- .IMUIWIiilHll tmHillMM—l-UlitWiMl LIBRARY OF THK LJniversity of California. Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October, i8g4. Accessions No.S^^%.tf. Class No. ^n i -#- THE SABBATH: BRIEF HISTORY LAWS, PETITIONS, REMONSTRANCES AND REPORTS; WITH FACTS, APPEALS, AND ANSWERS TO POPULAR OBJECTIONS RELATING TO THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. HARMON KINGSBURY. W " If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from bis way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy hand."— Ezek. xxxih. "The profanation of the Sabbath is an offence against God and Religion." Blackstone. NEW-YORK: JONATHAN LEAVITT, 14 John Street. 184L ■ITT] 3 V // Ks- The net avails of this work are devoted to the cause of the Sabbath. syifz-*^ Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by ELIJAH WHITNEY, in the Clerk's Office, of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. ADVERTISEMENT. The first edition of this work met a rapid sale. A sec- ond is now called for ; and the publishers, in presenting it, anticipate a general demand and an extensive circulation. The importance of the cause to which the work is de- voted, and the increasing individual and national violation of the Sabbath, render its publication at the present time exceedingly desirable. The work is especially designed to aid in reviving an interest in this sacred institution, and in uniting the enterprise and enlisting the co-operation of the Christian community, in a general eifort to promote the bet- ter observance of the Sabbath. To augment its usefulness and render it an efficient auxiliary in this holy cause, the Author has carefully revised, corrected and re-arranged the matter of the work, and presented it, thus altered and im- proved, to the Executive Committee of the "American Society for the Promotion of Christian Morals."* By this arrangement, it is believed, the main design of the Author will be greatly advanced, and the cause of the Sabbath promoted. The means of circulating the work afforded by the operations of this Society, and its faciUties for the accomplishment of the object, are far more extensive than can be obtained through the ordinary channels. By a judicious and extended system of agencies, information may be communicated, an interest awakened, and the united * See Appendix. IV ADVERTISEMENT. energies of civil and religious institutions brought to bear upon the great and constantly increasing evil of Sabbath desecration. The Sabbath, viewed in its national influences and na- tional blessings, is annually assuming deeper interest in the estimation of our best and wisest men. It is the bulwark of our free institutions — the citadel of our Christian privileges — the rock on which rests the moral sense of the nation. If this be abandoned, immoralit}% Hcentiousness and infidelity will sweep over the land in an irresistible and overwhelming flood of moral desolation. Efforts to arrest the progress of Sabbath violation in this country, and to elevate the Sabbath to that high eminence in the affections of community which is its rightful station, should be various, vigorous, effective and unerring. The publishers, while engaged in these efforts, expect the cordial and effective co-operation of the advocates of the Sabbath and of all the friends of Christian morals. E. Whitney, CoTf 8ec*y, ^ Office of the A. S. p. CM., ) ' ' New York, July, 1841. f PREFACE. The following pages contain a brief history of laws, petitions, remonstrances, and reports, and some of the published articles of the author, relating to the desecration and sanctification of the Christian Sabbath. The occasions on which his own essays appeared were vari- ous. Sometimes the object was to meet particular objections, urged by others ; sometimes to awaken the church to her re- sponsibilities in this matter ; sometimes to warn of danger ; at others to record a fact, to recommend a plan, or to awaken sympa- thy in the great cause. As the articles were not written for a book, but for particu- lar emergencies, they will be found often more practical than ar- gumentative. The great design was to unfold the means of re- storing the Sabbath to its pristine purity, and to incite to vigor- ous efforts to accomplish speedily this very desirable object — to excite the friends of Sabbath reform to correct, systematic, cordial, united, and persevering action ; and, as far as possible, by presenting facts and arguments, to harmonize their views in regard to the time and manner of observing the day of Rest. When the reader remembers that the matter was prepared on different occasions, at different times, and in different places, he will not be surprised to find the same shade of thought occurring more than once. Modern infidels, in this country and in Europe, have exhaust- ed their resources in fruitless attempts to prove that the Sabbath was not made for man — for all mankind. It is not chiefly for this class, however, that this book is published, but for those who may be misled by their influence and their sophistry, who yet are willing to learn and to do their duty. Had Newton, or Bacon, penetrated the lonely cell of Caspar Hauser and labored to convince him that he had seen the bright VI PREFACE. luminary of day, the arguments would have been unavailing, so long as the wretched inmate of the prison had neither the incli- nation to hear, nor the knowledge necessary to understand and believe. So it is with infidels on this subject. Their eyes are closed against the light, their ears deaf to argument, and their consciences callous to conviction. They hear to scoff, read to reject, talk to differ, cavil to confound, and ward off to disbelieve. | With such, is it not best and sufficient to take the law of the Sab- ' bath, recorded in Ex. xx., and call on them to obey, considering it settled that this merciful and moral institution was established in Eden, and is necessary for all men, in every age of the world, and obUgatory on them ? The divine authority of the Scrip- tures is before them, urged by all the motives of self-interest, hu- manity, patriotism and gratitude j and if they continue to reject, they do it at their peril. The opinions of others have often been introduced, in order to increase the weight and influence of the work j and although the subject is prolonged, it is presumed to be sufficiently diversi- fied to secure the attention of those who care for the Sabbath. That the Lord of the Sabbath may, by this humble effort, greatly promote the observance of His day, is tlie sincere prayer of the AUTHOI:. Cleveland^ Ohio, 1840. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. History of Laws, Divine and Human, relating to the Sabbath, 13 Law of God, . . . . . .13 Laws of the States and Territories, . . . 14-22 Laws of Congress, .... • .22 CHAPTER n. Necessity for the Sabbath, . . . . . 23 30 CHAPTER HI. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. Obj. 1.—" There is no authority for the Sabbath,"" . 30-37 Fourth Commandment, Old Testament, Job, Christ, Homer, Rabbins, Weeks, Hesiod, Lampridms, Mrs. Summerville, Grotius, Alexander Severus, Mr. Buckingham, ' Manasseh Ben Israel, Calmet, President Goguet, Cain and Abel, Porphyry, Philo, Rev. E. Johns, Easterns, Josephus, Asiatic Journal, Jewett's Nootka Sound. Obj. 2.~" This authority hinds only the Jews,'' . . 37-51 Consequences to the Gentiles, Proof from the Bible. if they have no Sabbath. Sabbath not mentioned. Man's relations and obligations. President Dwight. Obj, 3. — " The Moral Law, or Ten Commandments, has been abrogated,^' .... 52-59 VIU CONTENTS. Ohj. 4.—" The New Testament does not require a Sab- President Humphrey, Barnes' Notes, President Dwight, President Humphrey, Rev. Mr. Doolittle, Practice of the Apostles, Ceremonial Sabbaths and Festi- vals, . . . 73-92 Weekly Sabbath, New Moons, Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, FeEist of Purim, Feast of Sabbaths, Feast of Jubilee, Sabbaths and New Moons, Holy Day. 59-73 Ohj. 5. — " There is no evidence that the day was chang- ed: 73-92 Constantine, Apostles, Eusebius, Dr. Cave, Emperor Leo, Charlemagne, Emperor Leo, Justin Martyr, Luther, Calvin, Paley, Priestly, Gumey, Professor Stuart, Pliny, Theophilus, Irenaeus, Dionysius, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Eusebius, Professor Stuart, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ambrose, Epiphanius, Theodosius, Lord Mansfield, Carolus, Ludovicus, Gratian, Wm. the Conqueror, Henry Second, Mosheim, Maclain, Henry, Dr. Brownlee, Selden. Olj. 6.—" Devjt. V. opposed to Ex, xx." . . 92-95 Ohj. 7. — " This nation acknowledges no religimi^^^ . 05-110 Religion recognized by the Con- Thanksgivings, stitution. Chaplains, Fasts, Stale Laws. Olj. 8. — " Works of Public Utility may be done on Sun- day,'' 110-113 A supposed case. Obj. 9. — " Greece and Rome as prosperous without as with religion,'' . . . , 113-118 Traditionary knowledge, . ... 115 Rev. J. Montieth. Obj. 10. — " The Quakers are as moral without as with a Sabbath," .... 118 CONTENTS. iX Obj, 11, — " Literature is sufficient to secure moraJUyj'^^ 11^122 Dr. Brownlee. Obj. 12. — " Special Judgments are not inflicted for na- tional sins,^' .... 122-128 National, IndiTidual. Obj. 13.—" Christians wish to unite Church and State^''^ 128-131 Herman Norton. Obj. 14. — " Theframers of our Government were skep- tical,'' 131-143 Washington, Franklin, his epitaph, his letter to Paine, William A. Hallock. Obj. lb. — ^^ Such sentiments will provoke persecution,'' . 143 Address to Females, A. D. Eddy. .... 144 Laboring Poor, . ..... 146 Sabbath-breaking parents, ..... 147 Closing appeal, . .... 148-152 CHAPTER rv. Expediency of fearless and united effort, . . 153-162 Peter, Wilberforce, Beecher, Luther, Kitteridge, London Sabbath Protection Society. History of Sabbath Union, . . . .159-162 CHAPTER V. Petitions and remonstrances against Sunday Mails, accom- panied with Committees^ Reports, <^c. . . . 163 Citizens of Philadelphia and New- Citizens of Philadelphia, York. " Kentucky, Gideon Granger's Report. " Alexandria, D. C. James P. Wilson and others, Phila- " Augusta, Me. delphia. " Boston, Mass. Synod of Pittsburgh, " Leroy, N. Y. Messrs. Rhea, Return J. Meigs, Dag- " Columbia Co., Ga. getl, Mills, Meigs, McKean, Mc- " Greensburg, Pa. Lean, Barry, and McCreery's Re- " Rockingham Co., N. C. ports and Communications. Wm- E. Channing and others, Boston. Citizens of Newark, N. Y. Citizens of Albion, Me. " North Carolina, « Rowan Co., N. C " Co. of Williamson and « Trenton, N. J. others. " City of New- York, -. CONTENTS. Citizens of Salem, Mass. " Spartanburgh District, S. C. " Rockbridge Co., Va. " Hanover Co., Va. " Westmoreland Co., Va. " Newburyport, Mass. " Washington Co., Pa. " Rensselaer Co., N. Y. « St. Lawrence Co.,N. Y. " Boston, Mass. " Philadelphia, " Bedford Co., Ten. J. Cotton Smith and others, Conn. Citizens of Washington Co., Pa. " Bedford, N. Y. " Boston, Mass. " Bedford Co., Tenn. " Fairfield District, S. C. Postmaster, Otterbridge, Va. Wm. E. Channing and others, Bos- ton, Mass. Citizens of Boston, Mass. " Perry Co., Ohio, " Atwater, Ohio. Ira David, P. M. Vt. Citizens of Huntington Co., Pa. " Lisbon, Conn. " Greersburgh, Pa, " Northumberland Co., Pa. " City of New- York, " City of Philadelphia, " City of Baltimore, " Washington Co., Md. " City of Boston, " Boonsborough, Md. " Stockbridge and others, " Elizabethtown, N. J. " Spotsylvania Co., Va. James M. Garnett and others, Va. Citizens of Accomac Co., Va. " Edinburgh, Ohio, " City of New York. " City of Boston, Grand Jury, Washington Co., Pa. Citizens of Sharon, Conn. " State of New. York, " City of Boston, " Washington Co., Pa. " Washington Co., Ala. " Telfair Co., Ga. " Callaway Co., Ky. " Washington Co., Ky. « Elkton, Ky. " Mt. Tirzah P. 0., N. C. « Kent Island, Md. Merchants of Baltimore, Citizens of Washington Co., Md. " Trenton, N. J. " Chester District, S. C. " Spartanburgh District, I Carolina. « Blairsville, S. C. Augustus Fitzhugh, Va. Citizens of Norfolk, Conn. " City of New- York, " Ryegate, Vt. " Westmoreland Co., Pa. Merchants of Baltimore, Citizens of Caroline Co., Md. " Trenton, N. J. " Coshocton, Ohio, " Bridgehampton, L. I. " Strasburg, Pa. " Chester Co., Pa. " Agnew's Mills, Pa. " Windsor, Conn. " Philadelphia^ " Atwater, Ohio, " Elkton, Ky. Committee of Nashville, Tenn. Character and objects of these memorialists, . . 209 — 210 Memorials and petitions in favor of Sunday Mails, . . 211 — 213 From Portsmouth, N. H. From Gen. Assembly, Ala. " Newark, N. J. " Kentucky, " Philadelphia, Pa. " Gen. Assembly, 111, " Gen. Assembly, la. " Windham Co., Vt. « Salem Co., N. Y. Harmon Kingsbury against Sunday Mails, . . . 213 (Contents of his Petition and Appendix.) Extract from McKean's Report, Pious Members, Law to be repealed, Laws, CONTENTS. XI Acts repealed, Appendix, . . • 228 Petitions in 1828-9. To the Forwarders on the Erie Canal) Opinions of public Bodies^ 232-236 American Bethel Society, Gen. Assembly Presbyterian Church, Baptist Convention, Ohio, Cleveland Presbytery, Citizens of Cleveland, " Lorain Co., Ohio, Opinions of Editors, • 236-245 Ohio Atlas, Cleveland Observer, Connecticut Observer, Auburn Banner, Presbyterian, Zion's Watchman, Western Christian Advocate, Michigan Observer, Gambler Observer, Chris. Ad. and Journal, Legislative action in N. Y., 145-249 Unconstitutionality of the Law, 249 Instructions to Delegates in 1776, . . . . 250 North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina, Legislation of Congress, Michigan, Bill of Rights, • Florida, Arkansas, District ol' Columbia , Powers of Congress, - Post-offices, Powers of the Supreme Court Powers when in States, • Powers not delegated, • This is a Christian Nation, Establishment of Religion, . Bishop Mcllvaine's Sermon, Mr. Justice Story, . Supreme Court of Mass. • • Chancellor Kent, • • Supreme Court of Pa. . Practice of Congress, . Law unjust. 253 254 255 257 257 257 258 258 259 260 264 265 266 268 269 Executive Committee of the American Bethel Society, 270-272 Congressional Sessions on Sunday, . . 272-279 Rev. E. F. Hatfield, Governor Ellsworth, . . ... . 278 CHAPTER VI. Review of General Assembly's Report, Committee's Report, Reasons mentioned, Church in the way, [Editors. Ministerial Exchanges, . . • . Who are Sabbath-breakers, . . . . 280-306 300 304 CHAPTER Vn. Appeal in behalf of the Sabbath, Ministers of the Gospel, National Legislature, Judicial proceedings, 306-340 Private Christians, Churches, PhiloaUu-opists, Xll CONTENTS. Husbands, Fathers, and Brothers, Wives, Daughters, and Sisters, National Legislature, State Legislature, Friends of liberty" and of free insti- tutions. Friends of good order, Business men, merchants, bC., The poor laborer, The great Valley, Plan of operations, Resolutions suitable to be adopted, 837 337 CHAPTER VIII. Address to Business Men, Word of God, Labor forbidden on the Sabbath, Evils threatened and inflicted, Sabbath-breaking prevents bless- Manna, Facts. Physical Powers, . 350 Sir Matthew Hale, A business man, A gentleman of New- York, Dr. Spurzheim, Mr. Schoolcraft, West Indies, Journeymen Bakers, Mr. Vyse, Birmingham, Eng. Lord Bishop of Chester, Rev. J. W. Cunningham, Mr. Thomas George, Mr. William McKechney. 341-367 Intellectual Powers, Dr. Richard Farre, Dr. Rush, Marquis of Londonderry, Wilberforce. Moral Powers, . . • Blackstoue, State Prisons, Rev. David Buel, Mr. John Wontner, . Mr. Benjamin Baker, Individual experience, How with Nations, Spain, ^ France, England, Scotland and Wales, Our Forefathers, What if the Sabbath were blotted out, Danger to be apprehended. 353 356 CHAPTER IX. Address to Christians, Patriots, and Philanthropists^ Cause and effect. Human Laws, Sabbath-breaking makes infidels, Men of the East, awake, The only remedy. Public Calamities. 358 >50 THE SABBATH CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF LAWS, DIVINE AND HUMAN, RELATING TO THE SABBATH. LAW OF GOD. The first law on record relating to the Sabbath, was written on tables of stone, by the finger of God, more than three thou- sand years ago. It is in these words, viz : — " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; but tlie seventh day is the Sab- bath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." — Ex. xx. This law ever has stood, now stands, and always must stand, unrepealed. It is over and above all law, binding on all men through all time ; and its claims are imperative. See Wilson, Dwight, Humphrey, Agnew, Gurney, and others who have writ- ten on this subject ;— also evidences and opinions hereafter re- corded in this itoo}^* 2 14 THE SABBATH. LAWS OF THE STATES AND TERRITORIES. The latest enactments of the several States and Territories of these United States relating to the Sabbath, we may have failed to obtain : yet enough has been found to show that correct legislative action has once been had. It is painful, however, to say, that in some instances, the people have been receding from the high and righteous stand which they had taken. MAINE. In this State, travelling, ordinary labor, and business are pro- hibited on the Lord's day. Passed, 1834. NEW HAMPSHIRE. " Sec. 1st. Be it eimcted hy^^ &c. " That no tradesman, arti- ficer, or any other person whatsoever, shall do or exercise any labor, business or work of their secular callings, (works of ne- cessity and mercy only excepted,) * * on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's day, or any part thereof. " Sec. 2d. And he it further enacted, That no person shall travel on the Lord's day between sun-rising and sun-setting, unless from necessity, or to attend public worship, visit the sick, or do some office of charity, on penalty of," &c. Passed, 1799. June 22, 1814, the Legislature, commenting on the second section, say, " That no license from a Justice of the Peace, for travelling on Sunday, will avail in behalf of any traveller, or car- rier, with any team or carriage of burthen, or of any traveller in the style and capacity of a drover, with any horses, cattle, or other beasts : but all such license shall be utterly void." In most of the States, all games, pastimes, amusements, re- creations, sports, fishing, hunting and visiting are forbidden. Also the frequenting of places of pubUc resort, except for moral and religious instruction, is prohibited. VERMONT. '■^An act to enforce the due observance of the Sabbath. ' " Considering that in every community, some portion of time ought to be set apart for relaxation from worldly labors and em- ployments, and devoted to the social worship of Almighty God, LAWS OF TflE STATES. 15 and the attainment of religious and moral instruction, which are, in the highest degree, promotive of the peace, happmess and prosperity of the people. Therefore, " Sec. 1st. It is hereby enacted by,^^ &c. " That the first day of the week shall be kept and observed, by the good people of this State, as a Sabbath, holy day, or day of rest from secular labors and employments ; nor shall any person or persons [on that day] exercise any secular labor, business, or employment, except such as necessity and acts of charity shall require." Passed, 1797. MASSACHUSETTS. " Sec. 1st. No person shall keep open his shop, warehouse, or workhouse, or shall do any mamier of labor, business, or work, (except only works of necessity and charity,)" on the Lord's day. " Sec. 2d. No person shall travel on" that day, " except from necessity or charity." Passed, 1791—1796. RHODE ISLAND. " Sec. 1st. Be it enacted by," &c. " That no person in this State shall do or exercise any labor, or business, or work of his ordinary calling," &c., " on the first day of the week, or suffer the same to be done by his children, servants or apprentices (works of necessity and charity only excepted)." Passed, 1679, 1750, 1784, 1798. Sec. 2d forbids the employment of others to commit the afore- said offences. CONNECTICUT. Sec. 2d provides, " That no person shall, upon land or water, do any manner of secular business, work, or labor, (works of ne- cessity and mercy excepted,)" on the Lord's day. " Sec. 3d. No traveller, drover, wagoner, teamster, or any of their servants shall travel on the Lord's day, (except from neces- sity and charity.)" Passed, ] 808. In the revision of the laws of this State, 1821, Sec. 1st, we read, " Nor shall any traveller, drover, wagoner, or teamster travel on said day, except from necessity and charity;" and "it shall be the duty of the citizens of this State to attend the pub- lic worship of God, on the Lord's day j and that no person or 16 THE SABBATH. persons shall do any secular business, work, or labor, [on that day] (works of necessity and mercy excepted. )" But since Sunday mails have been established, the duty ot certain citizens seems to be entirely disregarded ; as may be seen in the compilation of laws ordered by the General Assem- bly of this State, in 1835, Sec. 7th. " No proprietor or proprie- tors, or driver of any coach, wagon, or sleigh, or other carriage, belonging to, or employed in any line of stages, or extra car- riage ; or proprietor or driver of any hackney coach, coachee, or chaise, sleigh, or other pleasure carriage, shall suffer or allow any person or persons, to travel, except from necessity or charity, in such carriage on the Lord's day, on penalty of twenty dollars for every offence : Provided, that this act shall not extend to the owners or drivers of carriages employed for carrying the United States' mail through this State on the Lord's day." What would the inhabitants of this State, from its earliest settlement down to 1810, have thought of such an exception? The bare suggesting of it would have called down upon its author the pity and indignation of ninety-nine-hundredths of all who then lived in the land of the Pilgrims. Once the good people of this State would not wink at the sin she now cherishes in her bosom. And who among her sons has inquired, — ' Why do ye so ?' » NEW roRK. "/Sec. 1st. Be it enacted by," &c. " That there shall be no travelling, servile laboring, or working, (works of necessity and charity excepted,) * * or any unlawful exercises or pastimes by any person or persons within this State, on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday." Passed, 1813. Provision is made for those who uniformly keep the last day of the week as a Sabbath ; as is also the case in many of the other States ; and for any person removing his family or house- hold furniture, if such removal be not commenced on such day. But we find no provision lor the Postmaster who changes and delivers the mail on that day. NEW JERSEY. " Sec, 1st. Be it e7iacted by," &c. " That no travelling, worldly employment or business, ordinary or servile labor or LAWd OP THE STATES. 17 work, either upon land or water, (works of necessity and charity excepted,) * * shall be done or performed by any person or per- sons within this State, on the Christian Sabbath, or first day of the week, commonly called Sunday." Passed, 1798. No stages are allowed to be driven through this State on said day, except such as have the mail, and in cases of " necessity or mercy" clearly proved : and no wagoner, carter, drayman, drover, butcher, or any of his or their servants, shall ply, or travel with his or their wagons, carts or drays, or shall load or unload any goods, wares or merchandise, or produce, or drive cattle, sheep, or swine, in any part of this State, on the first day of the week." In this and the two immediately preceding States, provision is made for the carrying of mails on the Lord's day, and in this State for the Postmaster to labor on Sunday. PENNSYLVANIA. " Sec. 1st. If any person shall do or perform any worldly em- ployment whatsoever on the Lord's day, commonly called Sun- day, (works of necessity and charity only excepted,)" &c. ; then follows the penalty. Passed, 1794. DELAWARE. " Sec. 1st. Be it enacted by,^^ &c. " That if any person or per- sons within this State, * * shall do or perform any worldly em- ployment, labor, or business whatsoever, upon the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, (works of necessity and charity only excepted,)" &c. ; then comes the penalty. " Sec. 2d. And be it further enacted, That if any carrier, ped- ler, wagoner, or any driver of a travelling stage, wagon, or coachee, carter, butcher, or drover, with his horse, pack, wagon, stage, coachee, cart, or drove, shall travel or drive upon the Lord's day," &c. j then comes the penalty. Passed, 1795. MARYLAND. " No person whatsoever shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday : and no person having children, servants, or slaves, shall command, or wittingly or wil- lingly suffer any of them to do any manner of work or labor on 2* 18 THE SABBATH. the Lord's day, (works of necessity and charity always except- ed.)" Passed, 1723. VIRGINIA. " Sec. 5ih. If any person, on the Sabbath day, shall himself be Ibund laboring at his own, or any other trade or calling, or shall employ his apprentices, servants, or slaves, in labor, or other business, except it be in the ordinary household offices of daily necessity, or otlier works of necessity or charity j" then comes the penalty. Passed, 1792. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. The same as in Maryland and Virginia. NORTH pAROLINA. "An act for the more effectual supjjression of vice and immo' rality. " Sec. 1st. Be it enacted by,^^ &c. " That all and every per- son or persons whatsoever shall, on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, carefully apply themselves to the duties of re- ligion and piety ; and that no tradesman, artiificer, planter, la- borer, or other person whatsoever, shall, upon land or water, do or exercise any labor, business, or work of their ordinary calling, (works of necessity and charity only excepted,) on the Lord's day, or any part thereof," &c. SOUTH CAROLINA. " Whereas there is nothing more acceptable to God than the true and sincere service and worship of him, according to his holy will, and that the holy keeping of the Lord's day is a prin- cipal part of the true service of God, which in many places ot this province is so much profaned and neglected by disorderly persons ; — 1st, Be it therefore enacted,^^ &c. " That all and every person whatsoever, shall, on every Lord's day, apply themselves to the observation of the same, by exercising tliem- selves thereon in the duties of piety and true religion, publicly and privately ; and having no reasonable or lawful excuse, on every Lord's day shall resort to their parish church, or some other parish church, or some meeting, or assembly of religious , worship," &c. j LAWS OF THE STATES. 19 Sec. 2d forbids the worldly labor, business or work of all " tradesmen, artificers, workmen, laborer, or any other person, [on the Lord's day,] (works of necessity and charity only excepted.)" Sec. 4:th enjoins, " That no drover, wagoner, butcher, higler, they or any of their servants, or any other traveller or person whatsoever, shall travel on the Lord's day, by land or water," except to and from a place of religious worship, and to visit the sick," &c. Sec. 8th prohibits the worldng of slaves or servants on Sun- day. Passed, 1712. GEORGIA. The preamble is nearly verbatim as the last above written. Sec. 1st requires all persons to attend public worship. Sec. 2d forbids, in language similar to the above, all labor '' (except works of necessity and charity,)" on the Lord's day. Travelling and the working of slaves are also prohibited on that day. Passed, 1803. FLORIDA. Apprentices, servants, or slaves, are not allowed to labor or be employed in business on Sunday, " (works of necessity and charity excepted.)" Passed, 1828. ALABAMA. " Sec. 1st. No worldly business or employment, ordinary or servile work, (works of necessity and charity excepted,) * * shall be done or performed by any person or persons within this terri- tory on the Christian Sabbath," &c. " Sec. 2d. No wagoner, carter, drayman, drover, butcher, or any of his slaves or servants, shall ply or travel," * * load or unload, or drive cattle in any part of this territory on Sunday. Passed, 1803. MISSISSIPPI. Sec. 2d enjoins, " That no wagoner, carter, drayman, drover, butcher, or any of his slaves or servants, shall ply or travel with his wagon, cart, or dray," load or unload, or drive cattle, sheep, or swine, &c., on Sunday. 20 THE SABBATH. Sec. Uh. All labor, by any person, either free or bond, " (ex- cept works of necessity or charity,)" is forbidden in this State on Sunday. Passed, 1822. LOUISIANA. No law has been found in regard to the observance of the Sabbath in this State. ARKANSAS. " Resolved, by the General Assembly of the Territory of Ar- kansas, That the several justices of the peace, and other civil officers of this territory, in their respective districts, be requested to take special notice of and bring to justice, all offenders of the laws of this territory providing for keeping holy the Sabbath day." TENNESSEE. " Sec. \st. Be it enacted" &c. " That if any merchant, arti- ficer, tradesman, farmer, or any other person, shall be guilty of exercising any of the common avocations of life, or of causing or permitting the same to be done by his, her or their children or servants, (acts of real necessity or charity excepted,) on the Lord's day," &c. ; then comes the penalty. " Sec. 2d. All and every person or persons whatsoever, shall, on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, carefully apply themselves to the duties of religion and piety," and all labor on land or water, " (except works of necessity and charity,)" is pro- hibited on that day. Passed, 1803. KENTUCKY. " Sec. ^Qth. If any person, on the Sabbaih day, shall himself be found laboring at his own or any other trade or calling, or shall employ his apprentices, servants, or slaves, in labor or other business, whether the same be for profit or amusement, (and no work or business shall be done or performed on the Sabbath day, unless it be the ordinary household offices of daily necessity, or other works of necessity or charity,) he shall for- feit," «&c. Passed, 1822. MISSOURI. Sec. 2Bth prohibits all labor on the first day of the week, " (except works of necessity and charity j)" nor are Courts per- LAWS OF THE STATES. 81 mitted to sit on Sunday, except to receive a verdict or discharge a jury ;— neither are they allowed to adjourn to that day. Ap- proved, 1835. ILLINOIS. Sec. 1st prohibits disturbing the peace and good order of so- ciety by labor or amusement on the Lord's day. Sec. 2d prohibits noise and amusement, calculated to disturb the peace on that day. Passed, 1827. Would not stage and boat horns, and the rumbhng of car- riages on Sunday, be a breach of this law? INDIANA. Sec. 1st prohibits work at common labor on Sunday. Passed, 1817. OHIO. " Sec. 1st. Be it enacted," &c. " That if any person of the age of fourteen years and upwards, shall be found on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, sporting, rioting, quarrelling, hunting, fishing, shooting, or at common labor, (works of necessity and charity only excepted)" — then follows the penalty ; and exceptions for those who keep the seventh day as a Sabbath, — those who are emigrating with their families, — watermen who wish to land their passengers ; superintendents, or keepers of toll bridges, who wish to attend to the same, and ferrymen. Passed, 1831. MICHIGAN. Believing " that in every community, some portion of time ought to be set apart for relaxation from worldly care and em- ployments, and devoted to the social worship of Almighty God, and the attainment of religious and moral instruction, which are in the highest degree promotive of the peace, happiness and prosperity of a people," Therefore, " Be it enacted by the Gov- ernor and Judges of the Territory of Michigan, That the first day of the week shall be kept and observed by the good people of this Territory, as a Sabbath, holy day, or day of rest from all secular labor, or employments, (works of necessity and charity excepted.)" T^B SABBATH. LAWS OF CONGRESS. "Sec. 3d. And he [the Postmaster-General] shall provide for carrying the mail of the United States by stage, carriages, or horses, as he may judge most expedient ; and as often as he, having regard to the productiveness thereof as well as other cir- cumstances, shall think proper. * * He shall, also, have power to prescribe such requisitions to the deputy Postmasters, and others employed under him, as may be found necessary." " Sec. 5th. That if any person shall obstruct or retard the pas- sage of the mail, or of any horse or carriage carrying the same, he shall upon conviction," &c. " Sec. 1th. That every deputy Postmaster shall keep an of- fice, in which one or more persons shall attend, at such hours as the Postmaster General shall direct, for the purpose of perform- iiig the duties thereof." Approved, 1792. — Story's United States Laws^ Vol. I. The above, in substance, was re-enacted and approved, May 8th, 1794. Here Congress ought to have left the subject. Sec. 9th. That every Postmaster shall keep an office, in which one or more persons shall attend on every day on which a mail or bag, or other packet or parcel of letters shall arrive, by land or water, as well as on other days, at such hours as the Postmaster General shall direct, for the purpose of performing the duties thereof; and it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, paper, or packet, to the person entitled to, or authorized to receive the same." — Story^s United States Laws. Approved, April 30, 1810.— Re-enacted and approved, March 3d, 1825. In this section occurs the objectionable clause, the first and only one which requires labor on Sunday. It is true, if the Post- master General directs the mail to be carried on that day, then, by a law of Congress, the deputy Postmaster is required to be in his office to receive it. CHAPTER II. THE NECESSITY FOR THE SABBATH. The necessity for the Sabbath is founded in the physical and moral constitution of man. If this position can be established, it will thereby be demon- strated, that it is not peculiar to the Jewish, nor to the Chris- tian dispensation ; but belongs to the race. To illustrate what is intended by this adaptation, we may refer to the coeval institution of marriage. That this institution originated in Eden, all reflecting men will admit. That it was not an arbitrary en* actment, but one based on the very nature, necessity, and condi- tion of mankind, will not be questioned. The social constitution of man made it indispensable. And on this subject all history goes to show that, law or no law, revelation or no revelation, God or no God, retribution or no retribution, the Law of mar- riage must be observed. And why ? He who made man, made him so, that, without observing it, his physical, social, moral, and intellectual nature, are inevitably debased. Hence we say — and who dissents ?— that marriage is " founded in the physical and moral constitution of man," and therefore belongs to the whole race. Our argument for the Sabbath is just the same, and just as conclusive. That, too, was "made for man," and is no less adapted to man: nay, indispensable for man. We say, and shall attempt to show, that the circumstances and constitution of man are such, that he can no more do without the Sabbath than without the institution of marriage. An occasional viola- tion of either of these great primeval laws, may not prostrate the whole fabric of society, so long as they are generally rev- erenced. But their prevailing violation would be alike, and equally disastrous to all that is dear, and ennobling to man. 24 THE SABBATH. First, then, the 'physical nature of man requires the Sabbath. The fact is clearly established, that both the body and mind of men, demand more relaxation than the night affords them. Protracted toil, continued without cessation beyond six days, de- tracts from the vigor and comfort of the body, and wears it out, prematurely. The necessity of food and drink is not more clearly attested by nature itself, than that of a weekly rest for man. A body of facts, attesting the accuracy of this position, is elsewhere found in this work. And what is this, but the attestation of na- ture, and of God, in behalf of the Sabbath? So also mavDs moral nature needs the Sabbath. This part of our original constitution, equally with the former, has claims and wants, which can be met only by keeping the Sabbath. Indeed, these interests are infinitely higher and more enduring. They belong to our immortality. To meet this class of interests is the great purpose of redemption. Christ died, and angels watch, and the whole plan of Gospel grace is adopted, that man's moral nature may be so cultivated, as to fit him for his appropriate enjoyment here and hereafter. But how shall these arrangements be made available — this inestimable object be secured ? By plunging into the bottomless abyss of worldly avocations, and never withdrawing the mind, from year to year, from youth to old age, except at casual intervals ? The very supposition is incredible. Under such circumstances all man's moral interests, his eternal wellbeing, must of necessity be over- looked. Those minds which are most deeply imbued with reli- gious principle find it difficult, even with the help of the Sabbath, to keep in check the rising spirit of worldliness. Take that Sab- bath away, and they even might tremble for the safety of all their moral and religious interests. What then must be the effect on minds wholly devoted to the world ? It would be, it must be, the utter sacrifice of those mighty interests, which God's own Son suffered and died to secure. Even the foresight of a man, would show that to carry out the design of Redemption, just such an institution as the Sabbath was indispensable. Would not God then institute it ? He surely would, He has : " Remem- h&r the Sabbath day to keep it holy,*^ ITS NECESSITY. 25 And whatsoever observances God enjoins, are positively need- ful to the physical and moral good of mankind. This we have seen to be true of marriage. It is equally true of them all. He made man, and knew what laws he needed. As the eye is ad- justed to the laws of hght ; as the digestive system is adapted to the nature of food ; so the whole nature of man is adjusted to the requisitions of God's Law. These remarks apply as clearly to the law of the Sabbath, as to the law of marriage. Both were provided to meet the emer- gency of man's fallen condition. Before man was made, it was known in the counsels of eternity that he would apostatize, and that some powerful instrumentalities must be employed for his recovery. In view of the event thus foreseen, and the necessity thus created, God has so made man, that not only the voice of law, but of self interest ; not only authority, but nature shall command him to obedience. The goodness of God, in relation particularly to the Sabbath, is wonderfully manifest. It is as if He had said ; " I know that man will strongly incline to neglect the things which belong to his peace, and to eternity. The influence of the world, if not in some way greatly interrupted, will absorb every thought. To hold in check this tendency, to force, if possible, his thoughts away from earth, occasionally at least, I will ordain the holy Sabbath. And I will so make man, that his whole physical, social, and moral nature shall invite him to repose, just so much of his time, as the necessity of his condition, and my Law, founded on that necessity, require him to rest. I will give him the Sabbath. And I w4ll so constitute him that while he must seek the relaxation of the body, he may seek the salvation of the soul. And lest he forget my Sabbath and eternity, I will write the necessity for their remembrance on the very frailty of his nature. I will make obedience necessary for this world as well as the next. Godliness shall be gain to him in every respect." This would not create such physical necessity as to destroy man's free agency, though his nature is perpetually calling on him to obey this law. It is an important question, pertaining to this subject ; When was the Sabbath instituted 1 If it was made for man, and is so wonderfully adjusted to his whole nature, the inference seems almost irresistible, from this consideration only, that it was givea in Eden. 3 <«0 THE SABBATH. If not, where was it given ? Can any other period be assigned for its institution, so well authenticated, as this is in the first ot Genesis? Was it at Sinai? Most assuredly not. All the commands of the Moral Law, there given, relate either to moral beings, or things of a moral nature already in existence. God and man are the moral beings there introduced. The Sabbath is an institution of a moral nature, and must therefore have had a previous existence. No new moral obligations were there originated j no new moral acts were there required. In the ceremonial law many new duties were enjoined. The case ad- mitted this. New circumstances, involving new duties, had sprung up. In reference to these, new and original legislation could take place. " If thou shalt make an altar of earlh^ " Three times shalt thou keep a feast unto me in a year." The first is merely a supposition, referring to a contingency that might arise, viz., they might build " an altar of earth." The second was a command to keep three annual feasts. These were new injunctions, and became obligatory from that time, because their new circumstances rendered that a duty to them, then^ which had not been so before. There was no inhereiit and universal pbUgation to do these things, as is the case with a moral law. Nor are these duties spoken of in terms like those used in reference to the Sabbath. It was not tke altar, the feast ; as if speaking of something already existing, and to all familiar. But when the law of the Sabbath is proclaimed, the language used is entirely different. It is not a new enactment : no Sab- bath was instituted at Sinai. The Law simply enjoins— not the origination of something new, like the ceremonial feasts, but the observance of what was old, and already understood. The chief magistrate of a nation may find it requisite, for particular reasons, to issue a proclamation, enjoining the observance of certain laws. And he might use the very form of expression used at Sinai, with reference to the Sabbath: "Remember and ob- serve a particular law." Who would imagine that such lan- guage implied that no such law existed until then ? The very phraseology assumes its pre-existence. So does the language of the moral law imply the pre-existence of the Sabbath. " Re- member" what ? Something they never until then had heard of, and consequently till they had time to forget it, could not I' remember'?" Most certainly not. They must then, if such ITS NECESSITY. 27 language was at all proper, have perfectly understood that there was a holy Sabbath. All that was then needed was to republish that law, and enjoin on the Jewish people, not the establishment of a new, but the observance of an old institution. Should it be said, that if the Sabbath was not given at Sinai, it was at the first fall of manna — we may reply, that of this there is no proof, and no probability. The language of Moses, in respect to the Sabbath, at that time, clearly implies that it was not a new, but a pre-existing institution, equally with the language used in the ten commandments ; " To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord thy God." It is not " a Sabbath," but " the Sabbath." " The Lord liaih said,'' not " the Lord now saysP The surprise of the people, on seeing twice as much manna fall on the sixth day as on others, Avas because it was unexpected. As they knew it could not be preserved from one day to another, they of course expected it would fall on the Sabbath, as at other times. The whole history shows that the Sabbath was not then instituted, but only recognized and hon- ored of God, by a two-fold miracle, wrought to guard it against profanation. When, then, was it instituted? When but in Eden, and at the very beginning of time. The prevailing silence of the Scriptures, together with the manner in which the Sabbath and the marriage institution are often alluded to, confirms this hy- pothesis. If, on the very threshold of creation, God had enact- ed and promulged them, and had also inscribed them on man's original constitution, and they were therefore already familiar to the Hebrew race as Heaven's own appointed ordinances, then, and only en that supposition, is the Scripture method of only adverting to those institutions natural. The whole subject being perfectly understood, and no one questioning that God had from the beginning appointed a Sabbath, it would be superfluous lo re-enact its observance. It might become important to call at- tention to it, and to write it, to enjoin upon the people to re- member it, and keep it holy. And while on this theory the language of Scripture is perfectly natural, on any other it is in- capable of any satisfactory explanation. It was doubtless given at the beginning, and Sinai only witnessed its repubhcation. But let us examine a little more minutely the precepts of the decalogue. The first tliree prohibit certain things in relation to «0 - THE SABBATH. Grod, the Lawgiver. The fourth is addressed to man : " Re- member the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Here the institution is first particularized as already existing : it is " the Sabbath day." Then follow specific enactments to secure its observance : " Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work :" so as to be prepared for the seventh. The remaining six refer to duties which men everywhere, and in all ages, were bound to perform toward each other ; duties the obligation of which did not origi- nate then, nor did those enjoined toward God. That obligation existed always. It grew out of the very nature and relations ot man: not of the Jews, but of all men, in all ages. With what propriety, then, could the Sabbath alone be supposed to be o. recent origin, or hmited obligation, while all the other precepts are universal ? Besides, as if to guard against the possibility of such an hypothesis, the Sabbath is spoken of expHcitly — as if, however ignorant men might be of every other duty, they already knew that this institution existed, there was no neces- sity for enjoining a day of rest, but only of enforcing the remem- brance of one which they already knew to have been ordained. From these considerations, it is obvious that the Sabbath is not peculiar to any dispensation, patriarchal, Jewish, or Chris- tian. It is older than either, and belongs to the race. It was " made /or wan." It derives none of its authority from either, as such ; they rather have been dependent upon its influence for their entire efficiency and support. It has had, therefore, the ap- probation of good men, not only in the times of Moses, but before and since : and the pious upon earth will continue, with religious veneration, to cherish it, till they shall enter upon that eternal Sabbath, of which it is both the type and the preparative. It is certainly no virtue in man that he is so constituted as to need the rest of every seventh day. Nor is it any sin in him that he is so constituted that he cannot, without detriment, feed on poison. These are arrangements which he did not originate, and for whose existence he has no responsibility. But finding such a constitution of things already established, he is bound to fall in with it, as expressing the will of God. Indeed, a kind o. necessity is thus created for a compliance with the divine law. True virtue, however, consists not so much in yielding to those arrangements, because we suffer for it if we do not, as in a cheer- ful acquiescence in them, because tliey are the will of God, thus ITS NECESSITY. 29 made known to us. It is, indeed, a most benevolent act of our Creator thus to have constituted us, so that the very necessities of our nature and condition fall in with our duty, and thus be- come our helps and monitors in the way to heaven. And dis- obedience, under such an arrangement, becomes doubly sinful. Thus, to neglect the Sabbath, is not only a sin against God, but against our own souls, and against our own bodies. He who refuses suitable food, or partakes of some slow and certain poi- son, is not more palpably a transgressor against his own physical nature, than he is who denies to his body that w^eekly rest which God has made essential to its vigor, and commanded him to ob- serve. And as for his moral nature, he sins not against that more fatally who shuts his eyes upon the word of God, and turns away from all its ordinances, than he does who forgets the Sabbath. This institution, then, is sanctioned a two-fold enactment — the one as written on tables of stone, the other on the very nature of man: and both by the finger of Jehovah. Every in- telligent being is an open volume to himself, where he may read the precept, " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy ;" and w^hether willing or unwilling, is an agent for its promulga- tion to others. Human nature hath a voice, and a tongue which trumpets it, as loudly and clearly as did Sinai's thunders. Then, for God to create such a necessity for the Sabbath, is the same thing as for him to enact it. Indeed, is it not more forcible than any other mode of enactment can be ? In the absence, then, of all other proof, it would seem that any farther argument would be superfluous. Lest, however, some may not yet be satisfied, we shall proceed to consider the subject still farther, that, if possible, all may be induced to remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy. March, 1839. 3* CHAPTER III. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. The following opinions, facts and arguments, revised and multiplied, were published in a series of twelve numbers, in a weekly periodical, in 1836, and were elicited by objections then made and industriously circulated by the enemies of the Sabbath. They are inserted here, not as a labored, systematic examination of the whole subject under consideration, which for ages has been before the public, and, especially during the last half century, has been presented in a most masterly, acceptable, and trium- phant manner ; but as containing answers, selected from accredi- ted sources, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, to particular popular objections, accompanied with brief remarks. Numerous quotations have been made from the ancient fathers, for three reasons, viz. : — To show that they did not con- sider the institution abolished — that there was a change of the day from the seventh to i\\e first — and that all who wish to know their opinions on these points may learn them without the trouble of consulting a dozen or twenty authors. Objection I. — " There is no authority for the Sabbath." As this is merely the assertion of disbelievers in divine reve- lation, without even an attempt to produce evidence in support of it, little time will be spent in answering it. For, as before remarked, this effort has not been made mainly for the sake of such individuals, but for those who believe in the truth of the Bible. The evidence of the supreme authority of the Scriptures is already before the public, and is more conclusive and abun- dant than that of any other work of antiquity. In that book, the sacred historian informs us, that on the sixth day God ended his work, and rested on and blessed the seventh day ; or, as it is believed, set it apart as a Sabbath. He made it for man — for COEVAL WITH MAN. 31 THE RACE. The day on which this rest was to be observed, was fixed after the heavens and earth, and all their host were fin- ished : and but for this day, our weeks might have consisted of six instead of seven days. Certainly it was not needed by God, in order to finish the work of creation. Moses, in the commencement of this history, takes it for granted that there is a God. And ever after this history of the institution of the Sabbath, he, and the rest of the sacred writers, take it for granted that there is a Sabbath. They speak of it as a thing universally known and understood, except in its de- tail, just as he spoke of the existence of a God — a thing too well understood to need proof And, since the Bible is with us an accredited book, it is sufficient for the present purpose to add little else than the commandment therein contained as evidence that God has required of some people, at least, the observance of a Sabbath. It is in these words, viz. : " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." In this there is no effort to prove that there is a Sabbath. The fact is stated, and man was commanded to keep it. One of the reasons given for the observance of this institution is, that " in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it," Moses, then, evidently understood the seventh day spoken of (Gen. ii. 2, 3,) to be a Sabbath ; and if Moses, then also the people of Israel. Christ required his disciples to keep his commandments, and follow his example. He observed the Sabbath, and after his resurrection, frequently appeared to them on Xhe first day of the week, leading them in the worship of God, and instructing them, which they regarded as authority for setting apart that day as one of sacred rest. To this example, also, all the Christians of 32 THE SABBATH. the early ages, with one consent, gave heed, as having all the force of divine command. Such is the testimony of the ancient fathers. The division of time into weeks, is presumptive evidence that the Sabbath has been observed by some, in all ages of the world. " The period of seven days," says Mrs. Somerville, in her work on the Physical Sciences, "by far the most permanent division of time, and the most ancient monument of astronomical know- ledge, was used by the Brahmins, in India, with the same de- nominations employed by us, and was alike found in the calen- dars of the Jews, Egyptians, Arabs, and Assyrians. It has survived the fall of empires, and has existed among all successive generations, a proof of their common origin." S. J. Buckingham. — Sacredness of the Number Seven. " One of the features by which the Nile was distinguished from most other streams, was that of its having seven separate mouths, or estuaries, by which it discharged its waters into the Mediterranean. Now, the Egyptians venerated the Nile, as * the seven-mouthed stream,' because, among them, this number eeven was regarded as a sacred number. Nor were the Egyp- tians singular in this respect ; for among the Hebrews, the Chal- deans, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, the same regard was shown to this number ; and the Greeks and Romans, after them, partook of the same feeling. The Hebrew Scrip- tures, it will be remembered, are full of instances in which this number is used in reference to holy things : it is seen in the Pen- tateuch, and in the prophets ; and in the New Testament, the Apocalypse of St. John furnishes almost as many examples of this as the Old. Indeed, it is believed that there are no nations, of ancient or modern days, in which some trace of this venera- tion for the number seven, as a sacred number, may not be found. Among a people so little known as the Thugs, of Hin- dostan, whose peculiarities have been but recently investigated and described, we find that there were seven original clans ot that people : that the first seven days of their expeditions were to be regarded as days of separation from all others ; and that they ate no animal food until the seventh day, this period being called Satha — a very probable corruption of SabbcUha. Indeed, COEVAL WITH MAN. oJ I cannot but be impressed with a belief, from all the consideiu- tion I have been enabled to bestow upon the subject, that tliis almost universal veneration for the number seven, and the sev- enth day, is a remnant of the ancient observance of a day of Kest^ which had its origin in the first ages of mankind, which was observed before the flood, and communicated by the de- scendants of Noah to the early inhabitants of the world after the flood, through whom it passed into all lands, and became par- tially or perfectly known to all people. The reason assigned for the institution of the Sabbath, that it was a commemoration of the rest of the Deity from the labors of the creation, which were completed in six days, and from which the Almighty rest- ed on the seventh— would lead to the inference that the Sabbath was an institution coeval with the first parents of mankind ; and the language in which the commandment respecting the Sab- bath is couched, in the decalogue, greatly strengthens this sup- position. All the other commandments, except this, are posi- tive in tlieir injunctions, whether the command be positive or negative — to do or to abstain from doing — and mate no refer- ence to any other code or institution of an earlier date. But this begins witii the words, ^ JRemember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day' — as if it referred to some previous observance, not now instituted for the first time, but which was to be held in recollection as a thing before known and practised, and which was now enjoined to be continually remembered : a phraseology, it will be observed, confined exclusively to this commandment alone. " Of the benefits of this divine institution to man and beast, in a purely physical and mental point of view, without reference to its obligation as a religious observance, my own experience will abundantly testify. During all the time I held a maritime command, it was my constant practice to give my crew the indul- gence and enjoyment of the Sabbath, by an entire cessation from all the ordinary labors of their profession : and the repose, and ablutions, and changes of apparel, and relaxation of mind af- forded by these periodical returns of the seventh day, were, I believe, highly favorable to the health, dispositions, and morals of the seamen. " In England, whenever the question of passing laws for the 34 THE SABBATH. ' better observance of the Sabbath was raised in the British House of CommonSj during the five years that I held a seat in that body, I always advocated such a law, on the ground that whatever ditierence of opinion might exist among men as to the mode of observing it as a day of religious worship, no one could doubt but that, as a mere civil ordinance and institution, it is of the highest value to the laboring classes, and especially the poor — as valuable, indeed, to the brute creation as to man : and an essential part of that great system of periodical change which runs through all nature — which recruits the exhaustion of the day by the repose of the night : which balances the heat of the summer by the cold of the winter : which alternates the autumn with the spring : and which was designed by a wise and beneficent Deity to give to his creatures that expansion of heart, and cheerfulness of mind, and serene and satisfactory en- joyment of body, which the observance of the Sabbath as a Day of Rest, brings to all. Cleveland, Ohio, July 17, 1840." ' We find, from time immemorial," says the learned Presi- dent GoGUET, " the use of this period among all nations, without variation in the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the earth, have, in all ages, made use of a week of seven days." Here is a universal fact stated ; and no one acquainted with the history of the Jews, though ignorant of that of other nations, can deny it with respect to them. And scarcely any country can now be found, where time is not reckoned by weeks of seven days. The Mosaic history of the creation gives a satisfactory and philoso- phical explanation of this fact, otherwise unexplained. If any man rejects this, let him give a better. But if this be received, then the doctrine of the original institution of a Sabbath for maw, is also received. The conclusion cannot be escaped. If any one should not be satisfied with the statements of Pre- sident Goguet Mr. Buckingham, and Mrs. Somerville, we can refer him to others, equally entitled to respect and confidence, who tell us that the same custom existed among the Persians, the ancient Romans, Britons, Germans, Gauls ; the nations of the north, and of America. COEVAL WITH MAN. 35 The Old Testament tells us that the antediluvians had their months and years, and why not weeks ? Certainly they were recognized by Noah, and in Gen. 29, weeks are mentioned. " The months of the ancient Scandinavians were divided into weeks of seven days ; a division which prevailed among almost all the nations of which we have any knowledge, from the ex- tremity of Asia to that of Europe." Homer, 907 B. C. says, " then came the seventh day, which »s sacred or holy." Hesiod, 870 B. C. styles the seventh day the illustrious light jf the sun, and speaks of it as holy. " As to the seventh day, which was honored by some pagans, and of which they have spoken, as a holy day, it was either dedi- cated to Apollo, or it was an imitation of tJie Jewish Sabbath, which some pagans held in honor, either out of superstition or devotion." " The learned Grotius tells us that the memory of the crea- tion's being performed in seven days was preserved, not only among the Greeks and Italians, but among the Celts and In- dians, all of whom divided their time into weeks." Calmet says : " Manasseh Ben Israel assures us that, ac- cording to the tradition of the ancients, Abraham and his posteri- ty, having preserved the memory of the creation, observed the Sabbath, also, in consequence of the natural law to that purpose. It is also believed, that the religion of the seventh day is pre- served among the pagans ; and that the observation of this day is as old as the world itself" From the history of Cain and Abel, bringing their offeringa unto the Lord, as well as from that of Job and the patriarchs, may also be gathered presumptive evidence of the fact above stated. " Some Rabbins inform us, that Joseph also observed the Sab- bath in Egypt." "Lampridius tells us that Alexander Severus, the Roman Emperor, usually went on the seventh day into the capitol, there to offer sacrifices to the gods." "Almost all the philosophers and poets also acknowledge the seventh day as holy." — Calmet. Porphyry says : '^The Phoenicians consecrated one day in seven as holy." •■v-^. 36 THE SABBATH. According to Philo, of the first century, " The Sabbath is not a festival peculiar to any one people or country, but is common to the whole world ; and it may be named the general and pub- lic feast, or the feast of the nativity of the world." "According to Josephus, "There is no city, either of Greeks or barbarians, or any other nation, where the religion of the Sab- bath is not known, a seventh day of rest from labor." He cer- tainly ought to know the truth, for he was governor of Galilee, about thirty years after the crucifixion of Christ, and had most ample opportunities of information. Rev. E. Johns says, " The living remnant of the ancient Britons, call the first day of the week dydd sul. The double d sounds like th^ in the ; and u somewhat like the same vowel in French. The Latin dies solis is evidently a modification of the British phrase, and Sunday is a literal translation of both. Now, Bince the worship of the heavenly bodies was the most ancient kind of idolatry, it was natural for apostates from the worship of Jehovah to render the homage due to Him, to the principal lu- minary, the king of day, and to act thus on the day sacred to the divine Creator." It may be well to add the following from the same writer : " The language of the Celts is the most ancient living tongue known to us. It is more ancient than Latin ; since a vast por- tion of the Roman language consists of Celtic materials; and all the terminations of Latin verbs in the third person plural are borrowed from the Celtic. Moreover, the Celtic abounds in words evidently of Hebrew origin, while its syntax is as simple and governed by the same rules. Besides, the Celts are known to have been very numerous and widely spread in Europe, when the Roman people, as such, were in embryo. The etymology of the Greek language proves it to have been of Hebrew origin ; but its state of high improvement and the complexity of its syn- tax, are evidence of its being far less ancient than the Celtic. It also contains many words of the same sound and import with the Celtic, and which may have been borrowed from the language of the ancient Druids." The same writer may be quoted still further. " It is asserted that an inwrought feature of the Hebrew language evinces the institution of the weekly Sabbath to have been coetaneous with ton GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 37 the human species. That feature is borne by the Hebrew word which represents the word seren." Will it be said, that " all those nations were originally indebted to the Jews," for a knowledge of this institution? Would they borrow from, or pattern after the Jews ? — The Egyptians, who abhorred them ; the Assyrians, who hated them ; the barbarous Arab ; the proud and haughty Greek and Roman ? Surely they would not God had caused that institution to come down to ^ach of them, independently of the Jews. An interesting document, recently published in the Asiatic Journal, respecting a Jewish colony in China, throws light on this subject. We shall make but a single extract from it. "The prime minister of the empire affirms that the Sabbath was anciently observed by the Chinese, in conformity to the di- rections of the King, [Canonical books,] and that the Jewish letters approach nearly to the form of the ancient Chinese char- acters." " The Easterns counted time by nights" — seven nights. We infer from the above, that the Chinese, from the commencement of their language, were acquainted with a Sabbath, and observed it. " The Celts kept as holy time, the nights before and after the seventh day." From Jewitt's account of the natives of Nootka Sound, whose language he thinks was mainly Hebrew, it would seem that re- ligious rites were observed by that people, eind lasted, on some occasions seven, and on others fourteen days. What but a traditionary knowledge of the six days' labor, and the seventh day of rest, at the creation of the world, could have induced all nations, scattered and diversified as they are and have been, to agree on this division of their time ? Objection II.— "This Authority binds only the Jews." It is believed, that all who embrace the religion of the Bible, as their religion, acknowledge that the Jews were bound to keep the Sabbath of the Lord holy. They must do no work. " Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid ser- vant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." But when it is said that the fourth commandment is binding 4 " i 38 TflE SABBATfl. equally on the Gentile as on the Jew ; that it is equally import- ant for the Gentile to remember the work of creation, and no less necessary and desirable, that he and his household, the Btranger and his cattle, should rest one day in seven, then we find those who do believe, or affect to believe, a very different doctrine. They deny that the Sabbath was ever intended for any other people than the Jews ; and say, that it had its origin when given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and was done away at the coming of Christ. That blessed book which contains this law, together with the New Testament in Christ's blood, has reached us Gentiles. It contains the same moral law which governed the inhabitants of the old world ; and if this law is not designed for us, then we have no law. Not even a traditionary notion of any exists ; and none is now to be found for us, unless that which is contained in the word of the Old and New Testament is for us. If then we are governed by any law, it must be the law given to the Jews ; would we know the character of the true God, we must learn it from the Bible. CONSEdUENCES TO THE GENTILES, IF THERE IS NO SABBATH FOR THEM. Before xmdertaking to prove, that the Sabbath was designed for the Gentiles as well as the Jews, it may be well to consider the consequences to us, if intended only for the latter. Suppose it could be proved, that we are not bound to keep the Sabbath, would Christians rejoice in the discovery, and gladly neglect to keep it holy ? No. The Christian's enemies would rejoice — it would create a triumph through all their ranks. If it were proved that we Gentiles are not bound by the moral law, would the Gentile have cause to rejoice ? Is it such a favor to be left without law 1 Then is it a favor to be without any claim to one of those promises, which the Bible holds out to the Jew. Then is it a favor to be cast out from the friendship of God, to wander hither and thither, through this unfriendly world, without guide or protector, or any knowledge of what we shall be when death shall close the scene. For, aside from the commands and revela- tions in the Bible of the Jews, which are closely connected, there PQR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 39 is not a single clear intimation of the will of God concerning us, nor a ray of hope to the desponding soul. Instead of its being a favor to be released from obligation to keep God's Sabbath, the knowledge of such release would be misery to his children. It is chilling to our heart's blood to think of our Father in heaven ex- cluding us from the circle of his protection and control. We would infinitely rather be accountable and responsible creatures, amen- able to his tribunal, and under all the moral obligations which rest- ed on the Jews. Let us have a Sabbath, in which we may enjoy sweet intercourse with our Maker ; let us look with an eye of favor on the evidence that we Gentiles are not shut out from the inner circle of his presence, and the light of his countenance, on that blessed day. If God is willing to honor us with such an opportunity of exalted intercourse, let no man rob us of the privi- lege, and thus degrade us. But perhaps some may think, we need not fear nor be asham- ed of our degradation, because they imagine the hour at hand, when we shall die like brutes, considered like them too mean to be raised from corruption. Consolation in being annihilated! Scarce consolation to the inmates of the pit. Our thoughts involuntarily recur to the state in which we should be, without law, or God, or Friend, or Protector. Are we then less thought of or cared for than brutes that perish ? God heareth the young raven, when he cries, and supplieth his need. The young lions, when they roar and suffer hunger, receive their meat from his hand. He clothes the lily in robes more gorgeous than Solomon's. But we, poor Gentiles, must we, ignorant of our duty to Him, without revelation of His will to us, toil on without Sabbath, without joy, without communion with the Father of our spirits ? man's RELATIONS AND OBLIGATIONS. Man, from his relation to his Creator, has always been under obligation to love him supremely, and from his relations to his fellow-men to love them as himself; hence the duty of dealing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, before the ten commandments were given to the Jews as well as after. For, previously to that time, all men were as really under law, 40 THE SABBATH. and accountable to God, as the Jews have been since. Though the will of God was more clearly revealed to the Jews than to any other nation ; though they had more blessings and privileges secured to them than their idolatrous neighbors ; yet this, while it increased the weight, did not alter the nature of their obliga- tions. God's people, now, though composed principally of Gen- tiles, are as much his people, and as much entitled to all the pivileges which are suited to make them happy, as the Jews were. God's moral claims on them are the same, and they are under no less obligation to walk in the ways of his command- ments blameless. The same moral laws which bind the right- eous in every age, to fulfill the great Law of Love, extend to the wicked also. If these obligations should be met and fulfilled by the Jews, as sacred obligations which they owe to God and man, and as productive of the happiest consequences, why not by the Gentiles for the same reason ? If it be objected, that a change has taken place since the com- ing of the Sg,vior, it may be answered, that the change consists in breaking down the wall of partition between Jews and Gen- tiles, and by this means making the latter, equally with the former, participate fully in all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel. Whatever the Jews were bound to do under the Old Testament dispensation as typical of Christ, ceased of course to be obligatory on them, when Christ had, by his sufferings and death, fulfilled the types and promises : so that what is peculiar to that dispensation is now no more binding on either Jew or Gentile. If then the ten commandments are to be regarded as peculiar to the ancient dispensation, and are not binding on the Gentile, they are not on the Jew. And as Christ gave no new law, the Gentiles are of course utterly destitute of law, and so are the Jews. We are therefore brought to the conclusion, that all persons are now left as destitute of written law as were the antediluvians. Has God then finally concluded, since his crea- tures have broken all his laws, that they may go on without any ? If not, all the moral laws, which were binding on the Jews before the coming and crucifixion of the Savior, are and were equally binding on the whole human family. If any bene- fit was derived to the Jews from the keeping of a Sabbath, then the same benefit belongs to us and to our children. For he hath I^Oift GENl^ILiE AS WELL AS JEW* 41 made US both one, eo that in Christ Jesus there is no longer either Jew or Gentile. ! Thus it clearly appears, that if the Sabbath was designed only for the JewSj then we Gentiles are under no obligation to observe any of the ten commandments ; for they, all alike, were given either to the Jews alone, or to both Jews and Gentiles. This is sound logic, and, if the objector's premises are correct, ves the Gentile without law, without Gospel, without Sab- ath, without promised blessings, temporal or spiritual j without a guide or friend when he leaves this world, and consequently without hope. To this conclusion we have been laboring to bring the reader. O wicked man, do you rejoice that you have no one to look after and provide for you — no promise of future good 1 If you are free from the obligation of any one of the ten commands, you are free from them all. And not a ray of light shines from the Bible, by which you can look into the future : all beyond the grave is dark uncertainty ; you know not whether you are to be annihilated, whether there is for you a heaven or a hell ; or whether you are to live in the form of a reptile. In this situation, you may look upon yourselves, wretched outcasts from God, from heaven, and the blessings of Revelation ; no one to hear your prayers, listen to your sighs, and still the troubles of a disordered mind. The state of the heathen philosophers, who wept because they knew not what was before them in another world, was far preferable to yours ; for they knew of no Bible, of no people who had been so highly distinguished above them, as the Jews have been above you. The Jews are going to heaven or to hell : you know not to what you are going ! Is it true that God has abandoned us to the storms of this wide and boisterous sea,- without compass, chart, or helm ? Should we take it for granted, that there was no law requir- ing our first parents, and the antediluvians, to keep a day of rest, because none was then written, we must also conclude that there was none against murder. But God certainly did punish Cain for the murder of his brother, showing that he had in some way made known such a law. For where there is no law there can be no sin. For the same reason, the antediluvians must have understood his will ; or they would not, for acting contrary to it, have been buried in one common grave. Yet there is not the 4* 42 THE SABBATH. least allusion made to any of the ten commandments in the his- tory of the old world. On the other hand, suppose it were in- disputably proved that there was no Sabbath instituted, until after the flood ; this would not prove the Sabbath to have been intended only for the Jews. It would only be presumptive evi- dence, that God could not keep men from wickedness, and lead them to himself by oral instruction, without a particular day set apart, to give and receive such instruction ; and that therefore He established a new dispensation, wrote the commandments, and appointed one day in seven, when they should be read and expounded. But there is not, in our mind, a shadow of doubt, that the Sabbath was given in Eden, and designed for all men, and of perpetual obligation. Nor can there be any doubt, that all the moral laws were understood by the inhabitants of the old world. Else, the destruction of the antediluvians is wholly un- accountable and unjust. From God's dealings also with Sodom and Gomorrah, it is evident that they were held accountable for their conduct. This would not have been, had there existed no law ; yet they were destroyed, before Israel, as a nation, had come into existence. From the dealings of God with the Jews, and from what is recorded respecting them before the giving of the law on Sinai, we are irresistiWy led to conclude, that they were, previous to that event, acquainted with and governed according to the laws contained in the decalogue. We find indisputable evidence that they were acquainted with the laws in regard to the Sab- bath, marriage, and murder. From plain allusions, it is obvious, that idolatry, adultery, covetousness, and theft, were also under- stood to be sins against God, by the Jews, in this early stage ot their history. The manner in which the law was given, was admirably suited to impress on their minds the importance of obeying it, and to fill them with awe and reverence for the char- acter of the terrible Lawgiver. The commandments were re- peated in the hearing of all Israel amidst thunderings and light- nings, and quakings of the earth, and the voice of a trumpet, waxing louder and louder, that the people might believe them, and they were written that they might remember and do them. The whole transaction seems designed, not so much to give the people information on the subject of fheir duty, as so to im- FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 43 press the commands on their minds, that they might never forget them. There are expressions in the commandments which show that they were not at that time new to the people of Israel. In the second, for instance, God speaks of showing mercy unto such as love him and keep his commandments — not these command- ments, as though they were now for the first time promulged, but " my commandments," as if they were already acquainted with them. Again, the fourth commandment commences " Re- member the Sabbath day." But we cannot remember what we have never known ; and to suppose that God was calling on the people to remember what was then entirely new to them, is to suppose that He, who is infinite in wisdom, would speak non- sense. Prior to the giving of this law to Moses, God had been dealing with men as moral and accountable creatures. They owed to God and to one another the same moral duties as we do. What is right morally now, was right then, and vice versa. The same moral duties must also be equally necessary to their happiness and holiness as to ours. But though all, from the creation to Moses, were under a common law, it was not written. Hence it was necessary that the same law, which was at first spoken, and committed to the keeping of a few, though published to all and intended for all, should be given in a new form, i. e., on imperishable tables of stone. Wicked men were prone to forget God and his word. Almost all had become idolators. The knowledge of God was scarcely to be found. It became necessary, therefore, to make choice of a certain family, instruct them, and make them the depository of his revealed will. The same grand moral principles by which all past genera- tions had been governed, must now be written. The writing of these moral precepts must not be left to Moses, but be done by the finger of God. Other laws were given at the same time, very important for the religious improvement of the Jews, to whom this precious treasure was committed. But they were ceremonial, only designed for them during their scholarship, and these might be written by Moses. They were types and shad- 44 -rfiE gAfifiATM. ows of things to come ; yet were they practical lessone, adapted to deepen the impression on their minds. The chosen people, too, were so far gone in wickedness, so ignorant of the divine character and government, that they were kept forty years, as it were, in one vast camp-meeting, learning the mind and will of God, and forgetting wickedness and idolatry. At length we find them prepared to come out among the Gentiles, with those moral laws so indelibly written on their memories, as well as on tables of stone, that they could never be entirely eiSaced. These laws were now to speak to them in- stead of God : and are also to be to lis in his stead. For he does not communicate his will to us, as he used to do to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets. These same commands were often repeated, in substance, after the transactions on Sinai, which seem to show, that very probably they had often been before. The fact that there were many laws given to the Jews not contained in the ten commandments, and which cannot be in- ferred from them, furnishes additional proof that God made a distinction between these and other laws, which were given only for the Jews as a nation. A distinction was obviously needed between those which from their very nature are binding on all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, and those which referred only to one nation, and embraced only a limited period of time. We may safely infer that God intended the Sabbath for the Gentiles, because the reasons of its observance apply to them as much as to the Jews. They, and their servants and cattle, as much need the refreshment of a day of rest — they have as much cause for gratitude and adoration in view of the work of creation — God's resting is as much an example for them as for the Jews. If the Jews had an additional reason in their deliv- erance from Egyptian bondage, much more has the Christian in his deliverance from bondage to sin and satan. But when we say to objectors, If the Jews, in their sinful state, needed a Sab- bath, to give them an opportunity to think of God, recount his mercies, admire his works, and prepare lor heaven, then the Gentiles, for the same reason, certainly need one ; — and if it was the duty of the Jews to commemorate this day, on account of so great an event as the work of creation, it is no less a duty which 4 FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 45 the Gentiles owe to God, for the same common, though most Btupendous blessings, wrought by the finger of their common Parent. They often inquire, why then did not God command other nations to keep the Sabbath ? The question may with equal propriety be asked, why God did not forbid other nations to kill, to steal, and to covet ? This he did not do, nor did he formally give any commands to other nations ; nor is there even an allusion to one of them, any more than if they had not ex- isted, except in the phrase " thy stranger^^'' in the fourth com- mandment ; yet, what believer in the Bible ever supposed these commandments not to have been intended for the Gentiles ? Professor Agnew, in speaking of the Perpetuity of the Insti- tution, remarks, " If we now advert to the end, or object of the institution, we shall perceive them to be adapted equally to the whole human family, and not peculiarly to the Jews. And whence its perpetuity is inferred. Was it intended to relieve both man and beast from the wearisomeness of uninterrupted labor ? Then do all need it as much as the Israelites. Was it designed to be commemorative of the eternity, independence, self-exist- ence, and all the glorious perfections of the Deity, as evinced in the work of his hands ? Then are all, equally with the Jews, in- terested in this commemoration. Was it provided as a means of man's growth and establishment in holiness ? Then does its end proclaim it loudly to be the birth-right of every intelligent creature on God's earth, a common inheritance to all the sons and daughters of Adam. " Who is the Jew, that his constitution alone, and that of his servants and beasts, require a regular return of freedom from the exhausting fatigues of constant labor ? Who is the Jew, that he only may set apart one day in seven for singing the high praises of God — that he only is obliged to bear in remembrance the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God, displayed in his completed work of creation ? Who is the Jew, that he only needs this pre-eminently blessed mean of attaining and securing conformity with the image of God ? No ! Verily, you and I, and Adam and Noah, are, as much as he, interested in this heavenly attainment. We, equally with him, must commemorate the six days' work of Jehovah. And our constitution, as well as his, was so made as to require the rest of the Sabbath." 46 THE SABBATH. PROOF FROM THE BIBLE. It is evident, from the language of the fourth commandment itself, that it was adapted and designed for the Gentile, because it makes special provision for him. " Thy servant,''^ and " thy stranger^'' does not refer to the Jews. To them, as the keepers of the sacred oracles, was the decalague principally addressed, yet " thy stranger^'' was included. We learn from their history, that a mixed multitude went with them from Egypt; some perhaps from curiosity, others from affection to the Jews, and others it may be from attachment to their religion. These were undoubtedly the "servant" and "stranger" who were among them at the time the law was given. From time to time, individuals, some as bondmen and some as citizens, from neighboring nations, were joined unto Israel. Such were always required, after a suitable season of probation, to become circum- cised ; and were expected to obey the laws of God. " When the stranger shall sojourn with thee, one law shall be to him that is homeborn and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you." In Isaiah Ivi., we find most rich and precious promises definitely made to the sons of the stranger, even to " every one that keepeth the Sabbath, from polluting it." " Even them," says God, " will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer : their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on mine altar." In another verse, specifying the same condition, he makes these promises : " Even unto them will I give, in mine house, and within my wails, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters : I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." Though God did reveal himself to the Jews, and teach them his statutes, in a more special manner than other nations, it is plain, from this chapter in Isaiah, that they were not the only people designed to be benefited by the revelation of his mind and will ; but any others who would covenant with him, and obey his commands, were to be entitled to the same privileges. Some have asserted, that the Bible nowhere reproves the Gentiles for profaning the Sabbath ; but whoever will read Ne- hemiah xiii. 16 — 21. will find that this is an unfounded asser- FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 47 tioD. From God's punishing the Gentiles for their wickedness, and in due time sending them the same Law and Gospel given to the Jews, it is evident that they were ever under as solenm obligations to keep all these moral, or ten commands, as were the Jews. The promulgation of the law on Sinai was not neces" sary to make it known. It is manifest from Exodus xviii. 16. that the statutes of God were well understood before. " When they have a matter," said Moses, " they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his law." This was before the law was written. The Gentiles have ever been treated in the dispensations of Providence as accountable creatures, bound to obey the moral law, and amenable to God for their conduct. This is very evi- dently pre-supposed in Amos i. and ii., where the specific trans- gressions for which God visited heathen nations with judgments, are definitely mentioned ; and in every case, if examined, they will be found to be violations of the moral law. Shall we con- clude that they had been made acquainted with the other com- mands, and yet were left in utter ignorance of that in relation to the Sabbath ? The fact that the Gentile converts all kept the Lord's day, as the Sabbath, under the direction of the Apostles ; which they never would have done had the Apostles been forbidden by their Master to keep it, or permitted not to keep it, is evidence that the Sabbath was intended for the Gentile as well as for the Jew. The Sabbath is said to be a sign between the children of Israel and God, " throughout their generations." The Jews were the adopted people of God ; and the Sabbath, strictly observed, would enable them to learn more and more of Him, while it distin- guished them from those who would not keep it. Gentiles among the Jews, who would keep the Sabbath, though strangers, were considered as of the chosen people. Those who would not keep it, showed that they were not of his people. So at the present day — the church is God's spiritual people. All those who lovei and keep the Sabbath, show that they belong to his people, and those who do not, are not his people. This is and will forever be a sign, throughout not only the generations of Israel, but the generations of the Gentiles, who are now also of the people of 48 THE SABBATH* God. Those who will not keep the Sabbath, have broken the covenant, and are not reckoned among his people. Deut. V. 15, contains an additional reason why Israel should remember the Sabbath, viz. : that they had been servants in the land of Egypt, and the Lord had brought them tlience. The enemies of that day seize on this as evidence, that it was given only to them, as the reason applies strictly to no other nation. But, as we have seen, good and abundant reasons have been given for its observance, which apply to all men : and the fact that a special reason exists why a particular people should ob- serve an institution, does not prove its inapplicability to other people on other grounds. Ezek. XX. 12 — 20, is sometimes quoted to prove, that the Sab- bath was a sign given by God to his people, to distinguish them from other nations, and intended for none others. These pas- sages probably include the ceremonial Sabbaths. But admitting the contrary, there is no evidence that it would be a sign for them only, and not for Gentile believers — the church after Christ. Their rest was on a different day from that of the Gentiles, and that to distinguish them from pagans, who worshipped idols ; and in this respect it was a sign between God's children and his enemies. This institution would always be a sign between the worshippers of God and the worshippers of Baal ; as the seventh day was a sign between the Jews and Gentiles, — the Gentiles having the ^rs^ day for their Sabbath. This sign or distinction, the seventh instead of the first day Sabbath, was kept up until the death of Christ, when it was done away, and all were to re- vert back to the first day rest. There is another objection raised ; for those who would not be under the law, are full of inventions. It is said the expression, " I gave them my Sabbaths," implies that the Sabbath was only for them. Observe also that all the commands were addressed directly to the Jews, and to each, individually, not to the race collectively. " Thou shalt," not all men shall, " honor thy father and thy mother." If this be an objection, it may with equal propriety be urged against all the commandments. The phrase, however, may not refer to the weekly Sabbath, but to Sabbaths, other days which were ceremonial, as for instance, the monthly Sabbath, or the first day of the seventh month, Sabbaths joined FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW, 49 with new moons and holidays, and others which might be men- tioned. Where, in the Scriptures, is the plural used, when the original institution, or weekly Sabbath, is intended ? If, how- ever, the expression above quoted does reler to the weekly rest, God's giving it to the Jews, is no evidence that the gift was not intended for the Gentiles. " I gave thenij" may mean another day, the seventh, to be ob- served as their weekly Sabbath ; a different day from the one they formerly kept, and which the Gentile nations still keep ; that " my people may be a distinct people." We are satisfied that the Jewish Sabbath originated in the appointment of the passover — that they then changed from the first day Sabbath, it they kept any, to keep the seventh day Sabbath; that they might become a distinct people. If one seventh part of the time were kept holy to the Lord, it answered the design of the insti- tution. SABBATH NOT MENTIONED. Others object, that as the Sabbath is not mentioned for the space of twenty-five hundred years after the creation, it could not have been instituted in Eden. But if this argument prove any thing, it proves too much. For it is not mentioned from the time of Joshua till David ascended the throne. Circumcision is neither mentioned nor alluded to, from a little after Moses till Jeremiah, a period of eight hundred years. Are we to beUeve that none of the pious kings, during that long period, were circumcised? Who then can say, that none of the holy patriarchs kept a Sab- bath, because it is not mentioned during a period of twenty-five hundred years ? Neither are sacrifices mentioned for fifteen hun- dred years — from Abel to the deluge : nor from Jacob, at Beer- sheba, till the deliverance from Egypt — two or three hundred years more. No mention is made of the Sabbath in the books of Joshua, Ruth, 1st and 2d Samuel, or 1st Kings, which are so much more specific and minute, and more voluminous, than the book of Genesis, in which the history of many centuries ia writ- ten on three or four leaves of a common Bible. " The ordinance of the red heifer is never noticed, from the Pentateuch till the close of the Old Testament; but we know from the Apostle, that it was in constant use." The book of Psalms and some of the /5 50 THE SABBATH. Prophets, rarely mention the Sabbath ; but this is no evidence that it was not kept. " We are thus," in the language of Pres. Dwight, " come to this conclusion, that there are but five passages in which the Sabbath is mentioned in the Jewish writiags, from the time of Moses to the return of the captivity — one thousand years. Two of these are found in prophecy ; and three of them in their history. The first of these is mentioned about five hundred years, the second six hundred, the tliird seven hundred and fifty- two, and the remaining ones, which are found in prophecy, near eight hundred years from the time of Moses." If, because no mention of a Sabbath is made for so long a time, we are to believe that there was no Sabbath during that period, what shall we say of the institution of marriage ? No Christian, it is believed, will deny that it was instituted in Para- dise, and that the antediluvians " married and were given in marriage." But we find no mention of it after Eve was given to Adam, till long after the flood. This institution was lost during a much longer period than that of the Sabbath, if this reasoning is correct. It is surprising to us, that any man, in his senses, should wish to make it appear that we have no day of rest given us — no Sab- bath. But such is the fact. The friends of the Sabbath are often assailed by them, in the most disgraceful and opprobrious manner, and every effort is making to remove it from the land as a useless thing. But be it remembered, the Sabbath " was intended to give the laboring classes of mankind an opportunity of resting from toil — it was intended to be a commemoration of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God in the creation of the universe — it was intended to furnish an opportunity of increasing holiness in man, while in a state of innocence — it was intended to furnish an opportunity to fallen man of acquiring holiness and of obtaining salvation. In every one of these respects, the Sab- bath is equally useful, important, and necessary to every child of Adam. It was no more necessary to a Jew to rest, after the labor of six days was ended, than to any other person." Why was it necessary that the beast of burden, belonging to the Jews, should rest one day in seven, any more than for ours ? Why need the Gentile servant, among the Jews, keep the Sab- FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 51' bath, if the Gentiles rww need not? Why was God six days in making the world, when he could have made it as well in one day, or in one second, but to show us that in sia: days we must do all our work, and rest one seventh of the time ? Why was our time divided into weeks, if there was to be no Sabbath ? Why have heathen nations always had traditionary notions of a Sab- bath J and from what source did they come ? It is supremely foolish and wicked lor any man to set him- eelf up as an enemy to this humane and heavenly institution. If the Bible be not true, then the Sabbath maybe banished from our world, but not otherwise. If there be any reason why the Gentiles are not bound to observe the fourth command, the same may be adduced to show that they are not bound to observe the first three or last six in the decalogue. Some are so anxious to expunge this command, that they divide the decalogue into two parts. The first three commands, which speak of the duties we owe to God, they in- clude in the first ; and the last six, which speak of the duties we owe to ourselves and to one another, in the other part ; leaving out the fourth, which relates to the duties we owe, connectedly, to ourselves and our God — to our families, the stranger residing with us, and to our cattle. It appears from the history, that God divided them into two classes, or wrote them on two tables ; but he did not leave out the fourth, neither did he leave it for Moses to write, hut he wrote it; and, lest it should not hold that important place which be- longed to it, he was particular, at both times, when he wrote the commands, to place it, as it were, " in the bosom of the deca- logue," where it must stand as a connecting link, till heaven and earth shall pass away. We must, therefore, necessarily come to the conclusion, that the Sabbath was instituted when God had finished the work of creation, and was designed for all men to the end of time. It must be evident to most persons that are accustomed to reason and think, that this is the correct conclusion ; for God has long been dealing with us Gentiles as he once dealt with his people Israel. He governs us by the same laws, and encourages us by the same promises. 