measures of energy and courage-have rather "followed the multitude to do evil," than struggled manfully, and át all hazards, against the current. The religious public also-who reverence and observe to a certain extent the Sabbath-have shared and are sharing the guilt. They listen to objections. They read the works which plausibly sap the divine obligations of the Lord's day. Their minds are poisoned. They lose that firm standing on which they formerly planted their feet. Their family habits are unfavourable. Their own example is in some things dubious. The es timate which their children and households form of the Sabbath, is low. They do not contend boldly, in public and private, against the sin of dishonouring the day, as their fathers did. Compare the last generation of evangelical and pious Christian households with the present the decay is manifest—that is, the national guilt is augmented. 6. For in truth it amounts to this-let God be judge-THERE IS A TOO GENERAL INDIFFERENCE, COLDNESS, AND EVEN SCORN, amongst large numbers, to the sanctification of the Lord's day, and to remedial measures for retaining its honourable observance -which stamps the broad mark of public connivance on the sin of Sabbath-breaking. Thank God, we are not so deeply sunk in this evil, as many of the continental nations-thank God, much honour is still put upon the holy appointment-thank God, a remnant of devoted Christians in all ranks, not excepting the highest, continues to hallow it aright-thank God, a pillar is raised, as it were, on the border of the land unto the Lord." Thank God, our iniquities, as we trust, are not yet full; and a revival of deep concern for religion, and for the day of religion, is, as we hope, going on. But we must still look the facts full in the face. Our real repentance and reformation will depend on our conviction of our actual delinquency. Have we, then, or have we not, as a people, including the classes professing the peculiar grace of Christ, departed from the Lord, in conniving and sitting calmly by, when his name was polluted and the us Sabbath profaned? Is not a portion of the indifference and scorn poured upon this institution chargeable upon -us the ministers of religion-us the people of God? Would the names of reproach cast upon the religious observation of the day and upon those who sustain it, be so keen, so opprobrious, so extended, if the standard of general sentiment had been nearer that of the Scriptures ? Yes, brethren, as the various classes in the Jewish nation at the time of Nehemiah, had departed from their God, and had joined in polluting the Sabbath; so have too many in all classes, in our own country, departed from their Saviour, and united, unconsciously in some cases and imperceptibly, in conniving at the violation of the Christian Sabbath. It is time for us to return to the Lord. Steps have been lately taken by persons high in authority, which encourage hope of improvement. Let us, then, in order to this, II. Consider THE NATIONAL JUDGMENTS which we may too certainly dread, if we repent not. For nations rise and fall. A retributive justice is going through the world. No nation, however powerful, however wise, however free, however prosperous, can resist the divine arm. Where is the empire of the Babylonians, of the Medo-Persians, of the Grecians, of the Romans? Where is the grandeur of Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne? Look over the map of Europe during the last half century: what nations have not been overthrown, shaken to their centre, visited with the most frightful calamities? Except our favoured country, there was hardly another which escaped the actual sword of war. And in our own previous annals, what scenes of bloodshed, what overthrows of royal houses, what civil contests, what changes, do not appear! I open the Bible and I see that this fall of empires is connected with the guilt of the different nations, and especially of those which were the most eminently privileged. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquity;" such is the divine rule of proceeding. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ?" There is the spot where judgments first alight. "But in the fourth generation they shall come again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full;" the measure is risingthe augmented mass is noted by the divine eye-iniquity, according to the prophetic vision, is seated within the ephah; the vessel fills; it is accomplished; the talent of lead is sealed upon its mouth, and it is transported from its place to the scene of visitation.