of Lot was very different from that of his ungodly neighbours, and distinguished him accordingly. He would not condemn the righteous with the wicked. Lot was but one, yet when Sodom was to be destroyed, an exception was made in his favour. Nay, the Almighty describes himself as unable to execute the fierceness of his wrath till Lot should be in safety. Haste thee; escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. What an abundant consolation to every sincere servant of God; to all who serve him faithfully in the station in which he has placed them, and cleave to him with full purpose of heart! Men may mistake their character, but God notices and approves it. The true Christian may be in poverty and obscurity, but the Lord does not overlook him. Surrounded by the ungodly and profane, he may stand single in his religious sentiments; but he is not alone, for God is with him. He may be involved in difficulties and troubles, but the Lord will deliver him out of all. He may fear that he is forgotten and deserted, and shall at last be left to perish. But what says our Lord? It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. No man is able to pluck them out of my hand. Be then of good courage, all ye servants of the Lord. Ye, who love Christ and his salvation,

be not cast down, neither be ye dismayed. When the Lord shall come in righteous anger to execute judgement on a guilty world; when the wicked shall be swept into hell, to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire; then shall ye be saved with an everlasting salvation. Not a hair of your heads shall be touched, Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended,

SERMON X.

ON THE DESIGN AND DUTIES OF THE

SABBATH.

MARK, II. 27.

And he aid unto them, the Sabbath was made for Min, and not Man for the Sabbath.

THE influence of the Sabbath in restraining public immorality, and in promoting individual piety and holiness, is a fact ca pable of the fullest demonstration. If to the practical good effects of this institution we add on the one hand the many express promises given in Scripture to the observance of this holy day, and on the other the repeated threatenings denounced against the violation of its sacred duties; to every serious mind a generally increasing disregard of the Sabbath must prove a source of real concern and apprehension. Yet such an increasing disregard we are daily compelled to witness.

Not only do numbers openly cast off all peculiar restraint on the Lord's day, and avowedly convert it into an occasion of worldly pleasure or occupation; but even too many of those who profess to retain a religious respect for the Sabbath, shew by their general conduct and spirit throughout the day, that they entertain at best very defective and inadequate conceptions of the design and duties of this holy institution,

To direct our attention then to this subject, may prove, by the blessing of God, an interesting and useful employment of the present opportunity. In the text we have the declaration of One, who in the following verse assumes to himself the title of the Lord of the Sabbath: of One, therefore, from whose declaration on this point there can be no appeal. Jesus said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. In discoursing on these words,

/ I. I shall state the information which they convey concerning the Nature and the End of the Sabbath.

II. From this statement I shall deduce some inferences, which respect both the Obligations to observe this Holy Day, and the Manner of observing it.

I. We are taught by the text, that the

Sabbath, or the appropriation of one day in seven, for a day of holy rest, is a positive institution. It was made. It did not result, like the precepts of the moral law, from the nature of things. To love the Lord our God with all our heart; to worship him in spirit and in truth; to devote to him our time, our talents, our services; are duties which the perfections of God, and our relation to him must ever have required. But that any particular portion of our time should be more immediately assigned for the discharge of religious duties, or what that particular portion of our time should be, are points which nothing but a positive institution could determine. Nor is this an human institution. The Sabbath, we learn from the text, was made not by man but for him. It was a divine appointment. God made the Sabbath. He prescribed the duty, and specified what particular portion of time should be allotted to the performance of it. No sooner was the work of creation finished, than he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it*. He enjoined it as a law, that one day in seven should be set apart from all other occupations, and should be consecrated in a peculiar manner to his service. And on whom did he enjoin

* Genesis, ii. 3.