tion which we have been condemning. Granting that there may be, in the abstract nature of things, some foundation for such a distinction. Yet it must be immediately conceded by all scriptural readers, that the laws of the King are not so distinguished and separated in the Statute Book. No such partition is made or implied in our divine code. Who, then, will attempt the stupendous work? What being will volunteer to take heaven's Statute Book in his hands, and discriminate unerringly between the essential and the non-essential-between matters fundamental and matters of secondary moment-yet both explicitly enjoined under the same sanctions? Truth is, that even could we assume that there must be in the ultimate nature of things some ground for the distinction, yet no finite intellect could be stccessful in discrimination. Our only safe course is to eling earnestly to the imperious obligation of every precept and every injunction contained in the Book of Life.

III. Let the madness of such a course be tested in an inferior province namely, In the dominions of Nature, in the boundaries of God's outer court,—the material universe. Look upon the wide creation which God has given us as a temple for habitation, meditation, and worship. Wander through its fields of living green which have received a renovating baptism by dew from the womb of the morning. Recline in its solemn groves which dimly yet richly lighted, seem to invite the earnest spirit to high and reverent contemplation. Seek communion with that great sea, which with an awful voice appears to be rushing upon us, yet though girding and rising above the solid ground is held back by the compression of a mighty law. Hold fellowship with all the pellucid rivers which sweep in tributary joy towards the central tide. With all the rocks and mountains, older than death or time, and teeming with the spoils of eld, declaring the counsel and working of the self-existent Creator and Lawgiver. Inquire of Nature in all her forms, which of her laws are essential and which of them nonessential? If the question be not too absurd for anything deeper than silence, one commanding voice will sound from the inner structure through all her organs, declaring the essentiality and necessity of all her laws, perfect in their range, and uniform in their operation. If not satisfied with the oracle, try the method of detaching. What law, element, or instrument, will you banish? Attraction, repulsion, electricity, light, heat, or darkness? Alas, vain man! if you could carry your principle into working in the material around you, you might desolate the earth with hopeless ruin, or paralyse the grand system to which the earth belongs.

If, then, in an inferior province of the divine empire, all the laws and institutes are essential, surely it must be unreasonable and impious in the extreme, to carry such a principle of anarchy into the most sublime field of the divine economy.

IV. But what is the order of the moral spirit which lies beneath the pernicious distinction we are dissecting? Let us endeavour to reveal the demon in his native form. The language commonly employed on the question may be translated into English in the following method:

"The injunctions of the Almighty form a galling yoke. The

heavenward road is strewed with thorns and briars. I would fain feel more at ease under the burden of the cross, and urge on my journey without bleeding feet. I seek no distinguished place among the redeemed, no grand eminence among the children of light, no peculiar glory near the awful throne. Only let me arrive within the gates, that I may be separated from the lost, and escape the region where despair reigns, and hope cannot enter. To accomplish this object I will now light my midnight lamp, and endeavour to discover how many of the commandments of God may be violated with impunity. Let me only grasp the essential for my own safety, and all the rest will I leave to those who do not think the cross heavy enough, but are desirous to carry along with it a huge load of lumber."

With these pions, lofty, and grateful feelings in his mind, our philosopher trims his lamp, sits down to his work, and speedily resolves to give society the benefit of his toil, by making the secret public property. G. G.

THE SABBATH.

FOUR letters on the Christian Sabbath, and how it ought to be kept, especially in reference to public worship, written by a Baptist missionary, Sidney, New South Wales. These letters have been recently sent to us by brother Taylor, who some time ago emigrated from Halifax, Yorkshire. We shall insert a letter in each successive number.

It is rather remarkable, that almost as soon as a missionary or a private devoted Christian brother, leaves this country for some distant part of the world, the mind becomes unshackled, and is in some measure emancipated from the baneful influences of human creeds and establishments, by which we are surrounded, and which operate as so many barriers to the progress of pure and simple Christianity as revealed in the New Testament.

