be prepared, so far as may be, the day before. It is said of the pious and learned Mr. Gouge, "that as he forebore providing suppers on the eve before the Sabbath, that servants might not be kept up too late, so he would never suffer any servant to tarry at home to dress any meat on the Lord's day for any friends, whether they were mean or great, few or many." Journeying on the Sabbath is unlawful. The Jews were not permitted to journey on this day farther than to the temple or synagogue to worship God. This was their Sabbath day's journey. Journeying serves to divert the attention from serious things, to destroy the solemnity of the Sabbath, and to interrupt the devotion of others. The practice of visiting on the Lord's day is not to be justified. Before and after public worship we should be at our usual place of abode. Heads of families should be at home and see that those under their care behave with propriety and decency. The Sabbath should not be spent in sleep and stupidity. Some spend that holy day in strolling the streets, walking in their gardens, or rambling over their fields, viewing their flocks, and the productions of their land. But this practice is a positive violation of the Sabbath. It robs God of his rights and service. A man might with as much propriety post his books and settle his accounts. All unhallowed conversation-conversation upon worldly affairs, businesses, dresses, fashions, diversions, news, politics, bargains, schemes, gains and losses, writing letters, visiting post-offices, haunting taverns, playing at games, reading newspapers, novels, and romances,—any book of bad tendency, or even on ordinary subjects;—all these should be strictly avoided. These things are a pollution of the Sabbath, a profanation of the day, instead of spiritual rest. The keeping of the Sabbath is retirement from

worldly cares and labors, vain pleasures and amusements,* and rest in the holy services of God. This heavenly day is to be employed in public, private and secret devotion. On this day Christians are to commemorate the work of creation, and their redemption from the bondage of sin, through the resurrection of Christ. Yea, they should remember God as their Creator, who sanctified the Sabbath, as their Redeemer, who changed it from the seventh to the first day of the week, and as their Judge, who will ere long, instead of these passing Sabbaths, give them an eternal Sabbath. On this day we should worship God publicly, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." The Jews used to meet in the temple to worship on the Sabbath. When the congregation were assembled, the priests read and explained the law. Christ, after his induction into the ministerial office, entered into the synagogue and preached on the Sabbath. After his resurrection, we find, his disciples met together for public worship, on the first day of the week. Paul and the other apostles used to preached on the Sabbath. The practice of assembling together for public worship on the Lord's day, has been continued from the days of Christ down to the present time, by all Christian people, and all who can do it with any degree of convenience, ought always, wherever the Sabbath is known, to assemble in holy convocation on this day, for public worship. No trifling excuse ought to detain us from the house of prayer, on either part of the Lord's day. Here we should meet and unitedly offer our prayers and praises to the living God. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Let Christians then throng the courts of the Lord, go up with joy to the house of their

* Appendix B b.

God; talk of his glory, attend upon the dispensation of his word and ordinances, and mingle their hosannas to his exalted name. They should worship God in the familybegin and end the Sabbath with prayer. On this day, parents and guardians should catechise and instruct their children and domestics, on religious subjects, and acquaint them with the ways of truth and holiness. We should peruse the sacred Scriptures, and meditate upon them. We should retire to our closets, closely examine ourselves, acknowldege our dependence and obligations, confess our sins, pray for pardon and the blessings we need. In this way we should keep the Sabbath of the Lord in all our dwellings. Then it will be to us, as the primitive Christians styled it, "the day of light," "the day of heaven," "the queen of days."

In the institution of the Sabbath, we discover the wisdom and goodness of God. This sacred day, sanctioned and perpetuated by divine authority, has been of more utility in preserving the knowledge and worship of God, and thereby promoting the temporal and spiritual happiness of man, than all other institutions. In proportion as it has been slighted, the knowledge and worship of God have declined, and where it has been entirely neglected, they have been forgotten. Look at the inhabitants of Asia and Africa; look at the savages in the wilds of America, -at all nations and tribes where the Sabbath is unknown, and you will find them sunk in pleasures, sensual and brutal, ignorant of God, and strangers to his worship. The people are but a little above the beasts that roam the field, and wander in the desert. Go through the earth, and search every spot; go back to our first parents in Eden, and trace the generations of every age down to the present; and the awful conclusion will be the same. Where there is no Sabbath, religion dies; morality fades away; sense of duty ceas

es; no fruits of the spirit are discoverable; no hearts are warmed with love to God and the Saviour; darkness and despair cover the tomb; man forgets God, and God forsakes man. Annihilate the Sabbatical institution, and you annihilate whatever is most desirable in life, and all that is good and glorious to man. With the extinction of the Sabbath, all denominations of Christians would cease to exist, and the hope of civil freedom expire. The Sabbath is the mainspring of all good government, and free institutions. Let the observance of the Sabbath cease for a century, or hålf that time, in one of our states, or in this nation, and what think you would be its moral and religious character, at the close of that period? Where would you find piety, and the practice of the Christian virtues? Where would you find republican liberty? To shew you, in some degree, what would be its moral and religious state, I refer you to the waste places of our Zion, where the Sabbath, for a few years only, has been disregarded. There, public and family worship are neglected; there, the Scriptures are banished from the dwellings of men, or lie untouched and mouldering in their ruins; there, vices and evil practices of every description abound. But for the Sabbath, we might have been worshippers of demons, men, reptiles, insects, stocks, and stones.

How deplorable then, is the profanation of this sacred day, in this land of our pilgrim fathers! At a shameful rate is it violated !-trodden under foot by multitudes, by sea and land, at home and abroad, in the country and in the town, and by all ranks and all descriptions of persons. "And the violation of the Sabbath in the public estimation, is of little consequence. The disgrace is divided amo.g many and is little regarded. Indeed, many seem to glory in their shame. I will not attempt to notice the particular instances in which the Sabbath is perverted and abused.

Suffice it to say, that the violation of the institution is an appalling evil, and a cause of general lamentation. It certainly behoves all to use their utmost exertions to prevent its profanation; since with the right observance of it, are connected our dearest interests as individuals in time and in eternity; the prosperity of our American republic; and the happiness of present and future generations. In this view of the subject, I call upon the ministers of the gospel to blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm; to shew the people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins; for they are set for the defence of this divine institution. I call upon the members of the churches, bought by the blood of Christ, to echo the sound from the pulpit, east and west, north and south, and to keep the Sabbath holy in all their dwellings. I call upon our civil fathers to exert their influence by legislative enactments, and the execution of our wholesome laws, and by their examples to preserve the sacred day inviol te.* I call upon every patriot, every lover of his country, who would perpetuate our dear-bought liberties, our civil, literary, and religious privileges, procured by prayers, toils, and blood, to enlist in this glorious undertaking. I call upon the press, with its thousand tongues, to plead in behalf of this cause of God and man. I would exhort all, whatever their rank, or character, or sex, to aid in this good work, by their prayers, personal example, associated influence, and appeals to their fellow men. May all be enabled to discharge their duty in this respect with decision, firmness, prudence, and perseverance, that they may clear the skirts of their garments, and be instrumental in promoting the general good. And may He who spake from flaming Sinai, saying, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it

* Appendix B c,