could invent a better way of honoring God than that which God himself hath appointed. When he is at work, away with God's will and most holy word, and substitute man's traditions and laws; away with the old honor due unto God, and substitute the honor due unto man."

So convincing are the proofs, in sacred Scripture, of the everlasting obligation, and of the universal obedience exacted by the fourth commandment, that I have not hesitated to take a passage for my text, which at first reading, may seem to imply, that it was given exclusively to the Israelites: "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever." But what are the words which immediately follow. "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." For whom did the Lord make heaven and earth? For the Israelites only? Was this fair universe peopled with myriads of reasonable beings, who are formed after the image and likeness of God's own self; and was it made for the descendants of Abraham only? No, for mankind at large was the carth created, and for mankind at large was the commandment intended. Was the Sabbath then a sign for Israel only? The seventh day had been blessed long before Israel was called, even immediately after the creation. "And God rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it."

Trace also the use of the terms "seven" and "weeks” as applicable to time, in the patriarchal ages, through the book of Genesis, and you will find it difficult to account for this division of time, unless it had been marked by a Sabbatical observance. As the resting after the work of the creation was the reason of the commandment, and as all mankind partake of the blessings of creation, so for all mankind, and not for Israel only, the merciful injunction, or rather the precious privilege of the Sabbath was granted; and "for ever," as the word of God expresses it, is its sanctity to endure.

But again, connect with the reason assigned for the sanctification of the Sabbath, namely, creation, and the resting of God afterwards; connect with this the variety of living creatures who were to be benefited by the enjoined abstinence from work. Not only Israel, the master, but the man-servant, and the maid-servant, the bonds-man and the bonds-woman, the domestic, and the stranger VOL. II.-53

were included in this covenant of mercy! And the very cattle also were the objects of the Creator's benevolence, when he issued his command. As He rested from his work, so was he pleased to say, so should all the laboring portion of creation rest one day in seven. But, say those who would desecrate the Sabbath, "We mean that there should be a day of relief from toil." This is the language of those who would desecrate the Lord's day, by changing its character of holiness and of religious observance, and by converting it into a mere festival-a holiday, a day of frivolous recreation. But upon these terms, as a Sabbath of ordinary rest or relaxation, and not as a Sabbath of holy rest, for whom would it be a day of rest? For the licentious, for the reveler, for the thoughtless, for those who neither fear God nor regard man. It would be a day of pastime for them to enjoy, in a more undisturbed degree, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world. In the mean time many of the poor, servants of all descriptions, would have to administer as much, if not more than ever, to the amusements and caprices of persons who would first selfishly work them, and then insultingly talk of the day of rest? No, there is but one way of securing a Sabbath to the working classes, and that is, by consecrating it according to God's appointment, by making it "holy unto the Lord." "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel;" and never more cruel than when directed against the Sabbath in pretended kindness for the people! Oh! think what a frightful change would take place in the aspect of all society, if you were to sweep away the holiness of the Sabbath! What a moral injury, and irreparable, would be inflicted on millions; once break down the religious barriers of the Sabbath, and business, pleasure, avarice, and unfeeling tyranny would soon complete the work; and we should have a day of rest, for the laboring population, first perhaps at the end of ten days, as was proposed in France, then in twenty, then in thirty, and finally no day of stated rest at all. In no way hast Thou, O God, prepared of thy goodness, for the poor man, more than by the institution of a holy Sabbath!

"It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever," said the Lord. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant." These are the strong terms in which the commandment is delivered. The same truth, precious as our ex

istence; for what is mere existence worth without spiritual life? the same truth, was indelibly written on the very tablet on which the decalogue was presented by the hand of God himself to Moses.

