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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." Elsewhere he says, "If ye will diligently hearken unto me, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath-day, but hallow the Sabbath-day to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall remain for ever." There are a multitude of unobserved influences which the Sabbath exerts upon the temporal welfare of men. It promotes the spirit of good order and harmony; it elevates the poor from want; it transforms squalid wretchedness; it imparts self-respect and elevation of character; it promotes softness and civility of manners; it brings together the rich and the poor upon one common level in the house of prayer; it purifies and strengthens the social affections, and makes the family circle the centre of allurement and the source of instruction, comfort, and happiness. Like its own divine religion, it "has the promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come." I see not how men can afford to dispense with the Sabbath, whatever their condition in the world. It is said that a late distinguished statesman, when travelling over New England, and observing her every where scattered churches, and the order and decency of

her Sabbaths, remarked with emphasis, "I never beheld such a community before. This is the glory of New England." No statesman of enlarged and comprehensive views can deny the benevolent influence of the Sabbath. When the influence of this sacred rest comes to be extended from shore to shore; when its temples crown every hill and are the ornament of every valley; when its humble supplications, and hallowed songs are heard from ten thousand times ten thousand assemblies of worshippers; who can doubt that its weekly return to this wide world will be entertained as "angel's visits," though neither "few," nor "far between." Who can doubt that those divine judgments which so often complete the ruin of a people, would be mitigated and withdrawn? There is a beautiful representation of this thought by a far-famed, though eccentric orator, which it is impossible for me to give, except very imperfectly, because I do it only from memory. The city

of London contains about a thousand churches. "When I approach the city of London," said the late John Randolph, "I sometimes feel that I am approaching a place devoted to destruction. The cry of its abominations goes up to heaven; and I seem to see the tempest gathering over it. But then again, I look at her thousand spires that penetrate the clouds, and see them conducting off its fury."

There is another consideration of still weightier import, which I may not suppress. The Sabbath is the

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great means of perpetuating the knowledge of the true religion. Few persons, if any, are universal sceptics. All nations have some religious impressions, be they ever so erroneous. The Sabbath was originally instituted by God in commemoration of his own existence as the Creator of the world, and for the purpose of being a perpetual testimony against the worship of idols. It was subsequently instituted in commemoration of the deliverance of the nation of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and as a token of their vocation as his chosen people. "Surely, my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord who hath sanctified you." Subsequently the observance of it was enforced as a commemoration of the resurrection of the Saviour. The Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian Sabbath all unite in the same design, and are now all concentrated in the last named day.. This day commemorates the three great facts that distinguish the true religion from paganism, the church from the world, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, to the exclusion of every other way. The mere existence of this day is a public proof of these three facts. If these three facts, the creation of the world-the calling of the Hebrew nation as God's peculiar people-and the resurrection of the Saviour can be established; the religion that is founded upon them must be of divine origin. Now the weekly observance of this day of rest transmits these facts through all the generations of

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men. It is a sign between God and man, recurring every week. Just as coins and pillars, and monuments, and the festal days which commemorate some remarkable epoch in a nation's history, are signs and proofs of the events they commemorate, so is the Sabbath a standing, public proof of these great facts. We should never have heard of the Sabbath but for the events which it commemorates. When we speak of it, we recur to the reasons of its original institution. When our children inquire why it is set apart, we tell them; and when their children make the same inquiry, they have the same answer; and in that answer have an epitome of the evidence in favour of the only true religion Wherever this day of rest is duly observed therefore, it is the great preservative against idolatry, polytheism, and all false religions. Wherever it is observed, there, and there only is to be found the knowledge of the one only living and true God, of the existence of his church on the earth, and of her salvation through the great Mediator. But for this testimony, we see not how the knowledge of the true religion would have been preserved in the earth. If you find a people strangers to the Sabbath, you may be confident they are without God in the world. When France abolished the Sabbath, she declared there was no God but reason, and no hereafter. You may wander at the present day over the far-famed cemetry of her metropolis, and read the numerous inscriptions upon tomb stones, erected at that melancholy period, DEATH IS AN

ETERNAL SLEEP!

The same result will follow,

wherever the same experiment shall be made. The nation that disowns the Sabbath is necessarily a nation of infidels and atheists. Look where you will, either among individuals, families, or communities, and if the Sabbath is a desolation, there you will find a gradual and certain decay from true religion to infidelity and paganism. Let the Sabbath be forgotten for twenty years in this favoured land, and you will have no necessity of going to India, or the Southern Ocean to find paganism, for we ourselves should have become a nation of pagans. Blot out the Sabbath and no longer will the Bible lead men to repentance and salvation. No longer will the silver clarion of the gospel "proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound." No longer will the voice of supplication ascend from this ruined world to draw from heaven the blessings bestowed by the hearer of prayer. No longer will the Spirit of truth and grace dwell with men, to dissipate their darkness, and make the desert like Eden, and the wilderness like the garden of the Lord. No longer will ordinances quicken, or the soul be comforted, or mercy be triumphant. Darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the people. Sin will reign. Satan, the great enemy of God and man will lay waste this fair creation; will walk to and fro through the earth in all the phrenzy of his long-wished for usurpation, and death and hell will follow in his train.

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