its own sake, often give precedence and preferment to such persons when in their employ- ment. And so the path of piety and that of true wisdom is the same. " Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her waj^s are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.'' Sd. He is blessed in his observance of the public ordinances of religion. So is it declared in the pas- sage to which we have already referred. " Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, to be his servants, every one that keep- eth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer ; ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." — (Isa. Ivi. 6.) Let not the im- BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 423 patient reader overlook the richness of this passage from a hasty impression, that because he finds reference in it to God's holy mountain, to the house of prayer, and to offerings and sacrifices, it must have been intended for the Jewish people only. If acquainted with the writings of the apostles, he must be aware that all these images are commonly used by them in reference to the New Testament Church, and its worship. Does not Paul speak of believers as having come unto mount Sion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem ? — (Heb. xii. 22.) Does he not describe the Christian Church as the "house of God, .... the pillar and ground of the truth?" — (1 Tim. iii. 15.) And does not another apostle represent true Christians as "an holy priesthood/' whose office it is to present " spiritual sacrifices, accep- table to God by Jesus Christ?'' — (1 Pet. ii. 5.) Although the images, therefore, are taken from Old Testament worship, the prophecy contemplates New Testament times. The calling of the Gentiles is predicted in the beginning of the verse, and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in one Church, and their worshipping together in one loving society, are set forth in the end of it. And now let us mark the prominence assigned to Sabbath observance at that happy period : " The sons of the stranger, who keep the Sabbath from polluting it, ... . every one who keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer." It is not Sabbath observance, in the Scripture sense, that does not include in it a devout attendance on the house of God. Beasts of biu-den may feed and rest on the Sabbath, or, under the impulse of youthful vigour, they may feed and play. Such a Sabbath is 424 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. what their nature is capable of. and it is pleasant to see them enjoy it But when man, to whom God has given an immortal soul, and the Sabbath to prepare for eternity, is satisfied with the Sabbath of the jaded ox. or of the well-fed carriage horse, he has miserably mistaken his duty and his destiny. Such as remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, take loftier aims, and spend the day in more hallowed exercises, Xor are these found to be either hurtful to their health or a draw- back on their enjoyment. It may not at first be their o^vn choice to come to the house of God. Either their parents, or other Christian friends, may be God's instruments in bringing them. But when he reveals himself cn^aciouslv unto them, thev exclaim, with the kincr of Israel. '"' How amiable are thv tabernacles, Lord of hosts ! Blessed are they who dwell in thy house.'" ^* send out thy hght and thy truth ; let them lead me, let them l)ring me unto thine holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Thea will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp wiU I praise thee, God, my God.'' It gives joy to the famishing to be invited to a feast, where they may satisfy' their hunger without scruple and without charge. It gives joy to the sick when a physi- cian of surpassing skill administers to their complaints, and comforts them with the assurance of restored health. It gives joy to the prisoner under condemna- tion to receive the tidings of pardon, and of a speedy release. Still more exquisite, as well as more en- during, is the joy of the contrite sinner, to whom a Saviour is revealed in the house of prayer. Such an one is taught to say, " Lord, I will praise thee : though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold. God is my BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 425 salvation ; I -will trust and not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is be- come my salvation." It is farther promised to those who keep the Sab- bath, that they shall be accepted of the Lord in their religious services. It is esteemed an honour and a privilege to be accepted of an earthly sovereign, even when the meeting is but momentary — a matter of cus- tomary homage on the one side, and of courtly conde- scension on the other. When it happens that very w^eighty consequences are suspended on the reception, it becomes a question of absorbing interest how to se- cure a favourable audience. The case of Nehemiah, when he craved permission of the Persian monarch to rebuild the city of Jerusalem; and that of Esther, when she sought the reversal of the fatal decree which had doomed the Jewish people to the slaughter, afford striking illustrations. But never was there presence so august, nor interests so momentous, as those which engage the soul of a sinner when he draws nigh unto God. He comes before the Sovereign of the universe, that he may confess his sins, and implore pardon. He comes as a self-condemned rebel to cast himself on the mercy of the Most High, through the merits and medi- ation of Jesus Christ. He comes to bewail his spiri- tual bondage, and to ask deliverance from those ene- mies by whom he has been enslaved. He comes to seek an interest in the great salvation, a title to eter- nal life, and that renovation of heart by which he may become qualified for the enjo}Tnent of it. In respect to importance and magnitude, what interests can be compared with these ? How precious, therefore, the promise of a gracious reception to those who keep the Sabbath from polluting it 1 426 THE CHRISTIAX SABBATH. We must transcribe one other beautiful passage from the same inspired ^^Titer : "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, fr«:)m doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a dehght, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shalt honour him, not doing: 7 7 ' O thine ovm ways, nor finding thine own pleasm-e, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I vrill cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it/' The spuitual character of the Sabbath is here unfolded, and the holy nature of the services that it demands. And this accounts for the fact, that the passage now read is so commonly referred to by irreligious men, as proving that such a Sabbath as Old Testament writers delineate would be equally imj^racticable and intolerable. Supposing we should admit theu' inference, in so far as they themselves are concerned, the argument for the perpetual obhgation of the Sabbath, and of such a Sabbath as is here de- scribed, would be in no degxee impaired. Let us see what would become of other precepts of the law, when subjected to a similai' test. The tenth precept forbids covetousness. But to a multitude of mankind such a restriction is impracticable and in- tolerable. Must we, therefore, conclude that this commandment has ceased to be obligatory? The seventh commandment prohibits licentiousness; and the Saviour shows that " T\'hosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'' To a multitude of mankind this commandment is impracticable and in- tolerable. May we, therefore, conclude that it has ceased to be binding ? The sixth commandment pro- BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 427 hibits murder ; and the apostle teaches, that " who- soever hateth his brother is a murderer;" and that " he who loveth not his brother abideth in death." To a large proportion of mankind this commandment is impracticable and intolerable. Shall we, then, con- clude that it has become obsolete ? The apostle Paul takes a different line of argument when he says, " The carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not sub- ject to the law^ of God, neither indeed can be." If the repugnance of men's hearts to the law of God could shake its authority, it would have been repealed at the foot of Mount Sinai ; for the Jewish people " could not endure that wliich w^as commanded." The objection is evidently absurd. The very purity of the Sabbath larv::. affords proof of its di\4ne origin and moral obligation. None cin observe it, in the true spirit of it, BUT SUCH AS ARE BORN FROM ABOVE. And this is equally tme of all the precepts of the Decalogue. The concluding part of the passage above quoted coincides with the eloquent but figurative language of Moses, when setting forth the exuberant goodness of God to his ancient people, the seed of Jacob. — (Deut. xxxii. 