haps, that they are unknown, and that their example will thus be of little consequence. The case, however, is generally otherwise. Such facts are known; religion is wounded by their example. But were it not so, there is an eye which is ever awake and all-seeing, to witness their conduct. He who thus pierces through every disguise, and reads the motive, is that God who has uttered his solemn injunction,-REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY. We have heard it mentioned of the late Mr. Evarts, that, being in a steam-boat descending one of our western rivers, on Saturday evening, just at night-fall, he requested to be set on shore at a lonely spot; and while all the passengers, in utter amazement, were remonstrating with him, declaring, that he might be compelled to wait for days, before another opportunity of taking a boat occurred; he calmly replied, that it might be so, but that his principles did not allow him to travel on the sabbath. If we recollect right, on Monday morning, another boat very unexpectedly came along, in which he actually reached the place where he was going, sooner than the passengers who had continued on. Such instances of steadfast adherence to principle, and at the expense of self-denial, are rare; but the same spirit, with respect to the sabbath, is now required of all who claim to be christians at heart and in life. Every effort should be made to arrange one's concerns, at home and abroad, so that the Lord's day may be kept holy. A bright example should be continually held forth, marking the christian to be one who, in his family and every where, recognizes this institution as most dear to his recollection, and enforcing claims which he delights to feel. Instead of secular conversation, and idle listlessness, which are too often permitted to find place even among the professed disciples of Christ, the duties of the day, meditation and prayer, with every means of gaining a closer walk with God, should occupy those sacred hours; and every one, over whom he has influence, should thus be made to realize, that the sabbath is a day to be kept holy,—a day of rest from worldly pursuits,—a day of worship and blessings.

Again, deep guilt lies at the door of those professing christians, who establish or take stock in stages, rail-roads, and boats, which are used for violating the sabbath. In all cases, where persons are thus interested in the profits arising from the open violation of the Lord's day, it is their duty to remonstrate, and to exert their influence in preventing the evil; and if such efforts are unavailing, to withdraw from all participation in the concern, or they cannot be guiltless. Christian merchants, too, who by their patronage support forwarding lines, are bound to do all in their power, by a fair statement of their feelings, to induce the owners of such establishments to abandon the practice of receiving and transporting goods, upon the sabbath. We are not advising coercion of any kind, or

combinations for the purposes of patronage or competition; but they may and ought to express their wishes, and so arrange their business, that their participation in the evil may, as much as is possible, be avoided. Every christian church, especially, should at once feel and manifest a deeper interest in the sanctification of the Lord's day. Written public pledges, and associations for this purpose, are supposed by some, the most desirable plan of operations. It seems to be thought, that, because this system has been so eminently successful in the temperance cause, it is equally adapted to check the progress of other evils. We are, however, inclined to doubt both its practicability and expediency in other cases. There is something so distinct in the pledge to abstain from ardent spirits, that no well-meaning person can for a moment be troubled in deciding the extent of its application. The case is otherwise, however, with respect to pledges publicly entered into, not to do, or say, or think, any thing wrong or immoral; and so many difficulties would be found, in maintaining an association on such principles, that it could operate but to little or no advantage. Yet it is the duty of every church, seriously to examine the question, as one in which they feel deeply concerned,-What can be done to promote the sanctification of the sabbath? Over a subject of such vast importance to our country, the children of God can no longer sleep, and remain guiltless. Let them meet once a month, at least, for the express purpose of deliberation respecting the evil, and to devise the best means for arraying a moral influence, which may bear upon the whole community, to check its progress, and restore to us a better state of things. Let efforts be every where made, to collect and publish the statistics of sabbath-breaking, the numbers compelled to labor, and the ways in which an evil example is set; that the extent of this heaven-daring sin, in all its length and breadth of guilt, may be seen, and a proper consciousness of the danger which thereby threatens us, be awakened. Heads of families, among christians, are under solemn obligations, by example, instruction, and suitable discipline, to enforce the importance of the sabbath upon their children and dependents. Less time, we believe, is now devoted to the parental instruction of children on the sabbath, than was formerly done, before the institution of sabbath-schools. This is a great error among christian parents. It is their duty to co-operate with the sabbath-school teacher, in making those children whom God has intrusted to their charge, to feel, that one great design of this holy day is, family religious instruction. To impress upon the minds of the children there collected, a reverence for the Lord's day, ought also to be made a prominent object in all our sabbathschools. The arrangements of the school, the example of the teachers, the drift of instruction, all should have immediate reference to

