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LECTURES 
 
 THE INSTITUTION OP 
 
 SABBATH, 
 
 / 
 
 THE REV. JOHN S. STONE, D, 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ALEXANDER. V. BLAKE 
 
 77 FULTON STREET. 
 1844, 
 
 *■ 
 
 ■*> 
 
# 4> 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by 
 ALEXANDER V. BLAKE, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
 E. CRAIGHEAD, Printer, J 12 Fulton-st. 
 
 ^c — * 
 
-* 
 
 PRIFACE 
 
 The following Lectures were originally prepared' 
 not for the press, but for the pulpit. The object of 
 the writer was, not to say all that might be said, or 
 that has been said, on the subject of the Sabbath, but 
 to present the main points in the argument for the 
 perpetuity and divine authority of this religious insti- 
 tution. He wished to show that the Sabbath is an 
 inseparable part of that divine system of arrange- 
 ments, under which God has organized his Universal 
 Church, in its downward passage, through all ages, 
 towards its ultimate extension over all nations. And 
 having shown this, not by dwelling on the numerous 
 collateral points, which may be supposed to favor 
 such a conclusion, but by going at once to the main 
 grounds, on which such a conclusion rests, his prin- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 the Will of Christ, and accounting for the manner, in 
 which it was introduced, by the considerations em- 
 bodied in the fourth of the ensuing Lectures. 
 
 Nor, to this do we consider it a valid answer to say : 
 " The Church has departed from Christ's intention in 
 other things ; and therefore in this also may have 
 been guilty of such a departure." For, those other 
 departures began to take place hundreds of years 
 after the Church had been left to meet, and move 
 through, the corrupting influence of the philosophies, 
 and superstitions of the heathen world ; and, as those 
 departures grew wider and wider, they were marked 
 with more and more of Christ's displeasure, and of 
 a withdrawment of his favor, till, at last, they brought 
 on his visible body the most direful of all plagues ; 
 whilst, or the contrary, the change in the day of the 
 Sabbath took place almost under the very eye of 
 Christ ; was, in a short time, full and complete ; and 
 has, from first to last, been marked by the almost visi- 
 ble smiles of the Saviour. 
 
 This is the great fact, with which the argument, 
 on this point, has to deal. Whether, in the Lec- 
 ture referred to, it has been dealt with fairly, the read- 
 er must judge. To us, at least, it seems not only a 
 fact, but also, a fact standing in the midst of light. 
 We believe, Christ designed a change in the day for 
 his Christian Sabbath ; and that, in this particular, his 
 
 #- 
 
J3 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 Universal Church has but been walking, from the first, 
 according to his own wise counsel. If, therefore, 
 what has been said in these Lectures should be 
 blessed to a more spiritual and effectual hallowing of 
 this ancient and high Ordinance of God, to the great 
 " Lord of the Sabbath" shall be all the praise. 
 
 Brooklyn, June 8, 1844. 
 
 It 
 
 c^ 
 

 PRIITGET0JT 
 
 TENT §^^' ^^^ 
 THBOLOGIGAlJj' 
 
 3 I. '^^'^^^^vwV^?^- 
 
 LECTURE 
 THE SABBATH INSTITUTED AT THE CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 OBJECTIONS AGAINST ITS EARLY INSTITUTION CONSIDERED. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 FURTHER PROOF OF ITS EARLY INSTITUTION, AND OF ITS 
 
 PERPETUAL AND UNIVERSAL OBLIGATION. 
 
 LECTURE IV, 
 
 ARGUMENT FOR THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH FROM THE 
 
 SEVENTH TO THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 THE DUTIES OF THE SABBATH CONSIDERED. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF THE SABBATH A MOTIVE TO ITS SANC- 
 
 TIFICATION. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 THE SINFULNESS OF ITS VIOLATION EVINCED. 
 
 LECTURE VIII, 
 
 MEASURES URGED FOR THE PROPER SANCTIFICATION OF 
 
 THE DAY. 
 
 It 
 
 * ■■ * 
 
^- 
 
 LEOTURE I 
 
 GENESIS II. 1-3. 
 
 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the 
 host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his 
 work, which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh 
 day from all his work, which he had made. And God 
 blessed the seventh day and sanctified it ; because that 
 in it he had rested from all his work, which God created 
 and made." 
 
 •# 
 
*- 
 
 fe^^SS^^ 
 
<#•- 
 
 
 The institution of the Sabbath is a subject of prime 
 importance. Among those external things, which, 
 though they are not religion itself, are yet inseparably 
 connected with the welfare of religion, this holds no 
 second rank. In inviting to it your attention, there- 
 fore, I shall feel justified in giving it a somewhat 
 prolonged examination. Upon this examination, 
 however, let us not enter as mere speculating querists, 
 but as humble, docile Christians, sensible of our need 
 of Divine instruction in everything which concerns 
 the truth or the welfare of the religion of the Bible. 
 
 There has been a time when the opinions on this 
 subject, entertained by that highly respectable English 
 moralist. Dr. Paley, and others familiar with modem 
 Jewish writings, tended in no inconsiderable degree 
 
 '# 
 
I 14 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 to throw a laxity into the conscience, and a latitude 
 into the practice, of many in relation to the Sabbath. 
 By stripping- it, under the Christian dispensation, of 
 the character of a Divine institution, intended for uni- 
 versal and perpetual observance, and by investing it 
 with the character of an institution having no other 
 authority than that of expediency and apostolic prac- 
 tice. Dr. Paley left an open door to all who chose to 
 follow him, which led to a weakened regard for its 
 sacredness, and to loosened habits in its observance. 
 The arguments, however, by which he endeavored to 
 support his opinions, have been found inconclusive. 
 His opinions, indeed, still exert a wide influence. 
 Nevertheless, the soundest examiners have pronoun- 
 ced them erroneous ; and the most serious part of the 
 Christian world have rejected them as dangerous. 
 Throughout our own land, especially, the Sabbath is 
 settling back upon its true foundation. It is received 
 more and more extensively as a Divine, perpetual, 
 and universally binding ordinance ; and, invested with 
 this high and sacred authority of character, is taking 
 its deep and firm seat in the religious conscience, 
 affections and practice of the Church. I shall not, 
 therefore, occupy your time in detailing minutely the 
 various arguments and objections which have from 
 time to time been urged on the one side and on the 
 other of this great question ; but shall content myself 
 
 ^^ _____ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 15 
 
 with setting before you its general features, its promi- 
 nent points, under such arguments and observations 
 as appear to me most conducive to a firm conviction 
 and a rational belief that the Sabbath is a Divine in- 
 stitution, intended for perpetual and universal observ- 
 ance, and best calculated to enforce it in this charac- 
 ter on the observance of every lover of either religion 
 or his country. 
 
 With these few remarks, by way of introduction, 
 let me spread the subject at once before your minds. 
 Under the Jewish dispensation, every seventh day of 
 the week was, by express Divine command, set apart 
 as a Sabbath, or holy rest, to God. Under the 
 Christian dispensation, a seventh part, though not the 
 seventh day, of every week, has been set apart for a 
 similar purpose, and made a Christian Sabbath, or 
 holy rest to God. But the Jewish dispensation did 
 not commence till the human race had been in exist- 
 ence two thousand five hundred years ; and in about 
 one thousand five hundred years after its commence- 
 ment, or at the introduction of the Christian dispen- 
 sation, it became totally extinct. Hence arise the 
 following inquiries, which involve the Avhole subject : 
 Was the Sabbath originally a Divine institution, de- 
 signed, on the part of God, for universal observance, 
 wherever a knowledge of it should come, from the 
 creation of man to the end of time ? Or, was it sim- 
 
 -C§5 
 
. 4> 
 
 16 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 ply a positive ordinance, which God gave to the Isra- 
 elites twenty-five hundred years after the Creation of 
 man, and which was intended for that people alone, 
 which was to begin and end with their ecclesiastical 
 polity, and never to be observed by any other nation ? 
 And, if it was originally a Divine institution, intended 
 for universal and perpetual observance, why, when 
 the Mosaic economy closed, was the seventh day of 
 the week omitted, and the first observed in its 
 stead ? These are the inquiries which the subject 
 presents, and which we will now proceed to con- 
 sider. 
 
 That the Sabbath was a Divine institution, there 
 is no doubt even in the minds of those who would 
 confine its binding authority to the Jewish Church. 
 And that it was intended for universal and perpetual 
 observance, wherever a knowledge of it should come, 
 will be certain, if it can be shown that it was insti- 
 tuted immediately after the Creation of man. At that 
 time, only two human beings, the progenitors of all 
 our race, were in existence. Whatever, therefore, 
 was instituted for them, and obligatory on their ob- 
 servance, must have been intended for all mankind, 
 and obligatory on their observance, whenever and 
 wherever such institution should be made known. 
 The Israelites, it will be remembered, were not in 
 existence as a nation till more than two thousand 
 
# : 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 17 
 
 years after the creation of Adam. They could not, 
 therefore, in the nature of the case, have been any 
 more interested in what God gave to Adam, than the 
 Assyrians and Babylonians, the Medes and Persians. 
 This point is so clear that it is conceded on all hands, 
 that if the Sabbath were instituted immediately after 
 the Creation of man, it must have been intended for 
 observance, so far as it should be known, by all men 
 in all ages. What, then, is the evidence of the insti- 
 tution, thus early, of a holy Sabbath ? 
 
 To this question I reply, in the first place ; — the 
 same evidence which we have in favor of the posi- 
 tion that man was the last work of the present visi- 
 ble creation ; the evidence of sacred history. 
 
 The first chapter of Genesis gives a brief account 
 of the work of this creation in six days. Into the 
 bearings of Geological investigations on the meaning 
 of the term " days," as here used, it is not necessary 
 in this examination to enter. Whether they are to 
 be understood as literal days, or as successive and 
 indefinite periods of time, this, at least, is acknow- 
 ledged even by Geological interpreters of the Bible, 
 that the Mosaic account of the Creation fixes accu- 
 rately the order in which, so far as our earth is con- 
 cerned, the different parts of the creative process took 
 place. This process occupied six days, or periods of 
 time ; the last of which, closed with the formation of 
 
 -# 
 
3 Cgj 
 
 IS LECTURES ON THE 
 
 man out of the dust of the earth. After having given 
 an account of this process, then, in the order of its 
 occurrence, the sacred historian proceeds, in the 
 words of my text : — " Thus the heavens and the 
 earth were finished, and all the host of them. And 
 on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he 
 had made ; and he rested, on the seventh day, from 
 all his work which he had made. And God blessed 
 the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because that, in 
 it, he had rested from all his work, which God creat- 
 ed and made." 
 
 This passage, it will be remembered, is found in a 
 plain, though brief historical sketch of the first ages 
 of the world. In detailing the events developed in 
 the process of Creation, the historian gives full evi- 
 dence that he observed accurately the order of time, 
 in which those events transpired. Without any dis- 
 coverable interruption of his narrative, without any 
 discoverable change in his style, he then proceeds to 
 relate what happened immediately after the close of 
 those events. " God rested on the seventh day ; and 
 he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because 
 that in it he had rested from all his work." He clos- 
 ed the sixth day, or period, with the Creation of man. 
 He commenced the seventh day, or period, with 
 resting, or keeping Sabbath, as the Hebrew word im- 
 plies, and with blessing or sanctifying it, because it 
 
 *- 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 19 
 
 M^as the day, or period, of his rest. If, then, this 
 whole narrative were taken by itself, and read for in- 
 formation alone, it is past all doubt that the reader 
 would find in it, as fair an account of the fact and the 
 time of the institution of the Sabbath, as he would of 
 the fact and the time of the creation of man. He 
 would find nothing that would even suggest the 
 thought, that the blessing or sanctifying of the seventh 
 day, or seventh part of time, did not take place in 
 immediate connection with the rest, with which that 
 day, or portion of time was begun, and to which, on 
 the part of God, it was consecrated. This point is 
 so plain that the institution of the Sabbath, imme- 
 diately after the creation of man, could never 
 have been questioned, had it not been for what Dr. 
 Paley deems, the remarkable silence of the Sacred 
 History on the subject for the next two thousand and 
 five hundred years. 
 
 Here, in fact, is the objector's stronghold against 
 the perpetuity and universal obligation of the Sab- 
 bath. " If," he inquires, " this institution had been 
 coeval with the creation of man, and intended for 
 perpetual and universal observance, is it not incredi- 
 ble that no mention of its existence is found, and no 
 censure of either its abuse or its neglect recorded, in 
 the Bible from the beginning of the first seventh of 
 time down to the Exodus from Egypt ?" This is at 
 2 
 
 #■ ■ c 
 
20 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 least a plausible inquiry ; and I repeat, the fact on 
 which it rests, is the objector's stronghold against 
 that view, which I am now taking of the institution 
 of the Sabbath. If, therefore, this alleged silence of 
 the Bible on the subject of this institution, from the 
 creation of man to the time of Moses, can be satis- 
 factorily explained and reconciled with the alleged 
 existence of the Sabbath during that period ; then the 
 language of my text must stand as a fair, literal, un- 
 deniable account of the time when the institution was 
 first established. Every other objection against this 
 view is decidedly secondary to that now stated. 
 While they have been sought out, in order to add 
 strength to it, they do, in truth, derive their principal 
 force from it. Let us, then, examine this point some- 
 what attentively. 
 
 1 . In the first place, then ; although the Bible 
 makes no explicit mention of the Sabbath from the 
 time referred to in my text, down to the days of Mo- 
 ses, yet it is not so profoundly silent on the subject, 
 as the objection supposes. A short time after the 
 creation of man, probably about one hundred 
 years, the two first-born sons of Adam, evidently ac- 
 cording to custom, brought their offerings unto the 
 Lord. The incident is thus mentioned. " In pro- 
 cess of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the 
 fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And 
 
 # ■# 
 
# . eg. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 21 
 
 Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, 
 and of the fat thereof." It is remarkable that what 
 is here rendered " in process of time," is, in the He- 
 brew, " at the end of days ;" and the inquiry is not 
 without pertinency ; at what " end of days " were 
 these evidently customary offerings brought unto the 
 Lord ? On what occasion would these first-born of 
 the human race be so likely to present these their 
 religious services unto God, as on that day, which 
 God himself had blessed and sanctified ; the Sabbath, 
 the end of the week ? Such an allusion to the Sab- 
 bath and the division of time into weeks is at least 
 natural, and as much as could be expected in a his- 
 toric sketch, which, for brevity, is wholly unparalleled 
 among the writings of men. 
 
 This, however, is not all. In the days of Noah, 
 more distinct references to the division of time into 
 weeks, of seven days each, are made by the sacred 
 historian. " For yet seven days, and I will cause i^ 
 to rain on the earth," was the language of God to 
 that patriarch, in warning him of the near approach 
 of the flood. " And he stayed yet other seven days, 
 and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark," was 
 the conduct of Noah, in endeavoring to ascertain 
 whether the waters of the flood had abated. " And 
 he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the 
 dove, which returned not again unto him any more,' 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
22 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 was his repetition of the act in carrying his endeavor 
 to a satisfactory result. Now, why this mention of 
 seven days, and this repeated waiting for the begin- 
 ning and end of that particular portion of time ? Evi- 
 dently, because God had, from the first, established 
 the division of time into weeks by the institution of 
 the Sabbath ; and because men had been accustomed, 
 in their more serious transactions, to observe this di- 
 vision. To Noah, as well as to Cain and Abel, the 
 seventh was " the end of days," the close of the 
 week. 
 
 Again : Jacob, about two hundred and fifty years 
 before the Exodus from Egypt, when serving Laban 
 for his daughter Rachel, was told to " Fulfil her 
 week ;" which is immediately explained to mean, a 
 period of " seven years." Here a week is defined as 
 characterized by the number seven ; and a week of 
 years is an undoubted allusion to the ordinary week 
 of seven days. And finally ; Joseph, we are told, 
 mourned for his father, at the threshing-floor of Atad, 
 " seven days," an entire week. 
 
 Now, although these various references to the di- 
 vision of time into periods of seven days do not 
 amount to an explicit mention of the Sabbath, as a 
 divine institution for religious observance, yet, occur- 
 ring, as they do, in an extremely rapid survey of the 
 leading events only in the early history of the world, 
 
 ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 23 
 
 and connected, as they are, with actions and incidents 
 of a religious or serious character, they cannot but 
 be regarded as something more than accidental ex- 
 pressions. They must be regarded as allusions grow- 
 ing out of actually existing circumstances, and as car- 
 rying with them a strong inference in favor of the 
 institution of the Sabbath at the commencement of 
 the first seventh period of time, immediately after the 
 creation of man at the close of the sixth. And they 
 go far in weakening the force of the objection, which 
 has been urged against this early institution of the 
 Sabbath, on the ground that the Bible takes no notice 
 of the day from the mention of it in the text down to 
 the days of Moses. It does not, indeed, mention the 
 Sabbath by name ; but it does impliedly recognize its 
 existence. 
 
 Had there been no previous and introductory men- 
 tion of six days, or periods of time, occupied in the 
 process of creation, and of a seventh devoted to rest ; 
 had there been no foregoing account of blessing and 
 sanctifying of the seventh, as distinguished from the 
 others ; had there been no antecedent assignment of 
 the cause, why God thus signalized the seventh day, 
 then, indeed, all these references to the division of 
 time into periods of seven days might have been con- 
 sidered as less remarkable; though even then they 
 would have been deserving of notice, inasmuch as 
 2* 
 
 •# 
 
# . . 
 
 24 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 there is nothing in astronomy, or the revoUitions of 
 the heavenly bodies, nothing in the ordinary move- 
 ments of the year, nothing in the whole compass of 
 nature, to suggest such a division. The distinction 
 of time into days, months, and years, is a natural one, 
 made by the unvarying revolution of suns and worlds. 
 But its division into weeks, or portions of seven 
 days each, is perfectly arbitrary. There is nothing 
 in the whole ordained movement of things, which can 
 be made to point towards such a division. Even, 
 therefore, if the first two chapters of Genesis had 
 been wanting, there would have been something quite 
 remarkable in these references to " the end of days," 
 to successions by sevens, and to a week of years. 
 Such language could hardly be explained without sup- 
 posing some previous, important transaction, from 
 which so arbitrary a distinction had arisen. But, 
 when we have an account of such a previous transac- 
 tion, a transaction great, solemn, infinitely momentous 
 in its character ; a transaction, too, which suggests 
 this " very arbitrary division of time ;" I think it must 
 be found extremely difficult to avoid the conclusion 
 that the references, which we have examined, do 
 point back, to the Mosaic account of the creation, and 
 prove by strong implication the existence of the Sab- 
 bath from the very days of Adam. They show that 
 the objection, which we are canvassing, has much 
 
c^__ : 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 25 
 
 less force, when subjected to a little examination, 
 than it appears to have, when merely urged in broad, 
 naked, and general terms. 
 
 In completely invalidating this objection, however, 
 other and stronger considerations are to be presented, 
 for which the present does not furnish us sufficient 
 opportunity. This Lecture must be regarded as little 
 more than introductory to what is to follow. If it 
 has succeeded in bringing the subject fairly before 
 your minds, and in giving your thoughts a movement 
 in the direction which that subject is to take, enough 
 has been effected for my purpose at this time. The 
 whole subject matter before us is of vast importance, 
 and we must be willing to approach its more absorb- 
 ingly interesting portions by clearing our way through 
 no little of mere argumentative detail. This may not, 
 all at once, bring you out into view of the connection, 
 which it has with the more spiritual and living things 
 of our religion ; with " Jesus Christ and him cruci- 
 fied," that grand, central theme of the Gospel minis- 
 try. Nevertheless, this connection will at length 
 become apparent ; and the more so in proportion to 
 the thoroughness with which, at the outset, we settle 
 the elementary truths of the subject, by clearing 
 away everything which may obstruct our distinct per- 
 ception of them. May I not hope, then, that you will 
 exercise patient thought and prolonged attention upon 
 2t 
 * -^ 
 
# . . 
 
 26 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Avliat has been and may be offered ? He who rightly 
 understands and appreciates the Sabbath, has gone 
 far on his way towards excellent attainments in reli- 
 gion. He is not distant Irom the kingdom of God. 
 He is ripening already for a Sabbath on high. 
 
 # ■ ^ c:§3 
 
^ ^ 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 GENESIS II. 1-3. 
 
 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the 
 host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his 
 work, which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh 
 day from all his work, which he had made. And God 
 blessed the seventh day and sanctified it ; because that 
 in it he had rested from all his work, which God created 
 and made." 
 
 * — 
 
ogD_ 
 
 II. 
 
 I HAVE already introduced to your attention the 
 subject of the Sabbath as one among the external in- 
 stitutions of our religion ; as having its origin at the 
 creation of man ; as being therefore of divine author- 
 ity ; and as inteaded for universal and perpetual ob- 
 servance. The main objection, so far as argument is 
 concerned, against this view, arises from the alleged 
 fact, that the Bible history takes no notice of the ex- 
 istence of the Sabbath, from the time specified in the 
 text, till the days of Moses ; and that, therefore, the 
 mention, which is made of it in the text, must have 
 been by anticipation ; by a sort of figure of speech, 
 in which the historian, when recording that great 
 event, the Creation of the w^orld, alludes to a com- 
 memoration of it, instituted twenty-five hundred years 
 
 ■^P 
 
#- — _ * 
 
 30 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 afterwards. Had Moses, in giving his account of the 
 Creation and of the rest which God observed, imme- 
 diately subjoined : " And this is the Event,' in com- 
 memoration of which our Sabbath has been recently 
 instituted ;" he would have said what this objection 
 supposes he ought to have said. But when he writes, 
 in the same breath, and in the same simple style of 
 narration, " God ended his work ;" " and rested on the 
 seventh day ;" and " blessed the seventh day and 
 sanctified it;" the supposition of such a figure as 
 that just named, is a startling force upon language. 
 Everything in the structure of the narrative shows 
 that the sanctifying, or setting apart, of the Day took 
 place in immediate connection with the Rest, which 
 God observed. 
 
 Passing from this, however, and looking more at- 
 tentively at the Bible, we find that the Sacred History 
 is not so profoundly silent, as the objection asserts, 
 on the subject of the Sabbath, from Adam to Moses ; 
 but that it contains various references, to the division 
 of time into weeks, which cannot be satisfactorily ac- 
 counted for without admitting the institution of the 
 Sabbath immediately after the Creation of man. 
 Upon the.^e topics I dwelt at length in the former 
 Lecture. 
 
 In proceeding now, still further, I find myself op- 
 posing an objection, the ibrce of which is already 
 
 ^- 
 
 -* 
 
cgj- c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 31 
 
 weakened by the considerations that have been ad- 
 duced. I trust that force will be entirely invalidated 
 by others now to be presented. 
 
 1 . On the ground, then, that the Sabbath was in- 
 stituted immediately after the creation of man, we 
 have no reason to suppose, as Dr. Paley evidently 
 does, that it would be regularly observed from that 
 period down to the Exodus from Egypt. That was a 
 period of general, nay almost universal wickedness ; 
 a period, in which moral corruption set so deep a 
 stain upon our nature that the Waters of a Deluge 
 were sent to wash it out ; a period, in which men for- 
 got God, and left us, therefore, without reason to 
 wonder that they should forget his Sabbath also. 
 
 Nor have we any reason for supposing, as the same 
 author plainly does, that, if the Sabbath was instituted 
 at the time mentioned in the text, but afterwards neg- 
 lected, either during the sojourn in Egypt, or under 
 any other emergency, permission of such neglect 
 must have been given and recorded. For, if it had 
 its origin at the creation of man, it was designed for 
 mankind in general ; and it would not have been 
 proper either to give or record a permission of neglect 
 in favor of any nation, under any emergency. If 
 neglected at all, its neglect was unjustifiable, and of 
 course, without permission. 
 
 Nor, finally, if the Sabbath was instituted at the 
 
 # " • — ^ * 
 
eg. 
 
 32 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Creation of man, have we any reason, from the cir- 
 cumstances of the case, to suppose that the Sacred 
 Historian would notice expUcitly, either its observ- 
 ance or its neglect. What were those circumstances ? 
 The time, which intervened from the Creation of 
 man to the call of Moses, may, for the purposes of the 
 present argument, be divided into two periods ; the 
 former reaching from Adam to Abraham, and includ- 
 ing more than two thousand years ; the latter, from 
 Abraham to Moses, and including about four hundred 
 and thirty years. Of these two periods, let it be 
 remembered, the former is more than one-third of the 
 whole time which has yet elapsed since the days of 
 Adam ; and yet Moses has condensed the entire 
 history of that vast lapse of time into the first eleven 
 chapters of Genesis. In this extremely brief sum- 
 mary, he has recorded the Creation of the world, and 
 the setting apart of the seventh day ; the state of 
 man in Paradise, and his apostasy from God ; the 
 promise of a Saviour, and the multiplication of the 
 human family ; their universal corruption, and the 
 consequent judgment of the Deluge ; God's covenant 
 with Noah, and the second dispersion of the race 
 from Babel ; and, scattered through the whole, a kind 
 of genealogical account of those families from Adam 
 to Abraham, through which the Promised Seed, or 
 Messiah, was to descend. The whole of this was 
 
 ^- 
 
c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 33 
 
 evidently intended as a mere glance at those particu- 
 lar events and characters, which would best serve to 
 show how the history of our redemption by Christ 
 was linked back from the promise made to Abraham 
 with the fall of man and the first promise to Adam. 
 In a historical sketch of such unparalleled brevity, the 
 historian, after recording the original institution of 
 the Sabbath, could not, with any propriety, be ex- 
 pected to record anything further respecting it, except 
 in the way of that general censure, which we know 
 he so emphatically cast upon the awful depravity of 
 the antediluvian and postdiluvian ages. 
 
 This remark fully accounts for the alleged silence 
 of the Bible respecting the Sabbath in the first eleven 
 chapters of Genesis, or during the first two thousand 
 years. With regard, now, to the remaining period of 
 the four hundred and thirty years, which reach from 
 Abraham to Moses, I remark : that, although the his- 
 toric narrative becomes more particular and domestic 
 than in the former case, yet there will be found 
 no reason for surprise at the silence, during this 
 latter period, if we take into account the following 
 considerations. 
 
 First : The history of this period is still but a mere 
 sketch of a particular family, marking the line of 
 descent towards the Messiah ; a sketch, too, of times 
 which preceded the special appropriation of the Sab- 
 
 ^ : -cgD 
 
# . 
 
 34 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 bath to the Israelites as a peculiar sign of God's 
 covenant with them. 
 
 Second : When this history finally expands and 
 spreads itself over the whole breadth of the Israelitish 
 state, both civil and ecclesiastical, — though the Sab- 
 bath had then been formally recognized and solemnly 
 given to that people for their observance in particu- 
 lar, and though it was often mentioned during the life 
 of Moses ; yet, for nearly five hundred years after 
 his death, there is not, on the sacred record, a soli- 
 tary mention of the subject ; of the existence, the 
 observance, or the neglect, of the institution. The 
 first notice of it which occurs, and that, perfectly in- 
 cidental, containing no description of the Sabbath, 
 and no account of its duties or its abuse, is in the 
 days of David, 
 
 Third : The history of the former period of four 
 hundred and thirty years, from Abraham to Moses, 
 containing a short account merely of the three indi- 
 viduals, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of the sojourn 
 of their posterity in Egypt, occupies, it will be ob- 
 served, but a part of the single book of Genesis. 
 But the history of the latter period of five hundred 
 years from Moses to David, including circumstantial 
 accounts of the following important particulars : the 
 wars of the Israelites with the seven heathen nations, 
 and the final conquest of Canaan by Joshua ; the set- 
 
^ ^— c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 35 
 
 tlement of the twelve tribes, and the division of the 
 land by lot ; the administrations of their numerous 
 judges, with the wars and captivities which happened 
 under them ; the important transactions which filled 
 the life of Samuel ; the final change of their govern- 
 ment under Saul, from a theocracy to a monarchy, 
 and a revolution in the throne, which ended in the 
 elevation of King David ; the history of this period, 
 instead of being crowded into a part of a single book, 
 occupies the whole of the following : Joshua, Judges, 
 First of Samuel and Second of Samuel, together Avith 
 part of the First of Chronicles ; and yet, in all this, 
 there is not a single mention of the Sabbath. 
 
 Fourth : The four hundred and thirty years from 
 Abraham to Moses came immediately after that 
 long moral night of twenty centuries, Mdiich the 
 fall of man spread over the world, and which was 
 filled with a general oblivion of religion amidst the 
 abominable things of idolatry. But the five hundred 
 years, which succeed the death of Moses, come 
 directly after a solemn recognition and establishment 
 of the Sabbath, and after all that splendid array of 
 miracles and means which God exhibited and de- 
 signed for a revival and dissemination of his religion 
 through the world. And yet, through this long age, 
 not a single mention of the Sabbath is made by the 
 
^ — _ 
 
 36 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Sacred Penmen, of its existence, its observance, its 
 neglect, or its abuse. 
 
