neracy, not only of servants, but of all the inferior conditions of society. It was not from the desire of hearing his creatures praise him, that the Almighty issued his command for a septenary re membrance of creation and redemption. He showed, by that institution, his benevolent regard to our temporal and eternal welfare. By hallowing the Lord'sday, we do not only learn those " songs of Sion in a strange land," which we may hope to sing for ever in the kingdom of our Father; but we diminish the evils incident to our pilgrimage, by acquiring those habits which will render it pleasant and prosperous. Whoever has seen the blessed effects of the Sabbath in an orderly country village, will readily acquiesce in the acknowledgment that it is the great civilizer of the lower orders. Suspension of toil, innocent recreation, decent apparel, comfortable food, domestic enjoyment, and social

worship, all present themselves to our view in the family of an industrious religious labourer; nor can we contemplate the cleanliness and modest propriety of their appearance, as they walk to "the house of the Lord their God," without a rapturous sensation of benevolent exultation. Let us now glance at the scenes which Sunday presents in the vicinity of flourishing manufactures, where promiscuous associations and enormous gains beget the disgusting habits of low debauchery. Labour indeed is suspended; but sin, like the Egyptian task-masters, demands her double tale of service. The filthy squalid rags worn all the week are laid aside, not to assume a neat simplicity of clean apparel, but to flaunt in a ridiculous medley of illsorted finery. The work-shop is deserted, but the church is unfrequented; the ale-houses are however well peopled; and though the wheel and the loom are

silent, drunken blasphemy and unrestrained indelicacy offend our ears with noises equally obstreperous. If we turn our eyes to the younger part of the mechanic's family, we shall see in their pursuits and conduct the future victims of prostitution and debauchery. Are not these scenes too general; has not depravity of manners uniformly kept pace with multiplied assemblage and superabundant provision? Manufacturing towns are the usual rendezvous of disaffection,' tumult, profligacy, and misery. Surely then it is to be feared, that these inevitable evils, which are so intimately annexed to our commercial superiority, must very sensibly diminish its value in a national point of view. It is much to be lamented, that the comparative independence which is annexed to artificers and artisans removes them from the controlling superintendance of their immediate superior; who (if possible)

ought to be armed with power to prevent or punish those excesses which the streets of a great town generally present on Sunday evenings; for, even when the statute laws of the realm are not grossly violated, the moral feelings of christians are severely pained.

We have already lamented the bad consequences which the dissipation too common among great fashionists in the middle orders must have on their immediate dependents. As no people are so apt to utter dolorous complaints against the general depravity of servants, it seems desirable that they should take into their serious consideration the political expediency of restoring Sunday to its original destination. If they have on christian concern for the immortal interests of their fellow-creatures; if they really do not dread appearing, unprepared with an answer, at that awful audit when the souls of their

household (by them wilfully abandoned to perdition) will be required at their hands; still let them take those menials, whose good behaviour is so necessary to their own self-indulgence, where they will be taught to become good servants. This will be acting prudently, though not piously; but to do this will require some sacrifices. They can neither go out nor have visitors on Sundays; the full courses must be abridged; the toilet service must be shortened; the breakfast hour must be expedited; nay more, they must ac company their families to church themselves, and not only give them an opportunity of serving God, but actually see that they are present in his temple. One of the sad effects of itinerance in public worship is, that it separates the family, who ought to appear in their proper places in the same congregation; thus removing those whose conduct requires inspetion, from hose whose duty it is to