people more plainly than he had ever done, saying that his first text should be, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God," and expressing the deepest anxiety that the present visitation should be made profitable to himself, his family, and his flock.

On Sunday evening, the 9th of March, the present writer, who had seen him constantly through his whole sickness, had a long conversation with him. He then appeared much better than at any period of it, and thought himself rapidly recovering. He conversed freely of God's goodness to him, and of his increased desires to serve and please him. He said much of the theme he most loved, the Church; and having but lately acquired strength enough to read it, expressed his entire approbation of the principles and views set forth in the sermon on "The office of a Bishop," recently preached at the consecration of his friend Dr. Otey-a testimony which is here recorded, that it may be known, that as a Churchman he continued till the last unchanged. On Monday night he suffered, as he related to the same friend, inexpressible agony of spirit, in the apprehension that for his neglect of his great privileges, God had forsaken him; but struggling against it with his utmost resolution, succeeded at last in the attainment of peace and composure, through fervent prayer. On Wednesday night he was evidently changed much for the worse, but still replied to a suggestion as to his receiving the Holy Communion, which was designed to intimate the opinion of his friend as to his danger, that he hoped to be able to go to his Church at Easter. It ought to be stated, that for some weeks he had been able to ride daily several miles. On Friday evening, having made his will, he sent for the same friend to sign it, as one of the witnesses. The marks of approaching dissolution were then apparent, yet he still expressed the conviction that God had work for him yet to do. "Yes, it may be so," it was replied, "for with Him all things are possible. But such is not the probable expectation, and in all human appearance a very little time will remove you to your rest." Not a muscle moved, not a tint of his complexion changed, there was not a visible motion of his

pating them in amusements, on which not even wealth and refinement can confer dignity; little do they dream that they are scattering seeds, which, like the fabled teeth of the dragon, are one day to spring into a harvest, which they will contemplate with shuddering and dismay! Can they, in their moments of sober reflection, believe that it will come to good? Is it not enough to be thus solemnly admonished of the emptiness of the things for which they labour, and of the hopeless disappointment which must follow ;--to be instructed out of the mouth of an apostle, that after all their toil and perplexity; after all their mortification and self-reproach, in the service of the flesh; their reward shall be the trembling anticipation of a judgment to come, in which all, and more than all, their worst fears shall be realized? Why give place for a moment longer to the delusive hope, that God will not be faithful to his word; that he intends all along to refresh the weary and heavy laden, but still relentless, child of folly and of sin, out of the well-springs of immortal life; that he will bestow upon him in the world to come those incorruptible treasures, which he, in the days of his sojourning, was bold enough to contemn, or foolish enough to undervalue? Vain and groundless hope! as well may we think to change the immutable principles of good and evil, as that a life of vanity and irreligion will terminate otherwise than in evil. The wages of sin is death; and nothing can reverse the decree.

How animating, on the other hand, to the righteous man, is the assurance, that he will be rewarded for even his few and feeble efforts here to do his Maker's will! In his contest with the spirit of the world, he is cheered and encouraged by the certain hope, that it will be well for him in the end while he feels in the consolations that flow down upon him now, the fulfilment of the observation, that "godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come." Permit him the whole range of the pleasures which so much delight the children of men, and he will feel no disposition to return to them. Being risen together with Christ, he has entered on a higher style of existence; and henceforth it is his daily care to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God."

VOL. IV.--27.

PUBLIC WORSHIP.

OBSERVANCE

O F THE

SABBATH.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

WHAT does the word holy mean? It cannot be moral rectitude; for time, which is not a responsible agent, is incapable of that. What else does that word mean in the Bible?

The tabernacle was holy. It was set apart for its appropriate use in the public worship of God. The vessels and all the furniture of the tabernacle were holy. They were set apart for the same purpose. So, also, of the temple and its furniture. The sacrifices were holy. They were to be used in the public worship of God. The priests were holy. They were set apart to that service. Many "convocations" were holy, when the people were convoked for the worship of God. And generally, in the Old Testament, the word holy is used in such connexions. We do not now recollect any instance, in which any thing was called holy, on account of its appropriation to the purpose of secret worship. However that may be, we think it will not be denied that the habitual use of the word in the Old Testament is such, that it naturally suggests the idea of public worship.