 Taking all these considerations, then, into account, 
 I ask — Which is the more unaccountable — the si- 
 lence which the Bible observes in relation to the 
 Sabbath during the lesser and more rapidly sketched 
 period from Abraham to Moses, or that which it ob- 
 serves during the greater and much more minutely- 
 narrated period from Moses to David ? The question 
 needs not an answer. If we are to look in either of 
 these periods for a frequent mention of the Sabbath, 
 or even for an occasional censure of its abuse, we 
 ought, undoubtedly, to look in the latter, that which 
 followed its imposing recognition and establishment 
 on Mount Sinai, and the numerous means which were 
 taken to impress it on the observance of the Israelites. 
 But as we have seen, not a word on the subject is 
 found in all the circumstantial records of that long 
 age. I conclude, therefore, that the absence of all 
 mention of the Sabbath, from Abraham to Moees, 
 carries with it no weight against the argument from 
 my text. And as the absence of such mention, 
 during the still earlier period from Adam to Abra- 
 ham, is precisely what we might have expected from 
 the circumstances of the case, I come with great 
 confidence to the conclusion, that the silence of the 
 Bible during the whole interval, from the mention of 
 
 4 ■" —^ 
 
^ ^c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 37 
 
 the Sabbath in the text to the renewed recognition of 
 it under Moses, furnishes no solid objection against 
 the position, that it was instituted at the beginning of 
 the first seventh day, or portion, of time. When the 
 historian, after detailing the order of events during 
 the progress of creation, immediately adds : " Thus 
 the heavens and the earth were finished ; — and on the 
 seventh day God — rested from all his work ; and 
 God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because 
 that in it He had rested from all his work ;" we have 
 satisfying evidence, that he records both a fact and 
 the time when it happened. This fact is : that, on 
 the beginning of the first seventh portion of time, 
 God kept sabbath from all his works and, therefore, 
 blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, or set it apart 
 for holy uses. And there appears no more room for 
 doubt that the whole, both the rest and the sanctifica- 
 tion, took place at the same time, than there is, that the 
 act of sanctifying, whenever it did take place, was the 
 actual institution of the Sabbath. The silence of the 
 Bible, after what is said in the text, till the renewed 
 and public recognition of the institution under Moses, 
 is not even a plausible presumption, much less posi- 
 tive proof, that it was never established till this latter 
 event. It is easier to account for this silence, than 
 for that, which we have noticed for nearly five hun- 
 dred years after the death of Moses, or for the fact, that 
 
 3 
 
 ^ ^ . 
 
38 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the iSrst censure, which was cast on the abuse of the 
 Sabbath, fell from the lips of Isaiah, seven hundred 
 and thirty years after the transactions on Mount 
 Sinai ; and that there are but few explicit references, 
 of any kind, to the institution from the time of Moses 
 to the close of the Babylonish captivity, a period of 
 one thousand years. 
 
 2. Having thus, satisfactorily I hope, explained the 
 silence of the Bible on the subject of the Sabbath 
 from the mention of it in the text to the days of Mo- 
 ses, I proceed to examine another view which has 
 been taken. 
 
 In the sixteenth chapter of Exodus, just before the 
 memorable transactions on Mount Sinai, we have an 
 account of the miraculous supply of food. The Isra- 
 elites had murmured for want of bread, and God had 
 promised that he would rain them bread from heaven. 
 Accordingly, next morning the ground about the host 
 appeared covered with a small, white substance, 
 which, for want of a known name, they called Manna. 
 They were ordered to gather according to present 
 necessities only, except on the sixth day, when they 
 were to gather twice the usual quantity. They were 
 also directed never to leave of it from one day to an- 
 other. In this, however, some disobeyed, and for 
 their disobedience were punished. When the sixth 
 day came, they gathered, according to direction, twice 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 39 
 
 as much as usual. The elders of the congregation, 
 laboring apparently under some kind of doubt, came 
 and told Moses. Then follow these words : " And 
 he said unto them, This is what the Lord hath said : 
 To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the 
 Lord ; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and 
 seethe that ye will seethe ; and that which remaineth 
 over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 
 And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses bade. 
 And Moses said. Eat that to-day, for to-day is a Sab- 
 bath unto the Lord ; to-day ye shall not find it in the 
 field. Six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh 
 day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. 
 And it came to pass that there went out some of the 
 people on the seventh day for to gather, and they 
 found none. 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 ; and let no man go out of his place on the 
 seventh day." 
 
 Now, it is supposed by the writer already referred 
 to on this subject, that this passage records the first 
 actual institution of the Sabbath ; that, hence, being 
 given to the Israelites alone, it was designed specially 
 for their observance ; and that the words of my text 
 
 ^ 
 
4^ 
 
 40 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 may be reconciled with this view, by supposing that 
 they record — not the time, but the reason, of the in- 
 stitution. 
 
 This, however, is evidently beginning the argument 
 at a wrong point. It takes for granted that the silence 
 of sacred history, which has been noticed, is conclu- 
 sive against the institution of the Sabbath at the cre- 
 ation of man ; and then endeavors, by straining the 
 apparently plain historical narrative of the text into 
 the mere remark of a commentator, to reconcile it 
 with the theory built on this passage in the sixteenth 
 of Exodus. Whereas, the argument ought to take 
 for granted that my text contains the account of the 
 actual institution of the Sabbath, and then endeavor 
 to reconcile the subsequent silence of the Bible with 
 the fact of such an early institution. If that silence 
 could not be reconciled with this alleged early insti- 
 tution, then the ground of the argument might have 
 been changed ; the first institution of the Sabbath 
 might have been dated in the wilderness ; and the 
 language of my text must have yielded to such re- 
 conciling explanation as it would best bear. But I 
 have already shown, satisfactorily I hope, that the 
 silence in question is susceptible of a full and fair 
 explanation ; and that it, therefore, affords no ground 
 of objection against the position, that my text re- 
 
 -* 
 
— _ =e= 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 41 
 
 cords not only the reason, but also tlie time, of the 
 institution. 
 
 Let us now see whether the passage from Exodus, 
 just read, does not also favor the same position. If 
 it does, it will leave the ground of my argument clear, 
 without the fragment of a difficulty in the way of the 
 conclusion, that the Sabbath was instituted immedi- 
 ately after the Creation of man. 
 
 What, then, is the amount of this passage from 
 Exodus ? The Israelites murmured for want of 
 bread. God gave them Manna ; but directed them to 
 gather, except on the sixth day, for present necessity 
 only. On what they probably supposed to be that 
 sixth day, therefore, the people, according to previous 
 direction, gathered twice the usual quantity. The 
 rulers of the congregation, probably in doubt whether 
 this was the true sixth day or not, repaired to Moses 
 for explanation. He informed them that the morrow 
 was " the rest of the Sabbath ;" and that, therefore, 
 the TRUE sixth day for the double gathering had been 
 rightly selected. He directed the people, according- 
 ly, to save half their sixth-day gathering for that sea- 
 son, as none would then be found in the field. Some, 
 however, seemingly curious to know whether there 
 would not be Manna on the seventh day likewise, 
 went out to the field. At this, God was displeased ; 
 although, so far as appears, he had not, on that occa- 
 3* 
 
 '* 
 
42 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 sion, specially prohibited labor on the Sabbath. Im- 
 mediately, therefore, he inquired of Moses, " How 
 long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my 
 laws ?" evidently referring to commandments and laws 
 which had been long in existence, and which they 
 had been in the habit of disobeying. " See," he adds, 
 " Because the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, 
 therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of 
 two days." 
 
 Now, I ask, does this look at all like the first in- 
 stitution of a great, public ordinance, to be observed 
 by a whole people throughout their generations, and 
 to be observed with splendid ceremonies and costly 
 rites ? Had any notice been given that such an in- 
 stitution was then about to be established ? Was any 
 surprise expressed by either the rulers or the people, 
 when informed that the morrow was to be the Sab- 
 bath, as though some new thing were coming 1 Did 
 they make any inquiries concerning the nature, ob- 
 jects, or duties of that new, that before unknown, sea- 
 son ? No. None of these things. The whole cir- 
 cumstances of the occasion do not at all favor the 
 idea that here we find the account of the first institu- 
 tion of the Sabbath. 
 
 Let us then take another view, and suppose that 
 the Sabbath was actually instituted at the Creation of 
 man ; that a knowledge of its existence and some 
 
 ^ ™_„„.=__^ .™__ ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 43 
 
 idea of its nature and duties were still kept alive 
 among the Israelites ; but that, from their long, de- 
 basing bondage in Egypt, or from criminal careless- 
 ness, they had become uncertain as to the precise day 
 on which it was to be observed. Do the circum- 
 stances connected with the gathering of the Manna, 
 fit in with this view of the origin of the Sabbath ? 
 I answer ; evidently they do. The whole transac- 
 tion bears convincing proof that the people were 
 familiar with the division of time into weeks by the 
 recurrence of a seventh day. The people, according 
 to direction, gathered a double quantity of food on 
 what they probably supposed to be the day previous to 
 the Sabbath. I'he rulers, after informing Moses what 
 the congregation had done, went away satisfied, with- 
 out reply or inquiry, when reminded that the true day 
 of rest was at hand. And finally, when some went 
 out on the seventh day to look for Manna, though God 
 on that occasion had issued no special injunction 
 against labor on the Sabbath, yet he was displeased, 
 and, through Moses, addressed them with the severe 
 rebuke : " How long refuse ye to keep my command- 
 ments and my laws ?" as though this Avere not the first 
 instance of their disregard for the Sabbath. The 
 whole circumstances of this transaction, I repeat, do 
 agree with the position, that the Sabbath had then 
 been long in existence. The gathering of the Manna 
 
 3t 
 
 -# 
 
44 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 was doubtless regulated with reference to an institu- 
 tion, which, having its origin in a previous age, was 
 at that time particularly called to their remembrance. 
 In ascertaining the period when the Sabbath was 
 instituted, I have been somewhat minute in my ex- 
 aminations ; because on this point rests much of the 
 force of the remaining argmnent for the perpetuity 
 and universal obligation of the institution. It is cer- 
 tain that the Sabbath was instituted either at the Crea- 
 tion of man, or at this gathering of the Manna ; be- 
 cause at this latter period it was imquestionably in 
 existence ; and if not instituted then, its origin must 
 be referred to the former era ; inasmuch as there is 
 no intervening period at which it can possibly be 
 dated. If it was first instituted at the gathering of the 
 manna, then there will be some plausible reasons for 
 considering it more specially a Jewish ordinance ; 
 though, even then, there will be evidence sufficient to 
 convince impartial thinkers, that it was intended to 
 endure to the end of time, in all its holy distinctive- 
 ness of character, a Christian as well as a Jewish 
 institution. But, if it was instituted immediately 
 after the Creation of man, then all further argument 
 in favor of making it a specially Jewish institution is 
 at an end. It was designed for Adam and for all his 
 posterity. It stands at the top of time, a day to be 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 45 
 
 religiously observed by all who should pass, with a 
 knowledge of it, down the course of time. 
 
 Such being the true state of this question, I am 
 willing, Christian reader, to leave it with your own 
 judgment. After the observations which have been 
 made, can you feel any hesitation in deciding at which 
 of the two specified periods the Sabbath was actually 
 instituted ? For one, I acknowledge that the case 
 appears too plain to admit a doubt. It v/as instituted 
 at the time specified in my text. It was the first of 
 God's acts after closing his labors of creation. 
 Coming immediately after the formation of man, it 
 justifies the Saviour's observation to the Pharisees ; 
 " The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
 the Sabbath." It was founded on that authoritative 
 example of God's holy rest, in which all mankind are 
 equally interested, by which they are all equally 
 bound, and which is held up for imitation, so far as it 
 may be known, to the v/hole offspring of Adam. 
 
 In this conclusion I rest for the present. The ar- 
 gument shall be pursued, if God will, in the next lec- 
 ture. Carry then in your minds the result at which 
 we have now arrived. The holy rest of the Sabbath 
 was instituted on the morning of time ; and, belonging 
 to that period, which, from its sublime elevation, over- 
 looks the whole down-flowing course of history, its 
 authority is divine, its nature is perpetual, and its 
 
 n 
 
46 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 obligations spread themselves, with the spreading 
 tide of humanity, over the whole hmnan race. We 
 have a full knowledge of its existence. We are 
 therefore bound to sanctify it truly, and are answer- 
 able for the guilt of all our actual violations of its 
 sanctity. 
 
cjf- 
 
 LEOTURE III. 
 
 EXODUS XX. 8-11. 
 
 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt 
 thou labor 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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man- 
 servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy 
 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." 
 
 # ^ 
 
-# 
 
 ^> ^ 'f ^-' f^ 'f "^ ^% % "^' f f-" f*^ '^'* f'' 'f "^9 
 
 III, 
 
 In the remarks already offered on the subject of 
 the Sabbath, I trust it has been made evident to your 
 minds, that the true era of its institution was imme- 
 diately after the Creation of man ; and that hence it 
 must be allowed to be, not only divine in its origin, 
 but also perpetual in its nature, and universal in its 
 obligations. My remarks, however, have thus far 
 been mostly in answer to objections against this posi- 
 tion. Allow me now to lay before you some more 
 direct proofs of the designed perpetuity and universal- 
 ity of this religious institution. 
 
 1. One of these proofs is the simple fact, men- 
 tioned in my former text, and inserted again in the 
 fourth commandment, which I have chosen for my 
 present, that " God rested on the seventh day." It 
 
 * C§3 
 
cfe) , . c|f) 
 
 50 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 matters not whether this be considered a literal day, 
 according to the present known measure, or the first 
 seventh portion of time, according to some other 
 measure, now unknown. The fact in point is the 
 rest, which God observed immediately after the Crea- 
 tion of man. This is uncontested. Whoever may 
 deny that the Sabbath was actually set apart or sanc- 
 tified at that time, none who acknowledge the historic 
 authority of the Bible can doubt, that then God actu- 
 ally rested from his work of creation. But why did 
 he thus rest ? Because he was wearied with his 
 stupendous operations ? This were an impious sup- 
 position of Him, who had only to say, " Be light, and 
 light was." No. God rested not by way of repose 
 from fatigue, but by way of repose for example. His 
 intention evidently was to operate, through the author- 
 ity of example, on the actions and religious interests of 
 men. To this end, his act of resting, which was secret 
 with himself, and would else have remained unknown 
 to us, was made a matter of record, so soon as human 
 life became abridged in such measure as to weaken 
 the certainty of traditionary history. In the nature 
 of the case, we can assign no other reason for either 
 this rest, or its record in the Bible. We are not, 
 however, left to mere deductions from the nature of 
 the case. God has himself instructed us, that his 
 rest carries with it the force and authority of an ex- 
 
 -* 
 
#— — ^ ^ ^ * 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 51 
 
 ample. In the fourth commandment, he requires 
 those to whom it is addressed to keep the Sabbath 
 day holy ; and the reason assigned for the requisition 
 is this : " for in six days the Lord made heaven and 
 earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the 
 seventh day : voherejore^ the Lord blessed the Sabbath 
 day and hallowed it." This is but saying, in other 
 words, that he rested for the sake of example, that, 
 upon the divine authority of such example, he might 
 build the great command, which requires a similar 
 holy rest on every Sabbath day. 
 
 But, if God rested immediately after the creation of 
 man, for the sake of example, the question at once 
 arises, Upon whom was that example intended to 
 operate ? Upon the Jews alone ? a race of men who 
 did not appear on the earth till after the lapse of 
 twenty-five hundred years, and whose numbers, wdien 
 reckoned from the first rising of their national star in 
 Abraham, till its final setting amidst the blood and 
 fires which finally overwhelmed Jerusalem, would 
 scarcely be missed if stricken out from that mighty 
 mass of beings who have already lived on the earth ? 
 This, surely, is not conceivable. But if his example 
 was not intended to operate on the Jews alone, if its 
 authority reaches at all beyond the limits of either 
 their ancient land, or their national existence, it 
 reaches over the whole amplitude of earth, and along 
 
-* 
 
 52 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the entire tract of time. All men are alike concerned 
 in all the public, general acts of God ; and every thing, 
 that is imitable in his example, binds to imitation every 
 creature to whom he makes it known. It is not, then, 
 conceivable that his example of resting on the Sabbath, 
 which is both imitable and designed for imitation, was 
 intended to operate upon one only among the multi- 
 tudinous family of nations. It was intended for the 
 universal Church of God, from the beginning to the 
 end of time ; for all to whose knowledge that example 
 ever has, or ever shall come. 
 
 2. Another proof of this position is found in the 
 fact, that the command which enjoins the observance 
 of a Sabbath is enrolled in the Decalogue. 
 
 The Decalogue, or ten commandments, is denomi- 
 nated, by way of excellence, " The Moral Law." 
 Now, the moral law of God is his universal will, 
 binding on all men, of all ages. If, then, the fourth 
 commandment be a part of the moral law, as it is of 
 the Decalogue, the Sabbath is unquestionably of per- 
 petual and universal obligation. 
 
 But if the fourth commandment be not a part of the 
 moral law, why was it, in connection with the other 
 nine, delivered by the great Jehovah, on the summit 
 of Mount Sinai, and in an audible voice, from the 
 midst of those thunderings and lightnings, of those 
 thick clouds and heavy earthquakes, which, together, 
 
 ^ 4, 
 
^_ ^ — c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 53 
 
 constituted one of the most awful, august, and impres- 
 sive scenes ever exhibited to the eye and the ear of 
 man : a scene which drew from the awe-struck Isra- 
 elites this earnest entreaty to Moses : " Speak thou 
 with us, and we will hear ; but let not God speak 
 with us, lest we die." This utterance of the law by 
 the voice of God, amidst sublime displays of his 
 power, is a distinction conferred on no other part of 
 his revelation to man. Why, then, was the fourth 
 command associated with the other nine in this dis- 
 tinction, if it did not constitute a part of the same 
 moral law to which they belonged ? 
 
 Again : if this commandment be not a part of the 
 moral law, why was it associated with the others in 
 that record, which, to use the strong figure of Scrip- 
 ture, God engraved with his own finger on two tables 
 of stone ? This substance, when used as a monument 
 simply, or as a tablet for an engraving, has in all ages 
 been emblematic of the perpetuity intended for the 
 thing thus signalized. And this, evidently, was the 
 desigTfi of God in selecting two stone tables as the 
 material for receiving the engraving of his moral law. 
 It was to signify the intended perpetuity of that law ; 
 to intimate, by way of symbol, that it comprised those 
 imperishable principles of truth and duty, on which 
 his throne, his moral government amongst men, was 
 founded. Hence, this act of engraving was repeated 
 
 cPp- * 
 
4- 
 
 54 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 when Moses, indignant at the idolatries of the people 
 during his absence, " cast the first tables out of his 
 hand, and brake them beneath the mount" from which 
 he had just descended. " These tables were the 
 work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, 
 graven on the tables." AVhen, therefore, Moses had 
 broken them before the people, he was commanded to 
 " hew two other tables of stone, like unto the first ;" 
 and then God renewedly " wrote on them the Avords 
 which were in the first tables, which Moses brake." 
 Now, why was this ? No other answer can be given 
 than that the tables of stone were originally selected, 
 and the commandments engraven thereon by the finger 
 of God, in order to express their designed pre-emi- 
 nence over all other precepts, moral or judicial, what- 
 ever ; to signify that they were intended for perpetual 
 and universal obligation ; and that, therefore, rather 
 than this intended perpetuity and universality should 
 fall into oblivion, God condescended to repeat the act 
 of solemnly engraving them, on the substituted tables, 
 with his own finger. 
 
 But, if this transaction was intended to express a 
 distinction between the moral law and all other pre- 
 cepts, why, if the fourth command does not belong 
 to that law, was it associated in this distinction with 
 the other nine ; and why was it thus associated a 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 55 
 
 second time with the repetition of such solemn 
 formalities ? 
 
 The circumstances, which have been noted, do seem 
 to me to prove beyond all doubt, that the precept, which 
 requires the sanctification of the Sabbath, constitutes 
 an inseparable part of the moral law of God. It was 
 uttered from the top of Sinai, in the same awfully dis- 
 tinct and audible voice of God, amidst the same mag- 
 nificent displays of divine power and grandeur ; and 
 it was engraven, and renewedly engraven, by the 
 finger of God upon the same significant emblem of 
 perpetuity, with the other parts of that law. All tliis, 
 too, was the result of previously declared design on 
 the part of God. It was not accident. It was not 
 unmeaning pomp. But it was a preconceived and 
 deeply significant exhibition ; and being so, it is plain 
 that if the fourth commandment had not constituted an 
 inseparable part of the moral law of God, a distinc- 
 tion between it and the other nine would have been 
 expressed in the body of the commandment itself. 
 But no such thing is done. It is couched in the same 
 absolute and universal terms with all the rest. " Thou 
 shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." 
 " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." " Ho- 
 nor thy father and thy mother." Here is no limitation 
 of the fourth commandment to the Israelites, while 
 all the rest were intended to bind the consciences and 
 
^ c 
 
 56 LECTURES OM THE 
 
 the wills of all who should hear them. It shares with 
 them, as in all their other distinctions, so in this, their 
 entire absoluteness and universality of terms. It 
 belongs, therefore, to their body ; God has inserted it 
 as an integral part into their code. 
 
 But, if it belongs to the moral law, it Avas designed 
 for perpetual and universal observance. It belongs 
 to a system, published amidst that tremendous 
 display of God's majesty and glory which was de- 
 signed to express its pre-eminence ; to say to the 
 human kind : " This is my law. Let it be obeyed 
 wherever it comes and as soon as it is known." 
 
 The only way, in which this conclusion can be 
 evaded, is by saying, that though no distinction is ex- 
 pressed in the body of the fourth command, between 
 that and the others, yet one is implied : that, while 
 the others are all evidently and essentially of a 
 moral character, applying themselves with a binding 
 force to the consciences of all men, so soon as they 
 are made known, this is as cA^dently of a merely 
 positive kind, carrying with it no inherent authority, 
 and imposing no other obligation than that, which is 
 derived from the single circumstance of its being a 
 command. 
 
 To this I answer, in the first place ; it is as easy to 
 see the moral character of the fourth commandment, 
 as it is to discern that of the second. An unenliffht- 
 
 ^- 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH, 57 
 
 ened heathen would as soon feel the reasonableness 
 of keeping a seventh day holy to God, as he would 
 the reasonableness of not using images to help his 
 conceptions of God. 
 
 In the second place, I reply, the objection is vague. 
 It does not point out, with sufficient clearness, the dif- 
 ference between a positive and a moral command ; 
 and therefore is not entitled to consideration. Let us 
 look at this point carefully. What is the difference 
 between a moral and a positive precept ? The two 
 have been defined with great precision and justness, 
 as follows : 
 
 " A moral pre,pept is one which regulates the moral 
 conduct of intelligent creatures, and binds the will 
 and the conscience." " A positive precept is one 
 requiring conduct of moral beings, which, antece- 
 dently to its promulgation, was not their duty, and, 
 independently of it, never would have become their 
 duty, but would have remained for ever a matter of 
 indifference." Thus, the precept which requires us 
 to worship God, is a moral precept ; while that which 
 required the Jews to build booths at their Feast of 
 Tabernacles, was a positive precept. 
 
 Moral and positive commands being thus distin- 
 guished, I ask ; to which class does the fourth belong ? 
 To answer this inquiry, let us look at the spirit of 
 this command. 
 
 * ^ ■ # 
 
-# 
 
 58 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 It is not, then, that we should spend every seventh 
 day as a mere vacation from ordinary business, but 
 that we should spend a seventh of our time in a spe- 
 cial attention to all holy duties. '^Remember the 
 Sabbath day to keep it holy." 
 
 The Sabbath contemplates man in his true charac- 
 ter, as a dependent and as a sinful creature. As a 
 dej)endent creature, it calls him statedly to worship 
 and adore his Creator, by commemorating the stupen- 
 dous process of Creation. Hence a reason why the 
 Sabbath was instituted immediately after the close of 
 the work of Creation. And hence the fourth com- 
 mand points to the same work as a reason why the 
 Sabbath v^^as instituted at all. " 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." By point- 
 ing man statedly to the work of Creation, the Sabbath 
 reminds him that he is a created being, and as such, 
 dependent on his Creatoi, and bound to worship and 
 adore him. Asa sinfulhemg, the Sabbath calls man, 
 through the medium of this stated remembrance of 
 God and his works, to overcome the power of sin 
 within himself; to regain and perfect holiness of cha- 
 racter ; and thus to secure the salvation of his im- 
 mortal soul. This is the great, ultimate end of the 
 institution. To this end mainly " God blessed and 
 
 ^ __ 4. 
 
cff. : c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAX SABBATH. 59 
 
 hallowed it." To this end mainly man was com- 
 manded to "keep it holy." 
 
 Such is the true spirit of the precept, which requires 
 the sanctification of the Sabbath ; and in its end or 
 design, as well as in the duties which it requires, it is 
 as highly moral as any other part of the Decalogue. 
 
 Should any object here that the duty of contem- 
 plating the perfections of God as displayed in the 
 works of creation, and that of acquiring and perfect- 
 ing holiness of character, though moral duties, yet be- 
 long not exclusively to the Sabbath ; that they consti- 
 tute the great end, in attaining which the Sabbath 
 was only a means adapted peculiarly to the Jewish 
 dispensation ; and that now other means to the same 
 end have been provided, more congenial with the 
 spirit of the Gospel, I should reply : though these 
 duties do not belong exclusively to the Sabbath, and 
 though under the Gospel we have a great and appro- 
 priate variety of means for promoting the worship of 
 God and true holiness of character, yet the Sabbath 
 was not, in this respect, adapted peculiarly to the 
 Jewish economy. It is an institution which, like re- 
 ligion itself, is happily fitted to every state, and to all 
 the circumstances of man ; and if the beauties of this, 
 its universal fitness to our condition, shine more con- 
 spicuously in one dispensation than in another, it is 
 in the dispensation of the Gospel, and not in that of 
 
# -c^ 
 
 60 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the law. There need be no hesitation in saying, that 
 even now, with all our rich variety in the means of 
 grace, no single one of them is practically more 
 necessary to right views of God and to complete holi- 
 ness of character, than the institution of the Sabbath. 
 
 This is not the proper place to examine this point 
 at large. It will, I trust, be made fully evident at a 
 future stage of the discussion. Fdr the present, it 
 must suffice to say, that the Sabbath is the great ap- 
 pointed means of keeping in existence and operation 
 all other means of grace whatever ; of preserving 
 alive all our knowledge of God and all our love for 
 his service ; that, if it were once universally and 
 permanently abolished, neither the word of God nor 
 the ordinances of his Church, nor yet the ministry 
 of his Gospel, would be long retained in knowledge ; 
 and that thus all that is moral in truth and justice, 
 purity and mercy, would become essentially dimmed 
 in its lustre — perhaps blotted from the human mind. 
 
 Further : the appointment of a day for the stated 
 observance of a holy rest, is as necessary as the es- 
 tablishment of the Institution itself. For many of 
 its duties are social ; they belong to assemblies of 
 men ; and if no stated time were fixed for its observ- 
 ance, such is the disinclination of the natural heart to 
 everything holy, that neither these assemblies would 
 be gathered, nor those duties performed. 
 
 #- 
 
, . c§> 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATPI. 61 
 
 Further still : it is as essential to the case that this 
 stated time be fixed by divine authority, as that it 
 should be fixed at all. For if it were fixed by hu- 
 man authority, no one would regard it, and thus the 
 whole end of the Institution would be lost in the 
 depths of human depravity. If the appointment were 
 left to men, they would not be likely to " agree on any 
 particular day ; or, if they should agree, it would 
 always be doubtful whether the time chosen by them 
 was the best ; and a day appointed by men would 
 have neither authority, sacredness, nor sanction. In 
 a matter of merely human institution, all, who pleased, 
 would dissent ; and in such a world as ours, most, if 
 not all, would choose to dissent. The whole duty 
 therefore, would be left undone, and the glorious per- 
 fections of God, as unfolded in the works of Creation, 
 would be wholly forgotten." 
 
 From the distinction, which has been drawn be- 
 tween moral and positive precepts, and from the view, 
 which has now been taken of the spirit of the fourth 
 commandment, I come back to the inquiry ; to which 
 of the two classes of precepts does it belong ? Is it 
 a positive, or is it a moral precept ? 
 
