"The hill of Sion yields

A thousand sacred sweets,

Before we reach the heavenly fields

Or tread the golden streets."

My impression, however, has long been, that much may be done by the spread of education in the church in connexion with the cultivation of religion, to beautify its phase in the eyes of those who are as yet without its pale. Much of what is agreeable to cultivated minds, adorning and useful in itself, and would be auxiliary to the influence of the church, it has been content to leave as plunder in the hands of the Egyptians, though its charter of incorporation contains the grant from the universal Proprietor-" All things are yours," which may be expounded by the phrase, "Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report." Perhaps I may be pardoned the remark, though it savours somewhat of temerity, yet it is not made without forethought, that one accomplishment of the Christian life the great majority of serious religionists have yet to learn; that of accurately drawing the line between using and abusing the world, being in it and not of it. We may abuse a thing by not using it, as well as by using it improperly; and we may not be of the world, without sacrificing any one of our legitimate enjoyments and privileges as those who are in it. The obligation lies upon us to avoid the former, and to do the latter. I conceive that a love for the beautiful, as expressed in nature, or embodied by art, or pictured by the imagination; a correct taste; and a mind well furnished by education and reading with the facts of science and the stores of literature, give immense advantages to the possessor of religion, pour into his own life an element of joy, and invest him with a charm in the eyes of others which is not to be despised, because capable of disarming prejudice, and conciliating respect.

I close these remarks with some of the last words of pious Herbert, who had solaced himself with verse and song, in the garden of his parsonage at Bemerton, and could look back upon his recreations without regret, having made them subordinate and subservient to the "one thing needful." On the Sunday preceding his death, he called for his lute, and played, and sung a verse from one of his own hymns. "I now look back," said he, "upon the pleasures of my life past, and see the content I have taken in beauty, in wit, in music, and pleasant conversation, which are now all past by me like a dream, or as a shadow that returns not, and are all now become dead to me, or I to them; and I see that as my father and generation have done before me, so I, also, shall now suddenly with Job make my bed in the dark. And I praise God I am prepared for it; and I praise him I am not to learn patience now I stand in such need of it; and that I have practised mortification, and endeavoured to die daily, that I might not die eternally; and my hope is, that I shall shortly leave this valley of tears,

and be free from all fever and pain; and, which will be a more happy condition, I shall be free from sin, and all the temptations and anxieties that attend it. And this being past, I shall dwell in the New Jerusalem, dwell there with men made perfect, dwell where these eyes shall see my Master and Saviour, Jesus; and with him see my dear mother, and all my relations and friends." O si sic omnes.

M.

ON THE RELATION OF THE SABBATH, AND OF THE
DECALOGUE, TO THE MORAL LAW.

THE insertion in this work of the author's concluding remarks on the Sabbath having been deferred longer than was expected, he gladly takes advantage of the delay to exchange the controversial style, which, in common with most other persons he greatly dislikes, for that of peaceful discussion. In so doing, he trusts he shall not be deemed guilty of any disrespect towards his able opponents, Mr. Conder and I. J., whose arguments he has carefully considered, and, when necessary, will briefly discuss.

The immediate object of the following observations is to show that the Sabbath is not a part of the moral law, nor the Decalogue a simple transcript of that law; and thereby to obviate the principal objections opposed to the conclusion which the author has endeavoured to maintain; namely, that under the Christian dispensation there is no Sabbath of Divine appointment.* By the moral law is generally understood that rule of conduct which rational beings are bound to observe by a regard to the relations in which they are placed. This obligation, together with its connected rewards and penalties, is natural, unchangeable, and independent of revelation or command. Originally written as it were by the finger of God on the human heart, it is spontaneously acknowledged, even by those who transgress it; and, although much obscured and mutilated by the fall, has never been entirely effaced. In each volume of Scripture this law is recorded, both in detail, and in the summary form of the two great commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself;" and the same Divine authority declares it to be dictated by reason, as well as by revelation. "The wrath of God," says the apostle Paul, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. For what may be known of God is manifest to them, God himself having dis

See Congregational Magazine, New Series, vol. v. p. 705; vol. vi. pp. 152, 310, 527, 600, 667, 748, 835.

covered it, (his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and deity having since the creation of the world been rationally perceived by his works,) so that they are without excuse." And again, "When the Gentiles who have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, they, although without the law, are a law to themselves; and show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their judgments of their own accord, either condemning or excusing [them.]"*

To these inspired statements those of the principal pagan moralists of antiquity remarkably correspond. Thus Seneca observes, "The whole universe which you behold, and in which Divine and human affairs are included, is one system. We are members of one great body. Nature has made us relatives; since we spring from beings like ourselves, and produce our like in turn. It is nature who has implanted in us mutual love, and made us sociable. It is nature who has constituted justice and equity, owing to which it is more miserable to injure than to be injured; and under her influence our hands are formed for mutual help." The views of Epictetus are precisely similar, and still more strongly expressed. "We came into the world," says he, "without any natural idea of a right-angled triangle, of a diesis, or hemitone in music, but we learn each of these things by some instruction of art. Hence they who do not understand them do not form any conceit of understanding them. But who ever came into the world without an innate idea of good and evil, fair and base, becoming and unbecoming, happiness and misery, proper and improper, what ought to be done and what not to be done?" After asking what are right principles, he replies, "Such as a man ought to study all day long, so as not to be attached to what doth not belong to him, neither to a friend, to a place, an academy, nor even to his own body, but to remember the law, and to have that constantly before his eyes. And what is the Divine law? To preserve inviolate what is properly our own, not to claim what belongs to others, to use what is given us, and not desire what is not given us; and, when anything is taken away, to restore it readily, and to be thankful for the time you have been permitted the use of it." And again, "Duties are universally measured by relations. Is any one a father? In this are implied as due, taking care of him, submitting to him in all things, patiently receiving his reproaches, his correction. But, he is a bad father. Is your natural tie then to a good father? No, but to a father. Is a brother unjust? Well, preserve your own situation towards him. Consider not what he doth, but what you are to do, to keep your own faculty of choice in a state conformable to nature. For another will

*Mark xii. 28-31; Luke x. 25-28; Romans i. 18-20; ii. 14, 15.