this object, far more than is usual; and it will thus be clearly seen, that they are in earnest in seeking to secure it. Ministers of the gospel too, should preach often and plainly upon the subject. Here, likewise, is a great defect. Too little is said in the pulpit, directly enforcing the sanctification of the sabbath. Yet, with a proper observance of this day, is identified the welfare of all our religious institutions, and our ultimate prosperity as a nation. The editors of religious papers have likewise a solemn duty to discharge in this work; they, too, should earnestly endeavor to rouse the attention of the christian public, to view the evil as it is; and, with the alarm sounding through every part of the land, a mighty and concentrated effort should be made, by the piety of the whole church of God in this country, to save us from the evil which seems awaiting us,— the loss of the sabbath. We have alluded to the extensive and well-organized plan, which is now in operation, to ruin this people, and blot out religion from among us. A correspondent effort should be made by those who are anxious to save their country. It will never answer for us to be idle, and cry out, All is well. The enemies of religion, the deadliest foes to the christian sabbath, are awake, and urging forward their designs. They make no secret of what are their aims. With a dreadful precision, they point their batteries, and look to see the walls of Zion soon totter. It is not the least portentous fact, that while such is the case, the church is unwilling to learn its danger and provide against it. Is such a time one for internal dissensions; for breaking asunder the ties of the christian brotherhood, and weakening the hand of christian effort? or, is it not rather demanded by the exigency of the times, that the children of God, laying aside all contentions, should rally around this sacred institution, and prepare themselves to meet the dreadful conflict with infidelity and impiety, which awaits them? We may vainly cry peace, and hope to dream on in security; but the crisis is at hand, and the smouldering fires of the volcano are beneath us, ready to burst forth. The ground is, as it were, already rocking under our feet; the muttering of the approaching tempest may be heard; and shall those whose all is in jeopardy, still continue reckless, hug the delusion, and sink into yet deeper slumbers ? An awful responsibility now rests on the church,-on the ministers of Christ,-on every private christian. Let them realize it, and act as it demands. The influence of a holier adherence to the divine command, should break in a thunder-tone of rebuke upon the conscience of the worldling. It must ring from one end of our land to another, penetrate every valley, and pour over our mountain-tops with redoubling energy, till it finds an echo in the bosom of every follower of Christ. The sabbath is leaving us! the ark of God is in danger! Let every pulpit sound it forth in solemn monition; let every religious press reiterate the injunction;

let every child of God feel its import :-Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Let every branch of the church of Christ, and every one who owns allegiance to his Savior, summon all the strength of moral influence at his command, and concentrate it in a holy, selfdenying purpose, to cling to this safeguard of every thing which is dear and blessed in our earthly existence,-this sacred altar, where are treasured all our immortal hopes of heavenly rest, and unsullied bliss. Let prayer,-the prayer of those with whom the sabbath is a delight, and who call the holy day of God honorable,--unceasingly ascend to him, that he, by his Spirit, may arrest the maddened, suicidal career of this nation; and, turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and of the children to the fathers, bind together the feelings of his people; that we all may prize this our glorious birth-right, and thus seal with his own holy approbation, every effort to reclaim from the disregard and contempt into which they have sunk, hours so graciously vouchsafed us in which to seek his favor. If the sabbath is blotted out from among us, our glory is departed; and He, who claims it as his own, will most assuredly be avenged on such a nation as this. Years of bitter lamentation and upbraiding, and floods of too late awakened sorrow, will not then avail us, or restore to us "this couch of time," where "heaven's gates stand ope,-blessings are plentiful and rife,-more plentiful than hope." We close, in the humble hope, that our readers will respond, with us, to the devout aspiration of another, which, though originally referring to the place of worship, admits of a figurative application of equal pertinency, to the day so loved and honored by our pilgrim

ART. VI.-Seventh Report of THE AMERICAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.

Seventh Report of the American Temperance Society. May, 1834. Boston: Seth Bliss, Perkins & Marvin.

THE pilot on the Mississippi, after a single year's absence, becomes incompetent to guide among the shifting sands of that restless river. The lawyer is unfitted for his profession, who omits to keep the run and the record of its constantly accumulating novelties. So, in a pre-eminent degree, it may be affirmed of the advoVOL. VI.

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cates of temperance, that they are incapacitated, as the profitable organs for the diffusion of all its glorious truths, and as the accurate reporters of its rapid progress, unless they are constantly em ployed in the correction and enlargement of their statistical tables.

The light of truth, like every other light, though it may be entirely concealed for ages from the world, is destined, when it has once fairly broken through the surrounding gloom, to spread with incal culable rapidity, and irresistible power. When Tacitus, in a bitter spirit, spoke of the early disciples, as "a race of men detested for their evil practices, by vulgar appellation commonly called christians," he little suspected, that in a few years, those very christians would extend their spiritual jurisdiction from the shores of the Baltic to the Pacific ocean. A very brief period of years has gone by, since the whole projet of a temperance reformation was the subject of contemptuous merriment, from one end of our country to the other. There were some, who laughed outright, at the idea of a scheme so perfectly visionary and absurd. Others, restrained by a feeling of consideration, rather than of respect, for their well-meaning neighbors, who had engaged in this chimerical enterprise; composed their features, while they gave ear to the prospectus of the reformation, uttering silently in their hearts, "credat Judæus Appella!" We have known a president of the oldest temperance society in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, selected for that office, not altogether on account of his devotion to the cause, but for the purpose of gathering to its side the adscititious support of a well-known name, and an elevated station; we have known this individual to smooth his countenance, with no inconsiderable effort, at the very door of the assembly over whose deliberations he was about to preside. The apparent insignificancy of the whole affair, and the utter impracticability of its ultimate designs, in the opinion of the generality of mankind, exempted it entirely from the opposition of an organized body. The shafts of playful ridicule were indeed showered upon its advocates, from every quarter; the high and the low, the rich and the poor, used the reformation as a target for their harmless archery. But it had not then become a matter of sufficient importance, to attract the serious attention, much less to excite the fears, or provoke the anger, of the manufacturers or the worshipers of idols. The dram-seller chuckled over its seeming imbecility, as he dropped the wages of a merciless occupation into his insatiable till; and the facetious tippler, the ragged wag of the village, drank his glass of raw rum or brandy to the long life of the cold-water man.

Such were the days of small things. But, like Hercules, this nova progenies, even in its infancy, had the power of strangling serpents. It soon began to develop, and rise, and spread, like a

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