 " A positive precept," it will be remembered, " cre- 
 ates a duty : it requires of moral beings conduct, 
 which, independently of the precept, was not, and 
 never would have become, their duty, but would have 
 
 4t 
 
 # ; #. 
 
62 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 remained for ever a matter of indiiTerence." Is this 
 the character of the fourth commandment ? Does it 
 create a duty ? Is the duty of hallowing a seventh 
 of our time to God — that God from whom we have re- 
 ceived our very being — a duty which would not have 
 existed without the publication of this precept ; but 
 would have remained for ever a matter of indifference 
 to the human race ? This cannot, for a moment, be 
 admitted. The fourth commandment is not a merely 
 positive or ceremonial precept. 
 
 Look, then, at moral precepts. They, it will be 
 remembered, " regulate the moral conduct of intelli- 
 gent beings ; and bind the conscience and the will." 
 Is not this the character of the fourth commandment ? 
 Do not the relations, from which its duties arise, 
 those of dependent and sinful beings, embrace all men, 
 and reach through all time ? Are not the duties them- 
 selves, which grow out of those relations, everywhere, 
 and at all times, binding on the conscience and the 
 will ? And, from the indispensably necessary con- 
 nection, which w^e have shown to exist between these 
 duties, and a divinely instituted day of Rest, is not 
 this also, whenever and wherever known, similarly 
 binding on all men. in all ages ? Is not the fourth, 
 then, as properly a moral precept as any other part of 
 the Decalogue ? Of course, nothing can be more 
 essentially moral than a devout contemplation of the 
 
 #.- 
 
*- 
 
 — # 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 63 
 
 Works, and a holy love for the perfections of God ; 
 or than deliverance from sin and perfection in holi- 
 ness. But, if these Ends are thus pre-eminently moral, 
 are not the Means also, by which they are secured, 
 and without which they would not be attained ? In a 
 strong sense, they are. The duties and the design 
 of the Sabbath are pre-eminently moral. The con- 
 nection between these and the day itself is indispen- 
 sably necessary. The precept, therefore, which 
 enjoins an observance of them all, is pre-eminently a 
 moral precept. 
 
 So really without weight is the objection, which 
 would throw the fourth commandment out of the 
 moral law, by the plea that it is merely a positive, or 
 ceremonial precept. Every view of it, from first to 
 last, proclaims the contrary. The previous conclu- 
 sion is therefore doubly confirmed. The solemn 
 utterance of this precept, in connection with the other 
 nine, in the audible voice of God, and amidst the fear- 
 ful wonders of Mount Sinai ; its solemn and repeated 
 inscription by the finger of God on the same tables of 
 testimony with the rest ; and finally, its own highly 
 moral nature and spirit, unitedly and undeniably 
 prove, that it is an inseparable part of the moral law 
 of God. It has, with the highest propriety, been 
 associated, in a series of distinctions, which mark no 
 other precepts, with that divine code, which embodies 
 
 41: 
 
— — ^ 
 
 64 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the leading principles and policy of God's Moral 
 Government among men. This conclusion being 
 reached, it needs not another word to prove that the 
 Sabbath is of perpetual and universal obligation ; so 
 far as it is known, it binds the consciences and wills 
 of all men, in all ages. It concerns not the Jew more 
 than the Gentile ; nor the Disciple of Moses more 
 than the Disciple of Christ. 
 
 Besides the satisfactory proof, then, given in the 
 former Lectures, that the Sabbath was instituted at 
 the Creation of man, we have in this two others, 
 which, even by themselves, are sufficient to show 
 that its character is perpetual, and its obligations 
 universal ; but which, when added to the proof 
 of the former point, are sufficient to reduce my con- 
 clusion to one of the clearest of moral certainties. 
 
 In view of this conclusion, how amazing is the 
 fact, that men can hear the fourth commandment read 
 every Sabbath day, and yet suffer its words of author- 
 ity to pass by them, " like the idle wind, which they 
 regard not !" Most men, when they hear such com- 
 mandments read, as the third, the sixth, the eighth 
 and the ninth, have an inward feeling of respect and 
 reverence for their authority ; and would shudder at 
 the idea of being thought guilty of their violation. 
 But, when they hear the fourth, it remains in their 
 mind as long as it is on their ear ; and then passes 
 
 *- 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 65 
 
 off into forgetfulness amidst the most reckless breach- 
 es of its high and sacred spirit. So powerful is the 
 sway of custom, when favored by the prevalence of 
 erroneous opinion and false notions. Be it ours, then, 
 to " remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." I^et 
 us break loose from the tyranny of popular error 
 and popular practice on this subject. The Sabbath is 
 God's day. Let us tremble at the thought of its viola- 
 tion. God asks at our hands the consecration of its 
 hours. Let us beware of the curse, which is hanging 
 over its wanton or its careless desecration. The same 
 authority, which enacted the sixth, enacted also the 
 fourth. The same hand, which framed the one into 
 the Moral Law, fitted the other by its side. The same 
 vigilance, therefore, which watches over the former, 
 watches over the latter ; and the same powerful Just- 
 ice, which avenges the infraction of the one, will 
 avenge the breach of the other. " Remember, then, 
 the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." When this precept 
 strikes our ear, let it reach also our heart. Its words 
 are words of inspiration. Its place is in the Law, 
 which will finally judge the world ! Aye ! when we 
 come to be judged, we shall look up and behold writ- 
 ten, as on a mighty scroll, hung high in the sight of 
 assembled nations, those eternal rules of right and 
 of duty, according to which the judgment shall pro- 
 ceed ; and there, in the very centre of the gloriously 
 
c^ __ -cga 
 
 66 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 luminous law, we shall see written this veiy precept, 
 which perhaps for a whole life we have wantonly 
 violated ; " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it 
 holy." Then, Avhile we go away to taste in sadness 
 the eternal fruit of disobedience, the children of God 
 shall rise up before His throne, and begin, with great 
 joy, to keep their everlasting Sabbath ! Remember : 
 there is always Sabbath in heaven : and if you love 
 not the holy day on earth, you cannot be happy 
 where it shall be kept holy for ever ! 
 
 mm 
 
 * ■ # 
 
-* 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 MARK II. 27, 28. 
 
 The Sabbath was made for man, and not man lor the 
 Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the 
 Sabbath." 
 
 # ^^ 
 
IV. 
 
 I HAVE already entered at some length into the 
 argument, which supports the perpetual and universal 
 obligations of the Sabbath ; and at every step it has 
 appeared clear, and, to my mind, convincing. At 
 this point, however, a new inquiry arises. If the 
 Sabbath be not an exclusively Jewish institution, but 
 intended for the Christian dispensation also, why, 
 when the Mosaic economy closed, was the seventh 
 day of the week omitted, and the first observed in its 
 stead ? This question presents the only difficulty 
 which remains to be removed, before I proceed to a 
 more practical view of the whole subject : and this 
 difficulty is important, not because it cannot be re- 
 moved, but because it has furnished one of the most 
 plausible of the reasons urged by the opponents of the 
 
 c^- 
 
# c 
 
 70 LECTURES OM THE 
 
 perpetuity of the institution. By its very plausibility 
 it has caught and satisfied many minds less disposed 
 to think justly than to live carelessly. 
 
 I. Dr. Paley, who, however, must be excepted 
 from the remark just made, who was in general a 
 most just thinker, but whose opinions, when errone- 
 ous, have for that very reason been the more mis- 
 chieA'Ous, contends, that " if the command, by which 
 the Sabbath was instituted, be binding on Christians, 
 it must be binding as to the day, the duties, and the 
 penalties ; in none of which is it received." But this is 
 evidently an unsound position. It supposes what is not 
 true, that the day on Avhich the Sabbath is observed, the 
 duties to which it may be appropriated, and the pe- 
 nalties by which its observance is enforced, are un- 
 alterable parts of the institution itself. The unsound- 
 ness of this position will, I trust, be apparent on a 
 little attentive consideration. 
 
 1. The penalty, by which the Sabbath was enforced 
 on the observance of the Jews, was temporal death. 
 This, surely, forms no part of the institution itself. 
 The penalty, by which the fifth commandment also 
 was enforced on the observance of the Jews, was 
 temporal death : the disobedient child was ordered to 
 be stoned. And yet we are under this commandment. 
 Are we under its penalty also ? Must our irreverent 
 and disobedient children be stoned to death ? No. 
 
 # ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 71 
 
 Because the precept and the penalty have no neces- 
 sary connection. Vie maybe laid under the one, yet 
 not under the other. The same is true of the fourth 
 commandment. The precept, and the penalty by 
 which it is enforced, are not inseparable. The penalty 
 Avas peculiar to the Mosaic dispensation. The precept 
 was of universal authority and of perpetual obligation. 
 The former, therefore, was dropped when that dis- 
 pensation ceased. The latter was retained, as com- 
 mon to all dispensations. Sabbath breaking, under 
 the Gospel, is threatened, and if persevered in will be 
 visited, like all other sins, not with present, but with 
 future inflictions. 
 
 2. The duties of the Sabbath are, in like manner, 
 separable from the Sabbath itself. There are indeed 
 some duties, which are of universal importance and 
 obligation, and never to be separated from the day 
 allotted them. But then, evidently, the day may from 
 time to time have been allotted to other and additional 
 duties, which were merely temporary, both in their 
 importance and in their obligation. And this, in fact, 
 has been the case. Under the Patriarchal dispensa- 
 tion, the duties of the Sabbath were few and simple ; 
 consisting, probably, of a commemoration of the great 
 work of Creation, with religious exercises of prayer, 
 perhaps of sacrifice. Under the Mosaic dispensation 
 these duties were much increased. Rites of sacrifice, 
 
 c&- 
 
72 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 .both ordinary and extraordinary, were multiplied ; the 
 commemoration of the Exodus as well as that of 
 Creation was enjoined ; the weekly ceremony of the 
 " shew-bread" was added ; and, as the dispensation 
 waxed old, a long list of ceremonies was brought in, 
 till the Sabbath became encumbered with duties al- 
 most too numerous for observance by even the most 
 scrupulous. Under the Christian dispensation other 
 duties still have been added ; the preaching of the 
 Gospel, and the administration of the Christian sacra- 
 ments. All this shows that the duties, to which the 
 Sabbath may from time to time be appropriated, are 
 not inseparable parts of the institution itself. When, 
 therefore, it is remembered that the Jewish economy 
 was emphatically one of ceremonies, typical of some- 
 thing to come, it will at once be perceived, that when 
 it v/as brought to a close by the ushering in of a new 
 and better dispensation, all those ceremonies would 
 of course be dropped, and that those duties of the 
 Sabbath, which were designed to be peculiar to the 
 Jewish church, could not pass with the Sabbath itself 
 into the Christian Church. The Sabbath itself, like 
 the Church of God and the ministry, and worship 
 thereof, with which it is inseparably connected, is 
 common to all dispensations. But the numerous rites 
 of sacrifice, the ceremony of " shew-bread," and oth- 
 ers of traditional origin, were designed for but one 
 
 *- 
 
* 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 73 
 
 dispensation. With it they began, continued, and 
 ended ; and we can only wonder that a writer of ge- 
 nerally great acuteness should have been so far bias- 
 sed by his theory as to have lost sight of a distinction 
 so palpable as that, which has now been pointed out. 
 3. We come now to the other part of his position ; 
 that " if the command, by which the Sabbath was in- 
 stituted, be binding upon Christians, it must be binding 
 as to the day." This is the point to be examined in 
 the present discourse ; and we are in some measure 
 prepared for it by the brief notice, which we have 
 taken of the other two. The institution, as a stated 
 season of holy rest, is evidently separable from the 
 particular day in the seven, on which it is observed. 
 " Six days," says the fourth commandment, " shalt 
 thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day 
 is the Sabbath," or rest. Six days of labor for this 
 life, followed by a seventh of rest for holy purposes, 
 is the main point of order and proportion sought to be 
 established, so far as time is concerned. Six days 
 shalt thou labor ; on the seventh thou shalt rest. The 
 Christian Sabbath is to us the seventh day, as much 
 as the Jewish Sabbath was to them. The institution 
 consists of two parts ; a holy rest to God, and the day, 
 on which it is observed. The former, holy rest, con- 
 stitutes the body of the ordinance, and is unchangea- 
 ble. The latter, a day for its observance, is a neces 
 5 
 
 * -c 
 
^ _ ^c 
 
 74 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 sary adjunct, but susceptible of change, by divine au- 
 thority, from one day of the week to another. 
 
 II. By way of preparing for a further illustration 
 of this change of the day under the Christian dispen- 
 sation, let us a moment contemplate the aspect, in 
 which Christ himself looked on the institution. My 
 present text has been regarded by some as a kind of 
 intimation, that the Sabbath was to be done away un- 
 der the Christian dispensation. " The Sabbath was 
 made for man, and not man for the Sabbath ; there- 
 fore the Sou of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." A 
 few words however will, I think, show that it has a 
 directly contrary bearing. 
 
 The occasion on which the text was spoken was 
 this. The indigent disciples of Christ, while follow- 
 ing him, probably on his way to the synagogue, hap- 
 pened to pass, on the Sabbath, by a corn-field ; and 
 being destitute of other means to satisfy the strong 
 demands of hunger, ventured to pluck and eat some 
 of the ears as they passed. For this, as an alleged 
 breach of the Sabbath, the Pharisees rebuked them. 
 Christ however immediately vindicated their conduct, 
 by reference to the conduct of David on a well-known 
 occasion ; and then added the words of the text : 
 " The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
 the Sabbath ; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also 
 of the Sabbath." 
 
* . 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 75 
 
 In this language he taught the Pharisees, that they 
 had put a wrong construction on that ceremonial law, 
 which defined the duties of the Sabbath under the 
 Jewish dispensation ; that this law, being ceremonial, 
 ought to be observed by the Jews on all ordinary oc- 
 casions ; but that, on occasions extraordinary, when 
 absolute necessity or mercy required, its requisitions 
 might be dispensed with ; and that he was clothed 
 with full authority, as " Lord of even the Sabbath day," 
 to define and limit its duties, the manner in which it 
 ought to be observed. The Pharisees seemed to 
 suppose that man was made for the Sabbath, or that 
 the Sabbath was the superior object in importance ; 
 and therefore must be observed with the utmost strict- 
 ness, whatever might be the consequences. He 
 taught them that the Sabbath was made for man, or 
 that man was the superior object i;i importance ; and 
 that therefore, w-hen his real welfare must necessarily 
 be sacrificed by a strict observance of the institution, 
 such observance might for the time be dispensed 
 with. 
 
 The text thus explained virtually recognizes the 
 institution of the Sabbath at the era of the Creation of 
 man. '• The Sabbath was made for man, and not man 
 for the Sabbath." In other words, man was not cre- 
 ated for the purpose of honoring the Sabbath ; but 
 when created, in order to secure his religious welfare 
 
 -# 
 
# ■ 
 
 76 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the Sabbath was made for him. It was instituted, 
 not for the Jew alone, but for man, for the spiritual 
 benefit of the race. 
 
 Moreover, when Christ, on such an occasion, and 
 with such a design, calls himself " Lord of the Sab- 
 bath," instead of intimating that he was about to 
 exercise his Lordship in abolishing it, he rather de- 
 clares his intention to continue it, in all its perpetual 
 authority and obligations. The very act of authori- 
 tatively regulating the duties of the Sabbath, was an 
 authoritative recognition of the institution itself. It 
 was, in fact, an official purification from abuse of that 
 which he designed to retain for proper and perpetual 
 observance. The idea that he was merely defining 
 the manner, in which a Jew ought to observe the Sab- 
 bath, while at the same time he intimated his inten- 
 tion of setting it aside under the Gospel, is evidently 
 at variance with the spirit of the passage. If the 
 Sabbath was made for man, we can see no reason 
 why it should be confined to the Jew ; but we can 
 see abundant reason Avhy it should be stripped of 
 Jewish abuse, and left to stand, in all its simplicity 
 and purity, to the end of time. 
 
 Similar remarks will apply to all those cases, in 
 which the Pharisees maliciously endeavored to prove 
 him guilty of breaking the Sabbath. He was not 
 preparing to abolish the institution. But he was evi- 
 
 ^' 
 
 -^ 
 
^ — - — 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 77 
 
 dently disabusing it of its perversions, and preparing 
 it for his own simple and spiritual dispensation. 
 
 To show that he intended it for a perpetuity under 
 this dispensation, it will be sufficient to remark that, 
 on several occasions, he recognized the Decalogue as 
 the everlasting moral law of God, without specially 
 excepting, but rather virtually including, the fourth 
 commandment. 
 
 Thus, when the " lawyer," with an evidently crafty 
 design of inducing him to draw an hividious distinc- 
 tion between the different parts of the Decalogue, 
 asked him : " Master, which is the great command- 
 ment in the law?" he gave him an answer, which 
 was as evidently designed to be a summary of the 
 whole, " Thou shah love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. 
 This is the first and great commandment. And the 
 second is like unto it ; thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
 thyself. On these two commandments hang all the 
 law and the prophets." That is : the first four com- 
 mands regulate our duty to God, and were designed 
 to secure to him supreme love. The last six regulate 
 our duty to man, and were designed to secure to him 
 universal benevolence. Christ virtually answered 
 the designing Pharisee thus : " You wish me to exalt 
 one part of the great moral law above another, that 
 you may entrap me in my speech. But I make no 
 5* 
 .# ___c 
 
78 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 such distinction. They are all the commands of God ; 
 they lie at the foundation of his revealed will in the 
 law and in the prophets ; they are all, therefore, of 
 equal authority ; and, thus far, of equal import- 
 ance." 
 
 Thus, too, when " the young man" asked him, 
 " What shall I do that I may have eternal life ?" he 
 replied, " keep the commandments." When the youth 
 inquired, "which?" he specified the last six. But 
 why ? Because they were more important than the 
 first four ? or because obedience to them alone would 
 ensure him eternal life ? By no means. But because 
 he wished to convince the youthful querist, that he 
 was in imminent danger of losing eternal life by de- 
 pending for it on his own doings. Hence, when he 
 boasted, " All these have I observed from my youth," 
 Jesus rejoined, " One thing thou lackest : go thy way, 
 sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
 thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, take 
 up thy cross and follow me." The spirit of the whole 
 passage is this : " Keep all the commandments as of 
 equal authority ; but trust for salvation to the keeping 
 of none ; for, instead of perfectly obeying all, you 
 have left out the very spirit of what, in the last six of 
 their number, they require towards your neighbor, 
 love for your poor fellow creatures ; much more then 
 have you failed, both in spirit and in letter, of your 
 
 *- 
 
4> 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 79 
 
 duty to God, your great and glorious Creator, as en- 
 joined in the first four precepts of their code." 
 
 Thus, then, instead of intimating that the divine 
 authority of the Sabbath was drawing to an end, we 
 see that Christ undeniably recognizes the ten com- 
 mandments, the fourth not excepted, as the great 
 moral law of God, that imperishable code upon which, 
 as their foundation, rest all his other requirements, 
 whether in the law or in the prophets. Would he 
 have done this, had he designed to abrogate the origi- 
 nal character and obligation of the Sabbath ? Un- 
 questionably not. He knew that the precept which 
 enjoins the observance of the day had been enrolled, 
 and repeatedly enrolled, with the other nine, in the 
 Decalogue, amidst every solemnity of circumstance, 
 and every peculiarity of distinction, which could mark 
 its identity with that indestructible law ; and, there- 
 fore, if he had not intended to transmit the institution, 
 untouched in its divine authority, to the Christian 
 Church, he would have expressly abolished it ; he 
 would have erased it from the Decalogue ; he would 
 have pointed out its merely casual connection with 
 that universal law, and thus have delivered all suc- 
 ceeding ages from their danger of falling into a gross 
 error concerning the religious institutions of his 
 Church, But this he has not done. On the contrary, 
 he has plainly recognized the authority of the entire 
 5t 
 
 -# 
 
80 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Decalogue. It is, therefore, abundantly evident, that 
 he intended to transmit the Sabbath, imtoiiched in its 
 essential character, to the observance of the Christian 
 Church ; and to leave it, unimpaired in its original 
 genius, amongst the institutes of his own Gospel 
 kingdom. 
 
 III. We are now ready to examine more particu- 
 larly the change, or transfer of the Sabbath, from Sa- 
 turday or the last day of the Jewish week, to Sunday 
 or the first day. It has already been remarked, that 
 the institution consists of two parts ; a holy rest to 
 God, and a day on which it is statedly observed ; that 
 the former constitutes the body of the institution, and 
 is unchangeable ; and that the latter is an adjunct, 
 changeable by the authority or approbation of the 
 institiitor. 
 
 1. To show that the Sabbath, or holy rest, is thus 
 separable from the day on which it is observed, I re- 
 mark, first, that it is possible to bring it upon different 
 days of the week, even while observing the strictest 
 calculation of time. Let two Christian circumnaviga- 
 tors leave this port on the same day, pass round the 
 globe in opposite directions, the one against the ap- 
 parent motion of the sun, the other with it ; observe 
 the Sabbath with the strictest accuracy as to time ; 
 and at length meet together at the port of their de- 
 parture : they would find, at meeting, that the Sabbath 
 
 4, -4. 
 
*. __ __- ^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 81 
 
 of the one was two days asunder from that of the 
 other; the one having lost, and the other having 
 gained a day, by the contrary directions in which they 
 sailed. This is not idle theory. When Pitcairn's 
 Island was visited, a few years since, by an English 
 ship, the crew, who arrived on Saturday, found the 
 islanders keeping Sunday, or the Sabbath. The 
 reason was, that the crew and the islanders had 
 arrived there by sailing in opposite directions. Each 
 observed the most accurate calculation of time on the 
 way ; each, therefore, was right in the day appropri- 
 ated to the Sabbath ; and yet each observed it on a 
 different day from the other. They had actually and 
 unavoidably effected a change in the day for observing 
 the stated holy rest. 
 
 Suppose, then, instead of two ships, two colonies, 
 the one from Protestant England, the other from Pa- 
 pal France, moving round the world in providentially 
 opposite directions, and reaching, not the same island, 
 but two neighboring islands, belonging to their respec- 
 tive governments, and now for the first time to be 
 occupied by the frame-work of civilized and Christian 
 society : the Sundays of the two colonies would fall 
 on different days ; each would be right in its time of 
 keeping Sabbath ; and neither could blame the other 
 for the difference, nor require from the other conform- 
 ity in the point of time. They might, indeed, adjust 
 
 5t 
 
 -* 
 
Cg3 _ C^ 
 
 82 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the difference by mutual consent ; though, in such 
 adjustment, the one party or the other would be com- 
 pelled to change its own regularly observed day of 
 rest. 
 
 2. I remark, secondly ; it is highly probable 
 that the original reckoning of time, by the notation of 
 every seventh day, was lost before the Exodus of the 
 Israelites from Egypt ; and that thus, when the Sab- 
 bath was revived at the gathering of the Manna, it was 
 not on the seventh day according to that original 
 reckoning. To this result two circumstances were 
 likely to contribute : the imperfect state of the science 
 of astronomy in its early bearings on the reckoning 
 of time ; and the degrading bondage and heathenish 
 practices, into which the Israelites fell during their 
 long sojourn in Egypt. Hence it is highly probable 
 that a change in the day had actually been made, long 
 before that effected by the introduction of Christianity. 
 The account of the giving of the Manna, as already 
 examined, contains apparent evidence that the Israel- 
 ites remembered the Sabbath, but had forgotten the 
 day, on which it had formerly been observed. The 
 fourth commandment, as given on Sinai, shows that 
 the Sabbath was originally observed on the seventh 
 day, in remembrance of God's rest from the work of 
 Creation. But the same commandment, as repeated 
 near forty years afterwards, shows that the institution 
 
 4, 
 
9f _ „,^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 83 
 
 had been more specially and strictly enjoined on the 
 Israelites in commemoration of their deliverance from 
 Egyptian bondage. " 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 Sahhath day ;" not 
 the seventh day, but the Sabbath ; probably, by a Di- 
 vine intimation to Moses, on the day of the week on 
 which their deliverance from Pharaoh had been ef- 
 fected. It is thus highly probable that while, under 
 the Patriarchal dispensation, the Sabbath was ob- 
 served on the seventh day, in commemoration of God's 
 rest from his works of Creation, under the Mosaic 
 dispensation, it was observed on a different day of the 
 week, commemorative of his people's dehverance from 
 Egyptian bondage ; and that, therefore, under the 
 Christian dispensation, it would be observed on still 
 another day, commemorative of Christ's completed 
 work of redemption, which was at once a new and 
 moral creation, and a deliverance from worse than 
 Egyptian bondage. Thus each of the three great 
 dispensations, under which the Church of God has 
 existed, will be found to have its own day for the 
 Sabbath, and its own reason for the assignment of that 
 day to its observance. 
 
 IV. The day of the Sabbath, then, being change- 
 
 -c§. 
 
84 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 able, let us look at the reasons why a change should 
 have been made from the day of the Jewish to that 
 of the Christian Sabbath. 
 
 1 . On this point I remark, first ; that, at the intro- 
 duction of the Gospel, the whole state of the Church 
 of God underwent a revolution. Almost everything 
 was changed in some way, or to some extent. The 
 Mediator was changed ; Moses for Christ. The 
 Priesthood was changed ; the Aaronic for the Chris- 
 tian. The Law was changed ; the Levitical for the 
 Evangelical. The promises were changed; those, 
 which looked apparently to temporal blessings, for 
 those which look expressly to eternal. The worship 
 was changed ; the stately and solemn ceremonies of 
 the temple, for the simple and spiritual devotions of 
 the Christian house of prayer. The sacraments were 
 changed ; the Passover for the Lord's Supper, and 
 the bloody rite of circumcision for the unbloody laver 
 of Baptism. The whole dispensation was changed ; 
 the entire frame-work of the Jewish being taken down 
 and laid aside, and the whole structure of the Chris- 
 tian being constructed and set up in its stead. With 
 all these changes, then, with everything thus made 
 new, is it wonderful that the day of the Sabbath also 
 was changed ? The mode of its observance was cer- 
 tainly altered. What reason, then, is there to wonder 
 at the alteration in the time of its observance ? 
 
 * — —^- ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABSATH. 85 
 
 2. I remark, secondly, and as the main part of the 
 reason why the day should have been changed, that 
 the events, which gathered around the close of the 
 work of Redemption, were such as to render the 
 change in the highest sense proper. Why was the 
 Sabbath originally fixed upon the seventh day ? Be- 
 cause on that day God rested from the v*^ork of Crea- 
 tion, and ushered in the first age, or dispensation, of 
 his Church. And if, as we have seen it is highly 
 probable, when the Sabbath was revived in the wil- 
 derness, the old seventh day had been lost, and anew 
 one was substituted : of what event was this new day 
 of the Sabbath commemorative ? That glorious event, 
 in which God rested, or ceased from his work of de- 
 livering his people from the power of their haughty 
 enemies in Egypt ; and thus ushered in the second 
 age, or dispensation, of his Church. On what day, 
 then, and in commemoration of wh;it event, should 
 the Christian Sabbath have been fixed, but the day 
 and the event, in which the Lord rested from his work 
 of a new and spiritual creation, the work of delivering 
 mankind from the thrcddom of sin ; and thus ushered 
 in the third age, or dispensation of his Church ? 
 
 That this is a satisfactory reason for the change of 
 the day, on which the Sabbath was observed, will be 
 evident on a reference to the superior importance and 
 glory of the work of redemption, over that of either 
 
 #— — ^# 
 
86 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Creation or the Deliverance from Egypt. I remark, 
 then, that in all these works the Agent is the same. 
 The Scriptm-es of the New Testament afford abun- 
 dant proof that the Son of God was the Agent, by 
 whom the world was created, and who w^as with his 
 Church in the wilderness. He, too, is the Agent, by 
 whom the Work of Redemption was completed. In 
 a weekly commemoration, therefore, of all these 
 works, the same Being is honored. But, in the first 
 two, only part of the moral character of God is un- 
 folded. In the last, the whole of that character is 
 displayed, and that in its most glorious efTulgence. 
 Moreover, by the work of Creation, man was merely 
 brought into being; and by the deliverance from 
 Egypt, he was merely redeemed from temporal bond- 
 age. But by the work of Redemption, he is brought 
 into a new and spiritual being, and redeemed from the 
 certainty of eternal ruin. And again; the work of 
 Creation is a subject of change and decay ; the very 
 earth which we inhabit shall be burned up ; and the 
 deliverance from Egypt was but a type, which van- 
 ished at the appearance of its antitype. But, the 
 work of Redemption will be gathering brighter and 
 briohter glories around itself and around the charac- 
 ter of God, throughout eternity. With the fullest 
 propriety, therefore, was the day, on which Christ 
 " entered into his rest" from the labors of Redemption, 
 
# c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 87 
 
 the day of his Resurrection, the first day of the week, 
 set apart, thenceforward, as the day for the weekly 
 Sabbath, or holy Rest to God. It is the most glori- 
 ous of all the DiAdne works ; and standing at the head 
 of this Dispensation, as each of the others does at 
 the head of its own, it not only might, but ought to, 
 have been commemorated by fixing the Sabbath on 
 the day of its occurrence. 
 