52 THE SABBATH. Objection III. — "But the Moral La\f, or Ten Command- The objector to the Sabbath also often meets us with the assertion, that the moral law, or ten commandments, has been abrogated. There was given to the Jews a moral, ceremonial, and judicial or civil law. One or more of these may have been abohshed, and the other still remain in full if not augmented force. We shall see if the latter is not the case with the whole of the moral law, or ten commandments. Infidels, and all those who would give full license to their covetous desires and unholy pas- sions, often quote Paul, Acts xv. 5, 24, to prove that the law, meaning the law of the Sabbath, and indeed the whole deca- logue, is now no longer in force. Some of them would have no law, neither moral nor civil. Say they, let public sentiment be the only law to regulate men's actions. But it may be well to see how Christ and his apostles understood this matter. In the first place, then, in Matt. v. 17 — 19, in the memorable Sermon on the Mount, we find Christ using this language,— " Think not [for some at that day talked just as infidels and deists now do] that I am come to destroy the law or the pro- phets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." But, it is asked, What law is here spoken of, the ceremonial or moral ? Not the former, of course ; for that, as a matter of fact, was destroyed, i. e. abrogated, at his death ; which is implied in the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles being, by that event, broken down. The apostles too throw the whole weight of their inspired teachings and divinely bestowed authority, against the observance of the ceremonial law. Christ, then, did come to destroy that law. But he fulfilled the moral law, in his own person ; he inculcated it in its purity, and as one having authority ; his whole system of morality is based upon it. If he came to destroy the moral law, he came to undo his own work, the effect of his own mission. But Christ, in the succeeding verse, has put the matter for ever at rest. " Who- Boever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 53 and shall teach men so/' &c. ; commandments, i. e. the moral law, which no man may break, no, not the least of them. " One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." All the prophecies must be fulfilled ; for he came not to destroy them. But all the prophecies are not yet fulfilled 'f therefore, not one jot or tittle of the law, of which Christ spoke, can pass away, until such fulfillment. Consequent- ly he spoke of the ten commandments, the moral law. Now, who dare take from this law, from these commandments, the law of the Sabbath ? Would the fourth precept be not so much as a jot or tittle, or one of the least of tliem ? If not, then Christ may not call the man who tears it from the decalogue to ac- count for his conduct. But be it remembered by all who would go to heaven, that their righteousness must exceed the righteous- ness of the Scribes and tlie Pharisees, far exceed it, or they will finally fail of reaching that Holy place. The whole of tlie deca- logue, then, as written by the finger of God on tables of stone, and all the prophecies, remain as they were at Christ's coming. The law is still, and for ever shall be, every word of it, in force ; and all the prophecies shall be accomplished. The ceremonial Inw, and things typical of Christ, were abrogated when he hung upon the cross, and these only. The day of rest, then, necessa- rily reverted back, as the object of the first change was accom- plished. Matt. xxii. 36, 37. " Master, which is the great command- ment in the law? Jesus said unto them, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." This Pharisee, who was a lawyer, understood what was meant by " the law and the prophets :" he evidently anticipated the answer he received. No sooner was the question propounded, than Christ gave the answer. This he did by including in one commandment the sum of all that was contained in the first table of the law, touching his duty to God ; and in the other, the sum of all that was written on the second table of the law, or ten commandments, touching his duty to man j assuring the 5* 54 THE SABBATH. lawyer, that these two commandments were the foundation," on which all the law and the prophets stood ; they were built on these two main pillars. Unless these were observed, the pro- phecies could not be fulfilled, nor would any of the ceremonial or judicial laws avail any thing, if these, i. e. the ten command- ments, were given up. Christ did not tell this lawyer that there "was any difference in the commandments ; that the Sabbath was one of minor im- portance and could be dispensed with ; or that those in the sec- ond table were not equally dear to him with those in the first table : but " the second is like unto it" — each, all are important, and cannot be separated. Should any person say that the Sab- bath cannot be included in either of these commandments, men- tioned by our Savior, he would greatly err, not understandinof the Scriptures, nor observing the physical as well as spiritual benefits of that day. Love to our* neighbor will prompt us to give him a Sabbath. And we cannot love God, if we " do not the things which he says." In Luke xvi. 17, Christ says, " And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail." In the previous context he had said, " The law and the prophets were until John : since that time the kingdom of God is preached." As if he had said, before it was not preached as it now is. But ict no man suppose from this, that John or myself have done away the law or the prophets ; for " it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail ;" the law is immutable j heaven and earth will fail, but the law cannot. John i. 17. " For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The moral law, or ten command- ments, is here evidently contrasted with gre^ce. John vii. 19. " Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law ? Why go ye about to kill me ?" Evi- dently referring to the sixth commandment, the moral law. See also 23d verse, "law of Moses," which there means the law of circumcision — a part of the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law is frequently called the law of Moses, while the ten com- mandments are called the law of God, and we know not that they ever were called the law of Moses, unless when referring to the whole Pentateuch. God wrote the moral, Moses the FOR GENTILE AS WELL AS JEW. 66 ceremonial law ; hence the propriety of this usage to distinguish them — " the law of God and the law of Moses." The Moral Law is also too high to be reached by mortals. No one can destroy, or alter, or abrogate it. See also verse 49. " This peo- ple who knoweth not the law are cursed," i. e., the unbelieving people that followed Jesus. Some in Paul's day taught, that faith made void the law, that the man who believed in Christ was no longer bound by the law. See Rom. iii. 28. " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." To this un- scriptural conclusion, Paul in the 31st verse replies, "Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law," i. e., the moral law, that law which is in its very nature indestructible, and adapted to the government of moral, accountable creatures, in all ages of the world. No one of the commands can be taken from the decalogue : and the Sabbath is an essential part of it, one of its immutable, natural, as well as moral laws. The moral law, then, Paul being witness, stands complete in all its parts ; established, if possible, more firmly than ever, by what Christ and his Apostles have done. Let no man then con- clude, that he can by any means avoid the claims of the moral l-^.w. He cannot do it. It stands, all of it, unrepealed, and will forever so stand. Romans iv. 15. " For where no law is, there is no transgression." If the moral law is done away, then there is no sin. In order then to determine what is and what is not sinful, we need the whole law. That touches every case of transgression which can be committed against God or man. Romans v. 13. " But sin is not imputed, where there is no law." Romans vii. 1. " Know ye not, brethren, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth ?" Now infidels acknowledge that the ceremonial law was done away by the coming of Christ ; and they would not wish to have it under- stood that this quotation referred to the judicial law of the Jews. That would be too strict for them. Hence we know not how they can avoid the conclusion that the passage speaks of the moral law as a whole \ and that no part of it has ever been abro- gated, nor ever can be. This law, O man, whether you will or 56 THE SABBATH. not, hath dominion over you. Again, in the third verse, Paul states the conditions which constitute adultery, i. e., that a woman be married to another man during her husband's lifetime ; in which case " the law" calls her an adulteress ; that is, of course, the moral law. In the sixth verse the phrase, " delivered from that law," means, not from obligation to obey it, but that by faith in Christ, we may be delivered from its condemning power. The passage in verse 7, " Is the law sin ? God forbid ," toge- ther with the whole af the Apostle's argument in this chapter, amounts to this : the Christian religion, instead of doing away or contradicting the commandments, estabhshes, and is in exact accordance with them. The law is as holy, just, and good, and as necessary now, as ever it was before the coming of Christ. No part of it is sin, no part unnecessary, no part unjust. Verse 22. " For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Such is the feeling of that Apostle towards the law of God, who has been quoted to prove its abrogation. He still " delights in it." This holy man, in loving the law, did not love that which he had been instrumental |n abolishing. He could not delight in a nonentity. The ChriiStian Sabbath was a part of the law he delighted in. Romans viii. 7. " Law of God," i. e., moral law, not the law of Moses; also, xiii. 8, 10, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Of course, law here means the ten commandments. Ephesians ii. 15. " Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." This text the objector also thinks supports his position. But, by a careful examination, it is easy to see the Apostle's meaning. He is giving to the Ephesians a short view of what Christ has done for them, in breaking down the wall of partition between them and the Jews ; that he has brought them nigh by his blood — is their peace ; and of the twain, the two classes, has made one new man, in himself, by abolishing in the flesh the enmity, i. e., doing away these ceremonial laws, or ordinances, which had been established to keep them separate, and were in the way of their coming together. Thus by removing the law of command- ments, in ordinances^ the enmity between Jew and Gentile should by and by cease. THE LAW STILL IN FORCE. 57 James u. 8, 10, shows that the whole law was yet in force. " For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet oflfend in one pointj he is guilty of all." The sixth and seventh commands are mentioned, which shows that it is the ten commandments, of which the Apostle speaks. ; 1 John iii. 4. " Whosoever committeth sin, transgreeseth also the law ; for sin is the transgression of the law." From this also it appears that the law, the moral law, is still in force. Let it be observed, that the original institution of the Sabbath, as related Exodus xx., is not only a moral precept, but is among the immutable natural laws, and can never be abrogated or re- peEiled by any being on earth, or in heaven, without a change in the divine government, as appears from Christ's own words, and the declaration of the Apostle, as before stated. Let the enemies of that institution know, that it stands so high that they cannot reach it, is so broad that they cannot span it, and BO deep that they cannot fathom it. It was given distinct and apart from the ceremonial laws, written on stone by the finger of God, and held a most prominent and honorable place in the decalogue. It was laid up in the ark with the other immutablj;^ holy and just precepts, there forever to remain. Christ did not abrogate it, for one jot or tittle of the law, that is, the moral law, could not fail. The Apostles dared not touch it ; and there is not the least evidence in the New Testament that they ever d;,d do it away ; but on the contrary, when with Christ they always kept it, and after his resurrection, they observed the same insti- tution, though on another day, which Christ himself honored by his presence with them. If the institution had been abolished, the Apostles would have known the fact, nor would their Leader have encouraged them in keeping a Sabbath, if he had not in- tended to have one observed after his death. We consider it as forever settled, by Christ himself, had we no other testimony than what is derived from his words and actions, that Christians are as much bound to keep a Sabbath, as were the patriarchs, or the Jews. That precept stands, in relation to this matter, just where the other nine do. If the fourth is repealed by his act, so are the others. If the Sabbath has ceased to be binding, and, as some pretend, it be sinfid to keep it, being one of the holy days which the 58 THE SABBATH. Apostle forbade to be kept, then the declaration of Isaiah, (Ixvi. 23,) when speaking of the millenium, that aU men would then keep the Sabbath, will never come to pass. The moral and ceremonial laws God has always kept sepa- rate and apart ; and by so doing, shown to his creatures his in- tention forever to keep them distinct. He wrote the one, and caused Moses, his servant, to write the other. In their natures they differ. Their objects are different, and their effects differ- ent. One could be spared from the world before the days of Moses, and since the days of Christ ; the other could never be spared from this world, as may clearly be inferred from God's governing his creatures, before the ten commandments were written, by the principles of that law, which, in all probability, were well known to the ancients, though not yet written. Do not these things establish the doctrine, that all men are now under obligation to keep the fourth commandment ? Here is a great rule of moral right, which, though the record of it might be burned up and forgotten by man, can never cease to be bind- ing on moral beings. -We consider it, in its nature, indestructi- ble — immutable as the throne of Him from whom it emanates. It stands, a holy rule, between God and man. Through it we see and know God, while we learn our duty to him, ourselves, and to one another. All the law is holy, perfect, essential, and everlasting in its very nature. We should as soon expect the infidel and the deist to succeed, were they to attempt to pull down the throne of the Almighty, as to expect they would suc- ceed in destroying that law, or even rendering one jot or tittle of it liable ever to fail. Let them beware how they lay their pol- luted hands on so holy and so important an instrument Their enterprise is as fruitless as it is wicked and malicious, and may bring down, in this life, merited rebuke. It certainly will, if unrepented of, be punished in the next with everlasting destruc- tion. When we attempt to defend the character of this law, it "w awakens in us feelings similar to those we have when we un- ; dertake to defend the character and existence of God. It seems a work of supererogation, and too holy a matter for sinful man to engage in. The law was from etemiiy. God has written it, and handed it down to men. He holds it out before their eyes, It is himself in perfection : and rather than suffer it to be blotted THE LAW STILL IN FORCE. 69 out, or any of its principles dispensed with, as it relates to ra- tional, accountable creatures, he would dash this world, which he has made, and which he sustains, to atoms — and none could prevent the awful catastrophe. This law cannot be lost or abrogated, either by men on earth, or spirits in heaven or hell. It is forever settled ; it can- not be abrogated or lost. No, not even its author — with defe- rence we speak it — can abrogate it, until he change his own ^ nature and the mode of his government. But he is immutable. Blessed truth ! Let it be repeated by all good men in the ears of the ungodly — He is immutable. Objection IV. — " The New Testament does not REauiRE a Sabbath." Another objection with which we are often met is, that the New Testament does not require a Sabbath. The Jewish law, say they, was abolished by Christ on the cross, according to Acts xv. In furtlier proof of the same asser- tion, Paul is quoted, in Gal. iv. 10, 11 : " Ye observe days and times," &c. " I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed labor in vain." Col. ii. 16 : " Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come." Rom. xiv. 5 : " One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man \q fully persuaded in his own mind." This objection, and the texts quoted to prove it, remind us of the language of a distinguished divine to a layman who enter- tained the same opinion With the author of the objection, and cited solne of these passages in its defence. " I aver, therefore," said he, with confidence, " that no truly liberal-minded and com- petently informed person, could have written like our author. For writing and publishing such a passage as this, I hesitate not to brand him with disingenuousness, or arrogant ignorance." Those who quote the above passage in Acts to prove that the moral law, or any one of the ten commandments was abol- ished by Christ, either have not yet learned how little they know about the subject, or they are rot honest. The passage relates 60 THE SABBATH. wholly to the ceremonial law, as almost any Sunday school child can see. It is surprising to us, that wicked men, haters of the Bible, and rejectors of its truth, attempt to qicote, much more to expmmd it. When they do, their expositions are often very %. similar to those addressed to Eve in the garden, and to our Sa- vior on the pinnacle of the temple. > If all those who raise these objections had been studying the Bible on Sunday, instead of spending that day in lahor and sport, we should not have been made to blush for their ignorance of its truths, or for their disposition to tear away the main pillars of our religion and our free institutions. We shall, however, sub- < join a few extracts in relation to part of these quotations. President Humphrey, on this point, says, "If the repealing act is anywhere recorded in the Bible, it is either in Rom. xiv. 5, 6, or in Col. ii. 16, 17. No one, we believe, pretends to place much stress upon any other passage. The text in Romans is this : " One man esteemeth one day above another ; another es- teemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." Does the Apostle here mean to say, that under the new, or Christian dispensation, it is a matter of indifference which day of the week is kept as a Sabbath, or whether any Sabbath at all -s kept? Surely those who thus construe his meaning, ' do greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures.' " Every attentive reader of the New Testament must have observed, that, for some years after the resurrection of Christ, the Jewish and Christian dispensations were, in practice, blended together ; the former being gradually abolished, and the latter as gradually brought in to take its place. And hence the dis- putes which the Apostle endeavors to settle. ^ Him,' he says, *that is weak in the faith, receive ye ; but not to doubtful dispu- tations. For one believeth that he may eat all things. Ano- ther, that is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth de- spise him that ea-teth not; and let not him that eateth nof^ judge him that eateth : for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant. To his own master he standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, • NEW TESTAMENT VIEW ©1 another esteemeth every day alike. Let eveify tnan be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day re- gardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks ; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.* Who, for a mo- ment, after reading this quotation, can doubt that the Apostle had reference solely to the ceremonial law, and had nothing to say about the original institution of the Sabbath ? He is speak- ing wholly of ceremonies not then binding on Christians, though, if observed, not sinful, when it was done conscientiously, to glorify God. * Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.' " From Barnes' Notes on these passages, we have the follow- ing : — " That the Apostle did riot mean to say that it was a mat- ter of indifference whether it [the Lord's day] should be kept as holy, or devoted to business or amusement, is plain from the following considerations. 1. The discussion had reference only to the peculiar customs of the Jews, to the rites and practices which they would attempt to impose on the Gentiles, and not to any questions which might arise among Christians, as Chris- tians. The inquiry pertained to meats and festival observances among the Jews, and to their scruples about partaking of the food offered to idols, &c. ; and there is no more propriety in sup- posing that the subject of the Lord's day is introduced here, than that he advances principles respecting baptism and the Lord^s Supper. 2. The Lord's day was doubtless observed by all Chris- tians, whether converted from Judaism or heathenism. See 1 Cor. xvii. 2 ; Acts xx. 7 ; Rev. i. 10 ; Comp. Notes on John xx. 26. The propriety of observing that day does not appear to have been a matter of controversy. The only inquiry was, whether it was proper to add to that the observance of the Jewish Sab- baths and days of festivals and feasts. 3. It is expressly said that those who did not regard the day, regarded it as not to God, or to honor God : verse 6. They did it as a matter of respect to him and his institutions ; to promote his glory, and to advance his kingdom. Was this ever done by those who disregarded the Christian Sabbath ? Is their design ever to promote his honor and to ad ^ancp m the knowledge of Him by neglecting his holy 62 THE SABBATH. day 7 Who knows not that the Christian Sabbath has never been neglected or profaned by any design to glorify the Lord Jesus, or to promote his kingdom ? It is for purposes of busi- ness, gain, war, amusement, dissipation, visiting, crime. Let the heart be filled with a sincere desire to honor the Lord Jesus^ and the Christian Sabbath will be reverenced, and devoted to the purposes of piety. And if any man is disposed to plead this passage as an excuse for violating the Sabbath, and devoting it to pleasure or gain, let him understand it just as it is, i. e. let him neglect the Sabbath from a conscientious desire to honor Jesus Christ. Unless this is his motive, the passage cannot avail him. Bat this motive never yet influenced a Sabbath-breaker." From Acts xx. 7, we see that the disciples kept the Christian Sabbath, and assembled for religious worship on the Lord's day. This was nearly thirty years after the resurrection. Paul preach- ed to them. He who had, as the objectors say, preached the abolition of the weekly rest ! ! In 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, written about the same time, allusion is made by Paul to the Christian Sabbath, and the custom of the church in assembling together for worship and collections for public charities. Let us now examine the passage in Col. ii. 16, 17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect to an holy day, or of the new moons, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of Christ." " Here," as some have triumphantly alleged, " is the repealing act." But it must first be proved that the Apostle had reference to the original institution, instead of the Jewish seventh day Sab- bath, or the other Sabbaths which the Jews were commanded to keep — such as the first day of the seventh month, and also the tenth day of the same throughout their generations. Lev. xxiii. 3, a Sabbath of rest is appointed, an holy convocation. These and other ceremonial days were called holy: and in them no work was to be done, but they were not the weekly Sabbath. The Apostle, as we apprehend, has no referen^ie to the latter. Meats, drinks, new moons, holy days, and Sabbath days, cannot mean the original day of rest, as has already been proved. If the apostle did mean to include the Jewish seventh day Sabbath, it does not follow that he intended to touch the original institu- NEW TfESTAMENT VIEW. 63 tit)n. That was already changed back to the first day, which Christians were keeping, and Paul among the rest. Says pREs. DwiGHT, " The Sabbath appears to be regularly distinguished from Sabbaths; and as Sabbaths are regularly joined with new moons and other holidays of the Jews, which the Sabbath never is, it is clear to me that the Sabbath is not alluded to in any of these instances." Perhaps not even the Jewish seventh day Sabbath. Sabbaths in these passages may refer merely to the ordinary holidays of the Jews. The same may be said of Gal. iv. 9-11, " How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." Paul is evidently speaking of the ceremonies of the Jews, which were not binding on Christians. Acts xv. has no- thing at all to do with this subject. It is on circumcision,, and the ceremonial law of Moses. For the same Apostle loved and kept the moral law, and commanded others to keep it. Pres. Humphrey says, " The plural form. Sabbath days, rarely, if ever, occurs in Scripture when the original institution is intended." This is to be understood of the EngHsh version. Hear the opinion of an able foreign writer on this subject. " It is evident, from the context, that the Apostle was speaking of the ordinances of the ceremonial law ; for the neglect of which no Christian was to be condemned. ' Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Let no man there- fore judge you in meat or in drink, &c., or of the Sabbath-days.' " In this passage the Apostle was doubtless speaking of bur- densome ordinances ; of something that was against them, and contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. But can any pious person conceive that the spending one day in seven, in spiritual services, could be ranked by the holy Apostle among the things which were against Christianity and contrary to it ? Was that institu- tion, which the people of God had been commanded to call a de- light, the holy of the Lord and honorable, now to be esteemed of so carnal a nature as to be ranked amongst the things which Christ took out of the Way, nailing it to the cross ? Were those holy persons, who had been accustomed to adopt the language 64 THE SABBATH. of the Psalmist, ' I was glad when they said unto me. Let us go into the house of the Lord,' now taught to esteem a day spent in such service, as a part of that yoke, which neither the Apostles nor their fathers were able to bear V Nay, verily. We might just as well say, that Christ abrogated the whole moral law. Then the law of the Sabbath has never been repealed. ' The law has no lim- itations, and, therefore, can never expire.' " It is then still bind- ing on Jews and Gentiles ; and always will be on all men to the end of time. It may be considered the great instrument to bring men to Christ, and perpetuate the rehgion of the cross. With- out it men would sooner be deists than Christians; sooner be gross, filthy ignorant idolators, than civil, intelligent and happy citizens. The truth is, those who are laboring to bring the Sabbath into disrepute, and expunge it from the moral code, are at least gross- ly ignorant of the Bible, the book of nature, and Providence j and of their own best interests and those of the world. We are more and more inclined to the opinion, that every enemy of the Sab- bath, and of its strictly religious observance, is an injidel. It maybe that he has not yet discovered precisely where he stands; but be it known to him and the world, that he is an enemy to the Christian and to the Jewish religion, and feels uneasy under the restraints, which both the law and the. Gospel impose. Ig- norance, and the subtlety of designing men, may, and doubtless do, lead many astray; but if they hate the Sabbath and the du- ties which it enjoins, and are unwilling to perform them, they are " in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity," laboring to destroy all good, here and hereafter, and on their way to an eter- nal hell. All that men now say and do against this institution, proceeds from enmity to the general cause of truth and holiness, or from criminal ignorance. We look upon them all, as the en- emies of Jesus Christ, as the enemies of their species, and as insidious foes to our republican institutions ; though many of them are not sensible of the fact. Rev. Mr. Doohttle makes the following remarks on the pas- sage, Col. ii. 16. " Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect to an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days?'' " A satisfactory key to the text may be found in the following facts, all capable of conclusive demonstration. NEW TESTAMENT VIEW. 65 " 1. So much of the law of Moses as might properly be termed ceremonial, in distinction from the moral law, ceased to be es- sential after the establishment of the Christian dispensation. " 2. Though the Apostles and others regarded the ceremonial law as thus abrogated, yet, inasmuch as many of the Christian Jews were conscientiously attached to its observance, the Apos- tles and Christian Jews generally, for the sake of harmony among themselves, and perhaps to avoid giving offence need- lessly to the ruling powers, conformed, as to a thing of unessen- tial moment. " 3. In opposition to the claims of certain Judaizing tea-chers, Paul taught, and laboriously vindicated the position, that the ob- servance of the ceremonial law should not be enjoined on the Gentile converts. The text in question, with its connection, is an argument of this sort. " 4. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the rest of one day in seven, enjoined in the moral law, was transferred to the first day of the week, which was known as the Lord's day, and hence, the observance of the seventh day of the week, or the Sabbath, as a Jew in those days would understand the term, was, with propri- ety, classed with the abrogated ceremonial. "In the text quoted then the Apostle speaks particularly of holy days, new moons, and Sabbath days, (Sabbaths in the original,) as belonging to the handwriting of ordinances, which was taken out of the way by the death of Christ, being ' a shadow of things to come.' The Greek word, Ioott/, which is here translated holy day, is nowhere else so translated in the New Testament. The strict signification of the word is, a public festival. I have noted twenty-eight passages in which the word is translated feast, in all of which it manifestly relates to some of the three great pub- lic festivals ordained in the law of Moses, but most frequently to the feast of the Passover. I know of no passage in which the word is used in relation to any other feast. When occasional or private feasts are spoken of, some other word is always used. It is then certain that a Jew or the Christian Colossians would dis- tinctly understand the Apostle by the word translated holy day, to speak of the annual public festivals belonging to the Mosaic ceremonial. The new moon was a festival enjoined in the law of Moses, not public, but observed in families, or by piyate cir- 6* -'^v'-- -• 66 THE SABBATH. cles of kindred. The ' Sabbath days.' In the original it ia * Sabbaths.' This use of the plural does not, however, appeau to express any thing different from the use of the singular, as, from some idiom of the language, the plural of this word is often put for the singular. " It is, however, clear that the Apostle did not understand by it the rest enjoined in the fourth commandment, which now, by Christian usage, was observed on the first day of the week, and denominated the Lord's day. That this precept of the moral law belonged to ' the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,' and was merely ' a shadow of things to come,' can, in no candor of interpretation, be shown. That he meant by it the ceremonial Sabbaths, such as the Sab- bath of the seventh year, — the first and tenth days of the seventh month. Lev. xxiii. 24, 32, &c. is a supposition in perfect consis- tency with the scope of his discourse. Equally so may be ths supposition, that by it he meant the observance of the seventh day of the week, which now, though in accordance with the Jewish practice denominated the Sabbath, had been succeeded by the Lord's day, and of course, being in connection with the Chris- tian Sabbath both unnecessary and burdensome, it might with propriety be ranked with ' the handwriting of ordinances which was against us,' and regarded as ' a shadow! of that day which has succeeded to its place. The last supposition, if correct, posi- tively authorizes the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week." The passage. Matt. xxiv. 20, " But pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day," shows that, not only Christ's disciples, but all men, after his death, were to keep a Sabbath. For, the time of which he spake in this pas- sage, was about forty years after his death, and there was to be a Sabbath at that time. If the Jewish Sabbath should be abol- ished, still there would be a day of rest, of religious worship— a Sabbath ; for Sabbath means rest. There had always been a Sab- bath, and always would be, to the end of time. There is no es- cape from this passage ; for Christ was addressing his followers, not those who might reject him, and therefore cling to the Jew- ish Sabbath, or rest. If the disciples were to keep no Sabbath, after Christ, it would be immaterial, on what day their flight should happen. NEW iffis^AMEN'T View. 67 As the seventh day was given to the Jews, in distinction from the first day, or Sunday of the Pagans, so, at the ahoUtion of the Jewish dispensation, all the Jews were to revert back to the day kept by the Patriarchs, which would be the day on which Christ rose from the dead. It is evident that Christ did not abolish the Jewish Sabbath while on earth, from the fact, that his disciples, and the women who were present at the crucifixion, would not do any work on that day, however urgent, not even anoint the body of their Lord ; but rested on the Jewish Sabbath. Then, at break of day, after it was past, they went to perform the work, Luke xxiii. 56, and xxiv. 1. Can any one rationally doubt, that Jesus Christ taught his disciples, both by precept and example, before his death, to observe the Jewish Sabbath, and after his resurrection, the Lord's day 1 Isaiah, Ixvi. 22, 23 — " For as the new heavens and the new- earth which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come io pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." " This prophecy, beyond all question, refers to the prosperous state of the church, under the millennial reign of the Messiah ; the most glorious period of that new dispensation which seems to be shadowed forth under the emblem of new heavens and a new earth. The church is then to have her ministers, solemni- ties, Sabbath and holy ordinances, as she had under the Levitical priesthood. The Sabbath will then be observed by the people of God ; and of course it was not abolished with the ceremonial law, but belongs to the new dispensation, as certainly as it did to the old." Such a day as the millennium will never come, should the Sabbath be given up. When that day breaks upon the world we shall have a Sabbath. No man will then dare risk his reputation, and the amazing interests of his soul, by laboring to prove that the Sabbath was abolished by our Savior. But, as Christ came not to destroy the law nor the prophets, this prophecy is to be accomplished, and there will then be a Sabbath ; and all flesh shall come and worship before the Lord. The enemies of the Sabbath will dread to see that day ; and 68 THE SABBATH. they will not long behold even the dawn of it, unless they re- pent and turn to God. Now the devil and his emissaries on earth long to see the Sabbath wholly abolished, for then their reign would be univer- sal. They would like to see it sv/ept from the decalogue, for then all the other precepts, therein contained, which now so much disturb them would share the same fate. " The following also will illustrate the fact that the com- mand to remember the Sabbath day, is not revoked," and show that the New Testament lays men under obligation to observe it. "An Apostle has delivered this precept — 'Upon the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store,' &c. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Two things are here enjoined^a duty, and the time for its performance. A collection must be made for the poor saints, and this collection must be taken up on the first day of the week ; and this high authority enjoins the last as deci- sively as the first. But collections for the saints were always made by the churches in their weekly assemblies for worship. Hence in connection with remembering the poor, the precept involves an injunction to meet for divine worship on the first day of the week." Heb. X. 25 — "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, [but exhorting, &c.]" This is in the New Testament. It would seem to imply that there must be a stated time for assembling, or men would rarely as- semble together. There is a time — a stated time for religious worship, fixed by Almighty God, and foolish and wicked indeed is that man, who would do it away. The same author says, " There is another argument which ought to be brought into view. This Sabbath is in the New Testament called the Lord's day. Rev. i. 10. Now when God puts his name on persons, or things, he intimates, that they are in a peculiar manner devoted to him, for no common display of his glory. If this day then be the Lord's day, it must be specially devoted to him in religious service. St. John fixed, by these terms, the precise period on which he received his holy revelation. It was on the Lord's day. He could not, without the imputation of trifling, mean every day, or any day. This phrase is not singu- lar nor obscure J its meaning is clearly determined in other NEW TESTAMENT VIEW. 69 particulars. Thus we say the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Prayer. No man complains of the obscurity of these phrases — we know distinctly* at first, what idea is meant to be conveyed by them." But it is asked, has not an Apostle classed Sabbath days with the abolished ceremonies of the Jews ? He has, and this, in- stead of operating against our argument, confirms what we have been advancing. The sacred writers invariably use the term Sabbath, in the New Testament, when writing of the Jew- ish rest. And this establishes the fact that they have abohshed the seventh day Sabbath. But the command given before the ceremonies, to keep the day of rest, stands unrepealed. Facta clearly show, that the Apostle ceased to regard the seventh day as a Sabbath binding on Christians, but regarded the Lord's day, the first day of the week, as the Sabbath for all future ages and for all people. They ceased to keep the Jewish Sab- bath, or seventh day ; for the day, after the death of Christ, was changed, and they kept the Christian, or first day Sabbath. It is thought that the 118th Psalm contains a prediction that the Jewish Sabbath should be changed to the day Christ rose from the dead. The passage is as follows: — "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." No less than six times is this passage quoted and applied to Christ in the New Testament. It may refer to the day of his resurrection, which should be kept as a Sabbath by his followers. The Apostles kept and authorized to be kept the Lord's day ; and always met with the disciples on that day for religious worship, breaking of bread and collecting the charities of the church, which, it is believed, has been abundantly proved. Sure we are that the contrary can never be shown by authentic documents, now accessible. That this was their custom no one can doubt who beUeves their word and the testimony of the an- cient fathers. Compare Matt. xii. 8.—" For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." 1 Cor. xi. 20. " When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." And Rev. I 10. " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," " Now 70 THE igAfifiATfl. if Christ was Lord of the Sabbath, if the Sabbath was his day, and if the Lord's day was the first day of the week, then is the first day of the week the Christian Sabbath." Why if, the Sab- bath was done away in Christ, did he attempt to defend it ? It was never done away by his coming. " The Sabbath has been kept as holy time by the people of ,| frod in all ages. It has been to them, not a burden but a delight, ^ ihe holy of the Lord and honorable. That the Apostles and primitive churches statedly assembled for public worship on the Lord's day, is certain. And that they abstained from labor and spent the whole day in religious duties, may be confidently in- ferred, as well from their eminent piety, as from the sanctions of the divine law, which they cannot be supposed to have disre- garded. For we have already proved that Jesus Christ left the law as he found it, after freeing it from the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees. The disciples would of course take it from him. And as the people of God had always done before them, they would remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." " This is the only fair and legitimate inference — it cannot be get aside by any thing short of direct proof to the contrary. The Bible furnishes no such proof; not a word, nor a hint, that Chris- tians of the Apostolic age did their own work, or found their own pleasure on the Lord's day." CEREMONIAL SABBATHS AND FESTIVALS. df the ceremonial Sabbaths, only seven will be mentioned. Gurney says, " The principles of the Sabbath were extended to every seventh year, and to all the Jewish festivals." The Original Institution, the Weekly Sabbath, is some- times called a feast, Exod. xiii. 6. The New Moons were Monthly feasts. Num. xxviii. 11. The Passover was a yearly feast, Exod. xxxiv. 25, and com- memorated the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt; some- times called the feast of Unleavened Bread. It is also called a Sabbath, continued seven days, and was one of the great yearly festivals. Pentecost, Lev. xxiii. 11, 17, was also one of the great yearly festivals, and is called a Sabbath. It continued but one day, and NEW TESTAMENT VIEW. 71 commemorated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai ; called also feast of weeks and day of first fruits. Feast of Tabernacles, Lev. xxiii. 34. This also was ano- ther of the great yearly festivals, (all of which have now been named,) and continued eight days ; the first and last of which were called Sabbaths. During this feast the children of Israel dwelt in booths. Feast of Trumpets, Lev. xxiii. 24, was also called Sabbath, and occurred once in seven months j called a memorial of blow- ing trumpets ; a holy convocation. Atonement, Lev. xxiii. 27, was called a Sabbath of rest unto Israel. It was to commence on the eve of the ninth ; being, as time was then reckoned, the tenth day of the seventh month. Sometimes it is called the day of propitiation. On this day all Israel were to afflict their souls. But all the other festivals, whether public or private, were days of rejoicing ; not of sinful amusement and mirth, but designed to be of holy joy and thanks- giving. On this day the Jubilee, or 50th year festival, com- menced. Feast of Purim, Esther ix. 17, 32. Feast of Sabbaths, or Every Seventh Year, Lev. xxv. 4; also called the Sabbatical Year. Feast of Jubilee, Lev. xxv. 8, 9, was on the 50th year, called Sabbath ; which was to begin on the tenth day of the seventh month, or day of atonement. It was ushered in by the sound of the trumpet throughout all the land. Here are some of the Ceremonial Sabbaths, of which the Apostle speaks in Col. ii. 16, as the handwriting of ordinances, and shadows of things to come ; ordinances respecting meats, drinks, holy day, new moons, and Sabbath days so called. The Christian rest is not referred to in these passages. Those cere- monial days were not to be observed until Israel should be set- tled in Canaan. The weekly Sabbath they were then bound to observe. They were called solemn feasts, set feasts ; all of which were typical, and to be done away v/hen Christ should finish the work of redemption. Then, Jew and Gentile, when this parti- tion wall should be broken down, must look to the moral law and the gospel of Jesus Christ as their guide, and keep only the. Sabbath given to man in Eden. They were no longer to offer 73 THE SABBATS. up sacrifices for sin, but accept of the sacrifice Christ ofiered, once for all. , Sabbath and New Moons were not the same thing. Neither do Sabbaths, mentioned in this connection, often, if ever, meatt' ■ the original institution— the fourth commandment. 1st Chron. 2d Chron. a a Isa 2d Kings Isa. Amos Ezra Neh. Ezek. a Hosea xxiii. 31. ii. 4. viii. xxxi. i. iv. Ixvi. viii. iii. X. 33. xlv. 17. xlvi. 3. ii. 11. 13. 3. 13, 14. 23. 23. 5. 5. Sab. and N, Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Moons. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. N. Moons and Set Feasts; N. Moons and Sabbath. N. M. and Feasts and Sab. Do. Do. and Sabbaths. Feast days, N. Moons and Sabbaths, &c. Compare the above with Col. ii. 16, 17. : ' If the Sabbath days in Colossians mean the institution spoken of in the fourth commandment, then it would seem that all the other days called Sabbaths, might still be required to be observed. But this cannot be, because the Apostles and disciples had long kept the Rest, which God had ordained at the beginning, on the Lord's day. If the Apostle intended to include the Jewish Sab- bath, as well as these ceremonial feast-days, or if he referred to the Jewish exclusively, which was then really done away, still he could not allude to the original institution, which was at that time transferred to the Lord's day, or first day of the week. Holy Day. It will be evident from the following passages, that when holy days are spoken of, they do not necessarily mean the Sabbaths, or Sabbath ; but that there were days to which this appellation was properly applied, and which distinguished them from all those days. " Holy day," standing independently, as it does in Col. ii. 16, and Neh. viii. 9—11, does not, it is be- lieved, ever mean the weekly rest. The words Twly and holy day are frequently used in connection with the weekly Sabbath, as well as ceremonial Sabbaths anJ other tesf'/dls •, brit m ad these THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 73 inBtances it is easy to determine, whether the writer is speaking of the original institution, or o[ some of the ceremonial days. See Neh. viii. 9 — 11. This is the first day of the seventh month, as may be seen in the second verse of this chapter. (See Doolittle's extract on Feasts, already quoted.) Neh. x. 31 : "On the Sab- bath, or on the holy day." Ps. xUi. 4 : " Multitude that kept holy- day," perhaps applied to all days of convocation. Isa. Iviii. 13: " Holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight." In this last passage Isaiah evidently refers to the original ii*- stitution. The Jews could not misunderstand the sacred writers when speaking of their days of rest, nor need we. The weekly rest is always so referred to as to distinguish it from the ceremo- nial rests. The command to observe the former was written by a different hand, kept in a different place, and considered, in many respects, far more sacred than the latter. And those who lived immediately after Christ did not misunderstand allusions to these different mstitutions. They all understood Sabbath, when used alone, to refer to the seventh day, or Jewish rest, and never the first day; but when used in connection with new moons, &c., to refer to their ceremonial days. When the Chris- tian rest was mentioned, it was always during a few of the first centuries called the Lord's day. Nor was it till after the dis- putes between the Jewish and Gentile converts had mainly sub- sided, and civil rulers had required the observance of the Lord's day, and forbidden the keeping of the seventh, that the term Sabbath was applied to the first day of the week. During all this time, the word Sunday may have been used by many, to designate some of the heathen holy days. In modern times it is often used by some as synonymous with Sabbath, or Lord's day. Objection V. — " There is no Evidence that the Day was CHANGED, or that the early Christians observed the first dayP When the objector is pressed with the evidence, that the Sab- bath was designed for all men in all time, he sometimes meets us with another objection. The fourth commandment, on which so much stress is laid, says, " The seventh day is the Sabbath." Now you do not keep that day, but the first, and you have no authority for the change. The attempt is even made to show that the Apostles and early Christians did not keep the first day 7 74 THfi SABBATH. of the week as a Sabbath. We answer, that there is abundiuji evidence, from the example of early Christians, and from the authority of the Fathers, that the first day is to be observed in- stead of the sevenih. In support of the above allegation, Constantine is quoted, as «aying, " Let all the judges and townspeople, and those who follow the occupation of trades, rest on the venerable day of the Sun ; but let all those who follow agriculture, carefully attend to their business ; because it often happens that no day is so favorable to sowing corn and planting vines, lest thereby tlie precious fruits of the earth be slipped." Very conclusive, indeed, that the Sabbath was not observed when this edict was passed ! I For objectors will have it, that the Jewish was done away at the death of Christ, by special direction : and they intend to prove, by this quotation, that there was, at that time, no Christian Sab- bath : so that the conclusion must be, that none at all was then observed, than which nothing can be more false. If this quotation is correct, it will be seen that Constantine thought it necessary for certain classes of his subjects to keep a Sabbath, though others in certain seasons might labor. To infer from this edict, that " no one" thought it sinful to work on the Sabbath, or Lord's day, is like a man's concluding, after reading reports in favor of Sunday mails, that no man in this nation was against them. One would be proved as " conclu- sively" as the other. When Constantine was converted, about a. d, 325, it should be remembered that the Jewish Sabbath was not wholly done away. It is believed by some that the Christian church was returning to the observance of it, as a Sabbath, to the neglect of the first day, and that Constantine, while he commanded the observance of the first, may have done the same also with re- spect to the observance of the seventh day. It is well known, that while the converts to Christianity, after the resurrection of Christ, generally observed the first day only as a Sabbath, many of the Jewish, and perhaps some of the Gentile converts, observed also the seventh. This doubtless led to the various edicts, and the teachings of the Apostles, in relation to this sub- ject. Many of the Jewish converts were tenacious, that their rites and ceremonies should be engrafted upon the Christian THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 76 system. The Apostles and others opposed it. We are told that some of the spurious authors of the fourth century required, the observance of both days. But during the first three centuries, there was much unanimity in the minds of the ancient Fathers and their immediate successors, relative to the day to be obser- ved ; which, as will be shown, was the Lord's day. Facts prove tliat the cliange i'rom the seventh to the first day, was gradual. The Apostles allowed the Jewish converts to continue to keep the seventh day when first converted, if they cliose to do so, training them to observe 07\ly the Lord's day, by little and little. But, suppose Constantine, in this edict, did give his views fully on the sacredness oi" this institution, that is no proof that they were correct, for he was then but a child in Christian knowledge. But " EusEBius, in his life of Constantine, assures us, that when the emperor embraced Chfistianity, he appointed that the Lord's day should be consecrated to prayer; and commanded through all the Roman empire, that they should forbear to labor or do any work on the Lord's day," If Christians at this time were inclining to the Jewish Sabbath, or to keep both, we can readily understand the propriety as well as the necessity of these edicts. Eusebius was elected Bishop of Cfesarea, about the year 313. He wrote an ecclesiastical history from the days of Christ down to 324, and must have known the general practice. Dr. Cave says, " No sooner was Constantine come over to the Church, but his principal care was about the Lord's day ; he commanded it to be solemnly observed, and that by all persons whatsoever ; he made it a day of rest, that men might have nothing to do but to worship God, and be better instructed in the Christian faith." But whether the objector's quotation is or is not correct, there is no discrepancy in Constantine's testimony. For, at the time when he gave the edicts last quoted, he might have had more correct views of the nature and design of the institution, than when he wrote the first. Both show that the first day of the week was considered by most of his people, and by himseV, as the Sabbath ; and though he might not have carefully conformed to his duty in the first place, it was not long before he did. The Emperor Leo has been quoted to prove that the early 76 THE SABBATH. Christians kept no Sabbath. Hear what is considered " conclu- Bive evidence," from his pen, as quoted by the enemies of that day. " We ordain, &c., that neither husbandmen, nor any others on that day, put their hands to unlawiui work." How illogical must be that mind, which can, from such data, say that the early Christians kept no Sabbath I With equal propriety might it be said, that, because the people of our new territories, when they become independent bodies, enact laws, prohibiting theft, gambling, and the like ; therefore, it is certain that all the in- habitants in such territories, previous to the enactment of these laws, were thieves and gamblers ! ! But Leo says, unlawful work ; showing that before this edict, there was some work, which it would be unlawful to do on that day. " In France and Hungary, as early as the sixth century, lawa were made against Sabbath profanation. Charlemagne, son of Pepin, convoked the clergy to make canons for the keeping of the Sabbath, and also publishing his own royal edict, of which the following is an extract." " We ordain (as is required in the law of God) that no man do any servile work on the Lord's day, i. e., that they employ not themselves in the works of husbandry, in dressing their vines, plowing their ground, making hay, felling trees, digging in the mines, or building houses : that they do not go a hunting in the fields, or plead in courts of justice ; but that they all come to church and magnify the Lord their God, for those good things, which are this day to be bestowed upon them." " As is required in the law of God." It seems that people in the sixth century, believed that the law of God required men to keep the Lord's day. Had the objectors seen this extract, they would probably have quoted it also, to prove that before this edict was passed, no one observed a Sabbath. We understand the Emperor Leo, about 440, to say, " It is cor will and pleasure, that the h^ly day, dedicated to the Most High God, should not be spent in sensual recreations, or other- wise profaned by suits of law." Speaking of farmers, in rela- tion to this subject, he says : " As to the pretence, that by this rest, an opportunity may be lost, [of securing crops,] this is a poor reason, considering that the fruits of the earth do not de- ICafi DAY HAS BEEN GHANGEi). 77 pend so much on the diligence and pains of men, as on the effi- cacy of the sun and the blessing of God. We command there- fore all, whether husbandmen or others, to forbear work on this day of the resurrection. For if other people (meaning the Jews) keep the shadow of this day in a solemn rest from all secular labor on the Sabbath [the seventh day], how much rather ought we to observe the substance^ a day so ennobled by our gracious Lord, who saved us from destruction." Again, Leo thus ex- presses the sentiment of the whole Christian church: — "We ordain, according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost, and of the apostles thereby directed, that on the sacred day wherein our own integrity was restored, all do rest and cease from labor ; that neither husbandmen nor any other on that day, put their hand to forbidden work. For if the Jews did so much reverence their Sabbaths which were but a shadow of ours, are not we who inhabit the light and truth of grace, bound to honor that day which the Lord himself has honored, and hath therein de- livered us from dishonor and from death ? Are we not bound to keep it singular and inviolable, well contenting ourselves with 80 liberal a grant of the rest, and not encroaching upon that one day which God hath chosen for his own honor ? Were it not reckless neglect of religion to make that very day common, and to think we may do with it as with the rest V From these edicts, it is perfectly evident, that instead of there being no Sabbath observed, by any of the subjects of Leo at that time, one teas known and observed, if not two — the Jewish and the Christian ; and he was desirous to make Christians give up the practice of keeping the seventh day. Though some did pretend, as at the present time, that those who rested on the Sabbath, would lose property by it, he did not think it a good reason why it should not be kept. Doubtless, at that time, as in the days of Constantine, there were many who did not ob- serve the Lord's day : but would either keep the Jewish Sabbath, or none at all ; the latter, from the language of the edict, being most probable ; and the Emperor therefore commanded that all should keep the Lord's day. Had there been no Sabbath ob- served by any one, when he gave this command, he would not have used the language he did. 7%is evidence of the objectors must also be set down for nothing. 7* 78 THE eABBATB. Objectors to the Sabbath quote Justin Marttr, to prove that there was not only no Sabbath before Moses, but that the early Christians did not observe any. They adduce the following quotation, and lay great stress on it, on the ground that he must have known the facts on this subject. This is true in regard to the practice of the early Christians, but not true as it respects the question of a Sabbath before Moses. " There is another circumcision, and you (Trypho) think highly of that of the flesh. The law would have you keep a perpetual Sabbath ; but you, when you have spent one day idle, think you are religious, not knowing why it was commanded. But I would have you know that as there was no circumcision before Abraham, nor Sabbath or sacrifices before Moses, so are they all done away in Christ. Continue as you were created ; do you not see that the elements are never idle, or keep a Sabbath 7" We have not seen this extract, except as thus quoted by the enemies of the Sabbath. If it be a fair quotation, it is not easy to reconcile all parts of it, with other things said by that author- It makes him contradict himself in regard to the Sabbath, and say that which is not true in relation to sacrifices. In one part of this quotation, he says, " the law would have you keep a per- petual Sabbath." It is well known, that Justin Martyr be- lieved that there never was a Sabbath before Moses ; but we cannot believe that he ever intended to teach, that primitive Christians, and all men since their day, were not bound to keep a Sabbath. When Trypho avers, that the Christians differed in nothing from the heathen, inasmuch as they " neither observed circumcision, the Sabbath, nor the other festivals," it may be said he was in part correct, unless Christians at that time called the Lord's day Sabbath, which they probably did not. For they did not observe circumcision, nor, as a body, the Jewish Sabbath, nor their festivals. These were all done away in Christ. But that Christians, and Justin Martyr among them, observed the Lord's day most fully appears from his own writings. Hence, what- ever he did mean in this quotation, he did not mean to teach that Christians, and all men, are not bound to keep the Lord's day, as a Sabbath. But neither Justin Martyr, who was edu- cated a heathen, nor Martin Luther, nor Calvin, just emerged from Popery, nor Paley, all of whom beUeved the Sabbath ao THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 79 institution originating in the Jewish dispensation, can estabHsh the positions he has taken on this subject They must fall be- fore unbiased and thorough examination of the subject. Some other quotations from the same author will be adduced, to show that we have his authority not only for a Sabbatli, but for observing the first day instead of the seventh. Priestly says, " The primitive Christians had no festivals, be- side Sunday, on which they always met for public worship, as may be inferred from Justin Martyr." He would not call it Sabbath, but Sunday ; the day originally kept as a Sabbath. He might have called it Lord's day ; for the Jewish day of rest, on Saturday, was still called Sabbath, and the Christian rest, Lord's day, for some centuries after Christ rose. Justin Martyr, as quoted by Calmet, observes, " That on the Lord's day, all Christians in the city or country meet together, because that is the day of our Lord's resurrection ; and then we read the writings of the apostles and prophets. This being done, the President makes an oration to the assembly, to exhort them to imitate and to practise the things they have heard ; then we all join in prayer, and after that we celebrate the sacrament. Then tliey who are able and wiUing give what they think pro- per, and what is collected is laid up in the hands of the Presi- dent, who distributes it to orphans and widows, and other ne- cessitous Christians, as their wants require." GuRNEY quotes him still further, and says, Justin Martyr " con^ eludes by explaining why this day of the week was chosen for their public worship," viz : " We all meet together on the Sunday, because it is the first day, on which God turned the darkness [into light], gave shape to the chaos, and made the world ; and on the same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead." He moreover says, that « at the close of the first and the be- ginning of the second century, on the day called Sunday, is an assembly of all who live in the city or country, and the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read." Jus- tin Martyr was converted about the year 130. On Romans xiv. 5, " One man esteemeth one day above ano- ther, another esteemeth every day alike ; let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," Professor Stuart remarks as follows : 80 THE BABBATM* " 1. That the apostle, as appears from the context, ie evidently contending against those who were imbued with Jewish super- stitions, and with zeal for the continued observance of the Mosaic law. In the epistle to the Romans, this is perfectly clear ; inas- much as the context is occupied with the dispute respecting the use of meats, &c. In the epistle to the Colossians it is equally clear ; inasmuch as the things enumerated in the very verse in question, are things which pertain to the ritual of the Mosaic law. The nature of the days mentioned, then, is to be judged of in a manner that is accordant with the fact just stated. " 2. In the apostolic age, there prevailed a distinction between the name of the first day of the week and of the seventh ; the Lord's Day (^«f (/« y.vQiaxri) ; the latter Sabbath {od^Baxov). So we have it in Rev. i. 10, ' I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day? So Ignatius (Epist. ad Magnes, about A. D. 101) calls the first day of the week, the Lord's day {triv y.vQiaxi^v), the day consecra-- ted to the resurrection^ the queen and prince of all days. And again, in the same epistle : ' Let every friend of Christ celebrate the Lord's day {rip' y.vniay.ijv).^ That all the later Christian Fa- thers made the distinction just mentioned, need not be proved to any one acquainted in any tolerable degree with the ancient writers of the Christian church. ' It was called the Lord's day, because the Lord arose from the dead on this day,' says Chry- eostom (and very truly) in his Commentary on Ps. CXIX. It was not until the party in the Christian church had become ex- tirtct, or nearly so, who pleaded for the observance of the sev. enth day or Jewish Sabbath, as well as the Lord's day, that the name Sabbath began to be given to the first day of the week. " 3. In the ancient church, even from the first, there was a party who kept the seventh day of the week (i. e. the Jewish Sabbath), as well as the first. Nothing could be more natural than for the Judaizing Christians to insist upon this ; for as they were unwilling to remit even any of the less important prescrip- tions of the ritual law, how much more would they hold to the sacredness of the Jewish Sabbath ? Theodoret (Haeret. Fab. II. 1.), speaking of the Ebionites, i. e. a party of the Judaizing Christians, says : ' They keep the Sabbath according to the Jew- ish Law, and sanctify the Lord's Day in like manner a^ we do. This gives a good historical view of the state of things, in the THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 81 early ages of the church. More or less of seventh day observance was practised, at length, in nearly all the Greek and Latin churches ; in the former this day was kept as b, festival, in the latter as a fast. As superstition increased, matters came at length to such a pass, that the Council of Laodicea (about A. D. 350) were obliged to make a decree, that Christians should not refrain from labor on the seventh day or the Sabbath. Their words are : ' It is not proper for Christians to Judaize, and to cease from labor on the Sabbath [seventh day] ; but they ought to work on this day j and to put especial honor (Ttgorificovteg) upon the Lord's day, by refraining from labor as Christians. If any one be found Judaizing, let him be anathematized,' &c. Can. 29. See Bingham's Ecc. Antiq. V. p. 286. " 4. With such facts in view, nothing is easier than to explain the passages above quoted from the epistles of Paul. The zeal- ots for the law wished the Jewish Sabbath to be observed, as well as the Lord's day ; for about the latter there appears never to have been any question among any class of the early Christians, so far as I have been able to discover. Even the Ebionites, as we have seen, kept the Lord's day. But Paul did not believe that Christians were bound to observe the Jewish Sabbath. Still he did not wish those to be contradicted, who were zealous for this usage. ' Let each one be fully persuaded in his own mind,' said he ; i. e. ' Let each one act, in this respect, as his own conscience shall judge best. I do not forbid to keep the seventh day : nor can I enjoin upon him to keep it' That the early Christians never understood Paul as re- ";nouncing the observance of the Christian Sabbath, is sufficiently manifest from the fact, that one and all of them held the first day of the week to be sacred. As Lord's day was the universal ap- pellation of this, in the early ages, so there was no danger of their misapprehending Paul (as many in modern times have done), when he spoke of the Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come. Indeed, this last expression shows that Jewish Sabbaths must have been meant : for the things to come are those things which belong to the Gospel dispensation, i. e. the things yet future, while the observance of the ritual law was in full force. See Hebrews x. 1. " These considerations make it plain, how much the two texts 82 THE SABBATH. in question have been misinterpreted, when they have been ex- plained as meaning, that under the Christian dispensation the Sabbath is a matter of indifference, which is wholly left to the private judgment of each individual. That such was the case in regard to the Jewish or seventh-day Sahhath, is indeed very clear. Moreover, because Paul did not expressly decide against the keeping of this, the practice of it was continued by the Chris- tians who were jealous for the honor of the Mosaic law, and finally became, as we have seen, predominant throughout Chris- tendom. It was supposed, at length, that the fourth command- ment did require the observance o^ the seventh-day Sabbath (not merely a seventh part of time) ; and, reasoning as Christians of the present day are wont to do, viz., that all which belonged to the' ten commandments was immutable and perpetual, the churches in general came gradually to regard the seventh-day SabbatK as altogether sacred. But amidst all this mistaken reasoning and usage, which (as we have seen) the Council of Laodicea felt themselves bound to correct, I find no traces of a doubt raised, whetlier the Lord's day, i. e. the first day of the week, was to be kept sacred. The testimony of Phny in A. D. 107, that ' Christians [as those whom he examined declared] were accustomed to meet together stato die, on a stated day y' the testimony of Ignatius (A. D. 101), above cited, viz., that ' the first day of the week was the Lord's day, resurrection-day (avacf- rdaifiov), the queen and prince of all days ;' and also his exhor- tation, ' Let every friend of Christ celebrate the Lord's day"* i^ioQia^ito Tiaq (ptXoxQtoroq rrjv y.vQtaxi^v, sc. rif-ifgav) ; added to tiiat of John, that ' he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,* and to that of the epistle of Barnabas (which belongs to the apostolic age), viz., that Christians ' keep the eighth day [i. e. the first day of the week] as a joyful holy day p these testimonies confirm be- yond all reasonable doubt the fact, that the observance, and the special religious observance of the Lord's day was practised by Christians, and by all of every sect and name, from the very age of the apostles. Nothing can be more erroneous than to repre- sent the ancient church as halting or divided about the observ- ance of the resurrection-day, i. e. the first day of the week. It was about the seventh day or Jewish Sabbath, that all the dis- putes arose which were of a sabbatical nature." THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 83 In this extract from Professor Stuart, we have the testimony of Barnabas, the fellow-laborer of Paul, and that of Ignatius, the companion of John, Now, did not Ignatius know, whether the Apostle John, who " was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," and the rest of the apostles, kept that day as a Sabbath ? This was sixty or seventy years after the resurrection, that the first day of the week was called " the Lord's day," evidently attaching to it the sacredness of the Christian Sabbath or rest. Surely Igna- tius must have known, and there cannot be the least shadow of doubt, that the primitive Christians, though for a time they may have kept both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbaths, gradu- ally gave up the former, and all came at length to the exclusive observance of the latter. In the extract from Professor Stuart, we have also the canon adopted by the Synod of Laodicea, about the year 350. From this canon, it appears, that some who embraced Christianity in that age, preferred to keep both the Jewish and the Christian Sabbath ; but no where does it appear, that any of the new con- verts believed that Christ had abolished the institution, for all Christians kept the Lord's day, though all did not keep both. Those who kept the Lord's day, or most of them, probably sup- posed, as a matter of course, that when the wall of partition be- tween the Jews and Gentiles was broken down, all were to re- vert to the original, or first day, as the Sabbath ; and that the Jewish, or seventh- day Sabbath, ceased without any direct com- mand. It had been given for a particular purpose, which was now accomplished, for tliere was no longer any necessity that the Jews should be kept a distinct people. But all were not of this opinion, hence the necessity of this canon, that Christians should no longer, any of them, keep the seventh-day Sabbath, but still, as before, 'prefer the Lord's day, and keep only that. We shall add a further quotation from Pliny, who lived about A. D. 107. In his celebrated letter to Trajan, he says of Chris- tians, " They are accustomed to meet on a stated day, before light, and to sing among themselves hymns to Christ, as to God." Indeed, the celebration of the Lord's day by Christians, was so notorious even to the heathen themselves, that the question was always put to the martyrs, " Dominicum servasti ?" " Do you 84 THE SABBATH. keep the Lord's day ?" Their answer was equally well known j they all aver it : "I am a Christian — I cannot omit it." Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 160, says, "Both custom and reason challenge from us that we should honor the Lord's day, seeing on that day it was that our Lord Jesus Christ com- pleted his resurrection from the dead." See Gurney on the Sabbath, pp. 76-84, Am. ed. We refer the reader also particu- larly to his history of the manner in which the first day of the week was kept, from the morning Christ arose until after the day of Pentecost. Ir^neus, a disciple of Polycarp, A. D. 167, who had been a disciple of John himself, says, " On tlie Lord's day, every one of us Christians keeps the Sabbath, meditating on the law, and re- joicing in the works of God." Again, " Each of us spends the Sabbath in a spiritual manner, meditating on the law of God with dehght, and contemplating his workmanship with admira- tion." DioNYsius, Bishop of Corinth, A. D. 170, and contemporary with Iraeneus, in his second letter to the church of Rome, says, " To-day we celebrate the Lord's day, when we read your epis- tle to us." Tertullian, a. D. 192, asserts the Lord's day to be "the holy day of the Christian church assemblies and holy worship" — and that " every eighth day is the Christian's festival, kept as a day of rejoicing." Origen, a. D. 230, gives similar testimony to that quoted from Priestly and Calmet respecting Justin Martyr. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, A. D. 250, takes no notice of the old Sabbath, but repeatedly alludes to the Lord's day, as that which was kept holy among Christians. Eusebius, A. D. 311, informs us, that from the beginning, the Christians assembled on the first day of the week, called by them the Lord's day, for the purpose of religious worship, to read the Scriptures, and to preach and to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Professor Stcart says, " The important testimony of Eu- sebius, (fl. 320,) in the time of Constantine, has been unaccount- ably overlooked, by all the patristical investigators whom I have yet been able to consult. It is contained in his commen- tary on the Psalms, which is printed in Montfaucon's CoUectia 6* THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 85 Nova Patrum—Sind some of it is exceedingly to our purpose, and tvithal very explicit. " In commenting on Ps. xxi. 30 (xxii. 29, in our English ver- sion), he says : ' On each day of our Savior's resurrection [i, e. every first day of the week], which is called Lord's day, we may see those who partake of the consecrated food, and that body [of Christ] which has a saving efficacy, after the eating of it, bowing down to him.' pp. 85, 86. " Again, on Ps. xlv. 6 (xlvi. 5), he says : ' I think that he [the Psalmist] describes the morning assembUes, in which we are ac- customed to convene throughout the world? p. 195. " On Psalm Iviii. 17 (lix. 16), he says : ' By this is propheti- cally signified, the service which is performed very early, and every morning of the resurrection-day \i. e. the first day of the week], throughout the whole world.' p. 272. " But by far the most important passage of all remains to be adduced. It is in his commentary on Ps. xci. (xcii.), which is entitled ^ A psalm or song for the Sabbath day? He begins his commentary by stating, that the patriarchs had not the legal Jewish Sabbath ; but still, ' given to the contemplation of divine things, and meditating day and night upon the divine word, they spent holy Sabbaths, which were acceptable to God.' Then, observing that the Psalm before him has reference to a Sabbath, he refers it to the Lord's day, and says that ' it exhorts to those things which are to be done on resurrection-day.' He then states the precept respecting the Sabbath, as addressed origi- nally to the Jews, and that they often violated it. After which he thus proceeds : ' Wherefore, as they rejected it [the sabbati- cal command], the Word [Christ], by the New Covenant, trans- lated AND Transferred the feast of the Sabbath to the morn- ing light, and gave us the symbol of true rest, vizx the saving Lord's day, the first [day] of the light, in which the Savior of the world, after all his labors among men, obtained the victory over death, and passed the portals of heaven, having achieved a work superior to the six days' creation.' . . . ' On this day, which is the first [day] of light and of the true Sun, we assemble, after an interval ofsiw days, and celebrate holy and spiritual Sab- baths, efven all nations redeemed by him throughout the world, and DO those things according to the spiritual law, ■u?Aic^ were 86 THE SABBATH. decreed for the priests to do on the Sabbath ; for we make fepirit^ . ual offerings and sacrifices which are called sacrifices of praise and rejoicing ! we make incense of a good odor to ascend, as it is said ; " Let my prayer come up before thee as incense." Yea, we also present the shew-bread, reviving the remembrance of our salvation, the blood of sprinkling, which is of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, and which purifies our souls. . . . Moreover we are dihgent to do zealously, on that day, the things enjoined in this Psalm ; by word and work making confession to the Lord, and singing in the name of the Most High. In the morning, also, with the first rising of our light, we proclaim the mercy of God toward us 5 also his truth by night, exhibiting a sober and chaste demeanor ; and all things WHATSOEVER THAT IT WAS DUTY TO DO ON THE SaBBATH [Jcwish seventh day], THESE WE HAVE TRANSFERRED TO THE LORD'S DAY, as more appropriately belonging to it, be- cause IT HAS a precedence, and is first in rank, and more HONORABLE THAN THE JEWISH Sabbath. For OR that day, in making the world, God said. Let there be light, and there was light; and on the same day, the Sun of righteousness arose upon our souls. V/herefore it is delivered to us [TtaQadedorai, it is handed down by tradition], that we should meet together ON this day ; and it is ordered that we should do those things announced in this Psalm.' " After some interval, he speaks again of the title to the Psalm, and says, that it does not so much respect the Jewish Sabbath, for ' it signifies the Lord's day and the resurrection- day, as we have proved in other places.' This Scripture teach- es [that we are to spend the Lord's day], in leisure for religions exercises (twv detwv aaxr}Of(ov), and in cessation and vacation FROM ALL bodily AND MORTAL WORKS, which the Scripturc ccMa Sabbath and rest.^ " This testimony is so full, so ample, so express, as to super- sede all necessity for comment. It touches both public worship and private demeanor. It expressly declares that the usages of the Jewish Sabbath (so far as the nature of the case will permit) are transferred to the Christian Sabbath ; tJiat Christ himself made this transfer ; that Christians are to abstain from all bodily labor on the Lord's day ; and that they should honor it THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 87 abov6 all other days, by spiritual offerings and works of piety. " Let it be remembered, now, that this testimony comes from the ancient historian of the Christian church, who had searched more thoroughly into its usages arid antiquities, than any other man in the early ages. It comes, moreover, from no bigot Eu- sebius was himself a man of an enlightened and vigorous mind, and very little influenced by superstition. " When all these things are put together, and it is remem- bered that he repeatedly asserts the keeping of the Lord's day throughout the Christian world, how can any fair-minded man well doubt, whether the Christians of old kept this day sacred, and kept it so as not only to vie with, but to outdo the Jews, in all the spiritual and holy duties of its consecrated hours ? " When we are called upon, then, to give reasons why we keep ihejirst day of the week holy ; our answer is, that we follow the example of the apostles and early Christians. We conform to a practice, which is in itself reasonable, inasmuch as Christ rose upon this day ; and which was sanctioned, so far as we can trace, by all Christians for many centuries. And if we are fur- ther asked how we can build the sanctity of the Sabbath on the fourth commandment, and yet not keep the seventh day of the week, which that enjoins to be kept ; my answer would be that we build on the fourth commandment nothing more, than what may be deduced from the fact, that it was a republication of the ori- ginal law respecting the Sabbath, which was first sanctioned at the beginning of the world, and adapted to all the human race. One seventh part of the time, is the essence of this command. The particular day may depend on circumstances, and cannot be essential. It is important, however, that Christians should be agreed as to the day ; and nothing better than the ancient usage of the church can be suggested or adopted. " One thing appears altogether certain to my mind, viz., that where there is no Sabbath, there will be no Christianity ; and where the Sabbath is not strictly kept, fervent piety, like that of the primitive age of the church, may be looked for in vain." Athanasius, a. D. 326, says, " The Lord transferred the Sab- bath to the Lord's day. The emperor Constantine, as soon as he 88 THE SABBATH. embraced the Christian faith, made a law to exempt the Lord's day from being judicial." CHRYsosToiw, in the fourth century, in assigning the reasons for taking up collections in Christian assembUes, says, " Because they did abstain from all works, and the soul was more cheerful for the rest of the day." Augustine, A. D. 360, tells us, that " The Lord's day was, by the resurrection of Christ declared to Christians, and from that very time it began to be celebrated as the Christian festival." Ambrose, A. D. 380, says, " The Lord's day was sacred, or consecrated by the resurrection of Christ." Epiphanius, in the fourth century, in his sermon upon the day of Christ's resurrection, has this expression, " This is the day which God blessed and sanctified, because in it he ceased from all his labors, which he had perfectly accomplished, the salva- tion both of those on earth and those imder the earth." Pres. Humphrey says, " Of Theodosius, king of the Bavarians, it is recorded, that he would not permit his subjects to yoke their oxen, or make hay, or carry it on the Lord's day." This was in the early part of the fifth century. Lord Mansfield says, " As early as 517, a canon was made to prevent judicial business being done on the Lord's day, or first day of the week ; that this canon was made a part of the impe- rial constitution by Theodosius ; re-decreed, or adopted by the emperor Carolus, and Ludovicus ; taken into the book of the canon law by Gratian, and afterwards confirmed by William the Cmqueror and Henry the Second, and so became a part of the common law." As emperors, kings, statesmen, and jurists became converted to the Christian faith, they decreed that the Lord's day, or Chris- tian Sabbath, should be kept, instead of the Jewish, and that no judicial business should be done on that day, as had been com- mon among the Jews and heathen. The Jews kept the seventh day, and on the first day could attend courts ; but Christieins would not, unless compelled to do it. When Christian princi- ples prevailed, edicts as above were passed, all Eissuming the ob- ligation to observe '• the sacred rest.^^ Men who fear God and trust in his mercy, are not ashamed to own their obligations to give to him one day in seven. All nations and governments THE DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 89 have been benefited, when they have incorporated into their laws the requisition to reverence and keep holy the Sabbath. In Eng- land it is a part of the common law. The Constitution of these United States recognizes the first day of the week as a Sabbath ; as may be seen in Art. I. Sect. 7. Nothing is clearer to our mind than that, even if there were no statutes against Sabbath profanation, the offence would be punishable by the common law. For it can be clearly shown, that disregard of this institution brings upon a community as many evils as that of any other of the commands. The evil consequences may not be as immediate, but are no less certain. No community can long prosper, without the sacred influence of that day. In Mosheim's history, as translated by Maclain, it is stated, that in the first century, " All Christians were unanimous in set- ting apart the first day of the week, on which the triumphant Savior arose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of pubhc worship. This pious custom, which was derived from the ex- ample of the church of Jerusalem, was founded upon the express appointment of the Apostles, who consecrated that day to the same sacred purpose, and was observed universally, throughout all the Christian churches, as appears from the united testimony of t'le most credible writers." Henry, in his commentary, says, "All Christians unanimously observed the Lord's day. It is said that there was little dispute about the Christian Sabbath during the first three centuries. The whole church observed it. Many of the authors above quoted were scattered about the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, Lybia, Egypt, Pales- tine, Bithynia, Gaul, Rome, Greece, Syria, and other places. " The Sabbath has been changed," says Brownlee, " from the seventh to the first day of the week ; or rather, as we should say, it has probably now reverted to that day on which it was observed by Adam and the Patriarchs. It is certain that the first Sabbath of Adam, though the'seventh day of time, was the first entire day that he saw, and it is most natural to suppose, and there is nothing repugnant to it in Scripture, that he began the computation of the days of the week from the first entirfe day that he beheld. ' Thus it may be fairly said, that the Sab- 8* 90" THE SABBATH. bath became in future generations the first day of the week. This argument receives additional strength from the following historical facts. When the descendants of Adam apostatized from the worship of the true God, they substituted in his place the sun, that luminary, which, more than all others, strikes the minds of savage people with religious awe ; and which there- fore all heathens worship. They carried with them indeed the day on which their fathers worshiped ; but they worshiped the sun. Hence the day was called the Sun's day, in the language of the respective nations. Hence, as the learned Selden has shown, Sunday, the day observed by the patriarchs as their Sab- bath, was the first day of the week, in the nations of the East, and is so still. Thus the Sabbath of the patriarchs was the Sun- day of the pagans. The Jews alone, of all the Eastern nations, seem to have had the day changed. As God altered the begin- ning of their year, so he changed the day of their worship from the first to the seventh day, to comport with their deliverance on that day from Egypt. Hence the fourth precept, viewed as a moral precept, and binding on the church in all ages, is enforced by the consideration of God's resting on that day, and sanctifying it. But, when it is applied to the particular case of the Jewish Church, that precept is enforced by another consideration — ' the Lord brought thee from Egypt,' &c. " When therefore Judaism ceased, the seventh day Sabbath naturally ceased with it. And hence, considering the divine command that enjoined on Adam and his posterity the keeping of the Sabbath to be still in force (and it never has been repeal- ed by God) ; it is easy to see, that on the abolition of Judaism, the Sabbath reverted from the seventh to the first day of the week, without the necessity of any additional command on the subject. The first man was created the last of living things, after the morning of the sixth day ; hence the Jewish doctors say, man was created in the evening, that is, the beginning of the Sabbath." Whether Dr. Brownlee's arguments and conclusions relative to the reckoning of time from the first day of Adam's existence, and its being observed as a Sabbath, and which go to prove that we now keep the same day that was originally kept, which is most probable, be correct or not, it should be distinctly under- Tttfi DAY HAS BEEN CHANGED. 91 stood that the settlement of this question, in no way affects the origin, perpetuity, or existence of the institution. We all agree on these points. Whether we keep the very day kept by Adam and the Patriarchs, we do not conceive essential, if one seventh part of the time be kept holy; and if all, for convenience sake, keep the same time, so far as may be. The inhabitants of Chi- na cannot keep the same hours we do, unless they observe ano- ther day as the Sabbath. The most conclusive proof that Dr. Brownlee is correct is, that when the attention of the Jews was turned anew to this institution, they, to distinguish them from other nations, and keep them a distinct people, were directed to keep another day than that which had been previously observed. Hence when the Jewish dispensation was abohshed at the death of Christ, it was perfectly natural that the Jews should revert back to the observance of the original day, and that any new law, touching either the first or the seventh day Sabbath, should be wholly unnecessary j inasmuch as the original law of the Sabbath had never been repealed. After the explicit, decisive, and concurrent testimony of the foregoing extracts, touching the practice of primitive Christians, can it be reasonably doubted whether the Christian Sabbath was observed by the Apostolic Fathers and their followers, who during the first three centuries, almost uniformly kept the firat day of the week as the Sabbath, instead of the seventh day, though some kept both ? Are not the objectors' assertions, ex- tracts, and arguments annihilated by the weight of evidence which has been adduced 1 It is not a new thing to find men publishing assertions with- out proof Those who write to destroy the Sabbath, rather than not effect their object, assert many things which need proof to gain credence among intelligent readers. Such we consider the assertions, that " There is no authority for the Sabbath," — " This authority binds only the Jews," — " The law is abrogated," —"The early Christians did not understand that they should keep it,"—" They did not keep it ;" and " The New Testament nowhere, either directly or by inference, teaches men to observe a Sabbath," &c. &c. But, it is presumed, no one who lays any claim to intelligence and candor, will again, after duly considering this subject, assert 92 THE SABBATH. that we have no testimony for the Sabbath. All such declara- tions have no foundation in truth. No one should be misled by them. We have brought forward but few of the Scriptural argu- ments, in support of the positions taken, for they are mainly before the public, and in as favorable light, as can be desired ; and they should be familiar to the minds of all who would bene- fit man or glorify God. Objection VL— " Deut. V. opposed to Ex. XX.'^— " T^e coTti- mand respecting the Sabbath in Ex. xx. is opposed to thai in Deut. v., and the latter^ if any, shoidd be observed.''^ It is said that we ought to take the commandments as recorded in Deut. v., for the moral law, instead of those in Ex. xx., becuusc Moses says, " These words the Lord spake unto all your assem- blies ; and he added no more." Thus they endeavor to avoid the difficulty of explaining away the reason given in the fourth commandment, as contained in Ex. xx., why the Sabbath should be kept. But let us see how it is. From Ex. xix., it appears that the people were commanded to prepare themselves to hear what the Lord was about to sr.y to them, that they might believe Moses forever. The childrru of Israel not only heard the thunderings and the voice -which caused them to tremble, but saw the iightnmgs, the 1hick cloiTfl and the smoke. The Lord talked with them face to face in iLe mount ; and the people were greatly afraid. They heard the commands, and then said to Moses, " Speak thou with us," &c. Accordingly he did, and declared to them the ceremonial laws. Under these circumstances, the law was given, and written on tables of stone, and carried down the mountain, to be delivered to Israel. But the two tables containing them were broken. Now what was done ? In Ex. xxxiv., we learn that the Lord said to Moses, " Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first ; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest." Here we have the promise of God, that he would write, not only the substance of the commands, but the words, that were written on the first tables. This promise he must have broken, if there was the least variation in them. DEDT. V. NOT OPPOSED TO EX. XX. 93 When the commands were written the second time, no such display was made, as in the first instance. Moses went up to the mount without ceremony. The people were not summoned to attend. While Moses was on the mount, the Lord talked with him about the ceremonial law, what he would do for his people, &c. ; and it would seem that as soon as Moses had reached the place where God communed with him, the Lord took charge of the tables ; and after forty days, when he had made an end ot talking with Moses, God gave him the two tables, on which he had written the ten commandments, as he had promised, Ex. xxxiv. In all probability, these moral precepts were not again recapitulated in the mount. But in Deut. v., it appears that Moses, now the preacher and not the lawgiver, called the people together, and said, " Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears," not which the Lord speaks or spake, but which / speak. " The Lord made a covenant," not makes a covenant, but made, forty years ago, at a great distance, in Horeb. " The Lord talked," not talks ; " I stood between the Lord and you at that time," not stand ; that, not this time ; " for ye were,^^ not are, " afraid." Now under these circumstances, and just before his death, he recapitulates, nearly verbatim, the ten commandments as written on the tables, which were then, and had long been in the ark. Here, in this recapitulation, Moses mentions an additional rea- son, " and remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt," &c., which the Lord had previously given, why Israel should keep the Sabbath. This reason was applicable to the Jews only, hence this only was mentioned ; while the first rea- son, viz. " for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, wherefore" &c., was left out ; that being applicable to the whole world. As the law, the ten com- mandments, as God wrote them, was given for all men, in every age, the reason was given as in Ex. xx. That reason was appli- cable to Jew and Gentile, while the last reason was applicable to the Jew only, and must have been spoken at another time, as was this also, " that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou." " These words," [or similar,] " the Lord spake unto all your assemblies in the mount," &c. Now if it be not true, that 94 THE SABBATH. Moses did not intend to repeat the law verbatim, but merely to give the substance of it ; but, on the contrary, that the words now repeated were actually engraven on the two tables, instead of those recorded in Ex. xx., then it is evident that the two statements contradict each other. For though the law, as given in Ex. XX., did not contain the additional reason to which we have alluded, viz. " that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou," Moses here in Deut. v. 25, says, " the Lord spake these ivords unto them in the mount" We know he spoke the words written on the first tables to them in the mount, but he did not speak these^ for Moses expressly tells us, in the commencement of this sermon, that he spake them in their ears, and they did not go up the second time into the mount. The remainder of this chapter, and the one preceding, show conclusively, that this whole transaction was merely a re- capitulation of what had long before transpired, and was not understood to be the original transaction. But it is objected that Moses said, " and he [the Lord] added no more,' and therefore the reason, " for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the seei, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it^" does not now belong to the command- ments. But let the objector know that in Deut v. 12, Moses says, " keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee ;" hath commanded thee, not doth com- mand thee. Here is all the evidence that is needed, to settle the whole question. It is manifest therefore that the Lord did add more, as above written, and that all Moses meant in the expression was, " the ten commandments, the sum and substance of which I now have given you, is all that the Lord added in your hearing, because you became afraid of his terrible majesty, and besought me to pray the Lord not to speak any more in your hearing, but te speak to me, and you would obey. He then called me up into the mount, where he spoke many other things, among which was the ceremonial law, which I afterward made known to you." Deut iv. may be read in further proof of this opinion. We hope no one will again say, that the commandments, as recapitulated by Moses in Deut. v. are the identical onesj verba- THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 95 tim, written on the second two tables of stone, and that those recorded in Exodus, do not concern us, and are not the com- mands which were on the second tables. It is hoped that every candid inquirer after truth, who has followed us thus far, is fully satisfied that the positions we have attempted to establish, are sustained ; for it is for the benefit of such tiiat we are writing. Objection VII. — " This nation acknowledges no religion, therefore is no more Christian than Jewish^ Mohammedan^ or inJideV^ Ever since efibrts were made in this country, to procure the repeal of the law authorizing and directing Sabbath mails, the opposers of that Rest have been loud in their assertions, that this nation is no more Christian than Jewish, Mohammedan, or infi- del," &c. From this sentiment, we beg leave to dissent. It is neither just nor safe. But, has this nation no religion ? All civil governments, of any value to the people over whom they were exercised, have been founded on some reUgion ; and every government has been wise and salutary in proportion to the wisdom, the truth, and the benign influence of the religion upon which it was founded. France, in modern days, attempted to re-model her govern- ment. She took it from the foundation of Christianity, but placed it upon the sand ; on no religious system whatever. This was effected by infidels and atheists — enemies of the Sabbath, and of the Christian religion ; like our opponents. History is full and ample in the records of her fall. The bloody waves of anarchy, dashing from boundary to boundary, soon washed away this foundation ; but not until many thousands of her best citi- zens had been overwhelmed in the awful flood. To be ruled by wicked men, in a repubhcan government, is unspeakably more to be dreaded, than to be under their control in monarchical governments, — ^just as a hundred devils, each having conflicting interests, and let loose upon a community, would be worse than one. The government of these United States was founded on reli- gion, and that reUgion is neither the Jewish, the Mohammedem, 96 THE SABBATB. the pagan, the deist's, the infidel's, nor the atheist's ; but it is the Christian religion. The proof will be given hereafter. The genius of the government which we wished to form, required just such a religion as the Christian religion; and no other could aid either in the formation or maintenance of it. When formed, its success was to depend wholly upon the existence and predominance of its pure, holy, ennobling, and felicitating in- fluences. In proportion as this influence should be counteracted, would the foundation of this government be undermined. Hence the necessity of doing nothing, nationally, contrary to this reli- gion ; but every thing which would be calculated to insure the perpetuity of this holy alliance. Because, were we to abolish this religion, or suffer its influence to be weakened, it would de- stroy the government which was founded upon it, and untie every ligament which holds the community together. The government which the United States desired to construct was, in many of its features, new. Those who met to settle its prin- ciples, and organize it, it seems, from the history of the trans- action, were men who felt their responsibilities and their need of divine guidance. They felt the need of wisdom from the Christian's God ; and were not ashamed to acknowledge this, and ask for it. The Christian religion, therefore, was the very thing they wanted. They were not afraid of it. It was their best friend, yea, the only friend on which they could safely rely. At the time of the organization of this government, there were probably a few Jews in this nation. Whether there were any Mohammedans or pagans within the limits which composed the Union, is not material to our argument. There were a few infidels and deists. Suppose, in this crisis, a Jew had arisen in the Convention, and objected to the first article in the seventh section of the Constitution, because it recognized the Christian, instead of the Jewish Sabbath; and also dated from the "year of our Lord." What would have been the answer? Surely, with the greatest unanimity, the response would have been: " We have chosen to pattern after the Christian, instead of the Jewish religion." Suppose, again, a Mohammedan or Pagan had arisen, and objected to prayers being offered to Almighty God; to publish- ing and distributing the Bible, and to the requisition of oaths in THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 97 courts of justice : what answer would have been given? With equal unanimity would the response have been, " With your religion for our model, we could never /orm such a government as is contemplated, much less could we siistain it. We must have the benign aid of the Christian rehgion, or we can never have a republican government." Suppose, again, an infidel, a deist, or an atheist of the modern school, had arisen, and objected to all allusion to the Bible, or Christian institutions, and even to the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, asserting that this nation should recognize no religion ; what would have been the answer in this case ? Doubtless it would have been — Sirs, you must be the enemies of the government we would establish. To form it without a Protector and Supporter, and to leave it to the uncertain freaks of popular caprice, would be bringing it into existence without a possibility that that existence could be either beneficial or prolonged. The government could not have been formed on their plan. That Convention, if they had complied with the wishes of these men, could never have framed such a government as the people wanted. But a Sabbatarian rises and says — I believe in the Christian religion, and go all lengths with you in the thing you want, and in the methods of obtaining it, except one. 1 want the first arti- cle in the seventh section of the Constitution so altered, as to recognize the seventh, instead of the first day Sabbath. What would have been the reply in this case ? Doubtless it would have been — We do not sit here to settle controversies between the different sects of the Christian religion. If we should comply with your wishes, the people would not. They call for the first- day Sabbath, and they must have it. It may be your misfortune to be in the minority in this particular. If it be intolerable, you must go where the objection does not exist; or stay among us submitting to the will of the people. But the government is formed, and these classes have accu- mulated. Now, says the objector, shall we make laws forbidding the Jew, the Mohammedan, the infidel, the deist, the atheist, to express their sentiments, and to state their reasons for these sen- timents ? Surely not, any more than we did at first. This mat- ter is left wholly with the several States. Whatever will en- danger this republic, disturb the peace, or corrupt the morals of 9 98 THE SABBATH. the community, must be prevented. And this is the business of the States, not of Congress. But the laws already adopted by the different States, and the Constitution of the United States, interfere more or less with these religions. A man may not sacrifice himself to an imaginary deity. He may not take the name of God in vain. He may not commit infanticide. He may not break the Sabbath. He may not take away the life of an aged parent, because he is aged. He may not suffer self-immolation. He may not have many wives. He may not worship many gods. He may not commit any of the unrighteous acts of Mohammedans. He may not ridicule and despise the Christian's Bible and the Christian's God — because the doing of any of these things, and of many others allowed by Jews, Mohammedans, pagans, infidels, deists and atheists, or per- mitting them to be done, will greatly weaken the influence which the Christian religion has over the community, and necessarily weaken the pillars of our government. We are to-day as much bound to guard this government against any such encroachments, as our fathers were to guard against the admittance of any thing into the Constitution which would endanger our safety, or de- stroy our existence. Those who object to a Sabbath and the Christian religion, are continually making new and vigorous at- tempts to get these " objectionable things" out of our Constitu- tion and State laws. They would alter the structure of our gov- ernment. Not daring to attempt to strike out the Christian Sab- bath at a blow, they have enacted a law compelling certain of our citizens, uniformly to desecrate its sacred hours. This they knew would ultimately, if continued, lead to its total aban- donment. Perhaps the next attempt will be to do away oaths in courts of justice, &c. As one error leads to another, our course now is downward. " No nation, either ancient or modern, (with the monitory ex- ception of revolutionary France,) ever attempted to organize a government without recognizing some religion ; and no govern- ment ever existed in a civilized nation which did not acknow- ledge itself bound by the religion of the nation over which it presided. In accordance with this principle, every Christian nation on the other side of the Atlantic considers Christianity as the very foundation of its political institutions. