We proceed, therefore, to set before you THE UNSPEAK

ABLE IMPORTANCE OF A RIGHT OBSERVATION OF THE

LORD'S DAY, WITH THE EVILS OF THE OPPOSITE ABUSE -a subject difficult to treat from its very magnitude, from the multitude of topics which it embraces, and from the little perception men in general have of the sin of neglecting and dishonoring God's most ancient institution.

For this may be premised; that the corruption of man, which resists generally all the great doctrines and duties of Christianity, may be expected to press with peculiar violence against a barrier, which, like the Lord's day, is raised against the whole current of that corruption.

Nor is it unimportant to add, that an institution like this, which takes men off from their ordinary pursuits and gives them an interval for religious rest and public worship of Almighty God, must, if abused, become, from the very nature of the case, a source of unnumbered vices and disorders; must draw into itself torrents of those particular evils, which are ever ready to accumulate, as in a common receptacle, where, space is given. There is no middle state here-the influence of the Sabbath for good or for evil upon nations, churches, families, individuals, is incalculable. It is meant to be the best and holiest day of the week; but, if perverted, it becomes the worst and most destructive.

But how shall we impress you most deeply with this subject? Shall we show you that a due regard to the institution by a Christian nation is of the nature of a sacred compact? That it is essential to man's temporal and spiritual welfare, as a fallen but accountable creature? That it includes all the application of the Christian religion, and, in fact, its preservation in the world? That it binds together all the links and obligations of civil society? That it immediately respects the authority and honor of Almighty God, and his favor and blessing upon a people?-And that, of course, the opposite abuse overturns every one of these things, and brings on the contrary evils?

May God assist us by the influences of his Spirit; that, having no end in view but his glory, and depending for success on no power but his own; we may direct our inquiries with simplicity, and obey the dictates of truth with unreserved courage and joy!

I. For what, in fact, is the observation of the Christian Sabbath, but ▲ MOST SACRED COMPACT; and what the abuse of it but the violation of that compact? It is obvious, that it can only be by the very general and almost universal agreement of a nation, that secular affairs can be suspended, business stopped, public recreation and amusements forbidden, offices and establishments closed, the ministers of religion furnished with protection in the discharge of their duties, the interruptions of open profligacy prevented, Christian assemblies authorized, churches erected for their use--in short, the whole frame-work of the public worship of God set up and continued. Laws are the expression of public opinion-and go a certain length, both negatively in the repression of open insults on Christianity, and positively in sustaining and supporting the ministers and officers of the sanctuary. But all the real operation and success of such a system rests upon the compact and covenant of a Christian people one with another, and with their gracious God and Savior.

The scattered converts of the first Christian churches could only celebrate their Sabbaths in early darkness, or the unobserved hours of the night: persecution hung over their meetings-they were happy if they were not dragged to the idol's temple and urged to join in the idol worship. This is one reason probably, why the apostles less frequently dwell upon the express duties of the Lord's day in the New Testament; leaving it rather to the consciences of their converts and the universal conviction that a Sabbath was of perpetual moral obligation, to fill up the detail. The condition of domestic slavery, in which most of the Gentile converts were, would tend to increase the apostles' tenderness on the point. Still the first Christians kept holy the Lord's day, the badge of their redemption, to the utmost of their power. When Christianity triumphed over emperors and kings and statesmen and magistrates by the mild influence of the truth, things were changed. The holy day of weekly rest succeeded the festivals of the heathen worship. When England was converted in the course of the divine mercy, her Heathen rites, her druidical orgies, her savage customs, her brutal and idolatrous sacrifices, were cast away-and the love of God, the preaching of the blessed gospel, the singing praises to Christ, the celebra

tion of the mysteries of his death, and the observation of the hallowed day on which all these were to be performed, succeeded to them. Christian legislators in our own, as in other countries, arose to do what they could in guarding the new institutions. They continued thus to act. But still upon the consciences of individuals has ever rested, and must rest, the real and effectual obligation. The inhabitants of the nation, having submitted to the yoke of the gospel, assumed its profession in the celebration of one day of religious joy. The covenant was signed and sealed, as it were, in this visible acknowledgment of the Christian faith; but the spirit and conduct of individuals and families fill up the conditions of it. Thus it is a compact. If devout care of children and servants, abstinence from ordinary duties and cheerful attendance upon the public and private offices of religion, mark the households of our towns and cities, the compact is fulfilled. If carelessness, indifference, non-attendance, creep in upon the general body, the compact is violated. It may remain, indeed, in its form-the external law may be unabrogated-the churches may stand as before the ministers of religion may retain their office, -but the compact is made void. The Christian obligation is virtually abjured. If the evil goes on, every outward order and regulation will be by degrees weakened, evaded, contemned, and the Sabbath will be no more.

