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 1 
 
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7 li B 
 
 THE 
 
 SABBATH 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BY 
 
 Revd. James Mair, M. A 
 
 Martintown, C. W. 
 
 Published by request. 
 
 MONTREAL 
 Dawson Brothers, 55 to 59 Great St. James Street 
 
 1866. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 Mark ii. 27. — The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 
 
 These words enunciate an important principle ap- 
 plicable to the circumstances of man generally : a 
 principle of such consequence, that we believe the 
 great majority of the errors committed in ecclesias- 
 tical, as well as in civil polity, are committed through 
 inattention to it. Here we are taught in reference 
 to the Sabbath, as in other parts of Scripture we are 
 taught in reference to other things, that it was made 
 for the good of man — man, in the true sense of the 
 term, a spiritual and never-dying being. Whatever, 
 therefore, we find militate against man's spiritual 
 interests, whether in Church or State, in philosophy 
 or physics, must be a something of man's invention, 
 or a gift of God perverted by man. Man is not a 
 mere piece of mechanism, to be cut, carved, and fitted 
 into his place in this world's system ; he stands above 
 all here, a spiritual being, and the systems of this 
 world, natural and revealed, are to be made condu- 
 cive to his interests as such. 
 
 In opening up the subject of Sabbath observance, 
 I have been led to these remarks by observing that 
 many treat the question as if they telt that men liiust 
 
 121194 
 
adapt themselves to the ancient forms of Sabbath 
 observance, and to the dogmatic opinions held thereon 
 by our forefathers, whether these be consistent with 
 Scripture and man's spiritual interests or not. 
 
 I have chosen this subject for to-day's meditations 
 at the request of the Kingston Sabbath Reformation 
 Society, and cannot refrain from remarking on a part 
 of their Report, which I must characterize as a wan- 
 ton attack on one of the most zealous, devoted, and 
 hard-working clergymen of the day. They say : ** A 
 " bold, open, and, as we were going to say, irreligious 
 " attack has been made upon the Sabbath, as to its 
 " Divine institution, primeval origin, and perpetual 
 "and universal obligation, by the Rev. Norman 
 " McLeod, D.D., one of Her Majesty's Chaplains for 
 " Scotland, and author of the well-known and much- 
 " read monthly periodical Good Words. It is remote 
 " from the intention of your Committee to enter into 
 "a controversy on this subject ; but it may be allowed 
 " them to say, and to say with a firm conviction of 
 ** its truth, that it would have been wiser and better 
 ** ior this learned ecclesiastic to have kept his rhapso- 
 " dies within his own breast, and there brooded upon 
 " them to his heart's content, and for any length of 
 " time, instead of scandalizing the Church with them ; 
 " for in the land of heroes and martyrs — the land of 
 " Wallace and Bruce — the land of Knox, Rutherford 
 " and Chalmers, Bible and Sabbath-loving Scotland, — 
 *' he stands a poor chance of impregnating the cau- 
 " tious, thoughtful, pious minds of his Countrymen 
 " with his crude, indigestible, Germanised lucubra- 
 *•' tions.*' It is with sorrow I quote this to you, but 
 
Sabbath 
 thereon 
 jnt with 
 
 litations 
 irmation 
 )n a part 
 s a wan- 
 ted, and 
 ly : ** A 
 'eligious 
 LS to its 
 erpetual 
 Norman 
 ains for 
 d much- 
 s remote 
 iter into 
 allowed 
 ction of 
 d better 
 J rhapso- 
 [ed upon 
 jngth of 
 h them ; 
 land of 
 therford 
 tland, — 
 the cau- 
 itrymen 
 lucubra- 
 rou, but 
 
 I am necessitated ; for others have written and spoken 
 to you in a similar spirit, and such tends to weaken 
 your faith in the sincerity of God's messengers. 
 While even Dr. McLeod's strongest opponents, in 
 argument, allow his sincerity, and admit that his 
 motive was to establish Sabbath-keeping on a firmer 
 and more Christian basis than that upon which it has 
 been for years built by the Church : yea, verily, to 
 quote the words of Paul, ** He taketh away the first, 
 that he may establish the second." 
 
 In treating the subject, I shall speak, first, of the 
 authority which makes the Sabbath day binding on 
 us, and, secondly, of how the Sabbath day is to be 
 kept by Christians ; and may our God guide us into 
 the truth, and to a practical realisation of it in our 
 lives. 
 