* Do I want specific examples? I look to Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities of the plain, "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."5 I behold the old world “filled with violence and having corrupted its ways, till the flood came and destroyed them all."6 I look on the nations of Canaan, "that are sinners before the Lord exceedingly, and the land cannot contain them."" But mark, above all, the history of the favoured people —the inheritance, the peculiar treasure of the Lord, the kingdom of priests. And what is that history? The Assyrian king is sent against them when hypocritical and degenerate- -"he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so"-but he is "the axe" in the hand of the divine workman, to execute his holy will against the guilty people. And what was the captivity and dispersion of the ten tribes, and what the seventy years' bondage of the two in Babylon, but punishments for national guilt? And why should England presume? Why should her capital, her commerce, her armies, her fleets, her power and influence, elate her with pride? What are all these but talents entrusted to her for certain ends? What is the weight of responsibility which presses upon her in consequence? What is the aggravation which all these blessings add to her sins against God? For 1 Amos iii. 2. 3 Gen. xv. 16. 5 Jude 7. 7 Numb. xxxv. 33. wherefore has God given her these distinctions, but that she may diffuse the divine glory, exhibit the conduct of a righteous nation, uphold the honour of pure Christianity, vindicate the majesty of the Lord's day, educate her population in sound religion, and propagate the gospel at home and abroad? If she neglect all these high ends and be filled with vanity and contempt of God, what judgment may she not expect? What is she more than Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon? Her naval power is perhaps not greater, in proportion to the existing state of the world, her commerce is not more extended, her riches are not more abundant, her prosperity is not more elevated, than the ships, and commerce, and glory, and prosperity of Tyre were in her day? Consider, then, the judgment which England may reasonably dread, in proportion to the duty which she violates--in proportion to her knowledge of the Bible— in proportion to her pure form of Christianity-in proportion to the strength of the arguments on which the divine authority and perpetual obligation of the Lord's day repose-in proportion to her means of estimating these arguments, and detecting the contrary error. flect how every such consideration should aggravate the fear which penetrates us, of the awful displeasure of God for our pollution of the Sabbath.' Re Then what, England, is thy guilt before thy God? A sin like this, against a command so authoritative, so easy of performance, so beneficial, marks thy temper as a nation as it respects God. The sins committed against thy fellow-creatures are of another character. The duties of property and life, the duties concerning common truth 1 Let no one say he doubts the force of some of these grounds of authority. Be it so. Take away any one of these grounds, and the remainder binds the conscience of the inquirer. Nay, it is observable, that no one Divine has yet written or spoken, (except those who are really not, properly speaking, Christians) that does not acknowledge the obligation of sanctifying the Lord's day. A few writers may place its authority on the New Testament examples only-I agree not with these writers-but their admission is all I now want-for they all consent in admitting the duty of a day of religious rest. 1 and honesty, are bound upon thee by thy immediate secular interests-society cannot hold together for a moment without them. But the duties of the Sabbath are a test of the real measure of thy faith and reverence towards Almighty God. They show how far thou carriest thy religion into practice. They prove whether or not thy admissions of the authority of God are sincere. Estimate, then, the guilt which all thy Sabbaths, England, have been heaping upon thine head. Estimate the contempt, the neglect of God, the declension of heart from his fear, the hardy and obstinate resistance to his will, the slight put upon his immediate majesty and honour, which thy conduct involves. The closing denunciations against the apocalyptic churches, will be applicable to thee, if thou continuest to imitate those declining bodies. Fear the removal of thy candlestick, the silencing of thy preachers, the dispersion of thy assemblies, the obscuring of thy peace, the loosening of the frame of society counsels bewildered-commerce paralysed-union broken -disorder and contention sown-tumult and insurrection bursting forth-thy king, thy princes, thy nobles given up to infatuation-thy enemies made to triumph-thy name and place a proverb amongst the nations. Consider, these are but the beginning of sorrows. Where is Sardis, and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and Ephesus, and Laodicea? Swept with the besom of destruction-effaced from the memory of the church-exhibited as monuments of divine indignation. And why?" They left their first and fervent love; they did not their first works; they had a name to live, but were dead; they were neither cold nor hot; they defiled their garments." And what art thou doing in thy levity, thy profanation of the Lord's day, thy contempt of religion, but imitating those very sins, which brought down these exterminating judg ments? And how soon these chastisements may fall, God only knows. We dive not into his secret counsels; we venture not to penetrate his purposes. But thou hast every 1 Every twenty years, more than a thousand Sundays pass. |