9-14.) In other passages the same condition is described in plain language. " It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken dihgently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his command- ments, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth : blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field : blessed shall be thy basket and thy store: the Lord shaU cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face ; and all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee." 428 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Such was the actual condition of this people when they were obedient. And in the obedience required, Sabbath observance held a high and conspicuous place. In one remarkable passage, we have seen that this prosperity is promised to Sabbath observance alone, — for this reason, probably, that the right observance of the Sabbath tends so powerfully to implant and esta- blish moral principle in the hearts of men, and to restrain from every kind of transgression. As the Sabbath law stands in the centre of the Decalogue, and cannot be removed but on principles which tend to abrogate the other precepts of it, so it will be found in fact, that Sabbath obedience constitutes the centre of all sound morality. It binds the soul in submission to God, and necessarily creates and sustains a supreme regard to all his commandments. The passages heretofore cited have, for the most part, had reference to individuals. But the Lord of the Sabbath is also KING OF nations, and he makes known his will to them also, in their public and cor- porate capacity. He sent the following message to ancient Israel, by the prophet Jeremiah, in a back- sliding age : — " Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath-day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem ; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath-day, neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers And it shall come to pass, if ye dili- gently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath- BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 429 day, but hallow the Sabbath-day, to do no work there- in; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and this city shall remain for ever But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath-day, ..... then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem." This address was delivered shortly before the siege and cap- ture of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon. But the people persisted in their evil courses. " The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the Avrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chal- dees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for aofe : he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes: all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and brake doAvn the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire And them that had escaped frgm the sword carried he away to Babylon, to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jere- miah, — UNTIL THE LAND HAD ENJOYED HER SAB- BATHS; for as long as she lay desolate SHE KEPT Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." 430 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. In the same connection tlie lancma^e of Moses is very solemn and instructive : " And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrar}' unto me ; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fwcy ; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And I will bring the land into desolation ; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you ; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land ENJOY HER Sabbaths, as long as it heth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land ; * even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it." — (Lev. xxvi. 27-35.) Sufficient evidence has been adduced from Scrip- ture to show, that the divine Author of the Sabbath has, in all ages, made it a blessing to those who have rightly improved it. And the passages last quoted are not less explicit in declaring the penalty annexed to the breach of this commandment. It is granted that, as the law was given to the Jews, there were penalties annexed to disobedience which are not now binding; and some have inferred from this, that the law of the Sabbath itself has been abolished. But the argument is not conclusive. The time is not re- mote when certain kinds of theft in Britain were visited with capital punishment. This penalty is no longer in force ; but the statute prohibiting theft is as much as ever a part of British law. The same holds true in respect to the divine law. There were penalties to several precepts under the Mosaic dispen- sation, which are not continued under the gospel. BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 431 The disobedient son was condemned to death on the accusation of his own parents. That penalty is n(jt now in force; yet the fifth commandment has lost nothing of its authority. The adulterer and the adulteress were punished by death. That penalty is not con- tinued under the New Testament; yet the seventh commandment has lost nothing of its authority. If the remission of a particular penalty proves the repeal of the law, the fifth and the seventh commandments, and perhaps several others, must be cancelled as well as the fourth. But the commands existed from the beginning, before these penalties were annexed ; and they remain in the plenitude of their authority after the penalties have been disannulled. " Think not,'' said the Saviour, " that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil." There is one lesson, however, contained in these enactments of the judicial law, which ought not to be passed in silence. These penalties were an expression of the judgment of the Almighty in regard to the fla- grant guilt of the sins so punished. They proved that Sabbath breaking, disobedience to parents, and adultery, however lightly they may be regarded by some men, are in his view iniquities of such magnitude, that those convicted of them deserved to die. Now the essential demerit and guilt of these offences continues undi- minished. The coming of Christ was certainly not designed to relax the obligation of the moral law, or to excuse man's disobedience. He came to " magnify the law, and make it honourable." " Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." In respect to several commandments, the violation of which was formerly punished by the hand of man, it has pleased the Sovereign Lawgiver, under 482 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. the present dispensation, to reserve the right to punish entirely in his own hand, and to prohibit man from interfering. Yet the whole teaching of the New Tes- tament proceeds on the assumption, that the entire moral law is perpetual and unchangeable, and that the work of the Saviour in fulfilling it, and enduring its penalty, has added new sanctions to the law, and ren- dered every breach of it more criminal and inexcusable. Apart, however, from the judicial code, and the penalties that were inflicted by the civil magistrate under the law of Moses, there are many instances men- tioned in the Scriptures, in which the sin of Sabbath- breaking is held forth as highly provoking to the Almighty, and as one which he will not fail to punish. When the Lord provided manna for the Israelites, they were commanded to collect on the sixth day the sup- ply required for the seventh. When some of the j)eople, notwithstanding, went out to gather manna on the seventh day, their offence was instantly marked by the folloAving rebuke : — " And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." — (Exod. xvi. 28, 29.) The facts of this arrangement were remarkable, as respects their bearing on the law of the Sabbath. On six days in every week the people went out to gather manna. On each of five days of the week, they could provide for one day only, for the manna became putrid when kept over until next morn- ing. Having no other means of subsistence, necessity was laid upon them to have a daily supply. But on the Sabbath they must not gather. Two days' supply BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 433 are, accordingly, given on the sixth day ; and what is kept over on the intervening night continues, in this instance, perfectly sound and sweet. And how is all this to be accounted for? No possible account can be given, but that it was the will and the appointment of the Almighty. And all this continued to occur, with- out failure, or variation, for a period of nearly forty years. It was the uniform experience of all the mil- lions who inhabited the wilderness. To have had the law of the Sabbath engraved on brass, and hung up in every tent throughout the camp, accompanied with the injunction that the people should recite this command- ment every morning, would have been accounted a strong testimony to the value and importance of the Sabbath. But viewed as an expedient for fixing this law, prac- tically and indelibly, in the memories, the habits, and the consciences of the entire people, it would have fallen infinitely short of the arrangement above recited. Yet the Israelites forgot the Sabbath as well as other divine commandments, and were punished for their disobedience. Of all the judgments pronounced against them during the hfe of Moses, the most severe was that which excluded them from the land of promise, and condemned them to die in the wilderness. Now the Lord himself declares by the prophet, many ages after, that their breach of the Sabbath was one chief ground of their exclusion from Canaan. "Moreover also, I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel re- belled against me in the mldemess: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them ; and my Sabhaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out 2 £ >; 434 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ^ my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. Also I lifted up my hand unto them that I would not bring them into the land which I had given; .... becausethey despised my judgments and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sab- baths." — (Ezek. XX. 12, 13, &c.) This passage shows clearly that a sentence which shut Canaan, and doomed to death in the wilderness a whole generation of people, was a penalty for Sabbath breaking. Another remarkable judgment executed on this people was, their banishment from their own land, and their captivity in Babylon. We mention it, because it was a national judgment,. because it was preceded and accompanied by a long series of calamities and distresses, and because it continued for a period of seventy years. Now, of this danger they were warned by Moses before his death, and were informed that the neglect and profanation of the Sabbath would be thus punished : " And I will make your cities waste, and brmg your sanctuaries into desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours ; and I will bring the land into desolation ; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter }'ou among the heathen, and I will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' and ; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her Sab- baths." This warning, as we have seen, was emphati- cally renewed in the time of the propliet Jeremiah. The apprehension of such a penalty accounts for the horror and alarm with which the good regent, Nehe- miah, testified against the Sabbath breaking which he witnessed among the people who returned again from BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 435 the land of the Chaldeans: "Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and 'profane the Sabbath-day ? