I speak now of the Divine law; makes it their duty to coerce the stranger, if he cannot be induced by milder means to keep the Sabbath. Thus should a foreigner take up his residence in the state of Massachusetts, or Connecticut, and undertake to pursue his secular business without any regard to holy time, the civil authority of the place would be bound to admonish him, and to proceed as much further as might be necessary to restrain him from open violations of the fourth commandment. The law says, that he shall not do any work, and so saying makes the executive officers in his neighborhood an swerable to God for his obedience. Such officers are bound, also, to keep a viligant eye upon our public roads, and not suffer the passing stranger to prosecute his journey for gain, on the Lord's day. I am not ignorant, that informing officers and magistrates are severely censured by many, for presuming to detain men on the road, who, it is said, are peaceably going about their own business. This censure, let it be remembered, falls directly upon the Divine law. In that law, the stranger as well as the citizen, is expressly forbidden to do any work, and when he is not disposed to obey it, magistrates not only may, but must compel him:-if they do not, a great sin lies at their door.

Secondly: The clause of the fourth commandment, which respects strangers, imposes certain duties upon heads of families. I here use the word strangers to designate all, who may happen to spend the Sabbath with us, whether they be visitors or boarders; whether of our ac

quaintance or not. We are undoubtedly in no small degree answerable for their conduct. The rules of our families should not fail to include, as a fundamental point, the religious observance of holy time. This point we must not yield to any man, or number of men. The same authority, which enjoins upon us the oversight and control of children and domestics, makes us, for the time being, the keepers of all other persons, who may be within our gates. No relaxation in favor of the friend, the boarder, or the pas sing stranger, is admissible. If any should be so lost to decorum, as well as the fear of God, as to insist upon doing their own work, and finding their own pleasures on the Sabbath, they ought unquestionably to be dismissed. Not even the nearest relative may remain with us, any longer than he is disposed to reverence the Lord's day.

This is a point of immense practical moment. It is no uncommon thing for boarders, strangers, and even relations while on visits, to be unmindful of the obligations which the di

ine law imposes. Though in such cases, the last extremity must often be extremely painful, the cross must be taken up. If we love father, or mother more than Christ, we cannot be his disciples. We must obey God. We must vindicate the honor of his law, at least in our own hous

AN ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS.

(Concluded from p. 50.)

CHRISTIANS, evince to the world that you are followers of Christ. Manifest by your sublime and heavenly deportment, that, not satisfied with terrestrial good, you have fixed your hopes and affections on a brighter world, where neither sin nor sorrow can ever intrude. Are you not expectants of glory? Then be nobly indifferent to the charms of this perishable earth, and live as becomes those, who have caught the spirit, and anticipated the joys of heaven. Bought with the blood of your Redeemer, let a view of his honor guide your conduct, and impart sacred energy to all that you do. Call forth your latent powers to exertion for the promotion of his giorious cause, and, by a constant readiness to every good word and work, let your light shine with a divine splendor before others, alluring them to go and do like wise. An extensive field for usefulness presents itself to your view, where arduous labor is imperiously required and may be crowned with blessed success. This is the season for action; the time for ardent, and zealous, and persevering efforts. Your Redeemer condescendingly looks down to behold your conduct, and having encompassed you with immeasurable mercies, and manifested his glories to your admiring souls, he now waits to receive your grateful returns. Comply with his gracious invitations; obey his holy commands; and while you testify the ardor of your love, by your fidelity and engagedness in his service, be

