ventured to the den of this monster, in a country as savage as himself, near Bridgewater. He begged I would not think of bringing any religion into the country; it was the worst thing in the world for the poor, for it made them lazy and useless. In vain did I represent to him that they would be more industrious as they were better principled; and that, for my own part, I had no selfish views in what I was doing. He gave me to understand that he knew the world too well to believe either the one or the other. Somewhat dis mayed to find that my success bore no proportion to my submissions, I was almost discouraged from more visits; but I found that friends must be secured at all events, for if these rich savages set their faces against us, and influenced the poor people, I saw that nothing but hostilities would ensue; so I made eleven more of these agreeable visits; and as I improved in the art of canvassing, had better success. Miss Wilberforce would have been shocked, had she seen the petty tyrants whose insolence I stroked and tamed, the ugly children I praised, the pointers and spaniels I caressed, the cider I commended, and the wine I swallowed. After these irresistible flatteries, I inquired of each if he could recommend me to a house; and said that I had a little plan which I hoped would secure their orchards from being robbed, their rabbits from being shot, their game from being stolen, and which might lower the poor-rates. If effect be the best proof of eloquence, then mine was a good speech, for I gained, at length, the hearty concurrence of the whole people, and their promise to discourage or favour the poor in proportion as they were attentive or negligent in sending their children. Patty, who is with me, says she has good hope that the hearts of these rich poor wretches may be touched: they are as ignorant as the beasts that perish, intoxicated every day before dinner, and plunged in such vices as make me begin to think London a virtuous place. By their assistance, I procured immediately a good house, which, when a partition is taken down, and a window added, will receive a great number of children. The house, and an excellent garden of almost an acre of ground, I have taken at once for six guineas and a-half per year. I have ventured to take it for seven years, there is courage for you! It is to be put in order immediately, "for the night cometh;" and it is a comfort to think, that though I may be dust and ashes in a few weeks, yet by that time this business will be in actual motion. I have written to different manufacturing towns for a mistress, but can get nothing hitherto. As to the mistress for the Sunday school, and the religious part, I have employed Mrs Easterbrook, of whose judgment I have a good opinion. I hope Miss W. will not be frightened, but I am afraid she must be called a methodist." In all the surrounding villages Miss More endeavoured to establish schools, which, in spite of the opposition made to them, speedily flourished so as to occupy her entire time in their management. In a letter to Mrs Kennicott, she thus remarks, speaking of the schools :"We have often agreed that To mend the world's a vast design,' and I am now convinced of the truth of this, by the difficulties attending the half dozen parishes we have undertaken. It is grievous to reflect, that while we are sending Missionaries to our distant colonies, our own villages are perishing for lack of instruction. We have in this neighbourhood thirteen adjoining parishes, without so much as even a resident curate. I am deeply convinced how very poor and inadequate any miserable attempts of mine can be, to rectify so wide-spread an evil; yet I could not be comfortable till something was attempted. We have therefore established schools and various little institutions, over a tract of country of ten or twelve miles, and have near five hundred children in training. As the land is almost pagan, we bring down persons of great reputation for piety from other places, and the improvements are great for the time. But how we shall be able to keep up these things amidst so much opposition, vice, poverty and ignorance, as we have to deal with, I cannot guess." Into all these schemes for the benefit of the poor, Mr Wilberforce entered warmly, and aided Miss More both with his advice and with liberal contributions. In acknowledging one of his donations, she thus writes:— "What a comfort I feel, in looking round on these starving and half-naked multitudes, to think that by your liberality many of them may be fed and clothed; and, Oh, if but one soul is rescued from eternal misery, how may we rejoice over it in another state, where, perhaps, it may not be one of our smallest felicities, that our friendship was turned to some useful account, in advancing the good of others, and, as I humbly presume to hope, in preparing ourselves for that life which shall have no end.' In the year 1790 Hannah More published a volume entitled "An Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World." It exposed the vices of the great with the utmost freedom, and lamented, in particular, over the decay of domestic piety among the higher classes. This work was equally popular with its predecessor, having reached the fifth edition within two years from the date of its publication. The benevolent spirit of Miss More and her sisters led them to extend the schools farther than they at first intended. Their efforts to do good were often misrepresented, difficulties and discouragements met them at every step, but, without the slightest hesitation, they proceeded onward in their work and labour of love, until, at length, they