the hands of his Creator, the sole inhabitant of this world who could appreciate the beauties of it, at once the proprietor and the ruler of all that his eyes could look upon here below. "Have dominion," were the words of God himself, "over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." And while man was perfectly good and perfectly happy, innumerable were the blessings which such a gift would enable him to receive and to dispense. Such an endowment was then man's highest prerogative, and when lodged within a perfect heart was as innocent as it was delightful. Power never exerted but in mercy. Alas! how changed, let all the world of creatures tell! tyranny, oppression, cruelty, which even the strictest laws cannot restrain, are now the spontaneous fruits of man's dominion; and though there may still, blessed be God, be gentler natures where these atrocities are unknown, "Have thou dominion," whether over man or beast, is too often and too surely, the deepest curse which fallen man can suffer from. All ages have acknowledged this sad and humiliating truth. Take but a single instance. Look at David, when, having offended God, he is permitted the choice of three different species of punishment, how instantly, how naturally does he shrink from that, of which the infliction is to be committed to

his fellow mortals: "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man." (2 Sam. xxiv. 14.)

May God so change, so purify, so sanctify our hearts, as to restore in them the likeness and the image, which he at first imparted: love to himself, and to the whole world of created beings by which we are surrounded, being among the blessed firstfruits of this change; a change which only his own Spirit can effect, but which he has promised, and which he will assuredly vouchsafe, to all who seek it in the name and through the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

EXPOSITION IV.

GENESIS ii. 1-3.

1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified

it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

In these words you hear the origin of the Divine and ancient institution of the Sabbath-day, but one day younger than the earth and its inhabitants. During six days, the Almighty had been pleased to employ himself in the great work of creation; calling upon every day of the six to witness some wonderful addition to the mighty whole; and now, when all was finished, God called upon the seventh day, to behold him, resting from his work which he had made. Upon this day the Almighty solemnly pronounced a blessing; and dedicated it, or "sanctified" it, as a day of rest for ever. To an unfallen world how dear a boon! that there, where every day would doubtless behold the intimate communion. of creatures and their God, even there, one day, "the Queen of days," should be, above all others, dedicated, and wholly set apart, for this blessed employment. But, in a fallen world, how absolutely necessary a provision! Were it not for this most hallowed institution, surely all holiness, all piety, all knowledge of, and intercourse with, God, would have, long since, been blotted out for Were there no pause amid the exciting, stirring, earth-born business of the world, engrossing as it now is, how would it, long ere this,

ever.

have swallowed up all thoughts, all minds, all time, and have left nothing for the calm and holy duties of the soul to God. Blessed, then, be God for the Sabbath-day. Let nothing tempt you to forego its privileges, or to neglect its injunctions; let it be to you, as far as is compatible with your stations and employment, always a day of holy rest; not a day of slothful and unprofitable listlessness, not a day of idle visiting, not a day of frivolous conversation; still less a day of guilty pleasures; but a day withdrawn, as far as it be possible, from the worldly employments of all other days; and "sanctified,” as the Lord your God has sanctified it, to himself, to the public ordinances of his religion, to the private searching of his Word, to prayer, to praise, to calm and quiet and endearing family intercourse with your children and your dependants; in fact, to the more stated and weekly preparation for the rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Beware above all things of broken Sabbaths: of the progress in crime to which they lead, of the forgetfulness and alienation from God to which they tend, let scaffolds and let death-beds tell. May the Sabbath always be to you the happiest day in the week; love it, cherish it, improve it. Endeavour to be cheerful and happy

upon this blessed day, yourself, and to make those around you so. Teach your children, that while all business and all worldly amusements are in an especial manner to cease on that day, it is not to be a dull and wearisome day; but that it brings with it its own calm and placid pleasures, its own peculiar business, its own heavenly enjoyments: endeavour, by profitable conversation, by interesting and useful books, to prevent this day from ever being a weariness to them. And as regards yourselves, habituate your own minds to consider it as the Lord's day, essentially the day which the Lord our God has "sanctified,” and which the Lord our Divine Saviour delighted to honour; a day so belonging to himself, that all of it must, as far as in you lies, be dedicated to him; rob him not, therefore, of a single hour of this his own portion of your time, but pay it as scrupulously to him, as you would restore, to any fellow-mortal, the property which you knew unquestionably belonged to him, and this not as a debt, but as a grateful, freewill offering of the heart. Look forward to the day of the Lord with pleasure, employ yourself for him and with him, in its blessed and peaceful hours, with delight; and you will look back upon it, when all your days are past, and all their occupations over, as the most gratifying portion of your life, as