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Review and Herald, Vol. 12, No. 24.

THE SABBATH

Review and Herald

Nov 4, 1858

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 4, 1858

THE SABBATH

[Bro. Smith : The following extract is from a work entitled "Biblical Antiquities," by J. W. Nevin. You are free to publish it if you choose. [J. A. WILCOX.

THE SABBATH.

THE origin of the Sabbath is known to every one that has read the first three verses of the second chapter of Genesis, or learned to repeat the fourth commandment. It did not take its rise, like other sacred days and seasons, that are soon to be mentioned, with the Jewish system of worship, that was to pass away; nor was it instituted for any ceremonial reason, such as we have seen in the case of sacrifices, and of the priestly office from their earliest appointment. Nay, so remote was its nature from any such character as this, that it was originally set apart for beings altogether innocent and holy; for the seventh day was sanctified, or declared more holy than other days, before our first parents were become sinful and lost: even in paradise, where all days were so full of the worship of God, this of the Sabbath was to be distinguished as peculiarly sacred, and to be observed as a continual memorial of his power displayed in the great work of creation.
We have no express mention made of it again in the history of the time that followed after the flood, till the age of Moses; [Ex. xvi, 22-30;] which is not to be wondered at, when we consider how very brief that history is. There is, nevertheless, sufficient evidence that it was not forgotten among the people of God, nor altogether among those who departed from the true religion. Noah, we find, reckoned time by periods of seven days, and from him some tradition of the Sabbath and of the week passed down among the various tribes and nations of his descendants, in every part of the world, as has been more particularly mentioned already, when taking notice of the ancient manner of dividing time, in a former part of this work.
When God formed his covenant with the Israelitish nation, the ancient appointment of the Sabbath was solemnly called to remembrance, and clothed with fresh authority. Jehovah himself, from the midst of the awful darkness, uttered the commandment in the hearing of all the people. Ex. xx, 8-11. It was still uttered, too, as in the beginning, not as a precept designed for a single dispensation merely, but as a statute of universal and perpetual obligation; it was given as one of the ten commandments, which comprehended the whole moral law, and were proclaimed to the ancient church, as the original and fundamental rule of God's moral government, that was never to be lost sight of, while the world should stand.
At the same time, however, the Sabbath was made to bear something of a peculiar character, also, in the Jewish economy, such as it had not before, and was not designed to retain afterwards. It was invested with a certain ceremonial sacredness, in addition to that which it had of a purely moral sort. At least, it was required to be kept, with a peculiar kind of outward observance, that belonged only to that system of carnal ordinances which was imposed on the Israelitish church till the time of reformation. Still the original and more essential nature of this institution was never suffered to pass out of sight; but may be found to have been, all along, distinctly recognized, in the peculiarly solemn authority with which its obligation was enforced, and in the moral and spiritual character of the observance with which it was enjoined to be kept, as well as of the reasons still assigned for its sacredness. Ex. xxxi, 13-17; Lev. xix, 30; Isa. lviii, 13; Jer. xvii, 21-27. To the Israelites it was urged as an additional motive for them to remember the rest of the Sabbath, according to its ancient appointment, the Lord whose day it was, had redeemed them, in his mercy and by his mighty power, from the bondage of Egypt. Deut. v, 15. And because it was given from the beginning to be a memorial of God's sovereignty, as the Creator and Governor of the world, and was designed to be religiously observed, in pious acknowledgement of his supreme dominion, it was regarded as a sign of the covenant that was formed between him and their nation, which had been taken out of the idolatrous world, to be his peculiar people; and hence, accordingly, when they neglected the Sabbath, it was considered to be a profane violation of the covenant itself, and a rejection of the original sovereign authority of God, that had in it the nature of idolatry outright. Ex. xxxi, 13-17; Eze. xx, 20. The punishment for profaning the Sabbath-day, like that of idolatry, was nothing less than death. Ex. xxxv, 2; Num. xv, 32-36.