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city ? yet ye bring i more wrath upon Israel, by profaning the Sabbath." f^ — (Neh. xiii. 17, 18.) To sum up this argument ; it is evident that the law of the Sabbath has been placed by its divine Author in the centre of the Moral Law — the law of which the Redeemer has said, that " it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than that one jot or tittle thereof should fail;" that the breach of this law, on the part of the ancient Israelites, was constantly ranked among the sins of greatest aggravation — as one of the sins on account of which the Lord forsook his people, and gave them over to the power of hostile nations; that they were solemnly warned beforehand that this was a sin which the Lord would not pass by or excuse ; and when the threatened judgments had fallen on them, in their banishment and bondage in Babylon, they were dis- tinctly certified by the messengers of God, that their Sabbath breaking was one principal cause of all their calamities. By what conceivable plan could the su- preme Lawgiver demonstrtite more emphatically his regard to this institution, and his purpose to uphold it, in the administration of his Idngdom of provi- dence ? But, has the Sabbath law passed away among the shadows of the ancient economy? May it now be slighted w^ithout loss, and trampled on without danger? These are questions which may be subjected to the test of fact and experience — of observation and history. It is instructive to pursue the inqubry in individual 4:36 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. instances — to mark, on the one side, liow Sabbath ob- sen^ance is connected with industry, moral principle, and a useful life; and how Sabbath desecration is con- nected with iiTeligion, and is very often the certain forerunner of a course of immorality and crime. But our limits admit only of a hasty glance of this topic, viewed on a broad scale. In countries covered with wood, parties wishing to settle judge of the soil by the timber found growing on it; — and they do so, not by comparing a few trees in one district, with an equal number in another : the judgment is formed by the genera] character of the timber as found in both. If a district is on the whole well wooded, and the trees of large growth, it is concluded that the soil is rich, and the situation favourable. We invite the friends and opponents of Sabbath observance to make trial of it by a similar test. Let competent observers take a survey of the nations at the present day, and carefidly mark their condition, economically, morally, and religiously; it will be found that those which take the first rank are the nations in which the Sabbath is most venerated, and its injunctions most strictly observed. Do we meet intelligence and moral principle — the elements of social order and prosperity — superior sldll, combined Avith patient industry ? Do we find such an amount of in- tegrity, and of that sense of honour which mimics it, as lays a foundation for commercial confidence in the transactions of business ? They will be found only in Sabbath-keeping communities. We ask for benevo- lent and philanthropic institutions — infirmaries, lunatic asylums, and penitentiaries ; we ask where the infirm and aged are cared for, the fatherless and the widow ; where the youth are trained up in sound knowledge. BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 437 and efforts made to extend to benighted lands the benefits and blessings of education and of trae religion ? These things will be found to prosper only in Sabbath- keeping communities. We search for a people capable of understanding and appreciating rational liberty — who can make effectual their claims to free institutions, and control, at the same time, the blind impulses and excesses of democracy ; who respect and defend salutary laws, which guard impartially the interests of the poor and of the rich. This wise people, when found, will also be a Sabbath-observing people. Let TRAVELLERS who have visited various countries bear witness, whether the nations have sustained any loss, or incurred any penalty, who have rejected the holy Sabbath. They will testify (for the fact is noto- rious) that these nations almost universally have lost the holy Scriptures also, and have sunk under the power of infidelity and superstition. Let FOREIGN MISSION- ARIES say whether they have ever met a tribe who were enlightened in their minds, and prosperous in their condition, while strangers to the Sabbath; or whether they ever heard of a tribe who had been re- formed, civilized, and elevated, without being led to observe the Sabbath. Let city missionaries, and others intimately acquainted mth the social condition of our population, speak expressly as to the effect of Sabbath observance, or Sabbath desecration, on the character and condition of different classes amons^ our- selves. They have borne testimony, that the loss of the Sabbath, involving as it does the loss of the Sab- bath-school, of all right family training, and of a stated attendance on public ordinances, is speedily followed by the loss of intelligence, of habits of order and clean- liness, and ultimately of that character, and credit, and 438 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. • confidence, which are the best half of the whole stock in trade of the middle and lower classes of society. There is no nation on the earth so much indebted to the Sabbath as Britain; and there is none which has so much to lose by renouncing it. In the mighty strLTggle now in progTess between light and darkness, between reformation and corruption, the Sabbath is essential to almost every form of philanthropic effort. It has been found extremely difficult to prevent the masses from sinking in the scale of education and mo- ral principle, even with a plentiful supply of the Scrip- tures, of churches, and Sabbath-schools, and with all the advantages for family training which the leisure of the Sabbath affords. How dark, then, would our prospects be were our Sabbaths increasingly jdelded up to worldly pursuits ! For three hundred years we have been mercifully delivered from that cruel despot- ism which forbids the Book of God to the people. But were Sabbath sanctions and observances consigned to oblivion, the impetuous tide of business and pleasure would, erelong, sweep avv^ay the Bible. And what hope would there be for proper family training when both parents and children should be engTossed by the world all days alike throughout the year? We ask those who complain of Sabbath restraints, what advantage they expect to raise from its being superseded? They would appropriate it to relaxation. But where has it ever been preserved to the people as a day of rest and enjoyment, when the divine sanc- tions, which equally forbid labour and recreation on that day, have been once removed? The nations of the Continent have been little embarrassed with the Sabbath for centuries. What have they gained by that exemption? Alas! they are like a ship in a storm, and BLESSING PROMISED, AND PENALTY ANNEXED. 439 on a perilous sea, without pilot, or chart, or compass. They have renounced the law of the Lord, and he has given them up to their own counsels. Their wise men are as fools. They would need to be sent with an an- cient monarch to the beasts of the field, to learn that primitive lesson, that " the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, doeth ac- cording to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." The loss of the Sabbath would tend to reduce our own country to a similar condition. The stated assemblies for religious worship would rapidly decline, and the effects of the change would, in a brief space, be palpable every where. Uprightness would fail in the market-place. Honour and integrity would seldom be found on 'change. Duplicity would perjure itself in courts of justice. Caprice and passion would fill the jury box. Corruption would preside on the bench. The Book of Sports, perhaps recommended by royal proclamation, would again cause the house of God to be deserted. The people, rendered incapable of liberty, would be crushed by despotism, — rising from time to time, with savage ferocity and giant strength, to execute venge- ance on their oppressors; and communism would have its carnival, when the possession of property would be the highest crime. It can awaken no surprise that atheists and infidels are hostile to the Sabbath; for as long as that institu- tion is preserved, the glorious Being with whom they are at war never can cease to be worshipped and obeyed. Nor is it strange that the unprincipled and profligate are opposed to the Sabbath. As long as it stands, vice must be detested. Equity and justice, purity and be- nevolence, must be had in honour; and the ideal para- 440 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. dise of communism never can be realized. Nor should we wonder that unconverted men, of every class and order, should disrelish the Sabbath, — as a day of holy rest in the sei'vice of God. But that there should be found men, having a creditable profession of religion; nay, Christian men, whose piety ought not to be ques- tioned, ready to lay sacrilegious hands on the divine law, — to pluck the fourth commandment out of the moral code, and place it, where God never placed it, in the ceremonial code, — excusing