known was the custom of the early Christians on this subject, that the ordinary question, put by their persecutors to the Christian martyrs, was, "Hast thou kept the Lord's day?" Dominicum servasti? To which the usual answer was, "I am a Christian: I cannot omit it." Christianus sum: intermittere non possum.

4 It is, however, manifest, that the Jews, who were strongly inclined to blend the rites of Moses with the Christian religion, at first kept the seventh day; or, what is very probable, at first kept both days. The Apostles declared that the disciples of Jesus were not under obligation to observe the seventh day. See Colossians ii, 16, 17. Now, as the observance of the Sabbath is a precept given to the whole human race; as it is repeated, in the Mosaic law, as a moral precept; as the authority of this precept is recognized both by the teaching and example of Christ and his Apostles; as the Apostles teach that the keeping of the seventh day is not obligatory; and as they did keep the first day as a day of religious worship; it seems reasonable to conclude that they intended to teach, that the first day was that which we are, as Christians, to observe.

5. From these considerations, we feel warranted to conclude that the first day of the week was actually kept by the inspired Apostles, as the Christian Sabbath. Their example is sufficient to teach us that the keeping of this day is acceptable to God; and we are, on this ground, at liberty to keep it as the Sabbath. If, however, any other person be dissatisfied with these reasons, and feel under obligation to observe the seventh day, I see no precept in the word of God to forbid him.

6. If, however, as seems to ine to be the case, both days are allowable; that is, if I have sufficient reason to believe that either is acceptable to God; but if, by observing the first day, I can enjoy more perfect leisure, and suffer less interruption, and thus better accomplish the object of the day; and if, besides, I have the example of inspired Apostles in favor of this observance; I should decidedly prefer to observe the first day. Nay, I should consider the choice of that day as obligatory. For, if I am allowed to devote either day to the worship of God, it surely obliga

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tory on me to worship God on that day on which I car best accomplish the very object for which the day was set apart.

If it be asked, when this day is to begin, I answer, that I presume we are at liberty to commence this day at the same time that we commence other days; for the obvious reason, that thus we can generally enjoy the quiet of the Sabbath with less interruption.

SECONDLY.

Of the manner in which the Christian Sab

bath is to be observed.

The design for which the Sabbath was instituted, I suppose to be, to set apart a portion of our time for the uninterrupted worship of God, and the preparation of our souls for eternity; and, also, to secure to man and beast one day in seven, as a season of rest from labor.

Hence, the law of the Sabbath forbids,

1. All labor of body or mind, of which the immediate object is not the worship of God, or our own religious improvement. The only exceptions to this rule, are works of necessity or of mercy. The necessity, however, must be one which is imposed by the providence of God, and not by our own will. Thus, a ship, when on a voyage, may sail on the Sabbath, as well as on any other day, without violating the rule. The rule. however, would be violated by commencing the voyage on the Sabbath, because here a choice of days is in the power of the master.

2. The pursuit of pleasure, or of any animal, or merely intellectual gratification. Hence the indulgence of ou appetites in such manner as to prevent us from free and buoyant spiritual contemplation, riding or journeying for amusement, the merely social pleasure of visiting, the reading of books designed for the gratification of the taste or of the imagination, are all, by the principles of the command, forbidden.

3. The labor of those committed to our charge.

1. The labor of servants. Their souls are of as much value as our own, and they need the benefit of this law as much as ourselves. Besides, if this portion of their time be claimed by our Creator, we have no right to purchase it, nor have they a right to negotiate it away. Works of

necessity must, of course, be performed; but these should be restricted within the limits prescribed by a conscientious regard to the object and design of the day.

2. Brutes are, by the fourth commandment, included in the law which ordains rest to all the animate creation. They need the repose which it grants, and they are entitled to their portion of it.

On the contrary, the law of the Sabbath enjoins the em ployment of the day in the more solemn and immediate duties of religion.

1. Reading the Scriptures, religious meditation, prayer in private, and also the special instruction in religion of those committed to our charge. And, hence, it enjoins such domestic arrangements as are consistent with these duties.

2. Social worship. Under the Mosaic and Christian dispensation, this was an important part of the duties of the day. As the setting apart of a particular day to be universally observed, involves the idea of social as well as personal religion, one of the most obvious duties which it imposes, is that of social worship; that is, of meeting together in societies, to return thanks for our social mercies, to implore the pardon of God for our social sins, and beseech His favor for those blessings which we need as societies, no less than as individuals.

The importance of the religious observance of the Sabbath, is seldom sufficiently estimated. Every attentive observer has remarked, that the violation of this command, by the young, is one of the most decided marks of incipient moral degeneracy. Religious restraint is fast losing its hold upon that young man, who, having been educated in the fear of God, begins to spend the Sabbath in idleness, or in amusement. And so, also, of communities. The desecration of the Sabbath is one of those evident indica tions of that criminal recklessness, that insane love of pleasure, and that subjection to the government of appetite and passion. which forebodes, that the "beginning of the end" of social happiness, and of true national prosperity, has arrived.

Hence, we see how imperative is the duty of parents,

and of legislators, on this subject. The head of every family is obliged, by the command of God, not only to honor this day himself, but to use all the means in his power to secure the observance of it, by all those committed to his charge. He is, thus, promoting not only his own, but also his children's happiness; for nothing is a more sure antagonist force to all the allurements of vice, as nothing tends more strongly to fix in the minds of the young a conviction of the existence and attributes of God, than the solemn keeping of this day. And, hence, also, legislators are false to their trust, who, either by the enactment of laws, or by their example, diminish, in the least degree, in the minds of a people, the reverence due to that day which God has set apart for Himself.

The only question which remains, is the following:

Is it the duty of the civil magistrate to enforce the observance of the Sabbath?

We are inclined to think not, and for the following

reasons:

1. The duty arises solely from our relations to God, and not from our relations to man. Now, our duties to God are never to be placed within the control of human legislation.

2. If the civil magistrate has a right to take cognizance of this duty to God, he has a right to take cognizance of every other. And, if he have a right to take cognizance of the duty, he has a right to prescribe in what manner it shall be discharged; or, if he see fit, to forbid the observance of it altogether. The concession of this right would, therefore, lead to direct interference with liberty of conscience.

3 The keeping of the Sabbath is a moral duty. Hence, if it be acceptably observed, it must be a voluntary service But the civil magistrate can never do any thing more than produce obedience to the external precept; which, in the sight of God, would not be the keeping of the Sabbath at all Hence, to allow the civil magistrate to enforce the observance of the Sabbath, would be to surrender to him the control over the conscience, without attaining even the object for which the surrender was made.

4. It is, however, the duty of the civil magistrate, to protect every individual in the undisturbed right of worshipping God as he pleases. This protection, every individual has a right to claim, and society is under obligation to extend it. And, also, as this is a leisure day, and is liable to various abuses, the magistrate has a right to prevent any modes of gratification which would tend to disturb the peace of society. This right is acknowledged in regulations respecting other days of leisure or rejoicing; and there can be no reason why it should not be exercised in respect to the Sabbath.

5. And, lastly, the law of the Sabbath applies equally to societies, and to individuals. An individual is forbidden to labor on the Sabbath, or to employ another person to labor for him. The rule is the same, when applied to any number of individuals; that is, to a society. Hence, a society has no right to employ persons to labor for them. The contract is a violation of the Sabbatical law. It is on this ground that I consider the carrying of the mail on this day a social violation of the Christian Sabbath.