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ON KEEPING HOLY THE SABBATH

DAY.

EXODUS XX. 8.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

THESE

HESE are the words of God, delivered by Moses to the Jews. Amongst the other commandments which the Lord gave unto them, particular mention is made again and again in the bible, of the Sabbath, and of their observance of this he seems to have been especially careful. Again and again are they promised that it shall be well with them if they will obey this precept. Again and again are they threatened with the severest punishment for breaking the Sabbath day. And, as it is as much our duty now, as it was that of the Jew in ages past, to observe all the ten commandments of God; and as the anger of God is as great now, as it was then against those, who break them, I shall direct your attention on this occasion to so important a subject, humbly praying unto God, to give you his grace, that you may profit by what shall be spoken.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. The word, Sabbath, means rest.-As God rested on the seventh day from the works of creation, as you will find in the book of Genesis-the first book of Moses, in the Bible; so was man to rest from his worldly cares, and labour, and to devote that day to the duties of religion, the care of his soul, and the service of his God.

If, before the fall of our first parents in Paradise, there was need of a Sabbath-a day of religious feeling

religious prayer and praise. If, at that time, before sin came into the world, the Sabbath was a sign between God and them—a means of exercising and carrying on the holiness which God had given them; surely we, since that fall, must, sinners as we are by nature and by practice, stand in need of the sabbath, to be a sign of the covenant of grace and mercy through Christ, and a means of our becoming holy. The Almighty was pleased to allow Adam six days in the week to dress and till the garden of Eden, and to keep the seventh holy unto himself, and he has also permitted his sinful creatures now to spend six days in each week in doing the works of their calling, while the seventh is to be given up to himself to His worship and praise. The sabbath was intended by God as a day of repose of refreshment, and religious meditation to the creatures of his hand. It was given by God to the Jews, to be a sign between himself and them-a sign, by which he shewed his great mercy and loving kindness to his people, and by which they might shew their fidelity and obedience to him. And so it is to us at the present day. For what can be a greater proof of the mercy of God to our bodies and souls, than the appointment of one day in seven, on which the whole creation may rest from labour, and man may devote his thoughts to the awful concerns of another world? Or what can be a surer sign either of our reverence for God, and of our growing in grace on the one hand, and on the other, of our contempt of his Divine Majesty, and the unsanctified state of our souls, than the manner in which we employ ourselves on this holy day?

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Perhaps you will ask, how are you to keep holy the sabbath day? I will tell you. When you awake from your sleep in the morning of the sabbath, not only praise God for his mercy in having preserved you through the dangers of the night past, and spared your life so long, notwithstanding your great and repeated wickedness; but pray unto him from the heart, to give you his grace to enable you to draw off your thoughts from the things of this world during the day on which you have just entered, and to fix them on the concerns of your immortal souls and a world to come. Are you living in a family, in a town where there is a place of public worship on the sabbath day? Your master or

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mistress will never refuse to give you leave to attend that worship once at least, either in the morning or the afternoon of the day. When you are in the church or chapel, pay attention to the advice given you by the preacher, and join in fervent prayer with the rest of the congregation, on your bended knees, to the Father of mercies, who has granted you this opportunity of seeking the forgiveness of your sins, through his Son Jesus Christ, and of praying to him to give you his grace to enable you to amend your lives for the future. During the remainder of the day, let your thoughts and conversation be directed to a future state of being beyond the grave. Read the scriptures, which testify of your fallen state and your need of a Saviour, or, if you cannot read yourselves, intreat your fellow servants to read to you the words of eternal life from the bible or some good book, which explains to you the truths of the bible. And when this day of holy rest is over, and you are about to lie down on your bed to sleep, fall down on your knees before the Lord your maker and preserver, and bless him for having given you health and strength to serve him with a quiet mind during the day past-to pardon the sinfulness, the utter worthlessness of your doings in his sight, through his Son Jesus Christ-to accept, through him, your weak endeavours to worship and adore him, and to raise you up again, to begin the labours of another week, and to discharge them to the satisfaction of your employer, and to his honor and glory.