The law required a rigid observance of the sacred day. All the common employments of life, lawful on other days, were forbidden to be attended to on this. It was unlawful even to make a fire; and a man on one occasion was put to death for gathering sticks during its time of rest. The Jews, however, carried their regard to its outward observance, in this way, in latter times, to a superstitious length. While they honored it with little or no genuine regard in their spirit, they affected a most scrupulous care of offending against the letter of the commandment, in their actions; and yet, even in this case they showed great inconsistency, sometimes straining out a gnat, and at other times swallowing a camel.
The Pharisees, especially in the days of our Saviour, laid claim to great conscientiousness on this point, and often found fault with him for disregarding, according to their notion, the sacredness of God's day; though all the while, it was not difficult to be perceived, that their hatred to Jesus, far more than their zeal for the Sabbath, called forth their censures and complaints. Our Lord exposed their malevolence and inconsistency, and taught the true nature of the sacred day. Matt. xii, 1-15; Luke xiii, 10-17; John v, 16; vii, 22, 23; ix, 14, 16.
In the sanctuary there was no rest on the Sabbath from the labor of other days; but on the contrary, increase of work. Besides the daily offerings, two other victims were required still to smoke on that day, upon the altar; [Num. xxviii, 9, 10;] and regularly, as we have seen, the old show-bread was to be removed, and a new supply put in its place. Thus, the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, or spent it in work, and yet were blameless. Matt. xii, 5. It was meet that the public service of God should not be diminished, but increased, upon that day.
It was usual to make some preparation for the Sabbath toward the close of the sixth day. Mark xv, 42. According to the Jews it was customary to cease from labor on that day, at the time of the evening sacrifice; and from that hour till the sun went down, all busied themselves to get completely ready for the holy season that was at hand.
Victuals were prepared, (for there might be no cooking on the Sabbath,) and all things were attended to that were needful for orderly and decent appearance, such as washing the face, hands and feet, trimming the beard, &c., that the day of rest might be entered upon without confusion, and in a manner of reverence and respect. A little before sunset the Sabbath candle was lighted in each house in token of gladness at the approach of God's day. At dark they spread upon the table from the provisions previously made ready, a supper, rather better than common; when the master of the family, taking a cup of wine in his hand, repeated the words in Gen. ii, 1-3, blessed God over the wine, said over a form of words to hallow the Sabbath, and raising the cup to his lips, drank off its contents; after which the rest of the family did the same; and then, having washed their hands, all joined in the domestic meal. On the next morning they resorted to their synagogues; or if they lived at Jerusalem, and felt an inclination to attend the temple, they might go and worship there. After breakfast they either went to some school of divinity, to hear the traditions of the elders explained, or employed the time in religious duties at home, till the hour of taking dinner. About the middle of the afternoon, they again betook themselves to the synagogue or temple of worship. The day was afterwards closed with something of the same sort of ceremony with which it had been introduced. In this way, if we may believe Jewish tradition, the Sabbath was kept under the second temple.
How the Sabbath was spent before the captivity, when there were no synagogues, we are not informed. Those who lived nigh the Sanctuary, might attend its worship. Parents might instruct their children in the knowledge of the law, as, no doubt, many did with care, regarding the Lord's repeated injunction. It seems also to have been common to visit the prophets on that day to receive their counsel and instruction. 2 Kings iv, 23.