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 99 " Great Britain, the nation from which we are descended, has engrafted her constitution and laws upon it ; and acknowledged its authority paramount to all human enactments. In the case of the King vs. Walston, (Strange 834,) the Court of King's Bench would not suffer it to be debated whether defaming Chris- tianity was not an offence punishable at common law ; alleging that whatever struck at the root of the Christian religion, tended to dissolve civil government. The Court of King's Bench said that Christianity was a part of the law of the land. The same doctrine was recognized by Lord Kenyon, in .July, 1797, in the case of the King vs. Williams, for the publication of ' Paine^s Age of Reason?^'' But " our government," we are told, " is free from religions tests and religious establishments — and is not bound by one re- ligion more than another." " It is truly the happiness and glory of our country that it has cast off the intolerance of a bigoted, narrow-minded priesthood, as well as the imperious claims of a regal master. But it by no means follows that it has so entirely repudiated Christianity, that the authority of Jehovah must not be acknowledged." We know infidels and deists claim this; and it seems that they would pull this nation down from that high eminence upon which Christianity has placed her, rather than have it appear that Christienity has had any thing to do with her elevation. Therefore they ridicule the Christian's God and his ordinances, and cry, " Priestcraft and persecution," in order to induce weaker minds to reject the Christian religion. Thus, by degrees, they endeavor to accomplish the thing at which they have long been aiming. But they never will destroy the Christian religion. They may be the means of breaking us in pieces. They have already taught the people to contemn God, and disregard his claims — and the wicked bear rule. A day of darkness and dread is at hand. The nation which hates God, God will destroy and cast off. A nation of infidels and deists hates Godj and we are rapidly becoming such a nation. In the proceedings of that body which framed our Constitu- tion, and in the several documents relating to our national organ- ization, as well as the practice of many of our first Congresses, it will appear that this nation at that time recognized the God of the Bible els the true God, and as their and our God — the 100 THE SABBATH. Christian religion as their and our religion ; and the Christian Sabbath as their and our Sabbath. There was to be sure no "union of Church and State," as there ifl in some parts of Europe. Let God be praised that there was not. If Jews, Mohammedans, pagans, infidels, and deists, chose to come among us and enjoy the blessings consequent on an ob- servance of the Christian religion, rather than to stay among their own class, and share the unutterable calamities and degra- dation which are universal and indispensable accompaniments of their religion, let them come. So long as their actions and words did not militate against the Christian religion, and there- by endanger our political institutions, their persons and property would be protected. And by conforming to our wholesome laws, they might become as one of us. The laws and the Constitution of this country never contem- plated that a Mohammed, a Voltaire, or a Nero, riiight come among us and insist on his right to a change in our laws, to meet his case, nor that we are bound to conform to them in opinion and practice, and thereby introduce a poison into our bosoms, which would inevitably produce national as well as moral death. Now we say that those infidels, or others of like sentiment, who caused human blood in torrents to flow through the streets of France, have no right to come among us and do the deeds which infidels perpetrated there ; because such acts would una- voidably produce the same results in this hitherto happy nation. Such sentiments and conduct would destroy us. It is time this people knew, that as certainly as we give the infidel and the deist the things for which they have long been contending, and which they loudly claim as their right^ we shall soon become an infidel nation — worship the infidel's god, and share the infi- del's ^^ glory. ^^ They now boldly say, " we have a right to profane your Sab- baths, because we do not believe in a Sabbath— and the atheist has a right to testify in your courts of justice, without swearing by your God, because he does not beheve in any God — the laws of your country to the contrary notwithstanding." We deny the position taken by these men. They have no right so to act God never gave them that right ; nor should they have it, be- cause, by the observance of the Christian Sabbath and the Chrisr THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 101 tian religion, our prosperity and our government are to be per- petuated, and they cannot be by any other means. Their con- duct, in corrupting the nation and bringing the God of the Bible into contempt, is against all divine, and should be against all human law. The framers of our Constitution and of our laws would never have allowed such conduct. Then away with the notion that Jews, Mohammedans, pagans, infidels, deists and atheists have a right to come among us and do the things (though agreeable to their religion) which will assuredly, if allowed, overthrow this government ! Those who hold such sentiments are not only enemies to the Christian religion, but to every civil government under heaven. They are ilie enemies of the human race; and it is much to be feared, that they are nearly prepared to act over in this country the scenes so shocking to humanity, which transpired in France not many years since. These men have already made great advances, and they often declare there ought to be no law regulating moral conduct. " If a man's religion," say they, " would allow of polygamy or pro- miscuous sexual intercourse, there should be no law forbidding it, at any time, or under any circumstances. Or, if a man chooses to throw his children into the Ganges — bury his parents alive — see wives burn on a funeral pile — worship devils, or 330,000,000 of gods, he should enjoy the privilege." But we deny the claim which is here made. For by such a course they not only destroy themselves, but multitudes of others. " And as certainly as a nation turns aside from the path, and causes the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them ; and as certainly as atheism, licentious morals, and the contempt of the Sabbath and of the gospel pervade the land, so certainly will the same sanguinary scenes be acted over again, which have desolated other nations that would not obey God." There is but one alternative before us : we must either give up our infidelity and deism, and acknowledge the Christian's God as the God of this nation, and give him that place which he claims, or he will dash us in pieces, " like a potter's vessel." RELIGION RECOGNIZED BY THE CONSTITUTION. Was the Christian religion common in this country in the days when our government was formed ? Let Dr. Franklin answer 9* 103 THfi SAbfeAttt. V the inquiry, as he did in 1751, when he was holding the office of Deputy Postmaster-General, and wrote for the information of those across the Atlantic, who had asked for it. He says : " Serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practised. Atheism is unknown — infidelity rare and secret ; so that persons may live to a great age, in this country, without having their piety shocked by meet- ing with either an atheist or an infidel." No one, it is presumed, will pretend to question the compe- tency or the correctness of this witness. He must have known the extent of infidelity, certainly, if one himself (as our objector claims,) and he doubtless spoke the truth. In 1787, the National Convention "reported a Constitution for a general Government. This Constitution made a regard for the existence and attributes of God indispensable in every individual whom it entrusted with an office : for it bound them by the sanctity of an oath, or solemn affirmation, and assumed as its national designation of time, the era of a Being whom it was pleased to honor as ' Our Lord ;' and moreover provided a Sabbath for the conscience of the President." The Constitution then recognized one Supreme Being, Jesus Christ,, and the Chris- tian Sabbath. What will the infidel, deist, atheist, Jew, Mo- hammedan, or pagan say to this ? " Ah ! that Constitution will never do — it does not sufficiently recognize my religious rights. Though it acknowledges a religion, it does not acknowledge our religion, but one which we' hate with perfect hatred. It will not do.'''' But the Constitution, the remonstrances of these men to the contrary notwithstanding, was adopted. Let us see further what religion this nation adopted and cher- ished when in her infancy. " The Christian religion is founded on, and cherished by, the sacred volume, called the Old and New Testaments. Oaths, too, were then necessary, and the rehgious faith of the nation is their only bond. Bibles were wanted — the commerce with Great Britain * was cut off— and they must be procured from some other source. Accordingly a committee of Congress was appointed in 1777, to confer with tlie printers, with the view of striking oflf an edition of 30,000, at the expense of Congress. The committee, finding the difficulty of obtaining types and paper IrBfe CRRiS^lAN ftteLiGioN Aboi>l:£ti. 103 eo gf eat, recommended Congress (the use of the Bible being so universal, and its importance so great) to direct the committee of commerce to import, at the expense of Congress, 20,000 English Bibles, from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the diflferent States of the Union ;' and the Congress ordered the im* portation. In 1780, when it was found, from the circumstances of the wars, an English Bible could not be imported, and no opinion could hp formed how long the obstruction might con- tinue, the Congress again resumed the consideration of printing the Bible, and tJie matter was referred to a committee of three. An individual was found who would undertake the work, and in 1782, Congress appointed a committee of three to attend to the edition contemplated by Robert Aikin, of Philadelphia. The committee ' having attended to the progress of the work, and engaged the assistance of the chaplains of Congress,' — where* upon it was ' Resolved, That the United States, in Congress as- sembled, highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking, as subservient to the interests of religion, [not Mohammedan, Jewish, mfidel, deist, or pagan, but the Christian Religion,] and being satisfied of the care and accuracy in the execution of the work, recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States.' What intolerance thus to aid in diffusing the Bible, instead of the Koran, or the Shaster, and grieving the con- sciences of [infidels,] deists, and atheists !" What do objectors now think about a majority of theframers of the Constitution being anti-christian 1 We know this is not the same body which framed the Con- stitution ; but many of the members of this body were members of the Convention. Both bodies possessed a similar spirit. Who can now doubt that this nation recognized the Christian religion as its rehgion ; and that those men who framed the Constitution, as well as those who helped to administer it for many years, beheved in and cherished the Christian religion ? rASTS. In 1776, we find the late Governor Livingston obtaining leave and presenting a resolution to Congress for a national fast, which j; jjtt the following words: " That it becomes," &c. " Congress, 104 THE SABBATH. * therefore, desirous to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn sense of God's superintending provi- dence, and of their duty devoutly to rely, in all their lawful enter- prises, on his aid and protection, do earnestly recommend that Friday, the 17th day of May next, be observed by the said Colo- nies, as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer j that we may, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon : and il our unnatural enemies, continuing deaf to the voice of reason and humanity, are inflexibly bent on war, it may please the Lord of hosts, the God of armies, to animate our officers and soldiers ; earnestly beseeching him to bless our civil rulers and the repre- sentatives of the people, preserve and strengthen their union, &c. " The citizens respectfully received this official communica- tion. The Divine Being heard, and, as they thought, blessed the government and nation on said day. Congress adjourned, and joined in the solemnities." In the same year. Congress recommended another day of fasting and prayer, in the following words: " Whereas, the war is likely to be carried to the greatest ex- tremity ; and whereas it becomes all public bodies^ as well as private persons, to reverence the providence of God, and look up to him as the Supreme Disposer of all events, and the Arbiter of the fate of nations," &c.— at the same time " Resolved, That Con- gress be opened every morning at ten o'clock, Sundays excepted." Surely a nation has nothing to fear from such " anti-christiarO'* men as formed these two Congresses. In February, 1778, another committee was appointed by Con- gress to prepare a recommendation to the people of the United States, to set apart a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer : April 22d was set apart for that purpose. The proclamation was more fully and humbly expressed than the former, but breathed the same spirit. Congress joined in it. Another fast was observed by Congress, on the first Thursday of May, 1779, and bore the signature of "John Jay, at that time President of Congress." A part of it is as follows : " The States are recommended to apply themselves to prayer, that God would be pleased to avert impending calamities, that he would grant us his grace to repent of our sine, and amend THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 105 our lives, according to his holy word ; * * * that he will diffuse useful knowledge, and extend the influence of true religion.''^ The rehgion of his " Holy Word," which forbids labor on Sunday: not the religion of the infidel, or Jew, or pagan. In March, 1780, another committee was appointed for the same purpose, and the last Wednesday of April was set apart as the day. In 1781, another fast was ordered to be kept on Thurs- day, the 3d of May. In 1782, another was observed on the last Thursday of April ; and " early in 1783, the Divine Being, whom the Congress had so often nationally and officially honored, vouch- safed peace to the Union." In each of these proclamations for a fast, the spirit of true Christianity is breathed, and Congress adjourned to join in sup- plications to the Christian's God, for his protection, forgiveness, and blessing ; confessing their sins, and humbling themselves on account of them. Congress also adjourned to unite in the reli- gious services of Good Friday. Away with the objector's ca- lumny : it is as base and false as ever was uttered by the " ac- cuser of the brethren." What would those Congresses have said to a proposition, at that period, to desecrate the holy day of God— to give the sanction of the nation to it ? They were good men, and the people were blessed. Would that our rulers could now be induced to engage in such acts of acknowledgment of their dependence on the Christian's God, and manifest such a disposition to sustain his laws. There is other evidence to show that this nation recognized the Christian religion, and that the framers of the Constitution were not " anti-christian men." THANKSGIVINGS. Each year from 1777 to 1783 inclusive, we find Congress ap- pointing days for national thanksgiving and prayer, which were duly observed. On motion of John Randolph, in 1781, October 24th, it was " Resolved, That Congress will, at 2 P. M., this day, go in procession to the Dutch Lutheran church, and return thanks to Almighty God, for"— &c. In the proclamation for a day of thanksgiving, we find sen- timents of piety expressed in the following and similar language : 106 THE SABBATH. " That all the people assemble on that day to offer fervent supplications to the God of all grace, that he would incline our hearts, for the future, to keep all his laws, and that he would cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread all over the earth" — "above all, to praise him that he hath continued to us the light of the blessed gospel., and to supplicate him, that he would cause pure religion and virtue to flourish." It would seem that the wise and patriotic men of those times believed that the '' blessed gospel," not the Koran, nor the Shas- ter, but the Christian system, was better adapted to the wants of men than any other system; and their conduct shows that they did not entertain views congenial to the feelings of infidels and deists of our day. Had both lived at the same time, they would have been antipodes in sentiment and action. We see no lack of proof that the framers of our Constitution, and the men who first administered it, were not anti-christian, as our objectors would have us believe. It is perfectly evident that these men were not ashamed to own their accountability to God, and their dependence on him : nor were they ashamed or afraid to recog- nize the Christian religion, in their national capacity. They had discernment, fidelity, piety, and patriotism enough to prompt them to make a wise choice, when they laid down the Christian religion as the foundation of this government, instead of the Jewish, Mohammedan, pagan, infidel, or deistical religion. God be praised for the noble deed. But it appears that many of the members of Congress, for the last twelve or fifteen years, have been ashamed to acknowledge God ; and infidels have united with them to prove that we have no Sabbath, and that this nation knows no religion. She may, in her riches and pride, have forgotten her religion ; but she once had a religion, and that was the Christian. She ought to have it still. Infidels would have us believe that the Jew, the Mohamme- dan, and the pagan, have as much claim to legislation in favor of their religion, as Christians have a right to expect that Con- gress will not legislate against theirs. But these pleas are all false — a mere subterfuge to rid themselves of all accountability to the laws of God and man. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 107 CHAPLAINS. There is one fact more, in connection with this point, from which we gather further testimony : In 1776, the Congress of the United States " Resolved, That a chaplain be appointed to each regiment in the continental army." In 1777, "Resolved, That chaplains be appointed to the hospitals." In 1788, Congress " earnestly recommended to the States and officers of the army, to discountenance profane- ness and vice ;" and solemnly, more than once, resolved that " true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of ' public liberty and happiness, — solicited Christian ministers to preach at the funerals of deceased members." From the com- mencement of their sittings. Christian chaplains were appointed to open their sessions Avith prayer. TATE LAWS. The several States wnich own canals and railroads, should close them on Sunday ; and not corrupt the morals of their citi- zens, undermine our government, and sin against God, by per- mitting them to be used on that day. Every good citizen ought to remonstrate against such a practice. Infidels and deists, al- ways ready to carp whenever any thing is said or done to cross their path of blood, over the bodies and souls of men, have said — " Well, then, the Jew who will not work on Saturday, accord- ing to that doctrine, should call on the legislatures to make laws preventing work on Saturday." It has been clearly shown that this nation recognizes the Christian, instead of the Jewish reli- gion. Moreover, we have never called on the States to make any law whatever about individual or corporate property, though it might be proper to do so. The States should not run boats and cars, nor suffer them to be run, on the Lord's day, on their canals and railroads, putting the money thus earned into the treasury, because we are a Christian nation ; and such an act tends to destroy the Christian religion and our government. The same may be said of national property. Neither the States nor the nation has a right to commit such a suicidal act. If we 108 THE SABBATH. were an infidel or pagan nation, then, so far as civil law and our religion were concerned, there would be no objection. But now they have no such right, civil or divine. By continuing the practice, they dishonor God, ruin men. and will, ere long, writhe under the displeasure of that Being who has said, '• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," Infidels say, our States have no right to legislate on religion. Our Sabbath laws ought to be repealed. In other words, we suppose they would be understood to say, — " If we choose to cor- rupt your youth, contaminate your morals, and destroy your re- ligion, you have no right to make a law to prevent it, though our conduct would assuredly lead to that result. We have thrown off the government of God, because we do not believe there is any God ; and now we would throw off the government of man, be- cause we believe man would do better without any government. We hate the Christian rehgion, and we know how it can be de- stroyed ; and if you let us alone, it shall be destroyed. You shall let us alone, because you have no right to make a law touching religion." " We would ask, is it rational to suppose that the government and nation, in 1776, were not Christian, and knew no religion ? — when the United States, in Congress assembled, (though there were then Jews, and possibly a few deists,) yet officially pro- moted the circulation of the Old and New Testaments, bound themselves by the sanctity of aii oath, on the Holy Volume ; re- joiced, ' above all' in the possession of the Gospel of peace, at- tributed all national blessings to Almighty God ; implored, and recommended the people to implore, his direction in their coun- cils, and his forgiveness of their sins, through the merits of the Divine Redeemer ; and measured our national existence by ' the year of our Lord :' when they urged the States to cherish ' pure and undefiled religion,' which the States never understood to be other than the Christian; when they carefully provided and paid Christian chaplains, of various denominations, that their armies, navies, and hospitals, might be supplied with Christian instruction and consolation ; when they reverently waived na- tional business on the Sabbath, while a Christian nation was en- gaged in worshiping the Father of mercies ; and even tenderly accommodated those denominations that would celebrate the THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ADOPTED. 109 crucifixion of the Redeemer ? We shall see that the spirit of '76, on these subjects, was still alive in the administration of Washington. If, therefore, our government is no longer Chris- tian, but Jewish, Mohammedan, pagan, or atheistical, it is in- cumbent on those who declare it anti-christian, ' to point out when and how the change was introduced.' " Under this head we have quoted largely from Logic and Law. Before closing the remarks on this point we add an extract from Rev. Evan Johns. " Here, I would ask, are not the representatives oC the people, with all their magistrates, chosen by the people, bound to devise and to carry into effect measures to aid them in the pursuit of happiness ? Elected for this purpose, are not legislatures in duty bound to enact all the laws iil their judgment adapted to answer the end of their appointment? Again, are not all our laws designed to prevent the ill-disposed from violating the rights of our fellow-citizens 1 Again, are hot indecent exposures of human person, as well as othef indecencies, punishable by law — punishable because injurious to morals ? Are not certain things cognizable by law, under the name of nuisances, because they are found prejudicial to health ? Is not the disturbance of public social worship, at once a nuisance and an infringement of right ? Who will deny, that the rumbling of a long string of wagons, the cracking of whips, and the blowing of horns, in front of a church, during public worship, is a dreadful nuisance t * * * Has any person the hardihood to deny that these sore evils may be legitimately prevented by laws adapted to the nature of each case ? To give an affirmative answer to each of these questions, every candid person would feel himself impelled, when considering that facts have demonstrated, and, if cited, would again show clearly and fully that such is the constitution given by divine Providence to man and beasts of labor, as to make the rest of the Sabbath indispensable, to secure the great- est attainable portion of happiness. Who then will have the audacity to say, that the advocates of the Christian Sabbath are not authorized in their exertions to have it kept holy by the most clearly evident moral principles ; or, which amounts to the same thing, by the divine Author of nature ?" But whether the friends or advocates of the Sabbath touch 10 110 THE SABBATH. this point or not, they " are most shamefully insulted and most vilely aspersed, by persons apparently determined to convince the world, that the tale of the frog and the ox is not fabulous." If public and outward acts of Sabbath desecration are not pro- hibited by government in State laws, such a day and such a gov- ernment, especially if republican, cannot be sustained. See also the Petitions to the twenty-fifth Congress, third session, 1837 and 1838. Objection VIIL— "Works of public utility may be done ON Sunday." The objector often excuses his violation of the Sabbath by Baying thai the example of Christ justifies works of public utiUty on Sunday. In all the examples Christ has given, relative to works which are appropriate to the Sabbath, not one of them, we believe, re- lates to works other than merciful. " Works of necessity and mercy," on which so much stress is often laid, is not Bible lan- guage. However high its authority, many are led astray by it. Christ taught by example and precept, that the sick might be healed, a horse might be watered, an animal in the ditch might be helped out on the Sabbath. He does not adduce instances of wasting grain, mouldering and bleaching hay, carrying the mail in " cases of emergency, ^^ travelling on journeys, running of boats, rail-cars and stages, &c. &c. None of tliese. The language of the law of the Sabbath is sufficiently explicit to convince the plainest man, that to do such w^orks is a breach of that law. Christ's words in relation to this subject, were doubtless called forth by the over-righteous Scribes and Pharisees. They were even opposed to his healing a man whose right hand was with- ered. The disease was doubtless considered incurable by man ; and Jesus might never again pass that way. Jesus loved mercy, not sacrifice. No works which men consider as necessary, aside from mercy, were specified ; for by the law man was forbidden to do any work on the Sabbath. " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." Here is the general rule. Of all kinds of work, works of mercy mentioned by our Savior, are the exceptions. Any one's regular business can usually be done before the Sab- WORKS APPROPRIATE TO. Ill bath, or after it ; emergencies can generally be foreseen and pro- vided for, so that the loss shall be less, by neglecting it on the Sabbath, than by doing it, and breaking a known command of God. But the call for works of mercy cannot iilways be fore- seen and guarded against ; hence the necessity of relieving suf- fering nature, wherever and whenever it may be found. A SUPPOSED CASE. But, suppose there are Christian brethren who wish to cross the Rocky Mountains to preach the Gospel to the poor Indians ; and they need the protection and assistance of the caravans which traverse those dangerous and pathless wilds, but which do not keep the Sabbath. " The command is, ' Go, preach my Gospel to every creature 3' and these men are called to go ; but if they go, they must either travel on that day, or expose them- selves to be robbed of all their goods, and perish by the hands of savages. What shall be done ? Shall they travel on Sunday, or stop and die by the hands of the wicked, and in such circumstances they undoubtedly would ?" Things are assumed here which are not granted. That the Gospel should be preached to all nations, and that it is the duty of some persons to go and preach it to the Indians, no true friend of man or of God will deny. But who the persons are that should go, and how they should go, is quite another thing. The command to " go, preach," is admitted to be imperative, as is also " in it thou shalt not do any work." But what is to be done ? Why, the Gospel must be preached, and men must go to the field ; and, if there be no other way to reach it, but by doing some work on Sunday, such as managing a vessel at sea, that comes within the rule which Christ laid down, and mercy cries. Go, teach the heathen the way to eter- nal life. Were we not at liberty to do this, those who dwell in the islands of the sea, would live and die in ignorance of the way to heaven, and siak to hell. Yet God has said, " The isles shall wait for his law." But the case before us is quite different. No one pretends that it is indispensably necessary that the cara- vans should travel on- the day of rest. They might safely and profitably rest if they would. Admitting then that these breth- ren should gOj that they must cross the mountains, and have the 112 THE SABBATH. protection of a caravan, we still do not make out a justification for their travelling on Sunday ; for there is a way of safely reach- ing that distant land, without violating the fourth command- ment. So long''as this is the case, it is sin to break the one, in order to fulfill the other. It is this : let there be a caravan com- posed wholly of missionaries. Their services are greatly needed, and there can be no doubt that so large a number should imme- diately be on their way thither. But if this be impracticable in the present state of feeling in the church, let a sufficient number of men, who would obey God, be hired, to proceed with the brethren. Should it be objected, that this would be a great waste of money, let it be remembered that the money is the Lord's and the law of the Sabbath is his ; and which is of the most value in his sight? If the money cannot be obtained for that object, and it is not safe for the missionaries to go unprotected, then, is it not clearly their duty to stay and convert the heathen among whom they now live, and who are in danger of an infinitely deeper perdition than the savages of the Oregon Territory ? When determining what things are appropriate to be done on the Sabbath, and what are not, the following, among other things, are to be taken into the account, viz : Does God require the thing to be done ? Am / under obligation to do it ? Is this the time when it should be done ? Is there no way possible by which it can be done, without performing some work on Sun- day ? If not, then mercy cries, Do it. This brings it within the case excepted from the general law. But the want of a caravan of missionaries, or money enough to hire one that would not desecrate holy time, would not bring it within the rule. For the thing might be done without labor on Sunday ; and, on those who withheld the means, and not on the brethren ready to go, will fall the responsibility. Many questions relating to this sub- ject naturally arise, which, at first view, seem to present insur- mountable difficulties, but these all ranish on a full investigation. The question is not, whether a thing can be better and cheaper done on Sunday than to delay it, or whether, in our judgment, greater good would result from such labor ; but does God re- quire the thing to be done, &c. as above ? Works of " neces- sity," so called, when tried by this standard, (and is it not the true one?) would be reduced to a very small number. WORKS APPROPRIATE TO. 113 God is not absurd and unreasonable, requiring his creatures to violate one of his commands that they may obey another, Man, in his ignorance, may sometimes think the cause of Christ would be most advanced, and the greatest good accomplished, by his travehng on Sunday. As, for instance, a minister, twenty miles from home, who can, Sunday morning, step into a rail-car, boat, or stage, and reach home in season to preach to his destitute people, — or leave home, and travel that distance, less or more, and preach to those who otherwise would have no gospel sermon, may think this is doing the will of God. But God has required no such thing ; for should this law be obeyed, by those directing these public conveyances, no boats, cars, or stages would run on Sunday, and of course the minister could not then thus travel. Objection IX. — " Christian Rome and Greece were not more PROSPEROUS than HEATHEN RoME AND GrEECE." Opposers to Christianity would fain make us believe that our religion is not adapted to make men prosperous and happy ; as proof, they refer to Rome and Greece, which, till some time after the death of the apostles, scarcely deserved the name of Christian. Would God that every infidel, deist, atheist, and Christian, too, might this moment see and know all the benefits which heathen Greece and Rome derived from the religion of the Bible ; and in how many and what respects, Christian Greece and Rome were better than the same countries when heathen. But '' none are so blind as those that will not see." Heathen Greece and Rome, for want of the religion and morality of the Bible, failed to per- petuate their intelligence and prosperity ; as all other nations, in like circumstances, must likewise fail. Besides, who can tell how much, of what advancement they did make, these nations owed to the influences of revelation ? How much of God and the religion of the patriarchs had tradition taught them and their ancestors ? For there were some, even in those days, who knew and acknowledged the true God. The Greeks, from whom the Romans received all their learning, were a colony led from Egypt by Cecrops, 1556 years before Christ, and, 15 years after the birth of Moses. This colony founded the kingdom of Athens, ' in Greece. They must have carried, at least, many traditionary 10* 114 THE SABBATH. notions of the trae God with them. The Egyptians knew some- thing of him in the days of Abram, as the history of Pharoah and Sarah shows. Egypt was learned. Abram, Isaac, and Ja* cob had, each in their turn, visited, and Joseph had long hved in Egypt ; and it appears that there had often been pious men in that country. No man can tell how much influence the religioa from heaven had on the progress of Egypt in knowledge, nor how much the reflected light of revelation had, in the beginning, in raising heathen Greece and Rome to their subsequent eleva- tion. They must have heard of God's power, of his judgments in famine and his blessings in plenty. Egypt seems early to have risen to great perfection in the arts and sciences ; and was a large and flourishing kingdom 430 years after the flood. " Moses lived more than 1000 years before the age of Herodotus, who is the reputed father of Grecian history." The Greek writers confess that they received the letters of their alphabet from the Phceni- cians, (the Canaanites of Scripture,) very soon after the found- ing of Athens ; and it is believed that the Phoenicians derived the art of writing from the Jews. Porphyry, an equal enemy to Jews and Christians, admits that Moses and the prophets who immediately succeeded him, lived " nearly a thousand years be- fore any of the Greek philosophers ;" and he was a friend to Gre- cian literature. The Jews were placed by God in the very midst of the then known and civilized world ; they grew to be a great nation ; God's wonderful works were wrought that the heathen might know Him ; and history informs us that the name of Jeho- vah Vjos thereby spread abroad. Can it be that Greece and Rome did not feel this silent influence, that emanated from the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem, and from his works in the land of Israel ? Who first instructed Egypt in the arts and sciences, and yet kept from her all knowledge of the Supreme Being 7 Egypt was founded by a grandson of Noah, 164 years after the flood. In this short period their founder, Mizraim, could not have forgotten the Lord God of his fathers. When, now, were all these nations the most prosperous — when they knew Ttwst^ or leasts about Him who made them? Doubtless, when they knew most about God, and rendered the most perfect obedience to his commands. Do infidels and deists contemptuously inquire, how could they know amj thing about him before the days of TRADITIONARY KNOWLEDGE. Il6 Mosesf Look at the opportunities of correct information which Moses had when he wrote the Pentateuch. It is true that most of the knowledge oi^ the true God, at this early age of the world, came through the medium of tradition. We shall see whether Moses did not receive his information by channels on which he might depend with the greatest confidence. TRADITIONARY KNOWLEDGE. The antediluvian world stood 1656 years. From the death ol Adam to the flood was 726 years ; and Noah lived 600 of these years, leaving but 126 years from the death of Adam to Noah. " Adam was contemporary with years. Lamech 56 Methuselah 243 Jared 470 Mahaleel 535 Cainan 605 Enos 695 Noah was contemporary with Lamech . . . . . . 595 Methuselah 600 Jared 366 Mahaleel 2341 Cainan 179 Enos . 84 Shem was contemporary with Lamech 93 Methuselah 98 Noah 448 After the flood, with Abraham 150 Isaac 50." Polyglott Bible. We here, at a glance, can see how a history of past events, from the creation down to the time of Abraham and Isaac, might be preserved and given to posterity. Methuselah and Lamech were, in all probability, well acquainted with Adam. Shem might talk with the companions of Adam, and with Abraham 116 •the sabbath. and Isaac. Lamech lived 93 years with Shem, and 56 with Adam. Methuselah lived 78 with Shem, and 243 with Adam j and Shem Hved 150 with Abraham, and 50 with Isaac. Now, in view of the above facts, would the supposition be im- probable, that not only correct but minute accounts of all impor- tant events as they occurred were handed down by tradition, since it might be done through so few, and such individuals as above named ? As Noah was 600 years old when the flood came — had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who were married ; and Shem at least one hundred years old, it would seem impossible that they should be ignorant of what had happened in the old world, since all depended, from generation to generation, on tra- ditionary knowledge. It is very improbable that after the mi- raculous preservation of their lives in the Ark, they would give a false history to their descendants of any important events which had happened. Noah died 283 years after Heber was born. Heber died but 256 years before Moses, or 19 years after Jacob was born. Heber, therefore, had opportunity to gain all the information his father Shem and his grandfather Noah pos- sessed, relative to the tioo worlds, and to communicate the same to Jacob. So from Jacob, his children, called the children of Is- rael, might obtain the same facts and hand them down to Mo- ses. At the present day, when the life of man is so short, it would be difficult thus to preserve facts in the minds of one gen- eration, for the use of another ; but not so difficult in patriarchal times. Who can suppose that Noah and Jacob were deceived in this matter, or would attempt to palm an untruth upon the na- tions of their day ? It was only 256 years from the death of Heber to Moses ; and the law was given to Moses, when he was 81 years old. How then could Moses make the ancients beUeve a lie ? After the death of Adam, 126 years intervened before Noah was born, who died only two years before the birth of Abraham. If Moses had then mis-stated the facts of the world's history, there would have been many to correct him. It is supposed that Noah founded the Chinese monarchy — that Ashur, son of Shem, built Nineveh, capital of the Assyrians — that the Jews and Arabians descended from Arphaxad, who also was a son of Shem. Babylon was founded by Nimrod, great TRADITIONARY KNOWLEDGE. lYt grandson of Noah, in the line of Ham, about 120 years after the flood ; and Cush, the son of Ham, it is said, began the settlement of Ethiopia. Menes, or Mizraim, in Scripture, another son ol Ham, it is supposed, founded the kingdom of Egypt, about 160 years after the flood. Canaan, another son of Ham, was the father of the Canaan- ites, Sidonians, Tyrians, and Carthaginians. Japheth settled the western parts of Asia, and the coimtries of Europe. Is it not then more than probable, that at the time Egypt was founded, and while she was advancing to the height of her great- ness, the religion of the true God must have contributed much, yea, more than any thing else, to her elevation ? And is there any thing impossible in our obtaining, through the channel just mentioned, tolerably correct accounts of the creation, the flood, and other important events recorded in the Old Testament, even without the aid of inspiration ? Surely there is not. But with such aid, those who have given us the history could not err. But to return, the Greeks and Romans in the Apostle's day, were among the first to whom he preached the gospel j and it could not be expected that these proud masters of the world would at once become the humble followers of the Lamb. Rome, in the early days of Christianity, might have been in the objector's eye. Christian Rome ; yet Nero, the emperor, not a long time after his nominal conversion, was the veriest heathen, and most wicked despot, in all the world. His heart was as hard and cruel as any that ever disgraced the human character. Rev. J. MoNTEiTH says, " We are told that Greece and Rome were prosperous without the Sabbath. My reply is, Greece and Rome were idolatrous — they were not irreligious. Idolatry is debasing and demoralizing, but it does not like infidelity ob- literate conscience and spurn at the authority of Heaven. False religions are bad, but they are not so bad nor so prejudicial to morals as no religion. Among that half enlightened heathen nation, the weekly Sabbath was but little recognized, yet their days of rest and solemn worship were numerous, and had a pow- erful tendency to soften, chasten, and subdue the feelings of the heart. All their institutions, as well as their poetry and hterature, were attempered by the restraining obUgations of rehgious fear. 118 THE SABBATH. " Providence was more propitious to them than it will be to the reprobate progeny of a degenerate Christianity. We learn the practical maxim of Providence from the impressive language ot the Son of God. 'It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Go- morrah, in the day of judgment, than for that city,' which abuses great privileges. The times of ignorance God winks at, — where the Gospel is not known, iniquity is not so severely marked and punished. Nations in such circumstances may enjoy a degree of prosperity, which cannot be enjoyed by those to whom tlie true God has been made known, and who have cast off his fear. That guilt which draws down the heaviest judgment, and interrupts national prosperity, is the guilt of abused light— of those ' who knew their master's will and did it not.' ".The History of Rome furnishes striking testimony to the or- dinary maxims of Divine Providence. Her prosperity has been overrated ; she was never a happy nation — her citizens were al- ways occupied with foreign wars or intestine commotion. Her institutions were barbarous — her laws were cruel and unjust — her public amusements were stained with the blood of her sons — her domestic institutions made the Father of the family the arbiter of life and death among his children and servants. Are these the blessings of being without the Christian religion 1 " The downfall of Rome illustrates the same doctrine. The steps by which she was brought to this catastrophe, may be seen in the persecutions which she carried on against the Chris- tian religion. She rejected the Christian religion — she despised its institutions, persecuted and put to death its advocates, and used her best efforts to blot out its name. Hence the fabric of her monstrous empire was, from that period, daily crumbling to ruin ; and the vials of divine wrath did not cease to be poured out till not a vestige of her greatness remained. " It is not, therefore, true, that Greece and Rome prospered, while they did not reverence the institutions of religion." Objection X. — "There is not a more moral people than THE Q,uakers, yet they observe no Sabbath, because they do not believe that the Bible requires it of them." What can we suppose the objectors to mean, by assertions of this sort, unless it be to prove that the religion of the Bible and MORALITY OP THE aCAKERS. 119 Vi£ Sabbath have no salutary influence in rendering nations and communities better ? If they do mean this, it shows their dishon- esty or criminal ignorance of the history of the world, and a wish to prejudice the minds of others against the system of revealed re- ligion, from which we derive so many blessings, social, civil, and religious. Can any one prove that the Sabbath has had no influ- ence in forming the moral character of the Friends ? That it had no influence on Wm. Penn and his colony ? Before their morality, which was commendable, can be adduced to show that the Sab- bath does not, in its tendency, make communities and individuals better, it must be proved to demonstration, that Wm. Penn and his colony never were favorably influenced by the Sabbath and the Christian religion ; which never can be proved. Should the objector show us a Wm. Penn and a colony like the Penn- sylvania Quakers, in Japan, the Washington Islands of the Pa- cific, among the mountains of the Moon, or along the Ganges, every way as civil, moral, intelligent, and respectable as were those first mentioned, but who had never religiously observed a Sabbath, nor heard of one — who had never been informed of a revealed religion, and had never seen a man who kept a Sabbath and observed the religion of the Bible, but had been constantly surrounded by pagans, from time immemorial; such a fact might be adduced to show that the Christian religion and the Sabbath are not essential to the highest happiness of man in this world. But such an instance cannot be found. With equal pro- priety might the objector say, that the Christian religion and the Christian Sabbath have no tendency to make a people civil, moral, and intelligent, because, in Cleveland there are infidels and deists — men who do not believe in either, and yet they are not barba- rians, but are, some of them, civil, intelligent and respectable. Such questions raised by objectors against the Christian re- ligion, betray a bad heart, and are supremely ridiculous. They show that those who ask them prefer heathenism, with its accom- paniments, to Christianity. Objection XI. — "Literature and other influences are ADEQUATE TO SECURE MORALITY, AND THE BEST INTERESTS OP SOCIETY, WITHOUT THE SaBBATH." Melligerwe, the arts and sciences, it is said, are the cause of 120^ *rHE SABBATH. the vast diflfefence in the characters of men. But it can easily be shown, by well authenticated facts, that this cannot be, and that the arts and sciences never flourish so well, in any soil, as in that which produces the fruits of the gospel in the greatest abundance. " What influence," says Brownlee, " had the splendid lec- tures of Socrates and Plato, of Tully and Seneca, on the popula- tion of Greece and Rome 1 What influence have the zeal an.d eloquence of modern moralists had on the body of their follow* ers 1 And what is the moral character of the great body of the studious youth, at home and abroad, even after they have enjoyed the benefit of the ablest instructions from the moral chair'? The truth is, the doctrine of morals, in these philosophical systems, is usually separated from the holy principles of the religion of Christ ; and wherever this has been done, no one single conver- sion, no one genuine reformation has ever been effected. The human system of morality, drawn up by the wise and learned, can never communicate the principle of spiritual life ; and from the days of Socrates to our time, it never has done it." Nothing but the sanctifying and regenerating influence of the Christian religion, sustained by the Sabbath, can convert and save an individual, or a community, from idolatry, superstition, and moral death. Science, refinement, and morality, were it possible for them long to exist and flourish without it, could never do it. Human enactments have always been found equally inadequate. " In what districts have crimes abounded the most — such as theft, robbery, lewdness, intemperance, and murder? Just in those parts and among those classes of people over whom infi- delity and atheism have been exerting their fatal influences with untiring assiduity ; and where there is no pastor to assem- ble the people ; and where there is no veneration, or even re- spect, for the holy Sabbath ; and where there is not a church- going people, even when they might, if they chose, enter the house of God. In fact, it is obvious to all who have bestowed the least attention on this subject, that in every family, in every street of our cities, in every district of our country, where no Sabbath is sanctified, there is no religion. Where there is no Sabbatli, there are no pure morals. Where there is no Sabbath, LITERATURE CANNOT CONVERT MEN. 121 there man forgets God, and God gives up man to his own cor- rupt ways. " Where there is no Sabbath sanctified by a people, those classes of men who boast of their illumination by philosophy, become sceptics, infidels, atheists ! Where there is no Sabbath sanctified, those classes of the people who are not enlightened by philosophy, (and they are the great mass of the population,) become degraded by all manner of vice, and brutalized by idolatry. Every pagan and Mohammedan land, every infidel district in town or country, exhibit the most painful and over- whelming evidences of these facts. " The history of missionary enterprise, and the ecclesiastical condition of nations, throw additional light on our argument, and strengthen it. " Lift up your eye and trace the progress of the Gospel and its institutions over the different nations of the world. Contrast the Christian districts and villages in the bosom of the nation of ancient Egypt, and Syria, and Greece, and the Roman provinces. What a contrast ! It is the contrast of hght with darkness— of piety with superstition — of religious homage with shocking idolatry — of purity with revolting abominations — of manly and dignified love of liberty and respect for all the rights of men, with mental degradation and tameness under slavery ! Contrast the Christian Britons with the Britons of Caesar's day — the Christian Americans with the red men of the wilderness. What, I pray you, has wrought this difference ? The Gospel, and its ministry, and its holy Sabbaths, and its sacred institutions — these have done it. Take away these from the British by the deadly power of infidelity, and the paganism and druidism of the Britons would be soon renewed. Banish from our happy republic the Sabbath and the Gospel and the ministry — place us under the atheism and power of the infidel mob of our day, * * * our happy land would soon lose her liberty and her fair institutions ; and we should, in a short period, be as the bond slaves of Spain, or Italy, or Austria, or tiie dark pagan lands of Asia." Contrast, moreover, the moral and political condition of the twenty-three islands in the Pacific ocean, now Christianized, in 11 12g Tfifi SABBATH. part, with their condition as described by Cook and other voya- gers before our missionaries went among them. Let these again be without a Sabbath and religious instruction, and they would soon be numbered among the degraded, ignorant, and cruel. Of FrEince, before the revolution, our author continues : — " New tyrants add fresh injuries, and at the distance of about one hundred years from that massacre, [St. Bartholomew's in 1572,] in 1685, Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, and let loose the fiends of persecution. By a succession of cruelties, massacres, and exiles, the great body of the faithful ministry of France was destroyed. The rest, a melancholy renmant, pining in obscurity, fell by degrees a prey to the ignorance and the su- perstition of the age. The churches were shut up, the Gospel was not preached, the holy Sabbath was neglected and profaned over the kingdom. The decency of morals gradually perished with religion. Led on at last by Voltaire and his atheistic satellites, the frightful demon of infidehty filled France with its emissaries. These met with feeble opposition. Truth had fallen in the streets, and her faithful watchmen were gone ! Vice, and crime, and atheism, covered France. This conspiracy against God and man burst forth in the old French revolution ; and it buried the government, and rehgion, and morals, and the nation, in blood and havoc !" Alas, there are but too sure indications that we are following- in her steps, and shall soon share her doom ! A nation without the influence of the Christian religion and the Sabbath, as prosperous as a nation enjoying them ! A man must be astonish- ingly ignorant, or regardless of truth, to assert any such thing. Objection XII. — " Special judgments are not inflicted for NATIONAL SINS." The idea of special judgments coming on a nation for great national sins — such as Sabbath-breaking, licentiousness, and the like, has by infidels and deists been much ridiculed. They are unwilling to admit that nations ever suffer such judgments for their sins, or receive rewards for obeying God's commands j and this opinion extends to the case of individuals also. SPECIAL JUDGMENTS. 133 NATIONAL. " In the mean time," says Brownlee, " let such as deny the doctrine of national accountability for cherished, and even authoritative violations of the fourth commandment, mock on. God will vindicate the honor of his own law, however it may be assailed, whether by ingenious sophistry, or open defiance. One of the first acts of avowed atheism in France was to abolish the Christian Sabbath ; and the Lord came out against her with fire and with chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." No people ever yet gave up the Sabbath at once. . It has such a hold on the hearts and consciences of men, that it is among the last moral precepts whose claims can be shaken off". While a man is preparing to do this, his last act of violence to his con- science, he gradually throws off one restraint and then another ; and when he comes to this last, and gains courage enough to cast it also from him, he is an infidel — fully prepared, except as restrained by public opinion, to pull down temples of ChristiEUi worship, burn the Bible, banish its ministers, tread in the dust every humble believer j and, were it possible, pluck Jehovah from his throne. The infidel and deist wish not the God of the Bible, any more than they wish the Sabbath of the Bible ; and they would as soon annihilate the one as the other, so far as their influence on the Christian religion is concerned. Either lost to the Christian, all, to him, is lost. God and the Sabbath are the two greatest foes of wicked men — the object to be worshiped, and the time, when all men shall meet to pay homage to Him. When men have broken down this last barrier to outbreaking crimes, they have become ripe, like infidel France, not only for their deeds of blood and carnage, but for the righteous judgments of Heaven. Since, then, all nations and people, which have trodden the Sabbath in the dust, have been dashed in pieces and scattered to the winds, — since those nations, which have re- ligiously observed that institution, have been, without excep- tion, prosperous, inteUigent, and happy, — and since God blessed or cursed the Jews, according as they regarded or disregarded that day, as he said he would, we cannot but infer that awful 124 THr SABBATH. punishments, in this life^ await the nation or community who pollutes that holy day. Jer. xvii. 21, 22, 27.—" Thus saith the Lord," &c. " But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the Sabbath, and not bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day — then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Lev. xxvi. 33, 34. — "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate, and ye shall be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her Sabbaths." Read Neh. xiii. — also Lev. xxvi. Believer in the Christian rehgion ! we tremble for this nation, and for those communities which profane the Sabbath. The Jews did not obey God in this respect, and the threatened judgments have been literally fulfilled, as every one knows who is but partially acquainted with their history. Infidels may laugh, and ascribe it to chance ; but the " day of their calamity draweth nigh." They may in this life escape the judgments of Heaven, for defying God and trampling on his authority ; for this IS not a state of retribution to individuals; but the day is com- ing, when their han ds will not be strong, and their hearts will not endure. INDIVIDUALS. Cases of signal punishment for individual sins, in this world, additional to those recorded in the Bible, might be given. Nor is there any mystery at all about it. The natural tendency of breaking the Sabbath is downward ; and the road is full of pit- falls, and thorns, and frightful precipices. See some dozen or twenty cases recorded in proof of this position, in a little tract en- titled " Sabbath Occupations,^^ published by the American Tract Society. We copy one or two of them : " A number of persons appointed a certain Sabbath as a time to play at foot ball. And while two of them were tolling a bell to call the company together, they were struck with lightning, and both died." SPECIAL JUDGMENTS. 12J) " A pious minister, in his sermon, once spoke of the man in the camp of Israel, who was stoned to death for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath. A thoughtless man present was offended ; and to show his contempt, left the house and began to gather up sticks. When the congregation came out, they found the man dead, with a bundle of sticks in his arms." We add a word from a distinguished foreign writer : " Let the degradation, the disgrace, and at last the expulsion of the race of Stuarts from the throne of Britain, serve as a pub- lic warning to all Britons. For who, in the least acquainted with the history of his country, knows not, that from the time when James the sixth of Scotland, and first of England, set him- self to establish iniquity by a law, by instituting the book of sports in England, for the Lord's day, the judgments of heaven pursued that family with calamity upon calamity, till the line of princes in that house, to lay claim to the crown of Britain, ia now no more ?" Many deluded and wicked men, like those just referred to, while listening to the history of the punishment and death of the man who gathered sticks on tlie Sabbath, as recorded in Numb. XV. 32-36, have been roused to indignation and contempt, both toward the Lawgiver and Israel. They denounce the transaction as totally unjust, and deserving the unqualified repro- bation of all good men. But look at the circumstances. God had separated Israel from the heathen, to train them up in a knowledge of himself. He had given them his law, with its awful penalties. Obedience to that law would qualify them for his service, in communicating to the rest of the world his mind and will, and the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Diso- bedience to that law, unpunished, would bring it as well as its Author into contempt ; and a man might show his contempt of the Lawgiver as fully by killing one man, as by killing a thou- sand ; and by picking up sticks, as by running boats and stages on the Sabbath. God also well knew, that if his people would not religiously keep the Sabbath, as he had commanded, it would be impossi- ble to preserve among them a knowledge of himself The Sab- bath, as an instrument in his hands to accomplish this object, was every thing. If he suflfered one man to profane it, though 11* 126 THE SABBATH. in a very trifling matter, another would not only take the same, but greater hberties j and in a short time, as facts in other coun- tries show, they would have had no Sabbath among them ; or individuals, at least, would neither sanctify, nor care any thing about it. Further, if this and other breaches of the Sabbath were to go unpunished, the whole people might become lawless, and God might give them up to be destroyed. Under these circumstances, should the man be put to death, that the law might be honored, and the whole people saved, or should he go unpunished, the law be despised, and God compel- led to give up the people to self-destruction? We should say, Let the man be stoned to death ; and let not only Israel, but all creation utter a loud amen to it. Men who will continue, con- temptuously, impiously, and wantonly, to profane that day, for their own sakes, and the world, s^ had better be put away from society, every one of them, than be allowed to go on, filling up the measure of their iniquities, until they shall have blotted out the institution among them, and thereby destroyed, not only themselves, but millions of others, in body and soul. So have thought all those wise men who have enacted laws touching Sabbath desecration. Then the Sabbath might be saved. Men would not, for their own gratification, continue to trample on the law of the Sabbath, if they knew that, as the price of their temerity and impiety, confinement was soon to be inflicted upon them. They would then pause and tremble. We should then have a way of preventing those men who fear not the divine threatenings from destroying ifAemseZi?es and the community. Men who disregard /wifwre retribution, would then {edn present. It is on account of such men, that God has given us an example of the mode of governing a people by a code of civil laws. This de- claration will doubtless startle many. But we take the life of the man who breaks the sixth commandment ; and why not the liberty of the man who perseveres in breaking the fourth ? God gave the example of taking life in both instances : and the Sab- bath-breaker, wilfully and habitually so, is doing more injury to the morals of the community, than ten murderers j because we do not see so clearly the evil he is committing, and therefore make no provision to counteract it. As to the propriety of taking life at the present day, for any crime, we say nothing. But of SPECIAL JUDGMENTS. 127 this we are confident : God has put into the hands of every nation, a rule by which the wicked infidel, deistical men, who dis- believe and contemn him, and disregard their laws, can be gov- erned, and prevented from destroying the influence of the gospel and its institutions, which he has designed shall bless the world. Those nations which will not avail themselves of that rule, will be destroyed hy these men who fear not God; and all together will go to destruction. There are ways enough to avail ourselves of this rule, without taking a man's life. If a man says, I fear not your God, neither will I obey his voice, nor your laws touching him and his word ; but I will blaspheme his name, pollute his Sabbaths, and ridicule his word — shut him away from society, for he will assuredly cor- rupt and destroy it unless you do. Which is best, that this one member should suflTer, or the whole body ? We only touch upon this point, not intending here to discuss it at length; but suspect that we have given up ground to the infidel and deist which must be retaken, or they will not only rain themselves, but their families and the world. Man has no right to disobey God, to the injury of his fellow men. If we allow him to do it, we nourish in our bosom an asp which will sting us to death. There are two ways ordained by God of governing moral agents in this world. One is moral suasion — not only to per- suade men to do right, but to endeavor to prevent them from doing wrong. But this cannot prevent them from doing wrong. The other is physical force. This is only for those who are de.- termined, notwithstanding moral euasion, to do wrong. This physical force catinot, nor is it intended to make a man love God, and be religious ; but it caJi keep him from doing wicked acts — those things which God has forbidden him to do ; and this God intends to have done. In a philanthropic and political point of view merely, we have a right, admitted by all good citizens, to forbid the doing of those things which injure society; but we may not have a right to command the doing of all those things which might be beneficial to society. The man is to have his choice, whether he will go to heaven or to hell ; but he cannot have his choice, whether he may or may not do those things which will drag others along with him^he may not have his 128 THE SABBATH. choice, whether he will block up the way to heaven, and contemn God, and labor to make others contemn him. God had a moral and a civil or judicial code. Both were necessary in Moses' time, and for the same reasons, both are necessary in these times. We should like to explain this point farther, but have, per- haps, already digressed too far from the main subject. Objection VIII.— " Christians wish to unite Church and State." It has been alleged that deists secured to this nation its reli- gious liberty ; and it is also claimed by some, that liberty origi- nated in the mind of a deist in this country. Our belief has always been, that the first spark of religious and republican liberty emanated from the Bible, and the influ- ence of the Sabbath, through the Puritans, before they left Eng- land. Some very important facts, on this point, may be gathered from the following extracts. "In the days of the Commonwealth, * * * on which side was found the inextinguishable love of liberty, and the great weight of solid English character, and morality, and pure re- ligion ? In the camp of the republicans, beyond a doubt ; among the Puritans and Whigs, where the Sabbath was held most sa- cred, and the ministry of Christ honored, and the pure gospel preached uniformly with divine success. And what a contrast did this present to the camp of Charles I. and the court of Charles II. The Scottish malignant, and the English cavalier, the favor- ites of the Stuarts, united in their characters the grossest flat- tery of absolute monarchy and spiritual tyranny, with the most revolting irreligion, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, intemperance, reveling, and an utter contempt of even common decency." — Brovnilee. The following very pertinent remarks are from a sermon preached in New-York city, in 1831, by Rev. Herman Norton ; " union of church and state." ^How this charge appears in this country at the present time. NO UNION OP CHURCH AND STATE. 129 —It is brought more particularly against the Presbyterians. They are said to be engaged in a conspiracy against this great repubhc, or are attempting to subvert the liberties of the people. " On the other side of the Atlantic, the Presbyterians have never been charged with uniting Church and State. They have no connection with the civil government ; do not believe in a union between civil and religious affairs ; and for this very rea- son, have always been opposed by the sovereigns of Europe. " That you may see that this is not mere assertion, without proof, I will bring forward the testimony of one, on this subject, who will not be considered very partial towards the Presbyteri- ans. I refer to Hume, that notorious infidel. He declares that dueen Elizabeth opposed the Presbyterians, or Puritans, (for the Presbyterians are their descendants,) 'because of their at- tachment to civil liberty.' ' By them alone,' Hume says, ' the precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was preserved ; and to them the English owe the whole freedom of their Consti- tution.' " Hume also says, that James I. ' saw in the Presbyterians o( Scotland a violent turn towards republicanism, and a zealous attachment to civil liberty ;^ and that James declared * that there is no more agreement between Presbyterianism and monarchy^ than between God and the deviV " He further asserts, that in the reign of Charles I. ' they were disgusted with the court, from their attachment to the principles of civil liberty, which were essential to their party.'' "Finall}'-, Hume says, these Presbyterians 'shipped off to America, and founded a government, where they enjoyed all that liberty which they desired, but could not obtain in their own country.' " But these people are now charged with uniting Church and State. They are said to be subverting the liberties of this country, while they adopt the same civil and religious creed which has kept alive the spark of liberty in Europe, infidels themselves being judges. " Two charges, directly opposite to each other, brought against those who embrace the same views and sentiments of civil and religious liberty, cannot both be true. If the charges on the Other side of the Atlantic are true, as kings and infidels affirm, 130 THE SABBATH. then the allegation that Presbyterians in this country are sub- verting the liberties of the people, is the most ludicrous that was ever made by the tongue of mortal. " But after all the noise which the cry of ' Church and State^ has made through the country, and all the prejudice which it has excited, it is a matter of fact, that wicked men have been trying to unite Church and State. The only way by which civil rulers and politicians have succeeded in condemning Christians in ages past, has been to interfere with their religion. They have enacted pernicious and outrageous laws, subverting the foundations of religious principle ; they have armed these laws with the heaviest penalties, and required the people of God to obey them or suffer. The faithful servants of God have deter- mined to obey God, rather than man. This has been called obstinacy by the wicked, and has kindled the fire which has burnt up the bodies of the saints. Christians have always been the best subjects, as far as civil law has been concerned. They have always been prompt to obey. Even Louis the XIV., that bitter persecutor of Christians, said, that he had reason to ap- plaud their fidelity and zeal in his service. They omitted no opportunity of giving him evidence of their loyalty, ' even beyond all that could be imagined, contributing in all things to the ad- vantage of his affairs.' Yet after this, he ordered them to leave^ his kingdom in fifteen days, or turn Roman Catholics, or be put to death. " It is only when rulers have made laws contrary to the laws of God, that Christians have refused to obey. This is the way which wicked men have devised to bring charges against the people of God. Look at the case of Daniel — Dan. vi. 4 — 5. ' Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault ; forasmuch as he was faithful ; neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men. We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except as we find it against him concerning the law of his God.' " They could find fault with nothing but his religion. They discovered that Daniel prayed to the God of heaven three iimes a day. ' Now, let us have a law, that no man shall pray, only to the king, for thirty days.' The law was madej but Daniel WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN NOT INFIDELS. 131 would pray to his God, althou^ contrary to law, and he was thrown into a den of Hons. " Look at the case of the three men mentioned in Daniel iii. They would not worship Nebuchadnezzar's image. So they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. " So in hundreds of instances since that time. So, we have reason to beheve, it will be in time to come. Christians will be put to death for not submitting to the wicked laws of wicked men, who are thus trying to unite Church and State.^^ We are not certain that there were not men, in this nation, who aided in making the laws relative to SabbcUh mails, with the design of getting something against Christians, wherewith to accuse them or persecute them, if they would not quietly consent to break the fourth commandment. But, whatever their views might have been, they have effectually shut out of the Post-office Department every consistent, conscientious be- liever in the Christian religion. Yet, when a man raises his voice, condemning that law, as against the law of God, unjust and unconstitutional, many wicked men in this land are ready to throw him " into the den of lions," and would gladly, it seems, annihilate at a blow all distinction of days, so far as business or pleasure is concerned. This will never do. God will deal with this nation for this thing. Objection XIV. — " Washington, Franklin, and most of the ; \ OTHER FRAMERS OF OUR GOVERNMENT WERE DISBELIEVERS IN i THE Christian religion, or at least skeptical." Infidels and deists say, the honest-hearted should be informed, that Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, were not even believ- ers in Christianity, or at least not Orthodox believers. The same is said of the majority of those who framed the Constitu- tion of these United States. No doubt, since " misery loves company," infidels and deists would gladly, if they could, unite not only such men with their ranks, but the prophets, apostles, and martyrs. But this they cannot do ; and their assertions will not obtain credit without confirmation from other sources. That all tlie framers of the Constitution were devoted Chris- tians, no one pretends. But it is not true that Washington was 133 THE SABBATH. an infidel, nor that Franklin was at that time. Indeed, most of those who aided in framing and adopting that valuable instru- ment, were very far from being infidels, deists, or skeptics. WASHINGTON, " The father of his country, was our first President We had thought the Chief Magistrate was in some sense the represen- tative of the nation. He certainly ought to know the ' spirit of the Constitution,' for he is sworn to support it. Washington entered on his office with such language as this : ' It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the uni- verse — who presides in the councils of nations — and whose pro- vidential aids can supply every human defect, that his benedic- tion may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people a government constituted by themselves, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with suc- cess the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this ho- mage to the great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses ymir sentiments not less than my own.'" What is this but an acknowledgment of the religion of the Bible, rather than the religion of deists or infidels ? He continues : " No people can be hound to acknowledge and adore the invi- sible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. * * * We ought to be persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained." At the close of his official language, he supplicates the " Be- nign Parent," that his blessings may still attend the efforts of our government. At or near the close of his official life, he says : " It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinhing, in a free country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, avoiding, in the exercise of the powers of one de- partment encroaching upon another, [Possibly, for example, that the Postoffice Department do not encroach upon the habits of WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN NOT INFIDELS. 133 thinking, and Sabbath laws of the States.] Of all the disposi- tions and habits which lead to political prosperity, rehgion, and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, Avho should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them." Cherish what? The mere politician cherish religion and morality ! He as much bound to do it, and that too the Chris- tian religion, as the pious man ! Certainly, and for the best of reasons, so far as man is concerned ; because they are "the great pillars of human happiness, the firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." This is not "uniting Church and State." This is not infidelity nor anti-Christianity ; but it looks very much like acknowledging the Christian religion, in preference to the religion of pagans, Mohammedans, infidels or deists. Hear him again : " Let it be simply asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. — Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of pecu- liar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious prin- ciple." It is said ef Washington, that " He lent the force of his example and authority, to sanction the separation of a Sabbath, for the purpose of sustaining reli- gious principle. Even in camp no unnecessary duties were re- quired, though it was well known that an enemy who burnt our churches, and turned them into riding-schools, and used the pews for hog-pens, accounted the nation religious and Sabbath- keeping ; and therefore were in the habit, for vexation, of en- deavoring, especially on that day, to 'beat up our quarters.' We know well, that though burdened with the cares of the army and the extensive correspondence, and other official duties of his station, in an inclement season, and though his quarters were several miles distant from the main encampment at New Wind- 12 134 . THE SABBATH. sor, he was punctual at the temple on the Sabbath day. This regard for the Sabbath and public worship, he continued after- wards, and proved, by his example and influence, the sincerity of. his public and official declarations. So far from grudging one day in seven for the purposes of cherishing religion — by procla- mation from the President, the 19th of February, 1796, was di- rected to be observed throughout the United States, as a day of religious thanksgiving." It is also said of him, that his private devotions and prayers to Almighty God, during our struggle for liberty, were frequent and fervent. " During the winter of 1777, the American army lay encamped at Valley Forge. It was a trying time with the army and the country. Prospects were much against our success. One day a duaker by the name of Potts had occasion to go to a certain place, which led him through a large grove at no great distance from head-quarters. As he was proceeding along, he thought he heard a noise. He listened. He did hear the sound of a hu- man voice at some distance, but quite indistinctly. As it was in the direct course he was pursuing, he went on, but with some caution. Occasionally he paused and listened, and with increased conviction that he heard some one. At length he came within sight of a man, whose back was turned towards him, on his knees, in the attitude of prayer. It was a secluded spot ; a kind of natural bower; but it was the house of prayer. Potts now stopped, partly leaned forward, and watched till whoever it might be was through his devotions. This was not long. And whom should he now see but Washington himself, the commander of the American armies, returning from bending prostrate before the God of armies above ! "Potts himself was a pious man. He knew the power of prayer ; and no sooner had he reached home, than in the fullness of his faith, he broke forth to his wife Sarah in the language of a watchman : ' Wife ! Sarah ! ! my dear, all's well ! all's well ! Y'es, George Washington is sure to beat the British — sureP ' What, what's the matter with thee, Isaac V replied the startled Sarah. ' Thee seems to be moved about something.' ' Well, and what if I am moved; who would not be moved with such a eight as I have seen to-day ?' ' And what hast thou seen, Isaac V ^^ WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN NOT INFIDELS. 135 * Seen ! I've seen a man at prayer ! — in the woods ! GEORGE WASHINGTON, himself !— and now I say— just what I have said — All's well; George Washington is sure to beat the British —sure P " — Anecdotes of Washington. " In the exalted station of President, his conduct continued to be distinguished for the same uniform and punctual observance of religious duties which had always marked his life. As he was chiefly resident in Philadelphia during the eight years of his administration, he had a pew in Christ church of that city, of which the venerable Bishop White was then the Rector. During all the time he was in the government, Washington was punctual in his attendance on divine worship. His pew was seldom vacant when the weather would permit him to attend. In regard to his habit at that time, the living grandson of Mrs. Washington, George W. P. Cusiis, Esq. of Arlington, bears the following testimony : ' On Sundays, unless the weather was un- commonly severe, the President and Mrs. Washington attended divine service at Christ church ; and in the evenings the Presi- dent read to Mrs. Washington, in her chamber, a sermon or some portion from the sacred writings.' " It may here be added, simply as evidence of his devotional habits, that he always said grace at table. In one instance, from the force of habit, he performed this duty himself when a clergyman was present — an instance of indecorum very unusual with him. Being told, after the clergyman's departure, of the incivility, he' expressed his regret at the oversight, but added, * the reverend gentleman will, at least, be assured, that we are not entirely graceless at Mount Vernon.' " " In the year 1820, a clergyman of this State being in com- pany with Major , a relative of General Washington, had an accidental conversation with him on the subject of Christianity. An inquiry was made of the Major, as to the religious opinions of his distinguished kinsman. This was done in part^ as knowing his veneration for Washington, and for information too, as he had been captain of the General's body guard, during a greater part of the war, and possessed the best opportunities of learning his views and habits. In answer to the question, he observed, after hesitating for a moment, 'General Washington was certainly a pious man, his opinions 136 THE SABBATH. being in favor of religion, and his habits all of that character and description.' But being further interrogated as to his habits, he replied, that his uncle, he knew, was in the habit of praying In private — and with the animation of an old soldier, excited by professional recollections, rather than sympathy with the sub- ject, he related the circumstances of the following occurrence, while encamped at , N.J. 'A soldier arrived one morn- ing, about daybreak, with despatches for the Commander-in- chief, from a distant division of the army. As soon as his busi- ness was known, he was directed to me as captain of the body guard, to whom he came forthwith, and giving me his papers, I repaired at once to the General's quarters. On my way to his room, after reaching the house, I had to go along a narrow passage of some length. As I approached his door, it being yet nearly dark, I was arrested by the sound of a voice. I paused and listened for a moment, when I distinguished it as the General's voice, and in another moment found that he was engaged in audible prayer. As, in his earnestness, he had not heard my footsteps, or, if he heard me, did not choose to be inter- rupted, I retired to the front of the dwelling, till such time as I supposed him unengaged, when, returning, and no longer hear- ing his voice, I knocked at the door, which being promptly open- ed, I delivered the despatches, received an answer, and dismissed the soldier.' " How impressive an example of sincere devotion have we here ! The leader of our armies, though oppressed with cares and labors, an unequalled burden, yet forsakes his friendly couch at the dawn of day, and upon his knees, ' cries unto God with his voice.' He is not content with unuttered prayer. His earn- estness seeks its natural vent in audible and articulate sounds." But this is the man, and this is the religion which our object- ors slander and oppose. Who but infidels, deists and Sabbath- breakers could do it ? FRANKLIN. When the delegates were met in Convention, at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, to form a Constitution for the United States, their councils were in a measure distracted, and some warmth and ac- WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN NOT INFIDELS. 137 rimonious feeling were manifested. It was in this state of things that Dr. Franklin rose and made the following remarks : " Mr. President^ — The small progress we have made, after four or five weeks close attendance, and continual reasonings with each other, our diflferent sentiments on almost every ques- tion, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is, me- thinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of po- litical wisdom, since we have been running all about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the diflferent forms of those republics which, having originally been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist, and we have viewed mod- ern states all around Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. " In this situation of this Assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark, to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings ? In the beginning o\^ the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle, must have ob- served frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportu- nity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance ? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, thai God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid ? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ' except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it' I firmly believe this ; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel ; we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests ; our 12* 138 tttE SABftAtM. projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may, hereafter, from this unfortunate instanccj despair of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war and conquest. " 1 therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers, im* ploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our delibe* rations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we pro- ceed to business ; and that one or more of the clergy of thia city be requested to officiate in that service." — Sparks' Edition of Franklin's Works. They then adjourned. Does this movement of Franklin's look like infidelity ? At another time he was not ashamed to avow that he " be* lieved in the providence of God, as governing the world ; that the CoNSTiTtfTiON was influenced, guided and governed by that Omnipotent, Omnipresent and beneficent Ruler, in whom all inferior spirits live, and move, and have their being ; and that public prayers to God, by national bodies, were appropriate and necessary." This does not look like the language of an anti- Christian man. But Dr. Franklin tells us. that when he was fif* teen years of age, he was skeptical, and doubted revelation itself, though he was educated a Calvinist, and had pious parents* He then read some volumes against deism, and they, strange as it may appear, made him a perfect deist. He says — "My argu-^ ments perverted some other young persons, particuleirly Collins and Ralph. But in the sequel, when I recollected that they had both used me extremely ill, without the smallest remorse ; when I considered the behavior of Keith, another free-thinker, and my own conduct towards Vernon and Miss Reed, which, at times, gave me great uneasiness, I was led to suspect this doctrine j though it might be true, it was not very useful. " Revelation, indeed, as such, had no influence on my mind | but I was of opinion, that though certain actions could not be bad, merely because revelation had prohibited them, or good, because it enjoined them, yet it was probable that those actions were prohibited because they were bad for us, or enjoined be- cause advantageous in their nature, all things considered. This persuasion, divine Providence or some guardian angel, and, WAsttlNetoK ANb PRANKLlN NOt IKPlDEU. 1^ perhaps, a concurrence of favorable circumstances operating^ preserved me from all immorality. * * * I may say vohmr tary, because the errors into which I had fallen, had been, in a manner, the forced result, either of my own inexperience, or the dishonesty of others. Thus, before I entered on my own new ca^ reer, I had imbibed solid principles, and a character of probity." These were the views of the boy Franklin, at the age of fifteenw " At the commencement o£ his life, written by himself, we hear him exclaiming — and this he tells us was written in his old age-^ " And here let me, with all humility, acknowledge, that to a divine Providence I am indebted lor the felicity I have hitherto enjoyed. It is that power alone which has furnished me with the means 1 have employed, and that has crowned me with success. My faith, in this respect, leads me to hope, though I cannot count upon it, that the divine goodness will still be exer- cised toward me. * * * My future fortune is unknown but to Him in whose hand is our destiny, and who can make our very- afflictions subservient to our benefit." * * * Just before his death it is said of him: " During this state, when the severity of his pains eometimes drew forth a groan of complaint, he would observe that he was afraid he did not bear them as he ought, acknowledging hia grateftil sense of the many blessings he had received from that Supreme Being who had raised him from small and low begin- nings, to such high rank and consideration among men. And he had no dotibt these afflictions were intended to wean him from this world.'* Franklin's Epitatb. — The following epitaph was written by himself, many years previous to his death : " The JSvdy of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and stripped of its lettering and gilding,) lies here food for worms. Yet the work itself shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by this Author." Is this deism, infidelity, atheism and anti-Christianity ? If so, it is not like the language of anti-Christian men at the pre* Bent day i for, in the epitaph is recognized the doctrine of the 140 THE SABBATH. separation of soul and body at death ; tne resurrection and per- fection of both ; and the superintending providence and almighty- power of the Lord, Jehovah. On what did Franklin found these opinions, if not on the revelation made in the Holy Bible 7 Franklin, if he were anti-Christian, was a hypocrite. We invite all those who would detract from the moral and religious charac- ter of Dr. Frankhn, and extinguish the light of the Christian religion and the Sabbath, to read the following letter, published in the New-York Observer, it being as appropriate to such as it was to Thomas Paine. franklin's letter to PAINE. The tract, DonH Unchain the Tiger, (No. 280 of the Ameri- can Tract Society,) written by Rev. William Wisner, contains the following extract, purporting to be from a letter of Dr. Franklin to Thomas Paine, on his submitting to him his Age of Reason, in manuscript : " I would advise you not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it ?" It has been stoutly denied by infidels, that Franklin ever wrote such a letter, especially on the ground that Franklin died before the Age of Reason was published. This has led to the inquiry whether the letter be genuine ; and the reply is, it is found in the London edition of Franklin's w^orks, by his grandson, Wm. T. Franklin, vol. iii. page 279 ; in Duane's Philadelphia edition, vol. vi. page 244; and McCarty and Davis' Philadelphia edition of his Memoirs, 1834, vol. i. page 623 ; and is as follows : [without date.'] "To * * * " Dear Sir, — I have read your manuscript with some atten- tion. By the argument which it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundation of all religion. For, without the behef of a Providence, that takes cognizance of, guards and guides, and may favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear its displeasure, or to pray for its protection. 1 will FRANKLIN NOT AN INFIDEL. 141 not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present, I shall only give you my opinion, that though your reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general senti- ments of mankind on that subject; and the consequence of print- ing this piece will be, a great deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. He that spits against the wind, spits in his own face. But were you to succeed, do you imagine any good will be done by it ? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance afforded by religion ; you having a clear perception of the advantages of virtue and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. But think how great a portion of mankind consists of ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, support their virtue, and retain them in the prac- tice of it, till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. And, perhaps, you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother. I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person ; whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification from the enemies it may raise against you, and, perhaps, a good deal of regret and repentance. " If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be with- cmt It 1 I intend this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no professions to it, but subscribe, simply, " Yours, «B. Franklin." As to the authenticity of this letter, a literary gentleman, who has been unwearied in collecting the original documents, &c. of Dr. Franklin, says, evidently with great propriety : 142 THE SABBATH. " I have not the least doubt that this letter was written by Dr. Franklin. — 1. Because it was published by his grandson, in hia edition of Dr. Franklin's works. — 2. Because the style and turn of expression have some of the marked peculiarities of Frank- lin. — 3. Because the idea of a ' particular Providence,' contained in the letter, is precisely such as he advances in other parts of his writings. It was a favorite topic, upon which he wrote one of his best essays. " The tradition that it was addressed to Paine,"' says the same gentleman, " is not improbable. The first infidel work published by him, I believe, was the ' Age of Reason.' This did not appear till after Franklin's death : but the author seems to hint, in his preface, that parts had been written for some time. Franklin returned to Europe in the summer of 1785, and Paine did not go to France till more than a year afterwards. Within this space, therefore, he might have shown to Franklin a sketch or outline of his intended pubhcation, the perusal of which may have drawn forth the letter in question. But whether the letter was ad- dressed to Paine or not is of small moment, as it does not affect its intrinsic merits." W. A. H. The following particulars respecting Thomas Paine, from Cheetham and Sherwin's life of him, will be of interest and im- portance in this connection. " Thomas Paine was born at Thetford, in Norfolk, in 1737. Came to Philadelphia, on the invitation of Benjamin Franklin, in 1774. In 1787 he embarked for France, and visited Paris; then went to England. The second part of his Rights of Man was published May 21, 1792. Arrived at France Sept. 1792. Just before his confinement in France, (which, as some say, was December, 1793,) he finished the first part of the Age of Reason ; confided it to tlie care of his friend Joel Barlow ; and it was published. After the fall of Robespierre he was released, and in 1795, published, at Paris, the second part of his Age of Reason. Others fix the date of the publication of the first part in 1795, and of the second in 1796. He remained in France until August 1802, when he embarked for America, and reached Baltimore the October following. Died June Sth, 1809, in his 73d year." PERSECUTION. 143 Paine probably wrote a part or the whole of the Age of Reason while on his first visit to America, between the years 1774 and 1787. It must have been during this time that the manuscript was shown to Dr. Franklin, who advised him not to publish it: in consequence of which advice, probably its appearance was deferred until after the death of Franklin. Paine came to Ame- rica on the invitj^ion of Franklin. Their acquaintance was inti- mate, and nothing was more probable than that Paine showed Franklin his work and asked his advice — after which he would have little inclination to publish it during Franklin's life, since he had passed such severe sentence of condemnation upon it. Though Franklin was not in America, but a part of 1775 and 1776, part of 1785, and until Paine left, in 1787, yet he was here sufficiently long, during Paine's first stay, to have frequent inter- views with him ; as, in fact, he actually had. Paine, then, as may be seen by the above account, did not write the whole of his Age of Reason while in prison in Paris, though he might have re-writ- ten and revised it there. Though the reasonings of infidels and deists, therefore, may be " subtle," and calculated to deceive many on this subject, and though they may claim the names of distinguished men, yet they cannot blot out the Sabbath, any more than they can destroy the Christian religion. They are twin sisters, and must and will go together; and they are immortal.. Infidels and wicked men may persecute them, and drive them from city to city, and from one country to another ; or, for a time, drive them into seclusion ; but they will still live, and their influence will continue to spread, until it is felt around the globe. Objection XV. — "You will provoke Persecution, should YOUR sentiments ON Sabbath-breaking be generally known." Wicked, anti-Christian men say, if these views relative to the Sabbath reform should become generally known, and be carried out, they would lead to bitter and bloody persecutions. What if they do ? That would no more prove them to be wrong, than the persecutions in the days of Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jesus Christ, and his apostles and martyrs, against those 144 THE SABBATH. good men, proved that they were wrong. Opposition to any cause is no evidence that it is unjust. But, as the Bible is true, wherever an attempt is made to reclaim men from the thraldom ol" sin, there will always be opposition to it j and persecution, just in proportion to the magnitude of the evil, and the holy zeal, perseverance, and ability, which are brought to bear against the sin. The best men, engaged in the best of ceases, have seen and felt this to be true. From the well-known influence of cor- rupt propensities and long-cherished sin ; from the amount of infidelity, atheism, ignorance, and enmity to all good, in our land,' we expect, if any attempt is made to remove these evils, and wrest this people from the hands of the destroyer, there will be a terrible opposition from anti-Christian men, which may result in much waste of blood and human life. The blood of good men on all similar occasions, has flowed, and will flow again, before this world is redeemed unto Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, righteousness and peace will ultimately prevail. God, the mighty God, will not always suffer his law to be tram- pled in the dust by infidels, and his gospel to be despised with impunity ; nor his faithful followers to lie bleeding in the streets. He is about to rise and take to himself his great power ; and though a tremendous battle may be fought before his children gain the victory ; and though many of them may fall in the con- test, from their ashes and their blood will arise an exceeding great army, which will easily put to flight all the enemies of the Sabbath and of our religion. A day of triumph to God's people will surely come. ADDRESS TO FEMALES. If there be a single female in all Christendom who can look with the least complacency on the efforts of anti-Christian and anti-Sabbath men, let her remember that the Sabbath breaker is laboring most effectively to reduce the whole sex to that state of degradation, misery, and bondage, which may be seen in those lands where the influence of the Christian religion and the light of the Sabbath are not known: and that he needs but indifference on her part to accomplish with certainty his ofejedt. ADDRESS TO FEMALES. 