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its influence, are they elevated from intellectual degradation. It would probably strike us with surprise to be informed how large a portion of men exists, whose only opportunity of information is derived from the Sabbath. If there is an exception to be made from the general spirit of this remark, it is in favour of the daily press; and for this reason do I look upon those who conduct it, as sharing with the pulpit no common responsibility. I would say more upon the importance of the Sabbath in this particular, should I not appear unduly to magnify mine office. If a minister of the gospel is laboriously devoted to his own. intellectual and moral culture, the Sabbath, constituting as it does one seventh part of human life, furnishes no contemptible opportunity for mental improvement. Its instructions are designed to affect the great mass of mankind, and address themselves equally to all orders and classes of men, not overlooking the tenderest and most docile age; for scarcely do children come into existence in Christian lands, than they are encircled with the light of Sabbaths. There is something too, in the kind of instruction which the Sabbath communicates that has the happiest effect on the human mind. It relates to themes which call the soul away from the bustle of the world, to contemplate the wonderful works of God in creation, providence and redemption. It casts a veil over what is seen, and uncovers to the eye of the mind what is unseen. It throws back into oblivion the lying vanities of sense and time, and brings forward the permanent realities of eternity, every where disclosing facts, principles and results which arrest the wandering intellect, and are fitted to expand and exalt it forever. Many a sleeping genius, reposing within the curtains of its own unconscious powers, has been awakened to hope and action by the instructions of the sanctuary; and

many a germ of thought, which otherwise had wasted its fragrance on the air, has taken root and bloomed on this consecrated soil. It were a curious, but not unprofitable, inquiry to institute, How many well educated men in Christian lands, have received the first impulse and suggestion in their lofty career from the instructions of the Sabbath? Exclusive immersion in the perplexities and cupidity of secular vocations. debases the intellectual character; and it is only by being conversant with objects more exalted, that the mind projects her noblest achievements. I am persuaded more is accomplished, directly or indirectly, by the various institutions of the Sabbath, in enlightening the great mass of mind, than is accomplished in any other way, and that it is no undeserved commendation of it to say, that it is the day of light to this benighted world.

The Sabbath also lies at the foundation of all sound morality. Morality flows from principle. "Out of the heart are the issues of life." Let the principles of moral obligation become relaxed, and the practice of morality will not long survive the overthrow. No man can preserve his own morals; no parent can preserve the morals of his children, without the impressions of religious obligation. If you can induce a community to doubt the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures; to question the reality and obligations of natural religion; to hesitate in deciding whether there be any such thing as virtue, or vice; whether there be an eternal state of retribution beyond the grave; or whether there exists any such being as God; you have broken down the barriers of moral virtue, and hoisted the flood-gates of immorality and crime. I need not say, that when a people have once done this, they can no longer exist as a tranquil and happy people. Every bond that holds society together

would be ruptured; fraud and treachery would take the place of confidence between man and man; the tribunals of justice would be scenes of bribery and injustice; avarice, perjury, ambition and revenge would walk through the land, and render it more like the dwelling of savage beasts, than the tranquil abode of civilized and Christianized men. If there is an institution which opposes itself to this progress of human degeneracy, and throws a shield before the interests of moral virtue in our thoughtless and wayward world, it is the Sabbath. In the fearful struggle between virtue and vice, notwithstanding the powerful auxiliaries which wickedness finds in the bosoms of men, and in the seductions and influence of popular example, wherever the Sabbath has been suffered to live, the trembling interests of moral virtue have always been revered and sustained. One of the principal occupations of this day is to illustrate and enforce the great principles of sound morality. Where this sacred rest is preserved inviolate, you behold a nation convened one day in seven for the purpose of acquainting themselves with the best moral principles and precepts. And it cannot be otherwise than that the authority of moral virtue, under such auspices, should be acknowledged and felt. We may not at once perceive the effects which this weekly observance produces. Like most moral causes, it operates slowly; but it operates surely, and gradually weakens the power and breaks the yoke of profligacy and sin. No villain regards the Sabbath. No vicious family regards the Sabbath. No immoral community regards the Sabbath. The holy rest of this ever-memorable day is a barrier which is always broken down, before men become giants in sin. Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, remarks, that “A corruption of morals usually follows a profanation

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of the Sabbath." It is an observation of Lord Chief Justice Hale, that "Of all the persons who were convicted of capital crimes while he was upon the bench, he found a few only who would not confess, on inquiry, that they began their career of wickedness by a neglect of the duties of the Sabbath, and vicious conduct on that day." The prisons in our own land could probably tell us that they have scarcely a solitary tenant who had not broken over the restraints of the Sabbath before he was abandoned to crime. You may enact laws for the suppression of immorality; but the secret and silent power of the Sabbath constitutes a stronger shield to the vital interests of the community, than any code of penal statutes that ever was enacted. The Sabbath is the keystone of the Temple of Virtue, which, however defaced, will survive many a rude shock so long as this foundation remains firm.

The Sabbath may also be regarded as a distinguished means of national prosperity. The God of heaven has said, "Them that honour me I will honour." You will not often find a notorious Sabbath-breaker a

permanently prosperous man. A Sabbath-breaking community is never a prosperous, happy community. Such a man, such a community provokes the displeasure of God, and draws down his judgments. When the Athenians recalled their celebrated general Alcibiades from an important expedition, it was because the night before his departure, he had cast public reproach and contempt on the gods of his country. "If thou turn away thy foot," said the God of the Hebrews, "if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own plea

sure, 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." 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 everywhere 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

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