we rejoice in thy return as the open throne presented to us for approaching our Heavenly Father; we behold thee as testifying of our Redeemer's resurrection-we honor thee as the peculiar province of the Holy Spirit; we behold thee uniting all that can interest and bless man -creation with all its natural benefits-redemption with all its remedial grace-heaven with all its consummating glories.

SERMON VII.

THE GUILT WHICH IS CONTRACTED BY CHRISTIAN NATIONS, IN PROPORTION AS THE LORD'S DAY IS OPENLY PROFANED.*

NEHEMIAH xiii. 17, 18.

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil 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.

THERE remains yet another branch of the subject. We must appeal to the nation at large. We must prefer against it the charge of public connivance at the violation of the Sabbath. We must call on every one, by his faith as a Christian, by the reverence he feels for his Creator and Redeemer, by his love to his country, by his regard to the happiness of his neighbors and family, by his concern for his own eternal salvation, to do all in his power to awaken the public conscience, and arouse it to do its duty. We must declare the anger of the Lord for this great national sin, and solemnly charge all classes of men to repent and turn unto the Lord.

* In order to make this sermon fully applicable to our country, nothing is necessary but an occasional change of names and local circumstances.-Am. Editor.

It is true the evil is gigantic, it spreads through all orders of persons, it fixes itself firmly in the corruption of the human heart. It stands, as the uncircumcised champion of old, and defies the armies of the living God. But we must rely, like David, on another power than that of man. We must take the word of truth. We must go forth with our sling and our stone, as it were, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and must humbly believe that the enormous evil, as another Goliath, shall fall before us.

Do thou, O Lord God Almighty, be pleased to aid us and all thy servants, who at this time are pleading thy righteous cause! Do thou enable us so to imitate thy holy servant Nehemiah of old, that we may set forth thy truth in all simplicity and fervor, that we may not fear the face of man, and that, accompanied and aided by thine effectual grace, we may witness a revival of the observation of thy holy day, and of the religious blessings which attend it, in our own land and throughout all the nations of Christendom!

First, then, we must substantiate the charge, that our nation is guilty in conniving at the violation of the Lord's day.

We must next show the divine judgments that may be justly dreaded in consequence.

We must lastly point out the practical measures which each one may take towards a national repentance and return to God.

I. In SUBSTANTIATING THE CHARGE ITSELF against the British nation, we are aware of the caution necessary. Having now no inspired prophets or apostles to apply authoritatively the language of Scripture, we can only form the best judgment we are able, from its evident scope, and the similar bearing of our privileges on the one hand, and of our conduct on the other. We must avoid all presumption, haste, self-confidence, personality. We must proceed on the general and undoubted grounds of revealed truth, as applicable to nations and individuals; and only claim attention as we are evidently supported by that truth, and the plain facts of the case.

What, then, constitutes, in a scriptural sense, national guilt? Is it not the prevalence of any open, flagrant violation of the law of God, committed by large classes of men?

Is it not the continued invention of new modes of committing it, and additions to the numbers amongst whom it spreads? Is it not the countenance which the example of the nobles and princes of the land give to it? Is it not the connivance at those enormities by legislators, ministers of state, magistrates, clergy? Is it not the general coldness and indifference, and even scorn, with which measures of prevention or of remedy are received?..

And does not the violation of the Christian Sabbath in this country comprehend every one of these particulars?

1. Does it not prevail AMONGST LARGE CLASSES OF MEN? If the divine authority of that day be what we have shown; if the right manner of observing it be as we have described it; if the immense importance of a due sanctification of it be commensurate with Christianity itself; then what is the national guilt accumulated every day amongst us? Go through the different orders of society in our country, and, after making every allowance of the kindliest charity, estimate the sins committed every Sabbath as it returns, by each class before the face of the Almighty.

Begin with the HUMBLER ORDERS-the artizans, the laborers, the agricultural workmen, the smaller trades-people. How widely is Sabbath-breaking diffused! Accounts settled, shops opened, markets frequented, workmen paid, business transacted, calmly, systematically, almost avowedly.

Consider the numbers engaged in furnishing entertainment to the violators of the Lord's day, as well as the violators themselves. The hotels, the inns, the tea-gardens, the public houses, the shops and stalls for fruit and confectionary, the domestics and waiters occupied, beyond any plea of necessity, or any permission of the law.

Look at the environs of London generally-the thousands poured out every Sunday into the fields and villages, for idleness, for pastimes, for intoxication, in open profanation of the Sabbath. Enter the unnumbered abodes for retailing spirituous liquors; see the formerly decent alehouses converted into spirit-shops, with doors ever open to attract the careless youth.

I admit that these evils are not universal amongst the poor-I admit that very many are still under the influence

of religion, and I bless God for it—but how few are there, compared with our increasing population! How vast the number who never regularly attend the worship of God! How lamentable the state of our crowded cities!

Next examine the MIDDLE CLASSES of our nation. How do multitudes of the tradesmen, the merchants, the soldiers, the lawyers, the physicians and medical practitioners, the private gentlemen, the retired merchants and traders, spend the Lord's day? After a reluctant attendance in the house of God, where are they, and what are they engaged in for the remainder of the Sabbath?—I mean, what are too many of them engaged in; I am speaking of large numbers in each class, not of every individual-there is still a goodly remnant that serve and fear God. But as to the great mass, is it not the day of indulgence, the day of banqueting, the day of pleasurable parties as they are termed? What are the servants of the household occupied about? Is it not in preparing entertainments? Is not their labor tenfold that which the necessity of the Sabbath demands, or its repose allows?

You ascend to the GENTRY AND NOBILITY of our land. These have, alas, too generally "broken the yoke and burst the bonds." The law of the Sabbath is void to them. The day is the same as other days except as increased festivity dishonors and abuses it-the same irreligion, the same pride, the same neglect of God. In too many cases, large festivals are given, crowded parties assembled, an open infraction of decency committed. How many are there in public stations, where example is most widely diffused, who have regular Sunday dinners during a certain portion of the year! I ask if the aggregation of these enormities do not outstrip mere personal criminality, and form a distinct branch of national guilt?

2. Then consider the continual INVENTION OF NEW MODES OF SABBATH VIOLATION and of additional tempta-tions extended to new classes of persons. This marks national guilt. The evil is on the increase. The SUNDAY NEWSPAPER is of late invention: a few years since it was almost unknown-now it enlarges its fatal snares every year. Forty thousand copies are said to be circulated every Sabbath. Not content with leaving it in the hands of the open infidel and enemy of civil and religious order, it