succeeded in planting schools in no fewer than ten parishes in their neighbourhood where there were no resident clergymen. On this extended scale of operations these ladies included within the range of their superintendence more than twelve hundred children. Their own funds, of course, were quite inadequate to the support of such an immense undertaking, but, assisted by their wealthy acquaintances, they found no difficulty in defraying all necessary expenses. Miss More was anxious that not merely under a judicious system of religious instruction. the children, but their parents, also, should be brought the course of a year, accordingly, after the school had been established at Cheddar, she thus remarks to Mr Wilberforce : In "I now ventured to have a sermon read after school on a Sunday evening, inviting a few of the parents, and keeping the grown-up children; the sermons were of the most awakening sort, and soon produced sensible effect. It was at first thought a very methodistical measure, and we got a few broken windows; but quiet perseverance, and the great prudence with which the zeal of our good mistresses was regulated, carried us through. Many reprobates were, by the blessing of God, awakened, and many swearers and Sabbathbreakers reclaimed. The numbers both of young and old scholars increased, and the daily life and conversa. tion of many, seemed to keep pace with their religious profession on the Sunday. "We now began to distribute Bibles, Prayer Books, and other good books, but never at random, and only to those who had given some evidence of their loving and deserving them. They are always made the reward of superior learning, or some other merit, as we can have no other proof that they will be read. Those who manifest the greatest diligence, get the books of most importance. During my absence in the winter, a great | almost incredible rapidity in all parts of the kingdom. many will learn twenty or thirty chapters, psalms, and hymns. At the end of three years, during the winter the more serious of the parents began to attend on a Wednesday night; and on Tuesday nights, twenty or thirty young people of superior piety met at the school to read the Scriptures, and hear them explained." To keep up the interest of the children Miss More set apart a day every year as a great annual festival. She briefly describes it in a letter addressed to Mrs Kennicott, who uniformly entered with the liveliest sympathy into all her plans for benefiting the poor. "I have kept this scrawl some days for want of time to finish it so busy have we been in preparing for a grand celebrity, distinguished by the pompous name of Mendip Feast; the range of hills you remember in this country; on the top of which we yesterday gave a dinner of beef and plumb-pudding, and cider, to our schools. There were not quite six hundred children, for I would not admit the new schools, telling them they must be good for a year or two, to be entitled to so great a thing as a dinner. We had two tents pitched on the hill, our cloth was spread around, and we were enclosed in a fence, within which, in a circle, the children sat. We all went in waggons; and carried a large company of our own to carve for the children, who sung Psalms very prettily in the intervals. Curiosity had drawn a great multitude, for a country so thinly peopled; one wondered whence five thousand people, for that was the calculation, could come. I was very uneasy at seeing this, lest it should disturb the decorum of the festivity. Almost all the clergy of the neighbourhood came, and I desired a separate minister to say grace to each parish. At the conclusion I permitted a general chorus of God save the King,' telling them I expected that loyalty should make a part of their religion. We all parted with the most perfect peace, having fed about nine hundred people for less than a fine dinner for twenty costs. The day was the finest imaginable, and we got home safe, and I hope thankful.” Miss More's time was now almost exclusively occupied in superintending the schools, in teaching the teachers, and promoting the temporal comfort of the adult poor. Her whole soul was occupied in devising schemes of benevolence and kindness. It was not to be expected, however, that, far and wide as her fame had reached, she would be permitted to limit her efforts of charity to her own neighbourhood. Hannah More was regarded as public property, and in the critical state of the country at the period to which we have, in the progress of our narrative, arrived, to whom could the eyes of all be directed but to one who had shown herself so successful in influencing the public mind. The French revolution had (1792) burst forth with tremendous violence, the whole frame-work of society in almost every European nation was shaken to its foundations, and a spirit of infidelity, and even atheism, seemed to riot amid the turbulence of civil commotions. In this state of matters, when the populace even of our own peaceful isle were fast following the French in the same downward course, letters poured in upon Miss More from all quarters, urging her to produce some little popular tract, which, being extensively circulated, might serve as a counteractive to the pernicious opinions which had been imported from France. For some time she modestly declined to undertake the task, but at length she composed a small piece, entitled "Village Dialogues, by Will Chip." This tract Was no sooner published than it was circulated with Many thousands were transmitted to Scotland and Ireland. Several patriotic individuals printed off editions of it at their own expense, and in London alone many