Are you engaged in service on a farm in a part of the country where there is no place of public worship, and where no divine service, no prayers or sermons are read in the family or to the servants upon the farm, on any part of the sabbath day? Still may you pray to God in private, morning as well as evening-still even there you may read your bible and meditate on the things of another world, and of the exceeding value of the soul; or, if you cannot read, your thoughts may rise from earth to heaven, and your prayers, if sincere, through Christ, will gain entrance there. And should it be your lot to be a solitary guardian of your master's flock in the bush, at a distance from his farm, and no other human being near you, think on the great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ, who has come to save you, lost and perishing, and who,

though you see him not, yet beholds you and calls you back to his fold, from which, like one of the flock before you, which you may have lost but recovered, you have erred and strayed. Nothing can interrupt your silent prayers unto him. Did you know no other than that which was made by himself, the Lords Prayer, that, if offered up fervently and in faith, would reach the ears of his mercy, and obtain heavenly blessings for you.

By acting thus, you will keep holy the sabbath day; and now let me ask you, has such been your conduct both in this country and in your native land? have you thus kept holy unto the Lord, the day of his own appointment? What do your consciences testify? What answer can you make in the presence of God, who knows all things that you have done during your past lives? Alas! You have not remembered to keep holy the sabbath day, and, not having done so, you have profaned it, and broken one of the righteous commandments of God, which you knew you ought to have observed. Now listen while I tell you, in what way the sabbath day is not kept holy by persons in your condition of life, and put it to your hearts, for they will tell you in which of these ways you have offended against God.

To begin with the dawn, with the earliest light of the sabbath morn. The sun of that day of sacred rest arises in the eastern sky, but is no witness of one, who calls himself a christian, being fallen low on his knees before the footstool of his God, in praise for blessings past, in prayer for blessings to come, and for mercy and forgiveness. As he neglects prayer to God on every morning of every other day in the week, so on the sabbath morning he neglects it too; and when his necessary work is done, and the hour arrives for public worship, he feels no anxious wish to go his way into the gates of God with thanksgiving, or to enter into his courts with praise; but, if obliged to go, if sent thither by his employer, he goes with reluctance, and pays no attention to the religious services, as they proceed, during the sacred hour of prayer. The bible is never opened during the day, nor is either private or domestic prayer attended to. The hours of sacred rest are spent in sinful idleness; wicked companions are resorted to, wanton and impure conversation is engaged

in, plots of iniquity are formed, the gambling room or the tavern are frequented-drunkenness, fornication, and adultery succeed; crimes of every dye are either committed, or the seeds of them sown, and he who has begun the day without prayer, is too far gone in wickedness to think of it at its close, and passes the night of the sabbath in a state worse than the beast that perishes, rendered senseless by intoxication, or else in the commission of acts of filthy and abominable sin.

And have you been engaged in any of these things on the sabbath day? Have you in this country? Have you in your native land? Hear the following statement respecting the profanation of the Sabbath in England, and ask yourselves, whether it is not equally correct with regard to the neglect of it here?

"Tell me what vices and outrages are not committed upon the sabbath, when it is dishonoured and violated. Of those who are executed as victims to the infraction of the laws of their country, the greater part date their ruin from the flagrant breaches of this sacred day. Of the hideous and fearful sins of impurity and licentiousness, the sabbath is the season. Of the degrading habits of drunkenness, the sabbath is the period, the spot, the occasion. Schemes of rapine and dishonesty are almost all planned in the abused hours of the Lord's day; the first steps are perhaps not discernible-an occasional neglect of the ordinances of religion, brings no instant profligacy of principle, society is secure, but the tendency soon appears; the moral sense is loosened, the fear of God, like a barrier, being removed, the torrent of passion and concupiscence pours out of itself. The danger is augmented from the concealed labyrinths of the process; should a loose companion say to a sober religious youth, on the morning of the christian sabbath, "Go with me to day, ruin your health, destroy your reputation, lose your money, kill your aged parents with grief, be a companion of prostitutes, rob your master, break the laws of your country, scorn God, be executed as a criminal, and plunge in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone"-certainly the undebauched youth would tremble and flcc. But the tempter conceals all this; he only says "Do not go to church to day, spend the day with me." All the rest follows of course" the