what we pray for, but will reward us for going to him, and laying our wants before him!" That a man will, however, receive every thing he asks for, and just as he asks for it, is by no means asserted, in an unlimited sense; but only that which he prays for, in a strict sense. True prayer is the offering up of our desires, in entire subjection to the will of God; that is, desiring that he will do what we ask, if He, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, sees that it will be best. Now, if we ask thus, our prayer will be granted, for thus He has promised to do for us. Hence, our prayers respecting temporal blessings, are answered only contingently; that is, under this condition; but our prayers respecting spiritual blessings, are answered absolutely; for God has positively promised to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. If God have allowed us thus to hold the most intimate and unreserved communion with Him; and if He have promised, on this condition, to support us by His power, to teach us by His wisdom, to purify us by His Spirit, and to work in us all those tempers which He sees will best prepare us for the highest state of future felicity, what can be more ennobling and more lovely than a prayerful life? and what more ungrateful and sinful, than a life of thoughtless irreverence and impiety? Is not the single fact, of living without habitual prayer, a conclusive evidence that we have not the love of God in us; that we are living in habitual violation of every obligation that binds us to our Maker ; and that we are, therefore, under the solemn condemnation of His most holy law? 180 CHAPTER FOURTH. THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. THIS is the second special means appointed by our Creator, for the purpose of cultivating in us suitable moral dispositions. We shall treat, first, of the original institution of the Sabbath; secondly, of the Mosaic Sabbath; thirdly, of the Christian Sabbath. Although the Sabbath is a positive institution, and, therefore, the proof of its obligation is to be sought for entirely from revelation, yet there are indications, in the present constitution, that periods of rest are necessary, both for man and for beast. The recurrence of night, and the necessity of repose, show that the principle of rest enters into the present system, as much as that of labor. And, besides, it is found that animals which are allowed one day in seven for rest, live longer, and enjoy better health, than those which are worked without intermission. same may, to a considerable degree, be said of man. late Mr. Wilberforce attributed his length of life, and the superiority of health which he enjoyed over his political contemporaries, mainly to his resolute and invariable observance of the Sabbath day; a duty which, unfortunately, they too frequently neglected. The The I shall not go into the argument on this subject in detail, as the limits of the present work will not admit of it, but shall merely give what seem to me the results. To those who wish to examine the question of the obligation of the Sabbath at large, I would recommend the valuable treatise of Mr. J. J. Gurney, on the history, authority, and use of the Sabbath; from which much of the present article is merely an abridgment. I. Of the original institution of the Sabbath. First. The Divine authority for the institution of the Sab bath, is found in Genesis ii, 1-3. "Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them; and on the seventh day, God ended his work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all his works which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all his work which God had created and made." Now, concerning this passage, we remark,— 1. It was given to our first parents; that is, to the whole human race. 2. God blessed it; that is, bestowed upon it a peculiar blessing, or made it a source of peculiar blessings to man. Such, surely, must be that day, which is given in order to cultivate in ourselves moral excellence, and prepare us for the happiness of heaven. He sanctified it; that is, set it apart from a common to a sacred and religious use. 3. The reason is a general one: God rested. This has no reference to any peculiar people, but seems in the light of an example from God for all the human race. 4. The nature of the ordinance is general. God sanctified it; that is, the day. The act refers not to any particular people, but to the day itself. 5. The object to be accomplished is general, and can apply to no one people more than to another. If it be rest, all men equally need it. If it be moral cultivation, surely no people has ever existed who did not require such a means to render them better. Secondly. There are indications that the hebdomadal division of time was observed by the patriarchs before the time of Moses, and that the Sabbath was regarded as the day for religious worship. 1. Genesis iv, 3. "And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord." The words rendered "in process of time," literally signify "at the end of days;" or, "at the cutting off of days;" that is, as I think probable, at the close, as we should say, of a section of days; a very natural expression for the end of a week. If this be the meaning, it would seem to refer to the division of time just previously mentioned, and also to the use of this day for religious worship. 2. Noah seems to have observed the same hebdomadal division of time. The command to enter into the ark, was given seven days before the flood came. Genesis vii, 4-10. So, he allowed seven days to elapse between the times of sending forth the dove. Genesis viii, 10—12. Now, I think that these intimations show that this division. of time was observed according to the original command; and we may well suppose that with it was connected the special time for religious worship. Thus, also, Joseph devoted seven days, or a whole week, to the mourning for his father. 3. The next mention of the Sabbath, is shortly after the Israelites had left Egypt, and were fed with manna in the wilderness. Exodus xvi, 22-30. As the passage is of considerable length, I need not quote it. I would, however, remark,— 1. It occurs before the giving of the law; and, therefore, the obligatoriness of the Sabbath is hereby acknowledged, irrespective of the Mosaic law. 2. When first alluded to, it is spoken of as a thing known. God, first, without referring to the Sabbath, informs Moses that on the sixth day, the Israelites should gather twice as much manna as on any other day. From this, it seems that the division of time by weeks was known; and that it was taken for granted, that they would know the reason for the making of this distinction. In the whole of the narration, there is no precept given for the keeping of the day; but they are reproved for not suitably keeping it, as though it were an institution with which they ought to have been familiar. Besides these, there are many indications in the earliest classics, that the Greeks and Romans observed the hebdomadal division of time; and, also, that the seventh day was considered peculiarly sacred. This seems to have been the case in the time of Hesiod. The same is supposed to have been the fact in regard to the northern nations of Europe, from which we are immediately descended. The inference which seems naturally to arise from these facts, is, that this institution was originally observed by the whole human race; and that it was transmitted, with different degrees of care, by different nations, until the period of the commencement of our various historical records. From the above facts, I think we are warranted in the conclusion, that the seventh day, or perhaps, generally, the seventh part of time, was originally set apart for a religious purpose by our Creator, for the whole human race; that it was so observed by the Hebrews, previously to the giving of the law; and that, probably, the observance was, in the infancy of our race, universal. II. The Mosaic Sabbath. The precept for the observance of the Sabbath, at the giving of the law, is in these words: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." Exodus xx, 11. Now, concerning this precept, there are several things worthy of remark: 1. It is found in the law of the ten commandments, which is always referred to in the Scriptures, as containing the sum of the moral precepts of God to man. Our Savior and the Apostles, who made the most decided distinction between moral and ceremonial observances, never allude to the law of the ten commandments in any other manner than as of permanent and universal obligation. Now, I know of no reason which can be assigned, why this precept should be detached from all the rest, and considered as ceremonial, when the whole of these, taken together, are allowed, by universal consent, to have been quoted as moral precepts by Christ and his Apostles. Besides, our Savior expressly declares, that "the Sabbath was made for MAN," that is |