 I- — The authority which makes the Sabbath day 
 binding on us. 
 
 That the J< ws were obliged to keep holy the 
 seventh day as a Sabbath unto the Lord, has never 
 been disputed. In the decalogue we have the com- 
 mandment plainly given, that the seventh day shall 
 be kept holy ; and in the history of the Jews we 
 find a peculiar strictness observed in the keeping of 
 this day. But doubts have been expressed as to 
 whether such a day was observed prior to the depar- 
 ture of the Israelites from Egypt. Such doubts seem 
 but deliberate attempts to ignore the nature of the 
 Sabbath and to pervert Scripture. In the words of 
 my text, we are taught that the Sabbath was made 
 for man — not for any particular generation of men, 
 or for any peculiar nationality, but for man generally. 
 
And as all things needful for man were created before 
 or at the time of man's creation, so we may naturally 
 conclude that the appointment of the Sabbath was 
 coeval with the origin of man. This the Scriptures 
 lully and plainly declare : " And God blessed the 
 'seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he 
 " rested from all his work which God created and 
 ||made."-Genesis ii. 3. And again : « In six days 
 ^^ the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
 that m them is, and rested the seventh day : where- 
 '* fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hal- 
 ' lowed it."-Exodus XX. IL Here two things are 
 pointed out, that the Sabbath was instituted imme- 
 diately after the creation, and that it was instituted 
 as a commemorative celebration of the work of cre- 
 ation. It is not natural to suppose that an ordinance, 
 commemorative of any event, should be appointed at 
 the time of the event, but not attended to till .early 
 1500 years afterwards. We are forced to the conclu- 
 sion that a Sabbath was instituted by God at the 
 creation, and that it has been kept by God-fearing 
 men in all ages since the creation. But to this part 
 of the subject I need not direct your attention at any 
 length ; for this, it seems to me, has little or nothing 
 to do with the excitement that prevails on the Sab- 
 bath question at the present time. Neither need I 
 do more than just refer to the powerful and oft- 
 repeated argument that the physical necessities of 
 both man and beast demand rest on one day in the 
 seven. 
 
 The great subject to which the attention of Chris- ' 
 tians IS now directed is, whether by the Christian 
 
law of lovo and liberty the Sabbath in not placed on 
 a different foundation, and its observance to be 
 attended to on higher and holier motives, than those 
 which obtained among the Jews and Patriarchs of 
 old. The change from the Jewish Sabbath on the 
 last day of the week to the Christian Sabbath on the 
 first day of the week could have been produced only 
 by some important cause, and certainly points to some 
 change in the nature of, and motives for, its obser- 
 vance. The glorious resurrection of our Saviour on 
 the first day of the week is allowed by all Christians 
 to be the reason, and to be a sufficient reason, for this 
 change. As the original Sabbath was commemorative 
 of the work of creation, so the Christian Sabbath is 
 commemorative of the re-creation of the soul of man. 
 As the first Sabbath points to the power of God over the 
 material world in that he called it into existence by a 
 word, so the second Sabbath points to his power over 
 the spiritual world in that he freed the sin-stained soul 
 of man from the power of sin, and from sin's doom. 
 As the earlier race of God's people kept the Sabbath 
 in remembrance of Him who made them, so the 
 present race of God's people keep the Sabbath in re- 
 membrance of Him who redeemed them. But a 
 difference of still greater moment is pointed out in 
 Scripture between the observances of the Jewish and 
 Christian Churches, as on other points, so concerning 
 the Sabbath. The Jewish economy consisted chiefly 
 of outward rites, which, in their observance, im- 
 pressed truths on the mind. The Christian economy 
 consists chiefly of truths impressed on the mind, which 
 produce observance of outward rites. The Jewish 
 
8 
 
 one of internal attraction The t'' ''^''^''"^ "« 
 to. attend to the diiierl ^1^^^.^^'^''"^ 
 pam of immediate punishmoL by deal 1 Pu "° 
 
 b. the ,irit:ft:i%t:r;e -^ iioir 
 
 Christian service tre • « If r*'"^ ^^'''^^ "^ ^^e 
 « mandments." The Jewirrr T* ''^^P ""^ «»"- 
 of God in its childhood Thfr^^'f.'^ ^"^ '^' ^^'^''^ 
 
