secret and private duties of religion. It imperceptibly withdraws faith and confidence from God, and centres them in the instrument. It begets a taste for excitement which is unfriendly to the perfection of the new man, in Christ. After a few repetitions of this course in the same church, it is reduced to such a state that it will regard no service as performed to edification unless it is accompanied by trick, eccentricity, or novelty. A diseased appetite is created, which loathes the "sincere milk of the word," which relishes nothing unless highly spiced. And in addition to all this, there is such a heat of external zeal created as causes the spirit of piety to evaporate.

To the production of spiritual declension, different causes operate in different ages and countries; yes, and in the same age and country. The causes now enumerated are those now working, and whose desolating influences are now widely felt. They are not all equally felt in the same place. But the indirect, the collateral influence of all of them, is felt all over the Church. As the mountains of ice floating from the poles towards the equator, chill the atmosphere of regions where they are never seen, so these causes, spread a chilly atmosphere around churches where they are but little known, and less understood.

Our limits will permit but a few remarks on the means necessary to secure the special influences of the Spirit.

The Church should obtain settled and definite views of its duty. That duty is pointed out in the parting command of the Saviour to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." This will continue its main duty until it is performed unto the letter. And it is the most ennobling object that can occupy the human mind. The mind filled with it, is a noble mind. It has neither room nor time for petty objects that distract without profiting. The heart engaged in it is a warm heart. It has no unoccupied affection to bestow on minor subjects. The church vigorous in the pursuit of this object, is a church revived. It waters others, and God waters it. The prayers it sends to heaven for others, bring down upon it the dew of Heaven. They are like the electric fluid, which leaping from the earth pierces the bosom of the dark cloud that attracts it, and opens upon the spot from which it has gone up a deluge of rain.

And personal holiness must be more cultivated. It has

been well remarked, that Christianity is to influence mankind not so much by its open triumphs, as by the silent and unseen operation of its principles, on the hearts and lives of its professors. Each Christian, however limited may be his sphere, is surrounded by some on whom he may exert a constant influence. The aggregate of this influence is immense. And it depends principally on personal Christian character. The spirit of the age is adverse to the cultivation of eminent holiness. In our efforts to cultivate the wilderness, there is danger of neglecting our own vineyards. Unless the spirit of the age is resisted, there is danger that it will remove the acceptable sacrifice from the altar, and extinguish the fires that consume it, and leave us a temple without the schechinah.

And individual influence must be more extensively exerted. One great design of God in the conversion of an individual, is to secure his influence in promoting the reign of holiness. And unless when converted we exert our influence to the utmost, one great design of our conversion is frustrated. Church members look far too much to ministers, and missionaries, and benevolent societies, to the neglect of their own duty,-thinking that when they do their part in sustaining them, their duty is done. Before the Spirit is extensively poured out, this sentiment must be banished from the Church. It is a sinful compounding with God; a bargain and sale to get rid of the cross, which God cannot bless. God is not about to convert the world by a committee. It is by the light of religion in the hearts and lives of his people that spiritual influences are to be secured, that the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom are to be given to the people and saints of the Most High.

Christians must learn to live to God in all their social relations. As an even pulse is preferable to one of feverish rapidity, so is a constant living to God in our varied relations, to occasional excitements. Like the evergreens of the forest, the Church should be ever verdant. Religion must be made an every day concern. It is not merely a part of a life. It is itself a life.

Ministers must be more constant and regular in instructing the young in the Bible and catechism; and in visiting and praying with their people from house to house. Yet this should not be done to the neglect of diligent and careful preparation for the pulpit. The Sabbath should be a

day of prayer to the minister; otherwise there is reason to fear, that with their congregations, it will be a day of fasting. The officers and private members of the Church should be evermore devising and executing prudent measures glorify God and save souls. Christians should be as charitable as their religion-as elevated in feeling as is the heaven for which they hope-and as constant in their efforts to do good as is the sun in shedding its rays upon the earth. We talk and write about protracted meetings, and special measures for promoting religion;—but what the Church wants, is a protracted living to God by its members.

