Would Man but consider, as he ought, the Inestimable Blessings That were especially Vouchsafed to him at that time, in his Formation after the Image of his MAKER, as an Intellectual Being and an Immortal Spirit, having Shed upon him Emanations from the various Attributes of DEITY Itself, Gifted with reason, Enlightened with wisdom, capacitated to behold and reflect upon The Greatness and Goodness of The ALMIGHTY in His Works, susceptible of the purest and most perfect delight in yielding the Soul up to the Will of GOD, and resting on the Assurance of the Unceasing Influence of The DIVINE Love and Favour, how would he rejoice that he was even allowed to refrain, and that the support of his existence here was compatible with his abstaining from bodily toil on one day out of seven, that he might dedicate unbrokenly his time and thoughts, his whole heart and soul to meditation and prayer; and thus, even amidst the cares of this life, solace the mind with the Balm of Heavenly Peace, and fill it with added wonder and gratitude in exploring the Merciful and Condescending Dispensations of GOD to Man.--GOD Blessed the Seventh day and Hallowed it— but He Blessed and Hallowed it for Man's sake; for whose sake He had Perfected the whole Scheme of Creation. And shall Man, on whom such Distinguished Loving Kindness was Visited, neglect The DIVINE Bidding, and not withdraw himself for one day in seven from worldly objects, so that he may bless and hallow that day as the emblem of the Everlasting Sabbath, to which he is moreover Graciously Invited by his Almighty BENEFACTOR? Under the Jewish Dispensation the seventh day was Appointed to be kept holy to The LORD by virtue of This Commandment: and under that of Christianity a seventh day is in like manner to be hallowed, not only for the Work of Original Creation but also in commemoration of Man's Second Creation in purity, or Regeneration in Grace through the Incarnate Intercession of The SON of GOD, by the Free Will Offering of Himself in Expiatory Atonement for sin, and in Interposed Righteousness for Sanctification by The HOLY SPIRIT, and of the Final Consummation of That Great Work and Labour of Love, by That MEDIATOR's Resurrection on that day, Triumphant over the Grave and Death and Hell, and Opening the Door of Heaven to all Believers. And this change of day from the seventh to the first of the week the Christian Church, from its earliest establishment, hath adopted and observed by keeping it holy as a Sabbath, commemorative alike of Creation, Redemption and Sanctification.In thus appropriating one day in seven to the advancement of our Souls in Spiritual improvement, we shall feel refreshed and the more fitted for bodily labour or secular exertion, which our natural wants or conveniences require; and we shall more and more be gradually influenced so to use both our own powers and faculties, and also the good things of this life, so as not to abuse them; but shall govern our appetites and regulate even our thoughts as well as our words and our works, exercising forbearance towards our Dependants, and consideration towards such of the brute creation as may be under our controul. Looking upon ourselves, as we perseveringly should do, in the character of Stewards of GOD's Bounty Dealt out to us, and as liable in every instant to be Summoned by Death to our great account before CHRIST, The JUDGE of all Men, let us lay to heart in deep and sober reflection that we should demean ourselves with all holy conversation and godliness, waiting, though with patience, for the Fulfilment of our hope of Salvation unto Glory Everlasting, through CHRIST JESUS, our SAVIOUR; cherishing within us universal good-will and charity, exemplifying the Christian Graces of meekness, gentleness and goodness, and evincing fortitude and forbearance under trials of affliction or persecution; having our delight in contemplating the Love of GOD in CHRIST JESUS; forgiving, as we hope for Forgiveness; loving as we have experienced Love; and doing unto Others, whether High or Low, Rich or Poor, as we would that they in our circumstances should do to us; carefully abstaining from all cruelty or unwarrantable treatment towards any of the brute creation, whether beasts, or birds, fishes, or insects, considering them all as made by The Same Great and Gracious CREATOR, Who Made ourselves, and Who in all His Matchless and Numberless Works Made nothing in vain, but All for Good, though not always so apparent to us dim-sighted Mortals; and doubtless Appointing All, in a greater or less degree, to contribute, in His Vast and Comprehensive Scheme of Providence, to our sustenance or comfort. And the People add LORD, Have Mercy upon us, and Incline our hearts to keep This Law! The foregoing Commandments having Pointed out our duty to our CREATOR, the succeeding Ones direct the performance of such as we owe generally to our Neighbours or ourselves; and which should be understood and applied not exclusively in their literal sense, but in all their obvious connections and tendencies.The Fifth Commandment the Minister then declares thus Honour thy Father and thy Mother! that thy days may be long