clothed with humility, and repeat, each one for himself, the penitent exclamation, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Christians, how much may you do for the honor of your Lord. Arise, then, and, shaking off the slumbers of the night, exert every faculty, and strain every nerve, for the enlargement of that kingdom, which is not of this world. Look around you, and witnessing the spread of error and infidelity, the merciless rav-. ages of sin and death, let your eyes affect your hearts, and induce you to enter earnestly upon every hopeful plan, for the suppression of vice, the alleviation of misery, and the general promulgation of the Gospel. Behold your fellow mortals, bound to an eternity of retribution, and endowed with souls, which must await the unutterable destinies of the last day, and earnestly inquire in what way you can be instrumental in promoting their immortal good. When you see them walking the downward road to perdition, and tottering on the crumbling margin, beneath which roll the billows of devouring fire, O raise your warning voices as those that have felt the terrors of the Lord, and cannot forget that the vengeance of heaven impends over heads of the impenitent. Intreat and admonish them with all the eloquence of holy zeal and tender compassion, accompanying all your attempts with importunate supplication to Him that heareth prayer, and can subdue the hearts of rebels. But be not

the

in

selfish and contracted your views. Extend your benevolence to the utmost bounds of the earth, wherever wanders

an apostate being, and expand your bosoms to feel for a perishing world. Yonder are the forlorn heathen, immersed in abject ignorance, idolatry and wretchedness, destitute of a single ray of light to illumine their benighted minds, and guide their wayward feet in the paths of life. They feel the baleful effects of the first disobedience; they groan under the galling yoke of Satan; but no life-giving sound of salvation salutes their ears, no pardoning mercy from Calvary whispers peace. While they roam the solitary desert, spending their days in listless indolence and degrading vice, they fix their characters for eternity and seal up their endless doom. Friends of Immanuel! feel for their souls. When you enjoy the delights of communion with God, and the smiles of your Redeemer, commiserate the hapless millions, who never raised to heaven the uplifted eye, nor listened to the cheering sound of a Savior's name. When from Pisgah's eminence, you descry the boundless joys and imperishable glories of the upper world, and, ravished with the sublime per spective, you are ready to long for the coming of your Lord: Oh turn from the enrapturing vision to those, who never greeted from on high the message of God's pacification, nor beheld the flow ers of Paradise blossom on the grave.

Their souls are infinitely precious. Realize, if you can, their celestial origin, their exalted capacities, their undying existence, and your bosoms will heave with emotions too vast for expression. Surely you will recoil from the VOL. XI.

thought of being accessary to their eternal ruin. Consider, then, the importance of prayer, and of pecuniary aid, for the promulgation of the Gospel and the diffusion of its everlasting blessings among the perishing heathen. Open the land of liberality, and scatter its charities far and wide. Contribute, according to your ability, as under the inspection of Jehovah, and with reference to that day, which shall more clearly disclose the value of such offerings; when the world, with all its glittering wealth, will be enveloped in flaming ruins, and you and the heathen must give up your last account and receive your final allotments. While you press the Bible to your bosoms, and the meridian lustre of the Sun of Righteousness shines upon your path, you will ardently long that its light may arise upon those who are sitting in the darkness and shadow of death. For the attainment of this benevolent object, lend your countenance and assistance to those measures, which are calculated to bring it into effect. Nor rest here, but devise and execute new plans for the spread of the Gospel, which bringeth salvation.

The numerous Bible Societies, which have recently been ushered into existence, have excited the liveliest gratitude of wondering thousands, and smile propitiously on the interests of the Redeemer and the immortal souls of men. Let those, who have engaged in these labors of love, be stimulated to abound yet more and more, exulting in thought, that their labors shall not be in vain in the Lord.

Christians, you love to pray; and God does wonders in answer to prayer. If you wish the spiritual welfare of your own souls, if you tong to hail the glorious splendor of the millennial day, and the salvation of a dying world, be exhorted to frequent, fervent, and importunate prayer. Sacredly cherish a spirit of devotion, and a reverent familiarity with heaven. Remember, for your encouragement, that in your humble retirements, you may render your most impor. tant services to the kingdom of the Messiah, secluded from the observation of mortals, and known only to Him who seeth

in secret.