 Church Of God in?t:°lt?"J-cy;dt ^^ ^'^ 
 to be comDellprl fn r.\.r. -x ^"" requires 
 
 higher mo^ttt^l;ter^Sh1'chtdr''^ 
 
 2ref [ft r r ^°^ ,r »^^'^- i"--; 
 H ou.ht to'ret^^htrr :Krot:^^^^^^ 
 
 « .ts parents' wi«h that such and such sSh ^ 
 and punishment by a faithful pare^r^?, i^ '^°"^' 
 
 — fo^beisir .^-,^"- °-or 
 
 in..ediaeepu:ire:tTitzr';2:t^ 
 
 child-a parents' command and fenV '" ^^^ 
 
 ■ by the higher motive in IhTmIr H ""^^"^'^ 
 We. The law that guides the^MlT '.' "^''*' """^ 
 the law that guides the man ^^^ J." °«''*'"^ ^^ 
 this sense only do wp h.T i " '^"'«' """d m 
 
9 
 
 McLeod. The moral principloH of the JewiHh hiw 
 were no doubt binding on man before the time of 
 MoscB — Romans v. 12 — 14. But tlie preface to the 
 ten commandments points out that these were spe- 
 cially given to the Jews in the particular overt acts 
 which they condemn ; and as such they have been 
 superseded by the higher moral principles of the New 
 Testament-— Romans vii. 4 — 6. In the progress of 
 science, the preceding step is invariably superseded 
 or abrogated b^ the succeeding and more advanced 
 one. We no longer use the cogged rails and cog- 
 wheels on our railways; yet they were useful in 
 their day, as a step to something higher. We can do 
 better now without them. They are taken away, 
 that a better may be put in their place. 
 
 But, it is said, if this principle is true, we may, 
 and must, apply it to all the commandments of the 
 Decalogue ; and by thus speaking of their abrogation, 
 open the flood-gates of all iniquity. We fearlessly 
 apply it to all. We have no fear of the consequences, 
 but rather rejoice in the belief that by so doing we 
 usher in a higher and more perfect law, even the law 
 taught by our Saviour to His followers. The great 
 error that has been committed by the opponents of 
 the view I feel compelled to advance, consists in their 
 forgetting an important part of a sentence: **He 
 "taketh away the first, that he may establish the 
 '* second" — is the full sentence which expresses what 
 is attempted by those who would open up to Chris- 
 tians clearer views of their duty. They have for- 
 gotten the latter part of the sentence, and have 
 pointed the finger of sarcasm at such as Dr. McLeod, 
 
10 
 
 forgetful that he !« establishing, oa a sur« founda- 
 tion, < the second.' Let us tun^ our attention for , 
 he to some of the other commandments, aLd we 
 wm find that our Saviour himself distinctly abro! 
 gated some of them by higher laws of virtue In 
 reference to the sixth commandment, He says • "« Ye 
 
 "wnl w?' " "" ^"'^' *•=•' ^''^^ «^^' «S 
 
 « u 'u :V '^"^ ""*" ^°"' ''s that is angry with 
 
 'his brother without a cause, is in danger or^&c 
 Ihis latter the Apostle John puts simplyl « Whot 
 "ever hateth his brother. is a murderer." InZ 
 form of a commandment, it would rea4 : " Thou 
 "Shalt not hate." And who dare deny but that this 
 abrogates the other. It is much morf extenst t 
 Its application, and being attended to, deprives the 
 other of any force. The former may be atten^^d t 
 and the latter broken; but the latter cannot be 
 attended to, and the former broken. Aga"n in 
 speaking of the seventh commandment, our Savk^^^ 
 says : « Ye have heard, ^-.., Thou shal not c^mm t 
 adultery, but I say unto you : that whosoever S 
 e.h on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed 
 "adultery with her already in his heart." Who 
 dare deny but that, if these words of our Saviour's 
 were attended to, the commandment itself would be 
 but as a dead letter. Thus we see. the principles laid 
 down for the Christian'^ guidance supersede ho e 
 aid down for the guidance of the Jew The Chris! 
 tian law of liberty supersedes the Jewish law of 
 
 1...., ^,b. hoi his heait loved his God or not; thus 
 ore the nature of bondage. The Christian is 
 
 it 
 
u 
 
 called upon to attend to the law, because he loves his 
 God and Saviour ; thus it is of the nature of freedom 
 —he follows the desires of his grateful heart. 
 