The command, then, is Remember the Sabbath day, to devote it to public worship, for God, when he had wrought in the work of creation six days, rested on the seventh, and set it apart for that purpose. The observance of the Sabbath, according to this command, therefore, implies the public worship of God; as public as the circumstance of the worshipper render possible.

The efforts which good men have made, for some years past, to secure the observance of the Sabbath, have probably done much good. They have at least stirred up the consciences of Christians, and thus checked the rapidity of our downward career; and in some instances, they have done more than this. Yet it is undeniable, that those efforts have failed to accomplish what was expected from them. The great mass of the community has not been taken hold of, by the arguments and ap

peals on this subject, as on that of Temperance.-We grant that the efforts in favour of the Sabbath have not been so great, so universal, and so continuous, as those for Temperance; but they have been greater than was required to make Temperance take hold of the public conscience, as the Sabbath has not been made to do; and the want of similar success, from even greater efforts, is the reason why no more has been done; why efforts have been suspended, and societies dissolved. There has been less labour, because the labour expended was found to accomplish. less. Whence has this difference arisen ?

Doubtless, several causes have combined to produce this result; but we suspect the principal cause has been, the manner in which the subject was presented; the shape of the thought, as it existed in the minds of the writers and speakers, and as they endeavoured to urge it upon other minds. The Sabbath was urged upon men as something negative; as a day on which certain things were not to be done. Not doing, non-performance, was urged upon people, for one day in seven, and that was called, keeping the Sabbath. God, in the fourth commandment, first says, Remember to attend public worship on the Sabbath; and then he goes on to forbid that which is inconsistent with a due observance of this command. He fills the mind with something positive, with the idea of a duty to be performed, in the first place, and then prohibits what might hinder its performance. We have, in too great a degree, reversed the order. We have put our negations foremost, trusting that, if we could once get the mind empty and the hands idle, we might afterwards. fill and employ them aright. The result has been as should have been expected. The command to cease doing, to sink into inaction, to make ourselves, as nearly as we can, into blocks, or stones, does not strike people as a reasonable command. It gets no hold of their consciences. It strikes them as unreasonable, arbitrary, and worthy to be resisted. It is desirable, not to leave their minds for a moment in that state. It is wise, there

fore, to put the positive duty, the something to be done, foremost, as God has done, and to let the negations with which the duty is guarded, come afterwards.

We do not suppose that this fault in our efforts has been as

great and glaring in practice, as it is in our description. We are trying to show it through a magnifier, on purpose, that it may be seen the more plainly. Perhaps too, the fault has been less in our language, than in the interpretation which others have unfairly put upon it.-However this may be, we think it certain that our exhortations to Sabbath-keeping have had too much of this aspect, in the eyes of those to whom they have been addressed; and that this is one chief reason why they have accomplished no more. At least, we are sure that this point is worth looking at seriously.

Suppose that our efforts had been crowned with entire success, so that we had prevailed with every man, woman and child in the nation, to abstain from all labour and diversion on the Sabbath, and that this had been all the change effected. What would have been gained? Why, the removal of much visible evil, and the production of a state of intolerable inactivity, from the pain of which some would take refuge in public worship. Suppose on the other hand, that all effort had been directed to promote attendance on public worship, and had been successful. What would have been gained? The end of visible Sabbath-breaking would have been one of the less important benefits of such an effort.

We invite the attention of the friends of the Sabbath to this subject. We hope they will consider, whether experience does not teach the propriety of a change in their mode of operation, and whether that here suggested does not promise well. Indeed, we would invite them to imagine, for a moment, that all the time, and talent, and zeal, and expense, and every form of effort, which have been expended within ten years to promote the observance of the Sabbath, had been expended to promote attendance on public worship; and to ask themselves, what would probably have been the result.

We are not alone in these views. They are entertained by some, to whom the Christian public is accustomed to listen with respect.