I will mention out one more reason why we should observe the Sabbath. It is the different ends to which a well kept, and an abused Sabbath lead in the future world. We must render an account for our Sabbaths at last, before the bar of God. You would shudder if you were guilty of one breach of the sixth commandment, and were to be tried for murder in the court of heaven. How much more would you shudder if you had been guilty of murder every week, from your childhood until the end

of

your life. But he that said, "Thou shalt not kill," said, also, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." And you disregard his authority no more by committing murder, than by breaking the Sabbath.

The blessing of God on a well kept Sabbath will prepare you for his presence, and the smiles of your Saviour, and the company of angels and all the good that will have gone from this world to heaven. There you will enjoy, for ever, the rest which remaineth for the people of God. There

There

:

Storms of sorrow never blow,

Temptations never come.

Joy like morning dew distils,
And all the air is love..

But abuse your Sabbaths, spend them in labor, in amusements, in visiting, or in idleness, and you

sink to that world of darkness and gloom, where there is " no peace to the wicked," and where the

weary are never at rest.

EVENING XIV.

DANGERS THREATENING THE SABBATH.

Mrs. M. This evening, my children, we must close our conversations about the Sabbath. I have only a few things more to say to you on the subject. When Charles and Susan return from their visit of two or three weeks to their aunt Mary, if our lives are all spared, perhaps we will converse about some other subjects for a few evenings.

Susan. I love to spend Thanksgiving with aunt Mary, and I love to play with cousin Jane and cousin Edward, but I think I shall love to come back and see my dear mother, and hear her talk again, on Sabbath evenings.

Mrs. M. The existence of good institutions in the United States, my children, depends, as I have told you, almost entirely on the manner in which the Sabbath shall be kept. With the Sabbath they will prosper, without it they are ruined. Will the

Sabbath, then, continue to be observed, as in past years, in this country? Will it be not merely a day devoted in part to public worship, and in part to amusement, and in part to business, but a day of holy rest, such as was kept by our forefathers?

WHAT ARE THE THINGS FROM WHICH WE HAVE REASON TO FEAR THAT THE PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY WILL GROW MORE AND MORE CARELESS ABOUT

OBSERVING THE SABBATH ?

This is what we will converse about this evening. It concerns us all, my children, but it concerns you, probably, more than your mother. The tall grass will soon be growing over my grave, and the strifes and tumults above my head will not disturb my sweet repose. But you are young, and hope to see many years. How will the Sabbath be regarded in our country half a century hence, is a question more interesting to each of you than you can easily imagine, or I express.

We have reason, then, to fear that the people of our country will more and more disregard the Sabbath, from the transportation of the mail on that day.

I have heard it stated that thirty thousand persons violate every Sabbath on account of the transportation of the mail. This includes not only the mail-carriers, but post-masters and their clerks, tavern keepers, stage proprietors, and a multitude of others. I do not doubt that the number is quite

as great as it has been stated, if we include those who travel in the stages with the mail. But this is only a small part of the evil. A great many people are encouraged by the example of the government to travel in their own carriages. They think, or try to think, that what the government sanctions cannot be wrong. The sacredness of the Sabbath is destroyed, in the minds of thousands, by this act of the government, and they cease to regard the fourth commandment as binding, and the Sabbath as holy.

Whether the prayers and efforts of good people can raise the Sabbath from the dust, when it is trampled down every week by the order of government, is quite uncertain.

Another reason for fear that the Sabbath will be less regarded in the United States, is the growth of large cities. They extend their influence farther and farther into the country, as they increase in size and wealth. Many go to these cities on business, others for pleasure and curiosity. They see the Sabbath violated by the wealthy and the gay, and when they return home, they think it unfashionable to observe the Sabbath.

These cities send out their steam-boats, and their sail-boats, and their parties of pleasure to all the country around. Thousands thus profane the Sabbath by sailing and riding, and they make other thousands violate the Sabbath in providing for their

wants; while multitudes learn to imitate their bad example. The more canals, and rail-roads, and steam-boats connect the large cities with the country, the more rapid, I fear, will be the increase of Sabbath-breaking.

Another reason for fear that the Sabbath will be more and more disregarded, is the increuse of manufacturing villages. The population of these villages is composed, chiefly, of young men and women. They will be apt to feel that there is no great harm in walking and riding a little on the Sabbath, when they are shut up so much the rest of the week. Many of them have been taught by pious parents at home to keep the Sabbath. These will be in danger of yielding to the arguments, or invitations, or examples of their companions.

Thus the whole region round may find the quiet of the Sabbath disturbed by parties of pleasure from a manufacturing village. I know that many of these villages are among the most moral and orderly parts of the country, and that all might be. come so. But it cannot be done without more pains than we can expect will always be taken.

Another reason for fear that the Sabbath will cease to be kept strictly in our country, is the increase of luxury and wealth. The taste for traveling, and for visiting fashionable places, such as Ballston, and Saratoga, and the Virginia Springs, the Falls of Niagara, and the White Mountains, will increase