 Apply these to the subject on hand, and we arrive 
 at the conclusion that, under the Christian dispensa- 
 tion the fourth commandment, with its specific in- 
 junctions, is superseded by a spiritual power, leading 
 every Christian to keep the Sabbath for his soul's 
 o-ood. The fourth commandment, in the Jewish 
 law, may be fulfilled by attention to the letter ; but 
 the Christian Sabbath may not be fulfilled, although 
 the outward observance be the most scrupulous and 
 exact. Hence, while we say "God speed" to all 
 societies that have for their aim the promotion of 
 Sabbath observance, and look with no dislike, on 
 pastoral addresses pointing out the neglect of such 
 observance, we are firm in the belief that such is not 
 the true way to promote it. "Forced prayers are 
 not devotion." A forced observance of the Lord's 
 day coincided with Jewish economy; but' a forced 
 observance of the Lord's day, under the Christian 
 economy, falls far short of what is required of us. 
 The true way to lead to a more earnest devotion of 
 the Sabbath to the service of the Lord and His 
 Christ is to proclaim the glorious Gospel of Grace- 
 to indoctrinate the minds of the people with their 
 obligations to Him whose work the Sabbath day 
 commemorates. When a day of rejoicing is ap- 
 pointed in memory of any earthly hero, who may 
 i,„,,^ u,, c/>*vir. TirvKlo rlppfj rlpsprvorl wfiU of his coun- 
 
 try, means are taken to let the people know why they 
 should rejoice. The history of the noble deed is 
 
; 1 
 
 12 . 
 
 circulated throughout the land, as the only mode by 
 which all can be led duly to honour that day. Miser- 
 able would be tlie farce, did the people know nothing 
 about the hero, and yet the government give out its 
 fiat that such day be kept a holiday. If, then, we 
 would have the Sabbath kept as the Sabbath ought 
 to be kept, let us use every possible means— let us 
 endeavour, in season and out of season, to convince 
 every, one of our fellow-creatures what reason they 
 have to remember that glorious day— how conducive 
 It is to their spiritual welfare to do so-how necessary 
 to happiness the great work of our dear Redeemer 
 was— how miserable, eternally miserable, the human 
 race must have been, had not our Saviour died and 
 r'meji again. 
 
 ' The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the 
 Sabbath,' says our Lord. So much formality entered 
 into the Jewish mode of Sabbath observance, that it 
 might seem as if they considered themselves as mere 
 puppets to be worked by wire-pullers on that holy 
 day. Sad it is that the same might novv^ be said of 
 many who profess to keep the Christian Sabbath. 
 While carefully abstaining from all manual labour, 
 and perhaps presenting themselves in the house of 
 God, are not their minds too often busy doing over 
 again the work of the past, and planning out work 
 for the future. Many worshippers' hearts, we fear, 
 would display saddening pictures, could they be laid 
 open to us as they are to God. How many fine 
 speculations are entered upon and successfiiDv nnrrjed 
 out during the preaching of His holy word ! Yea 
 how many noble castles are built by the vain mind 
 
13 
 
 of man, even while his body is in the attitude of 
 prayer in God's holy house! Truly it is of the 
 Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Ah ! pro- 
 fessing Christians, bethink yourselves, and spend God s 
 holy day, not as automatons, forced by the usages oi 
 society, and accustomed by the habits of your life, to 
 those things that are becoming, in a Christian commu- 
 „ity,buta« axjtive, loving,faithful Christians, following 
 the longings of your redeemed hearts, in giving the 
 day spiritually as well as outwardly to God. Whence 
 come the expressions of relief that fall from the lips 
 of many a professing Christian when the services of 
 the sanctuary are over, if not from a heart that 
 ioined not in the service, and therefore found it irk- 
 some ; yet in the letter the fourth commandment 
 was kept. Why the outburst of pleasure with whic> 
 the young, and too often even the old, enter upon 
 worldly, light and amusing topics of conversation im- 
 mediately on emerging from the sabred edifice : be- 
 cause while the Sabbath was kept according to the 
 Jewish law, it was not kept according to the Chris- 
 tian law. Will any one dare to say it is for his good 
 to keep the Lord's day according to the letter, and 
 not also according to tlie spirit 1 Can you say it is 
 bettor to keep your hands from labour, if by doing 
 so you permit your mind the more unrestrainedly to 
 dwell on vanity and sin ? We venture to believe it 
 were better for you at hast to be actively engaged, 
 even were it on secular matters, 
 
