have been carefully nurtured through the week, now the spiritual, whose infinite capacities reveal the sublime dignity of man as an heir of immortality, deserves to be made. the subject of reflection and prayer. What a season for burnishing the christian armor! What a day to run for the prize! What moments for guiding children to Christ! What an opportunity to make all the family one in the Lord on earth, that they may be one in the skies! They, who would abolish the paralled disaster upon families. Sabbath, would bring un- day would reduce them to the most alienated and godless condition. Domestic love would expire in countless instances, for the want of a day in which to fan its dying embers. Children would grow up untaught in religious truth, and the seeds of vice would take deep root in their hearts, and thrive in rank luxuriance. To the lower classes, compelled to toil industriously for a livelihood, home would be divested of those attractions which the Sabbath's weekly visits throw around it. The bonds of sympathy, which the domestic fellowship of every seventh day creates, would be ruptured. The blest affinities of nature would dissolve away, and dismembered and scattered households be multiplied on every hand. And what is worse, domestic piety, amid the spreading dosolation, would find no place for the. sole of its foot; and because religion would lose its altar in the family, it would have no enshrinement in the church, and no trophies in the world. The enemies of christianity, in all ages, have well understood that the Sabbath is its strong fortress, and they have accordingly sought to destroy this. The battering-rams of infidelity have pelted away at its gates, while skepticism has waited impatient to spit its venom upon the soldiers of the cross, who lay under its walls. If they could abolish this sacred institution, and close the temples of God, and for the chiming of bells supply the music of fife and drum, and the "tramp of traffic," their object would be easily accomplished. Were the Sabbath merely a human institution, bearing not the seal of heaven, nor pointing to the gates of glory, even then we could not afford to abolish it. The family would still demand it as the harbinger of its brightest hopes, and the arbiter of its destiny. It would require it to cement a union of hearts, and perpetuate the harmonies of a blissful relation. PARENTAL EXAMPLE upon this subject needs to be guarded. The heads of families will not see the other members more regardful of the Sabbath than themselves. If they indulge in light and trifling conversation, if they peruse the secular news-sheet or the novel, if they neglect the place of worship, if they ramble in the fields, or do, or say any thing inconsistent with the sacredness of the day, their sons and daughters will easily excuse themselves in doing the same. If parents desire their children to be blest by the recurrence of this day, they must accommodate their words, counsels, acts, yea, their entire example, to the spirit of the commandment, "REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY." We close this subject with the following beautiful description of a really sanctified Sabbath throughout the world, by John Allan Quinton. If all families, in their distinct relations, duly observed the day, the glorious scene which he portrays would be witnessed. "The flocks are wandering and gamboling in the dells; the cattle are grazing on the hill-sides; and the beasts of burden, freed from their yoke, are feeding on the open plains. The plough stands where it halted in its course across the furrows; but the husbandman has gone home to cultivate his soul. The sound of the axe has ceased from the forest, and the prostrate trees lie as they fell; but the woodman has gone away to ponder on the sudden deathstroke that may lay him low, or is on his way to the place his stubborn sins. where the keen axe of truth will be levelled at the roots of The mills are at rest on every hill-top, but their inmates have retired to their habitations to garner the corn of heaven." up "Turn next towards the great city, rearing its roofs, chimneys, steeples, monuments, and huge masses of masonry in an atmosphere less murky and impure, than that which broods over it on the other days of the week. The swarms of industry are now hived. The mingled hum of busy multitudes, the heavy tramp of traffic, the rush of enterprise, the clamor of human passions, the noise of innumerable tools and implements of handicraft, the fierce panting of engines, the ringing of anvils, and the furious racings of machinery; the shouts of crowds, the brawls of drunkenness, and the plaints of mendicant misery, are all sunk into silence, and disturb not with a ripple the still Sabbath air. * The tall ships at anchor in the harbor have furled their sails, closed down their hatches, and hid from all eyes the merchandise treasured in their holds, whilst the Bethelflag waves amid a forest of masts, and they that go down to the sea, and do business on great waters, are below studying the chart of revelation, tracing the danger of their life's voyage, and anticipating the glad hour when, redeemed from every peril, and borne on the bosom of a favoring tide, they shall safely moor their bark in the haven of eternal life. * The merchant has quitted the desk of his dusky counting-house, and is now in secret places, turning over the blotted leaves of his own heart." * * * * * "The gates of the temple of Mammon are shut, and the gods of gold and silver are forsaken by their week-day devotees. The chiming bells, sounding alike across country and town, are calling upon all men to cut the cords of their earth-bound thoughts, and low cares, and go up to worship at the footstool of Jehovah; and the tapering spires, like holy fingers, are pointing significantly toward the sky." "And now the minister is descending from his study, his countenance impressed with a solemn sense of his responsibility; the saint is coming forth refreshed from his closet; the pardoned penitent is rising from his knees; the evangelist is on his way to his mission work; the Sabbath school teacher is pleading with his class, and the christian matron is leading forth her children to the mountain of the Lord's house." * * * "At length a new traffic fills the streets; a growing bustle stirs the air; a new scene expands before the eye, religious assemblies are grathering the major part of the population. They come from the spacious squares and the crowded lanes; they are seen issuing alike from the lordly palace and the plebeian hut." "Organs are pealing through the lofty roofs of cathedrals, and along the aisles of churches; anthems are swelling from scores of unseen chapels; the glad outbursts of thanksgiving and the hallelujahs of the happy are mingling in the air, and filling the clear vault of heaven with rich harmony. Then the holy breath of prayer goes up like fragrant incense, ascending to the sky; after which the manna of the word is scattered round the camp, and the doctrines of grace are distilled like reviving dew upon the parched hearts of men. Prayer and praise again succeed, and then convinced by some eloquent Apollos, or conscience-stricken by some vehement Paul, or comforted by some consoling Barnabas, or melted by some fervent John- the assemblies break up and return, fervently ejaculating their gratitude for the priceless privileges of Sabbath rest." CHAPTER VII. THE FAMILY BIBLE. "Star of eternity! only star By which the bark of man could navigate "The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, They round the ingle form a circle wide; The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride." POLLOK. BURNS. THE SABBATH and the BIBLE, like the Siamese Twins, can live only in union. They are mutually dependent. The Sabbath is the "right arm" of the Bible; and the Bible is the "right arm of the Sabbath. Destroy one, and you destroy both. They live in each other, or they die in each other. The glory of the one is the glory of the other. The blessings of one are proportioned to the blessings of the other. And the neglect of one is usually succeeded by neglect of the other. A family with a Sabbath is not thoroughly furnished without a Bible, and vice versa. If it has the former, it needs the latter to hallow and sanctify it. If it has the latter, it needs the former to cherish and prove it a blessing. A family without a Bible is a family without a Sabbath; and a family without a Sabbath, although they may possess a copy of the Scriptures, is, in regard to all practical results, a family without a Bible. The gallant vessel fully rigged for the seas, and spreading its canvass to fair weather |