or extenuating Sabbath desecration, Sabbath mails. Sabbath pas- senger-trains, and Sabbath traffic, is a matter unspeak- ably to be deplored. OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 441 lYL, THE SABBATH-ITS RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND A NATIONAL BLESSING. BY THE REV. JOHN ANGELL JAMES, CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER OF BIRMINGHAM If I appeal in this treatise to the subjects of the British empire at large — from the Queen upon the throne to the meanest individual of the realm — it is not that I have the vanity to suppose I shall be heard by an audience so comprehensive and so august; but because, in common with my fellow-labourers in this good work, I present a topic which is interesting to all alike, and demands from all the most serious and solemn attention. The man in whose bosom glows the ardour of patriotism will not allow his modesty to hush his voice in silence, when, however obscure he may be, he can, by lifting it up, multiply the echoes of an injunction from heaven, on obedience to which depends the welfare of his country. It is, therefore, not only excusable, but commendable, in the humblest member of the greatest nation, to address his country when he has any thing for the promotion of its welfare 442 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ^ to communicate, provided it be uttered in language at once serious, dignified, and respectful. The Sabbath is for nations collectively, as Virell as for the churches, families, and individuals of which it is composed; and though the religion of a country is but the amount of the practical piety of its indivi- dual inhabitants — and thus there can be no hope of national regeneration which is not based upon the re- generation of individuals — it is well sometimes to con- sider the aspect which this subject bears towards the obligations and the interests of the empire, viewed in its aggregate form. I apj)eal, then, to my country- men, viewed as citizens as well as Christians, and beg that attention from their patriotism which would pos- sibly be refused me by their religion. Yet why should these two be separated ? Or, indeed, how can the}^ be separated ? If patriotism mean, not what it signified to the ear of an ancient Roman, the wish and the right to cnish other nations, to build upon their ruins the greatness of his own, but a sincere desire, by every legitimate means, to promote our country's welfare, then is this virtue nothing else but true religion viewed in its relation to the land of our nativity. I crave attention, then, to the following remarks from every inhabitant of these United Kingxloms into whose hands the treatise might fall. The substance of many, if not most of them, may have been antici- pated by some of the writers who have preceded me in this fellowship of literary labour on behalf of the holy Sabbath. This is what must be expected, con- sidering that no specific subject of discussion is allotted to me, and that I have only to deliver a concluding practical address. OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 443 I. Religion is essential to the wellbeing OF A nation. When I say religion, I do not mean, of course, by that term any organized system or systems of ecclesi- astical polity, or any mere ritual obsei-vances ; on the construction and nature of these, even good men dif- fer. But there is no conviction in which good men are more entirely agreed, than that these are not identical with religion itself, but are only the means of pro- ducing or conserving it. By religion is meant a real, intelligent, cordial submission of the whole man to the revealed will of God. In the absence of such a reli- gion as this, the most scriptural form of government and of sacramental observance will avail nothing for individual salvation, and very little for national wel- fare. There is a twofold way in which religion promotes the wellbeing of a nation: the first is, by its own nature and tendency. It is actually necessary to the existence and continuance of national organization. A nation of atheists could not be formed so as to en- dure. The dreadful experiment was tried by the authors and abettors of the first French Revolution, and the result has been written upon the page of his- tory in characters of blood and horror, for the instruc- tion of the world to the latest posterity. In the ab- sence of religion the fabric of society is mthout a basis, and equally without cement; a mere heap of loose materials, where each one has a principle of repug- nance to all the rest. Religion, by teaching men to regulate and control their appetites and passions by reason enlightened by revelation — by subjecting self- ishness to benevolence — by giving the sense of an ever-present God, and of accountabihty to him — by 444 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. adding the motives of future rewards and punisiiments to those derived from the present advantages of virtue — by the enforcement, not only of duties common to all, but appropriate to each — by directing peculiar attention to the anti-social vices, and to the social virtues — by its divine support given to the authority of government and the force of law — and also by the encouragement it offers to the practice of righteous- ness in the promised help of the Holy Spirit ; — in all these ways promotes, as must be obvious to eveiy thoughtful mind, the welfare of nations as such. Nor is this all, for, secondly, Providential appoint- ments, arrangements, and interpositions add their influence to the natural tendency of religion to pro- mote national prosperity. Is it not declared in Scrip- ture that " righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people?" So that while iniquity as a cancer eats into the vital strength of an empire, the judgments of the Almighty, like the Hghtning's flash, scathe and destroy it from without. What illus- trations, as well as proofs, of this are furnished by the faithful page of history ! Where are the mighty em- pires of antiquity, which once made the eaith to trem- ble? Scarcely a vestige of even the very ruins of some of them remains, to guide the foot of the traveller to the site and centre of their former greatness. What caused their destruction? The inspired seers of God's chosen nation tell us with one voice, " SiN.'' Kead and recollect the history of modern Europe, and see what countries have drank deepest of the cup of tribulation in the times in which we live. Ai-e they not France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy — countries where tyranny, persecution, superstition, and infidelity have most ex- tensively prevailed? If nations, as such, are ever OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 445 rewarded or punished, it must be in this world, where only they exist; and though we are no longer under the covenant of temporal promises, we still may expect that God will put forth, in some intelligible manner, the tokens of his favour, or the expressions of his dis- pleasure, according as the nations offend him by their impiety, or please him by their religion. It is evident that the most religious nation, other things being equal, must, by a kind of moral necessity, be the strongest, inasmuch as the subjugation of self- islmess to benevolence must concentrate general atten- tion upon the public good. It must, at the same time, be the tvealthiest and most prosperous nation, because the vices that drain off its riches will be suppressed, while the virtues which replenish the public treasury will be promoted. And then it follows, of course, that such a people will be the happiest, so as to realize the beautiful language, and accomplish the patriotic words of the Psalmist when he says : " It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his ser- vant from the hateful sword. Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speak- eth vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth ; that our daughters may be as comer- stones, polished after the similitude of a palace; that our gamers may be full, affording all manner of store ; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in oiu* streets ; that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there may be no breaking in, nor going out; that there may be no complaining in our streeta Happy is that people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." — (Ps. cxliv. 10-15.) -^ 446 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. • From all tliis it is evident that sin is not only rebel- lion against God, but treason against our country ; while piety is the purest and most efficient patriotism. The Bible is the best book written yet, or which ever will be, on the true political economy of nations; and without exhibiting a system of theoretic principles on population and wealth, lays down those precepts on human conduct and the social relations, in the practice of which any nation will be prosperous and happy. — ^^t-The general observance of the Sabbath y a nation is essential to its religion. This observance is itself one gTeat duty of religion, and it is necessary to the due performance of all other duties. Religion consists of two parts, piety and mo- rality. By the first we understand a right state of heart towards God, — that is, the existence of a supreme love, arising out of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; expressed by complacency in God's nature, reverence for his character, obedience to his commands, gi^atitude for his services, and all those acts of worship which he himself has enjoined in his Word. By the second part of true religion, we mean all those moral duties which we owe to our fellow-creatures and to ourselves. Now even if it were contended that we could perform the latter without the observance of the Sabbath, we could not the former. The Sabbath is God's institute ; and, at the same time, his memorial set up by and for himself first of all, and then given to man for his o"\vn benefit. It is God's