 " For Satan luda some mischief still, 
 For idle hands to do.*' 
 Thus, while it is evident that the Sabbath day is 
 
14 
 
 Wnding on us as Christians, it is equally evident that 
 we have no warrant in Scripture for binding on Chris- ' 
 hans any particular set of formalities for that day. 
 The formahties of the fourth commandment having 
 s!hh TvTw "^ ^y '^' spirituality of the Christiaf 
 
 android! f"' "°*;f ™ *» ^^^ beggarly elements 
 and decide for our fellow-men how they are to keep 
 the Lord's day. A Christian government-else It 
 behes Its very name,-must take care that such day 
 IB fenced about, and pc"uliarly distinguished from 
 other days But that any shall take upon them t" 
 decxde whether it is best for me that I walk ouTo^ 
 
 ties of God s creation, or indoors listen to the inno- 
 cent and amusing prattle of the children's social 
 circle or hear the song of praise accompanied bnhe 
 
 think I should, sit brooding, i„ glooming silence 
 
 a'davt'TK ^"''^"^'' look, -if grieved'tha sul' 
 a day should be demanded of me, or sorry that ever 
 a rising Saviour hallowed that day, is a lib^erty whil 
 
 ^ f J"^."''^'''^"'' "°^ ™y "J'^ct dare take if 
 guided by the Saviour's words : « The Sabbath li 
 made for man and not man for the Sabbath." As a 
 Christian, and cognizant of my own spiritual state in 
 the sight of God, surely I am the best judge under 
 God's guidance, a. to what advances J what mS- 
 
 thl o ^r °" ^"^^ "^ "° -""'^ "-^ke a Sabbath 
 than can the usages of society, which too nft^n -i- 
 
 But does not this open the door to the careless 
 
 and 
 
16 
 
 the unbeliever, and allow them to run riot in the 
 desecration of that holy day. Let them do so, it is 
 at their own peril. God will require it at their 
 hands. Their blood be upon their own heads. We 
 have spoken of the fourth commandment as being 
 abrogated by a higher, a holier, and more liberal law. 
 If they make no account of the second, which annuls 
 the first, in their case the first, at least as far as it is 
 moral, and revealed even before the time of Moses, 
 must still be in force. Indeed their condemnation is 
 certain, by the original covenant of works. If, on 
 the other hand, they allow that the first has been 
 abrogated, they must allow the existence of that 
 higher law which did abrogate it : and being tried 
 by this higher law, their punishment will be the 
 
 greater. 
 
 II.— How the Sabbath day is to be kept by Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 Having been led in the elucidation of the first 
 head to speak somewhat of the mode of Sabbath ob- 
 servance, it only remains to give a few practical 
 hints as to how the Sabbath day may be best employ- 
 ed. ** It was made for man." In general terms we 
 might say : whatever is conducive to man's spiritual 
 good, as an eternal being capable of happiness or 
 misery, is worthy of performance on the Sabbath ; 
 and whatever militates against his good, is to be re- 
 frained from. Want of attention to this has allowed 
 Sabbath observance to become in many cases a mere 
 ft^«*«„iUTr Q it iTialripo- nlfifln the outside of the cup 
 and platter, while within they are full of extortion 
 and excess." It is looked upon as a breach of Sab- 
 
16 
 
 bath observance to put forth the hand and plough 
 your field or sell your merchandize, but as quite in 
 keeping with that day's duties to think and speak of 
 them. Decidedly wicked it would be considered by 
 many to travel on the cars or even in a cab on the 
 Lord's day, but these many will often indulge on 
 that same day in all excess of riot with their tongue, 
 and perform journeys by the league in thought. De- 
 cidedly wrong to listen to music, but quite in ac- 
 cordance with their ideas of sanctifying the Sabbath 
 to gossip by the hour. He that would shave him- 
 self on a Sabbath morning must be a bad man, but 
 all right he who spends his afternoon in recounting, 
 with sneer and laugh, the faults, follies, and may- 
 hap sins of his neighbour. Nothing can be more de- 
 trimental to the true purity of Sabbath observance 
 than such notions, founded as they are on nought but 
 the usages of society. Habit hangs like a dead weight 
 on many a poor benighted soul, keeping it in its sin- 
 ful course. It behooves every lover of the Saviour 
 and every faithful member of His Church, earnestly 
 to examine whether his mode of thought and action 
 in this is in accordance with the dicta of Holy Writ, 
 or only with the usages of society. 
 