hundred thousands were distributed. The author of this astonishing little production was soon recognised, and she received the congratulations of the most eminent men in the country for the bencfit conferred upon the public at so alarming a crisis, The encouragement which Miss More received in the new department of composition on which she was prevailed upon to enter, stimulated her to proceed in the same useful track. About this time appeared the famous atheistical speech of Dupont to the National Convention. The appearance of so blasphemous a production, and the readiness with which it was received by many even on this side the Channel, led Miss More to endeavour, as far as possible, to repel the mischief. With this view, she published a small piece, under the title of "Remarks upon the Speech of M. Dupont," dedicating the profits, amounting to about £240, to a fund raised for the relief of the French emigrant clergy. The numerous schools established by Miss More were now completely organized, and though opposition had been frequently offered, it was now, in a great measure, subdued. It was a source of great delight to her to pass from village to village, and witness the change which, by the divine blessing, had followed her exertions. The wilderness had, in some measure, become a fruitful field, and many who were formerly groping in the darkness of spiritual ignorance, were rejoicing in the light of divine truth. Reader, now that you have perused the second part of the life of Hannah More, cast your thoughts back upon her character as developed in the first. Look on this picture and on that." She is no longer a vain, conceited worldling, but an humble devoted servant of the Redeemer. She no longer delights herself in the empty applause of her fellow-mortals; she seeks simply the approbation of Him who judgeth the heart. She no longer spends her precious time in the idle frivolities of the fashionable circle; she dedicates herself to the service of God with the most ardent and unwearied activity. Whence arises this change so complete, so obvious, so well-marked? It is the effect of no other than a divine operation. "All old things are passed away; behold, all things are now become new." "REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY." BY THE REV. DUNCAN MACFARLAN, THE AUTHORITY OF THE SABBATH AS OBSERVED ON THERE was a time, when, generally throughout Scotland, the authority of this brief command was enough. The distinctive doctrine of our Presbyterian fathers, and of the puritans at large, was, that it is binding on Christians to observe the Lord's day as the weekly Sabbath. And in agreement with this, the original institution of the Sabbath, as recorded in the second chapter of the book of Genesis, was understood to give the past and anticipating the future keeps his mind ever active, and, through it, generally his body. And, therefore, even physically, man requires some additional and special provision for resting his body, and withdrawing his thoughts from their accustomed train. But we must not stop here. Man is destined to endure throughout eternity, and his state in eternity is declared to be dependent on what takes place during his abode on earth. A certain great change has to take effect upon him. And that change, and the progress which is to grow out of it, are connected with exercises and apprehensions of divine truth, strictly religious, and altogether apart from mere worldly occupations. Moreover, man's moral nature, by which he is distinguished from the inferior parts of creation, fits him for worshipping God; and it is admitted, on all hands, that it is his special and indispensable duty to render to God regular and solemn acts of united worship. And this furnishes an additional and special reason why some particular season should be set apart as consecrated to the service of God. authority to that weekly observance in all after ages. | tinued and wasting care. Man's power of reflecting on And the fourth commandment was, on the same grounds, believed to apply equally to the Jewish and Christian Sabbaths. Moreover, it was also so applied, because of its being a part of the moral law; the whole of which is declared by our Lord, to be of perpetual obligation. But this distinctive feature of other times, has been allowed in a great measure to disappear, before the alleged refinements of a more enlightened age. The old popish doctrine that Sabbath observance consists in attending Church service, after which the day may be spent in amusements, has again been revived. We are again told, that to observe the day throughout, is Jewish, not Christian. And not a few, to whom such opinions are novel, speak of them as among the discoveries of an enlightened and liberal age. Truth is at all times important, and ought, as circumstances permit, to be defended; but there are seasons, during which the spread of special errors is dangerous to the general interests of religion. And we are very much disposed to regard the present as such a season, in respect of the errors now referred to. They strike at the very root of the Sabbath observance, as a divine appointment; and they seem at least to chime in with other popular innovations. And although, there are works already in print on the subject, from one of which we intend to draw the substance of our remarks, we doubt, whether they are generally read. And it has occurred, that perhaps a mere outline of the evidence detailed in one of these, will be read more generally. And this is all we intend. Now, it seems clear, from the very constitution of man, and facts lying open to the inspection of all, that a day of