145 The following extract is from a Sermon to Youth, by Rev. A. D. Eddy, on Injidelity. "It is a source of pleasure, that we are required to address but one class of our youth on the subject of infidelity. From this delusion and madness the female sex have generally stood ex- empt. Whenever they have fallen from the high stand that Christianity assigns them, to the level of skepticism, they have become disrobed of their dignity and virtue, alike a disgrace to their sex, and monsters in society. " It is alone almost sufficient to justify the peculiar blessings with which Christianity has crowned the female sex, that they were never found in opposition to its incarnate Author. He had something to do for women, which should at once emancipate them from human impositions, and equalize them in divine privi- leges. * * * None of them appear to have been amongst his public enemies, either during his life or at his crucifixion. Even Pilate's wife warned her husband, on the judgment-seat, to have nothing to do against that ' just person.' In like manner, the multitude of women who followed the Savior from the city to Calvary, instead of joining with the men in the cry of ' CVm- cify him P bewailed and lamented him. Indeed, there is no in- stance of any female offering any public indignity to Christ while he was on earth. * Not she, with traitorous kiss, her Savior stung ; Not she denied him with unholy tongue ; She, while Apostles shrank, could dangers brave ; Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave !' " Religion has borrowed many of her brightest ornaments from the female sex, and uniformly poured upon them the choicest of ^ her stores ; and long may it continue to be alike their disgrace and ruin to despise and reject the religion of heaven !" Look at the history of all anti-Christian people and heathen nations, and learn what woman, without the influence of Chris- tianity, is doomed to be : then never for a moment give counte- nance to sentiments like our objectors', who would prejudice the minds of the people against the Sabbath, for they are the worst enemies of your sea;. Christianity alone can elevate woman. View with indifference or complacency such conduct, and, in 13 146^ THE SABBATH. a few years, you and your daughters may know, by painful ex- perience, the effects of infidelity and Sabbath-breaking upon your domestic happiness and future prospects. Beware, then, we entreat you, lest you be found preparing the way for your own bondage, and the destruction of all that is amiable, virtuous,, lovely, and desirable in the female character, by giving your sanction to such impious sentiments. LABORING POOR. To the laboring poor let us say, — Infidels and deists, (and all opposed to the Sabbath we class under this head,) would wrest from you your best friend ; for the Sabbath is emphatically " the poor man's friend." They may pretend to be your friends, but they are not. Satan pretended to be the friend of Eve, until he had ruined our race ; and he feigned great friendship and con- cern for our Savior, lest he should suffer hunger. Remember? Sabbath-breakers are against God, his Bible, and his Sabbath ; and rather than these should be honored as they ought, they would ruin their father and mother, their brothers and sisters, and the whole human family. As you value liberty, comfort, peace, and eternal life, do not beUeve them. When we say that the man who desecrates the Lord's day is an enemy to himself, to his family, his neighborhood, and the world, we do not allude to those who sincerely and devoutly worship God, after the dictates of an enlightened conscience, and who strictly observe a seventh day rest. Such we, not only in this place, but through all this work, mean to except. But we do say, that the individual who wantonly and habit- ually profanes the Sabbath, or observes no Sabbath, is a danger- ous man in the community. His example, if universally follow- ed, would blast all our fair prospects, as a nation, in a political point of view. Such men are not only enemies to our republic and our religion, but they are enemies to their own best inter- ests, and to mankind. Past history, profane and sacred, ecclesi- astical and civil, will prove this assertion. We love to quote from such authors as the following : " Do not flatter yourselves that pure and undefiled religion can be preserved a single month after the Sabbath is gone ; for the SABBATH-BREAKING PARENTS. 147 house of God will be immediately shut up, or thrown down ; your ministers will be driven from the altar ; the hallowed fires will be extinguished on all the heights of Zion ; the church will be clothed in sackcloth ; her tears will be, all the day and all the night, upon her cheeks ; and the strings of her harps, upon the willows, will be swept only by the mournful breezes of the sur- rounding desolation." — Beecher. If any deny that this is the legitimate effect of giving up the Sabbath, let them cast their eye upon that chart of the world, whose lines give the history of different religions, and see which nations have enjoyed Christianity, and at what period of their existence, and which have not. Then turn to their history, and learn a lesson which would make the infidel and deist blush and hide their heads, but for their hardened impiety, their awful blindness, and their determination towards ruin. SABBATH-BREAKING PARENTS. In th« language of Dr. Humphrey, we say : — " If you care not what becomes of your own flesh ; if you are willing to trust the keeping of tlieir morals and their happiness to the wayward propensities of unsanctified nature ; if you covet from them disobedience, neglect, and abuse in this world, their withering testimony at the bar of God, and their bitter execra- tions to all eternity, then let them profane the Lord's day, as much as they please ; let them sport, and fish, and hunt, and launch the sail-boat, and lounge in the tavern, while others are in the church and the Sabbath school. And lest they should, after all, become dissatisfied with the broad way, encourage them by your example. Wander about your farms, * * * or go into your shops and counting-rooms ; or travel with the mail, under the sanction of government, and the curse of Hea- ven ; or meet your companions in the grog-shop, or on the sunny side of the distillery. Attend every anti-Sabbath meeting, vote for the resolutions and sign the remonstrance. Denounce all the Sabbath-keeping boats and stages, and all the petitions to Con- gress, as innovations of the rights of conscience, and dangerous to the liberties of the country. Such a course will be likely to do the work for your families soon, and do it effectually. It will 148 THE SABBATH. bring you, by a short route, to the brink of that gulf, into which you may plunge in vain to rescue your sons and daughters from destruction." " Give up the Sabbath — blot out that orb of day — suspend its blessed attractions — and the reign of chaos and old night would return. The waves of an unquiet sea, high as our mountains, would roll and dash, from west to east and east to west ; from south to north and north to south, shipwrecking the hopes of patriots and the world. " Who then is the patriot that would thrust out our ship from her peaceful moorings, in a starless night, upon such an ocean of storms, without rudder or anchor, compass or chart ? The ele- ments around us may remain, and our giant rivers and mountains. Our miserable descendants, also, may multiply, and vegetate, and rot, in moral darkness and putrefaction. But the American cha- racter, and our glorious institutions, will go down into the same grave that entombs the Sabbath; and our epitaph will stand forth a warning to the world." — Beecher. Look at this, ye Americans, who trample on the Sabbath, and quote the opposition made to it by men of great names in the Congress of these United States, as a good reason why they should receive the highest offices in the gift of the people. Look at this, you who scoff at, ridicule, and calumniate the men who would rescue this day from its awful and alarming profanations ! As surely as there is a God in heaven, this nation must give up its opposition to the Sabbath, or drink deep of the cup of his indignation. We cannot, since we have taken the Bible for our guide, do without a Sabbath, as well as those nations can who have never heard of a Bible. Our social, civil, and religious blessings, together with our literary, scientific, and political prosperity, are inseparably con- nected with a due observance of that day. Were it possible for us, as a people and a nation to banish forever from our minds all reverence and respect for that institution, still the day would not be forgotten, though it might live in our remembrance, only as a APPteAL. 149 day of pastime and pleasure, every way tending to contaminate and corrupt the morals of all. If we do not keep the day as it ought to be kept, better would it have been for us never to have heard of a day of rest from labor ; better to toil day after day, without respite, till we sink into the grave. We may as well expect to live holy and religious lives, with- out a Bible as witliout a Sabbath. But, blessed be God, " there remaineth unto us the keeping of the Sabbath." There is a Sab- bath for the Gentile as well as for the Jew ; '^ we will rejoice in it and be glad." All the ten commandments, given to Moses, are wise and good, admirably calculated to make us happy, here and hereafter. Since God is also our Creator, we would have him our Governor to command ; our Father to hear and answer us when we pray unto him ; our protector and our guide ; and his heavenly kingdom our everlasting home. Let us for a moment fancy ourselves awakened from the slum- bers of the night, and visited with the holy and sacred stillness of the Sabbath. We gather together, the whole human family, good and bad, in one vast amphitheatre. The eye of the infinite Jehovah is fixed on every individual ; there is no corner where any one can hide himself from the all-searching eye. Man is still and silent before his God ; he dare not think of labor or amusement, nor can he be indifferent. The cattle upon a thou- sand hills are at rest, and a death-like stillness pervades the uni- verse. While each eye is fixed on its Creator, each heart beats high with anxious hope or fear ; all are listening to hear, or beholding to admire ; meditating to improve and praise. Now they are ad- dressed by Him, who has summoned them to attend, and all, saint and sinner, are commanded to hear and obey. Suppose all in this vast assembly to feel themselves under every possible obligation to obey the fourth commandment, in all its length and breadth — to do no work, but think on God and his wonderful work of creation, providence, and redemption — and to meditate on the object of probation, on heaven and hell, one of which is destined to be their eternal home, — to read his word, and religious devotional books, — and to attend on the services of the sanctuary. In this attitude, and under these circumstances, would any one dare turn off his eye or his mind, from the great 160 THE SABBATH. ^ Searcher of hearts, and say to his neighbor standing by, Sir, can you pay me that note ? Will you labor for me to-morrow 1 Do you intend to accompany us in the ride 1 What is the news to- day ? Will you vote for D. and F. ? How do you like that per- son's dress ? What are the newest fashions ? The same search- ing eye is still fixed on every one standing in his presence. The Sabbath has not been kept holy unto the end of it. God has not dismissed one from his presence, and should a solitary individual be guilty of such daring impiety, what would be his doom ? If a man were so to lose all reverence, love, and fear of the charac- ter of God, while thus situated, what would he not do, when he is permitted to attend to the lawful concerns of this world, and feels that he is not so immediately in the presence and under the inspection of tne Searcher of hearts? He who can do this without fear or remorse, is not afraid, lit- erally, to break any of the ten commandments. If there is no probability of detection by man, and his interest and desires can be promoted by it, he will do it. Such a man may fear a fellow worm, but " there is no fear of God before his eyes." We have long thought that the wanton and habitual Sabbath-breaker, if there were no danger of his being detected in wickedness, by man; and if his character among men, and his property would not suf- fer, would be prepared for any crime. There are no terrors for him in the thunderings and lightnings from Sinai. It may be thought that we assume too high a tone. But if we begin to do little things on the Sabbath, such as walking our streets, roaming over our farms, attending unnecessarily to our flocks «and herds ; stepping into the Post-office, reading and wri- ting letters on business, perusing literary, historical, and political publications, thinking of our worldly business, doing errands, speaking of fashions, customs, parties, amusements and the like, we shall gradually come to do more and more. We shall soon argue ourselves into the belief, that it is necessary, and innocent^ to do many things on that day ; such as travelling for pleasure or on business, furnishing conveyances, and making our cattle work, and the stranger within our gates j visiting, and bringing up our accounts ; opening and putting up our goods with closed doors, taking inventories, making out writs, filling up declarations; and thus shall we, by and by, wholly disregard the Sabbath. ^ * APPEAL. 151 We called the former little things. May Grod pardon the im- piety. They are of sufficient magnitude, if habitually indulged, to call down the wrath and indignation of a holy God. The fourth commandment will be the test of our obedience. The Sabbath is a day that God claims for his service ; and self-grati- fication, or worldly gain are the only possible inducements men can have to profane it. Will it be taken for granted, that God can look with indifference upon such impious and high-handed rebellion ? Pf e, sinful creatures, seek our pleasure, and insult the Being who feeds and sustains us ; and who alone can make our blessings sources of real good to us ! What if we, by our labors on that day, add a little more lo our earthly possessions ? Ail we have, or can have, is the property of him in whose hand our breath is, and who has said, we must give account to him of our stewardship ; and he may say to us this night, " thou mayest be no longer steward." Ye who profane the Sabbath, little think that in no other way can your guilt accumulate so fast ; and by no other means can you make such rapid strides to hell. Go on a little longer, and your cup of wrath will be full, to be poured upon you without mixture. A little more, and you will be waihng in the bottomless pit. Oh, this day, this blessed day, must be kept fwly. All, whether saint or sinner, need such a day ; we need the exercises which are appropriate to it, in view of those awful considerations, and realities, with which we must soon be familiar. The principal reason why bad men array themselves against this day, is, that they well know, if they can blot out the Sab- bath, the world will soon be without even the /orm of godliness. Their efforts against this day, arise from a deadly hostility to the religion of the Bible : and if they have any religion them- selves, it can be no better than that of the Mohammedan, or pagan, and their morality, if they have any, is founded on, and measured by the opinions and maxims of men. By their efforts, they would bind the poor in chains of ignorance, despotism, and moral death ; rob our independence of its only mainspring, our nation of its sheet anchor, and this tempest-tost world of its last hope. Boasting infidel, no more provoke, by your efforts to bring the ...n 152 THE SABfiATM. Sabbath into disrepute, the Almighty, unless the energies of your arm are sufficient to pluck down the stars, stop the sun in its course, and roll from their deep bed the firm foundations of Jehovah's empire ; you, whose puny arm flags at the touch of an ague, whose eye is dimmed with the ravages of z-few years, and whose hearts quail at the lightning's flash, and the shrieks of the dying, contending with the matchles Deity ! boasting thyself to be something, while perishing before the moth ! Oh, madness and infatuation without a parallel. The greatest wisdom of man is to know himself a man — a poor, frail worm of the dust — and that the God of the Bible is the God of the universe. Ponder it well, that every man who believes in the binding nature of the fourth commandment, whether a professor of reli- gion or not, if, in any way he profane the Sabbath, is helping to subvert our government, and introduce misrule ; he is undermi- ning the pillars which support all that is dear to the philanthro- pist and the Christian. CHAPTER IV. EXPEDIENCY OF FEAKLESS AND UNITED EFFORT. Some of the friends of the Sabbath say, that, in order to do any thing effectually for the cause, it must not be generally known that any systematic eflforts to this end are being made. To print a paper, or employ a clergyman to lecture for this ob- ject, or to appoint a committee to superintend the requisite efforts, would, in their opinion, be the ruin of the whole enter- prise. We must use such means only as will not awaken sus- picion, or excite opposition to the cause. It is conceded that we ought to be wise in projecting plans, and inoffensive, as far as may be, in executing them— that it would be wrong to awaken an unnecessary alarm, or to provoke opposition, merely for the purpqse of seeing the wicked rage. But truth, while it is spoken in love, must be presented with its edge neither bbinted nor covered with a scabbard. It is only when thus presented, that it does good and reaches the con- science ; and whenever it reaches the conscience, it gives un- easiness and pain. But the same instrumentality that wounds, frequently and faithfully applied, will certainly effect that cure which can in no other way be accomphshed. Because the wounded man threatens, storms, and rages, he should not be left to die without efforts for his recovery ; but, with increased bold- ness and vigor, truth should repeat stroke after stroke, until the victim is not only dead, but made alive again by her all-conquer- ing power. It is pretended that we ought to begin moderately and silently — that we should write now and then an article, and publish it in some periodical already established — and that even this should be concealed as much as possible from the wicked. Now, even if this did not subject us to the charge of Jesuitical intrigue or pious fraud, we should be opposed to it, because it 154 THE SABBATH. is unnecessary, and because facts do not justify the hope of suc- cess from such a mode of procedure. All this precaution is unnecessary^ because it is evident from past efforts in this cause, that the wicked are as ready to sus- pend their business on the Lord's day, as Christians are to ask them to do it. They are not all so weak as not to understand, that the Sabbath is necessary for man in more than one point of view. And though some of them would complain, if all worldly business were to cease on Sunday, it is believed that a majority, if the question were now put, whether there should or should not be a day of rest, would say, " By no means take away from us the Sabbath." It is busy enterprise and extreme world- hness, rather than dehberate design on their part, that has in- troduced the present order of things among us. And there is no need of all this precaution, this studied secrecy, and these vain attempts to create a correct public conscience, before publishing what we would wish to have done, and what we are laboring to do. We had rather come up boldly to him who tramples on the sacred Rest, and say, " Friend, we are all doing wrong ; the mail should not be transported, nor opened on Sunday ; stages, boats, and cars" should not run on that day; all worldly business must be suspended as often as it returns." Should we not be more likely to secure their co-operation, (for they are nearly or quite with us in their views already,) and excite less prejudice against the cause by this course, than by keeping our intentions out of sight ? An intelligent, discriminating infidel said to us, not long since, " You Christians are cowards ; had you not been, long ere this the Sunday mails would have been stopped. I was opposed to the measure, but well knew, if you continued to petition Con- gress a little longer, you would be heard : for you had the right of it, and would have succeeded." Another of hke character, a thorough-bred physician, express- ed the sentiment, that the Sabbath is adapted to our physical na- tures, and necessary politically, as well as religiously. " I would not," added he, "blot it out if I could. I have been called to see many die,and have marked the difference between the death of the infidel, which is almost universally one of horror, and that of the believer in the Bible, which is usually one of peace, joy, EFFORT NECESSARY. 155 and hope. For the world I would not deprive the latter (though I knew his religion a deception) of this source of comfort at that trying hour ; and I very well know, that if the Sabbath were given up, the Bible would of course become a useless book, and we should hasten back to barbarism." Men who are indifferent about God and the future state, and even such as are avowed disbelievers in divine revelation, never- theless know that a man, as an individual, and as a member of society, needs a day of rest; that he can do more to improve his temporal condition, enjoy life better and longer, and die more happily by observing, than by neglecting that institution. Worldly wisdom and expediency never yet accomplished much in religious matters ; and if there is now so much danger in arousing the enemy, who may^be sleeping, rest assured he is not to be driven from his stronghold without a mighty struggle. It is not numbers^ let it be remembered, that will produce a change from the profanation of the Sabbath to its observance. Truth alone, set home upon the conscience, is to work this change ; and this must be urged not only privately^ but publicly, fearlessly, plainly, pointedly, powerfully, unceasingly — always in lave. We know ministers have much to fear and much to lose, should they proceed thus in regard to this evil ; but they have more to fear, and more to lose, should they neglect to do so. But what is the legitimate consequence of this kind of expe- diency ? — this tame and silent attack on the powerful enemy of whom we have spoken ? While we are thus moving, if moving it may be called, the tide of worldliness and impiety rises higher and higher, preparing to sweep the institution to a returnless distance, from this generation at least. But there is no necessity for so much caution in this reform. Vastly more will be gained by coming out boldly, trusting in God. Examples are decidedly in favor of this bold, open course. Nehemiah, though but a man, and alone, powerless in himself, as men at the present day are — and in a community where the sin was universal, went forward, pursuing an entirely different course from the one recommended by many at the present day as most expedient. He commanded the professed people of God to " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" — exhorted the enemies of the Rest to do the same, and threatened them with 156 THE SABBATH. civil punishment, if they persisted in its violation. He did not stop to form a correct public sentiment, before telling the people what they were doing, what they ought not to do, and what they might expect. Neither did he ask what they would think of him, do with him, or say about him if he went about his work and re- proved them for this sin. It was enough to settle the question of duty, to know that the Sabbath was profaned. Men must everywhere, within their borders, and even without the gates of the city, cease from the profanation, and that immediately. Though he combated the evil at fearful odds, he succeeded. But it was truth he was wielding, and that in defence of one of the most important institutions of Heaven. Truth, in that instance, as it will in all similar circumstances, prevailed j and this fact should encourage every friend of the Sabbath to go and do like- wise. Peter and the rest of the apostles followed this example. They charged home the sins of the Jews upon their consciences, saying, " with iricked hands ye have crucified and slain the Lord of Glory." Worldly expediency would have said. Why, Peter ! you must not speak so plainly, so boldly, so loud ; the Jews will hear you, and put you also to death — you act very rashly, and in- discreetly — we shall not only tell the " unfoi^tunate'\ Jews, that we disapprove of your conduct, but shall do all in our power to destroy your influence among the believers. But Peter wished to form a correct public conscience, and he adopted the most efR- cient means to bring it about ; while his associates backed his declarations, strengthened his hands, and encouraged his heart, instead of traitorously joining in with the enemies of all good, as too many at the present time are doing. Luther, and the other reformers, laughed to scorn the Diet of Worms ; and, instead of first laboring silently to form a correct public sentiment, they thundered in the ears of their opposers, the truth of Jehovah, and repeated it with so much energy and severity, that the Pope saw his forces scattered, his power un- dermined, and felt the entire foundation of the Romish Church rocking, as if shaken by an earthquake. By thus exhibiting truth they formed a public sentiment, and then the evil was cured. All the means they selected might not have been, and proba- EFFORT NECESSARY. 157 biy were not, the very best possible ; for imperfection marks all the doings of man j but we learn from the result, that they were, on the whole, such as God could bless. WiLBERFORCE, Clarkson and others, pursued a similar, open course, in regard to the slave trade. Instead of working under cover, converting to their views, one by one, silently^ they boldly and pubUcly presented their plan, headed Trvth and Righteousness ; and like a good soldier, stood firm amid discour- agements, unmoved by calumny, and imdismayed by threats ; and the glorious result is known to the world. Truth prevailed. " One did chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight." God loves to have his children boldly hold up the truth ; and he always honors it, when thus exhibited before his enemies. How did KiTTRiDGE and Beecher begin to form a correct sentiment on the subject of Temperance ? They took the only speedy, safe, and correct course to remove the evil they would combat. And what was the result of all these efforts 1 First a storm of wrath, as might have been expected, was poured out, lut subsequently truth has prevailed, and the enemy lies bleed- ing, ready to die. If enemies^ as well as friends are not brought to embrace the truth, little is done. The same arguments which convince one side, must be used to convince the other also ; and it is a saving of time and labor to address both classes at once. Opinion of the Committee of the London Sabbath Protection Society. Just as this work was prepared for the press we received from the Secretary of the London Society, "for promoting the due obser- vance of the Lord's day," a file of their pubhcations, among which is the following, being the seventh reason of the committee, urged against objections, and in favor of the course pursued by Sir Andrew Agnew in presenting his bills on the subject of Sab- bath desecration to the British Parliament, which we are happy to insert in this place. " It is the most fair and honest mode of dealing, on the part of those who are of opinion that the exigency of the case calls for a comprehensive measure, and to declare at once what is the ut- most extent of the objects they have in view j and what is the U 158 THE SABBATH. exact amount of the measure with which they may be satisfied ; and it is considered that such a course is the most Hkely to at- tract the approbation and good opinion of right thinking individu- als, and (which is an infinitely higher consideration) to draw down the blessing of Almighty God." Enough has been said to show, that the only way to form a correct public sentiment, is to give truth its appropriate place, the very forefront of the battle. Then God will smile on the en- terprise and speed it. But if we consult worldly wisdom, the re- sult will be defeat and shame. The Bible does not allow us to use, in these enterprises, this time-serving policy, but unites with experience in teaching, that, it is never wise to cover the sword of tButh with a scabbard. The wicked must be rebuked, and severely wounded, yet in love, and with a kind, though deter- mined spirit. These remarks are not meant to imply, that whenever a re- formation is to be effected, it is always necessary to produce a tremendous excitement, and awaken a general opposition, as if desirable on their own account, or for the sake of putting men in a rage as a preparative for their reasoning correctly. A general reformation, like the one under consideration, however, is al- ways attended by great excitement and opposition. And these are among the most prominent indications, that truth has taken root and is bringing forth fruit. No great and powerful nation ever yet yielded up her possessions and her glory without a struggle, nor has any prominent vice been uprooted and destroy- ed until all its votaries, one by one, have been attacked, beaten back, taken, bound hand and foot, and slain, or converted into friends. And this is not the work of a day, to be accompUshed without effort — difficult, embarrassing, trying, and we had al- most said, deadly, and unending. It would be lolly, not to say madness, to attempt to remove the evil of Sabbath-breaking, so deeply rooted, so universal in this land, without making the truth blaze upon the eyes of all, and relying on the power, grace and mercy of God to aid in the undertaking. And does any one suppose that this can be done without producing excitement 1 As well might the full blaze of noonday pour its thousand rays into an eye unaccustomed to the light, without producing pain or emotion. SABBATH LWION. 159 Then let us act openly. Let the sin of the Sabbath-breaker and his immediate duty be plainly, speedily set before him. The sooner the truth and the whole truth is told, touching this matter, the better. While men are laboring, secretly, to set the public mind right, the evil and the difficulties of removing it are increas- ing faster than a correct pubhc sentiment ; God is, meanwhile, dishonored, the church continues to suffer loss, and immortal Bouls, in countless multitudes, rush on to crime and perdition. SABBATH UNION. " * 7%e General Union for promoting the observance of the Christian Sabbath,^ was formed in the city of New York, May 9, 1828, by about 200 ministers and laymen, of different denom- inations, from fifteen States and Territories. The Constitution provides that the Society should ' consist indiscriminately of the friends of morality and religion of all denominations, who may choose to combine their influence for the promotion of this inter- esting object j' and states that, ' as the weapons of the Chris- tian warfare are not carnal, but spiritual, the means employed by this Society for effecting their design, shall be the influence of personal example, of moral suasion, with arguments drawn from the oracles of God, from the existing laws of our country, and appeals to the consciences and hearts of men.' The follow- ing was the pledge required of all the members of the Union : *We, whose names are undersigned, do hereby acknowledge our obligation to keep the Sabbath according to the Scriptures ; and we pledge ourselves to each other, and to the Christian pub- lic, to refrain from all secular employments on that day, and from travelling in steam-boats, stages, canal-boats, or otherwise, except in case of necessity or mercy ; and to aim at discharging the duties connected with that sacred day ; and also, that we will, as circumstances admit, encourage and give a preference to those lines of conveyance, whose OAvners do not employ them on the Sabbath.' '' A forcible ' Address to the People of the United States,' writ- ten by Rev. Lyman Beecher, was published, with the proceed- ings of the Convention, and circulated throughout the country. It set forth the importance of the Christian Sabbath ; that ' it 160 THE SABBATH. appeared that the respect of former generations for the Sabbath was in many places gone, and in all places fast failing before tho inimdation of business and pleasure j that commerce, on our seaboard, and rivers, and canals, and turnpikes, is putting in mo- tion a secular enterprise, which is fast and fearfully annihilating the national conscience in respect to the Sabbatii, and rolling the wave of oblivion over that sacred day ;' that the members of the Convention would make ' the attempt to preserve to the nation the invaluable blessings of the Sabbath day ;' and that * by the grace of God, the members of this Union will exercise their rights of property, for the preservation of the Sabbath, of their famihes, and their beloved country, unangered and unawed.* " Auxiliaries were formed in various parts of the country, cor- respondence was carried on extensively by friends of the Sab- bath, and pubhc attention was directed to the desecration of the day, and the means of preventing it. The parent Society held three public anniversaries, and it was thought that the Society was established on a sure foundation as one of the great Benevo- lent Institutions of the age. Their Annual Reports were pub- lished and widely circulated. " Contemporaneous with these efforts were the publication of De Vinne's Tract on the Sabbath, a copy of which was distributed to every family in this city ; public meetings in various parts of the country to call public attention to the subject ; the publica- tion of Rev. Heman Humphrey's Essays on the Sabbath ; the circulation of petitions to Congress to repeal the law requiring Post-offices to be opened on the Lord's day, and consequently obliging the mails to be transported during holy time; and numberless handbills, essays, sermons, &c., calling the attention of the people to the subject and the estabhshment of the Pioneer line of stages to run during six days of the week between Buf- falo and Albany, N. Y. [But the Petitions and lines of stages had no immediate connection with this Union, nor did its con- tinuance depend on their success or defeat. Those were indi- vidual enterprises, and were prosecuted mainly by individual effort] " Among those who took an active part in the attempts made to preserve the Sabbath were the late Jeremiah Evarts and Jo- siah Bissel, Jr., names that should be held in everlasting remem- SABBATH UNION. 161 'brance by all the friends of the Lord's day. Of the former, it was well observed by Rev. Gardiner Spring, in his ' Tribute to the memory of the late Jeremiah Evarts, Esq.,' that ^he took a most active part in the measures adopted to prevent the trans- portation of the mail on that sacred day ; wrote circulars and petitions, and presented them for signatures ; conversed exten- sively with members of Congress on this subject ; and compiled and published the pamphlet, consisting of extracts from memo- rials to Congress from different parts of the country on this matter, together with an introduction and conclusion written by himself.' "No public meeting was held after the third anniversary, nor any publication issued by the Society. The Society and its aux- iliaries were soon considered defunct. The Corresponding Sec- retary published a brief statement in tlie religious newspapers, assigning the reasons for the early discontinuance of the public meetings, and the cessation of action on the part of the Society. These reasons, and others, may be enumerated thus : 1. No suitable General Agent could be obtained to superin- tend the affairs of the Society. Five or six gentlemen of eminent abilities, among whom were Frehnghuysen, Mcllvaine, Fisk and Edwards, were successively appointed, with the offer of a sufficient salary, but they all de- clined the appointment. 2. The members of the Executive Committee, being men bu- sily engaged in their respective callings, could not devote the time requisite to conducting the business of tlie Society alone. 3. Some of the officers of the Society did not refrain from travelling on the Lord's day. 4. Some ministers of the Gospel, in various parts of the United States, in travelling to their [church conferences and judicatories,] to the annual meetings of the Religious and Benevolent Societies, and on other occasions, frequently travelled on the Sabbath. [And many laymen followed their example.] 5. The effort made by the members of the Convention that formed the General Union was spasmodic j and too many of them were recreant to the Pledge they had adopted. 6. Too much reliance was placed on human effort, and Chris- tians generally did not wrestle in prayer for the divine interpo- sition and blessing. 14* 162 THE SABBATH. 7. Churches did not generally discipline their members for desecrating the Sabbath. 8. The officers of the Society were not sustained by the prayers, benefactions, and personal efforts of ministers and pious laymen throughout the country. 9. And lastly the officers of the Society did not feel, as they should have done, the value of the great trust committed to themj nor evince that devotedness to the cause which was requisite, with the divine blessing, to arouse the nation to a sense of its sin, and bring about its abandonment" CHAPTER V. PETITIONS AND REMONSTRANCES AGAINST SUNDAY MAILS. It is believed by some and denied by others, that the mail, in this country, has been carried, on Sunday, on some of the impor- tant routes, ever since the establishment of the Post-office De- partment. This practice was introduced, and has been continued, by the Postmasters-General, who claim to derive their authority for so doing, from the law of 1810. But they are under no obliga- tion, civil or religious, thus to send the mail through the land. They assume the responsibility of that act, and Congress assumes the responsibility of requiring deputy Postmasters to violate the laws of most of the States and Territories, and the law of God. It is scarcely to be credited, that, if the mail was thus carried, our forefathers would not have left on record long and repeated remonstrances against so glaring a violation of the divine law. Perhaps they did remonstrate, but the earliest applications to Congress that we have found are recorded below, and relate, not so much to carrying, as to distributing the mail, or to the law requiring Postmasters to labor on Sunday, enacted 1810. Gideon Granger^s Report. « 11th Congress. No. 26. 3d Session. ^^Remonstrances against the delivery of letters, papers, and packages, at Post-offices, on Sunday, communicated to the House of Representatives January ^ist, 1811. " The Postmaster-General, in obedience to the resolutions (re- ferring to him two memorials from sundry citizens of Philadel- phia and New- York, substantially similar, the first of which fol- lows this report) of the House of Representatives of the United States passed on the 4th and 18th of the present month, respect- fully reports : — 164 THE SABBATH. " That to keep the government and its agents informed of such events as might be interesting to the nation with as little delay as possible j to equalize, among the merchants of the seve- ral capitals, the chances of receiving commercial information ; and to cause the great lines of communication to and from the centre to the various parts of the nation, to be kept up with regu- larity and despatch, and the routes to be performed within the least time practicable ; he has caused the mail, on many of the most important routes, to be transported on the Sabbath ; under a belief that it was a work of necessity." [Worldly considera- tions and advantages merely, irrespective oi the law of God, con- stitute the " work of necessity !"] " To guard against any annoyance to the good citizens of the United States, he carefully instructed and directed the agentp of this office to pass quietly, without announcing their arrival or departure by the sounding of horns or trumpets, or any other act calculated to call off the attention of the citizens from their devotions : but, until after the passage of the act of the 30th of April, 1810, this office never demanded of the Postmasters, on the Sabbath day, the performance of any duties, other than those of taking from the mail portmanteaus, the letters destined for delivery at the particular office, and duly forwarding the mail according to the usual course of business. In all previous in- stances, where letters were delivered to the citizens, it had been by the courtesy of the Postmasters, though often with the know- ledge, and sometimes on the recommendation of the Postmas- ter-General. That, under and by virtue of the 9th section of the act of the 30th of April, 1810, the Postmaster-General con- ceived himself bound to compel the Postmasters to receive let- ters from, and deliver letters to the citizens on the Sabbath day ; and, in conformity to that act, the following instruction was given to the Postmasters, to wit ; ' At Post-offices where the mail arrives on Sunday, the office is to be kept open for the delivery of letters, &c.j for one hour after the arrival and assorting of the mail ; but in case that would interfere with the hours of pubHc worship, then the office is to be kept open for one hour after the usual time of dissolving the meetings, for that purpose.' " [All instructions and directions to mail carriers, to pass quietly and noiselessly, to and from the Post-offices, on Sunday, have long SUNDAY MAILS. 165 eince been insufficient to guard the public against frequent in- terruptions from this source on the day devoted to rest and reli- gious worship. And this might have been anticipated. A li- cense to do wrong in one instance, leads to wrong doing in many."] * * " Although in cases of extreme anxiety or national calam- ity, it may be proper for Postmasters to open their offices for the reception and delivery of letters on the Sabbath, and particularly to the officers of Government, still it is believed, that the good sense of the officers is a sufficient safeguard for the delivery of letters under all such circumstances ; and that compelling the Postmasters to attend to the duties of the office on the Sabbath, is, on them, a hardship, as well as in itself tending to bring into disuse and disrepute the institutions of that holy day. " All of which is respectfully submitted. " Gideon Granger, Postmaster-Genera\. « General Post-office, Jan'y '30th, 1811." At this early period, there appear to have been some scruples in the minds of public officers, as to the propriety and justice of compelling men to labor on Sunday ; and thereby lending their influence to destroy its sanctity. But familiarity with the prac- tice has rendered men callous to the divine claims — the natural and imavoidable consequence of indulging in any known sin. Remonstrance from Philadelphia. *' To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives ol the United States in Congress, the memorial, representation, and petition of the undersigned citizens, resident in Philadel- phia, respectfully represent : — " That ever since the establishment of the Post-offiCe in this city, the Postmaster, conforming with the established laws of the Commonwealth, has, until a short time since, kept the office for the receiving and deUvering of letters shut on the first day of the week, usually called the Lord's day ; that, as well himself, as the differ- ent persons employed in that department, have hitherto enjoyed the privileges of that day in common with their ^ellow-citizens. " Your memorialists, however, some few months past, have observed the Post-office open, for the distribution of letters on the said first day of the week ; and are told that this measure, which 166 THE SABBATH. infringes upon the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, is in con-, sequence of a provision in the act passed by your honorable body, on the 25th of April last, and which, by the 9th section thereof, provides, ' that every Postmaster shall keep an office, at which one or more persons shall attend on every day on which a mail, or bag, or other packet, or parcel of letters shall arrive, by land or water, as well as on other days, at such hours as the Postmaster- General shall direct. And it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, or packet,' &c. " Your memorialists are informed that, under this clause, the Postmasters are compelled to keep the office open on the Lord's day ; to the evident infringement of the laws now in force in this State, against the violation thereof. " Your memorialists respectfully call the attention of your honorable body to this subject, even on the ground of utility. For many years the city of Philadelphia has carried on a pros- perous and extensive commerce, without violating what they deem it their duty to state to be, both the law of God and man. Nor can they see any greater impropriety in keeping open the custom-house, the banks, insurance offices, and stores of mer- chants, generally, than of the Post-office. For if the reception of letters can be made of any material advantage to our mer- chants, much more may those useful institutions be made sub- servient to their purpose. " Your memorialists cannot, in justice to their own feelings, refrain from observing, that the violation of known and univer- sally received precepts, when sanctioned by the most powerful influence in the Union, cannot fail of having a tendency to jus- tify every species of breach of the laws made for the strict ob- servance of the first day of the week, as set apart by the com- mand of God for his more immediate service. " They do, therefore, most respectfully and earnestly petition your honorable body, that the said 9th section of the act, entitled * An act regulating the Post-office establishment,' and passed the 25th of April last, may be so amended, as to prohibit the deli- very of letters, papers and packets, on the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's day. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Jam£s P. WiX'SON, and others. SUNDAY MAILS. 167 The above petition contains an example of Christian and phi- lanthropic faithfulness. Had every friend of the Sabbath in this country sent to Congress similar remonstrances, and continued to send them, long ago would this nation have ceased to be a Sabbath-breaking nation. There was at that time abundant influence, which might have been brought to bear on our na- tional Legislature, to induce them to repeal an act requiring a certain portion of our citizens to violate a plain and an acknow- ledged command of God. For the neglect of this duty and the consequent evils, the Church is responsible. God cannot lightly estimate her guilt in suffering so important a command to be blotted from the statute book of this republic. She must yet come forward and redeem this institution from the contempt into which it has fallen, or, with those who have trampled upon it, sink into anarchy and heathenism. Reports of Mr. Rhea. « 12th Congress. No. 27. 1st Session. Communicated to the HoiLse of Representatives, Jan. 3, 1812. " The Committee on the Post-office and post-roads, to whom were referred the petition of the Synod of Pittsburg and other citizens of several Christian denominations, residing in the west- ern parts of the United States, and the report of the Postmaster- General thereon, have had the same under consideration, and do respectfully report : " That however desirable it would be to advise the adoption of such regulations relative to the carrying and opening of the mail as might meet the views of the venerable Synod of Pitts- burg and other petitioners, your committee cannot, at this peculiar crisis of the United States, recommend any alterations in the law regulating the Post-office estabUshment ; and do re- spectfully submit the following resolution : " Resolved, That the petitioners have leave to withdraw their petition." « 13th Congress. No. 29. 3d Session. " Communicated to the House of Representatives, Jan. 20, 1815. " Mr. Rhea, from the committee on the Post-office and post- roads, to whom were referred sundry petitions and memorials 168 THE SABBATH. remonstrating against the usage of transporting and opening the mail on the Sabbath, and the report of tiie Postmaster-General relating thereto, reported : " That they have had the same under consideration, and deeming it of great national importance, particularly in time of war, that no delay should attend the transportation of the mail, they deem it inexpedient to interfere with the present arrange- ment of the Post-ofRce estabhshment, and therefore submit the following resolution : " Resolved, That it is inexpedient to grant the prayer of the petitioners." From Return J, Meigs, Postmaster-General. General Post-office, Jan. 16, 1815. " Sir, — The Postmaster General, to whom were referred sun- dry memorials against the usage of transporting and opening the mails on the Sabbath, has the honor to report the following facts and observations : " The usage of transporting the mails on the Sabbath is coeval with the Constitution of the United States." [Here follows a statement showing the different routes on which the mail is transported on Sunday, and the delays which a suspension of the mail on that day would occasion. He then proceeds,] " and generally^ the mails would, on an average, be retarded equal to one-seventh part of the time now employed." [And might not the same be said should other business be sus- pended one-seventh part of the time ? The farmer, who in har- vest should lie by on Sunday, would lose one-seventh part of his time. So also the mechanic, the manufacturer, the profes- sional man, &c. &c. This is arguing on the principle assumed by those who consider time spent in keeping the Sabbath as lost, which is by no means admitted. And have the people of these United States any more right to demand a mail on Sim- day than the continuance of other avocations, perhaps equally important? But a question of loss or gain is never, for a mo- ment, to be put in competition with a known command of our Creator and Benefactor. It is sufficient, in any case, that we have a " Thus saith the Lord," for our guide. j SUNDAY MAILS. 1G9 When speaking of the law requiring Postmasters to attend to the duties of their office on Sunday, he says, " In most of the of- fices, it occupies but little time, and cannot greatly interfere with rehgious exercises ;" intimating at least that if a man attends public worship on a Sunday, he need not hesitate about secu- larizing the rest of the day ; that merely opening and distribut- ing the mail on Sunday cannot be a serious violation of God's law. He continues,] " It is to be observed, that public policy, pure morality, and undefiled religion, combine in favor of a due observance of the Sabbath. Nevertheless, a nation owes to itself an exercise of means adapted to its own preservation," &c. It is best to serve and obey God, if we think our safety and prosperity will be promoted by ii; but not otherwise! The city must be guarded in the way dictated by our wisdom, irre- spective of the fact, that unless the Lord keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain. It is greatly to be lamented, that so many politicians and statesmen of the present day, inculate prin- ciples and exhibit examples, which cannot be safely followed. Report of Mr. Daggett, " 13th Congress. No. 30. 3d Session. Mr. Daggett communicated to the Senate a report, dated January 27, 1815, as follows : " The committee of the Senate, to whom were referred the petitions of numerous citizens of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Ohio, praying the Congress to prohibit the transportation and opening of the mail on the Sabbath, having attended to the duty assigned them, respectfully report : " That the importance of the subject, and the motives which actuate so large a portion of their fellow-citizens, are duly re- garded and appreciated. Were the practice of the transporta- tion of the mail on every day of the week now commenced, £ind that of opening it on the Sabbath under no regulations, the com- mittee would consider it necessary to make some legislative provision on the subject. The General Government, from its establishment, has pursued a system of causing the mail to be 15 170 THE SABBATH. transported on the Sabbath, on the great roads leading through and across the country, while the practice has been avoided on r routes of less importance. The public convenience has justifiedtl these measures, in view of the government." ■< The public convenience justifies the violation of the fourth commandmeni ! He next refers to the objectionable law, and the regulations relative to delivering letters out of the ordinary season for divine service, and concludes with presuming that the Postmaster-General will continue this regulation ; and consider- ing that our country is engaged in war, deems it not advisable , to pass ANY LAW ou the subject matter of the petitions. > [ ;: R vtalijfi -f. Reyort of Mr. Mills. y^^l4th Congress. No. 1. (In the Appendix.) 2d Session. j ■' Mr. Mills communicated to the House of Representatives^ the following report, dated March 1, 1817. "^ " The committee to whom was referred sundry petitions, from ' different parts of the United States, praying that Congress would prohibit, by law, the transportation and opening of the mail on the Sabbath, ask leave to report : That they have de- voted that attention to the said petitions, which the importance of the subject, and the motives which actuated so respectable a portion of their fellow-citizens, seemed to require." Then follow a number of inquiries proposed to Return J. Meigs, Postmaster-General, the last of which is, " Would the ' prohibition of the transportation and opening of the mail on the Sabbath essentially impede the arrangements of your depart- i. ment, or injure the public interest ?" "^ [This inquiry implies that the law of the Sabbath must bow-** to Post-office arrangements and public interest. The Postmaster-'"* General, in his answer, after referring to the existing laws al- ready quoted, to the short time occupied in delivering letters, and to the detention of the mail as a general loss of one-seventh part of time, remarks,] " The usage of transporting the mail on the Sabbath is coeval with the government under the present Con-;,r Btitution of the United States, though the practice of delivering letters on the Sabbath is of more recent origin, and commenced in 1810." He concludes in the following language : " The contents , of the mail are not confined to public despatches, nor to subjects -^ SUNDAY MAILS. 171 of private business or pleasure. The same mail which transports such, equally accelerates supplies to want, consolation to afflic- tion, and to piety evangelical correspondence; and thus, per- forming works of charity, it may be considered as doing good on the Sabbath day.^^ [Wonder if the General Government would think it worth the while to maintain Sunday mails for the benevo- lent purpose of " conveying supplies to want, consolation to af- fliction," &c.] " In addition to the foregoing letter [from the Postmaster- General], the committee beg leave to observe, that they cor- dially agree with the petitioners in the importance of a religious observance of the Christian Sabbath — an institution calculated to afford an opportunity for relaxation from labor and worldly cares ; for reflection upon serious and moral subjects ; for devout adoration of the Creator and Governor of the world ; for acts of charity and benevolence, and for the exercise and improvement of all those virtues which adorn the nature and contribute to the happiness of man." r The following remark and resolutions close the report : io " But, although the committee believe it necessary to con- tinue the transportation of the mail, they do not perceive that the same necessity exists for the delivery of letters at the re- spective Post-offices on the Sabbath. They therefore report the following resolutions : " Resolved^ That it is inexpedient, at this time, to pass any law respecting the transportation of the mail. " Resolved, That provision be made, by law, to prohibit the delivery of letters at the respective Post-offices of the United States on the Sabbath." From this time no public proceedings in relation to Sunday mails are found till 1829. From the Report of Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, communicated to the Senate of the Twentieth Con- gress, at their second session, January 19th, 1829, it appears, that numerous petitions, similar to the above, had then been re- ceived, and referred to a committee. This was the period of the pioneer effort, in the western part of the State of New York, and of general interest awakened in behalf of the Christian Sabbath. Petitions were also presented, in great numbers, to the House 172 THE SABBATH. of Representatives of the same Congress, and referred to the Committee on Post-offices and post-roads. Their chairman, the Hon. Samuel McKean, communicated to the House a report thereon, February 3d, 1829. This report speaks in respectful terms of the petitioners, and of their motives — of the high im- portance of the Sabbath, civilly as well as rehgiously — of its recognition by the United States' Government, &c., &c. It then introduces a train of reasoning, somewhat analogous to that al- ready objected to in the reports above commented upon, and closes with remarks and a resolution in favor of a repeal of the law requiring Postmasters to deliver letters, &c., on Sunday. In connection with this report is found a communication to the Chairman, from the Hon. John McLean, Postmaster-Gen- eral, dated January i9th, 1829, answering several interrogatories in relation to the pecuniary income, the speed of the mail, and the effects on commercial interests, should the prayer of the peti- tioners be granted. Speaking of the commencement of Sunday mails, Mr. McLean says, " A daily mail has been in operation, on some routes, almost ever since the organization of this de- partment under the Federal Government." From this lan- guage, it is obvious, that its author supposed that the transporta- tion of the mail on Sunday in this country, was not " coeval with the estabhshment of the Post-office department," as has been stated. It should be recollected, that in a number of instances, the committees of Congress, while they opposed the passage of a law prohibiting the transportation of the mail on Sunday, have, nevertheless, been in favor of a repeal of the clause compelling Postmasters to deliver letters, &c., on that day, and have recom- mended the repeal of the same, — the very clause complained of in the petitions of 1838 and 1839. The Hon. W. T. Barry, Postmaster-General, communicated to the Twenty-first Congress, first session, March 4th, 1830, " a statement of the post-routes within the United States on which the mail is transported on Sunday." The number, according to this report, was nearly 300 — extending through the whole coun- try, on all the great thoroughfares. What an astonishing amount of Sabbath desecration must have resulted. The increase of these mails, since that time, has been great, and must be greater SUNDAY MAILS. 17^ still. When we contrast the temporal and spiritual interests of all those engaged in this demoralizing practice, with the 'pecur niary benefits derived to the nation, or to individuals, can any one, properly enlightened, for a moment doubt the inutility and inexpediency of such a measure ? It destroys morality and good order, mental and physical energy, and the brightest prospects of the undying soul. Although Sunday mails may give temporary pleasure and profit to few, they bring bankruptcy and eternal pain on many. And that man who demands a Sunday mail can be neither a philanthropist, a patriot, nor a consistent Christian. Is not he a Sabbath-breaker, as well as the man who carries, or opens and distributes it? Hear what Dr. Adam Clark, in his Com- mentary, says of the Sabbath-breaker. " Those who habitually disregard its [the Sabbath's] moral obligations, are, to a man, not only good for nothing, but are wretched in themselves, a curse to society, and often end their lives miserably." What has God said concerning them ? To such an inquiry, the friends of Sunday mails strenuously object, as is apparent from the fol- lowing passage in Mr. Johnson's first report. " The petitioners appear, in many mstances, to lay it down as an axiom, that the practice is a violation of the law of God."' But can the true philanthropist and the consistent Christian, though they be " civil legislators merely," overlook the bearing of such sentiments on the moral and political destinies of those for whom they legislate ? Even if Congress refuse to prohibit Sunday mails, by law, they should not require of any man labor on that day. And, by ex- ample, they ought in all things to lend their influence to sustain an institution, on which rests the hope, not only of the Christian, but of the patriot and the world. The next document to which we come, is the report of Hon. R. M. Johnson, communicated to the House of Representatives, March 4th and 5th, 1830, at the first session of the Twenty-first Congress. This report partakes of the same sophistry and vitu- peration of the one made to the Senate in 1829. It has already been reviewed by able men, and shown to be most unkind, un- fair, and unchristian. Satan never accomplished a greater tem- porary victory over this institution, through any agency, in any country, unless the infidelity of France be an exception, than was 15* 174 THE SABBATH. accomplished by this and the former reports. As he sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light, that he may the better suc- ceed in his nefarious designs, so do these reports. They admit just enough of the truth of the Christian religion, and of the im- portance of the Sabbath, to throw the reader off his guard ; and then, by bold and unfounded assumptions, by false premises and wrong conclusions, lead him to think that the writer is contend- ing, legitimately, against a reality, and not fallaciously, against a figment of his disordered imagination. But no discriminating mind, and especially no enlightened Christian can fail to see ia these reports blank infidelity, touching this institution, and the right of God to require its observance. It is greatly to be desired, that the writers of these reports may see the error of the course they have pursued, and repent of it, though they can never make amends for all the evil brought on the nation through these instrumentalities. Report of Hon. Mr, McCreery, The Hon. Mr. McCreery, of the same committee, submit- ted his views on this subject to the House, March 5th, 1830, de- fending the aspersed character, impugned motives, and misrepre- sented views of the petitioners ; as well as the principles for which they contended. It is a document too sensible, candid, and too much in point, to be withheld from the reader. " All Christian nations acknowledge the first day of the week to be the Sabbath. Almost every state in this Union has, by positive legislation, not only recognized this day as sacred, but has forbidden its profanation under penalties imposed by law. " It was never considered by any of those states as an en- croachment upon the rights of conscience, or as an improper in- terference with the opinions of the few, to guard the sacredness of that portion of time acknowledged to be holy by the many. " The petitioners ask not Congress to expound the moral law j they ask not Congress to meddle with theological controversies, much less to interfere with the rights of the Jew, or the Sabba- tarian ; or to treat with the least disrespect the rehgious feel- ings of any portion of the inhabitants of the Union ; they ask the introduction of no religious coercion into our civil institu- SUNDAY MAILS. Vt$ tions ; no blending of civil and religious affairs ; but they do ask that the agents of Government, employed in the Post-office De- partment, may be permitted to enjoy the same opportunities of attending to moral and religious instruction, or intellectual im- provement, on that day, which are enjoyed by the rest of their fel- low-citizens. They approach the Government, not for personal emolument, but as patriots and Christians, to express their high sense of the moral energy and necessity of the Sabbath for the perpetuity of our republican institutions, and respectfully request that Congress will not, by legislative enactments, impair these energies. " Among the many reasons which might be advanced, that it is both expedient and a duty to grant the prayer of the petition- ers, the following only are submitted : " The petitioners ask the enactment of no law establishing the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath ; they only ask the extension and application to one department of Govern- ment, of a principle, which is recognized, and has, since the foun- dation of our Government, been acknowledged in every other de- partment. The principle embraced in the petitions has been re- cognized by Congress, by adjourning over the first day of the week. * * All the other Executive Departments of Govern- ment are closed on that day. Congress has never, by this, con- sidered itself expounding the moral law, or as introducing any religious coercion into our civil institutions ; or making any in- novations on the religious rights of the citizens ; or settling, by legislation, any theological question that may exist between Jews, Sabbatarians, and other denominations. The good of so- ciety requires the strict observance of one day in seven. Paley, and other writers on moral philosophy, have shown, that the resting of men every seventh day; their winding up their labors and concerns once in seven days ; their abstraction from the af- fairs of the world, to improve their minds and converse with their Maker ; their orderly attendance on public worship and instruc- tion, have a direct and powerful tendency to improve the morals and temporal happiness of mankind. ' The wise and good Ruler of the Universe made the appoint- ment, not by a mere arbitrary exercise of authority, but for our good J and, whatever difference of opinion may exist in respect \ 176 THE SABBATH. to the proper day to biofafenred, almoet all agree that one day in seven Rhould be deVoted to religious exercises. That being admitted, can any thing be more reasonable than the r(M|nnHt of the petitioners, that at least so much of the law Hhould be re- pealed as requires the Post-ofRce to be kept open every day of the week ? Does not the enactment of that law plainly imply that mankind are under no moral obligations to refruin from secular labor on any day of the week ? Is it not in direct opposition to the received opinion of almost nil profcHsinjj^ ChristianH ? It is to that part of the law, more particularly, which requires, in tcrniB, all the PoBtmaslcrR throughout tlio United States to deliver letters, packets, and papers on every day of the week, to which the mi- nority ol' your couimittee object ; and which is most olfensive tft the petitioners. In this Htatute is at once seen a palpable en- croachment on the rights of conscience. It either drives every man who feels himself morally bound to observe the Sabbath in a rehgious manner, from the service of his country, and equal participation in her favors, or subjects him to the hard terms of remaining in oflicc at the expense of his principles. It is freely acknowledged that works of necessity and mercy are not forbid- den ; and if the transportation of tlie mail on Sunday could be justified on that ground, (which is not admitted), it carmot be contended that the keeping open offices where no mail arrives on that day, is the work of necessity. " The arguments which have been urged for the transporta- tion of the Tnail, &c., on the Sabbath, arc mainly derived from commercial convenience, and from alleged derangement of busi- ness and intercourse. This doctrine militates against the first principles of good morals. If these are important at all, they are paramount to the claims of expediency ; but this plea makes them subservient to the pressure of worldly business, and con- verts them into mere questions of profit and loss. " The prayer of the petitioners cannot interlcrc with the reli- gious feelings or consciences of any portion of the citizens, be- cause they ask no service to be performed, no principle to bo pro- fessed. It is only asked that certain duties be not required on a certain day. Were it imposing any service, or requiring the profession of any opinions, those whose religious sentiments were dillcrent, might justly complain. But he who consoien- SDNDAY HAILS. 177 tiously believes that he is bound to observe the seventh day of the week, in a religious manner, can have no just reason to complain, because Government talces nothing from him in permitting all clEisses of citizens to observe the first day of the week as a day of rehgious rest. The case would be quite diflferent, did the pri- vilege of resting on that day, impose any thing on any class of citizens contrary to their conscience. " Therefore, Resolved, that it is expedient to grant the prayer of the petitioners." (Signed) « Wm. McCreeby." In order to place before the reader more fully the arguments of the petitions and remonstrances ageiinst Sunday mails, a few extracts from some of those presented in 1829, will now be sub- joined. From Newark, N. J., Dec. 10th, 1829. f- * * « That yomr memorialists'conscientiously believe that the people of these United States, in their national capacity and character, constitute a Christian nation ; if a Christian nation, then our Government is a Christian Government, a government formed and estabUshed by Christians, Euid therefore bound by the word of God, not at hberty to contravene his laws, nor to act irrespectively of the obligations we owe to him. * * * "Your memorialists do not ask a legislative act, or any gov- ernmental declaration that Sunday shall be kept holy ; they only ask that the existing laws, requiring £my part of that day to be appropriated to secular business in the Post-office Department, * * may be repealed." From North Carolina. December, 1829. * * " The practice of thus violating one of the express com- mands of Grod, having the sanction of the constituted authorities of the Government, assumes a national character, and may be justly called a national sin — the awful consequences of which are so often detailed in the sacred volume. * * " To put a stop to this practice is not to impose restraint on the rights of any, but rather to remove a restraint which is 178 THE SABBATH. gtievotis to many ; it is to give liberty to all to enjoy the rest and privileges of that sacred day ; and to terminate a practice, the example of which your memorialists humbly conceive to be in- jurious to the morals of the people. * * " By the observance or profanation of the Sabbath, the stand- ard of morals is regulated in every Christian land ; and in pro- portion as Christian morals prevail, the people are happy and the country prosperous ; and if the bond of union, which holds our beloved country together, is ever dissolved, (which may Heaven avert !) it will be by first throwing off all religious and moral restraints. * * No nation has ever suffered by cherishing the spirit of Christ ; but many have been ruined by giving place to a contrary spirit. * * It would be too much to say (and it is now too late to say it) that there shall be no legislative sanc- tions to enforce the laws of God ; the statute book of the nation furnishes too many instances of such sanctions, now to call in question the right. And if, in copying the laws of God, your honorable body can say (without approaching the awful whirl- pool of church and state) that murder is a crime, and shall be punished with death, where, your memorialists would respect- fully ask, is the danger in saying, after the same example, that the violation of the Christian Sabbath is a sin, and ought not to be countenanced ? But, in truth, the subject matter of this me- morial does not involve the question of Church and State, but of morality and State. And in such a union as the latter, all * * would have much cause to rejoice." From the County of Williamson and others, Tenn. " We usurp powers of the General Government to disturb the Sabbath's rest, which the States have never granted ; and we interfere with their constant use of powers, to protect its rest, which they have reserved to themselves. We brand our nation with a dishonorable inconsistency ; virtually declaring, it is from no regard to the authority of the Most High, that we suspend, on the Sabbath, our legislative and judicial business, * * We entice thousands of our citizens from their duty to God, to their famines, to society, and their own souls, on the Sabbath, to work for unlawful gain ; or to amuse themselves and their acquaint- ances with the news just brought from a distance by the Sab- SUNDAY MAILS. 179. bath mail. We assume jurisdiction over religious concerns in opposition to the genius of our free and tolerant constitution, and to our own profession ; and, under the plea of avoiding a reli- gious establishment, which no man asks for, and which the truly religious would most deplore, we make an irreligious es- tablishment, against the authority and observance of the whole decalogue; for, to offend dehberately, in one poini, is to be guilty of all. Thus we spread a disastrous influence over our numerous population throughout the whole land ; we entail a bitter experience of its direful effects upon the next generation ; and tempt the God of the Sabbath to send down his fearful judgments upon our rising nation, without delay and without cessation. " In doing all this, we sin against light. Neither the people in general, nor those who represent them, are at liberty to plead ignorance. We all know, or may know, and the decalogue is the permanent moral law of the Almighty Ruler of nations in his uncontrollable government over us ; that the four command- ments which point out our duty to God, lie at the foundation of the six which point out our duty to men ; that the fourth, which requires our keeping holy to the Lord one day in seven, is as sacred and perpetual as any of the ten. * * * * On its faithful observance, in every community favored witli it, depends the prospect that the people will understand, love, and obey the other precepts of the decalogue ; or that they will ever be re- strained from the most lawless and destructive immorality. " In the infinite benignity of the Deity, the Sabbath was made for man — all mankind. It consults their best interests for time and eternity. It communicates their most important informa- tion. It originates and cherishes their best affections. It im- parts the happiest direction to their moral conduct in all the re- lations of public and private life. It supplies the only adequate cement to human society. It controls the wicked, and protects the good. It is the anchor of the nation's safety and prosperity. Loose its moorings, and you involve millions in the consequent shipwreck. While God visits our world in mercy, it will be a sign and a witness between him and men, how they feel and conduct towards each other. Sanctified by any people to its proper use, it will bring upon them a blessing in its train ) or 180 THE SABBATH. profaned, a curee ; and such a blessing, or such a curse, as shall comport with the majesty of its Almighty Lord, and the impor- tance he attaches to this signal institution. The united testi- mony of prophecy, history, and observation, confirm this antici- pation. " Hence it is manifest, that, by the transportation of the mail and the opening of the Post-offices, by law, on the Sabbath, we make an incalculable sacrifice of principle, character, blessing, and prospect ; while we are supported by no plea of necessiiy • or mercy ; or by no better than that of mere temporal conve- nience and worldly gain." From Philadelphia, Penn. *' Your memorialists cannot but think that the enactment of which they pray a repeal is a virtual infraction of the Consti- tution of the United States ; and they ask no more than a resto- ration of its integrity. * * * * A religious, or rather an irreli- gious test, appears to your memorialists to be in this case imposed, and equal rights to be plainly and injuriously denied to a large portion of the community. * * " Now we believe that nearly all, if not the whole, of the confederating States, at the time they adopted the Federal Con- stitution, had laws in existence, and which still exist, explicitly prohibiting such acts as constantly take place in the conveyance of the mail, and the transaction of business at the Post-offices on Sunday j nor has the power of repealing these laws ever been surrendered to the Federal Legislature. Yet they are in effect repealed ; for they are completely set aside by that part of the Post-office law to which your memorialists refer. The example moreover, which is every week exhibited of a total disregard to the day of sacred rest, in the travelling of the mail under the countenance of a national act, is of more pernicious influence than can easily be set forth. It renders impracticable the effect- ual execution of any of the State laws, by which a due observ- ance of the Lord's day is enjoined ; so that the utter disregard- and desecration of that day, seems likely soon to ensue, if the example which has been, and still is, a principal cause of the evil shall not be withdrawn. * * 'n>*^ And why, let your memorialists be permitted to ask, should SUNDAY MAILS. ^ the numerous individuals employed in the Poet-office Depart- ment, be deprived, as they are, of the rest and the other privi- leges, v/hich their fellow citizens of all descriptions enjoy, by the suspension of their ordinary engaffemenis for one day in seven? No necessity or efficient cause for this peculiarity, your memo- rialists rre -persuaded, can be assigned, even if tlie paramouut consideration of the sacredness of the day should be left out of view. * * " Finally, your memorialists are under the solemn conviction, that the preservation of all our free institutions, in their purity and integrity, if not in their very existence, is deeply involved in this subject. No maxim in politics is better established, than that virtue and good morals are the only basis on which a free government can permanently rest -, and no truth is more clear or important, than that which was inculcated in the farewell address of the father of his country — that morality cannot be preserved without religion ; and to this it may with truth as unquestionably be added, that without a Sabbath, a day of sa- cred rest, religion cannot be maintained in an extensive commu- nity. Do we then ask that Congress should interpose to main- tain it ? No ; we repeat that we only ask that Congress may not permit the law of the United States to destroy it. We en- treat that the law of our country may not be permitted to under- mine and prostrate the palladium of its freedom." From Kentucky. "It is sufficient for the purpose of your memorialists, that the fact exists of abstinence from labor on the Sabbath in all coun- tries, where Christianity or civilization has prevailed ; and that the day has been recognized and respected in every Government in such countries ; and almost every code of human laws there adopted has acknowledged the sanctity of the day. The example of the Government, whose organs we address, can be quoted on this subject. Congress ceases from their deliberations. Courts adjourn, and the President and all the Executive Departments close their offices on that day, except that portion of executive power placed under the Postmaster-General, which, contrary to the general rule, is on that day in busy operation. To open all these offices, and to set all these departments to the exercise of 16 182 THE SABBATH. their duties on the Sabbath, would be resisted by the sense of the American people ; and your memorialists cannot see that the exception alluded to, as practised, is any better in principle than such conjoint labor would be in every Department. *<>■ "Your memorialist^, protest against the States supporting, aroifig^^or being united to the Church; and UTey ^soy pro test against the civil power being used to trample down or persecute the Church, or to weaken and destroy one church duty. * * We know Congress cannot, and ought not, to enforce the duties of the Sabbath. We ask them not to do this ; but we ask them to keep their hands from pulling down, destroying, and disre- garding a day, the duties of which are established by another, and infinitely superior power. It is no act of positive legisla- tion in favor of the Sabbath, or any other religious duty, that we solicit. We ask the National Legislature to act negatively ; to retire from the controversy, and to repeal a law which has vio- lated what is admitted by Christians to be a religious duty. * * " Other countries in Christendom respect the day, even with their mail intercourse ; and we regret that our own Government is, in this respect, almost a solitary exception to the practice of suspension of Sabbath labor. * * In almost all, if not every State code, the Sabbath is recognized, and penalties inflicted on its breach. * * " Now your memorialists would urge the impropriety of Con- gress expressly authorizing acts to be done on the Sabbath, which violate all these State codes. Can Congress, by one or two sentences, in regulating her Post-ofRce Department, virtually repeal and annul all these State laws ? If they come into col- lision, which is to yield ? If the State officer, in execution of a State law, stops the mail, which is forbidden by that law to travel on the State soil, will the discretion vested by act of Con- gress in the Postmaster-General, to direct mails to travel at all hours, protect the traveller, annul the State law, and paralyze the power of the prosecuting officer ?" * * From Alexandria^ D. C. "Your memorialists regard the institution of the Sabbath as one of the most striking proofs of Divine beneficence ; and as affording the only adequate means for preserving the fear of SUNDAY MAILS. Ig^ God, the sanctity of oaths, genuine personal integrity, and pub- lic morals ; and our civil and political principles. * * " The friends of religion and virtue have witnessed the in- crease of immorality with deep regret and sohcitude ; and they are constrained to .believe that it is in vain for the friends of good order to attempt to protect this holy day from prof£ination, while the Government allows the mails to be carried on Sundays, and requires Postmasters to deliver letters, papers, and packets, ' on every day of the week.' We feel that we have a right to look for example to the Government of that people w^ho have often called themselves the most virtuous people on earth ; to hope that those whom they have clothed with power, will not longer permit a practice which is continually undermining the morals, and consequently endangering the liberties of the na- tion. ( "Your memorialists can look upon a disregard of the Sabbath in no other light than as the first step on the road to crime ; and they believe with that distinguished commentator, Judge Black- stone, that the profanation of that day is an offence against God and religion. The records of the criminal courts of all nations will show that a disregard of the Sabbath and its sacred duties has been the commencement of a departure from those princi- ples which are the best protection against crime. Moral de- linquency, in any country, increases in a ratio with the profana- tion of the Sabbath. It has been said by the advocates of transporting the mail and opening it on Sunday, if this was not done, it would be violated by individuals hiring and sending ex- presses. This may be done, * * yet, will the violation of the Sabbath by individuals, excuse the Government of a people, who call themselves Christians, for giving sanction by their laws and practice to the profanation of a day set apart by the positive command of God for holy duties? With as much propriety might the Government excuse the passage of laws authorizing the violation of each of the other commandments, by pleading the practice of individuals. * * " We do not solicit you to put a stop by pubhc laws to private sins ; but, by example, to arrest a great national sin, founded in a practice sanctioned and commanded by the Government, which practice is in opposition to the best interests of our country j to 184 THE SABBATH. the laws of a holy and merciful God j to the rights of the reli- gious portion of the community j and even to the rights of the brute creation." From AugustOj Maim. " Let the Christian Sabbath cease to be observed as a day of rest from secular labors, and of devotion to the offices of religion, and the influence of rehgious principle would soon be at an end. But public sentiment in favor of the Sabbath must be sustained and strengthened by the manifestation of respect for it, in the official acts of the Government. * * " But it has been alleged, that if the transportation of the mail, and the opening of the Post-offices, on the Sabbath, should cease, it would occasion an interruption of public and private business • productive of evils which no justly-to-be-anticipated good can countervail. To this objection we reply, that if it had been usual to hold courts of justice and to transact legislative business on the Sabbath, it would be deemed a great detriment to the pubhc and private interests to suspend their proceedings on that day ; and arguments of as much weight might have been urged, and with equal confidence and zeal, as are now offered against the prayer of our petition. But will it be insisted, that suspen- sion of business in those instances should not have occurred, and ought not to be sanctioned ? Is not the reason of the thing as strong and conclusive in the one case as in the other 1 * * " We deeply fee!, that it is an object of the greatest import to propitiate the favor and blessing of Him, whose smiles give prosperity to every enterprise, and whose frown rendereth abor- tive every purpose." From Boston^ Mass. " That your memorialists, in common with multitudes of their fellow citizens in all parts of the United States, regard the observance of the Christian Sabbath as pre-eminently conducive to the prevalence of good morals, intelligence, and happiness j as tending to secure and perpetuate all the blessings of a free Government, and as incomparably the best and most powerful means of preserving good order in the community, and of pro- motiog the public prosperity. On the other hand, tiiey consider SltNDAY MAILS. 185 ^he desecration of the Sabbath as a great evil, which, if it should become universal, or nearly so, would be followed by- general ignorance, licentiousness and vice ; and in such a state of things, it would be impossible to sustain our republican insti- tutions, or those religious privileges which are more valuable than life itself. " Your memorialists cannot but lament, that any thing should be done by the authority of the General Government, which tends to diminish the sanctity of a divine institution, or to weak- en the bands of public morality. They respectfully and earnest- ly request, therefore, that so much of the Post-c^ce law as re- quires Post-offices to be kept open on the Sabbath, may be re- pealed ; and that the laws of the several States now in existence for the protection of the Sabbath, may not be violated by the Post-office estabhshment, nor by any branch of the public ser- vice. " Your memorialists * * complain that the present law, which requires Post-offices to be kept open on the Sabbath, is, as they conceive, unconstitutional. Of the constitution of the United States, it is a fundamental principle, that powers not given to the General Government, either expressly or by fair implication, cannot be exercised by that Government. But no power is thus given to the General Government to encroach upon the rehgious privileges of the people. From the first settlement of this coun- try, the privilege of keeping the Sabbath without interruption has been esteemed most valuable, and would not, at any time, have been voluntarily surrendered. * * " Should it be said, that the transportation of the mail, and the keeping open of the Post-offices on the Sabbath, are works of necessity, the assertion is sufficiently refuted by these facts, viz : that, during a great part of the period of our national ex- istence, the mail has not been transported, and Post-offices have not been kept open on the Sabbath ; that many of ouf most en- terprising merchants habitually refuse to take their letters from the office on that day : and that in the greatest commercial em- porium in the world, the Post-office is not opened, nor is Einy mail made up or received there on the Sabbath. There is sup- posed to be five times as much commercial intercourse between London and Liverpool, as between New York and Philadelphia ; 16* 186 THE SABBATH. and yet no mail leaves London for Liverpool between Saturday evening and Monday evening. * * " If Congress has power to make the servants of the pubUc labor on the Sabbath in one Department, it has equal power in all other Departments. But would it be tolerated in this Chris- tian community, that courts of justice and custom-houses should be open on the Sabbath, and that all public offices under the General Government should be held by men who have no regard to that day, in exclusion of all who reverence the sanctuary, and remember the Sabbath to keep it holy? Is a conscien- tious attachment to religious observances a disqualification for office ? * * " The proper management of the Post-office requires the agency of men of integrity: and it cannot be good policy to lessen any of the sanctions by which honesty and fidelity are preserved. " The transaction of publi'i business by the transportation and opening of the mails tends constantly and powerfully to increase the number of those who do not observe the Sabbath, and ulti- mately to destroy the public influence of that divine institution . altogether. * * " If these habits and practices should continue to increase, nothing can be clearer than that the restraints of religion will be removed from the community at large, and either cease to exist, or be consigned to a comparatively small number of retired and obscure individuals. " No legislator should be ignorant that those members of the community who utterly disregard the Sabbath, are soon brought to make it a day of dissipation and riot ; and those who have thus desecrated the day for any considerable time, are prepared for the grossest vices and the most disgraceful crimes. Who does not know, that the perpetration of fraud, theft, arson, burg- lary, robbery, and murder, has become frequent in most parts of the United States ? Who does not know that these crimes are perpetrated, almost exclusively, by persons who have long been in the habit of violating the Sabbath ? In one of our state pris- ons, containing five or six hundred convicts, particular inquiry was made on this subject. The history of one convict was the history of all. They had never observed a Sabbath, or had SUNDAY MAILS. 187 ceased to observe it before they committed the crimes for which they were suffering the vengeance of the laws. " The system of Government, then, which tends to increase the number of Sabbath breakers, tends to fill our state prisons with felons, and our streets with the cry of violence ; and to stain our land with blood. Here is no mistake ; there can be none ; and the more this subject is examined, the more irresisti- bly will it appear, that those who would promote the observ- ance of the Sabbath, by removing temptations to violate it, are the true benefactors of their country. * * " But your memorialists conceive, that, while the General Government can make no law for the support of religion, it is equally true, that the General Government ought not to make a law, the tendency of which shall be the destruction of both reli- gion and morality. On this ground the present memorial is of- fered. The existing Post-office law violates religious obligations, and, so far as it has this effect, it ought to be repealed." The foregoing extracts of Petitions, Memorials, Remon- strances, and Reports, are copied from " The American State Papers, Class VII. Post-office Department." The reader would be abundantly rewarded by an examination of all the petitions and memorials which have been presented on this subject. A few more of them may be found in the book from which the above extracts were taken ; and others, probably among the archives of the nation. Further extracts from petitions and remonstrances, on the same subject, and presented at the same time, quoted from a small Tract published in New York, 1829, giving " An account of Memorials to Congress," &c., will now be added. This Tract gives an account of more than four hundred and fifty distinct pe- titions, from more than twenty different States ; to which are affixed the names of many of the most distinguished men in the nation, as may be seen by referring to that work. •^ From Leroy, N. Y. " Your petitioners have observed, with deep regret, that the more we are prospered as a nation, under the smiles of a benign Providence, the more are the precepts of our Lord and Savior, 188 THE SABBATH. and the authority of the God of our fathers, openly violated j uutil, as we have every reason to fear, from the pinnacle of pros- perity and glory, to which the God of heaven hath exalted our beloved country, we shall, by our public and national sins, be precipitated to the abyss of irreligion and ruin." From, Columbia County, Geo. " The undersigned do earnestly solicit your honorable body to devise such measures, that the transportation of the mail, and the opening thereof, and the delivery of liters, may no longer be required on the Sabbath." From Oreenshurg, Penn. " We do not ask you to put a stop to the iniquities prevailing in private life ; but to reform those national evils, that are in opposition to the best interests of our country, the law of a holy and merciful God, to the rights of religious men, and even to the rights of the brute creation." From Rockingham County, N. C. " The undersigned do view the practice of the Post?office es- tablishment, relating to the conveyance of the mails on the Sab- bath, as a grievance, which we think to be contrary to the laws of Sacred Writ, as well as contrary to the intent and meaning of the laws of the United States : We therefore solicit most hum- bly of the honorable Congress a redress of the aforesaid griev- ance." From William E. Channing and others, Boston. " This application, we trust, will not be misunderstood. We do not ask Congress to enforce any season, or form, of public wor- ship. We should deprecate, as among the greatest evils, any legislation intended to favor the views of a sect, or to establish a particular faith. We only pray, that Congress may not counter- act, by its measures, those institutions which are cherished by the community, as the means of public and private virtue." From Albion, Maine. " Your memorialists must confess, that they have a personal SUNDAY JMAILe. jw* interest in the subject to which they are sohciting the attention of Congress. They not only wish to preserve their famiHes and friends from the contagion of a bad example, and of an allowed, customary disregard and contempt of an invaluable institution ; but they are also persuaded, that for national deviations from right, emanating from the government, a present national retri- bution is to be apprehended, inasmuch as the future reckoning is for individuals, and not for states ; and such public retributory judgment must fall upon the people, and must be borne by your memorialists in common with others." i From Rowan County^ N. C. " Your memorialists consider the practice of transporting and opening the mail on the Sabbath, contrary to the fourth COMMAND IN THE DECALOGUE ; and that the continuance and in- crease of our happiness depend on our obedience to the lmii}§ Jif iGia,^' moit ytm,: *Jo jioit !'-' .'^ ;. r , ■ From Trenton, N. J. . " The practice of opening the Post-ofHce of the United States, on the Sabbath day, is, in the opinion of your memorialists, a viO' lation of the Divine commandment, injurious in its effects on the public morals, and unsupported by any plea of public necessity or convenience ; while it gives just offence to the principles and feelings of the Christian community." From Jersey City. " The memorialists do not think it will be expected of them to reply at length to the arguments used in defence of transport- ing and opening mails on the Sabbath, and the delivery of letters and newspapers at Post-offices; as the honorable bodies addressed will at once perceive, that an entire suspension of secular busi- ness on that day would operate impartially on the whole com- munity ; that experience demonstrates that the rest of one day in seven conduces alike to a vigorous prosecution of business and to a healthy moral tone ; and that the whole array of arguments m favor of breaking the Sabbath is answered by the solemn truth, that the violations of this holy day are contrary to the laws of God, and detrimental to the physical, civil, and moral good of the people." 190 THE SABBATH. Many petitions, from all parts of the Union, were couched in the same language. From Salem, Mass. " Believing, as your petitioners do, that the practice above mentioned is a direct infringement of the Divine law, and its ex- istence is inconsistent with the character, and a reproach to the name of a Christian people ; that its tendency is to subvert the institutions of rehgion, by lessening that respect for them which ought ever to be felt and inculcated ; that it exerts a pernicious and demoralizing influence upon the community at large, by encouraging, and, in effect, inviting their attention to secular concerns on the Sabbath, to the neglect, and even the exclusion of the appropriate duties of the day ; that, as an open violation of an express command of the Supreme Lawgiver, it must be offensive in his sight, and may lead to such a general deprava- tion of manners, as to cause him to withdraw from us that abounding goodness and favor which he has hitherto vouchsafed to us as a nation ; and that, from all these considerations, it calls loudly for correction and redress ; — they repeat their most earn- est and respectful request," &c. This form of petition was also much used. From Spartanburgh District, S. C. " While the arm of Jehovah is lifted for our defence, no ene- my can subdue us or impair our rights. But if the supreme Legislature of this Union, by their act, make it necessary to violate the command of God, his justice will demand that ade- quate punishment be inflicted on our common country. His own law he will magnify and make honorable, by inflicting the sanction, or honoring those who honor it." From Rockbridge County, Va. " Oiu" opinion is based, not only on the firm behef that God claiTns that day for his service, but on a firm belief, that every nation, which generally profanes that holy day by neglecting to keep it, does brin^ upon itself heavy judgments." SUNDAY MAILS. 191 From Hanover County^ Va. " Being fully convinced that the blessing of God will be confer- red on that nation which obeys his laws, and that punishment will be inflicted on the disobedient, we have, with much concern, seen in the Post-office Department, that the Sabbath, a day which God hath commanded to he kept holy, is broken and profaned." From Westmoreland County, Va. " We view with deep regret the public violation of the Sab- bath, in transporting and opening of the mail on that day. We regard the command to keep the Sabbath holy, binding upon na- tions, as well as individuals. We are dependent on Divine Pro- vidence as a nation, and cannot expect the blessing of God, while we act in opposition to his requirements." From Newburyport, Mass. " But, more than all, by these means, an explicit command of God is violated, and the authority of the Lawgiver set at naught, and his righteous displeasure incurred, not against individuals only, who are the immediate transgressors, but also against the community and government, which authorizes or suffers such wickedness." -vao^ bfifi jy^^ Rensselaer County, N Y. " With a few unworthy exceptions, were the question for the observance of the Sabbath put to the citizens of the United States, it would be unanimously carried in the affirmative. Why then should this public evil of which we complain, wliich tends to destroy the observance of the Sabbath, and to disturb those who do observe it, be supported by Government ?" From St. Lawrence County, N. Y. " The toleration, or rather establishment, by the law of the land, of this work and labor on the Sabbath, has long been deplored by a vast majority, it is believed, of the Christian community." yj{n0j'f o./n From the City of Boston. %yi'iv!^^ a people, the inhabitants of the United States, if they 192* THE SABBATH. were all to speak their minds, would demand the preservation of the Sabbath. They have the deepest interest in demanding it ; for if all the restraints of religion were removed, our national prosperity and our political freedom would soon depart, to return no more. But what could not be done directly, and at once, may be done gradually, and too effectually, if the Sabbath should be secularized." '^ From Philadelphia. " That the recognition of the Sabbath, in all the institutions of the country, as is shown in the usages of Congress and of our courts of justice, in the execution of the laws, &c., and the pecu- liar sanction with which it is guarded by our State laws, induce your memorialists to hope that the exception to the general ob- servance of a day of rest, which is found in the Post-office De- partment, and which is but of recent practice, will receive the attention of Congress." From Bedford County, Tenn. > " We rejoice that the sacred institutions of religion are so generally respected by the laws of our highly favored country ; yet we regret that the Sabbath, which is the holy of the Lord, and honorable, is, by the authority of the rulers of our nation, violated in one important case ; we mean the mail and Post- office Department. " The laws of our happy country, (that is, the laws of the several States,) say, ' No work shall he done on the Sabbath, by persons of any class,* — yet the law to which we refer says, that ' carriers of mails, postmasters, and clerks, shall work on that holy day." From John Cotton Smith and others, Conn. " Your petitioners have long perceived, with the deepest re- gret, that the attempts of the State authorities to enforce the due observance of the Sabbath have been greatly obstructed, if not defeated, by persons acting under authority derived from the Post-office Department. If the General Government actually possesses the right thus practically to annul a salutary law of the several States, and one which is founded upon the Divine SUNDAY MAILS. 