The National Register.
London, England, 1816-03-31 00:00:00

So. 4.30.—V01.. I X.

AlinDap Anntornirnt4.

a Divide 51.11 DAY from the Week."—MottivirsAtt*.

OBSERVITION OF THE 5i1111.1771.

ALTHOUGH what we have already written on this
anilject on two former occasions, may appear enough to
some, and more than enough to others, yet we cannot
aancluae our remarks without taking an opportunity of
siddressing some observations and advice. to the young,
on the mode in which they ought to testify thuir reverence
fur this sacred day, which their religion has coannamied
them to hallow. These observations may partake of the
lesiottsness of the pulpit ; and we hope they will not be
the less regarded, because they do not come from it.
f roan the time, then, our young friends, that " the even-
ing and the morning were the seventh day," your .Maker
has claimed the seventh portion of your time to himself,
to meditate on the structure he then ended, and the laws
he then established; to raise your minds and your wor-
ship to his throne, and to anticipate in brighter regions.
snore exuberant displays of his perfectimu. In your
earliest infancy you have witnessed this appointment—
you can remember its observance befine you knew any
of the reasons on which it is finuttled. You saw as a
particular day recurred, a change in the employments of
mankind, and an alteration in the scene around you.
The hum of labour ceased; the toiling labourer disap-
peared from view; the animal that assisted him in his
operations partook of his repose, and nature, undisturbed
by the noisy activity of maa, conducted in silent majesty
her magnificent designs. your own little sports and
amusements were interrupted, and your attention turned,
by the afftsetionate piety of your parents, to 1)ooks less
diverting, to employments of a graver and more dignified
east. You beheld those, on whose wisdom you relied,
land whose conduct you were taught to rex (-team, assume
a composure more sedate, and occupy the domestic circle
with more serious conversation, or more sacred topics of
reflection. Abroad, tranquillity, and almost solitude,
reigned, and the heavens and the earth, reposing in the
silent solemnity of Sabbath, exhibited a more sereue and
impressive grandeur. As the day advanced, those ex-
ercises osmmeneed, in which it was destined principally to
be spent. Social worship called your friends to the
meetings of the thithful, and the united song of praise
that rose from the temple of your Maker, or the dev.)-
tional attitudes that you observed within its walls, assured
you of the existence of a hallowed day, and impressed on
your imagination the observation of the fourth comnumd-
mem. Never allow this impression to be effaced, never
permit a duty which your reason must approve, to be de-
prived of the assistance that it must derive front early as-
sociations. But, if on the other hand you have unhap-
pily observed no reverence paid by the friends and the
guardians of your youth to the recurrence of the Chris.
Can fustival—if " Sabbath has shone no Sablrath-thty to
you" in early infancy, endeavour as sOOll as possible to
create an influence in its titvour in your mind, by repre-
senting the innumerable advantages with which it must
be attended, and the indispensible obligation you lie under
as Christians to engage in the exercises it suggests. You
muy see it despised by the Heathens who reside in this Chris-
tian country, you may hear of improper modes of observ-
mg it among the Christians of other countries, but let not
their example influence your practice, nor their reasonings
mislead your understandings. One day in seven is as small a
portion of your time as you can reasonably allot ihr thiitking
of what you ore and what you will be, tbr viewing the
grand urrungementS of the system in which you are
placed, fiir reflecting on the perti.etion of the Being who
has established them, tier recognising your relation to spi-
ritual existences, and anticipating the change which will
assimilate you to more exalted natures. By detaching
yourselves from the influence of the senses, by neglecting
at stated periods present impressions, and exercising your
mind on the Fast, the future, or the distant, you must
rise in the scale efsvisdont and intelliganwe, you must ap-
proximate higher beings, and widen the interval between
you and the less perfect animals that possess the earth
along with you, and partake of your bodily instincts.
The very existence of the Sabbath, and the associations
with which it is connected, introduce to the mind the
meg interesting and sublime reflections. The occasion
of its original appointment, and the cause of its subse-
quent change, suggest a train of thoughts that embraces
the whole of natural and revealed religion—thecreation of
the world and its redemption, the Jewish and Christian
Cispensations. Hallsw the Sabbath, says the voice of the
ALLraw oracle, " fur in six days the Lord wadi) Iluayun