weekly rest, or something equivalent, is really necessary. The Divine Being has been pleased to provide an alternative of rest with activity, for all the sentient inhabitants of this lower world. And the very construction of the solar system, is so arranged, as fully to secure this. The succession of day and night is dependent on this arrangement; and it is at the same time, a special provision for the regular and necessary rest of every living creature. The darkness of each returning night hides from man in particular, the sight of this busy world; it covers the scene of his every day labour, and spreading over all a mantle of forgetfulness, it invites to rest and sleep. Even beasts of prey, which prowl in the forest during night, are not forgotten. Like certain plants, which flower during winter and remain dormant in summer, they are so constituted as naturally to slumber during day, and thus to make up for their activity during night. This provision is diurnal. But there is also an annual season of rest. Summer is the active season, and winter is a season of comparative rest, not only to inanimate being, but also to living creatures. Nature, if left to herself, does at least show her processes during this season. In many respects it forms a distinct interval between the processes of the past and the coming summer, and is thus recognised as the dead season of the year. Now it ought to be observed, first, that man enjoys less of this annual rest than almost any other living creature. This season enables him to carry out his purposes of activity beyond these mere limits of instinct and general arrangement, and in manufacturing countries winter is little else than a varied season of unbroken labour. Then, even diurnal rest is greatly shortened to man. The labours of the day are, by many, anticipated long ere day has fully set in, and they are very generally continued for many hours after night has again returned. But this is not all. Man requires, even physically, more rest than most of the brute creation. It is the nervous system which requires to be particularly recruited with rest, And this is a part our physical constitution which is subject to cen These reasons, derived as they are, mainly from the circumstances of man, show us the necessity of some provision; the provision itself however, must be sought in the Bible. Now the Bible, it will be recollected, begins with the history of creation. In that history, we are told of a provision being made for annual and diurnal rest,-"let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years," and immediately after the history of creation, it is said, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host 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 work 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 created and made." Gen. ii. 1-3. The first reflection, naturally arising on the reading of this passage, is, that the institution of the Sabbath followed immediately on the perfecting of creation; and was apparently designed for man, as the creature of God-not as a fallen creature, for he had not yet fallen,-not as belonging to some particular dispensation, under a remedial system, for no such system had yet been propounded; but simply, as the creature of God-the only intelligent and moral inhabitant of this lower world. Another circumstance is, that God's own example is here made the basis of man's duty. God rested on the seventh day; and, therefore, he sanctified or set that day apart to be kept holy by man. Now, it would surely be unreasonable to allege, that such an example, and at such a time, merely pointed to a Jewish observance, which was not to come into use for upwards of twenty-five hundred years; and was again to ccase in less than fifteen hundred more; leaving all after-time unheeded. But look at the common and obvious interpretation of the passage, and see how naturally circumstances concur. It is simply, that as God did thus set to man his own example, in the observance of a day of rest, after finishing the work of creation, man should follow this example, so long as creation itself continues to be in the state into which it was then brought. Nor will the opinion entertained by some, that each of the six days ought to be under stood as embracing an indefinite period of time, affect this inference; for whatever may have been the time of God's working, the time meant for man's working, was obviously six natural days; and the time meant for man's resting, was as clearly one-one entire day out of every seven. And then, lastly, the proper observance of the day is also set forth, in terms most unequivocal. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." The example of divine resting, might itself be urged in proot of the duty of holy resting; but when it is expressly said, that God sanctified the day; that is, set it apart to holy purposes, there is no room left for equivoca. tion. Men may reject the authority of God, if they will, but they cannot, with any proper regard to truth, interpret this original and solemn institution, otherwise than it appears to the plain and ordinary reader. Under this sanction therefore, and without any farther special enactment, the weekly Sabbath continued to be observed, for upwards of two thousand five hundred years. By this time it pleased God to reveal to man more fully, and in one regular system, the principal heads of the moral law. This system consists of the ten commandments, and these are divided into two tables; the one containing such as respect our duty to God, and the other our duty one towards another. The duties which we owe to God, are things which he claims as due to himself; and Sabbath observance is here ranked as one of these. Now in which of all these circumstances, is there anything to invalidate the original appointment?