193 Command, it is hoped, that at least a spirit of comity and con- ciliation will prevent its further exercise. " But your petitioners presume, that no such right is claimed by the national legislature, believing, as they do, that no such right exists. Surely no express authority to contravene the in- junction of the Supreme Lawgiver will be found in the national charter ; and none is given by implication, unless we admit the preposterous conclusion, that the people of these States, so highly distinguished by the favor of the Almighty, have intentionally sanctioned the violation of his laws. Persuaded, as your peti- tioners are, that the regulations of the General Post-ofRce, re- quiring mails to be transported and opened on the Lord's day, is alike unnecessary and unauthorized, and confiding in the wisdom and piety of the Congress of the United States, they do most respcctfuQly and earnestly entreat, that a prompt and effectual remedy may be provided for the evil of which they, in common with all the reflecting portion of our fellow citizens, have just reason to complain." From Washington County^ Penn. * * "If these things are true, have we not reason to depre- cate the judgments of heaven upon our nation, because of the extent to which this offence is practised, under the pretence of Post-ofHce regulations, which are repugnant to the laws of the Supreme Governor, and to the municipal enactments of every State in the Union? " Your memoriahsts would respectfully inquire, upon what pretext is the law of God thus disregarded, and his sovereignty thus insulted ?" i From Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y. " The religious freedom secured by the Constitution to every citizen, is infringed by a law that offends the consciences of mul- titudes, and exacts from Postmasters and others services forbid- den by the religion which most of them profess." From the City of Boston, "We rejoice in the principles of universal religious toleration on which our General Government is founded j £ind we would 17 194 THE SABBATH. by no means desire that Congress should ever have the constitu- tional power of interfering in matters of religion. All that we request is, that the powers of the Government, given for good and legitimate objects, should not be used to weaken tlie influ- ence of rehgion, and thus deprive us of the valuable privileges transmitted to us by our ancestors.^'* From Bedford County, Tenn. " We humbly conceive these things ought not so to be, and trust that while we as a nation feel ourselves so highly indebt- ed to the Giver of all good, you, in your wisdom, will say, ' Henceforward there shall be, in the mail department, no in- fringement of the sacred claims of the day of God.' " jFVom Winnsborough, Fairfield District, S. C. " It is admitted that virtue is essential to the existence of a free government and civil institutions ; that dissipation of morals, if it become general, would soon shake the foundation of our na- tional edifice, and sweep away our civil privileges. As the Sab- bath is the grand instrument of giving tone and direction to mo- rals, its strict observance we regard as all-important to sustain the civil liberties of our country." From the Postmaster at Otter Bridge, Bedford County, Fa., and vicinity. " Your memorialists would beg leave to suggest, that the sta- bility and prosperity of our happy government depend, in a great measure, on the intelligence, morality, and virtue of the people ; that religion exalteth a nation ; that sin is a reproach to any people ; and that it is the direct way to call down tiie vengeance of heaven, when human laws are made to violate the laws of God." From William E. Channing and others, Boston. " We regard the institutions of rehgion as important means of promoting that piety and virtue, on which the security of our rights and liberties chiefly depends ; and we cannot but hope, that the sanction of government will not be given to measures, which threaten to impair their salutary influence." SUNDAY MAILS. 195 From the City of Boston. " Your memorialists would respectfully remind your honor- able bodies, that the whole current of history and observation is in favor of the influence of the Sabbath upon the temporal pros- perity of communities ; that wherever this day lias been conse- crated to religious instruction, and to the duties of public and private worship, the people have been distinguished for industry, peaceable habits, and especially for that intelligence and per- sonal virtue, that sense of justice, of individual rights, and of the responsibility of rulers and private men to the Sovereign Ruler of all, whixih are essential to the existence of a free goveim- merdP From Perry County^ Ohio. " Your memorialists represent, that the proper observance of the Sabbath, is no less a matter of sound policy^ than of true piety ; that good and pious men are scandalized by the growing disregard of such wise observance ; and that the transportation and opening of the mails on that day have a direct tendency to destroy, in the minds of men, that piety and morality, so neces- sary to be cherished by a republican people." From Atwater, Portage County, Ohio. " The undersigned, deeply solicitous for the welfare of our be- loved country, and for the continued enjoyment and higher pos- session of that liberty, which constitutes her most distinguished characteristic ; and fully believing that an encouragement to the due observance of the Christian Sabbath, in all the laws of our land, is essential to the proper security of her liberties, beg leave to present the following memorial, respectfully and earnestly soliciting your attention, as the constituted guardians of our re- public, to what we consider an evil, tending to the subversion oii her freedom, her interests, and her happiness ; besides opera- ting, in some measure at least, as a present infringement upon the liberties of a portion of our fellow citizens." From Ira David, Postmaster, and others, Vt. " The observance of the commandment of God to keep holy ^i 196 THE SABBATH. the Sabbath day, we consider as necessary to national as to inr dividual prosperity." From Huntingdon County, Penn. " We believe these practices [transporting and opening tho mail] to be injurious to the morals of a free people, and danger- ous in their influence on the civil institutions of our country ; that, in a Christian land, where the government of God is re- cognized, the observance of this day should be held sacred; and that the extensive violation of it, involves the destruction of civU liberty, and is contrary to the laws of God, and detrimental to the physical, civil, and moral good of the people." From Lisbon, Conn. " We believe morality and religion to be essential to the wel- fare of our republic ; and that neither of them can remain se- cure, without a due observance of the Christian Sabbath." From Greersburgh, Beaver County, Perm, " The good sense of nations has taught them, that the re- straints imposed by religion are all necessary to curb the pas- sions and regulate the morals of society. By the Sabbath an opportunity is afforded to ministers to preach — to the people generally to hear the precepts of religion — and all to worship God. The Sabbath and its institutions seem to be appointed for, and admirably adapted to, preparing the human family for a future state of being." From Northumberland County, Penn. " We deem the Christian Sabbath a blessing to mankind; — a most effectual purifier of the pubhc morals, enlightener of the public mind, guardian of the public safety, and promoter of pub- lic prosperity ; that, therefore, its due observance, according to the holy Scriptures, will call forth Divine favor upon the nation, whilst, on the other hand, its profanation must be followed by expressions of Divine wrath." From the City of New York. * * « We would hope, too, that the members of our govern- SUNDAY MAILS. 197 'ment, by their conspicuous example, in this regard, by their co- gent arguments in the halls of legislation, and by their manifes- tation of a sacred regard for the Sabbath, in all the arrangements of business at the seat of government, in the army and the navy, in all the public offices, and upon the highways of our land, will exert a powerful influence in checking the immoralities named, and in protecting an institution which is more efficacious in per- petuating the blessings of a free government, than the best laws ever framed by the wisdom of man." From the City of Philadelphia. •* Your memorialists would represent, that in the rest from labor, which the Sabbath enjoins^ the comfort and health of man are promoted ; and by the devotion of a set time to the contem- plation of our condition as moral and responsible beings, the vir- tue and intelligence of the community are most certainly ad- vanced, and thereby the prosperity and liberties of the country are secured." From Merchants of the City of Baltimore. " Without entering at all into the imperative nature of the obligation which requires of Christians to observe this day as sacredly set apart and appropriated to religious observances, we may urge in favor of the prayer of the memorialists, the general usefulness of the institution ; a fact attested by common observ- ation, and universally admitted by persons of every religious persuasion. A proper observance of the Sabbath greatly tends to promote and strengthen moral habits, and, in a variety of ways, to better the general condition of society; and, unques- tionably, the promotion of these objects is, or ought to be, the great end of human legislation.'''' From Washington County^ Md. ** The experience of individuals proves, that it is their true in- terest to obey the divine precept, and rest from business on the Sabbath; and we are fully persuaded that the national welfare will be promoted by discontinuing the practice of transporting and opening mails, and delivering letters, on that day." 17* 198 THE SABBATH. J From the City of Boston. " Your memorialists regard the institution of the Sabbath as one of the most striking proofs of the divine beneficence, and as affording the only adequate means for preserving the fear of Godj the sanctity of oaths, genuine personal integrity, the public morals, and our civil and political privileges. Though there are too many in our land, who practically disregard the Sabbath ; yet, it is believed, there are few who would wiUingly see that sacred day abolished." From Boonsborough and vicinity^ Washington County, Md. " The transportation and opening of the mail, and the delivery of letters and newspapers from Post-offices on the Lord's day, are practices injurious to the morals, and to the civil and reli- gious institutions of our country." From Berkshire County^ Mass. " We believe the good sense of a vast majority of this nation desire a suspension of labor on the Sabbath ; and as the other offices of government are closed on that day, we see no reason why the Post-office should not Ukewise be closed." From Elizaheihtowny N. J. " Your memoriahsts would state, that the laws, which require the opening of Post-offices, &c., on the Sabbath, have, in their in- fluence, mi exceedingly demoralizing effect upon the community , and that they are contrary to the feelings of a large and increas- ing portion of this nation." From Spottsylvania County, Va. " The undersigned cannot but regard the transportation and opening of the mails on the Lord's day as injurious to the morals of the commimity, and as a violation of that rest, which all who recognize the authority of the New Testament not only feel it their duty to observe, but the observance of which they consider a glorious privilege." SUNDAY MAILS. 199 From James M, Gamett, and others, Va. " Human passions are quite sufficient, of themselves, without any legal pretext or encouragement, to cause many more viola- tions of the Sabbath, than human laws can prevent." From Accomac County, Va, " The undersigned have, for a long time, viewed with sorrow, the demoralizing- effect produced by the transportation and open- ing of the mail on the Sabbath, as well in this county, as in other parts." From Edenburghj Ohio. " Your petitioners, beheving the profanation of the Sabbath a general and growing- evil in our happy country, and fully per- suaded that this evil is perpetuated by the transportation and opening of the pubHc mails on that day, — humbly pray, that you, who are, under Providence, intrusted with the affairs of the nation," &c. From the City of New York. " Your memorialists beg leave respectfully to represent, — That the transportation and opening of mails, and the delivery of letters and newspapers from Post-offices' on the Lord's day, are practices injurious to the morals, and consequently dangerous in their influences upon the civil institutions of this country." From the City of Boston. " Your memorialists are fully convinced, that the transporta- tion of the mail on the Sabbath, and the opening of Post-offices on that day, operate constantly and powerfully to bring the Sab- bath itself into neglect and contempt ; that these causes are more difficult;^to be limited and concentrated by the true friends of their country, than any other, if not than all other, causes com- bined ; and that no remedy can be found, unless the national authority shall interpose to correct the evil." From the Grand Jury of Washington County, Penn. '• The violation of the Sabbath, by the running of the mail stages on that day, is considered by all pious and reflecting per- 200 THE SABBATH. Bons as an insult to Almighty God, and as likely to produce a great corruption of public morcUsj miless the practice is speedily reformed." From SharoUt Conn. " Your petitioners deem it unnecessary to repeat the argu- ments and motives so forcibly urged in the New York memorial, for the suppression of a practice which has become most alarm- ing in its extent ; and which, if suffered to continue, must, as they verily believe, draw down the sorest visitations of Heaven upon our country." Frcrni the State of New York. " Your memorialists have witnessed this increasing immorali- ty yfiih. deep regret and solicitude, and they are constrained to believe that it is in vain for the friends of good order to attempt to protect this holy day from desecration, while the government allows the mails to be carried on Sundays, and requires the Post- masters to deliver letters, papers, and packets ' on every day of the week.' We feel that we have a right to look to the govern- ment of our country for example ; and that those, whom the people have clothed with power, will not permit a practice which is continually undermining the morals^ and consequently endan- gering the liberties of the nation." From the City of Boston. "The undersigned would respectfully represent, that the transportation of the mail on the Sabbath, and the opening oi the Post-offices on that day are great public evils, in no sense necessary, and not counterbalanced by any supposed convenience arising from them." From Washington County^ Penn. " Your memorialists beg leave also to appeal to your own ob- servation, as statesmen and legislators, to sustain us, when we assert, that the disregard and breach of the Fourth Command- ment is generally the first inroad to crime ; and that moral de- linquency, in any country, increases in a ratio with the profana- tion of the day." SUNDAY MAILS. SOl From Washington Countyt Ala. * " When we reflect on the number of persons employed in dis- charging the various duties relative to Post-offices, such as Post- masters, deputies, clerks, mail-carriers, &c., we cannot but re- gret that the subject has not, long since, met the attention of the American pubhc. We heartily concur in the efforts which are making to restore to Postmasters, &c., the privilege, which, under the present regulations, is denied to them, and which we believe it to be the right of every person in America to enjoy." From Telfair County^ Geo. " Those citizens [Postmasters, &c.] are compelled to follow their daily vocation, in violation of the law of God, while all other citizens are, by the laws of God as well as of man, espe- cially forbidden thus to violate that consecrated day." From Callaway County^ Ky. " While every other grade and order of the people of this Union are permitted a cessation from toil during the Sab- bath, yet the persons engaged in this national affair, [the Post- office Department,] are compelled io cinre o» without intermis- sion." From Washington County^ Ky. " We pray your honorable body so to change the laws regu- lating the Post-office establishment, as, in time of peace, (at all events,) to prohibit the transporting of mails and the opening of Post-offices on the Sabbath, and thereby afford to that portion of our fellow-citizens, [Postmasters, &c.] the enjoyment of this rest, which is a privilege guarantied to every human being by the laws of God." From Elkton, Todd County, Ky. " Your memorialists would urge, that nothing short of inevita- ble necessity can justify the imposition of such labor upon so many officers throughout the Union ; an imposition which is ex- tended to no other body of men in our country." 202 THE SABBATH. From the vicinity of Ml. Tirzah Post-office, N. C. " The attention which Postmasters and their clerks are obliged to pay to their respective offices on the Sabbath, is a violation of the laws of God and our country. All other officers of our gov- ernment are exempt from performing labor on that day." From Kent Island, Queen Ann County, Md. " The petitioners regret exceedingly the existence of a law re- quiring the transportation and opening of mails, [opening only,] and the delivery of letters on the Sabbath day. By this law a large and respectable body of our fellow-citizens are deprived of an opportunity of necessary repose from their daily avocations, and are likewise prevented the use of the customary means of spiritual and intellectual improvement." From Merchants of Baltimore. " It will, moreover, be admitted, that in no department under the direction of the General Government, is it more necessary that the agents employed should possess the highest degree of moral feeling, and the strictest integrity, than in the Post-office establishment. It cannot, therefore, be wise in the government, to deprive, by its own regulations, those, who are charged with the important trusts of this department, of those means and op- portunities for social and religious improvement, which are, by common consent, acknowledged so eminently to contribute to the knowledge and practice of all the moral duties." From Washington County, Md. " An arrangement of the kind suggested would very much meliorate the situation of deputy Postmasters throughout the Union, by guarantying to them the privilege, common to every other citizen, of spending the Sabbath in the public worship of their God, or in retirement and rest." From Trenton, N. J. " Your memorialists are not aware of any reasons which can recommend this departure from the practice of the government, in regard to all the other public offices. It did not prevail in the SUNDAY MAILS. 203 earlier years of the republic, and was not adopted, it is believed, in consequence of representations from those whose interest, or. convenience, is supposed to be promoted by it." From Chester District 8. C. " A large body of our best and most respectable citizens have long considered the transporting and opening the mail on the Sabbath a serious grievance ; and that portion of our citizens, whose business it is, by law, to attend to the labors of the Post- office on the Sabbath, are doomed to such unequal burdens mid privations^ as should not be exacted from any portion of our citizens." From Sparianburgh District, S. O. " Justice, in behalf of a numerous, influential, and valuable class of public officers, pleads for an exemption from official duties on the Lord's day. Some, from an untiring attention to the duties of their office, on the Sabbath day, have not been to the house of God for years. Again, such a regulation as your memorialists ask for, would promote the general interests of the mail depart- ment, in the best possible manner. It would invite many to act as Postmasters, and to serve as carriers, who are now effect- ually barred from those places by the fear of offending God." From Blairsville and vicinity, York District, 8. C. " Having long been impressed with the evil and impropriety of the transportation and opening of the mail on the Sabbath, we, your memorialists, do pray, that, during the present session, a law may be passed to guaranty to the Postmasters and their clerks those privileges, which are enjoyed by all the other officers under government, and which, by the laws of God, are not de- nied to any human being." From Augustus Fitzhugh and others, citizens of King George County, Va. " In all Christian countries the Sabbath is a day of rest, and set apart for religious worship ; and your memorialists can see no necessity, especially in time of peace, for profaning it, by keeping at labor so many persons as the Post-office Department 204 THE SABBATH. requires. Besides, all the other offices under government are closed on that day ; and it seems vmreasonable, that the Post-office alone should be kept open.^^ Prom Norfolk^ Conn. " By the recent report of the Postmaster-General, we perceive that the services of about 27,000 persons are put in requisition, in the various branches of this Department. A large proportion of these are compelled to attend to this business on the Sabbath, or resign their posts. In addition to the personal hardship and injury to these individuals, their example, dispersed as they are throughout the nation, and acting under the high sanction of Government, must be very baneful. We see no cause to jus- tify this arrangement ; for the plea of necessity appears no more specious than in the case of men's common avocations. By the Sabbath labors of these many thousands of men, we have our letters occasionally a day or two sooner. Similar calculations might be made of the results of labor, in any other useful occu- pation. We are therefore compelled to consider this in the light of a great national sin against the God of all our mercies, for which we have reason to fear his righteous indignation. We are Imwilling thus to be accommodated, in violation of the laws of God, and to the prejudice of the best interests of our beloved country. We also apprehend, that the present regulations have a direct tendency to consign the very responsible charge of the mail to the hands'of men who fear not God nor regard, moral obligation. Already has the mail been frequently plundered by those to whom it was confided." From the Ciiy of New York. " While the mails are transported on the first day of the week, there will be much unnecessary travelling, the Post-offices will be opened, the news-rooms tiironged, workmen employed in printing offices, expresses sent in various directions, and the attention of large portions of the community withdrawn from a becoming reverence of the day, to be occupied in secular con- cerns. Your memorialists deem it unnecessary to urge upon the Congress of the United States the obligation of observing the Lord's day, or protecting the people in their religious privi- leges, and of the baneful consequences of practices which, under SUNDAY MAILS. 205 the sanction of Government, are an apology /or efoery other vw- lotion of the Sabbath by individuals. They may, however, be permitted to state, that the government of God is recognized in this Christian land ; that the observance of the Lord's day is enjoined by divine authority, and that history furnishes abun- dant evidence, that a general disregard of it involves the destruc- tion of civil hberty." From Ryegate, Vermont. " The subscribers have long witnessed with regret the profan- ation of the Lord's day by the transportation of the mail. The thoughtless, who are always too careless of improving sacred time, are tempted ; the pious are grieved ; travellers in stages must forego the privileges of the sanctuary, or lose their passage ; innkeepers and villages are disturbed by the arrival of the mail." From Westmoreland County, Penn. " The transportation and opening of the mail, and the delivery of letters on the Sabbath, are viewed by your memorialists as an evil, tending to the neglect of an institution the observance of which is necessary to permanent good order and morality, and, of course, to the permanent prosperity of the people ; — an evil tending to encourage travelling, and the transportation of mer- chandise on the Sabbath, insomuch that, in many places, the worshippers of God are greatly annoyed, in passing to and from their places of worship ; — and tending, moreover, to draw down upon our beloved country, the judgments of Heaven." From Merchants of Baltimore. " As merehants, we are, perhaps, more interested in the fa- cilities afforded by the mail, than any other members of the com- munity. We believe that the inconveniences which would result from the regulations prayed for would be very inconsiderable ; and were they greater than we anticipate, we are sure they would be more than counterbalanced by the benefits which would accrue to the community from a due observance of the Sabbath." From Caroline County, Md. " The Post-office in London is never open on Sundays, and 18 206 THE SABBATH. there seems to us no necessity that Post-offices in this country- should be opened on that day, especially in time of peace." From Trenton^ N, J. " In London, the greatest commercial city in the world, the Post-office is not opened, nor any mail made up on Sunday ; from which it may be inferred, that it is not necessary for the conve- nience of the mercantile public." From Coshocton^ Ohio. " We can see but little advantage arising to society at large, from transporting and opening mails on the Sabbath j and that this practice is ar great evil, is acknowledged by many who are engaged in it, and felt deeply by others." From Bridgehampton^ L. I. " The example of the first commercial city in Europe, in which the Post-office is never opened during the Sabbath, affords strong presumptive evidence that the practice is wholly unneces- sary, as respects the commercial interests of our country." From Strasburg, Lancaster County^ Penn. " Moreover, the indulgence granted to mail coaches to pursue their daily vocation on that day, holds forth a demoralizing pre- cedent to the citizens of the United States. Many teamsters, disposed to commit breaches of the Sabbath, by transporting merchandise on that day, plead, in justification of their conduct, to be entitled to the same privileges as those which mail coaches enjoy." From Chester County^ Penn. "Many, who habitually violate the Lord's day, plead the example of the Post-office as an apology." From the vicinity of Agnevo's MiUsi Penn. " The command of God, and the welfare of our country, re- quire that you should make no law which lays the burden of breaking the Sabbath upon inferior officers ; that from the foun- • tain head of the public good, no stream should be sent forth to SUNDAY MAILS. 207 desolate our comfort, our intelligence, our morals, our liberties, and our religion." From WiTidsor, Conn, " We believe we have a right to look to the Government of our country ybr example — and we trust that Congress will not suffer a practice which continually undermines the morals of the community." From Philadelphia. " That the direct effect of the present regulations in the Post- office Department, together with the influence of an example ori- ginating with the Government^ tends greatly to the general pro- fanation of an institution with which the best interests of our coimtry are connected, and leads to numerous breaches of the good order and peace of society." From Atipatert Portage County ^ Ohio. " The religious assemblies of citizens, peaceably convened for the worship of God on that day, are in many places disturbed, and the weight of national example and encouragement is given to the cause of vice and irreligion. * * Regarding the subject in a political point of view, we apprehend that those feelings of reverence for the Sabbatli, which exist in the minds of the more virtuous part of the community, have too serious a bearing upon the stability and perpetuity of our free institutions, to be discou- raged and eradicated by legislative enactments. Such, we think, to a very great extent, is the tendency of that law, which requires the secular business respecting the, mail for this whole country, to be transacted on that day, in some measure at least, as on other days of the week." From Elkton, Todd County^ Ky. "The demoralizing effect of withdrawing so many officers from exercises peculiar to the day ; the allurements held out to our citizens to gather around the offices and engage in political discussion ; — the influence of governmental example, in giving a sanction to the violation of the Sabbath j — together with many 208 THE SABBATH. other similar considerations, cannot have escaped the attention of your honorable body." These extracts are closed by the insertion of the following circular, adopted by inhabitants of Nashville, Tennessee, and ad- dressed to gentlemen in different parts of the State. The mem- bers of the committee, it is said, are of the first respectability, and belong to different denominations of Christians. It is beUeved that one of them was Mr. Grundy, the present United States* Attorney, who was one of the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads in the Senate when the author's petition was presented to the second session of the twenty-fifth Congress — which com- mittee made no report. " Nashville, Dec. 29, 1828. " Gentlemen — As a committee appointed by a meeting lately held in this city, we ask your serious attention to the subject of the inclosed memorial. We feel a deep and solemn conviction that the dictates of a wise public policy, as well as a just sense of religious duty, require that every discreet and temperate effort should be made to induce the Government of the United States to amend the laws regulating the Post-office Department, so as to prevent the transportation and opening of mails, and the de- livery of letters, newspapers, and packages, on the day which is almost tmiversally acknowledged in our country as the Christian Sabbath. " We, therefore, in compliance with the duty enjoined on us, earnestly solicit your prompt co-operation in procuring signatures to the inclosed memorial, from as many persons of virtuous char- acter as you can ; and that you forward your memorials, when signed, with as little delay as possible, by mail, to such member of Congress as you may deem proper. " Very respectfully, your obedient servants, William Carroll, John Nichol, Francis B. Fogg, Alpha Kingsley, O. B. Hayes, Nathan Ewing, F. Grundy. Joseph Litton, Moses Norvell, John Price, M. Watson, R. Weakley, ;' ' SUNDAY MAILS. 209 William McCombs, Jesse Wharton, Robert H. McEwen, H. R. W. Hill, Hugh Elliot, N. A. McNairy." CHARACTER AND OBJECTS OF THE MEMORIALISTS. " It is well known, that the memorialists are among all denom- inations of Christians, among the most respectable merchants in our large cities, and the most eminent divines, civilians, and statesmen that our country can boast. Nor can we refrain from briefly stating here their object, and some of the reasons on which they found their appeal. " 1. Their object is simple, and worthy of all commendation. They wish to rescue the Sabbath from its growing profanations ; and for this purpose they ask Congress, not indeed to enforce its observance, but merely to abstain from abetting its violation by their laws, and to cause, or at least permit it, to be respected in the Post-office Department, as it has ever been, in all the legisla- tive, judicial, and executive departments of our State and Na- tional governments. "2. It is obviously within the Constitutional power of Congress to grant this simple request. The Constitution does not require them to profane the Sabbath either in person or by proxy ; and surely they are at liberty, if they choose, to cease from encour- aging and even forcing a large number of our citizens to violate it by the transportation of mails, and the opening of Post-offices on that day. '♦' * " 3. The Memorialists consider it altogether unnecessary to transport the Mail, and deliver letters on the Sabbath. This practice was scarcely known during our early history, and the period of our greatest prosperity. * * "4. The present practice seems, even as a part of our finan- cial system, to be of very doubtful expediency. It may indeed be doubted whether it does not incur a loss rather than insure a saving of time, labor, and money. * * " 7. The Memorialists also think that Congress ought, in jus- tice to individuals and the several States, to discontinue the Sun day mails. A large number of our countrymen have made great personal efforts, and nearly every State has enacted laws, to pre- 18* 210 TB& SABBATH. serve the Sabbath from profanation, and diffuse its blessings through the community; but the present policy directly inter- feres with these pious and patriotic measures, and the high ex- ample of Congress, seen and felt throughout the land, most po w erfully tends to defeat every plan that may be devised by indi- viduals or by States to rescue this holy day from general and perhaps perpetual prostration. " 8. The present practice is fraught with fearful consequences to our political interests. * * ("If the same practice should be introduced into the other departments of government, in relation to the Sabbath, that exists in the Post-office Department,] the en- tire government of our nation like that of revolutionajy France, would be thrown into the hands of avowed or virtual infidels, and might be wielded with fatal efficacy to sweep away the last bul- wark of our civil and religious liberties. * * " 10. For reasons like these, a majority of our most intelhgent, virtuous, and respectable citizens earnestly desire, that the mail may be stopped, and Post-offices closed, on the Sabbath. The wishes of such and so many citizens deserve a very respectful consideration. Congress may, however, refuse for the present to comply with their request ; but we trust the day is fast coming when the Sabbath will be so generally respected, its importance so highly appreciated, and public opinion so strongly and uni- versally in its favor, that a voice, issuing from every city, and village, and hamlet, from Maine to Florida, from the Atlantic to the western wilderness, will pour upon the ear o( Congress such notes of remonstrance as must and will be heard and heeded." — Note in ths " First Anntial Report of the Lowell Sab' hath Union.^^ From the foregoing may be known the feelings and character of a great majority of those who were then opposed to Sunday maOs. No candid, intelligent man will deny that they were among the most respectable and influential of our citizens. And there is no good reason to suppose that this class of men have since experienced any change in their feelings, in respect to this evil. SUNDAY MAILS. 2il MEMOlllALB ANt> PETITIONS IN FAVOR OP SUNDAY MAILS. Memorials from several sources were forwarded to Congress, remonstrating against a repeal of the law requiring Postmasters to labor on Sunday, and the enactment of a law prohibiting the carrying of the mail on that day. One from inhabitants of Portsmouth, New Hampshire ; one from citizens of the town of Newark, New Jersey, dated Jan. 8, 1830 ; one from residents of Philadelphia, Penn. ; one from the General Assembly of tlie State of Indiana, dated Feb. 15, 1830, which does not well comport with their laws against Sabbath desecration j and one from inhabitants of the County of Salem, New Jersey, dated Jan. 20, 1830. Also, January 22, 1831, one from the General Assembly of the State of Alabama. (See the laws of this State against labor on Sunday.) January 31, 1831, one from citizens of Kentucky j February 14, 1831, one from the General Assembly of the State of Illinois (see also the Sabbath law of this State) ; and one February 24, 1831, from citizens of Windham County, Vermont. It is sufficiently painful, even to read over these remonstrances, without making extracts from them. Some are counterparts of R. M. Johnson's Reports ; and can, by no consistent Christian, be supposed to deserve more respect, because of their unfairness and abuse, and the anti-Christian spirit which they manifest. That a State Legislature, professing to be governed by laws enacted, or sanctioned and enforced by penalties which them- selves have fixed, should memorialize Congress to do the things, in their territory and throughout the nation, which they, by ex- press statute, had forbidden to be done, is not a little surprising. Hence we see the folly as well as danger of appointing those to legislate for the people, who have not sufficient moral prin- ciple and consistency of character, either to enact wise and wholesome laws, or to encourage the obedience of them. In- deed, any person who lends his influence in any way, to elevate to posts of honor and trust an immoral man, a Sabbath-breaker, — or an habitual transgressor of any good law,*— is sinning against God and his country ; and in the judgment, will be required to answer for the abuse of his elective franchise. It is believed that even moral, exemplary men are not suffi- ciently aware of the responsibility devolving upon them in regard 212 THE SABBATH. to this matter. They have not, as a general rule, given their suffrages, irrespective of party, political or religious, to men of good moral character; nor considered themselves under the most solemn obligation, as doubtless they are, to vote for such men only as scrupulously observe all those laws which serve to elevate and purify the morals of a people, while they contribute greatly to their civil and political prosperity. Whenever immoral, unprincipled men are elected to make or administer the laws, there is a fault somewhere ; and who have been the occasion of this evil ? Who, at the last great day, will be found most guilty ? It is high time, that all men should un- derstand their duty in relation to this thing, and never again give their vote for law-breakers — unprincipled, immoral men; for httle or no good can be expected to result from such an act And it is unwise, wicked, and dangerous to hazard, in this way, our most important interests. Many have voted for one or the other of the nominated can- didates, though against their better judgment and wishes, on the ground that the exigencies of the case not only call for their influence, but justify them in choosing between two evils. But this is neither right nor necessary. For whenever it is generally known that no good, moral man, in the nation, will, under any circumstances, vote for an immoral man, whether his immoraUiy consist in violation of the laws of God or man, he will not be re- duced to the alternative of supporting a dangerous man, or sacri- ficing his vote. In that event, suitable candidates would every- where be presented for the suffrages of the people. Thus we might not only avoid the judgments of heaven for this national sin, but secure an invaluable and permanent good. "Every Christian and every moral man is unquestionably in duty bound to sacrifice party view^s to the general good, and consequently is bound to vote for such candidates only, as are known to be friendly to pure morahty and Christian institutions. How a pro- fessor of the rehgion of Jesus Christ, adopting the principles of that kingdom, which is righteousness and peace, can aid in ele- vating to office an opposer of that religion, and a practical nuUi- fier of its precepts, is not to our mind expHcable ! He must first have abandoned his religion, at least in its high obliga- tions." SUNDAY MAILS. 213 The present condition of our nation calls loudly for this reform. When it is effected, men in high places will not be found on the slightest pretext to vilify the character, and oppose the consistent and benevolent efforts of the moral, law-abiding part of the com- munity. All opposition to such efforts arises either from igno- rance, mistaken views, or a bad heart, a heart which will not be restrained in its wicked propensities and passions. The opposition with which good men have been called to contend, in their efforts to put away from this people the sin ot Sabbath-breaking, should not, in the least, have deterred them; but on the contrary, should have stimulated them to greater vig- ilance and fidelity, in their remonstrances against the law which -requires men to violate a plain command of God. Then, long ere this, their prayer might have been answered, and this great evil have been removed from our land. Many of the committees Avho reported on this part of the Pe- titions, and more than one of the Postmasters- General, have ex- pressed an opinion that such a law was uncecessary, and recom- mended that it should be repealed. The Petitions of 1838 and 1839, which were respectfully received, printed, and referred, by both Houses of Congress, call for nothing more, than that Con- gress should repeal the law requiring Postmasters to labor on Sunday. And should not all the good people of this nation, earnestly and perseveringly ask for the same thing, imtil their re- quest is granted ? Petition of Harmon Kingsbury, of Cleveland, Ohio, praying the repeal of that part of an act of Congress regulating the Post-office Department, \^^hich requires Postmasters to deliver letters, &c.j on Sunday. December 12, 1837. Referred to the Committee on the Post-office and Post-roads, and ordered to be printed. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled : Your petitioner, Harmon Kingsbury, of Cleveland, Ohio, Respectfully showeth : I come, not to ask pecuniary benefit for myself or others, nor* to attempt to ^^ unite Church and State,^^ as was the cry (unkind 214 THE SABBATH. as it was false,) when petitions were presented to Congress against labor on Sunday, in 1829 and 1830 ; nor to ask Congress to lay hands on the Church or on her enemies, or to make a law in favor of or against any command in the Bible ; but I come to ask a nation's blessing j and, in behalf of the long-injured and much-desecrated Christian Sabbath, to implore Congress to take off those hands already laid upon the Church, in the act requiring labor on that day, which has well nigh driven the institution from our country ; in a word, to repeal a part of section 9, in an act passed April, 1810, and re-enacted March 1825, section 11, regu- lating the Post-ofRce establishment, v/hich is in these words, viz. : " And it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, paper, or packet, to the person entitled to or authorized to re- ceive the same ;" that the institutions of religion, in future, may be left as the Constitution left them, unaided and untrammeled by legislative enactments. I am encouraged, in presenting this memorial, by the reflection that it is addressed to patriots, repub- licans, and Christians ; those who desire a nation's blessing, and the best interests of their constituents, as much as any petitioner can desire them ; and also that party distinction, heretofore ex- isting, can have nothing to do in deciding this question. It can- not he a party question, unless Christianity and anti-Christianity be the dividing lines, which God grant may never exist in our halls of legislation. s Your petitioner is not alone in his prayer on this subject ; but it is believed that nine-tenths of your moral, intelligent, influen- tial, respectable, and peaceful constituents, among whom are many who do not believe in the Christian religion, seeing the deleterious effects of profaning that day, would immediately send to your honorable body their names and their complaints, but for the unexpected, and, as they think, undeserved treatment which they received on the occasion already alluded to. And, though their memorials have not been renewed, they could not be unconcerned spectators, while the evil has been increasing like a mighty torrent, rolling from one end of the land to the other, and threatening the destruction, not only of their religion, but of all republican institutions. No, they could not, and can- not now rest, while any of their fellow-citizens are compelled to SUNDAY MAILS. 215 violate a plain and an important precept of the Bible. And is not now a favorable time to gratify these constituents in their wishes, when there is no excitement on this subject, as there was when the question was before Congress in 1829 and 1830 ? It need not be asked in this place, " Is there a Sabbath, and ehall it be celebrated on the first day of the week ?" for the Con- stitution took it for granted^ and Congress has always taken it for granted ; neither need it be inquired, " Should there be no law requiring its violation ?" — for these are truths easily demon- strated from holy writ, and from the observation of every com- petently enlightened person. There is a Sabbath. It is an ordinance from Heaven, lying at the foundation not only of the Christian religion, but of all true repubhcanism ; and is alike binding upon all men, and should be equally free to all. I shall not now attempt to sustain these positions by argument and proof, but shall also take them for granted. The framers of the Constitution^ and those who for many years administered it, doubtless had in their eye the frst-day Sabbath, and the Christian religion. They were legislating, not for Jews, Mohammedans, infidels, atheists, or pagans, but for Christians. And, believing the Christian religion the only one adapted to sustain and perpetuate the Government about to be formed, they adopted it as the basis of their infant repubhc. Reference to the following facts, (some of which were years ago collected by another,) it would seem, must convince any man of the correctness of this opinion. Yes, this nation had a religion, and it was the Christian religion. To meet the denial of this position, the following particulars are adduced, (which may be found more minutely stated in Objection seventh, chap. 5 — to which the reader is referred,) viz.— Sabbath for the President — the delegates who adopted the Constitution kept the Christian Sabbath — Congressmen and others bound by oath to support the Constitution — Bibles were printed by Congress to be distributed in this country. The designation of time, " the year of our Lord :" judicial courts not to sit on Sunday, and Congress adjourned over that day : fasts were observed ; and from language then used by them, it would seem that they believed in special judgments, and that such threatenings as are recorded in Isaiah xii. 60 — 216 THE SABBATH. " For the nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish : yea, those nations shall he utterly wasted," would be fulfilled. They served God politically, by enacting just, equal, and righteous laws ; such as would be best for the people, irre- spective of his rehgion, though not contrary to it. Washington once exclaimed, when it was told him that the British had at- tacked and killed a few Americans, " I mourn the loss of my countrymen, but rejoice that the British are determined to keep God on our side." Days for thanksgiving were appointed. Legislative bodies may practise the duties of the Christian religion, and recommend them to others, without " uniting Charch and State," and ma- king " test laws." Washington and the early Congresses felt under obligation, in order to secure God's blessing, to keep all his commandments contained in the Bible; among which is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And does any one believe, that they could have been induced, as legislators, to require labor on the Lord's day ? And can it be, that your as- sembly will consent, that national sanction and national law shall longer exist to encourage and compel its profanation, and thereby become partakers in the guilt of those who enacted it, as well as of those bodies which have since legislated here, and consented to the practice which renders this nation justly ob- noxious to the divine displeasure ? Is Congress willing that their constituents and the world should know that they refuse to re- peal an act requiring labor on Sunday, when nearly all the States in this Union, and every Christian nation on the globe, so far as I know, when they have said any thing on the subject, have forbidden it ? Certain I am, that the late King and present dueen of England, in their royal proclamations, put much stress on that day, and required its strict observance. Are not the voice and example of great and good men, and the language and spirit of the Constitution, sufficient to justify and encourage the repeal of the clause here- complained of? It is hoped they are ; and it is thought that most of the good citi- zens of this country believe the Sabbath essential to national PROSPERITY. At the time of the report, in 1830, in favor of labor in the mail department on Sunday, ninety-three in the House were in favor of printing ten thousand copies of it, and sixty- SUNDAY MAILS. 21T seven against it. Mr. McCreery, one of the committee, pre- sented his written opinion in favor of granting the request of the petitioners. And the report of Mr. McKean, of a committee of the House on Sunday mail petitions, made the year before, re- commends the repeal of so much of the law as requires labor on Sunday. All which shows that the Sabbath had not then lost all its friends. Permit me to make a few Extracts from Mr. McKean^ s Report. " On the other branch of the case, that of Postmasters being compelled by law to open their offices and deliver letters, news- papers, &c., on the Sabbath, this committee believe it is not abso- lutely necessary for the successful transaction of any branch of business. It has been suggested, and it is beUeved, that the most disorder is occasioned by a class of individuals, not of business habits, and who seldom receive letters by mail, who, having leisure on the Sabbalh, resort to the Post-office to hear the news and for pastime. " If, as is believed, the House will concur with the committee in opinion that no restraint ought to be imposed on the con- sciences of individuals by the force of human law, it will present an absurdity, if we permit to remain among our legislative acts, an express provision requiring a portion of our citizens to per- form certain duties on the Sabbath, which they conscientiously believe to be morally wrong. " The committee cannot see why it would not be equally proper to require by law, our courts of justice to sit on the Sab- bath ; and that executive and legislative duties should be per- formed on that day ? Would such a law be deemed reasonable 1 Would the people approve of it, when it might drive from the public service many of the ablest and most useful officers, who would relinquish their stations rather than violate their con- sciences ? " The committee conceive that all such cases should be regu- lated by public opinion, and controlled by emergencies, without any positive legal injunction. It is believed that the statute books contain no provision, except in the instance of Postmasters, requiring the performance of official duty on the Sabbath. " In conclusion, the committee earnestly recommend the re- peal of so much of the 11th section of the Post-office law of 19 218 THE SABBATH. March 1825, [the same as in 1810,] as requires Postmasters to deliver letters, newspapers, &c., on the Sabbath." Hon. John McLean, then Postmaster-General, in answer to inquiries made by said committee, says : — " It is believed that the revenue of the department would not be lessened, to any considerable amount, if no letters or newspapers, &c., were de- livered at the different Post-offices on the Sabbath. Whether the revenue w^ould be lessened or not, by the per- formance of such acts on Sunday, should not be a matter of in- quiry ; for all moneys thus obtained would come to this nation at a premium higher than it would be justified in paying. It is the principle of compelling labor, by a national law, on that day, contrary to the law of God, that is complained of. It is supposed that these opinions are entertained by most true patriots and sound politicians, whether behevers in the Christian religion or not. I once heard an unbeliever express this sentiment, viz. : " The appropriate religious exercises of the Sabbath, in republics, are the mainspring of sobriety, intelli- gence, morality, and true patriotism ; and, though I do not be- lieve in the Bible, I never wish to see the Sabbath aboHshed." But if this nation continue to require labor on Sunday, it surely will be abolished, or its legitimate influence on the people will be lost. Example, in high places, is not only contagious, but often, to all intents and purposes, becomes law. It is sometimes said that the Sabbath is not essential to intel- ligence, peace, morality, and republican institutions. It will be admitted that it is not so essential where despotism holds the rod of iron over the people. Where physical force, not reason, gov- erns, there ignorance may be in a measure controlled. The main pillars which support the thrones of the despot and the proud monarch, are their will, aided by physical strength. But not so with republics. TTiey must be founded on intelligence, and controlled by reason and argument. Republics cannot gov- ern ignorance, because the means are not adapted to such an end. Now, when it is said that the strict religious observance of the Sabbath is essential to intelligence, peace, morality, and repub- lican institutions j the eye is fixed on this great, enterprising, and SUNDAY MAILS. gl9 prosperous nation, whose only law is the will of the people, not of a despot ; and the truths, that ignorance, clothed in her mantle of intemperance, immorality, and sloth, cannot guide this mighty ship over the trackless, restless sea upon which she. is launched; that an immoral community cannot be an intelligent and ' peace- ful community ; and that the appropriate exercises of the. Sab- bath, such as devout reading, and the faithful preaching of the Gospel, are the greatest incitements to a peaceful, industrious, temperate, moral, and sober life. Therefore, it is said, without a Sabbath duly observed, this nation cannot long continue inde- pendent, prosperous, and happy. Where, in the whole universe, is there to be found an instru- ment favoring these objects so benignly as the too often neglect- ed and despised Sabbath ? And who cannot see that every abridgment of its legitimate influence is weakening the founda- tion, not only of our religion, but of our republican institutions 1 All history shows that the Sabbath, wherever it has been duly observed, has proved an invaluable blessing to the people. Ob- servation, and the experience of good men, loudly proclaim the same fact. Then, how can any lover of his country lend his in- fluence to desecrate that day, or withhold that influence to pre- vent its further desecration ? Save this country from an ignorant, Sabbath-breaking commw- nity. And, in order to do this, the clause referred to must be repealed. Only a few facts will be referred to, to show that we are a Sabbath-breaking people, for they cannot have escaped the no- tice of any of the gentlemen composing this honorable body. They are seen, as often as the day returns, in every stage and Post-ofiice ; in every steam and canal-boat ; in every rail-car and omnibus ; in every place of public resort, and in most houses kept for the entertainment of travellers. And this practice is not confined to one section of our country, nor to one class of her citizens ; but some of all classes and grades of society partici- pate in the immorality. Even this beautiful city exhibits pain- ful evidence of the truth of what has been said ; and the evil is by no means confined to the citizens or private individuals tem- porarily residing here. It is seen in high places ; and its con- taminating influence circulates through every artery of thi^ great 220 THE SABBATH. nation, filling with pain and sorrow the hearts of those who sin- cerely love their country, and that kingdom which Jesus Christ came into the world to establish. What patriot or Christian can look upon these millions of Sabbath-breakers, scattered as they are all over the land, min- gling with every family, and leaving the polluting leaven where- ever they go, without washing his own hands of the sin, and calling upon every man, woman and child, to " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy ?'' And in view of these facts and considerations, is there a single member of the twenty-fifth Con- gress who will raise his voice against granting the prayer of this petition ? Law to he Repealed. The whole section reads as follows : — " And he it further en- acted, That every Postmaster shall keep an office, in which one or more persons shall attend on every day on which a mail, or bag, or other packet, or parcel of letters shall arrive by land or water, as well as on other days, at such hours as the Postmaster- General shall direct, for the purpose of performing the duties thereof; and it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all rea- sonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, paper or packet^ to the person entitled to or author- ized to receive the same," &c. I do not 'think any of this part of the law necessary ; for, if a deputy Postmaster will not obey the instructions of the Postmas- ter-General, he can be removed, and one appointed who w^ill. The former part of this section would be well enough, provided the Postmaster-General would not require, nor encourage labor on Sunday. But these words, " and it shall be the ditty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, paper or packet, to the person en--, titled to or authorized to receive the same,''^ ought, without delay, to be repealed. It is requiring them to do what they, probably, for the present at least, would do were this clause repealed ; and what is against the laws of many of the states, and the law of God, if not against the Constitution of the United States. It should be particularly observed that this clause does not SDNDAY MAILS. ggl touch the carrying and changing the mail. It relates only to the delivery of letters, papers, &c.. at the different Post-offices. And your petitioner does not ask Congress to forbid the delivery of letters, papers, &c., on Sunday ; or to say any thing about it. Congress, in this section, says, every Postmaster shall keep an office, attend on every day on which a mail-bag, &c., shall arrive, by land or water, as well as on other days, at such hours as the Postmaster- General shall direct, for the purpose of performing the duties thereof, viz. the delivery of letters, &c., as well as opening mail bags. Does any man want more than this to in- sure the delivery of his letters on Sunday, if required ? The clause to be repealed is not only unnecessary, but seems to clash with the rest of the section. For, first, Congress gives the Postmaster-General fidl power to say how many hours in a day his deputies shall attend at their offices; and, in the clause to be repealed, they say to the deputies, " at all reasonable hours." Suppose the parties should disagree about '-^reasonable hours?" It might be asked, why did Congress think it necessary to make a law compelling deputy Postmasters, and not the mail contract- ors, carriers, and drivers, to labor on Sunday ? The same pow- er is given to the Postmaster-General, touching the delivery of letters, papers, &.C., without this clause, that is given him in the case of sending the mail (as he does) through all parts of the land, as often as he may think best. And does he find any diffi- culty in obtaining men to carry and change the mail on Sunday, though Congress has made no law requiring the mail contractor and mail carrier to obey the instructions of the Postmaster-Gen- eral ? And have those who wish the mail distributed reason to believe, if this clause were repealed, the deputy Postmasters would, from conscientious scruples, refuse to deliver letters, &c., on Sunday, after they had changed the mail on that day? and, also, that the Postmaster-General could not obtain men for the different offices who would obey his instructions, as readily as he does mail contractors, carriers, &c. ? Now, the mail is carried and changed on that day, without any law requiring it ; and the same, doubtless, would be true respecting the delivery of letters, &c., though the clause were repealed ; provided the Postmaster- General should continue, to his deputies, the instructions already given. 19* 220 THE SABBATH. And why need any person object to the repeal of the clause specified ? Certainly no one need. But it is to be feared that those who would destroy the Sabbath and the Christian religion, (and consequently our republican institutions,) will object. Yei it is ardently hoped, since they would not be unfavorably affected were the prayer of the petition granted, that they will consent to its repeal, and thereby gratify hundreds, and hundreds of thou- sands of their fellow citizens, no less anxious for the prosperity of our country than themselves. The Postmaster-General, following the steps of his prede- cessors, has already assumed the responsibility of directing the mail to be carried, and changed, and delivered, on Sunday, and, it is presumed that he will not insist on retaining this clause on his account. Neither is it believed that he will say it is at all necessary, in order to the delivery of letters, papers, &c., on every day of the week, and at such hours as he shall think proper to di- rect. My anxiety on this subject is very great ; and I am admon- ished by declining health that this may be my last appeal in behalf of this institution. And must I be carried from time, so long as this clause remains among the laws of pur country, blazing its absurdities over all Christendom, and soliciting di- vine judgments ? It seems to me that I cannot. Why cannot even those in favor of Sunday mails, since this clause is unne- cessary, and since so many respectable citizens desire its repeal, grant the request of the petitioner on these grounds, if on no other ; avowing, at the same time, if they choose, their prefer- ences in this case ? Repeal this clause, and Congress would compel no man to labor on Sunday. If labor were done on that day, it would be the act of an individual ; and the shield now around the Sab- bath-breaker, rendering him invulnerable to all appeal, would be broken ; for no man could then say to those wishing to create a correct pubhc sentiment, "the supreme law of the land requires labor to be done on Sunday, and the Bible says, be subject to the powers that be. Therefore, I am justified in breaking the fourth commandment." And this nation must answer for the evil done. Repealing this law will not close a single Post-office on that day, unless the Postmaster-General and the people require SUNDAY MAILS. 223 ??it. The -voice of the people, from time to time, through their President, who appoints the Postmaster-General, will control this thing; for like people, hke President; like President, like Post- master-General ; and Congress having, by law, secured the free and unobstructed passage of the mail through the several States; and the Postmaster-General, having all the power to determine how often the mail shall go, and at what hours in a day each Postmaster shall attend at hie office, for the performance of the duties thereof; and as there are men who are willing to labor on Sunday in that department, it is easy to see that there must be a change in his feelings and conduct, before there would be any change in regard to the mails, or the management of the differ ent Post-offices, though this clause were repealed. I wish the repeal of this clause lor the reasons already given, and because it appears to be the mainspring of the evil. It stands in the way of all reform, and is construed as a license for all other kinds of labor, public and private, which compa- nies of individuals, supremely worldly and selfish, choose to per- form. And this evil can scarcely be lessened, much less eradicated, while this clause stands unrepealed. And who will object to granting the request of this petition, since it will not affect, in the least, his interest in the matter of Sunday mails ? For, I repeat, the repeal of this law will not directly affect the carrying or stopping, and opening and delivering the mail on that day. All this would then, as now, be in the power of the Postmaster- General, appointed by the President, and he by the people. So that the people will determine the whole of this matter, as they should be left to do, without any law of Congress about it. What can do more to blot out the light of that day than na- tional law requiring its profanation, national example in its judges, rulers, and lawgivers ? Let Congress now repeal this clause, and it will greatly aid in redeeming that institution from the disrepute into which it has undeservedly fallen. But let them refuse, and another blow is struck, which will tend to throw this nation into anarchy and confusion, natural and una- voidable consequences of forgetting God, and profaning the Sab- bath. 224 THE SABBATH. Pious Members. Many members of this body, if not all of them, believe in the divihe appointment of the Sabbath. And some of them have solemnly covenanted, in the presence of God, men, and angels, to keep holy that day, and do all they can to promote its observance. They have looked on this subject not only as patriots and philanthropists, but as Christians. Here is a three-fold cord drav/ing them to its careful consideration ; and surely, now it is presented, they cannot be silent spectators in this matter, they cannot treat with indifference any proper effort made, though it be by an individual, to obtain the better observ- ance of that day ; certainly they cannot lift up their voice against it. Would it not be sin, and desertion, and treason so to do ? As well be silent if a law promoting blasphemy, and theft, and idolatry existed ; quite as well, though the ill effects might not be, in this case, so sudden and perceptible, as in that. A belief that a majority of Congress are in favor of this law, as it now stands, should not prevent every lawful and honorable means, on the part of those opposed to it, to obtain its repeal. For this institution may have more friends in Congress, and a love of consistency and right-doing a greater influence there, than may at first be imagined. And let it not be supposed that God will long suffer his day thus to be trampled upon by a people favored as we are. He will not, with impunity, suffer this or any other nation to blot out one of the commands of the de- calogue, especially the one on which, more than on any other, depends the existence of his religion. No, God can never give up his Sabbath, though it cost the heart's blood of this nation to preserve it. His judgments may be deferred, but they will be none the less certain. In despotic governments, and some that are somewhat demo- cratic, the people may continue to enjoy a kind of prosperity, though they break the Sabbath. But who, that he might longer continue to pollute that day, would prefer their servile condition to our right of thinking and acting for ourselves ? Laws, Giving the authority above referred to. " He (Postmaster- SUNDAY MAILS. 225 General) shall provide for the carriage of the mail on all post- roads that are or may be established by law, and as often as he, having regard to the productiveness thereof, and other circum- stances, shall think proper." (Sec. 1st in the act regulating the Post-office estabhshment in 1810.) Also in section 7th, " That if any person shall knowingly and wilfully obstruct or retard the passage of the mail, or of any driver, or carrier, or of any horse or carriage carrying the same, he shall, upon conviction, for every such offence, pay a fine not exceeding $100." This clause secures the free passage of the mail on Sundays, if the Postmaster-General is disposed to send it, unless some of the States should claim the right secured to them by the Constitution, article 4th, sec. 4, which is as follows : " The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against innovation," &c. Here we see that each State has a right to make and administer her own laws, provided they do not contravene the Constitution, or the laws of the United States, made in pursuance of it. No law, really promotive of the public good, will ever be opposed by consistent Christians. Will Congress, when the Constitution guaranties to each State the right to make her own laws, provided they are in ac- cordance with the supreme law of the land, refuse to repeal a clause, abridging that right ? If so, is there any security that, by and by, " test acts" will not be multiplied, until, like Daniel, the religious man must violate the dictates of his conscience, or abandon every office under the Government ? As the Post-office Department is now managed, no consistent Christian can parti- cipate in its duties and emoluments. And, with that clause re- maining, all have not equal rights. The irreligious man is aided, and the religious man excluded, voluntarily, it is admitted, for they rather obey God than man. Among the amendments to the Constitution, and equally bind- ing, is the following : Article 1st, *' Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free ex- ercise thereof." Now place by the side of this and the other acts quoted above, the clause, " and it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, or paper, or packet, to the person «s» .,,*._■■// 226 THE SABBATH. entitled to, or authorized to receive the same," and see whether they are consistent with each other ; see whether the conscien- tious Christian can be a Postmaster, and at the same time enjoy the free exercise of his religion. Can he enjoy equally with others the civil benefits of his country, so long as labor is re- quired in any of its departments, on the day forbidden by his rehgion ? If Congress has a right to require such labor, can it not re- quire many other things contrary to the Christian religion — as that every member of Congress, of the executive, and every offi- cer of the General Government, shall, on every day of the week, attend to the duties of his appointment, until every Christian shall be excluded from office ? But would not such laws pro- hibit the free exercise of religion, and be unequal, and unconsti- tutional ? Would not this be as effectual a " religious test" as to require a belief in a particular system of religion as a qualifi- cation for office ? It is by such laws, (and the one complained of,) that " Church and State" are unlawfully united. There is a union, approved by God and beneficial to men. But it consists not in legislating /or or against true religion, but in accordance with it. It is hoped Congress will legislate in no other way. Acts Repealed. When the act of 1810 was passed, most of the former laws on this subject were repealed, among which are the following: " The Postmaster General shall provide for carrying the mail on all post-roads that are, or may be, established by law, and as often as he, having regard to the productiveness thereof, and other circumstances, shall think proper." So far it is similar to the act of 1810. But the duty required of deputy Postmasters at that lime, 1779, up to April, 1810, was different from that required of them now. Hear it. " The Postmaster shall keep an office in which one or more persons shall attend, at such hours as the Postmaster-General shall direct, for the purpose of performing the duties thereof." We also find Congress enacting laws on this subject, February 20, 1792, May 8, 1794, and March 2, 1799, in each of which they say, " that every deputy Post- master shall keep an office, in which one or more persons shall attend, at such hours as the Postmaster-General shall direct, for SUNDAY MAILS. 227 the purpose of performing the duties thereof." And here they left the matter to the further direction of the Postmaster-Gen- eral, instead of requiring them to keep tJieir office open, &C.5 on Sunday. And wliy should the Congresses of 1810 and 1825, re- gwire labor on Sunday in that department? Were they wiser and better than all past Congresses and the Constitution ? I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for requiring labor on Sunday ; but, from the acts quoted above, is it not most ap- parent that there is much against it ? Surely that instrument would not allow a Sabbath for the President, the United States' Court, (and Congress takes one for themselves,) and deny one to those employed in a most important department of Government. But if the clause complained of be not a violation of that instru- ment, certainly, taking the practice of early Congresses as a criterion by which to judge, it is inexpedient and unchristian. It is against the constitution of Heaven. And what people ever prospered, legislating against God ? In conclusion, therefore, I ask for the repeal of the clause above specified, because it is unequal ; (keeping in mind the Christian religion and those who keep the Lord's day, for such, and only such, have been recognized in the Constitution, and by all subsequent congresses ;) because it is against the best inter- ests of your constituents ; because it is unnecessary ; because it is believed to be aganist the spirit, if not the letter of the Con- stitution J and because it is unchristian, and renders this nation obnoxious to the severest judgments of Almighty God. And I cannot believe that I am asking what Congress does not wish were already done. But, should not this prayer be granted, let it be placed among the archives of this nation, as a standing memorial to each suc- ceeding Congress against every law requiring or encouraging labor on tlie Christian Sabbath. HARMON KINGSBURY. ). C, } 1837. 228 THE SABBATH. APPENDIX To Harmon Kingsbury's 'petition to Congress^ 'presented Decem- ber 12, 1837, praying the repeal of that part of an act of Con- gress, regulating the Post-office Department, which is in these words, viz. : '♦ A7ul it shall be the duty of the Postmaste?', at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on de- mand, any letter, paper, or packet, to the person entitled to, or authorized to receive the satne?^ The object of this appendix is to adduce facts and reasons which have, subsequent to the petition, come to the author's notice, showing, it is thought, most conclusively, that this nation has adopted the Christian, instead of the Jewish, Mohammedan, Pagan, or infidel religion, and also that the law compelling Post- masters to violate the Sabbath is impolitic, unconstitutional, and unjust, and ought to be repealed. The law is impolitic, because a very large majority of the people of these United States acknowledge the authority of the Christian Scriptures, and recognize the decalogue as the moral law. of God. This is evident from the fact that there are, it is said, more than two millions of communicants of evangelical churches, and if we may be allowed to add an equal number as stated hearers and supporters of the gospel, there is in this Union a large majority of the adult population on the side of Christianity. It is contrary to the spirit of our institutions, and exceedingly impolitic, for the representatives of a people to legislate against the will of the majority, and more especially when that will is unquestionably on the side of order, religion, and law. It is not believed that Congress intended to abolish the Sabbath by this law. Perhaps it was passed without due consideration of its bearing upon that institution. This has been intimated by a member of the Congress which passed the law. But still it is evidently a direct attack upon the Sabbath, a contradiction of all previous legislation, and opposed to the opinions of two-thirds of the most intelligent citizens of these United States. Nor will it be denied that this is a fair representation of public opinion, when it is considered that more than twenty of the States have SUNDAY MAILS. 229 protected the Sabbath by direct legislation — which will be no- ticed more fully hereafter. PetUixms in 1828 and 1829. During the agitation of the Sabbath-mail question, some ten years since, four hundred and sixty-seven petitions from friends of the Sabbath, of twenty-one States, were presented to Con- gress. The following extract from the honorable Mr. McKean's report to the house, v/ill show what he thought of the petition- ers, and of the voice of public sentiment, at that time, viz. : " The memorials on this subject, on account of the numerous sources from which they have been received, the number and re- spectability of the signatures, as well as the intrinsic importance of the question involved, require from the committee and the Legislature the most deliberate and respectful consideration. It is believed that the history of legislation in this country affords no instance in which a stronger expression has been made, if re- gard be had to numbers, the wealth, or the intelligence of the 1 ctitioners." And this report closes with a resolution recom- mending Congress to repeal the very clause mentioned above. It cannot with any propriety be contended that the history of those transactions cannot be brought to bear on the question now under consideration. Those in favor of the repeal of this clause at that time, can be no less in favor of it at the present time. For many of those petitioners asked for legislation to prevent the mail from being carried, and Post-ofRces from being opened, on Sunday, as well as the repeal of the law complained of; while the petition referred to above seeks only the repeal of the clause compelling Postmasters to violate the fourth com- mandment; leaving the rest to the conscience of the Postmas- ter-General and the voice of public opinion. Those who opposed the passage of any law to close Post-offices and to prevent the transportation of the mail on Svmday, must, to be consistent, and in accordance with their reasoning, sustain the repealing of a law compelling any officer of the United States to desecrate the day. Among these petitioners were some of the first men in this aaation. Soon after the close of the last war, numerous petitions in relation to this law, from west as well as east of the moiintains, 20 230 THE SABBATH. were sent to Congress. They called out a respectful report from the Postmaster-General, but resulted in nothing more. The whole history of this subject shows that the Christian commu- nity have never acquiesced in this irreligious legislation : and although there are a few men who would gladly see the Lord's day desecrated by law, yet it is confidently believed, were the question, Sabbath or tio Sabbath, fairly presented to this republic, that a most overwhelming preponderance in its favor would be the result. Other facts may serve to indicate public sentiment, as it at present exists on this subject. And may it not be presumed, that in every portion of this country, similar expressions have been made, though they have not fallen under the immediate inspection of the author ? The following memorial was circu- lated about a year since in the western part of New York and the northern part of Ohio ; and obtained the signatures of a large majority of the business men, in every place to which it was sent. To the Forwarders mi the Erie Canal: " Gentlemen — The object of this memorial is respectfully io present to your attention the subject of the observance of the Sabbath. Being engaged in such branches of business as re- quire the transportation of our property upon the Erie canal, we have often been induced to reflect upon the general subject re- specting which this memorial is submitted. And upon such oc- casions, our minds have, from the situation which you occupy, Been very naturally directed towards yourselves. " We do not present ourselves as theologians, but as philan- thropists and citizens. Although we acknowledge the Sabbath as a divine institution, yet it is not in this light that it is placed before your minds. Humanity and patriotism advance motives full of interest and eloquence. " An examination of the constitution of man shows that he needs just such an institution as the Sabbath. He is a physical being ; and it is impossible for the animal machine to continue in constant operation without injury, a period of rest being ne- cessary to recruit its wasted energies. He is an intellectual being ; and if the body be constantly employed, the mind must SONDAY MAILS. 231 be neglected. He is a moral being ; and having a soul of price- less value, some portion of time is essential to attend to its in- terests. The body, the intellect, the soul, all demand the ob- servance of the Sabbath. " Fully believing man to be thus constituted, and needing a weekly cessation from the ordinary pursuits of life, sympathy induces us to commiserate those whose employment leads them to neglect this necessary repose. They are our fellow-creatures. Their and our physical, mental, and moral powers need the Sabbath. It is thus, gentlemen, with yourselves. We are, therefore, only striking upon a cord that binds them and you and ourselves closely together. It is the voice of humanity, that asks rest every seventh day for the waterman. " The welfare of our country is deeply affected by this subject. An unintelligent and immoral population will spread desolation throughout a Republican Government. Where the sword or the bayonet is the umpire, there ignorance may prevail, and the na- tion's existence continue. But our perpetuity as a race of freemen rests upon intelligence and morality. Sweep these away, and wrecked are our republic, our peace, and our prosperity. " But the plan of neglecting the observance of the Sabbath, as is practised upon the Erie canal, tends, so far as it goes, to foster ignorance and immorality. If every seventh day were de- voted to the cultivation of the mind, one whole year of mental improvement would be enjoyed in every seven years. If the same period were occupied in the study of moral obhgation, a similar amount of time would be employed in learning to become a bet- ter man and a more useful citizen. But the present system of Sabbath transportation, so far as it extends, prevents the enjoy- ment of such advantages. " But it is not our intention to enter into an extended argu- ment. We ask, for the sake of humanity, and for the welfare of our country, a candid consideration of this subject. " In addition to these views, we feel bound to obviate an ob- jection, which has been and may again be based upon ourselves. It is said that business men demand the transportation of then* property upon the Sabbath. We, however, wish to be considered as exceptions. We do distinctly declare our preferences for a diflferent course. And we will heartily rejoice, if you should de- 232 THE BAB BATH. termine to abandon the present plan, and require those in your employ to rest upon the Sabbath." At one of the most commercial points in northern Ohio, about one hundred and sixty signatures were obtained to a similar pa- per, including almost every commercial man in the city. Opinions of Public Bodies. At the anniversary of the American Bethel Society, held at Buffalo, June, 1838, the following resolutions were unanimous- ly adopted : " 1. Resolved^ That the rescue of the Christian Sabbath from the desecration which is almost universal upon our inland waters, is an object of immense importance to the American Bethel So- ciety, upon the success of which depends the great design of our organization, the moral and religious elevation of sailors and boatmen. " 2. Resolved^ That we view the act of Congress, imposing as a duty on Postmasters the violation of the Sabbath, by requiring them to deliver letters, papers, &c., on every day of the week, as a violation of the rights of conscience, contrary to the spirit of our institutions, opposed to the laws of most of the states in this Union touching the Sabbath, and is in the way of all attempts to rescue the day from desecration, because it demands what God has expressly prohibited, and what no Christian can, with a good conscience, perform ; and encourages individuals and companies to persist in a sin which is the source of the degradation and im- morality which we seek to remove. " 3. Resolved, That this law ought to be forthwith repealed. " 4. Resolved, That we will endeavor to persuade our fellow- citizens to refrain from their business operations on our lakes, rivers, canals, and rail-roads on the Lord's day. " 5. Resolved, That if the friends of the Sabbath would al- ways give a preference to those lines of conveyances which rest on that day, it would have a powerful influence in changing a practice which, if continued, must unavoidably prove our de- struction. " 6. Resolved, That ministers, and editors, and private Chris- tians ought more frequently and faithfully to remonstrate against the practice, of running boats, stages, and rail-road cars, of carry- SUNDAY MAILS. 233 ^ing, opening, and delivering the mail on Sunday — acts offensive ,to God, and prejudicial to the best interests of the employer, as well as the employed. " 7. Resolved, That it is the duty of every church to watch over its members with constant and increasing care, that no one of them who desecrates or causes the desecration of the Sabbath may be allowed to escape the censure which such unchristian conduct deserves. " 8. Resolved, That Rev. Messrs. Lord, Hopkins, and May be a committee to correspond with the friends of the Sabbath in different parts of the country, and devise ways and means more effectually to secure the object of these resolutions." The General Assembly of the Presbyterian church at Pitts- burg, in 1836, passed unanimously a preamble and resolutions, from which the following are extracts : " The rest of the Sabbath is the only wise and adequate pro- vision for the wants of the animal system. The influence of the Sabbath can alone be relied on to sustain our free institutions, to extend the empire of law, lo preserve domestic order and happi- ness, and to continue the bare existence of morality and religion in the world. The abandonment of the Sabbath is, therefore, nothing less than resigning all that is sacred and dear to a Chris- tian people, for time and for eternity." The fifth resolution, introduced by Dr. Miller, of Princeton, is as follows : — " Resolved, That, in the judgment of this General Assembly, the owners of stock in steam-boats, canals, rail-roads, &c., which are in the habit of violating the Sabbath, are lending their property and their influence to one of the most wide-spread, alarming, and deplorable systems of Sabbath desecration which now grieves the hearts of the pious, and disgraces the church of God : and that it be respectfully recommended to the friends of the Lord's day, as soon as possible, to establish such means of public conveyance as shall relieve them from the necessity, under which they now labor, of travelling, at any time, in vehicles which habitually violate that holy day ; and thus prevent them from in any way being partakers in other men's sins in this respect." Had the subject of the petition been before that body, there 20* 234 THE SABBATH. can be no doubt a united voice in favor of it would have been given ; for this resolution, in spirit, is decidedly against the law and the practice which desecrate holy time. And here we have the voice of an Assembly which represents at least eight or ten hundred thousand of our fellow-citizens. And one of the last Assemblies of the same church, convened at Philadelphia, in the report oi' their committee on the subject of Sabbath desecration, say : " Having done this, the next step will be to lift up a united voice against all that immoral and op- pressive legislation, behind which the sin of Sabbath-breaking now stands securely intrenched. What has been found true in the temperance reform will be found true in the Sabbath reform. The sanction of law must be removed from every evil which you would fain frown upon and exterminate." A/eic individuals in that body thought they should ^rs^ purify the church, but, having done this, all admitted their obligation to do what they could to obtain the repeal of the law requiring labor on the Lord's day. All believed such a law to be impious, impolitic, and unjust. Baptist Convention. — Such sentiments as the following, pre- sented to the Baptist Convention of Ohio, are yearly sent forth from almost all our ecclesiastical bodies : ^^ Resolved, That the present alarming desecration of the Christian Sabbath is,a moral evil, rife alike with every danger to the church, to the civil institutions of our country, and to the world; and that this convention do most affectionately recom- mend and urge upon all the churches the duty of guarding, with sacred vigilance, its sanctity and moral purity." Cleveland Presbytery. — At a session of the Presbytery of Cleveland, held April 17th, 1838, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted, and are hereby submitted for publica- tion: Whereas, The law of Congress, requiring Postmasters to de- liver letters, papers, &c., on the Sabbath, is against the law of God, and exceedingly prejudicial to the religious interests of the community generally, as well as of those more immediately con- cerned ; therefore, SUNDAY MAILS. ^5 Heeolvedj That it is the duty of Congress forthwith to repeal teaid law. Besolved, That our delegates to the next Greneral Assembly be instructed to do all in their power to obtain from said Assembly an expression against said law, to be forwarded to Congress. Resolved, That our clerk furnish such delegates and the editor of the Cleveland Observer with a copy of the foregoing. A true copy attested, Myron Tracy, Clerk. At a meeting held at Cleveland, Sabbath evening, April 1, 1838, the following resolutions were read and sustained by the speakers, and all but one passed unanimously : Resolved, That the principles of God's moral government, contained in the ten commandments, are applicable to all men, in every condition and relation of life ; and that a violation of those principles is r.s perilous to nations as to individuals. — Bev. Mr. Thicker. Resolved, That the Sabbath, as enjoined by the law of God, is necessary, not only to the existence and perpetuity of the Chris- tian religion, and the success of all efforts to spread that religion through the world, but to the permanence and utility of our re- puLiican institutions. — Rev. Mr. Whiting. Resolved, That any law, or any mode of transacting public business, which requires or involves the violation of the Sabbath, is inconsistent with the public good. — Rev. Mr. Aikin. Resolved, That so much of the law of the United States, passed April, 1810, and re-enacted March, 1825, as requires Fost- masters to deliver letters, papers, &c., on Sunday, is contrary to the law of God, and consequently detrimental to the best inter- ests of the individuals immediately concerned ; exceedingly inju- rious to the nation, as a public example of impiety, and ought, without delay, to be repealed. — Woolsey Wells, Esq. Resolved, That the friends of knowledge, of virtue, of refine- ment, and of the peace, good order, and happiness of society, are as truly bound, in consistency with their principles, as the reli- gious man, to exert all their influence for a strict observance of the Sahhath.—Rev. Mr. Boyden. Resolved, That it is the duty of ministers of the Gospel, and 236 THE SABBATH. editors of religious newspapers, to use every effort in their appro- priate spheres to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath, by showing the essential importance of iis influence to the welfare of individuals and nations, and the certainty, derivable from the revealed principles of God's government, that a public and gen- eral desecration of that day must be followed by exemplary and fearful judgments. — Rev. Mr. Kinsley. The following resolutions were read and passed without debate : Resolved^ That, in the opinion of this meeting, it is the duty of ecclesiastical bodies immediately to express to the committees on post-offices and post-roads, and through them to Congress, their unqualified disapprobation of the law requiring Postmasters to deliver letters and papers on Sunday. Resolved, That it be recommended to all delegates who may attend meetings of such bodies, to do all in their power to pro- cure and forward to Congress such expressions of disapprobation. Simeon Ford, Chairman. Henry Sexton, Secretary. Opinions of Editors of Newspapers. But one sentiment expressed by the various religious and po- litical editors, touching this law, (except in a single insti;:ice,) has reached the author. Extracts from several of them, belong- ing to seven different denominations, and representing the views of many hundred thousands of our best citizens, are gircn be- low. It is not probable that all whicTi has been said on this sub- ject has been'received ; but enough has been seen to justify the assertion that the readers of the religious class of publications are in favor of granting the prayer of the petition. In a word, all who consider the Sabbath essential to our religious and poht- ical prosperity seem to be in favor of the repeal of said law. " We designed to speak on this subject in connection with noticing the petition of Harmon Kingsbury, mentioned in the fol- lowing account of the proceedings of a meeting in this place on Wednesday last. Our present limits, however, forbid any tiling more than the expression of our full and hearty concurrence in the action of the meeting, and our conviction that no friend of our republican institutions, resident in this county, would object SUNDAY MAILS. 237 to the repeal of that part of the law specified in Mr. Kingsbury's petition, while our good citizens generally, would doubtless re- gard it as the imperative duty of Congress to make the repeal." — Ohio Atlas and Elyria Advertiser. " At a meeting of persons friendly to the religious observance of the Sabbath, at Elyria, Lorain County, on the 14th of March, 1838, the petition of Harmon Kingsbury, of Cleveland, 'praying the repeal of that part of an act of Congress regulating tlie Post-office Department, which requires Postmasters to deliver letters, &c., on the Sabbath,' was read, and the object thereof unanimously approved. Whereupon it was " Resolved, That the law is a bad one, and ought to be repeal- ed ; and we would earnestly request our Representatives in Con- gress to do all in their power to effect its repeal. " Whereas we have learned, with satisfaction, that the peti- .tion of Mr. Kingsbury has been received and submitted, in both houses of Congress, to their Standing Committees on the Post- office, we deem it our duty to make this expression of our feel- ings, and very much desire that a general expression of the friends of the Sabbath might go out and reach these commit- tees, that they maybe satisfied that the law is disapproved exten- sively. J. E. Chaplin, Chairman. L. H. Loss, ^Secretory." " We have commenced publishing to-day, Mr. Kingsbury's petition to Congress, to abolish so much of the Post-office law as requires Postmasters to deliver letters on the Sabbath. We are confident that but very few, if any, can be found among our readers who would be opposed to this measure. The request is a reasonable one, and it ought to be granted. Every considera- tion, both of interest and of duty, is for it." — Cleveland Observer. " The opening of the Post-oflice on the Sabbath is another gross profanation of holy time ; and if all our Postmasters had that regard for their souls or for the Sabbath, as a day of rest, which tiliey ought to have, they would in a body remonstrate against this requisition. It deprives them of the relaxation which 238 THE SABBATH. their Maker designed for them, and which the Constitution of our General Government undoubtedly intended to secure for pubUc men. He who trespasses upon the Sabbath, in going to the Post-office on that day for purposes of business, trespasses also upon the rights, and wounds the soul of the Postmaster. We do not see how any one can claim to be a friend of the Sabbath, and to desire that all should enjoy its blessings, who, by his own example, will sanction so gross a violation of the day." — Connecticut Observer. " The law in question, and every other requiring labor on the Sabbath day, directly contravenes the express and solemn enact- ment of the God of heaven. Besides, as the existing law obliges all Postmasters to labor on the Sabbath, its direct effect is to disqualify every man for that office who has scruples of con- science against the habitual performance of common labor on that day of which Jehovah has said, ' In it thou shalt do no work.\" — Auburn Banner. " We regard the law, as it now stands, not only as a national sin, but as operating unfairly and unequally, in exacting from the officers connected with the Post-office establishment labor on the Sabbath, which is given as a day of rest to officers in the other departments. It operates injuriously, also, in preventing many conscientious men from accepting office, one of the re- quirements of which is to break the Sabbath, while it throws, in too many instances, important trusts into the hands of the unprincipled. May not the multiplied cases of delinquency which have occurred in this department of late years be accounted for on this principle ?" — Presbyterian. " We believe the subject (of the repeal) is of immense impor- tance to this entire nation. We cannot think for a moment on the dreadful judgments which the Bible informs us once fell upon other nations who disregarded the holy Sabbath without shuddering in fearful anticipation of what may yet befall our own coiftntry. And it does seem lo us that the welfare of the republic, the cause of suffering humanity, and the voice of God, call for a repeal of the law above named j and we hope it will ^ SUNDAY MAILS 239 be called for by the united voice of this whole nation, through the length and breadth of this land." — Zion^s Watchman. " The law of God establishing the Sabbath was enacted at the creation of man, and was therefore antecedent to the Mosaic ceremonial law. At the giving of the moral (not the ceremo- nial) law, this precept was engrafted into the moral code which Almighty God wrote on tables of stone. At this time it was recognized as of old and permanent standing, by the words of introduction: "Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day." Our Lord in the Gospel recognizes the Sabbath in as plain terms as possible. He does not repeal it any more than the precepts respecting swearing, murder, adultery, &c. The fourth com- mandment, then, stands with all its original authority, which no man or body of men have any right, human or divine, to annul, break, or cause to be annulled or broken, without incurring the severest penalty. To the honor of God's truth, and in submis- sion IQ his law, we refer to the fourth commandment, and ac- liiowledge its moral and poUtical authority: 'Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day,' &c. " Ever since mistaken Christians and designing infidels set themselves against the Sabbath, in Congressional enactments and otherwise, the tide of sin has been setting in stronger, so that iniquity has obtained a decided advantage, and the cause of rehgion and morals has received very great checks. We be- lieve that every friend to good order ought to stand up in defence of the fourth commandment, as rigorously as he does for the other commandments. If the one falls, the others will fall with it. Then murder and misrule will overwhelm the land, and mobs and violence will govern it. We publish the following (Mr. Kingsbury's) petition on this subject with great cordiality." — Western Christian Advocate. " In reference to Mr. Kingsbury's present efforts, we deem it of very great importance that they should be prosecuted with vigor and not be relinquished until the object is gained, and for the following reasons : " 1. In the first place, the Government would lose nothing by granting the thing prayed for. Just as many letters, papers, and 240 THE SABBATH. pamriphletB would circulate through the mail aB though the Post- ofRces were required to be kept open on the Sabbath. " 2. It is due to the thousands who are employed in the Post- offices throughout the country that this prayer should be grant- ed. These persons need the rest of the Sabbath as much as others, and would be as glad of it. They would all doubtless re- joice to be relieved from labor one day in seven, and not a few of them would esteem it a privilege to spend the day in a man- ner more congenial with the dictates of their consciences. We see not why every Postmaster in the land, whether religiously or irreligiously inclined, should not hold up both hands for the re- peal. And, besides, many of the most trustworthy men in the country are absolutely driven from the service of the Post-office Department by their conscientious regard for the claims of the Sabbath, while multitudes of others, of the same character, are prevented by the same considerations from entering it. " 3. The Government owes the repeal of the law which thus enjoins the violation of the Sabbath to the feelings and wishes of a large proportion of the citizens of the United States, em- bracing, to say the least, as much intelligence, patriotism, and moral worth, as is to be found in any other equal number of per- sons in the country, if, indeed, an equcd number opposed to it can be found. There is no denomination of Christians, at least none termed evangelical, whose feelings are not cruelly set at naught by this law, and that, too, without the shadow of an apology. " 4. No class of persons in community can give any valid rea- son why the law should not be repealed. None will be injured by it in their pecuniary interests. The petition does not ask that Post-offices shall not be opened on the Sabbath under any circumstances, let the emergency be as it may, but only that men shall not be compelled to labor on the Sabbath. Nor would violence be done to the consciences of any class of persons. No person would be thereby compelled to do any thing which hurts his conscience in the least, or to see any thing done which would wound his moral sensibility. "5. Patriotism demands the repeal of this obnoxious law. Who doubts that the blessings of free government are enjoyed in pro- portion as the spirit of genuine Christianity prevails ; and that this is what makes the difference between the governments of SUNDAY MAILS. 