of the Lord's day cannot be enforced by the authority of that commandment, two things perfectly distinct from each other will be confounded together. The Jews were commanded to keep holy the Sabbath, because they had been servants in the land of Egypt, and the Lord their God had brought them out thence; the most rigid mode of observing the Sabbath was enjoined them; and the observance of its duties was enforced by the penalty of death, and that penalty was inflicted upon the man who was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Now where, I ask, is all this taught?-Is it taught by the fourth commandment? So the writer of these remarks would have you think!—but no such thing; they are taught not in the fourth commandment, but in the Levitical law: See, Deut. v. 15. Exod. xxx. 14. Had these things been taught in the fourth commandment, there would have been some reason for saying the duties of the Lord's day cannot be enforced by it: But why are they expressly excluded? Why is there such a marked distinction made between the fourth commandment and the injunctions of the Levitical law?-For this plain and obvious reason that the Levitical law was peculiar to the Jews, while the fourth commandment was addressed to all men in all ages, and in all nations. The ten commandments are moral, ay, and spiritual commandments too, according to St. Paul and the prophets, and do not "affect only outward observances," and therefore are and must be always binding upon all; and the very same writers will appeal to them as a rule of duty which is binding upon all who yet deny this, when they have some favorite speculation, or some new-fangled opinion to support. See Dr. Whately's Errors of Romanism, &c. As to what is here said about privilege and duty, doubtless every duty is a privilege, and it is not less a duty because it is a privilege. But it is one of the masterpieces of Satan's devices, to separate duty from privilege, and in doing so he is more especially transformed into an angel of light, injures and often destroys the souls of the unlearned and unstable, promotes the cause of gross antinomianism, and throws discredit upon the doctrines of grace. The writer concludes the paragraph with saying, "the beast who has no soul may keep the Jewish Sabbath, but the children of God only can keep the Christian." So then it is admitted that there is a Christian Sabbath, after all; but only the children of God can keep it; and can any but a spiritual-minded person perform any duty in a spiritual manner? Is faith a spiritual act? and yet faith in the Son of God is the bounden duty of all. The due observance of the Christian Sabbath must be a spiritual observance ; so was the Jewish Sabbath; and in proof of this, I would leave to the meditation of your readers, and the writer of the statement upon which I have been commenting, the 58th chapter of Isaiah, e pecially verses 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, where the prophet reproves the people for their formality and regard to only outward observances, as if they were beasts who had no soul, and enforces upon them the necessity of a spiritual observance of God's ordinances: and though in the opinion of the best commentators, the prophet addresses the Christian church, yet, in their primary application, his words belonged to the Jews of the day in which he wrote. "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, (the Lord's day,) honorable; and shalt honor 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: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." A LOVER Of Rest. [We insert this piece, as we would ever wish to uphold the sanctity of the Lord's day; but we think our correspondent has partly mistaken "M.M.S." whose object appears to be to distinguish between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord's day, and to describe the former as enforced on the nation of Israelites by penal sanctions, and the latter as enjoined on Christians by spiritual obligations.—ED.] REMARKABLE ANAGRAM. PILATE'S question to our Saviour, "What is truth ?" in the Latin vulgate stands thus, “Quid est veritas?” These letters transposed make, “Est vir qui adest." "It is the man before thee." POETRY. MORNING IN MAY. CLEAR was the sky, for not a cloud When the fair sun in brightness proud The pale dim moon still linger'd there, The flowers bowed, and dewy bright, The birds awoke with new delight, Then let us praise creation's God, EVENING IN MAY. Clear was the sky, no clouds were seen; To sleep till morning, whispering round, The birds had tuned their latest note To Him who reigns on high; And nature did in beauty float Before the wandering eye. Soon shall the last mild evening fade, And morning never rise; But night, in dark terrific shade, Shall bear us to the skies. NIGHT IN MAY. The moon, bright guardian of the night. Assumes her vast domain, While round the heavens' stupendous height The stars their seats maintain. Grand and romantic, wild and free, E. A. W. A LITTLE BOY TO HIS FATHER, AT SUNRISE ON A MORNING IN SPRING. It is refreshing to turn from the agitations of the adult world to "home, sweet home," and listen to the warblings of an artless child. FATHER, awake! it is not night; The sun is up, the sky is bright, And joys are struggling from their breasts. I cannot sleep; I hear them say, Come forth and breathe the balmy air, Father, awake; and take thy boy You told me, God, though very high And those soft twinklings of the leaves, My little hymns, I think, would please If thou would'st wake and teach my tongue I hear them now among the trees; I hear the humming of the bees It seems as though my heart would breakFather, dear father, do awake! LINES Suggested by attending a Funeral. Death in every place I see, Death in every shape I see, Death, I know, will come to me, Death, I must thy captive be, |