I ask, then, whether, in this view, the importance of the due observance of the Lord's day is not immense? It is the fulfilment of a compact. Every act of violation tends to undermine the whole frame-work. Every wilful breach has the guilt of breaking down the universal consent, of beginning a destructive habit, of infecting the entire community. The good example, the influence, the devout conduct of each family, each person, goes to sustain the general duty, to make the covenant valid, to enable others to consecrate the day.

The place, then, which each separate action fills, is like a stone in an arch, important, not only as to its isolated magnitude, but from its position, its coherence with the other parts, its necessity to the firmness and solidity of the whole structure.

Look in this view at all the separate acts of all the careless, the profane, the covetous, the unbelieving amongst our

population-see their Sabbaths-estimate the evil done, not by the independent acts, but by the fearful influence, by the covenant broken, the stipulation trodden under foot, the engagements rendered difficult to others, impossible to themselves. Let no one say, "I am but an individual,” -for the nation is made up of individuals. Let no one say, "A single act can be of small evil," for the observance of a national Sabbath is composed of single acts. Let no one pretend, "The stream and current of religious duty cannot be stopped by my particular resistance;" for the whole tide is constituted and impelled by the aggregation of unnumbered minute elements; and every obstacle retards the flow.

II. But estimate, in the next place, if you can, the importance of the universal observation of the Christian Sabbath, from its bearings upon man's TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE, AS A FALLEN BUT ACCOUNTABLE CREATURE. For is man, or is he not, an immortal being? Has he, or has he not, a soul allied to God, capable of knowing, destined to serve him, and utterly void of real happiness, till it be found in him? Has he, or has he not, received a revelation from Almighty God, according to which he will be judged at the last day? Then, what is man's truest interest, what his essential duty, what his first and noblest object? And what is the great hindrance to his real welfare-to his attention to his religious convictions? Is it not the pressure of earthly things, the undue magnitude and importance which, from their proximity, they assume? Is it not the want of leisure for reflection, the want of a realising apprehension of the truth of unseen objects? Then the Sabbath gives all this leisure, calls man off from all this turmoil, interposes a day of repose, of recollection, of distinct time for the care of his soul and the worship of God. The Sabbath raises the standard of his moral feelings, brings him to act upon his higher nature, his mind, his rational part, his responsibility to an eternal Judge. The necessities of the body chiefly occupy the six days; the immortal destiny of man and his ultimate vocation by the gospel, claim the seventh. Nothing more tends to improve all the faculties, to quicken the practical judgment, to mature and invigorate the powers of the mind, to enlarge the sphere and multiply the sources of intellectual pleasure, to

open the widest avenues to happiness, to unite man with his true end, than the care of the soul and the celebration of the divine worship.

What a sight for angels is the assembly of all the inhabitants of a nation, in its various subdivisions, before the Almighty God-confessing their sins, acknowledging his goodness, celebrating his praises, hearing his word, partaking of his mysteries. Creation, redemption, heaven brought, after an interval of six days' toil and secularity, full before their view, and elevating and attracting the heart of a wayward, perverse, but noble race!

It is to be further borne in mind, that man is fallen, corrupted, propense to the external objects which surround him that the Lord's day is not merely the day of religious duty and rest, but the restoring, the awakening day-the day of recovery and reformation. It tends to bring man back to recollection, to seriousness, to penitence, to prayer. If the Sabbath be desecrated, his original disease gains ground, his convalescence, only incipient and doubtful, is suspended, and his whole spiritual prosperity and existence are endangered. It is not of Adam uncorrupted that we speak, but of Adam's race, sunk in selfishness and flesh, with only faint remains of moral feeling, and far from God and godliness. Nor is it of the devout and fervent part of the professed Christian world, or of the Protestant Christian world in any form, that we exclusively speak; it is for the family of man scattered over the face of the earth, lost in heathenism and infidelity, that we would reserve the Sabbath; it is for Pagans and Mahometans, for the members of the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, that we plead. We would exhibit to them the holy Sabbath in the example of the purer Christian bodies, to draw their attention, to mark the reality of our religion, to provide them information upon its nature and duties. How is a wandering, fallen, and depraved world to be recalled to God, without that day which celebrates the works and word and grace God-that day which recognizes his authority over manthat day which proclaims his intellectual and accountable nature, his future, his eternal hopes? The Sabbath interposes a space between total irreligion and the conscience of man; it puts in the claims of God upon the human heart.

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