-not surely in its being embodied in the moral law, for then must the foundation of all morality be overthrown, and this by the very means which are understood to give it special authority, -not its belonging to the first table of the law, for this is putting it in the very category of highest and most unapproachable authority. But let us look at the command itself. And, first, it bids us "Remember the Sabbath day." Why, does not this very opening of the command at once lead us back to some existing institution? "Remember!" What am I to remember? "Remember the Sabbath day." The Sabbath day, therefore, must have existed, and must even have been neglected before this. Then, secondly, it is not, "Remember to attend divine service once a-week," or as a titled and learned writer would have it constructively, "Remember whatever ordinance the Church shall enact as a weekly observance;" but "Remember the Sabbath day,"the one entire day set apart by God himself. Then thirdly, it tells us how this day ought to be kept. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." There is here no room for equivocation. Holy must just mean holy; that is, sacred to God. If it does not mean this, it means nothing at all. And if men will not understand words in their plain and obvious sense, let them at least be honest and say so. Let them at once acknowledge that they wish it not to be so, and that therefore they hold it not to be so. Again, and fourthly, this general enactment is afterwards reduced to so many prohibitory clauses. "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." This detail is not more minute than exact. The thing prohibited is worldly employment, and the parties brought under this prohibition are:-First, each individual personally," thou shalt not do any work." Secondly, cach parent in behalf of his children,-"nor thy son, nor thy daughter." Thirdly, each master with regard to his servants,"thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant;" and lastly, believing communities respecting unbelievers who live among them," nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." This last clause refers to Gentiles living under the government of Israel, and who were to be prevented from all labour or traffic on the weekly Sabbath, the same as if they had been Israelites. Of this we have a practical illustration in Nehemiah's treatment of the Tyrians. These particulars form together the prohibitory clauses. But now in the fifth and only remaining division of the commandment, the whole is made to rest specifically on the previous institution of the Sabbath, as recorded in the book of Genesis. "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 Sabbath day and hallowed it." Would you have anything more precise or explicit than this? All this, however, has a reference to the general rule; let us now turn to the exceptions, for these also rest on divine authority. They are in all three; works of piety, necessity, and mercy. We are accustomed, in Scotland, to say merely, works of necessity and mercy; works of piety being understood, as naturally appropriate on the Sabbath. In England, the three terms are used; and they are also specially enumerated in the Word of God. They will even be found in a single chapter, the tenth of Matthew. There, our Lord's disciples are first found plucking ears of corn, and thus satisfying their cravings of hunger on the Sabbath day. They were on this account accused of Sabbath-breaking; but our Lord vindicated them, on the ground of necessity; and thus taught, that works of necessity are lawful even on the Sabbath day. In doing this, he referred also to certain things which were done about the temple, on the Sabbath, and which were essential to the worship of the temple; and by showing that these were allowed, he established a second class of exceptions, works of piety. And in course of the same chapter, we are told of his curing a man with a withered hand, on account of which he was himself virtually accused of Sabbath-breaking. But he vindicated himself, by referring to acts of mercy allowed and practised under the law; and thus he confirms, as a third rule of exceptions, works of charity or mercy. These, it is true, were cases rather than commands; but they were cases decided under the law, and as illustrative of its original intention and design; and the decisions themselves were by an unerring Judge. A little reflection will also show the grounds on which they proceeded. "The Sabbath was made for man," that is, for man's temporal and eternal welfare; and the mere rest of the day was, besides serving the purpose of recruiting exhausted nature, designed to subserve certain other and special ends. One of these was the observance of divine worship; and whatever, therefore, was really necessary to this observance, came to be allowed, from the very nature and design of the Sabbath. Then, there are occasions of distress or cmergency, when absolute rest, on the part of all, would involve continued suffering, either to ourselves or our fellow-creature; but to allow this, would be to gainsay the very design of the Sabbath, as a dispensation of mercy. Therefore it is lawful to do well, that is, works of mercy, on the Sabbath. But besides these, there are cases of real necessity to the well-being of man, even independently of any distress or accident; and these, therefore, also, are implied in the same merciful design. But the very fact of making special