To female disciples of Christ permit me to say, here is employment to which your souls are attuned, and in which you may be instrumental in producing great and lasting good. In your closets and circles for devotion, you may be the means of qualifying and commissioning faithful ambassadors of Christ, to carry the tidings of great joy, wherever the curse of sin extends; and you may, in the same manner, secure the listening attention of multitudes to the heavenly message. The Gentiles will join in that divine song: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. You may clothe the prowling inhabitant of the wilderness with the robes of righteousness, and make the desert vocal with Immanuel's praise. You may bid the benighted pagans forget their miseries, and unite with you in

drawing living waters from the wells of salvation, and in explor ing a country beyond the boundaries of mortality.

Say not, that you move in a sphere so circumscribed, as to exclude your usefulness. Verily, you have much to do. Your assistance is urgently required and needed in erecting the house of the Lord, and adorning it with the beauties of holiness and praise. Without passing beyond your proper bounds you may render as essential service to the cause of Christ, as the faithful "legate of the skies," who proclaims the glorious truths of the Gospel to listening thousands. You love your Lord; you love the souls for whom he died; and you prefer Jerusalem above your chief joy. Frequent, then, your closets, and breathe to heaven your fervent supplications for the coming of that blessed day, when the Rose of Sharon shall bloom in the desert, and every solitary corner of the earth shall reverberate the songs of Zion. In these favored seasons of intercourse with God, you will affectionately bear on your hearts the ministers at the altar, and the missionaries of the cross; for surely they need your prayers. Fail not to pray ardently, that they may have divine support under all their peculiar labors and trials; that they may be ena bled to preach the truth, in a discriminating, solemn, and faithful manner, that they may be led by the Holy Spirit to select those subjects, which shall be most appropriate and useful to their hearers; and that their ministra tions may be abundantly blessed to the edification and consolation

of true believers, and the awakening and conversion of formal hypocrites and stupid sinners. Realizing that the harvest truly is great, but the laborers few, you will intreat of your Lord to mul tiply the heralds of salvation, that great may be the company of those that publish his word, and that the Gospel may be preached to every creature. Be exhorted to let no opportunity of usefulness escape unimprov. ed. Devote not your inestimably precious hours to visits of ceremony, where trifling conversation so lamentably prevails, but redeem them to spend in the too much neglected cottages of the poor, in the chambers of sickness and affliction, and in encircling the female social altar of devotion. Those of you, who are possessed of a moderate share of learning, and have time at your disposal, may be eminently useful in the benevolent task of instructing ignorant and indigent children. The rising generation ought to be near your hearts; and such, especially, as have few or no advantages for mental culture and the acquire ment of religious knowledge, urgently claim the exercise of your compassion. It is believed, that Sabbath schools, well conducted, may be largely conducive to the interests of morality and piety, and that so many have been formed is matter of gratitude to Him, who works in his people both to will and to do, Those of you, who are engaged in these delightful acts of charity, may reflect, for your encour agement, that if you entered upon your employment with right feelings, and are faithful to the

souls entrusted to your care, though you may not witness the happy fruits of your labors, your prayers, and your tears, yet at the bar of God many may rise up and call you blessed, regarding you as the instruments of their eternal salvation. But, it is not my design to enumerate the various ways, in which you may effectually subserve the interests of your Lord. If your hearts are warm with grateful affection to the Redeemer, you will readily observe and diligently improve the opportunities of glorifying him, which continually occur. Let me affectionately urge you to live for God-to live for eternity!

My Christian friends, patronize, as far as possible, every plan and institution, calculated for the benefit of society, and the glory of your Maker. Direct all your energies to the cause of heaven. Be willing to labor and suffer in the vineyard of the Lord, not counting even your lives dear to you, so that you may accomplish your assigned work and finish your course with joy. Mark the signs of the times. Consider how eventful is the day, in which you live, and say, can he deserve the appellation of Christian, who now indulges in slothful inactivity, and indifference? May the Lord refresh his children

with abundant effusions of grace from above, and hasten that divinely glorious day, when Zion shall shine in renovated and transcendent beauty; when the religion of the cross shall pervade every land, arraying this apostate earth in all the immortal charms of holiness, peace, and sublime felicity. Let every pi