the young, is one of the most decided marks of incipient moral degeneracy. Religious restraint is fast losing its hold upon that young man, who, having been educated in the fear of God, begins to spend the Sabbath in idleness, or in amusement. And so, also, of communities. The desecration of the Sabbath is one of those evident indications of that criminal recklessness-that insane love of pleasure, and that subjection to the government of appetite and passion, which forebodes, that the "beginning of the end" of social happiness, and of true national prosperity, has arrived.

Hence, we see how imperative is the duty of parents, and of legislators, on this subject. The head of every family is obliged, by the command of God, not only to honor this day himself, but to use all the means in his power to secure the observance of it, by all those committed to his charge. He is, thus, not only promoting his own, but his children's happiness; for nothing is a more sure antagonist force to all the allurements of vice, as nothing tends more strongly to fix in the minds of the young a conviction of the existence and attributes of God, than the solemn keeping of this day. And, hence, also, Legislators are false to their trust, who, either by the enactment of laws, or by their example, diminish, in the least degree, in the minds of a people, the reverence due to that day which God has set apart for Himself.

The only question which remains, is the following :

Is it the duty of the civil magistrate to enforce the observance of the Sabbath?

We are inclined to think not, and for the following

reasons:

1. The duty arises solely from our relations to God, and

not from our relations to man. Now, our duties to God are never to be placed within the control of human legislation.

2. If the civil magistrate has a right to take cognizance of this duty to God, he has a right to take cognizance of every other. And, if he have a right to take cognizance of the duty, he has a right to prescribe in what manner it shall be discharged; or, if he see fit, to forbid the observance of it altogether. The concession of this right would, therefore, lead to direct interference with liberty of conscience.

3. The keeping of the Sabbath is a moral duty. Hence, if it be acceptably observed, it must be a voluntary service. But, the civil magistrate can never do any thing more than produce obedience to the external precept; which, in the sight of God, would not be the keeping of the Sabbath at all. Hence, to allow the civil magistrate to enforce the observance of the Sabbath, would be to surrender to him the control over the conscience, without attaining even the object for which the surrender was made.

4. It is, however, the duty of the civil magistrate, to protect every individual in the undisturbed right of worshipping God as he pleases. This protection every individual has a right to claim, and society is under obligation to extend it. And, also, as this is a leisure day, and is liable to various abuses, the magistrate has a right to prevent any modes of gratification which would tend to disturb the peace of society. This right is acknowledged in regulations respecting other days of leisure, or rejoicing; and there can be no reason why it should not be exercised in respect to the Sabbath.

5. And, lastly, the law of the Sabbath applies equally to societies, and to individuals. An individual is forbidden to labor on the Sabbath, or to employ another person to labor for him. The rule is the same, when applied to any number

of individuals; that is, to a society. Hence, a society has no right to employ persons to labor for them. The contract is a violation of the Sabbatical law. It is on this ground that I consider the carrying of the mail on this day a social violation of the Christian Sabbath.

It has been already observed, that our duties, to both God and man, are all enforced by the obligation of love to God. By this we mean, that, in consequence of our moral constitution, we are under obligation to love our fellow-men, because they are our fellow-men; and we are also under obligation to love them, because we have been commanded to love them by our Father who is in heaven. The nature of this obligation, may be illustrated by a familiar example. Every child in a family is under obligation to love its parent. And every child is bound to love its brother, both because he is its brother, and, also, because this love is a duty enforced by the relation in which they both stand to their common parent.

The relation in which men stand to each other, is essentially the relation of equality; not equality of condition, but equality of right.