How

on the provincial town by its free-living men of wealth. beneficial to the morals of a land if our merchants were Thorntons in their spirit; if our squires had the piety and philanthropy of a Wilberforce; if our noblemen were as devoted to the cause of benevolence as a Shaftesbury! It is a happy sign of the times that among all these ranks there are so many counterparts of such men. And it is our singular privilege to see the personal and relative virtues, as well as the proprieties of life, daily exempli- · fied in the most elevated station by our Queen and her princely Consort.1 Well were it for many if the maxim held good :—

"Componitur orbis

Regis ad exemplum ; nec sic inflectere sensus
Humanos edicta valeut, ut vita regentis."

CLAUDIAN.

No classes are more concerned in the stability and observance of religious institutions than the middle and upper ranks of a nation. In all countries every man should have free scope. for obtaining wealth by honest industry, and for reaching distinction by the force of intellect, and by the cultivation of moral excellence. It is in proportion as religion prevails in any land, that such facilities exist. And when riches and honours are gained, religion is the security for the conservation of all just possessions. The Sabbath is itself the means of upholding truth and piety, is a pillar of the throne, and a protection of property and honourable distinction against the tide of revolution. If the fear of God be rooted out, where is the guarantee that the king shall be honoured, the noble and the rich respected, or the laws obeyed? Indispensable to the children of toil, the Sabbath is scarcely less important to the other orders of a State. It concerns their safety amidst materials of combustion, which it would require only a little more infidelity and irreligion amongst themselves, and amongst their neighbours, to kindle into a conflagration de

1 Since these words were first printed, death has been commissioned to bereave our Queen of her beloved husband, and the nation of one of its chief ornaments and benefactors; but that Prince Albert contributed by his position and virtues to "our singular privilege," is a fact which remains unchanged in itself, and is too important and interesting to be cancelled or altered in one of its humblest memorials.

structive of all the securities for station and property that are maintained, under Providence, by a well-observed Sabbath.

But, Second, the subject concerns still higher and more enduring interests. In the world that is unseen and eternal there are only two conditions of human beings, as the results, thus foretold, of the Grand Assize : "These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.". With these destinies of men the Sabbath has momentous connexions. It is one of the laws of God, for the transgression of which men deserve the former lot, and by perfect obedience to which Jesus delivered his followers from the wrath to come: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." The Sabbath is one of those laws of God, the affectionate keeping of which is necessary to prove our saving relation to Christ, and our title to heaven : "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." When some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath-day," they were right in so far as the principle was concerned, but utterly wrong in its application. Of those who by "scorn of God's commands" show that they are unblessed with spiritual life, Cowper has terribly but truly said

"That want uncured till man resigns his breath, Speaks him a criminal assured of everlasting death.

Sad period to a pleasant course! Yet so will God repay

Sabbaths profaned without remorse, and mercy cast away."2

On the other hand, how happy the condition of the man who, under "the conviction that he stood almost on the verge of eternity, and that the days could not be many before the secret and awful things of futurity should be unveiled to him," invoked the spirit of God to enable him to cherish, with other habits, that of "dedicating the Sabbath to its proper duties—not wasting its precious 3 Poems-Nichol's edit. vol. ii. p. 124.

1 John ix. 16.

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hours, not worshipping God with a wandering and unsteady mind,
not stealing its moments for secular purposes," and that, of “call-
ing himself to account for the use of his money, of his time, of
his powers." The Sabbath, moreover, is a law the love of which,
besides attesting the title to heavenly glory and blessedness, proves
that a character congenial to the employments, society, and joys
of the world above has begun to be formed, or rather is far ad-
vanced-the character equally as the title being among those
"gifts and callings of God which are without repentance." The
person who has pleasure in a weekly day of holy rest and service
will not feel himself out of his element when he sits down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. But how
could he who dislikes the Sabbath, spend eternity in beholding,
loving, and lauding the Creator and Redeemer of men?
"For
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What
communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath
Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an
infidel?" The Sabbath, in short, has been given as a necessary
means of directing us "in the way of life which is above to the
wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."2 It brings leisure
to immortal beings, too engrossed with the perishing objects of the
earth, to attend to the claims of the soul and of the future. It gives
us a periodical pause in the race of life that we may wear off
by meditation the worldly soil contracted during the week." 3
is "the combs, and hive, and home of rest." It is heaven let
down from week to week, that we may dwell in its light, breathe
its air, and learn its music. And only as we redeem the precious
fleeting season are we becoming qualified

"to rest eternally

With him that is the God of Sabbath hight."

It

But if we would intelligently and sincerely join the poet in his following fervent aspiration,

"O that great Sabbath! God grant me that Sabbath's sight,and if we would "rest eternally" in the favour, in the perfections, in the service, and holy happiness of God, a change in our re

1 Memoirs of Sir T. F. Buxton, 5th edit., pp. 306, 307.

lation and feelings to Him must be effected. And it must be effected in the present state. It cannot take place in a future world, for in that world there is an impassable gulph between the two classes of men, and, while "the holy" remain holy, "the filthy" must be "filthy still." Nor would it be reasonable to indulge the hope that it will be realized in the article, or immediate prospect, of death. The thief on the cross obtained mercy as he was about to die. But how foolish to regulate our procedure by the only authenticated case of so late a repentance, -the one exception; and to forget the all but universal rule! Because one man has thrown himself over a precipice, and been mercifully preserved, would it be wise in us to try the same experiment ? While every period, then, even of this life, is not favourable for beginning the preparation for heaven, it is only in this life that it can be commenced. The Scriptures represent this world as the only training-place for eternity. It is the lower form in the school of knowledge, where the rudiments of celestial wisdom must be learned. There is no provision in a future state for instructing tyros. There is beyond death "no more sacrifice for sins," and no gospel to be "the power of God unto salvation." Let us, therefore, now hear, that our souls may live, the joyful sound as it comes from the lips of the Divine and compassionate Saviour: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

GENERAL INDEX.