 Leaving behind all preconceived notions, all accus- 
 tomed habits, and all social usages, let us candidly 
 examine what behaviour on the Sabbath day is likely 
 to be most conducive to the good of our, souls. He 
 who will take the trouble to think cannot but con- 
 fess that he is bettered by attendance at the house of 
 God. Even the disciples and apostles, who were 
 more particularly gifted with graces from on high 
 
17 
 
 than we, found it advantageous to assemble them- 
 selves together on that day, and to speak of what 
 great things the Lord had done for their souls. In 
 all ages of the church the faithful have found it con- 
 duce to their spiritual good to attend at the house of 
 God, and this has been the principal means, under 
 God, of advancing the kingdom of grace in the world. 
 On this day all worldly cares as well as worldly 
 labours are to be laid aside, and as the Christian Sab- 
 bath is a spiritual Sabbath, the spirit is to be given 
 to God in prayer, praise, and meditation. The mere 
 formal outward observances of becoming deportment 
 and abstinence from labour can only be like the 
 prayers of the hypocrite — an abomination in the 
 sight of God. The attempt to frame your conduct in 
 accordance with the demands of the Sabbath, while 
 your heart is far from God, is like the attempt to cure 
 a cancerous sore by covering it over that the eye may 
 not see it, when it will eat deeper and deeper until 
 it gnaw the vitals and produce death. The cancer 
 must be extracted by the roots, or there can be no 
 hope of cure. The observance of the Sabbath must 
 be in the heart, or there can be but little hope of de- 
 riving good from it. The attempt to force a Sab- 
 bath upon the unwilling, may produce the snivelling 
 hypocrite, but it never can produce the thorough 
 Christ-loving, faithful follower of the Lamb. Would 
 you then derive from the Sabbath all the advantages 
 it offers to man, prepare your heart as well as your 
 body for its observance. Be not satisfied with array- 
 ing your body in becoming garments, and purifying 
 the flesh, that you may appear to man to respect this 
 
IS 
 
 holy day, but cleanse also your heart and soul from 
 the dross of worldly cares, and array them in the 
 beauteous garb of holy meditations. Before drawing 
 near to the house of God, see that you have banished 
 from your mind all such thoughts as present obsta- 
 cles to the reception of the truth ; and when ye re- 
 tire from this holy place, see that ye keep from your 
 hearts those worldly cares that are ever ready to rise 
 up as thorns and thistles to choke the Word. Let 
 not the habit of entering on worldly subjects as soon 
 as you emerge from the portals of God's house be your 
 habit. The Sabbath is given by the goodness of God, 
 that on it you may lay aside your worldly afiairs 
 without suffering loss. If during the week a busi- 
 ness man thinks not seriously about his business, all 
 will predict his failure. If on the Sahbath you think 
 not seriously about your soul's business, with equal 
 certainty all may predict your failure in spiritual 
 matters. 
 
 In conclusion, God is a Spirit, and must be wor- 
 shipped in spirit and in truth, whether on Mount 
 Gerizzim or at Jerusalem. The Sabbath is a spiritual 
 day, and must be kept in spirit by whatever outward 
 forms thi3 may be accompanied. And if men will, 
 in their perverse determination to do wrong, use this 
 liberty as a cloke of maliciousness, they must suffer 
 the consequences in want of blessings here, and in 
 the eternal misery of the damned hereafter. 
 
 Brethren — need I again warn you of the evil ten- 
 dency of many of those things that are habitually 
 practiced on the Lord's day, — of the conversations 
 that tend not to edification, — of the reading of the 
 
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 19 
 
 public news of commerce and politics— of the men- 
 tal preparation of work for Monday— of the useless 
 journeys and social calls— of the making up the axj- 
 counts of the week's transactions,— all, all have a damn- 
 ing tendency. Do ye desire to be God's people, 
 blessed here and happy hereafter ?— keep God's day in 
 the spirit. Are you careless whether ye be God's 
 friends or His enemies ?— follow on as faithfully as 
 you like those spiritless, miserable, outward formali- 
 ties, which deceive by saying « Peace, peace, when 
 there is no peace," and your lot will be misery here 
 and misery hereafter. He is not a Christian who is 
 one outwardly, but he is a Christian who is one in- 
 wardly. Neither is that Sabbath observance which 
 is outward in the flesh, but Sabbath observance is 
 that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter. 
 
 M. LoNOMOORE & Co., Printers, Montreal.