stance and with the first-fruits of all his increase," warrants another to rob him of his property. We must answer to God for the use of our substance; but still it is our own:-we must answer to God for the use of our sabbatical time; but it is equally our own. is equally our own. Every man who knows that the Most High God has given such a law, has a right to claim this time; and no other man can exact it of him without felony against the statutes of heaven. If these things be so,-if there be a parity between the law which invests a man with property in his rightfully acquired substance, and the law which invests him with property in this proportion of his time,

does it not become more than competent to human legislators, does it not become their incumbent and imperative duty, to guard from spoliation the one description of property as well as the other?-by statute and penalty to hinder the exaction of time, as well as the abstraction of goods?—to protect their subjects in the enjoyment and use of every one of their divinely guarantied rights?And, since the sabbatical law is dictated, on the part of Deity, by mercy to the brute creation as well as to men, ought not human enactments, in the same spirit of mercy, to provide, as far as possible, for the security of their rights also? Ought they not to maintain and enforce a law, so eminently beneficial to those dumb creatures of God, which he has subjected to the service of man, but which he has thus, at the same time, compassionately protected, by statute, from oppression and waste?

*

These views of the political obligation of the Sabbath, which I have long held, I was glad to find in harmony with those of my friend,

The distinction thus made between the different ends of the Sabbath, the secular and the spiritual, defines, with some degree of clearness, the boundaries of the province of human legislation. The laws of men can neither command nor enforce what is spiritual: that lies between the

Mr. Wm. Macgavin, to whose intelligent and active mind both the church and the community have been so deeply indebted :-"We are thankful," says he, "for the protection which the law of the land gives us in this respect; and we can be so, without conceding to the civil power the right of interference in matters of religion. It is the duty of the civil Magistrate to enforce obedience to the law of God, not in relation to religious worship, but in all matters which relate to right and property between man and man. Some define the Magistrate's power to relate to the second table of the law only; but this is not quite correct. There is one command of the second table, namely, the tenth, which he cannot enforce, because it relates to the thoughts of the heart; and there is a part of the first table which he can, and ought to enforce, because it relates to a matter of property and right between man and man. The eighth commandment gives to every man a right to his own property; and the fourth commandment gives to every man, especially to servants, and even to labouring cattle, a right to one day in seven, to rest from the service of their masters ;—and it is as much the duty of the civil power to protect them in this right which can be done only by an authoritative suspension of worldly business on that day, as to protect the property and lives of the subjects generally. On this ground, and this only, I consider the rest of the Sabbath a proper subject of human legislation." Church Establishments considered, in a series of Letters to a Covenanter. Letter vii. pages 77, 78.

There is an able Article in the Ecclectic Review for June 1830, in which the principles maintained are also, substantially the same. This article, which, from some forgotten cause, had not been read by me at the time of its appearance, fell in my way since this discourse was delivered, while I was looking back in the Review for something else. And I presume I may consider the sentiments contained in it as corresponding with those of a work, from the pen of the enlightened Editor, which I have not yet had the pleasure of perusing-" The Law of the Sabbath, religious and political, by Josiah Conder."

conscience and God. But they can regulate what is secular. They can adopt the divine statute, for the sake of its temporal benefits:-nay, the rights which that statute bestows, it is their proper business to protect. And so closely are the two descriptions of ends associated, that, in providing for the secular, they take the most effectual means of securing, to all whose inclination disposes them to follow out the spiritual, the undisturbed opportunity of enjoying their desire. The association itself is beautiful; and, if my mind be not deceived by the power of habit, there seems to be something natural and congruous in it. The general repose of the toiled creation harmonizes well with the contemplative recognition, and the peaceful and solemn worship, of the great Being, by whom all was made, and on whom all depends. What mind, alive to the principles and sensibilities of piety, has not felt the stillness of the Sabbath-morn, when the hum of the busy city, or even the less noisy indications of rural labour, are hushed, delightfully congenial with the feelings of devotion? the rest of surrounding nature, in pleasing concord with the rest of the soul?-the cessation of earthly toils and worldly pleasures, helpful to the establishment of holy sentiments, and the elevation of heavenly desires ?-But on these topics I cannot at present enlarge. The text will lead us, under the different particulars of which it consists, to the illustration of the various duties, both positive and negative, which the day demands, that is, of the things we should do, and the things we should not do, in order to the full accomplishment of the divine purposes in its institution; and also of the various modes, direct and indirect, of its profanation; and of the advantages,

temporal and spiritual, personal and social, arising from its due observance.-There is one topic, of essential importance in itself, and, from its nature, calculated to supersede many minute questions of moral casuistry, as to the practical observance of the day-I mean the right principle of its celebration, or the state of mind and heart necessary to the due and acceptable keeping of the Sabbath, as deduced from a scriptural consideration of its nature and object. To this subject I shall direct your attention in next discourse,-pointing out, at the same time, some of those false principles by which the outwardly respectful observance of the day may sometimes be dictated.

"

ISAIAH lviii, 13, 14. ult 20 ) ETOHIP!

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then 'shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause se thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken itðu~ *1954

AGREEABLY to intimation in the close of last discourse, I am now to draw your attention to a topic which I then stated to be "of essential importance in itself, and cal culated to supersede many minute questions of moral casuistry, as to the practical observance of the Sabbath, namely, the right principle of its celebration, or the state of mind and heart necessary to the due and acceptable keeping of it, as deduced from a scriptural consideration of its nature and object."e ad bos desi

You will at once be sensible, that of these (the nature and object of the day) there must necessarily be a right understanding, in order to its being truly and rationally