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evade; and let us ENTER FULLY AND DETERMINATELY ON THE RELIGIOUS DUTY OF HONOURING GOD. measures never succeed in moral questions, and least of all on the Sabbath; where the casuist is a man's own passions, and temptation perverts the judge who has to decide. So long as half-measures are taken, Satan and the world push their victory-the will remains entangled -new pleas of interruption are framed-every Sunday the pressure of business or the solicitations of pleasure are strengthened-whilst the disposition to serve God is weakened. Make at once a bold stand, and the duty will become easy. The enemy will yield. Satan will be discomfited. Your worldly companions will cease to molest. You will begin to find a pleasure in religion. God will hear your prayers. Conscience will be at peace. The only happy man in this world is he that "follows God fully."

And

III. Let the IMMENSE HONOUR WHICH GOD ON HIS PART HAS BEEN PLEASED TO PUT UPON the Sabbath, and the blessings of his grace and providence which he has vouchsafed on it, conclude the subject, and impress every heart with an additional conviction of the incalculable importance of a right observation of the Lord's day. We have alluded to this more than once. well we may. For what an honour has God put upon this institution throughout the whole dispensation of the gospel? Who can trace out its history? Who can number the souls converted, the graces of Christians quickened, the sorrows of the afflicted consoled, the influence of the Holy Spirit granted, the assurances of the Saviour's presence vouchsafed, the sermons and prayers and sacraments rendered effectual? Figure to yourselves what has been transacted on all the Sabbaths throughout all the world, since the promulgation of the Christian faith. You find that almost all the glory of Christianity has shone upon the Sabbath. You find that God has wrought most of his works of grace upon the Sabbath. You find that the blessed Saviour has been most glorified upon the Sabbath. You find that the Holy Spirit has

the Sabbath. What con

exerted his agency most upon fessions of sins, what enlargements of heart, what consolations of prayer, what gifts of pardon, what tokens of acceptance, what anticipations of heaven! The testimony of God to his own day, on any one recurrence of it, confirms all our arguments for its inestimable value. Yes, blessed Sabbath, we will go forth to meet thee, as thou revisitest man; we will hail thee as the court day of our Sovereign and Lord; we will rejoice in thy return as the open throne presented to us for approaching our heavenly Father; we will behold thee as testifying of our Redeemer's resurrection-honour thee as the peculiar province of the Holy Spirit, and as uniting all that can interest and bless man-creation with its natural benefits-redemption with its remedial grace-heaven with its consummating glories!

1 The ancient wise men used to gather their scholars together, and to say, “Come, let us go meet king Sabbath.”—Lightfoot,

iii. 56.

SERMON VII.

THE GUILT WHICH IS CONTRACTED BY CHRISTIAN NATIONS, IN PROPORTION AS THE LORD'S DAY IS OPENLY PROFANED.

NEHEMIAH XIII. 17 & 18.

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.

upon

THERE remains yet another branch of the subject. We must appeal to the nations of Christendom, and especially our own. We must prefer against them the charge of public connivance at the violation of the Sabbath. We must call on every inhabitant, by his faith as a Christian, by the reverence he feels for his Creator and Redeemer, by his love to his country, by his regard to the happiness of his neighbours and family, by his concern for his own eternal salvation, to do all in his power to awaken the public conscience, and arouse it to do its duty. We must declare the anger of the Lord for this great sin, and solemnly charge all classes of men to repent and turn unto the Lord.

It is true the evil is gigantic, it spreads through all orders of persons, it fixes itself firmly in the corruption of the human heart. It stands, as the uncircumcised champion of old, and defies the armies of the living God.

I

But we must rely, like David, on another power than that of man. We must take the word of truth. We must go forth, as it were, with our sling and our stone, in the name of the Lord God of Israel; and must humbly believe that the enormous foe, as another Goliath, shall fall before us.

And may it please Thee, O Almighty God, to aid us and all thy servants, who at this time are pleading thy righteous cause! Do thou enable us so to imitate thy holy servant Nehemiah of old, that we may set forth thy truth in all simplicity and fervour, that we may not fear the face of man, and that, accompanied and aided by thine effectual grace, we may witness a revival of the observation of thy holy day, and of the religious blessings which attend it, in our own land and throughout all the parts of Christendom!

First, then, we must substantiate the charge, that the nations are guilty in conniving at the violation of the Lord's day.

We must next show the divine judgments that may be justly dreaded in consequence.

We must lastly point out the practical measures which each one may take towards a national repentance and return to God.

I. In SUBSTANTIATING THE CHARGE ITSELF against the nations of Christendom and our own, we are aware of the caution necessary. Having now no inspired prophets or apostles to apply authoritatively the language of Scripture, we can only form a judgment, from its evident scope, and the similar bearing of our privileges on the one hand, and of our conduct on the other. We must avoid all presumption, haste, self-confidence, personality. We must proceed on the general and undoubted grounds of revealed truth, as applicable to nations and individuals; and only claim attention as we are evidently supported by that truth, and the plain facts of the case.

What, then, constitutes, in a scriptural sense, national guilt? Is it not the prevalence of any open, fla

grant violation of the law of God, committed by large classes of men? Is it not the continued invention of new modes of committing it, and additions to the numbers amongst whom it spreads? Is it not the countenance which the example of the nobles and princes of the land give to it? Is it not the connivance at those enormities by legislators, ministers of state, magistrates, clergy? Is it not the general coldness and indifference, and even scorn, with which measures of prevention or of remedy are received?

And does not the violation of the Christian Sabbath in the British nation, for with this I am most concerned, comprehend every one of these particulars ?1

1. Does it not prevail AMONGST LARGE CLASSES OF MEN? If the divine authority of that day be what we have shown; if the right manner of observing it be as we have described it; if the immense importance of a due sanctification of it be commensurate with Christianity itself; then what is the national guilt accumulated every day amongst us? Go through the different orders of society in our country, and, after making every allowance of the kindliest charity, estimate the sins committed every Sabbath as it returns, by each class before the face of the Almighty.

Begin with the HUMBLER ORDERS-the artizans, the labourers, the agricultural workmen, the smaller tradespeople. How widely is Sabbath-breaking diffused! Accounts settled, shops opened, markets frequented, workmen paid, business transacted, calmly, systematically, almost avowedly.

Consider the numbers engaged in furnishing entertainment to the violators of the Lord's day, as well as the violators themselves. The hotels, the inns, the teagardens, the public-houses, the shops and stalls for fruit and confectionary, the domestics and waiters occupied, beyond any plea of necessity, or any permission of the law.

1 In order to make this part of the sermon fully applicable to other countries, an occasional change of names and local circumstances may be necessary.

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