 But, there are other events, which stand near the 
 close of the work of Redemption ; the crucifixion of 
 our Lord, and his resting in the grave. And these 
 render the old day as unfit for a Christian Sabbath, 
 as that just mentioned renders the new day appropri- 
 ate. From the beginning, the Sabbath was a festival, 
 a day of holy joys. But, on the old Sabbath, or se\^- 
 enth day of the week, the crucified Body of Christ 
 lay in the sepulchre, while his Infant Church was 
 wrapped in the sackcloth of fasting and mourning. 
 From that period, therefore, it became an unfit day 
 for the celebration of a weekly Sabbath. On the 
 next, or first Day, h»)wever, Christ rose from the 
 dead, hy divine power, and thereby reanimated his 
 Church with joy and gladness. From that moment, 
 therefore, the first of the week became a fit day for 
 the celebration of this feast of Rest, both on account 
 of the glad event, which happened on it, and because 
 
# ^ ^ 
 
 88 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 of the pre-eminent glory of the work, which that event 
 completed. 
 
 That this was the reason why the first Christians 
 observed this and not the old day of the Sabbath, ap- 
 pears from the most ancient ecclesiastical writers. 
 Hence Barnabas, who lived dnring the Apostolic age, 
 says in his Epistle ; " We joyfully celebrate the eighth 
 day," or first of the week, " in memory of the resur- 
 rection of our Saviour ; because it was on this day 
 that he rose again." And hence Ignatius, the Mar- 
 tyr, a disciple and friend of the Apostle, " would have 
 us honor this day of the Lord, this day of the Resur- 
 rection, as the most excellent of days." (Calmet's 
 Diet., Art. Sab.) 
 
 V. Having thus looked at some of the reasons for 
 the change, let us now attend, a moment, to the war- 
 rant for it. It has already been said, that when the 
 day of the Sabbath has once been fixed by Divine 
 authority, it requires the sanction of the same author- 
 ity to effect a change. This san^ition may be given 
 in either of two ways ; by express precept, or by 
 clear example and approbation. That we have no 
 express precept for the change is readily granted : 
 and the reason why we have not will soon be given. 
 But we have a clear example and approbation, equi- 
 valent in authority to an express precept. This ex- 
 ample and approbation begin with Christ himself. 
 
 ■^ 
 
'# 
 
 CHRISTIANT SABBATH. 89 
 
 The time during which his crucified body lay in 
 the sepulchre, was, in great part, the seventh day of 
 the week ; and for the whole of that day, his disciples 
 were in deep mourning and fasting. Thenceforward 
 the seventh was never regarded as a proper day for 
 Christian observance ; but, immediately after his 
 resurrection, Christ began to transfer to the first, by 
 his own example, all the sacred duties of his own 
 Evangelic Sabbath. Hence, on that day, " the first 
 day of the week,' when the disciples were gathered 
 together, at even, Jesus, the risen and the glorified, 
 came into their assembly, breathed on them the Holy 
 Ghost, and invested them with the commission of his 
 Gospel Ministry. Hence, on the eighth day after- 
 wards, or next " first day of the week," they were 
 assembled aoain : and a^ain Jesus vouchsafed his 
 presence in the midst of them. Hence, six weeks 
 later still, on the first day of the week, the day of 
 Pentecost, " they were all with one accord in one 
 place," and Jesus shed on his assembled Church the 
 Holy Ghost, to the conversion of three thousand souls. 
 Hence, too, during the ministry of Paul, " the disci- 
 ples," following the now clearly intimated will of 
 their Master, " came together upon the first day of the 
 week, to break bread," or administer the Lord's Sup- 
 per, at which time the Apostle preached to them the 
 word of the Gospel. Hence, he instructed the Co- 
 
 c^ C^ 
 
90 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 rinthians to " lay by in store on the first day of the 
 week," or to collect alms for needy saints, because 
 their stated religious assemblies on that day afforded 
 a favorable opportunity for that charity. And hence, 
 the Apostle John, when he was about to receive the 
 Revelations of Christ, " was in the Spirit on the Lord's 
 Day," the day on which the Lord rose from the dead 
 — the first day of the week — a day already grown 
 into notoriety, and crowned with its appropriate name. 
 In all these facts, we have satisfactory proof that 
 the first day of the week was, immediately and uni- 
 formly, after the resurrection of Christ, set apart as a 
 weekly Christian Sabbath, and thus set apart with 
 most decided expressions of Divine approbation. For 
 the author of this change was the Son of God him- 
 self, followed by those inspired Apostles, by whose 
 divinely imparted authority many things in the first 
 organization of the Christian Church were established ; 
 the Christian assemblies on the first day of the week 
 were honored by the repeated presence of Christ and 
 three of his most solemn acts ; and the day, thus set 
 apart, was signalized by the conversion at one time of 
 three thousand souls, and at others, by the stated as- 
 semblies of Christians for the holy Communion, and 
 the preaching of the Gospel. Now, we ask, if the 
 Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation, ought to 
 have been observed on the seventh, and not on the 
 
 -c^ 
 
. ^ ^ — ^ ^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 91 
 
 first day of the week, why was the former never sig- 
 nalized by Christians after the resurrection of Christ : 
 while the latter was so frequently noticed and so 
 solemnly honored, by both Christ and his disciples ? 
 No satisfactory answer can be given. The facts, 
 which have been mentioned, are a loud expression of 
 the Divine approbation, ratifying the removal of the 
 Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation, from the 
 seventh to the first day of the week. 
 
 But there is another set of facts tending to the 
 same result. When God originally established the 
 Institution, he " blessed the Sabbath day ;" and after- 
 wards, Christ instructs us that " the Sabbath was 
 made for man ;" or blessed to his benefit. In beauti- 
 ful accordance with this, the Institution since the 
 Resurrection of Christ, and, as observed, on the first 
 day of the week, has been blessed as an instrument 
 and a season of the richest, most copious, mercies to 
 mankind. On this day, more specially than on any 
 other, has God refreshed his Church by the effusion 
 of his Spirit ; blessed his word to the salvation of 
 unnumbered multitudes ; and set forwards, towards 
 their result, the kingdom and the glory of Christ. If, 
 then, it has been proved, as I think it clearly has, that 
 the Sabbath is an ordinance of perpetual obligation, 
 designed for observance in the Christian Church, the 
 fact now mentioned is an undeniable and long-pro- 
 
 6 
 
 _ ____^ 
 
92 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 tracted expression of the Divine approbation in favor 
 of the transfer of the Sabbath from the seventh to the 
 first day of the week. For, we must admit, either 
 that the transfer was made with full Divine approba- 
 tion, or that God has, for nigh eighteen hundred years, 
 bestowed marked blessings and honor on an act, in 
 which the whole Christian Church in the most favored 
 age of the world, have concerted together to alter a 
 fundamental Divine Institution. The latter part of 
 the alternative is an utterly inadmissible supposition ; 
 the former, therefore, is true. The change of the 
 Sabbath, from the seventh to the first day of the week, 
 was at first introduced by Christ and his Apostles, 
 and has ever since met with a full Divine approval 
 and sanction. 
 
 VI. Having thus shown that the Sabbath, as a 
 holy Rest, is unchangeable, while the day, on which it 
 is observed, has been, under a Divine regulation, 
 the subject of change ; having also stated the reasons 
 for this change, and the warrant, under which it has 
 been made, I come now, to one closing inquiry, — the 
 only one, which leaves a shadow of difficulty on this 
 branch of the great subject. Why, if there was to be 
 a Sabbath in the Christian Church, and if the day for 
 its observance was to be changed from the seventh to 
 the first day of the week, why is there no mention of 
 
 ^- 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 93 
 
 this in the writings of the New Testament ; no pre- 
 cept either enjoining or justifying the change 1 
 
 To this question, which really presents the whole 
 difficulty of the case, I reply : No precept enjoining 
 the change was given, for the very reason, evidently, 
 that Divine Wisdom saw it was not best to issue such 
 a precept. This, upon looking below the surface, 
 appears wondrously and beauteously clear. 
 
 The Jews were God's chosen, covenant people, and 
 had been the subjects of God's wonderful dealings for 
 long generations. It was therefore desirable that as 
 many of them as possible should embrace and honor 
 their Messiah and his Gospel. Hence, his first prof- 
 fers of eternal life were to them ; and hence, the 
 Apostles were restrained from going to the heathen, 
 so long as there appeared a shadow of hope that a 
 further number of Jews would receiA^e the Gospel. 
 But they were exceedingly prejudiced against this 
 Gospel, and against the Messiah, who preached it. 
 Look at the whole history of his life, and see how 
 often they were enraged against him for his supposed 
 violations of their Sabbath, and how eager they were 
 to put him to death for the same. What, then, would 
 have been the effect on their feelings toward him, 
 and on their own eternal salvation, had he attempted 
 by express precept, to change the day of their most re- 
 verenced Institution ? Judge by their conduct towards 
 
 i 
 
94 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 him, on the occasion of his uttering the text, when 
 the consequence of infringing, even under the pressure 
 of necessity, on one of the duties, which the Ceremo- 
 nial Law had connected with the day, was to draw 
 forth against him their bitterest persecution. Judge 
 by an analogous case, growing out of the Apostles' 
 attempt to change the obsolete rite of Circumcision 
 for its evangelical substitute, Baptism. The result 
 was a serious contention and division among the Jew- 
 ish converts, which could be composed by nothing 
 short of an Apostolical Council. Nothing can be 
 more evident than that, if either Christ or his Apos- 
 tles, had published an express precept for the change 
 of day, on which the Sabbath was observed, it would 
 have embittered against them and against the Gospel 
 the feelings of the whole nation, and thus have pre- 
 vented the salvation of many, who afterwards repented 
 and believed. 
 
 But look now, at the beautiful- operation of the mode 
 in which the change was actually effected. It was 
 exactly analogous to the change of the Passover for 
 the Lord's Supper ; and that of Circumcision for 
 Baptism, at least after the Council just mentioned had 
 adjusted the difficulty which arose. The Jewish 
 converts clung with eager fondness to their old but 
 dying rites and ceremonies. They were willing to 
 observe the Lord's Supper, and Baptism, provided 
 
 ^ . c^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATFI, 95 
 
 they might be allowed still to observe the Passover 
 and Circumcision. They were also willing to ob- 
 serve the Lord's Day, provided they might be per- 
 mitted to observe their ancient Sabbath likewise. 
 All these things the iVpostles wisely permitted them 
 to do, and occasionally mingled with them in it. 
 Thus the Christian Sacraments and Sabbath gradually, 
 silently and inoffensively, grew into credit and reve- 
 rence ; till, finally, the mighty judgments of God came 
 over the nation, swept their loved city and their lin- 
 gering tribes from their ancient resting-place, and left 
 their empty rites and Sabbath without observers, to 
 drop away and vanish from the new and vigorous 
 fabric of the Christian Institutions, which then, with 
 its included Sacraments and Sabbath, rose peacefully 
 and unopposed into universal observance in the 
 Church. 
 
 Instead of finding matter for difficulty and doubt, 
 then, in the absence of express precept on this point, 
 I find in it the strongest reasons for satisfaction. I 
 see in this withholding of precept, the very hand of 
 God. I see in it bright traces of infinite wisdom and 
 mercy, adopting a course, by which the day of the 
 Sabbath was finally changed, consistently with the best 
 good, the eternal salvation of many of God's ancient 
 people. This course was that of a silent change, 
 gradually introduced through the power of inspired 
 6* 
 *— 
 
* 
 
 96 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 example, and the force of noiselessly growing custom ; 
 a change which fixed itself more and more securely 
 in the affections and habits of the whole Christian 
 Church ; till, finally, before the Apostles were all 
 called to their peaceful rewards, it became triumphant. 
 " The Lord's Day" received its appropriate name, and 
 Jesus stood at the Head of not only His spiritual 
 Body, the Church, but also its primary Institution, 
 THE Sabbath of the first Day. 
 
 In the next Lecture I purpose to enter, by God's 
 permission, on the consideration of a less argumenta- 
 tive, and more practical, part of our subject. 
 
 *■ * 
 
-* 
 
 LEOTtTRE V. 
 EXODUS XX. 8. 
 
 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 
 
 6t 
 
c^. 
 
 -# 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 *- 
 
*- 
 
 * 
 
 V. 
 
 *- 
 
 Having, in the last Lecture, seen the reasons and 
 the manner of the change from the Jewish to the 
 Christian Sabbath, we are now prepared to enter on 
 a more practical consideration of the whole subject. 
 My object, in proceeding, will be, to take up the in- 
 stitution, as of Divine authority and perpetual obliga- 
 tion, and to show its true character, as associated and 
 identified with the being and w^elfare of the Christian 
 Church. I shall retain the use of the word. Sabbath, 
 because its meaning, as a sanctified rest, is as ap- 
 propriate to us as it was to the Jews ; and the insti- 
 tution is to us, as it was to them, a beautiful type of 
 the REST, the Sabbath, which " still remaineth to 
 the people of God." While, in common speech, we 
 may use the term, Sundmj, and, in ordinary writing, 
 
 6t 
 
* 
 
 100 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 may, with the highest propriety, adopt the phrase, 
 " The Lord's Day,^^ it would seem more proper in 
 Lectures, like the present, where the institution is 
 considered as but one, to apply to it, throughout, no 
 more than one name ; meaning thereby, The Chris- 
 tian Rest; the Sabbath of the Lord's Day. 
 
 The words quoted from Exodus xx. 8, comprise 
 the general precept of the fourth commandment. 
 This commandment is part of the moral law of God ; 
 of that divine code, which God, in most special man- 
 ner, engraved on tables of stone ; of those universal 
 statutes, which, on IMount Sinai, he clothed with the 
 highest possible authority. Our obligation, therefore, 
 to sanctify the Sabbath, is the same with that which 
 binds us to have and to worship but one God, or to 
 abstain from the crimes of murder, theft, alse wit- 
 ness, and covetousness. It is simply the obligation 
 to obey God's command. Any other doctrine than 
 this on the subject must be founded on partial views 
 of the true nature of the Sabbath, and upon a partial 
 estimate of the dreadful moral evil of either its 
 abuse, or its neglect. 
 
 But, if such be our obligation to sanctify the Sab- 
 bath, it must be a matter of the highest importance 
 to have a clear idea of the duties, by which it may be 
 sanctified. To this point, therefore, I shall now ad- 
 dress myself. And may the Spirit of the living God 
 
 cfe- 
 
 -^ 
 
cgD — _ C%> 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 101 
 
 be near, and impress the subject effectually on our 
 minds. 
 
 In what, then, does the proper sanctification of the 
 Sabbath consist ? In ascertaining this, nothing can 
 be more evident, when we consider the relations be- 
 tween God and man, the nature of religion, and the 
 true design of religious institutions, than the position, 
 that the intended sanctification of the Sabbath re- 
 quires not only rest from everything worldly and sin- 
 ful, but also action in everything heavenly and holy. 
 It is characteristic of the Decalogue, that each of its 
 commands is a general precept ; including under it a 
 whole class of duties, such as flow naturally from 
 one known principle, and as a conscientious man, 
 therefore, may easily discover. Hence, though the 
 duties, in which the Sabbath should be spent, are no- 
 where summarily and connectedly enumerated, yet 
 they are by no means left in obscurity or doubt. The 
 general precept is, " Keep the Sabbath holy :" De- 
 vote it to holy uses. Here is a known rule of ac- 
 tion ; and all the duties, which would naturally flow 
 from it, or would render the Sabbath subservient to 
 holiness, are included and enjoined. 
 
 Keeping in mind, then, this leading principle, that 
 the great end of the Sabbath is to promote the inter- 
 ests of holiness, it is evident that this end may be 
 secured by duties of two kinds ; positive, and nega- 
 
 . # 
 
102 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 live : or by the performance of some things, and the 
 avoidance of others. 
 
 I. First, then, the positive duties of the Sabbath. 
 These may be distributed into Public Worship, pri- 
 vate religion, and works of necessity and mercy. 
 
 1 . The object of public ivorship, in all its duties, 
 is ; to secure the great design of the Sabbath ; that 
 of contemplating, praising and adoring the infinite 
 perfections of God, as displayed in the v^orks of Cre- 
 ation, and in the wonders of Redemption ; to make 
 public confession of sin ; to offer social supplications 
 for mercy ; to listen to the reading of the sacred 
 Scriptures ; and to receive a preached Gospel and 
 the Christian ordinances. These are all eminently 
 subservient, and indispensably necessary to the in- 
 terests of holiness. It is morally demonstrable that, 
 if these duties were never performed in public, the 
 influence of religion would scarcely, if at all, be felt 
 in private. 
 
 Would you, then, dear reader, uniformly hallow the 
 Sabbath ? Attend conscientiously and constantly to 
 the duties of stated public worship. You are under 
 the most impressive obligation, from the authority of 
 God's commands, and from your participation in the 
 blessings of the Sabbath, to devote this season to 
 holy uses. How serious, then, is the guilt of that 
 individual, who habitually, or frequently, or occasion- 
 
 '^ 
 
c8=- 4^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 103 
 
 ally, abstains from public worship, without the least 
 possible necessity for such abstinence ; and who, so 
 far, does his part in throwing the commands of God 
 into sinful disregard, and leaving the ministry and or- 
 dinances of the Gospel in cold neglect ! iVnd how 
 fearfully is this guilt aggravated, when abstinence 
 from public worship has no other excuse than a love 
 of indolent ease, or that fashionable indifference to 
 the vitality of religion, which can content itself with 
 those occasional morning hours in the sanctuary, 
 which are cloudless and serene ! 
 
 " Forsake not the assembling of yourselves toge- 
 ther, as the manner of some is ;" is an Apostolic in- 
 junction ; and, in general, its observance is attended 
 with very slight inconvenience. Suffer me, then, to 
 press it on your more prayerful and unremitted con- 
 sideration. Never suffer slight causes on the Sab- 
 bath to keep you from the house of God. The delin- 
 quency is always of dangerous tendency by way of 
 example to others ; and is many times connected, as 
 a kind of leading sin, with fatal consequences to the 
 delinquent himself. To how many awful desecra- 
 tions of this sacred rest, to how much blindness and 
 hardness of heart, and consequent ruin of soul, and 
 to what crush of even temporal interests and reputa- 
 tion, have men been led by needlessly, and, at first, 
 occasionally, refraining their feet from the way that 
 
 # c^ 
 
• — — c^ 
 
 104 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 leads to the sanctuary ! If the confession that such 
 has been the cause of their ruin be not made, as it 
 too frequently is, on the eve of an ignominious death i 
 still the result is quite as sad, when the conviction, 
 that such is the fact, is felt at the close of an irreli- 
 gious life. I entreat you, beloved reader, never let the 
 principle of occasional abstinence from public wor- 
 ship, under the plea of some slight inconvenience, in- 
 fluence either your feelings or your conduct. I con- 
 jure you to take this stand, as you hope to appear 
 guiltless before the judgment-seat of Christ of a profa- 
 nation of God's holy Sabbath. Nothing but positive 
 necessity or plain impropriety should hinder your 
 presence in the sanctuary, whenever the day of rest 
 calls you to the exercise of public worship. What a 
 grave satire is it upon all pretensions to the Christian 
 name, when the customary visit to the theatre, or to 
 some other place of evening entertainment, is made, 
 in a state of health, or under circumstances of weath- 
 er, which would be deemed an ample apology for 
 leaving vacant your seat at church ! 
 
 2. But the duties of public worship may all be out- 
 wardly attended, and yet the Sabbath remain entirely 
 unsanctified. To these, therefore, must be added the 
 duties of private religion. These consist in serious 
 and habitual preparation for the public exercises of 
 the day ; strict self-examination ; acts of deep self- 
 
 # eg. 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 105 
 
 abasement over discovered sin ; close watchfulness 
 against known infirmities, and against the intrusion 
 of the world into the mind ; secret prayer and devout 
 meditation on the character and works of God, on 
 the high things of eternity, and especially on the rich 
 mercies of redemption ; careful study of the divine 
 oracles, particularly of those portions which have 
 been explained in the public exercises of the day ; 
 an endeavor thoroughly to understand what is reveal- 
 ed, and practically to incorporate what is understood 
 with the moral affections and principles of the soul ; 
 in short, all those secret exercises of the mind, which 
 are calculated to give effect to the duties of public 
 worship, to bring the soul to a knowledge of the way 
 of salvation, to break the power of its unholy affec- 
 tions, to form and fortify it in gracious habits, and to 
 set it forwards towards that perfect stature in holiness, 
 which constitutes a perfect preparation for heaven. 
 
 These duties of private religion are of the utmost 
 importance to a thorough sanctification of the sacred 
 rest. If they were uniformly and devoutly performed 
 by every member of the church, how soon would this 
 season be changed from a day of listless, heavy stu- 
 pidity, to a day of sweet and refreshing delights ! 
 And how quickly would the interests of religion be 
 raised from their ordinarily low, motionless and dis- 
 piriting condition, to a state of high and heart-cheer- 
 
 # # 
 
106 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 ing prosperity ! But, so long as these duties are ne- 
 glected, too much, it is to be feared, by Christians them- 
 selves, and altogether by those who are yet out of 
 Christ, what more can be expected than that the du- 
 ties of public worship, even though attended with the 
 utmost constancy, will be robbed of their appropriate 
 blessings and delights ; the remaining intervals of 
 time be passed in idle vacancy, in worldly moods of 
 thought, or in sinful courses of action ; and the souls 
 of multitudes be lulled and locked in those fatal slum- 
 bers, which will convey them, amidst the dreams and 
 the hurried flight of time, into a seriously waking, 
 but sadly imblest, eternity ! 
 
 Let, then, the private duties of religion occupy 
 you much, whenevei this season of spiritual harvest, 
 as well as of spiritual rest, returns. Engage in them 
 with fervency of mind. Be as much as possible " in 
 the Spirit on this, the Lord's Day." And, while it 
 passes by, set the whole current of your thoughts, 
 affections and wills, with all practicable steadfastness, 
 towards God and heaven. 
 
 In the right performance of these public and private 
 duties consists the chief part of the positive sanctifi- 
 cation of the Sabbath ; and to the godly man, such 
 performance brings the chief part both of the profit 
 and the pleasure of this delightful season. Bear in 
 mind, then, that, if you have no real, heartfelt delight 
 
 * 
 
^ c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 107 
 
 in these duties ; if you esteem the performance of 
 them a kind of tax on your freedom, and feel pleasure 
 when they have once more passed by ; or if, while 
 engaged in them, you are habitually spiritless and 
 formal, and, when the routine is finished, can con- 
 tentedly forget the whole ; your hearts are assuredly 
 not right with God ; you have never yet kept a Sab- 
 bath holy ; but are under the guilt of as many of its 
 profanations as you have spent weeks of account- 
 ability ! 
 
 3. But there is another class of positive duties, for 
 which the Sabbath, even when properly sanctified in 
 the public and private exercises of religion, often af- 
 fords sufficient leisure. I refer to works of necessity 
 and of mercy. For works of pure necessity, the na- 
 ture of the case makes allowance. For works of 
 mercy the example of Christ aflfords warrant. On 
 this part of the subject, however, I shall make but 
 few remarks. 
 
 With regard to works of necessity, then, be cau- 
 tious that a selfish and a worldly heart do not deceive 
 you. " Set God always before you ;" and then be 
 sure you never fancy a work necessary when it is 
 only profitable, or pleasant. 
 
 But, as to works of mercy ; whenever they come 
 in your way, especially when they press on your re- 
 ligious and benevolent sympathies, you may freely 
 
 #^ 
 
■^ 
 
 108 
 
 LECTURES OX THE 
 
 perform tliem ; provided, they do not subtract from 
 the time necessary for the great duties of public and 
 private religion. Works of this kind require not 
 much search. Enough will lie in your way to occu- 
 py at least those moments of the Sabbath, which 
 might otherwise be spent in sin. If neither poor nor 
 sick call for your religious charities, or your religious 
 counsel, still there are always, in the Sabbath School, 
 immortal minds to be instructed and saved ; in the 
 family circle, precious jewels to be polished for a fu- 
 ture crown of rejoicing ; and in every department of 
 society, prodigals in sin to be reclaimed to holiness 
 and God. And surely, if the healing of a " withered 
 hand on the Sabbath-day " were an acceptable work 
 of mercy in the Saviour, an endeavor to be instru- 
 mental in cleansing a leprous soul on that day will 
 prove acceptable service in a disciple of the Saviour. 
 If, then, from the faithful discharge of your public 
 and private duties, you still find a remnant of unoccu- 
 pied time on the Sabbath, suffer it not to lie waste on 
 your hands, so long as you have such interesting ob- 
 jects at your doors, in the care of which you may fill 
 that time with holy service and with heavenly de- 
 lights. 
 
 II. But I have said the duties of the Sabbath are 
 both positive and negative ; or that it requires not 
 only things to be done, but also things to be avoided. 
 
* c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 109 
 
 In these latter duties, we get a fuller and a clearer 
 idea of that rest, which enters into the nature of the 
 Sabbath. Let us, for a moment, examine them. 
 
 1. The proper sanctification of the day, then, re- 
 quires us to abstain from the indulgence of impure 
 and worldly thoughts. 
 
 Voluntary indulgence of such thoughts is totally 
 subversive of both the attainment and the increase of 
 holiness. How can the Sabbath be kept holy, how 
 can the soul be either made, or preserved holy, so 
 long as sin and the world are permitted to thrust 
 themselves into the mind at the very moment when it 
 is, if ever, most necessary that they should be thrust 
 out ? The thoughts are the issues of the soul itself. 
 If they are wrong on the Sabbath, all will be wrong ; 
 no matter how much, in outward seeming, all may 
 appear right. A sanctified control of the thoughts, 
 like the sanctified government of the tongue, is one 
 of the most difficult attainments in religion. Here, 
 then, is the very point, at which to begin a proper 
 sanctification of the Sabbath. Here, too, it is to be 
 feared, is the very point at which a most awful failure 
 in duty begins to prevail. How many times, not only 
 in the familiar relaxations of home, but even amidst 
 the solemn worship of the sanctuary, do immortal 
 souls find their thoughts running rapidly into the 
 scenes and occupations of this lower world : one 
 
 7 
 
 # — ■ »:^ 
 
^. c^ 
 
 110 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 thinking complacently of dress and personal charms ; 
 another, of visiting and rounds of amusement ; an- 
 other, of schemes for business and prospects of gain ; 
 and another, of plans for secret iniquity, or designs 
 of open sin ! What makes this a deep profanation 
 of the Sabbath is, partly, the voluntary indulgence of 
 these unholy thoughts, when they have once entered 
 the mind ; but chiefly, the building up, in the affec- 
 tions, during the week, of those idols of vanity and 
 pleasure, of gain or of guilt, which strongly preoccu- 
 py, and, therefore, on the Sabbath, irresistibly possess, 
 the thoughts and feelings of the soul. This evil 
 must be cut up by the root, or it will never die. The 
 heart must be changed, and its affections taken off 
 from mere personal beauty, and its ornaments, from 
 earthly pleasures and amusements, from worldly gain 
 and interests. In no other way shall we be able to 
 avoid the guilt of a repeated violation of one of the 
 most important divine commands. The proper busi- 
 ness and enjoyments of life can be pursued without 
 making them idols of the heart ; while, for the vani- 
 ties and amusements of time, religion furnishes, in 
 exchange, a powerful overbalance of full, satisfying, 
 eternal pleasures. 
 