† L. A. Senecæ Opera, 3 vol. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1672; vol. ii. pp. 470, 471.

not hurt you unless you please. You will then be hurt when you think you are hurt. In this manner, therefore, you will find from [the idea of] a neighbour, a citizen, a general, the [corresponding] duties, if you accustom yourself to contemplate the [several] relations."* Further quotations of this kind are, however, rendered unnecessary by the following noble description of the moral law, as translated from Cicero by the late Dr. Thomas Brown, of Edinburgh. "There is, indeed, one true and original law, conformable to reason and to nature, diffused over all, invariable, eternal, which calls to the fulfilment of duty, and to abstinence from injustice, and which calls with that irresistible voice which is felt in all its authority, wherever it is heard. This law cannot be abolished, or curtailed, nor affected in its sanctions by any law of man. A whole senate, a whole people, cannot dispense from its paramount obligation. It requires no commentator to render it distinctly intelligible, nor is it different at Rome, at Athens, now, and in the ages before and after; but in all ages, and in all nations, it is, and has been, and will be, one and everlasting ;- -one as that God, its great author and promulgator, who is the common Sovereign of all mankind, is himself one. Man is truly man as he yields to this Divine influence. He cannot resist it but by fleeing as it were from his own bosom, and laying aside the general feelings of humanity; by which very act he must already have inflicted on himself the severest of punishments, even though he were to avoid whatever is usually accounted punishment." †

Such, then, is the character of the moral law. The duties which it inculcates are natural, self-evident, immutable, and universal. Hence they are totally distinct from the positive commands of the Deity; which being founded, not on the intrinsic relations of objects, but simply on his own will, or on variable circumstances, are liable to limitation and change, and cannot be known without a revelation. Duties of this kind are, of course, perfectly consistent with the moral law and necessarily enforced by it, on the general ground of obedience to the Creator; but have no permanent connexion with that law, and, when they cease to be commanded cease to exist. The duty of habitual piety towards God, and of frequent acts of worship both private and social, is manifestly natural, or founded on relation; but the devotion to religious purposes of the seventh or any other day of the week, is as manifestly arbitrary, or founded on the will of the legislator. The original account given of the Sabbath in Scripture is that, "[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

*

Epictetus,-Works, translated by Mrs. E. Carter; 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1807. vol. i. pp. 201, 202, 235, 236; vol. ii. p. 314.

+ Thomas Brown, M. D. Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind; 8vo. Edinb. 1828, p. 503.

hallowed it," Exodus, xx. 8-11. Why it pleased God to employ six days in the work of creation is not explained. Any other period would, apparently, have been equally proper; and had not he directed the religious observance of the seventh day, that observance would not have been a duty. The laborious but unsuccessful attempts which have been made to prove it to be of natural obligation, really prove the contrary, for natural obligations are perceived intuitively. Many nations both ancient and modern have, it is true, dedicated particular seasons to religion, or recreation; but such appointments have been optional and variable, and the knowledge of a Sabbath of Divine institution is exclusively derived from revelation. The remark made on this subject by Josephus, in his reply to Apion, although tinctured with the exaggeration incidental to a zealous advocate, is substantially true, and much to the purpose. "We have already demonstrated,” says he, "that our laws have been such as have always inspired admiration and imitation into all other men. Nay, the earliest Grecian philosophers, though in appearance they observed the laws of their own countries, yet did they in their actions and their philosophic doctrines follow our legislator, and instructed men to live sparingly, and to have friendly communication one with another. Nay, further, the multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclination for a long time to follow our religious observances; for there is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts, and lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our food, are not observed ; . . . . . . and, as God himself pervades all the world, so hath our law passed through all the world also." * Whether the original sanctification of the Sabbath, mentioned in Genesis ii. 1-3, involved a command, has been doubted, more especially as no distinct notice of the subject is afterwards taken till the Exodus of the Israelites; but, granting the fact, it was evidently a positive command, and not a part of the moral law, any allusion to which would at that period have been superfluous and unseasonable. It was, moreover, the same Sabbath which was afterwards embodied in the Mosaic covenant, the only Sabbath known to the Scriptures, and concerning which the apostle Paul declares that under the Christian covenant it is not in force.† It has been urged that, as a type of heavenly felicity, it might still without inconsistency have been continued. Perhaps it might; but as it has pleased God to determine otherwise, the remark is of no avail. By the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, the great realities

*Josephus,-Works, translated by Whiston, in 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1806; vol. iv. p. 358.

+ For the enactment of a positive institution an explicit command is necessary; and the single allusion to "the Lord's day" in the New Testament, Rev. i. 10, supposing it to mean the Christian Sabbath, which some doubt, may intimate an early and approved custom, but does not amount to a command.