mtness to the world as its Creator and Redeemer, and is ever delivering a most solemn and impressive testimony for him as regards his exis- tence, works, attributes, and authority. It is a weekly proclamation from heaven of the claims of the Maker, OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 447 Upholder, and Governor of all things. On the dawn of every Sabbath a voice goes forth over the earth, — " There is a God. Jehovah is he ! He made and redeemed tlie world, — arise and worship him." It is true that men have other witnesses for God, especially the Bible, the Church, and the Saviour, but how heed- less would they be of all these if the Sabbath were forgotten. They could meet for divine worship, and thus acknowledge God on other days, if they did not assemble then! But would they? Is it probable? There are meetings on other days, but by whom are they attended? Only by those who keep holy the Sabbath, and by only a few of them. So that if the Sabbath were given up, public worship would soon be given up also, and the people would abandon all appear- ance of religion, and assume the aspect of a nation of atheists. How impressive a testimony for God are the silence and repose of the day of rest. How the closed shops and the open churches, and especially the stream of population flowing through the streets at the hour of worship into the sanctuaries of religion, remind us of God. This observance of the Sabbath is the visible type — the outward expression of a nation's religion, and is a far more emphatic testimony for him than the buildings themselves in which the congregated multi- tudes assemble. Not the lofty spire nor ample tower; not the gorgeous pile, upon which architecture, sculp- ture, and painting have lavished their affluence, and which, by the power of association, fills the rapt soul with aU the shadows of departed centuries, bear such an impressive witness for God, as the intelligent minds, and holy hearts, and heaven-tuned tongues, gathered on the sacred day beneath its ample dome to worship God at his own selected and appointed time. 448 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. • While the observance of the Sabbath is of itself one part of our national religion, consider how it tends to support all other parts, whether they relate to God or man. Let any one examine the varied exercises of the Christian sanctuaries, — the prayers, the psalmody, the reading of the Scriptures, the eucharist, and especially the sermon, and he cannot fail to perceive their inti- mate connection with public morals, and genuine piety. It might be said, that the general circulation of the Word of God, and religious books and tracts, renders the people less dependent upon the pulpit than they once were. But is it not a fact, that where one sinner, even now, amidst all this abundance of religious publi- cations, is converted from the error of his ways by private reading, twenty or even fifty are reclaimed by hearing sermons? Preaching is God's chief instrument of regeneration — this is the power of God unto salva- tion, and so it must ever remain. Nothing ever will, nor ever can, supersede the preacher and the sermon: the press will never supplant the pulpit. Public speak- ing, in its power, is in strict accordance with all the principles of our mental economy. There is a singular adaptation in the living voice, and " human face di- vine/' to the work of instructing and impressing the soul of man, the chords of which are made to vibrate to the various modulations of the speaker's voice. What lessons of purity, temperance, and industry ; of relative duties, amongst which subjection to magistrates holds a high place ; of justice, integrity, and benevolence, are taught every Sabbath ; and as the result, even when the soul is not truly converted to God, what a multi- tude of base thoughts, unworthy inclinations, shameful designs, destructive plans, suggested by ambition, avarice, or voluptuousness, are stifled in their birth, OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL J3UTY AND BLESSING. 449 and their execution happily prevented. How much of the peace of famiUes, the order of society, and the wellbeing of nations, depends, then, upon the ministry of the Word of God ! We know very well that educa- tion, regard to public opinion, the powder of law, and the salutary dread of justice, all help to repress crime, and promote virtue; but what multitudes are there who need something else besides all these to restrain them from transgression, when temptation is urgent and the hope of impunity is flattering. And what can supply this so well, and what has supplied it so fre- quently, as the ordinances of divine worship, and the preaching of the Word of God? These do more to keep up our national morality, than the stringency of law and the terror of its penalties — the solemnities of trial, and the most dreadful inflictions of justice. Let any one conceive of the myriads of churches, chapels, and school-rooms, which are open every Sabbath to the millions upon millions of children and adults who are assembled within their walls, and also of the amount of moral and religious instruction which is thus made to bear upon these masses of our population, and imagine, if he can, the quantity of sin which is kept out and rooted out of the public mind, and the amount of virtue and piety which, through God's blessing, is introduced. Were all these churches, chapels, and school-rooms closed, even for a few months; were ser- mons discontinued, and Sabbaths employed in business A or amusement, not only would the influence of religion' over the minds of the pious be wellnigh extinguished, but the bond of moral obligation over the unconverted would be relaxed, the laws of God and man w^ould be trampled under foot, and an awful reign of unbridled sin commence. " Blind is that country, and \\Tetched 2 F 450 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. must it be, where pure religion is not taught, and where the worth of the faithful watchmen is not known, till the want of those true friends of the prince and of the people introduces en\^, strife, confusion, and every evil work/' I will strengthen and recommend all I have said on this subject, by the testimony of a pious and learned foreigner. Dr Merle D'Aubigne, the eloquent historian of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, has the following remarks in a work lately published, entitled, '^ Germany, England, and Scotland:" — " There is no people to whom religion is so necessary as the British. The material, agricultural, manufacturing, and mer- cantile interests are so predominant, that were not relisfion to counterbalance them, the nation would be undone. The energetic activity v/hich distinguishes the Britons ; those gigantic enterprises that characterise them; the founding of an immense empire in India; the gates of China, which her powerful hand has wrenched open ; that creation of Australia ; those expe- ditions to the poles, and every climate ; that abolition of the slave trade, and slavery itself; — ^all these giant- like labours require that a pure religion should animate the people — that oil should be alv/ays pouring into the lamp, and that a holy moral force should inspire, moderate, and direct these efforts. If the Britons, and even the Germans, are much better colonizers than the French, and the nations under the Papal rule, it is to the Gospel they are indebted for it. Neither is this all. Even the admirable political institutions of Britain have need of the rule of faith; the liberal in politics should be conservative in religion. If the people of the United States, notwithstanding their many ele- ments of disorder and dissolution, are not only still in OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLES$ING. 451 existence, but increasing more and more in power and importance, it is because they are the sons of the Puritans. From the very moment that England begins to yield, nay, from the very moment she ceases to press onward in religion, we think she will decline towards her abasement, perhaps to her ruin. Evil elements are not wanting. She possesses, to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other country, a low, impious, and impure literature; and the efforts made to diffuse it among the public are very great. If ever the flood- gates which religion and morality oppose to these infamous publications are thrown down, the torrent will break forth and overwhelm the whole nation with its poisonous waters." And then, a little farther on, speaking of the Sab- bath, Dr D'Aubigne says: — " I do not hesitate to say, that this submission of a whole people to the law of God is something very impressive, and is probably the most incontestable source of the many things that have been showered on the nation. Order and obedience, morality and power, are all in Britain connected with the observance of tlie Sabbath. Amidst the activity \vhich pervades all things, the bustle of the towns, and the energy with which the inhabitants pursue their earthly callings, what would become of them if they had not a day of rest in which to recruit themselves. and, la3dng aside things temporal, which are seen, to look forward to things eternal, which are unseen? Yes, no doubt, if a remedy is not found out for the evil, immorality and disorder will be brought into England by these new roads. The old Puiitan habits are disappearing. This claims the earnest attention of the friends of religion and their countr}'. We say again, the severity of England as to the Lord's day 452 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. and other institutions, is, in our eyes, an essential feature of the national character, and an imperative condition of the greatness and prosperity of her people." Such a testimony from such an authority will, it may be expected, have much greater weight than any thing my pen could write, and I therefore adduce it, though a long extract, to coiToborate what has been already written in this