"As to the Israelites, when God gave his commandment on Sinai, in the memorable expression 'Remember,' it implies that they were previously acquainted with a Sabbath of weekly occurrence. In some respects, however, the Jewish Sabbath, on very strong grounds may be considered as a new and peculiar appointment, adapted to their particular circumstances, which, whilst it afforded them the opportunity of celebrating the creation of the world and the divine perfections therein displayed, was specially to be moreover observed by them, to celebrate their deliverance from Egypt; and on that day they were by divine direction to commemorate that event.* Now, though we

"There is great reason to believe, that the Sabbath of the Israelites was altered with their year at their coming forth from Egypt, and a short attention to this point may not here be improper. The case then seems to be this. At the finishing of the creation, God sanctified the seventh day. This seventh day being the first day of Adam's life, was consecrated by way of first fruits to God, and therefore Adam may reasonably be supposed to have began his computation of the days of the week with the first whole day of bis existence. Thus the Sabbath became the first day of the week. But when mankind fell from the worship of the true God, they first substituted the Sun in his place, and preserving the same weekly day of worship; but devoting it to the Sun; the Sabbath was thence called Sunday. Thus the Sabbath of the Patriarchs continued to be the Sunday of the idolators till the coming up of the Israelites out of Egypt, and then, as God altered the beginning of their year, so he also changed the day of their worship from Sunday to Saturday. The first reason of which might be, that as Sunday was the day of worship among the idolaters, the Israelites would be more likely to join with them if they rested on the same day, than if they were to work on that day and serve their God upon another. But a second reason certainly was-in order to perpetuate the memory of their deliverance on that day from Egyptian slavery. For Moses, when he applies the fourth commandment to the particular case of his own people, (Deut. v. 15,) does not enforce it, as in (Exod. xx. 11,) by the consideration of God's resting on the seventh day, which was the Sabbath of the Patriarchs; but binds it upon them by saying-" Remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded THEE to keep THIS VOL. IV.-Ch. Adv.

have reason to believe that the Jewish Sabbath was not the primitive Sabbath, but that it was made to appertain to the Jewish polity under the express command of God, "Thy children shall observe the Sabbath throughout their generations;" yet the morality of the Sabbath is not hereby destroyed, but confirmed: and the direct appointment of the seventh part of time is binding upon the world in all ages. The Jewish polity, however, being now terminated by the dispensation of the gospel, the peculiarity of this appointment ceases with it, and of course, without the need of any further direct command, the Christian Sabbath, or the first day of the week, hath attached to it all the sanctity and authority of the primitive Sabbath. It is emphatically called the Lord's Daythe day in which He, who died for our sins, rose again for our justification; whose grace we know, and the mysteries of whose love we celebrate-The day sanctioned by those inspired men, who were specially taught by Jesus Christ in all things pertaining to his kingdom; who received their commission from his hand to preach the gospel to every creature, and were specially anointed to this office, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them, when the day of Pentecost was fully come; which, also, was the Lord's day. Of this day, they made use, for the purpose of carrying their great commission into effect; and gave the influence of their example, acting as inspired men, for the benefit of the church in after ages; an example, followed By the primitive Christians*, without scruple, and therefore, under the certain conviction, that this day was, by divine authority, set apart for divine worship.

"The dispensation of the gospel is a new creation, which hath broken in upon us; and the Christian Sabbath is a standing memorial, both of the creation of the world and the redemption of man. It is

SABBATH DAY.' ""-Vid. Kennicott's Dissert. on the Ob. of Cain and Abel, p. 184.

'Barnabas, in his Epistle, says, p. 56, That we joyfully celebrate the eighth day, in memory of the resurrection of our Saviour, because, it was on this day, he arose again and ascended into Heaven.' Ignatius, the martyr, in his letter to the Magnesians, would have us honour this day of the Lord, this day of the resurrection, as the first and most excellent of days. Justin Martyr, says, 'That the Christians assemble together on this day, because it was the day of the creation of the world, and of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' Ireneus, Tertullian, Origen, say the same thing."-Vid. Calmet's Dict, in verb. Sab.

2 F

then, the Sabbath, which we believe, God gave us by creation-it is the Sabbath given us by the resurrection of Christ-it is supported by all the commands of God, as to its proportion of time-for its moral reasons must continue to the end of the world.

"This proportion of time, too, is so wisely and kindly adjusted, that it respects all the circumstances of animal nature. It does not break in upon the necessary cares, and business, and labours of life--it does not come so frequent, as to incommode our lawful employments; nor yet is it delayed so long, as in any degree to lose its efficacy--it is undeniably so adjusted, as, in the very best manner, to answer both the purposes of life and religion.

"We have already hinted, that had it been left to mankind to determine what would have been an exact proportion of time to set apart for the business of religion, it never would have been settled. Indeed, in the corruption of our naturein the natural enmity of our hearts towards God, there would have been no Sabbath. But, God hath fixed it. His high authority, mingled with his own wisdom and good ness, hath fixed it. We hear him say, amidst that awful apparatus which flashed on the burning mount, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, six days shalt thou labour 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.'" P. 9-14

After this the speaker proceeds to specify "some special reasons for sanctifying the Sabbath." We cannot follow him here, but must not deny our readers the following just and eloquent appeal, which is introduced in showing that "the laws of the land and the good of society, oblige us to the sanctification of the Sabbath."

