foreign slave comprehended the whole of that oppressed and helpless order of mankind. The precept, in this point of view, shews that the Maker of the world extends his attention to the meanest and most abject of the human race; and that he does not regard with indifference the infringements that are made even on the rights of the brute creation. "It was a principle," says Bishop Horsley, when treating of the subject before us" It was a principle with some of the heathen moralists, that no rights subsist between man and the lower animals; that, in the exercise of our dominion over them, we are at liberty to pursue our own profit and convenience, without any consideration of the fatigue and the miseries which they may undergo. The holy scriptures seem to speak another language, when they say, A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. And as no reason can be alleged why the ox and the ass of Palestine should be treated with more tenderness than the kindred brutes of other countries, it must be on this general principle, that mercy is in some degree due to the animals beneath us, that the Divine Legislator of the Jews provided on the Sabbath for their refreshment." And if the weekly return of the Sabbath should bring along with it not merely the idea but the actual enjoyment of a day of rest to our servants and to our cattle, it must be regarded as a gross profanation of the Sabbath, when the former are as fully occupied on that day as on any other; and when the latter, especially if they are strained beyond their strength for six days of the week, (as

is generally the case when their services are hired,) are cruelly denied the equitable claim which they have to suspension of labour on the seventh. The merciful man will shew himself merciful in the one case as well as in the other; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

2. The Sabbath was made for man as a day of public worship.

It is on this account that the rest which it provides from bodily labour and secular pursuits is chiefly valuable. And as the reason of this merciful provision rests on the common benefits of the creation and redemption of the world, it is evident that all descriptions of men, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, stand obliged to observe its sacred duties. By keeping a Sabbath, and by keeping it on the first day of the week, we protest both against idolatry and Judaism, and declare our belief in God the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

The influence which this duty has upon the peace and order of society is so conspicuous, that infidels have endeavoured to represent it as a mere contrivance of politicians to keep the world in awe. From its acknowledged usefulness they have attempted to raise an hypothesis for overturning its divine authority. It has been often proved that the attempt is vain and the hypothesis absurd: but the attempt could never have been made, if the utility of public worship had not, even in a

temporal point of view, been obvious and undeniable.

But there are higher motives than such as are merely temporal, to induce us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. The preaching of the gospel is the means which God himself has appointed to turn men from sin, to reclaim them from the error of their ways, and to build them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. When the glad tidings of this salvation began to be fully proclaimed, upon the descent of the Holy Spirit after our Saviour's resurrection, thousands were converted in a day; many of whom had not merely consented to his crucifixion, but had, perhaps, been active instruments in it. The heathen nations were soon after subdued to the obedience of the faith. The weapons of this warfare were not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And though our day, compared with this, is the day of small things, yet, perhaps, it is a day of greater things than have been accomplished for many ages that preceded it. By the preaching of the everlasting gospel, and the circulation of the sacred scriptures, field after field of the moral wild has been cultivated; the wilderness and the solitary places are made glad; and those who went forth weeping over the miseries of their fellow-creatures, and bearing precious seed, come again with rejoic

ing, bringing their sheaves with them. And when we consider that no less perhaps than ten thousand ministers of various denominations lift up their voice in Britain alone, to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, can we believe that they all labour in vain, and spend their strength for nought? No; many are thereby brought to renounce the error of their ways, to flee for refuge to the hope of the gospel, and to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow, from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah, lv. 10, 11.

Prayer is another important part of public worship. In reference to which our Saviour thus expresses himself: I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. As in all other cases where many unite for any particular end, their strength is increased in proportion to their number, so it is in prayer to God. This union collects the piety, zeal, and fervour of the whole. The careless and lukewarm are so many insulated individuals. Their union is merely the union of time and place, a bodily service which profiteth little: that of the others, who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth,

and one another with a pure heart fervently, is the union of one body and one spirit.

The same may be said of psalmody, when properly conducted. If we ought to employ all the powers and faculties both of body and mind in the service of Him who bestowed them, then how can the tongue, which is the glory of man, with all the variety of tones and modulations of voice by which the affections of the mind naturally express themselves, be employed to a better or a nobler purpose than in celebrating the perfections and the works of God, and the wonders of redeeming love? This is the delightful service in which the blessed angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect, are constantly engaged in heaven; and it is to this that the psalmist alludes in the hundred and eighteenth psalm, which is a direct prophecy both of the change of the Sabbath under the gospel, and of the joy and gladness of the Christian church, when assembled to celebrate the triumphs of the resurrection of Christ. Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them, and I will praise the Lord. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made, the Lord's day, the day which he hath set apart from every other, for his more immediate worship and service; that is, the first day of the week, the day on which the Saviour of the world rose again from the dead, for that was the day when the stone which the builders rejected