treatise. III. The general and cordial co-operation OF ALL CLASSES OF THE COMMUNITY IS REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SaBBATH, AND TO RESIST THE ENCROACHMENTS UPON ITS SANCTITY WHICH IN THIS AGE ARE IN PROGRESS. The Sabbath is a national blessing, and by the whole nation its preservation should be sought. Ail classes and all individuals should regard it, to a considerable extent, as the palladium of our safety, and rally round it as for the defence of one of our best and brightest hopes. It is within the reach of every inhabitant of the land to do something for his country's weal or wo. That was a beautiful description of patriotism which Demosthenes gave, when, speaking of the Athenians, he said, " It was a principle fixed deeply in every breast, that man was not born to his parents only, but to his country." This principle should be rooted in the soul of every Briton, and with it the religious truth, that no man lives more effectually for his country's best welfare than he who promotes the sacred observance of the Sabbath. At how cheap a rate may this kind of patriotism be maintained ! Fleets and armies would be unnecessary for that land of which Omnipotence saith, " I \vill be a wall of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst thereof." OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 453 • In this great duty even royalty itself may set the example. The monarch is as much bound by the fourth commandment as the subject. Illustrious Queen of these realms, enthroned not only in the j)alace, but in the hearts of your loyal and devoted subjects, long may God preserve you to an admiring people, the pattern of every personal and relative virtue ; and ever may he vouchsafe to you his grace, to acknowledge an authority higher than your own, and to enable you, in subjection to Him by whom kings reign and princes decree justice, together with your Royal Consort, to keep holy the Sabbath-day, that so the sanctity of the court, as well as its purity, may always be maintained, and an example continue to be given from the throne of that righteousness which exalt eth a nation ! No record of your majesty's personal conduct, where all is so pleasing and so wel- come, is more honourable to yourself, more gratifying to your pious subjects, or more conducive to the wel- fare of that great nation over which your sceptre is stretched, than those accounts which are published of your majesty's attendance upon the solemnities of public worship. The jewels which sparkle in the royal diadem reflect a lustre that is dim compared with that which will be derived from your majesty's observance of God's holy Sabbath. Nor let THE rulers of our country be back- ward to follow the pattern which may be set them in this particular by their royal mistress. As they would guide with a steady hand and a clear vision the helm of the state, and obtain from above the wisdom which is profitable to dhect — as they would bring upon theii' councils the blessing of Him without whom nothing is wise, or strong, or good, let them take heed in their 454 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. own households, a.nd ia the various departments of the state over which they severally preside, to remem- ber the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Let not the officers and servants of the government be employed unnecessarily in the affairs of secular business, and thus be prevented from obeying the commands of a still higher Monarch than she whom it is their honour and delight to serve as their only rightful sovereign upon earth. Should a spirit of commercial cupidity, gnidging the day of rest to hands already full, to minds already jaded, and hearts already engrossed with the cares of business, wish to open the post-office to its daily avocations and pursuits, may w^e ever have a government which will resolutely resist the effort, and secure to the metropolis this opportunity of repose and enjoyment. Instead of this, may the government listen to the voice of public opinion, now so gene- rally and so loudly expressed, for the closing of the provincial post-offices, and thus give to the country the privilege enjoyed by the metropolis. Senatoes of THE LAND, representatives of the people, makers of our laws, and guardians of our liberties, take heed to yourselves, to keep this the law of your God. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? You are set as a city on a hill, which cannot be hid. I ask not for the interposition of your power * to enforce or uj^hold the religions observance of the Sabbath. Men cannot be made pious by Acts of Parliament, nor compelled by statute to worship God. But legislation may be * The author must, on this point, be considered as uttering only his own view of the subject. Some of his brethren would go farther than he on the right of Parliament to interfere with Sabbath observance, and some not so far. OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 455 righteously employed in protecting the poor man from oppression and from being robbed, by the craving, un- satisfied, and remorseless spirit of trade, of his oppor- tunity to give rest to his weary limbs, and to worship his Creator. The Sabbath is especially the poor man's day — it was for him above all that the day was insti- tuted, viewed as a repose from toil. It is given to him by a divine provision; it is his by vested, chartered right. God lias commanded liim to lay aside the im- plements of his toil, and he has commanded his em- ployer to give him an opportunity for so doing; and he looks to you, our legislators, to stand between him and his master, when that master would take from him his day of rest and refreshment. His body as well as his soul needs this respite from labour; and never is the authority of law more rightfully or mercifully inter- posed, than when it is done to secure to the sons and daughters of poverty this day, to go, if they so will, to the house of their God, and think of a world where " the mcked cease from troubling, and the wear}^ are at rest." There is another view of the subject, as connected with the interests of the labouring classes; and that is, the effect which the abolition of the Sabbath would have upon their wages and their comforts. His labour is the only article which a working man has to carr}^ into the market, and this will, of course, be cheapened down in price according to the quantity which is offered for sale, till at length he will get only as much for his seven days as he formerly did for six. It is on this ground, then, that legislation should interfere to pro- tect the interests of the poor man from the ever-en- croaching spirit of trade, and to secure to him his hebdomadal rest, leaving it to his judgment and his 456 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. conscience as to the way in wliicli lie will spend his Sabbath when he has got it. How senseless, then, is the cry against legislation for preventing Sabbath trad- ing, as if it were oppressing the poor, when they in fact are the very persons whose interests most require it ! But, after all, considering the extreme difficulty of making laws that can be effectual and impartial, many are of opinion that no means but such as are moral, — that is, the united power of example, the pulpit, and the press, — will ever reach the case, and secure that which every enlightened patriot, and every sincere Christian, most ardently desires, — the more general and sacred observance of the Lord's day. But leaving legislation out of consideration, we may ask, and have a right to expect, senators, you would concede what we require, — your example and your in- fluence on behalf of the sacred day. You are supposed, from your situation, to have a deeper interest in your country's welfare, and better opportunities for knowing what will conduce to it ; both God and man look for more from you, and the nobles of the land, than from any other class of laymen. You have station and in- fluence: give both to God. Neither senatorial rank, nor the ermine of the judge, nor the coronet of the peer, so much adorns humanity or becomes it as ge- nuine piety. Not only be found, then, in the sanctu- ary of God, revering his authority, but abstain fi-om your Sunday parties, from travelling, and from every other violation of the Sabbath which would throw the weight of your example into the scale of our national sins, and, as a necessary consequence, into that of our national decay. Editors and Publishers of our Periodical Literature, and especially of our Newspapers, OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 457 remember the tremendous responsibility which attaches to you. There is no class of men, next to the minis- ters of religion, whose life and labours stand in such close connection with national religion and morals as yours, nor any which have such a powerful influence upon them. It is yours not merely to reflect the pub- lic opinion, but to form and guide it ; not only to de- lineate and establish, but to mould, to a considerable extent, the national character. Consider the moment- ous results of your high vocation. You speak to the multitude in our crowded cities, and to the scattered few in our rural districts, and are ever impregnating the mass of our teeming population with the seed of moral good or evil. A single paragraph out of the many that are ever flowing from your pen, by patron- izing, or even palliating evil, may perpetrate a moral mischief in the minds of thousands, which can never be estimated but by the Omniscient mind, and which, by all your future labours, however you may lament it, you may never be able to undo. It is matter of unut- terable regret, that too many of your profession, in its lower grades, are doing all they can to subvert religion ; and, as the most effectual method to accomplish this dreadful purpose, are endeavouring to blot out the Sabbath from the calendar. Sunday newspapers are the bane of our country's religion and morals, and are doing all that in them