241 Christian and pagan countries, and also between the govern- ments of those countries for which Christianity has done most and those for which she has done least? Nobody doubts it Does not patriotism demand, then, that a law which goes to sub- vert Christianity should be repealed ? Christianity cannot exist without the Sabbath, and the tendency of the law in question is to destroy the latter, and thus, indirectly, the former. Love of country, then, should cry aloud for its repeal. " 6. Consistency demands it. We are not a nation of heathens, or of infidels. As a nation, we profess to embrace the religion of the Bible, so far that we choose to be denominated a Christian country. But does not the law which requires men to do busi- ness on the Sabbath deny this ? and does not consistency, there- fore, demand its repeal ?" — Michigan Observer. " We are glad to perceive that a petition has been introduced before Congress, by Harmon Kingsbury, of Cleveland, Ohio, praying the repeal of that part of an act of Congress, regula- ting the Post-office Department, which requires Postmasters to deliver letters^ 4^c., on Sunday. That act reads thus : ' And it shall be the duty of the Postmaster, at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, on demand, any letter, paper, or packet, to any person.' &c. " But we object to this law, because, without the plea of ne- cessity or mercy, it requires Postmasters to deliver letters on any portion of the Sabbath. " It is inconsistent icith the liberty of conscience^ and thus with a fundamental principle of our government. It requires officers of the government to do, what the professed faith of ninety- nine hundredths of the people and the professed principles of the government of the United States condemn, as opposed to the law of God and the best interests of society. "It is inconsistent with the laws and usages of the government. The Constitution of the United States exempts the President from work on Sunday, by excepting Sundays from the ten days within which, if he does not return a bill, it becomes a law. The Supreme Court of the United States is forbidden, by law, to do business on Sunday. Both Houses of Congress and all the public officers claim the privilege of abstinence from public bu- siness on the Sabbath, The laws regulating the army and navy 21 242 THE SABBATH. and the Military Academy of the United States enjoin the ob- servance of the Sabbath, and attendance upon Divine worship on that day. " Congress might, with as much propriety and right," enact a law requiring the President of the United States, and all heads of departments, and all auditors and clerks ; all officers and men in the army and navy, and all the judges of the courts of the United States, to attend to their usual business on Sunday, as to maintain the present law requiring unnecessary labor of Post- masters on the Lord's day. '* But there is another view of this matter. In nearly all, if not all of the States, there are laws expressly enjoining the keeping of the Sabbath, or else declaring " the duty of all men publicly and at stated seasons" to worship God. Everywhere the Sab- bath is the stated season selected for public worship. Now, let us consider the law of Congress as to Postmasters, and the law of Vermont, for example, as to the Sabbath. The latter declares (see Constitution of Vermont) that " every denomination oj Christiaiis ought to observe the Sabbath or hordes day, and, keep vpreligiou^s worship.^* In Vermont, however, there are perhaps some hundreds of persons in the employ of the United States as Postmasters, citizens nevertheless of Vermont, and bound by its laws. The law of Congress forbids them to observe the Sab- bath, and requires them to abstain from public worship, for the purpose of being ready, at all reasonable hours, to deliver letters, &c. The law of their own State declares it to be their duty to attend public worship, and keep the day free from secular work. Thus, Congress goes into Vermont, and forbids her citizens to mind her laws. " The law under consideration was the first statute enacted by Congress, requiring a violation of the religion of the land. We charge it with being an unauthorized interference with that re- ligion. " When the Constitution provided that Congress should pass no law establishing religion, it surely was not intended to vest that body with the right to pass a canon desecrating one of the most sacred institutions of the religion of the nation. This law is against religion. It does not leave Christianity in the' same cir- cumstances as before it was passed. It is a legislative inter- SUNDAY MAILS. 243 ference with the rights of conscience, the hberty of the people, and the rehgion which hes at the basis of their civil and politi- cal institutions. We pray our legislators to review the farewell address of Washington, unless we have become too wise to be taught by such a teacher. ' Of all the dispositions and habits (says Pater Patrice) which lead to pohtical prosperity, rehgion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to sub- vert these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.' Let them hear another of the men of olden times. Said Franklin, in the Convention that formed our present Constitution : ' The longer I live, the more I see convincing proofs that God governs in the affairs of men ; and if a sparrow cannot faJl to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise with- out his aid ? We have been assured in the sacred writings, that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it ! I firmly believe this ; and I also believe, that, without his con- curring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel ; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages.' Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers ! ' Them that honor me will I honor.' ' If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing ipy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then will I cause thee to ride on the high places of the earth — the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." — Gambier Observer. " The petition of Harmon Kingsbury we received some ten days ago, through the politeness of a friend at Washington, but had not then time to examine it. Of the particular circum- stances connected with its being brought before Congress in its present form, we know nothing. We are not among those who are forward in clamoring for legislative interference in matters of religion, and especially under circumstances calculated to ex- cite a suspicion that sectarian or party interests are at the bot- tom. But we have reason to tear that the aversion some of our fellow citizens have cherished against giving countenance to 244 THE BABBATH. measures in which prominent parties have taken the lead, has betrayed them into the opposite extreme ; and under a notion of guarding against a union of Church and State, they have, un- warily, we trust, compromitted the interests of rehgion, and given undue advantage to its open and avowed enemies. There are certain great principles of religion and morality interwoven into the tissue of our Government and laws, which are as sacred to the statesman as to the Christian. Among these are an ac- knowledgment of God, of his providence, of the Bible, and of the institution of the Sabbath, &c. And while the nation is pro- hibited by its Constitution from passing any law which shall give the preference to one sect of Christians above others, it is equally bound, by the same charter of the people's rights,' to secure to all the liberty of conscience, and to protect the great principles in which all agree. It appears to us, therefore, that no law can be constitutional, which, by fair implication, infracts any of these rights. It was evidently never intended by the fathers of the republic, who devised the structure of the Govern- ment, or the sovereign people who sanctioned it, that a public acknowledgment of God, as he is revealed to us in the Christian Scriptures, and the sanctity of the holy Sabbath, should be lost eight of in public or in private life. If this conclusion be just, it is sufficient to settle the question brought before Congress in the memorial before that body. But there are other reasons which should influence our rulers in this matter. The great light of legislators is the light of experience. This is their only safe guide. Let us inquire, then, what nation has rejected God and profaned the holy Sabbath, whose history does not exhibit marked indications of his displeasure, in disastrous events, so nearly connected with these as their cause, that no mind, well disciplined in a correct process of reasoning, can mistake their connection 1 History will afford lessons of instruction on this momentous subject, which it will be wisdom in all who love their country, (laying their religious views out of the question,) to learn and treasure up. " We hope that Congress will respect the prayer of their peti- tioner, not only because it is evidently in accordance with the principles of morality and religion, which are incorporated in the organization of our Government, and without which we cannot LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 245 hope to prosper as a nation, but because the request appears to be reasonable, and the terms in which it is made unexceptiona- ble. No plea of necessity, mercy, or utility, can be urged in favor of obhging Postmasters to deliver letters on the Sabbath; Vi^hile every consideration of right, reason, and religion, forbids it." — Christian Advocate and Journal. Legislative Action. But perhaps the best proof of the present state of public opinion is to be found in the fact, that when a petition was pre- sented to the Legislature of New York, last winter, " praying the repeal of the laws for the observance of the Sabbath," &c., they, by a vote nearly unanimous, rejected the prayer of the petitioners. An extract from a " report of the Committee on the Judiciary, on the petition" above referred to, is here subjoined. " In Assembly, March 13, 1838. — Your committee do not ap- prehend any of the evils which the petitioners suggest as likely to follow from the observance of the Sabbath. There is nothing in the history of the past, or in the prospect of the future, which induces the belief that the laws on this subject will ' promote indolence,' or 'increase the opportunities and facilities to vice and immorality.' Viewing the Sabbath merely as a civil institu- tion, venerable from its age, consecrated as a day of rest by the usage of our fathers, cherished by the common consent of man- kind throughout the nations of Christendom, we cannot concur with the petitioners in regarding the laws for its observance as 'glaring outrages,' nor participate in the 'profound astonish- ment' with which they profess to be ' filled' by reason of the ' tol- eration of those laws in the present age.' The petitioners may safely dismiss their fear that the influence of the Sabbath will be corrupting to thepubhc morals; they need have no anxiety lest our citizens should cease to be an industrious people, because of their resting one day in seven : they may feel assured that ' lib- erty and equality' are in no danger of being subverted by the regulated observance of a day which witnesses, throughout this Commonwealth, ' the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference.' (Constitution, article 7, section 3.) They will find, if they ex- amine the subject, that the great end of our Government is to 21* S46 THE SABBATH. secure, protect, and perpetuate both civil and religious liberty, and that the Legislature has no more power to violate those rights, by treating churches and religious associations as ' public nuisances,' than it has to treat literary societies or political meet- ings in the same light. " When the people of this State adopted the Constitution under which we live, they ordained that ' the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimi- nation or preference, shall be forever allowed in this State to all mankind ; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of hcentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. (Constitution, article 7, section 3.) But in thus protecting them- selves against the intolerance of any one religious sect, it was by no means their object to declare war against religion itself. On the contrary, they expressly provided that even this freedom of conscience, which is thus secured as sacred, shall in no case permit any acts which are licentious, and, therefore, inconsistent with that public morality which has the Christian religion alone for its basis and support. " In all countries some kind of religion or other has existed in all ages. No people on the face of the globe are without a pre- vailing national religion. Magistrates have sought in many countries to strengthen civil government by an alliance with some particular religion, and an intolerant exclusion of all others. But those who have wielded this formidable power have ren- dered it a rival, instead of an auxiliary to the public welfare ; a fetter, instead of a protection to the rights of conscience. With us it is wisely ordered, that no one religion shall be estabhshed by law, but that all persons shall be left free in their choice and in their mode of worship. Still, this is a Christian nation. Ninety-nine hundredths, if not a larger proportion of our whole population, believe in the general doctrines of the Christian reli- gion. Our government depends for its very being on the virtue of the people ; on that virtue which has its foundation in the mo- rality of the Christian religion, and that religion is the common and prevailing faith of the people. There are, it is true, excep- tions to this belief, but general laws are not made for excepted cases. There are to be found, here and there, the world over, LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 24T individuals who entertain opinions hostile to the common sense of mankind on subjects of honesty, humanity, and decency, but it would be a kind of republicanism with which we are not ac- quainted in this country, which would require the great mass of mankind to yield to, and be governed by, this few. " It is quite unnecessary to enter into a detailed review of all the evidence that Christianity is the common creed of this na- tion ; we know it, and we feel it, as we know and feel any other un- questioned and admitted truth ; the evidence is all around us, and before us, and with us. We know, too, that the exceptions to this general belief are rare ; so very rare that they are sufficient only, like other exceptions, to prove a general rule. " Such being the case, the question arises, whether the laws and usages required by the principles and feelings of the vast majority should give way to the peculiar dogmas of the very few ; whether they are oppressive on the conscience ; or whether they operate as a greater restriction on the natural rights of the very few than is indispensable to the good of society. " It is obvious that a negative is the only answer that can be given to either of these inquiries. Our laws are entirely tolerant ; they recognize no tests, disabilities, or discriminations ; there is no impediment to the free enjoyment, by every human being, of any religion whatever ; there is no prescription of those who do or do not belong to any particular sect, or to no sect, who believe in any particular religion or no religion ; all are alike protected by the laws and amenable to them. The desecration of the Sabbath by servile labor, sporting, gaming, hunting, and horse- racing, would, in a state of society like ours, be an outrage on the feelings and peace of the people, and would be incompatible with the 'exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship,' guarantied to them by the Constitution. Such acts, therefore, become positive offences, and are prohibited by law ; and such prohibition is no more a restraint of the natural rights of the solitary few, than hundreds of others in the statute book, or than is due to the social rights of the community as a whole. " Your committee desire to be understood as placing these laws exclusively on the ground of political and constitutional right. With ihe religious obligations which individuals are under to reverence the Sabbath, we have nothing to do ; those 248 THE SABBATH. obligations are purely personal, not social ; as to them, every man is, of right, his own judge. Aside from usual considerations imder which the people of this country are disposed to observe the Sabbath, there can be no question that, as a mere civil insti- tution, none could be devised more salutary. If it had no othei effect than to promote the personal cleanliness and cessation from bodily labor, so essential to the health and physical energy of a population, it would be well worth legal protection. The experience of mankind has shown that occasional rest is neces- sary for the health of the laborer, and for his continued ability to toil : that ' the interval of relaxation which Sunday affords to the laborious part of mankind, contributes greatly to the comfort and satisfaction of their lives, both as it refreshes them for the time, and as it relieves their six days' labor by the prospect of a day of rest always approaching j which could not be said or casual indulgence of leisure and rest, even were they more fre- quent than there is reason to expect they would be if left to the discretion or humanity of interested taskmasters.' (Paley, vol. 3, p. 292.) In the absence of laws prohibiting labor on the Sab- bath, all that portion of the people who are in the service of others, who are employed as clerks, apprentices, in manufacto- ries, as laborers, and otherwise, would be without any protec- tion for their rights of w^orship or of rest ; they would be left at the mercy of others, and subject to the caprice, cupidity, or legalized immorality of their employers. The added toil of the seventh day would only reduce the price, and the ' laborer him- self, who deserved and suffered most by the change, would gain nothing.' Even the beasts that toil for man are entitled to their rest, and it is found that they can accomphsh more by ceasing from their work one day in seven. Thus the dictates of human- ity and the decree of nature alike require the observance of the Sabbath. " If the laws forbidding labor of one kind were repealed, there would be no reason why the repeal should not extend to all kinds ; why courts should not sit ; process issue ; jurors be com- pelled to serve, and parties and witnesses attend on the Sabbath ; why the raihtia should not be ordered out for parade and inspec- tion ; why town meetings should not be held j in a word, there would be no reason why the people should not be at all times tTNCONSTlTUTIONALITY OP THE LAW. 249 liable to be interrupted in the conscientious discharge of their rehgious duties, and to a virtual prohibition of the ' free exer- cise and enjoyment of rehgious prolession and worship.' " The humanizing effect of the Sabbath in promoting works of benevolence, charity, schools for the instruction of those who cannot obtain instruction elsewhere, and in strengthening the social relations of friends and neighbors, is among its most be- nign results. The principles which are then inculcated, in churches of all denominations, strengthen that public morality, good order, and obedience to the laws, so essential to the security of the State. " A black chapter in the history of the French revolution fur- nishes h monitory lesson as to the results of the prostration of all religion. There is nothing in those countries where the Sab- bath is disregarded to commend their example to our imitation. We are persuaded that the petitioners would not, as good citi- zens, be willing to see cock-fighting, horse-racing, theatrical exhi- bitions, bull-baiting, and other demoralizing and brutal displays, take the place of the quiet and order, the tranquilhty and peace, which reign throughout our borders on that day. And yet, if we abandon our customs, and break down those barriers against vice which now protect us, there is no reason to suppose that we should not be visited by those offensive results as well as other countries. We need hardly say, that while public virtue and morality prevail in this State, the people will never ratify, by a repeal of the law, the violation of the Sabbath. It is endeared to them by the example of their fathers, by the associations of their youth, and by the habit of their Uves." Suppose it be admitted— and why is it not reasonable to do so ?— that all the states, having laws to protect the Sabbath, are of the same opinion expressed above ; is there not in this fact alone, overwhelming evidence that the great majority of this nation consider the Sabbath essential to national prosperity, and would rejoice to witness the repeal of the law requiring labor on tliat day ? Unconstitutionality of the Law. It is said that twenty-three of the states of this Union at least, have penal enactments against Sabbath desecration. Besides, 250 THE SABBATH. the common law of England, up to the time of the revolution, it is believed, was adopted by all the colonies. Long before the American revolution it was decided that the desecration of the Sabbath was an offence at common law, which, all admit, recog- nizes the authority of Christianity. The Sabbath, then, is re- cognized both by statute and common law, by the states which compose this Union, as a day upon which courts cannot sit, or civil process issue ; the servant, apprentice and laborer, are ex- empt from worldly avocations on that day, and protected in its enjoyment as a season of rest. And all entertainments, exhibi- tions, reviews, or other things tending to disturb the religious observEince of the day, are prohibited. The first inquiry which now suggests itself is, Have the states a right to make such laws ? for, if they have, then Congress has no right to make a law virtually abrogating state laws, by com- pelling a portion of their citizens to labor on Sunday. Have the States, by the Constitution, committed any such power to Con- Instructions to the Delegates of tJie Continental Congress. The following extracts from the instructions given by many of the colonies to their delegates to the Continental Congress, in 1776, will show, that in the reserved rights of the States are in- cluded all " that relates to their internal police, and the manage- ment of their own civil and religious affairs." North Carolina, April 12, 1776. — '• Reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a constitution and laws for this colony." Rhode Island, May 4, 1776. — " Taking the greatest care to secure to this colony, in the strongest manner, its present estab- lished form, and all the powers of government, so far as relates to its internal police and conduct of our own affairs, civil and re- ligious." Virginia, May 15, 1776. — "Provided, That the power of forming government for, and regulating the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the respective colonial legislatures." Pennsylvania^ June 14, 1776.—" Reserving to the people of UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE LAW. 251 this colony the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police of the same." Connecticid, June 14, 1776.—" Saving that the administration of government, and the power of forming governments for, and the regulation of the internal concerns and police of each colony, ought to be left and remain to the respective colonial legisla- tures." New Hampshire^ June 15, 1776. — " Provided, the regulation of our internal police be under the direction of our own Assem- bly." New Jersey^ June 21, 1776. — " Always observing, that what- ever plan of confederacy you enter into, the regulating the inter- nal policy of this province is to be reserved to the colony legis- lature." Maryland^ June 28, 1776. — "Provided the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police of this colony be reserved to the people thereof." Smith Carolina implies the same. The colonies would come into the Union only on certain coil- ditions, expressed above; and, as these conditions were nearly or quite universal among the colonies, can it be supposed that any of these conditions were surrendered by the delegates, of" disregarded by the Constitution ? Certainly not. And each state now belonging to this Union has the same right to prohibit labor in its territory on Sunday, whether in relation to the mail and Post-offices, or other things, that the several colonies had. Besides these reserved rights, they now have, and always have had, a natural and an inherent right to forbid the doing of those things which lead to crime and immorality, — and to encourage and protect those things which conduce to a quiet, orderly, and moral life ; and who ever doubted that the Sabbath, duly ob- served, tends to promote peace, virtue, good order, intelHgence, and morality among a people ? Hence, as well as from the caution with which the States finally adopted the Constitution, it is evident that they never in- tended to give to Congress power to interfere with their internal legislation, in relation to morality and religion ; and, least of all, 252 THB SABBATH. to authorize them to compel the citizens of the States to trample on the Sabbath, a boon guarantied to them before the Constitu- tion existed, and which has never been surrendered. In accord- ance with this sentiment, is an opinion expressed, in a petition to Congress on the same subject, in 1828 and 1829, and signed, with others, by the Hon. John Cotton Smith, viz. : " The General Government has not the constitutional power to authorize the violation of the Sabbath." Sabbath-breaking tends to deteriorate the sense of moral obli- gation, and to open the floodgates of iniquity ; therefore, the states have not only the right, but they are in duty bound to for- bid and to prevent it. And Congress not only has the right, but is also in duty bound to forbid and prevent it, in the District of Columbia, and in all her Territories. The Hon. Wilson H. Lumpkin, of Georgia, says : " All nui- sances, which tend to annoy the community, or injure the health of the citizens in general, or corrupt the manners and morals of the people, subject their authors to severe penalties." And who cannot see that Sabbath-breaking tends to annoy the communi- ty, injure the health of those who enjoy no day of rest, and cor- rupt the manners and morals of the community ? Then it is clear, if the states have not only the right, but are in duty bound to prevent this immorality, this nation has no right to contravene the rights and wishes of the several states. For, in the language of the Hon. T. Freling^uysen, on license laws, it may be said, " Men can hardly avoid looking up to the halls of legislation for standards of duty ; they expect to find models there that may be safely followed. * * * * Men will not take time to question the moral power of a legislature to make that right which God declares wrong. * * * * if they can plead, that in their practice they conform to law, it is all fair wea- ther with them, and you cannot easily convince them that they ' do wrong. * * * * You cannot reach the consciences of men standing behind this authority." And, so long as the people can shield themselves behind national law, requiring labor on Sunday, it will be almost or quite useless to attempt either to control their actions, by state laws, or by moral suasion reach their consciences, so as to induce them to " remember the Sab- bath day to keep it holy." GENERAL LEGISLATION OP CONGRESS. 253 General Legislation of Congress, Michigan. — It can easily be shown that this law is in direct opposition to the general legislation of Congress, and the uni- form practice of this government. In giving laws to Michigan, when a Territory, Congress declare, " that, in every community, some portion of time ought to be set apart for relaxation from worldly care and employments, and devoted to the social worship of Almighty God, and the attainment of religious and moral in- struction, which are in the highest degree promotive of the peace, happiness, and prosperity of a people." And they further pro- vide that the first day of the week shall be kept and observed by the good people of the Territory as a Sabbath, holy day, or day of rest from all secular employments. (Bishop Mcllvaine's Thanksgiving Sermon.) How does this reasoning condemn the law in question ! What stronger or more forcible arguments can be used to show its immorality and unconstitutionality than are found in this wise legislation for the Territory of Michigan ? Do not Congress here most indignantly and eloquently rebuke their own legislation 1 And ought such contradictory acts as this, and the law complained of, to remain on their statute books 1 Is not here evidence that the obnoxious clause was introduced without due consideration of its bearing on the Sabbath, and the moral condition of the nation ? It is discovered on examination that Congress did not directly enact this law. It was done by their regularly constituted agents, the Governor and Judges of the Territory, whose duty it was to make the laws for said territory, and report them to Congress. See " An ordinance for the government of the ter- ritory of the United States, north-west of the Ohio river." " The Governor and Judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district, such laws of the original States, cri- minal and civil, as may be necessary, and best suited to the cir- cumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time ; which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless disap- proved of by Congress." Congress never disapproved of this law, which accords with laws on this subject in many of the original States. So of course it may be said to be their act. 22 254 TOE SABBATH. Whatever one does by another, is, in law, considered as having been done by himself. January, 1839. Bill of Bights. Florida.— Extract from the bill of rights for the government of Florida, while a territory. — " To the end that the inhabitants may be protected in their liberty, property, and religion, no law shall ever be valid which shall impair, or in anywise restrain- the freedom of religious opinions, professions, and worship." — (Gordon's Digest, section 1134.) Here Congress declares invalid any law " which shall impair or in anywise restrain the freedom of religious opinions, profes- sions, and worship." And the law requiring Postmasters to labor on Sunday, if it do not restrain the freedom of religious opinions and professions, certainly does of " worship ;" for how can one enjoy religious worship, while compelled to deliver let- ters, papers, &c. ? Both of these laws cannot be binding, any more than in the case of Michigan. Arkansas. — The following clause is found in the bill of rights for the government of the Territory of Arkansas. — " No law shall be made which shall lay any person under restraint, bur- den, or disability, on account of his religious opinions, profes- sions, or mode of worship." — (Gordon's Digest, section 1122.) By the law requiring labor on Sunday, the consistent Chris- tian Postmaster is constrained to abandon his office, or he is re- strained in his religious opinions and privileges. The two laws are not consistent with each other. Let it ever be remembered, that wherever Congress speaks of religion, in connection with our rights and happiness, it means the Christian religion. It does not distinguish between the different denominations of Chris- tians, but it does between Christianity and anti- Christianity, as is evident from what has already been said, and from the laws both of the States and of the Union. District of Columbia. — See Story's Appendix, U. S. Laws, chap. 86, sec. 1st, from which it appears that the District was to be governed by the laws then (February 27, 1801) existing in the States of Maryland and Virginia. Now if, on examination, POWERS or CONGRESS. 255 it shall appear that these two States had, at that time, laws against Sabbath desecration, which is more than probable, and laws favoring the Christian religion,* two things already com- mented upon will appear still more evident, viz., that when- ever Congress speaks of religion, it means the Christian religion and that Congress itself, while making laws for the government of its Territories, (as well as the States, while making laws to govern themselves,) believed that it had the right to require the people in said Territories to observe the Christian Sabbath. And, if they had such right, which few if any will deny, then certainly the law requiring labor in the Post-office Department is utterly void. Powers of Congress — Post-offices. " Congress shall have power to establish Post-offices and post- roads." It is well known that, from this clause in the Constitu- tion, it is claimed that Congress derives all its powers in relation to this department. Two constructions have been, by able com- mentators, given to this clause ; one quite restricted, limited, and the other liberal. Among the advocates of the former, were Thomas Jefferson and President Monroe, and more recently a large portion of the south, (as expressed by their Legislatures in relation to "incendiary publications" passing through the mail ;) and among the advocates of the latter are Mr. Justice Story and others, referred to in his commentary on the Consti- tution, from which the following is an extract, specifying some of the things which the advocates of the latter construction claim, as naturally and properly inferential from the clause above given : " In the same manner, to establish Post-offices and post- roads is to frame and pass laws, to erect, make, form, regulate, and preserve them. Whatever is necessary, whatever is appro- * The law of Maryland referred to above, is as follows, viz. : " No person whatsoever shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday ; and no person having children, servants, or slaves, shall com- mand, or wittingly or willingly suflfer any of them to do any manner of work or labor on the Lord's day, (works of necessity and charity always excepted,) nor shall suffer or permit any children, servants, or slaves, to profane the Lord's day by gaming, fishing, fowling, hunting, or unlawful pastime and recreation." Then fblbws the penalty. 256 THE SABBATH, priate to this purpose, is within the power." Now, whichever is the correct construction, it cannot for a moment be maintained that Congress has the power to do an unconstitutional and aa immoral thing in the premises, any more than it can be that an individual can do an unlawful and an immoral thing for another, because he has from him a general or discretionary power of at- torney. ■ He may, it is true, do all that is necessary and appro- priate to be done, having a regard to the laws of his country, which bind him as a citizen, and to the laws of God, which hold him amenable to a higher tribunal j and so, and only so, may Congress do. Few will contend that Congress has a right conferred by the Constitution, or that it has the disposition, to undermine the Christian religion, and this republic, upon which it is based, by blotting out the Christian Sabbath, the admitted mainspring of both ; since both the Sabbath and this religion have been recog- nized and protected by the Constitution. And it is not believed that this able commentator ever thought Congress had a right to require labor in the mail department on Sunday ; but rather that this subject would come under the head of reserved rights of the States, or the prohibitio'ns of the Constitution. Doubtless Congress has power to do all things in relation to this establish- ment which would be for the general good, and not inconsistent with the religion which we, as a nation, have adopted, and which it is our duty as well as our interest to cherish. But, by almost universal consent, the nation over, it has been said, that it is not for the general good to allow labor on Sunday. Hence our State and Congressional laws on that subject Any con- Btruction of the Post-office law which leads to those statutes and practices which contravene the laws of God, and of the several States made in pursuance thereof, is a forced construction, tend- ing to the abrogation of the rights of conscience, and illy becomes a Christian people. Such a construction is also against the Constitution, in respect to the rights secured to the several States in this Union. Congress has all the power that exists, to direct in this establishment, as well as in relation to the United States' Courts, &c. But who, in his senses, will contend that Congress has a right to require that body to sit and transact their official business on the Lord's day ? No legislature on POWERS NOT DELEGATED. 257 earth has a right to require an immoral act, and all good states- men, from the first dawn of this republic, have considered Sab- bath-breaking an immorality. It is by some contended, that in order to the perfection of the Post-office improvement, it is neces- sary to trample on the law of the Sabbath ; but this is an hypo- thesis without the least foundation, and must utterly fail. " This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land." — (Story's Commentary, page 693.) Before it is said that the law of the United States making it imperative for Postmasters to violate the law of God, and of the several States made in pursuance thereof, is constitutional, it may be well to examine still further. Power of the Supreme Court. " But the judiciary of the United States has no general juris- diction to declare acts of the several States void, unless they are repugnant to the Constitution of the United States," — (Story's Commentary on the Constitution, page 687.) Now, if the Sab- bath-laws of the States are not repugnant to the Constitution, (which no one pretends, but which all, on the contrary, believe to be in exact accordance with that instrument, and the practice of the Government which administers it, except in the case of Postmasters as above,) then it is most evident that the law re- quiring labor on Sunday is unconstitutional and void. Powers when in States. " But as the plan of the Convention aims only at a partial union, or consolidation, the State Governments would clearly retain all the rights of sovereignty which they before had, and which were not by that act exclusively delegated to the United States."— (Ibid, pages 148, 149.) The States had a right to Sabbath-laws before the union, and they never delegated such right to the United States. Powers not delegated. " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con- stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the ass THE SABBATH. States respectively, or to the people." (Amendment of the Con- Etitution.) " It is a general principle that all corporate bodies possess all powers incident to a corporate capacity, without being abso- lutely expressed." — (Story's Commentary, page 752 § 1900.) " All powers not delegated, and not prohibited, are reserved." — (Ibid, page 753.) This is a Christian nation. A few more extracts may now be added on this topic, before enlering upon the last position in the argument. " Now there will probably be found ^evf persons in this or any other Christian country, who would deliberately contend that it was unreasona- ble or unjust to foster and encourage the Christian religion gen- erally, as a matter of sound policy, as well as of revealed truth. In fact, every American colony, from its formation down to the revolution, with the exception of Rhode Island, (if, indeed, that State be an exception,) did openly, by the whole course o^ ita laws and institutions, support and sustain, in some form, the Christian religion ; and almost invariably gave a peculiar sanc- tion to some of its fundamental doctrines. And this has con- tinued to be the case in some o^ the States down to the present period, without the slightest suspicion that it was against the principles of public law, or republican liberty. Indeed, in a re- public, there would seem to be a peculiar propriety in viewing the Christian religion as the great basis on which it must rest for its support and permanence, if it be what it ever has been deemed by its truest friends to be, the religion of liberty." — (Story's Commentary, § 1867.) Establishment of Religion. " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." — (Constitution.) " Probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the amendment to it now under consideration, the gen- eral, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Chris- tianity ought to receive encouragement from the States, so far as it is not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship. An attempt to level all ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION. 259 religion, and to make it a matter of State policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation." — (Story's Commentary, § 1868.) "The real object of the amendment was, not to coimtenance, much less to advance, Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity ; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical estab- lishment, which would give to a hierarchy the exclusive pa- tronage of the national Government." — (Ibid, pages 700, 701.) Langimge used in the ordinance for the Government of Territo- ries, ^c, July 13, 1787. " For extending the fundamental principles of civil and reli- gious liberty, which form the basis whereon these repubhcs, their laws and constitutions, are erected ; to fix and estabhsh those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and gov ernments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in said terri- tory," &c. — all laws and constitutions on the basis of Christiani- ty, &c. — (See Appendix to Story's U. S. Laws, page 4.) '' ReHgion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind," &c. — (Ibid. art. 3.) Speaking of the times of holding courts in Vermont, it is said, " and when either of the said days shall happen on a Sunday, the said courts hereby directed to be holden on such day, shall be holden on the day next thereafter." — (Ibid, page 861.) This does not look like the language of a heathen or infidel nation, nor like disowning a Sabbath. Bishop M'llvaine's Thanksgiving Sermon, December 14, 18371 A few extracts will now be given from " A Sermon preached on the day of public thanksgiving and prayer, in the chapel of Kenyon College, by Right Rev. C. P. M^Ilvaine," and from its appendix. For the authorities in the appendix, the author ac- knowledges his indebtedness to a discourse by Rev. J. Adams, President of Charleston College, S. C, "on the relation of Christianity to civil governments." The quotations are numerous, in order that opposers to Christianity, who deny that this nation has adopted any religion, may see their error. 260 THE SABBATH. "That some one religion, and that the Christian religion, is recognized as the rehgion of this nation and Government, and, as such, is interwoven in its laws and has a legal preference, though not ' establishment,'' (in technical language,) over what- ever else has the name of religion, and especially over all forms of infidelity, we need no better assurance than the judgment of one whose seat is upon the bench of the Supreme Court of these United States j whose business is the interpretation of the nation's laws, and whose qualification for that work there are none to dispute. Thus writes Mr. Justice Story: ' One of the most beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence, is that Christianity is a part of the common law, from which it seeks the sanction of its rights, and by which it endeavors to regulate its doctrines. And the boast is as true as it is beautiful. There never has been a period in which the common law did not recog- nize Christianity as lying at its foundation. It pronounces ille- gal, every contract offensive to its morals. It recognizes, with profound humility, its holidays and festivals, and obeys them as " dies non juridici." It still attaches to persons believing in its divine authority, the highest degree of compstency as witnesses ; and until a comparatively recent period, infidels and pagans were banished from the halls of justice, as unworthy of credit' — Inaugural Address at Harvard Institute. "Here, then, is one of our subjects of thankfulness to-day. We pause not to ask how far these truths are all sustained in the practice of our Government ; how far the ' dies non juridici,^ the Sabbaths of our land, are honored, when the representatives of a Christian people, in Congress assembled, find it convenient, at the close of a seesion, to employ its hallowed hours for pur- poses of hurried and clamorous legislation. We confine our attention to the bright spots in the picture ; and are thankful that our system of government, our common law, and adminis- tration of justice, were instituted by men having the wisdom to see how entirely the liberties and interests of this nation are de- I>endent upon the teaching and keeping of the truths and institu- tions of Christianity ; yea, and we are further thankful that we have still the eminent men, the official interpreters of our laws, who are not ashamed to maintain, unblinded by the new ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION. 261 light which has recently been thrown on this subject, that Chris- tianity is the legally recognized religion of our Government." From the A'ppendix, " That Christianity is the religion of this country, and, as such, is recognized in the whole structure of its Government, and lies at the foundation of all our civil and political institu- tions ; in other words, that Christianity, as really as republican- ism, is part and parcel of our laws, is evident from the following : " 1. Such was the relation of Christianity to civil government in the several States as they existed prior to the formation of the present federal Constitution, and there is iio evidence that in acceding to said Constitution, they surrendered such relation, either in the General, or in their own particular Governments. " The colonies from which our present States originated, were planted by decidedly Christian people, to be Christian communities, and with such views of the relations between civil government and religion as were then universal in Christen- dom. The experiment of a nation without an established re- ligion had not then been tried ; nor did they think of instituting it. Christianity, therefore, was made part of their civil institu- tions, as well in their minuter branches as in their essential foundations. " In Massachusetts, and other northern colonies, a member- ship in the church established by law, was necessary to citizen- ship in the Commonwealth. In Virginia, and other southern colonies, the Church of England was by law established. " By and by, when the colonial character had ceased, and that of States had been assumed, the legal establishment of any one form of Christianity, in preference to all other forms of the same, was discontinued. In the adoption of the present federal Con- stitution, it was declared, among the amendments to that in- strument, that ' Congress shall make no law respecting an es- tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' This article in the General Constitution, and the similar altera- tions in the laws of the several States above mentioned, by which the legal precedence of one form of Christianity over another was done away, are all the ground on which it can be asserted that either our General or State Governments have 262 THE SABBATH. disowned all connection with the Christian religion, as having any more countenance in their legislation than infidelity or Mo- hammedanism. But is this a warrantable conclusion ? Is it not perfectly conceivable that Christianity may he the religion of the people, and of the people's Government, so far as that her great principles shall be assumed as the basis of their institu- tions, and the promotion of those principles distinctly counte- nanced in their laws and customs, at the same time that no religion is, in the technical sense, ' established,' and no one form of Christianity is distinguished above another ? To call rehgion into connection with the Government, so far as to employ min- isters of the Gospel as chaplains, at the public charge, in Con- gress, and other public departments, is decided, by long-estab- hshed practice, to be not unconstitutional. And thus it is de- cided that it was not intended by the article quoted above from the Constitution of the United States, to prevent the Government of the United States from being connected with religion ; with some religion in preference to all others j or to base its institu- tions upon the principles of Christianity, instead of those of Deism or of the Koran. : " How unlikely were the several States in acceding to the present Constitution, to lay aside all connection with Christian- ity in the general institutions to which they gave birth, may be inferred from the consideration that in their own respective legislation, a close relation between religion and the Government had always subsisted ; and though a strong aversion had arisen to the national establishment of any one form of Christianity, none had grown up against a distinct recognition of Christianity itself as a religion of the nation ; that the representatives of the States in the Convention which formed the present Constitution were, for the most pan, men of decidedly Christian principles j and lastly, that in that Convention Sprayer was wont to be madeJ * * " 2. It is evident from sundry acts and institutions of the Gen- eral Government, and the constitutions of the several States, not only that Christianity is not excluded from all connection with our civil institutions, but that it is positively asserted as connected therewith in a very important degree. The Constitution of Vermont declares the duty of all Christians 21* ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION. 263 to observe .the Sabbath and maintain public worship according ^to the revealed will of God? The Constitution of Massachusetts expressly assigns as a reason for certain provisions that the en- couragement of art, science, and all good literature tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the Christian religion, ^c. The Constitution of New Jersey provides that ' all persons professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect shall be capable of being elected,' &c. That of Delaware declares the duty of peo- ple to assemble for public worship, and that piety and morahty are thereby promoted. Maryland makes 'a declaration of be- lief in the Christian religion' necessary to admission to office. North Carolina provides that no persons who shall deny the truth of the Protestant religion or the Divine authority of the Old or New Testament, shall be capable of holding any office in the civil department of the slate. * * * "Not only does the Constitution of the United States thus as- sert that the Lord Jesus Christ is ' our Lord' as a nation, but it legislates with regard to the Lord's day in such a manner as to teach that to us, as a nation, it is our sacred day. It provides that if any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall be presented to him, &c. But why are Sundays excepted ? Because, in the view of the law, they are dies non juridici, not working days in jurispru- dence. Why ? Evidently because the Sabbath is the holy day of the Christian religion. But the Constitution does not except the Sabbath of the Jews, or the holy days of the Koran. The inference is inevitable that it has adopted the Christian Sabbath, to the exclusion of the holy days of all other religions, and has thus taken it for granted that Christianity is the professed reli- gion of this government. In accordance with this, not only the President, but both Houses of Congress, the officers of the State, Treasury, Navy, and War Departments, are all discharged from work on the Lord's day ; their bureaus are closed. The Su- preme Court of the United States is by laic directed to suspend its session on that day. The government appoints and main- tains ministers of the Gospel as chaplains in the navy. It is part of the laws of the government of the navy as enacted by Con- gress in 1800, that ' the commanders of all vessels in the navy, having chaplains on board, shall take care that Divine service be 264 THfi SABBATH. performed in a solemrij orderly, and reverent manner twice a day, and a sermon preached on Sunday ; and that they cause ally or as many of the ship^s company as can be spared from duty, to attend every performance of the worship of Almighty God? "In the laws regulating the army of the United States, 'it is earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine Service.' Punishment is provided for any officer or soldier 'who shall behave irreverently at any place of Divine worship.' The officers and cadets of the Mihtary Academy of the United States are positively required by law to attend Divine worship on Sunday. By an act of Congress in 1808, the ap- pointment of a chaplain to each brigade of the army was pro- vided for. By act of Congress in 1816, the appointment and compensation of a chaplain to each of its houses was provided for. Provision was made by the same authority in 1818, for a chaplain to the Military Academy of the United States. The head of the Department of War (Governor Cass) in his official report for 1832, thus urges on the government an appropriation for the building of a suitable place of Christian worship at West Point : ' In a Christian community (he says) the obligations upon this subject will not be questioned ; and the expense of providing a suitable place of worship, especially as a chaplain is maintained there, cannot be put in competition with the permament advan- tages of a course of religious instruction to such a number of persons ; a large portion of whom are at that critical period which determines whether the future course of life shall be for evil or for good.' " 3. That Christianity is the professed religion of this govern- ment, and as such is laid at the foundation of our civil and pohti- cal institutions, is the solemnly expressed opinion of our wisest official interpreters of law. The opinion of Mr. Justice Story, of the Supreme Court of the United States, has already been given. We will now add the decisions of the supreme courts of Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. " Thus speaks the late Chief Justice Parsons, in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, in the case of Barnes vs. First Parish in Falmouth : " ' In selecting a religion, the people were not exposed to the hazard of choosing a false and defective religious system ; Chris- ESTABLISHMENT OP RELIGION. 265 tianity had long been promulgated, its pretensions and excellen- cies well known, and its Divine authority admitted. This reli- gion was found to rest on the basis of immortal truth; to con-* tain a system of morals adapted to man in all possible ranks and conditions, situations and circumstances, by conforming to which he would be ameliorated and improved in all the relations of human life; and to furnish the most efficacious sanctions, by bringing to light a future state of retribution. And this rehgion, as understood by Protestants, tending by its efforts to make every man, submitting to its influences, a better husband, parent, child, neighbor, citizen, and magistrate, was by the people established as a fundamental and essential part of their Constitution.' " Thus speaks Chancellor Kent, in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court of New York, 1818, in a trial for blas- phemy, — (People vs. Ruggles.) After saying that ' contume- lions reproaches and profane ridicule of Christ and the sacred Scriptures (which are treated as blasphemy) are offences punish- able at common law,' he proceeds : " ' The people of this State, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity as the rule of their faith and practice ; and to scandalize the author of these doctrines is not only in a religious point of view extremely impious, but even in respect to the obligations due to society, is a gross violation of decency and good order.' " Again : ' Though the Constitution has discarded religious establishments, it does not forbid judicial cognizance of those offences against religion and morality which have no reference to any such establishment or to any particular form of govern- ment, but are punishable, because they strike at the root of mo- ral obligation, and weaken the security of the social ties. The legislative exposition of the Constitution is conformable to this view of it. Christianity in its enlarged sense, as a religion re- vealed and taught in the Bible, is not unknown to our law. 7%e statute for preventing immorality (Laws, vol. i. p. 224) consecrates the first day of the week as holy time, and considers the violation of it immoral. 7%e act concerning oaths (Laws, vol. i. p. 405) recognizes the common law mode of administer- ing an oath, " by laying the hand on and kissing the gospels." Surely, then, we are bound to conclude that wicked and mali- 23 266 THE SABBATH. ciouB words, writings, and actions, which go to vilify those gos- pels, continue, as at common law, to be an offence against the public peace and safety. They are inconsistent with the rever- ence due to the administration of an oath, and, among other evil consequences, they tend to lessen in the pubUc mind its religious sanction.' " All the justices concurred in this decision. " In 1821, when a convention of New York revised the Con- stitution of the State, the decision above quoted was violently assailed by General Root, as hostile to liberty of conscience, when its learned author with equal clearness, defended it. The following is an extract from his speech on that occasion : " ' The authors of our Constitution never meant to extirpate Christianity, more than they meant to extirpate public decency. It is in a degree recognized by the statute for the observance of the Lord's day, and for the mode of administering oaths. The court never intended to interfere with any religious creeds or sects, or with religious discussions. They meant to preserve, so far as it came within their cognizance, the morals of the coun- try, which rested on Christianity as the foundation. They meant to apply the principles of common law against blasphemy, which they did not believe the Constitution ever meant to abolish. Are we not a Christian people ? Do not ninety-nine hundredths of our fellow-citizens hold the general truths of the Bible to be dear and sacred ? To attack them with ribaldry and malice, in the presence of these very believers, must and ought to be a se- rious public offence. It disturbs, and annoys, and offends, and shocks, and corrupts the public taste. The common law, as ap- plied to correct such profanity, is the application of common reason and natural justice to the security of the peace and good order of society.' " Thus speaks the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, on the case of Updegraph vs. the Commonwealth (trial on an indict- ment for blasphemy :) " ' Christianity, general Christianity, is, and always has been, a part of the common law of Pennsylvania ; not Christianity founded on any particular religious tenets ; not Christianity with an established church and tithes, and spiritual courts ; but Chris- tianity with liberty of conscience to all men. The first legisla- *' ^ ^ ESTABLISHMENT OP RELIGION. 267 tive act in the colony was the recognition of the Christian reU- gion, and estabHshment of liberty of conscience. * * This is the Christianity of the common law, incorporated into the great law of Pennsylvania ; and thus it is irrefragably proved that the laws and institutions of this State are built on the foundation of reverence for Christianity. On this the Constitution of the Uni- ted States has made no alteration, nor in the great body of the laws which was an incorporation of the common law doctrine of Christianity, as suited to the condition of the colony ; and without which no free government can long exist. Under the Constitution, penalties against cursing and swearing have been exacted. If Christianity was abolished, all false oaths, all tests by.oath in the common form by the book, would cease to be in- dictable as perjury. The indictment must state the oath to be on the holy Evangehsts of Almighty God. * * No society can tolerate a wilful and despiteful attempt to subvert its rehgion, no more than it would to break down its laws, a general, mali- cious, and deliberate intent to overthrow Christianity, general Christianity. This is the line of indication, where crime com- mences, and the offence becomes the subject of penal visitation. The species of offence may be classed under the following heads. 1. Denying the being and providence of God. 2. Contumelious reproaches of Jesus Christ ; profane and malevolent scoffing at the Scriptures, or exposing any part of them to contempt and ridicule. 3. Certain immoralities tending to subvert all religion and morality, which are the foundation of all governments. Without these restraints, no free government could long exist. It is liberty run mad, to declaim against the punishment of these offences, or to assert that the punishment is hostile to the spirit and genius of our Government. They are far from being the friends to liberty who support this doctrine : and the promulga- tion of such opinions, and general receipt of them among the people, would be the sure forerunner of anarchy, and finally of despotism. No free government now exists in the world unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country. Christianity is part of the common law of this State. It is not proclaimed by the commanding voice of any human su- perior, but expressed in the calm and mild accents of customary law. Its foundations are broad, and strong, and deep j they are 268 THE SABBATH. laid in the authority, the interest, the affections of the people. Waiving all questions of a hereafter, it is the purest system of morality, the firmest auxiliary, and only stable support of all human laws. It is impossible to administer the laws without taking the religion which the defendant in error has scoffed at, that Scripture which he has reviled, as their basis ; to lay aside these, is at least to weaken their confidence in human veracity, so essential to the purposes of society, and without which no question of property could be decided, and no criminal brought to justice ; an oath in the common form on a discredited book would be a most idle ceremony. No preference is given by law to any particular persuasion. Protection is given to all by our laws. It is only the mahcious reviler of Christianity who is punished. While our own free Constitution secures liberty of conscience and freedom of religious worship to all, it is not ne- cessary to maintain that any man should have the right publicly to vilify the religion of his neighbors and of the country.' " Practice of Congress. It has already been said that this law is opposed to the prac- tice of the national Legislature. They claim exemption from their ordinary labors on Sunday, while compelling their servants in the various Post-offices of the country to keep open doors and transact business every day in the week. During the last ses- sion of Congress, (on the 12th of May and the 8th of July,) the House was not permitted to proceed with business, on Sunday morning, by the steady and firm resistance of a large number of members, who refused to recognize the propriety of proceeding with their ordinary business on that day. The votes for ad- journment were nearly equally divided, and more than once lost by the casting vote of the chair. Members then declared that they would leave the house and not return before Monday morn- ing, unless brought in by force, and very properly contended that no authority existed to compel their attendance on the Lord's day ; and the House, on both occasions, was compelled to ad- journ, though in the last instance not until eight o'clock, a. m., and the Senate at four. Members undoubtedly considered it unconstitutional, impious, and unjust to do business on Sunday ; THE LAW IS UNJUST. 269 for it cannot be supposed that they were moved by selfish con- siderations in regard to their present ease. Now, since those men would not consent to labor a few hours on one or two Sun- days in a year, with what consistency can they compel many thousands of their constituents to labor every Sunday in the year 1 The history of this transaction inspires the hope that the next Congress will, without hesitation, grant the prayer of the petition. Then if men violate the sanctity of the Sabbath, they would do it on their own individual responsibility, and not under the sanction of national law. The Law is Unjitstj Because it is in derogation of the rights of conscience, and closes the door of office in a Christian nation, against Christian citizens ; because it impairs the rights of Individuals, secured by common and statute law, making Sunday a day of rest from labor. The law is unjust, not only in regard to Postmasters, but in regard to all classes, inasmuch as it impairs the obligation of the Sabbath, and will form an excuse for requiring labor on that day, from those persons who most need the influence and the rest which it was designed to give ; thus opening a wide field for the exercise of oppression, and the debasement of the working classes of the community. Again : there is in this law manifest impropriety and injustice, because it is opposed to the law of God ; and, consequently, not only impious, but, in the very nature of the case, void. Our laws, and all good laws, are founded on the religion of the Bible ; and this law being against that religion, has no claim to respect. No legislative body on earth can make it legal, or binding upon a single individual. Can the civil law, deriving all its force and authority from the moral law, transcend and contradict it? HARMON KINGSBURY. Cleveland, September, 1838.* * Owing to feeble health, the author has had assistance from Rev. J. C. Lord, Buffalo, in arranging some of the facts and arguments in the foregoing Appendix. 23* 270 THE SABBATH. Twenty-fifth Congress. Third Session. Petition of Truman Hastings and Others, Praying the repeal of that part of the ajct of Congress^ regulating the Post-office Department^ which requires Post-offices to he kept open on Sundays. December 12, 1838. Referred to the Committee on the Post-ofRce and Post-roads, and ordered to be printed. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled : Your petitioners, T. Hastings, J. O. Choules, J. C. Lord, Thomas Farnham, Wm. R. Allen, A. T. Hopkins, Elislia Hayward, J. Mayhew, H. G. Nott, citizens of Buffalo, members of the ex- ecutive committee of the American Bethel Society, an asso- ciation uniting a majority of the principal denominations of Christians in the United States, Respectfully Show : That the society represented by your petitioners is in- tended for the benefit of those engaged ia the business of inland navigation in the United States, whose moral condition has long occupied the attention of Christians and philanthropists. Your petitioners are persuaded that the startling increase of vice and immorality among this class of citizens has resulted from the Sabbath desecration which is almost universal upon the canals, rivers, and lakes of the United States. And while your petitioners do not seek any legislation from Congress on the subject of this evil, believing that the laws of the States, and a wholesome public sentiment, are the proper correctives, they nevertheless feel bound to represent to your honorable body, that the existence of a national law, enforcing labor on Sunday, by compelling Postmasters to violate that day, is giving the sanction of Congress to an immorality, shielding it from the operation of the Legislatures of the States, and hin- dering the efforts of the benevolent. If men, in the practice of any sin, can intrench themselves behind law, it is next to im- PETITION OP TntJMAN HASTINGS AND OTHERS. 271. possible to accomplish their reformation ; and your petitioners are unwilling to believe that Congress would intentionally sanc- tion a practice which violates an express command of God, and which is prohibited, as an immorality, by at least twenty-three States of the Union. Your petitioners believe that there is no necessity for this law, even on the supposition that public opinion demands that Post-offices should be open on Sunday, because its repeal would leave the matter to the discretion of the Post-office Department, which has, in fact, independently of the law, always exercised its authority over the v/hole subject. If, then, the Sabbath should continue to be desecrated, it could not be charged upon the legislation of Congress, nor claim the express sanction of law. Your petitioners believe the law to be impolitic, unconstitu- tional, and unjust, for reasons fully set forth in the petition of Harmon Kingsbury, already before your honorable body, and the Appendix thereto, which your petitioners pray may be re- ceived and considered as a part of this petition. Your petitioners appeal to your honorable body, as the repre- sentatives of a Christian nation, to repeal a law which renders the violation of a fundamental principle of Christianity impera- tive; which compels 12,000 citizens to bind themselves by an oath to the desecration of the Sabbath ; which directly interferes with the rights of conscience ; which sanctions the violation of the law of God ; the municipal laws of the States, and para- lyzes the efforts of the friends of order, morality, and religion. Your petitioners appeal to your honorable body, as the legis- lators of a nation whose territory is destined to be occupied by a hundred millions of souls. Posterity demands of you that you lay carefully the foundations upon which depend the perpetuity of our institutions, and the continuation of our civil and religious liberties. We inherit them from a people distinguished by their adherence to the morality of the Bible, and by a legislation con- formed to the spirii of Christianity. The fathers of English liberty were the Puritans. The founders of our republic were descended from the same ancestry, and deeply imbued with the same spirit. Is there anything in the history of European convulsions for the last fifty years which should embolden us to depart from 272 THE SABBATH. the principles and practice of our ancestors, by legislating away the Sabbath? Will your honorable body, claiming for your- selves the rest of the Sabbath, deny it to any portion of your constituents 1 Will you permit such a precedent to remain on your statute book ? We cannot think you will ; but confidently expect, from the intelligence and patriotism of your honorable body, the repeal of this law. And we humbly pray that this petition, and the documents accompanying it, may be referred to a select committee, that the subject may be fully examined and reported, and receive that attention which its importance and the interest it has awakened demands , and your petitioners, &c. (Signed.) Buffalo, September 25, 1838. CONGRESSIONAL SESSIONS ON SUNDAY. In the petitions last presented, the fact that Congress had con- tinued its sessions into the day of rest was alluded to. The sub- joined remarks by Rev. E. F. Hatfield, of New York, publish- ed in a periodical of that city, will be read with interest. " In 1829, an immense number of petitions for the repeal of the law, were presented to Congress from every section of the land. And though it was admitted ' that the history of legisla- tion in this country afforded no instance in which a stronger ex- pression had been made, if regard was had to the number, the wealth, or the intelligence of the petitioners,' yet Congress re- fused to grant their prayer. After a protracted discussion, the representatives of a Christian people deliberately determined to continue this national violation of the Sabbath. Thus, by a sol- emn act of legislation, the twentieth Congress refused to do hom- age to the Most High God. "It was to be expected that Congress would soon cease to show any outward regard at all for this sacred day, which, under penal- ty of removal from office, they had already required every Post- master in the land, and his assistants, to desecrate. According- ly, we find the very next Congress sitting, for the ordinary trans- action of public business on the Sabbath morning previous to the SUNDAY SESSIONS. 273 close of their first session, until four or five o'clock. The twen- ty-second Congress closed its existence on Monday, March 4th, 1833. On the Saturday evening previous, Mr. Poindexter mov- ed, that when the Senate adjourn, it adjourn to meet on Sunday Tnoming at 10 o'clock. The motion was opposed with great earnestness by Mr. Frehnghuysen, of New Jersey, and advocated by Mr. Clay of Kentucky. Mr. C. said that ' he professed as great a regard for the Sabbath, and the laws of God, as any man ; but he regarded legislation in the same light as an emi- nent American professor did the science of mathematics, as quite sacred enough to be pursued on the Sabbath.' Such a profane sentiment could not then be digested by an American Senate. * * " The motion was lost — thirteen voting in favor, and twenty- three against it. Both Houses of Congress, however, continued their sittings that night, and until five o'clock on Sabbath morn- ing. " The twenty-fourth Congress, during its first session, en- croached, in two instances, on the Sabbath. On Saturday, March 26th, in the case of a contested election, it was determined on one side not to adjourn without a final vote on the question, and on the other side, the day was spent in speaking against time. And thus, for the merest party purposes, the sitting was protracted until half-past four o'clock on Sabbath morning. The session closed on Monday, July 10th. The House of Represent- atives continued its sitting on the morning of the previous Sab- bath until five o'clock. * * " The second session of the twenty-fifth Congress was closed on Monday, July 9th, in a much more disgraceful manner. The Senate were sitting on the Sabbath previous until four in the morning, and the House until eight in the morning. After mid- night, many of the members of the House withdrew, some to their rest, others to get ready to leave the city in the cars at six o'clock on Sabbath morning. A call of the House was most rigidly enforced. The Sergeant-at-Arms was sent to arrest the absent members. The sixteen who were found at the depot, re- sisted the order, and took their departure. They were held to answer, at the commencement of the next session, for their con- duct in refusing to sit for the transaction of public business on 274 " THE SABBATH. the Sabbath. Other members, who had been elsewhere arrested, were the next day relieved, by an act of clemency, from the pay- ment of fines. Just before the adjournment, at eight o'clock, two members from Tennessee came to an open and violent rup- ture. One of them had been arrested, and arraigned before the House for his absence, but was excused on payment of the penalty. * * " The third session of the same Congress has but recently closed. On the Saturday evening previous a motion was made by Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts, that when the House adjourn, it shall adjourn to meet on Sunday, at ten o'clock in the morning. The motion did not prevail, eighty-nine voting in favor, and ninety-one against it. Both Houses continued their sittings until four o'clock on the morning of the Sabbath. At three o'clock, in the Senate, a joint resolution was presented by Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, that when both Houses adjourn, they adjourn to meet to-morrow at 10 o'clock, A. M. In presenting the resolu- tion, he declared that ' if the Apostle Paul himself were on earth, and could see the number of bills for the rehef of suffering and deserving claimants on the justice or generosity of govern- ment, he would number the measures to be considered on the Sabbath among works of charity and mercy.' * * The resolu- tion was adopted by both houses ; and accordingly, after six hours' recess, they met again, and continued, with a very short intermission, the transaction of business until after midnight. It was the busiest day of the session 3 and, to the shame of the na- tion be it spoken, there was a very good attendance. We are happy to learn that about twenty members ' remembered the Sabbath day,' and dechned breaking it by attending to neglected legislation. That Sabbath day was, by an act of Congress, blotted out from the sacred calendar. The question came be- fore them distinctly, as it never had done, but in one instance be- fore — ' Shall we, or shall we not, trample the Sabbath under foot?' and the answer was, 'Aye, we wilV Like the proud ty- rant of Egypt, they said, in fact, ' Who is the Lord, that we should obey his voice 1 We know not the Lord, neither will we keep his law.' * * * " And what will be the end of these things ? Congress haa made rapid progress in this matter for ten years— more than io SUNDAY SESSIONS. ^' 275 forty years before. And during ten years, we have been repeat- edly scourged. * * ' Shall I not visit for these things ?- saith the Lord ; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' " In a republic, a correct judgment concerning the morals of a people may be formed by ascertaining what is the character of their magistrates. A community must themselves have become corrupt, before they can consent to place, or uphold in office, men of acknowledged immoraHty. That people can have but little regard for the authority of God, who are willing to bestow the highest offices in their gift on Sabbath-breakers and despisers of religion. These are their most precious benefactions. They can bestow no greater. They can give no more signal manifesta- tions of their approbation. And yet, though free to choose, they select from the vast multitude those to receive these favors who are actuated by not the least regard to the glory of God. No earthly considerations could have induced the early settlers of New England thus to have rewarded impiety. Office-holders study well the prejudices and preferences of the men by whom they are kept in office. * * If they knew, that for every enact- ment of impiety, on their return from the seat of legislation, they should hear the voice of indignant rebuke from every hamlet of their district, and should be dropped at the next election, they would not dare to defy the God of heaven. The impious legis- lator represents a mass of impiety at home. This he knows, and is thus emboldened in his course of sin. f " The members of the last Congress knew what they were doing, when they blotted out one Sabbath day from the calendar. They well knew the character of the men whom they repre- sented. Never had they heard their constituents declare, that a regard for the moral law was an indispensable quahfication for office. * * " That these men did not reckon without their host, is pain- fully evident. Scarcely a voice has been raised to rebuke this high-handed profanity. Very few of the conductors of the press have sounded a single note of warning. What else could we ex- pect from the daily press, that know no Sabbath 7 They could not speak, except in a very few instances, without sealing their own condemnation. But the weekly papers had passed it by ; 276 THE SABBATH. and even our religious periodicals have given but a paragraph or two of faint rebuke. Some of them which, week by week, made the land to ring with notes of warning, when a legislator from Maine was shot down in cold blood, are almost silent in regard to this more signal defiance of the Almighty. It is not talked of in the marts of business, nor the place of concourse, and scarcely in the great congregation. The people slumber. The slightest breach of the Federal Constitution is enough to wake up the Union — a thousand presses teem with the complaints of an in- jured people. But the constitution of God's moral government, the most sacred articles in that constitution, may be trodden under foot by the representatives of a nominally Christian peo- ple, and the nation feels it not. ' All things continue as they were.' * * " But we have slept long enough. It is time to act. Infi- delity has gained a signal triumph. If the people will bear this engrossment of the Sabbath for national legislation, if they will take it patiently, and smile upon their guilty representa- tives, * Next year the fatal precedent will plead.* The Sabbath will be taken whenever a corrupt legislature may think that it is wanted. ' Thus on, till' its sacredness shall be gone, and the occurrence which we now deplore shall, by its frequency, cease to excite a feeling of surprise. And if Con- gress will sit on the Sabbath, why should not our State legisla- tures ? What is to hinder them ? particularly in those sections of the land where religious restraint is but feeble. And when it has become a common occurrence in the west and south-west, how long will it be before the venerable State House of Boston shall witness such a sight ? And when the high places have be- come thus polluted, what is to withstand the streams of corrup- tion that shall thence be poured down upon the land? Our public men, from the highest to the lowest, will, without restraint, and at length without remorse, pursue their own course of busi- ness or pleasure on the Sabbath day. * * " So rapidly have the temptations to this vice accumulated among us for the last ten years, and so large have been the im- portations of habitual Sabbath-breakers from lands where the SUNDAY SESSIONS. 2711 pilgrim's Sabbath is unknown, that the evil has become of the most alarming kind. The standard must be lifted up. The hosts of God must rally round it. Every one of the people of the Most High must take his stand — must search himself, and see if, in this respect, there be any evil way in him, and break off his sins by righteousness." From the above facts is there not conclusive evidence that this institution is losing its hold on the public conscience ? At jSrst Congress only occasionally, and for a few minutes, or at most, hours, desecrated, in this public manner, that holy rest. The case is parallel with that of Sunday mails, boats, and stages. They were started at first, fearfully, cautiously, and hesitatingly ; but, gaining by little and little, a thousand mails can now be sent ; a thousand boats and stages can be kept in motion, the whole of that day, and during all the Sundays in the year, in- stead of occasionally an hour or two on one of them. So Con- gress now, with httle apparent compunction, can hold its sessions during a whole Sunday ; and soon, unless the act should meet with merited rebuke from all parts of the nation, it is to be feared that they will be as ready to do business on that, as on any other day of the week. What would be the result, should every friend of the Sabbath, publish to the world, that the men who thus trampled on the laws of the Sabbath, are unworthy our confidence, and should never again be elected to enact and a-dminister laws for a Chris- tian people ? No national legislature, during the hfe of this generation, would be guilty of the same impropriety. And can men, who thus wantonlj'' violate the laws of God and man, be safely trusted as the leaders and guides of our national concerns ? Can God approve of such conduct ? Will he bless a people who do, and who countenance such high-handed rebellion 1 Will he hold the man guiltless who, under such circumstances, feels no anxiety for the safety and honor of his holy day ? And do the friends of the Sabbath yet sleep? As well, and perhaps more safely might they sleep on Etna or Vesuvius. The man who can now hold his peace, and neglect to cry aloud, gives little, if any evidence, that he is awake to his duty, or has a proper regard for the welfare of his country, or the honor of his God 24 278 THE SABBATH. Philanthropist, Patriot, Christian, where are your sensibiHties, your sense of o^bhgation to your country, to the world, and to God ? Is it possible that you will longer imitate the criminal example of those who, by their apathy and silence, suffered Sunday mails, boats, stages, and rail-cars to prevail in this land ? Is it possible that you will thus aid in introducing a practice which, it is to be feared, will result in a total disregard of that day, not only by our national legislature, but by all the departments of our government, from the highest to the lowest ? Longer silence on your part is treason : — treason against your country, the church, and the court of heaven. And it is difficult to know which are most in the fault, you or the more immediate aggres- sors. Watchman, " where art thou ?" comes sounding from above, with a voice of loudest thunder, reverberating from centre to cir- cumference, and do you not hear it? Or, hearing, is it unheed- ed 1 Awake, awake, for the corner stones of this republic are being removed ; the last hope of the good man is flickering, and ready to be extinguished. -Awake, or the celestial lights of re- publican ^liberty and Protestantism will graw less and less bril- liant until they are shrouded in the thick darkness of infidelity and atheism. And, for the consequences of such a calamity, hastened by your neglect, prepare to render an account at the judgment. God cannot hold you guiltless for such neglect of duty. GOVERNOR ELLSWORTH. We add the following appropriate remarks on the same sub- ject, by Gov. Ellsworth, of Conn., in his Message to the Legisla- ture of that State. " Connected with Congress as we are, and feeling its influence and example, it will not be deemed presumptuous to remark — * * Its late appropriation of the day of rest and devotion, to secular business, is a disregard of an institution of divine ap- pointment, consecrated in the affections and hallowed by the usages of a large portion of the citizens of the United States. The Christian religion owes its extension, and its power over the consciences of men, to the institution and influence of the SUNDAY SESSIONS. 279 Sabbath. Repeal that institution, or treat with indifference its observance, as was done in the National Convention of France, and you banish religion, as they did, from the land. Let me say, fellow citizens, it is not political power ; it is not extent of territory ; nor accumulated wealth ; nor knowledge, nor science, alone, which renders a people really great and truly happy. ' The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.' " CHAPTER VI. REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ON The reviewer, during the last twenty years, has travelled some thousands of miles annually ; and his observations have not been limited to young or old, rich or poor, learned or igno- rant. His attention for many years has been particularly direct- ed to the manner in which the Lord's day is observed. And it is his deliberate opinion, that the cause of the Redeemer was never, in this land, in so much danger as at the present time ; and that from the influence of anti-Sabbath principles and con- duct. Now, is it not worth the little attention requisite, to see whether this opinion be correct ? But, to proceed. At a meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, convened at Pittsburg, Pa., May, 1835, the subject of Sabbath desecration was presented to the Committee on Bills and Overtures, and by them to the Assembly. A Committee to consider and report on the subject was appointed by Dr. Phillips, Moderator of the Assembly, and the report, as presented by their chairman. Dr. Beman, is as follows : " Your Committee have devoted as much attention as circum- stances would permit, to the important matter intrusted to their consideration, and they are now prepared to lay before the As- sembly the result of their inquiries. One fact in relation to this subject, though painful and humiliating, cannot be disguised. The desecration of the Sabbath is increasing with unaccountable rapidity, in almost every part of our beloved country. And your Committee are constrained to expect, at no distant period, the entire obliteration of this holy day, unless something is speedily done to arouse the slumbering energies of the church, for the purpose of arresting the footsteps of this growing evil. While there may be, and probably are, a few places in which Sabbath- REVIEW OF REPORT. 281 breaking has been checked, by the united influences of the pul- pit and of a salutary discipline, at least so far as the church is concerned, we have only to look into our large cities, in relation to this evil, glance the eye upon our navigable rivers, trace the long line of our canals, number the cars upon our numerous rail- roads, or listen to the perpetual rumbling of stages upon our turnpikes, in order to be convinced that the profanation of the Sabbath is a sin of giant growth in our land. It is, indeed, a deep-seated and increasing evil. It enters into almost every commercial interest in the land, and embraces, directly or indi- rectly, in its broad sweep of mischielj a vast multitude of indi- viduals in the community, and not a few in the church of the living God. " The various ways in which the Sabbath is desecrated, are almost without number. But among reputable portions of the community, the most common is travelling upon railroads, and in stages, and canals, and steamboats. " In these humble conveyances may be found upon the Sab- bath day, multitudes of ministers, and lay members of the differ- ent Christian churches, and of that very branch of Zion, too, to which the members of this Assembly belong. It is with deep regret that your Committee add, upon satisfactory evidence, that a number of the members of this Assembly,' on their way to the place of meeting, travelled in the ordinary public conveyances on the Sabbath. Your Committee believe that the Bible and the history of the world fully justify and establish the following positions : " That the rest of the Sabbath is a wise and merciful pro- vision for the animal system : " That the sanctification of this day stands connected with the best interests of a nation : " That Christianity cannot prevail and triumph in an indi- vidual heart, or in the world, without the aids of the Sabbath : " That a nation without this institution must have already become, or will soon be, a nation of infidels : " That in our country, where the stability of our institutions depends upon the virtue and piety of the people, the moral power of the Sabbath is more imperiously demanded than any other : 24* '-^ 282 THE SABBATH. " And that the united influence of the Christian, the philan- thropist, and the patriot, is now called for, to remove existing evils in relation to the Sabbath, and to protect this institution from future and more alarming desecration. " In view of the responsibility of this General Assembly, and especially to that branch of the church which we represent, your Committee recommend the adoption of the following reso* lutions : " 1. Resolved, That the General Assembly look upon the ex- isting and increasing violations of the Sabbath with unmingled sorrow J and we fully believe that the time is come for the friends of the Sabbath to make new and vigorous efforts to re- store this institution to its original purity. " 2. That this Assembly would affectionately recommend to the Synods, Presbyteries, and Church Sessions under their care, to take such order on this subject as, in their judgment, shall be best adapted to preserve the members of our churches from the sin of Sabbath-breaking. " 3. That this Assembly bear their decided testimony against travelling on any part of the Sabbath, and especially, as is some- times done, by members of this judicatory, on their way to the place of meeting. " 4. That, in the opinion of this Assembly, when ministers of the gospel travel, in steam or packet boats, on the first day of the week, they generally increase the evils of their example by preaching, or performing any other public religious services on board of these boats. Such services are calculated, not only to spread the knowledge of Sabbath-breaking by the minister, but also to quiet his own conscience, and the consciences of others, in travelling on the holy day of God. " 5. That when ministers, or other members of our churches, have been known to have travelled on the Sabbath, it shall be the duty of judicatories, to which they are amenable, to institute process against them for Sabbath-breaking. " 6. That, in the opinion of this Assembly, Christians who own stock in steamboats or packets, in turnpikes or railroads, or are concerned in the transportation of the mail, or in Post-offices, where the use of such stock, or the prosecution of such business involves the constant violation of the Sabbath, are guilty of a r REVIEW OP REPORT, iSSif deliberate and systematic disregard of the fourth commandment, and ought to be dealt with accordingly. " 7. That this General Assembly recommend to the churches under their care, to observe the third Thursday in November next, as a day of humiliation and prayer, in view of the sin of Sabbath-breaking ; and that the several inferior judicatories take order on the subject, and cause such religious exercises to be observed as may be deemed expedient,, in different portions of the Presbyterian church within our bounds." It would seem that every Christian could adopt and publish to the world such a report. But what was the result ? After the report was read, it was moved and seconded that it be ac- cepted and laid on the table — no remarks — and the motion was carried. At a subsequent meeting the report was called up, and, after a second reading, with but few remarks on the conduct of those members who had travelled on Sunday to reach that place, the subject was indefinitely postponed. What the objections were to adopting this report, or substi- tuting something in its stead, is not known ; but we are very confident, that many members of that respectable body were in favor of the report. Little did we think, that one of the highest, most intelligent, and most influential ecclesiastical bodies in these United States, would so soon follow the wicked example of Congress, in re- fusing fully to consider this subject. For, when that day is secularized by ministers, not only in this, but in other denomi- nations, by lower officers in the church, and private members without number — when the soul of the good man is vexed from week to week, and from year to year, by the contempt and disre- gard which, as it were, by common consent, are everywhere heaped upon that institution — when the children and youth of our land ^re taught, by the example of our statesmen, our jurists, our rich men, our business men, to trample that day in the dust — when large portions of our poor freemen, are now, by public consent, and common usage, under a bondage no less severe than the chains of the African, and compelled, week after week, month after month, and year after year, to labor on Sunday, as stage-drivers, boatmen, livery-tenders, innkeepers' domestics, 284 THE SABBATH. Post-officCj warehouse and custom-house clerks, and in many other ways ; and that, too, with no additional wages as the re- ward, poor as it might be, for this extra toil — while private Christians, with only here and there an exception — while whole churches, and ecclesiastical bodies, from the highest to the low- est, are silent, and appear unconcerned on this subject, or say a little, and perhaps do nothing ; that that high judicatory of the church, the General Assembly, should refuse even to give their opinion, when earnestly solicited to do so — leaving the church and the world to conjecture, whether they intend to espouse the cause of the Sabbath, or to go over to the side of its enemies, is altogether unaccountable. Here is an evil, admitted by their own committee to be of " giant growth." Complaints are coming up to them, and the cry lor help, to preserve an institution which is deemed of vital importance to the interests of the church, is raised, and all must be hushed, must be " indefinitely postpojied," and that, too, by a body of men to whom, with others, was committed that blessed day for safe keeping ! ! And when some of their number have transgressed, rather than call them to account, as Christians are bound by their covenant to do, this holy cause must be put by, and suffer, that the offenders may go away unimpeached ! We rejoice that all ecclesiastical bodies, and former General Assemblies, have not treated the subject in this manner ; but still we must say, that, generally, though they have talked and resolved well, they have not done what they might have done to save this neglected, dishonored day. Hitherto, when efforts have been made to awaken a deepei interest in relation to this subject, obstacles have been thrown in the way, and difficulties have been presented and multiplied. The cry from the far east has been, " You must not put forth any effort, which can be recognized as an attack on the evil ot which we complain. If you send forth agents to preach against this sin, or if you publish a paper denouncing it, you will awaken an opposition which it will not be possible to withstand. What is done, must be done silently," or, in other words, without doing any thing. Some, over all our land, were expressing these opinions ; and they were the opinions of the commissioned and highly honored servants of Jesus Christ — commanded to cry REVIEW OF REPORT. gg^ aloud and spare not, when sin of any kind is making its ravages among the institutions of the gospel. And what has been the . effect of all this ? Just what might have been expected. Most ' of those who wanted to cry aloud, have held their peace ; and the Sabbath has been trodden down and polluted so long, in so many ways, in such numberless instances, in high and low places, that we have almost forgotten that it is a sin to do so. ^ The enemies of that day have been making converts to their sentiments, until they now feel that the day is nearly annihi- lated in many places, so far as its sanctity is concerned ; and continuing so a little longer, our religion will go along with it. They are not much mistaken in these opinions. It is believed that the greater part out of the church, and many in the church, are very skeptical, to say the least, about this day. And most ministers and people have, in such a degree, lost a sense of its sacredness, that a reformation is almost hopeless. We now connive at and indulge in many things, which, twenty years ago, few, however impious, would have dared to do. There is but little Sabbath in our nation, as will readily be seen by those who are on the lines of the canals, railroads, turn- pikes, navigable rivers, sea-ports, and in our large cities and villages. And where is the minister who has dared stand up in his place, and enumerate, one by one, all the ways in which this day is desecrated, and warn the offenders of their guilt and ap- * preaching doom ? Who has done all he could for this cause 1 We know there are a. few who have done much ; but their num- ber is quite too small to make much impression upon sQch a dense crowd of Sabbath-breakers as now reaches from one extremity of our land to the other. Yes, their voice is lost in the din of business. Our youth, if they do not join with the infidel, in denying the Sabbath to be of divine appointment, or saying it was designed only for the Jews, have but little respect for the day ; for much that they see and hear is calculated to make them forget that God has said, " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Were we to hang up before every youth in this land, and there let them remain, all the obscene prints which have been accumulating these sixty centuries, think you that the next gen- eration could, under such circurmtances, be a chaste and virtuouB 286 THE SABBATH. generation ? Would the fond parent manifest no anxiety for the safety and respectability of his child, while thus exposed ? ■ or rather, would not every such person cry out, in the anguish of his soul, " Away with these foul, polluting, and debasing allure- ments of hell J they are corrupting the minds of our youth, and turning away their feet from the paths of innocence and peace j — away with them, let not a single vestige remain." Now there are constantly before the eye of every youth and child in our land, many Sabbath-breaking establishments and men, who habitually desecrate that day. And is it possible that these children should remain uncontaminated with their influ- ence "? It is not possible ; Sunday schools, Bible classes, and the/ewj cold and heartless remonstrances to the contrary, not- withstanding. No, it is not possible. Poor human nature is poor human nature, at all times, and everywhere ; and if you would have it receive no harm, you must keep it out of harm's way. ' i What should be thought of the minister of the gospel, who is not alarmed at this increasing, desolating evil, and neglects to warn the church and the world of their guilt and danger in con- sequence of it ? ! It should be known that the church are as much in the way of this reform, as the world are ; that most ministers do not plainly, affectionately, and fearlessly remonstrate with such of '*their hearers, as violate the sanctity of the Sabbath, by running boats, stages, rail-cars, «fcc., and by compelling men to labor on that day of God, which he has commanded to be kept holy, not only by the master, but by the servant, the rich man, and ihe poor man ;— that few, if any, like Nehemiah, " cry aloud, and spare not," against the practice of transporting along our tho- roughfares, and bringing into our cities the mail, wares, and merchandise on that day of Rest — that few, if any, dare jeopard their living by reproving for this sin in all its multifarious forms, and by speaking so loud and long, that their voice will be dis- tinctly heard by all the people over whom they are placed. In Ezekiel xxii. 26, we see that among the many wicked things which the priests had done, one was, that they " hid their eyes from" God's " Sabbaths." Also in the days of the prophets, men violated the Sabbath as they now do by transporting their wares and merchandise on that day ; and these two evils were REVlfcW OP REPORT. 