The Apostles' doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers, are so many component parts of the constituted worship of God and this worthy minister has spoken of them with great plainness of speech. It is true they are not so fully enlarged upon as they might have been-especially the fellowship, which comprises in it the giving of our property on every first day of the week as God has prospered us-still, we rejoice that ministers and missionaries, particularly of the Baptist denomination, are beginning to speak more scripturally and plainly on the subject. J. W.

LETTER FIRST.

From "The Sentinel."

SIR.-In your most valuable paper there was, some time ago, a very excellent series of articles from the pen of a talented correspondent on the POWER OF THE KEYS, and I had hoped, that there would have been a continuation of the same; but not having seen any of the

like style lately, I am induced to think something has occurred to prevent, or the party may have removed from the colony; still, for the sake of those articles, I will ever entertain for the writer, though to my knowledge I have never seen nor known him, the highest esteem. Thinking it may perhaps be useful, I send you the first of a series on the SABBATH. Your worthy correspondent pointed out that it was not persons but things that were to be loosed and bound, and, in the Sabbath, we find, that the Apostles exercised the power both of loosing from the observation of the seventh day and binding to the observation of the first day of the week, as we shall find when the proper time comes. In the meantime, it may be as well to commence the consideration of the subject with the meaning of the word.

SABBATH means a rest, a repose, a cessation from labour. We read that, on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested (ceased) on the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had created and made. Gen. ii. 2 and 3. This was the original Sabbath, or rest, which God appointed but this was not the only Sabbath, for the seventh month may be called the Sabbatic month, from the many Sabbaths it contained (see Leviticus, xxiii. 23, to the end.) And we also find, from the former part of this chapter, as well as from other parts of Scripture, that the three great feasts of the Lord, namely, the feast of the passover, the feast of harvests, and the feasts of tabernacles, were to be kept as Sabbaths.

We find also that every seventh year was to be a Sabbatic year. Lev. xxv. 1.

And again, they were to count seven times seven years, and when they were numbered then came the great jubilee (see same chapter reading onwards.) We, therefore, conclude that a Sabbath is a period of rest appointed by God.

We find that the Sabbath was appointed by the Creator for the creature, because it was not confined exclusively to man; for the children of Israel were commanded, not only that they themselves should rest, but also that their men servants and maid servants, their oxen and asses, and even their very land was to have its Sabbaths (Lev. xxvi. 34 and 35)—it was appointed for the creature that the creature might be a partaker of the joy of the Creator; for, at the very first institution of it, God having wrought at the work of creation for six days, and having looked upon every thing that he had made, and beheld it was very good (Gen. i.) ceased (rested), the seventh day, (Gen. ii.) and beheld with satisfaction the work of his hands; wherefore it was written (Exodus xxxi. 17,) that he rested and was refreshed. This was the happy time when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. (Job. xxxviii. 7.) Such was the first and original Sabbath, the day that the Lord blessed and sanctified, and it must be manifest that it could be intended only for those who were in a state of amity with him. It was instituted and enjoyed before sin entered the world. The wicked, who are like the troubled sea, never could enjoy a Sabbath like this. How is it possible for those who "cannot rest" (Isaiah Ivii. 20) to enter into the rest of Jehovah? We see, therefore, that after the fall, the Sab

bath was totally inapplicable to man except he be restored to the favour of God. Our first parents were reconciled to God, through faith in that Mediator, whose coming and work were announced to them in the garden of Eden-not promised to them, but announced in their hearing in the sentence that was passed on the serpent, (Gen. iii. 14, 15,) and they, by confidently relying on the truth of the declaration of God, received this truth, and laid hold of it as an anchor to their souls; they, thereby, became reconciled to God, and seeing Christ's day afar off, they were glad. From that day to this, there has been a seed to serve God in all generations; a peculiar people to show forth his praises, who can and do enjoy the Sabbath. That this is the correct view of the Sabbath, and the persons to whom it is applicable, is clearly taught by the prophet in the following conclusive manner. The great lawgiver of Israel, says Deut. xx. 10, 12, 13, (God speaking, says) "I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness; and I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do he shall even live in them. Moreover, also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanclify them." So then, we see, that the Sabbath was an appointed sign between God and his people, to show that they were his, and if so, could not possibly belong to the rest of the world; otherwise it could no longer be a sign to them, distinguishing them from the rest of the world. Again, Moses, speaking of the seventh day, says to the children of Israel, "seeing that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, he hath given you on the sixth day the bread of two days." And again of the seventh year, he says, "The Lord will give you on the sixth year sufficient to last till the eighth and ninth years"-evidently showing the truth also of our Saviour's declaration, "The Sabbath was made for. man, not man for the Sabbath." Because God hath given them the Sabbaths-given them because he hath been pleased to enter into a covenant with them-thereby sanctifying them and making them his own. But as they broke his covenant, and greatly polluted his Sabbaths, (Ezekiel xx. 13, 16, 21, 24,) it next behoves us to inquire, whether the Sabbath of the seventh day has been annulled, and another instituted, which, if God permit, we will do at an early opportunity.