To the lawgiver of Israel, the Lord of heaven and earth revealed his will in two ways. By a voice commanding him what to say, and by a law inscribed in two tables of stone, "and the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God." The voice that was heard for a while, and then was silent, enjoined the ceremonial law, which, like it, was to last for a time only; the tables intended to be durable enjoined the moral law, which was also to be enduring. The tables were broken in the agitation of Moses, at the sight of offending Israel, but they were again renewed, as if to show the permanent intention of the Divine will on the subject. But further to distinguish the two, the ceremonial law, was communicated to Moses, when he was by himself; the moral law of the decalogue was delivered to him in the presence and in the hearing of all the people. And the awful scene is thus described: "These words, (the words of the decalogue,) the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.", What these commandments were, which had so express and so awful a sanction given to them, above the rest of the statutes confided to Moses, we find twice recorded; first, in the chronological order of events in the twentieth chapter of Exodus; and again, word for word where Moses reiterated the more important points in his dispensation, as we read in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. And if there be any thing notified by the solemnity with which they were first pronounced by the mouth of God himself, in the audience of his people; if there be any thing notified in the extraordinary inscription of them on two tablets of stone; if there be any thing in the collocation of them, one important and indispensable command by the side of another; then it is impossible. for the most subtle reasoning to show, that one can be considered less binding than another. Should we dare to say, that any other God than the Lord may be worshiped? Shall we dare to say, that God's holy name may be blasphemed? Will you dare to say, that a child may dishonor his parent? Shall we venture

to say, that murder, or adultery, or robbery, may be committed without laying a heavy burden upon the conscience, without hazarding the very dearest bonds that unite man to man, and man to God? We dare not embark in such a sophistry. How dare we, then, engage in that perilous special pleading, which would insist on the observance of the third or the fifth commandment, and apologise for the violation of the fourth? Were they not all devised by the same wisdom, spoken by the same voice, at the same hour, and sanctioned by the same threats and promises? Were they not all written on the same tablets of stone? And have they not all the same tendency to make individuals and society happy in their observance, and miserable in their breach?

But, not to rest the proposition on analogy only, we can adduce the plain language of Scripture in evidence that every one of the ten commandments, and therefore the fourth, has been, and is, and shall be, in force for ever. "Thou shall keep these His commandments for ever," said Moses, on the memorable occasion recorded in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you; neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God." What commandments were neither to be added to, nor diminished, but kept forever? The Lawgiver explained his Divine mission so that not a doubt could remain."Even ten commandments," said Moses; but if Moses thus declared that not one of the ten commandments should be diminished, a greater than Moses, even the Author and Finisher of our faith, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," gave the whole decalogue the sanction of his own eternity, by using words of the same meaning with Moses. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." With such a text of Scripture as this before their eyes, can there be persons, who, after due consideration, will take upon themselves the tremendous risk of undervaluing the fourth commandment, and of diminishing its obligation, and by their practice, or sophistry, teach weaker brothers to break it?

In the beginning of my discourse, I alluded to a species of profane hardihood, by which the sanctity of the second command

ment has also been assailed. As if the eternal Mind had been graciously pleased to forewarn men against these two most dangerous heresies, there is a chapter in the Bible which expressly reveals the righteous will of heaven upon this subject, and denounces indignation and wrath against such daring guilt. It begins thus; "Ye shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord." No express mention is made in this passage of any other commandment, but as if the sum and substance, and the vitality of Religion and of Morality were inseparable from the observance of these two commandments, the word of God proceeds to declare, that every imaginable curse shall rest upon the land where they are violated, and every possible blessing, where they are observed. "If ye will keep my commandments, and do them, said the Lord, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely,—and none shall make you afraid,-and your enemies shall fall before you, and I will establish my covenant with you. But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments, I will do this unto you; I will cause sorrow of heart, ye shall sow your seed in vain; for your enemies shall eat it; they that hate you shall reign over you, I will send pestilence among you,—I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuarics into desolation. And your land shall lie desolate; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths."

seven.

In marked, and ever memorable, and terrible token of His eternal truth, in relation to the Sabbath, God was patient, and long-suffering, and he bore with Israel through their long night of crime, and obstinacy, and rebellion, so long as there was a chance of amendment, by their observance of the one day in But when that was infringed, as if there could be no hope of a people, who deserted the sanctuary, and trampled on the fourth commandment, the measure of Divine wrath was then filled up. "They polluted my Sabbaths; then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them." The Sabbath which God commanded and blessed, which the patriarchs observed, which the pious of Israel hallowed, which Christ sanctified by his word, and