One other remark, and we are done. To cause the genial wind to blow over the Church, and to bring down the rain and the dew of the Spirit upon its parched and thirsty wastes, Zion must exert the power of prayer. The Church must be inbued with the spirit of devotion. She must send forth the voice of prayer to reach the ears of those that are around her, and to arrest the attention of the careless ones. When she thus prays from a heart filled with divine love, and agonising for the conversion of sinners, the ways of Zion will not long mourn. Thousands

will be seen crowding her gates. The sighing of h priests will be changed into praise-the deep afflictions of her virgins into rejoicing-her tears will be wiped away, as the days of her mourning are ended.

ART. II. REVIEW OF GURNEY ON THE SABBATH.

BY REV. JOHN R. ADAMS, Londonderry, N. H.

Brief remarks on the History, Authority, and Use of the Sabbath. By Joseph John Gurney. With notes by M. Stuart. Andover: Flagg, Gould and Newman, 1833. (From the 2d London edition.) pp. 120.

It is an animating and encouraging fact that the public mind is beginning to be directed with peculiar interest to the defence of the Christian Sabbath. Various ecclesiastical bodies, both in this and the Father land-private Christians and public Journalists, are instituting the inquiry, what can be done to prevent the alarming and increasing desecration of Holy time, and promote the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath. Upon the result of their judicious, persevering and united action, depend not only the interests of pure religion, but the perpetuity of civil and domestic institutions.

In England, the works of Daniel Wilson, now Bishop of Calcutta, and of Joseph John Gurney, have exercised much interest; and it may be owing to their timely appearance, that the attention of the Bishop of London, and other prelates, is directed, at the present time, to the important inquiry, what can be done to vindicate the Sabbath of the Lord?

Among other plans, knowing that the Parliamentary grant for the erection of Churches is not sufficient to meet present wants, they are promoting this same object by voluntary contributions. And it is gratifying to perceive that some of the Legislators of that land, are determined not to let the subject rest till existing abuses are corrected. Very recently, bills have passed the House of Commons incorporating rail road companies and other associations for public accomodation, with the express proviso, that such companies are to suspend their operations upon the Lord's day. In some instances, they have failed to become laws by the non-concurrence of the House of Lords. Were their Lordships universally as conscientious as one of their number, who will not ride to church, except in extreme cases, for fear that he shall detain servants from the sanctuary of the Most High, England might have been in this respect, by her direct legislation, an example for the world!

The work, which stands at the head of this article, is a reprint of the English edition of the same, and has for its object, as the title shows, "the History, Authority and Use of the Sabbath." The author belongs to the Society of Friends, and is favorably known by other products of his pen. In this Manual he has shown candor and researchfreedom from denominational bias, and a sincere love of the word of God. His arguments are brief, scriptural and forcible; and the Notes of Prof. Stuart, though few in number, add strength to the original argument.

The first inquiry of the author relates to the Patriarchal Sabbath. Did such a Sabbath exist, and was it instituted by God, when it is said, "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made?" This is a very important inquiry, for if a Sabbath existed prior to the Jewish Sabbath, then it is admitted that it could not be designed for a peculiar people, but must be of universal obligation.

Paley, and those who agree with him, have mentioned that the Sabbath was instituted for the first time, when the descendants of Abraham were in the wilderness. The learned Dean does not suppose it was originally established at Mount Sinai, but at the period referred to, in Ex. 16. "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord." &c. &c. His principal objection to the existence of the Patriarchal Sabbath consists in the silenee of the Scriptures respecting it. But this, if it amounts to any thing, proves too much. In the words of Mr. Gurney:

"We know that after the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, the law of Moses and the Sabbath, as forming a part of it, were publicly recognized and in full force; yet no mention is made of the Sabbath in the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, and the first book of Kings, which comprise a period of five hundred years. Although circumcision was a ceremony of marked importance during the continuance of the Mosaic dispensation, no mention is made of that rite in the whole history of the Bible, from the days of Joshua to those of John the Baptist." p. 19.

But more than this, when Paley says that he regards the charge made in Ex. 16, as the institution of the Sabbath, what is there in the form of expression to show that it was the announcement of a New Institution! So far as the structure of language throws light on the subject, it ap