 2. But thoughts in the heart are apt to become lan- 
 guage on the tongue. In the next place, therefore, 
 the proper sanctification of the Sabbath requires us 
 
# — — 4= 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. Ill 
 
 to abstain from vain and worldly conversation. This 
 is what Isaiah means, when he speaks of hallowing 
 the Sabbath by " not speaking our own words ;" 
 words, to which our own wicked hearts and worldly 
 interests would prompt us. And if, as Christ himself 
 declares, " for every idle word that a man speaks, he 
 shall give an account thereof at the day of judgment," 
 whatever the occasion on which it be spoken, surely 
 that account must be seriously aggravated by indul- 
 gence in vain and worldly conversation on the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 And yet, how strongly are we exposed, how fre- 
 quently guilty, on this point ! To this breach of the 
 Sabbath even sober-minded persons are often care- 
 lessly led by the slight associations, which exist be- 
 tween some subjects partly serious, and others merely 
 moral ; and again, between these and others purely 
 vain and worldly. But if the sober-minded are thus 
 drawn into a violation of the Sabbath, into what ex- 
 tremes of abuse will not the giddy and thoughtless 
 naturally rush ! Beware, then, dear reader, when 
 you begin, on the Sabbath, to talk about the sermon, 
 or the preacher ; the deaths, or the accidents of the 
 week ; beware, lest you slide from the preacher and 
 his subject into mere idle criticism upon style, man- 
 ner, and attitude ; and from these, into either praises 
 or invectives, either flattery or calumny, heaped not 
 
112 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 only on llie object with which you began, but also on 
 a hundred others, which have been brought into your 
 minds. Beware, lest, when you begin with deaths 
 and accidents, you pass, in an unguarded moment, 
 into the news of the day ; and from this again into 
 your ordinary pleasures and business ; into schemes 
 for amusement, and into calculations of gain ; into 
 debate upon politics, and into discourse about stocks. 
 Beware, professing Christian : beware, thoughtless 
 children of the world, lest, from remarks merely 
 critical or curious, you run into the most flagrant vio- 
 lations of the Sabbath, by all that is disgusting in 
 frivolity, and all that is unholy in scandal ; by all that 
 is irritating in dispute, and all that is dissipating to 
 seriousness in worldly discussion. Again I say ; 
 Control your thoughts by influences sought from the 
 sanctuary above, that your thoughts may control your 
 conversation, in a manner sanctifying to the Sabbath 
 below. 
 
 3. Once more : indulgence in impure and worldly 
 thoughts and conversation on the Sabbath tends to 
 sinful and worldly habits of action on that day. Its 
 proper sanctification, therefore, requires abstinence 
 from every species of sinful and secular occupation. 
 
 That we must abstain, on this day, from all the 
 common business of the week, bodily or mental, is 
 so plainly enjoined, that I shall not spend time in 
 
 ■^ 
 
-* 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 113 
 
 urging it on your attention. He, who, in a Christian 
 country, allowedly carries through the Sabbath the 
 ordinary labors of the week, has already prepared 
 himself for possible ignominy and misery here, and 
 for probable shame and fiery indignation hereafter. 
 There are, however, other kinds of secular and sinful 
 occupation, by which the rest of the Sabbath may be 
 violated ; more creditable, indeed, but not less crimi- 
 nal, than open attention to trade, or unconcealed de- 
 votion to the world. I allude to travelling on busi- 
 ness ; posting and settling accounts ; making bar- 
 gains ; writing letters of business or ceremony ; vis- 
 iting the Post Office or the News Room ; reading 
 books that tend to corrupt or deaden religious princi- 
 ple and feeling ; riding or walking for mere worldly 
 pleasure or sport ; spending the day in attention to 
 dress, in providing unnecessary and expensive luxu- 
 ries for the appetite, or in giving and receiving visits 
 of business and ceremony. All these modes of dis- 
 posing of the hours of the Sabbath, though they may, 
 by some, be esteemed allowable and even credita- 
 ble, are, nevertheless, in God's esteem, and in the 
 eye of reason, as real desecrations of its rest as 
 regular business, or a Sabbath-day's resort to the 
 theatre ! 
 
 On some of these modes, not more criminal, but 
 
 4 ^ 
 
114 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 perhaps more common, than the rest, allow me to pass 
 a more particular remark. 
 
 The habit of visiting the post-office on the Sabbath 
 is an evident violation of the fourth commandment ; as 
 much so as employment in the counting-room or at 
 the counter, in the office or in the workshop. It is 
 attention to the secular business or pleasures of the 
 week. It tends to frustrate the great design of the 
 Sabbath, the promotion of holiness in the hearts of 
 men. It is, moreover, part of a system, in which 
 government either teaches, or forces thousands and 
 tens of thousands of its subjects to disobey a known 
 command of God. This is itself a great subject. 
 We cannot here do it justice. Neither may we pass 
 it entirely without remark. It is freely granted, then, 
 that government has no right, under our institutions, 
 to compel men to sanctify the Sabbath. But, then, 
 we contend most earnestly, that it has still less right 
 to compel even a portion of its subjects to profane the 
 Sabbath. No government has a right to trample on the 
 laws of God, or to compel its subjects to violate them. 
 This however it does, when it imperatively requires its 
 numberless vehicles to run, its numberless offices to be 
 opened, its countless mails to be assorted, distributed, 
 and delivered ; and its myriads of servants to toil in 
 working this immense machinery on the Lord's day. 
 How, then, can a Chi'istian consent to bear a part in 
 
 # # 
 
^ c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 115 
 
 this legalized sin against God, by either frequenting the 
 post-office on the Sabbath, or by accepting employ- 
 ment under this department of his government ? 
 Ought he not to say, when thus tempted to offend, 
 " No, my country ! if in this thing thou hast deter- 
 mined to set at nought the law of the Eternal, I must 
 here take my stand ; and though the humblest of thy 
 subjects, must lift my voice to testify against thee, 
 and to warn thee of the consequences of thy guilt." 
 To my mind, there is evidently this twofold sin in the 
 habit, now in view, of paying these Sabbath-day visits 
 to our various marts of intelligence ; it is a secular 
 attention to our own ordinary business ; and a partici- 
 pation in the guilt which a nation contracts, when it 
 presumes to issue requisitions at war with the com- 
 mandments of God. 
 
 Again : the custom of providing sumptuous enter- 
 tainments, for either family or friends, on the Lord's 
 day, cannot but be considered as utterly inconsistent 
 with a due sanctification of the season. In the first 
 place, it changes a day of holy rest into a day of mirth 
 and feast. In the next, it compels those who indulge 
 in it, either to leave their afternoon's places at church 
 vacant, or to fill them, after a luxurious dinner, with the 
 dull and heavy forms of the listless, the drowsy, and the 
 inanimate. x\nd finally, it obliges one part of the 
 
 # ^ ^ 
 
* ^ 
 
 116 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 family habitually to remain at home and provide deli- 
 cacies for the dying bodies of the other, to the neglect 
 of that substantial, spiritual nutriment necessary to the 
 well-being of their own undying souls. And who, it 
 may be asked, has a right, before God, to exact this 
 at the hand of any fellow-mortal ? Is heaven a dream, 
 and eternity a blank, and the soul a vapor, and salva- 
 tion a vain conceit, that one man may thus induce or 
 force his fellow man to occupy, in providing for the 
 dainty appetite, the very portion of time, which God 
 has set apart and consecrated to the work of securing 
 his soul's everlasting welfare ? When — if the week 
 is to be filled with the cares and business of the world, 
 and the Sabbath to be loaded with household duties 
 and family festivities — when is the time to be found 
 for repentance and seeking after God ? Where, 
 amidst all this crowded scene of days, and weeks, 
 and years, shall the soul of the tasked domestic find 
 one little, unoccupied corner, into which it may retire, 
 transact its concerns with God, and adjust itself for 
 its eternal state ? How, then, in view of these things, 
 can any family, in a Christian land, make its domestic 
 arrangements for the Sabbath so as to include the 
 cares and convivialities, of which we have now spok- 
 en, and yet remain guiltless of a violation of this great 
 day of the Lord ? 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 117 
 
 Once more : the practice of riding and walking for 
 mere pleasure, and of giving and receiving visits of 
 ceremony, or otherwise, on the Sabbath, is wholly- 
 inconsistent with a right sanctification of the day. 
 With these things the streets of our cities, the thor- 
 oughfares which stretch into their vicinity, and the 
 houses of their coimtless inhabitants, are lamentably 
 familiar ; and under the influence of these, religion 
 languishes, the spirit of the Sabbath sighs, while all 
 the means of holiness are, to myriads amongst us, 
 rendered neutral and void. 
 
 It is in these and other Sabbath-day amusements 
 that vain and worldly thoughts vent themselves in idle 
 and projfitless conversation ; and that the themes of 
 pleasure and of fashion, or the affairs of a family or a 
 neighborhood, are sought and discussed with eager- 
 ness, perhaps with acrimony, in order to pass what 
 would otherwise be a vacant and a heavy hour. The 
 leisure of the Sabbath ought to be spent in profitable 
 thought and self-discipline ; in giving religious in- 
 struction to children or dependents ; in a serious pon- 
 dering on the words of eternal life, and in endeavoring, 
 faithfully and spiritually, to imbibe their power, and 
 thus to form and fix both the heart and the life in 
 habits of holy feeling and action. But how different 
 from all this is the method of spending the leisure of 
 
 n 
 
 -%— ■ 
 
118 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the day now under consideration ! A more effectual 
 method of obliterating from the mind every good, and 
 tender, and serious impression, which may have been 
 made during the religious exercises of the season ; a 
 more unfailing device for shutting all the glorious and 
 solemn things of eternity and of heaven from the 
 thoughts, as soon as the doors of the sanctuary are 
 closed upon its worship — could not be devised. 
 Those who go from this worship to the vain and dis- 
 sipating scenes of pleasure, or of a visit and its cere- 
 monies, do virtually say by their actions : '• Away 
 from our minds, ye thoughts of God and of eternity ; 
 we are afraid of becoming religious ; we are afraid 
 of being separated from a gay and thoughtless world ; 
 we are not yet willing to be fitted for a blessed and a 
 holy heaven." 
 
 The duty of abstaining from every species of secu- 
 lar and sinful occupation of time on the Sabbath, 
 might be urged further. But in stating the negative 
 duties of the season, I have only time for a single 
 remaining particular. 
 
 4. I mean the abstinence which a due sanctification 
 of the day requires from indolence. 
 
 The Sabbath is indeed a season of rest, but it is of 
 holy rest, not of literal inaction of either body or mind. 
 It is a rest from all sinful engagements, in order to 
 
 ab # 
 
CHRISTIAx\ SABBATH. 119 
 
 give time for action in all holy duties, in whatever 
 can tend to promote a holy regard for God, together 
 with holiness of heart in man. " Remember the 
 Sabbath day to keep it holy." 
 
 Some persons seem to act on the principle, that, in 
 order to avoid the violation of the Sabbath, by doing, 
 saying, or thinking what is wrong, they had better 
 cease, so far as is possible, from every mode of being, 
 bodily and intellectual. Accordingly, they usually 
 devote it to sloth and idleness. Their slumbers are 
 long in the morning, and frequent during the day. 
 Personal neatness and domestic order are neglected, 
 and sluggish indolence is spread through the family 
 scene. The house of God stands unvisited. The 
 Bible lies unopened. Thought stagnates, if it does 
 not die ; and if bad feelings are not awakened, at 
 least all good ones fall asleep. All this, however, is 
 odious, most offensive to God. It is not to sanctify, 
 but to annihilate, the Sabbath ; to convert its sacred 
 rest into a species of existence, in which the powers 
 of the man rise but little above the functions of the 
 vegetable ! He, and he only, honors the Sabbath to 
 acceptance, who, during its consecrated hours, is "not 
 slothful in its proper business, but fervent in spirit, 
 serving the Lord." 
 
 In concluding this part of the subject, do you think, 
 
 %~ 
 
120 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 beloved reader, that the duties of the Sabbath, as now 
 enumerated, require too much at your hands, and that 
 a day thus spent must be an irksome and a spiritless 
 day ? Assuredly, then, your decision is that of vitter 
 inexperience. Try such a course of duty. Try it as 
 a Christian ; and you will find the Sabbath not a wea- 
 riness, but a delight, extensively favorable to true 
 cheerfulness and enjoyment of mind. Your language 
 concerning it would be that of the Psalmist : " I was 
 glad when they said unto me, Let us go up unto the 
 house of the Lord." " How amiable are thy taberna- 
 cles, O Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even 
 fainteth, for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my 
 flesh crieth out for the living God." " O God ! thou 
 art my God ; early will I seek thee. My soul thirst- 
 eth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and 
 thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and 
 thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." 
 Besides, while thus honoring the Lord, thus hallowing 
 his Sabbath, if he, in fulfillment of liis promise, should 
 deliver you from sin, and prepare you for an everlast- 
 ing rest in his holy heavens, you would not then think 
 the duties now required either too serious or too nu- 
 merous. Then the young and the gay, the man of 
 business and of the world, and the slave of sensuality 
 and sin, regenerated and rendered holy, would rejoice 
 
 * 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 
 
 121 
 
 before the Lord with solemn mirth, for ever, over the 
 happy decision which secured to them full and per- 
 petual glory above, at whatever sacrifice of self, or 
 ease, or vanity below. 
 
 — * 
 
# 
 
 LE CTURE VI. 
 EXODUS XX. 11. 
 
 The Lord blessed the Sabhalh day, and hallowed it." 
 
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 VI. 
 
 In the Lectures already given on the subject of 
 the text, I have endeavored to present an idea of the 
 general character, and the prominent duties, of the 
 Sabbath. A foundation has thus been laid, on which 
 I may stand, while urging reasons, or motives for a 
 due sanctification of the day. In the present Lec- 
 ture, therefore, the principal benefits of the Sabbath 
 shall be exhibited, as one of the reasons why it should 
 be kept holy. 
 
 In the text, we have the record of the Father, that 
 he has blessed and hallowed the Sabbath : and in the 
 Gospel, we have the word of the Son, that it was thus 
 blessed and hallowed for the benefit of man. "The 
 vSabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sab- 
 bath." The institution has not failed of its intended 
 
 # * 
 
126 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 effect. Designed for the use of man, the benefits 
 Avhich flow from it are absokitely incalculable. Of 
 this, the proofs will meet us, as we proceed in the 
 examination. 
 
 1. I mention, first, the benefits which flow from the 
 Rest of the Sabbath, both to men and to beasts of 
 burthen. 
 
 It was not without weighty reason that the fourth 
 commandment extended the privilege of a seventh day 
 of Rest to men-servants and maid-servants, to cattle 
 and strangers in the land. That rest is necessary both 
 to the body and to the mind. Enlightened experience 
 has shown that, at least as often as once for every six 
 days of toil, weary nature needs repose. This weekly 
 suspension of the fatigues of life preA'ents, in a mea- 
 sure, what the daily rest of sleep is found insufficient 
 to do, the inroads of exhaustion on the strength and 
 spirits ; and by the invigorating refreshment which it 
 brings, adds a new impulse to laudable action and 
 industry ; while industry, in its turn, is a great pro- 
 moter of health and long life, two of the most valued 
 blessings ever mingled in the cup of mere temporal 
 enjoyments. Taking in the compass of their ordinary 
 lives, both men and beasts of burthen can perform 
 more labor, and to better effect, when the stated rest of 
 the Sabbath is enjoyed, than they can when it is with- 
 held. This point has been made abundantly clear by 
 
 4 d^ 
 
. __^ 
 
 CHRISTIAxX SABBATH. 127 
 
 tiie most careful observation ; as is attested by such 
 authors as Schoolcraft and Drs. Rush and Spurzhcim ; 
 and by such investigators as Dr. Farre before the 
 British Parliament. Moreover, the avarice and rapa- 
 city of human natm-e sometimes incline men, and even 
 parents, to tyrannize over their dependents and child- 
 ren, and beasts of burthen, by compelling them to 
 drudge incessantly in their service. From such the 
 Sabbath statedly wrests the rod of oppression ; and 
 like a presiding angel of mercy, " bids the oppressed 
 go free," and for one seventh of their lives enjoy the 
 blessings of repose vouchsafed them by a more mer- 
 ciful Master, and a more affectionate Parent. 
 
 2. The observance of the Sabbath is a powerful 
 promoter of the kind feelings and gentle manners of 
 refined and social life. 
 
 This remark may not appear weighty to those, who 
 are almost constantly engaged in the civilities of so- 
 ciety. But, taking into account the most numerous, 
 and, in some respects, the most important, part of the 
 population of every country, its laborers, its agricul- 
 turists, and its mechanics, the remark will appear 
 entitled to serious consideration. Those kind feel- 
 ings and gentle manners are called into exercise 
 chiefly amidst the decorums and restraints of civilized 
 life. They are cultivated by the intercourse of good 
 society. But, the laboring agriculturist and mechanic 
 
 *■ 
 
128 LECTURES 0]Si THE 
 
 are often, to a considerable extent, forced to lead a 
 kind of separate and secluded life ; and even when 
 they are brought into the intercourse of society, it is still 
 infrequently, and too often, under circumstances which 
 leave their better feelings and habits unimproved. 
 Hence, every thing which brings them together with 
 suitable frequency, and under favorable circumstances, 
 is so far, a means by which they are able to realize 
 their share in the blessings of civilisation. Such a 
 means is the Sabbath. When properly observed, it 
 is a season of social existence. It brings mankind 
 together, weekly, in a most pleasing and harmonious 
 contact, and under the most salutary, yet gentle re- 
 straints ; and thus, while it removes something of the 
 harshness and rudeness of solitary being, it throws, 
 exactly where needed, a good portion of the decency 
 and decorum of society. These remarks are founded 
 not on mere theory, but on sustaining fact. Select 
 either a community, or an individual, from the labor- 
 ing classes of society, with whom the neglect of the 
 Sabbath has become habitual, and you will generally 
 find a repulsive neglect of the tender and beautiful 
 civilities of life. 
 
 This effect of mere weekly association under pe- 
 culiarly salutary restraints, is increased by other and 
 more powerful causes. In the exercises of the Sab- 
 bath the affections of men are frequently addressed 
 
 *- 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH, 129 
 
 and brought within the influence of all that is subdu- 
 ing and meliorating in the tender charities of a reli- 
 gion, which breathes into the heart of man the pure 
 spirit of heaven. In the tender sympathies of a social 
 worship, common sorrows for sin and common praises 
 for mercy are sent up, mingling with those fervent 
 strains of devotion, which " enter into the ears of the 
 Lord of Sabbaoth," the compassionate and benevo- 
 lent, as well as just and righteous, Father of mankind. 
 In all this, it is impossible for men to be habitually 
 associated, and yet to remain in all respects unblessed. 
 Though religion itself, as a right temper of heart 
 towards God, should not be the result, yet the severe 
 and rugged feelings of our nature must, more or less, 
 give way to the softening, humanizing power of the 
 scene ; and society will find those who honor the 
 Sabbath, more kind and gentle members of the human 
 family, than those who do not. 
 
 There is another feature, too, in this influence of 
 the Sabbath, which deserves consideration. Wealth 
 and other distinctions lift men above the natural level 
 of life. Poverty and obscurity sink them below it. 
 The former too often beget a proud and overbearing 
 spirit. The latter sometimes produce an abject and 
 desponding state. Hence, the elevated need humility ; 
 and the humble, elevation : an effect, to which the 
 proper observance of the Sabbath is decidedly favora- 
 
130 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 ble, by bringing the rich and the poor, the learned and 
 the ignorant, the prince and the peasant, upon one 
 common level before that " High and Lofty One," in 
 whose presence earthly distinctions are annihilated, 
 and where they are all addressed in the one charac- 
 ter of sinners, with the same voice of warning, and 
 in the same language of instruction. Here, indeed, 
 " the lofty looks of man are humbled, and the haugh- 
 tiness of men is bov/ed down ;" and here, " they of 
 low degree are exalted," because " the Lord is the 
 Maker of them all." The rich imbibe a meekness, 
 which becomes their ornament; the poor, a self-re- 
 spect, which proves their support. From this one 
 level, where they all meet, the diflerent ranks of men 
 carry away a community of feeling, which disposes 
 them to engage in the mutual offices of life with more 
 kindness and condescension on the one part, and with 
 more alacrity and respectfulness on the other ; and 
 thus, while the Sabbath leaves undiminished all the 
 benefits which spring from distinctions in society, it 
 counteracts and removes some, at least, of their evils. 
 The benefits of the Sabbath now enumerated are, 
 as in the former case, varied and vast ; and they show 
 with what minuteness the wisdom of God has adapted 
 the Institution to the good of all men, at all times. 
 
 3. A proper observance of the Sabbath operates 
 favorably on intellectual character. 
 
 ■* 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 131 
 
 I refer not now to the benefit, which the mind re- 
 ceives from the Rest of the Sabbath, in soothing and 
 recruiting the excited, and often exhausted, nerves of 
 the brain ; this has been ah-eady mentioned ; but to 
 one of a more direct character. Instruction of what- 
 ever kind, cannot but affect favorably the various 
 mental powers. It must expand, invigorate and refine 
 them. Now, a proper observance of the Sabbath 
 secures no inconsiderable amount and variety of in- 
 struction and information. One seventh part of the 
 ordinary life of man properly spent under the teach- 
 ings of the Sabbath, would alone be sufficient, even 
 were other opportunities for instruction wanting, to 
 raise him to a valuable respectability in intellectual 
 attainment. Besides, to us, as moral and accountable 
 creatures, the instructions of this day are of the most 
 salutary and necessary kind. They bring us to an 
 acquaintance with the being of God and his attri- 
 butes ; with the providence of God and his opera- 
 tions ; with the Church of God and its institutions ; 
 and with the duty of man and his destiny : besides 
 furnishing us with some knowledge of the history and 
 antiquities of more than two-thirds of the past exist- 
 ence of our race ; including the most of what is, with 
 certainty, known of the entire national career of the 
 Jews, the most interesting race of men that has ever 
 appeared. 
 
 8* 
 # # 
 
#- — 
 
 132 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 Such being the kind and amount of information 
 secured by a proper observance of the Sabbath, its 
 favorable effect on intellectual character must be ap- 
 parent. Every seventh day, the regular attendant at 
 the Sanctuary has his mind occupied in receiving 
 what, to the great and comparatively uneducated mass 
 of men, must be considered valuable information ; 
 and in following out important, and often interesting, 
 trains of thought ; an exercise clearly salutary and 
 perfective of his mental powers. But the effect does 
 not stop here. The subjects discussed on the Sab- 
 bath are calculated to seize and sustain attention, and 
 to incite, during the rest of the week, to a further pro- 
 cess of thought, perhaps to voluntary research ; thus 
 supporting, not a vexatious and fatiguing, but a plea- 
 sant and healthful, action of mind during a still greater 
 portion of life. And besides all this, there is a favor- 
 able effect produced on public taste and sentiment, 
 by many of the instructions given on the Sabbath, 
 considered as merely literary productions. This influ- 
 ence is of no inconsiderable importance, when exerted 
 on those classes of society, which do not come within 
 the correcting and improving power of higher mental 
 culture. 
 
 From these circumstances, we see in part, why it 
 is that those countries, in which the Sabbath is duly 
 observed, maintain, among the common classes, a 
 
 n, ___ ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 133 
 
 decided intellectual superiority over those in which it 
 is habitually profaned ; why it is that the individuals 
 of the former exhibit so much stronger traces of 
 thought, research and reflection, and so much less 
 repulsive proofs of vitiated taste and neglected minds, 
 than the individuals of the latter. The valuable in- 
 structions of the Sabbath tend to elevate mankind 
 towards all that is dignified and delightful in the high 
 and refined enjoyments of taste and intellect. 
 
 4. A due observance of the Sabbath tends to form 
 and sustain in the public mind an enlightened moral 
 conscience, and a purified moral principle, of incalcu- 
 lable importance to society. 
 
 Deprave the public moral conscience and princi- 
 ple, and you unsettle all social institutions, and leave 
 them to totter and fall amidst the whirlwinds of pas- 
 sion and the floods of crime. Correct, refine and con- 
 firm that moral conscience and principle, and you place, 
 on its only permanent foundation, that noble fabric 
 of neighborhood, society and government, in which 
 virtue, good order and peace will permanently dwell. 
 These points being incontestible, it needs not argu- 
 ment to prove, still further, that a race, composed of 
 such depraved beings as man, has a strong tendency 
 to a depraved state of the public moral conscience and 
 principle ; and that powerful and frequent efforts are 
 required to counteract that tendency, to throw a new 
 
 8t 
 * 
 
_C§3 
 
 134 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 and quickened moral life into the conscientious feel- 
 ings and principles of men, and to maintain that life, 
 sensitive and undecaying, amidst all the deadening 
 influences of self and of sin. 
 
 Here, again, the due observance of the Sabbath 
 comes in and furnishes precisely that kind and degree 
 of influence, which are required. The sacred char- 
 acter, in vi^hich it stands invested, and the sacred 
 feelings with which, in a well ordered society, it is 
 regarded, do, of themselves, give it a powerful check 
 on the public conscience, and a most salutary influ- 
 ence on public principle. This character of the Sab- 
 bath erects around society a beautiful as well as for- 
 midable bulwark, which restrains within the limits of 
 peace and justice multitudes, who would otherwise 
 transcend them ; and through which few habitually 
 break, save the openly shameless and licentious. 
 
 The peculiar exercises, which are connected with 
 the observance of the Sabbath, strengthen still further 
 this public safeguard of virtue and good order. The 
 assemblies convened for public worship, are brought 
 into a consecrated atmosphere, and their minds sur- 
 rounded with all that is salutary and quickening in 
 the presence of holy devotion. They are addressed, 
 too, on subjects of the most powerful and heart-moving 
 interest. In order to give the public conscience a 
 quick, discerning eye, and to pour upon it the only 
 
 #• 
 
*- 
 
 -# 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 135 
 
 Steady and unerring light, that of divine truth, the 
 fixed and eternal distinctions between moral and re- 
 ligious right and wrong, are clearly and strongly 
 defined ; not only in the case of those which are 
 broad and palpable, but also in the case of those which 
 are minute and delicate; so that men, if they will, 
 may walk with safety through even those regions of 
 action where the separating grounds between right 
 and wrong are most narrow. Moreover, to give public 
 principle enduring strength and stability, the im- 
 mense benefits attendant on right action, and the 
 boundless evils entailed upon wrong, are earnestly 
 stated and enforced ; and men are urged to duty by 
 all that is tender and affecting, as well as by all 
 that is powerful and alarming, in the motives drawn 
 from the constant presence of a heart-searching God, 
 from the solemnities of a future judgment, and from 
 the unutterable realities of eternal happiness, or eter- 
 nal misery, of heaven, or hell ! 
 
 Another circumstance still gives to a duly observed 
 Sabbath a most salutary control over public moral 
 conscience and principle ; the regularity and ac- 
 cessibility, with which its exercises and instructions 
 recur. Men are not now, as the heathen were, obliged 
 to travel to foreign lands, and to visit distant schools 
 of philosophy, in order to discover, through a dubious 
 light, whereabouts lie the boundaries between rio-ht 
 
 ^ 1 __ ^ 
 
 •# 
 
C^-___ ^ 
 
 136 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 and wrong. Nor are they compelled to devote any 
 separate and considerable portion of their lives to the 
 study of a theory of morals which, after all, they 
 would seldom be called to practise. But the instruc- 
 tions, which they require, are brought to them, almost 
 carried round to their very doors, embodied in the 
 clearest light, based on the highest authority, and 
 enforced by the most moving sanctions. They fall in 
 with those very seasons, which nature itself requires 
 for refreshment, and which experience proves favora- 
 ble to interest. They require less trouble and less 
 expense than many of the most useless pleasures of 
 the world. Above all, they return with a frequency, 
 and freshness, and life, which prevent the mind from 
 losing its salutary impressions, and the conscience 
 from falling into sear stupidity ; and which cherish 
 and maintain and circulate throughout the public body, 
 a vitality and tenderness and permanency of moral 
 feeling and principle, which furnish it with its best 
 health and vigor. 
 
 Do these remarks need confirmation from fact? 
 It maybe brought from a thousand sources. But from 
 one only can I draw at present. 
 
 In one of our cities, some time since, the Sabbath 
 was openly neglected and generally profaned. Few 
 sanctuaries had been erected and fewer still frequent- 
 ed. To an alarming extent the worship of God was 
 
 * _— _»_ ^ 
 
* _c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 137 
 
 unknown, and the sound of the Gospel unheard. In 
 that city, were taken, in one year, eight licenses for 
 gaming houses, at a cost of $33,000 ; while the nett 
 income of the houses exceeded ^174,000. This 
 whole sum, too, was gained on one side, and lost on 
 another, amidst frequent occurrences of riot, intoxica- 
 tion and despair.* Now, what must be the state of 
 public moral conscience to require or even to tolerate, 
 by municipal regulations, such establishments as 
 these ? On what principle must a vast amount of 
 property be acquired, an^ with what feelings and ef- 
 fect must it be expended ? On what footing of purity, 
 integrity and justice, must a great share of the mutual 
 intercourse and business of society rest ? Or what 
 barrier is there erected against the rising floods of 
 dissipation and crime, confusion and misrule ? Not 
 the barrier of a regularly observed and well sanctified 
 Sabbath, clothed in all its holy associations, and ope- 
 rating with all its life-giving influences. It is by the 
 abuse of this institution that much of the extreme cor- 
 ruption of pubhc morals has been introduced ; and it 
 is only by completing, among other things begun, a 
 general and due observance of the Sabbath, that the 
 
 • See New York Spectator, for 1827, I think, just after 
 which these Lectures were first written. 
 