provision for such exceptions, proves, beyond all question, the permanence and divine authority of the rule itself. It by the enforcement of these very exceptions, that we best see the strictness of the rule. 66 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is thus proved to mean, in practice, all that it expresses in language; and those who would destroy the force of the rule, by enforcing the exceptions, are either wanting in intelligence, or dishonest in their allegations. If the exceptions be of force, so must the rule. If they be both rightly understood, they will be found mutually to confirm and enforce one another. And now that these matters have been disposed of, we are ready to take up the question, whether the observance of the weekly Sabbath did not become a part of the Mosaic institute, and afterwards terminate with it. Now we admit most readily, that while the weekly Sabbath was from the beginning, and was designed to be a perpetual ordinance, it had specialties added to it under the Mosaic economy which were peculiar to the with all parts of it according to the same rule; and we are but little anxious about the rule they may choose to adopt. But we cannot better conclude this article, than by a quotation from the work already referred to: "Whatever was, under the Mosaic economy, added to the original observances, or ends, or authority of the Sabbath, was of the Sinai covenant, and dependent on the special relations and circumstances of Israel, as God's covenant people, and must, on these accounts, have terminated with that economy; but this could not possibly interfere with an ordinance which concerned the whole human race. Like some feebler and dependent ancient oak, these hung for a time around the more Mosaic dispensation, and which, in virtue of this, terminated with it. In particular, it was under this dispensation, adopted as a sign of the Sinai covenant, and its observance was, in consequence, enforced from that motive. "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretchedout arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Deut. v. 15. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever.' Exod. xxxi. 16, 17. But what do these passages affirm? First, that pre-plant, entwining its tendrils around the arms of some vious to the commencement of the Mosaic dispensation, there was the existence of a weekly Sabbath. Seeendly, that this ordinance, which was in itself independent of the Mosaic dispensation, was, nevertheless, constituted to Israel a sign of the Israelitish covenant. And lastly, that this afforded to Israel an additional reason for the due observance of the day. This is the natural and obvious design of whatever was special in the observance of the weekly Sabbath, under the Mosaic economy; and there is absolutely nothing in it which can at all affect the continued obligation of the Sabbath, as originally instituted. But as some still argue, that because it was thus embodied in the Mosaic covenant, it must, like it, finish with that economy, let them only turn to the decalogue itself, as recorded in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and they will find that the whole moral law was embodied in that covenant, and enforced under its sanction: "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Exod. xx. 1, 2. Then, if they will take the trouble of attending to the individual commands, they will find that idolatry, as forbidden under the first and second, became special under the law. It was, in the case of Israel, a more aggravated crime than when it occurred among the heathen. It was, with the former, covenant-breaking. And a similar change took effect on the sin of profaneness. The whole moral law being constituted a fundamental condition of the Mosaic covenant, it partook of the nature of that covenant in its requirements at the hand of Israel. And as the first table of the law contained duties which were to be performed to God, with whom Israel had entered into covenant, these underwent a special change, and became, in this way, specially conformed to the terms of the covenant. And will it now be asserted that the whole moral law, or even the first table of that law, is for ever suspended, because the Mosaic economy has now passed away? Will they even maintain that idolatry is no longer a sin, because it is no longer a breach of the Mosaic covenant? or that swearing is no longer immoral, because it is not committed against God as the covenant God of Israel? And why, then, argue that the weekly Sabbath is no longer binding, because, like these, it was for a time embodied in the same covenant? It is not even necessary that we should confine these remarks to the first table of the law; for the promise appended to the fifth commandment is more exclusively Israelitish than any thing said of either the fourth, or the other commands of the first table of the law. The motive urged for the due observance of this command is," that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This is sufficiently Israelitish. And will it be inferred from this, that obedience to parents was a mere Jewish observance, or that, because it was an article in the conditions of the Mosaic covenant, it is no longer binding upon us? Such opinions will not be acknowledged. Men require to hide from themselves one portion of the truth, when they deal unfairly with the other. Let them look at the whole case, and deal 66 THE OBLIGATION OF CONSIDERING AND APPLYING A DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. JOHN PAUL, One of the Ministers of St. Cuthbert's Parish, Edinburgh. In order to comprehend the meaning, and to enter |