lie, if not by argument, by act, to form a nation of atheists. By some of these the poison of a concealed, and in others of an undisguised infidelity, is circulated through the length and breadth of our country, and an appetite for irreligion is both created where it did not previously exist, and is fed where it did. It is calculated that no less than thirty million copies of infidel and demoralizing publications, 458 THE CHEISTIAX SABBATiL a large proportion of wliicli are issued and sold on the Sabbath-day, are annually circulated among the popu- lation of this country; and that one of these Sabbath- breaking irreligious newspapers consumes nearly one million more stamps yearly than the thirteen rehgious newspapers. Unhappy men who writ« for these works, thus to prostrate yoiu* talents, and to hire out your faculties in contraTening the laws of God, subverting the foundations of religion, destroying pubhc morals, and ruining the souls of men ! If you have no mercy upon your country, whose best interests you are poi- soning. — if none for your fellow-creatures, whose souls you are ruining, — have mercy upon yourselves. The time is coming, or if not the time, yet the eternity is at hand, v/hen, in the lost spirits whom you have se- duced by your profane and licentious publications, you shall see the mischief you have perpetrated. It may furnish matter of fresh ribaldry, and an occasion for more wickedness, to remind you of that av\-ful day when the nations shall be gathered to the bar of Him whom you now make the object of your impious jests: but every line by which you ai'e now endeavouring to write down the truth of revelation, the reahty of religion, and the sancity of the Sabbath, will come lo your re- collection, and hght upon your spirit as a spark from the quenchless fire, and be as a pang inflicted by the^ ■ venomous tooth of the never-dpng worm. It is to be lamented also, that in the higher depart- ments of journalism, in those which command the attention of nations, there are few writers who are zea- lous for the Lord of Hosts, and who advocate with courage and consistency the claims of the Sabbath. When shall the time come that those noble intellects which pour forth in such endless profusion, and with OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 459 such rapidity, their surprising thoughts, in periods and paragraphs Avljich are read with dehght by millions, shall feel it to be the highest employment of their pens to promote religion, by calling upon nations to " re- member the Sabbath-day to keep it holy ! " Ministers of Religion, we turn to you, as to our strongest hope — as to the most earnest, constant, and zealous advocates of Sabbath observance. You are appointed to be the guardians of every divine institu- tion, and of this especially, we might almost say pre- eminently. Christ intrusts to you, above all men, the safe keeping of this precious memorial of his glorious and finished work. Be faithful to your trust. The Lord's day is your day, as the other days of the week are given to the rest of mankind for their occupations. You can do little or nothing without it. Give up this, and you have suiTendered your chief means of useful- ness. Consider, then, your pulpit as one of the high places upon earth, from whence, as an eminence, you may send over a careless and worldly-minded genera- tion the fourth solemn commandment of the Deca- logue. Enforce the obligations of this holy day in all their strictness, and in their full extent. Listen to no compromise. Heed no railing. Shrink from no dis- cussion. Turn your back upon no enemy. Take counsel of no time-ser\ing policy. Disregard, as so many empty, angTy gusts of wind, the reproaches cast upon you, as morose enemies to the happiness of the people; and go on steadily and boldly to urge the performance of a duty, in which you know are bound up the interests of your country, and of each one of its inhabitants. Let your precepts be enforced by exam- ple, remembering that he who preaches the sanctity of the Sabbath, should, beyond all men, observe it in 460 THE CHKISTIAN SABBATH. his own conduct. The sins of teachers are the teach- ers of sin; and of all Sabbath breakers, none are so guilty before God, nor do such mischief among men, as they who, whatever they say, teach men, by their actions, to break the commandments of the divine law. Next to ministers, if not even before them hi in- fluence, are the heads of households. Parents, read, mark, learn, and tremble. Yours is a dehghtful, but, at the same time, an a^^-ful duty. It is on the family hearth, and around the family altar and table, that the citizen and the Christian should be trained. The family is, to a considerable extent, the mould of both the church and the state. As, then, you would have the one full of intelligent and sanctified patriotism, and the other of evangehcal piety, let your domicile be a scene of cheerful sanctity on the day of holy rest. I say of cheerful sanctity; for as the Sabbath is a feast-day, and not a fast-day, 3'our dwelling should be enlivened by smiles of gladness from every counte- nance, and be vocal with thanksgiving and the notes of melody. There can be no objection to the feast of fat thing-s, provided it be prepared the day before, and none are employed or cumbered about cooking or much serving. Let God's good creatures be enjoyed, and they who have adored him as the God of grace in his own house, bless him as the God of nature and providence in thehs: the fa mil 1/ table is, when not spread by Sabbath breaking, a good sequel even to the Lord's table. But still piety should be the presiding spirit of the whole, which, like a ministering angel dropped from the skies, should be there to bless the household. One of the loveliest scenes which ever poetrv" has dehghted to portray, is that of a Christian family amidst cleanlioess, neatness, and order, keeping OBSERVA>X'E A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 461 holy the Sabbath, where the parents, by an intelligent and cheerful religion, blended with kindness, gentle- ness, and love, diffuse an air of peace and delight over the circle of happy beings that rejoice around their board, bend before their altar, or pour out their glee- ful, yet chastened feelings round their chair. Parents, as you would be saved from the miser}^ of seeing your children turning aside to crooked ways, and especially as you would have the joy of seeing them walking in the truth, teach them from the dawn of memory and conscience to reverence the Sabbath of the Lord. Sunday-School Teachers, learn and do your duty. Inculcate this obligation upon the group of children collected on your bench, and looking up to you for instructions ever}' week. You know the moral dangers to which, from their pecuHar situation in hfe, they are constantly exposed. You have read, if not heard, the confessions of many of those who have been brought by vice to an ignominious end, that it was SaBbath breaking which first lured them from wis- dom's ways, and initiated them into the course which terminated at the gibbet. Think of the numbers of the labouring class whose children are collected in our Sabbath-schools: how large a portion of the popula- tion they form ! You are employed, by educating them, in forming the character of those who are the base of the pyramid of society. Take heed, therefore, what you do, and how you do it. Whether our ope- rative classes shall be \Trtuous or vicious; whether they shall be consigned as a prey to the wolves, the vultures, and the serpents of infidelity, which are ever waiting and watching to devour them; or shall be gathered under the eye and arm of the good Shepherd and Bishop of souls, depends much upon you. B^ 462 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. diligent, anxious, earnest, and persevering in teaching them to keep holy the Sabbath-day. Be it one great object in all your instructions to impress this upon them. Read to them, and hear them read, in the most devout and solemn manner, all the passages which re- late to the Lord's day. Cause them to commit all these to memory, and endeavour to give light to their judgment, and tenderness to their consciences on this momentous subject. Merchants, Manufacturers, and Trades Peo- ple, how much is it in your power to promote or obstruct the religion, and by this means, the interests, of your native country. Shall the time ever come when, by the just and generous principles upon which commercial affairs are carried on — by the personal religion of those who are engaged in its pursuits — by their restriction of all secular affah-s to the six days of labour — and by the consecration of their profits to the cause of religion, " holiness to the Lord" shall be written upon our merchandize as it used to be tfpon that of ancient Tyre ? Let this be the hope, the effort, and the prayer of every Christian tradesman. In order to this it is essential that the day of sacred rest should be rescued from the pursuits of commerce. Not only close your shops, your counting-houses, and manufactories, which is already generally done, but do not in any covert way employ any of your servants in works of labour on that day which God has set apart for hallowed repose. Do not open your business letters, much less set out on journies, or return home from them, on the Sabbath. Remember that by such conduct you ai'e not only sinning yourself, but leading others to sin. Money gained thus, brings no blessiug with it. The manna gathered on that day will breed worms OBSEKVA^X^E A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 463 on it. Forego the profits of siicli unliallowed trading. " Better is a little that a righteous man hath, than the riches of many wicked." " What is a man profited if he sliall gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what sliall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" Professors of Religion, our strongest appeal is to you. To whom SHOULD we appeal if not to you, and to whom can we appeal with so much