287 considered sufficient to prompt Nehemiah to do all that he did to restore the rest of that day. And dare any minister, or pri- vate Christian, say that he is not now called upon, as loudly as Nehemiah was, to prevent the continuance of this evil 1 No one can prove that the sin is not as great and common now, as it was then. And why do we not hear the voice of maiiy Nehe- miahs in all directions 1 Doubtless, because there is a want of his spirit among us ; not because there are not as many and as urgent reasons, why we should do as he did. Oh, the apathy, the indifference on this subject, look which way we will, and to whom we will ! The only people who may be expected to preserve that institution, and see that it is handed down unimpaired to posterity, treat it with neglect, and cannot be aroused to make an effort to save it ! What, in view of these things, must be the feelings of pure spirits in heaven, and of God himself, toward such professors ? What ? Judge ye who are the appointed conservators of that day. But what can be the cause of this listlessness, this neglect to do the things which God commanded his people and ministers to do ? Last year, the reasons assigned were, " We have waited so long, and the enemy has got such a hold ; if we lift up oUr voice now J if we cry aloud and spare not, we shall awaken an opposition, which will be too strong for us." As if our former neglect to do our duty, was an excuse for not doing it now. *' No, Lord, we cannot go and preach the gospel to every crea- ture, for it will awaken an opposition against us, and we, too, shall be taken and crucified!" What would Jesus Christ have said to such a reply from his dis- ciples to his last command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature 7" Doubtless, that they were deter- mined, Judas- like, to prove traitors, and he would have spurned them from his presence as unworthy to be trusted with so impor- tant a mission. So doubtless he feels at this time when his minis- tering servants make such an excuse for not obeying him. Let it now be said, though it is said in love, and with shame, and deep anguish of soul, that ministers generally, for years past, have by their neglect suffered the Sabbath to be so far converted into a day of amusement, and labor, that there is great reason to fear its genial influence will soon be changed for the frost and THE SABBATH. ice of deism ; and that this nation, in consequence of it, will grope its way, pagan-like, to destruction ; and that, too, before the present generation has all passed away. Nothing but a speedy and mighty effort among all the sons of Levi, can possibly prevent it — yet most of them are sleeping and refuse to be awaked ! Another reason urged why we should not speak loud on this subject, is, that our nation by its laws and sanctions has virtually abolished the Sabbath. But this is one of the strongest reasons why ministers should have spoken long ago, and why they should now speak until they are heard ; for repentance, and the forsaking this sin is the only thing which can save us from utter ruin. This nation would never have dared to do as it has done, in trampling on the law of the Sabbath, had ministers done as they were commanded to do. The children of Israel never would have made a golden calf for their god, at the foot of smoking Sinai, had Aaron remonstrated, and utterly refused to participate in the sin, or even stay among them if they committed it. Wicked men will not^ no, they dare not, go faster or farther in any way than the ministry will lead or allow them to go. The whole of the present practices of Sabbath-breaking, are in a de- gree, chargeable to the church and the ministry, either by their neglect of what they should have done, or their doing what they should not. The influence of the ministry, we had almost said, is omnipotent ; and why should it not be so ? They are the only representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ here on earth, and, if they are faithful, assisted by the power, and encouraged by the presence of their Master, who is with them " even unto the end of the world," what can they not do for the people over whom they are placed ? Think of this, ye ministers of Christ, young and old, with one or ten talents, and know that, if the. Sabbath in this land is converted into a day of amusement, dis- sipation, and business, as it now seems it soon will be, you, at the judgment, will be held in some measure responsible for it. For, had you done your duty, and your whole duty, when the first Sunday stage, and boat, and rail-car were started, by the application of God's truth to the consciences of the offenders, you might have prevented it. Had you also done your duty when the first Sunday mail was started, that would have been discontinued. r REVIEW OP REPORT. ' 289 The REASON MENTIONED why this subject should be " indefi- nitely postponed," was, that " such a report" (alluding to some of the members travelling on Sunday to reach that place) " ought not to go forth against the members of this Assembly." Rather than disgrace some dozen or twenty members of that body as violators of the fourth commandment, let the Sabbath be dis- regarded. Our ministers and elders, who have travelled on Sunday, must be screened from censure ! So, let the Sabbath go — give it into the hands of its enemies — indefinitely postpone the subject, rather than that Sabbath-breakers should be exposed, or any one be at the trouble of prosecuting those who had been guilty of travelling on that day, which should have been done forthwith. Such things, vvinked at by such a body, will greatly tend to destroy our Sabbath. Men in the church who do such things, no matter how high they may stand, should come before the world with a confession of their guilt, and make known their determination not to do the like again. We have long witnessed, with painful emotions, the deso- lating inroads which have been making on the sacredness of this day ; have prayed and waited for some one to lift up his voice in its behalf; have put forth some feeble efforts to arouse to action the slumbering energies of the church, but have la bored, and prayed, and waited, almost in vain. Though we find friends of the institution, we do not find any who are able and willing to consecrate theinselves wholly to the work of saving it from destruction. That it is going to destruc- tion, no man with his eyes open upon the facts in relation to it, can for a moment doubt. Would God every minister might see and feel the great demand which this subject has on his time, talents, influence, and best services, if the day is again to be restored to its primitive sacredness and quiet. Let no one think he may be excused from this demand ; it is laid upon hira, and he is called upon to discharge it. — Attend to this call now^ in preference to any other, or all will sink together. Brethren, this is not the cause of hira who now addresses you. You, at last, will not be summoned before him to answer for your treatment of this subject; but before that Being who commissioned you to preach the riches of his gospel ; which cannot prevail and bless the nations of the earth, unless the Sabbath be sustained. 25 290 THE SABBATH. If you believe that there is no danger of our being left with euch a Sabbath as is witnessed in France, you are mistaken ; there is danger, and you ought, standing upon your watchtower, to eee it, and sound the alarm. Oh, then, as you love your Master, who died to redeem you — as you love the flocks over which he has placed you — and as you love a dying world, tell us whether our nation has done right in requiring labor on Sunday — tell us whether individual States have a right to use their canals, railroads, and other public pro- perty, to make money on the holy Sabbath — tell us whether the etageman, the boatman, the rail-carman, the liveryman, is doing right, while laboring, and causing so many to labor, on that day — tell us whether the man of business, or party of pleasure, have a right to travel on Sunday. — Let us know whether, in j^our estimation, these things are sinful. If such acts are sinful in the sight of God, why not tell us so, in so many words ? Why speak so much in generals, that none of these classes will admit that you intend to reprove them 7 The Sunday laborer and Sun- day pleasure-seeker, would as soon have you preach on the divine appointment, the perpetuity of the Sabbath, and its universal obligation on all men, in all ages of the world^ — they would as soon have you follow this old beaten track, as preach on any other subject. But when you take it for granted that there is, and always has been, and always will be, such an institution, whose observance is binding on all men — that we have for it a " thus saith the Lord," and that everlasting des- truction awaits the man who continues the enemy of that day — and when you tell him he greatly sins against God, against himself, and his fellow-men, in doing such and such things, call- ing each of them by their right name— then it is that they will complain. Then you will find that most men on this subject are infidels. This particularizing, ministers have not generally done, and they are not now doing it — and if they continue to neglect being thus specific in telling wherein we sin, and point- ing ouf the consequences of all this wickedness, nothing less than the loss of our civil liberties, our religious privileges, of all that is dear in social life, and all that is glorious and blessed be- yond the grave, must inevitably follow. The establishment of a few six-day lines of boats and stages REVIEW OF REPORT. 291 — the writing of a few tracts and articles in newspapers — ihe employment of a few travelling agents, or publishing a paper to plead the cause of the Sabbath, will never, alone^ produce the desired reformation. They might serve to put in motion the wheel, to wit, the preached word, from the mouth of every minister, which would roll forward the desirable object ; but, without the assistance of every minister, who has a reputation for piety, we can do little, or comparatively nothing, in this cause. If we do all the former things, without the latter, nothing is done — but we cannot do even those, without the aid of the latter. It is expected that the ministry will lead in every good object — we wish them to lead in such objects, and we would humbly follow. Editors of religious periodicals are highly criminal in this thing. Most of them, also, are ministers of the gospel ; and if those who watch over a few souls are traitors to their Master while they do not faithfully rebuke the guilty, much more are those editors, who are every week preaching not only to thou- sands of private Christians, but to ministers also ; and if they would do their duty, the church would be aroused, and this alarming evil driven from our midst. Better, no doubt, would it be, if not only ministers, but pious editors, who intend to remain silent on this subject, would re- move from their places, that they might either be occupied by those who would engage in this reform, or remain vacant. This should be done oij their account, as well as on account ot others, that thus they may avoid the guilt of neglect, and the church, and the impenitent around, may not be cursed with un- faithful watchmen. Perhaps many will be ready to plead, that they are engaged in so many good objects already that they can find no time to engage in the Sabbath reform. Some find time to engage in unprofitable disputes about forms and ceremonies and unimport- ant points of doctrine, which are calculated to wound the pious feeling, and create jealousies and coldness among brethren ; all of which might better be given up, even if one had nothing else to do ; and especially now, since there is a work before us, which, if not taken hold of, and accomplished soon, cannot be done in many generations to come. Let the Sabbath-breaker te told, that he is already within the 292 THE SABBATH. suction of a maelstrom, a tremendous whirlpool, drawing him on to destruction. '• If thou seest the wicked man in his wicked- ness, and will not warn him, he shall die in his sins, but his blood will be required at thine hands." How cruel, to see an immortal being in the road to inevitable destruction, and not warn him of his danger ! Surely, the blood of the watchman is not too great a sacrificet o be required for so criminal a neglect. Nehemiah could not successfully reprove for this sin, without particularizing: Neither can you. It is no less obstinate now than it was then. Buyers and sellers, and trading men, were engaged in it then, as there are now ; and the church was then involved in the wickedness, as she is now. The temptations were the same then as now; and only the means which proved successful then can succeed now. The great difficulty is, that men will not feel nor act on this subject. Ministers, sitting quietly by their domestic firesides, and riding over their little parishes,- seem to think that the rest of the world are as much a Sabbath-keeping people as themselves. Others are so much habituated to this evil, that they do not see the sin of it as they once did. There are some ministers, also, as in Ezekiel's time, whose eyes are hid from the Sabbath. These men travel on that day, and seem to care little or nothing whether it be observed or not. All this leads to fearful appre- hensions, that God is about to give this people over to work out their own destruction. We are willing to work in other things, whose success depends on the triumphs of the Sabbath reforma- tion, but to labor for this we seem to have no inclination. Ministers and private Christians do not stand by their breth- ren who would engage in this reform. If, when the enterprising, laborious, and holy Carey was about to go to India, he saw the necessity that his brethren, who staid at home, should " hold on to the rope" that was about to let him down into that " dark world," surely the man who now labors to stay the swelling, foaming, desolating flood of Sabbath-breaking, cannot be insen- sible to the absolute necessity of the best services, and most hearty co-operation of every brother and sister in Christendom. Criminal indeed must be the man or woman who will suffer the individual that has engaged in this Herculean task, to labor alone, and call in vain for the prayers and sympathies of his r REVIEW OF REPORT. 993 brethren! The enemies he is called to encounter are more formidable^ if not more numerous, than those who assail the foreign missionary ; and it must be more disheartening and hu- miliating to stand and suffer in the open field, annoyed by the enemy, calling in vain for help from those within one's -sight, and abundantly able to succor, than to be thus afflicted and destitute in foreign lands, surrounded by vast oceans, dense forests, and savage men. Is it not denying Christ, to desert brethren in this way 1 Surely it is, if they are engaged in a good cause.. If the brethren of the church would aid those engaged in bringing about this reformation, they must, whenever a member of any church judicatory, or ecclesiastical body, or an agent of any benevolent society, or ministers of the gospel, or elders, or deacons, or class-leaders, or private Christians, travel on jour- neys, for business or for pleasure, go or send to the Post-office, or do any work on Sunday, except works of mercy ; and when- ever professed Christians hold stock in any Sabbath-breaking establishment — they must represent the case of such delinquents to the church or judicatory to which they are amenable, and see that they are dealt with as in other cases of misdemeanor ; and if they refuse, or neglect to make satisfaction, and reform — cut them off. If you would save the church, the world, or the souls of the aggressors, cut them off. No matter how great, how rich, how honored, or how influential they may be, cut them off with- mtt delay. It is believed that, until this course is pursued, the evil will never be removed. Many other means have been tried of late but with no good effect. If churches or ecclesiastical bodies re- fuse to notice those cases which may be represented to them, complain of them to higher bodies, to which they may be ame- nable, and let the professor of religion know, that if he intends to desecrate the Sabbath, he must go without the pale of the church to do it. Many such offending brethren have been thus reported to the churches and judicatories to which they belong, and that has been the end of it. But if ministers, set to watch over such bo- dies, had done their duty — had performed their covenant vows — it would not have been so. Then let evei^ man among us who will pollute the Sabbath, be subjected to discipline, and the re- 25* 294 THE SABBATH. form will be realized. Christians must first be made to reve- rence this day ; they should be made to do so, or leave the church. It is believed that nothing short of these measures can remove the evil. It must be inferred from the report, that this is the course which the Assembly's committee would recommend, and that these opinions are entertained by them. It certainly will not do to let the evil alone; it never will cure itself; and if the church cannot be induced to sanctify that day, as is required, surely we need not expect the world to do it. The first attempt to establish a Sunday mail in our country never could have succeeded, had each minister, from his watch- tower, sounded the alarm, given to people and rulers the truth of God, and shown them that such measures, if persisted in, must unavoidably prove the ruin of this nation. Nothing could have deterred the friends of these measures, but the tinith of God, plainly, boldly, and perservingly proclaimed. TViis would have deterred them. So with regard to the first stage, and boat, and rail-car, that were started on Sunday. At that moment every minister ought, with the Bible in his hand, to have cried, ' Treason ! Treason I Death, temporal and eternal, is before you.' If these men had still persisted in their sin, against themselves, against their country, and against high heaven, you should have withdrawn from them, every one of you — have had no fellow- ship with them, though it might have cost you your daily bread, and your life even ; and you should have ceased not, day nor night, as long as you could whisper the voice of warning, to tell otbers that this way was the way to wretchedness and to hell ; and that a holy God will not suffer the rebels to go unpunished. Then the Sabbath might have been saved. We know that there was not entire silence on this subject at that time. Some voices, here and there, were raised ; but there was no simultaneous, universal, and undying blast heard. The few notes which were raised were soon lost in the hum of busi- ness — and the interval between them was so great, that one had long died away before another fell upon the ear. But the evil is now one of " giant growth." Though then it might have been met and conquered with ease and safety, it is at least doubtful whether it can be now. But, notwithstanding, REVIEW OF REPORT. 295 it must be met, it must be courageously, skilfully, and persever- ingly opposed. While things remain as they are, every Chris- tian, in common with his countrymen, is in danger of losing the benefits of our institutions, civil and religious, and privileges, bought by the toil, sweat, and blood of the fathers of our country. " If it should be asked. How is this evil now to be met ? we would answer, by the same means recommended above, as suitable to have been applied when there was but one Sunday mail, or Sun- day stage, or Sunday boat, or railroad car. Though the man who should now pursue the course described, as one which wouli' have been effectual then, may be called a fanatic, or a madman ; still he must go foward in it. Strange, forbidding, unpleasant and dangerous as it may be, he must go on, for all this is at stake. This may as well be done, and we fall in the combat, in the line of duty, as good soldiers, as not to be done, and we fall as cow- ards, neglecting our duty. Yea, better. And it is possible, if Christians now do their duty, all may not be martyrs, but some live to see the cause triumph. But nothing appears clearer to our mind than that, if Sabbath profanation do not soon cease, a useful ministry will, at no distant period, be driven from their pulpits, as a useless appendage. Fall they must if this sin be not soon arrested. What good soldier would prefer falling away from his post, to falling m the front of the battle, with his whole armor on ? But there is no need of a minister falling if he do his duty. When De Witt Clinton was Governor of the State of New York, on some important occasion he was travelling on the canal from Buffalo to Utica, where he and his retinue had engaged to spend the Sabbath. Circumstances rendered it impossible for them to reach the latter place until about noon on the Sunday. In the afternoon they went to the Rev. S. C. Aikin's church. His sub- ject had been previously chosen and prepared, but not with any knowledge of these circumstances. When Mr. Aikin saw the Governor and his suite, it occurred to him that part of his ser- mon was very severe on the Sabbath-breaker, and he doubted what the effect would be on those distinguished gentlemen who had just been guilty of violating the Sabbath. However, he re- solved on going foward in the course he had marked out — doing his duty, regardless of consequences. He did so. The next day 296 THE SABBATH. one of his hearers, a distinguished citizen, began to apologize to the Governor for the apparent impropriety of Mr. Aikih's dis- course. The Governor interrupted him, and said, " It was per- fectly appropriate, and nothing but the truth ; we did wrong, and I was very unwilling to travel on that day — he did just right." Here see what a faithful and fearless minister of the gospel can do ; or rather, see what the ^ word of the Spirit, un- sheathed can do. Let the same be done before all our rulers, statesmen, jurists, and business men, and there will be no diffi- culty in stopping the present system of Sabbath-breaking. The truth of God is mighty. In that and that alone, we have hope. It is the only weapon to be used in this warfare. Worldly policy has no artillery for the struggle which will not prove powerless if used ever so skilfully — which will not result in defeat and shame. Any compromise with the enemy will but make our overthrow more certain and dreadful. Ministers of the Gospel inust take this stand, and the church must sustain them, stand by them, and help them forward. Every minister must take this stand; whether he be in a col- lege, or an agent of some benevolent society, an editor, or a pastor ; every one of them must now come forward to the work with his whole soul and strength, or the cause can never be gained. Be it known unto those who help this cause, that they help all other good objects. But let this fail, and all their skill, vigi- lance, and zeal, cannot save a single wreck of the other good objects. Let this fall, and they must fall as a matter of course. It need not be longer said, " We must labor for other causes, and that will help keep this from sinking ; for be assured, there is already a leak in the ship which will require every hand at the pump, the oakum and the chisel, or she will go down in spite of her strength, beauty, and utility ; and we shall all be buried in one common grave. The ship is fast being filled — she is sinking, and will you not come to her rescue ? While ministers are describing this evil, showing its enormity and its consequences, remonstrances from every lover of the Sab- bath in this nation should be going to Congress against the law compelling and encouraging labor in the Post-office department on that day. These remonstrances should be long and loud. REVIEW OF REPORT. 297 They mnst be made, until they are heard and the grievance re- moved. The Sabbath never can he observed as it should be, while that law is in force. So long as this nation holds out a premium for desecrating this day, men will be found to do it. Christians must also, remonstrate against the practice of mak- ing our public thoroughfares — canals, railroads, and national roads, money-making establishments on Sunday ; taking of the people's money to pay lock and gate tenders, toll-gatherers, &c., and suffering money earned on that day to be put into the public treasury. Now, we, the people, are paying out money for labor on Sunday, and making money on that day by means of our public property. While we suffer this process to be going on without remonstrating against it, we shall be considered as ac- quiescing in it, if not as being pleased with it. Those who order this labor to be done are our servants, and they are sup- posed to represent our wishes. If they do represent our wishes, then we are equally guilty with them ; if they do not represent them, we ought to say so. Where there is a regular system of Sabbath profanation going on, there other vices cluster, and grow and thrive. It is said, that in the 1800 boats on the Erie Canal in 1834, there were a thousand prostitutes. This state of things is not peculiar to that channel of waters. These individuals, with their 50,000 associates of both sexes, flock into the country and villages, dur- ing the cold season, and draw from the paths of virtue and peace, in our respectable families, each one his half dozen, and then they in their turn seduce others, and a mighty host are soon on their way to infamy, want, and perdition. These are some of the fruits which we are reaping for our neglect of the welfare of those who are not allowed a Sabbath on which to go and hear of the way which leads to life, and of the consequences of not walking in it. We have only to hold our peace a little longer, and from this source alone will flow a tide of moral pol- lution and death, as long as our canals, and as broad as the land, which nothing short of Omnipotent energy, miraculously inter- posed, can turn back. While churches, or individual professors, profane the Sabbath, they cannot grow in grace, and their example, so far as known, does more to prejudice an ungodly world against the Christian 298 THE SABBATH. religion, and destroy the influence of the Sabbath, than all that infidels or atheists ever did or can do. For it never was expect- ed that they would wish to preserve that day, but it is expected that Christians will. All history shows us how other nations, which have dared to pollute the Sabbath, as we are doing, have been swept as -vyith the besom of destruction, except when prevented by timely re- pentance and return to duty. Hence it appears, that God cannot carry on his plan of converting the world, without the influence of his day. As then we would emancipate the world from sin ; as we value the present and future well-being of our race ; the upbuilding of the Redeemer's kingdom, and the glory of God ; let us come forth boldly, in the strength of the Lord, and call upon every man who now profanes the Sabbath, as he dreads the retribu- tions of the final judgment, and the pains of the damned, to cease from his wickedness and lay hold on eternal life. From henceforth let this be our motto : — Business men ow^Aif to do all their work in six days, and rest on the Sabbath, as the Lord hath commanded. Though the evil has been accumulating, and it is mountain high, yet as great evils have been attacked and conquered, this must also be, or the millennium can never bless our world. The man who at this crisis is not ready to wear this motto, in large capitals, upon his forehead, is not fit to stand in the front ranks, and lead on to battle, in the warfare against this " giant foe." No, he is not worthy a place in Gide- on's army, but had better retreat now, that it may be known who are, and who are not on the Lord's side. Will any man doubt that it is the duty of every minister, often to warn his hearers against profaning the Lord's day ; — to tell them plainly, solemnly, and affectionately, that travelUng on business or for pleasure on that day is desecrating it ; that to run boats, stages, omnibusses, rail-cars, &c., &c., for the accommoda- tion of travellers, or parties of pleasure, or for the transportation of goods on that day, is sin ; that it is a great and national sin, to carry, open, and distribute the mail on Sunday, and, if con- tinued, will unavoidably prove our ruin ; that it is a sin for mer- chants to do business in their counting rooms, for boatmen to lade and unlade, or run their boats, and sailors to lade or unlade REVIEW OP REPORT. 299 their vessels, or go out of port on that day ; that custom-house officers, toll-gatherers, and postmasters, commit sin, by labor- ing on that day ; that it is sin to let carriages and horses, to help desecrate holy time ; and that it is the duty of minis- ters thus to particularize and bring the truth of God, with all the terrors of the divine law, and thunder it in the ear of every man who proves himself an enemy to his race, to this republic, to our religion, to his Creator, and to his own soul ? Make every man, woman, and child know, that such men, in the eight of God, are great sinners, and that their practices and their company even are dangerous ! Is it not time to call this thing by its right name, that all may know it ? Should ministers and churches neglect to tell our state and national legislatures their guilt in this matter, their responsibility, and the results which must follow? Every man should be made to feel that if he will continue to transgress in this thing, God will punish him, and he cannot escape it. " The wicked shall not go unpunished, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." This evil is increasing in our land with almost the rapidity of the rays of the morning. Every additional canal and railway add greatly to its strength. The immense crowds of foreign immigrants, the increase of Romanism, and commercial enter- prise, are but so many dead weights to sink this institution into oblivion. While ministers or private Christians, from fear or favor, or from any other cause, neglect to denounce this practice, and plainly and faithfully to warn every Sabbath-breaker of his guilt and danger, they are contributing in no small degree to swell the tide which must soon, unless arrested, roll over this fair land, destroying every thing that is valuable, and leaving in its place all that can corrupt and make a people wretched. Would ministers do good to men, save the church from anni- hilation, obey their Master, and hold their places as teachers of the way of life, tliey must call the practice of labor or amusement on Sunday, whether national or individual, sinful, and only sin- ful, which must speedily be abandoned. They must not be afraid to tell this nation of the enormity of her guilt, so long as she has a Sunday mail, or demands and encourages any secular business on the day of rest — that our State Legislatures greatly err while 300 THE SABBATH. they allow labor to be done during that day on their public works ; and that Christians, so long as they do not remonstrate against such practices, if they do not require them, will be con- sidered as acquiescing in them at least. They should often tell their hearers that those who employ men to work on that day are not friends to the poor — they are not friends to human happiness — they are not friends to the religion of the Bible — they are not friends to their country, and cannot he in the way to heaven. If it should be necessary at any future time to say more on this point, the greater sin will lie at the door of the friends of the institution, for God will be more dishonoured, and many more immortal beings will lie down in unavailing sorrow. Cleveland^ July, 1835. MINISTERIAL EXCHANGES. We have just read the report of a committee, of a conference of churches, to whom was referred the subject of ministers riding on Sunday in making their exchanges. "After considerable discussion, in which both the clergy and laity expressed their views, the report was not accepted, as many, particularly the laity, were not willing to give their sanction to it, without fur- ther examination." We presume that the more they examine it, the less willing they will be to adopt it. For our part, we do not wish to study in the school where such ethics are taught ; and even were we to admit that the premises laid down are cor- rect, we could not, by any process of right reasoning, come to their conclusions. " We revert again to the principle at first laid down, that riding to preach the gospel is either secular, and comes under the head of w^orldly business, or it is a religious service, appropriate to the Sabbath. We maintain that it is a religious service, and falls in perfectly with the design of the Sabbath." We have long supposed that singing appropriate words in an appropriate piece of music, praying to Almighty God, publishing the news of salvation, exhorting men to repent, and warning them to flee from the wrath to come, are " religious services," but we never heard before that riding was religious service. " What is it that justifies a person, erer, in riding on the Sabbath ? It is his having an object in view, which is approjrriate to the Sabbath, MINISTER EXCHANGES. 301 Riding to preach, then, is appropriate." For examples we are referred to a man living five or eight miles from Boston harbor. *' There are hundreds of sailors standing about the wharves, with none to care for their souls. The man gets up his horse, takes a bundle of tracts, and distributes them among the poor sailors." Very well, if he makes this his business, every Sabbath. May- God bless his labors, and incline thousands to go and do hkewise. So w.e say respecting men having a Sunday school, or religious meeting, among a destitute people— let them go, the more the better ; though the distance be six or eight miles, and they be lay- men, provided this is their uniform practice. We would say the same if they were ministers ; or respecting an itinerant preacher going from parish to parish ; or to a settled pastor, who after he has preached in his own congregation, or congregations, may ride four, six, or eight miles, on Sunday to preach to the desti- tute. This is all right. But the case of a minister riding from his parish, his appointed place of worship, to exchange with a brother minister, is quite a different thing. In the cases first mentioned, each goes to his known, appointed, and iisual field of labor ; if they are not their usual fields of labor, let them go to them before the Sabbath, or stay at home. But the minister who would exchange with a brother, should go before the Sabbath. If he does not, it is generally to save time, or it is more for his convenience to go Sunday morning. Worldly men can have no opportunity to know the object of these ministers. So many of them now travel on journeys, that it will not be known whether their object is to preach for a brother, or begin or end a long journey. Nor can there be any circumstances, say the committee, such as disappointing a clergyman who expects his brother to fill his place, or disappointing a people, or ill health, and the like, which can make it lawful — it is not circumstances, say they, but the object, which makes it lawful. According to this doctrine, it would be lawful for a minister to labor on his farm, or in his shop, six days in the week, or visit his parishioners, or read, six days in the week, and on Sunday study and write, as well as preach his sermons ; for his object in writing or studying his sermon is, that he may have a sermon to preach. The work of studying or writing a sermon cannot be more sinful than riding to the place where he can preach. " If 26 30S THE SABBATH. a man must do a thing on the Sabbath, he may go where he can do it," say the committee. If a man must preach on Sunday, he may study and write his sermon on that day; though he might have done it before, as in the other case he might have gone to his brother's parish on Saturday ! Or if the minister has been long absent on a journey, and gets to Albany on Satur- day, P. M., he may take the evening boat and go to New- York, ^^foT it will not weary Mm to ride in the boat^^'' and arrive in time, Sabbath morning ; for his object is to preach to his people, who may be destitute ; and the object justifies the act ! Or he may live in Hudson. He is coming down the Mohawk, and arrives at Albany Sunday morning, takes the morning boat with other tra- vellers, no one knowing his ol^ect, and comes to Hudson, for his object is to preach. Oh ! away with such a doctrine ! Should it prevail, our ministers and private Christians would always find an object, which would answer as well as the committee's object ; and no one would stop when within twenty or thirty miles of home ; unless he had a different conscience from that of the committee. But let us look a little more to the object. Suppose this ques- tion were put to our minister, viz., " For what are you going to Newark ?" " To preach for brother E." Very well ; every body believes him — his object is to preach. But, why are you going on Sunday 1 What answer must he give now to be believed ? The committee have prevented him from pleading as an excuse, some unavoidable " circumstances," which prevented him from going on Saturday ; but he must give the same answer he did before : "My object is to preach." Why, what should we think of the man ? Should he tell us, it was because he could do more good by going on that day, we shall readily see, in order that our minister can do more good on Sunday, the ferry-boats, and steam-boats, and stages, and rail-cars, must be kept runnmg on that day ; and the livery stables must be kept open, the por- ters stand ready to wait on him, &c. ; while he, by his example, encourages the "multitude to do evil!" If the good laymen, likewise, first alluded to, cannot go to their usual places of labor on Sunday, without going in Sabbath-breaking establishments, or to the livery stable, let them stay at home. For we say that all such establishments ought to rest on that day. MINISTERIAL EXCHANGES. 303 " Riding io' preach is lawful, on the same principle that riding to hear the gospel preached is lawful." Very true, in cases which we have mentioned as lawful, and when the man settled over a parish, lives one, two, or more miles from his place of worship. He may then ride as far as his parishioners do, and it would be lavirful ; but this has nothing to do with the question. Here is our minister's known field of labor, in one, two, or three places. It is right for him to go to these places on Sunday, all will say. But he wants to exchange with brother A. Why does he want to exchange? " For convenience sake, because circum- stances render it necessary, or desirable, or because we think most good can be effected by it." Well, there can be no objections to making the exchange. Now, when shall it be done ? Why, if he go on Sunday, he is seen off from his ground. " Where is Parson S going ?'' " On a journey, or visiting, for aught I know." As he passes by a stranger, the man says to himself, " There is a respectable looking gentleman traveUing, I need no longer hold down my head for shame ; for no doubt travelling on Sunday is fashiona- ble here." But if he go on this day, he need not tell a man his " object" is to do more good, for no one would believe him — nor that his " object" is to preach, for all will say, " Why then not go on Saturday? Why not do all your work on week days, as you tell us to do ours, that we may not have it to do on Sunday ? Surely travelling to your brother's parish is not your business, any more than it is ours." They might plead the same excuse, " our object ;" — but such logic will not do. It is thought that we have before us conclusive evidence that the moral sense of some ministers, as well as the laity, has become so obtuse in relation to the sanctity of the Sabbath, that we have a far greater work to do in the Church tlian out of it. "If our practice be really calculated to blind men, and thus to lead them into error and sin, we ought to give it up, even though it be lawful." We are glad to find this language in the report, and presume if the committee cannot be convinced that their practice is unlawful^ they at least cannot fail to see, by a little observation, that it is inexpedient, in the present state of the Church and the world. For surelv the real friends of the Sab- 304 THE SABBATH. bath are so few, that it is important teat they should be agreed, and " avoid even the appearance of evil." New- York, October, 1835. WHO ARE SABBATH-BREAKERS? An imperfect list of those who, with but few exceptions, ha- bitually profane the Sabbath. Postmasters, their assistants and clerks. Mail-carriers, penny-posts, news-carriers. Stage proprietors, stage runners, drivers and agents. Canal and steam-boat men and women, agents and riders. Watermen of almost every class. Rail-carmen, and boys, and runners. Manufacturers, retailers, and drinkers of alcohol. Innkeepers, with all their household and domestics. Livery-men and coachmen, with all they employ, and all who patronize them on that day. Furnacemen, coalmen, brickmakers, and all in their employ- ment. Bakers, butchers, drovers, printers of daily and Sunday papers, porters, milkmen, washerwomen, barbers, boot-blacks, pediers, gamblers, sportsmen, ferrymen. The countless number of travellers; whether by land, or water. Forwarding merchants, their clerks, agents, and laborers. Custom-house officers, and their assistants. Toll-gatherers upon canals, railways, bridges, and turnpikes. Lock-tenders, and the long dense crowd of lookers on. Merchants, generally when away from home, and frequently when at home. Swearers, men of pleasure, and of sensual indulgence. To these may be added many of our physicians, lawyers, ju- rists, legislators, congressmen, and office-seekers ; and many in the arts, and the manufactures. Add to these the multitudes employed in mining, and smelt- ing, and in constructing railroads and canals ; deepening and widening rivers; exploring new territories; fishing, hunting fur-trading, and the like. All those connected with brothels, in doors or out ; and the WHO SABBATH-BREAKERS ARE. 305 great mass of beings who seem to care little for God or for man. It is presumed, no one will doubt that all those who habit- ually neglect the worship of God in public, are enemies to the Sabbath. More than one third of the inhabitants of these United States, perhaps one half, may be ranked in this class. How is it with the other half? Part occasionally attend di- vine worship, and externally pay some respect to that holy day. But it will not be pretended that all of this class should be claimed as friends of that day. Another portion remains, though small in number, consisting of those who habitually pay more or less reverence to this sacred iiidtitution, and who are, many of them, bound by their own sol- emn covenant, to sustain the laws of God. Can all this class be numbered with the uniform and unquestionable friends of that institution ? Surely not. For, of the professors of the re- ligion which is adorned and sustained by the Sabbath among this class, we cannot speak as favorably as we would. The tone of moral feeling in relation to this day is, and has been, ex- ceedingly low. Many desecrate this day, and little think they are sinning against God. " Almost every box of freight, and article of merchandise that fill the thousands of mercantile houses in different ports of our land, in the process of transportation, pass through Sabbath- breaking channels during the hours of that sacred day. With few exceptions, merchants ship their freiglU as if there were no Sabbath : passengers pursue their journeys as if there were no Sabbath : boatmen are employed, and horses are driven as if there were no Sabbath : and the arrangements of companies, and proprietors^ and forwarders, are often entered into as if there were NO Sabbath. Yv^hat can be done to stay this flood op DESOLATION?" New-York, 1835. 26* CHAPTER VII. APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE SABBATH. There are agents and periodicals to plead the cause of Bibles, Missions, Tracts, Education, Temperance, Sabbatli- Schools, Colonization, Abolition, Peace, Purity, &.c. ; but where is the voice and where are the agents who plead the cause of the Sabbath, to which every good object owes its existence and support ? That such a day has been appointed for our observance, ffew if any sincere believers in divine revelation will deny ; and that there are most weighty reasons why we should observe it, can- not be doubted, if we admit that God has a right to command us, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. It would seem impossible for any man of common intelligence and moral honesty, to look back upon the history of our world, view iKo different conditions of the nations and people who have loved the Sabbath, and those who have not, without being convinced not only of its utility but of the absolute necessity of such an institu- tion, in order to our comfort and highest prosperity. In the language of Dr. Bangs, " I hold it to be an obvious and certain truth, that the chief means of forming men to a good character, is the due observance of a Christian Sabbath ; and that without this all other means will fail. * * * While, on the other hand, every man who neglects to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, shows himself an enemy to the best interests of his country. He stands guilty of casting contempt upon the most effectual means which infinite wisdom has provided for cur- ing the madness of the passions, for checking vice, and preparing the human family for that quiet, pure and rational enjoyment, of which they are capable." The Sabbath was one of the two sacred institutions of Para- dise, which shows its importance in the divine arrangement, as APPEAL IN BEHALF OP. ' 307 well as its necessity for the benefit of man. Tlie first entire day of man's existence was kept as a Sabbath. Adam was then in his innocence j but he needed this holy rest, for the ;benefit of his soul. He had not been doomed to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Still he needed a day of rest, for the benefit of his body. The fact that God commanded, not only that man and hie household, but the heast^ which toils for his benefit, should rest one day in seven, and " be reireshed," shows that our animal na- ture is so constituted as to need more rest than can be enjoyed during the night season. In some countries there is httie, in others, no night, for a long time. There, certainly, the poor laboring man and beast need the rest of the Sabbath. Even in this country, highly favored as we are in the division of our time, it is seen that the man who " remembers the Sabbath day to keep it holy," enjoys better health in body and mind, than the man who violates the law of his Maker. The horse or the ox, not allowed to rest one day in seven, cannot, in his natural hfe, accomplish as much labor as the one which is allowed to rest ac- cording to the divine command. For why should the rest of one day in seven be required for them, if the hours of the night are sufficient to refresh them ? It will not be pretended that they need the eleventh day rest, to be improved either for intellectual or moral purposes. To toil on, regardless of this arrangement, shortensHife and disqualifies us for vigorous action ; we lose property by it, pro- duce more suffering, and incur the divine displeasure. God knew what was best for man and beast ; and if we attempt ia counteract the laws of our nature which he has ordained, and contemn his authority, we shall suffer the misery and the loss which such folly and presumption must unavoidably bring upon us. To desecrate the Sabbath, then, is to invite temporal losses and sufferings, and expose the transgressor to everlasting per- dition. The man who dares profane the Sabbath is sinning against his own soul and body — against the soul and body of his fellow man — against the creatures God has made, and against God himself, who will hold him accotintable for all the evil he may occasion, j,y -^ ^:,- 308 "■ THE SABBATH. MINISTERS OP THE GOSPE* We appeal to the watchmen standing upon the walls of Zion. To you, reverend and respected brethren, is committed the care of the Christian Church. You are to watch ibr souls. Christ's kingdom has been set up in the world, and you are to see that it is established in every land. Every encouraging cir- cumstance, in the providence of God, that will aid this cause, you are to seize on with avidity, and apply with untiring perse- verance. Every movement of the enemy, against this holy en- terprise, it is expected you will discover, and boldly, strenuously, and perservingly, oppose. Watching, as you should, with in- tense interest and deep solicitude, all these movements, you may be responsible for the inroads which are made upon this king- dom, as well as for the extension and ultimate triumphs of right- eousness and peace. When good is in prospect, you are to incite to conquest; when danger threatens, you must sound the alarm. " We must ad- dress the conscience ; we must be bold in our appeal to the hearts of men ; we must assert all the authority and majesty of truth. The minister of religion must not shrink from his task on sivii a question ; he must cry aloud and spare not ; he must shov/ the people of God ' their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin.' " Bangs. The man who will hold his peace'when the church, or any of the sacred institutions of our religion is 'in danger, is incurring great guilt, and may suffer with the wicked. There are now many evils abroad in the land. The enemy has taken the field, unsheathed his sword, and begun the work of death. His forces are strong — his attacks various — his plans wily. Your eye cannot fail to see his onward march, and the wide-spread desolations of his footsteps. Your ear must hear the groans of the wounded, and the prayer of the righteous. But, whenever there is greater danger from one source than another, you must raise your " voice like a trumpet?^ Has not that time arrived ? A powerful, systematic, and simultaneous effort is making by the forces of the ungodly, to blot out the Christian Sabbath, and thereby, with one stroke, exterminate the whole system of revealed religion. They are not too blind APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 309 to know, that should they succeed, their most sanguine expecta- tions will be realized. It is an admitted fact, that while righteousness exalteth a na- tion, " the Sabbath is the chief organ of its administration ; the main-spring of all moral movements ; the great centre of attrac- tion, and fountain of illumination to the moral world." It lies at the foundation of the, world's conversion unto God. For of what avail will it be that an atonement has been made, and a way of life proclaimed in the gospel, if we are to have no min- isters of that gospel, and no day set apart on which to assemble and receive its consoling and sanctifying influences ? Surely the Sabbath is the conservator of the Bible and its blessed privi- leges ; and through them, the palladium of our liberties. Who of you, in your sacred employments, would long sur- vive the obliteration of the Sabbath ? How long would it be, before our churches would be demolished, or consecrated to the service of Baal ? How long before Christian assembhes would be known only in the history of ages gone by ? How long before we, or our descendants, like the heathen philosophers of old, the barbarous Arab, the besotted Hottentot, should be groping our way to the grave, beyond which, all would be " dark uncer- tainty?" How long before we, or those who come after us, should fall down before a Juggernaut — sacrifice to devils — offer upon a bloody altar human sacrifices — roll in filth and wallow in pollution — settle down in ignorance, and forget that we were once elevated almost to heaven in privileges ; but now are fall- en, because we remembered not " the Sabbath day to keep it holy?" Is there no reason to fear that the Sabbath will be blotted out, and that all these evils mil come upon us ? Let us for a moment look at facts, and then answer this important question. Many of your number violate the sacredness of this day by travelling from parish to parish, or by journeys on canals, in stages, steam-boats, and cars. Oh, if the watchmen continue to add tfieir example to encourage this sin, where will the evil end? There are hundreds and thousands in our land, professors of the religion of Jesus Christ, who have covenanted to keep his commandments, and yet are often guilty of breaking the fourth, 310 THE SABBATH. by travelling, by unnecessary labor and worldly converfsation. Such cases are far more numerous than many are aware of. Professing Christians also hold stock, and some even are direc- tors, in Sabbath-breaking establishments. Others of them go or send to the Post-ofRce, indulge in secular reading, keep a man to distribute milk on that, as well as on other days of the week. While this state of things exists in the church, have we not rea- son to fear that the sin will continue and increase, till the Sabbath is forgotten, or remembered only as a day of amusement and dissipation? Our National Legislature does not suitably regard the Sabbatli, but constantly and impiously causes it to be profaned, and encourages in its profanation not less than sixty or eighty thousand of her constituents, including those employed in the Post-ofRce departments, those who carry the mail, and those who visit Post-offices on that day. More than this, thousands of oth- ers quote the example of this Legislature, as a justification for travelling, boating, and almost all other kinds of Sabbath- breaking. It is high authority. From the President and the Speaker, down to the lowest officer in that assembly, with few exceptions, they desecrate this holy day; and is this the way by which we shall become that happy people whose God is the Lord ? Is not this cause for alarm ? In the arrangement of our judicial proceedings, in many of our circuits, judges and lawyers are compelled to travel from county to county on the Lord's day, or the courts are not opened in season, and the interests of the client are neglected. What would such judges do with the man who should be arraigned for contempt of the Sabbath ? Who would try him ? Who would condemn him 1 Who would punish him ? Not one. Our laws, in respect to the observance of that day, have become almost, if not altogether, a dead letter. Our public conveyances, our transporting companies, aind some of our manufacturing establishments, continue their busi- ness on the Sabbath. No man can engage in them, unless he first consents to array himself against God, help to open the flood-gates of iniquity, and deluge the world with ignorance, crime, and moral death. But all the business of this kind, which is already very APPEAL IN BEHALF OP. 311 considerable, and daily increasing with the increasing number of our canals, rail-roads, steam-boats, navigable rivers, and national roads, is in the hands of those whom some of our ministers, many professing Christians, our national legislature, jurists and council, are daily encouraging in their desecration of the Sab- bath. Do these things afford no just ground of alarm ? Now look upon the laboring class of the community, which is most affected by this wicked and unjust demand upon its ser- vices. Many of them are poor and ignorant — orphans — friend- less. They need a day of rest — they need instruction — they need the consolations of the gospel — they need a watchman — a guide. But, alas ! in the present state of public feeling, they can enjoy none of these things. The stage-driver, the coach- man, the carman, the boatman, the porter, the steward, the cook, the milkman, the ostler, the washer-woman, the barber, the boot-black, and many others, must toil seven days for the wages of sia^. Aside from the injustice done to these ten or twelve hun- ched thousand immortal beings, are there no evils to be feared liom their influence, scattered, as they are, over all the land, and in every school of vice, on the rising generation, and at the polls, when they, having so long been away from the care and protec- tion of the virtuous, and deprived of their own rights, will care little for the rights and welfare of others ? Oh, there is a cloud gathering, charged with indescribable calamities, and ready to burst upon this guilty nation. "I tremble," said Jefferson, " when I remember that God is just." Look once more upon our great thoroughfares ; see the thou- sands and hundreds of thousands of gentlemen and ladies travel- ing on Sunday. The boats, stages and cars, all move forward, and the crowd pass on with them. See sailors and boatmen by scores, and within a few rods of a chapel erected for their reli- gious improvement, obliged to labor all the day, while they are famishing for the bread of life. See merchants, mechanics, and professional men, beginning to open their shops and offices ; and agriculturists to cultivate their fields on Sunday; the sports- man, too, with his dog and gun in the field, and tell us, to what will these things grow, if suffered to pass unrebuked ? Tell us, is there no cause of alarm ? But we will not pursue this train of thought. Watchman, 312 THE SABBATH. " What think you of the night ? It appears to t«, danger ia ahead — that we hear the funeral dirge of our hberties, of our re- ligion, and of our glory. But if you discover no such danger, can hear nothing which excites alarm, this nation will dream on in sin J its death-like slumbers can never be broken by our feeble voice J and, before the grave closes on this generation, will it not have entombed all the hopes of the philanthropist, the pa- triot, and the Christian ? Let us now ask, What will you do ? You have a voice which can be heard through this whole na- tion, and over all Christendom. Would you, each and all of you, now imitate the example of Nehemiah on this subject, and, like him, show to all men that you are in earnest about your Mas- ter's business — that his law must be heard, and rmist be obeyed, God would bless your efforts, men would hear, beUeve, tremble, and obey. The truth of God is mighty — wickedness cannot stand before it. The devil has not the effrontery to stand and dispute a single truth coming from ahumble, bold, unoffending servant of the Most High ! If this sentiment be correct, and the desirable reformation be not effected, then where lies the guilt 1 In whose skirts will the blood of souls be found? The watchmen are slumbering, with the church and the world. O, what responsibility ! Sooner than occupy your place in the church, unless awake to this desolating evil, and putting forth all our energies to remove it, we would bend over the mouth of a volcano, or step into the jaws of a crocodile. Let all the ministers of Christ now engage against this blight- ing upas — this hydra monster, which is rushing over our land, carrying before it all that is fair and hopeful, and w€ should soon witness the triumphs of the Sabbath reform, which would give a new impulse to all our moral reforms, and establish on a broader and firmer foundation, those institutions which have for their object the dissemination of truth, the comfort and elevation of the wretched, and the conversion of the world. If only ten men would take hold of this subject, as did Nehemiah, it would certainly succeed. The evil can be remedied — the deluge can and must be stayed. It is practicable — and it is safe to embark in the undertaking. There is now no longer any doubt where the evil of Sabbath- APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 313 breaking originates. It is with business-men — the merchant, the manufacturer, and the traveUing gentleman. These men create the demand for stage, boat, and canal labor. No good man, when he views this subject in its true light, it is believed, will oppose an entire cessation of worldly business on the Lord's day—although the enemy of the Bible, of his coun- try, and of our race, may. \ PRIVATE CHRISTIANS. We appeal also to every private Christian, high or low, rich or poor. You stand on an eminence ; the world is gazing upon you ; the example you set will not only tell on your own char- acter and destiny, but on the character and destiny of unborn Perhaps you may think you will not be known as a Christian when travelling from home ; and your influence will not be very deleterious. But this is a mistake. You will be known as a Christian, if you act consistently ; and if you are not known in this character, you will, in all probability, be known as a hy- pocrite. Professors, when travelling far from home, with little money, are in the habit of saying, " I must travel on the Sabbath ; I have a family at home ; I fear they are sick, and need my coun- sel and assistance." But, dear friends, remember, these are ad- ditional reasons why you should not disobey God. If you had what would buy you earthly friends, you might think you could do a little longer without the assistance and friendship of God. Who is it that gives you your money, your friends, and all your enjoyments'? You will say, God. We ask, then, is it wise, when your means are slender, and when you most need His aid, to disobey Him, and cast Him off? But it is wise and safe, at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, to obey God ; and he tells you to " remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." You are bound, not only to keep the Saboath yourself, but to do all in your power to have your household, and the stranger within your gates, observe and sanctify it. Pursue the course marked out by Nehemiah. Observe with what strictness the Jews were commanded to keep holy time. Some of you have 27 ^ 314 THE SABBATH. more and some less influence in the church, and over your ac- quaintance ; and you are all held responsible for the best direc- tion of that influence. Let love to souls and to Jesus Christ prompt you to come to the help of this cause. You, who are business men, can do much, and there is now a call for your best efforts. Officers in the church, and those who fill places of honor and trust, can do much for their Master. Editors of rehgious periodicals are placed in circumstances peculiarly responsible. Tlieir influence is felt throughout Chris- tendom. It is equal to that of those who serve at the altar, if not greater. They can contribute as much toward forming a correct public conscience, as any other class of men. Let them, then, with their united voice and manly energies, espouse this cause, and the herculean task will easily be performed. It is confidently hoped that such assistance will be promptly and effi- ciently rendered ; and that every such paper will teem with facts, and expostulate with a power, which will awaken, and cannot be resisted. ij CHURCHES. ' To the churches of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we would say, when you see a Christian brother travelling, or doing worldly business on Sunday, expostulate with him ; and if he do not give you satisfaction, report him to the church to which he belongs. It is believed that the church, to an alarming extent, encoura- ges the desecration of this day of rest, by doing those works and allowing those practices which are forbidden, displeasing to God, and blighting and deadly in their influence on all our social, civil and religious interests. The apostle Peter tells us, that judg- ment must begin at the house of God. If this be so, is it not important that they immediately confess and forsake their sins 1 How cheering the return and remembrance of holy time — adapt- ed to awaken heavenly contemplations, hearty thanksgivings, and holy aspirations. Then why should we lose these benefits, by wantonly profaning its sacred hours ? PHILANTHROPISTS. We did intend in this place, to give a few sketches of an- APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 315 cient and modern history ; that at one view we might look on the different conditions of men, under different religious opin- ions, and see that a behef in the doctrines of the Bible has led to the great difference between nations, communities and individ- uals. But we shall only allude to a few instances, and leave the reader's mind to supply the defect. Contrast the character of the little community which sailed over the flood, from the old to tlie new world, with the character of those who perished in the waters ; also the character of the Sodomites with that of Abraham and Lot ; the idolatrous Gentile nations with the Jews ; Christians with Mohammedan and heathen nations. Look at all the ignorance, bigotry, idolatry, bloody rites, des- potism, crime, pollution, sloth, degradation, suffering, and despair, which have settled down on those nations and people that have forgotten God, and kept not his Sabbaths. Then look at the obedient, confiding believer in the one Hving and true God. Let your eye follow the line of devoted disciples of Christ down to the present time. See them going about preaching Christ and him crucified ; contented and happy, but for the hard- ness, obduracy, and continued rebellion of their hearers. Look through " the bleak recesses of the Alps," and see the industri- ous, moral, and pious Waldenses, peacefully inhabiting their beautiful villages and hamlets. See the intelligence, wealth, and comfort of other parts of Europe ; the unparalleled enterprise, prosperity, philanthropy, and benevolence of these United States ; the great commercial cities, villages, towns, canals, rail-roads, public high- ways, and manufactories of both continents; the arts and sciences in a high state of perfection ; the simplicity and firmness of republican governments ; and monarchy coming down from her supreme selfishness, to care for the interests of the people — all, the legitimate effect of the influence of the gospel. From this delightful view, go with us into Asia. Stand by the funeral pile, behold the Ganges, and Juggernaut ; pass into the " Celestial Empire." What were Confucianism and Tahoo- ism doing centuries before the coming of Christ 7 What has Boodhism done during these almost eighteen hundred years 7 Here, it is true, you may see large and populous cities, and once 316 THE SABBATH. splendid edifices ; but dilapidation andg It is presumed that it will not be pretended by any enlighten- ed and good man, that there is a necessity for violating the Sab- bath, by boating, staging, mail-carrying, and the like. Any practice, the natural tendency of which is to endanger our insti- tutions, lead to ignorance and crime, and call down upon us the judgments of heaven, should be forbidden ; and no legislator that does not watch every encroachment upon our rights, with a jealous, impartial eye, is doing his duty. To them we have confided the interests of our several States ; — we expect them to watch over these interests, and protect them in all their varied branches ; and hand down, unimpaired, to the generation that shall follow us, the precious legacy of a pure code of morale and politics, v/hich we now enjoy ; accompanied with an untarnished reputation. We are not pleading for the enactment of new laws, to suppress this sin, for the laws we now have for its sup- pression, "though in themselves good, and perhaps sufficient, are a dead letter ; broken, as it were, by common consent, both by judges and jurors, governors and governed. In England, as well as in this country, public conscience has once been right on this subject, as may be seen in their various acts of legislation. But alas! where now is that conscience? Many say we ought to have no law against Sabbath-breaking. But God did not think so. He made one general code of laws for his people, and that code was suitable for all purposes. The best, wisest, and great- est men that ever lived — statesmen, jurists, and legislators, have not thought so, but have added their authority to the authority of God, if by any means they might prevent the commission of THE SABBATH. crimes, which would unavoidably bring down upon them tem- poral, as well as spiritual judgments. Should not the subject of a government be prohibited from doing what would not only prevent his being a good subject, but bring immense evil upon the community ? Who should guard our rights, if our legisla- tors are not to do it ? Surely it is their province, and their duty too, to do it. It can easily be shown, to a candid, reflecting mind, that the Sabbath is indispensable to national prosperity. Communities have always been blessed or cursed, nearly in exact proportion, as they have regarded or disregarded the divine arrangement in relation to the Sabbath. Individuals, even, are often made mon- uments of God's displeasure, on account of their participation in this sin. And let it ever be remembered, no man, or body of men, can desecrate that day without incurring great guilt. Legislators, at the present day, are as much bound to protec* and defend our literary and moral institutions, which tend to our present as well as future prosperity, as were legislators in the days of Moses, Joshua, David, and Daniel. We cannot see how it is, that legislators have nothing to do with moral institutions, or the Bible, since all valuable legislation is founded on the laws of the Bible. Legislate in accordance with any thing else, and contrary to the Bible, and in a little time legislation will be as useless as gossamer to a drowning man, or a falling edifice. Thai code of laws which will contribute most to the peace and pros- perity of a nation, is all the church needs, and all that God re- quires for her, or for himself. Why, then, should Christian na- tions refuse to own their allegiance and their amenabihty to the King of Heaven ? Why refuse to say, men must obey God, if they would be happy, and all our laws shall aim at that desi- rable end ? Is it not because they hate God, and are ashamed to go to him for instruction ? Perhaps some may say, you would "unite Church and State;*' but only fools, the devil, and his emissaries, would have them united, as the charge implies ; for, thus united, the Church falls ; separated, the State falls. But properly united and separated, they stand and flourish together. Separate the Church from the State, in all her influence, and by going to pagan lands, you may see in what condition such a State would be. Unite Church and APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 323 State, and Europe can tell many tales of sorrow, scenes of dis- cord and bloodshed, which have occurred in consequence of it. Unite and separate them, as it should be done, and the early his- tory of the Jews, and of this country, can show you the prosperity, advancement, and glory of both. But since we have changed our course^ our councils have been distracted. Wicked, designing demagogues have been raised to places of trust and power, and God is frowning upon us. As immorality increases, dissipation, idleness, prodigality, and debauchery, as natural results, increase; men neglect their busi- aess — have little or no stimulus to energetic, self-denying effort, and useful enterprise. The man compelled to labor or allowed to travel ? on the Sabbath, is training up for any thing, rather than a good citizen, and a benefactor of his race. FRIENDS OP LIBERTY AND OF FREE INSTITUTIONS, Will find a most deadly foe in the sin ofSabbatli-breaking, We might as well dream, and talk oTthe perpetuity o^ liberty, of free and benevolent institutions, among the wild, wandering Arabs, as among a people who will not reverence the Sabbath. Civil liberty, ardent piety, and Christian privilege, are too closely al- lied ever to be separated. The one cannot long be cherished without the other. When a nation bids farewell to one, the other soon follows, as a matter of course. A form of religion, or an established national religion, under a monarchy, may exist, where civil liberty does not, but this does not affect the remark just made. Wherever active, ardent piety, such as is approved of God, is controlling the feelings of a whole nation, or the majority, that nation cannot long be governed by a haughty despot. The reli- gion of the Bible inculcates love, equality, kindness, righteous conduct to war dall men ; and just so far as this spirit prevails, so far will civil liberty and free institutions flourish ; and here again, let it be remarked, that the Sabbath lies at the foundation of all these blessings. Should not this class of men, then, exert all their influence in procuring, for this day, all that reverence and regard which God has demanded for it? 324 THE SABBATH. FRIENDS OF GOOD ORDER, Are also deeply interested in the question under consideration* If the Chistian religion cannot be propagated and sustained without the Sabbath, then it is important, in order to our personal eafety, and the safety of our property, and of all we hold dear in this hfe, that we awake to the salvation of this institution. Where there is no Sabbath, no Bible, and nothing better than the mis- named morality of men, to govern and direct this fallen, degrad- ed race, it is certain that the will o^ every man, or of one man, is the supreme law; and the tomahawk, the dirk, the bludgeon, powder and ball, are its executioners. War, theft, rapine, and murder, follow in their train ; and the strongest takes what he can find, and keeps all he can get, till a stronger or more artful than he comes upon him, and despoils him of his plundered pos- sessions. We need but little acquaintance with the history of past ages, to know the truth of these remarks. Then, how much we owe to the influence of the Sabbath ! All our peace and comfort, and the safety of our lives and property. Shall we willingly suffer this blessed and amply sufficient safe- guard of all that is dear to us, to be wrested from our hands without an eflfort to preserve and perpetuate it ? BUSINESS MEN, MERCHANTS, MANUFACTURERS, TRAVELLING GEN- TLEMEN, &C. It appears, on examination, that business men, merchants, mechanics, manufacturers, and travelling gentlemen, are the great mainspring of all the Sabbath-breaking on our canals, rail and stage roads, in our post-offices, and harbors, &c., &c. But who are these, that are the mainspring of so much evil ? They, as a body, are the wealthy, the respectable, the intelli- gent, the industrious, the moral, the influential, the trusty, the praiseworthy — the business mm of this nation. They build our churches, educate, fiire, and support our ministers ; print Bibles and tracts ; send missionaries to the heathen ; collect and sus- tain Sabbath schools ; assemble on God's holy day, with their families, and listen to the words of eternal life ; and some of them sit around the communion table, and weep, when they think of the scenes of Calvary, and of a world lying in wickedness. We APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 3% speak of these men as a body, for there are exceptions. If these men are the mainspring of ISabbatii-breaking, will any one say that the evil cannot be removed ? That if they should be con- vinced that the course they are pursuing puts the Sabbath-breaker in motion, or that their right influence would lead all men to rest on the Lord's day, they cannot be prevailed on to confess their faults, and retrace their steps ? Yes, they can be convinced, and they can be prevailed on to change their course, and Sabbath- breaking can be done away in our land. Let us look at facts, and see whether these men are in fault, and who are responsible in this matter. In the first place it may be asked, would there have been any canals, rail roads, stage-routes, mail contracts, steam navigation, ship navigation, iron foundries, and the like, had this class of persons never existed ; and since these valuable improvements have been made, if all these men would say, none of our business shall be done on the Lord's day, would there be a Sunday mail, Sunday-trav- elling steam-boats, packet-boats, line-boats, cars, stages, or any habitual Sabbath-breaking establishment ? Surely not, for it is on account of these business men mostly, that we need a mail, and those facilities for travelling and transportation. All the stagemen, boatmen, carmen, and sailors, are in their employ ; by them they are set at work, from them they receive their wages, and but for them, they would stop their stages, boats, cars, &c. Should these business men address those in their employ, and say, We wish you for the future to make such arrangements in regard to our business as will in no way inter- fere with the Sabbath ; we will not have our letters, our mer- chandise transported on that day ; we will not labor, or travel ourselves ; you may go on in the business as heretofore, except carrying our goods and letters on Sunday ; we shall pay you the same wages ; you may do the work still ; would any of them demur and continue their Sabbath labor ? But, as all these business men are not possessed of that Bible morality which might lead them unanimously to fall in with this arrangement, how shall this kind of Sabbath-breaking be abolished, and how does it appear that they are responsible for the better observance of the Sabbath ? There is a sufficient number in that class who love the Sabbath, to effect a change, 28 326 THE SABBATH. if "they would use their influence ; and if they withhold that in- fluence, they must be responsible. But what are the objections to an entire cessation of business on Sunday ? And who would object ? The merchant could make no reasonable objections, for his goods woud be received as soon as his neighbor's. The proprietors of forwarding hues and stages, could lose nothing by the arrangement ; but, in the renewed strength and vigor of their men and beasts of burden^ would be great gainers. Captains of boats would lose nothing, for their wages would be the same ; if there should be an addi- tional expense in boarding passengers, there must be an addi- tional charge. Common laborers in the boating or staging bu- siness would not complain, for rest is what they need, as often as the Sabbath returns. Then they could repair to the Sunday school, the Bethel, the chapel, and add a new lustre to their intellectual and moral character ; and live in the enjoyment of those privileges, without which, (the rest of the community en- joying them,) they must sink to degradation and wo, while others rise to respectability and happiness. The innkeeper will not complain, for while he furnishes his guest with a comforta- ble repast on that clay, he and his family can rest, attend public worship, and on Monday, receive a fair compensation for trouble and supplies. If any class of the community complain, it will be the travelling class ; for it will cost the traveller an extra tavern bill, and perhaps some will say, the loss of one day in seven. But it should be remembered that the farmer and mechanic, when they rest from their labors, lose one day in seven, if it be a loss, and why should the traveller, the boatman, and stageman, have a right to more time than the farmer and mechanic ? They board their hands, and lose their labor, when laborers work for them by the month or the year, as many of them do. But it is not right to call that day lost, when spent in its ap- propriate way, to prepare for heaven. Whose is the money which is demanded for the extra bill 1 Who gives us our time ? If those who now travel and do business on that day, con- tinue the practice, others will follow their example, until all classes of men attend to their business on Sunday, and the Sab- bath will no longer adorn our weeks, and summon the pilgrim to the temple of religious worship. APPEAL IN BEHALF OF, 327 Since, then, some may object to ceasing from all labor dur- ing holy time — and we know not how many — let us suppose, that half of the number mentioned above, as the mainspring of this evil, object to it; though we do not believe one quarter or even one eighth will do so, wJien properly enlightened. Who are these ? Only disbelievers in the Bible, (and not half of their number,) the dissipated, the dissolute, the ignorant, the immoral, the uninfluential ; those who do not love their country, but are bad members of society. Every enlightened, unprejudiced mind, will see that this is their character ; and what is the weight of their influence, when put into the scale against the influence of those in favor of this day ? What effect can the objection have, when presented to those who are now in the employment of these business men ? Whose wishes will prevail, those of the man who would have the Sabbath observed, or of him who would blot it out ? Those who are now transporting our wares and merchandise, our letters and ourselves, are men of good feeling, candor, intel- ligence, and discrimination ; and think you, they cannot see on which side the right is ; on which side lie the moral worth, the in- telligence, the influence, and the wealth of their petitioners ? For we would have all these business men make use of arguments, reason, and good common sense, to bring about this change, and they can prevail. The men, thus employed, cannot stand uninterested specta- tors while we discuss and determine this great question ; for they do know, thoQgh they may not all feel the obligation they are under to obey God, that it would be much for their interest and comfort, to rest one day in seven. Their drivers, boatmen, and runners, would be more intelligent, civil, trusty, and moral, than they are under present arrangements; and their teams would be kept in better plight, hve much longer, and go more briskly. In every point of view, then, the benefits, in the minds of these men, would preponderate in favor of resting as often as the Sab- bath returns ; and we feel most confident they would rejoice to doit. A word respecting our letters and packages. Let those re- member who have demanded a Sunday mail, that if all business were dispensed with on that day, no other evil than a delay of 328 THE SABBATH. one day in seven can result from it ; for in that case, one man could not receive intelligence of any important business or event sooner than another. The delay cannot be a sufficient excuse for compelling thirty or forty thousand of our citizens to break the laws of God, and thereby expose themselves to eternal mis- ery. Think for a moment of the condition of those men you thus employ, to gratify your curiosity, or add a little to your worldly gain. Most of them come to you poor, possibly are far from home, out of money, and out of employment. Perhaps they have been cradled in the lap of piety, and have covenanted to keep the Sabbath holy. But what shall they do ? You want their services, and they wotUd be glad to render them ; but how can they work on Sunday, and sin against God ? These re- marks will apply to hundreds and thousands of others, who seek for employment in other ways, and think they cannot obtain it, without laboring on holy time. Though all of them ought to refuse to violate the commands of God, at all times, and under all circumstances, yet the love of gain, or absolute necessity, as they think, drives them to disobey him. How dare you, for the paltry benefit you hope to derive, during your short life, take upon your- selves iJie responsibility of causing tliese little ones, these poor people, to disobey God ? How dare you, for such a conside- ration, venture to turn these youths from the path of duty, throw around their minds the chains of ignorance, introduce them into the society of the vicious and debauched, where they will learn the vocabulary of hell, and become unfitted for usefulness in this world, because they are entirely shut out from rehgious privi- leges ? Dare you go to the judgment and meet these men, who have spent their time and wasted their strength in faithfully la- boring to promote your interests, while you have been laboring as effectually to deprive them of their dearest rights and brightest privileges, adapted to make them useful here, and happy hereaf- ter ? Think of it as you will, " for all these things God will bring you into judgment ;" and you must then answer, not only for all the evil these men may be allowed to commit, but for the loss of all the good they otherwise might have accomplished ; the bles- sedness they might have enjoyed, and for the evils they must suffer ; and all this, for the privilege, (dear bought privilege !) of having a Sunday mail. Al>PEAL IN BEHALF OF. 329 Let US now, in a few words, show how these merchants, travelling and business men are the mainspring of Sabbath- breaking. They go to the great commercial cities, buy goods, order them shipped in the^rs^ boat, give special directions to have them forwarded with as little delay as possible. Their goods must not lie by on Sunday. Hence the necessity, says the ship- captain, of my labor, and the labor, on each Sunday, of all my men ; and, says the boat-captain, of my labor, and the labor of my men. The goods must be shipped and unshipped; boats must be towed, warehouses must be opened, clerks must take account of the goods, receive and deliver them, locks must be tended, clearances obtained ; and thus we see that the goods of these business men keep constantly at work custom-house offi- cers, captains, sailors, boatmen, and carmen ; lock-tenders, clerks in all the forwarding establishments, wagoners, draymen, and a thousand others, while they themselves keep the stages in motion, and exact the labor of proprietors, agents, drivers, land- lords, runners, mail-carriers, postmasters, porters, ostlers, coach- men, &c. &c. ; for most of these, while away from home, travel on Sunday as on other days. If they do not, those who are transporting their goods, labor with their horses and castle, and though they may be seated in the sanctuary, " worshiping God," at the same time, (strange inconsistency !) they are breaking the Sabbath by those whom they employ. Some of those who have shipped their goods from New-York on Friday or Saturday, have gone to Albany and stopped to spend the Sabbath ; and, while they were in the house of God, at the communion table, there were perhaps twenty men on the dock, taking their goods from the vessel, and putting them into canal boats ; then come the teams and they are hurried away. All this activity and bustle are witnessed, in some places, within sight of a Bethel, and the hearing of a chaplain, procured for the benefit of sailors ; for these business men, these good men, cannot suffer their goods to lie by on Sunday ! It cannot be that they know how much they are doing to blot out the Sab- bath. Thus it is that they, though unseen, move the hands that move the merchandise and drive the stages ; that play the bugle and raise the steam. But this is not all. These men build eteam-boats, canal boats, 28* 330 THE SABBATH. stages, take mail contracts, hold stock in Sabbath-breaking establishments, and thus give their influence to increase and perpetuate this great evil. These are some of the ways in which they move the wheel that is rolling the Sabbath into obhvion, and unless they stop short in their career, it will soon have gone beyond recovery. If, in the temperance reform, we hold distillers responsible for the mischiefs which ardent spirits occasion, which is, doubtless, right, surely, on the same principle, may we hold merchants, travelUng and business gentlemen, responsible for the evils of Sabbath-breaking. If the distiller would not make intoxicating drink, drunkenness would cease ; and, if these business men would not employ men to labor for them on Sunday, Sabbath- breaking, in these ways, would come to an end. Though there are others guilty of this sin, their influence is small ; and, if business men would do their duty, they would soon abandon a practice which must call down upon them the odium and disapprobation of every good man. We verily be- lieve, if merchants, business and travelling genilemen, or only that part of them who know and appreciate the value of the Sabbath, would use their influence to put a stop to all business in the ways above mentioned, on the day of rest, it might be effected in less than one year. If there is so much influence 7WW, which might be exerted on the side of the Sabbath, but is not, great will be the guilt of every delinquent. THE POOR LABORER. Of the poor laboring part of the community, the stage-driver, boatman, carman, sailor, coachman, porter, steward, milkman, ostler, cook, boot-black, barber, washer-woman, and, indeed, of every one who is induced, by any means, to labor on Sunday, let it be asked. Do you know of what a blessing and privilege you are deprived, and that without an adequate compensation ? What do you lose, by this means, in this life ? You lose the benefits of religious worship. If that is instructive, edifying, consoling, encouraging, purifying, ennobhng, and refining in its mfluence, then this, of itself, is the ^oss of a greater good, than can be purchased by all the gold and silver, houses and lands, wares and merchandise, ever owned or belield by your employers. APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 331 Where there are no Sabbaths observed, nor Christian assem- blies convened, there will prevail ignorance, elotli, dissipation, li- centiousness, profanity, theft, robbery, and other evils, too numer- ous to be mentioned. It is but a few years since Sabbath-breaking has become so common ; been sanctioned, encouraged, and commmided by this nation. It is but a few years since public opinion would allow o man to live and fatten on the hard earnings of those whom he compelled to labor on Sunday : but a few years since laborers have concluded they must engage for such men, or perish with hunger. It seems as if they must come to the latter alternative, and that too, in a very short time, unless the world awake, and put a stop to this oppression of our fellow-men — this sin against our own souls, our country, and against God. It is true, there are yet left among us occupations in which men may engage, and not violate the Sabbath ; but they are daily growing less in number, and do not make a sufficient de- mand to give employment to all our laboring fellow- citizens. But those who have the charge of our forwarding and trans- portation lines, on lakes, rivers, canals, and railroads, where the Sabbath might be observed ; our public conveyances, our largest inns, our hvery establishments, our places of public resort, em- ploy, we had almost said, no man or woman but such as will agree to labor seven days for a week, instead of six. It is said by those who have the means of knowing, that many of those employed on our canals and steam-boats, and in our public houses, become entirely regardless of their character, in respect to honesty, chastity, morality, and religion. It is not at all surprising that such should, ultimately, become the char- acter of the poor, destitute, homeless ones thus situated — far from their native place, among strangers, all professing friend- ship, but few, if any, sincere in their pretensions. Usually they have no Sabbaths, no religious instruction, few religious books • but week after week they learn to desecrate God's holy day, hear the profane oath and obscene speech, become familiar with deeds of darkness, and fall to rise no more. But these persons are out of employment. They have no one to help them ; they must help themselves. Here they have fair promisee, large wages offered, and kind attentions shown, to 332 THE SABBATH. seduce them from their abode of peace and innocence. They consider and hesitate— think of the dangers, such as they know, though the half of them has not been told. They venture upon temptation, though resolving to resist ; and, alas, a few years find them, not only poor, but wanton and wretched ! Is it not a solemn and an alarming fact, that these laborers, men and women, must agree to disobey God, and run the risk of their souls' salvation, before they can be allowed to enter upon their labors ! From these schools come so many drunkards, robbers, murderers, and harlots. Have you ever looked around you, dear friends, nay, we will call you injured, oppressed brethren and sisters, for whose wel- fare our heart bleeds, have you ever looked around and seen where you are ; to what you are coming ; and counted the vast- ness of your numbers in this state of unrighteous servitude ; not allowed the privilege of rest one day in seven, to which you are entitled, which you need, and which God designed for you ? You must labor for your employers seven days in the week, and receive wages but for six. What do these things mean ? Surely they mean nothing less than this, if translated into language, "We will so deal with a certain class of our citizens, that it shall necessarily bring them to that ignorance, poverty, and degeneracy of intellect, which will enable us, not many years hence, to make them hewers of wood and drawers of water, without money and without price." Since this is the natural and unavoidable tendency of this course of things, is it possible that there can be Ibund among you, one who will not use all his or her influence to bring about so desirable a state of things, as the universal observance of the fourth commandment? The Sabbath was especially made for the poor ; it is the poor man's friend. Where there is no Sabbath, the poor are held in bond- age; but where there is a Sabbath duly observed, it elevates them ; they become intelligent, respectable and happy. There is yet moral influence enough in this land, if it could be brought to bear on this point, to produce a speedy change for the better ; there is a public conscience, which will, if allowed, speak with a voice of thrilling eloquence, and loud as peals of thunder, awakening the moral energies of this nation, against so dangerous and deadly a foe as Sabbath-breaking j there is APPEAL IN BEHALF OP. 333 philanthropy enough to feel, and, putting forth efforts watered with her tears, to adopt and execute plans which shall ensure the success of this benevolent enterprise. Sabbath-breaking lies directly across the path of our benevo- lent objects, especially the spiritual improvement of boatmen and seamen. We know of villages where may be seen a neat, convenient chapel, erected for the benefit of watermen. Every Sabbath, waves the Bethel flag, calling upon men to come and hear the words of eternal life. But, alas, few obey the gracious call ! The sailor toils on, boatmen blow their horns, strike their music, and sail away ; the shipmaster with his many hands, plies the mallet and the chisel, and sings the merry song, while all around and within the warehouse, is business, bustle, and confusion. Go into the Bethel, and there sighs the pious, devoted chaplain, anxiously waiting the attendance of some twenty or thirty, who are watching an opportunity to go to the meeting unobserved. THE GREAT VALLEY. Looking over the great, flourishing, beautiful, and rapidly growing villages of the Western Valley, travelling from river to river, canal to canal, railway to railway, from state to state, and from mountain to mountain, one would almost believe that the Sabbath had been lost. If one could take his stand next Lord's day, upon the highest summit of the Alleghany, or Rocky Mountains, and survey the vale below, his eye would see the smoke ascending from six or eight hundred steam-boats as they majestically glide over the broad and deep Amazon of North America, her tributaries, and other waters ; and riding on their bosom innumerable other vessels, and smaller craft, bound to their thousand ports. From this prospect he turns to the canals. Here also all ia bustle and hurry. Again he looks, and his eye catches the long train of cars, scattered here and there over the country. With the velocity of the wind, they carry their thousands from village to village, until they are lost in the distance. He looks again, and sees many thousand stages loaded with passengers, and per- haps thirty thousand private carriages, with emigrants, or 334 THE SADDATII. loaded with business men and men of pleasure, of this great val- ley, except as may be seen here and there a traveller irom the East, or the North. Now his eye rests upon the cities in the southern part of the valley. Business and pleasure seem to be the employment of by far the majority of all he sees. Here and there are houses dedicated to the service of God, but few entering them. At New Orleans, crowds are rushing into the gambling house, hurrying to the theatre, to dissipation, to scenes of rioting and carnal pleasure. On the third of August, 1834, he would have seen twenty tables set, and more than twelve hun- dred guests around them, at a pubhc dinner, on Sunday, with crowds of others about the city, celebrating the triumph of one political party over another. Here is a hunting, there a fishing party, horse-racing, and numberless other amusements. At the North the prospect is a little brighter. But even there the Sab- bath seems almost annihilated. Sometimes we have been led to inquire, when looking over this extensive country, ten times as large as the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, admitting of a most dense popula- tion, designed to give support to a greater number of inhabitants than all the other portions of the United States, what is to be the moral character of the inhabitants of this great valley fifty years hence, and what will be the character of the laws they will give to this nation ? But as we leave this valley for the Atlantic cities, almost every boat, stage, and car, is filled with passengers on Sunday. In Baltimore at one time, six or eight hundred persons may be seen profaning the Sabbath, by riding to or from that city in the cars. Hundreds and hundreds are reaching or leaving it, by steam-boats and vessels. Stages and private carriages are loaded ; and during the day, O how many of her citizens profane holy time ! Philadelphia and New York present a similar scene. The boats, stages, private carriages and cars, which leave the city of New York on that day, groan under their more than ordinary burthens. Many steam-boats advertise to carry parties of plea- sure on Sunday. Who can tell the number of persons who take the rail cars and coaches for Yorkville and Harlem on the first day of the week ; the thousands who ride to Hoboken, to Long APPEAL IN BEHALF OF. 335 Island, Staten Island, Sandy Hook, and other places of resort? — the number ol' cattle and sheep driven into the city ? — how many are butchered, how many lb wis dressed, how many vegetables, and how much fruit, collected on {Sunday, for Monday's market ? How many saunter about the city, and in other ways profane holy time ? It is said, that out of the 1,400,000 inliabitants in London, 500,000 do not habitually attend rehgious worship of any kind. Out of seven or 800,000 in Paris, not more than 60,000 pretend to have any regard to the Christian Sabbath. In that city, Sun- days can be distinguished from the other days of the week, by the additional amount of festivity, dissipation, and licentiousness. What will prevent this nation from arriving at the same state of immorality ? Nothing but a due observance of the Sabbath. But it is not with us as it was twenty or thirty years ago, when we had few Sunday mails, no canals, no railroads, no steam- boats, few stages, if any, that did business on Sunday. Now nearly or quite one-tenth of our population, it is beheved, ha- bitually labor on that day in a manner in which they covM not have labored twenty years ago. All these, with hundreds of thousands of others, are learning to contemn God and trample under their feet his most sacred institutions. Even in the silent retreats of New England, this evil is growing with the growth of the country, and the increase of the facilities for travelling and transportation. O could the Christian public know the moral character of the boys and girls now thus employed, and reflect that soon their numbers may be increased twenty-fold ; and think of the mil- lions of our fellow citizens, who, by their example and influence, will be drawn into the same sink of pollution and sin, how would they call for the Sabbath, that they might hear and obey the precepts of the gospel ! Christians, philanthropists, and patriots, have already slum- bered too long. Our Sabbaths, which iurnish the greatest se- curity to our individual and national prosperity, in reality, are almost gone, though few seem to know it. When the Lord punished his ancient people, he often told them, it was because they kept not his Sabbaths, but polluted them. The nobles, who profaned the Sabbath, brought more 336 THE 8ABBATH. " wrath upon Israel." God always has punished, and always will punish, nations and communities in this life, if they keep not his Sabbaths. Since this nation began, openly and habitually, to profane holy time, we have been experiencing judgments from heaven. Diseases are more numerous, malignant, and fatal. Men in active life and firm health, in great numbers, die sudden- ly. Our councils are distracted. We suflfer losses and derange- ment in that department which is most open in trampling on the Lord's day. Riots are becoming common ; wicked men are not only hating Christians, but Christians, are " biting and devouring one another." We have desolating storms of rain and hail. Blast- ing, mildew, and drought have cut off many of our crops. Fires are laying waste our cities. Men are becoming treacherous, su- premely selfish, covetous, aspiring. But, hke Pharaoh, after he had called his magicians to compete with Moses and Aaron, we have concluded that these things are not intended a.B judgments, that it is not God who has done it ; and we, therefore, hold on to our sin. It was not thus twenty years ago. No people can retain, God in their knowledge, unless they ob- serve and keep his Sabbaths. No government can long exist without a Sabbath, unless founded in ignorance and sustained by physical force. Every violation of the Sabbath, therefore, and every effort to abolish it, is and attack upon the government under which we live. These acts and efforts continued, and the super- structure falls. God will come out against a people that will not give to his service that portion of time which he requires j and no nation can stand when he rises up against it. We are in the greater danger, because ministers and people think there is little or no cause of alarm. But there is cause of alarm. This nation is preparing for an awful doom, an untimely overthrow. God's patience will not always endure. He cannot save us, if we will not keep his Sabbaths, stay in the ark, and do the things which he has required for our safety. The friends of the Sabbath are not confined to one sect or de- nomination of Christians, for it is equally valuable and important to all. Not one of them can rise and prosper without its influ- ence. They may think differently with regard to the best means to promote its observance; but this should not cause any of its friends to abandon the object, or treat unkindly any one who PLAN OF OPERATIONS. * 337 would promote it. If we disagree about these means, and op- pose one another, we shall not succeed. We do not say that all must labor in our way, but hope all will labor in the best way. Oh then, let not one Christian, or one denomination of Christians oppose, or wait for another to lead, in this enterprise. Do we not hear all, whether in a palace, a thatched cottage, or a rude hovel — surrounded by enlightened, liberal, and affectionate friends, and enjoying liberty, or incarcerated in a dungeon— yes, all men, who love themselves and their country, or their God, witli one united voice exclaim, Truly the violation of the fourth commandment has become alarmingly prevalent, and threatens the utter destruction of all that is dear, encouraging, and con- soling in religion ; all that is safe, equal, and ennobling in our political condition ; all that is elevating and instructive in litera- ture, and all that is profitable in the arts and sciences ; we will, therefore, in future, abstain from this sin ourselves, and use all our influence to persuade others to do the same. Let every man, then, in every place and under all circum- stances, as often as the Sabbath returns, leave his worldly busi- ness and sanctify it. Every man must do this. It is the com- mand of an infinite God ; and as we value his protection and blessing, as we would secure the peace, happiness, and prosper- ity of our friends and country, it becomes us at once to submit to his authority. PLAN OF OPERATIONS. Let every Christian begin at home, and regulate his own life and conduct so as not to participate in this sin. The church, of course, will feel under obligation to call to account any of their number who desecrate the Sabbath. I. Resolutions suitable to be adopted, " BeUeving that all attention, on the first day of the week, to worldly business, except such as is required by works of piety and mercy, or in promotion of our spiritual good and that of others, is a violation of the divine will, and injurious to the civil, social and religious interests of man, we, therefore, agree that we will not participate in this sin :" 1. By travelling on business or for pleasure. 