 #- 
 
' _ #> 
 
 138 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 ordinary measure of moral strength and purity can be 
 infused into the public mind. 
 
 5. The proper observance of the Sabbath is a chief 
 means in the conversion of men, and in the promotion 
 of that " holiness without which no man shall see the 
 Lord." Here the benefits of the Sabbath rise at once 
 into vast magnitude. 
 
 In passing over the ascending scale of benefits, 
 which flow from a well sanctified Sabbath, we have 
 been like travellers, gradually approaching a tall 
 mountain, whose ascent over beautiful fields, though 
 constant, is yet not steep. Here, however, we reach 
 a point, at which the acclivity becomes more abrupt, 
 and like those travellers, we see the mountain swell- 
 ing more toweringly and more steeply towards heaven. 
 The proper observance of the Sabbath is a chief 
 means in securing the salvation of souls. 
 
 It is a chief means to this end ; because, as I shall 
 hereafter show, all the other means of grace, which 
 now operate so perceptibly and vigorously, depend 
 largely for their use, if not for their existence, on this 
 one institution, the Sabbath. For the present, I 
 merely remark, that everything connected with the 
 proper observance of this day is specially intended 
 and happily calculated, to secure the conversion of 
 men and the cultivation of holiness. The control 
 which the institution, when generally sanctified, ex- 
 
 ^- 
 
<«- 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 139 
 
 erts over the public moral conscience, has a strong 
 tendency to bring men statedly to pause, and reflect 
 on their ways. Attendance on all the solemn rites 
 of public worship and sacraments, brings them, at 
 least, within the action of their social sympathies, 
 and prepares them for the great scriptural change. 
 Attention to faithful and affectionate appeals from 
 " the ministry of Reconciliation," declaring to them 
 their sin, and beseeching them, for the sake of the 
 Crucified, to repent and turn and live, alarms their 
 consciences, awakens inquiry, and advances the 
 change towards its completion. While the gracious 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, " dropping as the rain," 
 and " distilling as the dew," crown the work, and 
 perfect the renewed in heart in all holiness and god- 
 liness of living. Without this change in all the moral 
 tendencies of his nature, wrought by those means 
 which God brings into operation on this his own holy 
 day, leading to faith in Christ and to salvation by 
 grace, man would remain perpetually under condem- 
 nation, spiritually " dead in trespasses and sins." 
 
 Estimate, then, the benefits which are here secured 
 by the observance of the Sabbath. Run your eye 
 along the line of past ages, from the commencement 
 to the present hour ; and mark the various times and 
 countries, which have witnessed its exemplary sanc- 
 tification. Gather into your thoughts the whole of 
 
 -c^ 
 
140 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 that vast multitude, who, on this day, have been 
 brought to a knowledge and sense of their sins ; to 
 repentance and faith in Christ, either as a Saviour to 
 come, or as a Saviour already exhibited on the cross ; 
 and to sanctification of heart and holiness of life by 
 the gracious influences of the Spirit ; and who, " being 
 justified by faith, have obtained peace with God, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord," and are now removed 
 beyond the vicissitudes of this life to mansions of 
 heavenly rest and glory. Think of the mighty moral 
 influence, which this host of the redeemed have em- 
 bodied in the example of their lives, thrown on the mass 
 of sin and misery around them, on government and 
 on society, and left to operate there in a succession 
 of purifying and peaceful and blessed results, to the 
 end of time. Think, too, of the happy, heavenly 
 hours, which they have spent on the Sabbath, and in 
 the Sanctuary ; how often they have gathered there 
 around a mercy-seat, and lifted up their souls in the 
 calm, delightful exercises of prayer and praise ; and 
 how often God has graciously met them there, con- 
 firmed them in his covenant, made his promises pre- 
 cious, and rendered his word and ordinances quick- 
 ening, refreshing and comforting to their spirits. 
 Think, finally, from what toil and sufljering and tears 
 in this life they have been released, and of the rest 
 and joy on high, which they are now receiving, and 
 
_^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 141 
 
 will for ever continue to receive, as the fruit in a great 
 measure of the precious seed sown on this holy day. 
 And then, from all these considerations, collect and 
 sum up, if you can, the entire amount of benefit se- 
 cured by the observance of the Sabbath, in the con- 
 version of men and in the promotion of holiness. 
 
 6. Finally : the regular and perpetual observance 
 of the Sabbath is the main instrument, which is to 
 preserve in existence and operation a knowledge of 
 the true Religion and of the Name and worship of 
 the true God. 
 
 Here, the benefits of the Sabbath rise, at once, into 
 illimitable height, as well as into overpowering mag- 
 nitude. The ascent before us becomes precipitous ; 
 the mountain springs suddenly up ; and its pinnacle 
 is lost from view in the light of the upper world. 
 
 It is plain, that, great as is the moral influence of 
 the Sabbath, and many as it has been a means of 
 gathering into the fold of Christ, yet with all the author- 
 ity in which God has clothed it as a divine institution, 
 and all the sacred feeling with which it is associated 
 in the minds of Christians, it still leaves a majority 
 of those, amongst whom it exists, destitute of the 
 power, and regardless of the claims, of religion ; and 
 many of this majority either careless neglecters or 
 open contemners, of the Sabbath itself. Self-love, 
 acting on the interests, the pleasures, and the honors 
 
 4 ^ 
 
142 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 of the world, has fortified them so strongly in sin, that 
 even this potent engine of divine contrivance has 
 failed to dislodge them from their works. They live 
 almost as though there were no God, no religion. 
 What, then, would be the state of our world if the 
 Sabbath, as a divine institution, were once abolished ? 
 From all Christendom would be gradually and finally 
 banished a knowledge of the true religion and the 
 worship of the true God ! 
 
 It is vain to sa}^ that, in the absence of the Sab- 
 bath, expediency and the necessity of the case would 
 lead men to establish a stated day, and to devote it 
 to the same objects, which the Sabbath now contem- 
 plates. For if avarice, rapacity and the love of plea- 
 sure can influence such multitudes to break through 
 the obligations of a divine institution, it is plain that 
 a mere human appointment would not oppose against 
 those passions the slightest barrier, but, in their over- 
 whelming torrent, would be utterly swept away and 
 lost. One would object to the particular day selected ; 
 another, to the frequency of its recurrence ; and 
 another to the necessity of any such appointment at 
 all. The result would be, that not even a feeble hu- 
 man substitute for the Sabbath would exist. Then 
 would follow the rapid decline of religious feeling and 
 principle ; accompanied by the equally rapid fall of 
 those benevolent, evangelical operations, which that 
 
 .c^ 
 
<#= -^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 143 
 
 religious feeling and principle now sustain ; and fol- 
 lowed at last by the extinction of the true religion 
 and of the knowledge of the true God from the hu- 
 man mind ? 
 
 Yes ; abolish the Sabbath, and you obliterate from 
 the soul that crowd of delightful, holy and sanctifying 
 associations, which now cluster around the peaceful 
 day, and throw into its evening meditations, and on 
 the memory of its scenes, the godly man's fairest 
 type and brightest anticipations of his rest in heaven. 
 Abolish the Sabbath, and the ordinances of grace 
 close their channels and cease to bless ; the sound of 
 social and public prayer is hushed ; and the authorita- 
 tive publication of God's Word sends no ray of light, 
 no arrow of truth, into the darkened sinner's heart. 
 Abolish the Sabbath, and the blooming promises of 
 the Sabbath School are blasted, the minds of its myri- 
 ads of young immortals revert again to untaught, un- 
 blessed ignorance and sin : asylums and hospitals, 
 those offsprings of Christianity, fall into ruins ; and 
 the blind, and deaf, and dumb, the diseased, and lame, 
 and lunatic, wander the earth once more, with scarce 
 a gift from charity ; while institutions for the spread 
 of the Gospel through Tracts, and Bibles, and Mis- 
 sionaries of the Cross, perish, with the zeal that now 
 supports them, from the Church of Christ ; and the 
 dark clouds of error, superstition and blood, which we 
 
# 
 
 144 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 now see rolling away from heathen lands, settle back 
 again to drench those lands in misery. Abolish the 
 Sabbath, and how shall I finish the picture ? Man 
 forgets or denies his God ; the Bible is burnt amidst 
 the orgies of blasphemy ; religion is banished from 
 earth to heaven ; and human society either reverts 
 to the barbarism of idolatry, in which the soul, ren- 
 dered almost irrational, offers its prayers and praises, 
 bows down in blind adoration, and presents its sacri- 
 fices and human victims and spoils of chastity, to 
 molten images, and reptiles and devils ; or falls back 
 upon that state of civil anarchy and confusion, in which, 
 though the light of science and philosophy may shine, 
 yet the light of heavenly truth is extinguished, and 
 the wild passions of men let loose, while crime and 
 bloodshed and war shake thrones and kingdoms, and 
 confound the elements of society in one wide waste 
 of moral chaos ! 
 
 All this is not bare conjecture. The world has 
 already looked with the eye of sober experience on a 
 great part of the scene, as connected with a temporary 
 abolition of the Sabbath near the beginning of the 
 French Revolution, yet fresh in the memory of living 
 multitudes. That abolition was not, indeed, the sin- 
 gle cause of all the atrocities which followed. But 
 the Sabbath was one of the great barriers, which stood 
 in the way of their furious outbursting ; and it must 
 
 -^ 
 
* ■ ■^^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 145 
 
 needs be swept down before the floods of irreligion, 
 impiety and civilized butchery could rush, unopposed, 
 through the land. And if its abolition had become 
 both universal and perpetual, nothing could have saved 
 the human race from all that has been described, but 
 as plain a miracle as that, in which " the sun stood 
 still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the Valley of 
 Ajalon !" 
 
 The Sabbath, in the sanctions of its divine author- 
 ity, and in the influence of its stated sanctiflcation, is 
 one of the main props that uphold the existence of 
 the true religion, and of a knowledge of the true God ; 
 that sustain a good public moral conscience ; and that 
 support the broad and lofty fabric of human society and 
 of civil government. I'o the Church of Christ the 
 Sabbath is an Ararat amidst a deluge of sin. So long 
 as it stands unmoved, the ark of the Christian's hope 
 rests in safety on its top, bearing high the families of 
 the faithful above the v/asting flood, and preserving 
 them for a renovated world in eternity. And to the 
 whole race of man, it is a Bethel on the plains of 
 Canaan. It opens to them not only " the House of 
 God," but also the gate of heaven. Annihilate the 
 Sabbath, and that gate is shut. The influences of 
 God, like angels of mercy, no longer ascend and de- 
 scend to comfort and to bless his creatures. 
 
 Would God, then, that this subject could be im- 
 9 
 
 -c^ 
 
146 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 pressed, in all its solemnity and power, on the hearts 
 of all orders of men ; upon rulers and subjects, upon 
 high and low, upon rich and poor. The result would 
 be peace, prosperity and permanency to all the insti- 
 tutions of our country, civil and religious. A day, 
 bright with hope, would dawn on the world. And 
 the example of statesmen, of philosophers, and of 
 humbler Christians, would make the Sabbath what it 
 was designed to be, and from its blessed influences 
 draw down millenial rest and glory upon man ! 
 
 To you, dear reader, I can only add, at present. 
 Revere the Sabbath. Make it, in thought, word and 
 deed, a holy day ; and cherish it in the best affections 
 of your heart as you would your last, bright hope of 
 heaven. 
 
 c^- 
 
 -# 
 
# .^ 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 NEHEMIAH XIII. 17, 18. 
 
 " 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 more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." 
 
 #- 
 
-cp 
 
 Vlli 
 
 My great object in these Lectures has, from the 
 first, been, to recommend a due observance of the 
 Sabbath. The benefits which, in the last Lecture, 
 were seen to flow from it, are alone of such nature 
 and extent, that a right consideration of them must at 
 least prevent the open and habitual violation of the 
 day. Philosophers, statesmen, and even mere men 
 of the world, cannot but respect and outwardly ob- 
 serve the Sabbath, so soon as they have once ade- 
 quately comprehended its immense importance. 
 
 But, a right sanctification of the day requires 
 something more than outward respect and observance. 
 It requires an inward and pious regard, and an ap- 
 propriation of the day to its proper duties, from the 
 influence of relioious conscience. To this none can 
 
 *- 
 
 -* 
 
<#— — 
 
 150 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 be brought, unless convinced, not only of tlie vast im- 
 portance of the Sabbath, but also of the peculiar sin 
 of its violation. 
 
 That the violation of the Sabbath is peculiarly sin- 
 ful, it can hardly be necessary, at this point of the dis- 
 cussion, to prove. It follows from the fact that God 
 has enjoined the sanctification of the day ; and that, 
 wherever the existence of the institution has been 
 known, he has repeatedly visited both its neglect 
 and its abuse with conspicuous judgments. It was, 
 principally, for a long series of such neglect and abuse 
 that the judgment of the Babylonish captivity fell upon 
 the whole Jewish people. God had given them his 
 Sabbaths, and they had profaned them. This was not 
 forgotten. The Jews were plunged defenceless into 
 the midst of their enemies ; and their desolate, un- 
 peopled country, was left to enjoy the rest of which it 
 had been sacrilegiously deprived. (See 2d Chron. 
 xxxvi. 21 ; comp. Lev. xxvi. 34, 35, 43.) Then for 
 seventy years the Holy Land kept to the Lord its 
 solemn, solitary Sabbath ; while its hapless tribes 
 were in distant bondage, weeping in lowly posture by 
 the rivers of Babylon, hanging their harps on the wil- 
 lows there, and, in reply to the taunts of those who 
 wasted them, sending up their piteous wail to heaven. 
 
 To this fact and its cause Nehemiah referred in the 
 text. He had been instrumental in restoring the Jews 
 
 # # 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 151 
 
 to their country, and in rebuilding their city and temple. 
 After the completion of these great works, and the for- 
 mal restoration of the worship of God to its ancient 
 seat, his zealous heart was almost broken when he saw 
 his people once more relapsing into an abuse of the 
 Sabbath ; that very sin for which they had just been 
 so terribly chastised. " Then he contended with the 
 nobles of Judah, and said unto them ; What evil thing 
 is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day 1 Did 
 not your fathers thus ; and did not God bring all this 
 evil upon us and upon this city ? Yet ye bring more 
 wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." 
 
 Nor is the Babylonish captivity the only judgment, 
 which has visited the violation of the Sabbath. In 
 numberless other instances, has the displeasure of 
 God fallen on the profanation of his holy day. Does 
 it not follow then, both from the express command to 
 hallow the Sabbath, and from the punishments which 
 have been inflicted on a transgression of this com- 
 mand, that such transgression is exceedingly sinful ? 
 To admit this, however, and to feel it, are two dis- 
 tinct things. A mere admission of its sinfulness is 
 easily reconciled with a continuance of the sin. But 
 a sense of it will produce repentance, and thus secure 
 the true sanctification of the Sabbath. If then, the 
 view which has thus far been taken of the origin and 
 design, the duties and benefits of the Sabbath, should 
 
 I 9t 
 
 * * 
 
152 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 produce no other effect tlian mere esteem and outward 
 observance of the day ; ahhough even this would 
 prove a blessing too great for calculation, yet I should 
 feel as though my chief object were still unattained ; 
 as though a valuable safeguard had been thrown 
 around your temporal interests ; but still, as though 
 your eternal welfare had been left insecure and in 
 jeopardy. 
 
 Supposing, then, that the sinfulness of violating the 
 Sabbath will be generally admitted, let us, in order to 
 a proper sense of the same, proceed to examine some 
 of the circumstances by which it is aggravated. 
 
 1. First, then, the sin of Sabbath-breaking is com- 
 mitted in disregard of the solemn character, which 
 God has been pleased to throw around the Sabbath. 
 
 At the moment, when in the order of the Divine 
 ways, God said to material things, " Begin," he com- 
 menced his great work of Creation. Under the efforts 
 of Almighty power, the realms of darkness filled with 
 the elements of things, formless, confused, chaotic. 
 He spake to light, and it shone forth, disclosing the 
 wondrous work. His informing Spirit brooded over 
 the deep of matter, and it took its shapes. The wa- 
 ters assembled. The dry land appeared. The firma- 
 ment rose. The sun, moon, and stars, began their 
 rounds. All things were clothed with beauty, filled 
 with life, and wrought to action. At last, man stood 
 
 * ^ # 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 153 
 
 up m the image of God, to survey, admire, and praise 
 the glorious scene ; and the Creator himself, looking 
 down upon the whole, smiled approvingly on his 
 work, and pronounced it "very good." Thus six 
 primordial days passed. At the commencement of 
 the seventh, God entered on his rest; and "God 
 blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." " The 
 morning Stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
 shouted for joy." For then the fresh and blooming 
 Earth first felt the step of newly-measured Time ; 
 then, in hope of an eternal rest in heaven, a new race' 
 was created ; and, then, as type of that eternal rest, 
 the Sabbath was 'set apart and hallowed. It was a' 
 solemn day ; a day of holy rest and of holy joy. 
 
 But man soon sinned, and God as soon disclosed 
 his purposes of grace. The redeeming Seed was 
 promised ; and, in faith of his future advent, the altar 
 was erected and the sacrifice begun. Meanwhile, 
 the earth was overspread by man, and sin followed 
 wide his way. The worshippers of God became 
 few, and the worshippers of idols many. These per- 
 ished in the flood; those lived to stock the earth 
 anew. They carried with them the altar, the sacri- 
 fice, and the Sabbath ; and, in connection with these, 
 began a second race. The earth was again over- 
 spread by man ; and again sin followed wide his way. 
 Once more the worshippers of God became few and 
 
c^ 
 
 154 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the worshippers of idols many. Then Jehovah chose 
 a nation as his own, disciplined them for himself, and 
 finally, in solemn state, gave them all his ordinances. 
 Then, when Sinai shook, and the earth trembled at 
 the presence of the Lord ; when the people removed 
 and stood afar off at the tokens of his coming ; and 
 when none but Moses could endure the sight ; then, 
 from amidst all the signs, which nature could express, 
 of reverence for her God ; from amidst the heavings 
 of the earth and the burnings of the mount ; from 
 amidst the cloud and smoke, the thunder and the 
 lightning, came forth the Law. ,0n its first table, 
 wrought and engraved by the Divine hand, was writ- 
 ten : " I am the Lord, thy God ; thou shalt have none 
 other gods ; thou shalt neither make nor worship any 
 graven image, nor the likeness of any conceivable 
 thing ; Profane not the name of God ; and remember 
 THE Sabbath day to keep it holy." 
 
 Brought thus again to remembrance, and amidst 
 such awful circumstances, the Sabbath became, with 
 new emphasis, a solemn day, invested with new 
 proofs of consecrated character. In these it stood 
 till the Seed of promise came. Long had He been 
 seen through types and shadows ; and long had the 
 moral world, as it " lay in darkness and in the shadow 
 of death," awaited his approach in new transforming 
 power. At length he came ; unfolded the purposes 
 
' * c^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 155 
 
 of the Father ; and entered visibly on the work to 
 which (from the beginning) he had been appointed. 
 He showed the way, which had been devised for re- 
 conciling Truth with Mercy, and Righteousness with 
 Peace ; and for sustaining the authority of the law, 
 while from the contrite believer was removed its pen- 
 alty. " He died, the just for the unjust, that he might 
 bring us to God." He entered the tomb and took 
 captive the powers of death and of hell ; and, audibly 
 commissioning the Eternal Spirit to apply his labor of 
 love to the hearts that would receive it, he completed 
 and put into visible and perceptible action the great 
 work of restoring the soul from sin to holiness, from 
 Satan unto God. Thus he added, to the work of cre- 
 ating, that of redeeming man ; a new and spiritual 
 creation, to which the first was both introductory and 
 inferior. 
 
 This stupendous transaction was closed, and its 
 Almighty Agent entered on his rest, on the morning of 
 the Christian Sabbath. While, as yet, the grave held the 
 Crucified, while as yet he was vanquishing there the 
 powers of darkness, " behold, there was a great earth- 
 quake." It was the signal of completed triumph. 
 Then " descended the angel of the Lord." " Plis 
 countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white 
 as snow ; and for fear of him, the keepers did shake 
 and became as dead men." He came and touched 
 
 I 
 ^ ^ 
 
^ '. —# 
 
 156 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the sealed sepulchre, and the Lord arose. He rose 
 in glory, and he rose to rest. With the darkness of 
 that night ceased his last, his mightiest work, and 
 with the rising of that day commenced his best, his 
 holiest repose. That, too, was a solemn day; a 
 Sabbath sanctified anew, and given with higher holi- 
 ness to man. 
 
 In this character it passed, till, with a few returns, 
 it brought the Pentecost. Then, when the holy band 
 of the disciples " were all with one accord in one 
 place, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as 
 of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
 where they were sitting. And there appeared unto 
 them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon 
 each of them. And they were filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the 
 Spirit gave them utterance." At that time " there 
 were dwelling at Jerusalem, devout men out of every 
 nation under heaven ;" " and they were all amazed" 
 when they heard the spiritually-invested Galileans 
 speak, in numerous foreign tongues, " the wonderful 
 works of God." 
 
 This was the last special distinction conferred by 
 Jehovah on his own holy Sabbath. The whole God- 
 head had now taken a visible part in rendering it a sol- 
 emn, a consecrated day. The Father had sanctified 
 it by resting thereon from his work of Creation ; the 
 
 4> ^ 
 
-* 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 157 
 
 Son, by resting from his work of Redemption ; and 
 the Spirit, by pouring out upon the seed of the Church 
 those powerful and promised influences, without 
 which the labors, both of Creation and of Redemp- 
 tion, had, so far as our salvation is concerned, been in 
 vain. As the eternal purposes of grace to man were 
 more and more unfolded, the Sabbath was hallowed 
 to higher and higher uses, till, finally, it stood in ail 
 the sacredness, with which God could invest it ; a 
 day consecrated to the outpourings of the Divine 
 Spirit on the Church ; a moral monument, anointed 
 with the unction from on high ; a column between 
 earth and heaven, securing and supporting the salva- 
 tion of man, and lifting hioh before the world the 
 glory of God. 
 
 Such is the Institution, the holy pillar, which, with 
 sinful hands, men touch and endeavor to shake, when 
 they either refuse, or knowingly neglect, to hallow 
 God's Sabbath day. No wonder, then, that the judg- 
 ments of God have been so often let loose to chastise 
 a sin of such peculiar turpitude ! Here is an Institu- 
 tion, around which God has thrown indescribable so- 
 lemnity of character ; the observance of which he has 
 endeavored to secure in all possible ways, by the most 
 awful commands, and by the most alluring promises, 
 by making it a season for the most sublime displays 
 of himself, and for the most astonishing exhibitions 
 
158 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 of his ways ; and the profanation of which he has 
 sought to prevent by every method consistent with 
 the free agency of man ; by warnings in terror, and by 
 threatenings in wrath ; by blasting judgments, heaped 
 on provinces and nations, and by fearful visitations 
 sent upon individuals and families. And yet multi- 
 tudes, in Christian lands, habitually disregard the day. 
 All that God has done impresses them with no deep- 
 felt reverence for his ordinance ; with no inward con- 
 trition for its violation ! Their hearts are not pained 
 at the thought, their eyes weep not at the sight of 
 their offences. How sad a disagreement of result 
 with the measures Avhich God has devised for influ- 
 encing the conduct of men ! We live not, as the 
 Jews did, under a dispensation, in which this sin was 
 visited with explicitly designated temporal judgments. 
 But let us not, for this reason, forget that, as we live 
 under a more spiritual dispensation than they, so the 
 punishment for this sin is but transferred to a more 
 spiritual state of being ; and will be more signal than 
 theirs, inasmuch as the patience of God is now longer 
 in waiting, and as the sin is committed against in- 
 creasing light. 
 
 2. But this is not all. In the second place, the sin 
 of Sabbath-breaking is aggravated not only by the cir- 
 cumstance of its being committed in disregard of the 
 high solemnity of character, which God has imparted 
 
 * 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 159 
 
 to the institution, but also, by the fact of its being per- 
 petrated in disregard of all the benefits, which its 
 proper observance confers. 
 
 Upon these benefits it is needless again to expati- 
 ate. From what has already been said, I trust they 
 are still fresh in your memory. In a former Lecture, 
 you saw that, in the blessings with which it is crowned, 
 the Sabbath is connected with the best interests of 
 man and the exhibited glory of God. You saw it 
 intimately associated with individual comfort and 
 prosperity ; with the peace and good order of society ; 
 with the purity of public conscience, law and justice ; 
 with the permanency of civil, judicial and ecclesiasti- 
 cal institutions ; with the stability of governments and 
 the peace of nations. You saw it closely linked with 
 the existence and prevalence of pure religion and the 
 worship of God ; wdth the production of holiness in 
 the sinner, and its cultivation in the saint ; with the 
 downfall of the kingdom of sin and error, and the uni- 
 versal establishment of the cause of Christ and his 
 Truth. In a word, you saw it inseparably connected, 
 by the promise and the providence of God, with a sys- 
 tem of means, intended to promote and secure all that 
 is pure and peaceable, good and glorious ; a system 
 which is the only shield from heaven to protect our 
 world against the hostilities of hell ; the only minister 
 
 # . # 
 
* # 
 
 160 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 of love for securing " Glory to God in the liigliest, on 
 earth peace, good will towards men." 
 
 And yet, we live in a country and an age, in which 
 the Sabbath never returns without its accompaniment 
 of the most flagrant profanations. Whether by any 
 who read these pages, it is ever thus violated, God 
 knows. The writer needs not inquire. It is suffi- 
 cient to remark, that every time we knowingly pro- 
 fane the Sabbath, whether openly, or secretly, whether 
 from a love of pleasure and of profit, or from an utter 
 indifference to the Institution, we do virtually declare 
 ourselves opposed to the peace and prosperity of so- 
 ciety ; to the laws and government of our country ; to 
 the interests of mankind and the welfare of the world ; 
 to the prevalence of religion and the purity of the 
 Church ; to the salvation of our own souls, and that 
 of our fellow creatures ; to the Saviour of men and 
 the glory of God ; whilst those, who openly contemn 
 the Sabbath, do what they can, by the strength of 
 their example and influence, to deprive mankind of 
 all the innumerable and infinitely precious blessings, 
 which a due observance of the day confers ; to pour 
 upon them vials of wrath in the extinction of the 
 Institution itself; to tear away that heavenly shield 
 which God has given to protect, and to send back that 
 minister of love which he has commissioned to bless 
 
 cSr- 
 
^ . ^ 
 
 CHllISTIAN SABBATH. 161 
 
 the world ; and thus to leave our earth, unguarded, to 
 the ravages of sin and the triumphs of evil. 
 
 That all this does not actually follow an abuse of the 
 Sabbath is, not because that abuse tends to produce no 
 such effect, but because God reigns, not man. In 
 mercy. He overrules some of the evils of violating the 
 Sabbath. But the sin of such violation he leaves, in 
 all its magnitude, and with all its aggravations, for 
 future punishment ; committed, as it is, in disregard of 
 the peculiarly solemn and consecrated character of 
 the Sabbath itself, and of the inconceivably vast and 
 valuable blessings, v/hich it is designed to confer. 
 
 3. But what will it avail to measure the sinfulness 
 of violating the Sabbath, if we do not feel and peni- 
 tently mourn the sins which, by such a violation, we 
 have contracted ? Can a future sanctification of the 
 day be possible, while we feel no pang of contrition 
 for its past neglect or abuse ? And yet, who can 
 touch the heart and make it feel ? Who can unsheathe 
 the sting of sin, and leave it to wound and waken the 
 dull and drowsy conscience ? Almighty God ! The 
 prerogative is thine. Do thou show us our transgres- 
 sion, and plead with us, for our sin. Yet, dear reader, 
 there is one thing which we can do. In reference 
 to the subject before us we can examine our hearts, 
 and meditate on our ways. 
 