SEED-TIME.

"Cast thy bread upon the waters," Sow in faith the little seed; Be not idle, faint, or weary; God's eternal promise plead. With the old man and the stripling, With the rich and with the poor; Think that, when to-morrow dawneth, Seed-time MAY be thine no more.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters," Sow in faith the little seed; Wind and drought, and rain and sunshine Still each other shall succeed. In the morning, in the evening, Scatter still with bounteous hand; Here and there, some grain, forgotten, Germinates in fruitful land.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters," Sow in faith the little seed; Be of great results expectant, For the harvest is decreed. Now thou knowest not the issue, Now thou must confide in God; He can cause thy work to prosper, Guiding all events for good.
"Cast thy bread upon the waters," Sow in faith the little seed; Oft an unseen blessing hallows Some unthought-of word or deed. God shall give thee sweet rejoicing After many anxious days; And thine everlasting anthem Shall declare the Master's praise.

Novel Reading—Reasons Against It.

1. Those who write novels, especially the popular novels of our day, are known to be lax in principle, and loose in life. As is the tree, so the fruit. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
2. If any good there be in novels, there is no good which cannot be obtained elsewhere.
3. Their general tendency is to evil. They often present virtue and vice in false colors.
4. Novel reading is a wicked waste of time, which should be employed in the acquisition of useful knowledge. Precious hours, more precious than rubies, which God has given for noble and holy purposes, are wasted in ministering to the morbid appetite of a depraved heart. Will not he who has thus squandered time,
"That stuff that life is made of, And which when lost is never lost alone, Because it carries souls upon its wings,"
"mourn at the last, when his flesh and his body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof?"
5. Their cost is another objection. True, very many works of fiction and romance are put at a low price—but the cost of these, during a lifetime, amounts to a large sum. Miss W. paid $70 in one year for novels, including the fashion plate magazines, Godey, Graham, Harper, &c. And whose money was this, expended to gratify a vitiated taste? hers, or God's? "Ye are bought with a price."
Is this laying up treasure in heaven, with God's money? or heaping in fuel to feed the flame of insufferable woe? Beware, novel reader, beware!
6. Novel reading begets a vain, volatile, trifling, frivolous mind. Are not most habitual readers of fictitious works, excessively fond of gay and expensive clothing—external decorations, ornaments of jewelry, of gold, pearls, and costly array, which God has strictly forbidden?
The imagination becomes wild and extravagant, like a ship in a storm, without compass or helm. A distorted imagination unfits human beings to live and think and act, in this common-sense, matter-of-fact world of ours. Hence the many disappointments, the discontents, the misery, the broken hearts, the insanity, and the suicides among novel-readers.
7. The knowledge stored away in the mind of novel-readers, is nothing more than a huge, unsightly mass of errors! The memory having nothing to do, must wear out in its own indolence.
8. The judgment becomes weakened, the reasoning powers unhinged, and all the perceptive faculties destroyed or greatly vitiated. More than this, all the generous affections of the heart, and all the noble sensibilities of human nature, become blunted and seared under the blighting and withering influence of novel-reading!
9. It also injures the intellect, by creating a distaste for nobler and more solid reading. Men do not like to go from the splendid palaces of kings— from the soft and lascivious saloons and drawing rooms of dukes and counts, into the common walks of life—no, they would rather luxuriate amid the splendid castles and enchanted scenes of the novel writer!
Who ever knew a novel reader, or one who spent, daily, whole hours in poring over the pages of Graham, Harper, Godey, and the like sugar-coated poisons, who was an ardent lover of God's book, a diligent student of the Bible! a devout Christian, a holy, self-denying follower of Jesus Christ?
10. Novel reading unfits the mind for devotion.
11. Novel reading produces indolent and sluggish habits of thought. The habitual novel reader unfits himself for intense mental application, as the history of literature abundantly shows.
12. Novel reading poisons the soul in all her faculties. "The whole head becomes sick, the whole heart faint," the native depravity is fed and fostered, and like the sickly plant of a hot house, rapidly forced to maturity. The Bible, that "dread wondrous book, the author, God himself, the subject, God and man," that book which is a transcript of the Eternal Mind—that book which has "God for its author, truth without error for its subject, and heaven for its object,"—that book has no charms for the novel reader! No, it deals in truth and not in fiction! and he has no soul to enjoy the beauties of truth.
It is one of the most potent engines the devil has ever been able to plant upon our earth, to undermine the principles of virtue, and subvert the morality of the Bible. It drives the individual from the sanctuary, closes the Bible, alienates the heart from God, and plunges the soul into temporal ruin, and eternal death! The habit grows with our growth, and if permitted to run on, will pollute the soul even in the world to come!
I would say in conclusion, especially to the young, turn from them, shun them, fear them, as you would the miasmas of the deadly upas.
O that I had the pen of a ready writer; I would spread out in living and burning characters, on widely extended leaves, the physical, intellectual and enormous moral evils of novel reading! Novels are sharp rocks just beneath the smooth surface of the moral sea of life, around which float in shattered fragments, the wrecks of lost and ruined millions! And yet others will still venture in that treacherous sea!—Golden Rule.

Elasticity of Truth.