I am, Sir, yours truly,

THEOPHILUS.

PECULIAR PHILANTHROPY.

GERRET SMITH, Esq., of New York, one of the largest landholders in America, in his benevolence to the African race, and to see what can be done for that unfortunate population in the way of advancment and moral development, has made out some two thousand deeds for from forty to fifty acres each; and proposes to execute another thousand deeds of the same sort, to be conferred on that class of coloured persons, from the age of twenty-one to sixty years, of well attested character or of a fair reputation. If all anti-slavery persons would, according to their ability, display a similar sympathy for that oppressed people, they would not only be a very popular, but a very useful denomination in our land.

A. C.

THE PROGRESS OF JESUS.

JESUS discovered, doubtless, in his early childhood, the solemn destiny for which he was born. To the ordinary lessons of piety, Mary his mother would add the history of those angelic announcements which preceded his birth, and those prophetic intimations that followed it; and he would feel an early impression that he was born to some special office of importance; nor would this conviction of a special and high destination produce, on his holy and perfect mind, any other effect than a deeper sense of responsibility. To the study of the Mosaic writings and prophetic Scriptures would he have recourse; and, while studying these, he would discover in his lineage, in the place of his nativity, in the time of his appearance, the tokens, and ascertain the fact, of his own Messiahship. Now would he give intenser application to the study of sacred Scripture, that he might ascertain the work and duties of Messiah; and uninfluenced by the carnality of the Jews, he would soon perceive that an arduous and agonizing office devolved on him. O, it is an interesting and touching thing to contemplate him, ere he was twelve years old, pondering the records which taught him how he was to suffer. Death, a terrible, a sacrificial death, was before him. In every offering prescribed by the law, in Isaac bound for sacrifice, in David's prophetic personations, in Isaiah's victim, "brought as a lamb to the slaughter," in Daniel's "Messiah cut off" by a violent and untimely death, he beheld his own sorrows shadowed forth. Those hands, with which he grasped the prophetic roll, must be pierced; that heart which throbbed audibly in the hour of stillness and meditation, must be broken; those words which he read at the head of the twenty-second Psalm, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" were to be adopted in their truest emphasis by him. The tear would start as he conducted studies like these, while his countenance would assume the aspect of meek and heroic self-devotion; his "Father's business" would become the absorbing theme of his soul.

With such anticipations, a peculiar tone would be given to his every movement and exercise. When, at twelve years old, he came up to the temple, how totally different would his emotions be from those of all other youth, and of all other worshippers. His first glimpse of Moriah's heights, his first view of Jerusalem, would be associated with the impression that he was approaching the arena of conflict, the destined scene of his own immolation. When he entered the temple-court, and saw the sacrificial lamb quivering beneath the knife, and consumed in the altar-flame, he would recognise the symbol of his own sacrificial suffering. Whilst joining in the sacred Psalm, he would adopt as his own, those sentiments which the people at large could only chant, as expressing another's self-devotement. When he sat amid the doctors, his questions would be designed to elicit ampler information as to the duties of that office, of the responsibility of which he was inly conscious. The time at length arrived when he was to enter upon the sacred mission; and then he presented himself to John to be baptized of him; but how different must have been the spirit in which he yielded himself to the sacred rite, from that with which others, even the most pious,

G