"Our laws, indeed, have left every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. We may sit under our own vines, and under our own fig trees, and there are none to make us afraid. Yet, is the Sabbath recognised by the statutes of our country as that sacred time, which is not to be disturbed by the wanton interruptions of the profane, or the intrusions of ungodly men.

And, indeed, my hearers, let the Sabbath be abandoned, human and social rights would expire, and the best privileges of man would be buried in its ruins. It was tried once, and what was the result? O let infatuated France tell, by the story of her assassinations-ber adulteries-her causeless divorces-the blood which flowed in her streets, from the veins of her infants-her virgins-her philosophers and her priests, in the rage of her infidelity, and the days of her terrible republick!

"What then, we ask, from the experience of ages, can be so great a security to any people as the guardian influence of religious institutions-the instructions of the BIBLE-the institutions of CHRISTIANITY—the institution of the Sabbath, which is urged upon us by the consecrated language of an Apostle, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is.'

"Every good man-every benevolent man, were there no other considerations than those which respect outward prosperity, the security of life and property, and limbs-the upholding of justice in its impartial grandeur-the excitement of mercy in gentle pity for the miserableor the encouragement of charity, with her orphans by her side, clothing the na ked, feeding the hungry, instructing the ignorant, and drying the tears of the widow-every such man will honour the Sabbath, and lend his cheerful aid to its maintenance and integrity.

"Are you then a patriot, and do you love your country? for the love you bear your country, you will honour the Sabbath; or, we will suspect your honesty. Are you a parent, and do you love your children? teach them to honour the Sabbath, by honouring it yourself, and bring. ing them to the house of God; or we will charge you with a fictitious affection, which overlooks their best education, happiness. Are you a magistrate, acting and neglects the means of their highest under the laws of your state, and do you

suffer the Sabbath to be violated under your eye? We will suppose, you have not well considered the important trust committed to your hands, or the guardian provisions of the country would not be suffered to sleep, under the warrant of your commission."

The discourse is closed with inculcating the solemn truth stated in the text, that the Sabbath is a SIGN between God and his people: and is concluded in the following impressive strain

"But we must not enlarge-I shall

therefore only remark, that our sanctifying or profaning this holy day, is to be considered as a sign which we present to God of the sense which we entertain of our obligations to him, to whom we are indebted for all we enjoy and all for which we hope-himself the greatest, the wisest, the best of all Beings; who hath, in the exercise of an indisputable right, flowing from his own perfections and our dependence upon him, commanded it upon us, that we should love him with all the heart and soul, and mind, and strength.'

"How affecting then is it to reflect on that sign of our religious and moral character, which such multitudes among us present to him who is jealous of his glory, and claims to be worshipped by all his intelligent creation!

"I need not at present point out to you the alarming increase of those acts, whereby the sanctity of the Sabbath is violated. You have them before you on our publick roads—our natural and artificial rivers-in the indulgence of amusement-the pursuits of business-the occupation of our streets by saunterers and men of boisterous mirth-the neglect of the sanctuary of the Lord's house.

"Brethren, these are awful SIGNS indeed! SIGNS, however, held up before the eye of God. SIGNS which go before us to the judgment of the great day. SIGNS, upon which that award will be eternally justified—' Those mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me."

"But I have done. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

The idea thrown out in this sermon, and fortified by a quotation from Dr. Kennicot, that the first day of the week, now observed as the Christian Sabbath, was that which was first declared to be holy and blessed, will probably be novel to some of our readers; yet we think the circumstances stated show it to be just. The consequence is, that the institution of the Jewish, and not that of the Christian Sabbath, was a departure from the original appointment of the day of sacred rest. The Christian Sabbath is only a return to the original appointment; and we now actually observe the day on which God rested from all his work which he created and made. On the general subject of this discourse, an essay contained in our number

for October last, expresses our opinion correctly. But it is a subject of such deep interest to our country at large, and to all the vital interests of religion and morality, that we shall miss no proper opportunity to inculcate it. The fact is equally notorious and melancholy, that the profanation of the Sabbath is an evil rapidly increasing throughout our whole land: and the friends of religion are solemnly called on to exert all their influence, determinately and perseveringly, to arrest and correct this evil, as being fraught with irremediable mischief to the souls of men; and as calculated to subject our nation, as such, to the frowns of Almighty God. If the manner in which we observe his holy day be, as it certainly is, a SIGN, indicative of our obedience or our disregard to his supreme authority and righteous commands, reformation or chastisement, we have reason to believe, must be near at hand.

As some, if not all, of the works mentioned in the following article, will probably be reprinted in this country-and why should they not, since our booksellers have given us a splendid edition of the poetic impieties and impurities of Byron?-we think it may be of some use to our readers, to know how these pious publications are estimated by the editors of the London Evangelical Magazine. The article is extracted from their number for March last.

1. THE CHRISTIAN PSALMIST; OR, HYMNS, SELECTED AND ORIGINAL.

By James Montgomery; with an
Introductory Essay.

2. PSALMS AND HYMNS, PRINCIPALLY

FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP; SELECTED
FROM DR. WATTS, AND OTHER

AUTHORS. By Henry Foster Bur-
der, M. A.

3. DEVOTIONAL VERSES, FOUNDED on,

AND ILLUSTRATIVE OF, SELECT TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE. By Bernard Barton.