29 338 "^ THE SABBATH. 2. By making or receiving visits. ■ < 3. By going or sending to the Post-office. 4. By holding stock in boats, cars, stages, or other establish- ments which are employed in violating the Sabbath. 5. By worldly conversation or secular reading. G. By allowing our household, or strangers, when within our gates, to profane holy time. II. " The earth was without form and void." until " God said, Let there be light, and there was light ;" and Sabbath-breaking will exist, and increase, until there is more light on the subject. This light must emanate from the pulpit, the press, and through the instrumentality of travelling agents. III. Let merchants, manufacturers, and travelling gentlemen, who value the Sabbath, and the blessings which accompany it, by thousands, sign the following declaration, viz. : " We, the subscribers, believing that the command to remem- ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy, extends to all men ; and wishing, not only to enjoy the rest of that day ourselves, but to allow the privilege to others, do hereby express our willingness and desire to have our business, in all respects, so transacted as not to require the attention or labor of any man on the Christian Sabbath." IV. Next invite all who do business on Sunday, or cause it to be done, to make such arrangements as will not interfere with the sacred rest of that institution. There is every reason to be- lieve the invitation would be joyfully received and promptly complied with. During all this process, the only means to bring about so desirable a change are, moral suasion, the presentation of facts, truth pressed home upon the conscience ; light. — " Let THERE BE LIGHT." Such an arrangement can injure no man. All our business would be transacted as it now is, with the exception of resting one day in seven ; which every man, after six days of labor, needs, as also the weary animal which toils for his benefit On this plan, no business man, or traveUing gentleman, would have an advantage over his neighbor ; for all would rest from secular employment, as often as the Sabbath dawned upon our land. Then, while we were at rest, our son and our daughter, our man servant and our maid servant, our cattle, and the stranger within PLAN OP OPERATIONS. 339 our gates, might rest, as God has commanded, and as their con- stitution requires. There is no more difficulty in closing our business, when the Sabbath commences, than there is when enshrouded by the cur- tains of evening, or when driven from it by a storm of wind and hail ; or by the destruction and the pestilence. The divine arrangement is, that man and beast shall have one day in seven for rest 3 and the man who disregards the will of his Maker, the claims of our nature, and the good ol' the crea- tures which God has made, cannot be a philanthropist, a good member of society, a friend to his own best interest, or a Chris- tian. A nation of Sabbath-breakers is a nation of infidels. A nation of infidels is a stranger to liberty, to enlightened patriot- ism, to good will to men, to charity, to peace, to ratioual hope, to joy. The Sabbath was made for man; for every man, in every age. His frail body needs it ; his soul cannot prosper without it ; good morals and enlarged benevolence cannot long exist with- out it. This institution is the best detector of a man's morahty. Blot it out, and you annihilate the blessings of revelation, and sink into ignorance, degradation, and anarchy. Daily observation shows, that there is great diversity of opin- ion, even among the friends of the Sabbath, in regard to the manner in which its, observance can be best secured. Letters, just received, express doubts of the expediency of adopting any measures which shall be recognised as tending to that object. Others, and by far the greatest number, say that something mtist be done to redeem the Sabbath, for we are all sinking together. Some advise to print a paper, for the purpose of pleading the cause of the Sabbath. Others say, Send men to preach in every congregation, beginning where the evil is most prevalent. Others still say, " Pray — print — preach." There is no hope of a plan which will, at Jirst, meet the views of all. Men who see comparatively little of the evil, feel differently on the subject from those who are constantly observ- ing its progress. Under such circumstances it is with diffidence that these views and suggestions have been submitted to the consideration of the public. 340 THE SABBATH. Christians ought to remember that Christ was not well pleased with those disciples who forbade the man to c£ist out devils, because he followed not them; but said, "Forbid him not * * * for he that is not against us is on our part." We know not how much injury we may do to a good cause by op- posing measures which do not exactly meet our approbation. If measures proposed for removing any evil from our land are not manifestly rash and unscriptural, we should think of the case re- ferred to above, before we throw our influence into the opposite scale. A good cause ought not thus to be put down. The pro- jector of measures is nothing. It is the cause which we are called upon to aid. Cleveland, Juncj 1834. CHAPTER VIII. ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. In justice to business men, it ought to be said, that the prao tice into which many of them have fallen, of laboring on Sun- day, has obtained, rather from a supposed necessity in the case, or from inconsideration, than from any preconcerted plan to abolish the Christian Sabbath. There is much intelligence, respectabihty, good feeling and commendable enterprise in those whom we now address, and with them is most of the wealth and the influence of this great na- tion. They are men of thought, candor, and discrimination ; willing and accustomed to look at subjects fairly, closely to ex- amine and compare facts, and draw correct conclusions ; we are therefore the more encouraged to address them on a subject, which should interest every citizen. of these United States. J^ it too much to say, that business men rule the nation? Their enterprise, which by railroads and canals, has, or will over- come all difficulties which nature has thrown in the way of inter- course and communication, is distinguished from that of the founders of Babel, the ancient pyramids, and the huge wall of the " celestial empire," by the wisdom and utility of its plans, and for the means, generally unexceptionable, by which they are ex- ecuted. They are levelling the mountains, exalting the valleys, making railroads and canals, deepening rivers, widening, turn- ing, and extending their channels ; so that boats and vessels can already be seen, not only on the waters of the east, but also on the twenty- four thousand miles of steam-boat navigation in the valley of the Mississippi. But there are not a few of our fellow citizens who believe that these improvements and facilities, most desirable under proper regulations, are endangering the stability of our government, an- nihilating among us the Christian rehgion, and sinking us into anarchy and despotism. 342 THE SABBATH. This nation, though in her infancy, is great in prospect, and mighty in resources. A few years since her territory was a wil- derness — a British province : and it is but as yesterday since she proclaimed her independence — entered upon an experiment of self-government, untried and doubtful. Nations look upon her, some with hope, others with fear; some with jealousy, and others with envy — all admitting, that, should this attempt fail, the last hope of banishing despotism from the world would ex- pire. Under such circumstances, the heart of every American, proud as it may be of our invaluable privileges, civil and reli- gious, cannot regard with indifference any thing which has a ten- dency to weaken and undermine, or to establish and perpetuate them. While all love our common country and her liberties, and are equally interested in their support, most it is believed a^e agreed in the sentiment, that a repubhcan government can be sustained and perpetuated, only by the general diffusion of intel- ligence, virtue and morality. It is said that we are an enterprising people. We rejoice that it is so. But we should beware, while wielding the destinies of a great nation, not to unite in those plans and encourage those practices, which have uniformly led other nations to ruin. ^Ve have unintentionally fallen into the evil which has been alluded to, and which calls for a remedy. It is this. In business arrange- ments on our great thoroughfares, little regard is had to the Sab- bath, as a day of rest. All distinction between the six dnys of labor and the seventh day of rest seems to be vanishing away. Yet, without a Sabbath, duly observed, a people cannot long be intelligent and moral, and consequently cannot be fit subjects of self-government If danger is to be apprehended from this source it is important that we should all know it, and unite in devising means to re- move the evil from our land. In this enterprise, the rich and poor, the statesman and patriot, the philanthropist and Christian, are interested. And where the motives of our Teligicm cannot influence, it would seem that those of humanity could not fail to do so. For, who among us would wish to see this nation cut up mto little despotic governments ? Who among us so base, that he would rejoice to see her pillars totter and fall ; her reli- gion exchanged for that of the Hindoo or Mohammedan ; her in- ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEx\. 343 telligence and morality for the ignorance and immorality of paganism ? We know it is contended by some, that the fourth command of the decalogue is not binding on us Gentiles — that the rest of the Sabbath is not necessary for the good of man, or the well-be- ing of beasts of burden. But though we are Gentiles, and though tliis command, as well as the entire Bible, was originally given to the Jews, yet we claim that book as our book. Its blessed promises we embrace, its awful denunciations we dread. Who, that beheves this volume to contain the oracles of God, can for a moment doubt, that since Paul was sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles all the moral precepts it contains, are as binding on us, as they are or were on the Jews ; or, that if the Jews needed a Sabbath, a day of sacred rest, we need it as much ? Whoever, therefore, would be encouraged by the promises, in- structed by the wisdom, or admonished by the threatenings of the Bible, must accept it as the will of God to fallen man, all men, and obey its injunctions. This book calls upon men, to " Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," — assuring them that in so doing, they shall be blessed, but that refusing, God will come out in judgment against them. We stand on common ground, and have a common interest. Let us, therefore, candidly and impartially examine this subject, and see whether there is any danger to be apprehended from the present system of doing business on the Lord's day. And in the prosecution of our inquiries, all our information must be de- rived from two sources, viz. the word of God, and well authen- ticated facts. L — What does the Word of God say? As to this inquiry, if we find that labor is forbidden on the Sabbath, that evils are threatened against the transgressor of the fourth commandment, and have been inflicted in consequence of its violation, then we must naturally infer, that it is not only criminal, but dangerous, to engage in any secular business on that day. From the following passages it will be seen, that God has required men to keep the Sabbath ;— and that judgments for disobedience have not only been threatened, but actually inflicted. 344 THE SABBATH. LABOR FORBIDDEN ON THE SABBATH. The fourth commandment, Ex. xx. 8-10, is explicit ; " Re- member the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-ser- vant, nor thy caj;tle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Ex. xxxi. 14. " Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy unto you : every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death : for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Then in verse 15, of the same chapter, " Six days may work be done ; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord ; whosoever doeth any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." In Lev. xxiii. 3, we read, " Six days shall work be done ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation ; ye shall do no work therein." In Lev. xix. 30, we find, " Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary : I am the Lord." The same occurs Lev. xxvi. 2. Deut. v. 12-21, is a recapitulation of the fourth commandment, nearly verbatim, with additional rea- sons why the children of Israel should keep the Sabbath. Ex. xxiii. 12, " Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the sevLoth day thou shah rest ; that thine ox and thine ass may rest ; and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed." Ex, xxxiv. 21: " Six days thou shalt work ; but on the seventh day thou shalt rest ; in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest" EVILS THREATENED AND INFLICTED. In Ex. xxxv. 2, like xxxi. 15, before quoted, is found a com- mand to keep the Sabbath, on pain of death. And in Numb. xv. 32-36, we have a case of violation of the law, and of the infliction of the penalty. In verse 32, we have the crime : While the chil- dren of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. In verse 36, the punish- ment is recorded as follows: " All the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned liim with stones, and he died ; as ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 345 the Lord commanded Moses." In Ezek. xx. 13, God, by his pro- phet, says of Israel, " and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted : then I said, I would pour out ray fury upon them, in the wilder- ness, to consume tliem," — and they were consumed accordingly. God, by Moses, Lev. xxvi. 33-35, after having pronounced other curses on them, if they should refuse to do his commandments, adds, "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities wEiste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land, even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate, it shall rest ; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it." Read the whole of this chapter. Hundreds of years after this threatening, when the iniquity of the people was almost full, God said to them, by Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 27, " But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." We find these prophecies, awful as they were, hterally fulfilled upon this ungrateful and wicked people, as recorded 2 Kings XXV., and in 2 Chron. xxxvi., and in Jer. lii. " The king of the Chaldees," we are told, " had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age ; he [God] gave them all into his hand.'* " And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons." " To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbath : for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." To Ezekiel, during the captivity, God said of Jerusalem, " Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths." " Her priests have violated my law, and have pro- faned mine holy things : they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sab- baths, and I am profcined among them.*' After enumerating 346 THE SABBATH. Other transgressions, he adds, "Therefore have I poured out' mine indignation upon them ; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath : their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God." See Ezek. xxii. 8, 26, 31. Oh, what a penalty for profaning the Sabbath ! We need not prosecute this part of the investigation further, to prove that labor is forbidden on the Sabbath, that evils are threatened against the transgressor, or that they have actually been in- flicted. Many facts are recorded in the Bible, to show us how God looks upon the man who disregards his law ; and what we niay expect, if we continue to rebel against him. The simple act of gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath, was not of so much con- sequence as the disposition manifested, in the disregard of a command of God. The man guilty of that act, showed that he did not hold himself accountable to God, but would employ his time as best suited his convenience. We are surprised that any man, who beheves in the inspiration of the Bible, should dare disregard the fourth commandment. For there is no want of proof, from that book, or from facts, that God has most signally punished individuals and communities, as he has said he would, for not remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. SABBATH-BREAKING PREVENTS THE BLESSING. Men who disregard the law of the Sabbath, cannot be as prosperous, intelligent, free, happy, and moral, as are those who duly observe and sanctify it. This position is fully sustained by the following passages and facts, from the sacred pages. At the time God communicated to Jeremiah his determination to kindle a fire in the gates of Je- rusalem which should devour the palaces thereof, he endeavored to excite the people to obedience by this gracious promise : " It shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work there- in ; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the in- habitants of Jerusalem j and this city shall remain forever." ■^Z ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 347 Jer. Xvii. 24, 25, 27. Another passage, exactly in point, is from Isaiah Ivi. 2, 4-7: "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it ; that keepeth the Sabbath, from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." " Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my cove- nant ; even unto them will I give, in mine house, and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daugh- ters : I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and. to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth tlie Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant ; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer ; their burnt oflferings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar : for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." In the same book, chap. Iviii. 13, 14, we have, " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy i^leasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a Delight, the Holy of the Lord, Honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." MANNA. Let us examine another passage in relation to this part of our subject J Ex. xvi. 22-30. From this, we learn, " that on the sixth day, they [the Israelites] gathered twice as much bread [manna,] two omers for one man," as they had gathered on the days preceding. " And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord : bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe, and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morn- ing, as Moses bade : and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day, for to-day is 348 THE SABBATH. a Sabbath unto the Lord : to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day, which ia the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws ? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days ; abide ye every man in his place ; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." Let every one remember that these events occurred before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Thus we see that there was a Sabbath, and that God heid given laws, probably the same with those afterwards written on tables of stone ; for the Lord said, " How long refuse ye to keep my commandmenls and my laws ?" Hence we infer, that to go out to gather manna was a breach of God's law — the law of the Sabbath, which had, doubt- less, always been in force. There is much instruction in this passage. In the first place, the people were surprised to find double the usual quantity ot manna on the sixth day. " Second : The Sabbath is brought to view as a day of restj holy unto the Lord. And rather than have any work done on that day, God wrought two miracles weekly, viz., he caused a double quantity of food to fall on the sixth day ; and he preserved what was intended for the Sabbath from corrupting, like what was kept over on other days. Let the man who fears he shall come to want if he does not labor on Sunday, and the man who would hoard up his riches, read the verses just quoted, and know, that since God has ap- pointed the Sabbath, he has also provided and will provide, for the wants of all, who will honor him by keeping it. What did the man get by going out to seek for manna 7 Nothing but the disapprobation of God. Men are taught by this lesson, that it is always safe to obey the commandments of the Lord — that God will not only provide an abundance for our wants, but that he will also preserve it from decay and putrefaction. We do not beheve that £in indi- vidual, or a company of individuals, or a community, in the long ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 340 run, ever, in fact, made anything by laboring on Sunday. — Sup- pose they labor, obtain, and lay up much worldly goods, some of which are the result of Sabbath earnings, there is a worm at. the core, and they will sooner or later become unfit for use, or be taken from them. In God's dealings with the children of Israel, he doubtless had more than one object in view. While one design was to raise up a people, to whom he might make a special revelation of his mind and will, and through whom he could hand down to future generations, a knowledge of his salvation ; he doubtless also intended to show the world, by his dealings with them, how he would govern and deal with other nations. As we have seen, he not only told that people, that if they profaned his Sabbaths, he would punish them, but he kept his word. While they reve- renced his holy day, they were prosperous and happy, but when- ever they profaned or polluted it, he sent his judgments upon them, and such judgments as no other nation ever experienced. And he told them, he thus visited them, because they had polluted his Sabbaths. And in the same general manner he has dealt with all nations since that day. Those that cast away the Sab- bath, God gives up to destruction ; and if we continue to dese- crate that day, we shall be destroyed, and that without remedy. It cannot be otherwise. Ever since we have become a Sabbath- breaking nation, it is evident that God has had a controversy withus, just as with his ancient people. Like them, we have been warned and beaten with few stripes j then warned again, and beaten with more stripes ; and we may expect some over- whelming calamity soon to fall on us, unless averted by speedy repentance, and return to duty. II. — Facts. We come now to tJie second inquiry, viz. : — WJuU do facts teach us to expect, in relation to this matter ? And here, let it first be observed, that this is not a state of retribution for individuals ; though for some sins of individuals, God more signally punishes in this world than for others. This is believed to be true of Sabbath-breaking. There are at least certain evils which seem necessarily, and unavoidably to follow the Sabbath-breaker. 30 350 THE SABBATH. But communities must always be punished in tliis world. This is their only state oi' retribution. When individuals, or communities disregard the Sabbath, they are ready, so far as their conscience is concerned, to disregard the other laws of God ; and this leads tliera to neglect all the means which God has given, to prevent men from committing crimes against their neighbors, their country, and their God. A voice, therefore, should now be raised on this subject, waxing louder and louder, until it shall have aroused the slumbering energies, not only of the Christian, but of every patriot and philanthropist. Let us see what influence labor on the Sabbath has on physi- cal powers, on moral and intellectual powers, and on men's worldly prosperity, generally. Some have supposed that what is earned on the Lord's day, is clear gain ; but God says, and the best of men say, and facts prove, that this is not so. PHYSICAL POWERS. Sir Matthew Hale's experience has often been adduced in proof of the above assertion. For nearly fifty years, he had been a critical observer of men, and much conversant with bu- siness. He says, " Whenever I have undertaken any secular business on the Lord's day (which was not absolutely and indis- pensably necessary), that business never prospered and succeed- ed well with me. Always, the more closely I applied myself to the duties of the Lord's day, the more happy and successful were my business and employments, the rest of the week following.'* A BUSINESS MAN many years ago was travelling by the side of one of the western lakes in a stage which made its trips but once a week. The settlement was sparse, the road bad, and there was little travel. The Sabbath came. The question with him was not, what shall 1 do '? but others said, when he an- nounced that he should proceed no farther, how then can you get along ? Yet there was but once course for him. Long be- fore, he had made up his mind to rest on Sunday, leaving conse- quences with God. The stage went on, while he remained until Monday morning, when a gentleman drove up and offered to carry him on his journey ; he was well accommodated with a seat, and it proved a saving of money. Thousands can testily to similar facts. As God provided manna for two days on the ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 351 sixth, SO he will take care of those who keep his commandments. As nothing was gained by retaining the manna from one day to another, except from the sixth to the seventh, so nothing will be gained by laying up the wages of unlawful labor. They will prove a curse instead of a blessing. It is always safe to obey God. When we toil on the Lord's day, we toil for nothing that can do us any good. A GENTLEMAN acquainted twenty-five years in New York, says, that those merchants of his acquaintance who have kept their counting rooms open on Sunday have failed without an exception. Dr. Spdrzheim says, " The cessation of labor one day in seven, contributes to the preservation of health, and to the res- toration of the bodily powers." Journeymen printers, stage-drivers, boatmen, and all classes of men who habitually labor seven days in a week, suffer much in their health and their morals. Mr. Schoolcraft, while examining the Upper Mississippi in 1830 and 1832, with twenty men, says, that they performed their tours in less time than companies usually do which travel on Sunday, though they uniformly suspended labor on that holy day. He was convinced that they gained much by resting one day in seven. " In the West Indies, slaves were required to labor six days m the week for their masters, and the seventh day for their own support. The consequence was, short life and feeble health." Nine days' labor in France, when the seven days' week was exchanged for a ten days' week, " increased the exhaustion of man, and diminished the aggregate amount of labor." Seven thousand journeymen bakers, of London and vi- cinity, have petitioned the House of Commons to be released from their burden of laboring nine hours every Sunday, after from fourteen to sixteen hours of labor on week days. From their constant employment they suffer greatly in health. It appeared in evidence before the Sabbath Committee of Parhament in regard to each branch of business in London, that in proportion to their disregard of the Sabbath, was the wretch- edness and immorahty of those engaged in it. Is not the same true of this and every other country ? owe THE SABBATH. Mr. Vyse of Birmingham, England, stated before the Sab- bath Committee of the British Parliament, that he had taken one hundred and twenty horses, and nine or ten coaches off the road on Sunday, and that while his horses were allowed to rest one day in seven, he had no occasion to replenish their number in three months ; but when they labored seven days in a week, he was obliged to buy every week. The same man says, he found that those persons who neglected that holy day, fell into bad habits, were led on from vice to vice, and generally ended in coming to misery and want. The Lord Bishop of Chester stated, before the same com- mittee, that he once knew a man who kept his shop open on Sun- day. When his minister remonstrated with him, he would reply, (though convinced of his error,) " Why, I cannot afford it ; for I sell more on Sunday than all the other days of the week put together." His mind, however, changed, and he closed his shop on that day, and so kept it closed for six months. When the clergyman called on him again, and wished to know the re- sult, he said — " Sir, to tell you the truth, I have taken more money in the six months since I shut up my shop on Sun- day, than I did in any one year before, since I was in busi- ness." The Rev. J. W. Cdnningham, in evidence before the com- mittee, says, he knows the result of an examination as to the quantity of work done, and the money expended in a public in- stitution, employing more than two thousand laborers. For a certain number of years these laborers were employed on the Sabbath. After the death of the individual who presided over the institution during this arrangement, his successor determined to dispense with Sunday labor — which was done : and by a most careful examination of the amount of labor performed during the two periods, it was ascertained that more work Tvas done in the Bame portion of time, when they worked but six days, than there was when they worked seven days in a week. This was imputed to two causes : in the first place, to the demoralization of the people under the first system ; and in the second place, to the exhaustion of their bodily strength, which -was visible to the most casual observer. The same individual says, in relation to those who desecrate the Sabbath— the worst moral, civil, and ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 353 political consequences, appear to me to follow, from the breach of the Sabbath. Mr. Thomas George, before the same committee, said, the following different trades in London had been canvassed by him- self and others, connected with the Sabbath Protection So- ciety, viz. : — butchers, bakers, drovers, poulterers, poultry cooks, confectioners, undertakers, publicans, ship, wagon, and coacli proprietors, hairdressers, cheesemongers, grocers, chandlers, cof- fin-makers, watermen, bargemen, tobacconists, newsmen, prin- ters, fishmongers, fruiterers, green-grocers; and that a vast majority of them would be delighted with a measure, provided it were general, to secure them against pecuniary loss, by a gen- eral observance of the Sabbath. One would not stop unless all did ; and all felt that it was degrading for them to work on Sun- day, and that they had a right to a day of rest, as well as other men. Mr. William McKechney said, he had visited at least ten thousand shop-keepers of vajious descriptions in and about Lon- don, relative to a general cessation of all business on Sunday, and that two thirds of them were in favor of it. A man who is not allowed to rest on Sunday, is deprived of a privilege enjoyed by others. He is injured, and feels injured by the practice. Doubtless, if every man in this nation were to have the question put to him, would you prefer to have no labor done on Sunday, nine-tenths of them would answer in the af- firmative. The great difficulty now seems to be, to fix on a day when all shall stop, and to induce all to agree to it, at once. Go to one class to-day, and they will say, we will give up our labor on the Lord's day, if others of our occupation will ; and so it is with all. INTELLECTUAL POWERS. In the testimony of Dr. Richard Farre before the same committee, there are some most important views, relating to this subject. Dr. Farre, in the early part of his life, had been the physician of a public medical institution. He had been en- gaged in Great Britain, in the study and practice of medicine forty years. This question was proposed to him, viz. : Have you had oc- 30* 3S4 THE SAfiBATH. casion to observe the effect of the observance and non-observance of the seventh day of rest during that time 1 Ans. I have. I have been in the habit, during a great many years, of consider- ing the uses of the Sabbath, and observing the abuses of it The abuses are chiefly manifested in labor and dissipation. The use, medically speaking, is that of a day of rest. As a day of rest, I view it as a compensation for the inadequate restora- tive power of the body, under continued labor and excitement. A physician always has respect to the preservation of the res- torative power, because, if once this be lost, his healing office is at end. He endeavors, physiologically, to show, that the Sab- bath is a necessary appointment. He says, a physician is anx- ious to preserve the balance of circulation, as necessary to the restorative power of the body. The ordinary exertions of man run down the circulation every day of his life, and the first gen- eral law of nature,. by which God prevents man from destroying himself, is the alternating of day with night, that repose may succeed action. But although the night apparently equalizes the circulation well, yet it does not sufficiently restore its balance for the attainment of long life. Hence one day in seven, by the bounty of Providence, is thrown in as a day of compensation, to perfect by its repose the animal system. You may easily deter- mine this question as a matter of fact by trying it on beasts of bur- den. Take that fine animal, the horse, and work him to the full extent of his powers, every day in the week, or give him rest one day in seven, and you will soon perceive, by the vigor with which he performs his functions, on the other six days, that this rest is necessary for his well-being. In man it is not so immediately apparent, but in the long run he breaks down more suddenly. He considers, that the Sabbath is not merely a precept, par- taking of the nature of a positive institution, but that it is among the natural duties, if the preservation of life be a duty, and the premature destruction of it a suicidal act. He remarks, that this is said simply as a physician, and with- out reference at all to the theological question ; but if you con- sider further the proper eflfect of real Christianity, namely, peace of mind, confiding trust in God, and good will to man, you will perceive in this source of renewed vigor to the mind, and through ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 355 the mind to the body, an additional spring of life, imparted from this higher use of the Sabbath, as a holy rest. He goes on the ground that the mind, as well as the body, needs relaxation and repose, or a change of occupation, as often as one day in seven j that the mind when vigorously employed in business six days , will be injured by continuing in that em- ployment beyond that period, before it is suffered to relax its powers ; and that leaving business and engaging in dissipating amusement, does not afford all that aid and that kind of aid, which its constitution demands. He states that he had known many senators, and others in the higher walks of life, who hur- ried themselves to the grave by excessive mental effort. '• In all that I have said," he remarks, " I have reference in my views of the Sabbath, to it, as a sustaining, repairing, and healing power." It is to be regretted that our limits will not allow us to quote further from this testimony. Dr. Farre is not alone in the belief, that both mind and body need the rest of the Sabbath. Dr. Rush says, " If there were no hereafter, individuals and societies would be great gainers by attending public worship. Rest from labor in the house of God winds up the machine of the soul and body, better than any thing else, and thereby invigorates it for the labors ajid duties of the ensuing week." The mind of man needs rest, or relief— a change of objects, and the Sabbath brings such relief While constant labor destroys the physical powers of man and beast, intense application of the mental powers cannot long be endured without sensible injury. What scholar does not know the folly of undertaking to solve a difficult problem in mathematics, when the mind has long been taxed to the extent of its powers ? And where is the business man, whose mind has been intensely on his employment, day and night, fbr six days, who does not need a season of rest 1 There can be no doubt, that many individuals, possessing'strong minds, have become insane, in consequence of constant and un- remitted attention to worldly business. Doubtless, if the true cause could be known, why so many merchants of large capital and extensive business thave failed, it would be found, that in many instances, it was the result of so intense and uninterrupted attention to business, that their minds became deranged, or unfit 356 THE SABBATH. prudently and skilfully to manage their affairs. It would no» be difficult to prove, with the force of demonstration, by incon- trovertible facts and arguments, that the man who disregards and profanes the Sabbath, injures his own person and property and the community in which he Ha'^cs. The MARauis of Londonderry, not many years since, de- stroyed his life in a state of mental derangement. He was prime minister, and entrusted by the king with the principal concerns of the government. He observed no Sabbath. His mind, on Sundays as on other days, was alike burdened, but its burden was too heavy long to be borne. It hurried him to mad- ness and the grave. WiLBERFORCE Said, he could never have accomplished so much public business as he did, but for the rest of the Sabbath. Many who began with him in life, had found a premature grave, or become maniacs, and put an end to their existence, by vio- lating the law of nature, and of nature's God, in regard to the rest of the Sabbath. In the last great day, it will doubtless be seen, that some of the most splendid fortunes and gigantic intellects have been ruined by a disregard of the day of rest. The Sabbath-breaker, like the drunkard, is destroying himself, body and soul, for time and eternity. We have looked at the necessities of man as a physical and intellectual being. We find him like a clock constructed to run a certain time, and then needing to be wound up again, in order to answer the end for which it was made. Man's whole na- ture is constructed so that he can engage in vigorous employ- ment six days, and but six at a time. If by an}^ means he is induced to prolong such exertion, he does it at his peril. If often repeated, both body and mind will naturally and unavoid- ably suffer, and even run down. MORAL POWERS. Sabbath-breaking not only wastes property and the physical ])owers of animal nature, and deranges the mental faculties of qPn, but it leads to crime and disgrace. Blackstone says, " a corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the Sab- bath." ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 357 In the State Prison of Connecticut, it is said ninety out of a hundred of its inmates, at the time of the investigation, had been habitual Sabbath-breakers. In that of Massachusetts, one hundred and eighty-two out of two hundred and fifty-six were also of that character. We quote again from the testimony brought before the Sab- bath Committee of the British House of Commons. Rev. Da- vid RuELL, before the committee, stated, that he was chaplain of New Prison, Clerkenwell, and formerly chaplain of the house of correction, Coldbath Fields — he had been thus employed twenty-eight years — had had annually pass under his care, not less than seven thousand prisoners ; and during his chaplaincy, at least one hundred thousand. He says he made it a point ot seeing in private those who were charged with capital offences, and does not recollect a single case, among them all, where the party had not been a Sabbath-breaker, and in many cases they had assured him, that Sabbath-breaking was the first step in their course of crime. He says, " I may say in reference to prisoners of all classes, that nineteen out of twenty of them have neglected the Sabbath. He refers to the case of the Cato-street conspirators, who were also of that class. Mr. John Wontner, then for ten years keeper of Newgate, and six years a marshal of the city of London, said he had heard many of the prisoners express their regret that their crimes had originated with a breach of the Sabbath. He thinks nine- tenths of them did not value the Sabbath. Mr. Benjamin Baker, who had been twenty years in the habit of visiting prisoners in Newgate, stated that the prisoners almost universally, had acknowledged, that the deviation from the fourth commandment led them on, step by step, into that degree of crime, which had brought them there, and that the great cause of their misconduct had been the neglect of the Sab- bath. Nine out of ten have dated the principal part of their departure from God, to the neglect of that day. The same committee state in their report, that innumerable unhappy individuals, who have forfeited their lives to the offend- ed laws of their country, have confessed that their career in 358 THE SABBATH. vice commenced with Sabbath-breaking, and neglect of reUgious ordinances. APPEAL TO INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. Many other facts from the report of this committee might be given, and also from other sources. But we forbear ; and call upon men, individually, to look back upon the Sabbath-breakers whom they knew in their youth and early days. Where now are the majority of them ? Are they intelligent, moral, respec- table, influential ? It is not believed many of them are, if they have continued till the age of forty, or even thirty years in the same practice. The road of the Sabbath-breaker is the road to ignorance, crime, degradation, and contempt. Look again. What good have such individuals done in the world ? Have they been philanthropists — true, valuable patriots ? Are they the friends of the poor, of the Church, of God, and of the world ? Look at companies, who habitually profane the Lord's day. And what is their moral influence on society ? Look into those neighborhoods, where no Sabbath is relig- iously observed, and what is the character of the inhabitants ? Are they fit to be at the helm of our government ? Would they sustain our free institutions ? Would they make suitable guardians ol youth — good teachers in our seminaries of learning ? Are they good neighbors ? Do they live peaceably ? Are they sober, cleanly, industrious ? How do their fields and fences look 1 Are their buildings in good order, or in a state of dilapidation ? Look at such a neighborhood, and compare it with one where the Sabbath is duly observed — and then you will be able to judge of the qualifications of a Sabbath-breaking people to govern a republic. HOW IS IT WITH NATIONS ? Let us glance now at nations, and see what we can gather from their history, as to the importance of observing a Sab- bath. Communities flourish and decay, and what is the cause of this prosperity and declension ? Turn your eye to nations which once observed a Sabbath, but now do not. Where are those ADDRESS TO BtSINESS MEN. 359 Jj nations? Without an exception, they have gone down to the " darkness of paganism, or are rapidly hastening thither. And on the other hand, where is the nation or people, that conscien- tiously and strictly regarded this institution, however small they might have been at first, which has not risen to greatness, wealth, honor, and power? Look at the nations of the East. See the darkness which broods over not less than five-eighths of the entire population of our globe. What is the cause of it ? No satisfactory answer can be given, but that they are without the Christian religion, sustained and cherished by the institution of the Sabbath. Nor can they ever rise to prosperity and peace, until cheered by the rays of divine truth, promulged and sustained through the influ- ence of that day. Spain, centuries ago, was great and powerful ; and so long as she observed the Sabbath, remained so. But when she began to profane that day, she began to fall. And where now is Spain? Sinking in ignorance, superstition and pollution. France, while she was observing her tenth day Sabbath, was one continued scene of commotion and bloodshed ; and long ere this, had she not sought the aids of that religion which she had despised, and endeavored to abolish, and welcomed its re- turn and the weekly Sabbath, she would have been beyond the reach of any human arm to save her. Even now, there seems to be, with her, a mighty struggle between the powers of dark- ness and the influence of Protestant light and liberty. England, when she most disregarded the holy Sabbath, was evidently on the retrograde. It was " when the Puritans preached against dancing, bow-shooting, and other licentious sports on Sunday, and were forbidden by King James to hinder the people from these practices, and other similar harmless recreations on that day, that London was visited with the plague. In this cor- rupt state of morals, it swept away in that city, almost seventy thousand, and in one week when it raged most, more than seven thousand." England had been warned and punished before, but she would not reform. Scotland and Wales have not suffered quite so much for this sin, for they have been less guilty. But the nation that is now free, intelligent, powerful, and happy, owes its prosperity to the influence of the gospel, which 360 THE SABBATH. is sustained and perpetuated by the instrumenteility of the Sabbath. OuK Forefathehs, when they sought an asylum in the wilds of America, were, from principle, a Sabbath-keeping people, and we have been such until within a lew years j and where was there ever a nation that enjoyed such uninterrupted prosperity ? In looking over the history of the past, we cannot find an instance of great temporal and spiritual prosperity, where the Sabbath has not been duly observed ; nor can we find an instance of gen- eral imbecility, ignorance, crime, poverty, wretchedness, anar- chy, dilapidation, and ruin, where that day has been duly kept. God has always honored that day, by rewarding those who sanc- tified it, with great blessings. It is easily proved from past his- tory, that nations and communities have prospered in exact pro- portion to the manner in which they observed a Sabbath. No nation or community, profaning that day, can long prosper. It is impossible in the nature of things. Heathen nations have no day of holy rest. Where ignorance and superstition reign, there the Sabbath is not honored. But, where that day is ob- served, as a day of rest and religious worship, there is freedom, intelligence, comfort, peace. The throne of the despot, and the chains of the oppressed, cannot stand before the influence of that benign institution. But lei us be a little more specific. Without the influence of a Sabbath, duly observed, the reli- gion of the Bible cannot be sustained. Indeed, blot out the Sab- bath, or let it be devoted to business, amusement and dissipa- tion, and in less than a century the Bible would be destroyed, or cast among the rubbish of by-gone ages ; our churclies would be disbanded, our temples of worship converted into temples for the " goddess of reason," and theatres of pollution and crime ; our seminaries of learning, alms-houses, asylums, and places of refuge would be tenantless, or filled with Bacchanals. In vain should we look for the hand of kindness, to wipe the death-drop from the face of the dying, or to point the wanderer to the haven of glory. In vain should we listen for the voice of supplication, in behalf of a bleeding church, and the deathless soul ; the gloom of an eternal night would gather around, and a world be sinking to perdition. ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 361 WHAT IF THE SABBATH WERE BLOTTED OUT? Let US suppose for a moment, that the Sabbath, in this nation, were blotted out, — that, as some men have fooHshly and wickedly wished, every Christian in our land should now go to the grave. By the word Chi-istian, we mean such as love the Sabbath, the Bible, Sabbath schools, our benevolent societies, and the house of religious worship — who contribute of their money and their influence, to establish and sustain these institutions. Let none be left, but the man who ivill not remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Who, we ask, would wish to live in such a community ? Who would build school-houses, and instruct in the arts and sci- ences? Who assemble in our churches? Who would erect and sustain alms-houses, orphan asylums ; and teach the young and rising generation to walk in the ways of virtue and peace ? Did ever the arts and sciences long exist and flourish in a community where the Sabbath had done nothing, and was not doing much for them ? Is domestic happiness enjoyed, where there are no Sabbaths observed ? Are the rights of females re- garded, and their persons protected, where the Sabbath is not known ? Are parents lovers of their children, and are children dutiful and affectionate to their parents ? Are the rights of the poor regarded ? Are men moral, chaste, sober, benevolent, in- dustrious, and patriotic, where the Sabbath is contemned ? In such places, are men considered free and equal? Does each seek the good of others ? For an answer to these inquiries, ask the inhabitants along the Ganges, or on the isles of Borneo, and of the South Pacific. The strong arm of despotism may, for a while, keep under and control an ignorant, degraded people ; but civil and reli- gious liberty can never be established and sustained, without the aid of the Sabbath ; and every act of Sabbath desecration serves to weaken the foundations of a free government. Sab- bath-breaking, since it tends to immorality and wretchedness, shortens and embitters human life. Where there is no Sabbath there is no permanent good. Who would be willing to exchange the Sabbath for days of pagan festivities, rites, and ceremonies ? Who would exchange the Bible of the Christian for the Koran of Mohammed, or the 31 362 THE SABBATH. Shasters of the Brahmin ? Who exchange the pure, exalted, ennobhng, and dignified worship of the one Hving and true God, for the base, sordid, and degrading worship of the almost num- berless Hindoo gods ? Who would subject himself to the hor- rors of the ten persecutions, or those of the feast of Bartholo- mew, as witnessed in France, in 1572, when sixty thousand Pro- ' testants were murdered, by those who would not keep a Sab- bath ? Think of her civil wars, during which, " in the begin- ning of the seventeenth century, more than a million of men lost their hves ; nine cities, four hundred villages, two thousand churches, two thousand monasteries, and ten thousand houses, were burned or destroyed, besides the many thousands of men, v/omen, and children, that were cruelly butchered j and one hundred and fifty millions of livres were spent in carrying for- ward these slaughters and devastations." This is a part of the history of that nation which dared follow the counsel of the exe-. crable and inhuman Robespierre and his coadjutors; which feared not to burn the Bible, introduce the decades, and attempt to extirpate the Christian religion. Similar scenes have been acted over, whenever an attempt has been made to abolish the Sabbath. The late mobs and riots in our country, indicate ap- proaching judgments, not altogether dissimilar. But what are we doing on the Sabbath^ and who are they that are doing it ? We are running stages, carrying and opening mails, running boats, freighting goods, carrying passengers, lading and unlad- ing vessels, printing papers, driving and butchering cattle, hogs, and sheep, riding in rail cars, omnibuses, hacks, sulkies, writing and doing business in our counting-rooms, warehouses, custom- house offices, and a thousand other things, that God has forbid- den, and which tend to keep us from his house, and drive away from our minds all sense of obligation to him, and reverence of the holy day. This work is not done only by the poor, who most need rest and instruction, but many rich men are now attending to their business as much on Sunday as on other days ; and the una- voidable result of all this must be, unless soon checked, to blot out our Sabbaths. Then we may bid farewell, not only to our ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 363 religion, but our liberties, our virtue, our morality, our happiness, here and hereafter. DANGER TO BE APPREHENDED. Let the Sabbath be trampled under foot by this people, some ten or twenty years longer, and let the present annual increase of Roman Catholic immigration, which is said to be a hundred and fifty thousand, be doubled a few times in that period, and added to the seven hundred thousand already among us ; to them add the millions in this nation who shall then be unable to read, and the enemies of the Sabbath generally, and tell us, whe- ther it would be difficult for such a phalanx, headed by a Nero or a Robespierre, to vote away our Sabbaths and our religion ; pil- lage our dwellings ; ravish our wives and our daughters ; and butcher every man, woman, and child who embraced the Protestant religion ? Many in the city of New- York, during the riots last summer, were heard to wish, that every Protestant church in that city were in ashes, and every Christian drowning in the dock. We already begin to experience the judgments of heaven, in consequence of sin ; and great will be the guilt, and awful the doom of the individual, or the community, that persists in those practices which render it necessary for God to come out in judg- ments against a people. Dare any person take the responsibility of contributing to the continuance of a sin, which is fraught with so much danger to individuals and communities ? If Sabbath-breaking, then, tends to weaken the physical pow- ers of man, derange his intellect, contaminate his morals, waste his property, and shorten hfe, there can be no doubt that this na- tion, so long as the present system of Sabbath operations is con- tinued, is in imminent danger. If Sabbath profanation "brings upon an individual, a community, or a nation, the displeasure of our Maker, and if all nations and people, who have been guilty of it, and have not repented, have gone, or are going to ruin, surely, while we practise this sin, we have every reason to be alarmed. Such consequences of this sin, seem to be perfectly natural, and to the critical observer unavoidable; for the whole man, physically and mentally, his property, health and life, are the property of the nation. When in their most healthy and vigor- 364 THE SABBATH. ous State, the nation is the most powerful, wise, and prosperous. But let these be weakened, deranged, or destroyed, by any means, and the nation is injured; and if the government cannot be sus- tained without them in their most perfect state, we are in danger. No nation ever rose and prospered, in wealth, intelligence, vir- tue, peace, and power, without the aid of the Sabbath ; and no nation ever continued long in such prosperity without its aid. If these remarks are applicable to nations generally, much more to republican governments. Let every man, therefore, who values the Sabbath, and would remove the great evil of its desecration, earnestly and respect- fully petition Congress, without delay, to repeal the law requir- ing labor on Sunday in the Post-office Department. Our Sah- haths will never he duly observed, while that law is in force. It is an unreasonable law, an unjust law — injurious to those connect- ed with the Post-office Department, and thousands of others ; un- necessary, because a mail six days in the week, is as often as we need one, since we are required to rest from all secular cares on the Sabbath ; unreasonable, because such a law, complied with, brings innumerable evils upon our land, and exposes us to the withering judgments of heaven. They should also petition the States to prevent labor being done on their canals and railrods, on that day. For why should a State receive into its treasury money acquired by labor on Sun- day ? Christians will not labor for money on that day ; they will not engage an individual to labor for money, and pay them on that day ; and why should they suffer companies of men to labor for them ? It is their duty to ask the States, to prevent it, on their roads, &c. Legislators are bound not only to enact laws to punish offend- ers, but to prevent doing those things which tend to the injury of individuals, or the community. Neh. xiii. 15-22. Travelling and labor on these public thoroughfares, must therefore be pre- vented, before we can see the Sabbath observed. Our nation need but look at this subject to be induced to come to the aid of a neglected and profaned Sabbath. Let us there- fore present the subject to them, fully, respectfully and repeated- ly ; that our land may be clear from this sin, and s£ife from im- pending judgments. ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 365 Business men in this republic, are you willing, by desecrating the Sabbath, to make si^re and hasten the day of terror and of death? Will you now pursue such a course as will render it necessary for your then, perhaps^ orphan children and your widows, to seek shelter in lands, now heathen, where they may be more safe and secure, as Bonaparte told Lafayette it would be more for his health to retire from Paris to his estate ? In your thirst for weath and influence, are you not in danger of overlook- ing the only means which can preserve your own happiness and safety, and that of your friends, and of this nation ? II" labor and amusements be continued on the Sabbath, it will be utterly im- possible to prevent wickedness from overrunning the land, and anarchy from distracting the people. There is but one alterna- tive ; Sabhath profanation must cease, or our liberties and our religion are lost. We would rather be a subject of the autocrat oi' Russia, and dwell among the snows and frosts of Siberia, or under the rod of the veriest despot upon earth, than remain in this nation, now so highly favored, when God shall, for the sin of profaning his day, dash her in pieces " like a potter's vessel." There are already many conflicting passions and interests among us, hard to be controlled, even in this day of Christian restraint ; but what will be our condition, when this restraint shall have been withdrawn, and we shall be given up, hke a tem- pestuous ocean, to the winds and storms of intestine dissensions; wave dashing against wave, until our Union is broken, and we become our own executioners ? What, we ask, without the principles of the Bible, the fear of a future retribution, kept alive by the influence of a Sabbath, can keep, even in this country, our property, our reputation, and our lives, from the outrages of a mob ? In this state of things, is it possible that rational, mtelligent men will trample under foot the only institution that can save us? Our Republican Government cannot save us. That depends on the morahty, inteUigence, and religion which the Bible presents, through the medium of the Sabbath, as our only hope, for safety and perpe- tuity. So long as our religion and our Sabbaths save W5, we shall save our government, and that will save us no longer. The professional men, mechanics, and agriculturists of this ^ation, have formed themselves into a kind of copartnership, to 31* . 366 THE SABBATH. erect a mighty superstructure, whose influence shall be felt un- til every despot shall be dethroned, and light and life, liberty and peace, bless the entire family of man. They are brave men, re- publican men ; and their bond of union is the Constitution of these United States. To the accomplishment of this great and desirable object, every man, and every class of men among us, owe their best services. But, if what has been said be true^ then, surely, the man who wantonly desecrates the Lord's day cannot be a valuable partner in such a firm ; but, on the contrary, like the gangrene, which, left to its natural tendency, produces inevi- table death, will not only jeopard the dearest interests of all his partners, and reduce this nation to the condition of Pagans ; but cut off the world's last hope of liberty, and doom his family and friends to worse than the kraal of the Hottentot. We see, then, that the man who desecrates the Lord's day ia injuring himself, the community, and the nation in which he lives. If he labor seven days in a week, his physical power? are weakened, and the nation loses his most vigorous bodily efforts. He impairs his intellect and corrupts his morals, and the nation loses the wisdom and salutary influence which he might otherwise have exerted on it. The man who wantonly profanes that day must necessarily lose property, injure himself, his fam- ily, his friends, his neighbors, and dishonor God. But by duly observing it, he secures his bodily and mental health, and his business is done with greater ease and more correctness. Be- sides, the horse and the ox, which toil for our benefit, will be in better plight to perform their task j and all around will be comfort- able and happy. We see no necessity for labor on the Sabbath. Let all busi- ness be suspended on the day of rest, and it can be done better in six days ; the same price will be paid for doing it, and to the same individuals. But Sabbath-breaking leads to wretchedness here, and to perdition hereafter. By it a man loses all that is valuable in this life and in the life to come, and gains nothing but poverty, ignominy, and all the evils which can possibly be entailed on a human being. Let us now ask business men, with the history of fallen king- doms and lost generations, and the word of God before you, dare you live without a Sabbath ? Would you blot it out i^ you ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. 367 could ? If you continue to labor on that day, and cause others to do so, you need not expect to escape the doom of other Sab- bath-breakers, for that will be impossible. We infer this from well authenticated facts, corresponding exactly with the divine prediction. Would you have your children^ too, left without a day of rest ? Then continue the practice of labor, carrying and open- \^ the mail, running stages, boats and railcars; lading and un- iu ling boats and vessels on that day, and it will most certainly be accomplished. But while you continue this practice, few spi- ritual blessings will descend upon the communities where it is witnessed ; there will be few revivals of religion, and few inquir- ing the way to eternal life. What advantage can you derive from all this toil and anxiety for a little worldly good, procured at the displeasure of Him who gave you your being, and will soon call you to an account? What will compensate you, in the hour of dissolution and at the judgment, for all that you have lost by this disobedience? Nothing, nothing. Then as you value your present and everlasting happiness — the happiness of your friends and your children, and a dying world ; as you value the favor of God, and the glories of immortality, we beseech you not to rest, until the present system of Sabbath profanation is entirely done away. CHAPTER IX. ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS, PATRIOTS, AND PHILANTHROPISTS. CAUSE AND EFFECT. Nature's laws are sovereign, and, judging from the past, will remain so. Effect must and will follow cause, now and ever, as heretofore. A man cannot have health while he indul- ges in luxury and dissipation, any more than he can take fire into his bosom and not be burned. If he be idle and profligate, poverty and wretchedness will ensue ; if industrious, honest, and frugal, abundance and peace will be his reward. As it is with individuals, so it is with families, neighborhoods, and larger com- munities. If right be pursued, all will be well — if wrong, it will be ill with them. But should it be asked, which is the best, and the safest cri- terion, by which wrong actions are to be tried, we answer, the Bible — moralists, patriots and philanthropists, say the Bible — and infidels, deists, and atheists admit, almost universally, that there is no better or safer guide to right action, and a happy and prosperous life. They have never, themselves being judges, produced a better. It might likewise be argued, and conclu- sively proved from the history of past generations, that the code of morals, laid down in that Book, is the only one that can lead to happiness in this life. Were it fully conformed to, there would be heaven below — hence some of the reasons why all men should obey it. In that code is contained the law of the Sabbath. One- seventh of our time is required for rest and religious purposes. As the laws of the natural or physical world are inflexible, so are those of the moral world. You cannot long have Sunday mails and civil and religious liberty. You cannot run boats, and stages, and cars, and omnibuses, on Sunday, and have a virtuous and moral community. ADDRESS TO ' Ws' PRiEiif b's. 369 You cannot have a wise and efficient administration, and a happy people, no matter how good your Constitution is, and at the same time, Sabbath-breaking rulers. You cannot have even an intelligent, industrious, and happy nation, and a national sanction to break any one of the injunctions of this code ; especially, that most important and indispensable one, the fourth. You cannot have Hie Christian religion, nor civil liberty^ and seven days in a week for labor and amusement. You cannot have the religious and benevolent objects of the day in a flourishing state, with this system of Sabbath desecra- tion. These things cannot long exist together. If you would retain the religion of the Bible, Sabbath-breaking must cease ; for no religion ever has been, or can be propagated and sustain- ed, without its festivals, its seasons for devotion. These truths necessarily follow, if the positions first laid down be correct. For effect must and will follow cause. If the Sabbath be pro- faned, people will not long assemble to hear religious and moral instruction; and then they necessarily become ignorant and vicious. So, the result in this country must soon be no SahhatTi^ in its legitimate hold on the public conscience, and no Christian religion, or no secular labor on that day. Both cannot long go together. We are rapidly approaching the crisis. Which will we have ? Choose quickly, that you may have your choice — de- lay, and you may be compelled to take that which will destroy usT SABBATH-BREAKING MAKES INFIDELS. This nation is rapidly becoming infidel, and why ? Not be- cause infidelity makes Sabbath-breakers ; for men must first cast away all reverence for that day, before they can disbelieve the Bible, ridicule its truths, and contemn its Author. All those who habitually trample on this institution must, from self-respect, or love of consistency, profess to disbelieve the claims of those pre- cepts which condemn them. Having therefore learned, by na- tional sanction, and individual and State examples, to desecrate God's holy day, they fly to infidelity, in self- justification, waxing worse and worse, and contaminating every thing that com^s within their reach. 30* 370 THE SABBATH. Should it be asked, who are becoming infidels ? The answer - is ready — stagemen, boatmen, carmen, postmasters, and their clerks, custom-house officers, toll-gatherers, forwarding mer- chants, inkeepers, their families and domestics, porters, barbers, milkmen and others, who by any means, or in any way, habitually violate this day. They, to appear consistent, must say there is no law by which they are required to suspend their labor one- seventh part of the time. We know a person, the son of a pious man, who moved from New Egland, some twenty years ago, into the valley of the Mississippi. He was then a nominal believer in the Christian religion. He opened a public house, was appointed postmaster, and, like other men in such circumstances, began to do business on Sunday. The result has been, not only infidelity in the father^ but in six or eight sons. Not long since, we were pained to see that all of them, together with a large number of neigh- bors and stage-drivers, could laugh, talk, and drink, on the day of rest, sport with the Christian religion, ridicule the story of the cross, and blaspheme God, regardless of their own, and the fu- ture well-being of others. They had, as the most valued part of their library, " Paine's Age of Reason ;" and they believed every word its author had written, notwithstanding the reasonings and statements in " Watson's Apology for the Bible," which had a place on the same shelf. Sabbath-breaking has made every one of these men open'con- temners of God's law. This is not a peculiar case ; many such families, and whole neighborhoods, can be found in that great valley ; and let the practice continue a few years, at most, and in every neighborhood may be found such men, in abundance. Oh, how this system multiplies infidels. It does it by hundreds and thousands every year. Infidels, so long as this practice shall continue, need do nothing more than keep the Christian pub- lic ignorant of what is doing, thereby to destroy Christianity. There is no necessity for their reprinting infidel subtlety, infidel slang, infidel slander and blasphemy, so long as labor and amuse- ment are continued on Sunday ; for this is doing their work of death more effectually than any thing else could do it. Oh, that Christiems but realized this, as they very soon will, though it may be too late to remedy the evil. ADDRESS TO ITS FRIENDS. 371 What, let us ask, must be the influence of this unholy prac- tice, but the entire destruction of our privileges, civil, domestic and religious ? Wherever the Sabbath is profaned, infidelity comes in like a flood ; and ignorance, crime, anarchy, and deso- lation follow in its train, as natural and unavoidable consequences For the Sabbath and infidelity cannot long exist together. Where there is no Sabbath, there can be no soimd morality — no true patriotism and philanthropy — but little humanity or general intelligence — little national prosperity, and no cheering hope of 2^ blessed immorality. The Sabbath gone, and all that is valu- able, here or hereafter, is gone ; for, in the present economy, God cannot convert the world without the influence of that day. The Sabbath has already lost much of its hold on the busi- ness men of this nation. The public conscience, on this subject, is fast dying away ; and, continuing to do as we have done, its voice will soon cease to be heard. The din of worldly business has all but deafened the men of this world, and the love of gain filled the heart of the church, so that they seem to think of noth- ing but money, self -aggrandizement, and self-applause. It often appears absolutely impossible to break the charm. Judgments, often repeated and most severe, may do it, but it is to be feared nothing else can ; for God has long been trying mercies, and we have waxed worse and worse. Must it be, that the moral and physical benefits of this blessed season are soon to be lost to the church, and to a guilty, dying world ? This seems, on looking over the whole field, and watching ttie progress which this evil has made, during the last eight or ten years, almost unavoidable. To human appearance it is quite so. But " with God all things," consistent with his plan of gov- ernment and his holiness, " are possible." Will not the ministry suffer with the people ? Are they not, in a measure, responsible for the losses, the pains, and the miseries which are felt, in consequence of this national breach of the divine law ? Had they lifted up their voices against such an intrusion, the evil might have been stayed, and this nation spared many a pang ; many souls might have been saved from perdition, and God's name and authority preserved from dishonor. 372 THE SABBATH. Private Christians have neglected, and continue to neglect, their duty, notwithstanding all that has been said to the con- trary. They act as though they believed it was the work ol ministers only to reprove this sin, and that ihey have nothing to do in the matter. They have either been afraid to speak, or too worldly, covetous, selfish, and indifferent, to spend a thought for tliis object, though upon its success depend the best interests of a dying world. One has turned to his farm, and another to his merchandise, apparently listless, unaffected, undisturbed. This NATION, for a number of years, has been rolling in wealth and pleasure. Prosperity has smiled on us, and, in our own estimation at least, we have become rich and important. Many of our young men are proud, impious, and ready to say, " Who is the Lord, that we should serve him ? The Sabbath is our own, and we will enjoy it." The truth of God exerts no influ- ence on their minds, to convince them that they are sinners, poor, ignorant, dependent — hastening to the judgment of the great day. They laugh and scoff at serious things, and even defy the Almighty. Old men too are forgetting the good in- structions of their fathers. The efforts of some professors of religion to divide our ranks, and their frequently going over to the enemy, are very discour- aging. When one stands in the field, at his post, and is at- tacked by the enemy, instead of coming to his help in the mighty struggle, they leave him to conquer alone, if he can, or they even join with the enemy, though, it is admitted, in most cases indirectly. Thereby they procure, if not his immediate, his ultimate overthrow ; when, worn out, grieved, and discour- aged, he dies a martyr to the c luse. This is cruel — traitorous ; but it has been acted over and over, and will prove a curse not only to those who are guilty of such conduct, but to the nation, while it is a foul blot on human nature. Let this course be continued, and it will prove the de- struction of our brightest hopes, here and hereafter. Is there here no good reason for apprehending, that the benefits of the Sabbath will soon be lost to this nation ? reus and weighty, might be given, were it necessary. ADDRESS TO ITS FRIENDS. 373 THE ONLY REMEDY. Every ecclesiastical body, miist immediately raise its voice, long and loud, against this sin, in all its various forms. They must particularize and repeat their remonstrances, as often as they shall meet, giving " line upon line, and precept upon pre- cept," until the evil shall be done way. They must watch over and call to account all their dehnquent members. Churches must discipline all their members, who are or shall be guilty of this sin, and not suffer an individual to remain among them who will hold stock in Sabbath-breaking estab- lishments ; run boats, stages, rail cars ; open or carry the mail, travel, or do any other secular work on the day of rest. Such men prove themselves unworthy of a place in the church ; and while there, do more hurt than if they were infidels out of it. The church must, forthwith, wash her hands of this sin, or no- thing effectual can be done. Why should she keep an indi- vidual in her bosom who breaks the fourth, any more than she would one who breaks the second, sixth, seventh, or eighth command ? Such stumbling-blocks must be put away, or sin- ners will continue to fall over them into perdition. Who, if not the minister, shall do this ? Every Minister, as he values the approbation of his final Judge, would have skirts free from the blood of souls, and de- sires the good of a dying world, mtist, yes, must awake from his criminal stupor on this subject. He must awake now — every one of each and every Christian denomination ; for all need the day ; and in this, can all Christians work together. Some dif- ferences of opinion, with regard to securing its better observance may exist; but these should not divide the ranks, nor alienate the feelings. It is a work, the magnitude of which calls for ail the power of all the churches, and that unitedly j and this we must have, and must have it soon, or Zion will weep in solitude that her beauty and glory are departed. This work must be done to-day. It will be hazarding too much, to defer it until to-morrow. Brethren, will you do it ? Oh, we [entreat you, as if for the last time, and as one standing upon the grave — as one who has not felt and done half as much as the exigencies of the case demand, and who now feels itj and 32 374 THE SABBATH. mourns over his neglect of duty in this thing ; as one who dreads to think of the future, lest it should be found that we have slum- bered on, and with the multitude, sinned against God, and lost our Sabbaths. Again we entreat you, awake. Destruction is near, it is even at our door. No longer be deceived, and no longer deceive others. Editors of rehgious periodicals must do tlieir duty. Hitherto they have done little for this cause. They must give up their jarrings and contentions about trifles, and with pure hands, and warm hearts, take hold of this cause. They must put forth their best, their mightiest eftbrt. If any one of them longer ne- glects this duty, he is unfit to stand in so responsible a place j lie is unworthy the confidence of the community as a spiritual guide, and can do more hurt than a silent, slumbering preacher of the gospel. Each of them should have a Sabbath depart- ment, in which something should be said in favor of this institu- tion, and against its violation, as often as he sends abroad his paper. Before this work can be accomplished, so much, at least, it will be indispensable to do. It may be necessary, before all this can be done, to establish, for the purpose, a national paper, at New York, Philadelphia, or elsewhere, and appoint agents to go from town to town, and from city to city, to instruct, arouse, and alarm the public, that they may see their condition, and make their escape from the impending storm by timely repentance. But if every minister and editor would now come forward, and faithfully do his duty in this work, such a paper and such agents would not be necessary. Ministers and editors, will you do this work, and save the expense and trouble of these extra efforts ? All Christians, Patriots, and Philanthropists should arise and put forth their best efforts to stop this torrent of iniquity. If they will not, they do not deserve the names they have taken upon them. Let them neglect to do this, and their other efforts of benevolence and humanity to bless the world may prove abor- tive. They cannot long continue, however much is done to sustain them, afler the Sabbath has lost its hold on the public conscience. "~ Let there be no disunion. Infidelity and all the powers of darkness are arrayed, somewhat secretly, against this institu- ADDRESS TO ITS FRIENDS. 375 • tion ; for they well know, that if this can be destroyed, the Chris- tian religion is powerless. All our efforts, then, are needed. The truth of God, poured upon the conscience of the offender, is the only thing that can make any good and lasting impression upon his mind, and effect the needed reformation. It cannot be done by opposing Sahhath-breaking boats, and stages, and cars, by Sixhhath-keeping boats, and stages, and cars 3 for the devil, having already the field, well manned, and abundance of materials for manning a thousand more, cannot be defeated in this way. Nothing but the truth of Almighty God, accompanied by the fer- vent prayers, and consistent lives of Christians, can drive him and them from their strong holds, which they have occupied and been fortifying, through the criminal cowardice and neglect of Christians, these many years. Hence the indispensable neces- sity for the efforts of ministers; for who can wield needful truth like them ? Hence also the necessity for the united, imme- diate, persevering and undaunted efforts of all Christians, pa- triots, and philanthropists. Human Laws against tliis~sin are important, and should be made and executed. But of what avail are all human laws on this subject, now that the practice has continued so long that the divine law is not believed to be binding ? Were we an ig- norant people, and governed by a despot, human laws might avail. But no intelhgent people can be governed by physical force alone. Moral as well as physical power must be applied. After all, an intelligent, a republican people, must be govern- ed, if governed at all, mainly by the force of moral truth — the laws of God — the love of God, or the fear of his eternal displea- sure. If the Sabbath-breaker, if worldly, covetous, selfish men, so long habituated to desecrate God's holy day, and claim rt as their own, are ever to be reformed, they must be made to feel and believe the truth, that God has a claim upon them, that the Sabbath is his day j and if they continue to do their own plea- sure in it, he will curse them for it in this life, it may be, and cer- tainly in that which is to come. In order to this, we must have the ministry — the living preacher ; and he must warn the trans- gressor, plainly, affectionately, constantly, or be charged with the loss of his soul. Every man should read how Nehemiah set about a similax 376 THE SABBATH. reformation, and follow his example. Nor call him ultras until he exceeds the efforts made by that holy and patriotic man. The evil is immense. The half of it has not yet been told. It is a wonder that all men do not, with loud and lasting wail, cry out for help against this giant foe. Surely help, much help, is need- ed, and must come quickly, or it may come too late. ^ Let Christians preach, write, talk, act, and do their duty uni- tedly and without delay, and all will be well. Men op the East, awake ! Awake to the rescue of this day. The tide of Sabbath-breaking is rising higher and higher in the far West, and sweeping away every vestige of the Sabbath's in- fluences. Already it has broken its way, in narrow channels, over the mighty barrier which Nature seemed to place between these two worlds. Like so many arteries in the human system, it is conveying its corrupting influence to the seat of hfe ; and, unless we soon have your help, it will rise to the loftiest summits of intervening mountains, and break forth upon you in such tor- rents that nothing can resist it, and you and yours will be whelmed in the general ruin. Awake, then — why slumber any longer, as it were, on a sleeping volcano ? Is there nothing at stake? Nothing ! Every thing good and valuable is at stake — why then not hear ^the warning voice ere it be too late ? Why not come and help redeem the Sabbath ? The religion of the cross demands it, — the continued ex- istence of Christianity demands it ; humanity demands it. How many poor laborers are now suffering, because the benefits which this institution was designed to give, are withheld from them ? Do they not need our sympathy and our efforts ? Shall that religion which brings life and immortality to light, and makes men happy here and hereafter, exert none of its transforming and sanctifying power upon them, because, to them the Sabbath is converted into a day of toil ? Shall that religion be annihilated, or exchanged for the religion of pagans, because Christians will not stand by and sustain its main pillars, now ready to fall ; and when the enemy are laboring to overthrow it? God forbid, that they should act so treacherously, so wickedly, so sluggishly, and ne- glect to act their part. Do not be afraid to come forward. God will aid all who will do their duty in this emergency. He never honors, or crowns ADDRESS TO ITS FRIENDS. 377 with victory, the timid, the slothful, or the unfaithful. What though the enemy attack you ? Go forward in the armor of nghteoics7iess and truth, and success is certain. This work must not be put 'off upon weak hands, nor delayed. This has^ been tried too long already. The best efforts and the '.arliest time, must be improved, if we would secure the object. No man can delay, or be indifferent, and remain innocent. Oh ! is-bat apathy ! When will this sleep of death be broken 1 Awake, then, all ye that love God or your fellow men, and preach, and talk, and pray for this reform, every day of your lives. Let not any minister neglect distinctly to bring this sub- ject before the mind of every audience he may be allowed to address. What ! Shall ministers of the Gospel see one of the most important commands of tbe decalogue so alarmingly and con- stantly violated, and not warn their hearers against committing so heinous a sin! — See them sporting with Omnipotence, and not warn them to beware! Surely such men are not worthy to be placed as watchmen on the walls of Zion. They must be hirelings in sheep's clothing. What if there be Sabbath-breakers in their church and congregation, who would be angry if their minister should do his duty, and tell them the truth ? What though such men are rich and honorable, and great, and the main supporters of the minister ? So much the more, then, be faithful to them that their souls perish not, and that their influence may be brought over to the right side. But, should neither of these ends be obtained, and should the minister in consequence of his faith- fulness be deprived of his living ; better, far better will it be to endure all this, than to be cheated out of heaven and thrust down to hell. May God in mercy forgive the man who has been, or is, afraid to speak against this sin ; and fill his soul with tlie moral courage requisite to qualify him for usefulness at the present day. Ministers must be humble, self-denying, prayerful. Then shall * they have strength to meet and conquer the enemy. Beware of the men who oppose this reform ; or are finding faut with measures adopted, — or complain that too much is re- quired, or that its friends are too strict. Though their preten- sions of friendship for the object are ever so strong, beware of 32* 378 THE SABBATH. them. They are generally delinquents themselves, and the ene- mies or all proper efFort. It has been said, we must be united. So we should be, — all the friends of the institution should be ; but such men are the enemies of that day. If they will not go with you, go without them. Go, and go quickly. " Make haste slowly,^^ has been the motto, and when rightly understood, it is a good one. But when it is made to mean, go no faster than will please all men, especially all professors, it is the motto of Satan, and would teach men to do nothing in this cause. There are many to be reproved in the church as well as out of it, and you cannot please all if you touch the subject. PUBLIC CALAMITIES. Why is this land bleeding and agonizing under the judgments of heaven ? Why was the cholera sent ? Why so many large fires? — So many losses at sea? — So many failures among our business men? Why such great changes, such distrust, and such a pressure in the money market, as though the whole na- tion would soon be bankrupt ? Why are our cities filled with fear, distress, and alarm ; and so many thrown from the heights of affluence to the depths of poverty ? Why those great changes in our civil and political prospects, .approaching almost to an- archy, and universal lawlessness ? Why this unconquerable aversion to good order, and wholesome restraint ? Why this sudden effervescence in society, as though every man would soon be against his neighbor ? These things are not without meaning. God has said, the curse causeless shall not come. We, as a nation, have sinned, and it seems that God is about to give us up to self-destruction. Here is the secret. This nation has long been a Sabbath-break- ing and an oppressing nation. These are national sins; and since they have not been repented of, they must be followed by national judgments. Hitherto we have called ourselves that happy people whose God is the Lord ; but now God is " cursing us with a curse." We feel the present pain, and dread the future. Well may we, for the storm has but just begun to fall, if we continue to dese- crate God's holy day. It has long been gathering blackness, and ADDRESS TO ITS FRIENDS. 379 WO be unto us if we continue this high-handed wickedness. Timely and hearty repentance only can avert the doom. Sunday mails, and boats and stages, and rail-cars, must all stop, or this nation will be dashed in pieces. Who by his si- lence would have all the miseries which are coming upon ue, charged to his account ? Oh, that the hand of God might be seen, by the people, in these judgments — that every minister might proclaim the truth, that God has a controversy with this nation, in consequence of this sin ; and that, unless they soon repent, and do works meet for repentance, he will chastise until we acknowledge his right to reign over us. We charge, then, every man who loves the Sabbath, to warn the Sabbath -breaker of his unparalleled guilt, and the awful doom to which he is hastening. Tell him also, what judgments he is bringing upon this nation, and how the innocent will suffer with the guilty. Tell him that his Sabbath-day earnings will prove a curse to him instead of a blessing ; that our Sunday mails will lead us into inextricable difficulty, and be worse than none, for God has forbidden them ; and without his blessing on our undertakings, all our efforts will be useless. Those who have clamorously demanded Sunday mails, cannot be said to be any the better for them. They will prove a source of immense injury to the friends of the system. But it may be said, those who keep the Sabbath as well as Sabbath-breakers, have gone down in the almost universal crash. So they have ; for their sin in this thing derives its ag- gravation from the fact that they have not, at all times and every- where, cried aloud and spared not. For this, God will punish the church and the ministry, with the contemner of his law. Oh ! what will be the terrors of that day ! Who can endure them ? And who will then stand acquitted at the bar of his conscience — at the coming judgment ? New-York, July, 1837. ' PREAMBLE AND CONSTITUTION OP THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CHRISTIAN MORALS. Whereas it is abundantly manifest, that the prevalence of immorahty involves the ruin of individuals and communities, — that all vices and crimes are connected with each other by a com- mon nature and co-operative tendencies, — that their combined malignity is especially manifest in the prevailing forms of licen- tiousness, — that when thus combined, they poison all the foun- tains of domestic joy, undermine every civil, social, and religious mstitution, and assault the very foundations of society, both in present and future ages : And whereas it is also manifest, that great exertions are made by infidels and profligates to disseminate their principles and habits in this and other countries, — that our own land has pecu- liar responsibihties and peculiar exposures, — that the nature ot her free institutions renders the preservation of virtue among her people of especial and overwhelming importance, and that the emergencies of our own times imperiously demand the mos* prompt and judicious exertions in behalf of virtue, order, and the whole cause of public morals : And whereas it is also manifest, that if those who are earnestly attached to these high interests, will avail themselves of all appro- priate means for their promotion, by encouraging wholesome legislation ; by diffusing, in various addresses and publications, correct moral sentiments, developing the tendencies of corrupt literature and vain amusements ; and most of all, by employing the energies of Christian institutions, they have reason to hope for signal success ; Therefore, for the purpose of aiding in this general co-opera- tion for the defence of dearest and most sacred interests, we do hereby form ourselves into a society, under the following CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. This Society shall be denominated "The Americau So- ciety for the Promotion of Christian Morals." ARTICLE IL The object of this Society shall be, the suppression of Sab- bath-breaking, intemperance, profaneness, gambling, duelling,'and their consociated vices, to protect the purity of our youth, and the hallowed affections of domestic life against the inroads of licentious principles and practices, — to petition our legislatures for such measures of legal interference as the interests of the community ma)^ demand, — to increase, among the people at large, a conviction of the necessity of moral principles in candi- dates for public office, — to sustain the magistrate in the execution of righteous laws, and the ministers of religion in urging the holy sanction of revelation, — to expose and counteract the influ- ence of infidel sentiments, of injurious reading, amusements and companionships, — and to rear around the domestic consti- tution the strongest bulwarks of defence which can be erected. ARTICLE III. The members of this Society, in prosecuting its objects, pledge both their example and exertions, — they engage to hold up the law of God as the only standard of virtuous character, — to ap- ply impartially the principles of human responsibility, as exhibi- ted by its perfect light, to the different classes of mankind, — to regard the immoral of both sexes, and of every rank, as equally at war with its righteous claims, — to consider the gospel as contain- ing the only efficient agency for transforming the human charac- ter, and placing the cause of general morality on a solid basis, — to discountenance the vicious amusements of our large cities, — to seek for their effectual purification from the moral nuisances which now infest them and corrupt the country, — and to do all in their power to influence public opinion according to the law and the gospel, and to enlist the moral strength of the land in behalf of the great objects set forth in this Constitution. 382 CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE IV. Individuals may became members of this Society by subscri- bing to this Constitution, and contributing to the funds of the So- ciety not less than three dollars annually. Each person, on the payment of twenty dollars at one time, shall be entitled to mem- bership for life. ARTICLE V. The officers shall be, a President, Vice-Presidents, a Corres- ponding and a Recording Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, and an Executive Committee of nine persons, who shall be annually elected by the Society. The President, Secretaries, and Trea- surer shall be ex-officio members of the Executive Committee, five of whom shall constitute a quorum. ARTICLE VI. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to devise and execute plans for carrying into effect the objects of the Society ; to collect monies from the benevolent and Christian public ; to appropriate the same as the interests of the cause may require ; to sustain such agencies, and such operations of the press, as may be necessary ; to fill all vacancies in their own number ; to call and arrange all meetings of the Society, and make a full re- port of their proceedings to the Society at its annual meeting. ARTICLE Vn. Any society, or Christian association, adopting the principles of this Constitution, may become auxiliary, by signifying a wish for the same, and forwarding a copy of their constitution, with the names oi their officers, to the Cor. Secretary of this society. ARTICLE VIII. Every auxiliary contributing annually to the funds of the Parent Society, shall be entitled to a representation at its annual meeting; and such representation shall, at these meetings, en- joy all the privileges of actual membership. ARTICLE IX. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution without a vote of two-thirds of the members present at an annual meeting, nor unless the same shall have been proposed at a previous meet- ing, or recommended by the Executive Committee. APPENDIX. v# It will be seen by an examination of the Constitution, that the principles of the A. S. P. C. M. are derived from that im- mutable rule of rectitude, the law of God. Whoever, in con- nection with the present actual state of public morals will give these principles, as exhibited in the Constitution of the Society, a candid and prayerful consideration, will perceive their correct- ness, and will feel that their general observance is indispensable to the peace, the welfare, the prosperity of society at large. The object of the Society is definitely expressed in the second article of its Constitution. It is, briefly, to direct public attention to the law of God as the only perfect standard of individual and national morality, and to exert its entire influence, so to correct and elevate the moral sense of community, that this holy law, in its practical bearings, shall regulate the social duties and social intercourse of the nation, and control the conduct of its citizens. The time evidently has arrived, when it is necessary to invite the attention of the Christian public to this great object, and to call all who are convinced of its importance " to the exercise of re- newed and vigorous exertion in its behalf" But the Committee are well aware that the authoritative re- quisitions and hallowed influences of the divine law, can be brought to bear upon community at large, only through the me- dium of the Christian Sabbath. This divine institution, they re- gard as the main bulwark, the divinely constituted palladium of our dearest civil, social, and religious interests. Perhaps " the most alarming feature which now threatens the subversion of our free, social, and civil institutions, is the general contempt of authority, the apparent readiness to throw off every tie which checks or controls the will of men." Thousands in our land have imbibed a spirit of recklessness and insubordination ; and though at present restrained by the hand of Omnipotence, are even now foaming and tossing with the restlessness of the trou- bled ocean, and seem prepared at any moment to inundate the land with crime, and blood, and shameless profligacy. It is the direct interest of all who wish weU to our free institutions, to op- Eose this powerful " tendency which aims at their subversion." 1 a country like ours, this can only be effected by moral influ- ence. Yet how is this influence to be spread over the face of society ? Plainly by the general, the conscientioics< observance of the christian Sabbath. 384 APPENDIX. This, then, is the point towards which the efforts of this So- ciety must be primarily directed. The desecration of the Sab- bath " strikes at the very root of authority, and removes every salutary restraint from the conscience." " Knowledge of reli- gious truth, respect for religious motives," susceptibility of the moral sense, — all that constitutes the reality of Christian morals, or the power of vital religion, is derived to the community at large, through the medium of the Sabbath. To advocate the di- vine institution, the perpetual obligation of the Christian Sab- bath, to exhibit the immeasurable individual, social, and national blessings, which result from its general and conscientious observ- ance, and the deleterious and destructive consequences of its prevalent neglect, is, therefore, the legitimate and immediate object of the efforts of the Society. In ihe prosecution of this object, the Committee aim to diffuse correct information by the publication and circulation of books and tracts on topics within their appropriate sphere — especially on the divine authority of the institution of the Sabbath — on its practical duties and unnumbered benefits — on the infidel objec- tions raised against it — on the prevailing violations of it and their consequences — on the necessity of human law harmonizing with the divine — the duty of Christians as citizens and electors — the connection of civil and religious institutions, — and on other kindred topics, as their funds will permit. They also endeavor to employ such agencies and adopt such measures as appear best adapted to promote the great object of their association. Among these, is contemplated a periodical devoted to the advocacy of the cause. This brief view of the principles, object and plans of the So- ciety, the Executive Committee affectionately submit to the Christian public, confident that it will commend itself to the lov- ers of civil liberty, of sound morality, and true religion. They earnestly solicit foi* the Society, the fervent prayers, the cordial co-operation, and the Christian liberality of all the friends of the Sabbath and of Christian morals. E. WHITNEY, Cor, Sec. Office of the A. S. P. C. M, \ New-YorKj July, 1841. J [TjirrvEESiry] *^ili *. M' RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 • 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. 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