instituted, not as a mere ritual observance, but as an essential article of moral duty, is proved by this consideration, that one of the objects of the institution was-the amelioration of the lot of the laborious part of the creation, animals as well as men.-But the spirit of this admirable institution will be best illustrated, by bringing into one view some of those passages of scripture, whether preceptive, prophetic, or historical, in which the SABBATH is mentioned.

"KEEP the Sabbath day, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember

that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day."-DEUT.

v. 12.-15.

"Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord."-LEV. xix. 30.

"Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."LEV. xxiii. 3.

"Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.”—ExOD. xxiii. 12.

"Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and

taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."-ISA. lvi. 6. 7.

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"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."-LUKE, iv. 16. -19.

"And that day was the preparation, and the

Sabbath drew on. came with him from

And the women also which Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment."-LUKE, xxiii. 54.56.

"But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and, beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience."-" For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him."-" And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought

them that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath."-ACTS, xiii. 14. 15. 16,-27. -42.

"Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit ? That ye may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat."-Amos, viii. 4. 5. 6.

"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father;