seven. Experience has shown the same with reference to students in colleges. After the rest and duties of the Sabbath, the mind is in a better state for vigorous and successful effort. The following declaration of Sir Matthew Hale is an illustration of this truth:

"Though my hands and my mind have been as full of secular business both before and after I was judge, as, it may be, any man's in England, yet I never wanted time in six days to ripen and fit myself for the business and employments I had to do, though I borrowed not one minute from the Lord's day, to prepare for it, by study or otherwise. But, on the other hand, if I had, at any time, borrowed from this day, any time for my secular employment, I found it did further me less than if I had let it alone; and therefore, when some years' experience, upon a most attentive and vigilant observation, had given me this instruction, I grew peremptorily resolved never in this kind to make a breach upon the Lord's day, which I have now strictly observed for more than thirty years." He also declared that it had become almost proverbial with him, when any one importuned him to attend to secular business on the Sabbath, to tell them that if they expected it, to "succeed amiss," they might desire him to undertake it on that day; that he feared even to think of secular business on the Sabbath, because the resolution then taken would be disappointed or unsuccessful; and that the more faithfully he applied himself to the duties of the Lord's day, the more happy and successful was his business during the week.

The late distinguished Dr. Wilson, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, for a number of years before he became a preacher of the gospel, was an eminent lawyer in the state of Delaware. He was accustomed, when pressed with business, to make out his briefs, and prepare for his

Monday's pleading on the Sabbath. But he so uniformly failed, during the week, in carrying out his Sunday plans, that it arrested his attention. As a philosopher, he inquired into the cause of his uniform failure, and came to the conclusion that it might be, and probably was, on account of his violation of the Sabbath, by employing it in secular business. He therefore, from that time, abandoned the practice of doing any thing for his clients on that day. The difficulty ceased. His efforts on Monday were as successful as on other days. Such were the facts in his case, and many others have testified to similar facts in their experience.

A mechanic in Massachusetts, whose business required special skill and care, was accustomed, at times, when pressed with business, to pursue it on the Sabbath, after having followed it during the six days of the week. But he so often made mistakes, by which he lost more than he gained, that he abandoned the practice, as one which he could not afford to continue. Mind is no more made to work vigorously and continuously in one course of effort seven days in a week, than the body; and it cannot do it to advantage.

There are laws of mind, as well as of body, which no man can annul; and they have penalties which no transgressor can evade. He may seem for a time to escape, and even to prosper; but judgment will come. If he continues his course of transgression, he will wither and droop, or, long before the proper time, and often suddenly, will come to his end, and have none to help him. The memory of many a man can recall instances among his own acquaintance which have been striking illustrations of this truth. Mind, as well as body, must have rest, and the more regularly it has it, according to the divine appointment, other things being equal, the more perfect will be the health, and the greater the capa

bility of judicious, well-balanced, long-continued, and effective efforts.

Clergymen, whose official duties require vigorous and toilsome efforts on the Sabbath, must have some other day for rest, or their premature loss of voice, of health, or of life, will testify to them and to others the reality and hurtfulness of their transgressions. Distinguished scholars, jurists, and statesmen, have often fallen victims to the transgression of this law. Students, literary and professional men, who have thoroughly tried both ways, have all found that they could accomplish more mental labor, and in a better manner, by abstaining from their ordinary pursuits on the Sabbath, than by employing the whole week in one continuous course of efforts.

But the great evil of transgressing the law of the Sabbath is on the heart. Man is a moral, as well as an intellectual being. His excellence, his usefulness, and his happiness, depend chiefly on his character. To the right formation and proper culture of this the Sabbath is essential. Without it, all other means will, to a great extent, fail. You may send out Bibles as on the wings of the wind, scatter religious tracts like the leaves of the forest, and even preach the gospel, not only in the house of God, but at the corner of every street, —if men will not stop their worldly business, travelling, and amusements, and attend to the voice which speaks to them from heaven, the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pride of life, will choke all these means, and render them unfruitful. Such men do not avail themselves of the institution which God has appointed to give efficacy to moral influence, and which he blesses by his Spirit for that purpose. On the other hand, men who keep the Sabbath feel its benign effects. Even the external observance of it is, to a great extent, con

nected with external morality; while its internal, as well as external observance will promote purity of heart and life.

Of twelve hundred and thirty-two convicts, who had been committed to the Auburn State Prison previously to the year 1838, four hundred and fortyseven had been watermen, - either boatmen or sailors, men who, to a great extent, had been kept at work on the Sabbath, and thus deprived of the rest and privileges of that day. Of those twelve hundred and thirty-two convicts, only twenty-six had conscientiously kept the Sabbath.

Of fourteen hundred and fifty, who had been committed to that prison previously to 1839, five hundred and sixty-three had been of the same class of men; and of the whole, only twenty-seven had kept the Sabbath.

Of sixteen hundred and fifty-three, who had been committed to that prison previously to 1840, six hundred and sixty had been watermen, and twentynine only had kept the Sabbath. Of two hundred and three, who were committed in one year, ninetyseven had been watermen, and only two out of the whole had conscientiously kept the Sabbath.

Thus it appears, from official documents, that, while the watermen were but a small proportion of the whole population, they furnished a very large proportion of the convicts; much larger, it is believed, than they would have done, had they enjoyed the rest and privileges of the Christian Sabbath. appears, also, that nearly all the convicts were Sabbath-breakers men who disregarded the duties and neglected the privileges of that blessed day.

It

The watermen had been kept at work, in many cases, under the delusive plea, that, should they be permitted to rest on the Sabbath, they would become more wicked, an idea which facts, under the means of grace, show to be false.

On the Delaware and Hudson Canal, on which are more than seven hundred boats, the experiment has been tried. The directors were told, at first, that, should they not open the locks on the Sabbath, the men would congregate in large numbers, and would become more wicked than if they should continue to pursue their ordinary business; but the result is directly the reverse. Since the locks have not been opened, and official business has not been transacted on the Lord's day, the men have become more moral, as well as more healthy, and the interests of all have been manifestly promoted by the change.

Let any class of men enjoy the rest and privileges of the Sabbath, and the effects will prove that it was made for man," by Him who made man; and who, in view of all its consequences, especially as the great means of giving efficacy to moral government, with truth pronounced it, "very good."

On the other hand, take away from man the influence of the Sabbath and its attendant means of grace, and you take away the safeguard of his soul; you bar up the highway of moral influence, and lay him open to the incursions and conquests of Satan and his legions. Thus man becomes an easy prey, and is led captive by the adversary at his will.

Of one hundred men admitted to the Massachusetts State Prison in one year, eighty-nine had lived in habitual violation of the Sabbath and neglect of public worship.

A gentleman in England who was in the habit, for more than twenty years, of daily visiting convicts, states that, almost universally, when brought to a sense of their condition, they lamented their neglect of the Sabbath, and pointed to their violation of it as the principal cause of their ruin. That prepared them for, and led them on, step by step, to the commission of other crimes, and finally