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, The eternal years of God are hers."
We have seen a piece of cork-wood floating upon the bosom of the deep. It is driven about by the waves, now dashed downward and for a time lost to the sight; but presently it rises to the surface, buoyant, independent, secure, as if sinking were impossible and destruction not to be feared. We have loved to watch a truth thrown out on the surface of society, on the tumultuous waves of ever restless mind. It is driven here and there, by those who hate it; at times it is overwhelmed with the waves of opposition, and in our want of faith we fear that it is lost forever; but presently it rises, vigorous, buoyant, elastic, indestructible, and rides over the crests of its enemies, easy, independent, eternal. We have some confidence in truth. At times we fear we have too much faith in its unaided power. But in this age of free investigation, we love to see the poor and puny efforts of truth's opposers dying almost before its friends have roused themselves for its defence.
Truth is the element in the moral world, that like the leaven in the meal, is to move and renovate the mass of mankind. There are two sorts of men that oppose it. The enemies of all reform, contented with things as they are, or preferring evil to good, would crush the truth as Voltaire would have crushed Christ. The various sects of ultra-reformers, the radicals of the age, oppose the simple truth as too slow an agent; they would rather have an effervescence, an explosion, a revolution, grand, sudden and performed on their patent, high-pressure principle, than wait for the gradual, certain, irresistible efficacy of the silent leaven that the great Teacher hid. Hence they oppose the truth, and all who cherish it as the woman cherished the leaven in her three measures.
But the friends of truth smile at the folly of their enemies, or mourn the waste of ink, paper, temper and talents on the part of wicked or deluded men. They cannot destroy truth, and prevent its final triumph. Over them it will ride to victory, or convert them to its love, and suffer them to sing its pæans.
So have we sometimes found a pleasing entertainment in watching the progress which truth makes in a world of enemies. Preach it, publish it, in all its native strength. Let the people have it just as God has given it in his word, in his providence, in the conscience of his moral creatures. Throw it out naked in the wide field of the world, and it will not die.
In politics, in literature, in religion, the fact is the same. The truth will be in the ascendant eventually, beyond peradventure. Good men often have fits of despondency. When error is rampant and truth falls in the streets, they are ready to feel that all is lost. But let not their hearts be troubled. It will come "all right" by and by. Defeat is a good discipline. It teaches that "eternal vigilance is the price" of any thing worth fighting for. But when we triumph we are apt to sleep on our laurels.
The conviction of the justness of these views is so strong that we are sometimes afraid lest we fail in zeal for the defence of truth. Having proclaimed what we believe is the truth, we are willing to let it take its own course. Having smitten an error once with the hammer and fire of truth, we are willing to let it writhe and die at leisure. We shrink from following up a blow, because we believe in the efficacy of truth to finish what it has begun. But this will not always suffice. Some, many errors are not to be killed in a minute. They die hard; and often rise again after being buried for years. They must be killed and buried over again, and the weapons that slew them must be hung up for use at their next resurrection. But truth will live, and going on "conquering and to conquer," will reign over the earth. It is written in heaven and its triumph is advancing.—Sel.

The Closing Benediction.

“Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching.” Luke xii, 33.
Child of God, is thine attitude as the expectant of thy Lord’s appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were to break upon thine ears this day, “Behold the bridegroom cometh,” couldst thou joyfully respond, “Lo, this is my God, I have waited for him?” When he may come, we cannot tell; he must come at some time, it may be soon.
Reader! put not off the solemn preparation. Be not deceived or deluded with the mocker’s presumptuous challenge, “Where is the promise of his coming?” See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without do not foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a dying hour, but to die, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands of Jesus. Of all times, that is the least suitable to have the vessel plenished—to attend to the great business of life when life is ebbing—to trim the lamp when the oil is gone and it is flickering in its socket—to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the watch-tower to meet our God!
Were you never struck how often, amid the many gentle words of Jesus, the summons to watch is over and over repeated, like a succession of alarum bells breaking ever and anon, amid the chimes of heavenly music, to arouse a sleeping church and awake a slumbering world?
Let this last “Word” of thy Lord’s send thee to thy knees with the question, “Am I indeed a servant of Christ?” Have I fled to him, and am I reposing in him, as my only Saviour?—or am I still lingering, like Lot, when I should be escaping—sleeping, when I should be waking—neglecting and trifling, when a “long eternity is lying at my door?” He is my last and only refuge; neglect him—all is lost!
Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the heart, wakeful vigilance regarding sin, every avenue and loop-hole of the soul carefully guarded. Holy living is the best, the only preparative for holy dying. “Persuade yourself,” says Rutherford, “the King is coming. Read his letter sent before him, ‘Behold I come quickly;’ wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky.”
Let these “Words of Jesus” we have been meditating upon, be as the golden bells of old, hung on the vestments of the officiating high priest, emitting sweet sounds to his spiritual Israel, telling that the true High Priest is still living and pleading in “the holiest of all;” and that soon he will come forth to pour his blessing on his waiting church. We have been pleasingly employed in gathering up a few crumbs falling from the Master’s table. Soon we shall have, not the Words, but the presence of Jesus—not the crumbs falling from his table, but everlasting fellowship with the Master himself. Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.”—Sel.

