THE INDEPENDENT

AND

YOUNG CHRISTIAN'S MAGAZINE.

SEPTEMBER, 1844.

SEPTEMBER.

Ir is the month when the inhabitants of town and country gather themselves upon the shores of our isle, to inhale the fresh blowing breezes of old Ocean. Hither are brought the languishing and the dying, that the sea-breath may kindle one parting glow on their cheeks, ere they quite fade away. Hither resort the young and vigorous, to climb the over-hanging cliffs, and build their nest with the sea-bird, in the adventurous joy of their immature strength. And here are gathered the intelligent and the thoughtful, that the ocean murmur may soothe their intellectual restlessness, and that the winds, sweeping from off the breast of the waves, may restore the vigour of their o'erwrought minds.

"Hail to thy face and odours, glorious sea!

"Twere thanklessness in me to bless thee not.

What, though thou art

Unconscious and material, thou can'st reach
The inmost immaterial mind's recess,

And with thy tints and motion stir its chords
To music, like the light on Memnon's lyre."

Surrounded by the merely selfish seekers for pleasure, for mental invigoration, and for bodily health, there are to be found Christian families. And what is the aim of these ? Surely, their aim is not merely selfish. Their health may be

restored, and their spirits cheered, whilst, at the same time, they keep in view some end yet more exalted. Alas! how few there are, to whom, if the question were put, What object do you especially propose to yourselves to accomplish by your sojourn beside the sea? who could reply, in the words of Christ our example, "Wist ye not that I must be

Christian, in the dissipated throng whom walks, are there none waiting at the gate of of eternal life, to whom you might gain acc might point to Him who once at the eleven sinner the promise of paradise? Amongst t crowded on the beach, are there none whose melt, and on whose weather-beaten cheeks tl at the sound of the name of Jesus? In th tent is pitched, is there no small company hands you may strengthen, whose activity yo direct, or from whom you may yourself le fulness? Let not the pastor and his peop your co-operation. Let the support of the n receive your aid, however small. Let the the day school be visited; you may gain so may be useful to you at home; at least, you pleasure to the teachers and to the children. meet with sympathy from Christians who co animating to be reminded that all the discip gaged in the same great works of faith and feeble band, who labour in a corner, and, fo the year, alone and unnoticed, are linked in the whole family of God.

The visits of some Christians to some plac of revival. Their conversation and their the energies and revived the faith of the fa the moral soil was barren and desert, a 1 followed the sowing of the seed. We sh such instances, if the words which, to th writer, a Christian father makes a point

children, whenever they are called from home, were the motto of every heart-"Get all the good you can; do all the good you can."

291

GREVILLE EWING.*

THE possessor of fortune and rank, seated at the feet of Jesus, is a rare sight to behold. It was a declaration no less true than

mournful, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into

of heaven." And yet He who uttered it has all ven and earth; and can, when he pleases, even the courtly bowers of ease, select and call those secrate their gifts to Him, and take their place liest disciples. It was He who thus disposed Visorchy to aid, by her influence and by her wealth, true religion in Scotland. Married in early life

of the Earl of Breadalbane, she drank to the xicating cup of worldly pleasure. Caressed, adrted by the brilliant circle in which she movedvoice could possibly gain access to the ear of this ? The voice of conscience, divinely taught to ce of God. The cup of pleasure satisfied not her it prove an elixir to ward off the touch of disease. mankind can purchase no exemption from bodily Lady Glenorchy was snatched away from the disto lie in solitude and in great danger, upon the There, a question of the Assembly's Catechism, childhood, darted into her mind, with the power eard before-"What is the chief end of man?"

d she considered his chief end. Yet her memory, ervant to admonish her of forgotten truths, could nd her of the answer to the question-an answer rom that which her past life had afforded-" Man's o glorify God and enjoy him for ever." Stricken art, without a guide, without a friend, Lady Glenmany days in seeking rest and finding none. It ncture that she received a letter of spiritual counsel ter of Rowland Hill. At her suggestion, she endiligent and prayerful perusal of the holy scripwere her eyes holden, that she did not perceive the bited in the sacred page, till, one day, sensible of

* For much of the information contained in the following article, the writer is indebted to the "Life of Greville Ewing," ably compiled by Mrs Matheson.

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the creative energy displayed itself. Afterwards followed a pause. As long as was each of the six periods of labour, so long, it is expressly stated, was the period of repose. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." Why was the work so accurately divided? He with whom one day is " as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," could not for himself have needed the division. Why this cessation from labour at the close of the sixth day? "The Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, nor is weary." May it not with propriety be supposed, that the cessation was intended as a pattern to all mankind to practise a weekly rest?

A day thus distinguished by the Almighty, is worthy of the devout regard of his creatures. It were an insult to the majesty of heaven, to neglect an observance on which he has bestowed the sanction of his own high example. Shall the divine energy itself be suspended in honour of the Sabbath; and shall not man summon himself from his earthly work and his earthly pleasure, to follow the example and to obtain the blessing of his God?

The word Sabbath means rest. It comes from a Hebrew root, signifying, "to cease from labour." It may assist us in the sanctification of this holy day, if we advert briefly to the arguments which support our belief that it is of universal obligation -that it is to be religiously observed-and that its change from the seventh to the first day of the week rests on scriptural authority.

THE KEEPING OF THE SABBATH IS OF UNIVERSAL OBLIGATION. The time of its institution proves it. It was at the creation of the world. Some of the Jewish talmudists, willing to restrict the privilege of its observance to their own people, say, No; not till afterwards did the institution take place. Truly it is inserted in the second chapter of Genesis, but merely because it was suggested to the mind of the historian when he was relating the fact that Jehovah himself rested on that day, and it was done in obedience to the law of connexion-not of time. But Moses is not usually regardless of the order of time in his narrative. Throughout the whole book of Genesis, he relates facts in the series in which they occurred; why should this instance

be excepted? Besides, the event which the Sabbath was designed to celebrate, was the consummation of the work of creation. As all men are alike interested in that event, it is not likely that the commemoration of it would be merely a Jewish ordinance.

We may infer from analogy, that the appointment of the Sabbath was contemporary with the creation. When was the passover enjoined? On the very night on which the angel of God recognised the sign of faith on the doors of the Israelitish houses. When was the Lord's supper established? "On the same night on which He was betrayed." And when, is it likely, would be decreed the commemoration-day of a completed world? Then, when the eye of the Almighty God rested with satisfaction on the result of his labours, and he pronounced it good.

"Re

The words of the fourth commandment contain an evident allusion to some previous sanctification of the Sabbath. member the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. 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." The verbs "blessed" and "hallowed" are in the past tense, and the expression, "Remember the Sabbath-day," presupposes its existence.

Dr Paley affirms, that the original institution of the Sabbath is to be found in Exod. xvi., which relates the miraculous supply of manna to the Israelites in the wilderness, where, at the 23rd verse, Moses addresses himself to the people, saying, "Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord;" and again, in verse 29, "The Lord hath given you the Sabbath." But it is to be observed, that the Israelites had, of their own accord, verse 22, gathered double manna on the sixth day, so that no unnecessary labour might be performed on the seventh day. They could not have done this without possessing some previous knowledge of its sanctity. Moses evidently had not commanded them to make the provision, for, if he had, the rulers of the congregation would have entertained no doubt as to the propriety of the action. It is true, that to him it had been previously intimated that double manna would be gathererl on the sixth day-verse 5, but the manner of the communication implies that he was already well acquainted with the reaThe language of Moses, in verse 23, "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord," is that of reference to

son.