justice and propriety? You are commanded to be the light of the world, on this point as well as on every other; " and if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness." In that hour when you joined yourselves in fellowship with the Church of Christ, you entered solemnly into covenant with God, and in effect swore to be his liege subjects — to honour all his insti- tutes, to observe all his statutes, and to obey all his laws: and sustaining a high place among these, is the Sabbath. Will you break, forget, or think lightly of, your bond? Will you ever be seen trampling under foot your Lord's command, and your own engagement to obey it ? Will you be the person to proclaim revolt, and set the example of rebellion ? Will you buy and sell and get gain on the holy day ? Will you travel for business or for pleasure on this day ? Will you read newspapers, have parties, saunter away the hours over the dinner-table and the wine ? Will you be heard pleading for a relaxation of the strictness of Sab- bath observance, and seen joining with those who are seeking its desecration ? Professors, will you forsake the Lord's side, and go over to that of the aliens ? What, you who profess to know the worth of the soul, the importance of salvation, the danger of being lost not only by the practice of sin, but by the love of the world ? What, you- who know, or profess to know, .the 464 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. connection between the riglit observance of the Sab- bath, and personal religion? Ye followers of Christ, will not ye keep up the remembrance of his v/ork in om- world ? Ye servants of the living God, will not ye maintain his authority in his own domain ? Ye friends of religion, will not ye keep up that institute on which religion so vitally depends ? Ye lovers of the souls of your fellow-creatures, will not ye stand forward to pro- mote that on which more depends for aiTesting the tide of perdition, and advancing the cause of salvation, than any thing else that could be mentioned ? We call upon you, by all these considerations, to come forth and to rally round the law of your God. Upon you, under him, it depends whether the Sabbath shall remain or not. The children of this world love it not ; yea, hate it, with regard to its original design as a season of devotion, however much they love it as a day of rest and worldly pleasure. They would get rid of it if they could; and desperate, though unavowed, and unorganized, efforts are being made for that purpose. If it be retained in its religions and spiritual charac- ter, it must be kept by you. Some of the Tractarian party would gladly introduce again the Book of Sports, in connection with the Book of Common Prayer; and after the sacrament in the morning at church, would have athletic games on the common in the evening. Thus, superstition is confederate with commercial cupi- dity, pleasure taking, and infidelity, to rob our country of its best and surest defence against irreligion, im- morality, and the consequent judgments of Almighty God. Against this felonious and sacrilegious confede- racy, those who worship God in the spirit must be banded together in a holy alliance. But no organiza- tions that may be set up can be sufficient, in the OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 465 absence of individual and personal example; and, there- fore, let every one who shall read this treatise, each man by himself, and for himself, consider that it is not only a subject for the nation, but for him. We are too apt to lose ourselves in the crowd, and to sink individual obligation in that which is social. It is thus that we are enabled, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, to shift off our duty from our own conscience, to that which in fact has no existence, except in our own imaginations — ^the collective conscience of a nation or a church. Let us avoid this subtle method of escaping from our duty, and let us each re-study the subject of the Sab- bath in its spiritual design, the perpetuity of its obli- gation, the devout manner of its observance, the infinite blessings of which it is the means of conveyance to the children of men, and the moral desolation which would be occasioned, not only by its abolition, but by its general desecration. And witnessing, as we do, the encroachments upon it, which are perpetually made by its avowed enemies, and even by its simulated friends, let us, each one for himself, be roused to a more conscientious, exact, and spiritual obedience in this particular of the law of our God. Britons, my last appeal is to you. Look at your country, — " great, glorious, and free,'' — the temple of religion — the sanctuary of freedom — the mart of com- merce — the hall of science — the school of learning — the greatest subject of history, and the loftiest theme of song — the land of your birth, your pride, and your boast; — look, I say, at your unequalled country, and be filled with gratitude and gladness. But rejoice mth trembling. Portents are not wanting, which in- dicate that Jehovah has a controversy with the nation. Can you forget the famine, so mysterious in its origin, 2 G i66 THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. which raged last year over Ireland, and the north of Scotland ? Can you be ignorant that pestilence may be now lurking among the nations of the Continent, like a lion couchant ready to spring upon us?* Can you be unmindful of the financial crash, which has lately convulsed our commercial fabric to its very foundation ? Can you be unobservant of the unquiet heavings with which the European nations are agitated, and which threaten us mth the earthquake of another war ? Is there nothing in all this to awaken sohcitude, and excite alarm ? Is this the time, and are these the circumstances, in which you should insult the authority, kindle the ^vl^ath, and provoke the vengeance of Al- mighty God, by trampling under foot his laws, and subverting his institutes ? I implore you to consider 3^our ways, and, by the prevalence of a sphit of national religion, raise a conductor over your country, which, when the tempest shall rage, Avill protect her from the flashes of Heaven's fiery indigTiation. You would be patriots: remember that the truest patriotism is not that which passeth off under the name of glory, but which standeth by religion as the strongest pillar of the state, and, by the observance of the Sabbath, as the main prop of religion, and which maintains its position by the ark of the Lord, amidst the scorn and contradictions of men, who have no eyes to see the indissoluble connection between the ruin and impiety of nations. I shall now conclude in the eloquent language, and not more eloquent than true, of an American writer — * This treatise was written in the year 1848. Since which, the Lord hath poured out the vial of his judgment upon us : yet, alas ! with how little moral and spiritual benefit, in consequence of our unbelief. OBSERVANCE A NATIONAL DUTY AND BLESSING. 467 " But for the moral power of Sabbatical institutions, whose property or reputation would be safe for a single day? Much as the Lord's day is profaned in this country, even now it does more than our magistrates and prisons, and other legal terrors, to perpetuate and multiply our social, civil, and rehgious things. Take away this barrier, and you open the flood-gates of vice and irreligion upon a godless and suffering people. You may try to prop up your free and admired civil institutions, but all your efforts will be in vain. The overflowing scoirrge will pass through, and neither you nor your children can hope to escape. • " Who and where is the patriot that would thrust out our ship, from her peaceful moorings, on a star- less night, upon an ocean of storms, without anchor or rudder, compass or chart? The elements around us may remain, and our giant rivers and mountains. Our miserable descendants also may multiply and vegetate, and sit in moral darkness and putrefaction. But the American character, and our glorious institutions, will go down into the same grave that entombs the Sabbath, and our epitaph will stand forth a warning to the world : Thus endeth the nation that despised the Lord. AND gloried in WISDOM, WEALTH, AND POWER.''* * Dr Humphrey on the Sabbath. THE END. EDINBURGH : PRINTBD B-i JOHNSTONE AND HONTKR, 104 HIGH STREET. LATELY PUBLISHED, PRIZE ESSAYS BY WORKING MEN, THE TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OF THE SABBATH TO THE WOEKING GLASSES. L (FIRST PRIZE, £25.) ImiiIe'3 MiMt tn t|iB €uxm nf Intrnnr. By JOHN ALLAN QUINTON, Printer, Ipswich. WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Library Edition, Illustrated and Elegantly Bound, . price 38. 6d. People's Edition, ....... 4d. II. (SECOND PRIZE, £15.) (Elj^ rigljt nf tlir Wnl By JOHN YOUNGER^ Shoemaker, St Boswells, Roxburghshire. WITH MEMOm OF THE AUTHOR. Library Edition, ...... price 3s. People's Edition, ... . • » 3d. III. (THIRD PRIZE, £10.) • €^ €nrrt[ nf €m. By DAVID FARQUHAR, Mechanic, DuBdee. WITH SKETCH OF THE ArTHOR's LIFE. Library Edition, ..... price 3s. People's Edition, ..... m 4d. IV. Dedicated by special permission to Her Majesty the Queen, €tre f rnrl nf Pnip ; OR, The Advantages of the Sabbath to the "Working Classes By A LABOURER'S DAUGHTER. WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR's LIFE. Library Edition, Thirty-fifth Thousand, Crimson Cloth, Gilt, with Five Illustrations, .... . . price 33. People's Edition, in Stiff Covers, . . . ? f- 6d. (Ernrts fnr ttir Unilinnn. 8 pp.. Price 23. 6d. per 100. No. 1 . Apologies for Travelling on the Sabbath. By Dr Nevins, Baltimore, U.S. No. 2. Travelling on the Sabbath. By Dr Nevins. No. 3. The Sabbath and the Railway. By the Rev. A. Thomson, Edinburgh. No. 4. A Few Words to the Working Classes on the Sabbath Question. By the Rev. Dr King, Glasgow. London: Partridge & Oakey, and Johnstone & Hunter. Edinburgh : Johnstone & Hunter. Glasgow : D. Robertson. And Sold by all Booksellers. Date Due M-j^ PRINTED IN U. S. A.