Let Your Light Shine

By Bonar

"LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE."—When first we are brought to know Christ, this "light" is kindled—kindled by being brought in contact with him who is "the Light of the world." Having been thus kindled, it must shine. The new life is the shining. The new feeling, the new desires, the new tempers, the new words, the new walk and conversation—these are the beams of light which should stream out from us upon a dark world.—Bonar.

Self-Control and Education

THE poorest education that teaches self-control is better than the best that neglects it.

Whence Spring the Prayers of Almost Christians.

A MAN may be much in prayer—a may pray often, and much; and yet be but almost a christian. So did the Pharisees whom yet our Lord Christ rejects for hypocrites.
Objection. But is not a praying frame an argument of a sincere heart? Are not the saints of God called the “generation of them that seek the face of God?”
Answer. A man is not therefore a christian because he is much in prayer. I grant that those prayers that are from the workings and sighings of God’s Spirit in us; from sincere hearts lifted up to God; from a sense of our own emptiness, and God’s infinite fullness; that are suited to God’s will, the great rule of prayer; that are for spiritual things more than for temporal; that are accompanied by faith and dependence—such prayers speak a man altogether a christian. But now a man may be much in prayer, and yet be a stranger to such a prayer; as
1. Nature may put a man upon prayer; for it is a part of natural worship. It may put a child of God upon prayer; so it did Christ: “He went and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” This was a prayer of Christ which flowed from the sinless strugglings of nature, seeking its own preservation.
2. A man may pray in pretence, for a covering to some sin; so did those devout Pharisees. “Wo to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” So Papists seem very devout to pray a rich man out of purgatory; but it is to cheat the heir of much of his estate, under pretence of praying for his father’s soul.
3. A man may pray, and yet love sin; as Austin before conversion prayed against his sin, but was afraid God should hear him and take him at his word. Now God hears not such prayers: “If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me.”
4. A man may pray much for temporal things, and little for spiritual things; and such are the prayers of most men, crying out most for temporal things. More for “Who will show us any good?” than for “Lord, lift upon us the light of thy countenance.” David copies out the prayer of such: “That our sons may be as plants, and that our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace; that our garners may be full. . . . “Happy is the people that is in such a case.” This is carnal prayer; and this David calls vanity. “They are strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity.”
5. A man may pray and yet be far from God in prayer: “This people draw nigh to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” A man may pray, and yet have no heart in prayer, and that God chiefly looks at: “My son give me thy heart.” The Jews have this sentence written upon their synagogues, “Prayer without the intention of the mind is but a body without the soul.” It is not enough to be conscionable to use prayer, but we must be conscionable to the use of prayer. Many are so conscientious that they dare not but pray; and yet so irreligious that they have no heart in prayer. A common work of God may make a man conscionable to do duties, but nothing less than giving grace in the heart will make a man conscionable in the doing of them.
6. A man’s prayer may be a lie. As a profession without sanctity is a lie to the world, so prayer without sincerity is a lie to God. It is said of Israel, that they “sought God and inquired early after him.” They were much in prayer, and God calls all but a lie. “Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied to them with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him.” “Hearken to my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips,” saith David.
7. Affection and the pressure of outward evils will make a man pray, and pray much. “When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned, and inquired early after God.” The mariners called every man upon his God when in a storm; when they feared drowning then they fell to praying. Jonah i, 5. Mariners are for the most part none of the devoutest, nor much addicted to prayer. They will swear twice where they pray once; and yet it is said, “They cry to God in their trouble,” and hence you have a proverb, “He that cannot pray let him go to sea.” “They poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.”
Now then, if nature may put a man upon prayer; if a man may pray in pretence and design; if a man may pray and yet love sin; if a man may pray mostly for temporal things; if a man may pray and yet be far from God in prayer; if prayer may be a lie, or it may be only a cry of the soul in affection—sure then a man may be much in prayer and yet be but almost a christian.
Objection. But suppose a man pray, and prevail with God in prayer; surely that is a witness from heaven of a man’s sincerity in prayer: now I pray and prevail; I ask and am answered.
Answer. A man may pray, and be answered; for God many times answers prayer in judgments. As God is sometimes silent in mercy, so he speaks in wrath; and as he sometimes denies prayer in mercy, so he sometimes answers in judgment; when men are over-importunate in something their lusts are upon, and will take no nay, then God answers in judgment. “He gave them their own desire.” They had desired quails, and God sent them; but now mark the judgment: “While the meat was in their mouths the wrath of God came upon them and slew them.”
Objection. But suppose a man’s affections are much stirred in prayer, how then? Is not that a true note of christianity? Now my affections are much stirred in prayer.
Answer. So was Esau’s, when he sought the blessing. “He sought it carefully with tears.” A man may be affected with his own parts in a duty, while good notions pass through his head, and good words through his lips: some good motions also may stir in his heart, but they are but sparks which fly out at the tunnel of the chimney, and suddenly vanish; so that it is possible to pray and prevail in prayer, pray and be affected in prayer, and yet be but almost a christian.—Matthew Mead’s Almost Christian.

