Lord's day. Riots are becoming common; wicked men are not only hating Christians, but Christians are "biting and devouring one another." We have desolating storms of rain and hail. Blasting, mildew, and drought have cut off many of our crops. Fires are laying waste our cities. Men are becoming treacherous, supremely selfish, covetous, aspiring. But, like Pharaoh, after he had called his magicians to compete with Moses and Aaron, we have concluded that these things are not intended as judgments, that it is not God who has done it; and we, therefore, hold on to our sin. It was not thus twenty years ago.

No people can retain God in their knowledge, unless they observe and keep his Sabbaths. No government can long exist without a Sabbath, unless founded in ignorance and sustained by physical force. Every violation of the Sabbath, therefore, and every effort to abolish it, is an attack upon the government under which we live. These acts and efforts continued, and the superstructure falls. God will come out against a people that will not give to his service that portion of time which he requires; and no nation can stand when he rises up against it.

We are in the greater danger, because ministers and people think there is little or no cause of alarm. But there is cause of alarm. This nation is preparing for an awful doom, an untimely overthrow. God's patience will not always endure. He cannot save us, if we will not keep his Sabbaths, stay in the ark, and do the things which he has required for our safety.

The friends of the Sabbath are not confined to one sect or denomination of Christians, for it is equally valuable and important to all. Not one of them can rise and prosper without its influence. They may think differently with regard to the best means to promote its observance; but this should not cause any of its friends to abandon the object, or treat unkindly any one who would promote it. If we disagree about these means, and oppose one another, we shall not succeed. We do not say that all must labor in our way, but hope all will labor in the best way. Oh then, let not one Christian, or one denomination of Christians, oppose, or wait for another to lead, in this enterprise. Do we not hear all, whether in a palace, a thatched cottage, or a rude hovel - surrounded by enlightened, liberal, and affectionate

friends, and enjoying liberty, or incarcerated in a dungeon—yes, all men, who love themselves and their country, or their God, with one united voice exclaim, Truly the violation of the fourth commandment has become alarmingly prevalent, and threatens the utter destruction of all that is dear, encouraging, and consoling in religion; all that is safe, equal, and ennobling in our political condition; all that is elevating and instructive in literature, and all that is profitable in the arts and sciences; we will, therefore, in future, abstain from this sin ourselves, and use all our influence to persuade others to do the same.

Let every man, then, in every place and under all circumstances, as often as the Sabbath returns, leave his worldly business and sanctify it. Every man must do this. It is the command of an infinite God; and as we value his protection and blessing, as we would secure the peace, happiness, and prosperity of our friends and country, it becomes us at once to submit to his authority.

PLAN OF OPERATIONS.

Let every Christian begin at home, and regulate his own life and conduct, so as not to participate in this sin. The church, of course, will feel under obligation to call to account any of their number who desecrate the Sabbath.

I. Resolutions suitable to be adopted.

“ Believing that all attention, on the first day of the week, to worldly business, except such as is required by works of piety and mercy, or in promotion of our spiritual good and that of others, is a violation of the divine will, and injurious to the civil, social, and religious interests of man, we, therefore, agree that we will not participate in thissin :”

1. By traveling on business or for pleasure.

2. By making or receiving visits.

3. By going or sending to the Postoffice.

4. By holding stock in boats, cars, stages, or other establish

ments which are employed in violating the Sabbath.

5. By worldly conversation or secular reading.

6. By allowing our household, or strangers, when within our gates, to profane holy time.

II. "The earth was without form and void," until "God said, Let there be light, and there was light;" and Sabbath-breaking will exist, and increase, until there is more light on the subject. This light must emanate from the pulpit, the press, and through the instrumentality of traveling agents.

III. Let merchants, manufacturers, and traveling gentlemen, who value the Sabbath, and the blessings which accompany it, by thousands, sign the following declaration, viz:-

"We, the subscribers, believing that the command to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, extends to all men; and wishing, not only to enjoy the rest of that day ourselves, but to allow the privilege to others, do hereby express our willingness and desire to have our business, in all respects, so transacted as not to require the attention or labor of any man on the Christian Sabbath."

IV. Next invite all who do business on Sunday, or cause it to be done, to make such arrangements as will not interfere with the sacred rest of that institution. There is every reason to believe the invitation would be joyfully received and promptly complied with. During all this process, the only means to bring about so desirable a change are, moral suasion, the presentation of facts, truth pressed home upon the conscience; light.-" LET

Such an arrangement can injure no man. All our business would be transacted as it now is, with the exception of resting one day in seven; which every man, after six days of labor, needs, as also the weary animal which toils for his benefit. On this plan, no business man, or traveling gentleman, would have an advantage over his neighbor; for all would rest from secular employment, as often as the Sabbath dawned upon our land. Then, while we were at rest, our son and our daughter, our man servant and our maid servant, our cattle, and the stranger within our gates, might rest, as God has commanded, and as their constitution requires.

There is no more difficulty in closing our business, when the Sabbath commences, than there is when enshrouded by the curtains of evening, or when driven from it by a storm of wind and hail; or by the destruction and the pestilence.

The divine arrangement is, that man and beast shall have one day in seven for rest; and the man who disregards the will of his Maker, the claims of our nature, and the good of the creatures which God has made, cannot be a philanthropist, a good member of society, a friend to his own best interest, or a Christian. A nation of Sabbath-breakers is a nation of infidels. A nation of infidels is a stranger to liberty, to enlightened patriotism, to good will to men, to charity, to peace, to rational hope, to joy.

The Sabbath was made for man; for every man, in every age. His frail body needs it; his soul cannot prosper without it; good morals and enlarged benevolence cannot long exist without it. This institution is the best detector of a man's morality. Blot it out, and you annihilate the blessings of revelation, and sink into ignorance, degradation, and anarchy.

Daily observation shows, that there is great diversity of opinion, even among the friends of the Sabbath, in regard to the manner in which its observance can be best secured. Letters, just received, express doubts of the expediency of adopting any measures which shall be recognised as tending to that object. Others, and by far the greatest number, say that something must be done to redeem the Sabbath, for we are all sinking together. Some advise to print a paper, for the purpose of pleading the cause of the Sabbath. Others say, Send men to preach in every congregation, beginning where the evil is most prevalent. Others still say, "Pray-print-preach."

There is no hope of a plan which will, at first, meet the views of all. Men who see comparatively little of the evil, feel differently on the subject from those who are constantly observing its progress.

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Under such circumstances it is with diffidence that these views and suggestions have been submitted to the consideration of the public.

Christians ought to remember that Christ was not well pleased with those disciples who forbade the man to cast out devils, because he followed not them; but said, "Forbid him not * * * for he that is not against us is on our part." We know not how much injury we may do to a good cause by opposing measures

which do not exactly meet our approbation. If measures proposed for removing any evil from our land are not manifestly rash and unscriptural, we should think of the case referred to above, before we throw our influence into the opposite scale. A good cause ought not thus to be put down. The projector of measures is nothing. It is the cause which we are called upon to aid.

Cleveland, June, 1834.