 Let us look at the character of the open and reck- 
 
 -* 
 
' * 
 
 162 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 less Sabbath-breaker; that presumptuous mortal, Vv^ho 
 separates from God and goes forth into the world to 
 trample down the temporal and the eternal happiness 
 of man ; who steps, during consecrated time, into the 
 Spiritual Vineyard, and from the trees which the Lord 
 has planted " for the knowledge of good and evil," 
 endeavors to pluck and waste that fruit, which is 
 " medicine" to the soul, and to scatter and destroy those 
 leaves, which " are for the healing of the nations ;" 
 and who, while engaged in his evil work, sometimes 
 feels the judgments of God lighting on his head ; and 
 is never shielded from them, except by the patience 
 of the very Being whom he provokes, and who, per- 
 haps, kindly spares to save ! Oh, who would willingly 
 take a step which might, by even a possibility, lead 
 to the formation of such a character as this ? Who 
 would seek consolation in the thought that he has never 
 openly scorned the Sabbath ; and that his improprie- 
 ties thereon have only been such as are common and 
 not esteemed discreditable ! Will such pleas be ac- 
 cepted with God ? May not the Sabbath be as really 
 broken by levity and unholy thoughts in the house of 
 prayer, as it is by rudeness and licentiousness in the 
 house of mirth ? Is there not much less distinction 
 than is usually supposed between an open and unde- 
 fended abuse of the season, and that disregard for it, 
 which is more secret and creditable ? If the former 
 
 4 _ ^:%^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 163 
 
 springs from hostility, does not the latter arise from 
 indifference, towards religion and religious duty ? 
 Between these two states of mind does God make so 
 wide a distinction as man ? If hostility wage open 
 war, does not indifference look down with cold neg- 
 lect, upon this great ordinance of revealed Religion ? 
 I-iCt us meditate upon these things. Let us, both 
 writer and reader, examine ourselves. Let us, each 
 for himself, look into his own mind, and see how far, 
 on this important point, he is in fault. Let us " not 
 judge according to the appearance," but let us "judge 
 righteous judgment." Especially, let us not think to 
 find safety by concealing the truth iivour own hearts. 
 We may hide it from our fellow man, but not from 
 our all-searching God. He closely inspects, and 
 faithfully records, all our neglect or abuse, whether 
 secret or open, of his holy day. In the books of 
 the Judgment the record lies, and we must, one day, 
 meet it there. In order to meet it in peace, let us 
 now seek to be reconciled to our Father in heaven. 
 " The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth from 
 all sin." Let us, as we all have need, apply to this 
 for cleansing from the guilt, which we may have con- 
 tracted on this day of sacred, instituted rest. Let us 
 flee to Jesus ; and, at the foot of his Cross, pour out 
 acknowledgments of sin, and plead for the gift of his 
 Spirit, that we may be enlightened, renewed and 
 
 10 
 
Ctfa — ■ i 
 
 164 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 sanctified, and hereafter enabled to keep the Sabbath 
 holy, to the glory of God, and the salvation of men ! 
 
 And now, should there be, among the readers of 
 these pages, — God forbid there should be, — one care- 
 less, sorrowless, determined profaner of the Lord's 
 day, to that one let me affectionately address a single 
 closing consideration. 
 
 I speak what has been certified by the records of 
 criminal jurisprudence, as well as by the voice of 
 common observation, when I say, that Sabbath-break- 
 ing frequently proves a leading sin. It has led to 
 crimes, which have sent thousands to an ignominious 
 death, which have brought multitudes into shame and 
 wreck of reputation, and which have cost innumera- 
 ble myriads the worth of their souls. From this con- 
 sideration, then, connected with another, that God 
 closely inspects and faithfully records all profanations 
 of his day, let the reckless Sabbath-breaker step for- 
 word in spirit to the hour, when he will " stand before 
 the judgment-seat of Christ," surrounded by angels, 
 and by the spirits of the human race, and realize the 
 emotions with which he will then reflect on his 
 grievous violations of the Sabbath. Looking back on 
 the course of his life, perhaps on what his last earthly 
 Sabbath witnessed, with what grief and anguish will 
 his heart be filled ! Methinks he will be ready to 
 exclaim in bitterness of soul ; " How rash has been 
 
 -c^ 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 165 
 
 my folly ! How many precious seasons for repent- 
 ance have I enjoyed ! How many kind invitations, 
 and warnings and strivings of the Spirit have I 
 despised ! To what hardness of heart, and to what 
 final impenitency did my abuses of the Lord's Day 
 lead me ! And now, to what endless, unrelieved 
 despair ! Oh ! that those Sabbaths, one, at least, 
 might again return ! But, no ! No Sabbath will ever 
 dawn and shine on all my desolate and dark Eternity ! 
 In HEAVEN, indeed, all will be Sabbath, all holy 
 REST, for ever. But here, there will be no peace, no 
 quietness to me. I have refused counsel, and despised 
 reproof; and now I " eat for ever the fruit of my own 
 way." 
 
 Dear reader, if, by a possibility, I address such an 
 one as is here contemplated, let these feelings, as 
 they come fresh from a scene, which may soon be 
 realized, live awhile in your mind. Keep your eye 
 fixed on that scene, till, by God's blessing, you dis- 
 cover and feel the sins, of which your Sabbath hours 
 have been witnesses ; and till you can resolve, in a 
 strength not your own, that, hereafter, you will 
 " Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." 
 Thus you will be saved from sorrow without end, 
 and introduced to a blessedness unmeasured and 
 immeasurable ! 
 
 # ^ 
 
* —:%> 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 ISAIAH LVIII. 13, 14. 
 
 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 Honorable ; and shalt honor 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." 
 
 10^ 
 
 c^. 
 
-* 
 
 ^7^ a (yimWrnwrnw! 
 
 ; i^ \? 9 V f; ^ WSM'MMi 
 
 o J£ fc oiJ « 
 
 
 VIII. 
 
 #- 
 
 These M^ords I consider the best summary in the Bi- 
 ble of the leading views of the Sabbath, which I have 
 hitherto taken. They allude to its nature and design, 
 as a " holy " rest, to be kept " honorable " to the Lord. 
 They epitomise its duties, as they require " honor " 
 and worship to God, with their included attention to 
 personal religion, and abstinence from all that is im- 
 pure and selfish, sinful and secular, in doing our own 
 ways, finding our own pleasure, and speaking our own 
 words. They hint, too, at the benefits of the Sab- 
 bath ; at its spiritual blessings, such as conversion 
 from sin, growth in grace, joy in the Spirit, and ripe- 
 ness for glory, intimated in the phrase ; " Then shalt 
 thou delight thyself in the Lord ;" and at its temporal 
 favors, such as personal comfort, prosperity and es- 
 
 lot 
 
 '# 
 
^ ___ _ C§D 
 
 170 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 teem, expressed under the idea " of riding on the high 
 places of the earth ;" and such as national peace, 
 strength and permanency, shadowed under the figure 
 of being " fed with the heritage of Jacob thy father." 
 And finally ; they strongly and necessarily imply the 
 exceeding sinfulness of violating the Sabbath, as 
 stated and urged on the conscience in the last Lecture. 
 
 And now, dear reader, if the examination of this 
 important subject, through which we have passed, 
 and which is so happily condensed in my present 
 text, has, through God's blessing, had the effect of 
 elevating your views of the character of the Sabbath, 
 of deepening and fixing its hold on your religious 
 conscience and affections, and of convincing you of 
 the sin of either its neglect or its abuse, our time will 
 not have been spent in vain ; the results of our atten- 
 tion will tell happily on the account, which we shall 
 all soon render at the great tribunal in Eternity. 
 
 In concluding the whole series, there is one point 
 of peculiar interest, to which I would for a moment 
 invite your consideration. I refer to the conflict, 
 which is now carried on in Christian countries for and 
 against the institution of the Sabbath. 
 
 On the one hand, for several years past, the Chris- 
 tian public, both in this country and in England, have 
 been making special exertions to secure a due sancti- 
 fication of this holy day. These exertions have been 
 
C^ . ; 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 171 
 
 prompted by the serious and increasing abuses of the 
 Sabbath, which are openly tolerated ; such as travel- 
 ling in all its various modes, the opening of shops 
 for traffic in cities and large towns, and a resort to 
 places of public amusement and dissipation ; and by 
 the dangers to the Sabbath, which are to be appre- 
 hended from various sources ; such as the great influx 
 into this country of European foreigners, who have 
 been educated with little or no regard for the sacred- 
 ness of the day, and the current circulation amongst 
 us of European literature, some of it excellent of its 
 kind, but much of it filled with lax and unscriptural 
 notions of this Institution. Looking with a careful 
 and a sorrowing eye on these and kindred evils, mul- 
 titudes of serious and reflecting Christians, both in 
 the United States and in England, many of whom are 
 alike distinguished by character and by station, have 
 been awakened to their growing magnitude ; and, 
 firmly relying on the providence and grace of God, 
 have resolved to exert their whole influence in favor 
 of a due observance of the Sabbath, of making it, 
 wherever known, a day hallowed to the God of all 
 the earth. Filled with the spirit of the text, they 
 desire to turn away every foot from doing his own 
 pleasure on God's holy day ; to lead every man to 
 call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, hon- 
 orable ; thus bringing them to delight themselves in 
 10| 
 
eg. ^ 
 
 172 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the Lord, to ride upon the high places of the earth, 
 and to be fed with the heritage of Jacob their father, 
 as the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. 
 
 For the attainment of this divine object, their great 
 resort is — not to arms — not to legislative enactments 
 — not to penal inflictions. They raise not the arm of 
 government — they lift not the sword of law. The 
 theory of some governments is indeed such as to 
 admit the enforcement of the Sabbath ; whilst that of 
 others is unfavorable to such a resort. It is a resort, 
 however, which judicious Christians are not, in any 
 cases, fond of making. Their resource lies in moral 
 argument and action. They Avould embody and con- 
 centrate all good moral influences, whether in the 
 labors of the pulpit, in the power of the press, or in 
 the energies of example ; and they Avould throw these 
 influences, openly and with a prayer to God, into that 
 scale, which will make the great balance, whereon 
 are suspended the two opposite destinies of every 
 Christian land, turn in favor of private and public 
 good order, peace and permanency; into that scale, 
 which will elevate the whole mass of public prosper- 
 ity and happiness, of political and judiciary institu- 
 tions, of the religion of the Gospel and the Church 
 of Christ — a measureless quantity of mercies for man 
 — out of that yawning gulf of destruction, into which 
 they will inevitably descend, if abuse and profanation 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 173 
 
 of the Sabbath should once pervade and possess 
 Christian nations. 
 
 On the other hand ; while the friends of the Sab- 
 bath are waking, its enemies are not sleeping. In 
 Europe it has been brought into extensive discredit 
 as a divinely authoritative institution, and has num- 
 berless enemies, who sleeplessly seek its utter dese- 
 cration. In this country the opposition is equally 
 virulent, and scarcely less extensive. I will state a 
 fact. In the principal city of our Union open efforts 
 have been made for the subversion of the Sabbath not 
 only, but also of the religion which it supports. In 
 that city, a cause involving the offence of Sabbath 
 breaking, was brought, some years since, for trial 
 before jury. In his defence, the advocate for the ac- 
 cused stated, that " he rose to justify what was termed 
 a violation of the laws of God," or a profanation of 
 the Sabbath ; that his client was a man who " had 
 read much and studied deeply," and who had " wisely 
 arrived at the conclusion that every faith and all reli- 
 gions, are false, fraudulent and superstitious ;" in other 
 words, that he was one of those beings, " without 
 God in the world," who deem religion and the Sab- 
 bath alike worthy of contempt ; and that, in " advo- 
 cating and disseminating these opinions " there were 
 engaged " in that city two societies, and one printing 
 press," the defendant being " a member " of one of 
 
 #^ 
 
eg. 
 
 I 
 
 174 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the societies, and of course an eager learner in the 
 principles, which that press is, in common with others 
 in the country, pouring forth.* 
 
 Here, Christian reader, we get a view of something 
 appalling in relation to the subject, which has so long 
 occupied our attention. The combination, which has 
 been mentioned, against religion and the Sabbath, is 
 not feeble, nor unsupported. Its desecrating assem- 
 blies HAVE been held in mockery, on this day of God ; 
 and the wild sounds there uttered have been caught 
 by the ears of many beautiful, fashionable, and polite. 
 Its laboring presses have collected their matter from 
 wide extremes of our population, and sent out their 
 poisoned pages to be read and studied throughout the 
 land. These operations were but the heart of a once 
 spreading system, indications of whose working are 
 still given in numerous directions, and proofs of w^hose 
 yet deleterious agency are not wanting in the very 
 midst of ourselves. 
 
 * Philadelphia Recorder, Vol. VI., No. 15, July 6, 1828; 
 about the time when these Lectures were first written. Since 
 that period, much has been done in correcting public opinion, 
 and what had become, too, public practice, on this subject. God 
 grant that the Work of Reformation, which has been begun, 
 may become complete, not only in this, but also in every Chris- 
 tian land. 
 
# ~ ^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 175 
 
 In truth, the ranks of Christendom, m our own 
 country especially, have been distinctly taking sides 
 on the subject of religion and the Sabbath. Our land 
 has become a field of moral combat, on this, as well 
 as on other subjects. Two opposing hosts have gone 
 out to the issue. On the one hand, the friends of 
 religion and the Sabbath are endeavoring to erect 
 around the peace and happiness, the morality and 
 religion, the law and government of the country, the 
 impenetrable bulwarks of this divine institution. On 
 the other hand, its enemies are, if less publicly, yet 
 not less strenuously, than in other years, struggling to 
 pull them down ; and in so doing are endeavoring to 
 prostrate a fabric, which, if it fall, must fall on the 
 ruins of our country, on the wreck of all that is dear 
 and valuable and holy. If they succeed, some at 
 least of the scenes of Revolutionary France will re- 
 turn and be acted over even in America ; on the plains, 
 which have been consecrated to the steppings of free- 
 dom and of religion. In the words of D wight ; " The 
 Sabbath will " again " be changed into the Decade, 
 and the house of God into a stable ; the Bible " will 
 once more " be paraded through the Streets on an ass, 
 or consumed upon a bonfire ; immortal existence " will 
 again be theoretically " blotted out of the Divine king- 
 dom ; the Redeemer be postponed to a murderer ; and 
 
 #- 
 
^ 
 
 176 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 the Creator to a prostitute, styled, The Goddess of 
 Reason !" 
 
 Which side in this conflict will ultimately prevail, 
 my mind suffers not a doubt. It will be the side of 
 the Sabbath and its supporters. But why- — when its 
 opposers are so subtle, so active, so combined 1 Be- 
 cause on the side of the Sabbath fights that " High 
 and lofty One, that inhabiteth Eternity, whose Name 
 is Holy." " He doeth according to his will in the 
 armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the 
 earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, 
 What doest Thou ?" He is our only, He is our suf- 
 ficient ground of trust. "He will work and none 
 shall hinder." He will cast disunion, or trembling, 
 or curse into the midst of his enemies ; blast their 
 designs ; and finally, through what brief, or prolonged 
 vicissitudes of conflict, He only knows, give his peo- 
 ple victory. Through what brief, or prolonged vicis- 
 situdes of conflict He only knows. We are, and 
 must be, ignorant. Of one thing, however, even we 
 may be assured. He works by the instrumentality of 
 human agents : and in those whom He has already 
 raised up and employed in this service, and in the 
 success with which He has thus far crowned their 
 labors. He calls on me, on you, on all who would not 
 contend against God, to engage in the same service ; 
 to stand forth honestly on his side, and to " come to 
 
 ^ 
 
# c 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 177 
 
 the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
 the mighty." 
 
 And I pray that all, in our country, of every name 
 and every rank, may hear, and feel, and follow this 
 call from God ; and with all their might and soul and 
 strength, by word and action, by example and influ- 
 ence, engage in the v/ork of promoting the observance 
 of the Christian Sabbath. This may be done in va- 
 rious ways. 
 
 I. It may be done by the co-operation of religious 
 and reflecting men in public stations and professions. 
 The extent of their influence in favor of right public 
 opinion and practice may become almost incalculable. 
 Let them form a just estimate of the sacredness and 
 the value of the Sabbath, and then pledge themselves 
 to their consciences and to God, that they will use all 
 proper and Scriptural means for securing the season 
 from neglect and profanation ; that they will at all 
 times, and in all places where they may be, cherish 
 and inculcate in others, sentiments of affection and 
 reverence for this holy day ; that they will uniformly 
 discountenance men and companies of men, who are 
 known to employ their influence, their dependents, or 
 their capital, in habitual and sinful violations of its 
 rest ; and that they will as uniformly encourage those 
 who are known to regulate all their conduct and busi- 
 ness by a conscientious regard to its sacredness ; let 
 
 * 
 
— * 
 
 178 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 them regularly and unostentatiously do these things ; 
 and it is impossible to calculate the extent to which 
 they may be the means of swelling the impulse of 
 that moral sentiment and action, which are necessary 
 to render the Sabbath, throughout our land, a conse- 
 crated day, and to secure to ourselves and our pos- 
 terity the manifold blessings of which it is designed 
 to be the instrument. 
 
 As examples of the manner in which this influence 
 may be exerted, let me mention a few facts. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, that great pride of English literature, 
 was a strict and conscientious observer of the Sab- 
 bath. Being once asked by a lady, whether he did 
 not think a certain cleric, whose observance of the 
 day was notoriously lax, to be a very agreeable man, 
 he made her no answer. The question, however, 
 being repeated, he replied with his usual honesty and 
 superiority to the requirements of a false civility ; 
 " Child, I will not speak in favor of a Sabbath-breaker 
 to please you or any one else." 
 
 On his death-bed, the same great man sent for Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, the celebrated English painter, and 
 after conversing seriously with him for some time, 
 said he had three favors to ask of him, which, as a 
 dying friend, he hoped would not be refused. The 
 second of these requests was, that he would read the 
 
 #■ ^ 
 
* 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. ] 79 
 
 Scriptures ; and the last, that he would abstain from 
 using his pencil on the Sabbath. 
 
 A similar, though more striking fact is mentioned 
 of Dr. Porteus, one of the most excellent of the Bi- 
 shops of London. When sick of the disease of 
 which he died, he happened to hear that one of the 
 London Clubs, at the head of which was the Prince 
 of Wales, afterwards George lY., had agreed to hold 
 meetings on the Sabbath. He requested an interview 
 with the Prince, which was courteously granted. 
 Assisted by two servants, the feeble but holy man 
 entered the Prince's apartment, and with all the im- 
 pressive eloquence of godliness in high station, and 
 within vieAv of death, besought him that the meetings 
 might be held on some other day than the Sabbath. 
 The Prince was seemingly much aftected, and pro- 
 mised to use his influence in favor of the Bishop's 
 request ! 
 
 In view of illustrative facts like these, it is only 
 necessary to say to every one who occupies a post of 
 public influence, " According to thine abilities, station, 
 and opportunities, ' go, and do thou likewise.'" 
 
 2. Again: the observance of the Sabbath may be 
 promoted not only by the influence of public and pro- 
 fessional men, but also by the example and endeavors 
 of private Christians. 
 
 Professed disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, let 
 
 ^# 
 
^. __ # 
 
 180 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 US try the standard by which we have hitherto regu- 
 lated our observance of the Sabbath, and try it by the 
 measure of God's word. Can we conscientiously 
 exhort others to walk in this particular " so as they 
 have us for an example." Nay, can we ourselves 
 conscientiously consent to walk for the future on this 
 day by the rule of our former lives ? This trial of 
 ourselves can hardly fail to bring us to humbling 
 views of our Christian course. Let us, then, sink 
 into contrition over the low and worldly spirit, which 
 we have too often carried through our hours of holy 
 time ; over the cold and wandering affections, which 
 we have so often indulged in our Sabbath duties ; and 
 over the irregular and imperfect example of hallowing 
 the day which we have thus been led to set before 
 the world. And let us look earnestly to God for the 
 gift of his Spirit, that we may be able hereafter to 
 enter on every returning season of his sacred rest in 
 a higher and holier frame of mind ; with more fixed 
 and ardent affections in devotion ; and in the exhibi- 
 tion before the world of a more unvarying and con- 
 sistent Christian example. Whenever we think of 
 the day, ourselves, or speak of it to others, let us 
 never fail to esteem and describe it as a day which 
 stands high in our affections, and the universal sanc- 
 tification of which we are earnestly desirous to pro- 
 mote. Let us uniformly "call the Sabbath a delight. 
 
 -# 
 
CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 181 
 
 the holy of the Lord honorable." Let us never cease 
 to " honor him," on the Sabbath, " not finding our 
 own earthly pleasures, nor doing our own selfish 
 ways, nor speaking our own idle words." " Then 
 shall we delight ourselves in the Lord ;" the blessing 
 of the God of Jacob will rest upon us ; we shall be 
 the means of elevating around us the standard of the 
 Sabbath ; and we shall quietly exert, and silently send 
 forth, a purified moral influence, which will operatively 
 coalesce with more public efforts for its observance. 
 
 And now, in dismissing the whole subject, I would 
 fain leave a word with a few distinct classes of indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 1. Let, then, the man whose loose and unsettled 
 notions of the Sabbath lead him to its occasional vio- 
 lation, reflect how seriously he impedes the efforts of 
 those who are solicitous to secure for our country and 
 the Church the full blessings of this institution ; and 
 how directly he assists the efforts of those who are 
 its determined enemies, and who, if they should suc- 
 ceed in abolishing it, would, to a moral certainty, put 
 out the light and banish the blessings of religion from 
 amongst us. Let him reflect from whom he separates, 
 and with whom he joins, every time he misspends 
 these sacred hours. The holiest individuals, the most 
 devout families, the most religious communities are 
 always most conscientious observers of the Sabbath. 
 
 11 I 
 
 * ^ :ip 
 
183 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 But the villain never regards it ; the irreligious family 
 never sanctify it ; the licentious community never 
 " remember to keep it holy." Let him reflect on 
 these things, and resolve, on principle, to join the 
 friends of truth and happiness, and to come entirely 
 over " to the help of the Lord against the mighty." 
 
 2. Again : let the man whose selfish and worldly 
 views have led him into the careless, needless, con- 
 stant habit of violating the Sabbath, of spending it in 
 idle inaction, in strolling the fields, in examining his 
 business, in looking to his flocks and herds, or in 
 studying voluptuous pleasures, consider how perni- 
 cious is his example, and how stoutly he counteracts 
 the blessed influences of this holy day. Such an one 
 generally pleads in excuse that " he has labored or 
 studied hard for six days, and needs the seventh for 
 rest." But, let him remember, that the rest wliich 
 either the body or the mind needs on this day, is not 
 indolence, but the casting off of the burthens of life 
 for the light and pleasing duties of religion. Let him 
 remember that many a toilsome and indigent child of 
 God has such a delight in the Sabbath as to make its 
 holy exercises his most refreshing and invigorating 
 rest ; and even the labor of attending them through 
 lengthened distances and inclement airs, seem light 
 and pleasant ; and that if he himself were as much 
 engaged in seeking the kingdom of God as in amass- 
 
4> — — ^ 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABSATH. 183 
 
 ing the treasures of earth, he woiikl speedily find in 
 the sanctification of the Sabbath, both to the body 
 and to the mind, the best of all refreshings. 
 
 3. Once more : let the poor man, who breaks the 
 Sabbath, and then pleads that " the necessities of 
 poverty know no law, and that the mouths of famish- 
 ing offspring must be filled with bread, even if it be 
 earned on holy time," remember, for his encourage- 
 ment in duty, that bread earned on the Lord's Day 
 satisfieth not the hungry soul, and that God never lets 
 the bodies of his children suffer for obeying his com- 
 mands. It is the testimony of Sir Matthew Hale, one 
 of the greatest of English judges, and one of the best 
 of English Christians, when writing to his children : 
 "I have found, by a strict and diligent observation, 
 that a due observance of this day hath ever joined to 
 it a blessing upon the rest of my time ; and the week 
 so begun hath been blessed and prosperous to me ; 
 and, on the contrary side, when 1 have been negligent 
 of the duties of this day, the rest of the week hath 
 been unsuccessful and unhappy to my secular employ- 
 ments. And this I do not say slightly, but upon a 
 long and sound observation and experience.^' Let 
 this noble testimony be remembered. It is not to 
 him who violates, but to him who sanctifies the holy 
 Rest, that God makes the promise of my text : " If 
 thou turn away thy foot from doing thy pleasure on 
 
 ■* 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 184 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 my holy day ; and call the Sabbath a Delight, the 
 Holy of the Lord, Honorable ; then thou shalt delight 
 thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride on 
 the high places of the Earth, and feed thee with the 
 heritage of Jacob thy father." Let the poor remember 
 that no man ever permanently bettered his worldly 
 circumstances by spending the Sabbath either in 
 habitual labor, or in the contrivance of plans for the 
 improvement of his condition. Such endeavors to 
 grow rich, or even to gain comforts, generally consti- 
 tute the most certain way to grow poor, and to per- 
 petuate hunger. Such labors are a moth to the poor 
 man's substance. Why? Because the curse of God 
 is in them, and cleaves to them like rust to the blighted 
 harvest. Let him cast them away, and worship his 
 Maker. Then shall he be prospered in his six days' 
 toil. The dews of the divine blessing shall descend 
 on his temporal lot. His children shall flourish in his 
 sight, and beneath his example. While both he and 
 they will be permitted to enjoy a reputable com- 
 petency ; perhaps even to " ride on the high places of 
 the Earth." 
 
 4. Finally : let the youth of our country, of both 
 sexes, who are soon to go forth into active life, and 
 under Providence, receive into their hands and prac- 
 tically control the wealth, the business, the influence 
 now in the hands of their parents, reflect seriously on 
 
*- 
 
 CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 185 
 
 the course of duty before them, and on the high 
 responsibilities, resting on them, in relation to the 
 Sabbath. My dear young friends, look out upon the 
 moral field which the present situation of our country 
 exhibits, and see the two opposing hosts which have 
 there gone forth to conflict. With the one are inse- 
 parably associated the God of our Fathers, his blessed 
 religion and his holy Sabbath ; our laws, our govern- 
 ment, and all that is excellent in the land. With the 
 other, are as inseparably associated atheism, vice and 
 crime ; and their united aim is, to render our country 
 the dreary home of such doctrines as these : " oblivion 
 to the Gospel, abolition to the Sabbath, extinction to 
 immortality, annihilation to the soul." When you go 
 out to action, as, if life be spared, you inevitably must, 
 with which of these hosts will you enrol yourselves ? 
 Youth of my Country, will you precipitate yourselves 
 into those dark and desolating ranks, and help them, 
 either directly or indirectly, either openly or secretly, 
 to tear down all that is good, and happy and holy in 
 the midst of us ? Will you help them to dig down 
 the bulwarks and break up the foundations of the 
 Holy Sabbath ? I cannot believe that you will. Go, 
 rather, and, while your hearts are susceptible of kind, 
 and amiable and virtuous impressions, place your- 
 selves nobly on the side of God. Identify yourselves 
 with that band of benevolent Christians who are toil- 
 11* 
 
*— — . ^ , 
 
 186 LECTURES ON THE 
 
 ing and struggling so nobly to establish this invalu- 
 able institution, with all its kindred blessings, on an 
 immovable foundation. Their efforts will eventually 
 be crowned with success, and their influence shall yet 
 be remembered in the best days of our history. Go, 
 then, ingenuous youth, and take to yourselves the ele- 
 vated satisfaction of being co-workers with them. In 
 such pure and worthy association, may you be enabled 
 to seize not only those temporal benefits, but also, those 
 Eternal Crowns, for which they are striving. May 
 yours be the delights of early and of pure religion ; of 
 useful lives and of happy deaths. May yours be the 
 lofty pleasure of exerting a salutary influence on the 
 cause of the Sabbath ; of spreading its rich lights, its 
 multiplied blessings, over all our land. And may you 
 thus be the means of imparting to our national charac- 
 ter such a brilliancy, and permanency and sacredness 
 of lustre, as shall render it the fairest star that ever 
 yet has shone on the hrmament of nations. 
 
 ^—— — * 
 
/''/mhwWxv^ 
 
 
 
 c^- 
 
 llf 
 
 -* 
 
#■ 
 
 — _ —4^ 
 
 CATALOGUE 
 
 OF 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER V. BLAKE, 
 
 NO. 77 Pulton Street, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 BLAKE'S BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 DICTIONARY. 
 
 A general Biographical Dictionary, comprising a summary ac- 
 count of the most Distinguished Persons of all Ages, Na- 
 tions, and Professions, including more than lOOO Articles of 
 American Biography, by Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D. In one 
 handsome royal 8vo. volume, bound in library style. $5 00. 
 
 This work contains about eleven hundred pages royal octavo, and the 
 matter in it is sufficient to make from fifteen to twenty volumes 12nio., 
 which usually sell for seventy-five cents a copy. As there are in it nearly 
 ten thousand articles, it is apparent from the whole cost of the book, that 
 the cost of each article is only half of one mill — or twenty articles for one 
 cent. The following are some of the opinions from the periodical press of 
 this work : 
 
 " On the whole, we commend this work to the public as at once the most 
 convenient and useful work of the kind to be found in our language." — 
 JVejo York Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " It is got up in good taste, and contains an amount of matter found in 
 no one volume of the same interest, and at so reduced a price." — J^ew 
 York Evening Star. 
 