Sleep.

PEOPLE fall asleep with more or less rapidity, according to their constitution and present state of health. But whether sleep arrives soon or late, it always comes in the same manner; and the preceding circumstances are the same in all men.
The first thing that happens when we begin to sleep, is the stupor of our senses; which, no longer receiving external impressions, fall into a state of inactivity. Hence it follows that the attention diminishes, and at length ceases; the memory becomes confused; the passions are calmed; and the connection between our thoughts and reasoning faculty is interrupted. As long as we feel the influence of sleep, it is only the first degree of it; we may be then said to be in a dozing state. When we are really asleep, we have no longer that consciousness and reflection which depends upon the exercise of memory; our eye-lids wink, open and shut, of themselves; the head reclines in an easy position; and when our sleep is quite profound all voluntary functions are suspended; but the vital functions, and all those which do not depend upon the will, are still performed with vigor. A sweet sleep refreshes and repairs our exhausted nature; and we rise from our slumbers with increased energy, capable of again renewing the fatigues of the day.
All these circumstances are well calculated to make us acknowledge the goodness of God, so mercifully extended to us in his tender care to procure us the blessing of sleep. We ought to be still more thankful, when we consider the effects of sleep being ushered in by a complete suspension of activity in the senses; and that it steals upon us unawares, and in a way not to be resisted. The first of these circumstances renders it more sound and refreshing; the other makes it an unavoidable necessity. And how wisely, is it ordered, that by the spontaneous closing of the eye-lid the eye is defended when we are not able to preserve it from the dangers to which it would have been subjected!
Let therefore the hour in which we dispose ourselves to enjoy the sweet influence of sleep, be always preceded by thanksgivings to our heavenly Father! Let us not only bless him because the days happily succeed each other, but also because he has so constituted us, that a state in which for a space we repose from the cares, the troubles, and the vexations of the world, is to us a state of refreshment, in which we acquire new force and gain accumulated vigor. Let reflections like those be the last which take place before sleep surprises and locks up our soul in silken fetters; and when morning dissolves the charm, let love and gratitude to our God be the first emotion of our heart.

The Heavenly Traveler.

WHAT heir, traveling to take possession of a rich inheritance, either lets a green meadow, or pleasant garden detain him, or a black cloud, or a foul way dishearten him? O my soul! thou art traveling to take possession of a glorious inheritance among the saints: wilt thou turn aside to crop every flower? Wilt thou stand still to hear every melodious sound? Wilt thou leave thy way to drink of every gliding stream of carnal pleasure? What is this, but to view a meadow, and lose a manor? For a dying flower, to part with an eternal crown? For a flying vanity, to lose an immortal felicity? To forsake the way of Sion, to gather one of the apples of Sodom? Or else, oh my soul! what if thy way be in tears, and thy days in sorrow, all clouded, and a swelling sea, that not only the lading of the ship, but life is in danger; yet here is enough to comfort thee, that a good father, and an everlasting refreshment, will make amends for all. Therefore, vain world, promise not, for I will make no deviation, because my way lies to purer comforts, and surer glory.

Reviewing One's Past Life

When young or old, think it is neither too soon or too late to turn over the leaves of your past life, consider what you would do if what you have done were to be done again.

God of Ordinances, Author of Salvation

THE ordinances of God are the means of salvation; but the God of ordinances is the author of salvation.

Vindicating Character Weakens It

As they who, for every slight sickness take physic to repair their health, do rather impair it, so they who for every trifle are eager to vindicate their character do rather weaken it.
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