and even our religious periodicals have given but a paragraph or two of faint rebuke. Some of them which, week by week, made the land to ring with notes of warning, when a legislator from Maine was shot down in cold blood, are almost silent in regard to this more signal defiance of the Almighty. It is not talked of in the marts of business, nor the place of concourse, and scarcely in the great congregation. The people slumber. The slightest breach of the Federal Constitution is enough to wake up the Union-a thousand presses teem with the complaints of an injured people. But the constitution of God's moral government, the most sacred articles in that constitution, may be trodden under foot by the representatives of a nominally Christian people, and the nation feels it not. 'All things continue as they were.' * *

"But we have slept long enough. It is time to act. Infidelity has gained a signal triumph. If the people will bear this engrossment of the Sabbath for national legislation, if they will take it patiently, and smile upon their guilty representatives,

'Next year the fatal precedent will plead.'

The Sabbath will be taken whenever a corrupt legislature may think that it is wanted. Thus on, till' its sacredness shall be gone, and the occurrence which we now deplore shall, by its frequency, cease to excite a feeling of surprise. And if Congress will sit on the Sabbath, why should not our State legislatures? What is to hinder them? particularly in those sections of the land where religious restraint is but feeble. And when it has become a common occurrence in the west and south-west, how long will it be before the venerable State House of Boston shall witness such a sight? And when the high places have become thus polluted, what is to withstand the streams of corruption that shall thence be poured down upon the land? Our public men, from the highest to the lowest, will, without restraint, and at length without remorse, pursue their own course of business or pleasure on the Sabbath day. * *

"So rapidly have the temptations to this vice accumulated among us for the last ten years, and so large have been the importations of habitual Sabbath-breakers from lands where the

pilgrim's Sabbath is unknown, that the evil has become of the most alarming kind. The standard must be lifted up. The hosts of God must rally round it. Every one of the people of the Most High must take his stand-must search himself, and see if, in this respect, there be any evil way in him, and break off his sins by righteousness."

From the above facts is there not conclusive evidence that this institution is losing its hold on the public conscience? At first Congress only occasionally, and for a few minutes, or at most, hours, desecrated, in this public manner, that holy rest. The case is parallel with that of Sunday mails, boats, and stages. They were started at first, fearfully, cautiously, and hesitatingly; but, gaining by little and little, a thousand mails can now be sent; a thousand boats and stages can be kept in motion, the whole of that day, and during all the Sundays in the year, instead of occasionally an hour or two on one of them. So Congress now, with little apparent compunction, can hold its sessions during a whole Sunday; and soon, unless the act should meet with merited rebuke from all parts of the nation, it is to be feared that they will be as ready to do business on that, as on any other day of the week.

What would be the result, should every friend of the Sabbath, publish to the world, that the men who thus trampled on the laws of the Sabbath, are unworthy our confidence, and should never again be elected to enact and administer laws for a Christian people? No national legislature, during the life of this generation, would be guilty of the same impropriety. And can men, who thus wantonly violate the laws of God and man, be safely trusted as the leaders and guides of our national concerns? Can God approve of such conduct? Will he bless a people who do, and who countenance such high-handed rebellion? Will he hold the man guiltless who, under such circumstances, feels no anxiety for the safety and honor of his holy day? And do the friends of the Sabbath yet sleep? As well, and perhaps more safely might they sleep on Etna or Vesuvius. The man who can now hold his peace, and neglect to cry aloud, gives little, if any evidence, that he is awake to his duty, or has a proper regard for the welfare of his country, or the honor of his God

Philanthropist, Patriot, Christian, where are your sensibilities, your sense of obligation to your country, to the world, and to God? Is it possible that you will longer imitate the criminal example of those who, by their apathy and silence, suffered Sunday mails, boats, stages, and rail-cars to prevail in this land? Is it possible that you will thus aid in introducing a practice which, it is to be feared, will result in a total disregard of that day, not only by our national legislature, but by all the departments of our government, from the highest to the lowest? Longer silence on your part is treason:-TREASON against your country, the church, and the court of heaven. And it is difficult to know which are most in the fault, you or the more immediate aggres

sors.

WATCHMAN, "where art thou ?" comes sounding from above, with a voice of loudest thunder, reverberating from centre to circumference, and do you not hear it? Or, hearing, is it unheeded? Awake, awake, for the corner stones of this republic are being removed; the last hope of the good man is flickering, and ready to be extinguished. AWAKE, or the celestial lights of republican liberty and Protestantism will grow less and less brilliant until they are shrouded in the thick darkness of infidelity and atheism. And, for the consequences of such a calamity, hastened by your neglect, prepare to render an account at the judgment. God cannot hold you guiltless for such neglect of duty.

GOVERNOR ELLSWORTH.

We add the following appropriate remarks on the same subject, by Gov. Ellsworth, of Conn., in his Message to the Legislature of that State.

"Connected with Congress as we are, and feeling its influence and example, it will not be deemed presumptuous to remark— * * Its late appropriation of the day of rest and devotion, to secular business, is a disregard of an institution of divine appointment, consecrated in the affections and hallowed by the usages of a large portion of the citizens of the United States. The Christian religion owes its extension, and its power over the consciences of men, to the institution and influence of the

Sabbath. Repeal that institution, or treat with indifference its observance, as was done in the National Convention of France, and you banish religion, as they did, from the land. Let me say, fellow citizens, it is not political power; it is not extent of territory; nor accumulated wealth; nor knowledge, nor science, alone, which renders a people really great and truly happy. 'The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.'"

REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ON

THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE LORD'S DAY.

THE reviewer, during the last twenty years, has travelled some thousands of miles annually; and his observations have not been limited to young or old, rich or poor, learned or ignorant. His attention for many years has been particularly directed to the manner in which the Lord's day is observed. And it is his deliberate opinion, that the cause of the Redeemer was never, in this land, in so much danger as at the present time; and that from the influence of anti-Sabbath principles and conduct. Now, is it not worth the little attention requisite, to see whether this opinion be correct? But, to proceed.

At a meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, convened at Pittsburg, Pa., May, 1835, the subject of Sabbath desecration was presented to the Committee on Bills and Overtures, and by them to the Assembly. A Committee to consider and report on the subject was appointed by Dr. Phillips, Moderator of the Assembly, and the report, as presented by their chairman, DR. BEMAN, is as follows:

"Your Committee have devoted as much attention as circumstances would permit, to the important matter intrusted to their consideration, and they are now prepared to lay before the Assembly the result of their inquiries. One fact in relation to this subject, though painful and humiliating, cannot be disguised. The desecration of the Sabbath is increasing with unaccountable rapidity, in almost every part of our beloved country. And your Committee are constrained to expect, at no distant period, the entire obliteration of this holy day, unless something is speedily done to arouse the slumbering energies of the church, for the purpose of arresting the footsteps of this growing evil. While there may be, and probably are, a few places in which Sabbath