 " The merits of this Dictionary, and the low price at which it is afforded, 
 entitle it to a place in every library." — Hartford Couraiit. 
 1 
 
 -* 
 
ty-- — - — ,-.—---.-.- — -^ 
 
 2 
 
 .STONE'S LIFE OF BRANT. 
 
 Life of Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), including llie Border 
 Wars of the American Revolution, and Sketches of the In- 
 dian Campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, 
 Connected with the Indian relations of the United States 
 and Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian 
 Peace of 1795. By William L. Stone. With a Likeness 
 and other Engravings. 2 vols. 8vo. Library style, $5 00; 
 Embossed cloth, §4 50. 
 
 This work supplies an important vacuum in American History. That 
 noble and ill-fated race of men to which Brant belonged, is fast wasting 
 away, and ere long but few traces of them will remain. The individual, 
 therefore, who toils in gathering up and moulding into a durable form these 
 interesting memorials, may be esteemed a pub'ic benefactor. 
 
 " We heartily recommend this work to the patronage of the reading 
 public, as replete with entertainment and instruction, and entitled to a 
 place in every well-stored library." — Democratic Review. 
 
 LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 
 
 By James Boswell. With Notes and Additions, by John Wil- 
 son Croker, LL.D. 2 vols, royal Svo. Library style, 
 $4 50 ; embossed cloth, $4 00. 
 
 This edition of the Life of Johnson, contains a portrait of the great Lexi- 
 cographer himself— one of his Biographer — and one of the celebrated Mrs. 
 Piozzi. It has been pronounced a Manual of Amusement, a Repository of 
 Wit, Wisdom, and Morals, and a lively and fiiithful history of the man- 
 ners and literature of England, during a period hardly second in brilliancy 
 and superior in importance, even to the Augustan age of Anne. 
 
 "The additions and notes, by Croker, are all in the first style of excel- 
 lence, and tend to tlie further elucidation of a character who labored so 
 long and zealously in the cause of learning." — .Albion. 
 
 THE PARLOR BOOK, 
 
 And Family Encyclopedia of Useful Knowledge and General 
 
 Literature. By the Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D. In 1 vol. royal 
 
 Svo. Embossed cloth, $3 00. 
 
 The design of this work is to furnish a book for detached and desultory 
 reading— a book for every-day use — to occupy the attention at those short 
 intervals occurring to persons of almost every age and profession. 
 
 ^- 
 
— — ■ • ___ — _ _c^p 
 
 3 
 NA/ORKS OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 
 
 With an Essay on his Life and Genius. By A. Murphy, Esq. 
 2 vols, royal 8vo. Library style, $4 50 ; embossed cloth, 
 $4 00. 
 
 The complete Works of this great English Lexicographer and Moralist,- 
 m the present edition, are designed to match with the publisher's edition of 
 the works of Lord Byron. It is believed to be the first complete American 
 edition of Dr. Johnson's writings. To see at once the value of these vol- 
 umes and the variety of their contents, it is only necessary to enumerate 
 the several subjects. 
 
 For instance; the first volume contains Mr. Murphy's Essay ; the Ram- 
 bler, consisting of 208 papers— the Adventurer, of about 30— the Idler, of 
 104— Rasselas— Tales of the Imagination— Letters selected from the col- 
 lection of Mrs. Piozzi and others— Irene, a Tragedy— Sliscellaneous 
 Poems to the number of fifty. The second volume contains the celebrated 
 Lives of the Poets— Lives of eminent Persons— Political Tracts— Philoso- 
 phical Tracts— Miscellaneous Tracts— Dedications— Opi^n ions on Questions 
 of Law— Reviews and Criticisms— Journey to Hebrides, and Prayers and 
 Meditations. 
 
 There is a likeness of Johnson in one of the volumes, and a fanciful en- 
 graving in the other, of the egress of Rasselas from the "Happy Valley." 
 
 THE FAMILY PRAYER BOOK; 
 
 . Or the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the 
 Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, 
 according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 the United States of America; accompanied by a General 
 Commentary, Historical, Explanatory, Doctrinal, and Prac- 
 tical. By Thomas Church Brownell, D.D. LL.D. In one 
 royal 8vo. volume, beautifully printed and bound in a great 
 variety of styles ; sheep, marble edges, $5 00 ; Turkey mo- 
 rocco, gilt, $8 00 ; black roan, gill edges, $6 00. 
 
 " I am happy to hear of the projected new edition of Bishop Brownell's 
 Commentary on the Book of Common Prayer. Believmg the work to be 
 a highly valuable and useful one, I sincerely hope that the edition will be 
 liberally patronized."— /?«. Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk, D. D. 
 
 "I have always deemed Bishop Brownell's Prayer Book the best com- 
 pilation for general use among the members of our communion ; and while 
 [ know that its merits render individual recommendation unnecessary, I 
 may be permitted to express my gratification in the prospect of a new edi- 
 tion."— iiezj. Francis L. Hawks, D. D. 
 
 " A belter book for the families of Churchmen it would not be easy to 
 find." — Rev. Benjamin 1. Haight. 
 
 6h^ 
 
^ 
 
 4 
 
 THE \A/ORKS OF LORD BYRON, 
 
 In Verse and Prose, including his Letters, Journals, &c. ; with 
 
 a Sketch of his Life. Arranged by Fitz Greene Halleck, 
 
 Esq. In 1 vol. royal 8vo. Library style, $3 50 ; embossed 
 
 cloth, $4 00 ; Turkey morocco, $6 00. 
 
 The Head of Byron, engraved for this edition, is from a painting by an 
 American artist, and was considered by Byron and his friends as the best 
 ever taken. The other illustrations are also of the first order. That of 
 Lady Byron has been much admired. 
 
 Notwithstanding several other editions of the works of this distinguished 
 English Bard have been brought before the public, this one is still a favor- 
 ite. The sales of it last year were one hundred per cent, above what they 
 had been in previous years, and are increasing. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S 
 COMPANION. 
 
 Containing Extracts from various Authors, arranged under 
 appropriate Heads, affording useful Hints to those v^ho are 
 employed in the Religious Instruction of the Young. " They 
 that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
 and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for 
 ever and ever." — Dan. xii. 3. By the Rev. Anthony Ten 
 Broeck, 32mo. cloth, gilt back and edges, 50 cts. 
 
 The volume is selected from the writings of James, Watson, Bishop 
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 the London S. S. Teacher's Magazine, the Family Visiter, and the Chris- 
 tian Observer. 
 
 MY SON'S 
 
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 Temper — Choice of Company — Extravagance — Chastity — Honor — Female 
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 suitable for a present to be preserved. 
 
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 LIFE OF FATHER MATTHENA/-. 
 
 A Memoir of the Very Reverend Theobald Matthew, with an 
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 most extraordinary moral phenomena the world has ever known. And 
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 tion to the genuineness and constant permanency of it, on the reading of 
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 cies used by him are strictly philosophical and proper, being the peculiar 
 distinctive influences of his own religion. Every person familiar with the 
 subject must acknowledge, that when these influences are applied, tiiey 
 are most powerful. And why not as eflicacious in leading Roman Catho- 
 lics to abstain from the use of alcohol, as meat on Fridays and other Fast 
 days of their church 1 They may be equally so ; and every one who reads 
 Father Matthew, will sec they have been so in thousands of cases. 
 
 RESEARCHES AND CONJECTURES 
 
 Respecting the Love, Madness, and Imprisonment of Torquato 
 Tasso. By the Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, of Georgia. In 
 two beautiful 12mo, vols., bound in embossed cloth, $2 00. 
 
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 researches and compiling the materials for this work, which is in every 
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 without verbosity." — Brother Jonathan. 
 
 * ^ _— ™ __ c^ 
 
MECHANIC'S 0>A^N BOOK AND 
 ARTIST'S GUIDE. 
 
 By James Pilkington. 1 vol. 12mo. $100. 
 
 First. — It contains that portion of Chemistry applicable to the Mechanic 
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 Third.— Yinles. and Tables for Engineers, Millwrights, Machine Makers, 
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 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
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 prmciples inculcated are of the best character, and the book worthy of a 
 cordial recommendation." — Baptist Advocate. 
 
 4 _ ^ 
 
^ # 
 
 7 
 EMINENT MECHANICS. 
 
 Memoirs of the Most Eminent American Mechanics; also. 
 Lives of Distinguished European Mechanics ; together with 
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 1 vol. 12mo. $1 25. 
 
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 WARNING TO THE CHURCHES. 
 
 ■ Christ's Warning to the Churches," being two Sermons upon 
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 volume, 50 cts., bound in embossed cloth. 
 
 4 — ■ -# 
 
-» 
 
 WORKS OF REV. DR. MAXCY. 
 
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 It is believed that the general use of this volume will save hundreds of 
 dollars to many business nien, and will tend in the comnuinity at large to 
 the correction of many false impressions on a subject involving many of 
 our best interests. 
 
 THE EARLY FATHERS. 
 
 Lives of the Early Christian Fathers, or Memorials of Nine 
 Distinguished Teachers of the Christian Faith, during the 
 first Three Centuries. By Rev. Wm. M. Carmichael, D.D. 
 of St. Thomas's Hall, Flushing, Long Island. 1 vol. 12mo., 
 cloth. This book is got up in beautiful style. 
 
 "We are pleased to notice the publication of a work by the Rev. Wm. 
 M. Carmichael, the design of which is to furnish churchmen vvitii a famil- 
 iar guide to the opinions of the early Christian Fathers, in relation to the 
 ministry of the Church. This being so, nothing can be more profitable for 
 those who seek for lijiht than to have ready at hand a book of reference 
 containing this testimony." — From the Churchman. 
 
9 
 
 DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARY. 
 
 A. V. Blake has commenced the publication of a series of 
 volumes, royal l8mo., under the above general title. Each 
 volume is to contain 252 pages. Nine volumes have al- 
 ready been published ; and others will be added at short 
 intervals ; not to an extent to supersede other similar produc- 
 tions, but to furnish a limited number of works ; perhaps 20 or 
 25, so different fiom others, that they may be used in company 
 with them, and so attractive in appearance and so elevated 
 in character, as to be likely, so far as they become known, 
 to go into every School Library in the country. They are 
 printed on fine paper ; will be handsomely bound ; and will 
 be sold in sets, at the low price of forty -five cents a volume. 
 
 The following have already been published. 
 
 PARENTAL INSTRUCTIONS; 
 
 Or, Guide to Wisdom and Virtue. Designed for Young Per- 
 sons of either sex. Selected mainly from the writings of an 
 Eminent Physician. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE AMERICAN 
 INDIANS. 
 
 Illustrating their Eccentricities of Character. By the author 
 of "Evenings in Boston." 
 
 ONE HUNDRED FABLES; 
 
 Selected from the Works of Northcote, Bewick, and Others. 
 Embellished with numerous Wood Engravings. 
 
 THE BEAUTIES OF AMERICAN 
 HISTORY. 
 
 By the Author of " Evenings in Boston." 
 
 -* 
 
■ -^ 
 
 10 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 First published in London under the superintendence of the 
 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, improved 
 with Maps and other Illustrations. Also revised and en- 
 larged by the Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D. 
 
 BREAKFAST TABLE SCIENCE; 
 
 Or, the Philosophy of Common Things. Written expressly 
 for the Amusement and Instruction of Young People. By 
 J. H. Wright. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE AMERICAN 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 Being sketches of the most interesting events in our Revolu- 
 tionary War. Compiled from various sources. By Rev. 
 J. L. Blake, D.D. 
 
 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN; 
 
 Revised and Improved, expressly for Young Persons. By Rev. 
 
 J. L. Blake, D.D. 
 
 What read we here "f— existence of a God 1 
 Yes ; and of other beings, man above ; 
 Natives of sether ! sons of other climes ! 
 
 THE JUVENILE COMPANION, 
 
 And Fireside Reader. Consisting of Historical and Biographi- 
 cal Anecdotes, and Selections in Poetry. 
 
 CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES, 
 
 Or a Compendium of Roman and Grecian Antiquities, With a 
 sketch of. Ancient Mythology. By Joseph Salkeld. 
 
 -* 
 
#- ^ 
 
 1] 
 
 LIVES OF THE MOSX EMINENT 
 SOVEREIGNS OF MODERN EUROPE, 
 
 By Lord Dover, for the instruction and amusement of his son, 
 with additional Anecdotes and Illustrations by the American 
 Editor, 
 
 Preparing for Publication. 
 THE WONDERS OF THE OCEAN; 
 Containing an Account of the Color, Saltness, and probable 
 Depth of the Ocean ; of its Mountains of Ice ; of its Gulfs, 
 Whirlpools, and Tides; of its Coral and other Formations 
 and Productions, so far as known, whether Animal, Mineral, 
 or Vegetable. 
 
 BEAUTIES OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 By the author of "Beauties of American History." 
 
 THE \A^ONDERS OF THE EARTH j 
 
 Containing an Account of all its known Remarkable Features 
 and Phenomena — Mountains, Caverns, Petrifactions, Vol- 
 canoes, Earthquakes, Cataracts, Boiling Springs, Minerals, 
 Snows, Frosts, Whirlwinds, Storms, and Pestilential Vapors. 
 
 BEAUTIES OF FRENCH HISTORY^ 
 
 By the author of "Beauties of American History." 
 
 YOUTH'S LIBRARY FOR THE 
 PARLOR. 
 
 A portion of the District School Library is bound in the best st}ie of em- 
 bossed muslin, under the above general title. Tliey are among the most 
 appropriate Juvenile Publications for family use, and especially for pres- 
 ents during holiday seasons. If the quantity of matter contained in each 
 volume is considered, and also the beautiful and rich style in which they 
 are got up, it will appear that they are twenty-five per cent, cheaper than 
 the average price of Juvenile Books. 
 
'--^' 
 
 12 
 
 SCHOOL BOOKS 
 
 A CLASSICAL SPELLING 
 
 Containing Rules and Reasons for English Orthography and 
 Pronunciation; derived from a complete Analysis of the 
 English Language. By the Rev. A. B. Chapin, A.M , Mem- 
 ber of the Connecticut Academy ; Honorary Member of the 
 Rhode Island Historical Society ; Honorary Member of the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society. $2 00 per doz. 
 
 "The learned author has classified the great mass of the language, em- 
 bracing 8,000 roots and 32,000 derivatives. About 3,000 of the roots are 
 monosyllables, 2,800 of which are governed by thirty general laws: and 
 the remaining 200 by eight special rules. About twenty rules are required 
 for the pronunciation of the rest of the language. Consequently less than 
 sixty rules are required for the pronunciation of the whole language. By 
 learning these the pupil makes himself master of the orthography and 
 pronunciation of his mother tongue." — Hartford Congregational Observer. 
 
 "The Spelling-Book by Mr. Chapin, is destined to become indispensable 
 in the pu.'-suit of a thorough analytical knowledge of the English language." 
 — Extract from the Preface to " The Southern Spelling-Book.''^ 
 
 "Mr. Chapin's Spelling-Book is the most important of the kind I have 
 ever seen. It deserves some higher name than a spelling-book. It can 
 hardly fail to introduce anew era in the study of the English language." — 
 Rev. Job R. Tyson, of Philadelphia, Superintendent of Public Schools. 
 
 " Mr. Chapin's mode of investigating the orthography and pronunciation 
 of the English language, is, so far as I can learn, entirely new, and cannot 
 fail of producing the most beneficial results." — Rev. Romeo Elton, D.D., 
 Professor of Languages, Brown University, Providence, R. I. 
 
 " I regard Mr. Chapin's mode of analyzing the language, as the only na- 
 tural, and therefore, as the only truly philosophical mode of analyzing the 
 language, and the results are such as we might expect from this kind of 
 analysis." — Professor E. Simms, of the University of Alabama. 
 
 " I can truly say that it is the best Spelling-Book I have seen; that I 
 have never used a Spelling-Book which was interesting to the student be- 
 fore this. Not only have the younger classes improved rapidly, but tho 
 clasf-ical scholar, and the student in the higher branches of mathematics 
 and English literature, have run through it with as much pleasure as they 
 have taken in their other lessons." — G. JJocharty, A.M., Flushing, L. I. 
 
 " A. B. CiiAPiN — Dear Sir : I have just finished an examination of 
 your ' English Spelling-Book,' with the conviction that it is the best Spc-1- 
 ling-Book I have ever seen. Aside from the fact that it contains a much 
 larger number of words than any other, the excellent natural classification 
 of the words gives it a superiority over any other with wlaich I am ac- 
 quainted." — Sidney A. Thomas, Jfew Haven. 
 
13 
 MEADOWS' FRENCH AND ENGLISH 
 DICTIONARY. 
 
 On the basis of Nugent's, with many New Words in General 
 Use. In Two Parts : I. French and English. II. English 
 and French. Exhibiting the pronunciation of the French 
 in pure English sounds, the parts of speech, gender of 
 French nouns, regular and irregular conjugations of verbs, 
 accents of English words, list of the usual Christian proper 
 names, and names of countries and nations; to which are 
 prefixed principles of French Pronunciation, and an abridg- 
 ed Grammar. By F. C. Meadows, M.A., of the University 
 of Paris. Corrected and improved, with a selection of 
 Idiomatic Phrases, by Greorge Folsom, A.M. 1 vol. l8mo. 
 Handsome roan binding, $1 25. 
 
 The publisher has spared no pains or reasonable expense in getting u]> 
 this work, and adapting it to the taste and the wants of persons acquiring 
 a knowledge of the French language. He has also made arrangements for 
 selling it so low, that it may be used by schools generally. The most 
 hasty examination will satisfy any one competent to form an opinion, 
 that it is decidedly the best School Dictionary of the French language in use. 
 The book speaks for itself. Instructors are particularly desired to exaiiiine it. 
 
 Excellences of Meadows'' Dictionary. 
 Fii-st.-^It is in a form most desirable for use — neither so large, nor in a 
 shape to be inconvenient in being handled with other books. 
 
 Second. — It is on fine white paper, and bound in morocco ; and its whole 
 appearance is fit for the centre table, for reference in parlor reading, as well 
 as for study in the school-room. {jCr' Hence particularly fit for young 
 ladies. 
 
 Third.— The author has adopted the pure English sounds, by means of 
 which, the learner, with very little previous instruction, can readily acquire 
 the pronunciation of any French word. 0:5" This is a most decided im- 
 provement. 
 
 Fourth. — It is also the cheapest French Dictionary of its value which 
 has been published. The Dictionary of Boyer is sold to the trade, at 
 wholesale, for two dollars and fifty cents a copy. Meadows' Dictionary 
 contains, by accurate calculation, one fifth more matter than Boyer, and 
 yet is sold for one-half the price of that. 
 
 -TACITUS. 
 
 Adapted to Schools, with Notes by Professor Kingsley, of Yale 
 College, New Haven. 1 vol. 12mo., sheep. $1 00. 
 
-* 
 
 14 
 
 CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES; 
 
 Or, a Compendium of Roman and Grecian Antiquities. With 
 a Sketch of Ancient Mythology. By Joseph Salkeld, A.M. 
 l8mo. Handsome sheep, 62 cts. 
 
 Every teacher becomes a public benefactor in adapting the higher 
 branches of literature and science ti) the circunistances and to the wants 
 of those from whom they have oidinarily been excluded. Most of the 
 works in use, which treat of the antiquities of Greece and Rome, are so 
 copious and so intermingled with Greek and Latin quotations, that, though 
 they may be highly valuable to the classical scholar as works of reference, 
 they are rendered less useful to the classical pupil, as common text- 
 books. On this account, the study of classical antiquities has been mostly 
 confined to the higher classes. The present volume is designed for general 
 use in our common schools ; but it is believed to be so comprehensive and 
 elevated in its character, as to be acceptable in Academies and High Schools 
 as well as Colleges. 
 
 " I consider this work peculiarly adapted to the use of preparatory classi- 
 cal instruction. The voluminous character of works of value on these 
 topics forbids their acquisition by younger students ; so that, if not neglected, 
 they are never understood in time for a correct comprehension of classical 
 authors. In this respect, it v/ill be found a desideratimi greatly needed; 
 and should be introduced as a Text- Book for daily use in our classical 
 schools." — William M. Martin, A. M-, Principal of a Classical Select 
 School, Brooklyn, JsT. Y. 
 
 BELLES- LETTRES; 
 
 Or, the First Book in Rhetoric and English Composition. De- 
 signed for Common and Classical Schools. By the Rev. 
 John W. Brown, A.M., Principal of the Female Institute, 
 Astoria, New York, 18mo,, sheep. 
 
 The want of an Elementary Treatise in Rhetoric, on a popular plan, to 
 precede the use of Jamieson or Whately, has long been felt by those en- 
 gaged in the business of education ; and the abridgment of Blair, for the 
 want of something better, has been the most common Text-book on the sub- 
 ject. The abridgment of Blair does very well for the more advanced schol- 
 ars in reviewing the complete work of his, which they may have studied; 
 but nearly all this volume is poorly adapted to the wants of young pupils, 
 and one half of it, at least, is comparatively of no value to them. The trrst 
 Book in Rhetoric and English Composition is now ofl'ered to the public, in 
 the fullest confidence that all teachers to whom its merits become known, 
 will avail themselves of the benefits it is calculated to impart. The au- 
 thor, an accomplished scholar and teacher, has used the work in manu- 
 script with his own pupils ; and hence, has fully tested its adaptation to 
 the purposes intended. 
 
 So popular is the author, and so great is the want of such a book in our 
 schools, that several inquiries were inadc for this work by some of our 
 first teachers, immediately on the announcement of it as in press. 
 
 '^ 
 
9f 
 
 15 
 THE YOUNG ORATOR, 
 
 And New York Class Book, especially designed to prevent 
 Dullness and Monotony in the reading and Declamation of 
 Schools. By the Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D. 18mo., handsome 
 sheep, with an engraved frontispiece. 50 cts. 
 
 In the course of two years of the publication of this work, ten editions 
 have been printed, and the following are some of the numerous notices of 
 It m the periodical press : 
 
 " The volume is made up of Prose, Poetry, and Dialogues selected from 
 foreign and native authors. In the latter we find .some of the choicest 
 gems from Webster, Everett, Sprague, Henry, Channiiig, Hopkinson, Story, 
 Maxcy, Wayhind, Burges, and others. From a careful examination of the 
 work, we feel bound to say, the compiler has executed his task with much 
 judgment, and that he has avoided the error of others in not giving a suf- 
 ficient variety to his selections." 
 
 "This is a compilation intended e.xpressly for the use of schools in the 
 branches of reading and declamation, in which care has been taken to 
 avoid all extracts possessing monotony in the construction of sentences, 
 thereby preventing a monotony of voice in reading or declamation. The 
 selection is a good one, and we doubt not that it will prove of great utillity 
 m the purpose for which it was designed.''— Boston Transcript. 
 
 FRENCH READER. 
 
 Being selections from M. Bonilly's " Encouragement to Youth." 
 By J. A. Frontin, A.M. 1 vol. 16mo. 50 cts. 
 
 This work is exceedingly well adapted to learners of the French language, 
 having the French on the opposite page of an English translation, with 
 blank white paper between. 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 In Conversations, in which the Leading Arguments of the Best 
 Authors are arranged, developed, and connected with each 
 other. A new edition from the English Copy, with Improve- 
 ments adapting it to the Use of Schools and Family Instruc- 
 tion. By the Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D., Author of the « First 
 Book in Astronomy," and various works on Education. 1 
 vol. 12mo., handsome roan. 75 cts. 
 
 This volume is designed to correspond with Mrs. Marcet's popular works 
 on Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, and Political Economy, revised 
 by the same Editor. It is also a very appropriate volume for District School 
 and other Libraries. 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 Being a History first published under the direction of the So- 
 ciety for the Dififusion of Useful Knowledge, with additional 
 Questions, and adapted to Schools by Rev. J. L. Blake, D.D, 
 1 vol. 18mo., sheep. 50 cts. 
 
 CICERO DE ORATORE. 
 
 Adapted to Schools, with Notes by Professor Kingsley, of Yale 
 College, New Haven. 1 vol. 12mo., sheep. 75 cts. 
 
 NA^ALKER'S ARITHMETIC. 
 
 On the principle of Hassles and Lacroix. By Rev. Wm. F. 
 Walker, late of Troy. 1 vol. 8vo. 75 cts. 
 
 BOOKS FOR FARMERS AND 
 GARDENERS. 
 
 The most popular works always on hand, and any others 
 wanted supplied at very short notice. 
 
 JUVENILE BOOKS. 
 
 A great variety of all sizes, prices and kinds, always on hand, 
 and at very low prices : The Youth's Library for the Par- 
 lor, before mentioned in this Catalogue, are amongst the 
 neatest, cheapest, and most useful, that are published — nine 
 volumes are already issued, and additional volumes are fre- 
 quently published. 
 
 SCHOOL AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES 
 
 Furnished with the latest editions, and at the lowest prices. — 
 A. V. B. has always on hand a laige stock of Books of 
 History, Biography, Travels, &c., &c., suitable for School 
 Libraries. The District School Library, published by him- 
 self, has met with a great sale, and with universal favor. 
 
ALEXAN D ER V. BLAKE 
 
 WOULD INVITE THE ATTENTION OF 
 TO HIS STOCK OF 
 
 SCHOOL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS, 
 
 OFFERED AT VERY REDUCED PRICES. 
 
 * 
 
 17 
 
 GEOGRAPHIES. 
 
 By Smith, Mitchell, Olney, Worcester, Parley, Malta Brun, 
 Burritt, Willet, Woodbridge k, Willard, Huntington, Fowled 
 Brinsmade, Adams, &c. 
 
 ARITHMETICS. 
 
 By Smith, Emerson, Willet, Leonard, Daboll, Olney, Baldwin, 
 Colburn, Davies, Cobb, Parley, Walsh, Adams, Welsh, 
 Green, Wilson, Greenleaf, Bennett, Smiley, &c. 
 
 READING BOOKS. 
 
 By Pierpont, Worcester, Blake, Hall, Sanders, Lovell, Emer- 
 son, Kay, Murray, Cobb, Abbot, Fowle, Porter, Sullivan, 
 Goodrich, Mrs. Sigourney, Angell, Wilson, &c. 
 
 CHEMISTRIES. 
 
 By Comstock, Blake, Gray, Beck, Phelps, Johnson, Grund, 
 Smith, Tenner, &c. 
 
 GRAMMARS. 
 
 By Smith, Murray, Levizac, Bolmar, Gould, Adams, Kirkham, 
 Bjrnard, Putnam, Brown, Andrews & Stoddard, Goodrich, 
 Bullion, Fowle, Frost, Fisk, Anthon, Alger, Greenleaf, &c. 
 
 *- 
 
_ _ c^ 
 
 18 
 
 HISTORIES. 
 
 By Parley, Robbins, Goodrich, Tyler, Prescott, Goldsmith, 
 
 Grimshaw, Olney, Pinnock, Willard, Worcester, Hale, 
 Mitchell, Bancroft, Rollins, Blake, Trimmerj Frost, Webs- 
 ter, Cooper, Robertson, &c- 
 
 SPELLING BOOKS. 
 
 By Webster, Emerson, Town, Gallaudet, Sanders, Bentley, 
 
 Pickett, Cobb, Hazen, Marshall, Parley, Olney, Cha- 
 pin, &c. 
 
 PHILOSOPHIES. 
 
 By Blake, Comstock, Swift, Gale, Olmstead, Brown, Phelps, 
 Jones, Parker, Abercrombie, Wayland, Grand, Bake- 
 well, &c. 
 
 SCHOOL BOOKS 
 
 In general use upon Botany, Mathematics, Rhetoric, Book- 
 keeping; also the Latin, Greek, French and German School 
 Books in use. 
 
 DICTIONARIES. 
 
 By Walker, Webster, Lempriere, Leverett, Gardiner, Donne- 
 gan, Meadows, Boyer, Nugent, Newman & Barrett, Grove, 
 Ladies' Lexicon, &c. 
 
 MEDICAL BOOKS. 
 
 A good supply usually on hand of the best Standard and most 
 approved Authors — 'Such as Wood & Bache, Dewees, Mul- 
 ler, Dunglison, Dewitt, Ramsbotham, Arnott, Harrison, 
 Coates, Maury, Watson, Wilson, Pereira, Ferguson, Pax- 
 ton, Iberle, Lawrence, Stokes and Bell, Gooch, Liston, 
 Philip, Tweedie, Gerhard, Pritchard, Velpean, Stewart, 
 Churchill, Cooper, Hooper, Ashwell, Brodie, Homer, Rigly, 
 Chitty, Underwood, Ricord, Ellis, Hosack, Carpenter, Pilch- 
 er, Roget, &c. 
 
 4- 
 
Theological Semin,iry-Sp <"; L'l";'!'* 
 
 1 1012 01003 3233