in the Land, which The LORD, thy GOD, Giveth thee. And the People add LORD, Have Mercy upon us, and Incline our hearts to keep This Law! Having framed the heart to the Honour and Praise of our Heavenly FATHER, we are by Himself Graciously Enjoined not to neglect our Earthly Parents, but to honour them in a becoming degree, who have been made instrumental to The ALMIGHTY's Gift of Creation to us, and who have fostered and cherished us under The Divinely Imparted Influence of natural affection, through the weakness and sickness and helplessness of Infancy and Childhood, and reared us up with anxious and unceasing care to maturer life; and who have blessed us with the aids of instruction and knowledge, and have poured into our Souls the Elements of That Wisdom, Which they received from Above, and to Which the hope of an Inheritance in The KINGDOM of HEAVEN is attached as the Fruit of CHRIST's Intercession and under the Qualifications from The HOLY SPIRIT. Reverence is naturally due from Youth to Age; but where to that relative superiority, which maturer years give title to, the tie exists of such close consanguinity as lineal descent confers, gratitude should be associated with affection. For where both feelings are rejected the sight is deeply revolting and incurs universal censure and reprobation. If the Parental conduct be exemplary and consistent in the treatment of Offspring, a Soul must indeed be far gone in depravity and in imminent danger of becoming a Child of the Devil, that can withhold the reasonable return of love, duty and obedience, or not rejoice in every opportunity of administering to the necessities, contributing to the comforts, alleviating the burdens, or bearing with the infirmities incidental to declining life in a Father or Mother, ever ready to listen with attention to the wisdom, to profit by the lessons of experience, and to pursue the paths pointed out by a tender, loving, discreet and pious Parent; and seeking to convey, by every means within the power of a Child, that consolation to the Parental bosom, which arises to it from the view of such Child walking in the way of Godliness, following the steps of a righteous Ancestry, and adhering to the Precepts of DIVINE Revelation, in the reverential fear and holy love of GOD and of JESUS CHRIST as The MEDIATOR. if unhappily the life of a Parent have in itself been in error, and his Soul not surrendered to the Guidance, the Invitations. and Admonitions of A Merciful GOD; if he have left his Son untutored in the Wisdom of The ALMIGHTY's Word, and in the Wonders of His Compassion; if he have sowed the seeds of corruption in his Child's heart, and by example, if not by precept, brought him within the paths of the Destroyer, then if the Merciful Interposition of DIVINE Love (as is often found) stem the torrent that threatens to overwhelm the Soul, and Draw it out by A Gracious Hand from the deep waters of desolation, no occupation can be more gratifying to the heart, that engages in it, or more Acceptable to GOD, than meekly contending with the evil propensities of such a Parent, and striving unceasingly by all the powers of affectionate and respectful persuasion and remonstrance to But awaken in the Parental Soul the sense of its awful error and the consequences that must befal a perseverance in it; at a time of life too, when in the course of Nature a Parent may be drawing near to the brink of Eternity, and standing therefore on a precipice, down which a further adherence to irreligion, after so long a trial of The ALMIGHTY's Forbearance, may hurl the Soul into a state, not of non-existence and insensibility, and therefore only negatively a state of punishment, but into a condition endless as Eternity, darker than the grave, more loathsome than the most pestilential disease, more agonizing than the utmost sensation or conception of a wounded conscience, amidst the torments of remorse, filled with the horrors of despair, but without the cessation or relief that the wildness of fancy in the fever of the brain and the paroxysms of insanity possibly on Earth afford; and without a hope that Death will come to deliver from so dread a doom. And yet, moreover, having to endure the heat-rending torture of a consciousness of the perfect happiness and exquisite and pure delight experienced by Those from whom the Favour of The LORD is not Withdrawn, and to Which he had been as Graciously Called and Urged to come, and might have succeeded on the easy terms of sincere repentance, and a faith firm in dependance on A SAVIOUR's Efficacious Offering for him, and of cherishing the Imparted Graces of The HOLY SPIRIT to newness of life in the ways of Righteousness and true Holiness. -The Priest then delivers the Sixth Com mandment Thou shalt do no murder! And the People add LORD, Have Mercy upon us, and Incline our hearts to keep This Law! The Soul, that would deliberately cut off the little of life that is left to a Fellow-Creature here to repent of his iniquities, and to prepare himself to meet the Awful, Visible, and Conscious Presence of An All-Righteous, Omniscient and Almighty JUDGE, in Whose Displeasure is never-ending woe and the |