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ESSAYS

UPON THE

ORIGIN, PERPETUITY, CHANGE,

AND

PROPER OBSERVANCE,

OF THE

SABBATH.

BY HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D.
President of Amherst College, Mass.

Published under the direction of a Committee of Gentlemen
at New-York.

STEREOTYPED BY JAMES CONNER, NEW-YORK.

NEW-YORK:

JONATHAN LEAVITT, No. 182 BROADWAY.

BOSTON:

CROCKER AND BREWSTER,

47 Washington-street.

113

'#8

Southern District of New-York, ss.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-eighth day of August, A. D. 1829, in the fifty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Jonathan Leavitt, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:—

"Essays upon the Origin, Perpetuity, Change, and Proper Observance of the Sabbath. By Heman Humphrey, President of Amherst College, Mass. Published under the direction of a Committee of Gentlemen at New-York."

In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, "an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an act, entitled, "an act, supplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." FRED. J. BETTS,

Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.

ADVERTISEMENT,

BY THE COMMITTEE.

The substance of this little volume was published a few years since in a periodical magazine; and subsequently in a separate form for more general distribution. The work has just been revised and enlarged by the author, at the request of a committee of gentlemen in New-York, and is now presented to the public, with the earnest prayer that it may lead all into whose hands it shall fall, to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

KNOWLES TAYLOR,

JAMES SMITH,

ELIJAH PIERSON,

LEWIS TAPPAN,

ABIJAH SMITH,

MARCUS WILBUR.

INTRODUCTION.

VERY few will pretend to deny the utility and importance of the Christian Sabbath. Its immediate advantages are seen to be numerous and great, for it offers timely and needful rest to all the laboring classes of society. It promotes cleanliness, and ministers, in a very high degree, to health and intellectual improvement. It kindly remembers the working animals, and releases them, one day in seven, from their toils. It divides time into portions highly convenient for the transaction of worldly business; and thus helps to regulate the various intercourse of a great community. It restores the man of a thousand cares and perplexities, to the bosom of his family, and affords time for reading, for reflection, and for the religious instruction of children. It brings more gain to individuals and to the public, than could possibly be derived from unremitting application to secular employments.

By its weekly return, it rebukes our worldliness; and by bringing the rich and the poor so often together to worship God, and receive instruction from his word, it tends exceedingly to remove prejudices, soften asperities, and elicit kindly feelings; to check the growth of pride, avarice, and sensuality; and on the other hand, to encourage truth, temperance, " brotherly kind ness, and charity." In addition to its mighty in

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